Chapter 219: The Crying Clown

The livestream viewers' comments really did "shock" me. They flew by too fast to read, filling the entire screen with the word "Shock."

"These viewers of yours are actually pretty cute." Tie Ningxiang tried her best to hold it in, but finally burst out laughing.

I looked at the screen helplessly. "Maybe I've walked into a fake livestream."

On second thought, if this cleared Tie Ningxiang's suspicions about me, a little embarrassment was nothing but a passing breeze—completely insignificant.

Maintaining my smile, I continued my explanation of the New Century Amusement Park. "As an outstanding ghost-hunting streamer, I'm definitely not showing up at an amusement park in the dead of night just to string you guys along or go through the motions. I'm here because this place truly harbors many supernatural phenomena that science cannot explain."

"This amusement park was shut down once five years ago because tourists would get injured or killed here every night. All the thrilling rides turned into a wide variety of execution tools."

"The living occupied the land of the dead to build an entertainment venue, and in return, the restless souls used the lives of the living for amusement. This Amusement Park is absolutely not as simple as it looks. It's not just an amusement park for the living; it's a paradise for the dead."

I recounted the string of vicious incidents from five years ago, then told the livestream viewers about my own experience on the tunnel roller coaster just now. Just one seat. I had been a single seat away from death.

The livestream viewers booed me after that speech, not buying it at all, but it did manage to bluff Tie Ningxiang. A worried look crossed her face as she glanced at the temporarily halted tunnel roller coaster. "Gao Jian, is what you said true?"

"Half of it is fact, and the other half is my own deduction."

The Underworld Live Show's livestream task this time was related to Tie Ningxiang. I couldn't explain that to her directly, so I simply used the amusement park's rumors to brush her off, secretly protecting her under the excuse of looking for supernatural material to broadcast.

"Senior Sister, once we finish watching the parade, I'll escort you and Yi Yi home." I focused all my attention on Tie Ningxiang, my mind constantly pondering those two contradictory optional tasks.

"Ever since crossing blows with Lu Xing, I've maintained a sense of reverence toward gods, ghosts, and the like." Tie Ningxiang stroked Yi Yi's head. "After watching the parade, we'll leave immediately."

We waited in the rest area for a moment before a few loud booms suddenly echoed from the barren land outside the Amusement Park, drowning out the noise of the crowd and capturing everyone's attention.

Fireworks bloomed, illuminating the night sky and completely outshining the stars!

A sky full of splendor, impossibly beautiful, scattering on the wind in a brilliant display of multicolored light.

Brilliant fireworks bloomed one after another before our eyes, lighting up dark pupils with vivid colors.

"So beautiful." Yi Yi stood up, gazing at the fireworks on the horizon. Tie Ningxiang, meanwhile, leaned against the bench, revealing a rare touch of gentleness. Her hair fluttered lightly in the night breeze, and that stunning face froze in my memory.

"Yeah, truly beautiful." I subtly shifted the phone camera away, edged closer to Tie Ningxiang, and stretched my arm out to rest it lightly across the back of the bench.

"I like fireworks, because they don't wither, they only scatter." Tie Ningxiang seemed to have returned to her student days as she spoke such childish words. The expression on her face relaxed, as if she had forgotten all her worries and unhappiness in this very moment.

"I used to think fireworks were lonely, that their whole life was just a single bloom. Now I realize I was ridiculously wrong." The streaming light reflected in my eyes, but deep within my pupils was her silhouette. I didn't even know what I was saying. I just felt that these fireworks were more beautiful than any I had seen before.

Tie Ningxiang smiled, her hand naturally grabbing my arm. "I didn't expect you to have such an artsy side. Let's go, the parade is starting!"

Fireworks filled the sky and the crowd surged as a massive procession composed of floats, anime cosplay teams, and dancers paraded through the Amusement Park.

Laughter and shouts filled the air. Among the crowd were staff members handing out candy and clowns deliberately acting goofy.

Afraid that Yi Yi and I would get separated, Tie Ningxiang held tightly onto both of our arms. The three of us followed the parade, walking past every single amusement ride.

Upon reaching the center of the amusement park, the procession slowed down as the parade reached its climax.

The tourists were all packed together here. Tie Ningxiang, Yi Yi, and I were shoved forward, unable to control our own momentum.

"Whatever you do, don't get separated." I let Tie Ningxiang grip one of my arms while I carried my leather suitcase in the other to pave the way forward. Before I could take more than a few steps, a heavy impact struck my shoulder. The sudden pain made me subconsciously yank my arm away to clutch the spot.

Looking up, I saw a Clown with his back to me.

He didn't seem to realize he had bumped into someone. Holding a bunch of balloons, he was busy talking to a little girl.

Figuring the guy hadn't done it on purpose, I decided not to make a fuss. But when I lowered my head to look at the little girl he was talking to, something felt off.

The little girl, dressed in light red clothes, was sobbing with tears streaming down her face. Perhaps the cheering of the crowd was too loud and had completely drowned out her cries, because her father hadn't noticed at all.

'Crying so miserably? Why?' I initially thought the Clown was just acting goofy to cheer her up, but as he lingered, the little girl not only cried harder, but sheer terror appeared in her eyes.

She tightly hugged her father's thigh, burying her face against his pants as if she was too terrified to even keep her eyes open.

'What did she see?' I wondered. I reached out and patted the person in the clown costume. His frame was quite broad; he should be a man.

Feeling the pat on his shoulder, the Clown slowly turned his head. His face was painted with goofy makeup. It looked virtually identical to the other clowns, yet for some unknown reason, a chill of horror hit me the second I laid eyes on him.

Dark rings circled his eyes, and his wide mouth had been deliberately exaggerated with red paint over a white base. A few teardrops were drawn onto his cheeks with blue paint.

This was a crying clown. He was clearly sporting a wide grin, putting on a joyful appearance, but paired with the blue teardrops hanging on his cheeks, he looked incredibly unsettling.

Our eyes met for no more than half a second before the Clown turned away, squeezing into the crowd and vanishing from sight.

I stayed where I was, looking at the little girl who had been terrified into tears. I really wanted to go over and ask her what exactly she had seen, but the crowd blocked my path. The little girl and her father drifted further and further away.

'That Clown's eyes hid incredibly complex emotions—greed, repression, cruelty, and lust.' He had covered his face with paint to obscure his true expression, but the craving deep within his pupils still betrayed him. 'He's very dangerous.'

I sank into deep thought amid the surging crowd. 'If he's just a staff member at the amusement park, that's one thing. My real fear is that he has ulterior motives and deliberately dressed up as a clown to infiltrate the parade. We shouldn't stay here any longer. It's best to leave immediately.'

After coming to that conclusion, I reached my hand backward, but only grasped empty air. When I turned around to look, I realized that Tie Ningxiang and Yi Yi had vanished.

"Crap!"

I was completely surrounded by people. Unfamiliar faces wearing different expressions brushed past me.

"Tie Ningxiang! Yi Yi!" I stood in the crowd and shouted, trying to catch their attention, but no one responded. The sea of people was too dense. I was like an inconspicuous ripple in the water; my voice was quickly drowned out as I was forced forward by the surging crowd.

'It was just the blink of an eye. Where could they have gone?' I circulated the Profound Truth Mental Method, focusing my mind on my spirit platform, and used Chasing Eye to sweep over the crowd, but it yielded very little result.

The deafening shouts left my ears ringing and my head spinning. Tie Ningxiang and Yi Yi seemed to have vanished into thin air; I couldn't find a single trace of them anywhere.

The parade was still going on, but I had no mood to watch it. 'There is definitely something wrong with that Clown. The moment he showed up, Tie Ningxiang and I were separated by the crowd. It's highly likely this wasn't a coincidence, but a premeditated plan! Except, why would he do this? Is his target Tie Ningxiang, or me?'

I followed the surging tide of people all the way to the end. The parade finally finished, and the tourists began leaving in twos and threes. The park's PA system also announced that it would be closing in half an hour.

I stood at the entrance of the amusement park, pulled out my phone, and called Tie Ningxiang, but her phone was still turned off. Left with no other choice, I tracked down a staff member to borrow the PA system.

'Tie Ningxiang got separated from me; she should be looking for me as well. I used the PA system before. If they haven't met with any accidents, the most likely place they'll show up right now is the broadcasting station.'