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

Chapter 96 The Clown's Workshop

The feeling of weightlessness enveloped every inch of Bai Yu's senses.

The wind howled in his ears, like the screams of countless dead souls, trying to tear his consciousness apart completely.

He felt his body plummeting at an irresistible, terrifying speed toward the endless darkness that symbolized the end.

He tried to open his eyes, but his eyelids felt as heavy as a thousand pounds.

He tried to mobilize the power within his body, but the "void" power that had erupted on the roller coaster had long since subsided due to excessive consumption, leaving him only a weary, battered, and broken body.

Consciousness is like a candle flickering in the wind, its light uncertain, and it could be extinguished at any moment.

Just as his consciousness was about to be completely swallowed by the darkness, familiar faces appeared in his mind without warning, like lighthouses suddenly illuminating the night.

There was Anmu's face, always bearing the responsibility on his own shoulders.

There was Mo Fei's face, always sporting a cheerful smile, but always the first to shield him in the most dangerous moments.

There's Lan Ce's face, hidden behind thick glasses, that speaks the most sarcastic words yet calculates the optimal route for him.

And then there's Lu Yueqi's face, which often carried a hint of timidity, yet at crucial moments it could unleash a brilliance more courageous than anyone else's.

"Come back alive!"

Anmu's powerful command seemed to transcend time and space, resounding loudly in his ears once again!

No.

I can't die.

At least, I can't die before I personally send that damned clown to hell!
An obsession originating from the depths of one's soul exploded like a supernova!
The flame of consciousness, which was on the verge of being extinguished, was forcibly rekindled!
Bai Yu suddenly opened her heavy eyelids!

The expected excruciating pain of being smashed to pieces upon impact with the hard ground did not come.

A soft touch spread beneath him, along with a unique, pungent stench that nearly made him faint on the spot—a mixture of chemical preservatives, rotting cotton, and a strong smell of blood.

He seemed to have landed on something.

He struggled to prop himself up, his body feeling like it was falling apart, and looked down.

With just one glance, a strong feeling of nausea shot from his stomach straight to his throat.

He was lying on a small hill made up of countless severed limbs.

Those severed limbs and fragments did not belong to humans. They had a plastic-like texture and the rough stitching of a rag doll.

Those were some failed-made "dolls," carelessly discarded here like trash...

A head with a sinister smile rolled out of the "garbage heap" beside him, its empty glass eyes staring silently at him in the darkness.

Bai Yu suppressed the urge to vomit and scrambled down from the stinking "mountain of corpses," landing heavily on the cold, hard floor.

Bai Yu gasped for breath, greedily inhaling the air in this space that was no longer so foul-smelling, trying to clear his mind, which was somewhat dizzy from lack of oxygen.

He looked around.

This is an absurdly large basement.

It's less of a basement and more of a "workshop" full of madness and wicked humor.

The workshop walls are made of cold steel and are covered with all sorts of creepy "decorations".

There are rows of "smiling masks" of different sizes and with different expressions. They are like a strange relief sculpture with a three-dimensional feel, silently watching every corner of the room.

There are organs that have been preserved in a huge glass jar with formalin solution.

A heart, a severed hand, or even a complete brain...

On the other side of the workshop, rows of huge iron frames were set up. On the iron frames, like livestock hanging in a slaughterhouse, hung unfinished dolls.

Their bodies are covered with all sorts of stitches and metal supports. Some of their smiles are only half-finished, while others look incredibly ferocious due to the roughness of the craftsmanship.

At the very center of the workshop stands a huge operating table made of stainless steel.

On the operating table, the stark white light from the spotlight poured down without reservation, illuminating the table surface stained with dark red blood, and the neatly arranged, coldly gleaming tools beside it.

Bone saw, scalpel, suture needles, and even a huge iron hammer used to break bones...

This is the dirty and bloody "backstage" hidden beneath the fairytale-like, glamorous exterior of "Happy Paradise".

This is the clown's workshop.

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

A burst of applause suddenly rang out from the shadows deep within the workshop.

The clown emerged slowly from the darkness with the graceful steps of someone attending a grand ball.

He was still wearing that pure black tailcoat, and he was still holding that exquisite black snake-head cane.

“Incredible… truly an incredible performance.” He spoke like a top artist critiquing his student’s work. “At that height and speed, to survive with such insignificant strength. Your tenacity for survival is simply… mesmerizing.”

His gaze swept over Bai Yu's tattered suit, his eyes filled with a morbid fanaticism.

“Look at you now, how beautiful you are,” he exclaimed sincerely. “Broken, disheveled, exhausted… yet within that despair lies a resilient spirit that refuses to give in.”

Bai Yu ignored his ramblings.

His cold eyes were fixed on the man in front of him, his mind frantically analyzing the situation.

This is their core territory.

He was seriously injured and almost exhausted.

A direct confrontation would yield zero chance of victory.

We must...find his weakness immediately!
“However…” The clown seemed to see through Bai Yu’s thoughts, and his smile became even more playful. “Even the most perfect work of art will have a slight regret if it lacks the final ‘finishing touch’.”

He slowly walked to the huge stainless steel operating table, stretched out his white-gloved hand, and gently stroked the cold tools on the table, as if he were caressing his most beloved toy.

“So, I’ve decided to give you another chance.” His gaze returned to Bai Yu, “A chance to make you truly ‘perfect’.”

He snapped his fingers gracefully. "Snap."

With that snap of the fingers, a huge iron cage was slowly pushed out from the shadows deep within the workshop, accompanied by a grating sound of chains being dragged.

There was a "person" locked in the iron cage.

Or rather, it was a creature that was once a "human".

His limbs were firmly secured to the four corners of the cage by chains engraved with strange runes.

His body was covered with all sorts of disgusting stitches, like a tattered rag doll haphazardly pieced together by a clumsy craftsman.

His face had no mouth or nose, only two eyes that had been forcibly sewn together and a huge "smile" that had been carved out with a sharp blade.

"Ho... ho ho..."

He seemed to sense Bai Yu's gaze and let out a hissing sound like a broken bellows.

“Look, this is one of my failures.” The clown’s tone was full of disdain for his clumsy creation. “I wanted to make him the perfect ‘greeter’ in my park. But the poor fellow’s willpower is just too weak. He simply cannot bear the enormous gift of ‘pleasure’.”

"So, unfortunately, it seems he just broke down like that."

The clown slowly walked up to Bai Yu and handed him a scalpel that gleamed with a cold, icy light.

"Now, I will bestow upon you the highest honor." His voice was full of seduction. "Please, use your own hands to complete this work."

“You can do anything you want to him. You can cut him open and admire the structure of his internal organs. You can also smash his bones one by one and listen to the beautiful symphony. You can even sculpt his imperfect smile to make it even more radiant.”

He leaned down slightly, his unfathomable eyes gazing intently into Bai Yu's eyes.

"Let me see."

"Let me see what kind of... ultimate beauty filled with 'contradiction' and 'despair' will be created when a hero filled with the obsession of 'protection' faces a weak person he cannot save."

This is a deadly proposition.

Bai Yu stood there silently, his eyes fixed on the scalpel in his hand that gleamed with a cold light.

Time seemed to stand still at this moment.

After a long while, he slowly raised his head, his eyes meeting the clown's expectant and amused gaze.

His face was expressionless, and his hand holding the scalpel was as steady as a rock.

Then he took a step forward.

They walked step by step toward the huge iron cage that held the "failed products".

A smile of appreciation and satisfaction appeared on the clown's face.

Bai Yu walked up to the iron cage.

He could clearly smell the stench emanating from the "failed product".

He could clearly hear the agonizing, beast-like howl emanating from his throat.

He could even clearly feel the boundless longing for death emanating from his broken body.

However, just as he was about to insert the scalpel into the gap of the iron cage, his movements suddenly stopped.

His usually calm eyes involuntarily narrowed slightly!
Because he saw it.

He saw the "failed product" bound in the iron cage slowly tapping on the cold iron cage floor with his deformed knuckles.

"Tap...tap tap...tap..."

"Tap tap tap...tap...tap tap..."

That was not a meaningless twitch.

It's transmitting a signal!
It was as if a thunderbolt had exploded in Bai Yu's mind!
He understood.

He understood the message of hope that the "failed product" was conveying with the last breath of its life.

“…Kill…me…”

"...and then...destroy...the 'heart'..."

heart?

What kind of heart?
Bai Yu's gaze swept rapidly across every corner of the workshop!
Finally, his gaze settled on the depths of the workshop, on a giant machine that was slowly beating like a giant heart, connected by countless thick pipes and wires!
That machine is continuously supplying the entire park with twisted energy filled with "pleasure"!

That is the energy core of this "Happy Paradise"!

It is the source of all the clown's power!

found it!
Finally found!
Bai Yu's heart was ignited with ecstasy!

A moment of stunned silence appeared on the clown's face.

He sensed something in Bai Yu's eyes that made him extremely uneasy.

"Your performance seems... somewhat unexpected." His voice carried a hint of barely perceptible wariness.

Bai Yu did not answer him.

He simply raised the cold scalpel in his hand slowly to his face.

Then, he glanced at the "failed product" in the iron cage that had stopped hammering.

A resolute smile appeared on his face.

"I'm sorry, I can't grant your first wish at the moment."

"But your second wish..."

His gaze, like a sharp blade, pierced fiercely at the clown standing not far away and the huge, slowly beating "heart" behind him!
"...I accept it!"

The moment he finished speaking, he abruptly changed direction!

He didn't go back to the iron cage, nor did he pay any more attention to the clown!
He gripped the cold scalpel, concentrated all his strength in his legs, and charged like a white lightning bolt toward the massive machine that was the core of the entire amusement park!
(End of this chapter)