Chapter 4
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Episode 1 - Stories from a circus train [4] ─────────────────────────────────
I went down slowly, then, climbing three steps, I walked about ten steps to reach the round table with the three cards and the dice.
Taking a seat, I leaned forward, while at the same time the woman sitting in front of me was sweating profusely.
〖Please, choose a card〗
I stopped watching Sohel and lowered my gaze to the three cards in front of me.
'For obvious reasons, I discard the black card; only the red and the golden ones remain.'
While the black card had an advantage and a disadvantage, which would be dying on the first attempt or surviving without any difficulty until the end.
Meanwhile, the golden card had psychological effects, illusions, cerebral attacks; however, it was more of a card with less danger.
'I would choose this one, but because of my illness… Now that I remember…'
This was a completely new body; I hadn't even adapted yet.
However, if there was something I could know, it was the illness I was born with in my other body.
That illness was related to being able to remember my entire life with the smallest detail; the defect was that my mind could not contain too many memories.
And eventually my brain would stop functioning at some point in my life, and that would lead me to death.
That was the reason why I bled from the nose every day; there were even rare moments when blood came out of my eyes.
'If I still remember my entire life, that means Sherlock Holmes also has the same condition as me, and therefore…'
Choosing the golden card with effects that affected my mind was too dangerous a risk.
'I know this condition of mine perfectly, so I will choose the red one.'
With the red card, as long as I landed on the heart symbol on the roulette, nothing would happen to me.
The effect of the red card was to receive physical damage if I landed on a corresponding space.
'Alright, the decision is made.'
Taking the red card, I raised my hand and showed it to the announcer.
〖The gentleman here chooses the red card, so you, beautiful lady, which card do you choose?〗
Looking at Sohel in front of me, she looked at the two cards, the black and the golden one.
'If she chooses the black one, I'm dead.'
Becoming anxious, the more seconds passed and the more time Sohel looked at both cards.
I started to sweat a little.
Just then, Sohel extended her hand, took the card, and said.
"I'll take the golden one."
'Ah…'
I sighed in relief while the announcer applauded and said.
〖Please, roll the dice〗
The puppet hanging above the table half a meter from me extended its thin, rough hands, taking the two dice from the table.
It shook its hands for about two seconds and then let the dice fall.
Ting. Ting. Ting.
The sound of both dice falling on the table as the numbers appeared on the eight faces of each die.
I glanced sideways at the red roulette; on the first space there was a heart, on the second space there was a needle, on the second space there were matches, on the third space there was a drawing of bees, on the fourth space there was a drop of acid, and on the fifth space there was a heart.
'I need a five, with one of the two dice landing on a One and the other on a Zero.'
The die made several jumps on the table; slowly its jumps decreased until it simply rolled a little and finally stopped.
I remained silent while I looked at the top face of the die, staring at the number that came up.
'Since I chose the red card, I am the second, after the black card, to take the first step to spin the roulette; then Sohel follows.'
The number I got, added in total with both dice, was…
〖Oh no, the first attempt is not always the result you expect.〗
The number was three.
"..."
Feeling the hairs on my arms stand on end was a sign that something could harm my body.
Suddenly, I heard buzzing, typical of bees, all over the stage.
At that moment, I looked at the puppet.
The puppet slowly opened its mouth; the sound of gears inside its body could barely be heard as I watched its mouth.
The next moment, a bee flew out; it was a single bee that flew slowly and peacefully.
However, looking at it more closely, the bee had a face; it was a wrinkled face with a smile, and it had a stinger the size of a long needle, six centimeters long.
'No, no, no, no… T-that is…'
The bee flew toward me; feeling panic, I tried to stand up, but I glanced out of the corner of my eye at the jester, who was looking at me with a smile and half-closed eyes.
'If I run without distracting him, he'll simply eat me.'
I closed my eyes, clenched my teeth, then raised my arm and let the strange bee sting me.
When the bee landed on my arm, it prepared its stinger and pierced me.
"...!"
Feeling as if my arm were being torn off by sheer brute force, I suppressed the urge to scream while shaking my arm, slamming it against the table and killing the bee with the face of an old man.
"A-ah…!"
Breathing raggedly, my left arm fell limp, noticing that a white, almost transparent flower was slowly growing on it.
'D-damn… If I don't get out of here, I'll die in an hour.'
It was a bee that injected a
In fifteen minutes, my arm would be covered in flowers; in half an hour, almost my entire torso down to my waist would be covered in flowers, and finally, in an hour, my whole body would be covered.
Feeling my heart pounding and that time was running short, I looked at the announcer.
〖Please continue〗
I clenched my teeth; at this point, a tear fell from my eyes and the pain in my arm had disappeared.
Ting. Ting. Ting.
The puppet threw the dice; the number that appeared when adding both dice was six.
Sohel looked at the golden roulette wheel as it moved and stopped on a square with the symbol of a drop of blood.
Sohel suddenly began to bleed, from her eyes and nose without stopping.
Suddenly, she brought her hands to her head, clenching her teeth as if she were feeling a terrible pain in her head.
'Most likely, she feels pain as if she were being hit with a bat.'
Ting. Ting. Ting.
The puppet threw the dice again, this time landing on the number two.
'Ah.'
I sighed in relief and looked at the square that had previously been on number three, now landing on number five where there was a heart.
The announcer clapped, and the sounds of applause echoed once more.
〖What great luck, wonderful, now what does the audience think will happen on the beautiful lady's turn?〗
The announcer looked at Sohel, then said while looking at the puppet.
〖Continue〗
Following orders, the puppet grabbed the dice and shook them in its hands before throwing them onto the round table.
The dice fell loudly; at that moment, one of the dice fell to the floor.
Seeing this, Sohel seemed to half-sigh just as the announcer said,
〖Oh, what is this? I forgot to mention it—this is a hidden rule of this great game: if a die falls off the table, the number that falls will not be added〗
The announcer smiled at Sohel and waved his hand, indicating that she look at the number she had gotten.
Sohel and, at the same time, I looked at the number that had fallen and…
'N-no, that's not possible.'
Sohel's pale face, illuminated by the lights, looked at the roulette where it was about to land.
On the golden roulette there was a square with the symbol of a brain.
'That means an attack on the brain by the jester.'
That means the jester was going to use one of his supernatural powers.
The number that fell was a one.
Approaching the square number ten where there was a heart, and coming to a stop one square before, where there was also a heart.
The roulette spun and stopped on number seven, where the brain was.
At that moment, the announcer said sadly,
〖It can't be helped. Sometimes luck is simply not on your side. I'm sorry, beautiful lady〗
The announcer's mask had a sad expression, with its mouth twisted downward.
Sohel, looking stunned, suddenly turned her head toward me and said,
"We'll die at this rate. Run toward the door over there, behind the stairs, while I distract the jester."
A question mark appeared above my head; however, remembering the possible supernatural power she had shown earlier, I nodded and ran.
'The jester is only a Sequence 9 Anomaly, but the announcer is Sequence 7.'
The real danger was the announcer; there was only one question.
'The announcer has the ability to move things like he did with that guy from the previous show, and he doesn't seem to be the fighting type, but more of a support role…'
Taking into account one of the supernatural powers of the Anomaly, I looked around and grabbed with all my strength the bench that formed a ladder, and at the same time looked at the other person who was still alive and shouted.
"Help me throw it!!!"
The other person, who looked like a 17- or 18-year-old adolescent, nodded, ran toward me, and lifted the bench from the other end.
When I looked at the announcer, who was watching me in silence, feeling chills when I saw that he was making a gesture with his hands, I quickly said.
"Now."
The 17- or 18-year-old girl clenched her teeth, and together we threw the bench toward the announcer.
At the same time, just as the announcer finished the hand gesture, pointing toward me, the bench flew in his direction, interrupting him.
The bench suddenly froze in midair.
At the same time, it blocked his attempt to attack me.
"Run!"
I shouted to the girl, continued my run, and soon saw a door, the same as the one in the white room where there had been six.
'It's the exit. How did she know it was right back here?'
Grabbing the doorknob quickly, I turned it several times, then pushed it toward myself, and suddenly my vision darkened.
***
The adolescent girl, seeing Sherlock disappear out of nowhere when he pushed the door, stopped for a second, turned her head back, and saw Sohel trying to dodge the long hands of the jester.
Sohel twisted his waist, brought his hand to his mouth, bit his thumb, and with the drops of blood that came out, splashed them onto the jester's arm.
A part of the jester's body exploded, and Sohel ran.
Sohel slid across the floor, at the same time passing over the tip of a nail, tearing part of his arm and leaving a red line.
His face contorted in pain, but he got up and ran toward where the adolescent girl was.
In the process, he grabbed one of the chairs and threw it at the announcer, giving him the opportunity to escape the announcer's ability.
Then he looked ahead and saw the girl.
When Sohel saw her, he shouted.
"Get in."
Reaching the girl's side, Sohel pushed her toward the door, and at the same time she extended her hand.
At that moment, his vision darkened.
***
Slowly opening my eyes, I looked at the white space with six identical doors.
'I'm back.'
Sighing in relief, I quickly got up, and at that very moment, the figures of Sohel and the other girl appeared out of nowhere, falling to the ground.
'She managed to escape.'
Surprised, I looked at her for a moment, but quickly shifted my gaze to the doors around me.
'Once again, we have to choose which one.'
"Urg!!!"
Looking at Sohel once more, I noticed a line on his left arm from which blood was dripping.
However, I soon looked at my own arm, noticing that more flowers were growing.
'Damn it.'
Extending my hand toward Sohel so he could get up, I said,
"We need to choose a door now."
The black-haired girl, who was possibly a college student, said,
"We should rest for a moment."
"No, there's no time. You saw that bee, right?"
The girl nodded, then I pointed at my arm where flowers were growing.
"See this? In 55 minutes I'll die if I don't get out of here."
Looking at the flowers, she swallowed nervously, then looked at Sohel, who was in better condition than me and didn't have time against him.
"Th-then, which one do we choose?"
Holding the arm where he was torn, Sohel said,
"It doesn't matter if we think about choosing one or another. You don't know which of the six is the exit anyway, and there's a chance we'll enter another scenario like the previous one."
As drops of blood dripped from his nose, Sohel took a few turns before pointing at a random door.
"Let's try this one. If it's the third scenario, we'll just run looking for the exit door."
'Exit door.'
At that moment, a memory suddenly came to me.
'The third scenario of this Passage, although almost nothing is known, it is known that it has the exit door, but…'
Looking at Sohel, I had a possible suspicion.
'Is she a transmigrator?'
Sohel turned the doorknob and said,
"All right, let's go."
I looked once more at my arm, where my forearm was starting to grow more flowers, spreading up to my shoulder.
"Once inside, let's not split up."
Sohel said as he opened the door, and darkness invaded my mind.
When I opened my eyes, I found myself in a warehouse full of wooden crates, stacked on top of each other and neatly arranged.
The warehouse was enormous, and due to the darkness, I couldn't see where the other end was.
Creak.
"..."
At that moment, the faint sound of footsteps was heard. Looking over the crate, I could see black, smooth tentacles coming from somewhere.
'Shit, shit, shit… This is the third scenario.'
Once again, I realized I was screwed.