Clown Game
Chapter 376 - -3 Once Upon a Time III

Chapter 376: Chapter -3 Once Upon a Time III

Perhaps it was the words of some legendary being... "Let there be light".

Since then, ’light’ seemed to become the beginning of all stories. It illuminated the world, nurtured life, moved the motionless second hand, and set everything in motion.

Thus, with this beam of light that was bright yet unbearable to look at directly... he appeared.

Like the few times before, a humanoid body, reasonably tall, with a hooked nose and a somewhat broad chin. This was a Westerner’s face, dressed in an oversized trench coat and a deerstalker hat.

This man... was the incarnation of rationality, order, and omniscience. Of course, he was not just these simple words, but a blended concept, an entity that had been drifting in this world before we existed, difficult to summarize in a word, but everyone present knew what he was.

So... everyone watched him with caution.

Until he opened his eyes.

"Where is this?" the man asked, in a very standard London accent, deep but somewhat fast. Immediately afterward, he seemed stunned, as if puzzled by the fact that he had spoken... Then came the vision from his eyes; he looked around, touched his face with his hands, feeling the texture of his skin, his chest rising and falling, savoring the sensation of air flowing into his lungs.

They all acted similarly upon their appearance, and for an entity without ’life’ and ’body,’ merely feeling "puzzled" was enough to confound them.

"Hello!" Chubby was the first to greet him again, as the initiator and person responsible for the "Dimensional Manifestation Proposal," he seemed to have an inexplicable excitement about ’conversing with a higher-dimensional life form.’

However, this time, the person did not respond, but lowered his head in thought. After a while, he seemed to remember something, miraculously reaching into his coat pocket and then pulling out a pipe.

...

He was adjusting to this body, like an angel trying to spread its wings, or a madman trying to grin. The man hesitated, slowly stuffing the pipe into his mouth and lighting the leftover tobacco dregs inside with a match from his pocket.

Inhaling... then enveloped in smoke.

"Humans..." With the spiciness in his lungs, he slowly responded with these words.

Everyone frowned because no one knew why he had said those two words.

"Uh? You said ’humans,’ what do you mean?" Chubby had already stepped closer and stopped about 3 meters away.

"Humans, you... and this body." He responded faintly, later lifting his head, his eyes like a fog, concealing the true sight behind them.

Chubby breathed a sigh of relief; this guy was quiet, at least quieter than the last lunatic, showing no hostility whatsoever.

"Yes, humans, we have drawn you into our world so naturally you would look like us." Chubby raised his hand, gesturing towards the body much taller than himself across from him.

Unexpectedly.

"No, that’s not the reason I look this way." The man shook his head, "It is the inevitable result. I must look like this, as a human, otherwise, you wouldn’t understand, and we wouldn’t be able to communicate. Your narrow world view cuts off the bonds with the outside, making you only able to understand me in this form."

A moment of silence. The outermost guards covertly placed their fingers next to the triggers, and some hidden defensive weapons silently began to rotate their muzzles towards the center of the area.

All these actions were incredibly secretive, unseen and unheard by anyone.

So the man’s expression remained unchanged, he noticed nothing... perhaps.

"It seems we hold different philosophies," Chubby continued nonchalantly, not showing the slightest bit of anomaly.

The man nodded, "Indeed, for me who just gained the ability to think, conflict in this dialogue is unavoidable. However, my thinking has led to this response; what I just said... seems to be quite rude, and if so, I should apologize." Suddenly, as if he had discovered some other knowledge, "Oh, I haven’t replied to your greeting yet, so, hello everyone, you may call me... Detective." He said and slightly nodded his head in a gesture of apology.

Chubby once again breathed a sigh of relief; it seemed that this person was not inflexible or petty but merely someone whose body could not keep up with the speed of his reactions. Thus, he also returned the nod.

At that moment, a voice came through his earpiece, "Report... body coordination capability has reached over 90%, which is nearly 15 times faster compared to previous manifestations."

...

This message was not only for Chubby but also reached the earpieces of the other four members of the Supreme Council.

Everyone was mildly surprised.

In less than two minutes, from a concept that was nothing, he had adapted to this body’s personality, habits, and interactions with others, and he could now even use his thoughts to explain some abstract problems.

This was like stuffing a snail into a human body, and it immediately being able to sit in front of a computer and code like a programmer. It was even more terrifying because, before this, the gentleman who called himself Detective had never even delved into the category of ’life.’

This adaptability was, perhaps, a bit too horrifying.

Then, something even more surprising happened.

"So... you turned me into this form for a reason. Let’s talk about it now; I think I can understand." Detective said lightly, as if stating something obvious.

This sentence, reaching Chubby’s ears, made him unable to pretend any longer. His eyes widened in astonishment.

He had thought that, over the course of the next week or so, this man would need time to gradually adapt to everything in this world and assimilate the various sensations that this body brought him that he had never experienced before. However, these things... seemed to have been accomplished in just minutes and even surpassed expectations.

He hesitated for a moment.

"Haha, Detective, I did not expect you to adapt so quickly," he said, "But since you asked, I might as well skip the intermediate steps... I want to ask you to go somewhere, watch over a person. It won’t take long, and the reward will be this body, you can stay in this world and enjoy all the sensations... just like you are now."