The Daily Life Of A Cyberpunk Magician

Chapter 268 - 183 Derivative Entry: Paperman Control Technique
Chapter 268: Chapter 183 Derivative Entry: Paperman Control TechniqueThe one that had been performing on stage all this time...

Wasn’t Jiang Shu but that Paperman?

A wave of shock suddenly swept over the audience.

If it was truly a Paperman, then those smooth and natural movements...

Is it a robot?

No, that’s not possible.

If it were a robot, the Paperman’s final action of jumping into the coffin wouldn’t appear so light and fleeting.

The Paperman was definitely just a Paperman, that was something all the audience could confirm.

Yet the Paperman wasn’t an ordinary Paperman, which was also clear to all.

A Paperman capable of such fluid motions even seemed more natural than expensive bionic robots, completely lacking any stiffness, to the extent that everyone thought it was Jiang Shu.

But now with this situation...

”The magic performance has now concluded, please exit the venue in an orderly manner, thank you.” A mechanical female voice rang through the PA, and staff also appeared inside the hall promoting an orderly exit.

As the exiting chime sounded, the audience gradually collected themselves, moving their somewhat stiff limbs from sitting too long and slowly walked towards the outside of the theater.

But suddenly, someone exclaimed, ”It seems like, tonight Mr. Jiang Shu didn’t say anything about believing in science, did he?”

”...”

”Holy shit, right? I knew tonight’s magic wasn’t scientific at all!”

”You’ve spotted the blind spot!”

The order of exiting got a bit chaotic.

Among the crowd, Du Yuyi also slightly frowned. Unlike the ordinary audience, she could confirm that such magic was definitely not related to any paranormal incidents or abilities. Jiang Shu must have just used some clever technique to achieve these effects.

After all, her own ability was truly an Extraordinary Ability, and she understood what true supernatural abilities would be like.

At least not like Jiang Shu’s magic.

If Jiang Shu truly had the ability to summon the Dead Spirits, then his performance would be much simpler. He wouldn’t need those superfluous procedures to package his performance; he would just speak the secrets outright or use some other more direct methods, like making the Dead Spirits appear or something.

Anyway, it wouldn’t be like this.

Stripping away all disguises and reasons, what remains surely couldn’t be an irrational special ability, it must be based on scientific principles.

Du Yuyi was certain of this.

However, that doesn’t mean she didn’t respect Jiang Shu.

After all, merely relying on simple scientific methods to create an unscientific experience was far more ingenious and impressive than possessing actual supernatural abilities.

Quite interesting.

That was Du Yuyi’s evaluation of this performance as she walked toward the side of the street and summoned her sports car.

If given the chance, she wouldn’t mind watching another different magic performance.

But, she didn’t want to know what secrets Jiang Shu had to pull all this off, much like how she normally deceived ordinary people with her Tarot techniques. Once you really know the secrets behind it, it loses all its charm.

——

Jiang Shu returned to his Magic House, heaving a sigh of relief that he hadn’t been exposed.

During the transition, there was still the possibility of being exposed, since it was just a simple Big Transformation.

Merely relying on parts about the Paperman in Ancient Magic clearly couldn’t uphold a whole magic show, so he added quite a lot of other content, like variations of the Big Transformation and the supernaturalized Spirit Magic.

The Faceless Man on stage was him, but the beginning’s Faceless Man and the final revealed true face of the Paperman weren’t him; aside from those, all the Faceless Men were played by him.

Both entry and exit depended on pathways pre-set on the stage, the coffin connected to the pathway when placed on stage; Jiang Shu crawled out. Likewise, he made the switch from a real person to a true Paperman in the blink of an eye using the flickering candle light, a flashing fire, and the hidden pathway to complete the last part of the magic.

The four black-robed Papermen were played in real-time by four Tablet Spirits, using specially crafted silk threads to lift the coffin to simulate the process of lifting it.

The silk threads were not made from traditional fibers but from a kind of rigid mini-plastic joints combined together. The unique trait was that such silk threads become as straight as a plastic stick when subjected to vertical tension, which was why the coffin did not sway when it was lifted.

By enlarging the proportions of this special silk thread and then reversing it,rp it could achieve an effect similar to the ”Celestial Rope,” which is one explanation for the traditional Chinese magic ”Celestial Rope.”

Of course, that’s just one explanation, the real Celestial Rope described in ancient texts was never fully unveiled, always shrouded in a fantastical allure.

The Paperman bleeding trick and the Paperman holding pot trick were authentic traditional magics, terrifyingly simple in principle.

The blade was smeared with alkali powder; street performers squeezed the Paperman’s sleeved hand to release clear water, and as the water passed over the blade it turned red as blood. If performed closely outdoors, a layer of blood would also be smeared inside the pot to confuse the onlookers’ sense of smell and vision.

Since this was a stage performance, Jiang Shu made a slight adjustment, the Paperman used waterproof papers, they were lifted with silk threads, and the clear water flowed down along the threads, making the secret even harder to detect.

Clearly, the light and airy Paperman couldn’t actually lift the entire pot, but the iron pot was not lifted by silk threads, which if so, would have required even more special props.