The Last Gentleman
Chapter 501: 499: One Month

Having received the answer to "Fear," William headed straight back to the Magic House.

"Catherine!"

"Why are you yelling so loudly~ You scared me."

"I need your help!"

"Help with what, haven’t you still gone to Uncle Jian’s place yet?"

"Later, when I return from Jian’s place and enter a dream, you directly help me fashion a perfect dream about the Orphanage.

If possible, Catherine, you might join in and experience this root fear from my childhood with me."

Catherine was immediately reminded of the conversation at the aquarium, "Do you want me to become the twin-tailed girl that Yi Chen mentioned?"

"If you are willing, of course you can."

"Alright~ I was contemplating what kind of nightmare to venture into tonight while sleeping. Since it’s decided, I will use your past memories as a blueprint. I want to see what it is that brought about your initial root fear."

Thus, the month before the magic feast was jam-packed, with virtually no rest.

The first half of the month was mainly about adapting to the abyss and feeling fear,

William headed early daily to Jian’s office. A few times, Jian had just gotten up and was showering, and to save time, they simply held their gaze in the shower room.

After an hour of experiencing the abyss, William would fall back into his own room through space magic, assisted by Catherine in entering the dream.

The two of them impersonated ’Young Yi Chen’ and ’Young Girl Yu Xin,’ and with their memories erased beforehand, they completely embodied children to re-experience life in the orphanage.

When the first day’s dream ended,

Catherine suddenly sat up, her back drenched in sweat, and even her speech was somewhat unclear at first.

"William, what exactly is this Black Mountain Orphanage! Why do ordinary humans targeting us bring me such a heavy psychological burden and primal fear.

It really is almost like what ’Yi Chen’ mentioned. I even had suicidal thoughts, it really is possible to commit suicide there.

Giving hope and then extinguishing it immediately, it was impossible to look forward to the future in the completely sealed orphanage, even the views from the windows were fake.

Everyone’s most evil and insidious sides were completely exposed, yet they deliberately wore a fake mask of friendliness.

Wow, the more I think about it, the more uncomfortable I get, the more I think about it, the angrier I get! Does this orphanage still exist? I want to go over right now and kill everyone in there...No, killing them isn’t enough! I want to soak them all in a nightmare solution, trapped forever between nightmares."

"Ha ha~ Catherine, are you reacting so strongly? We can’t visit that orphanage now."

William just smiled, his state being quite good after coming out of the dream.

Due to bringing a whole new concept of fear into experiencing the orphanage, he felt a strikingly new sensation, even suddenly discovering a lot he could relearn with the teachers.

Catherine glanced sidelong at William next to her, and with the orphanage experience combined, she increasingly saw William as a pretentious psychopath wearing a mask.

"Eh~ Back off! No wonder you have such a twisted personality inside, it turns out you grew up in such a place.

Although my childhood was miserable, it wasn’t tortured on a psychological level, at least there was some space to escape."

"Alright, since the dream is over, I’ll go see Mr. Jian! I’ll still need your help later when it’s time to sleep.

Of course, Catherine, if you are scared and don’t dare to experience the orphanage again as a young girl, just sending me in alone will do."

"Huh? Do you think I would be scared? I have never been scared before, okay? I just feel that those humans inside are too twisted, I’m just a bit outraged."

Thus, after half a month of intense training,

William was beginning to adapt to the abyssal fall brought by Jian. He could maintain about twenty minutes of rational clarity out of an hour’s total time, slowly beginning to perceive the essence of the abyss in the darkness.

But he had not reached the bottom yet, unable to confirm whether his own path was related to the abyss.

On the nightmare front, he also began to slowly recover his former fears,

Analyzing the twisted essence of the teachers one by one, combining with the orphanage to analyze the principle of root fear, he began to pinpoint the type of his fear syndrome.

It should be noted that although Catherine nearly committed suicide several times, each night she also gradually got accustomed to living in the orphanage as another ordinary person with William, even feeling like she was starting a second life and finding it interesting.

In the second half of the month,

Catherine could no longer stay with William every day, as she needed to rehearse for her clown role and take care of ticket distribution and audience selection before the official performance.

William had also changed his daily schedule, carving out some time to concoct new culinary creations, and he used his sense of fear to complement the "Mini Stage" for relevant performance designs, broadly constructing the shape of the next performance.

The twenty-eighth day.

William no longer knocked on Mr. Jian’s magic door but walked straight through the Black Door.

Buzz! His body adeptly fell onto the bathroom toilet while still maintaining a leg-crossed sitting position.

Jian was standing in front of the vanity mirror applying a moisturizing oil from the "Corner," which kept his skin healthy and helped him remember things from his past.

His teal hair naturally draped over his shoulders, highlighting his handsome face.

Jian asked first, "Tomorrow is the Magic Feast, and as a special guest, have you decided what dish to prepare?"

"I’ve confirmed the dish’s design, and I even went to the kitchen the day before yesterday to try it out. Although there are still improvements to be made, both Zock and Chef Timi think it’s very good."

"Then I’m really looking forward to it, and I hope your dish will win the boss’s favor. So let’s get started soon today, and spend the remaining time seriously preparing for the Magic Feast."

As soon as he finished speaking,

Jian’s eyes, through the reflection in the mirror and the toilet seat, met William’s,

All it took was the flush of a toilet, and William’s consciousness was swept into it, plummeting into absolute darkness.

Ten minutes,

Twenty minutes,

Thirty minutes,

Forty minutes,

Fifty-nine minutes and fifty-one seconds!

Ding-ding-ding—The alarm went off, waking William on the couch, across from whom Jian was sitting with a face mask on.

Jian sadly said, "It was just a bit short, which is a pity. If you had held on till the end, you might have fallen to the bottom and could have verified whether your path was hidden there."

William wiped away the mixture of blood and brain matter flowing from his nostrils, then sipped tea from his cup.

"Whew, then we’ll just have to complete that after the Magic Feast and the formal performance, which won’t be much longer."

"Right! Go back and rest well, I’m looking forward to your performance at tomorrow’s Magic Feast."

"Thank you, Mr. Jian."

The Magic Feast

One of the most important activities of the Fear Circus, it’s a mandatory banquet held before every performance. Only main members participate, and no one is allowed to miss it or they will be stripped of their circus identity and expelled.

The Magic Feast adjusts all members to their best state, ensuring optimal performance during the official show.

The banquet requires each member to prepare their best dish, and each dish will be scored during the banquet by those participating.

The member with the highest objective score will receive a special gift from the circus, and possibly even the favor of the boss.

No matter how dangerous or tense the rehearsals are, on the last day, everyone will put aside their work and focus on preparing for the Magic Feast.

The next morning.

It was no longer William knocking on Jian’s door, but Jian who came over to call on his assistant.

"William, are you ready? Let’s go."

"Okay!"

William took a deep breath, made a final adjustment to his tie, and followed Mr. Jian’s side to the "Back Kitchen."

At the same time, personnel representing the highest level of combat ability in the circus also headed to the back kitchen.