“It’s like this, my name is Gary. I’ve had a dream since I was a child…”
Sitting at the long dining table, the black-clothed man who had suddenly appeared at the circus said this with a serious face. He had a pair of small eyes, almost squinted into slits, but those eyes were filled with vigilance, scanning Ye Chui and the others sitting on the other side of the table. He paused slightly, then continued: “I want to become a circus performer. I want to join the circus, follow you all in performances. Dear sirs, please do not refuse this humble request of mine. I do not need wages, just let me find a position in your circus and have a full meal, that will suffice.”
Ye Chui exchanged a glance with Debbie, feeling it somewhat eerie. Actually, ever since the Apple Circus became an instant hit, quite a few people had hoped to join them, but Ye Chui had directly refused them all. Someone like Gary sneaking into their camp at night was the first. Though this man appeared utterly ordinary, Ye Chui absolutely did not believe he was just any commoner.
“To join our circus, what skills do you have? We do not keep idle hands here.” Ye Chui asked aloud. He had already summoned his iPad grimoire, which was now floating at his side. At this moment, his gaze shifted to the grimoire, intending to use mind intrusion to view Gary’s memory site.
But just as he was about to act, Gary’s squinted eyes suddenly landed on Ye Chui’s grimoire, and at the same time, his hands on the table clenched slightly.
This was an extremely vigilant person!
Ye Chui quickly halted his intrusion attempt, sensing that if he did anything now, Gary might have some extreme reaction. Of course, Ye Chui was not afraid of Gary suddenly attacking. In a real fight, they no longer needed to fear anyone, but with the situation unclear now, Ye Chui wanted to first figure out what this person’s purpose truly was.
“My knife throwing is quite good.” Seeing Ye Chui’s eyes shift away from the grimoire, Gary said with a confident smile. In circus performances, knife-throwing acts were always extremely popular. He drew a slender blade from his waist. “Within ten metres, I can hit any target precisely. Captain Jobs, I am willing to perform my knife-throwing act in your circus.”
Knife throwing?
Ye Chui glanced at Debbie again. No wonder they say Ye Chui and Debbie had been together so long; their minds were in sync. Debbie immediately understood Ye Chui’s intent. She suddenly stood up from her seat with a whoosh, fiddled with the fake moustache under her nose with her finger, and said excitedly to Gary: “That’s great, I’ve long wanted to add a knife-throwing act to our circus. Gary, you’ve come at the perfect time!”
A relaxed expression immediately appeared on Gary’s face.
“Then no time like the present, let’s rehearse one right away.” Debbie followed up. She beckoned to Green, who hurriedly retrieved a knife from his own grimoire and handed it to Debbie; it was a small and sharp fruit knife.
“My own knife will do.” Gary quickly said.
“How could that be? I am most comfortable with my own knife.” But Debbie shook the knife in her hand and said.
“You use the knife?” Gary was stunned.
Debbie said candidly: “Yes, I need to use my own knife to hit the target.” With that, the little girl prepared to play a trick, weighing the knife in her hand, but it clattered to the floor. She froze for a moment, hurriedly picked it up, pretended nothing had happened, pointed to the wooden wall on one side of the room. “So, Gary, you stand in front of the wall first. Oh, take that apple, put it on your head, watch me pierce the apple with one knife.”
“…” Gary stood there stunned for a while, then hurriedly waved his hands to explain. “No, no, Deputy Leader, you have it wrong. I mean, I throw the knives, and others act as targets… My knife throwing is always on target.”
“You just arrived at the circus and want to be the knife thrower? Boy, don’t get ahead of yourself. Every knife thrower starts as the target. That’s the circus rule. Hurry and stand over there, otherwise our circus won’t take you.” Debbie immediately said, sounding quite indignant.
Gary seemed somewhat angry too, but his anger flashed only briefly, and he actually obediently picked up the apple, placed it atop his messy hair, and stood by the nearby wall. He asked: “Deputy Leader, your knife throwing… is it accurate?”
“Accurate, two hundred percent accurate. Don’t worry.” Debbie grinned, raised her small hand. “Here goes!”
Bang!
The knife landed on the wall two metres away from Gary’s side.
Gary: “…”
“Oops, it’s been so long since I played knife throwing, my feel is off. This one doesn’t count. Next one, I’ll show you what two hundred percent means.” Debbie hurriedly pulled the knife out again, stood back in her original position. She thought of something else, so she pulled a handkerchief from her bosom, and under Gary’s dumbfounded gaze, wrapped it around her eyes.
Gary exclaimed in shock: “Deputy Leader, you, what are you doing?”
“I always threw knives blindfolded before, so now I must blindfold myself to get the feel back. Don’t worry, this time I will definitely hit the apple!” Debbie shouted confidently, then raised the knife in her hand. Resha hurriedly walked to her side, adjusted her position for her, aiming towards Gary. “We’re starting now.”
“…” Gary seemed to swallow slightly, his small eyes widening, staring fixedly at the knife in Debbie’s hand.
“Good chance!” Ye Chui thought inwardly. He had Debbie distract Gary’s attention to give him the opportunity to invade Gary’s mind, but at this moment, Ye Chui did not rush to use mind intrusion; instead, he used another mental spell: [Aqua’s Blessing]
Whoosh—
The knife in Debbie’s hand released almost simultaneously with Ye Chui’s incantation. The knife was indeed two hundred percent off target, flying straight towards Gary’s chest. But Gary was clearly no ordinary person; just as the knife reached him, his right hand shot out instantly, two fingers clamping the blade precisely. It was a fine move.
But this also shifted his attention, allowing Ye Chui’s spell to land on him.
“Did I hit, did I hit?” After throwing the knife, Debbie hurriedly pulled off the handkerchief over her face and asked. Seeing the knife fully gripped in Gary’s hand, she immediately said happily, “Oh, looks like my knife-throwing skill hasn’t rusted at all. I was aiming for your hand, Gary. Come on, let’s do another round…”
“Enough!” Gary clearly could no longer tolerate it. He flung the knife in his hand to the ground with a clang, a crisp sound, then gripped his own knife in reverse, his body vanishing from Ye Chui and the others’ sight like a ghost.
This was a swordsman’s assault sword technique. When he reappeared, he was in the corner of the room, assuming an attack stance. “Listen up, all of you!” He shouted. “I wasn’t planning to do this, but you dared to toy with me, so I have no choice but to get serious.”
Gunny took a step towards him, intending to attack.
Gary immediately looked at Gunny: “Don’t move, or I won’t hold back. This knife of mine is coated with deadly poison; one touch and you’re dead!” He smugly waved the sharp knife in his hand; the blade emitted a faint blue glow, clearly the sign of deadly poison.
“What exactly are you? What is your purpose here?” Debbie dropped the pretence, asking coldly.
“You don’t need to know who I am, just let me join your circus, and that’s fine. In a few days, a big shot from the capital will invite this circus to the capital to perform for an important figure. I need to use you as a disguise to get in there!” Gary said coldly. After speaking, he suddenly froze; why had he said those words?
Ye Chui glanced at Debbie and the others, realising that Gary wanted to join their circus because he had already gotten wind that someone in the capital wanted to invite their circus to perform… Ye Chui had just mentioned planning to sneak into the capital via the circus, and now the opportunity had indeed come! And others wanted to use this chance for their own schemes too!
Ye Chui looked at Gary and said: “So, are you an assassin?”
“I won’t tell you my identity. As a Cicada Fort assassin, my will is extremely firm; I will never reveal my identity!” Gary said coldly. After speaking, his expression stiffened, and he subconsciously reached out to touch his face. Why had he revealed the secret again? This… this was not like him!
Cicada Fort? The Cicada Fort Assassins’ Guild?
One of the three major assassin guilds operating in the Star Empire!
Ye Chui discovered that under [Aqua’s Blessing], extracting information was even easier than mind intrusion, no effort needed at all; the other would spill secrets themselves. Praise Aqua! He followed up: “So, you want to join our circus without knowing who we are?”
“I don’t need to care who you are; you’re just my disguise anyway!” Gary continued.
From his words, it was clear he had come to the circus without knowing Ye Chui and the others were the infamous imperial enemies.
Ye Chui smiled, wanting to extract more, so he asked next: “Who is the target you’re assassinating?”
“Cicada Fort assassins never expose their targets. I will never tell you that the one I am assassinating is the ho·mo·sex·ual prince!” Gary shouted, then his body trembled violently, and he rubbed his head hard, finally realising something was very wrong. “What have you done to me? I… why am I uncontrollably spilling information…”
“Ho·mo·sex·ual prince… So your target is the Fifth Prince, the Flower Prince. Then who hired you?” Ye Chui asked. It seemed this was another matter tied to the imperial succession. Among the twelve princes, the Flower Prince had the support of the empire’s top family, the Golden Snake Raen family, making his chances of the throne the highest. Wanting to assassinate the Flower Prince must be one of the other princes… What a messy circle.
“Enough!”
Gary had realised his mind was now out of control; continuing would expose even more. Hearing Ye Chui’s question again, he immediately yelled, performed a few flourishes with the knife in his hand, and said coldly: “Now that you know my secret, I can only kill you all. This is what you brought on yourselves!”
With that, he stared coldly at Ye Chui and the others while bringing the blade to his mouth, sticking out his tongue to lick it lightly.
Hmm, licking the blade makes one look cold and ruthless, so many do this move. No issue, just…
“Ah?” Gary had just finished licking his blade when he suddenly thought of something, his small eyes widening as he looked at the knife in his hand.
Ye Chui, Debbie, and the others all jolted.
Thud, Gary collapsed to the ground, convulsing all over, foaming at the mouth…
Ye Chui and the group: “…”
Even with their now considerable experience, they had never seen a death like this… Was this dying stupidly? No, mainly it was Ye Chui’s spell’s power being strong enough. [Aqua’s Blessing] was indeed mighty!
