Sweet Dreams

Chapter 12: Sweet Dreams

At the sight of that gaunt figure, Li Zu could not help but grin.

He suspected he had some pathological laughing condition, because his heart was racing—not from happiness, but from excitement and instinctive fear!

And the faster his heart beat, the harder it was to control his smile.

Crack!!

Lightning nearly smashed through the glass.

It clearly illuminated Li Zu's uncontrollable grin and Harley Quinn Yoyo's exaggerated laughter.

Joker Lady slowly turned around. She shared countless traits with the Joker from Li Zu's memories, especially that smile.

The first time Li Zu saw this woman, he knew she was not someone to be trifled with.

To his regret, meeting the Joker had not increased his World Exploration Progress.

The Joker was not the protagonist of this world. At least, not here.

"Oh~" She let out a strange cry, rising onto her toes as she approached them step by step—or, more accurately, approached Li Zu.

The way she looked at Li Zu was strange, like she was looking at a stranger. Her gaze was appraising, and calm.

A lunatic was not someone who screamed madly every moment. A mind twisted by madness was far more terrifying.

"Joker Lady! We were planning to bring you Batman's head as a gift! But we had a tiny accident during the operation, so...!"

Yoyo explained anxiously. It seemed she was not trying to explain why the mission had failed, but simply trying to draw Joker Lady's attention toward herself.

She craved Joker Lady's attention—wanted as much of it as possible.

"But we found out Batman's identity!"

She wanted to see a smile of approval on Joker Lady's face. Unfortunately, Joker Lady's gaze remained fixed on Li Zu.

"He's Bruce Wayne!"

Smack!

Joker Lady stomped her foot on the ground.

The seemingly deranged Joker revealed her fury at that moment.

She drew her gun without the slightest hesitation.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The gunshots echoed the thunder outside the window as blood blossomed across Yoyo's chest.

Vivid and dripping, a pure scarlet red.

No one could have imagined that even a supervillain who killed without blinking would have blood so bright.

Harley Quinn Yoyo spread her arms in confusion. Even in the final moments of her life, she seemed to want to embrace Joker Lady, but Joker Lady had no interest in her at all.

Thud!!

She collapsed to the floor, her consciousness gradually fading. A hand gently pressed against her forehead, accompanied by that familiar voice: "Sweet dreams~"

It had all happened too suddenly, so suddenly that... Li Zu could only laugh uncontrollably.

"HAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHA!!!" Joker Lady clutched her stomach and crouched halfway down, laughing wildly. She had killed her own "follower" with her own hands, yet laughed until tears streamed down her face.

Li Zu glanced at Yoyo lying on the floor from the corner of his eye. Crystal tears glistened at the corners of her eyes.

He crouched beside her and gently stroked Yoyo's forehead.

"Sweet dreams~"

Yoyo's chest still rose and fell, but she had already fallen unconscious. Perhaps after only a few more breaths, she would lose her life completely.

"That name—no matter who mentions it! They must... die!"

Joker Lady's voice suddenly turned hysterical. Her body trembled uncontrollably as she laughed.

Crack!!

Lightning flashed.

The thunderous light burst through the enormous floor-to-ceiling windows.

The woman laughing wildly with her arms spread wide, the woman lying in a pool of blood, and the calm man watching it all with a peculiar smile formed a strange, wonderful picture.

The bright purple sports car arrived at Gotham City Hall once again. Its flamboyant, dazzling paint job was completely at odds with this city steeped in oppression and despair.

Just like this long-awaited sunny day, it did not belong in Gotham.

The car door opened.

A gaunt Asian man in a green suit, his hair a complete mess, stepped out.

His appearance immediately drew far too much attention. He paid it no mind, casually sweeping his gaze over the guards at the entrance and even deliberately staring at the insignias on their collars.

Then he left with an odd smile.

"It's that weirdo from yesterday."

The guard on the left pointed at the departing figure in green.

He remembered vividly how the man in the green suit had strolled slowly toward him through the rain. Every time lightning flashed last night, that bizarre figure had become even clearer in his mind.

"I thought he was some lunatic." He sounded relieved.

He had to admit that the deliberate smile the guy in green had shown when leaving just now had sent a chill down his spine.

"A lunatic? Didn't Batman kill them all?" The guard on the right raised his fingers, counting them off. "That riddle-loving lunatic, Scarecrow, and..."

"With Batman around, there won't be any lunatics in this city!" The guard on the left declared firmly, as if reassuring himself.

A pink balloon suddenly caught both of their attention.

A little girl holding the balloon skipped up to them and solemnly handed over a Powerpuff Girls Buttercup doll.

She looked remarkably like Buttercup too, with short hair and big eyes.

"Cute little princess, what's wrong?" The guard on the left crouched down. He accepted the doll and gently ruffled the girl's little head with a warm smile. "Is this for me?"

"Yes, it's for you~" The little girl nodded seriously, then turned and ran away.

"Haha, see? This face of mine is much more lovable~" He showed off the doll in his hand to his colleague.

Nothing was more satisfying than being liked by an adorable child.

He turned around, following the direction in which the little girl had left, wanting to wave goodbye to her.

But—

The little girl stopped in front of the man in the green suit, and the guard's heart immediately skipped a beat.

The man in the green suit seemed to notice the guard's stare as well. He first took out a green banknote and handed it to the little girl. After waving goodbye to her, he mouthed something at the guard.

"Boom!"

The guard's heart pounded wildly as he stiffly leaned closer to the toy doll.

Tick-tock, tick-tock~

The sound of hands moving.

A watch? Impossible!

"It's a bomb!"

The guard shouted and hurled the doll from his hand.

The crowd gathered before City Hall screamed and scattered in an instant, like a school of fish startled away by a stone thrown into a lake.

The doll bounced a few times on the ground, rolled dozens of feet, then stopped without moving.

Someone covered their ears. After waiting a long time without hearing an explosion, they cautiously poked their heads out in confusion.

Tap, tap, tap~

Light dress shoes clicked against the ground. Just as everyone's hearts were about to leap out of their throats, the gaunt figure bent down and picked up the doll.

He patted off the dust.

"If you don't like it, you can just refuse it. Why throw it away like that?" His voice sounded quite displeased.

"What? So it wasn't a bomb after all~"

"I'm going to file a complaint against them. They scared me!"

"It's because of people like them that Gotham is such a mess."

"..."

The overlapping complaints made the guard's face flush red.

From the strange behavior of the man in the green suit when he appeared last night, to the odd smile he deliberately left behind, to the "boom" he had just mouthed, everything had conveyed one message: he was dangerous.

The guard had made the most reasonable guess possible, but the result had been wrong.

The man in the green suit walked over and stopped in front of the guard.

"Thank you. I think I've been under too much stress lately..." The guard reached out, wanting to take the doll back, but a gun had already pierced through the doll and pressed against his lower abdomen.

The man in the green suit wore that strange smile again.

"Excuse me, did Mr. Harvey Dent come to work today?"

(End of Chapter)