Clown Game
Chapter 380 - 358 Return

Chapter 380: Chapter 358 Return

The excruciating pain eroded Chen Xiao’s body, every muscle, every nerve, as rivers flowed into the sea, merged into something utterly terrible in his mind. The decaying wreckage was gradually being mended, withered branches and leaves budding anew, and those memories, alive in their own right... returned to their rightful places.

Chen Xiao opened his eyes.

Then he smiled. His lips slightly pursed, not too ostentatiously, even seemingly courteous and elegant. But it strangely sent a shiver down one’s spine.

"Thank you all..." he said faintly, though his tone lacked any semblance of gratitude, just a bland, matter-of-fact confidence, or rather, arrogance—it was as if everything should be this way. Years ago, I pointed out a path; no matter how things evolve or hearts change, even if I become an idiot, a madman, even if I die, it’s all part of the plan I designed... At this time, at this place, events will still move forward as I envision, and welcome my return.

This feeling was extremely uncomfortable... yet, it was impossible to refute.

"Welcome back," Qiu Mujin responded faintly as well.

"Perhaps you won’t welcome me for long," Chen Xiao retorted without delay, appearing not to dwell further on his own return. Under everyone’s curious gaze, he approached the Angel: "Believe me, I didn’t expect the Foundation, with its capabilities, to develop a method to eternally fuse soul and body before I regained my memory. Thus, your current state was not part of my plan."

The Angel smiled: "So what? Are you apologizing?"

"Of course not! I just think, since you’ve already become this way, you might as well do more for us before you die," Chen Xiao said nonchalantly.

At those words, everyone frowned in unison. Despicable, tiresome, indeed, the Chen Xiao with his memories restored did not seem to have changed for the better, just as the Angel had said from the very beginning—he had always been an obnoxious fellow through and through.

The Angel fell silent for a moment, then narrowed her eyes slightly: "Ah, yes, my decaying body has no way out now, so are you starting to squeeze out my last bit of value? Hehe, that’s so like you."

"Flattered, I do intend just that, but it’s not as bad as you say," Chen Xiao said, standing a bit straighter: "Now, let me complete my plan...

Originally, I estimated I’d recover my memory sometime after a year, but it seems the Foundation’s research progressed much faster than expected. Of course, I anticipated that as my involvement was bound to cause some changes. Though minor, their cumulative effects would grow ever larger, creating some significant impacts that couldn’t be ignored. Additionally, a certain someone in my head always manages to stir up trouble." He tapped his forehead: "So, the research speed is bound to increase, because the Foundation is much more desperate than us. Fortunately, it only happened a year earlier, and I can use your powers to regain my memory sooner... Nevertheless, the schedule is ahead, and I am currently just a B-level field agent, without the clearance to access the ’Polar Research Area’."

"What? The Polar Research Area?" Qiu Mujin cut in with a frown: "Are you saying you’re actually after ’them’? You want to recover those corpses and return them to their owners?"

Chen Xiao spread his hands: "Exactly, because from start to finish the Foundation’s sole purpose is to annihilate all materialized entities. They pretend to be helpless, but they’ve long had ways to obliterate everything—just like your current state. It’s true that from the high-level lifeforms’ perspective, humans may seem ignorant, but you can’t deny that we possess tremendous power."

He pointed at the Angel sitting in the wheelchair: "You are confined in a human body, so no matter how powerful your mind, as long as it’s human, it will die, body and spirit alike. If we don’t act quickly, I’ll be the next target. Heh, in fact, you should have realized this long ago, haven’t you? Otherwise, why do you think the Foundation has tolerated my nonsense? Because I will eventually be executed, I must die, but when I do, I just need to take those two guys in my head with me as a cushion."

"So, what exactly do you want me to do?" The Angel didn’t let Chen Xiao lead the conversation astray. She keenly grasped the original problem.

"Hehe, not much," Chen Xiao said: "I just plan to betray you once more..."

...

...

Everyone frowned again, betrayal spoken so openly can’t exactly be considered betrayal, so what in the world was this guy up to?

Just as everyone waited with bated breath for what Chen Xiao would say next.

"Clang! Clang!"

The sound of metal being struck reverberated, breaking everyone’s train of thought, and all eyes turned towards the source of the noise.

Subsequently, they saw that in a nearby humanoid containment pod, the old man with the number C-211 had seemingly opened his eyes without their notice. Although not yet fully conscious, he had begun a reflexive tapping on the chamber door.

"Uh, it seems we forgot about him..." Lin Fan murmured: "But isn’t he supposed to be under constant hypnosis?"

"It must be those runes, while restoring your memory, they also restored this fellow’s consciousness to its original state," the Angel explained and signaled the nurse to push the wheelchair over.

The nurse nodded and did so... Then, the Angel approached the containment chamber, her fingers tracing the jumbled runes.

"Confusion, anticipation, anxiety, incomprehension... He doesn’t know where he is. He’s scared, trying hard to wake up," the Angel said, eyes closed, feeling the old man’s emotional fluctuations through the runes.

"Hm? I thought you couldn’t read minds anymore?" Chen Xiao muttered nearby.

"Using these runes as a medium doesn’t consume much, and I can only get a sense of some emotions," the Angel replied before lowering her hand: "Open the chamber door..."

Chen Xiao immediately gestured with his hand: "No, I’ve explained to them that as soon as this old man is released, he will indiscriminately absorb memories from everyone around him."

"Not anymore. At this moment, he is just a pitiful containment object imprisoned by the Foundation, like everyone else here," the Angel said with a smile, then seemed to hesitate for a moment before turning to Qiu Mujin: "By the way, if we ever face the Foundation head-on, maybe we should start welcoming new members."