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

Chapter 88 The Joker's Invitation

When the crowd arrived at the central square, it had already been cordoned off with a long police tape.

The piercing sirens and the roar of helicopter rotors mingled together, casting an unsettling shadow over the night sky of this city that never sleeps.

The air was filled with a mixture of gunpowder smoke and blood.

The square was a mess, with overturned billboards, broken glass, and personal belongings scattered everywhere.

The "clowns" who once wreaked havoc here are now like wind-up puppets, lying haphazardly on the ground, in a bizarre coma.

Their faces still wore eerie smiles, making them appear terrifying.

"How's the situation?" An Mu jumped out of the car and asked the second team leader who was waiting there in a deep voice.

"The situation is not optimistic." The second team leader, a middle-aged man with a resolute face, wore an undisguised grave expression. "When we arrived, the riot had largely subsided. All the infected individuals had fallen unconscious at the same time. We conducted initial tests on them and found that their vital signs were stable, and there were no obvious physical injuries. But..."

He paused, pointed to a comatose person being carried away on a stretcher by medical personnel, and continued, "...Their mental state is severely abnormal. We tried various methods to wake them up, but there was no response. They were like...like a group of empty shells whose souls had been ripped out."

An Mu frowned deeply. He walked to the unconscious person's side, squatted down, and carefully examined him.

The unconscious man was a young man who looked to be only in his early twenties, with a huge, stiff, and eerie smile on his face. The smile looked as if it had been branded onto his face by an invisible carving knife.

Bai Yu also walked over. He didn't look at the unconscious person's face, but instead slowly spread his senses to explore the person's chaotic mental world.

He was stunned for a moment, and in the other person's sea of ​​consciousness, only one emotion remained at this moment.

A kind of "pleasure" filled with madness and distortion.

This "pleasure" is like a powerful, corrosive mental virus that completely devours the other person's reason, memory, and emotions, leaving behind only an empty shell that can only laugh.

“It’s permanent damage to their mental state.” Bai Yu slowly stood up and said, “Their souls have been completely formatted by ‘pleasure’.”

An Mu's expression grew increasingly grim.

This means that these victims may never wake up again.

"Captain!" Lan Ce's voice came through the communicator, "There's new activity from 'Happy Paradise'!"

command center.

On the giant holographic screen, the official website of "Happy Paradise," filled with a fairytale atmosphere, is displayed.

Less than half an hour after the riots in the central square, the website disregarded the negative impact and boldly released a brand new announcement.

The announcement was full of provocation: "To celebrate our upcoming grand opening, we've prepared a small 'appetizer' tonight in the central square. If you enjoyed this 'surprise,' please be sure to visit our 'Happy Paradise' in three days. There, we'll present you with an ultimate carnival you'll never forget!"

A huge countdown poster was also attached to the bottom of the announcement.

The poster's background is "Happy Paradise," which appears even more eerie in the night. In the center of the poster, a smiling clown, facing everyone in front of the screen, slowly removes his hat and gives a gentlemanly bow.

"Damn it! This guy's completely insane!" Mo Fei slammed his fist on the table beside him, staring at the provocative announcement on the screen. "This isn't some kind of nightmare! This is a blatant attack! It's declaring war on us all!"

“Calm down, Mo Fei.” An Mu’s voice was also filled with anger, but he still maintained the composure of a commander. “Its purpose in doing this is to provoke us and make us lose our temper. We cannot let it lead us by the nose.”

He turned his gaze to Lance, who was staring intently at the screen with a serious expression, his fingers flying across the tactical tablet.

"Lanze, any new discoveries?"

“Yes.” Lance nodded, projecting the data he had just compiled onto the holographic screen. “I conducted an in-depth cross-referencing of the keyword ‘Grimaldi’ with all the historical files in our bureau, and finally, in an informal investigation report from seventy years ago, I found a key clue.”

A faded black-and-white photograph appeared on the screen. It showed a somewhat dilapidated circus tent.

At the entrance of the tent hangs a sign that bears the marks of time, with the words "Grimaldi's Miracle Circus" written in fancy lettering.

"According to this report, this 'Miracle Circus' was the predecessor of the 'Grimaldi' amusement park from thirty years ago. And its founder was not a man named 'Roderick,' but a circus ringmaster known as 'The Clown King.'"

"The real name and origin of this 'Clown King' are unknown. He appeared out of nowhere, like a ghost, touring Europe in the 1920s with his equally mysterious circus. It is said that his performances possessed an incredible magic, capable of making all the audience members who saw him forget all their troubles and fall into joy. But strangely, everyone who had deep contact with him eventually ended up being sent to an asylum due to mental breakdown."

"The report concludes by stating that the 'Miracle Circus's' final performance was held in an unknown small town. And right after that performance, the entire circus, the 'Clown King,' and all the audience members mysteriously disappeared overnight. No one survived, and no trace was left behind."

Ranze's analysis provided a clue to this seemingly inexplicable incident.

"So, the real origin of this 'Happy Paradise' we're facing now is very likely the 'Miracle Circus' that existed seventy years ago?" A glint of light flashed in An Mu's eyes.

“There is a very high probability.” Lan Ce nodded. “Moreover, I suspect that the so-called ‘Clown King’ is very likely the real body of this nightmare, or its first ‘host’.”

Just as everyone was still processing this shocking information, an investigator responsible for monitoring online public opinion suddenly strode in.

"Captain! Miss Lu Yueqi... received a very strange 'gift'!"

In the lounge.

A beautifully packaged gift box, bound together with colorful balloons, floats quietly in mid-air in the room.

That was an "opening surprise" that "Happy Paradise" gave her in an official capacity.

When the group arrived, the gift box was still floating there quietly, emanating an unsettling aura.

"Don't go near it!" Bai Yu's voice rang out instantly. He could clearly feel that the gift box was emitting the same kind of mental pollution fluctuations as those emanating from the infected people in the central square.

Lancer immediately took out his detector, and the red alert representing Nightmare Energy on the screen was flashing wildly.

"This thing... is a 'beacon'!" Lan Ce's face turned extremely ugly. "It has already locked onto Lu Yueqi's 'coordinates'!"

Lu Yueqi's body stiffened abruptly, and a chill instantly shot from the soles of her feet to the top of her head.

She was being targeted by that terrifying clown.

"Bang—!" With a soft sound, the gift box that was floating in mid-air suddenly exploded on its own without warning!
Countless colorful pieces of paper fell from the sky like snowflakes, transforming the entire room into a fairytale world.

An invitation made of stiff cardstock, with a clown's smiling face drawn on it, slowly drifted down from among the countless pieces of paper, finally landing precisely at Lu Yueqi's feet.

On the invitation, a line of words written in bright red ink was full of provocation.

To my dearest Miss Qi Yue:

"A streamer who knows how to bring joy to everyone must also yearn to experience true pleasure, right?"

"Three days from now, I will be waiting for you on the grandest stage in Happy Paradise."

"At that time, I will present you with an ultimate performance that you absolutely will not want to miss."

"—Your most loyal audience, 'The Joker,'

Looking at the provocative invitation, all the color drained from Lu Yueqi's petite face.

She slowly bent down and picked up the invitation.

Then, looking at An Mu and Bai Yu beside her, whose faces were solemn, she said in a trembling but unusually firm voice, "Captain, Bai Yu..."

"...I...I'll go."

"I disagree!" An Mu's voice was filled with undeniable authority. He looked at the girl before him and said sternly, "Anyone can go, but you can't! This isn't an invitation at all! It's a blatant trap! A trap set for you! Do you know what you'll face once you step into it!"

"I know!" Lu Yueqi's eyes were red, but she did not back down. Meeting An Mu's oppressive gaze, she said loudly, "I know it's dangerous there! I know I might die! But I can't not go!"

She placed the invitation card she was holding on the table.

“But it’s targeting me! It’s spreading its fear to millions of innocent people! If I choose to back down, then even more people will become those ‘smiling faces’ in the central square, never to wake up again, because of me!”

"I may be weak and useless! But at least I cannot become a... coward who harms others and myself!"

An Mu was speechless, stunned by her resolute words. Looking into her bright eyes, he was momentarily at a loss for words.

“Captain,” Bai Yu’s voice rang out slowly. He walked to Lu Yueqi’s side and stood shoulder to shoulder with her. “She’s right. We have no way out. If we take a step back, the people around us will suffer.”

He turned his gaze to An Mu, his eyes filled with unwavering determination.

“We must go to Happy Paradise. This is not only to save the victims, but also to stop this spreading disaster.”

“And…” he paused, a chilling murderous intent creeping into his voice, “…I also really want to see for myself what this so-called 'clown' looks like under his face paint.”

An Mu looked at the two young people in front of him and fell into a long silence.

After a long while, he slowly closed his eyes, then suddenly opened them again.

"Lan Ce," he said in a deep voice, "Immediately formulate a surprise attack plan against 'Happy Paradise'! Simulate all possible scenarios! I need a battle plan with a success rate of over 90%!"

"Yes!"

"Mo Fei!"

"To!"

"Bring out all of our team's heavy equipment!"

"Understood!" Mo Fei's face broke into an excited smile. "Watch me give that clown a good beating!"

“Bai Yu, Lu Yueqi.” An Mu’s gaze finally fell on the two of them, and his voice became particularly serious. “From now on, the two of you will maintain a 24-hour uninterrupted mental link. Bai Yu, I don’t care what method you use, before entering ‘Happy Paradise,’ I must ensure that Lu Yueqi’s mental state is absolutely safe.”

"Yes." Bai Yu nodded.

Thus began a bloody and insane battle against "Happy Paradise".

Three days later, at dusk.

A black tactical assault vehicle, like a black cheetah lurking in the shadows, silently stopped outside the gates of the sealed-off "Happy Paradise".

The afterglow of the setting sun dyed the entire amusement park an eerie blood red.

The huge, twisted clown's smiling face appeared even more grotesque against the backdrop of blood.

The air was filled with the sweet smell of popcorn and cotton candy.

The car door slid open slowly.

Five people, fully armed, got out of the car.

They gazed at the eerie paradise before them, which lay sprawled like a colossal beast in the twilight, their faces etched with solemnity and resolve.

"Let's go."

Anmu took the lead.

The moment their five feet stepped into the enormous entrance formed by the clown's gaping maw.

All around, the last traces of insect chirping and wind sounds belonging to the real world completely disappeared.

Instead, there was a deathly silence filled with oppression and madness, and the faint sound of carousel music coming from the depths of the park.

Welcome to Happy Paradise.

(End of this chapter)