How to Stop the Villain from Going Crazy
Translator: Fuyu
Chapter 59 - Fear can stimulate people's most primitive urges such as appetite, survival, and… (1)
"None of your business."
Bo Li: "..."
Never mind, she needed a favor from him. But then again, had she been feeling ill at ease recently because he had been hypnotizing her?
Bo Li knew very well that hypnosis wasn't that powerful and couldn't achieve such an effect.
If you wanted to hypnotize someone, you needed the other party to trust you. And then, you had to use psychological hints to get the other party to enter a deeper state of relaxation.
The reason why she was hypnotized was because she believed that Erik had the ability to control her. Secondly, he had snapped his fingers.
That snap was just like the pocket watch that the hypnotist would swing in the movies.
He lit the candle in her bedroom without touching anything, which further strengthened her belief in his abilities.
That was why she relaxed and let him manipulate her body.
Her wild thoughts during this period were more like -
Bo Li hastily stopped her thoughts in time.
Too dangerous. She couldn't go down that train of thought.
And yet, she couldn't resist the urge to look at him.
It had been a while since she transmigrated. He seemed to have grown taller and exceeded 1.9 meters. He wasn't as skinny as before.
The muscles on his arms, abdomen, and thighs had gradually become firm and elegant. That ample physical allure was stronger than any attraction from hypnosis.
He was no longer that alarmingly thin boy. He was growing into a strong, powerful man.
She suddenly felt like she was at a dead end. It was as if his aggressive aura had blocked off all the paths.
At this moment, he suddenly reached out, grabbed her chin, and turned her face to the side.
Oh right, he didn't like it when she stared at him.
Bo Li was jolted back to her senses. She scolded herself for being possessed. She almost forgot about the task at hand.
She cleared her throat and took a step forward "Umm… do you remember how I said I want to form a circus?"
Just like usual, he didn't respond.
Bo Li continued to say, "The preliminary preparations are almost complete… but it's missing the most important component."
He glanced at her. "Money?"
"You."
Erik paused and released her chin. "Go on."
Bo Li didn't know how to describe a haunted house to him. After pondering for a moment, she asked, "Do you know what a house of mirrors is? They're commonly seen in circuses-"
Before she could finish speaking, a shadow suddenly fell down.
He invaded her personal space without warning. He grabbed her throat with one hand and forcefully raised her chin. "Who told you?"
"What?" Bo Li was confused. "I…"
He looked into her eyes. "Why did you mention a house of mirrors?"
"I'm just giving you an example…" The indifference and vigilance in his eyes chilled her back. For a moment, it felt as if they had returned to their original relationship.
"I want to build something similar to a house of mirrors … but it'll have a story attached to it unlike a house of mirrors… Ahem, let go, I'm almost out of breath."
He stared at her and slowly loosened his grip.
Bo Li collapsed onto her knees.
While gasping for air, she racked her brains. Was there anything about a house of mirrors in the original work? She didn't remember any mention of it.
So then, why did he react so strongly?
No.
Bo Li's pupils dilated a bit. Cold sweat beaded on her back.
She remembered.
In the original work, he built a horrific torture chamber in the Mazandaran Palace based on a house of mirrors.
The torture chamber was in in the shape of a hexagon with a metal tree, strong lights, electric-powered heating devices, and all sorts of mirrors: plane mirrors, concave mirrors, and convex mirrors.
It only took one push of a button, and the unusual mirrors would start to rotate along the mechanical bearing. The strong lights would be reflected, and the air would become as swelteringly hot as hell.
In less than half a day, any prisoner locked inside would go crazy and hang themselves on the metal tree in despair.
No wonder he reacted so violently. He thought she had been in contact with Persians.
She had to figure out a way to divert his attention.
Bo Li's mind raced. "I said I wouldn't treat the deformed performers as disposable exhibits… I want the audience to remember them and buy tickets to see their stories and not for their appearances."
A few seconds passed. Erik regained his composure. "What do you want to do?"
"Marbella's big feet are indeed rare, but no matter how rare her condition is, it's not unique. What's truly rare is her experience."
"Go on."
Bo Li's breathing had also calmed down. She continued in a calm tone, "How many ordinary people can have the same experience as her? She was born deformed and Trique forced her mother to sell her. I want to adapt Marbella's life into a script, but not the kind used for a stage play."
"In my plan, people will buy tickets not to see deformed people, but to experience becoming them. They'll take on the role of Marbella and experience the feeling of being discriminated against, hunted, unwillingly bought, and unable to hide."
"Of course, Marbella's story is just the first one I want to adapt," Bo Li said, "When I have more money in the future, I'll probably adapt Emily's and Flora's…"
Erik didn't speak, but Bo Li could see that he wasn't as vigilant as before. His eyes were like golden fires.
He was interested in her words.
"Humans are very complicated animals. They'll pay for the experience of being frightened. Watching freak shows, attending paranormal exhibits, reading horror novels… It's essentially for the sake of being frightened. Fear can stimulate people's most primitive urges such as appetite, survival, and…"
She paused. "Fear can stimulate people's most primitive urges".
Was this part of the reason why she had such complicated feelings towards him recently?
"Anyways," she took a deep breath, "many people don't know they'll be enamored by the feeling of being frightened… enamored with the sensation of their heart beating faster and their breathing becoming rapid with anxiety."
Translator Ramblings: Until this chapter, I was confused why Bo Li keeps mentioning a circus when the haunted house is her real goal. It's because the concept of a modern haunted house didn't exist until the turn of the 20th century. The closest thing before that is Marie Tussaud's Chamber of Horrors in 1802 which isn't what Bo Li is going for. It's easier for her to use circus as a shorthand that would make sense to people in the 19th century until her haunted house is set up.