Circus of Horrors (6) Part 2
Then Joker suddenly spoke: “What a boring performance. Let me help you out.”
He snapped his fingers—and the five colorful balls transformed instantly.
The acrobat didn’t even have time to react before he felt something much harder and heavier hit his hands. Looking down, the “balls” had turned into five pale, grinning skulls.
From the hollow eye socket of one skull, a brown centipede crawled out and began scuttling up his arm.
The rhythm of the juggling shattered in an instant.
The acrobat screamed in terror: “AAAAHHHHHHH!!”
The centipede had burrowed into his body.
Chen Li, sitting in the VIP section, watched as the acrobat writhed in pain and rolled down toward the stage, a dark, worm-like shape visibly squirming under the skin of his arm.
This wasn’t the acrobat’s first time in the game—after a moment of panic, he quickly pulled out a small silver knife and sliced open his arm, trying to dig the centipede out. But it was too fast. In the blink of an eye, it had already moved from his arm to his face.
The searing pain hit—it was trying to bore into his brain.
The acrobat lost all composure. In desperation, he stabbed the knife straight into his own face, skewering it clean through. The agony made him scream with his mouth wide open.
Through the hole in his face, you could see his teeth and tongue. Blood and red flesh oozed out, and every gap between his teeth was stained with blood.
The centipede was successfully killed, dissolving into black pus that dripped out from the gaping hole.
Chen Li was startled and instinctively shrank back, suddenly feeling a supporting force from behind his waist.
It was the beast tamer, who had caught him just in time to stop him from collapsing.
The beast tamer leaned in close, whispering near his ear: “Don’t be afraid, Young Master.”
His rich, calm voice brought a strange sense of comfort.
Chen Li took a deep breath. “I’m not scared.”
But the way his clenched fists trembled had already betrayed him.
The beast tamer didn’t expose the proud young master. Instead, he chuckled softly and stood up, though he still didn’t let go of the young master’s hand.
It was as if Chen Li had forgotten all about it and let him be.
All the players’ attention was drawn to the acrobat’s miserable state—no one noticed the subtle interaction between the two people in the VIP seats.
Joker feigned regret. “What a shame. Your performance was terrible.”
The last word was dripping with sarcasm.
“Now, please perform according to my instructions.”
He was cruel. He never intended to let this player get away with an easy performance from the start. Instead, he deliberately gave him a sliver of hope—only to crush it himself and break the player’s spirit.
The acrobat, helped up by the knife thrower’s assistant, had blood soaking the exaggerated white collar of his coat. A gruesome, bloody hole marred his face.
The bleeding hadn’t stopped, but there was no time to dress the wound.
Because several creepy teddy bear dolls had already come in, pushing specially prepared props.
Each teddy bear had a red-stitched smile sewn onto its face, but where their beady black eyes should have been, there was nothing—like the eyes had been violently ripped off, with bits of stuffing still poking out.
They brought in two props.
One was a transparent cube, only about 25 centimeters in length and width. The other was a rope hanging from above, tied into a loop at the end—just the right size for a human head. The noose dangled a full two and a half meters from the floor.
Joker beamed with satisfaction. “You two, choose a prop for your performance. It must be entertaining enough to please our esteemed Young Master Rum.”
He winked at the young master seated nearby.
Completely ignoring the damned butler.
Chen Li stiffened, but unfortunately, he had no power to stop the performance.
The players all knew—this wasn’t a show for the nobility. It was all just to satisfy the sadistic desires of their twisted ringmaster.
They couldn’t escape. All they could do was grit their teeth and watch their teammates die.
This time, the uninjured acrobat quickly stepped forward. “I choose the cube!”
Anyone with eyes could see how dangerous that hanging rope was. The transparent box might at least offer a slim chance of survival.
The wounded acrobat couldn’t speak well and now wore a look of utter despair.
He glared at the other acrobat with hatred, unable to do anything but misdirect his rage at one of his own.
The acrobat didn’t even spare him a glance.
Joker nodded. “Sure. What you need to do is actually quite simple—just squeeze yourself into this cube.”
The moment he said that, the acrobat nearly let out a cracked shriek. “That’s impossible!”
The cube was so small that even a child couldn’t fit inside—let alone a grown adult!
Another acrobat let out a sigh of relief, thankful he hadn’t been the one picked.
“This is really very simple,” Joker said, looking genuinely surprised. “All you have to do is step inside and try a little harder.”
He tilted his head, as if faced with a puzzling question. “Or… do you need my help?”
The moment the word “help” came out of his mouth, the acrobat shuddered. “No, no… that won’t be necessary.”
He had no desire to end up like the previous guy. So, despite his unease, he stepped forward and opened the lid of the cube.
Then he placed both feet inside and tried to squat down—but predictably, he got stuck halfway.
Joker shook his head. “You’re just not trying hard enough.”
He looked sincere. “You can do it.”
The acrobat forced a smile and pushed himself down with effort, letting out a grunt of pain.
No one actually believed he could do it—the transparent box was simply too small. Even the acrobat himself was just going through the motions.
But gradually, his pained grunts grew louder. He kept pressing down. His flesh began turning purple-red as circulation was cut off from the pressure.
Was this really necessary?
The players looked confused, until they heard the first sickening crack of bone.
“Something’s wrong with that box!”
But no one dared to step forward. Their eyes widened in disbelief as they watched him force himself further and further into the cube.
With a wet squelch, his flesh burst open. Blood splattered across the inner walls of the transparent box.
It was like watching someone being crushed by a hydraulic press. His body and face twisted and folded into layers upon layers, until finally, he was fully packed inside.
The lid of the cube closed itself, transforming the clear box into a blood-red one.
Not a single drop of blood leaked out.
Chen Li’s face was pale. He instinctively curled into himself.
The acrobat’s pained screams still echoed in his ears.
He shook his head, trying to drive the sound out of his mind.
It was horrifying—like watching a person get turned into canned meat.
But no matter how hard he tried to block it out, the sound wouldn’t go away.
Panicked, he grabbed the beast tamer’s hand.
The man calmly covered Chen Li’s hand with his large palm and said, in a low, steady voice, “Want some more cookies?”
His tone was unhurried, completely unaffected by the terrifying performance they had just witnessed.
Chen Li stared at him blankly. The screams in his head faded, replaced by the soothing sound of the man’s voice.
Cookies?
He nodded… then quickly shook his head. “N-No…”
He didn’t want him to go.
The garish lights of the circus cast their glow on his face, masking its pale complexion. His light-colored eyes carried a unique sense of fragility.
The beast tamer murmured, “Yes, my young master.”
Below the stage, the cruel performance was still not over—there was still one acrobat left.
The remaining prop, a rope, twitched slightly, hissing like a snake.
Joker’s tone lifted cheerfully: “Why don’t you go up? It’s simple. Have you ever seen a trapeze act?”
“As long as you stick your head in, the rope will spin you around automatically. You can strike all sorts of graceful poses.”
Graceful poses?
More like the twisted shapes of someone struggling in agony from suffocation!
Having witnessed the gruesome fate of his companions, the remaining acrobat refused to go near the stage no matter what.
His legs trembled. “N-No, I don’t want to.”
“You don’t want to?” Joker’s expression darkened instantly.
His red painted lips curled in a half-smile, half-sneer.
His brows and eyes had the distinct depth characteristic of Europeans, his nose was high and straight, and his silent expression with a dark face looked extremely fierce.
Just when the others thought he was about to explode in anger, Joker suddenly burst into laughter, catching everyone off guard.
He laughed so hard he could barely stand straight.
Truly a madman, through and through.
Chen Li frowned.
After laughing enough, Joker rubbed his stiff cheeks and said, “You don’t want to perform? Of course, that’s fine.”
A spark of hope lit up in the acrobat’s eyes. “Really?!”
“The great circus clown never lies,” Joker said flatly, his tone suddenly dropping. “But as the ringmaster, I also have a duty to protect the circus’s reputation.”
Joker grinned wide. “So, you’ll perform in another way instead.”
His expression twisted grotesquely, turning what was once a somewhat handsome face into something terrifyingly monstrous.
Chen Li was startled by the sudden shift. He instinctively asked, “Another way?”
But his voice was too soft to be heard.
Still, someone caught it—his new, strikingly handsome butler bent down again and replied casually, “A freak show.”
Chen Li’s scalp tingled instantly. Those three words dredged up memories he wished had stayed buried.
When he was very young, he didn’t enjoy playing with kids his age and preferred staying home to draw. One day, his mother accepted an invitation from a neighbor to go see a circus. Due to unforeseen circumstances, only Chen Li ended up going with the neighbors.
But it wasn’t a circus—it was a freak show.
They stood in line outside a massive tent, and every person had to pay a head fee to enter. Once inside, the lighting dimmed drastically. Several boxes covered with black cloth were placed around. Each person could lift the cloth and look inside, but they couldn’t stay too long.
Chen Li only dared to look at one before he recoiled in terror, trembling like a frightened quail. He refused to look at any more. Meanwhile, the neighbor’s child—who was about the same age—watched everything with fascination. Children are the most curious, and also the least capable of distinguishing right from wrong.
He could barely remember anything from that year, except for one vivid image he had never forgotten—the glimpse through a black cloth of a deformed infant.
Years later, he heard by chance that such grotesque and money-grabbing “circus acts” had been banned.
Yet now, after so many years, he found himself sitting in the best seat in the house, about to witness another freak show unfold before his eyes.
His long, curled eyelashes trembled with unease. Chen Li wanted to close his eyes, to get up and leave. But all he could do was sit there, frozen, helplessly watching as Joker swooped in like a hawk and cruelly captured the acrobat.
The acrobat’s cries for mercy rang out again and again, and Chen Li’s face gradually turned pale.