The western bells in the circus suddenly rang, and the tinkling tinkled. There was a knock on the door, and the big-headed doll poked his huge head into the door, the corners of his mouth grinning wildly.

"Sir," he said, "the time has come."

A bad premonition rose in Kou Dong's heart. He grabbed the boy's sleeve and asked, "What time?"

Before the boy could answer, the big-headed doll was already giggling.

"Of course it's a performance," he replied, "such a wonderful performance, why can't Mr. be on stage?"

Kou Dong didn't let go, but looked at the person in front of him in surprise.

"Any show?"

Looking at the appearance of the big-headed doll at this time, he seemed to have retrieved the bones from the kidnapper. In this case, they are no longer trapped in this circus, how can there still be performances?

The big-headed doll smiled brightly. He rubbed his head, his red lips grinned, and he stared at Kou Dong.

"Since we're leaving, why not perform a farewell show?"

"—It's what we have given them in return for so many years."

Behind his slender body, more circus members stuck their heads out and couldn't wait to watch. Everyone was more or less stained with red, and Kou Dong smelled the **** smell coming from the shop, which made him vaguely uncomfortable. He knew in his heart that these evil ghosts with resentment should be in the kidnapper's room. Killed once.

"There is one last show left," Ye Yan pushed his tangled hair behind his ears, and said with a vaguely tender expression, "There is only one last show left - my brother will be able to protect you completely."

The big-headed doll came and picked him up and carefully placed him on the wooden wheelchair. He turned the wheel and wanted to go out with the circus members. Between the lightning and flint, Kou Dong suddenly thought of something and pulled his sleeve tighter.

The boy's clothes were tight, he couldn't walk away, he turned his head to look at him.

"Nah?"

"Can't I go?" Kou Dongba looked at the person in front of him, "This last one... can't I watch it?"

He was like a mirror in his heart. If they were really locked in this small room, it would be difficult to get out. With NPCs here to look after them, even if Song Hong and the others wanted to save people, it would be even more difficult.

He had to find a way out. After walking out of this door... the rest is easier than staying inside all the time.

The young man looked a little hesitant, and his fingers caressed the ashes ring in his hand, as if he was reluctant to let him really step out of this room. Kou Dong looked at his expression, and immediately softened his voice, and shouted at him in a low voice, "Brother Ye Yan..."

This was the first time he called out the name of an NPC.

Ye Yan's face was filled with excitement that could not be concealed. He leaned the wheelchair further forward, almost against the bed, and stared at the person in front of him.

"What did you just call me?"

The child sat on the bed and looked up at him. Ye Yan saw his clear black pupils, and his eyes were clear, no different from the child who looked at him timidly while holding the door.

His heart softened involuntarily. The flesh and blood that is clearly dead, for this look, at this moment seems to be all alive again in this body.

Naturally, he could not refuse such eyes.

"Let's go then," he leaned slightly and clenched the child's hand in front of him even tighter, "—Brother will accompany you."

The big-headed doll hesitated, glanced at the young man, saw that he seemed to make up his mind, and finally swallowed this sentence. The circus members turned their heads and giggled towards their stage.

It was now separated by a bright red curtain, and the old wooden platform that had been raised up could not be seen.

It was dark in the hall, and two big red lanterns were hung on each side. The red lanterns cast a small oval dark shadow on the ground.

Ye Yan took Kou Dong and sat directly in the first row in front of the curtain.

Someone behind him asked in a hoarse voice, "Sir, do you want to open the stage?"

Ye Yan's hand waved slightly towards the back. The janitor at the back worked hard and slowly opened the red door. At this moment, the loud voices suddenly flowed into the house along the crack of the door, and the townspeople outside seemed to have been waiting for a long time and couldn't wait to pour in.

"I heard that I don't need money to watch the show today, is it true?"

"Walk around, make a lot of money..."

"Let's see the world today!"

But in the blink of an eye, the hall was already full of seats. There were quite a few townspeople huddled around the seats, and the children rode on the adults' necks, shouting loudly that they couldn't see. The hall was full of joy, but Kou Dong was the only one sitting in the first row, but his heart kept getting cold.

The more people came in, the more he felt bad. He hurriedly circled left and right, but did not see the shadows of Song Hong and A Xue.

He didn't see half of the other beggars either. It seems that there are no other players in this place, and he is the only one left.

Ye Yanzhi stood on his shoulder with a serious expression, and said in a low voice, "I'm afraid something will happen."

Kou Dong knew that the boy's senses were sharp, and he didn't dare to make big moves in front of him. He just nodded invisibly by the moment he lowered his head.

There were so many people that even the door could not be closed, and it was finally crowded. Just in the midst of the dizzying noise of the clamorous people, there was finally a sound of gongs and drums, and all the people present were startled and shivered slightly.

Immediately, a child with a big scorpion stepped forward with a smile and bowed towards the audience in front of him.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you've been waiting for a long time," he laughed. "Our show will start soon."

Someone below asked loudly: "What's the matter? If it's not unusual, you have to lose money!"

When this sentence came out, the audience burst into laughter. The child who announced the news laughed even deeper, and the light of the red lantern reflected on his face, causing a strange red light to appear on his cheek, "Where is this possible?"

He bowed slightly, and the tail sound was extremely long, revealing a bit of chilling chill. The red light flowed on the face, like a pool of living, flowing blood. However, the crowd in the audience was excited, and no one paid attention to what was wrong with the actors on the stage.

The child continued: "In our circus, the Rat Beauty, the Vase, the Snake, the Beauty Bear... Guaranteed, these are things you have never seen or heard of."

"Even if you look forward for a few thousand years and look back for a few thousand years, you will never see such strangeness again. There are all kinds of strangeness, you just need to open your eyes."

"Dang!"

Another gong.

"Everyone—" the child raised his voice, and his expression turned out to be extremely excited, "The show—start now!"

An overcast wind blowing from nowhere lifted the red cloth on the table. Behind that, the big-headed doll was holding a singing dog on all fours, pulling the reins between his necks, and dragging him forward in a daze.

The singing dog had knotted hair and seemed to be taller than usual. He only whimpered in his throat, as if it was in great pain.

Kou Dong glanced at it twice, then looked away. Suddenly, he suddenly realized something, and turned his eyes back again——

At the same time, Ye Yanzhi also said in his ear, "It's changed."

Replacement!

It was not the little fat man who was originally made into a singing dog!

Kou Dong stared intently at the face, and finally made out a vaguely familiar silhouette from above, which he had seen in the locked house. However, this face does not belong to any child.

...he was the kidnapper who held them up.

Realizing this, Kou Dong's blood was almost stagnant. He stared at the people on the stage, the big-headed doll holding the whip tightly, grinning, revealing the two rows of jagged teeth inside.

"Come on," he urged to the singing dog, "come—let's sing a song to everyone."

The singing dog buried its head on both front paws and just shook its head. The big-headed doll tightened the reins and forced him to turn his head back, making a dull clack in his throat, almost dying.

"Sing," he slapped his whip heavily, and the singing dog on the stage whimpered and flinched. Watching him roll on the ground, the big-headed doll laughed even more, "Are you dumb? Why don't you sing?"

The singing dog struggled to raise its head and finally opened its mouth. His voice was not soft at all, but rough and hoarse. It was the tone of a middle-aged man who had been tainted by wine for a long time. His voice was still choked. don't know if it was because of fear or pain, but he shivered on the ground. A lyric was sung in pieces.

"It turns out... it turns out that the purple and red are blooming..."

The big-headed doll stopped laughing, and made a straight face.

"What did you sing?" he said miserably. "You let all the audience members listen, what did you sing?"

The audience under the stage didn't know why, but they knew that the sentence he just sang was really bad. Hearing this sentence at the moment, I don't know who was the first to drink a booze, shouting: "Wu-"

The roar suddenly grew louder. The people in the hall said together: "Wow—"

The singing dog raised his head and stared in disbelief. The big-headed doll held the whip, but looked at the people in the audience and said, "He sang like this, the audience masters said, should we beat him?"

The sound waves rolled, and he answered loudly: "It's time to fight!"

The big-headed doll raised the whip again, and took it seriously one after the other. His arms just looked weak, but they were actually very strong. The singing dog rolled over the stage in pain, screaming and screaming, and the blood stained a lot of red. There are only lanterns dangling, not conspicuous.

This scene even more stimulated the people in the audience, and the cheers and cheers were endless for a while. This farce, cruel and tragic, made Kou Dong unable to utter a single word.

He finally knew where their hatred for the people of Taoyuan Town came from.

Not just because they paid to come in to watch their painful, undignified performances—but because they were also scumbags in those performances.

They never take things on stage as people.

The big-headed doll snapped off the whip in his hand, and then the stubborn child stood up again and said, "Please look up, we will have our circus bear to perform a tightrope walk for you!"

Kou Dong raised his head, and unsurprisingly saw that the bear's face had also changed, it was the triangular eyes. He was shivering, and don't know who pushed him onto the steel wire. Tears were streaming down his face.

The steel wire under his feet is thin and soft. He was not a flexible child at first, but now he is wrapped in thick fur, and it is more and more dangerous to walk.

Kou Dong could see clearly from below, he swayed left and right, clearly trying to make every step steady. It's just that as he walked to the middle, the steel wire swayed more and more, and he tried to straighten his arms, but after all, he didn't stop and fell down from above.

A dull sound shocked the audience. The child who announced the news didn't react at all, just smiled and said, "Yeah, I was really careless..."

Another man-bear came out from behind, dragged the kidnapper by one of his legs, and pulled him out.

When the audience saw him without changing his face, he was also a little dizzy, thinking that this bear was far stronger than ordinary people, and it would be fine if he fell from such a high place. The child at the screen clapped his hands and said, "Don't disturb the interest of the audience, we have to invite others out."

Next, various characters also appeared one by one. The beauty snake dragged its long tail, but had a rough man's face, and lay shivering on the bed of nails; the beauty in the vase was unable to speak, was held, and touched the heads of several audience members, and finally failed. Passing through the fire ring and falling backwards; the new big-headed doll also walked on the tightrope, but failed to reach the end, and fell down together; in addition, the lack of arms and legs, strange shapes, no nose and no ears of……

The rare gestures in the world appear one by one, which is really dizzying, like stepping on a foot in the Huangquan Realm and seeing a hundred ghosts wandering at night with my own eyes.

Kou Dong sat in the first row, and his heart sank little by little. Ye Yan always held his hand, and he had no chance to escape.

At this moment, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a tail. Beauty Snake was beside the backstage, hiding in a corner that Ye Yan could not easily see, and met his eyes.

Immediately, the corners of the beauty snake's lips moved slightly, as if saying something.

Kou Dong blinked, trying to discern, but when he understood it, his heart trembled slightly.

He said three words.

- ready to run.

The author has something to say:

Kou Dong: I'm too South (a burst of tears)