Clown Game
Chapter 301 - 288 Bill

Chapter 301: Chapter 288 Bill

Bill...

By now, everyone knows that this is just a code name, and his real name...as usual, it isn’t important.

Like those traditional serial killers, he had a dark childhood, an unpopular student life, and no job, no friends, no lover, nobody cared about him, and nobody cared, among other miserable undertones. On top of that, he was intrinsically twisted and had various triggers; all these factors almost certainly destined him to become a serial killer.

Moreover, he was a sort of artistic killer—bold in action yet meticulous with details. Categorized under a clichéd term, he was a "high IQ criminal." This is what allowed him to repeatedly indulge his perverse inclinations in this civilized society. His ability to lead this group of people here without notice was proof of that, of course, ignoring the blunt hit on the head.

...

Getting to the point

The effects of the drug on Boss Xiaoyu had worn off, and he began looking for the rest of the people in the factory with Chen Xiao. In his heart, even if the two young storegirls were brutal, they were still teenagers. Having them stay in such an environment was unsettling to him. Not to mention his cousin was just an ordinary person; if anything happened to her, he’d never forgive himself.

Soon, on a dilapidated wall, the two found a piece of paper.

Drawn on it was a map, primitive, but clearly an overhead view of the factory. It had two arrows, one pointing to a figure symbolizing "emergency exit" and the other to a skull.

Beneath this map was a phrase.

"The exit is open for you, you can escape alone and survive with the curses of your loved ones.

The entrance is open for you, you can sacrifice yourself to rescue, and strive to survive under the baptism of hell."

This phrase wasn’t written with a pen, but was made of letters cut out from newspapers and glued on, a method heavily used in movies. Nevertheless, it must be admitted, it was quite effective.

After seeing the map, Boss Xiaoyu immediately understood its meaning, and the next second, he fiercely grabbed Chen Xiao’s wrist.

"You can’t leave! You have to help me rescue them!" he stated righteously.

Chen Xiao’s face fell, "Hey hey, just how unreliable do you think I am in your heart?"

"Very unreliable—right now, if I let go, you would definitely run away instantaneously!" the other person affirmed resolutely!

"Uh..." Chen Xiao was momentarily at a loss for words, "Okay, setting aside your misunderstanding of my character, just this little trick alone, how could I possibly fall for it?" He pointed at the map on the wall as he spoke.

"What do you mean?"

"It’s quite obvious, what this thing says about exits and entrances is all deceiving. He’s just tempting those who are panicking to run towards the supposed exit. I bet a lifetime supply of your paper tissues that if someone gets scared enough to actually run to the exit, their death would be immensely tragic. Meanwhile, the kidnapper would be sitting in some damned place, watching people meet their ends just to fulfill his twisted sense of accomplishment," Chen Xiao explained.

Upon hearing this, Fatso Boss involuntarily gulped.

"Hmm... now that you mention it, it does seem to make sense. So, what do we do now?"

"What else can we do? Let’s check out this so-called hell..." Chen Xiao said languidly and casually tore off the map. He looked at it front and back, then peeled off all the pasted letters.

As Xiaoyu watched Chen Xiao’s sequence of actions, he asked, "That... do you mind telling me what the hell you are doing?"

"Oh, just checking if there are any other clues on the back of this map. These guys who like to show off their intelligence always play this game. They’ll pop up when you’re about to kick the bucket and tell you something like ’actually, you’ve already found the answer, you just missed it’ as a sort of hindsight to make you die even more unwillingly, making them feel even more thrilled," Chen Xiao explained.

Xiaoyu was silent for a second... "Hey, hey, hey... how come you’re so proficient at this? It feels like you often have tea and chat with these guys."

"You’re thinking too much; I can’t afford that kind of company."

"..."

"Okay, this guy still has some brains. Every time he captures someone and brings them here, he redesigns the traps for torturing his prey. Like this wall here, there are some screws not fully removed, probably used to fix up some props. And here, the wall color is slightly different. Three months ago, a large cabinet was placed here, probably a water tank. And this paper was pasted up just a few days ago. He doesn’t like to play the same trick twice. He has a fetish for cleanliness, and his hands are quite skilled. These letters are cut very neatly, all attached with glue, but the application was so even, not even a bit spilled outside—you can tell he can’t stand having these things on his hands," Chen Xiao said while sniffing the paper in his hands, "Vinegar smell, and ginger, still lingering after three days. He likes cooking, doesn’t have much space at home, or there’s an abundance of vinegar and ginger to remove bad smells. Okay, he eats people, just like a hunter would handle his catch, too old-fashioned. The person is probably about our height, considering the height at which this was pasted, and able to handle a lot of heavy stuff—likely a man. Hard to guess his age, but definitely not too old."

Chen Xiao spoke swiftly, and across him, Boss Xiaoyu’s mouth slightly opened, blinking until the other finished, "Can I ask if all of you guys from this ’Altruistic Society’ or some ’Shield Bureau’ are trained in this?"

"No," Chen Xiao replied, also shaking his head inexplicably, then spread his arms in a disdainful manner.

"So, what are you doing now?"

"Ah, just mocking. There must be a surveillance camera around here. He likes to watch his prey panic..."

At this statement, Xiaoyu boss was taken aback, immediately becoming a bit timid, and started carefully looking around.

"Are you crazy, knowing he can see and still mocking??" he whispered fiercely.

"Ah, no worries, just drawing a little hatred. This way, that guy will focus his attention on me, and those female colleagues will be less harassed."

"What?" Boss Xiaoyu immediately grasped the implication of those words, "Didn’t you say they wouldn’t be in danger?"

Chen Xiao shrugged,

"Of course they won’t be in danger, the reason I don’t want this guy to bother them is because if he accidentally angers someone, it would be even more trouble to handle..."