The Gentleman at the End
Chapter 490 - 488 Thought Rehearsal

Chapter 490: Chapter 488 Thought Rehearsal

A group of "receptionists" with exaggerated makeup, their eyelids fixed with wire, held various tools and headed towards the Magic Area. Within just an hour, they had carved out livable single rooms and decorated them according to the design plans.

In the end,

An assistant room consisting of a living room and a bedroom was created, and next to the door was a plaque with the initials [W.B] representing William’s name.

Since William had just become an assistant, the room was basically furnished like an ordinary house and only provided basic magic tools. To use advanced tools, he had to submit a request form.

However, as William’s performance within the circus, resolving incidents, going on stage for performances, gaining a promotion or receiving the boss’s praise could all bring about opportunities for housing upgrades.

Catherine sat on the edge of the bed, swinging her legs to and fro, "William, your room looks so shabby, you better improve your status in the circus quickly.

Though I can’t go on stage for a ’trial operation’ performance, I can give you some offstage support. For example, by disguising as a receptionist, I can feed the audience food laced with nightmare substances in advance, making them more susceptible to your thought control and easier to shape mentally."

"Speaking of dreams, does that count as magic?"

"Why wouldn’t it? The reason Uncle Jian thought highly of me was because of nightmares! Hypnotic performances are also considered magic, you know."

Hearing this, a bold thought flashed through William’s mind.

"Hmm... Is the stage for a trial run allowed to undergo major modifications?"

"Oh? William, it seems you have some ideas. Major changes require submitting an application to the higher-ups, after all, it involves using the circus’s materials and manpower.

There will be one issue, though: if the total Fear harvested from the performance can’t compensate for the cost of constructing the stage, you will be deemed to have failed.

Such a failure at a low-level performance like a trial run is the most basic mistake, and your assistant title will be revoked outright. You might even have to pay back the circus’s losses with your physical body and soul."

William, however, was not worried at all, "No problem, as long as Catherine, you don’t sabotage me."

"Ptui! If I wanted to sabotage you, I would’ve just had the boss eat you in the Clown House. And who do you think it was that stood up for you at the Circus Act?"

"I was just saying. Besides, weren’t you the one who hid the farthest when Mr. Rabbit arrived at the Circus Act?"

Catherine suddenly bounced up from the bed’s edge and took out a black and white makeup box from the Hundred Treasure Box to touch up her makeup, lest her cheeks show an unnatural flush.

"That rabbit is terrifying, okay!? When I first became the Assistant Clown and had a chance to visit the Circus Act, I was caught by that rabbit over some minor incident. He broke all my bones and shredded my muscles into strands. If it weren’t for Mr. Jian arriving in time, I might have been used as rabbit feed.

Ever since that incident, I’ve been afraid of rabbits.

If I weren’t accompanying you to visit today, William, I’d never go to the Circus Act to die."

"You call that a minor incident? You stepped on and killed more than a dozen rabbits, and those are all a part of Mr. Rabbit, just as they are key informants spread throughout the Circus Act.

Such an offense in someone else’s domain would naturally earn you a severe punishment from Rabbit’s temperament."

Accompanied by a third voice, Magician Jian, wearing a Guy Fox mask, arrived in the cramped single compartment.

"I didn’t know~"

Jian came next to William, "Although Mr. Rabbit is brutal, he is also very self-disciplined and rules-abiding. Compared to Art, he is somewhat easier to deal with."

"Hmm... Having had the fortune to meet with Mr. Rabbit this time, I thought he wasn’t bad."

Jian didn’t comment further but brought the conversation back, "Speaking of which, how is William’s training? Catherine must have told you about the trial operation. Tomorrow is the last day; I hope to see you on stage to witness your performance talent."

"I’ve already got a basic idea—it’s something like this."

William shared his thoughts with Jian, for he had never orchestrated something like this in the circus before. Whether this idea could be realized, and whether certain details and issues could be addressed, he thought it was best to hear Jian’s opinions.

"You aim to achieve a combination of illusion and reality through scene construction? If this kind of difficult performance can reach the expected outcome, it could even be used in official shows.

If you’re sure you can do it, I’ll help you fill out the application. Such a large-scale scene arrangement requires a lot of personnel, and it still has to wait until tomorrow.

Let’s do this—your act will be the finale of tomorrow’s trial operation, by which time the audience will also be at its peak. If it achieves the desired effect, not only will you recoup the cost of the stage reconstruction, you’ll also gain a substantial amount of money, and you might even catch the attention of the circus.

Use the rest of today to conduct ’Thought Rehearsal’."

"Trouble Mr. Jian."

"I look forward to your debut tomorrow, and I will come to watch the performance if I am free."

"Okay."

As Jian left, Catherine too waved her little hand superfast, her eyes brimming with admiration.

"Hee hee, with Uncle Jian helping you write the application, this thing is basically a done deal; don’t mess it up!"

"Catherine, stop the chatter and quickly help me conduct the ’Dream Rehearsal,’ okay? With your abilities, you should be able to simulate the scenario I need in the dream realm, and every detail must be crafted to perfection.

Besides, I still have to try out the new thing you gave me."

"Ah? Dream-crafting of such an unfamiliar scene is quite difficult... unless you let someone pry into your memories, delving into the clear images in your brain."

"Come on~"

Click~ William deftly cracked open his skull, revealing the pitch-black Madness Brain before his eyes.

Located at the back of his head, the mark signifying the ’Lecturer’ also transformed along with William’s subjective consciousness, turning into an interface similar to Type-C.

"Hmm, your Madness Brain can do this too? This is my first time seeing such a thing... then, here I come!"

Catherine, full of excitement, similarly cracked open her own skull, revealing a scene utterly different.

’Nightmare Brain’

Evolved from her earliest migraines, it had now attained an even more refined form through the Path of Nightmares,

Not just unusual on the structural level of the brain, but the entire ventricular system had formed a complete interactive system.

The inner walls of the skull were neatly lined with women’s faces all the size of quail eggs, numbering in the hundreds, all with mouths agape, their nightmare tentacles extending from their mouths to connect with the central brain.

A likewise pitch-black, moist brain hung at the center of the skull cavity, its surface entwined with growing nightmare tentacles, giving off the appearance of an oddly-shaped deep-sea octopus.

The female faces encircling the inside of the skull seemed like its most devout followers.

Creak, creak~ A distinctly different tentacle grew from the Main Brain, its tip slowly inserting into the back of William’s head.

In an instant.

Catherine was taken to the Orphanage in the third-person perspective, experiencing William’s past firsthand.

About an hour passed.

Catherine withdrew her brain connector early, her eyes wide, "William! What the hell is this place... Can human perversity really reach such heights?"

"Yeah, that’s why I wasn’t too shocked when I peeked into Catherine’s memories before, because it seems our childhoods weren’t very pleasant.

Alright, you’ve seen the memories, hurry up and plug back in to help with the ’Dream Rehearsal.’

"You... alright then."

And so, the two remained connected by the brain, without thoughts of eating or drinking, motionless for a whole day and night.

However, during the connection, a pitch-black substance continually spilled between their brains,

The nightmare liquid seeping from Catherine’s brain assisted the black liquid from William’s brain in crafting a high-quality, exquisite personal portrait on the walls of the current room.

Ashen robes, cross, hanging, Doors of Life and Rings of Death,

And octopus tentacles growing from the head area, so realistic that with the play of light and shadow, one could even see the tentacles writhing.

If someone happened to barge into this room and catch a glimpse of this portrait, they would fall into a deathly nightmare for a very long time, haunted by the monster within the portrait.