Clown Game
Chapter 390 - 368 You... Should Know

Chapter 390: Chapter 368 You... Should Know

Summer, the most despised season.

The scorching heat, searing days, and restlessness; even if one were to stay inside all day surrounded by the air conditioning, a mere glance at the blazing sun outside was enough to inexplicably ignite all sorts of discomfort and complaints within one’s heart.

Not to mention those without any shelter from the sun, bearing the glare, resenting the temperature, working, living, passing by each hot-bodied and sweat-scented pedestrian, not realizing they were perceived the same by others.

One o’clock in the afternoon, the day’s peak temperature, and yet the streets were even more crowded than usual. Employees who should have been enjoying the rare comfort of an air-conditioned home over the weekend were instead kidnapped by love or family obligations, compelled to accompany a potential female carrier of their genes or what’s called a "family atmosphere" out on the streets, watching them squander what they have earned or spending time with their offspring for a so-called "happy childhood."

They were reluctant but had no choice, so most thought that if their entire life were to pass in this way, it would be utterly dull. But realizing that everyone around them was living the same life, they felt a sense of release.

...

Maybe it was the abundance of such wishes... and so, with a "hiss" from the mall speakers, the coolest summer day in history descended. It wasn’t a change in temperature, but a layer of frost formed quickly in everyone’s hearts, providing a deep, bone-chilling coolness under the fierce sun that seemed ready to vaporize the entire city.

"All humans, hello..."

On the big screen in the mall, a woman in her twenties suddenly appeared, dressed in white against a dim background, seated in a wheelchair. She looked quite decent, but her cyanotic skin gave the eerie impression of a corpse. There was something hanging behind her, swinging indistinctly.

The image was so abrupt that the previously noisy mall quickly fell into silence as everyone dumbfoundedly watched the overhead screen, appearing somewhat at a loss.

"What’s going on, is this some new advertisement from a shop?" asked a confused manager in the publicity department, looking at the woman on the screen.

The staff beside him were also perplexed; they had already started flipping through their schedule of advertisements: "No, that’s not right... there must be some mistake," he replied.

The manager seemed annoyed: "Then what are you waiting for... switch it back immediately," he ordered.

"Oh, right—" the staff member, belatedly realizing, began to fiddle with the control panel... but then: "I can’t... I can’t switch it!"

"What?"

"The controls are malfunctioning; we can’t switch it back!" The staff member was starting to panic.

"Damn it!" the manager cursed, visibly displeased: "Forget about your bonus this month!" With that, he quickly pulled out his phone, planning to call maintenance to come and fix it immediately.

But as soon as he unlocked his phone: "Shit!" he shuddered violently, nearly dropping his phone to the ground.

Because on his phone screen, the exact same image from the big screen was playing.

"Damn, what is this! Hey you, turn on your phone!" he yelled in a panic.

The person beside him hurriedly turned on their phone... "Oh my God, what is this!" and he was startled as well.

"Forget it, it must be some kind of computer virus!" said the manager angrily: "Turn off the screen’s power, and we’ll figure something out later!"

Being a supervisor, he quickly thought of turning off the power... but then: "Hey, what are you doing? Turn it off now!"

Before the words finished, the staff member at the console turned around slowly, his face full of horror, and stammeringly said: "It’s... it’s already off!"

"What?" The manager, equally taken aback and frightened, looked at the screen which was still playing the video: "Damn it, what the hell is this!" he roared...

Fear stems from the unknown, and this sight was definitely beyond their comprehension. For a moment, he felt a creeping dread spreading inside him, but he clenely clenched his teeth, turned and ran out of the room to the mall’s power control room. Without saying a word, he pulled down the entire mall’s main power switch.

With the sound of machinery shutting down, the already quiet mall entered an even deeper silence. Thankfully, it was noon and there was plenty of sunlight, so the change in lighting wasn’t too obvious. But those big screens, they were still on, unaffected by the loss of power.

A trickle of cold sweat rolled down the manager’s forehead; he had no idea what was happening. It seemed as though some force was compelling him to accept some cruel reality. But as an adult, he cursed, pulled out the battery of his phone in a panic... and then, he too finally collapsed powerlessly in front of the still-lit phone screen.

And at that moment... some in the mall had started to realize something was wrong. They began to scream, to panic, to desperately smash their own phones. Chaos began to spread.

And it wasn’t just here. Outside on the streets, in the shops, throughout the city, across Asia, Europe, on all landmasses, on ships passing across the seas, in submarines underwater, in space stations beyond the atmosphere, on all screens, through all broadcasts, television, taxi radios, on web pages streaming strange videos, across all public channels, on phones in the midst of calls, turned on or off, even on all those old and abandoned TVs... Every communication device, good or bad, received the same signal at once.

The woman seated in the wheelchair quietly lifted her head: "I gave you time, and you should have realized by now, some things aren’t quite as you perceive them to be... And this is what I’m about to reveal. You can continue to shout wildly, cower under your desks, or you can calm down, listen to what I have to say, and try to think about the other side of this world I will show you, or rather, the truth that has been hidden from you."

She spoke indifferently: "So at the beginning of this talk, let me introduce myself. In human terms, I... should be called... ’Angel’!"

With that simple statement, the white garment upon her trembled a few times, and then, an enormous pair of wings unfolded, but they were not holy, feathered, or even fleshy. They were woven entirely of blood vessels, looking both shocking and grotesque.

...

...