On the street with cars coming and going.
Dawn and Tara saw Dan Lee approaching from the opposite direction.
They still had a strong impression of him—he was very handsome and had an extremely beautiful girlfriend by his side.
Normally, Tara might have given him a second look, chatted him up for a one-night stand, or something along those lines.
But now, because of that clown, all she wanted was to get home as soon as possible.
Dawn was different.
She had wanted to go up and take a picture of the clown even looking like that, to say nothing of a handsome guy—plus tonight was two nights before Halloween, and Halloween was only two days away.
Of course she wanted to find a handsome guy to spend it with, and this one looked pretty good.
“Hello, handsome.
We met at the Chinese restaurant.
Where’s your girlfriend?
Why did she leave you here all alone?
She’s really not doing her job.” Dan Lee glanced at Dawn in her heavy makeup.
“I had the butler take her home first.” The moment he saw these two, he knew the owner and employee at the Chinese restaurant had likely already met their demise.
Sometimes, working too hard isn’t a good thing.
Still, at least they had served Dan Lee a meal.
When the time came, he would avenge them a little bit.
He was also genuinely curious about Art the Clown’s physical anatomy.
When Dawn heard that Dan Lee had a butler, her eyes grew even more enthusiastic.
He was loaded.
She even invited him right then and there.
“If you don’t mind, you can come spend the night at my place.
I’m sure your girlfriend won’t mind, right?
After all, it’s not like I’m going to tell.” Faced with such low-tier cheap flirting, Dan Lee didn’t even bother to respond.
He just looked at the awkward Tara beside her and said, “You two had better go home early or call a cab.” With that, he didn’t care to chatter any further and continued walking back.
Dead or alive, he had to take a look himself.
Once Dan Lee was gone, Tara couldn’t hold it in any longer and confronted Dawn.
“Are you crazy?
First you provoke a lunatic, and now you’re thinking about picking up a guy to sleep with?” Dawn shrugged dismissively.
“When I’m lonely, wanting to have some fun with a guy is totally normal.
Worst comes to worst, I’ll share half of him with you.” “…” Tara had zero interest in a threesome.
She felt these days leading up to Halloween were absolute garbage.
She hoped Halloween Eve and Halloween Day wouldn’t be this awful.
…
The Chinese restaurant.
Because Halloween was approaching, two jack-o’-lanterns had been placed at the entrance, adopting the local custom.
Starting in mid-October, people carved pumpkins into lanterns, making orange and black the dominant colors, symbolizing driving away evil and averting disaster.
There are many versions of the origin legends of Halloween.
The main version attributes it to the Catholic Church designating November 1st as All Saints’ Day, which eventually merged into a single holiday due to proximity in dates.
By the end of the century, as the Irish brought Halloween customs to North America, Halloween lost its religious significance and became a traditional holiday centered on revelry.
The widely accepted view is that Halloween originated from harvest celebrations and spirit festivals in ancient Western European countries like Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.
Dan Lee celebrated Halloween too—when in Rome, do as the Romans do.
It was just that no matter how he looked at these jack-o’-lanterns, they looked like monsters in costume.
Was it a case of ghosts scaring ghosts?
When Dan Lee arrived at the scene, the restaurant doors were closed, but the lights inside were still on.
With a gentle push, the door opened with a creak.
The worst-case scenario had materialized.
Dan Lee walked in and saw a lot of ketchup on the floor—well, the color was somewhat similar to ketchup.
That was a dark joke.
Coming to the kitchen in the back, the heads of the restaurant owner and the employee were hanging side by side, but their bodies were gone.
He couldn’t quite remember if they had been eaten.
He didn’t know if Art the Clown ate people, but he remembered that his counterpart in *It*, Pennywise, was quite fond of eating people.
Some little kid had been curious, and his whole arm—and eventually his whole body—was eaten up.
Now that Art the Clown was no longer at the crime scene, Dan Lee could only search around the area.
Dan Lee didn’t want to leave this unresolved until morning—morning would be Halloween Eve.
The children of Clam Shell Town would dress up in all kinds of costumes that day, taking part in parades or parties, while adults often participated in bobbing for apples.
And then there was trick-or-treating.
One of the kids’ favorite activities.
Asking for candy by knocking on doors.
Trick or treat!
Along with haunted house explorations and various other activities.
In short, all kinds of monsters and freaks would crawl out that day.
A menace like Art the Clown was best contained as early as possible.
…
On another street, the two friends’ car tire had indeed been slashed.
Tara immediately thought of the man who had told them to go home early or take a cab, but on second thought, that seemed impossible.
Judging by his rich-looking clothes, the possibility was extremely low.
Spontaneously, she thought of the clown.
To make matters worse, a police broadcast blared over the car radio.
And the location was right at the restaurant where they had just eaten—the owner and the employee had both been killed, and according to the caller, it was done by a clown carrying a black plastic trash bag.
A cold sweat instantly broke out all over Tara.
She hastily grabbed Dawn next to her.
“Let’s not wait for roadside assistance.
Let me call a cab and go home right now.” Dawn didn’t think much of it.
A murderer who killed someone would have fled long ago; how could he still be in town?
A normal murderer’s mindset would indeed work that way.
With nothing left to say, Tara called her younger sister to pick her up.
After hanging up, she suddenly felt a surge of heat rushing straight to her head.
Opening the car window, she realized they were in the middle of nowhere.
If possible, she really didn’t want to pee out in the open like Dawn.
Sharp-eyed, Tara noticed a janitor at a nearby building who had just unlocked the door and lit a cigarette at the entrance.
She immediately opened the car door and went over to talk to him.
“Hello, sir.
Could I borrow the building’s restroom for a moment?” The janitor was about to refuse when Dawn called out from the car, “Come on, it’s just a quick bathroom break!
Tara will definitely make it worth your while!” Hearing this, the janitor took a look at Tara’s outfit and his eyes lit up.
She actually looked pretty good—little leather jacket, tight leather pants, and looking down from the top, a deep glimpse of cleavage.
A wave of heat flared up in his chest as he said, “I can let you in to use the bathroom, but afterward…” *Afterward, what I’ll want to do…
you know.* The janitor didn’t finish the sentence, but he assumed the woman in front of him would get his drift.
Tara wanted to refuse, but her bursting bladder didn’t give her a choice.
She had no pick but to pretend to agree first and deal with this lustful janitor after finishing her business.
“Of course.” A smirk formed at the corner of the janitor’s mouth.
He readily unlocked the main door of the building and even kindly gave her the exact location of the restroom so she wouldn’t waste time searching.
Entering the building, Tara found the place extremely dilapidated.
As for the restroom, it was beyond words—grimy and filthy beyond belief.
Right now, though, she could only suppress her nausea, find a stall that looked relatively clean, and step inside.
A few minutes later.
Tara felt immensely relieved.
Disgusted, she took a look around the restroom and prepared to leave.
Suddenly, the crying of a baby caught her curiosity.
An abandoned baby?
Driven by curiosity, Tara didn’t leave right away and instead followed the sound.
“Ah!” A hand suddenly rested on Tara’s shoulder, scaring her out of her wits.
She turned around and saw a woman with a dazed expression, holding a ragdoll in her arms; the baby sound was coming from the doll.
Tara tried to converse, but found the woman seemed to have mental issues, talking continuously to herself.
She wasn’t about to waste any more time; she just wanted to leave this building immediately.
Ignoring the woman, Tara pushed open the door along the way she came.
After taking just a few steps, she froze in her tracks.
Because around the corner, she met love.
The clown from the Chinese restaurant was staring at her, his face covered in blood, wearing an eerie smile.
The two stared at each other for a few seconds.
A single look confirmed it…