Chapter 58 Intersection II: Crimson Rage and Crimson Fate

October 31, 1901︱November 1 London While any night at the circus can be magical, Frederick.Mr. Dyson once wrote: But Halloween is different, the air itself is full of mystery. This year's Halloween is icy cold and breezy.The boisterous crowd wore heavy coats and scarves.Many wore masks, their faces hidden behind panels of black, silver, and white. The lights in the circus were dimmer than usual, and dark shadows seemed to creep in from every corner. Chandrash.Christopher.Lefevre, who had entered the circus without warning, took a silver mask from a basket by the gate and put it on, covering his face.When he paid the full price for admission, the woman at the ticket booth didn't recognize him.

He wandered around the circus like sleepwalking. The man in the gray suit is unmasked.He strolled leisurely, his steps so calm that he was almost lazy.He had no particular destination in mind, he just wandered from tent to tent as he pleased.Some tents he walked into, and some tents he passed but did not enter.After buying a cup of tea, he lingered in the courtyard, staring at the campfire for a while, and then returned to wandering on the walkway between the tents. Having never been to a circus before, he seemed to enjoy himself. Chandrash followed suit, closely following every movement and every stop of the opponent.Follow each other through the tents, watch each other pay for tea in the atrium.He stared at the ground at the man's feet in the gray suit, looking for his shadow, but was repeatedly thwarted by the shifting light.

No one noticed him except Chandrash.Despite his tall stature and sleek gray suit and top hat, passers-by didn't even glance at him.Even the girl who sold him tea didn't pay much attention to him, but hurriedly turned to the next customer.He glides like a shadow through the circus, carrying a completely useless silver-topped cane. Chandrash lost track of each other more than once in the crowd, the plaster blended into a blur of black and white, mixed with the colors of the customers.It didn't take long for him to catch a glimpse of the gray top hat again, but when he lost sight of him, he would tremble with anxiety, fidgeting with the contents of his coat and pockets.

Chandrash muttered to himself.People passing by him, close enough to hear him, all looked at him strangely and tried to avoid him as much as possible. A young man followed, Chandrash would not have recognized him even if he had looked him in the eye, but the man kept his distance.Chandrash's attention was focused on the man in the gray suit, and he never turned to the man who was somewhat similar to his assistant. Marco's gray-green eyes stared steadily at Chandrash, the maskless face that only Celia could recognize, and the illusionist was busy elsewhere. This situation continued for a while. A． Mr. H︱ wandered the circus leisurely. He first visited the fortune-teller, who didn't recognize him, and politely arranged his future in several columns with cards, but she admitted that some parts overlapped, which was confusing.He also went to see the illusionist's performance; she nodded slightly to show that he was there.He visits the Hall of Mirrors, accompanied by countless figures in matching gray suits and gray top hats.He also goes for a ride on the carousel.He seems to have a particular fondness for Ice Gardens.

Chandrash followed him from tent to tent, waiting outside when he didn't go in, sinking into growing anxiety. Marco briefly loses track of the two while he spends a few minutes on another matter. The minute hand of the clock next to the gate ticked and ticked, getting later and later, and the decorations on the clock rotated and moved. October slides into November, a movement that goes largely unnoticed except by those standing closest to the clock. The crowds are getting thinner.The masks were returned to the baskets next to the courtyard and the gate one after another, the eye holes and ribbons on the masks were chaotically stacked.The adults made a promise to come back the next night, and dragged the reluctant children away, even though the circus was gone the next night, which made the children feel slighted and betrayed afterwards.

There is a passage near the back of the circus, where there are only a few sporadic customers present. A． Mr. H︱ stopped there.Chandrash watched him from a short distance, unable to see why he stopped, though he might be talking to someone.Through the mask, Chandrash could only see the still gray suit and the high hat floating above.From his point of view, it is equivalent to seeing an open target, with no barriers in between. He heard the echo of a human voice assuring him that the man was not real, but a figment of his imagination, nothing more than a dream. Then there was a pause.Just for a split second, the way time slows down, like something defying gravity as it falls.The cold breeze that swirled through the open paths of the circus came to a screeching halt.At that moment, nothing fluttered or trembled, not the fabric of a tent or the ribbon knots of dozens of masks froze.

In the tallest tent, a stunt performer lost her perfect balance and fell some distance. Fortunately, her performing partner caught her just in time, or she almost hit the ground hard. In the atrium, the campfire sputtered and sputtered, and suddenly a cloud of black smoke burst out, forcing the closest customers to jump back and cough desperately. Jumping from Bobby's hand, the kitten leaped towards Weggie with both hands, suddenly turned around in mid-air, instead of landing on all fours, it landed on its back, howled angrily, and rolled towards Weggie. The illusionist paused his movements and stood still. The originally seamless performance came to an abrupt end, and his face suddenly turned pale.She wobbled as if about to faint, and a few attentive spectators stepped up to help her, but she didn't fall.

Marco went limp for a moment, as if some invisible raider had punched him in the stomach.Passing customers grabbed his arms to steady him. Chandrash.Christopher.Lefevhe pulled out a heavy silver knife from his coat pocket, and threw it out without hesitation. The knife flew out of Chandrash's hand, blade and hilt alternately spinning through the air in a perfect turn. The target is accurate and stable, as if it were fake. Then its target moved. A． The back of Mr. H︱'s tailor-made woolen gray suit moves.He just moved slightly to the side, an elegant step, an unconscious movement, a weight displacement in space.

So the knife brushed his sleeve, and finally landed on the chest of the man who was talking to him.The blade easily pierced the opponent's unbuttoned black coat and hit the heart directly, as if it had been a premeditated target, and the silver handle protruded from under the crimson scarf. Frederick.Mr. Dyson fell forward, A. Mr. H︱ caught him. Chandrash stared at his empty hand, as if he couldn't remember what he was holding a few seconds ago.He staggered away, wandering in the direction of the campfire courtyard.He forgot to take off his mask when he left.When he finds a mask thrown in his townhouse the next day, he can't remember where it came from.

A． Mr. H︱ put Mr. Dyson down on the ground, and chanted a series of words above him, the tone was so low that no one could hear it.The customers scattered around them didn't notice anything at first, but two young performers a few feet away suddenly stopped the performance, and the boy in a black suit gathered the visibly restless kittens. God is wrong. After a while, A. Mr. H︱ didn't speak anymore, and brushed Frederick with his gray-gloved hand.Over Mr. Dyson's face, his amazed eyes were gently closed. The ensuing silence was overwhelmed by Bobby.Maury's scream was broken, because she saw the pool of blood on the ground spread under her white boots.

Before the shock turned to confusion, A. Mr. H︱ drew the silver-handled knife from Mr. Dyson's chest, and got up to walk away. He passed by Marco, who was confused and still standing unsteadily, without saying a word or looking directly at him, he handed the blood-stained knife to him, and then hid in the crowd. The small group of customers who had witnessed the incident was immediately removed from the scene.They later deduced that it was a clever stunt; to add a touch of drama to an already festive evening.