Chapter 13 Red Nose (3) That's very charitable.
The new episode opens at the kindergarten gate.
At the school dismissal time, parents pick up their children at the gate, and those who know each other greet each other and chat for a few minutes.
There are also two middle schools near the kindergarten, and the flow of people is gradually increasing. Pedestrians come and go, and all kinds of people pass by the kindergarten gate, including office workers, parents, students, and children.
A little boy was being led by his parents, who were chatting with acquaintances. He looked around, his gaze slowly shifting from the endless stream of cars on his left to the fruit stand on his right, and then he suddenly stopped.
Across the street, next to a fruit stand, stood a clown.
The loose-fitting polka-dot clown costume and pointed clown shoes are all in contrasting red, blue, yellow and green colors.
A white ruff collar with intricate layers around her neck, and colorful curly hair.
The face was as white as paint, like a blank sheet of paper with features and textures smoothed out. It was then repainted with black ink and cheap lipstick, every stroke exaggerated, especially the smile.
It looked straight at me, its eye sockets were the size of a normal person's, but its irises were tiny dots like pen beads, far from reaching the edges in any direction.
Noticing the audience, its expression became lively. It picked up a strawberry from the fruit stand, flipped it back and forth in its hand, and then snapped it shut with a "snap," leaving a breathless pause.
With arms outstretched, the strawberry balloon rose gently into the air.
There was no cut to the audience's perspective, but the clown's lips slowly curled up, as if he were infected by the smiles of the audience he had designated.
The strawberry balloon floated across the road and reached the kindergarten gate, where it was hooked by a little finger.
The scene then shifts to the clown, showing the clown leading a little boy into the depths of an alley.
The balloon slipped from my hand, and the red thread flowed down, forming the title of the new episode, "Red Nose," with a red nose also appearing in the middle.
The following plot involves the clown using different magic tricks to deceive different children.
Then Xie Tan and Lu Jinzhao met at the community service building and temporarily teamed up.
Xie Tan didn't look down, but scrolled back up to the Joker's appearance image, slightly raising his phone to compare it with the coffee shop's poster.
The poster doesn't show the Joker's face; there's only a red nose on the ruff collar. The clothes look exactly like the Joker in the comics at first glance, but upon closer inspection, the differences become obvious: the color scheme, the polka dots, and the pocket placement are all different.
That's why Xie Tan was even more certain that this was the Joker from the comics, and that his ability was "switching".
"I'm here, sorry to keep you waiting." Lu Jinchao sat down opposite Xie Tan and let out a breath. He had run all the way from the teaching building after class.
He followed Xie Tan's gaze to the circus poster: "Oh, this! The Red Nose Circus, they've become very famous lately, they even came to our school to promote themselves, tickets are hard to come by, are you interested too?"
Xie Tan put down his phone: "Never heard of it."
"Because it wasn't originally called this, it was recently changed. It was struggling to stay afloat and was about to disband, but it was sponsored by the Oasis Charity Foundation and joined the charity performances. Its reputation spread, and it even attracted a particularly talented folk magician. The regular commercial performances outside of the charity shows are also selling better and better. This week they are performing in Diqiu, and tomorrow night will be the last show of this tour. I heard that the foundation's directors and secretary-general will be there, and the proceeds will be donated."
The two exchanged intelligence.
The parents of the student who ran away from home downstairs were indifferent, convinced that their child was just throwing a tantrum and had gone to stay at a classmate's house or maybe a hotel. Similar things had happened before.
But I still ask Lu Jinzhao to make sure he contacts them if he finds her.
This student likes birds and often wears a peace dove badge.
Lu Jinzhao's friend was from out of town and got into Diqiu City. His parents were busy with work, so they didn't take it seriously at first.
I only realized something might have happened after my child went missing until now. I've taken leave from work and will go to Diqiu tomorrow.
The two students, one a local high school student and the other a college student from out of town, had no connection with each other, yet their personalities were disliked by their families and classmates—introverted, sensitive, taciturn, solitary, resistant to being touched, and always immersed in their own world, making it difficult for outsiders to get a response from them. Once their hidden boundaries were crossed, they would explode.
The explosion wasn't meant to harm anyone; the devastating roar was simply to create a safe space, regardless of whether one was within the blast radius.
Lu Jinzhao: "They were able to abduct people silently in crowded places without anyone noticing a suspicious car or person. It wasn't a forced kidnapping. Did the people who took them exploit their vulnerability and lure them? But are they that easy to abduct? These aren't children who will leave with a piece of candy, and children these days are very wary of strangers..."
Xie Tan: "It takes away the children."
Lu Jinzhao was taken aback. He didn't question Xie Tan's words or ask about the source of Xie Tan's intelligence, as if it were perfectly normal for Xie Tan to know some secret information.
He even made a gesture of pulling his mouth shut to make sure he wouldn't tell anyone.
Xie Tan wondered if Xie Tan was some kind of hidden evil black wizard. It seemed he had left a deep impression on the true protagonist.
But who would knowingly offer help to an evil dark wizard?
Following the information provided by Xie Tan, Lu Jinzhao naturally blurted out, "A magic trick."
Xie Tan spoke at the same time: "Magic."
Strawberries turning into strawberry balloons, pigeon badges turning into pigeons, and flower buds turning into blooming roses are all examples of "small to big" magic tricks.
So, turning grown-up students back into children is the magic trick of "big to small".
This is also called "exchange".
At the beginning, the author still used a narrative trick, introducing the clown from the perspective of a little boy, but the hand hooking the balloon does not belong to that kindergarten child, but to a junior high school boy in the crowd who is waiting for his younger brother to get out of school.
He took the balloon and turned into a child, who was led away by the clown, creating the illusion that the clown had taken the boy away from the beginning.
The handprints on the medicine cabinet in the community service building were probably left by a neighbor's child who was lured away by the clown's magic tricks and was exploring the area.
“It seems we can’t miss tomorrow night’s performance.” Lu Jinzhao smiled and took out two tickets, one for Xie Tan. “A senior of mine has a ticket. She was originally going with a friend, but she had a seminar out of town at the last minute, so she gave me the ticket.”
Xie Tan accepted it: "Thank you."
They went home together, each opening their own door. Lu Jinzhao turned around and said, "See you tomorrow?"
"Mm," Xie Tan responded softly.
Lu Jinzhao waved happily to the puppy and went back inside after Xie Tan entered the house.
Xie Tan lay in bed, continuing to read comics.
The plot continues as he and Lu Jinzhao temporarily team up, and then they split up to carry out their missions.
First he went to kindergarten, then Lu Jinzhao went to his neighbor's house downstairs.
Just as Lu Jinzhao had said, the parents were indifferent. The mother prepared the food, the father mopped the floor, and answered Lu Jinzhao's questions in between. Fortunately, Lu Jinzhao was not embarrassed. If it were someone else, they would have asked a few questions and then left.
After Lu Jinzhao left, the father stopped mopping the floor, silently looked at his daughter's room for a while, then went back to his room without saying a word. After a while, he put on his clothes and came out again, then went downstairs.
The phone rang. Mom stopped chopping vegetables mechanically, answered the phone, and listened silently to the other end of the line before saying, "...Didn't you find her? Thank you for your help. Please let me know if you have any news about her...I know, her dad went downstairs to look for her again...Thank you for your help."
So we often argue, but I still care.
Xie Tan looked down and saw that before class, Lu Jinzhao went to the dormitory of the missing classmate to inquire. The roommates answered enthusiastically and even shared a lot of snacks with Lu Jinzhao, but when it came to questions about the missing classmate, they just laughed it off and didn't take it seriously.
They even welcome it.
Xie Tan was familiar with this kind of laughter.
Roommate A said worriedly, "If you hear anything about him, please let us know. We're worried about him too. We had planned to go to the movies together..."
Lu Jinzhao seemed completely oblivious to their malice, and replied brightly, "Okay!"
As soon as Lu Jinzhao left, their attitude changed immediately. Roommate B winked and teased Roommate A, "Oh, you've changed your taste. How come I didn't know you were going to watch a movie with poor little grass, Titanic?"
"To hell with Titanic, go watch Orphan!"
Everyone burst into loud laughter.
Xie Tan stopped there, realizing that this was not a simple retort. Beneath their simultaneous bursts of laughter lay a tacit message, brimming with malice.
So that's how it is.
The missing classmate was an orphan who was adopted by her current parents.
He recalled the subtle dynamics within the family that had run away from home, and the older brother who disappeared at the kindergarten gate and refused to pick up his younger brother.
The missing students are likely all adopted orphans.
Xie Tan then began investigating the Red Nose Circus and the Oasis Charitable Foundation.
The Red Nose Circus and Lu Jinzhao's account are pretty much the same.
For many years, the Oasis Charitable Foundation has been holding charity performances, inviting outstanding performers to perform for special groups.
One of them was a local welfare home in Dichi, but it was abandoned eight years ago due to a lack of funds.
Xie Tan found the address of the welfare home and will go check it out tomorrow morning.
After finishing the comic, Xie Tan started browsing the forum.
[This little thing is really unique; I'm taking a two-meter step back to see it better.]
[I have a phobia of clowns, waaaaah! Its eyes are so scary! Mom, the cabinet is moving! Ahhh!]
[Who's calling me? And while I'm at it, let's get a wife's attention! My Twitter account finally has a name!]
The real child abductors have appeared.
[Upstairs, I suspect you're subtly criticizing my wife!]
Ahhh, it feels like ages since we last met! I'm going to eat an extra bowl of snail noodles tonight just for this face! And an extra serving of fried chicken too!
"Are you doing that for beauty, you greedy girl?"
[Thank you, Lulu baby! I finally know her name: Xie Tan. It sounds so nice.]
[Lu Lu has already called Ah Tan, haha]
[Ah Tan and Lu Lu met again! It must be a special fate—]
Is it fate that we live across the hall from each other every day, haha?
[But it seems like the mysterious Ah Tan is nocturnal, while Lu Lu is practically a perpetual motion machine, working multiple jobs to date. Is it really possible to run into her? Besides, if the soundproofing in an old apartment building isn't good, you can probably hear what the neighbor is watching on TV.]
Can you hear the shower?
[What kind of inappropriate language is that upstairs... Do you ship them too?]
【you also? 】
[A misunderstanding at the beginning, next-door neighbors, exchanging names, exchanging contact information, reading names aloud... Actually, none of that matters. The main point is that they are both so good-looking. I'm just a sucker for good looks, I'm shipping them now!]
[So classy! I'm eating, eating, eating!]
[You guys still don't know how to ship them. They've already given each other roses, gone on a circus date, the next step is marriage.]
Xie Tan: "?"
What and what?
Xie Tan's mind went blank for once, and he was a bit out of sorts. He forcibly filtered out those affectionate terms of address and incomprehensible words and started looking at the plot analysis.
Similar to their analysis, the clown uses magic to trick students, turning them into children and then taking the children away.
[Take it away and eat it?]
That's too ordinary. Since there's a magic show, and sponsors are in attendance for the final performance with donations from the show's fees, it's such a grand affair. The clown is bound to put on a spectacular show.
[The atmosphere is eerie; could these children be props for its performance, or is it a new batch?]
Human body dismemberment, a sudden resurrection, a sword stuck in a cabinet... countless terrifying magic tricks flashed through my mind at that moment...
Then, amidst the cheers of the crowd, he truly died.
[Do they donate the money from performances using children's corpses? That's very charitable.]
We'll find out what kind of performance it is in the next episode. I'm more curious about their motives for investigating.
[Lu Lu is so easy to understand! My angel baby, I love you! Those people who were investigated... I feel sorry for anyone else, but Lu Lu is kind-hearted and sees kindness in everyone.]
[Besides, it has nothing to do with him. He only saw that classmate once backstage at the opening ceremony rehearsal, and the downstairs neighbor is just an ordinary neighbor.]
[Lu Lu seems carefree, but he's actually quite perceptive. He's just more concerned about the missing person. Every time he sees Lu Lu, he gets all soft and affectionate.]
[They even helped find the child, but what did Lulu and Atan mean by saying the wrong thing? I feel like they had a private telepathic conversation, and there's something I shouldn't hear!]
[Perhaps Lu Lu felt the invitation was too sudden? That's just how Lu Lu is, always ready to apologize, hahaha]
[Could it be a past event we don't know about? So what is Ah Tan's motive?]
Maybe he's a good person? Do a good deed every day!
[The man in black upstairs is punishing you by making you watch the first episode three times]
[Hahaha, why does the style suddenly change when it comes to Ah Tan!]
[Forget about the men in black; Ah Tan is a genuine local, he's definitely not some innocent good guy.]
[Ah Tan said he's looking for a locksmith. Are there any locksmiths among the missing people? Didn't he scare one away last time?]
[Are you kidding? Since you asked, I'll just give you a perfunctory answer. Does anyone understand the dry humor I posted? Lu Lu didn't even realize it, hahaha.]
[It's a haunted house. The hair locking the door belongs to the previous resident. Maybe the previous resident died in that house.]
【Architectural features of Dichu City: haunted houses and various abandoned buildings everywhere】
Enjoy third-tier city housing prices in first-tier cities, as long as you're not afraid of ghosts.
[Our city of Fiddler is so kind even in the dead of night; the previous resident even gave the next resident a welcome gift, sob sob sob]
[Ah Tan's attitude is like: One bedroom is enough to sleep in. What if the other one is haunted and locked? Whatever, goodnight.]
Looking back now, that room wasn't for keeping a ghost; it was just that the ghost was clinging to Tan, so Tan let it stay there. As for whether the ghost could actually get in, Tan said: "You ghosts can figure that out yourselves."
[Haha, you're so calm! That's the strength of us locals!]
[He's a top figure even among the locals. I'm really curious about Ah Tan's background—who exactly is he?! And does he really not know what's in the room?]
Don't you guys think A-Tan is very familiar with Diqiu University? He can even give directions. I remember Diqiu University is quite a maze, right?
Yes, sometimes we get lost and can't find our way around.
[Could it be that Atan also went to Diqiu University? Then he and Lulu were classmates!]
[Looking forward to it! I want to see the campus storyline—it should be the main plot, right?]
A note from the author:
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