"Everyone, this time you must pay more attention and not let those clowns affect you again! I hope we can successfully complete the performance this time. I want to see if they have any other tricks up their sleeves!" Dao Lao reminded once again before, after the countdown of the leading clown's "hmm, uh, oh ha," taking the lead and rushing out.
Because of their experience the first time, this time, Haoyun and the others not only could better imitate the running movements of the animals they portrayed, but also could smoothly complete the action of jumping through the fire rings according to the characteristics of the animals they portrayed. They agilely passed through one fire ring after another, while occasionally paying attention to the cheering clowns around them so that they could dodge quickly in case any clown tried to sabotage.
The sixth fire ring was right in front of them. Because this fire ring was higher above the ground, Haoyun and the others couldn't rely solely on their jumping ability to pass through the middle. Therefore, they had to use the springboard placed in front to increase their jumping height and help them jump over the fire ring smoothly. Dao Lao was the first to jump and passed successfully. Dream Jia followed, also passing smoothly. Now, as long as Haoyun successfully passed the sixth fire ring, they would face the seventh ring, which was the easiest! But just as Haoyun followed Dream Jia's footsteps and prepared to jump using the springboard, an accident occurred once again.
Due to the aging of the wooden floor under the springboard, after bearing the weight of Dao Lao and Dream Jia's consecutive jumps, it suddenly collapsed when unable to bear Haoyun's weight, causing the entire bottom panel around the sixth fire ring to collapse downward. As a result, Dao Lao and Dream Jia, who had already landed or were landing, fell directly into the deep pit formed by the collapsed bottom panel due to their lack of preparation. Haoyun, on the other hand, lost his momentum and balance as the floor collapsed just as he was about to jump, and he fell headfirst into the pit.
What was even more deadly than Haoyun and the others falling into the pit was that after the ground suddenly collapsed, the sixth fire ring, which had been suspended in mid-air, seemed to be knocked over by some force and fell into the pit along with them. And after the fire ring fell into the collapsed pit, it immediately ignited all the wood in the pit, instantly creating a large fire pit with a diameter of five meters on the stage.
At this moment, it was needless to say what kind of pain Haoyun and the others would suffer from falling into the fire pit. Their bodies crackled as they were burned by the fierce flames, but because they were in the pit, they didn't even have the ability to rescue themselves. They could only struggle incessantly in the pit, while letting out cries of pain, causing the audience in the stands to exclaim in shock.
At this moment, the clowns on stage were in chaos. Some were running and jumping around the stage in confusion, performing various tricks, while others were cautiously approaching the fire pit and trying to extinguish the fire with saliva again. Two clowns were using ridiculous body language to pray for Haoyun and the others, who were being burned to charcoal, and occasionally throwing a few pieces of firewood into the pit to make it more difficult for the clowns trying to extinguish the fire with saliva, which amused the audience with laughter amid their shock.
After experiencing the pain of being burned alive in the fire once again, Haoyun and the others suddenly woke up once again. They struggled to climb up from the ground with lingering fear, then sat down with their heads drooping, speechless. It was evident that although the burns on Haoyun and the others had miraculously disappeared again, they had suffered considerable trauma from experiencing being burned alive in the fire twice in a row.
Soon, the clowns lifted the curtains of the tent and walked in. Haoyun and the others, in a terrible state of mind, just glanced at the clowns and ignored them, letting them hum incomprehensible tunes and handle themselves as they pleased. The clowns, after confirming that Haoyun and the others were not seriously injured, quickly clapped their hands together with their fingertips to indicate that they were satisfied with Haoyun and the others' current state.
After a while, the leading clown entered the tent again. After making a low, indifferent "hmm" gesture towards Haoyun and the others sitting on the ground, the clowns stopped and once again escorted Haoyun and the others out of the tent in handcuffs. Outside the tent, the giant stage, the giant stands, the audience with masks with long noses, the clowns running around to liven up the atmosphere, the seven metal rings appearing out of thin air, the clowns walking towards the metal rings with torches, and the familiar melody of the circus march—all the scenes were so familiar.
Seeing the repeated scenes once again, Haoyun and the others couldn't help but turn pale. After struggling weakly for a few moments, they were dragged onto the stage by the clowns once again and allowed the clowns to arrange them in the same order as before.
Then, the leading clown introduced the performance content to them and the audience for the third time. Only then did Haoyun finally raise his head, look at the lively audience around him, and sigh deeply, saying, "How much longer do we have to repeat this? If this continues, I'm afraid I won't be able to hold on."
Dao Lao and Dream Jia didn't respond to Haoyun, but Haoyun, who was at the end of the line, could clearly see that both of them shook their heads slowly after receiving his private message, indicating that they were also unsure. Haoyun took another deep breath and shook his head helplessly. Based on the current situation, it probably would take a long time before their strength could be restored to the point where they could deal with the current situation. So, before that, the three of them, who were powerless against the clowns, could only continue to perform the fire ring act under the pressure of the clowns.
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But the question remained: would there be more accidents during the upcoming fire ring performance? Was the purpose of this performance for Elina to torment them in various ways, watching them burn to death from various accidents? Given the pain they had endured in the previous two times, Haoyun and his friends sincerely doubted if they could hold on much longer until their abilities recovered in all aspects.
"Since this performance is inevitable, we can only persist in completing it. This time, we must find flaws in the performance. There is nothing in the world that is absolutely perfect. Even if you are powerful, there must be flaws." Seeing the leading clown's fervent words and whip-waving gestures again, Dao Lao straightened up and said through the system channel.
Although Dao Lao was not sure whether there were flaws here or whether they had the ability to find them, he had to give himself and his friends hope, lest they lose their minds completely under the pressure.
Haoyun and Dream Jia knew that Dao Lao's words were more to encourage everyone, but at the same time, they understood that Dao Lao was right. Nothing was absolute, and everything had flaws. The question was whether they could find them in time. So, Haoyun and Dream Jia raised their spirits, encouraging each other, indicating that even if they failed this time, they would try to pay attention to their surroundings as much as possible and gather more information to find a solution in the next performance.
"In any case, we won't really die, so no matter what happens next, everyone must try to stay calm and pay attention to the surroundings to see if we can find a way to complete the performance smoothly," Dao Lao said.
"Understood!" Haoyun and Dream Jia responded simultaneously.
"Let's go!" Then, Dao Lao shouted loudly and, without waiting for the leading clown to start the countdown, led Haoyun and Dream Jia towards the fire ring.
Amidst the enthusiastic cheers and mad laughter of the clowns and the audience, the third fire ring performance officially began. However, the performance ended predictably due to Haoyun and his friends encountering accidents again and being burned to charcoal once more.
"Moo! Moo! Cock-a-doodle-doo!" With the consecutive cries of animals, Haoyun and his friends once again woke up abruptly from their dreams, gasping for breath due to the sudden chill caused by their soaking wet bodies.
"Good morning, three lucky participants." Just as Haoyun and his friends were trying to ease their mental and physical pain, a very ethereal and somewhat old-fashioned voice suddenly sounded beside them.
Haoyun quickly wiped the ice water off his face and looked in the direction of the voice. Then, he saw a strange creature dressed in a cow-cat costume, with a simple cat face makeup on its face, wearing a monocle, and a Charlie Chaplin-style prop mustache above its mouth, standing under an iron cage and looking at them. It could be inferred from the watering can-like device held by this strange creature that it was the one who woke Haoyun and his friends up just now.
Seeing Haoyun and the others waking up, this strange creature dressed as a cow-cat said cheerfully, "Welcome to the Fragrant Nebula. I am the steward here—Algon, but you can also call me Daddy Cat. I hope we can get along well and become good friends. After all, we have a long way to go in the future! Meow meow meow!"
After speaking, this strange Daddy Cat spun around in excitement. At this moment, Haoyun and his friends' attention had already been drawn to the scene behind Daddy Cat.
After failing to drill the fire ring for the third time, Haoyun and his friends thought they would continue to be forced to perform. Therefore, when they found themselves waking up this time, instead of appearing in the tent again, they found themselves in a vast white space inside a white metal cage, which surprised them.
What was even more surprising to Haoyun and his friends was that in this vast space, besides the metal cage they were in, there were countless other white metal cages stored from top to bottom. Moreover, each metal cage contained at least one creature. Although the appearance of these creatures varied greatly, they were all dressed up as different animals. Even the strange creature that looked like Godzilla, locked in a huge metal cage, was dressed in a pink dinosaur costume, making it look both terrifying and cute.
Daddy Cat did not feel angry at Haoyun and the others for ignoring him while focusing on the surroundings and the creatures locked in the cages. Instead, seeming accustomed to it, he spoke in a very gentle tone again, "Welcome to the Fragrant Nebula, the big family that belongs only to the lucky ones. Your performance yesterday was very exciting. You did a great job! Come on, you three, hurry up and have something to eat to refresh yourselves!"
As soon as Daddy Cat finished speaking, three small dining tables appeared in front of Haoyun and his friends out of thin air. Each table was placed with a large water jug, a large bowl containing milky white porridge-like substance, and a bamboo basket filled with food resembling white buns. After preparing food for Haoyun and his friends, Daddy Cat casually arranged their work schedule. Haoyun and his friends, who still didn't understand the situation, naturally didn't understand what Daddy Cat meant. But Daddy Cat didn't care about this at all. After mechanically reading a document that appeared in his hand out of thin air, he turned around gracefully and prepared to leave.
"Wait!" Haoyun stopped him.
"Uh, Daddy Cat, right?" Haoyun, whose attention had been entirely focused on this space just now, had heard everything the strange creature said clearly, so when he saw it stop, he asked somewhat uncertainly.
"Yes, my name is Algon, but you can call me Daddy Cat. Everyone here is used to calling me that, and I'm glad you remembered my alias instead of my real name. I am the steward here, just like a competent father, responsible for everyone's clothing, food, housing, and other necessities. Moreover, I am also a cute cow-cat. That's why I'm called 'Daddy Cat.' Meow meow meow!" This strange creature, who called itself Daddy Cat, introduced itself again in a very friendly manner to Haoyun and his friends, while also happily bouncing to the same height as the metal cage where Haoyun and his friends were and spinning around in the air.