Behind the Door was an empty, echoing Circular Hall.
In the center of the hall, a single beam of light shone directly down, illuminating a wooden High Stool.
On the stool were three small balls, red, yellow, and blue, looking quite ordinary.
"Another riddle?" Tony's voice came out muffled from behind his faceplate, tinged with annoyance. "I hate riddles."
"This isn't a riddle, Tony," Lin Huai's voice was steady. "The intention is clear enough. I'll give it a try."
Lin Huai walked forward and picked up the three small balls. A strange sense of familiarity, as if etched into his bones, surged through him. His body seemed to react faster than his mind; with a gentle flick of his wrist, the three small balls obediently flew into the air.
Catching, tossing, exchanging... his movements were as fluid as if he had repeated them millions of times.
A grotesque Joker makeup, a bustling square, a strange European city... fragmented images flashed through Lin Huai's mind. He was performing for many people, receiving waves of applause. But that face was neither his from before he transmigrated nor his current one... "Clap!"
Lin Huai steadily caught the last small ball.
"Clatter, clatter, clatter—"
A round of enthusiastic, exaggerated applause and cheers erupted from all directions, echoing in everyone's ears. Lin Huai felt his spirit and spirituality being nourished by the applause, becoming clearer and more refined.
He placed the small balls back in their original position and stepped aside. Urgent discussions and shouts from below the stage called for the next performer to take their place.
"It seems everyone has to perform once," Lin Huai said, yielding his spot.
"I'll go first," Agent Coulson said with a stern face, stepping forward. He took a deep breath and picked up the small balls. He tried his best to imitate, and though a bit clumsy, after several attempts, he managed to complete a short routine.
"Clap. Clap, clap." A sparse, polite round of applause sounded. Coulson breathed a sigh of relief, confirmed he was fine, and retreated unharmed.
"Officer, I'll go." A Female Agent behind him stepped forward and cautiously completed her performance, also receiving sparse applause.
-The last one, a young Agent named Jack, stepped forward with a serious expression to volunteer. He took the small balls, not rushing to throw them, but first weighing them in his hand. But when he threw the first ball, perhaps he was too nervous, and one small ball slipped, falling to the ground with a "thud."
"Woo~~~"
Instantly, a sharp, piercing, malicious booing surged from all directions!!!
Jack stiffened, shook his head, holding it, his face full of confusion: "Hey, I... I forgot my mom's name..."
"Don't panic, Jack, focus!" Coulson hissed from the side.
Jack picked up the ball, his face pale, and tried again. But his hands trembled violently, and the small ball flew off course.
The booing grew even more piercing! Jack let out a short shriek, his legs gave way, and he knelt on the ground. The light in his eyes instantly extinguished, his expression became vacant, saliva drooling from the corner of his mouth, like a Puppet on strings.
"Jack!" The Female Agent exclaimed, pulling him to the edge of the stage with Coulson, looking at the stage as if it were a monstrous flood.
"No, I refuse." Tony Stark watched this scene unfold. He stared at the High Stool in the center of the stage and flatly refused, "I'm not a circus monkey!"
No sooner had he spoken than the sharp booing suddenly focused, transforming into an invisible mental shock that fiercely pierced his brain!
"Ugh!" Tony groaned, the knees of his armor making a grating sound as he almost fell to his knees. He instinctively clutched his head, glaring at the empty stage.
"It seems that unless we satisfy all the Spectators here, the next performance won't begin." Lin Huai quickly helped him up.
Lin Huai rubbed the tarot cards in his arms. The audience below was packed with a dense crowd of Dark Spectators, all staring with impatient eyes at Stark, the only one who hadn't taken the stage yet. The spirit in the corner, identical to the Agent who had just failed, stared fixedly at Stark with venomous eyes.
"Tony, listen, below the stage are all the spirits of those whose emotions have been extracted, likely a part of their humanity. It seems that if we don't complete this performance, we might be trapped here forever. To save them, we have to follow the script."
"Fuck..." Tony gasped, he glanced at the Agent who had turned into an idiot, then met Lin Huai's gaze, gritting his teeth. "Lin, I'll succeed."
First attempt.
"Thud!" The small ball hit him in the face.
-"Woo~~" The malicious booing sounded again. "Jarvis, analyze... anti-gravity field... uh, analyze what was it again?" Tony shook his head. He felt as if a chunk of the jumping inspirations in his mind had been dug out of thin air.
Second attempt.
"Thud!" The small ball slipped from his stiff fingertips.
"Woo~~" Another boo. He unconsciously took half a step back, his hands starting to tremble. "Lin, can I really do this?" This time, he had lost his confidence.
The third time, still a failure.
When the third wave of boos sounded, Tony's eyes had completely dimmed, devoid of all light. He stood there blankly, like a Puppet from whom the soul had been extracted, leaving only an empty shell.
"Tony!" Coulson couldn't help but shout, his face filled with worry.
Lin Huai's fists also tightened. He pulled out the prepared Rune Talisman, ready to act.
Tony moved again. He bent down, with an almost numb, mechanical motion, picking up the small ball from the ground. Dressed in his armor, this made him truly look like a Robot.
This was his fourth attempt.
He seemed to have discarded all calculations and pride, relying only on a final, unwilling instinct, haphazardly tossing the three small balls upwards.
One, two, three... It was an ugly, ungraceful juggling act that even he didn't know how he completed.
"Clap. Clap." Two or three sparse claps echoed in the empty hall, sounding particularly stingy.
But the moment this applause sounded!!!
"Whoosh—"
Tony suddenly gasped, as if he had just been pulled out of Water. He felt all the extracted inspirations, confidence, and pride rush back like a tide!
-"Shit!" Tony's re-lit eyes instantly filled with rage. He grabbed a small ball, about to smash it to the ground.
"Rumble—"
At the other end of the Circular Hall, a stone Door much larger than the entrance slowly slid open to both sides.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and Tony stopped his motion of smashing the ball. He angrily threw the small ball back onto the stool, glaring at the Darkness behind the Door.
A figure stood in the Darkness behind the Door, wearing a magnificent, vintage Joker costume. He bowed deeply to them.
In his mouth, he held a vibrant, dripping Red Rose.
When Lin Huai saw this, his pupils sharply contracted. "Why..."