Chapter 15: Death Acrobatic Troupe 15

The Acrobatic Troupe Leader’s gaze was directed at the wall in mid-air within the Circus Hall.

On the originally pitch-black, empty stone wall, a large viewing window now appeared, covering the entire wall!

It was a one-way window. The players couldn’t see the scene inside the window.

But that “Distinguished Guest,” who held the lives of everyone, was likely inside that window, watching their panic with elegant nonchalance, as if merely appreciating a mediocre, cheap horror film.

“…” A Novice Player raged. He picked up a stone from somewhere, raised his arm, and hurled it at the window in mid-air: “Screw you!”

He wasn’t alone. Many Novice Players couldn’t tolerate such humiliation—they would die at the hands of an NPC who never even showed themselves?!

But before the stone that Novice Player threw could land, he himself was seized by invisible large hands, lifted high into the air, and then smashed onto the ground with a sickening thud, exploding into a bloody flower.

He didn’t die immediately. Lying on the ground, half his body was a mangled mess of blood and flesh, the other half still twisting in agony. His skull, cracked open, exposed convulsing blood vessels and brain matter.

The Troupe Leader coldly glanced at that body and said flatly: “This is the consequence of disrespecting the Distinguished Guest! Now, acrobats, line up according to the initial roll order and draw lots for your acrobatics performance in sequence.”

Drawing lots again…

This time, no one dared resist. Everyone obediently lined up.

Jian Bumian stood at the end of the line, hands in his pockets, nonchalantly sucking on a lemon-flavored candy. He raised his eyes, his gaze settling on the glass window in the wall.

Right then, a scream suddenly erupted from the line forming for the lottery.

One Novice Player refused to go up and draw lots, collapsing in a heap on the ground, sobbing hysterically, refusing to get up no matter what.

The Troupe didn’t let him off. In the blink of an eye, as if crushed by an invisible boulder, his entire body instantly turned into a meat patty embedded in the floor, impossible to scrape out.

This time, he truly could lie flat forever.

The Troupe Leader stood on the elevated hallway, leaning on the railing, looking down at the players below.

“The Distinguished Guest is watching you from the window right now. Please uphold the work ethic of an excellent acrobat. Do NOT waste everyone’s time drawing lots!”

“From now on, if anyone’s name is called and they don’t come to draw within one minute… then everyone present here will accompany that person to death!”

“I do not like acrobats who displease the Distinguished Guest!”

The Troupe Leader’s eyes, the size of sesame seeds, were bulging wide, the cyan veins and sinews clearly visible.

Hearing this, Qin Yihan’s hairs stood on end, inhaling sharply.

As expected of an instance with a Roaming-Class Boss.

Everything in this instance foreshadowed unavoidable death.

If someone among this group of players deliberately didn’t go draw lots, or some accident prevented them from drawing—then all the players would die.

Qin Yihan thought about what Jian Bumian had to do.

Jian Bumian was about to disguise himself as an Attendant and go over to the Distinguished Guest’s side.

But over here, Jian Bumian still had to draw lots for his acrobatics performance.

A dilemma. Time was tight.

What if he ran into an accident and couldn’t make it back in time to draw… what then?

Qin Yihan still wanted to advise Jian Bumian not to go over to the Distinguished Guest. Maybe the Troupe Leader had already forgotten about that matter and wouldn’t notice.

But the next moment, the Troupe Leader glanced at the clock in the center of the hall and muttered quietly: “Hmm… wonder if that little Attendant has gone over to the Distinguished Guest’s side yet. I’ll go check…”

Its self-muttering voice was very low, but Qin Yihan heard it clearly.

It was as if the instance was deliberately creating a malicious joke, practically lifting Qin Yihan’s heart into his throat.

—The Troupe Leader hadn’t forgotten at all!

Jian Bumian no longer had an Item to disguise himself as an NPC. The Troupe Leader would recognize him as an acrobat!

Qin Yihan hurriedly searched for Jian Bumian’s figure.

But he didn’t see him.

Jian Bumian had vanished from the line.

Then, someone tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around and saw a Western player with golden hair and blue eyes—the same player who’d given Jian Bumian the formal wear earlier today.

The Golden-haired Player spoke to Qin Yihan in clumsy Chinese.

“Don’t bother looking for him. He already left the line a moment ago, gone over to the Distinguished Guest’s side.

…Are you worried about him? Worried he’ll die? Or worried he won’t make it back in time for the draw and cause a party wipe?”

Qin Yihan’s emotions were complex. He didn’t know what he was worried about.

He didn’t want to die, nor did he want Jian Bumian to die.

The Golden-haired Player raised his eyes, gazing deeply in the direction Jian Bumian had departed.

“Don’t worry. I think he will not only return alive but will also bring us a huge, shocking surprise.”

He narrowed his long, blue eyes, his gaze meaningful.

“Your country has an old saying: ‘You can’t judge a person by their looks.’ So don’t be fooled by his pretty, delicate appearance. I think he’s very strong. Just like that NPC my guild encountered before… Ah, I digressed.”

He chuckled softly a few times, withdrew his topic, and turned to leave.

Qin Yihan’s legs felt weak. Leaning against the wall, he slowly collapsed to a sitting position.

He stared fixedly at the direction Jian Bumian had left, his mind filled with one thought—Jian Bumian, would he really come back?

“Qin Yihan.”

It was his turn to draw lots.

Qin Yihan didn’t dare delay for a second, quickly going over to draw.

Now that it was his turn, Jian Bumian’s name couldn’t be far behind.

At best, half an hour.

Jian Bumian took advantage of no one paying attention to him and sneakily left the draw line.

Earlier, he had already observed the layout of the entire Circus Hall, knowing exactly where he could enter to reach the guest area.

Following the route he mapped out in his head, Jian Bumian entered the area of the circus reserved for the Distinguished Guests.

The moment he stepped into that place, he couldn’t help but gasp in internal admiration.

It was a world apart from where the acrobats lived.

The walls were a golden white. The floors were covered in thick red wool carpet. The lighting was many times brighter than outside, a pure, snowy white.

The air no longer smelled of unpleasant dampness but a faint, refreshing plant fragrance.

Jian Bumian saw the wide corridor lined with numerous lifelike sculptures.

There was an elephant playing with a ball, a little tiger leaping through a fire hoop, a monkey riding a unicycle…

A question couldn’t help surfacing in Jian Bumian’s mind.

All this time in the instance… why had he never seen any animal acts?

Clearly, that was a major part of an acrobatic troupe’s performances.

Soon, Jian Bumian reached the end of the corridor.

At the corridor’s end, on the left side was a closed golden door, and on the right side, a massive floor-to-ceiling glass window.

The Distinguished Guest was likely resting inside the golden door.

In front of the glass window were placed a sofa and a tea table.

The enormous sofa looked exceedingly soft and expensive. On the tea table sat a bottle of red wine and a stemmed glass.

It looked exactly like the modest sitting room of an aristocrat’s home.

But no one would imagine that this “sitting room” was meant for viewing thrilling, exciting death acrobatics.

An absolute epitome of treating human life like weeds.

Jian Bumian stopped in front of the floor-to-ceiling window.

Through the glass, he could see the players in the Circus Hall below.

It was a top-down view.

This lofty angle, combined with the stark white light shining in from somewhere unknown, made the players below look like insignificant ants, squirming miserably, overflowing with an atmosphere of weakness and helplessness.

Jian Bumian’s gaze lingered on the scene beyond the glass wall, his brows unconsciously furrowing.

At that very moment, he didn’t notice at all that the door behind him was slowly being pushed open.

Shiny black leather shoes approached the oblivious Jian Bumian, making not the slightest sound.