The pinnacle of magic

"Dear viewers and friends, I am Stephen. Welcome to the third game of "Peak Rivalry". What you will see tonight is the world's top magician Miracle Angel Clifford. Matthew Evans! Now let's invite our magician—Clifford White!"

The magician's outfit tonight is quite special.He was wearing a long crimson cloak that was dragged to the ground. Except for his head, his whole body was firmly covered by the cloak, not even a single finger was exposed.The high turned-up collar on the cloak is reminiscent of some kind of dark creature in fantasy fiction that feeds on human blood.

"I said Clifford, Halloween seems to be far away from us! And if I remember correctly, vampires are actually creatures that are afraid of fire?" The host laughed and teased.

"No, I just don't want to freeze myself." The magician smiled and said, "In order to withstand the test of the fire in a while, I'm wearing it quite cool now."

"Wow! I think the female audience will feast their eyes after a while." The host raised his eyebrows exaggeratedly, "Are you ready for a fiery performance?"

"Of course, I can't wait to get started." The magician shrugged in his cloak.

"Okay, then let us invite your opponent who has walked barefoot up to 20 meters of hot coals, touched a red-hot iron chain with his bare hands, and put his palms on fire for 30 seconds without getting hurt Yes, the person who is least afraid of fire in the world - Matthew Evans!"

As soon as the host's voice fell, the strong man who had once met the magician and Shi Rui walked onto the stage from behind the scenes.Matthew.Evans was still wearing a black suit today, and the dark green striped tie made him look kind and gentle.His gait is light, even with a little jumping motion, and he doesn't forget to wave his arms vigorously towards the audience as he walks.For some reason, his posture reminded Shi Rui of a boxer's movements before taking the stage, and a smile appeared on the corner of his lips.

It seems that this Mr. Not Afraid of Fire really regarded tonight's performance as a duel!Shi Rui looked at him amusedly as he walked around the magician provocatively before stopping on the other side of the host.

"Hello, Matthew!" The host extended his hand and shook Mr. Not Afraid of Fire, "I heard that you discovered your special ability because of a fire? What do you think of tonight's challenge? Do you think ordinary people have Is it possible to complete the performance you have done?"

"Oh yes! I was 12 years old. My house was on fire and the firemen said it was a miracle the kid was unharmed when they got me out. At first I just thought I was lucky, until later Only then did I gradually discover my own difference. Once, my mother said, go take the pizza out of the oven. We all know that you have to wear oven mitts to take things out of the oven, but I don’t. That It was about two hundred degrees, and I didn't feel it was very hot, so I took out the baking pan with my bare hands. My mother was very surprised, and she told me not to do such a dangerous thing again. But once a person understands that he is special , I couldn’t help wondering how much I could do. I started to challenge myself and show people what I could do. Gradually, I became famous. Of course, many people doubted that the things I used to perform were not I said it was so hot, or I was wearing clear oven mitts on my hands. But I have to say, these doubts are baseless. This is my unique ability, God-given ability, not afraid of fire ability!"

Mr. Not Afraid of Fire imitated the rhythm of politicians' speeches, added a small pause after each word, and communicated with the audience with his eyes from time to time.The muscles on his face were comically tuned into an expression of kindness.

"In order to avoid danger, I always have to repeatedly warn everyone not to imitate easily before and after the performance. My performance is almost fatal to ordinary people. So I think that if you want to use acrobatics or tricks to reproduce me performance is impossible."

After Mr. Not Afraid of Fire finished his high-spirited speech, the host paused for a few seconds as if worried that he hadn't finished speaking, and then praised: "It's a very amazing experience! Clifford, what do you think? After listening After Matthew's experience, do you feel confident about tonight? Would you like to change your challenger?"

"This is not the most amazing lie." The magician let out a cold snort of disdain, "I have heard more incredible experiences from many people who pretend to be deceived. But the facts have proved that all lies are just to make people preconceived. I believe that they have some kind of special ability before the performance. But I am different. I must tell everyone here that what I am going to perform today is 'just' a magic trick. Of course, I must also warn everyone not to try it lightly, after all, it is for the layman. It's too dangerous to say." He smiled and said to the audience.

Host: "Okay. Now that both sides of the challenge have expressed their attitudes, please sit down on the sofa first. According to the usual practice, we will first enjoy a short video. This is Matthew's performance in February this year. During the performance, he covered both palms with gasoline and lit them directly on fire, and the fire burned on his hands for half a minute before it went out."

Matthew started playing on the big screen.Evans' performance.He first asked two spectators to check his hands, and after confirming that there was no protection, he dipped his hands in a small bucket of gasoline.In order to extinguish the flame in time, he put his hands in a large hemispherical iron bowl.There were two arcs on the edge of the iron bowl, just enough to fit into his wrist.When the fire is going to be extinguished, another identical hemispherical iron bowl will be snapped off from the top, and will fit tightly with the bottom half, so that the flame will be extinguished due to lack of oxygen.

On the big screen, an assistant set Matthew on fire with a lighter.Evans' hand.Then, in full view, the flames burned for nearly half a minute before being extinguished.Afterwards, Matthew.Evins washed his hands with clean water and dried them.Apart from a slight red glow, there were no signs of burns on his hands.

The camera was cut back to the live broadcast.

"It's horrible! This kind of performance is really terrible! Are you really going to try it, Clifford? When I saw Matthew's hand being set on fire, there was always a feeling of seeing a tragedy at once." I feel, this is really terrible!" The host said with his brows furrowed.

"No, I'm not going to try this."

"Hey?" The magician's answer made the host stunned.

"I want to make it more difficult." The magician smiled, "If only the hands and feet are not afraid of high temperature, how can you be regarded as a 'person' who is not afraid of fire! Tonight happens to be my mother's birthday, so I plan to make myself Make a human candle for her!" He raised his chin in the direction where Bessie was sitting.

Host: "What does the human candle mean?"

Magician: "I'm going to set my whole body on fire."

"Ah! This, this is really a special gift." The host said in a daze, "So, your mother is also on the set?"

"Yes. She's sitting right there with my fiancée. Please forgive me for not revealing the age of this stunning lady. But I'm going to say in front of a national audience, Happy birthday, Mom! It's going to be Your most memorable birthday!"

The TV lens fell on the first row of the auditorium.Bessie was covering her mouth with her hand, her face full of excitement and disbelief.Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes.Shi Rui, who was sitting beside her, immediately hugged her shoulder cooperatively, comforting her in a low voice.

"Do you think I should rush up now and tell him not to do such a dangerous thing?" Bessie asked Shi Rui in a low voice while making a nervous expression.

"If you rush forward, you won't be able to answer what Stephen is waiting for." Shi Rui whispered.

"That's right, this is the first time I've been on live TV!" Bessie turned to Shi Rui as if she couldn't bear to watch the magician on the stage.

At this time, the host had already walked to them.

"Oh! Such a wonderful birthday present! How do you feel about it, Bessie?"

"Although, as a mother, you should support your son, but I still want to say, Clifford, can you stop doing such a dangerous performance? Fire is not something to play around with." The blond woman took out her handkerchief Wiping the corners of his eyes, "I don't want any birthday candles at all, you will only worry me if you do this. God! Who came up with this kind of show? How much money did they give you to make fun of your life? "She sniffed her nose lightly twice.

"No, Bessie, there is no danger at all." The magician seemed to take his mother's worry very seriously, "Please sit down and sign for the gift I want to give you!" He smiled and took off his long coat. The cloak, revealing the naked upper body and the lower body wearing only a pair of sports shorts.

"Okay, let's start!" The magician gestured to the audience with a relaxed expression.The specially greased skin reflected the lights on the stage, making him look much healthier.

"Clifford!" Bessie called out heartbreakingly. She seemed to stand up and rush to the stage but was stopped by the Shi Rui earring host. Even the host couldn't help comforting her in a low voice. .

On the stage, the magician casually threw the cloak to a female assistant, and the other two female assistants pushed a pair of silver armor onto the stage.It was a rather special armor.Except for the helmet part, the cross-shaped armor with arms spread out was divided into front and rear halves and fixed together.Rather than saying it was a pair of armor, it was better to say that it was a steel cage with armor-shaped front and rear halves that could be closed together.

The magician motioned to the assistant to put the armor together, show it to the audience in a circle, and then open it again.

"Now they're going to start pouring oil on me. I'm going to be covered in oil from the neck down," the magician said.

Two female assistants brought two barrels of oil and poured them on the magician from both sides.After the oil barrel in their hands was empty, they took another barrel and emptied it before nodding.

The oil-smeared magician looked somewhat embarrassed, but his confident smile was never seen.He walked straight to the armor, leaving a shiny footprint on the stage with every step he took.

When he stood in the armor with his arms outstretched, he suddenly looked like a martyr.The female assistant immediately put together the front half of the armor, so that only the magician's head was exposed.

"There is a hole under the armor for igniting the fire. After a while, please cooperate with me to count 30 seconds. When the time is up, put out the flame immediately." The magician smiled and told.

Then, a metal helmet was put on the magician's head, and the fence-like metal goggles snapped off, and only the magician's firm blue eyes could be seen from the outside.

"ignition."

He ordered after taking a few deep breaths.

The female assistant slowly brought a torch with a faint blue flame close to the small hole at the ankle of the armor...