IWOL Chapter 190: Freak Show

Cui Zuojing was taken aback by Dong Zheng’s cry. He’d never seen Dong Zheng forget himself like this. When Lin Hangzhi was scared, he would make a standard girl scream. Dong Linhai would let out a disordered howl, but in contrast, Dong Zheng only let out a short, abrupt cry that seemed to come from deep within his stomach, nearly rupturing Cui Zuojing’s eardrop.

Dong Zheng’s punch in this stressed-out state shouldn’t be underestimated. The female ghost hanging upside down on the ceiling was punched back like a swing. She let out a scream, snorting with a nosebleed, and shrank her face back.

Dong Zheng didn’t even spare her a second glance. He turned around and kicked the door closed behind him after pulling Cui Zuojing in.

The bed under him was soft, and the young man next to him had one leg thrown over him.

Dong Zheng’s heart was still beating uncontrollably. He was really frightened and his face was still numb from when he’d faced the female ghost. He tried his best to calm his breathing, but didn’t forget to continue providing Cui Zuojing with night vision so that they both could observe the room. .

This time the door was closed, and no strange creatures appeared. The wardrobe door was half open with Victor lying inside, his cat’s eyes gleaming slightly. He was also vigilantly searching for strange things.

Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary.

Dong Zheng didn’t relax. Just as he was thinking about whether he should get up ahead of time just in case, he heard Cui Zuojing whisper into his ear, “You’re too good at screaming.”

Hot breath brushed against his sensitive earlobe and behind the seemingly normal words, there was an inexplicable ambiguity. Dong Zheng didn’t miss the sly look in Cui Zuojing’s eyes. He silently raised his hand and ruffled the young man’s hair.

Cui Zuojing rubbed his ear and wanted to laugh when he thought of Dong Zheng being so scared, but soon he couldn’t laugh anymore.

A wet object touched his calf.

Dong Zheng also felt an extraordinary strange touch, and his heart jerked up again. A cold sweat broke out on his palms, and his breath caught.

For a while, there was no sound in the room.

The comforter imperceptibly moved.

Dong Zheng closed his eyes. In the next moment, he and Cui Zuojing both lifted the comforter and hurried out of the bed at the same time. They saw what had been hiding by their feet—

It was a person. To be precise, it was a man without limbs.

He was like a silkworm, wriggling on the bed. He had no arms, and his torso only reached the crotch area, and the incomplete parts grew in spherical lumps. It was most likely a middle-aged man, one with large black paint on his face, especially around his eyes. Obviously, it looked like someone who had just crawled out of the mud swamp.

He turned his head to look at Dong Zheng and slowly raised an eerie smile.

This massive deformity made Dong Zheng’s throat felt tight. He could hardly believe that the stick in front of him was a human being. An instinctual, biological fear rose up in him, and even though the thing didn’t seem too dangerous, they didn’t dare to approach it rashly.

Everyone froze, until Victor jumped onto the foot of the bed and tentatively touched man’s “tail” with his paws.

Nothing happened,

Boom! Boom boom boom!

A series of knocks on the door suddenly sounded. Cui Zuojing raised his eyes to look at the door, but Dong Zheng continued to stare at the thing, resisting his nausea and alert to any possible movements.

The man opened his mouth, and a thin, long tongue fell out, reaching toward Dong Zheng as if it had a life of its own.

Dong Zheng’s heart was beating wildly. He raised the lamp on the table, showing with practical actions that if the thing dared to do anything to him, it wouldn’t have any good result.

The knock on the door continued, coming faster and faster as time passed.

Cui Zuojing had slept on the side of the window so he had to walk around the bed to open the door.

There was no one outside in the dark corridor.

Cui Zuojing lowered his gaze and saw the letter on the floor. He leaned over and picked it up. The Hell’s Circus logo was stamped on the flaming lacquer.

“I got the invitation letter.” Cui Zuojing returned to the room and closed the door. He raised the envelope in his hand and said, “Don’t worry about him. Let’s find a way out.”

Dong Zheng nodded. Without putting the lamp down or taking his eyes from the quasi-human stick, he handed the Tang Sword to Cui Zuojing and walked backward toward the door. It wasn’t until he reached the doorway did he finally turn around and quickly step out into the hallway.

The moment he walked out, a long, slimy, sticky object wrapped around his ankle.

Woosh—

A blade flashed past, and the tongue quickly retracted before it could be cut off.

Cui Zuojing snorted and walked side by side with Dong Zheng, holding the sword in a backhand grip.

It was unclear which 208 room was the actual exit. Dong Zheng observed carefully, trying to dig out some clues.

The cries coming from other people in this parallel space continued, sounding more and more tragic. Cui Zuojing clearly heard Wang Que’s furtive “fuck, fuck, fuck” and Xia Qiongyun’s “Run!” He could even hear other noises from their end.

In this chaos, a song suddenly burst out.

Victor’s ears turned slightly toward the front to better capture the sound. With his hearing quickly strengthened by Dong Zheng, Cui Zuojing clearly heard that it was a woman’s voice.

She sang in a language that Cui Zuojing didn’t understand, but it was also possible that he just couldn’t hear the pronunciation clearly due to the distance. Whatever the case, Cui Zuojing didn’t understand what she was singing, but he could hear the sad emotions in the song, quietly lingering around him.

Unfortunately for her, Cui Zuojing could not produce empathy.

On the other hand, Dong Zheng and Victor felt uncontrollable sadness. However, Dong Zheng’s spirit was incredibly stable and so he was only deeply affected for a short time before he directly ignored it. Victor glowed with a faint, white light,directly purifying the negative effects.

Without any language or eye contact, the two of them tacitly chose to move in the direction of singing.

The corridor was straight, with only one direction in front and one in the back. Although the singing seemed illusory, it was getting closer and closer. Finally, they stopped in front of a door.

This was it; the sound was coming from inside.

Dong Zheng gripped the lamp in his hand, always alert that another ghost might appear with the intention to kill him. Once he was fully prepared, he threw the door open.

He heard it before he saw it. The singing became exceedingly clear, as close as if it was right…next to his ear?!

Dong Zheng opened his eyes. Lying beside him, where Cui Zuojing was supposed to be, was a woman on her stomach. Her long, curly, golden hair was draped on the pillow, with a few strands trailing over Dong Zheng’s shoulder. Her youthful face was beautiful, and her red lips were opening and closing as an ethereal voice of sadness floated out.

She wasn’t wearing anything. He could clearly see the landscape of her back that was revealed by the comforter. Her impressive figure was extremely impactful.

The woman looked down at Dong Zheng, her eyes as affectionate as a lover, producing a fascinating, intoxicating charm.

It was a pity that this was no use to DongZheng. His firewall and shield prevented her from hypnotizing or charming him, and his heart, which didn’t respond to female creatures, also caused him to look at her with vigilance, rather than intoxication.

Dong Zheng stood up, grabbed the comforter, and threw it at the woman, covering her up tightly. After confirming that Cui Zuojing or Victor wasn’t present, he frowned slightly. Pointing at her with the lamp, he bluntly asked, “How can I leave?”

The beauty angrily pulled the comforter off her face, her eyes glaring as if she wanted to tear into the stinky, incomprehensible man in front of her. Having seen that DongZheng wasn’t the least bit affected by her, she had to stop singing and instead pointed her finger at the wardrobe.

Dong Zheng looked back. At this moment, a gust of wind shot toward him. He’d been prepared and so the fishtail slammed into the wardrobe door instead, creating a few hideous cracks!

He finally saw that below her waist was a black fishtail covered with moss and stained with aquatic plants!

Mermaid in the sewer¹?

The famous horror movie flashed in his mind. Dong Zheng opened the broken wardrobe door and quickly got in before the mermaid could attack again.

He found himself back in the corridor.

With the lamp in his hand, Dong Zheng felt something strange against his chest under his shirt. He stretched out his hand and found that it was the envelope Cui Zuojing had retrieved from the door.

He didn’t know where Cui Zuojing or Victor went, but he shouldn’t have to worry about them. The letter was most likely an invitation letter and so Dong Zheng put it away and walked forward.

Da Da Da…

The sound of footsteps came from far to near.

There was nowhere to hide in the corridor. Dong Zheng had no choice but to watch as a group of people no more than one meter tall ran over. Their heights were those of children, but the heads on their shoulders were undoubtedly the same size as adults. They had bloated bodies, stubby hands and feet, and were dressed in colorful costumes. They bounced around Dong Zheng, silently turning and jumping in an unknown chance.

This was a group of dwarfs.

Through the heavy makeup, it was clear that their faces looked to be about 30 years old, growing on their small bodies. This discrepancy created a kind of unusual horror that, in this dark corridor, was extremely eerie.

Dong Zheng realized what these were. In his impressions, the American circus in the last century not only had circus performances but also freak shows.

These exhibitions on the themes of abnormal phenomena and deformed creatures were once quite popular. Later, due to the introductions of relevant laws, they gradually distance themselves from these historical themes. However, it hadn’t completely disappeared. From time to time, they would still appear in carnivals and TV shows.

Siamese, mermaid, dwarf, amputee, mouthless women… These people were all actors in the circus’ freak show, pretending to be “NPCs” in this selection.

After understanding this, Dong Zheng was no longer afraid. Since they were human beings, they would be much easier to handle.

The dwarfs danced around in circles. Surrounded by them, Dong Zheng couldn’t make any progress, so he had to open the nearest door.

*************

Cui Zuojing sat in the spectator booth behind the audience and opened the curtain. He could see the performance venue very clearly. Many spectators had already arrived, the lights illuminating their strange bodies and faces. Victor was lying on his lap and the circus staff were warming up on stage. Cui Zuojing placed his cheek in one hand and asked the Clown sitting next to him, “Why did you pull us out so suddenly?”

“At best, you and Victor are special guests, so it’s better not to participate in other people’s evaluation.” The Clown had already put on the costumes needed for tonight’s performance. He was wearing a large clown suit and was holding a round red nose ball in his hand. “You came here specifically to find me. Do you want to get your feelings back?”

“I also wanted to ask if there is a way to release the blood contract. After all, having one’s life tied to someone else is quite uncomfortable.” Cui Zuojing kneaded Victor’s tail and asked, “What happened earlier? Was there any trouble?”

“Aside from Kether, there was none. But your master…”

“His name is Dong Zheng,” Cui Zuojing said.

“He encountered something in the Space Box that had been imprisoned there for a long time. Unfortunately, he has became the source of an infection.” The Clown stretched out his index finger and tapped Cui Zuojing’s forehead. Staring into his eyes, he said, “And you are now also infected.”

__________________

Translation Notes:
1. Mermaid in the Sewer – Dong Zheng was probably referring to Part 4 or 6  of the Guinea Pig horror film series, written and directed by Hideshi Hino based on his horror manga works. It’s basically about an artist who was estranged from his wife. When he went into the sewer to find materials for his artworks, he discovered a mermaid that he’d met in his youth who had become trapped when the sewer dried out. She had infected wounds and boils on her body. He took her home to take care of her and apparently, he used her blood and pus to create a portrait of her. It was supposedly super gross.

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