Global Ghost Stories: I'm Investigating Ghosts in My Nightmare!

Chapter 95 The performance begins

As soon as the clown finished speaking, the puppets perched on the dome moved!

"call--!"

Without warning, the puppet closest to Bai Yu let go of the rope with both hands!

Its body, clad in a brightly colored acrobatic costume, plummeted like a cannonball from the sky, accompanied by a sharp whistling sound as it tore through the air, hurtling towards Bai Yu's location!

fast!
Extremely fast!

That's a falling speed that no normal living being could possibly possess!

Bai Yu's pupils suddenly contracted to the size of pinpoints!
His fighting instincts, honed through countless life-or-death experiences, allowed him to react with lightning speed the instant before danger struck!

Without the slightest hesitation, his body suddenly rolled to the left!
"boom--!!!"

A deafening explosion shattered the spot where he had just been standing!
The moment the puppet's body touched the stage floor, it exploded like a bomb filled with high explosives!

A terrifying shockwave, carrying countless pieces of flesh and cloth burning with a ghastly green flame, swept wildly in all directions!
The entire massive circular stage trembled violently under the terrifying explosion!
A charred crater over three meters in diameter was blasted into the center of the soft velvet carpet. A ghastly green flame, like a ghostly fire from hell, was burning around the edge of the crater, emitting a nauseating smell of burning chemicals.

Bai Yu had just gotten up from the ground and hadn't even had a chance to catch his breath when an even stronger sense of crisis struck him once again!
"Hu! Hu! Hu!"

This time it's not just one!
Three!

The three puppets, arranged in a triangular formation from different directions, launched a suicidal dive attack on his location!

They want to completely block all his escape routes and strangle him right here!

Damn!

Bai Yu's face turned extremely ugly.

He knew he couldn't keep passively dodging like this.

On this empty stage, he was a sitting duck!

He must find cover immediately!
His gaze was like a sophisticated radar, rapidly scanning the surrounding environment!
Several huge iron cages used for animal performances were placed at the edge of the stage!
That's it!

Without the slightest hesitation, Bai Yu concentrated all his strength in his legs and charged madly toward the iron cage closest to him!
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Three loud explosions followed in quick succession, resounding across the ground behind him!
The scorching heatwave, like a raging beast, slammed into his back!
He felt a burning pain in his back, and his tattered suit was completely burned in an instant!
He could even smell the burning of his own skin!

But he didn't stop.

He endured the excruciating pain that went deep into his bones, and just before he lost his balance, he lunged forward and scrambled into the cold iron cage!
It's safe for now.

Bai Yu leaned against the cold iron railing, breathing heavily, cold sweat streaming down his pale cheeks like a stream.

However, the Joker's performance could never be so simple.

"Shh...shh..."

A sudden, dense rustling sound, like countless spiders crawling on the ground, arose from all directions.

Bai Yu suddenly raised his head!
In the unfathomable darkness of the dome, the remaining puppets, like real acrobats, used their inhumanly agile limbs to rapidly surround the iron cage where he was, navigating the intricate ropes!
Their way of moving completely defies common sense!

Some of them, like geckos, clung tightly to the bottom of the rope, hanging upside down as they crawled!

Some, like monkeys, gripped the rope with one hand and swung dangerously long distances in the air time and time again!
A dozen pairs of scarlet eyes traced red lines in the darkness, like a tightening net, trying to strangle this "trapped beast" who had willingly crawled into the cage!

"Ha...what a foolish choice."

In the VIP section, the clown watched Bai Yu's actions with a mocking expression.

"Do you think the cage is your sanctuary?"

"No, that's just the coffin I carefully prepared for you."

Bai Yu ignored his sarcasm.

His brain was working at an unprecedented speed!

He must immediately find the pattern of these puppets' movements!

What controls them?
Was this an order from the Joker?
No, that's not right. If the Joker were in direct control, it wouldn't be standing there like a spectator.

Is it light?
That's not right either. They can move freely in the dark just as well.

So... it's a sound?

A glint of light flashed in Bai Yu's eyes!
He remembered the distorted lullaby he had heard in the funhouse mirror maze!

Although the music had stopped, the seemingly silent theater was not entirely quiet!

A faint, rhythmic ticking sound was coming quietly from a corner of the tent! The sound was so faint that it could almost be ignored.

But the sound was like a precise metronome, perfectly controlling the rhythm of every movement of the puppets on the dome!

found it!
That's their "commander"!
Bai Yu instantly pinpointed the direction from which the sound was coming!

On the other side of the stage, in the shadows near the band area, there was a huge metronome!
The metronome's lever was swinging back and forth at a mechanical frequency, emitting a monotonous "tick-tock" sound!

If you destroy it, these dolls will completely lose control!
However, the idea of ​​breaking out of this enormous cage, traversing the stage filled with deadly traps, and reaching the metronome was simply a pipe dream!
Just then, the first batch of puppets silently descended to the top of the iron cage!
Their faces, adorned with eerie smiles, slowly peeked out from the cracks in the iron cage, their scarlet eyes looking down at their "prey" with no way to escape.

One of the dolls slowly opened its mouth.

A stream of corrosive liquid, as colorful as a ribbon, spewed from its mouth!
"Zi la——!"

The viscous liquid emitted a series of corrosive sounds and emitted a plume of white smoke with a pungent odor the moment it came into contact with the iron cage!

The sturdy alloy railings, corroded by the liquid, began to melt rapidly, much like ice and snow exposed to the scorching sun!

Bai Yu's face turned extremely ugly in an instant!
He knew he couldn't wait any longer!

He must make a decision immediately!
He suddenly raised his head, a resolute glint flashing in his deep eyes!
Since we can't break through from the front, then... let's try a different approach!

He condensed the power of "nothingness" within his body into an invisible needle!
Then, he thrust the "needle" hard into the dome, into the supporting points among the tangled ropes!

"Crack——!"

With a faint cracking sound echoing in the deathly silence filled with the ticking of the clock, the rope, which served as the core load-bearing point, was rapidly eroded by the power of "nothingness" and then could no longer withstand the enormous pulling force, snapping with a crash!
The dozen or so ropes connected to it lost their connection points in an instant!
"Boom, boom, boom!"

Like an avalanche, the entire rope net collapsed with a deafening roar!
Before the puppets could even land, they were swept up by the collapsing rope net and slammed down from a height of tens of meters, just like dumplings being dropped into a pot!
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"

A series of dull thuds echoed around the stage!
The once invincible "aerial dancers" were reduced to piles of shattered parts in an instant!
The doll that had already descended to the top of the iron cage also fell helplessly from the top of the cage because it lost the tether of the rope!

The crisis is temporarily over!

In the VIP section, the clown's pale face underwent a momentary change in expression.

A hint of undisguised surprise flickered in his unfathomable eyes.

He clearly hadn't expected that this tiny human being could launch such a precise counterattack in such a desperate situation!
Bai Yu didn't pause at all!
He had to seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and break out of that iron cage that was already riddled with holes from corrosion!
His goal was crystal clear!
It's that metronome that makes that deathly "tick" sound in the shadows!

The broken doll has begun to rebuild itself, and the fallen doll is slowly standing up; his time is running out.

However, just as he was about to rush to the metronome, an elegant and composed figure appeared in front of him as if by teleportation, blocking his way.

It's a clown.

He had left the VIP seats and come to the stage without anyone noticing.

His face had once again returned to that unchanging smile.

He slowly raised his hand, which was covered in a clean white glove, and gently shook his finger at Bai Yu.

"No, no, no."

His voice was magnetic.

“My dear ‘actor’, you seem… a little too impatient.”

"What a pity it would be if such a great drama came to an end so soon."

He paused, and the smile on his lips grew even wider.

"Since you enjoy 'improvisation' so much..."

"Then let me give you a new 'stage'!"

He snapped his fingers gracefully.

"Snapped."

With that snap of his fingers, a huge crack suddenly appeared in the solid stage floor beneath Bai Yu's feet!

An irresistible, immense suction force surged wildly from the endless darkness beneath the rift!
Bai Yu's body fell uncontrollably into that bottomless abyss!

"Go and enjoy my backstage area, which is full of fun and surprises!"

"Hahahahahaha..."

The clown's cheerful voice was the last thing he heard before his consciousness was swallowed by darkness.

(End of this chapter)