How to Stop the Villain from Going Crazy
Translator: Fuyu
Chapter 8 - How could she think that being chased by a psychopath wasn't scary?! (2)
The next day, Bo Li woke up at dawn. This body seemed to have a stable biological clock. She sleepily sat up and took out the gold pocket watch to check the time. It was only 5:30 AM.
Just as she was about to lie down and continue sleeping, she sat back up with a jolt and stuffed the gold pocket watch into her corset.
The first aid kit was still outside. She searched her tent for a long time, but couldn't find a suitable place to hide it. In the end, she could only hide it in a dirty laundry pile, but that obviously wasn't a long-term solution.
She had to find a better, non-smelly spot.
At this time, she could tell that other people had also woken up by the countless noisy sounds coming into her tent: roosters crowing, birds singing, people walking, the sound of wood being chopped, coughing, the heavy sound of spitting, and the sound of water being poured into a boiler.
Bo Li took a deep breath, put on her coat, and went out.
It was very foggy outside. Everything was shrouded in the golden morning mist. The air was filled with the smell of tobacco and the sour smell of sweat as well as the oily smell of leftover food. There was half-dried spit everywhere on the ground.
It didn't take long for Bo Li to feel that her clothes were soiled by the air.
She secretly made up her mind. Regardless if she could return to her original world, she had to leave here for a clean place.
Suddenly, there was a burst of cheers and whistles from the front of the circus. No wonder she hadn't seen anyone around while walking. Everyone was out spectating at the front and applauding.
The manager was standing in the crowd. He was hugging a tall and slender man while smiling and talking. There was a plain-looking woman sitting behind them.
The woman's face was as white as wax. She was wearing a blue frock made of grosgrain fabric. The neckline of her dress was tied with a lace bow. It was as if she had accidentally put on a doll's clothing. The hem of her skirt was lifted up to her knees, revealing - four legs.
Each leg was covered with a striped sock and a red leather shoe. It looked a bit unsettling.
The manager didn't pay attention to the woman's expression. He affectionately patted her wheelchair. "Thank god. Emily has found her brother. Remember what I said? We're all here because our family members have abandoned us."
"Mike's mother, my sister, gave me 5,000 francs and entrusted him to me. We all know what she really meant by that. His mother didn't want him anymore," the manager said, "I found Emily at a train station. Poli's mother is a lunatic. She almost stuck a pen into his eye."
He smiled. "Even Erik, a rare genius, is disliked by his parents."
"But, I promised that if anyone finds relatives or someone willing to take you in, you can leave at any time. I won't force anyone to stay."
As he said that, he turned his head and looked at Emily. "Right, Emily?"
Emily didn't speak. Her face looked like it was sealed with wax.
And yet, the manager acted as if he had gotten her agreement. He happily announced that a party would be held in the evening to celebrate Emily's reunion with her relative. He also promised to invite a band to come to play dance music for everyone.
Everyone cheered in excitement. They clapped their hands and tapped their feet.
Bo Li wanted to take this opportunity to observe the other members of the circus, but the boy from yesterday squeezed through the crowd and called out, "Poli, the manager wants us to go to the warehouse to move stuff!"
Bo Li could only resentfully take her gaze away from the crowd, turn around, and walk side-by-side with the boy.
On the way to the warehouse, the boy lowered his voice and mysteriously said, "Do you believe it? That man definitely isn't Emily's brother. She must have hired someone to pretend to be her relative."
Bo Li thought of Emily's ashen face and said, "Why would she hire someone to be her brother?"
"You're so stupid!" The boy said, "Of course, it's because she's a freak. She doesn't have to do anything, but sit there and watch the money pour in. There's even a freak in London who has met the British princess!"
Bo Li echoed what he said, but she thought the matter wasn't as simple as it seemed.
The circus manager was a self-serving person. How could he be willing to easily let go of a cash cow just because she found her relative?
Just yesterday, he had been encouraging two minors to kill each other.
Wait. She almost forgot. Erik wasn't old. He must be sixteen or seventeen years old at most… She had actually been petrified in place yesterday by a seriously injured teenager.
But, when she thought of him approaching her, his cold, empty eyes behind that white mask, and the dagger hovering over her cheek as if he was going to stab her throat at any moment, she still couldn't stop herself from shivering.
He was an inhuman beast. If it was possible, she really didn't want to interact with him again.
The "warehouse" was just a covered wagon. It had the pungent smell of mold and rot. There were already cobwebs between the wooden boxes. There was a thick layer of dust on the shelves. On one of the shelves, there was a row of glass jars with preserved animal livers of varying sizes.
Moving things was a strenuous job. Neither Bo Li nor the boy spoke while working. For a while, there was only the creaking of the planks in the wagon.
When there was only one box left, the boy said he had to pee and slipped away.
Bo Li waited for a long time, but he didn't come back. It was almost noon, so she could only open the last box and move the items inside, one by one.
The box contained a bunch of curios. For example, the items were labeled a mermaid skeleton, a giant's hand bones, cursed portraits, a possessed rag doll, etc.
At the end of her moving, she even saw a fetus specimen that wasn't even the size of her palm. It looked smooth and sticky. It looked like it was wrapped in a layer of gelatinous film. The small cracks between the facial features had already formed. It seemed as if the embryo could open its eyes at any time.
Bo Li didn't want to closely look at it. Just as she was about to close the box and move the specimen with the box, she suddenly noticed a label on the jar.
"The child of the four-legged woman Emily. A thank you to her for allowing us to make this specimen, so that we can show God's wonderful handiwork! Even a deformed person can give birth to life."
Bo Li felt cold all over.
She associated this new information with how the boy had said deformed people were very popular. It was hard for her not to think of the worst. Emily had been pregnant and didn't want to stay in the circus. And then, the manager had done something to make her miscarry and made her fetus into a decorative specimen.
That explained why Emily looked so pale and remained silent. That also explained a more pressing question.
The manager was someone that valued profit so much. He wouldn't even spare Emily's fetus, so how could he be willing to let Emily go free?
Or to put it another way, would he let anyone leave the circus?
The specimen jar was well-sealed, but Bo Li felt as if the solution inside was seeping through the jar, soaking into her fingers, entering her veins, and crawling in her ears.
Several seconds passed before she realized that what she felt was extreme fear.
Calm down. She had to calm down.
She forced herself to suppress her panic and treat this as a horror survival game.
Clearance condition: escape from the circus.
Known character information: the manager, Mike, Emily, the boy, and Erik.
The manager was a self-serving, ruthless psychopath. Mike was his nephew. The boy looked mature, but he was actually simple-minded.
She felt sympathetic about Emily's life. Not only was Emily's unborn baby made into a specimen, she suspected that the manager was about to sell her. That tall, slender man definitely wasn't her brother.
However, Emily had limited mobility. There was no way to help her escape from the circus.
After going around in circles, her only choice was Erik. The circus was too creepy and weird. It was impossible for her to escape by herself.
She couldn't do without Erik's help. Even though he would become a theater ghost and could go into a murderous frenzy at any moment, she had to bravely win him over.
T/N: Next part will be posted at 9:15 PM EST.