"Hoo! Indeed! I didn't expect these clowns to be so difficult to deal with. Just now, if that whip had hit me again, I would have been on my way to the afterlife." Dao Lao also sent a message at this moment. Although Dao Lao was still trying to joke about himself in a relaxed tone, from Haoyun's perspective, Dao Lao, whose back was also covered in bloody wounds from the whip, was no better off than him and Dream Jia.
"Snap!"
Seeing Haoyun and his companions still not starting their performance, the clown swung his whip again, warning them that if they didn't start the performance soon, they would taste the whip again. Feeling vulnerable, the three instinctively cringed at the sound of the whip above their heads and raised their hands in surrender. At the same time, they intensified their communication, trying to find a way out.
"It seems they just want us to perform the fire ring act. But how are we supposed to do that?! If we try, won't we immediately get burned?" Haoyun looked at the blazing metal rings with fear.
"But if we don't go through those fire rings, we'll definitely get whipped again. Ugh! I don't want to endure that damn whip again!" Dream Jia said with frustration.
"The problem is our current strength is not enough to resist this group of clowns, so if necessary, we'll just have to comply, get through this obstacle, ease the current situation, and then use the opportunity to find a solution." Dao Lao also said helplessly. Although Haoyun and Dream Jia were unwilling to accept Dao Lao's suggestion, facing the clowns' relentless whipping, they knew they had no other choice but to comply with the clowns' demands.
Haoyun once again checked his system, hoping for some assistance. Then suddenly, his eyes lit up as he exclaimed, "Huh? What's going on? My mobility assist function is working again! Although the system still shows this function as restricted, it seems to be recovering and can now operate at about one percent efficiency!"
Dao Lao and Dream Jia, hearing this, quickly checked their own mobility assist functions and were surprised to find that they were in the same situation as Haoyun. So, Dao Lao quickly analyzed, "It turns out our Mold Spirit Energy Tracking Systems weren't really malfunctioning but temporarily malfunctioned under some powerful masking force. From this, we can infer that although the force suppressing us is very strong, its effect on us seems to be temporary."
"Are you saying that if we wait long enough, the force suppressing us will completely fail, and we'll return to normal?" Haoyun asked immediately.
"It's very likely." Dao Lao answered confidently.
"Snap! Snap!"
Two more cracks of the whip rang out above the heads of the three. As the audience grew impatient and started to boo again, the leader clown began to emit low growls from his smiling mouth. Obviously, if Haoyun and his companions continued to delay, the clown's whip would mercilessly strike them again.
"Sigh! Forget it, how hard can it be to go through a fire ring? Besides, now that our mobility assist function has recovered, even though it's operating at extremely low efficiency, I think it should be no problem for it to assist us in going through a few fire rings." Seeing this, Dao Lao immediately made the decision for the three and gestured to the clowns to calm down.
Then, ignoring the intense pain from his back, Dao Lao adjusted his posture with difficulty, preparing for the fire ring performance. Meanwhile, Haoyun and Dream Jia, who could only choose between enduring the whip and going through the fire rings, also endured the intense pain from their backs and prepared to go through the fire rings.
Seeing that Haoyun and his companions were finally ready to perform the fire ring act, the clowns put away their whips and made a "please" gesture. Then, the music of the circus march rose again, and the atmosphere on the scene became lively under the influence of the clowns.
"Um, ah, yehaw!" With the clown counting down the last three counts and making a starting gesture with only four fingers, Dao Lao gritted his teeth and ran towards the fire ring first despite the pain, followed closely by Dream Jia and Haoyun. Thus, the fire ring performance officially began.
After Haoyun and his companions started running, they found that their running postures had changed significantly. Haoyun ran with his head held high, like a galloping horse; Dao Lao ran more like an enraged bull, head down and charging forward vigorously; Dream Jia, unlike Haoyun and Dao Lao, who imitated the way of running of horses and bulls with their four limbs, used her hands to imitate rabbit ears while jumping forward with her feet.
Although Haoyun and his companions had no experience in going through fire rings, their confidence in the mobility assist function and their diminished but still present skills gave them enough confidence to smoothly complete the performance. This strong confidence helped Haoyun and his companions successfully go through the first three fire rings. However, as they continued to go through the rings, they felt that their tolerance for the flames had reached its limit. At this point, their bodies were swollen and red from the burning flames, emitting a strong smell of charred flesh. The intense pain caused by the burns replaced the pain from their backs and became the most tormenting pain for them now.
Stolen novel; please report.
Seeing Haoyun and his companions go through four fire rings in a row, the audience cheered and applauded continuously, cheering them on. The clowns standing around the stage also clenched their fists, nervously watching Haoyun and his companions. After Haoyun and his companions successfully went through five fire rings, they excitedly high-fived each other to celebrate. Then, while Haoyun and his companions were catching their breath and relieving the pain from their burned bodies, they continued to perform various acrobatics on the stage to maintain the currently enthusiastic atmosphere.
"Whew! Just two more fire rings left! Come on, everyone! Victory is within reach!" Dao Lao gasped for breath, wiping his charred eyes as he encouraged.
"Phew! This is so unfair! Why do you all get to cover up so tightly, but the fabric of my props has to be so stingy?" Dream Jia complained, looking at her extensively burnt body.
"Who told you to be a lady! Since you want to show off your beautiful figure, you should be prepared for the heat!" Due to Haoyun's physique being much weaker than that of Dao Lao and Dream Jia, he had reached his limit in enduring the flames after successfully going through the fifth fire ring. Yet, he still joked with ease.
"Tsk! Stop talking nonsense. How about we switch clothes later, and you can try it?" Dream Jia rolled her eyes at Haoyun and said sarcastically, not pleased.
"Hmm? Hmm!" Perhaps thinking that Haoyun and his companions had rested too long before the sixth fire ring, the leader clown impatiently approached and vigorously whipped the air to urge them on.
There was no choice. Since they had already gone through five fire rings, even if it was painful, they had to grit their teeth and finish the last two rings. As long as they completed the last two rings, this inexplicable damn game could finally end! Haoyun and his companions thought simultaneously.
So, Dao Lao roared in the system channel, took a deep breath, and then, with determination, charged toward the sixth fire ring. However, just as Dao Lao was about to jump through the sixth fire ring, an unexpected incident occurred.
A clown standing beside the fire ring, aiming to cheer on the performance, wanted to enhance the atmosphere by vigorously swinging his whip while Dao Lao was going through the ring. However, unexpectedly, due to the clown being too close to the fire ring, he failed to control the distance when swinging the whip. As a result, while swinging the whip, he accidentally knocked over the fire ring that Dao Lao was about to go through. The overturned fire ring hit Dao Lao, who was going through the ring, and with a cry of pain, instantly set his whole body on fire.
Seeing the sudden accident, Dream Jia and Haoyun, who were following closely behind Dao Lao, immediately wanted to stop and help Dao Lao extinguish the flames on his body. However, what was extremely strange was that Haoyun and Dream Jia's running steps seemed to be out of control at this moment. They completely ignored the commands of their brains and continued to run forward, eventually falling on top of Dao Lao, who was engulfed in flames.
Then, Haoyun and Dream Jia's bodies seemed to have been doused in gasoline beforehand. The moment they encountered the flames, they all burst into flames. Haoyun felt a strong heat wave entering every pore of his body, raging inside and then returning along the same path, fiercely spraying out again from those pores.
After a few seconds, Haoyun felt his throat, nasal cavity, and eye sockets turn into furnaces, constantly spewing flames outward. Haoyun struggled to roll on the ground to extinguish the flames on his body, but his body was dominated by immense pain, making him unable to do anything other than curl up on the ground trembling helplessly.
Before his eyes melted in the flames, Haoyun looked at Dream Jia, who was also curled up in a sea of fire. Haoyun wanted to help Dream Jia extinguish the flames on her body, but he knew that he was already overwhelmed by the situation and had no ability to help others. With regret and pain, Haoyun sighed one last time before feeling the flames completely engulfing everything inside and outside of him, burning his flesh and fur to ashes. After experiencing extreme agony, he finally felt his bones turning to ashes.
Meanwhile, the clowns on stage were in chaos. Because of the sudden accident, they were all at a loss, spinning around helplessly, not knowing what to do. So, in panic, the clowns gathered around Haoyun and his companions, who were completely engulfed by flames, and with a panicked look on their faces, they tried to extinguish the flames on their bodies by blowing air, fanning with their hands, or even spitting saliva.
The leading clown scolded the troublemaking clown loudly at this moment, and in his anger, he couldn't help but wave the whip in his hand and lash out at the clown who pretended to be innocent. Naturally, the troublemaking clown was unwilling to suffer physical pain because of this, so before the whip fell, he skillfully dodged aside and, after making a mocking gesture to his superior, ran away from the stage without looking back.
The series of exaggerated and comical actions displayed by the clowns when Haoyun and his companions encountered the accident amused the audience who had been worried about them a second ago. In the next moment, they were entertained by the clowns frolicking on the stage, laughing uncontrollably. Finally, after Haoyun and his companions were burned to ashes, the audience whistled, waved their colorful flags, or exaggeratedly clapped their hands to show their satisfaction with the clowns' timely and amusing rescue performance.
"Is everything... ending like this?" Amidst the cheerful atmosphere, Haoyun asked himself in extreme unwillingness in his final moments of life. Then, he could no longer feel the pain in his body or the presence of his consciousness.
Suddenly, a clown with golden teeth and a exaggerated laugh appeared in the darkness. Startled, Haoyun woke up from his dream and once again saw the grimacing face of a clown in front of him. The clown grabbed Haoyun's neck and shook his body forcefully, as if trying to wake him up all at once. So, still weak and struggling to catch his breath, Haoyun could only intermittently chirp to tell the clown that he had already woken up.
Haoyun finally regained consciousness, and the clown dropped him onto the ground with a thud. Then, the clown, with a protruding buttocks, continuously emitted wild beast-like roars from his mouth while bringing his sinister face close to Haoyun's, making exaggerated grimaces as he sniffed around Haoyun's body. Haoyun, still not fully awake and unaware of what the clown intended to do to him, subconsciously propped himself up with his elbows and quickly moved his body backward, trying to create as much distance as possible between himself and the clown, who was sniffing around him.