Kraun Wanted to Be Happy

Kraun was the owner of a small grocery store, which was very popular with the poor people in the neighborhood.

Because there was a bakery next door, and black bread was the staple food of the poor, people would often stop by his grocery store after buying bread. Even though the level of mechanical manufacturing has become more and more advanced, those things are still out of reach for the people in the poor neighborhoods. Without money to go to school and receive relevant training, they can only do the lowest-level jobs.

Day after day, year after year, generation after generation, they pass on the poverty from which there is no light.

Kraun thought his life was pretty good; at least it was much better than that of the lower classes. He even had his own shop, which made the daily errands and tedious tasks seem insignificant in comparison.

Having lived here for many years, Kraun knows exactly who comes to the shop every day, and what kind of toys each child likes to buy.

To be honest, sometimes sitting behind the small counter, watching familiar faces in simple clothes pass by the shop, he would feel endless boredom.

"Ugh, this is so annoying," he thought.

Look at the lives of the rich. Why are the children of the wealthy destined to inherit vast fortunes from birth?

And look at those nobles! Good heavens, if those nobles were to give just a little bit of their wealth, which they would normally disdain to care about, it would be enough to feed the people in the impoverished areas for more than ten years.

That's enough to buy several of his general stores.

He was almost 40 years old and still unmarried because every woman he came into contact with annoyed him, especially after he caught a glimpse of a noblewoman in a gorgeous gown.

Life was truly hopeless and uneventful. He would probably just continue living this monotonous life, occasionally finding a lowly streetwalker for a night of pleasure, and then spending the whole day staring blankly at the equally boring things in the shop.

Kraun felt irritable and dissatisfied.

When did things start to change?

He couldn't remember clearly, but he had a vague impression that it was a snowy day when he had just opened the shop door to open for business and the first customer of the day came in.

It was a woman completely covered up, not only by a dark robe, but also by a face mask. Kraun looked at her and wondered if she had some kind of infectious disease.

The woman, with a hoarse voice, bought him a roll of bandages and a pair of scissors that she could mostly only use to cut fabric.

With a sense of awe for infectious diseases, Kraun quickly completed the transaction, watching the strange woman's figure disappear behind the corner on the other side.

Soon, the second guest arrived.

Kraun recognized her; she was a resident of one of the townhouses in Dandelion Street district, a laundry worker who raised three daughters on her own. He heard that her husband had been beaten to death after gambling, and that she had moved here afterward, immersing herself in a huge workload every day. Fortunately, her three daughters had grown up and could help her with some of the cleaning work.

Time leaves irreversible marks on a woman's ordinary face, but for Kraun, this face became the most unforgettable feature of his long life.

Ugly.

Nausea.

Fear.

"Please give me a roll of bandages..." The woman wrapped her head with a cloth, but she was clearly not as well-prepared as the previous customer. Kraun could see bloodstains and pustules on her exposed face, especially on her left eyelid, where there was a bulge the size of a knuckle.

"My God, what happened to you?" Kraun asked in astonishment.

This became the thing he regretted most afterward; he shouldn't have asked.

Because the woman, who had always been known for her gentleness, suddenly became extremely panicked and angry upon hearing his question. As she moved, the clothes she was covering slipped down, revealing her mouth.

It was a... cracked, gaping maw, its mouth stretching from the corners of its lips all the way to its ears.

"You saw it, didn't you?" The woman's large mouth opened and closed, revealing fangs as sharp as shark teeth. Kraun saw that there were still some strands of flesh left in her mouth, and her entire oral cavity was full of blood. When she spoke, bloodstains were revealed from her shark teeth. Kraun, who had never seen such a thing before, backed away in fear, which further enraged the woman.

Kraun realized he hadn't seen the woman's three daughters for the past two days. Normally, they would go for a walk after dinner every day.

The woman's hands trembled as she rewrapped the cloth, but it still couldn't hide the marks on the upper half of her face. Her eyes revealed an emotion that Kraun clearly understood: the slums were very chaotic, and several murderers and robbers had shown the same expression when they were taken away by the sheriff.

Good heavens, what's going on? Is it really an infectious disease?

Kraun grabbed the wrench that was next to him.

His thoughts drifted to the first female customer who had bought something; she had also wanted bandages...

He gripped the wrench tightly, intending to crack her skull open if the woman lunged at him.

When the sheriff arrives and sees the woman's appearance, he will surely believe everything he says.

But just then, the third buyer of the day arrived.

She was a young and very beautiful apprentice at a tailor shop. Many men in the neighborhood liked her and fantasized about her as an outlet for all their unspoken emotions, while the girls were jealous of her.

But today, the apprentice girl covered her head with a hat, with a homemade piece of fabric hanging down from the bottom, obscuring her entire face.

The young woman pushed aside the woman who looked like she was about to go crazy. "Excuse me, Mr. Kraun, could you please get me a roll of bandages?"

No, no, why bandages again!?

Kraun screamed inwardly; he already knew what the apprentice girl's face looked like under her hat.

This must be a nightmare, right? When he wakes up, everything will be back to normal...

Thump!

Reality shattered Kraun's illusions. The woman, on the verge of madness, seemed unable to hold on any longer and collapsed to her knees, vomiting copious amounts of blood that stained the surrounding ground red. As she vomited, she mumbled something incoherently. Kraun and the apprentice girl both took a step back, watching this scene in horror. Perhaps only Kraun was horrified; who knew what expression lay beneath the apprentice girl's hat?

This scene attracted many people who were out in the morning. They gradually gathered around, making a commotion. Some seemed to be suggesting that the woman be taken to a shelter, but Kron couldn't hear clearly. He was too close to the woman, and he saw what looked like several fingers sticking out of her mouth.

Then there was an arm, then a bald head and... a bald face.

Oh God!

The surrounding crowd gasped in disbelief as they watched a faceless infant crawl out of the woman's mouth. The apprentice girl rubbed her stomach, and Kraun was certain he hadn't misheard her. "How ugly this child is! My child will surely have beautiful features."

"My God, this is terrifying, Mr. Kraun." Many people noticed the stunned Kraun and came over, asking reassuringly, "Are you alright?"

"No, I'm not okay!" Kraun felt like he was still in a nightmare, but at least he wasn't alone, which gave him some sense of security. He gripped the wrench, intending to smash the faceless baby crawling towards him to death. He didn't want to look at anyone else; his eyes were only on this monstrous baby. He sensed immense malice emanating from this infant.

The people who came to comfort him sounded somewhat disappointed, "Mr. Kraun said he's not doing too well, so will his shop still be able to operate normally?"

"Mr. Kraun, is your shop still open?"

"Mr. Kraun, could you please get us some rolls of bandages...?"

Kraun paused, sensing something was amiss.

Like a rusty doll, he slowly turned his neck toward the surrounding crowd, only to find that everyone had covered their heads with various things, and their eyes were now fixed on him.

Some people still have beautiful eyes, looking perfectly normal; some have huge pustules on their foreheads; some have tiny tentacles extending from their eyes; some... are these really people?

"Sir, I was here first." The apprentice girl put her hands on her hips in dissatisfaction, looking nothing like her usual ladylike self. "Could you give me the bandage?"

"Why... why... did you all become like this?" Under the gaze of so many people, Kraun lost the courage to resist. He asked the apprentice girl, whose voice sounded relatively normal, in a trembling voice.

"I don't know. This suddenly started two days ago, and everyone's been contaminated. You should have noticed it by now; everyone's schedule has been disrupted these past two days." The apprentice girl wasn't flustered at all; in fact, her tone was even a little amused. "Mr. Kraun, you're really lucky to still have intact features, but... if you don't want to be eaten by others, you'd better destroy them. This is just my well-intentioned advice~"

"If you can't bring yourself to do it, I can help you." With that, the apprentice girl lifted her hat.

Her face did indeed change.

Her eyes, nose, and ears had all disappeared, leaving only a mouth that stretched from her forehead to her chin. She stuck out two tongues as Kraun stared in terror.

Its long tongue is like a frog's, with a sharp tooth at the tip.

She reached out and grabbed Kraun's shoulder, the immense force rendering him immobile. Then, their tongues parted instantly, their sharp teeth pressing against the skin at the edge of Kraun's mouth, slicing open his lips like a razor-sharp blade.

"Ah!!" Kraun screamed, his body convulsing from the excruciating pain. He didn't remember much after that, because he fainted from the pain.

When he woke up again, he was still sitting in his grocery store. The outside was empty. He sat there waiting for customers, but the children and adults who usually came to patronize the store hadn't come for a long time.

Year after year has passed.

Every few years, one or two unfamiliar faces would open his shop door. Kraun had no idea what was going on outside; he just felt bored and listless.

It used to be possible to sell some things, but now even the people are gone. It's really strange.

Kraun didn't step out of his shop once. He forgot to question why he didn't need bread, forgot why he didn't go home. He just stared at his shop door, hoping to see someone open it.

He would occasionally touch his face to make sure he still had a face, but he would always find his hands covered in colorful paint.

Finally, today, his shop door was opened again.

Two young men and a young woman walked in. Although they were dressed simply, they were clean and tidy. In particular, their faces were not what one would expect from someone from a slum. Even the apprentice girl couldn't compare to them.

Hey, finally someone's here, Kraun thought.

He could now paint the faces of the guests' corpses again.

"This... is a general store?" Qu Xuanqing looked at the world behind the door with some surprise. The space inside was much larger than it appeared from the outside. Rows of shelves were neatly arranged on the floor, clean and tidy, forming a stark contrast with the dusty street outside.

The counter was right by the door, completely empty, with a sign on it that read in the most familiar Chinese: "Welcome to Kraun's Grocery Store."

Zhao Yijiu was the last to arrive. He had just stepped into the space when the door slammed shut behind him.

In comparison, the three were not surprised at all, since a building is an independent "copy" and must be isolated from the outside world.

"Wow, it's huge!" Yu Xing exclaimed. "At first glance, I thought this was a supermarket."

"..." Zhao Yijiu didn't want to pay attention. He had already told the other two at the hotel that it was okay to talk in most buildings, but they had to be careful in places like concert halls.

The three of them stood cautiously in place, first observing the scene within their field of vision.

Two seconds later, Yu Xing said again, "Brother Jiu, didn't you say that every building has its own rules? Do we need to discover the rules ourselves, or will they be directly issued to us?"

Zhao Yijiu: "It depends."

Perhaps his words were blessed because he was so sparing with them; he said he'd see how things went, and the situation immediately followed.

The three heard a clown's shrill laugh coming from afar.

Yu Xing looked toward the source of the sound, but saw nothing but shelves. He thought to himself, "Sure enough, this building is related to clowns. Kraun is the English word for clown, which means clown in a circus."

"Guests," the invisible clown spoke, "What would you like to buy?"

Qu Xuanqing adopted a guarded stance, while Yu Xing answered, "We're just passing by and are a bit curious. We'll just look around first, and if we see anything we want, we'll buy it, okay?"

He finally managed to say something normal, which made Qu Xuanqing and Zhao Yijiu think something was off, and they gave him another look.

"Guests, please feel free to browse my shop, but I don't really want you to leave empty-handed," the clown chuckled. "There are plenty of things here, and I'm looking forward to some exciting deals!"

"What if we don't end up making a deal?" Yu Xing tilted her head.

After all, they didn't have a single ghost warrior on them, so a trade was impossible.

"If you disturb my business without buying anything, it'll be difficult for me, and Kraun won't be happy! How about this, if you're not going to give me money, then help me count how many items I have in my shop?"

Yu Xing raised an eyebrow and glanced at the rows of shelves.

That's no small amount; if you really wanted to count it... could you finish counting it in three days?

Besides, isn't the Joker's very existence just about causing trouble?