Chapter 218: You're Actually Still Alive?
The clock struck the Xu hour—eight-fifteen in the evening. The curtain was about to rise on the final performance for all surviving players.
At the towering entrance of the Grand Performance Area, the Circus Troupe Leader stood at his post. He wore his impeccably tailored suit and a stiff, professional smile, collecting admission tickets one by one. Most of the players assigned the 'Tourist' role had already hurried inside, leaving only a sparse, anxious queue lingering by the gates.
When Haruto strolled up to the entrance, he instantly caught the Troupe Leader's eye. Their gazes locked. For a fraction of a second, the pristine smile on the entity's face froze.
"Surprised?" Haruto asked, his tone casual as he closed the distance.
He honestly wasn't sure if the ghost was just overconfident or genuinely clueless. After yesterday's chaotic show, Haruto hadn't bothered to attend any of their subsequent acts., when his group had gone to seek out Chen Qin later that night, they had deliberately masked their auras. There was no way the Troupe Leader could have known they hadn't been wiped out.
"A little bit," the Troupe Leader admitted, shaking his head slightly as his flawless smile snapped back into place. "But thinking carefully, it is only natural for you to grace us with your presence again. also, it is the Circus's great fortune that you are willing to attend our performance once more."
He made an exaggerated, theatrical gesture, tapping his chin thoughtfully. A few faint, materialized stars seemed to pop into existence above his top hat. Raising a single gloved finger, he offered a warm smile. "How about this? For tonight's grand finale, I shall cover the admission fee for the three of you."
"No need," Haruto declined effortlessly, fishing a crimson ghost coin from his pocket. "For the final performance, the money definitely has to be—"
His voice cut off abruptly. Haruto had just caught sight of a familiar figure cowering near the back of the line. It was the Man in Top Hat from yesterday, still draped in those garish, multicolored clothes. At that exact moment, the man looked up and noticed Haruto.
Their eyes met. The man glanced at Haruto, then at the ten or so players queuing behind him. His Adam's apple bobbed violently as he swallowed a hard lump of terror.
"Our tickets will be charged to his—" Haruto started to say, pointing a thumb at the man.
Before the sentence could even land, the Man in Top Hat lunged forward. He hit the dirt, sliding on his knees, and wrapped his arms in a death grip around Haruto's leg.
"Big shot, I was wrong! I was blind yesterday! I didn't know you were a real big shot!" he wailed bitterly, tears streaming down his face. He frantically dug into his pockets, producing a pathetic handful of blue ghost coins. "I really don't have any more money, just these... please, just leave me enough for one ticket, and take all the rest!"
Haruto's eyelid twitched. He felt the subtle, bewildered stares of the surrounding players drilling into his back.
"Let go of me first. Get up before we talk," Haruto muttered, trying to pry the weeping man off his trousers.
"No! Not unless you forgive me, big shot! I really have no money left!" The man looked like he was on the verge of a complete breakdown. After being forced to pay for Haruto's entire group the previous night, his funds had been completely drained. He had been short by five ghost coins, and it was only thanks to a pitying player with some spare change that he had barely managed to scrape by and enter the tent.
"Get up first," Haruto repeated, his tone dropping a fraction.
"I won't, big shot—alright then."
The man's desperate wailing ceased instantly. He had just noticed the heavy, solid brick that had miraculously materialized in Haruto's right hand. Decisively following his survival instincts, the man scrambled to his feet, though he kept his head bowed, staring at Haruto with the ultimate 'I know I messed up' expression.
"You don't need to pay," Haruto sighed, waving his hand helplessly. The brick vanished back into his inventory. He really had intended to fleece the guy one more time just for the laughs. But seeing him apologize with such pathetic sincerity... it actually made Haruto feel a tiny bit bad about bullying him. Besides, he had already made an absolute fortune extorting the Magician yesterday.
Haruto scanned the remaining players shivering in the queue. He pulled out five gleaming red ghost coins and flicked his wrist in a grand, sweeping gesture.
"I'll cover the tickets for everyone else remaining."
The words hit the queue like a divine blessing. The players still waiting in line—especially those who had been sweating bullets over their lack of funds—were instantly overjoyed. As they hurried past Haruto to hand their newly acquired tickets to the Troupe Leader, every single one of them bowed their heads and offered fervent words of gratitude.
Haruto merely nodded in response. Circus tickets weren't exactly expensive, and the ghost coins he just spent were a drop in the bucket compared to his current wealth. He had no idea how many of these terrified people would actually survive the night. On this final evening, paying their way to give them a brief moment of relief was the least he could do.
Soon, the entrance was empty. Only Haruto, Kaguya, Youmu, and the Circus Troupe Leader remained beneath the flickering lights of the marquee.
"This is your change." The Troupe Leader smiled, extending a white-gloved hand to offer two or three blue ghost coins of small denominations.
"Keep the change. Treat the rest as a tip from me," Haruto said, not even glancing at the coins.
"A tip?" The Troupe Leader narrowed his eyes, a dangerous, amused glint flashing through his pupils. "It has indeed been a long time since I last received a tip. Thank you very much."
"You're welcome." Haruto waved dismissively and led Kaguya and Youmu through the heavy velvet curtains and into the tent.
Inside, the grand stands were already packed with tense players. Notably, the seating arrangement was highly irregular. Absolutely no one dared to sit in the very front rows near the stage, nor did anyone hide in the very back. The entire audience was huddled tightly together in the dead center of the bleachers.
Circus performances required interaction. The ghostly performers could summon anyone from the audience onto the stage at any given moment, and according to the rules, a Tourist could not refuse. Most of those dragged into the spotlight were tortured to death on the spot if they lacked the strength to survive the twisted acts.
Haruto's gaze swept over the sea of anxious faces. After seven or eight seconds, he spotted Lin Que and her group. They were occupying the exact same spots as the previous night.
The row directly below them was completely full, occupied by ten heavily contaminated players. Their physical appearances were grotesquely distorted—some sported bloated pig heads, others had coarse rabbit paws instead of hands, and a few possessed reversed, muscular monkey legs. They looked nearly identical to the twisted beastmen roaming the Animal Zone.
If Kaguya hadn't used her manipulation of Eternity and the Instant to lock their physical states in time, these players would have completely mutated into mindless animals by now.
The trio climbed the bleachers and took their seats beside Lin Que.
Seeing Haruto arrive, Lin Que leaned in, her eyes darting nervously toward the mutated players below. "Are they really going to be okay?"
"They'll be fine," Kaguya answered from Haruto's side, offering a nonchalant shrug. "As long as they don't experience intense internal conflict or face overwhelming external interference, they are stable. Even with my strength suppressed in this instance, the Eternity and the Instant I cast on them can last for several hours. Theoretically, it's more than enough to get them through tonight."
Lin Que breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Then, her expression darkened as she recalled something crucial. "When we entered earlier, the Troupe Leader said something to me."
"Oh? What did he say?" Haruto raised an eyebrow, genuinely curious.
"He said, 'In the face of absolute order and absolute strength, all schemes are merely illusions.'"
"Quite correct," Haruto nodded, his tone entirely agreeable.
It was the final day, after all. Their group had made far too much noise. Even if the Troupe Leader didn't know the exact details of their survival or their specific endgame, an entity of his caliber could definitely sense that the players were brewing a massive storm.
But it didn't matter. Haruto just needed to follow the cryptic riddle provided by the Ghost Granny. He planned to exploit the chaotic overlap of the instance's rules and weaponize the bitter, underlying conflict between the Troupe Leader and the Clown. If he played his cards right, he could force open the hidden passage and secure an exit from this nightmare.
If that complex, rule-bending scheme failed, he would simply activate the backup plan.
Which was to slaughter every single ghost in the Circus, raze the tent to the ground, and let the entire instance collapse in on itself from the sheer structural damage.
And if, by some miracle, even the backup plan failed... well, he could always just shout, 'Help me, Mother Yukari!' and summon a certain Sage of Youkai who was currently bored out of her mind back home.
Lin Que's expression turned incredibly subtle. She stared at Haruto, completely baffled by the fact that he wasn't just remaining calm, but was actively agreeing with the boss monster's terrifying threat.
"Don't we need to make some... preparations?" she asked hesitantly.
Haruto leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms and shaking his head. "Everything that needs to be done is done. We've done our best; now we can only leave it to fate."
Hearing this, Lin Que swallowed her remaining questions. She turned her attention back to the darkened stage, forcing herself to watch the impending performance seriously.
Beside Haruto, Kaguya's gaze was equally subtle, though for entirely different reasons.
What kind of 'leave it to fate'is this? she thought, rolling her eyes internally. His version of'leaving it to fate'probably just means waiting for Yakumo Yukari to tear open a spatial gap, declare'I'm freaking here!', and then violently flip the entire game board.
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