Good Dreams

Good Dreams

Li Zu couldn't help but grin at the gaunt figure.

He suspected he had some pathological laughing condition, because his heart was pounding—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 Joker Lady Yoyo's exaggerated smile.

Joker Lady slowly turned around. She had countless things in common 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 mess 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, tiptoeing closer step by step to the two of them—or rather, to Li Zu.

The way she looked at Li Zu was strange, as though she were looking at a stranger. Her gaze was scrutinizing, yet calm.

A madman was not only mad when screaming hysterically all the time. Madness of thought was far more terrifying.

"Joker Lady! We were going to bring you Batman's head as a gift! There was just a tiny accident during the operation, so..."

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

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

"Still, we found out Batman's identity!"

She wanted to see an approving smile on Joker Lady's face. Unfortunately, Joker Lady's gaze remained fixed on Li Zu.

"He's Bruce Wayne!"

Slap!

Joker Lady stomped her foot.

The seemingly crazed Joker revealed her fury at that moment.

She drew her gun without the slightest hesitation.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The bullets echoed the thunder outside the window as blossoms of blood bloomed across Yoyo's chest.

Vivid and dripping, a pure scarlet.

No one could have imagined that the blood of a supervillain who killed without blinking could be so bright.

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

Everything happened too suddenly, so suddenly that... Li Zu could only laugh uncontrollably.

"HAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHA!!!" Joker Lady clutched her stomach and crouched halfway down as she laughed. She had personally killed her own "follower," yet laughed until tears streamed down her face.

Out of the corner of his eye, Li Zu glanced at Yoyo lying on the ground. Crystal tears hung 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 her mind had already fallen unconscious. Perhaps after only a few more breaths, she would lose her life completely.

"That name—no matter who brings it up! They all have to... die!"

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

Crack!!

Lightning streaked across the sky.

The flash of thunder pierced through the enormous floor-to-ceiling window.

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

The bright purple sports car arrived at Gotham City Hall once more. Its gaudy, flamboyant paint job stood utterly at odds with a city steeped in oppression and despair.

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

The car door opened.

A gaunt Asian man in a green suit, his hair a messy tangle, stepped out.

His appearance immediately drew far too much attention. He ignored it all, his gaze lightly sweeping over the guards stationed at the entrance. He even deliberately stared at the insignias on their collars.

Then he left with an odd smile.

"That's the weirdo from yesterday."

The guard on the left pointed at the green figure leaving.

He still vividly remembered the other man slowly walking up to him in the rain, dressed in a green suit. Even last night, whenever lightning flashed, that bizarre image became clearer.

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

He had to admit that the smile the guy in green deliberately showed 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 a finger and began counting them off. "That lunatic who liked riddles, Scarecrow, and..."

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

A pink balloon suddenly caught both their attention.

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

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

"What's wrong, cute little princess?" The guard on the left crouched down. Taking the doll, he smiled gently and rubbed the girl's little head. "Is this for me?"

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

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

Nothing was more rewarding than being liked by a cute child.

He turned his head, following the direction the little girl had gone, 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 gaze too. He first took out a green banknote and handed it to the little girl. After waving goodbye to her, he silently mouthed something at the guard.

"Boom!"

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

Tick-tock, tick-tock~

The sound of hands moving.

A watch? Impossible!

"It's a bomb!"

The guard shouted and threw the plush toy 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 twice on the ground, rolled dozens of feet, then came to a complete stop.

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

Tap, tap, tap~

Light leather shoes clicked against the ground. As everyone's hearts seemed ready to leap from their throats, the gaunt figure bent down and picked up the doll.

He brushed off the dust.

"If you don't like it, you could just not take it. Why throw it away so casually?" He sounded very displeased.

"What, it wasn't a bomb after all~"

"I'm filing a complaint against them. They scared me!"

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

"..."

The voices rising one after another made the guard blush red with embarrassment.

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

The guard had made the most reasonable guess he could, but it had turned out to be 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 mental stress lately..." The guard reached out to take the doll, but a gun had already poked through the top of the plush and pressed against his lower abdomen.

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

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

(End of Chapter)