[Banquet of Magic]

It had always been held only before the Circus’s official performances, but this time it took place outside of the performance schedule, which clearly indicated to the boss that the current moment was an important time point, perhaps even more so than the official shows.

And the "reform" mentioned by the boss had triggered various thoughts among the employees,

but the specifics of the reform would have to wait until after the Banquet of Magic, as the most pressing matter was still the preparation of the dishes.

At the moment, a "receptionist" was nervously sitting on the roller coaster en route to the Clown House.

He was the lowest-ranking employee of the Circus, responsible for ushering the audience in at the opening, explaining the rules, and delivering drinks and food provided by the Circus, among other basic tasks,

Statistics showed that one in a hundred receptionists might be promoted to a Poker Face.

Although this receptionist was very ordinary, today he had suddenly received an order from a Poker Face, telling him to head to the Clown House to convey the matters regarding the Banquet of Magic and an emergency meeting to the clown "Art," who was in seclusion.

He was very puzzled;

shouldn’t such information be communicated directly between the main members? Why was he, a mere low-level employee, assigned to relay such important news?

Moreover, the person he was about to meet was the most infamous clown in the Circus.

Click~

The roller coaster reached its destination.

Seeing the row of human head balloons in front of the Chief Clown House, he was so frightened that his body trembled and his legs went weak.

But strangely,

the illness he suffered from suddenly activated, countering the sense of fear by producing red lupus all over his body, a biological instinct drove him to get off the ride and approach.

Strangely enough, the human head balloons did not absorb him but instead made way for him,

and upon successfully approaching the factory door, the human-shaped iron chains hanging on the door also unraveled on their own, as if someone inside knew he was coming.

The door opened,

and what he saw was a space filled with endless tumorous growths emitting countless wails, with pus flowing from all over, so much so that he felt a sticky sensation even underfoot.

Malice overflowed,

yet he didn’t feel any aversion at all;

in fact, he felt oddly like he was returning home.

Yet after a blink, only the empty factory remained.

In the center of the factory floor sat a corpse dressed in a baggy clown suit, its face so withered it was like a human skin skull with sunken cheeks.

But through the exaggerated hawkish nose and colorful makeup, one could immediately identify him as the Chief Clown.

He was indescribably nervous,

but the receptionist still arranged his thoughts and began to convey the message.

"Report! Respected Mr. Art, according to the recent spatial expansion of the Circus and the utilization of fear value, it’s estimated that the effective growth rate of the tent has significantly decreased, possibly related to the spatial limitations of the Old World and the low quality of fear harvested from recent performances.

Additionally, regarding the recruitment of personnel...

Lastly, I’d like to talk about my story with Miss Marina and my recent problem of frequent and urgent urination..."

This person rambled on about various issues related to the overall operations of the Circus, including some of his personal and strange affairs, without mentioning the Banquet of Magic which he was supposed to.

It was only after he had exhausted everything he knew that he realized he probably shouldn’t have said these things.

"Right! My main purpose for coming was to inform you of the Banquet of Magic tomorrow. If there’s nothing else, I will take my leave now."

Although he thought about leaving, his feet moved in the opposite direction, and before he knew it, he was standing in the center of the factory, right before Art.

Buzz!

Some sort of resonance occurred between him and Art,

and his abdomen had swelled up half a meter without him realizing it, rupturing and oozing pus;

all his bones and skin turned into a purulent liquid and flowed into Art’s body.

The man didn’t feel any pain at all, as if from the beginning he had been a part of Art, just now remembering this fact.

Once the fusion was complete, and he was fully integrated, Art gradually opened his malicious eyes.

Several months of seclusion had passed,

during which he had not ingested anything at all. He had even separated out excess nutrients and portions of his consciousness, forming this ’harmless’ receptionist to experience the basic life of the circus.

While his malevolent true self, in a state devoid of desire or needs, and where the tumor cells could not divide due to complete starvation, engaged in the purest form of closed training.

The Moon Scar’s wounds had long since healed, and it seemed that Art had reached an even higher level of illness.

"A magical feast... just perfect~ My body is in dire need of the nourishment from exquisite food. The impending reforms by the boss also suit me perfectly, the timing couldn’t be more perfect."

...

The magical feast was scheduled for the next evening.

At that time, the main members would gather in the kitchen an hour beforehand to prepare dishes together.

Excluded, William and Catherine, though having decided to create a dish, went to the kitchen a day early to avoid putting pressure on others and vying for kitchen space and ingredients.

Timi, the head chef, was overseeing the poker-faced staff in thoroughly cleaning the kitchen.

"Didn’t the boss tell you to rest? And the magical feast isn’t until tomorrow, don’t disturb our preparations."

William stepped forward, bowing like a gentleman,

"The thing is, head chef, Catherine and I plan to create a collaborative dish to add diversity to the magical feast. Our dish will not be part of the subsequent evaluation;

we simply want to contribute to the event’s atmosphere.

Moreover, we can prepare our dish now and serve it directly tomorrow, without affecting the flow of the feast.

If you, Head Chef Timi, are concerned about the quality of the dish, we can make an extra portion tonight for you to decide whether it should be served.

Additionally, we won’t get in the way of your work, as most of the ingredients will be provided by us, and we won’t need ’the boss’s meat’ either."

Considering the stunning dishes William had made before, Head Chef Timi made an exception and nodded, "Then I will certainly raise the inspection threshold. If it doesn’t pass, go rest early."

"Agreed."

Collaborative creation.

Due to the boss’s strict requirements, the magical feast had to showcase each member’s individuality, and everyone was expected to finish their own dish;

therefore, this kind of collaboration was unprecedented.

Although Head Chef Timi seemed disinterested on the surface, merely supervising the cleaning work, he would sneak glances at the pair’s progress whenever he got the chance.

What puzzled him was that the two were not using kitchen utensils, but instead making a portable, bucket-shaped utensil using skin and deep-sea gel, which didn’t look at all appealing.

Moreover, the two were separately preparing strange dry ingredients, and would even use the incinerator to quickly dry out materials when necessary.

The creation of the dish was not smooth sailing,

As many attempts were obviously their first, failures were tossed straight into the trash, and it was only when both nodded in agreement that they considered it a success. Like this, it took a full six hours to produce the first dish.

It was already three in the morning,

and Chef Timi, having been captivated by the pair’s fascinating cooperation, sat in front of the monitors with no trace of sleepiness.

When he saw them waving at the surveillance camera, he pretended to wake up at their call and irritably made his way to the kitchen.

As he examined the dish brought to him, his first words were critical,

"This is it? Do you think such a rough presentation can make it on the magical feast’s table?"

"We plan to decorate the outer packaging with drawings to make it look a bit better. However, the main pursuit of the magical feast is flavor, is it not? Perhaps you should give it a try, head chef."

"Out of consideration for you, I’ll reluctantly give it a go."

Trusting William, the head chef stirred the mysterious dish in the bowl, slowly brought it to his mouth, and before he even started chewing...

All areas of the circus were generally completely isolated with excellent privacy,

but that night, most people heard a strange and sharp moan and thought something had happened at the circus.