Clown Game
Chapter 379 - 0 A Beginning Full of Questions

Chapter 379: Chapter 0 A Beginning Full of Questions

Just like that person said, humans think, so everyone has plans, everyone has their little schemes, these thoughts don’t show on their faces, nor are they written in the middle of a dress shirt waiting for someone to read. If the person doesn’t speak them out loud, then no one will know, thus those spoken out loud are called "plans," and those unspoken are called "conspiracies."

Unfortunately, everyone has their conspiracies. Especially when a bunch of smart people get together, calculating, deceiving, each harboring their own ulterior motives, and yet you can’t tell anything from looking at their faces.

Ah, this is such a bothersome, difficult to guess and even more difficult to describe affair.

For example, take this little fatty who holds the highest authority over all technological research and development at the Foundation; His plan is to permanently fix the materialized product of "madness" within a person’s body. In other words, he wants to turn the one who calls himself "Clown" into a person, and a person can always be killed.

At this point, some might say, how could an element like "madness," predetermined by the vast universe, possibly be trapped in a single body? Impossible!

Well, then you are underestimating human methods, they truly are the most terrifying life forms in this world, look, in the end even the woman with wings was locked in a rotting body, although that happened much later. In short, the absurdity of humanity at the same time makes them unspeakably terrifying.

So, bringing the subject back, the little fatty nonchalantly shared these plans with "Detective Mister."

But were his words true?

Nobody knows, not even the almost omniscient "Detective Mister" who can know everything at a glance, because he cannot see people’s thoughts. And as for those "when lying the corner of the mouth will twitch, eyes will drift, glancing upward diagonally, clenching the palms, the tone of voice will rise a bit..." sort of textbook behaviors, do you really think they apply to everyone?

Well, here comes a really irritating description. The little fatty might be deceiving the "Detective," because the "Clown" said he’s lying. But does the little fatty know that he would tell the "Detective" he’s lying, thus potentially using that to his advantage, or further yet, maybe the "Clown" is also lying, or perhaps he isn’t. The "he" who came out of his mouth, is it deliberately for the Detective to hear, or just to create some chaos for fun? Then, what about the Detective? Does he know about these, or does he not? He is the most deeply hidden guy, because he never says much, yet he knows the most. Currently, he is in the form of a "person," so he surely has his conspiracies. Ah...right, you have conspiracies, he has conspiracies, you build on his conspiracy to counter another person who also has conspiracies...damn, suddenly being a fool doesn’t seem like such a bad thing after all.

So in this story of large and small circles, where the small circles are not really that small, everything is nonetheless progressing in an organized chaos.

"Detective Mister" agreed to the deal, becoming the "Zookeeper" for a few years, and afterwards he would get a perfect body.

After countless screenings, a person named "Chen Xiao" was inserted into the next batch of "volunteers" to satisfy that guy’s restlessness. Look at this name, it’s almost like it’s designed to lure someone like him, I even doubt if that is his real name.

Anyway, just as planned by everyone, he entered into a body that had been emptied of all memories, even the consciousness wasn’t fully restored yet. Immediately, a powerful electric current surged through Chen Xiao from the back of his neck, he convulsed, and fell to the ground.

Meanwhile... in another small room not far away, a corpse with a Western face, wearing a deerstalker hat, was also transported out of a Foundation branch. It was taken halfway across the globe, to a glacier in Antarctica, entrusted to an old man for safekeeping. Of course, he was also looking after another body, one with a gaping mouth and extremely gaunt cheeks, which even in death seemed to be laughing... truly nauseating.

It was at this moment that Chen Xiao, now without any memories, became the carrier of two concepts, awaiting a future that had been clearly arranged for him.

But... like I said earlier, this is an incredibly complicated matter, because Chen Xiao seems to know more... He joined the plan willingly, so, he too has a conspiracy!

Oh, by the way, there’s a little digression here. Somehow that winged woman knew about all this, perhaps Chen Xiao told her; regardless, she learned that physical death wouldn’t lead to the disappearance of her consciousness. So, while everyone was busy with the matters of sealing the Clown and the Detective, the "Angel"... committed suicide. And her soul, naturally, didn’t know what it attached itself to... Anyway, she escaped, leaving behind only a body with massive wings.

...

Enough small talk. On the second day after these incidents, the municipal mental hospital in the western suburbs of K-city received a new patient. In the file, manic depression, schizophrenia, delusions, autism, cognitive disorders... practically, this guy had collected all possible ailments, hmm... Seems like there was also a history of attacking others, using "biting" no less. Alright, no need to think, this newbie was given the hospital’s highest form of treatment, a "muzzle" was added, and he was thrown into a single occupant ward.

For a significant period after that, Chen Xiao lived mostly under heavy sedatives and sleeping pills, asleep, serene, facing the small space covered in anti-collision layers. In his world of thought, inside the seal, two figures were chasing after one another, one wanting out, the other holding him down tightly. Anyway, it went on like this, hazy and confusing for two years...

On this day, a black car of unidentifiable model stopped in front of the mental hospital. No one knew to which department the car belonged; they only knew the director seemed so scared he hadn’t even finished doing his business before hurriedly yanking up his trousers to go greet them, even willingly giving up his own office.

Hmm... A woman got out of the car, she requested to find a patient in this hospital with no relatives, serious illnesses, and absolutely no chance of being discharged. Hehe, it was only then that everyone remembered the guy who had been locked up in the single occupant ward two years ago... What was his name?

Chen Xiao, right?

...

So three hours later, Chen Xiao, who had been injected with a waking drug, slowly opened his eyes. The ceiling was moving back at a steady pace, every few seconds, a lightbulb entered his field of vision... He was heading for the beginning of a story, or perhaps, a predestined end.

(I got the number line wrong, I’ll tweak the previous Chapters~)