Chapter 14 Red Nose (4) [Clown Surprise Show Tickets]...
Xie Tan arrived at the welfare home early in the morning.
The welfare home was small and abandoned for many years. Even during the day, it was eerily quiet, with dust floating in the light and a hazy atmosphere.
He quickly looked around and saw a faded group photo on the wall of the administrative office; it was of the last group of children before the welfare home closed down.
There were several familiar figures; they were all children being led away by the clown.
The children stood in the front row, their heights varying.
The dean, caregivers, teachers, and leaders of the Oasis Charitable Foundation stood behind the children, holding up a banner for the charity event.
In the group photo, a bulge the size of a ping-pong ball appeared in the middle, precisely where the face of the director in the center was positioned. His kind smile was stretched into a distorted, ferocious shape.
The arc grew larger and larger, and with a "pop," it burst through the group photo, dropping a red nose, which Xie Tan caught.
After the hole was made, the wall was open, just the size of the opening, and you could see into the next room, but it was blocked by piled-up folds of clothing, like the clown's ruff collar.
Is it next door?
Xie Tan went next door to a simple children's living room, which was filled with children's beds.
At the location of the tear, a worn-out clown costume hung on a floor-standing clothes rack, its white ruff collar splattered with blood.
There are also many photos on the wall, one of which shows a clown performing magic tricks for children here.
But the clown was looking down and holding the child's hand, so only the lower half of his face could be seen, a blood-red smile, his eyes were not visible.
Xie Tan shook his ruff collar, and with a "thud," another red nose fell out of the clown costume, rolled all the way to the bottom of a bed, and bounced up and down.
He reached into his pocket, and the red nose that had been in his pocket was gone; that was the one from before.
The clown performed a magic trick for him.
He bent down and reached under the bed, but Red Nose jumped away. He simply pushed the bed open, revealing a hidden door underneath.
The door lock had been forcibly pried open. He jumped down, and in the dimly lit basement were various instruments of torture.
The small metal bed in the center was stretched to adult height and had straps for securing it; the clown costume was tied to the bed.
Looking up from the pointed clown shoes, the ruff collar on the ceiling is piled high.
Xie Tan walked forward and heard a "thud," much heavier than Red Nose falling to the ground. He vaguely saw a spherical object fall into the basket, like a head.
Blood dripped from Ralph's collar, into a basket under the bedside, which contained the clown's colorful hair.
He grabbed the hair and lifted it up; it was very light, just a clump of hair, no head.
There was a ticket in the basket, just like a circus ticket, except the clown part was reversed.
The original ticket was a full clown costume, but the collar was in shadow and there was only a red nose.
This ticket is all black, without the clown costume, only the facial features except for the red nose, the shrunken eyes, the bloodthirsty smile, facing him, perfectly complementing the original ticket.
[Clown Surprise Show Tickets]
The back reads, "Congratulations on winning! Welcome to my performance tonight!"
It's not here; it's still going to the circus. Xie Tan put away the ticket and left.
That evening, a huge circus tent was set up in the square. Lu Jinzhao stood at the entrance waiting. Just before the ticket check deadline, he spotted Xie Tan and waved with a smile.
They entered together, took their seats, and sat in the middle row, facing the stage.
The middle seat in the front row was still empty; a secretary was frowning and making a phone call, speaking in a low voice.
Lu Jinzhao leaned closer to Xie Tan and whispered, "You arrived at just the right time. Several foundation leaders haven't arrived yet. There were probably too many people watching the performance today, and they're stuck in traffic. The secretary made several phone calls outside the venue."
His approach did not cross the social distance, and Xie Tan could hear him clearly. Xie Tan instinctively wanted to avoid him, but there was no way to avoid him, so he sat quietly next to him and listened to him speak.
As Lu Jinzhao said, the two leaders of the foundation did not arrive, the performance was postponed, and the long wait caused dissatisfaction to be heard from the audience.
Xie Tan fell asleep leaning back in his chair.
He woke up again when Lu Jinzhao gently poked him. The young man's clear voice lowered slightly: "The performance has begun."
Xie Tan opened his eyes, and the curtain was drawn back. Inside the huge tent with four-colored stripes, various acrobatic performances took turns on stage.
Exaggerated gestures and expressions, extreme danger and skill, wild beasts galloping in a ring of fire, passionate applause and shouts are offered to the performers who bring about bizarre transformations.
Xie Tan, lacking interest, looked to his right.
Number 7 sat upright on the armrest of the chair, its cat eyes wide open from the start of the performance. Its eyes followed the performance on stage, moving from left to right and from right to left, and it would meow in amazement at the exciting parts.
Xie Tan looked to the left again, and Lu Jinzhao was also very happy, completely immersed in the performance and enjoying the moment.
The firelight and the striped colors of the ceiling flowed in his amber eyes, like an evolution over millions of years; his eyes were more captivating than the performance itself.
Suddenly, the lights went out, and millions of years vanished into nothingness, all returning to the silent darkness. Those eyes looked over in the darkness, darker than the darkness itself.
Xie Tan was taken aback. The lights in the stadium came on again, indicating that it was halftime.
Those amber eyes were full of laughter, all of them were him, as bright as ever.
Lu Jinzhao mimed running in the air with two fingers, excitedly sharing with him, "That hoop jump was amazing! The fire hoop kept rotating and changing position, and that lion just—jumped over it..."
He rambled on and on, but Xie Tan didn't hear the rest clearly. She looked away and stopped looking at him.
Lu Jinzhao stopped and asked with concern, "Are you feeling unwell? Or are you just bored? There's still some time before the second half. Would you like to go for a walk?"
Xie Tan nodded and stood up: "I'm going to the restroom."
Lu Jinzhao noticed that he wanted to walk alone, so he smiled and waved: "The clown show is coming soon. I heard it's the best show tonight. You might like it."
Xie Tan left early and was near the restroom. He was alone in the restroom and was washing his hands when he suddenly felt someone watching him from behind.
He looked up and saw a balloon perched on the ceiling above the cubicle behind him in the mirror. The cartoon character on the balloon looked right through the gap in the cubicle and met his reflection in the mirror, seemingly smiling.
It was too quiet. There was no sound of spectators walking back and forth outside the door, and no one pushed the door open to come in.
Xie Tan calmly withdrew his gaze, dried his hands, and pushed open the door to leave.
He was in the corridor of the welfare home.
The balloon floated out from behind him and flew forward.
Xie Tan followed.
He went to the children's living room; he had just been there that morning.
Now, the dilapidated living room has been decorated like a children's party room, with a candy ticket machine at the entrance and a low balloon gate behind it, allowing only children to pass freely.
Xie Tan took out the "Clown Surprise Show Ticket," successfully passed the ticket check, and the ticket machine even gave him a lollipop.
He stopped in his tracks, the welcoming expression on the balloon gate looking confused. He looked up at Xie Tan for a few seconds, then suddenly realized.
The two inflatable arms of the balloon gate rise up, grab its arch, and pull upwards, allowing adults to pass through.
Xie Tan entered the room, pushed the children's beds to the corner, and cleared the middle space to set up a simple stage with more than a dozen colorful children's chairs underneath.
The missing children are sitting on chairs, while the only empty chair next to them is an ordinary chair for adults.
This seat was reserved for him.
The young audience members were dressed simply but completely covered up, not revealing a single inch of skin, just like in the group photo at the orphanage, and looked at him timidly.
It seems that when people shrink, their memories and minds revert to those of children.
Xie Tan ignored it and sat down in his seat.
A makeshift stage was erected over a hidden door and concealed by old curtains.
Xie Tan tried to send a message to Lu Jinzhao, but it didn't go through. However, a minute earlier, Lu Jinzhao had sent him a message reminding him that the second half had started and the clown had appeared.
The curtains automatically drew back, like a curtain being drawn back, and before Xie Tan's eyes, a familiar clown appeared on the makeshift stage, grinning and bowing exaggeratedly.
It jumped off the stage, walked to the equally simple audience seats, stopped in front of Xie Tan, and reached out to the back of Xie Tan's neck.
This is a rather sensitive spot for an omega, but Xie Tan held back, showing no reaction on his face.
The clown didn't touch him; he simply snapped his fingers, and a pigeon appeared out of thin air behind his ear.
The pigeon spread its wings and, amidst the children's exclamations, slowly flew in a circle before flying out the window.
The clown laughed heartily, shook his head, and walked to the next child, giving each child a little surprise.
The atmosphere became lively. The clown turned back and stopped in front of Xie Tan again, staring at him with his shrunken, terrifying eyes. He stretched out his hand, as if inviting him to come on stage.
The surroundings quieted down, and the children all watched the scene unfold.
Xie Tan heard thunderous applause and cheers coming from behind the wall behind him.
It was very lively; he had just listened to half of the performance in the tent.
What's going on? Is the tent's space right next door?
But the clown was still waiting for him. Without thinking too much, Xie Tan grasped the clown's hand and stood up.
Inside the circus tent.
Lu Jinzhao propped his head up and watched as the curtain rose and the clown appeared.
But he glanced at the exit first; the performance had started, and the door was already locked, preventing him from entering or leaving.
After performing a few warm-up magic tricks, the clown pulled out a life-size locker that could fit a person, then jumped off the stage and invited the board members to come on stage to perform with him.
The director pointed to himself, and amidst applause, smiled helplessly as he went up on stage and stood in the cabinet.
The clown closed the cabinet door, which was empty above the door, revealing the director's head.
The clown pulled out a broadsword and plunged it into the director's neck from the side, splitting the cabinet in two.
Holding the knife, it spun the cabinet halfway around, then suddenly turned around, revealing a strange smile that captivated the audience.
Slowly walk the remaining half circle and return to the original position. Inside the cabinet is the clown's head, its features wide open, making a "surprise" expression.
The clown, with the director's head perched atop his collar, stood with his arms outstretched, mirroring his own head in the cabinet, basking in the thunderous applause for a long time.
But when the cabinet door, which wasn't closed properly, was opened, the decapitated corpse in the lower cabinet slammed to the ground with a "thud," and blood splattered on the face of the secretary-general in the first row.
After an eerie silence, a scream rang out, shattering the clown's reverie.
The clown's head in the cabinet frowned unhappily.
The director's head, which was perched atop the clown's body, was frozen in its final smile, unable to make any more expressions.
It took a few steps forward, signaling everyone to be quiet.
Seemingly to appease them, it mysteriously pinched the collar of the Raffaele, flipped it up like a flap, and the director's head became another man's head. Then it flipped it again, and there was a new head with a stiff expression. It was two men and one woman.
The secretary-general's screams became even more agonizing. These were the two unreachable senior executives of the foundation and... the head of that orphanage director from back then!
The remaining two executives turned pale and frantically ran towards the exit. As soon as the front row moved, all the audience members started moving as well, rushing towards the exit in a swarm.
The front row had all run away. Lu Jinzhao looked around at everyone's reactions before belatedly realizing what was happening and followed them to the exit.
But it's performance time now.
The door is locked.
A note from the author:
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