Clown Versus Clown

While Morning Cheer Circus's style is flamboyant and trendy enough, the Clown's tent is quite understated.

Maxford's place was somewhat similar to Lake's, both located in a corner far from the Rest Area. When the group arrived, the tent was empty.

The Grand Marshal, fed up with the slow investigation, went outside to arrest the suspects after failing to find anyone. Before leaving, Cheng Shi asked him how he knew about Mrs. Flord's trivial history of how she made her fortune. Hu Wei casually tossed out two diaries and laughed:

"It's all written here, in Flord's own handwriting."

Speaking of which, I haven't seen the regimental commander yet today. I'll go take another look outside and see if I can bring both of them back.

The Grand Marshal left in a hurry. Cheng Shi opened his diary and examined it carefully. Everything Zhang Jizu had just said did indeed come from this diary.

The diary contained nothing else, seemingly rendering it worthless.

But sometimes words are just that magical; the same story can be interpreted very differently by the pen and by others.

For example, when Flord wrote about first discovering Maxford's talent for Clown, her writing became forceful and flamboyant; one could feel her excitement and joy simply by reading the words on the paper.

Gradually, however, the brushstrokes of Maxford became increasingly sloppy and fragmented, and he even began to repeatedly draw the same stroke.

It's not hard to imagine that Flord seemed to have gone through a period of entanglement and struggle, but after that period, his handwriting related to Maxford became neat, serious, and gentle.

These strokes of the pen are enough to tell a story, but what makes Cheng Shi certain that this story must have happened is not just these, but more importantly, the length of the text.

Less and less space is devoted to the Circus, while more and more space is devoted to Maxford.

It goes without saying who holds more weight in Mrs. Flord's heart.

These seemingly trivial matters may be useless in the current Trials, but they vividly demonstrate to him how a senior can overcome inner struggles and reach a compromise with himself while nurturing a junior.

However, this story did not end there; everything came to an abrupt halt two days ago.

Mrs. Flord's last diary entry was two days ago. Although she didn't write every day, the ending of that entry was noticeably rushed.

She wrote down her conversation with Maxford that day, promising to give him an answer after the final showdown. But before she could write the answer, a long stroke of her pen swept across half a page, even tearing through several pages, bringing the diary to a gruesome end.

Something's happened!

Anyone could see that Mrs. Flord, who was writing in her diary, must have received some shocking news, so much so that she hastily finished writing, threw down the diary, and left the room.

Cheng Shi was so curious that he handed the diary to Zhen Xin, hoping the wealthy Magician could think of a way to recreate the scene.

Zhen Xin was also curious, but she didn't run a prop shop, and her methods weren't endless.

She shook her head, indicating that there was no way to resolve the issue.

Cheng Shi then looked at Zhang Jizu, Squinty Old Zhang closed his eyes, pretending not to see him.

Anyway, the other person can't tell whether my eyes are closed or not.

"Tsk, Old Zhang, you've really changed."

Seeing that the clues in the diary had run dry, Cheng Shi and Zhen Xin exchanged a helpless glance. That glance led the two con artists to the same conclusion:

Why was it Long Jing, and not the Dragon King's?

They're both from the "Dragon" generation, so why is there such a big difference?

What use is Long Jing besides being Clown?

Achoo!

Long Jing was searching for clues on his own after separating from the main group, suddenly sneezed. He had no idea that someone was talking about him behind his back; he just thought that he had sensed it and was about to find a clue.

Then he stumbled upon Poison that was also hidden in the shadows!

When Poison, Assassin, sensed someone following Cheng Shi with ill intentions, she chose an An Jing place and intercepted the person.

Looking at the unfamiliar face before him, Poison frowned, then chuckled softly and said:

"Fine, I don't care who you are. If you want to lay a hand on a junior Priest, you have every right to die."

This should... be considered my desire, right?

The words had barely left his lips when the "Dance With Me" broke the silence, cleaving through the air and piercing right in front of "Su Yida".

"!!??"

Long Jing was stunned.

When Cheng Shi told him to continue pretending to be "Su Yida" and staying hidden outside, he never said he would fight against the evildoers!

How come Poison is in this game!?

The Grand Marshal was incredibly efficient. While Cheng Shi and the other two were still teasing each other about not even having a [Memory] item, he had already returned to the tent with Maxford.

He threw the fully made-up Clown on the ground, shook his head, and said:

Unfortunately, it was too late.

Flord has entered the palace; it seems there's a Royal Family performance today, and she's rushing to mediate.

They couldn't find her, they only found the Clown.

Don't worry, it hasn't caused any additional problems. The Clown was just rehearsing backstage, and there won't be any further performances.

Strangely, I've seen the venue's Program List, and the Clown performances have recently been removed, which has caused quite a few complaints from the audience.

When there are too many coincidences, they can no longer be called coincidences, but rather suspicious points. If you say the Clown doesn't know something, I doubt anyone would believe you.

Hu Wei tossed the Clown aside and sat down to wait for the outcome.

He knew that the other party couldn't possibly hide anything from these three people.

Driven by their boundless curiosity, the three men surrounded Maxford, cornering him.

Fortunately, as an "NPC," Maxford had no idea what these three con artists in front of him really meant, so apart from being a little panicked, he wasn't particularly afraid.

After all, he couldn't imagine anyone daring to lay a hand on him on Morning Cheer's turf, especially with the Royal Family performance taking place today.

Who on this land can withstand the wrath of the Royal Family?

No.

Therefore, he felt safe and secure.

Cornered against the wall, Maxford asked somewhat uneasily, "Who are you?"

Cheng Shi casually replied, "The Golden House, Mr. Maxford should have heard of us."

Maxford was stunned and said in disbelief:

"Are you people from Blackers's group?"

But he's not a fan of the theater troupe, so why would he send you here to cause me trouble?

Cheng Shi smiled kindly, squatted down, and approached the other person, saying:

"Don't be nervous, Mr. Clown. We're not here to cause trouble, but to investigate some things."

Someone asked us to find someone, but we have no clue, so we came to ask you if you have any leads.

Maxford's expression changed visibly. Although he tried his best to remain calm, the four pairs of eyes in front of him were sharper than eagle eyes.

They astutely noticed that the Clown's facial muscles were somewhat stiff, indicating that he had already guessed who they were looking for.

Cheng Shi smiled and continued to ask:

"It seems Mr. Maxford does know something. Let's talk about it then, about what you know."

The Clown huddled in the corner, looking pitiful and helpless. He shook his head and forced himself to speak:

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Cheng Shi was delighted.

"You may have misunderstood something. We had a much easier way to verify everything, but we didn't, out of respect for... the Clown."

But if Mr. Maxford doesn't know what's good for him, then don't blame us for resorting to underhanded tactics."

As he spoke, Cheng Shi stood up and waved his hand, saying:

"Someone, release Old Zhang!"

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