How to Stop the Villain from Going Crazy
Translator: Fuyu
Chapter 73 - Just seeing that rope made Mitte tremble and his heart pound against his ribs (2)
Why was the actor turning wheels? Was the actor trying to convey a message? Was this a signal that someone was going to come after him, or were the wheels turning a precursor to the corpse behind him sitting up?
Without him knowing it, he was already covered in cold sweat.
He suddenly thought of the character he was playing. Marbella had been sitting in a wheelchair on the character card, right?
The temperature seemed to plummet, and he felt besieged by cold air.
The next moment, he felt something pressing against the back of his neck. It felt like a block of ice was being crammed into the back of his head. That chill instantly penetrated into his bones.
From head to toe, his muscles tensed up. He couldn't stop himself from trembling.
Someone was standing behind him. No, calm down. Everything was fake. Everything was done by the actors. Everything was fake. Don't be scared.
What kind of person would be a circus performer? The lower class.
Lower class people were usually workers, laborers, miners, peddlers, immigrants… When these people saw him, they were eager to kneel down to polish his shoes. Why should he be afraid of the lower class?
They should be the ones afraid.
Mitte quickly regained his composure. He scoffed and turned around. "Is that the best you can do?"
—
Wright and Davis had already given up. Once they discovered that Mitte was missing, they stopped looking for clues and shambled around like headless flies.
And then, they ran into Theodore and Emily.
They were even more timid than Henry. When they saw Theodore sawing Emily's legs, they froze in fright. It wasn't until blood and flesh splattered onto their heads that they jerked back, and they vomited over the floor.
The journalists had already set up their cameras. When Wright and Davis vomited, the journalists pulled down the camera shutters and set off the flashes. The blinding white lights were accompanied by sizzling sounds
(T/N: Can see an example of this at the 14-16 second mark of this youtube video https://youtu.be/gTY0_O6ExSY?t=14)
Wright and Davis's embarrassing vomiting appearances were forever captured on film.
Bo Li waited for a while, but she didn't see Mitte anywhere. She had a bad feeling.
No way, was Erik really interested in her? So much that he would go as far as to make Mitte disappear on the spot just because she agreed to Mitte's invitation?
Bo Li thought that even if Erik liked her, he would at most stop her in a roundabout way after hearing she conditionally agreed to have a meal with Mitte. He didn't seem like an impulsive or irritable person that was controlled by his emotions.
Just as she was about to put on a black cloak and go to the second floor to check on Mitte, she heard a shriek of horror.
The reporters immediately stood up, only to see Mitte tumbling down the stairs.
His hair was a mess, his face was deathly pale, his forehead was covered with sweat, and his teeth were chattering. He didn't have the strength to maintain a gentlemanly demeanor. He looked like a fleeing stray dog.
"Upstairs… Upstairs…"
People gathered around him and talked over each other.
"What happened upstairs?"
"Don't be anxious, speak slowly…"
"What did you see?"
After a long time, Mitte was finally able to hoarsely answer, "... I saw an evil spirit, a real one… He was everywhere, but I couldn't catch him. At first, I thought he was an actor until I realized he wanted to kill me. He wanted to strangle me with a rope… I couldn't resist at all. I couldn't even call for help. Whenever I opened my mouth to speak, it felt as if my mouth, tongue, and lips were melting as if I had drunk acid!"
By the end, he was too choked up to continue speaking.
Everyone was dumbfounded. They thought they were going to hear about a horrifying scene.
Wasn't that just a hallucination?
"You don't believe me?" Mitte angrily asked, "Where's Clermont? Have her come over and explain. If that wasn't an evil spirit, then what is?!"
Bo Li had been shocked at first and thought Erik had overreacted and made Mitte disappear.
After realizing that Mitte was just overly frightened, her heart fell back to its original place.
Erik was quite reliable. He scared Mitte, but not to the point of making him faint.
If two people faint from fright in succession, probably no one else would come here to see the show.
Although, how did Erik make Mitte hallucinate?
Bo Li walked over and acted as if she was being put in a difficult position. "Mr. Mitte, although I haven't read many books, even I know that we have to believe in science. If everyone thought that unexplained things were caused by evil spirits… there won't be trains, lights, telephones, and cameras."
She took a step back, revealing the camera that the journalist had set up. "If I can control evil spirits, why would I ask the journalists to take photos for me? I can just have those evil spirits take the photos."
There was a murmur of agreement from the crowd.
Although they believed in God and respected the teachings of the Bible, they knew that without science, they would probably never be able to enjoy the conveniences of trams, telegraphs, telephones, and trains in their lifetime.
They were incredulous that Mitte, a gentleman that had studied in Europe, would blame his lack of courage on an evil spirit.
However, there were still people that were skeptical about Clermont's words.
"But, Miss Clermont," someone asked, "the existence of God can't be explained by science either. Are you saying that believing in science is equivalent to believing that God doesn't exist?!"
A wave of restless whispers quickly spread. The existence of God couldn't be challenged, even Darwin didn't deny the existence of God.
Bo Li looked stunned. "Why would you think that? We can have trams, telegraphs, telephones because God allowed scientists to invent them. God is omniscient and omnipotent. Everything is arranged by God. Since he's willing to guide us to believe in science, how can he let us fall into panic because of superstition? Or, do you think science wasn't planned by God?"
That person's face flushed red. He stammered, unable to retort.
Most people were convinced by her rhetoric. A few felt that her logic was flawed, but they couldn't think of a good way to disagree with her without refuting that "Everything is arranged by God."
And so, they could only turn their doubtful gazes at Mitte. If Mitte hadn't mentioned an evil spirit, they wouldn't be at a loss for words.
Bo Li took this opportunity to walk up to Mitte, put on a regretful expression, and held his hand. "I'm very sorry, Mr. Mitte, you haven't passed the courage test, but that doesn't matter. You lasted longer in the test than Mr. Wright and Mr. Davis."
More than ten minutes had passed since Mitte came downstairs. By now, he was finally able to force himself to calm down.
His face had turned red and white. His clothes were sticking to his back from cold sweat. He knew that he had made a fool of himself in public.
There was only one thought in his mind. He had to turn his disadvantage into an advantage.
Although he had made a fool of himself in public, he was still a gentleman in upper class society and still held a certain appeal to Clermont.
He could get her to fall for him and then abandon her to erase today's embarrassment.
Mitte raised his eyes to look at her and lowered his voice to say, "... I'm sorry. I failed the courage test, but can I still invite you to dinner?"
Right after he said those words, it felt like something supernatural had taken over his mind. For a moment, he was back in the hallway of the pub's second floor.
That evil spirit was standing there and emotionlessly staring at him. His eyes were cold and empty. He was terrifyingly tall, wearing a white mask and a black coat that reached his knees, and holding a rope in his hand.
Just seeing that rope made Mitte tremble and his heart pound against his ribs.
He suddenly remembered those headless corpses he saw in the woods. The bloody, mangled cuts on their necks didn't look like they were made by a knife. It looked like their heads had been violently pulled off with a rope.
Translator Ramblings: I think it would make more sense if Bo Li doesn't care if Erik hurts Mitte out of jealousy than for her to think "… he would at most stop her in a roundabout way after hearing she conditionally agreed to have a meal with Mitte. He didn't seem like an impulsive or irritable person that was controlled by his emotions" given the number of times she's almost died from Erik's mood swings and what happened to Boyd.