After hearing what the clown said, Richard shrugged without much reaction.
The clown continued: "In the initial educational conversation, I wanted to examine your reasoning and stump you through the debate. But as soon as the conversation began, you... told me about the many philosophical schools, and I discovered , debate means nothing to you. Compared with the knowledge of many philosophical schools you proposed, my debate is as childish and ridiculous as arguing about how many bowls of rice children should eat. I lost as soon as I started.
I am absolutely sure to beat you in the next clown chess game. I am trying to test your intelligence through clown chess and give you some education to make up for the first failure. But you use backgammon and the game of getting chess pieces, which fundamentally shakes the rationality of clown chess. If winning or losing at Clown Chess is meaningless, then everything I do with the Clown Chess pieces is naturally meaningless. Maybe I didn't lose at the beginning, but I was destined not to win.
The final theft incident is a test of your adaptability and handling skills. I deliberately designed a lot of difficult problems, some of which are very confusing. It is the test I designed most carefully. But... Well, you surprised me the most in this test, because you didn't take over at all, but chose to throw it away unceremoniously.
Well, in my mind, I wanted to test it in some way. The average person will perform well in the test, and the outstanding person may shine in the test. This is normal.
But you... don't care about the test at all. You don't think about how you perform in the test. You want to see what's behind the test and try to test me in turn - for example, when playing backgammon, you try to stimulate me. Taking off the mask, during the theft incident, you even tried to use gold coins to make the circus people kill each other.
You're someone who thinks outside the box, you're...really special. At least, this is the first time I have seen that there are people like you in the world. "
After the clown finished speaking, Richard smiled: "Actually, it is an exaggeration to say that I am a person who thinks outside the box. I have not stepped out of the box. It is an idea of mine. If I could do it, I wouldn't be here. .
In fact, I am just good at exploring the essence of some things and seeing through the disguises to see the true core, that's all. "
"But no matter what you say, my impression of you will not change." The clown said, shrugging, "And now I can also tell you that you are a qualified person - you can continue to explore the secrets of the Black Spirit Empire, I and the rest of my organization will not stand in your way again.”
"Thank you very much." Richard said.
"Don't be so eager to be happy yet." The clown poured cold water on him at the right time. "Although I allow you to explore the secrets, I want to remind you that the real secrets of the Black Spirit Empire are much more complicated and huge than you think. There are many, and there are many dangers.
You are not the first person to explore this secret, nor will you be the last. Many people similar to you have explored it before, but they all failed. Although you are special, I don't think you can really succeed. If you really want to achieve results, keep working hard. "
After a pause, the clown continued: "There is one more thing I want to tell you, that is, you passed my three tests in a unique way. As a reward, I have prepared a very special gift for you. This gift , it may seem useless, but if you master its correct usage, it will definitely be worth your money.
However, I will not give this gift to you directly, but put it in a special place. If you find it, take it. If you can't find it, forget it. "
Richard: "..."
"Finally, it's time to say goodbye." The clown said seriously, looking at Richard and saying, "By the way, passerby, you've always wanted to see my face, right? In this case, I can fulfill your wish now."
As he spoke, the clown standing on the stone stretched his hand to his face, took off the mask little by little, and exposed his face. Richard looked over.
Then, I saw...a blank space.
blank!
Behind the mask, there is no face at all, only transparent air!
Hollow Man
"Crack!"
As soon as Richard had this idea, the clown's mask fell to the ground, and the clown under the clothes disappeared without a trace.
Immediately afterwards, the clothes and masks left in place quickly twisted, turned into thousands of light spots, and disappeared into the air.
Turning his head and looking around, Richard saw that it was like a sleeping person suddenly realized that he was dreaming, and many scenes quickly collapsed like a dream.
The black castle shattered and disappeared.
The stone the clown had been standing on sank into the ground and disappeared.
Several trees growing on both sides of the road twisted and disappeared.
…
The scenery disappeared one after another, and in the end all that was left was a vast expanse of wilderness and an uninhabited road.
this!
Fantasy? !
Richard's eyes suddenly shrank!
Everything around here is an illusion!
So what he has been experiencing all this time is all an illusion
Richard frowned deeply, feeling a little confused. The next moment, he turned around on his horse and headed quickly towards the way he came from, trying to find the answer.
The blood-red sun in the west slowly sank into the mountains behind us.
…
"Da da da… "
In the middle of the night, horses galloped on the dark road.
When they got close, the man on horseback suddenly pulled the reins. The horse's front hooves lifted up and kicked in the air. Then it fell heavily, leaving two deep depressions on the ground.
"Snapped!"
The man on horseback jumped off and walked towards the roadside. When he raised his hand, a ball of oily green flame emerged from his hand, illuminating the surrounding area. On the surrounding ground, numerous gold coins were reflecting their luster, a hundred in total!
"breathe-"
Richard took a deep breath, controlled the oil-green flame in his hand to rise, illuminated a larger area, and looked around a hundred meters in radius, trying to find some traces.
But no, no trace.
Not to mention carriages, corpses, blood, and signs of fighting, there are no carriage wheel prints or human footprints. No one has been to this place!
But he remembered clearly that at noon, in this place, he had a conversation with the circus people and heard the clown tell about the theft in the circus and throw a bag of gold coins to get rid of it.
Are the circus members also illusions
This doesn’t make sense!
If the circus members were all illusions, why did the clown tell him personally that the circus people were killing each other after he left? Could it be that it is transformed but cannot be controlled
In addition, circus people have actually performed shows and interacted with people in villages and towns. If the people in the circus were all illusions, how could the people in the village and town not notice it? Or maybe the people in the village or town are also illusions.
this!
Richard's brows furrowed into a knot, and he felt that the doubts in his heart were not diminishing but growing. He put the gold coins on the ground into a cloth bag, threw them into the space iron ring, then got on his horse and ran towards the way he came.
…