"蕾欧娜?"小男孩又叫了她一声,这次听起来有点不耐烦."你又在做白日梦了."
"对不起,"蕾欧娜回过神来,巧妙地将金怀表放回原处."我只是...好困.
小男孩耸耸肩说:"你从来没有完全清醒过.那么,Eric 还在跟踪你吗?
这是一个关键信息.
蕾欧娜小心翼翼地回答道,"...你觉得怎么样?
"我怎么看?"小男孩从裤兜里掏出一根烟,塞进嘴里咀嚼."我认为——他不可能跟着你.这一切都只是你的幻觉.
他转头朝一旁吐了个唾沫:"亲爱的,如果Eric有能力跟着你,半夜偷偷溜进你的帐篷,站在你身后吓唬你,他会不会落得被Mac打得这么惨?
"就这样,我先走了,"小男孩向她挥手."今天发生了一些大事.我早上醒来肯定会被打败.这一切都是因为 Eric - 愿他的伤口因蛆虫而溃烂!
送走小男孩后,Leona 拉下帐篷的窗帘,正准备仔细检查她紧身胸衣里的金怀表.
然而,就在这时,她注意到帐篷的帆布上写满了字.
黑色的大写字母,像苍蝇一样密密麻麻地挤在一起,乍一看几乎有点令人毛骨悚然.
当她明白的那一刻,她感到头皮发麻,一股寒意直接涌上了她的头顶.
"他会跟着你."
"他会偷看你."
"他会杀了你,他会杀了你,他会杀了你...他会杀你,他会杀你,他会杀你,他会杀你,他会杀你..."
有些词被油脂掩盖了.
蕾欧娜屏住呼吸,仔细地看了看.写的是——
"他在后面看着你."
她顿时冒出一身冷汗,猛地转过身来.
她身后什么都没有.
管他呢?
谁写的?
而这里提到的"他"是谁呢?
蕾欧娜想起了小男孩的话,她的心跳加速了一拍.
难道...埃里克?
但这怎么可能呢?
在与小男孩交谈时,她迅速分析了目前的情况.
她似乎在马戏团里.
在这里,经理扮演着法官的角色,维护秩序并决定生死.
Mac 是经理的亲戚.因为他值五千法郎,经理默许他欺负埃里克,条件是他不能让埃里克瘫痪.
另一方面,埃里克是马戏团的摇钱树.他会表演魔术,口技和唱歌.
所以,问题来了.
如果 Eric 真的像帐篷上描述的那么可怕,Mac 和经理怎么会那样对待他呢?
Leona的脑子里乱七八糟.她转过身来,开始在帐篷里翻找——那是个小帐篷,一半是有盖的马车,一半是防水油布,上面布满了霉斑.
地上有一条毯子,它原来的颜色看不清.睡袋还是干净的,但散发出一股潮湿,汗味,令人作呕.
Leona rummaged for a long time but couldn't find any useful information.
For example, whose body was this? Why did she disguise herself as a boy and steal Mac's gold pocket watch?
What was the relationship between the original owner and Eric?
She took a deep breath and focused her attention on the sleeping bag.
There was an opening on the sleeping bag, seemingly for someone to crawl into to sleep, with a name embroidered on the edge: Leona Clifford.
Good, she knew her name now.
This was a good start.
Leona closed her eyes and reached into the sleeping bag, feeling a notebook.
When she took it out, it was a thin book sewn together with coarse hemp thread. The paper was rough and yellowish, and you could see the slightly raised fibers on it.
She flipped open the first page.
September 3, 1888
I lost my diary. Maybe Mac and the others threw it away. Who knows? They can't read and hate those who can.
They also hate Eric, but they dare not mess with him.
I don't want to get beaten anymore. Why do they always beat me?
September 8, 1888
The nanny beat me many times, so many times, saying my hands weren't fast enough. She made me watch Eric.
He didn't even touch the person and managed to take the wallet. How is that possible?
It must be witchcraft. Otherwise, why does he always wear a mask?
He's the only one here who wears a mask.
September 9, 1888
I got beaten again. Why always me?
September 10, 1888
Getting beaten, getting beaten, getting beaten. I always get beaten. Why always me? Why why why.
The nanny is praising Eric again. Although Mac hates him, he rarely bullies him. I really hate him.
I hate Eric.
September 20, 1888
Mac's watch is missing. Only Eric could have stolen it without anyone noticing. We hope Eric will hand over the gold pocket watch. Eric didn't say a word.
I don't know if it's just my imagination, but during dinner, he looked at me.
What's he looking at? He's the best thief here.
September 8, 1888
Why does he always look at me?
October 5, 1888
Why does he keep looking at me?
October 8, 1888
Why? Why do I clearly bury it, but it still appears on my bed? Why why why why!
I'm going crazy.
He's still watching me. He's always watching me.
His eyes glow.
He's a monster.
October 9, 1888
He wants to kill me.
He will definitely kill me. Those are eyes that can kill.
What should I do?
I need to resist. How should I resist?
Mac? The manager? The nanny?
No, no, none of them.
October 11, 1888
How long was he standing behind me? One minute? Two minutes? Half an hour?
Or has he always been there?
He's a madman, a madman, a madman!
October 12, 1888
I clearly threw it into the swamp, surrounded by crocodiles. Why did it still end up in my bed?
What exactly does he want to do? What exactly does he want to do? What exactly does he want to do?
...This was the last page. The handwriting gradually became messy and heavy, with ink seeping through several sheets of paper.
Leona felt a chill down her spine.
The original owner had a low level of education, with simple wording and sentence structures.
But even with such straightforward descriptions, she couldn't help but shiver, feeling a tightness from her back to her scalp, as if someone was really standing behind her.
Should she believe what was written above?
Leona read the diary again.
Both the original owner and Eric were at the bottom of the circus.
The only difference was that Eric was more talented than the original owner - stealing faster and knowing more tricks. She had become the lowest of the low. The nanny and Mac didn't like her.
Over time, she grew to hate Eric, even wishing for Eric to take her punishment.
Thus, she stole Mac's gold pocket watch and framed Eric.
The original owner was cautious and didn't keep the gold pocket watch on her. Instead, she buried it in the ground, but after some time, the gold pocket watch suddenly returned to her.
It was at this moment that her mental state began to deteriorate, feeling as if Eric was watching her and wanting to kill her.
She was so scared that she threw the gold pocket watch into the swamp, but the next day it was back.
After that, there was no more diary. Either the original owner completely lost her mind, or she had traveled through time.
No matter what, she finally knew the era she was in - 1888, the late 19th century, during the Second Industrial Revolution.
No wonder the original owner could write a diary; paper mills were clearly already in existence at this time.
Leona put down the diary, feeling a bit lost.
So, what should she do now?
The original owner stole Mac's gold pocket watch and framed Eric. Eric was then tortured by Mac until he was almost unrecognizable.
Most importantly, the gold pocket watch was still on her.
She was truly stuck between a rock and a hard place, with nowhere to go.
If she sided with Mac, the gold pocket watch would become a ticking time bomb.
If she tried to win over Eric...
Leona lowered her eyelashes.
Every word and sentence of the original owner told her not to trust Eric.
Eric could kill her at any moment.
But watching from the sidelines, she felt that Eric was more valuable and worth winning over than Mac or anyone else in the circus.
The only problem now was how to win him over.
At that moment, a burst of noise interrupted her thoughts.
Leona was startled and quickly hid the diary, walking to the side of the tent curtain to look outside.
She saw a group of people pushing and shoving their way over, with the stench of alcohol, sweat, and cheap tobacco mixed together, making her feel nauseous.
"Is this thing really falling from the sky?"
"Do you think there's magic on it?"
"If it had magic, would you be able to pick it up?"
"I'm talking about the kind of magic in the city. Have you ever been to Fifth Avenue? There's a guy there who put lightning in a glass ball... At night, it's so bright!"
"Putting lightning in a glass ball? Isn't that just a gas lamp?"
"Idiot, I'm talking about electric lights, much more advanced than gas lamps!"
The widespread use of electric lights was indeed around 1888.
Great. Leona sighed silently. If she had traveled to the Middle Ages, facing arsenic face cream and leech whitening, she might have chosen to end her life.
The next moment, she suddenly realized what was in the hands of the group. Her eyes widened.
Wait, wasn't that her backpack?
What was going on?
She had traveled into the body of this girl disguised as a boy, but her backpack had come along with her.
Did this mean... she could still go back?
In the darkness, the group surrounded the campfire, carefully examining her backpack.
Someone took out a dagger and scratched it a couple of times, but because it was cut-resistant fabric, after scratching for a long time, only a shallow mark was left.
The person seemed to find it strange, spat to the side, and left.
However, there were also some curious people who refused to give up, constantly trying to find a way to open it.
Fortunately, her bag had a hidden buckle lock, which even modern people would find difficult to open without any knowledge, let alone people from the 19th century.
Half an hour later, the group finally gave up, cursing and throwing the backpack aside, hugging their shotguns and bottles of liquor, and dozing off.
Leona watched this scene, her breathing gradually quickening.
Her opportunity had arrived.
There was everything in the backpack. First aid kit, snacks, canned food, tissues, spare phone, power bank... Other things could be dealt with later, but the first aid kit was essential.
With these, she could save Eric.