Clown Mask and Giant Force Hand

Inside the shed of a shuttered factory in the suburbs, Fang Xiu sat by the entrance, fiddling with the things he had taken from Red Devil and the Deceitful Clown Demon.

Fang Xiu wanted to find out what they had done during the ten days since arriving in this world, and how they had discovered him. As for their bodies, he had tossed them inside the shed, piled together like garbage.

There was not a soul in the abandoned factory. The huge iron gates were locked, the factory walls were built directly from brick, and the roof was covered with corrugated iron. The shed had no door, only a sheet of black cloth hanging across its entrance, fluttering in the wind. It had a vast yard, and the empty buildings looked especially bleak amid the suburban wilderness.

Fang Xiu took out Red Devil's and the Deceitful Clown Demon's phones. After turning them on, he found that, like the Deep One Killer's phone, they were blank inside, containing nothing. He shut one down and restarted it, only to find that the login screen was indeed somewhat different from the usual kind.

Fang Xiu grabbed the Clown Demon's corpse and pressed each of its fingers against the phone in turn. When he reached the thumb, the phone logged into another system. Seeing that it had worked, Fang Xiu tossed the Clown Demon's hand aside.

Fang Xiu looked through it. There were no apps installed, only several banking clients, both domestic and foreign. Other than that, there was only a blood-red cross app. Fang Xiu opened them one by one and discovered that no login accounts or passwords had been saved; they had to be entered again every time.

Using the same method, he unlocked Red Devil's phone. It was much the same as the Clown Demon's, but its memo app contained several notes and scheduled reminders in English. It was as though the guy had a terrible memory and was stupid enough to need this method to keep himself from forgetting important matters.

"Eight in the morning on the tenth. Enter the Cross Bloodstain Web to order a batch of weapons. Require delivery within two days. The weapons list is as follows..."

Cross Bloodstain Web? Fang Xiu immediately recalled the bloody cross app on the phone. Holy shit, was that how they got their weapons? Ordering them directly online, like Taobao?

"Twelfth. The ransom for that yellow-skinned monkey Clown kidnapped arrived today. Remember to deal with him at three in the afternoon."

"Fifteenth. Today, Clown detected a powerful fluctuation of mythic power from three streets away. Though it vanished in the blink of an eye, all three of us were extremely excited, because he said it was very likely an artifact. If we can find it, we can solve the problem of our powers constantly fading. We can even use the artifact's power to seize this world, perhaps even become gods. Today's mission is to split up and search for clues about the artifact. I am responsible for the northern part of the city."

"Seventeenth. That idiot Anderson died. He was actually killed by an ordinary person with a utility knife. Hahaha, let's see if he still dares call me stupid now. If he could still talk, that is. The artifact is on that ordinary person, yet he doesn't know how to use its power. We absolutely cannot tolerate such a powerful divine artifact being sullied by a mortal. We must capture him. Clown is using the computer to locate him. I need to bring the RPG, the Giant Force Gauntlets, and..."

Fang Xiu looked through the entries and roughly understood what had happened to the three of them. Judging from the information, they should have come from a place extremely similar to Earth. Whether in language habits or technological development, it was very close. That was why, upon entering this world, they had adapted as naturally as fish slipping into the sea.

After slaughtering people and setting fires at the Black Sugar Bar before escaping, they had used computers and the internet to learn what sort of otherworld they had entered. Through kidnapping, assassination, and robbery, they obtained large amounts of money. They bought weapons and ammunition through the dark web and special channels, then resumed the business they often did in their former world. Yet this world had none of those terrifyingly powerful Professionals to maintain order and punish them.

In just ten days, they had committed countless crimes. Dozens of people had died directly or indirectly at their hands.

The three should have been a team. The Deep One Anderson was the long-range shooter, Red Devil handled close combat, while Clown served as the strategist and support member.

Fang Xiu then examined the things he had searched from the two men: several bank cards and identification documents that clearly did not belong to Earth, like the DW Bank Card found on the Deep One Killer. Besides those, there were more than nine thousand yuan, Clown's mask, a bottle of strange Black-Red blood, and two handguns.

When he peeled off the Clown Mask, Fang Xiu discovered that beneath it was still a bizarre, chilling clown face. But this face was natural. The red and white colors were not painted on; his skin had been born that color, just like Red Devil's strange, rough red hide.

"They're all monsters. Not a single one looks human." Fang Xiu clicked his tongue and shook his head.

He had more or less figured everything out. Whatever remained unknown could not be found from the two corpses.

"Damn it, where did they put all the money they made? There are no bank account numbers, and they didn't mention which banks they used either." Fang Xiu could not let go of the dirty money these fellows had earned. They were dead, so didn't that mean the money could never be withdrawn? It would just go to the banks for nothing. They might as well help out a poor man like him. They had tried to kill him several times and kept him on tenterhooks, yet there was not even any compensation.

Fang Xiu piled a large amount of flammable materials he found in the factory together with the corpses, then poured over them a barrel of gasoline he had bought beforehand.

Fang Xiu lit a cigarette, took a few drags, and tossed it onto the pile, only to find that the gasoline did not ignite.

"..." Fang Xiu realized that television was full of nonsense.

In the end, he glanced at the vintage kerosene windproof lighter in his hand, opened it, and threw it over. Fierce flames immediately roared to life.

The fire swiftly engulfed the two corpses. Within the flames, their bodies looked exceptionally fragile, nothing like their powers or their previously formidable physiques. It was as though this world itself rejected their existence, rejected the supernatural powers they possessed.

In the flames, they melted like mannequins, burning into clumps of black ash. At last, Fang Xiu found a pair of metal gauntlets amid the ashes.

"Could this be the Giant Force Hand Red Devil mentioned? A supernatural item, like the Saint's Ring?"

Fang Xiu took out Clown's mask, the bottle containing Black-Red blood, and the Giant Force Hand. To Fang Xiu, none of these three items seemed simple. If he could figure out their specific abilities and uses, they would surely prove immensely useful.

At that moment, Fang Xiu picked up the Saint's Ring strung on a cord around his neck and held it before his eyes. Its beautiful curves and mysterious inscriptions made it impossible to put down, but now a tiny crack had appeared on it.

"What a pity. It probably has a limit on the number of times it can be used too."

This Saint's Ring had already become Fang Xiu's greatest trump card. That powerful, unmatched strength, soaring through the clouds and crushing every enemy like dry weeds and rotten wood, had intoxicated him.

When he held that power in his hands, Fang Xiu had even briefly believed that he was one of the legendary Gods and Devils.