The Western bells in the circus suddenly sounded, and they were tinkling. Someone knocked on the door, and the big-headed doll poked its huge head in, with the corners of its mouth wide open.
"Sir," said he, "the hour is up."
Some bad premonition vaguely rose in Kou Dong's heart. He grabbed the boy's sleeve and asked, "What time?"
Before the boy could answer, the big-headed doll was already giggling.
"Of course it's a performance," he replied, "Such a wonderful performance, why can't sir not be on stage?"
Kou Dong didn't let go, but looked at the person in front of him in surprise.
"Is there still a show?"
Looking at the appearance of the big-headed baby at this time, he seemed to have taken back the bones from the kidnapper. That being the case, they are no longer trapped in this circus, how can there still be performances
The big-headed doll smiled brighter and brighter. He rubbed his head, his bright red lips parted, and stared at Kou Dong.
"Since we are leaving, why not perform a farewell scene?"
"—It's the reward we've given them over the years."
Behind his thin and lonely body, more circus members poked their heads out, eagerly watching. Everyone was more or less stained with red. Kou Dong smelled the bloody smell coming from the pavement, and this smell made him feel a little uncomfortable. Killing ring once.
"There is one last performance." Ye Yan brushed his messy hair behind his ears, and said with a vaguely tender expression, "There is only one last performance left—brother can completely protect you."
The big-headed doll came to pick him up, and carefully placed him on the wooden wheelchair. He turned the wheel and wanted to go out with the circus members. Suddenly, Kou Dong thought of something and pulled his sleeve even tighter.
The boy's clothes tightened, and he couldn't walk away, turning his head to look at him.
"Daughter?"
"Can't I go?" Kou Dong looked at the person in front of him anxiously, "The last scene...can't I go to see it?"
His heart is like a mirror. If they were really locked in this small room all the time, it would be difficult to get out. With the NPC guarding here, even if Song Hong and the others wanted to save people, it would be even more difficult.
He had to find a way to get out. After walking out of this room... the remaining things are easier than staying inside all the time.
The young man seemed to be hesitant, stroking the ashes ring in his hand with his fingers, as if he was reluctant to let him step out of this room. Kou Dong looked at his expression, immediately softened his voice, and shouted at him: "Brother Ye Yan..."
This was the first time he called out the NPC's name.
Ye Yan couldn't hide the excitement on his face. He leaned the wheelchair forward, almost touching the bed, and stared at the person in front of him.
"What did you just call me?"
The child was sitting on the bed, looking up at him. Ye Yan saw his clear black pupils, the eyes were clear, no different from the child who looked over timidly while holding the door of the room.
His heart also softened involuntarily. The flesh and blood, which were clearly dead, seemed to come back to life in this body at this moment because of this glance.
Naturally, he couldn't refuse such eyes.
"Then go," he leaned over slightly, holding the child's hand tighter, "—brother will accompany you."
The big-headed baby was a little hesitant, and glanced at the boy, seeing that he seemed to have made up his mind, and finally swallowed this sentence. The circus members turned their heads and giggled as they walked towards their stage.
It is now separated by a bright red curtain, and the old wooden table that was set up cannot be seen.
The hall was dark, and there were two big red lanterns hung on each side. They were bright red, and cast a small oval dark shadow on the ground.
Ye Yan took Kou Dong and sat straight in the first row in front of the curtain, which was now empty and there was no one there.
Someone behind him asked in a hoarse voice, "Sir, is the show going?"
Ye Yan waved his hand slightly to the back. The janitor at the back used his hands hard, and slowly opened the rich door. At this moment, the voices of people suddenly flowed into the room through the crack of the door, and the townspeople outside seemed to have been waiting for a long time, rushing in impatiently.
"I heard that you don't need money to watch the show today, is it true?"
"Walk, walk, make a lot of money..."
"Let's see the world today!"
But in a blink of an eye, the hall was already full. Many townspeople were still crowded and standing by the seats, and the children were riding on the necks of the adults, shouting loudly that they could not be seen. The hall was full of joy, but Kou Dong was the only one who was sitting in the first row, but he kept feeling cold in his heart.
The more people entered, the more he felt bad. I hurriedly patrolled around to the left and right, but I didn't see the shadows of Song Hong and A Xue.
He didn't see half of the other beggars either. It seems that there are no other players in this place, and he is the only one left.
Ye Yanzhi stood on his shoulder with a serious expression, and said in a low voice, "I'm afraid something will happen."
Kou Dong knew that the young man had a keen sense, so he didn't dare to make big moves in front of him, but just nodded his head invisibly at the moment when he lowered his head.
There were so many people that even the door couldn't be closed, and it was finally packed to the brim. In the midst of the clamor and dizziness, finally there was a heavy beating of gongs and drums, which made everyone present tremble slightly.
Immediately, a child with a big mole on one side smiled and stepped forward, bowing towards the audience in front of him.
"Masters and ladies have been waiting for a long time," he said with a smile, "Our performance will begin immediately."
Someone from below asked loudly: "What's there? If it's not unusual, you will lose money!"
When this sentence was uttered, the audience burst into laughter. The child who announced the scene laughed even deeper, and the light of the red lantern reflected on his face, making his cheeks glow a strange red, "Where can this happen?"
He bowed slightly, and the ending sound was extremely long, revealing a bit of chilling chill. The red light flowed on the face, almost like a pool of living, flowing blood. However, the crowd in the audience was excited, and no one noticed what was wrong with the actors on the stage.
The child continued: "In our circus, the mouse beauty, the vase beauty, the snake beauty, the bear man... Guaranteed, they are all things you have never seen or heard of."
"Even if you look thousands of years ahead and thousands of years back, you will never see such strangeness again. There are all kinds of strange things, you just need to open your eyes wide."
"Clang!"
There was another startling gong.
"Everyone—" the child raised his voice, with an extremely excited expression on his face, "The performance—start now!"
A dark wind blowing from nowhere, lifted the red cloth on the table. Behind that, the big-headed baby was leading a singing dog on all fours, pulling the rein around his neck, dragging him forward in a daze.
The singing dog had curly hair and seemed to be taller than usual. It could only whimper in a low voice, as if it was in extreme pain.
Kou Dong looked at it twice, then looked away. Suddenly, he suddenly realized something, and moved his gaze back——
At the same time, Ye Yanzhi also said in his ear: "It's changed."
Substitution!
What was brought out... was not the little fat man who was originally made into a singing dog!
Kou Dong fixedly stared at that face, and finally made out a familiar outline from it, which he had seen in the locked house. However, this face does not belong to any child.
… He was the kidnapper who held them.
Realizing this, Kou Dong's blood almost froze. He stared closely at the people on the stage. The big-headed doll held the whip tightly, and grinned, revealing the two rows of uneven teeth inside.
"Come on," he urged the singing dog, "come—sing everyone a song."
The singing dog buries its head on its two front paws and just shakes its head. The big-headed doll tightened the reins, forcing him to turn his head back, there was a muffled rattling sound from his throat, and he almost died of breath.
"Sing," he whipped his whip hard, causing the singing dog on the stage to shiver and howl. Seeing him rolling on the ground, the big-headed doll laughed even wider, "Are you dumb? Why don't you sing?"
The singing dog struggled to raise its head, and finally opened its mouth. His voice was not soft at all, but rough and hoarse. It was the tone of a middle-aged man after being tainted by alcohol for a long time. His voice was still choked up. I don't know if it was because of fear or pain, but he shivered on the ground. A libretto was sung to pieces.
"It turns out... it turns out that colorful flowers are blooming everywhere..."
The big-headed doll stopped smiling and put on a straight face.
"What are you singing about?" He said miserably, "Let all the audience masters listen, what are you singing about?"
The audience in the audience still didn't know why, but they knew that he sang that sentence just now really badly. Hearing this sentence now, I don't know who was the first to boo and shout: "Woo—"
The booing sound suddenly became louder. All the people in the hall said together: "Woo—"
The singing dog raised its head and watched incredulously. The big-headed baby was holding a whip, but looked at the people in the audience, and said: "He sang like this, and the audience masters said, should he be beaten?"
The sound waves rolled, and they replied loudly: "It's time to fight!"
The big-headed baby raised his whip again, and really whipped it down one whip after another. His arms looked weak, but they were actually very strong. The singing dog rolled over the stage in pain, howling one after another, and a large area was stained red with blood. It's just that there are lanterns dangling, which are not conspicuous.
This scene even more stimulated the people in the audience, and cheers and applause were heard endlessly for a while. This farce was so cruel and pathetic that Kou Dong couldn't even utter a word.
He finally knew where their hatred for the people of Taoyuan Town came from.
Not just because they paid money to come in to see their painful, undignified performances—but also because they were also partisans in these performances.
They never took things on stage as people.
The big-headed doll broke the whip in his hand, and immediately after that, the child with long beard stood up and said: "Please look up, everyone, there will be a tightrope walker from our circus for you!"
Kou Dong raised his head, and as expected, he saw that the bear's face also changed, it was the triangular eyes. He was trembling, and someone pushed him onto the steel wire, tears streaming down his face, and he was in a terrible state of embarrassment.
The steel wire under his feet was thin and soft. He was not a flexible child, but now he was wrapped in thick fur, making walking even more dangerous.
Kou Dong could see clearly from below, he swayed left and right, clearly trying to make every step steady. It's just that as he walked to the middle, the steel wire shook more and more. He stretched his arms desperately, but he couldn't stand still, and fell from the top.
A dull sound startled the audience. The child who announced the scene didn't have the slightest reaction, but just smiled and said: "Ah, I was so careless..."
Another man-bear came out from behind, dragged the kidnapper by one leg, and pulled him out.
Seeing that his face remained unchanged, the audience felt a little dizzy, thinking that this human bear was far stronger than ordinary people, and that it would be fine to fall from such a high place. The child who announced the scene clapped his hands and said, "Don't disturb the interest of the audience masters, we have to invite other people out."
Next, various characters also appeared one by one. The beauty snake dragged its long tail, but had a rough manly face, and lay trembling on the bed of nails; the beauty in the vase couldn't speak, was held up by someone, and was patted by several audience members, but finally failed. Passed through the ring of fire and fell backwards; the new big-headed doll also walked on the tightrope, but failed to reach the end, and fell down together; besides, the ones with missing arms and legs, strange shapes, no noses, no ears of…
The rare gestures in the world appear one by one, which is really dizzying, like stepping on the underworld with one foot, and seeing a night tour of a hundred ghosts with one's own eyes.
Kou Dong sat in the first row, and his heart sank a little. Ye Yan kept holding his hand, and he had no chance to escape.
At this moment, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a section of tail. The beauty snake was next to the backstage, hiding in a corner where Ye Yan could not easily see her, and met his eyes.
Immediately, the corners of Beauty Snake's lips moved slightly, as if she had said something.
Kou Dong blinked his eyes, trying to distinguish, and when he saw clearly, his heart couldn't help trembling slightly.
He said three words.
—ready to run.
The author has something to say:
Kou Dong: I'm too southern (one burst into tears)