The Last Gentleman
Chapter 477: 475: The Clown’s Past

"What kind of assessment is it?"

Catherine continued to scratch her head with her fingers, which seemed to be a new habit of hers. When she was thinking, her brain would itch, or rather, the other female bodies integrated into her brain would wriggle due to thinking, causing an itching sensation.

"If we go by the usual rules, applicants who come here to choose my factory need to meet two conditions. One is to fall asleep under some extreme pain, and the other is to ensure the sleeping time exceeds one hour.

But that should be simple for you, right?

So I will extend the sleep duration. If you can last six hours, I’ll give you the Fear Collection. How about that?"

When Catherine stated her requirements, William shook his head:

"I have already experienced nightmares in Zion, and six hours is too long for me. I’ve just become a magician’s assistant and I haven’t even figured out my direction yet. I can’t afford to waste too much time here.

If I miss the most important ’opening act,’ the loss can’t be compared to a piece of the Fear Collection."

"Ah~ I see! I had already thought out a six-hour dream sequence~ Ah, it’s so annoying!" Catherine accidentally tore off all the skin on the back of her head, revealing numerous female faces packed tightly together, each the size of a rice ball.

But with the clearing of her mind at the back of her head, Catherine—whose multiple brains thought together—immediately came up with a solution.

"Then let’s make it one hour!

However, you need to actively cooperate, accept the nightmares, and refrain from any form of resistive thinking. I will lead you to the ’Deepest Nightmare’ to experience my entire journey to the Clown House, compressing the whole ordeal into one hour.

In this way, William, you can understand me better!"

The more Catherine talked, the more excited she became, even grabbing William’s hand...splat!

She pressed his palm against the back of her head where the skin had been torn away, feeling the excitement conveyed by the countless women beneath the scalp, an invitation too generous to decline.

"Alright then."

"Come with me quickly~"

Catherine, unable to wait any longer, dragged William by the arm, leading him into the black-and-white painted factory.

As soon as he set foot inside, several wires quickly descended from the top of the factory.

Anticipating the imminent piercing of his body, the Painful Iron Chains that had fused deep into his bones were quite excited, making no attempt to dodge or avoid the incoming pain.

Whoosh!

One by one, the wires pierced into his body, stimulating the most sensitive spots.

The ends of the wires even slowly transformed into meat hook shapes, pulling at the flesh and suspending William in the air.

As he was hung up in the factory space, he noticed that there were also a vast number of corpses hanging above, numbering in the thousands.

Standing below, Catherine reattached the scalp to her head and said with a beaming smile:

"Because you’re special, William, the number of wires piercing your body is three times the usual amount. Hurry up and fall asleep within an hour, otherwise our assessment can’t proceed..."

Before she could finish her sentence, William, who was hanging in the air, had already fallen into a deep sleep.

Catherine was puzzled. She had never seen anyone fall asleep in one second under such extreme pain.

"That’s right! I remember now, William’s body seems to have Painful Iron Chains hidden within. No wonder... I’m so stupid~ How could I forget something like that.

But it doesn’t matter, since the focus isn’t on that anyway. Alright! Start dreaming, and go experience what I once went through."

Having said that, Catherine’s body began to convulse madly,

her body collapsed, and under her skirt, a torrent of nightmare mucus erupted, accompanied by the falling of various tentacles.

In the end.

Catherine’s body turned into a thin membrane, and her true form slowly crawled out from beneath it...

A multitude of tentacle legs acted as support,

carrying the ’Main Brain’ on top, a head with Catherine’s signature pigtails surrounded by numerous female heads (ranging in size from eggs to large meat buns).

The tentacles leaped powerfully! Snap!

Catherine’s true form firmly attached itself to the back of William’s neck, the tentacles spiraling as they wrung themselves dry, becoming thin and short.

Carefully, they pierced William’s spine, connecting to the back of his brain and spinal cord, merging slowly into one entity.

The numerous female heads also spread across William’s back, as if they had found a new home. The heads were laughing and jubilant, overflowing with excitement.

A 100% lifelike deep nightmare began to form within William’s mind, and even because of Madness Brain’s power, all the senses and scenes were perfectly recreated.

Buzz!

In the dream, William once again stood in front of the Clown House, except his body had transformed into that of a young girl, possibly only ten years old, barely clothed in a ragged white tunic.

Her body was full of wounds with hardly an intact spot—whether whip marks, scars healed from burns, or traces of drill holes,

The girl clearly suffered inhuman torture before arriving here, and she also suffered from severe migraines due to past events.

Through deep dreaming, William could clearly feel the girl’s pain, the hatred suppressed within her body, as well as her yearning for a better life.

Stepping into the factory,

Although the previous Assistant Clown ’Laughing Dancer. Zhanluca’ had been killed by the Main Clown, the rule for selecting Apprentice Clowns still existed.

A multitude of ’Dancers,’ their bodies pierced with iron wires, descended from above,

All of them were fair-skinned and beautiful women; their brains remained fresh, but their bodies were dead and pale, controlled by being pierced with iron wires, dancing an extremely twisted dance, continuously closing in on the girl.

The loudspeaker sounded,

Requesting the girl to survive at least one hour in the factory without being caught for it to be considered a success.

Even though she was very good at running away, due to the limited space of the factory and the pursuit of numerous Dancers, she was eventually captured.

She was lifted into the air by cold arms, watching iron wires pierce her body, feeling the process of being turned into a ’Dancer’... Eventually, she was hung in the air just like the other Dancers.

The factory’s long-haired ceiling was festooned with lots of intravenous drip tubes,

During the suspension of the Dancers, their brains would be inserted with tubes, feeding them nutrient solutions to ensure brain survival, while the iron wires through their necks would restrict fluids from seeping into their bodies.

At the same time, a layer of preservative fluid would be applied to their bodies every day to maintain their figures.

By the time Catherine experienced this cruel punishment of being suspended and brain-fed, her migraine suddenly attacked.

In the agonizing pain, she actually fell asleep, dreaming of a ’beautiful’ scene, seeing herself grown up, exacting revenge on her enemies, the gruesome images of flaying and devouring them alive.

When she woke up again, she found herself freed from restraints.

And more so, the girl completed quite terrifying acts while sleepwalking.

The actions she took against her enemies in her dream were all applied to the Dancers here; Catherine tore apart the bodies of all female Dancers, and their brains were devoured by her.

But instead of suffering, the Dancers thanked the girl for the release she brought them.

From then on, the girl’s "migraine" officially evolved into a "nightmare."

All the devoured Dancers were assimilated into her, becoming a part of Catherine.

Since the Main Clown was imprisoned for killing the former Assistant Clown, the Circus had specially arranged for Magician Jia’en to help manage the Clown House during this time,

But when Jia’en personally came to check the situation at the Clown House, he unexpectedly discovered the special girl at the entrance to the factory.

He recognized Catherine’s talent at a glance and provided her with relatively normal education and training.

...

While William was reliving Catherine’s past in first-person perspective within the dream,

Next door in the factory, Art, who was ’renovating’ his body, suddenly stopped what he was doing,

clang clang bang—scythes, electric saws, scissors, hammers, needles and threads, as well as the iron, etc., were all thrown on the ground as he rearranged his cumbersome clown costume and staggered to his feet.

Throughout this process, waves of malice kept seeping out,

The Assistant Clown had been replaced multiple times for various reasons, but the Circus’s Main Clown has always been him, never changed.

Sniffing with his grotesquely large nostrils, licking his tumor-ridden tongue,

Art seemed to taste something,

His lips quivering,

The voice came from his vocal cords infested with tiny abscesses, sounding thoroughly uncomfortable, "No mistake, even though it’s slight, I can definitely smell a hint of the Cancer Palace.

Ah, how familiar. It’s been a long time since I’ve smelled this scent..."

Be it wriggling, or sliding, he moved in an extremely ludicrous manner towards the neighboring black and white factory.