The Gentleman at the End
Chapter 493 - 491: Moonlight, Clown and Maximizing Fear

Chapter 493: Chapter 491: Moonlight, Clown and Maximizing Fear

Outside the circus tent, the Poker Face Team, led by the Jack of Spades, all found themselves in a state of bewilderment. They unleashed their significant illness abilities, slashing at the air haphazardly, and some even sprinted away from the circus.

The mysterious youth remained unaffected, his eyes wide open, ready to step into the circus.

Just as he was about to approach, whoosh!

Another poker card was thrown at high speed, spinning toward him. Unlike the previous cards that just stuck in the ground, this one aimed directly at the youth’s neck.

The surface of the poker card emitted an extremely foul smell of rotting flesh and was even covered with numerous chunks of flesh, serving to lock onto the target.

Seeing that it was unavoidable, the youth no longer tried to dodge.

As the poker card neared his neck, the skin on his neck bulged outward, and a shiny surgical knife burst through the skin... whoosh!

The poker card was sliced in two, falling to the ground.

However, the threatening aura remaining on the surface of the poker card kept increasing, a mass of decaying flesh proliferating on the back of the card.

The youth took a quick step back, putting dozens of meters between them.

He then focused his Moon Eyes on the poker card, shining on it like a spotlight. Unlike the previous face cards, the one cut in half was a "Big Ghost Card".

Depicted on the Ghost Card was a Joker in a malicious pose,

as if it had anticipated being cut in half, with the figure of the big ghost making a gesture of clutching its stomach to prevent its intestines from spilling out.

"Rapid proliferation"

Swarms of swollen, oozing lumps of flesh piled chaotically, even displaying faces protruding from the flesh.

Ultimately it donned a baggy clown suit,

and when the disproportionate massive hooked nose appeared,

the entire entity was complete.

Teeth stained black with decay and gums smeared with fresh blood were completely exposed, along with a tongue covered in pea-sized tumors.

Its right hand was bent and raised over its shoulder, its five fingers rhythmically pulsating,

"Hello there, stranger!"

There was no warning, no hint of a threatening tone; it was merely a greeting.

Yet, this gesture made the youth feel intensely uncomfortable, far surpassing the sense of threat brought by the Poker Face Team, causing both his physical body and spirit to feel repulsed.

A sensation of claustrophobia swept over him, urging him to vomit.

With the insertion of a silver needle into his hand and hooked up to an IV bag, the youth’s condition returned to normal.

"Who are you?" the youth was extremely curious about this peculiar formidable figure. He had traveled the Old World for so long but had never encountered such a threatening creature.

"Fear Circus’s Chief Clown, Art. How about we discuss something?

I see great potential in you, enough for you to train as a reserve clown. Once the current Assistant Clown dies, you could take over.

After all, I don’t want a vacancy in the position of Assistant Clown; it would mean a lot of tedious issues for me to deal with.

Would you care to join us? As a reserve clown, you’d be considered a semi-official member of the circus, entitled to quite nice benefits."

"I’m sorry, I’m not interested for now. I just felt a Moon attribute similar to mine, so I came to take a look."

"Oh dear... that’s tricky! How about this, let’s go to a slightly further place and have a challenge. If I win, you come be the reserve clown, if I lose, I will tell you the specifics inside.

After all, you weren’t invited, and even I’m not qualified to bring an outsider like you inside.

Otherwise, not only would I be punished, but you would also face various bizarre assaults — ha ha ha!"

"Sure, where shall we have this challenge?"

"Just a moment."

Art inserted his arm into his bulging, comical clown suit, and with a tear, a clear sound of flesh being ripped off was heard. After some kneading, a ball of flesh was held in Art’s hand.

He then made a throwing gesture, whoosh!

The flesh ball broke the sound barrier, flying beyond the visible horizon,

while Art held his palm to his ear until he heard the sound of the flesh ball landing.

"All set! The landing spot is our challenge location. Come on, I can’t wait to spar with a descendant of the Moon like you."

Buzz! An unsettling sound of flesh teleporting, akin to meat being forcefully ground on a cutting board, resonated.

In a blink, Art appeared a hundred meters away and continued moving in this manner.

The youth, however, walked leisurely, reaching wherever the moonlight touched.

By the time the two arrived at the designated location, the flesh lump that had fallen here had already proliferated into a deep red circus tent full of clown faces, with a huge clown mouth at the entrance.

When the young man tried to enter, a long leg in red high heels and fishnet stockings stepped out from the gap in the moonlight, blocking his way.

"Lorrian, this person in front of us is extremely dangerous. It’s better for us to leave."

"It’s fine... get the wheelchair and IV ready for me. I’ll just need some time to recover afterward, let’s have some fun!"

...

Inside the circus.

Standing atop the Moon prop, William, who actively displayed his physical form, also vaguely sensed a ’moon resonance’, but due to the spatial isolation of the circus tent and his focus on the current performance, he did not pay it much mind.

In the audience, Catherine couldn’t help but turn back to look towards the tent’s exit, utterly shocked.

"To think that outsiders could peek into the circus, even ignoring the ’Poker Face’s’ guard. But with Art the boss personally dealing with it, the problem should be solved directly."

"Focus on William’s performance. This show should be as spectacular as some of the official programs. Don’t get distracted, Catherine."

"Okay, Uncle Jian."

By then, William, who stood atop the Moon, had slowly descended to the front door.

With the sway of his silver hair and his clothing reflecting the moonlight, he suddenly transformed into a kind-hearted middle-aged woman, stepping inside.

The essence of the performance was simple; he wanted the audience to experience his own childhood.

However, William would exaggerate the orphanage setting, adding more rules to make it more perfect and provide a more direct sense of fear.

He allowed the audience to experience an entire lifetime in just a few hours of performance,

from birth to death, from hardship to despair.

Throughout this process, William would play multiple roles, portraying all types of teachers, maximizing the audience’s empathy by acting.

In the end, a flawless, fully interactive, immersive show was presented.

Initially, the audience was led to a nursery for newborns. Although their appearances remained adult, they saw themselves as children.

During the first three years (thirty minutes of performance), the teacher William played provided the utmost care, making the participating audience affix quality labels to the teachers such as ’dependable,’ ’good person,’ ’kind-hearted,’ and more.

After reaching the age of three, this routine broke.

The daily lessons became extremely brutal, utterly devoid of humanity,

and the approachable teachers also showed inhuman expressions, exaggerating and distorting their usual gestures, appearances, and emotions.

Walking and standing turned into swift crawling, even reversing to crawl,

the usually kind smiles became physical smiles cut with a knife,

and the normal care turned into an omnipresent surveillance, even appearing at the window, under the bed, or between the bedding while sleeping.

The usually delicious meals would contain surprises, like severed fingers, insects, blades, or even just a piece of paper with a weight written on it inside the plate, asking them to consume themselves.

The various lessons were also full of randomness, often giving hope and then utterly shattering it,

In such an environment, the audience grew an innate fear from deep within, continuously magnified during their life in the orphanage.

Because they were too immersed, they never doubted the reality, accepting their life in the orphanage as their real life.

Just an hour into the performance, suicides began occurring,

but each attempt to take one’s own life would awaken them in the infirmary, where William, dressed as a female doctor, would take care of them with great empathy, providing hope until they fully recovered and restarted their life at the orphanage.

As the performance continued, the fear within the orphanage gradually spilled over.

As the sole actor, William needed to portray all the teachers,

Sometimes, he even had to project himself into different scenes through the moonlight, and yet with zero mistakes... the powerful function of the Madness Brain kept the whole performance running smoothly.

Ultimately,

when all the audience had become numb to life in the orphanage,

William gathered everyone in the indoor plaza, decapitated himself, outstretched his arms, and displayed the aspect of death, conveying the ’concept of death.’

Using the inevitable confrontation with death at life’s end, he squeezed the last vestige of innate fear from the audience, completing the finale known as ’Birth and Death.’

The scene was dismantled,

and beneath the stage floorboards, the glass jars used to collect fear were all filled, achieving the ’Max Awesome’ maximization of fear.

William then returned to his original form and made a gentleman’s bow towards the audience.