Clown Game
Chapter 315 - 302 Doubts (Part 4)

Chapter 315: Chapter 302 Doubts (Part 4)

The old streets, old buildings, and even the old sewers constantly emitted the odor of decaying, ancient refuse. This place seemed like a slice of an old district cut out from memories over 50 years ago, even the air exuded a sense of bygone eras.

What surprised Bai Xiong even more was that this street was actually near his own factory, except he had never visited it before.

Five minutes later, he walked into an apartment building.

Every inch of this place seemed to devour the light, turning the entire staircase into a path leading towards the unknown darkness while emitting the unsettling creak of wooden planks.

This place... resembled the gathering spots of drug addicts in the movies.

On the third floor, in front of a room.

There was no door number, no peephole—just a piece of wood with a lock hole drilled on its edge.

This was the location mentioned by the vagrant.

A few hours earlier, Bai Xiong had dialed that number. The vagrant had answered the call; he didn’t say anything extra, just gave him this address... along with one more sentence...

"If you start to doubt, then come."

At that moment, Bai Xiong felt his brain must have been scrambled; otherwise, how could he possibly do something like this.

So... he came.

"I start to doubt?? What am I doubting?"

Bai Xiong asked himself, his hand suspended mid-air, hesitating for a long time before he finally knocked.

"Thud——"

"Thud——"

"Creak————"

The door was opened, and a hideous face peeked out, looking around before making way.

"Uh... I didn’t mean to come, yeah, I was just curious about what you’re..." Bai Xiong rambled incoherently, as if he were still trying to justify his foolish actions to himself.

"Come in!" The other person didn’t care what he was saying and yanked him into the room.

...

It was a very simple two-bedroom flat, the style, and age of the furniture matching the building, even the smell was similar, perhaps even a bit more revolting.

"You have a home?" That was Bai Xiong’s first question; after all, no matter how you looked at it, this vagrant didn’t seem like someone who would have a house.

The other person didn’t seem inclined to answer but instead asked abruptly, "You’ve started to doubt as well?"

"Doubt what?" Bai Xiong looked utterly confused.

"Don’t know, but you must feel something’s off; this apartment, the building, the whole world, you, me, the air, anything."

He spoke incoherently.

But Bai Xiong could hardly believe that he actually understood.

Yes, he felt all around him, there was a subtle sense of oddness.

So, he swallowed nervously and said, "I... am very thirsty."

The vagrant paused, sweeping a quick glance over Bai Xiong from head to toe and asked directly, "How long has it been?"

"Six days..."

"What about food?"

"Haven’t eaten anything, haven’t drunk anything, it’s painful, but not in the way you’d imagine... You should know."

"Of course, I know, I’ve been like this all along."

"Yeah, I’m starving, but somehow still alive, and... haven’t even lost any weight," Bai Xiong said.

"You see, I knew you would notice eventually," the homeless man said as if it were obvious.

"Enough, what exactly did you call me here for?"

After a moment of thought, the homeless man responded, "I’ve discovered even more things that aren’t right, right behind this door," motioning to a bedroom door behind him. "But no matter what you see, you must not panic!"

Bai Xiong frowned, instinctively feeling that there wouldn’t be anything good behind that door, but at this point, he had no reason to back down.

"What’s inside?" he asked.

"You asked me if this house was mine, didn’t you? Of course, it isn’t," the homeless man said, slowly pushing open the bedroom door. "It’s theirs..."

An annoying buzzing sound followed, then a pungent stench wafted out.

On the bedroom bed, two decaying corpses lay without any clothes, their rotting bodies naked and exposed. Countless flies, startled by the opening of the door, buzzed around them, eager to leave yet reluctant to abandon such a perfect breeding ground.

Bai Xiong was momentarily stunned.

...

"Shit!" he cursed, instinctively stepping back, his legs gave way, and he fell to the ground.

"You-you-you... bastard!" he stammered, his voice trembling as he frantically reached for his phone, trying to call for help.

But... everything seemed to be happening in slow motion.

Just like the car accident a few days ago.

The homeless man intently watched Bai Xiong’s reaction, then nodded as if to say "Just as I thought," and took a step forward, snatching the phone from his hand.

"Calm down!" the homeless man yelled.

How could Bai Xiong possibly calm down? He quickly backed into a corner, grabbed a coat hanger next to him, and held it in front of himself, eyes wide with terror.

"Don’t come any closer!!!" he shouted.

The homeless man stood still, clearly not wanting to provoke Bai Xiong further. "Don’t be rash, think about your reaction!" he also yelled. "You’re not really scared, those emotions have been added afterwards, that’s not you!"

Bai Xiong continued to breathe heavily, his muscles tensed, but he seemed to realize something was off about his own reaction.

Like this, the two men stood in silence for a few seconds.

"What... what’s going on?" Bai Xiong finally seemed to settle down and slowly stood up, though he did not put down the coat hanger.

The homeless man sighed with relief upon seeing his reaction. "I don’t know what’s going on, but I feel like... this world is fake!"

"...What?" Bai Xiong stared at him as if he were looking at a fool.

"It’s hard to explain, but I feel like I’m not supposed to be this way. My memory, my identity, my habits, none of it belongs to me. My brain has been deceiving me! This world is also deceiving me."

As he spoke, he took out his phone, opened a photo, then turned around and picked up a magazine from the bedroom table.

"Look, this is a photo I took a few streets away a few days ago," he pointed to a house on the screen. "At the time, this house was right in front of me, tangible and real."

"So what?"

"So?" the homeless man echoed and tossed the magazine to Bai Xiong.

Bai Xiong looked down at the cover photo, a beautiful seascape with a woman dressed lightly standing on the side of the street looking towards the sea.

Then, his eyes widened in horror.

Because he saw, next to the street in the picture, half of a house was shown.

Identical to the one on the homeless man’s phone.