Doomsday Jigsaw Puzzle

Chapter 351: Chapter 155: The Origin of the Circus and Bai Wu’s Prodigies

(For the Silver Covenant, random bonuses cannot be used, progress completion 34/100.)

The clown had normal, healthy emotions, but due to his mouth, when he expressed his joys and sorrows, it always looked like a smile.

His parents thought him a burden because the family was unwilling to spend more money to treat his deformed mouth.

His existence seemed to indicate that the union of his parents was a mistake, for they had given birth to a monster with a mouth deformity.

Fortunately, his later brothers and sisters restored their confidence.

A few years passed, and the clown felt his status diminishing, becoming increasingly marginalized.

No matter what he did, he could not win his parents’ approval; the more sensible one gets, the less they are encouraged, while his mischievous siblings seemed to easily earn the parents’ praise.

His brothers and sisters were afraid of him, his mom and dad detested him.

But what did I do wrong? The clown pondered this question more than once.

He studied hard, diligently helped his parents with household chores, and tried not to cause any trouble for the adults because of his mouth. But his parents never seemed to care for him.

At school, he also tried hard to fit in with others, but instead faced their ridicule and sarcasm.

There were certainly those kind souls willing to befriend him; however, thinking of the trouble that befriending him might cause them... the clown walked away.

His face always seemed to carry a smile, filled with joy and humor.

But his silhouette was always hunched over, lonely and sad.

He believed everything he did was right, but even so, everything was gradually veering off course.

Eventually, he was rejected by his family and left home.

It was as if he had died. There was no news from him ever again.

Until, a few years later, during the initial period of the apocalypse, he appeared on the outskirts of Baichuan City with a circus troupe.

Six-fingered people, backless individuals, people with three hands, two-faced people, dwarfs, and even someone who grew two special parts and claimed they could marry two people at the same time.

All of these people were discriminated against because of their deformities, but in this circus, they were welcomed for their curious appearances.

When everyone started smiling, the clown finally felt that he was no longer a deformity; when everyone else laughed, him always having a smiling face... seemed normal too.

So from that moment on, his life had a clear and grand objective.

Let the world be filled with joy! Let everyone in this world live amidst smiles!

That’s what he thought, wanting to use the circus to bring happiness to everyone. At that time, his thoughts were not yet twisted.

But what he didn’t know... the world was already on a countdown to the next era.

Initially, people felt joy and were happy because of the amusing acts; they were even inspired by the motivational stories of these deformed individuals.

But gradually, due to repetition in the shows, because the novelty of the curiosities had worn off, also because of the pressures of life, and the various changes brought by the apocalypse... the circus’s business got worse and worse.

Everything was spiraling inward, and even the animals in the neighboring zoo began to mutate to attract visitors.

Even if the circus had occasional business, few people laughed, and everyone found the unoriginal performances increasingly boring.

Were the curiosities interesting to watch? Perhaps, but with the arrival of Evil Fallen, with some mutants and even mechanical mutants appearing, the circus folks lost their only source of joy.

And surrounding the circus, that gloomy Abyss Amusement Park, had seen many chilling incidents—such as a Ferris wheel spinning in the dead of night with wailing cries, and a carousel that shrieked as though it were a living creature...—which led to a significant decline in foot traffic to the entire suburban recreational area.

Once nobody showed a smile, the Clown again became a deformed monster.

Everyone was struggling to survive, all striving to gather enough resources to stay alive in the post-apocalyptic world, yet the Clown had gradually gone mad, wishing for everyone in the world to be happy, to laugh.

But nobody laughed anymore; people screamed in madness, scurried about, prayed, seethed with anger.

Eventually, under the influence of all these emotions, they each turned into real monsters.

Any desire that remains unfulfilled, once it reaches a certain level, becomes a negative emotion.

The Clown was no different—it kept asking itself over and over, where’s the laughter? Where’s the laughter?

Since when had the world become devoid of laughter?

No matter how noble a dream, in a dark environment, driven by countless negative emotions, that dream would become distorted.

And so, it... mutated. After becoming Evil Fallen, its inner obsession became even more exaggerated...

Once it had a deformed appearance and a beautiful soul.

But now, its soul, too, was marked as deformed.

It possessed a common Mutation Entry: The Bewitching Laugh.

The laughter could infect those nearby but wasn’t contagious; it only affected those within its immediate vicinity.

And its infective ability wasn’t very strong.

Centuries later, this entry evolved into a rare Mutation Entry—The Devouring Laugh.

Compared to The Bewitching Laugh, this entry, despite enhancing the effects overall, still seemed plain and unremarkable among many others.

Until recently... when the entry evolved once more, seemingly related to the opening of the Well, altering the danger levels of certain areas.

The opening of the Well would cause the blue and white areas to diminish, while the purple and red areas proliferated.

The change in area danger levels was reflected in the strength of the Guardians.

A powerful entry emerged during the period when the Well was open, one that, if not dealt with promptly, could destroy an entire city.

The perfect Mutation Entry—The Euphoric Voice.

The laughter now had a much more potent bewitching quality and could spread without loss.

Of course, when the Clown informed Yan Jiu of these matters, why the entry evolved was something not even the Clown knew the reason for.

All these were conjectures made by Bai Wu.

"I will make the whole world happy again. With my efforts, everyone will live in an ocean of joy and laughter, hahahahahahaha..."

The Clown laughed loudly, its quivering body causing the four balloons it held to collide with one another, as if its family, too, were rejoicing for it.

All the creatures around began to laugh. Such a joyful and peaceful atmosphere.

The Clown danced with simple steps, while the members of the Abnormal Circus around it also twisted their bodies in tune, their laughter already somewhat horrifying, their steps erratic, their eyes fatigued.

Yan Jiu watched the Clown without any trace of a smile. Her voice was very soft, in this tide of laughter, it should have stirred not the slightest ripple...

But the clown, despite his laughter, cared deeply for this somewhat dazed girl without a smile.

"But... laughter should be due to happiness, if it’s just laughter for the sake of laughter, then... it’s not true joy."

The clown’s smile remained just as bright:

"Laughter means happiness! You said it yourself, you can’t feel happy, so since you can’t experience happiness, how do you know they aren’t happy? Hahahahaha... hahahaha..."

Lin Rui had set his sights on the clown, and although he couldn’t stop himself from laughing, he was still confident he could kill the clown before the laughter consumed him completely.

In this, Lin Rui was quite certain, as temporal power allowed him to do it all in an instant.

Feeling the endless laughter spreading through the night, Yan Jiu felt very sad.

"You used to know that laughter doesn’t represent happiness... True, I can’t laugh, but even someone like me... I know there are many kinds of laughter. I can distinguish the differences."

Yan Jiu made a gesture she hadn’t made for a long time; her index fingers lifted the corners of her mouth into a smile.

The smile was incredibly bitter, and the girl’s eyes carried a hint of sorrowful pity.

The statement was devoid of any clever tricks, but Yan Jiu’s gesture effectively conveyed her point.

The clown could see the strain in the smile and the true emotions hidden within it.

Yan Jiu was such a person; she had many emotions she couldn’t express, but there were also many emotions that were easily readable on her face.

She never hid anything, and only in front of those she cared for did she desperately hope that they could see she was happy.

"I too once thought that laughter meant happiness, I’ve mimicked many people’s laughs, and I’ve laughed in front of a mirror, but emotions that can’t be felt... simply can’t be felt, no matter how you try to imitate them, it’s pointless..."

"Someone later told me that I didn’t need to do that; people who don’t like me won’t start liking me because of my smile, they’ll just think I’m even more deformed. Those who like me... can understand my true feelings, I really don’t need to force myself to please them!" fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓

Yan Jiu’s fingers moved away, and the bitter smile somehow became a bit sweeter, but her watery eyes still let everyone know that the owner of the smile was merely grinning and bearing it.

The clown’s laughter stopped for a second or two.

Perhaps because it lost some emotional support, the laughter from the people around ceased.

Once it was silent, panic set in. Then, as a reflex, it rearmed itself with its usual emotion, and the terrifying laughter echoed once again in the night:

"Hahahaha... What are you babbling about? Nonsense!"

"Laughter is happiness! People laugh because I bring them joy! Otherwise, why would so many think I am happy! Because I have a face that’s always laughing!"

"They detest me, loathe me, bully me, hate me, but they never back down, and never apologize! Because they see me laughing! Because everyone thinks I’m very happy! Hahahahahaha..."

Yan Jiu looked at the clown and suddenly felt she was witnessing a freak like herself.

When she was young, her inability to feel joy always made her disliked, but now she knew there were existences even more tragic than herself.

Compared to not feeling joy, the clown’s plight of being misunderstood as joyful no matter what he did or suffered, was even more pitiful and painful.

"I’m sorry... I didn’t mean to hurt you. When I was a child, because I couldn’t produce a smile, I was hated, I thought as long as I could feel joy, as long as I could smile back at others, I would be happy."

"I even thought I was a deformed being, a monster... but then I realized, it was just that my world was too small. There are many people in this world, no matter how hard you try, you cannot make them happy. But there are also those... who are willing to like us."

The laughter around faded away once again, and although the clown disagreed with Yan Jiu’s view, strangely, it always listened intently to what Yan Jiu had to say.

This scene seemed inconceivable to Bai Wu, and Lin Rui suddenly found himself unsure of what to do.

"The people by the senior’s side... each and every one of them is a master... How come I feel like, without fighting, we are going to concede again? Wait, why did I say ’again’?"

An absurd yet soon-to-become-reality thought emerged in Lin Rui’s mind.

"I think the idea of making the world happy is an unrealistic but truly great idea. Even if it’s unattainable, it’s still worth admiration."

"You were indeed let down by others before, but I must tell you... the world is vast, and there will be people who won’t let you down, as well as people who genuinely find your kind of smile healing... I believe that you once knew what true happiness was, you must have seen that kind of expression."

The Clown indeed remembered and had truly felt it when the audience burst into laughter, conveying happiness to him.

It was then that he thought he had found his life’s purpose and direction.

"It’s just that later... You misconstrued your former self. The people who bullied you did so because your body was different from others, but at least in my eyes, you are not the one who is deformed; it’s those who bullied you. But now you... are doing the same things as them!"

"I believe this isn’t what you truly want... You’re just too desperate for everyone to live in happiness, and that obsession has twisted you."

"Wanting to make everyone happy, one must have a genuinely kind heart to harbor such a thought. Indeed, I cannot feel joy or happiness, but if one day I could regain my full range of emotions, I think I would be happy for you finding yourself again..."

Words are powerful, but not as much as one might imagine.

Oftentimes, the same words spoken by different people can have a completely different taste, or even belong to a different level.

This is a talent that is very hard to grasp, and without a doubt... Yan Jiu is the most talented one Bai Wu has ever seen.

Or perhaps this cannot even be called talent. It’s practically cheating.

After these words were spoken, The Clown showed a thoughtful expression, and his laughter stopped again.

As the laughter at the source halted, in a short time, the laughter around Bai Wu inside the apartment also vanished.

Bai Wu put away the conch shell.

Because he already knew what would come next, he felt as if he saw himself in certain scenes, saying to Evil Fallen: Now it’s my turn.

Yan Jiu gave Bai Wu this kind of impression. At this moment, Lin Rui by Yan Jiu’s side was much like the team captain who used to be by his own side. A qualified straight-man audience.

Of course, Yan Jiu’s rhetoric was not particularly brilliant.

But Yan Jiu’s experiences matched The Clown’s too well, combined with Yan Jiu’s natural demeanor that somehow drew the "abnormal souls" closer.

So the person speaking is extremely important, and that’s the element of verbal skill that cannot be learned.

"There’s still some time before the Strange Talk arrives... Looks like, Lin Rui will probably get things settled before me."

Bai Wu thought he would continue to wait in boredom, but at that moment, his Apostle Armor... suddenly reacted.

A voice emerged in Bai Wu’s mind.

Bai Wu remembered that Zero had said he had cut off the Angel Envoy’s data sensing, making it an item belonging solely to himself.

But in a life-or-death crisis, he could call for emergency assistance through the Angel Envoy. Similarly, he could also receive emergency calls from Mechanical City.

Bai Wu’s mind worked quickly; if it wasn’t for something extremely urgent... Zero probably wouldn’t contact him through the Angel Envoy.

Zero’s message was straightforward to the point.

[This is Zero, Baichuan City is about to face a catastrophe.]