The Gentleman at the End
Chapter 478 - 476: Malicious Dissemination

Chapter 478: Chapter 476: Malicious Dissemination

The nightmare came to an end,

Catherine had merely shown William her audition at the circus and how her headache had evolved into a nightmare.

In particular, the transformation of the nightmare bore some similarities to William’s metamorphosis of a madness brain.

It was undeniable that Catherine possessed talent, but aside from her own strength, luck also played a part.

Had the previous assistant clown not been killed, he would never have allowed Catherine to carry out a mass slaughter and absorption of the dancers while sleepwalking.

Moreover, it just so happened that the clown Art had been detained, not having been indoctrinated with malicious concepts at the earliest opportunity.

At the tender age of ten, with a mind yet to mature, Catherine would have likely assimilated if she had begun following Art from the start. It would be impossible for her to be here having a friendly chat with William, as every motion of hers would exude malice towards the world.

Only due to the initial care and companionship of Magician Jian which solidified her correct worldview, could she now maintain a seemingly balanced state with both ’white’ goodwill and ’black’ malice.

Even though Art later returned, occasionally impressing upon her, her inherent goodwill was always preserved and not suppressed or weakened.

However,

After experiencing Catherine’s childhood and her history of joining the circus, William wasn’t deeply affected, or to put it another way, he considered her situation relatively lucky in comparison.

William’s past life, that is, Yi Chen’s childhood in another world, wasn’t so lucky. There had never been a ’good person’ like Magician Jia’en, nor had there been a place like the circus that could serve as a stable shelter for a long-lasting life.

An hour of the short nightmare ended,

William, who was gradually opening his eyes, was preparing to discuss the sensations of the nightmare with Catherine who was on his back,

However, an aura that simultaneously endangered the soul, physical body, and consciousness itself approached from the factory entrance,

This extremely dangerous aura forced William to instantly forget the reality of the nightmare, to open his eyes and look towards the source of the aura; he also instinctively performed "Restriction Removal."

"Ah!"

As the Evil Sun Embers spread throughout William’s body, patterns covered his flesh and clothing,

Catherine, who was in a "Nightmare Combination" with William, instantly suffered a burning at her core. The female heads growing on her body showed expressions of pain and moaned faintly.

The spiral tentacles that were inserted between William’s spine and the back of his head pulled out instantaneously,

The octopus-like Catherine with human faces fell from the sky,

However,

William, who had not spared a thought for the falling Catherine, kept his gaze fixed on the factory entrance, observing the representative clown of the Fear Circus from next door, Mr. Art.

The malignancy emanating from the other’s body was even more concentrated than the last time he saw it outside the Zion City Gates,

Among all the patients William had ever seen, other than the Plague Master from the Source Epidemic Area, the one before him was the most dangerous.

"Little Grape, don’t peek! Trust my instinct—once you see this guy’s body, there might be very bad consequences."

Little Grape, who was trying to peek, immediately stopped. At such a moment, it naturally wouldn’t argue with William and decisively closed its eye.

Then, William, who was suspended in mid-air, summoned the Hand Axe. Whoosh!

He cut the wires attached to his body,

landing instantly and adopting a gentlemanly demeanor, bowing his head in respect, ensuring his height did not exceed Art’s.

William felt like he was completely stuck in mire within the empty factory. It was a quagmire of mucus flowing from malignant tumors, and with one misstep, he could be swallowed up permanently.

Hwhish, hwhish, hwhish! His nose wriggled.

Art sniffed with his large, exaggerated hawk nose, deliberately pressing his entire nozzle against William’s face,

rubbing against his teeth, nostrils, eyelids, and ears, seeking out scents.

Throughout the process, William struggled to suppress his emotions, forcing himself to remain calm.

The process lasted a full five minutes until the sniffing ended,

With his head bowed, William glimpsed, out of the corner of his eye, the other’s exposed gums lined with discolored door-like teeth, black tartar covering them, and crevices packed with chunks of meat and debris.

At that moment,

The mouth slowly opened,

A tongue dotted with pea-sized tumors emerged, each one neatly arranged, dense and writhing.

The entire mouth was also filled with dense teeth, as if each were capable of chewing.

Witnessing the scene within the mouth, William’s entire body went numb with a unique sense of fear spreading through him, robbing him of the ability to move, and even his breathing became obstructed and hurried.

"Trypophobia."

At that moment, Art’s exceedingly whimsical voice sounded,

"Definitely a whiff of Cancer Palace, even though it’s almost dissipated, I can still smell that stench... I’m right, aren’t I? You must have been to Cancer Palace, yes?"

"I have," William managed to respond, using the trait of his Madness Brain to forcefully suppress the numbness in his tongue and mouth.

"Hmm~ To pass the magician’s test and our circus’s clown test, and to continue conversing after tasting my fear, you could say you’re extraordinarily talented!

They must have invited you to join the Venerable Tumor Knight Order’s New Soldier Camp, right? With just a little effort on the path, you could officially become one of the elites of the Old World.

Why didn’t you accept, or did you? Are you already a member, just with special permission to come out and have fun?"

"No, I only went to Cancer Palace to accompany a friend and left after a brief visit inside."

Slap!

A swollen hand clad in a glove landed on William’s shoulder; though it looked like the shape of a palm, it felt as though numerous fleshy masses were pressing on the shoulder.

Art even brought his fear-inducing clown face close to William’s ear,

"Ha ha ha, don’t be nervous~ As long as you’re not afflicted with cancer, as long as you have no ties to that place, I won’t kill you. Tell me, did you see that woman in Cancer Palace? The one from the Dominion Knights? How is she? Is she weakened by the recent halt in growth of the Cancer Palace?"

"I didn’t see her... I only visited the middle tier commercial district."

"Ah~ didn’t see her? But that makes sense, she’s so high and mighty, only Venerable Tumor Knights get to see her in person. So you..."

Just then.

Slap!

Another slender and soft palm landed on William’s other shoulder and forcibly pulled him away from Art’s side.

The one doing the pulling was none other than Catherine, who had reconstituted her physical form,

But that’s not all,

Catherine also conjured up a knitted bag with a magical gesture, enveloping William entirely and lifting him onto her shoulder to isolate him from the burning sensation of the embers.

"Boss, I’m taking him away first. He just finished his interview with Jian, and it was supposed to be just a quick trip before sending him back, but now we’ve been delayed a lot.

If Uncle Jian comes chasing after him, it’ll make you unhappy, Boss.

Ha ha, you go on with your things, we won’t disturb you."

Art didn’t respond verbally; instead, he forced out a creepy, strange smile and raised his right arm, rhythmically moving his five fingers in a comical ’bye-bye’ gesture.

The roller coaster left the Clown House,

And Catherine also dumped William out from the burlap sack,

"Phew~ that was close! I didn’t expect the boss to actually come... The longer you stay with the boss, the higher the instability. If the conversation went on, something was bound to happen sooner or later, and I didn’t want you, William, to be turned into a pulp and stuffed into the boss’s body."

"Thanks, Catherine," William said, relieved that he had offered the Cancer Crystal to the Mother of Lambs beforehand, or else Art would definitely have smelled it and problems would have arisen.

"Don’t thank me~ Tell me, how was the nightmare? Isn’t it pitiable?"

"It was okay."

"Ah~ just okay... I’m going to put it in reverse and go back, throw you to the boss to deal with!" Catherine puffed up her cheeks, stomping her feet incessantly.

William gently patted Catherine’s shoulder, "As long as you are doing well enough now, that’s what counts, isn’t it? No wonder Mr. Jian takes special care of you. Speaking of which, was that trick with the knitted bag a magic trick?"

Catherine’s mood changed quickly, brightening with the shift in conversation, "Yes, that’s a trick Uncle Jian taught me when I was little. I could totally be his assistant, you know."

"Where are we heading next?"

"To the other departments~ Didn’t I promise to give you a tour? Besides Uncle Jian and Art the boss, there are many strong people in the circus.

Right! There’s one like you; you guys might become good friends."

"Like me how?"

"A very rare ’Madman’! However, he’s so brutal when dealing with things that even the community of Madmen in the Old World snubbed him, deliberately keeping their distance.

But he treats us quite well.

Lets go meet him later, it will definitely be interesting to see two Madmen together."