Clown Game
Chapter 313 - 300 Doubts (Part 2)

Chapter 313: Chapter 300 Doubts (Part 2)

The sunlight filtered through the clouds, casting a faint light over the streets, and the moist air from the rain was still meandering around—it was early morning.

Bai Xiong awoke, the sound of his wife’s breathing still beside him. He looked around the bedroom that he had known for many years and felt as if with the closing and opening of his eyes, the night had passed. Other than the light outside the window, there was nothing to prove the passage of time... not even a dream.

He quietly got up without waking the person beside him. Perhaps in this world, sleeping in is the greatest happiness.

Bai Xiong washed his face and got dressed. The mirror was placed in a standard position, meaning he had to bend down slightly to see his entire face.

Short hair, slightly broad cheekbones, lips not very thick... not particularly eye-catching compared to the muscles that seemed to have grown out of nowhere... His eyes lacked emotion, maybe already worn down by the weather or his factory supervisor. Everyone would turn out this way eventually; there was nothing unusual about it.

Well... it was time to go to work.

...

...

The chill on the streets seemed more prosperous than usual after a night’s nurture. Bai Xiong’s robust body was more than capable of handling the cold, but he naturally shrank his neck a bit.

On a street corner, there was an early-opening fast-food cart, offering burgers and deep-fried dough sticks. To the owner, these foods were just differently shaped dough fried in oil—one with meat, the other without. To the customers, it was only a matter of one being cheaper and the other a bit more expensive, which depended solely on their wallets, not any cultural difference.

Life... should be this way.

Bai Xiong approached the cart and ordered two burgers... By rights, he could order five to seven to be fully satisfied, but it seemed the judgmental looks from others restrained him, so he only ordered two... This was the second discomforting thing of his day, akin to the vagrant after work, both existing in this world but somehow utterly out of place.

Of course, he would soon overlook this peculiar feeling, for he found that eating just two burgers didn’t affect his work performance, it just left his stomach somewhat empty.

A few minutes later, Bai Xiong, with burgers in hand, walked and ate as he reached the last road before the factory. The surrounding area was filled with office workers waiting for the traffic lights, their eyes dull from lack of sleep.

Standing next to him was a man with thinning hair, holding a briefcase from his own factory... Bai Xiong frowned and looked at the man. At his age, he seemed to have been working for many years, yet Bai Xiong felt he had never seen him before.

Not from the same factory area?

That shouldn’t mean he had no impression at all.

Never mind, though it was a bit strange, it was inconsequential. Sometimes it’s like that, people you never notice suddenly appear before you and enter your life, as if they sprung from nowhere; maybe others viewed him in the same way.

Who knows.

At that moment, Bai Xiong had just stuffed the first burger into his mouth, bending down to grab the second from his bag. It was then that the traffic light changed from red to green... The unfamiliar colleague next to him hurried into the crosswalk.

Suddenly...

"Thud!"

A dull sound, right in front of him.

A huge shadow blocked the light ahead, followed by a gust of wind that rushed past his nose. The tires screeched against the road surface, making a piercing noise.

Bai Xiong looked up...

Right in front of him, a truck carrying a massive container was swerving, seemingly still unwilling to stop sliding forward, and the old man who had just stepped off the sidewalk was nowhere to be seen. The next second, a smell of blood reached his nose, and Bai Xiong then felt a warm dampness on his cheek.

"Accident!!"

"Human lives!!"

His mind had already begun to roar, a wave of fear spreading from his heart, urging his throat to scream and causing his entire body to shiver.

However, it seemed that these natural emotions were half a beat too slow,

so in such a scene, Bai Xiong unnaturally, slowly unwrapped the burger packaging and nonchalantly... took a bite.

"Ah——————!!!!"

A scream!

In the crowd, a woman was the first to react properly and instantly, the crowd boiled over, everyone pushing, panicking, adding the proper atmosphere expected of a car accident. Bai Xiong suddenly realized he should have been frightened too. The delayed terror surged within him, and following his reflexes, his body began to tremble. But inside, he felt a hint of something odd about himself.

At the same time, unnoticed by anyone, a ragged, ugly-faced homeless man was watching this scene from a nearby street corner, licking his lips, deep in thought.

...

...

That day, the factory seemed livelier than usual. Everyone finally found something to talk about in their boring lives. The body of the man who had been sent flying by the car was turned into various stories circulating among the crowd.

Only Bai Xiong... seemed more silent than usual.

Until the end of the workday, he hadn’t said a word, but since he was usually like that, nobody noticed anything amiss.

The buses continued to be overcrowded, people desperately cramming in, compressing themselves into part of this human canned meat.

Bai Xiong also followed his usual path home.

Only today, his mind was filled with doubts.

The morning’s car accident, that strange panic, it was as if he hadn’t owned those emotions himself but as if an invisible hand had twisted open his skull and stuffed them inside.

What exactly... was happening?

Bai Xiong wondered as he walked, and without realizing it, he had reached the street corner where the homeless man was.

He subconsciously looked that way again.

That person was indeed still there.

Bai Xiong turned his head and continued on.

Suddenly...

"Hey!! Do I know you?" the homeless man shouted.

The surroundings were silent and devoid of people; clearly, the question was directed at Bai Xiong.

He turned his head, looking puzzled at the distant figure: "We shouldn’t know each other... because I don’t know you..." he replied, not even sure why he would entertain such a bizarre question.

Upon hearing the answer, the homeless man seemed to ponder for a moment, then awkwardly rose up, ungracefully scratching his thigh.

"If you don’t know me... Do you think I am real?"

...