Clown Game
Chapter 144 - 144 140 Containment Failure 10

Chapter 144: Chapter 140 Containment Failure 10 Chapter 144: Chapter 140 Containment Failure 10 Reflecting on a few months ago, in the coffee shop owned by the young boss Xiao Yu. That was the first time Qiu Mujin had truly met Chen Xiao…

The content of their meeting was straightforward, summarized in three points.

First, encourage him to hand over the anomalous item to “Angel” his younger sister.

Second, inform him that the “Order Foundation” was doing some terrifying things.

Third, to clarify that she was indeed a writer.

So, setting aside the first two points for the moment and focusing solely on the third.

Writer

Or rather, someone who “writes things…”

That was something Qiu Mujin had always enjoyed doing.

The nib touching paper, the molding of words together, then blending, and adjusting… until they shone brilliantly, was an incredibly delightful process.

She was obsessed with writing, and of course, she was very good at it.

And so… Mujin acquired a fountain pen.

The pen was black, with silver-white trim.

If we were to see this pen from God’s perspective, we would surely find it very familiar…

Because among the members of the Order Foundation’s “High Council,” there was a woman, who always carried a book with her… This book too had a black cover, wrapped with faint silver edges.

It matched the pen quite well.

Yes, they were originally a whole.

Through countless ages, it changed forms, from carvings in caves to various bamboo slips, from blood letters on sheepskin to the present paper pages.

And in those unknown documents, it received many, many names.

“The Exposition of Truth”

“God’s Notes”

“Demon’s Grimoire”

“Dead Sea Script”

Nowadays, not many people knew of its existence.

Those who did gave it a new title with feigned propriety.

S—005

Today, S—005 had been divided into two independent entities.

That book was in her hands.

That pen was in her hands.

Because of this pen, the words Mujin wrote acquired a different significance.

Her writings were no longer just casual reading material for leisure or mere decorative vases.

She no longer indulged in writing whining sentences nor sought after emotion’s density or philosophical depth between the lines.

She wrote fewer and fewer words.

But each word was exceedingly useful.

For instance, at this moment.

She once again wrote the words “open door” on an electronic gate that appeared incredibly sturdy…

So

The door opened.

In front of her was a very small room. In the center of the room stood something akin to a “metallic coffin,” a long rectangular object over two meters tall. At first glance, the impression it gave was “solid.”

Toward its upper part, there was a square window covered by a special glass, through which one could see a boy who was currently lying there quietly with his eyes closed, a life-support mask fitted over his mouth and nose…

This person was naturally Lin Fan!

After he collapsed, he was brought here and had been in a deep sleep ever since. What awaited him were endless experiments and confinement that would not end even in death…

To spend the rest of his life in a containment room… This was something he had guessed… and had always feared.

But in the end, he hadn’t managed to avoid it.

…

…

Mujin looked at his young, immature face, finding it hard to associate him with the person in the holographic image, who like a mad dog, was fighting with the last of his strength with an iron spike in his hand.

She smiled…

Rationality… or madness…

She needed such odd individuals and strange occurrences.

That’s why she had helped that self-proclaimed “Angel,” the unusual being.

That’s why she wanted to save the boy named “Aming” who didn’t grow hair.

That’s why she came looking for Lin Fan.

That’s why she went to all lengths to rescue the anomalous beings or items contained by the Foundation.

And so… she took a significant risk, preparing to meet Chen Xiao as he was at this very moment.

She

was looking for a group of people with the same ideas.

…

…

“Humans… are terrifying creatures!” This was the first substantial thing Qiu Mujin said to Chen Xiao in the cafe, aside from cake and otaku talk.

Indeed, that’s how humans are! Always defining other things through their own cognition.

For example, kittens are cute, cockroaches are ugly

For example, the steam engine is the truth, while teleportation circles are delusions.

Even a cake, if you pipe the cream on beautifully, it’s perfect, but if you let it melt into a muddy syrup, it’s a waste.

…

But in fact, are these things “right”?

Well, right and wrong are actually just vague words we’ve created.

So let’s put it another way.

…

Do we really understand this world?

We create numbers to help us calculate. We create all sorts of sciences to explain everything, we create a theoretical system, deluding ourselves that it can crack the so-called truth.

We define this world, and then call those things we can’t explain “anomalies.”

Eradicate them… Contain them… and endow these actions with a great sense of mission.

That’s what the Foundation is doing.

It’s not so much that they are protecting humankind.

Rather, they are protecting the world of cognition created by humankind.

So do we really understand this world?

What if the world we understand is wrong?

…

…

The Foundation clears away and contains more and more anomalies.

But more and more anomalies keep cropping up.

Humans keep trying to plug errors with errors, leading to bigger and bigger gaps…

It’s like a vicious cycle.

Could there come a day when humans can’t mend the hole any longer?

At that time.

When the world’s true rage descends.

Who will really be the “anomaly” that should be cleared away?

…

…

“Change”

This was the first word Qiu Mujin wrote down after picking up the black pen…

However, this word couldn’t express her thoughts, because since the appearance of humankind, no one had thought of what she was thinking.

What she wanted was not a reform in the ordinary sense.

The passing of eras is inevitable.

Whether something becomes obsolete or immortal depends on the way it exists.

What Qiu Mujin wanted to change… was all of humanity.

She wanted people to re-examine themselves, and at the same time… to re-understand this world.

That is to say, she was doing something completely opposite to what the Order Foundation was doing.

…

Qiu Mujin picked up the pen, walked over to Lin Fan, glanced at him through the hatch, and then swiftly made several strokes…

With a “hiss”, negative pressure rushed into the chamber, the person wearing a baseball cap stepped forward and caught Lin Fan as he collapsed unconsciously.

And Qiu Mujin glanced at her wristwatch…

“We’re off by 15 seconds from A-Ming’s calculation.”

She said this and pulled out a red hairpin from her pocket.

“Be careful…”

Qiu Mujin said,

then clipped the hairpin to her own head…

(Sigh, my recent state has really not been good. Every day I get home, I have to do chores for a whole family of relatives; otherwise, it’s seen as disrespecting the family. Today I wrapped dumplings until past 7 o’clock, and I didn’t dare say I wanted to write my novel, or else I’d be accused of not taking life seriously. I can only secretly write in my bed every night. Sigh… During the New Year, I want to overhaul everything I wrote this week; what was originally a good plot turned into a mess. Lastly, happy Little New Year.)