“…I don’t know who this Clown Girl is, but it’s certain she’s from the Anduin family, as she also calls Sako Anduin her ancestor. She’s connected to some prince, seemingly aiming to help him claim the throne,” Ye Chui explained, preparing to unlock more of Clown Girl’s memory articles for further information.
Unlocking her memory articles required a substantial amount of points, indicating her strong willpower. However, Ye Chui’s current point balance was quite robust.
Taking down over a hundred people in Green Leaf Village, though not directly by his hand, earned him significant credit, netting over four thousand points. Combined with his previous balance, he now had over nine thousand points, nearly breaking the ten-thousand-point mark.
As his strength grew and the level of his adventures increased, earning points would become easier.
If points could be exchanged for valuable intelligence, Ye Chui felt it was well worth it.
“So it’s really someone from the Anduin family causing trouble?” Debbie waved her fist angrily, clearly furious that such a person came from her family. “Once I find out who it is, I’ll teach them a lesson for plotting to harm and murder Ye Chui…”
“No, her main target is you, Debbie. She wants to claim Sako Anduin’s heroic spirit, and killing you is the only way to reforge a contract with the Clown Spirit,” Ye Chui continued.
He tapped to open another memory article, and the iPad’s screen switched, but to his surprise, the article’s content didn’t appear. Instead, he was met with… a 404 error.
Ye Chui was all too familiar with this. In his other world, the instinctive reaction to this was: Damn, did the Wi-Fi drop!?
Squinting, Ye Chui looked up at the dark mountains surrounding the town.
The memory site was offline!
This meant the person he was probing was either dead or had somehow evaded his intrusion.
Ye Chui’s gaze returned to the townspeople squatting nearby, who had been engrossed in the clown’s performance. He noticed their eerie smiles had faded, replaced by bewildered expressions. One by one, they stood, asking each other in surprise, “Why are we here?” “What happened?” “A… clown!?”
Debbie and the others quickly realized the clown curse controlling the townspeople—essentially a form of heroic spirit possession—had been lifted. The villagers had snapped out of their fully controlled state and returned to normal.
Finding themselves away from their homes, they felt an indescribable panic. The clown performing on the platform, along with the dazzling effects and music, startled them further.
Debbie, Green, and Jacob hurriedly calmed them down, explaining, “Hey, don’t you remember? We came to your town for the first time, so we prepared a performance to thank you for your welcome. You must have been so captivated by the show that you forgot, right?”
After being possessed by the heroic spirit, the townspeople experienced brief mental confusion. At night, they roamed the town like zombies, killing outsiders who came to Clown Town, but the next day, they remembered nothing. They believed a terrifying demon clown lurked in the village, never suspecting they were the demon clowns themselves. This confirmed their mental disarray after the curse was lifted.
With Debbie’s explanation, the initially panicked villagers calmed down. Though still confused and doubtful, they eventually sat back down to enjoy the clown’s performance on the platform.
Old Bart, who had seen the Joyful Clown before, quickly explained to others that it was Debbie’s heroic spirit, reassuring the townspeople who had grown terrified of clowns.
“Clown Girl’s memory world is offline. She’s gone into hiding and realized her tricks are useless against us, so she lifted the curse on the villagers…” Ye Chui’s gaze returned to the iPad screen.
The modified [Browser] had a simplified interface but retained familiar functions. Since he had only unlocked it that morning, he wasn’t fully familiar with it. Looking at the 404 page, he noticed a back arrow button next to the address bar. He tapped it, and as expected, the page returned to the homepage.
In its offline state, the [Browser] couldn’t open new pages, but previously cached ones were accessible.
He cautiously explored, trying other category pages: memories, albums, and videos were inaccessible, but fortunately, the skills category page opened.
The simple page listed Clown Girl’s skills:
Life Magic (specific details unavailable).
Advanced Summoner Talent (specific heroic spirits unavailable).
Potioncraft (Beginner).
Cooking (Beginner).
Bedroom Secrets (Advanced).
…
“This Clown Girl is both a magic mentor and a summoner. Life Magic… an enhanced water-based magic attribute! I just don’t know what specific spells her Life Magic includes. The details are unavailable… It seems in offline mode, I can’t probe the exact magic or summonable spirits she possesses…”
Ye Chui mused, examining the information.
From previously probing the Tenth Prince’s attendant, Lars, he knew that under normal conditions, his [Browser] could directly access specific spells and skills. But in offline mode, he could only see Clown Girl’s magic attributes and summoner talent.
Life Magic, an enhanced water-based attribute, was highly mysterious, with stronger healing capabilities than light-based magic. It could counter fused water-darkness attributes like poison magic.
Some Life Magic spells could even alter a person’s physique or disguise them as someone else.
What kind of Life Magic did Clown Girl wield?
“She also knows Potioncraft, Cooking… Damn, what’s with Advanced Bedroom Secrets? Is this Clown Girl even more experienced than Lars?”
Ye Chui suddenly recalled the masked woman in the red robe from Lars’s memories.
Though her face was covered, she was likely a beautiful woman, possibly Clown Girl herself, and probably not very old… yet Advanced Bedroom Secrets?
Wow, what a wild girl…
“Her memory articles already show she’s a frivolous woman, even harboring inappropriate thoughts about me. Figures!” Ye Chui thought with prejudice. “I’d like to see how she plans to seduce me. No matter what, I won’t fall for it… Advanced Bedroom Secrets, tsk tsk…”
While Ye Chui was investigating, the townspeople had been calmed. The “Random Name Clown Circus” performance was undeniably top-notch, with stellar acting, stage effects, and music. Clown Town had a deep connection to clowns, and though the demon clown had made residents fear the comical image, they still loved this unique performance style deep down.
Old Bart, looking puzzled, approached Ye Chui. Something felt off. “Master Magic Mentor, what happened? Why are we suddenly here? I remember I was on my way home… And why does the mayor’s house look like this?”
Since he had traveled back to Clown Town with Ye Chui’s group at night, he was less affected than the other residents.
“You were under a clown curse, but don’t worry, we’ve lifted it,” Ye Chui explained briefly. He glanced at the townspeople sitting around and asked Old Bart, “Are all the town’s residents here now?”
Old Bart looked around, thought for a moment, and said, “About a dozen are missing.”
“Guni, Green, go with Old Bart to search the village and bring back anyone who isn’t here,” Ye Chui instructed.
Earlier, when the clown zombies attacked, a few were unaccounted for. Clown zombies instinctively attacked清醒 people, but those few might not have noticed Ye Chui’s group and wandered elsewhere. Ye Chui suspected Clown Girl could be among the villagers, most likely one of those absent.
As Guni, Green, and Old Bart prepared to leave, Ye Chui added to Debbie, “Summon Gilga too, to go with them.”
Soon, Old Bart returned with the remaining dozen or so villagers.
Now, aside from the missing children, all of Clown Town’s residents were gathered.
Ye Chui examined each one but found no one matching the tall, masked woman from his memory. One girl had a similar build, but she had a pockmarked face, a hunched back, and uneven eyes…
“No one else in the village?” Ye Chui asked Old Bart.
Old Bart nodded. “Everyone’s here.”
Ye Chui frowned, then began probing each resident’s memory world using [Invasion]. After the heroic spirit’s control was lifted, he could freely access their memories. He went through all hundred-plus villagers until his iPad magic book’s magic was depleted, but he found nothing.
The townspeople seemed to have no connection to the clown curse; they were merely victims.
Of course, it was possible Clown Girl had a way to resist his intrusion or had disguised her appearance, given her Life Magic proficiency. Ye Chui hadn’t fully explored the limits of his [Browser], unsure if there were ways to block its probing.
By now, he was exhausted.
The night had grown late.
The townspeople, having enjoyed a fine performance, yawned and returned to their homes. Debbie recalled the Clown Spirit to its world, and they found another house in Clown Town to stay in.
As Ye Chui drifted into sleep, exhausted, he thought of the captive children and the clown forcing them to watch his performances.
That clown wasn’t Clown Girl; from his build, he seemed like a middle-aged man, possibly her subordinate.
Why were those children being held?
And Clown Girl’s memories mentioned a demon clown in Clown Town thirty years ago—her grandfather. Perhaps that could lead to more clues.
Clown Town was shrouded in mystery.
Yet, the next day, the arrival of two mysterious visitors only deepened the fog surrounding Clown Town…
