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

Chapter 94 The Last Theater
The clown's voice echoed slowly through the underground cavern of death and decay. Each syllable carried just the right amount of politeness, but together they formed a naked threat and a death ultimatum.

Bai Yu's gaze was like two drawn swords, piercing through the dim distance and meeting the eyes of the man standing at the exit.

He could clearly feel the aura emanating from the other person's seemingly frail body.

Self, aesthetics, malice...

He stood there quietly, yet he seemed to be the sole center and the only god in this crazy world.

"Baiyu..." Anmu's voice came from beside him, "What... do we do now?"

His left arm was throbbing with pain from the fracture, while his other, intact right hand had silently gripped the energy pistol at his waist.

"We have no other choice." Bai Yu's voice was calm and undisturbed.

He knew that from the very first second they stepped into this paradise, they had become pawns on a chessboard.

Everything they had experienced before, whether it was the funhouse mirror maze or the crazy roller coaster, was just an audition carefully arranged by this "director" to select his favorite "lead actor".

Now, the audition is over.

He was "chosen".

He slowly stood up, his suit, soaked in a dark red, viscous liquid, clinging tightly to his body and outlining his powerful physique.

He glanced at his companions who were still unconscious beside him, and then at An Mu's resolute face.

Finally, he turned his gaze back to the "clown" who was quietly waiting for him with an "expectant" smile.

"Okay." He spoke slowly, uttering only one word.

Under An Mu's puzzled gaze, he leaped off the cold metal wreckage and landed back into the sticky, bloody "candy pool".

He didn't look back.

One person, step by step, walked resolutely toward the only exit, toward the "theater" filled with the unknown and death.

Each step created ripples of dark red in the viscous "ocean".

His silhouette, illuminated by the pale fluorescent light of the dome, appeared incredibly lonely and upright.

Like a tragic hero about to walk alone to the execution ground.

……

When Bai Yu stepped onto the solid ground behind the huge archway pieced together from funhouse mirrors, the underground cave behind him vanished completely after a silent twist, as if a program had been deleted.

Instead, there was an even more suffocating darkness.

He was already inside a huge circus tent.

A unique odor, a mixture of moldy curtains, rotten wood chips, and a strong smell of blood, flooded his nostrils.

Immediately afterwards, a beam of pale white spotlight, like a spear of judgment cast by God, struck down from the bottomless dome without warning, precisely illuminating the area where he was located.

He was standing in the very center of a huge, somewhat exaggerated circular stage.

The stage floor was covered with a carpet as soft as velvet. Embroidered on the carpet were countless smiling faces screaming in pain, made of gold thread.

Surrounding the stage were layers of audience seats, like mountains, stretching into the darkness.

The stands were filled with "spectators".

Those were the "smiling dolls" he had seen before in the carousel area.

Like true audience members, they sat quietly in their seats, turning their smiling faces toward the sole "performer" in the center of the stage.

Their eyes were devoid of any emotion, like countless cold cameras, ready to record his every move.

Countless thick ropes hung from the top of the tent's towering dome.

Some "dolls" dressed in colorful acrobatic costumes were suspended upside down in mid-air by ropes.

They swayed slowly like dried meat in the wind, carried by the faint air currents above the dome.

This is a museum filled with death and madness.

And he is the latest "exhibit" that will be displayed soon.

"please."

The clown's voice came from the VIP section, which was lit by a dim yellow light, directly opposite the stage.

He had already gracefully taken a seat behind a round table covered with a clean white tablecloth, without anyone noticing.

He held a glass filled with scarlet liquid in his hand, and was looking at the center of the stage with great interest, as if he were appreciating a work of art.

Bai Yu was soaked to the bone and looked a little disheveled, but her eyes remained as calm as an abyss.

"The stage is ready for you."

“All the ‘audience’ members are in place.”

"Now, please begin your performance."

Bai Yu did not act immediately.

He simply stood there quietly, his deep eyes meeting the gaze of the aloof man.

He is analyzing.

Let's analyze this seemingly unsolvable rule.

"A performance that makes me laugh from the bottom of my heart."

This is a highly subjective task, and the criteria for judging "laughter" are entirely in the hands of the other party.

No matter what you perform, if the other party says "I'm not satisfied," then you've lost.

Therefore, the key to breaking the deadlock does not lie in "what to perform".

The key lies in how to "define" it, and what kind of "laughter" he actually wants.

Bai Yu's mind raced through everything he had experienced since entering this paradise.

The funhouse mirror maze is filled with the painful "forced laughter".

On the crazy roller coaster, there was a desperate "life-saving laugh".

And then there was the pale face of the man before her, bearing a smile full of "appreciation" and "amusement."

What he wanted was the most twisted, most deformed, and most "tragic aesthetics" kind of "laughter" that blossomed from the extreme pain, fear, and despair.

Bai Yu slowly closed her eyes.

He didn't sing, he didn't dance, and he didn't tell any jokes.

He simply stood quietly under that pale spotlight, like an ascetic about to undergo a profound repentance.

Then, he slowly began to speak.

"My performance is about telling a story."

His voice wasn't loud, but it was incredibly clear in the deathly silent theater, like clear spring water slowly flowing into the ears of every "audience member".

"The protagonist of the story is an investigator."

In the VIP section, the clown's eyebrows twitched imperceptibly. An expression of interest crossed his face. "He once had a very happy family. A loving father and a gentle mother."

"However, in a sudden disaster, he watched as his parents were completely wiped out before his eyes. And he couldn't even utter a cry."

"From then on, his world was reduced to only black and white."

Bai Yu's tone was so calm, as if he were telling a story that had nothing to do with him.

But the sadness hidden beneath the surface of ordinariness was like an invisible icicle, piercing deep into the souls of every "listener".

"Later, he joined an organization and found a group of companions who were willing to entrust their backs to him and shield him from all dangers."

"He thought he had finally found a new 'family.' But fate played another cruel joke on him."

"In a battle against a terrifying being, in order to save all his companions, he chose to undergo the most thorough fusion with the 'demon' residing within him."

"His body and his soul were utterly torn to shreds in that fusion."

"He died once."

"Although he miraculously came back to life, from then on, his soul was like a porcelain vase full of cracks. With every breath and every heartbeat, he was enduring the tearing pain of impending complete collapse."

Bai Yu's eyes were filled with endless sorrow and weariness, like the vast ocean of stars.

He laid bare his pain, his deepest wounds, to this clown who reveled in watching suffering.

In the VIP section, the clown wore a smile of pure bliss and satisfaction.

He slowly raised his wine glass and waved to Bai Yu in the center of the stage.

“Brilliant… truly a brilliant monologue.” His voice was filled with admiration. “This sense of brokenness, this resilience struggling in despair, is simply… the most exquisite beauty I have ever seen.”

“But…” he changed the subject, his smile becoming increasingly playful, “…pain alone is not enough.”

"A truly great tragedy requires that most desperate 'smile' that emerges at the climax of suffering."

"Come on, let me see if you can give me that final... 'finishing touch'."

Bai Yu looked at him quietly, at his face filled with expectation and greed.

He slowly shook his head.

"Do not."

"My story is not over yet."

The clown raised his eyebrows once again.

“You’re right. My past is full of pain and despair.” Bai Yu’s voice remained calm, but beneath that calmness lay a different kind of “warmth.”

"But it was in the deepest darkness that I saw the most dazzling light."

"My captain used his 'iron wall of authority' burning with life force to open up that golden 'royal land' for us."

"My companion stood in front of me as I was about to be pierced by a fatal attack, his back to me with unwavering resolve."

"A frail little girl who should have been protected by us sang a hopeful homecoming song when faced with resentment that could devour everything."

The deep sorrow and weariness in Bai Yu's eyes were gradually replaced by emotions filled with warmth and strength.

"Pain cannot destroy me. It only makes me feel more clearly how precious the 'protection' from my companions is."

"Despair cannot devour me. It only makes me more determined to pursue that glimmer of hope that will not be extinguished even when I am in the abyss."

Bai Yu slowly raised her head and met the man in the VIP seat whose smile was beginning to freeze.

A faint smile curved upwards at the corners of his mouth.

This time, his smile was a genuine smile from the heart, a smile without any impurities, full of warmth and strength.

Behind him always stood his companions who supported him, trusted him, and entrusted everything to him; they were his brightest hope in dire straits.

"What you want is a performance that makes you laugh, right?"

He asked calmly.

"Then I'll tell you, this is my answer."

"After experiencing all the pain and despair, I can still stand here, bearing their trust and protecting everything I cherish..."

"...this matter itself..."

"...is the happiest thing in my life."

Bai Yu's words were like holy light filled with purifying power, fiercely cleaving open this theater full of distortion and madness!

In the VIP section, all expression had completely vanished from the clown's pale face.

For the first time, a different emotion appeared in his unfathomable eyes.

That was the anger of being utterly rejected!
Bai Yu's "performance" did not bring him the "happiness" he wanted.

Instead, he is delusional enough to use his "damned" "happiness" to completely overturn the entire artistic system of "tragic aesthetics" that he is so proud of, starting from its very foundation!

He was "tricked".

We've been fooled by this insignificant human!

The clown slowly stood up from the soft chair.

He looked at the center of the stage, at the man with a warm smile on his face.

After a long while, his expression changed from distorted to smiling, and then he slowly raised his hands, which were covered in white gloves, and clapped vigorously.

"Crack...crack...crack..."

The crisp applause sounded incredibly jarring in the deathly silent theater.

"Wonderful... truly a wonderful performance..."

Even though he still had a smile on his lips, his voice was icy cold and devoid of any warmth.

“I admit, you are the most ‘special’ artist I have ever met.”

"He's also the first human I've ever met who dared to directly provoke me..."

"In that case, as the highest tribute to your wonderful performance..."

A smile full of madness and cruelty appeared on his face.

"...Let me present you with my most prized... 'closing performance'."

He snapped his fingers gracefully.

"Snapped."

With that snap of the fingers, the "puppets" dressed as acrobats, who had been hanging upside down above the dome of the circus tent from the beginning, suddenly opened their eyes all at once!

Those were pairs of scarlet eyes filled with hunger and greed, one pair after another, all fixed on Bai Yu.

"Accept your fate... I will make you my most perfect doll... my most perfect work of art..."

(End of this chapter)