"So, have any of you experienced this strange show yet?" I asked as a large TV screen flickered to life above the fireplace. A mysterious force seemed to compel me to look directly at it. It was truly chilling. As the countdown from ten began, we had only a brief moment to communicate with each other and brace ourselves.
"We, the Tutorial participants, have the option to skip it, but the ''inhabitants'' do not," Mille explained. "His Holiness advised us against watching this creepy show, even if it offers free bronze tickets. There’s something unsettling about how it affects people."
"I''ve never skipped the show," Arabella said. "I''ve watched every episode so far. The reward is worth it. After watching it six times, you earn a silver ticket."
"I only watched it once. That was enough for me," David added reluctantly, his voice trembling.
Eleanor didn’t speak; she just shrugged her shoulders.
As soon as the countdown reached zero, the show started. The background music was a jarring mix of cheerful and unsettling. An exaggeratedly cute chipmunk, teetering on the edge of the uncanny valley, smiled at me with its crimson eyes—at least, that’s how it felt. Compared to the last time I watched the show, the effect was even stronger. From the very beginning, I sensed it was on a whole different level, and resisting wouldn’t be as easy as before.
Suddenly, I recalled my joking remark about all the side characters dying. Now it felt unnervingly real and close to home. This wasn’t a challenge I could complete for everyone alone, like in the sixth rotation. Everyone was on their own now, relying solely on their strength, willpower, and luck—or whatever it took to survive. I couldn''t be too sure that even Mille would make it out alive.
"And today in Chuckles Time Special, we have invited some unexpected guests! Welcome, dear spectators. I believe you will like it... no, you will love this show today."
In a serene, animated meadow, Mr. Chuckles was strolling through a park. At first, it was a calming scene—vibrant trees, colorful plants in full bloom, and birds singing sweet melodies. It resembled something out of a Disney movie. But as we followed Mr. Chuckles, watching him bounce happily toward the center of the meadow, what we saw was deeply disturbing.
There were people. Real people. They looked like flesh and blood, as if actual humans had been inserted into the cartoon. And the worst part—I knew two of them. Who else they were but Leah and Jimmy? I could swear Leah looked at me through the screen, her lips forming a silent plea: Brother, help me! I could read it in her expression.
In total, six people were in the meadow. There were no signs of them being forced there—they weren’t bound or anything. Yet they either stood or sat on the ground motionlessly, their faces twisted in terror as Mr. Chuckles approached them.
"Hello, dear friends," the chipmunk said, his tone sweet as poisoned honey. "You were invited here to have some fun, to enjoy a happy time and entertain our spectators. Of course, first, you must say hello to your favorite audience. So, who will be first? Let me think. Oh, how about you?"
The chipmunk approached a middle-aged woman who was still in her prime.
"Ma-ma-mama?" David whispered.
Every one of us, we were completely immersed in the scene. It was as if we were inside the show, right beside the meadow, rather than just watching it on a screen—closer to a very realistic 3D experience in IMAX. Then again, before I disappeared, I think there was some promise of full immersion, but I didn’t know if the technology had reached that level back on Earth.
Anyway, everything felt real. A bit too real. A cold shiver ran down my spine.
"Son, please save me," the woman begged.
"No, Mom," David replied, "I’m sorry, I don''t know how to help you, I''m unable to do anything..."
I was prepared for what would happen next, but instead, Mr. Chuckles turned his attention to me, leaving the poor woman alone.
"Oh, I think I was a bit too hasty. After all, here''s one member of the audience who is a special case! Indeed, Clinton, my dear friend. I invited not one person for you, but two, so it would be only fair if we start with them, right?"
Now the devilish creature approached Jimmy, who wore the same battle-ready clothes as the last time I saw him, his katana still strapped to his back. He sat on the ground, his arms supporting him from behind. As the chipmunk got closer, Jimmy tried to crawl backward.
"No, no, no, please, not me, just not me. How about you start with someone else?" Jimmy''s voice cracked. "Yeah, you... there are two people for Clinton, right? There''s no point to kill us both! Are you alright with just letting me go? You still have Leah!"
His voice was so pitiful that it sounded like a child''s, not that of a grown man. This stark contrast emphasized the disconnect; there was no way the real Jimmy would say something like that, no matter how terrified he felt.
I could feel the show''s mental influence working hard to convince me that everything was real, that it was actually happening. While I was almost certain that the so-called Emily was indeed Leah, who was supposed to be dead right now, nothing was stopping the System from reviving her prematurely, just as it did with NPCs. The question remained: even if it was Leah and Jimmy, would the System grant them a free revival point to participate in a trial? And the earlier question: would they still be the same after revival?
That was a silly question, of course, considering both of them most likely had already died once, if they were indeed in my care. Yet, I sensed that those thoughts weren’t entirely my own. It felt as if I were watching someone else’s story unfold, like a movie. I concentrated on resisting the show''s influence.
What do you want, Mr. Chuckles? Are you trying to deceive me again? The same trick won’t work on me twice. Who do you think you are? I fought back my anger, even as a a chill run down my spine yet again. I wanted to lash out, to reach through the screen or smash the TV. But I held myself back; even a slight movement would be too much strain. Instead, I focused on what mattered most—maintaining my grip on reality.
"Now, Jimmy," Mr. Chuckles asked, "do you know where the wolf is?"
"I don''t know," Jimmy replied, shaking his head. "Boss, do you know where the wolf is? Please tell me. I don''t want to die, Boss."
Now he was starting to sound more like the Jimmy I knew. Was the show adapting to my thoughts? Perhaps. The idea was unsettling.
"Too bad," Mr. Chuckles smiled as he turned toward the screen, his creepy crimson eyes growing even redder. Then Jimmy lost his head—it exploded, showering Mr. Chuckles and the five other people in the meadow with bits of brain matter.
This time, I didn''t feel the urge to laugh; instead, an unsettling sense crept in, as if my own death was just around the corner. For a brief moment, I recalled the clown''s whisper. Before a smirk formed on Mr. Chuckles'' face, I grasped the nature of this entire challenge and what I needed to do—I started to laugh out loud as if I had just witnessed the funniest thing in the world.
I mimicked the laugh from when I first watched the show, and as I did, Mr. Chuckles'' expression softened, as if to say, "Good boy, that''s how it is." Shame washed over me, yet I found it hard to stop laughing. By initiating it myself, I had allowed Mr. Chuckles to exert his influence over me once again, and this time it was even stronger than before.
I continued to laugh even as the next victim was chosen. It was easy to guess whose close relative or friend it was. The middle-aged vampire seemed to be the most composed among the six victims. He sat there perfectly serene, his posture impeccable. Yet he gazed at Eleanor, his crimson eyes pleading for salvation while his mouth spoke otherwise:
"Don''t worry about me, lady. I am ready to die for you."
I couldn''t understand why his demeanor was so different from Jimmy''s. Perhaps Mr. Chuckles could read the woman''s mind better, or he had more information about this vampire from someone else. I sensed that this was much closer to the vampire''s true personality compared to Jimmy''s.
"So tell me, sir, do you know where the wolf is?" Mr. Chuckles asked, bouncing up and down with excitement.
"The wolf lives in our hearts," the vampire replied solemnly.
"That''s a nice answer, but still wrong." The chipmunk shook his head in disappointment.
In that moment, the vampire shook his head so vigorously that it burst open, splitting in two before his entire body was torn apart. It was something new. The remaining four people shrieked in terror, including Leah.
I couldn''t stop laughing. I tried my best to shake off this mental haze and warn the others. They needed to laugh, to prepare, to resist the overwhelming urge. What was the solution? Without my guidance, they would realize too late and perish in an instant. Finally, I managed to control my mouth to some extent. I started to whisper "laugh," but my voice came out barely audible.
If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
With a frown, Mr. Chuckles glanced at Eleanor, who stood completely still, her eyes locked on his behind her mask. Suddenly, she burst—causing Arabella, who stood right next to her, to flinch as blood, viscera, and fragments of Eleanor''s brain splattered her. The mask fell, and Eleanor''s body followed, landing on her back as she died. Part of me thought this wouldn’t be enough to deal with a vampire of her caliber, but she didn’t get up, and I felt no life from her.
I was filled with unexpected anger. How dare he kill the people I had chosen to protect? Stupid chipmunk, so full of himself.
"Laugh when he kills the people you care about!" I shouted for everyone to hear. "Laugh, but do your best to resist the urge to keep laughing. This is the key to completing this challenge!"
As my words left my lips, Mr. Chuckles turned to me with amusement, as if mocking my attempt to help the others and finding it hilarious that I hadn’t warned one of my companions in time. He reveled in my powerlessness to save one of my team.
Next, he turned to a middle-aged woman, David''s mother, and asked without pause, "Do you know where the wolf is? I want to know the answer."
"The wolf is in the woods," she replied, her voice breaking.
Mr. Chuckles sighed as an invisible force began to tear the woman apart, limb by limb.
"David, laugh!" I commanded, my voice filled with authority.
The man opened his mouth, tears streaming down his cheeks, and he started to laugh. "Ha ha, ha ha." At first, it sounded forced, but soon he erupted into hysterical laughter, more persistent than I had shown moments before. Now I could only hope that whatever willpower he had would be enough. But my hopes were low; I was almost sure he was doomed. I could only wonder how this would unfold. I was the only one who overcame the challenge—at least a part of it, as I still had to endure Leah''s death as well.
The next target was an old man, perhaps in his 80s or 90s. He looked at Mille, his gaze both empty and desperate.
What, is her most important person her grandpa? I thought.
Then he said, "Grandma Mille, I''m glad that I at the very least... could see you in my final moments."
What? Grandma? Grandma Mille? If I had been drinking, I would have spat it out. Mille bit her lower lip, gazing tenderly at the old man. Wasn''t she supposed to be a pure, innocent nun? How could she have a grandchild? Perhaps their god wasn''t that strict towards his followers.
To be fair, cultivators can live for a very long time while appearing young. For example, the King of the Human Kingdom was 200 years old when they summoned me. But somehow, it felt so out of place when it involved someone from Earth.
"It''s all right, little Billy, everything is going to be fine," Mille whispered.
"Thank you for everything," the old man said, ready for death, despite trembling and barely being able to stand.
"Where is the wolf, Billy?" the chipmunk asked, his smile widening. The old man didn''t reply even after a minute of silence, and Mr. Chuckles didn''t ask twice.
The old man''s death was particularly creative. He began to age rapidly, as if time itself had accelerated, until he transformed into a mummy and then a bloodless corpse, as though someone had drained his entire blood supply. His skin and muscles withered, leaving only a skinny skeleton. It may not have been as gory as the other deaths, but it was no less disturbing.
Knowing what she had to do, Mille burst out laughing—more naturally than even my own laugh. I couldn''t discern her feelings at that moment, but her eyes, despite her cold, emotionless expression, concealed deep pain... and even a hint of insanity.
David, meanwhile, was still laughing, unable to stop. He laughed so hard that he could no longer breathe. His laughter grew dry; he only exhaled repeatedly. Soon, lacking oxygen, he began to suffocate as if submerged underwater. Yet his expression remained full of mirth. Even as he died, David still laughed. I could only hope that this experience wouldn''t affect him too much after his revival.
So we were left with only two living people in the meadow, and the most disturbing part of the show was about to begin.
Next in line was a little girl, and a single glance revealed her connection to Arabella. Her eyes bore a striking resemblance to hers. This girl, no older than twelve, sat on the grass with her face covered, frozen in sheer horror, her body smeared with blood and viscera. At the start of the show, she had been crying, but now not a single tear flowed down her little face, which was coated in gore and the remnants of others.
I hated that chipmunk. I truly did. My anger intensified as I realized what was about to happen next. Perhaps it was hypocritical of me, given all the death I had just witnessed and even more back in Luminosa, but murdering children was crossing the line.
The actress ground her teeth as it became the little girl''s turn.
"B-big sis Bella, I''m scared," the girl muttered, her voice echoing through the meadow that had transformed into a little hell. "Please take me out of here."
Leah—or rather, the show''s representation of her—approached the girl and enveloped her in a protective hug. That, perhaps, was the most shocking development so far—my sister, or rather her representation or copy, was the first human who managed to move on her own before Mr. Chuckles. As she glared at the terrifying chipmunk, her voice rang out with fierce determination.
"Fuck you, you little beast! If you want to kill someone, kill me, but don''t touch her. Don''t you dare touch Dorothy!" Leah shouted, sounding just like herself, unlike Jimmy''s portrayal. Also, it seemed as if... as if she knew the girl in question. Strange.
It was also peculiar that Jimmy had been depicted so unrealistically while everyone else remained in character. Did it take the chipmunk longer to scrape our memories for a more accurate portrayal? It felt that way, as each successive character appeared increasingly real, less exaggerated or simplistic.
Mr. Chuckles ignored Leah as he tipped his little paw on the ground. "Little Dorothy, I want to be friends with you. Why do you have such a sad face? Don''t you want to be friends with Mr. Chuckles?" His voice carried a hollow sweetness. "Or could it be..."
"This bastard," both Leah and Arabella said, their voices barely audible as Mille''s hysterical laughter continued. I could still see signs of reasoning in her eyes, though. I believed that she would get over this.
In the meantime, I could feel how the mascot''s influence increased, especially with how realistically Leah was acting. A part of me even began to doubt—perhaps Jimmy really would act this way in such a situation. Maybe I didn’t know him well enough. Perhaps the Jimmy I remembered, the shy kid and scaredy-cat, could betray his beloved woman like this.
But no, it couldn’t be true. Even if I hadn’t seen him in ten years, I knew he wouldn’t be that kind of person. This small flaw in the narrative kept me from immersing myself in the show as deeply as everyone else.
In the meantime, little Dorothy didn’t answer the chipmunk; she just stared at him blankly as he continued, blue tears appearing in his eyes only for a moment, "Little Dorothy, I asked you a question, and you just ignored me... not very nice! You make Mr. Chuckles so sad... You''re such a bully!"
Bella trembled, even as Leah shouted, "Get away, you devil! Fuck off!" Her voice carried a desperate edge, despite her visible terror, as she glanced at what remained of Jimmy.
"But well, I''ll forgive you, little Dorothy... just tell me, don’t you know where the wolf is?" Mr. Chuckles pressed. "I’m very curious. I want to find the wolf. It’s very important. And I won’t forgive anyone who tries to hide its whereabouts..."
"Fuck off!" Leah yelled, and Mr. Chuckles smiled even more brightly. Arabella kept her silence, most likely trying to control herself and the show''s mental influence. Not bad.
"So you don''t know, little Bella... Too bad then..."
I wanted to close my eyes or turn away from what was about to happen, but I couldn’t. I knew that even if I managed to look away, that mysterious power threatening to kill me would activate. I had to obey and watch as the horror unfolded toward its finale.
As the little girl and Leah began to scream, an invisible force intervened. Their bodies merged like Siamese twins, flesh intertwining through their clothes. When invisible pressure began to compress them from below, it turned their legs into a bloody paste. They shrieked in agony as the unseen force slowly destroyed their bodies from the bottom up. I could do nothing but watch, my anger boiling and a long-forgotten feeling—hate—surging within me. Princess Saella? She was nothing but a little mouse compared to this wretched chipmunk.
Even though I knew this was just a show, I clearly understood what this creature was—something that needed to be stopped, and if possible, destroyed. But it was so far beyond my current capabilities that I wasn’t ready to confront it. It felt as if our powers existed in completely different dimensions. I couldn’t face something I didn’t even understand. For now...
For a moment, my mind was engulfed by the screams and the remnants of my sister and Arabella''s little sister—nothing but a gruesome paste. But I knew what I had to do. I started to laugh—not out of humor or necessity, this was a dark chuckle fueled by anger, a vow to ensure this creature would never harm my loved ones again, not even in a mere illusion.
As if on cue, Arabella began to laugh too. Her laughter was hysterical, and I worried about her sanity. But at that moment, one person stopped laughing—Mille. She had finally broken free from this torment. With my Mana Sense, I could feel that she had successfully recovered, overcoming the mind-destroying influence.
She deserved respect for this achievement. And now that I realized she was likely much older than I was, it wasn''t surprising. Despite everything I had faced back in Luminosa, I was still a young man. Not even thirty, I was just a kid by cultivator standards—after all, didn''t even reach one-tenth of my lifespan yet. As for her, who could say what experiences she had endured in her lifetime? Perhaps this show wasn''t even the most disturbing of what she''d seen.
"It''s just a dream, an illusion, a trick," Mille declared loudly enough for Arabella to hear, though I couldn''t be sure the words reached her as her hysterical laughter turned more sinister. I wasn''t much different either—this time, the power of influence had increased at least threefold, and I knew that, unlike David, I wouldn''t simply die from a lack of oxygen. That was just the beginning. Losing yourself to this mysterious power would mean something even worse than death—losing who you are. In a way, it was not far off from the greatest challenge I had faced in my life. At least mentally.
Not so much the challenge itself—it wasn''t that hard. It was the situation and what I would have to confront this eerie being. It took maybe three to five minutes for me to gather my thoughts and finally calm down. The scariest part of this experience was that it seemed unaffected by my stats. Even the Spirit attribute played a limited role. I had to rely on my personal qualities, like willpower, that weren''t influenced by cultivation or even the System. It was a test of who I was as a person.
Of course, this also meant that even a much weaker person could pass this test. Just like Arabella—just when I thought she was lost forever and on the brink of her end, she fell silent, much like Mille. As for the screen, all those minutes I spent laughing were filled with Mr. Chuckles and animated animals dancing peacefully over the bloody remains of humans.
"Thank you for watching Mr. Chuckles'' special. I hope you had as much fun as I did!"
The camera zoomed in on Mr. Chuckles—still cute and fluffy, despite being smeared with blood and viscera
"See you next time, my dear friends. And please, entertain me more, Clinton." The chipmunk winked at me. I wasn’t happy about it.
Not one damn bit.