Beginning with the Ubume Bird-Chapter 542 - 38 "Giant Lake" Act Four

The scene at the fourth act of Giant Lake.

"Dorothy, it’s time for curtain up,"

the bald manager urged anxiously.

In fact, the performance of the fourth act had already begun a full half an hour behind schedule.

Dorothy did not have an independent makeup room, but shared one with other actors of the theatre company to facilitate line learning and rehearsal.

The makeup room was small, yet it was crowded, mostly with young girls who had already applied their makeup and were waiting for the show to start.

Besides them, there were also a number of odd-shaped stunt performers, such as ugly-looking dwarfs, a fat woman weighing over four hundred pounds with two heads, an old man with a hump on his back who walked like a monkey, and a frail young man without limbs, lying in a wheelchair...

Freak show actors had been a sensation in the white world at the time. Audiences satisfied their craving for exoticism with the performers’ physical deformities and exaggerated physical performances. Among these actors were some who had both fame and fortune, but many more lived a life of constant travel and misery with the circus.

Most major theatre companies would sometimes have one or two stunt performers from freak show backgrounds to play certain grotesque roles, but not many.

For a top theatre company like Dorothy’s to employ so many freak show actors was very uncommon.

Dorothy studied the freshly applied lipstick in the mirror and nodded at the makeup artist behind her, content. Understanding, the makeup artist covered the entire mirror with a red cloth.

The globally famous actress turned her chair and showed a gentle smile, "I know, sir. I’m on my way. You can have them draw the curtains now."

The bald manager reluctantly agreed and then turned to leave.

Dorothy, turning to the corner where a limbless disabled person was resting with eyes closed, said, "Thalia, you can begin the opening now."

Thalia, whose messy flaxen hair covered her head, opened her eyes. Her face was painted white with red lips, and her neck rested on a mixed wooden and steel wheelchair. She asked with confusion, "The Chinese visitor you were waiting for, he hasn’t arrived yet?"

Dorothy frowned and shook her head, "It’s really embarrassing to have kept everyone waiting like this."

"Don’t say that, Dorothy. As long as it’s your wish, everyone will try their best to help you achieve it,"

cried the hunchbacked old man in a high-pitched voice.

"Thank you, Bansha," Dorothy smiled. "Thalia, go on stage now. The audience is getting impatient."

Thalia nodded. With great effort, he turned his neck, opened his mouth, and bit onto a harmonica-shaped object connected by soft springs on the chair. Then, placing the "harmonica" in his mouth, he fumbled with his tongue for the metal granules on top of it. With a hissing sound, white steam burst out from under his wheelchair to the left and the right. Shortly after, the wheelchair slowly started to move forward.

Rushed footsteps were heard as a girl with a gypsy cap came in frantically, "Dorothy, he’s here."

Dorothy was overjoyed to hear this, "He made it just in time."

Thalia, who had already reached the door with the "harmonica" in his mouth, could only mutter indistinctly, "Don’t block the way, girl."

The girl hurriedly stepped aside.

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"You should have come earlier, Mr. Li,"

said the girl, leading Li Yan into the audience seat and murmuring her complaint.

"I was delayed by some other matter,"

Li Yan offered an explanation.

The stirring music and heavy drums sounded, and at last, the curtain was drawn back.

The limbless man looked around and cleared his throat, "It was the great era when the children of steam cleansed the world, forging undying achievements that propelled humanity into a new Chapter."

Li Yan lifted his head to the increasingly impassioned voice of the man. Huge mercury vapor lamps stood up in various parts of the theater, with girls from Dorothy turning the lamp posts. No one noticed that on the multifaceted tubes of the lamps, each facet revealed a quilt of black cloaks...

After a slight bout of dizziness, Li Yan slowly opened his eyes to a desolate expanse of the Gobi Desert.

A heavy wrench came flying toward Li Yan’s face!

Li Yan hastily caught it in his hands.

Jane lifted her head from beneath the car, wearing a light-colored vest that left her beautiful figure fully in view. Scattered blood spots and grease stains marred that beauty, though.

The "Steam Princess" gritted her teeth and cursed at Li Yan on the car, "If you’re facing a band of over a dozen bandits and all you can think of is to abandon your comrades and flee for your life... at least you should have had the decency to come over and hand me a wrench while I’m fixing the car!"

Li Yan knew he had missed a role he was supposed to play, and from the perspective of the apprentice he was meant to portray, he indeed couldn’t be of much help to the valiant "Steam Princess." It was only natural that his somewhat shameful performance considerably diminished Jane’s impression of him.

In the third act, Jane and "Liang Hui" were fleeing the kingdom. Along the way, not only were they pursued by guards, but they were occasionally attacked by robbers. With Li Yan absent from the third act, the fairytale character "Liang Hui" ran away alone out of fear, leaving Jane behind, and their steam car was also damaged.

Li Yan jumped down from the steam car, facing Jane’s ridicule without saying a word, simply squatting by her side and silently handing her various repair tools.

"Knightly spirit is about honor, perseverance, loyalty, and pride, and yet you treat it as if it’s nothing. I don’t know how with your courage and skills you managed to sneak into the Royal Arsenal, and even had the audacity to say you wanted to pursue me," she said.

After quite some time, the steam car was finally running again. Jane climbed out from under the car with agility, flung the door open, and sat down in the driver’s seat, huffing with frustration.

Seeing this, Li Yan also went back to his seat in accordance.

"If there is a next time, I won’t save you," Jane coldly stated.

The steam car started up again; it passed the dark green cacti along the way and gradually entered a desolate small town.

Li Yan nodded in response to her words.

Jane glanced sideways at Li Yan, "Are you so ashamed you can’t speak?"

"Yes, Your Highness. I am ashamed, and I am reflecting," Li Yan admitted.

"That’s good," she said.

Jane clattered on loudly. She removed a semi-automatic revolver from her "unicorn" arm bracer and stuffed it into Li Yan’s hands, "If we encounter bandits again just fire in their direction. No need to aim; it should be enough to scare them off. I can’t give you the net shooter—seeing your dreadful performance in the arena, you’d definitely end up ensnaring both me and the enemy. We’re already at the border of leaving the kingdom; monsters could appear at any moment. I don’t have the spare energy to protect you."

"Thank you, Your Highness," Li Yan said, bowing his head.

Seeing Li Yan’s demeanor, Jane, though still angry, could not say much more. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

The steam car delved deeper into the town and eventually stopped in front of an inn sporting a horse sign.

"We’ll rest here for today, get out," Jane declared as she took the lead into the inn, the two doors swinging back and forth loudly.

Li Yan surveyed the surroundings and lightly sniffed the air with his nose. He detected a faint scent of blood, and so, he put on an unconcerned face and entered the inn.