Catastrophe Card King

Chapter 19: Chapter 17 Mechanical Clown

Leonard Churchill quickly surveyed his surroundings. It was a mechanical-style secret room.

Besides their own cage, there were two other iron cages.

Each cage held two people.

In one cage were familiar faces - the bald captain of the Black Water mercenaries and one of his men who had escaped earlier.

The other cage held an old man and a young man, both strangers wearing black suits.

They weren't even wearing gas masks, their faces fully exposed, the young man's arrogance and the old man's humbleness clearly visible.

Camilla recognized the two and whispered, "Fourth Master of the Miller Family, the governor of Sinless City."

"Oh?"

Leonard raised an eyebrow, murmuring to himself, "Looks like the ones who triggered the hidden plotline in the Alternate Dimension were these two."

Compared with the clear confusion of the two mercenaries, this master and servant pair seemed prepared, their expressions calm as if they were expecting something. nove(l)bi(n.)com

They had not been seen at all during the journey, indicating they had arrived via some special route.

Thus, it was not hard to infer that these two were the culprits responsible for the sudden increase in the difficulty of the space challenges.

Seeing Leonard and his companion reappear, the two mercenaries were dumbstruck: these two were still alive?

Seeing Leonard and his companion, the Fourth Master of the Miller family was also somewhat surprised. For two individuals to survive such difficult challenges was already astonishing, and now there were four.

But a single glance was all he gave them, for their attention was not on the people, but something else.

...

It seemed like they were about to play some kind of game.

Once everyone was present, the game began.

At that moment, the sound of gears rubbing together, "creak, creak," rang out, and all six captives turned to look.

Suddenly, a hole opened up in the center of the iron plate in the middle of the three cages, a rusty old mechanical clown rose up from beneath.

A jester's hat, a funny red nose, and a crooked grin.

The red and blue paint had faded, revealing patchy rust spots, and the marks of time were evident everywhere.

"A clown..."

Upon seeing the peculiar mechanical clown, Leonard's gaze was tinged with an inexplicable sense of intimacy.

It had been waiting here for many, many years. In those lonely and long years, it had waited for someone to come.

Like looking in a mirror, Leonard seemed to see himself in it, empathizing with this loneliness.

The clown was perched atop springs, making it swivel and wobble in a peculiar and eerie manner.

As everyone was observing the strange mechanical clown, it suddenly sprang to life, laughing wickedly, "Welcome to the 'Clown's Horror Feast.' The final game is about to begin. If you can make it through, you may leave here alive."

A mechanical voice filled with eerie playfulness.

Upon hearing they could leave, the expressions of the six captives varied greatly.

No one believed that the last challenge would be easy.

At this moment, the Fourth Master of the Miller family, as if anxiously seeking confirmation, asked, "I wish to know, is the 'Disaster Source' here?"

He had prepared for so long just for this item. Now that they were about to leave and still hadn't seen it, he naturally had to ask.

Upon hearing this, Leonard and his companion turned to look.

The young master spoke very cryptically.

If Leonard and his companion hadn't read the files before, they wouldn't have known that the "Disaster Source" he mentioned referred to what.

Leonard vividly remembered a passage from the files: "Empire Calendar Year 1141, May 3rd, the 'S-level Disaster Source' was unsealed, research began."

The origin of the entire bunker disaster was actually that "Disaster Source."

More surprisingly, the mechanical clown actually responded, "Of course. The person who ultimately survives will naturally obtain the Epic Source Card."

The clown plainly revealed what the Disaster Source truly was.

Leonard was unsurprised by the final challenge, but the clown seemed to be an intelligent NPC?

So, this seemed to be the final boss that they didn't need to kill.

But his instincts told him that this challenge would be even harder.

As it spoke, the clown's twisted, playful smile was clear on its face, "However, only those who remain alive will have the privilege to know the truth~"

Upon hearing this, the Fourth Master of the Miller family seemed entertained, apparently waiting for this result.

Leonard had no idea what an "Epic Source Card" was.

The two mercenaries seemed to have never heard of it either, their faces filled with confusion.

But Camilla, standing nearby, clearly knew. She murmured in surprise, "So it really exists..."

...

As he didn't know what a source card was, Leonard was temporarily uninterested in it.

He began to pay close attention to the layout before him.

The three iron cages were arranged in the shape of the Chinese character for "product." Glancing upwards, when the clown appeared, rows of iron spikes also revealed their sharp tips.

The iron cages were completely sealed, there was no chance of escaping forcefully.

Which meant that if the iron spikes fell, everyone in the cages would die.

The final challenge wasn't going to be so easy, huh.

As soon as the mechanical clown finished speaking, platforms began to rise slowly in the three cages. On top of each platform lay a colored revolver that looked like a toy gun.

The clown's terrifying voice rang out again.

"The game of the final challenge is called... Russian Roulette."

"Please listen carefully to the rules."

"1, The revolver before you contains a single bullet. It is the only path to leaving this space. You must fire to be able to leave; 2, Each time you can only fire once at your opposition, then the turn swaps. Keep going until someone dies, and the surviving people can leave; 3, The metal saws above you will drop by one meter every fifteen seconds. If you have not decided life and death after a minute, you'll be turned into sieves."