Chapter 28

The Resistance

Li Zu bent down, stretched out his right hand, picked up the toy female warrior with a sword stuck in her chest, and gently placed her into his Item Box.

It already held enough interesting things.

But they still could not be considered true collectibles, especially since Li Zu had learned the toys' real purpose.

They were not dead. They were merely sleeping.

And those who slept could be awakened.

With a light kick to the box, it vanished without a trace.

The dark corner still carried the scent of the female warrior Adeline's blood, as though her cries of pain and curses still echoed beside his ears.

Li Zu turned with a solemn expression, but the corners of his mouth could not stop curling upward.

Pathological Laughter Syndrome. He suspected Martha Wayne, that female Joker, had definitely affected him with her laughing gas. His mind absolutely was not the problem.

Other than occasionally acting a little outside the rules when he was mentally excited, he felt he was in excellent condition.

Li Zu emerged from the dark corner carrying Nabu's Helmet.

He walked with his chest raised and head held high.

The toy pork hanging on both sides swayed in the factory fan's breeze like guards lined up to welcome him.

The factory, reeking of greasy pork and fairy-tale-style plastic, felt like a cheerful party meant for him alone.

Several corpses lay on the ground.

They were invaders from World War III, looking exactly like the *** of World War II—the Amazon warriors of Themyscira.

Dick Grayson panted heavily, kneeling on one knee while supporting himself with a rusty iron rod.

A piece of flesh still hung from the hook, giving off a pungent odor.

Blood ran down the rusty iron rod and dripped onto his hand.

"We let one of them go!" Dick Grayson heard Li Zu's footsteps. His smile was strange, like fear, excitement, and madness were three flavors of cheese squeezed into a bowl and carelessly stirred together with his fingers.

Many of Li Zu's fellow patients in Arkham had that same look in their eyes.

He had even seen it in Batman's eyes.

"You're a lunatic!" The dead Boston Brand floated beside Li Zu, cursing him without restraint for making the circus's last young survivor take such a risk.

After Li Zu proposed that they turn from prey into hunters, Dick had eagerly agreed.

To protect the only brat he knew, Boston had no choice but to get involved and become the most crucial link in turning the Amazons against each other.

"Mm-hm." Li Zu continued ignoring him.

"What do we do next? Let them slaughter each other, then swoop in at the end and wipe them all out?" Unable to hear the dead man, Dick rose with the iron rod and asked Li Zu.

His legs trembled. That should not have happened to a seasoned acrobat.

"They'll doubt each other, but they won't kill each other, Dick~" Li Zu explained, as though he were simply stating an obvious fact.

He turned and took two pieces of plastic pork from the hooks on the iron rack, tossing them onto the floor. Then, as though he found that inappropriate, he picked them back up and placed them on the table.

Finally, he raised the Plastic Meat Saw in his hand and brought it down with a vicious chop.

In an instant, the Plastic Meat Saw turned into a real iron tool. Its weight alone smashed the plastic pork into two halves.

Satisfied, Li Zu turned the Meat Saw back into a toy and slipped it into the inner pocket of his suit. He crouched, picked up a piece of plastic pork, and patted it.

Only after confirming it was a size he liked did he stand up with the pork in hand.

Watching Li Zu's meaningless movements as he waited for an answer, Dick finally lost patience. "And then? We did all this, even deliberately let one of them escape to report back, and there's no follow-up? What's your next plan?"

His voice shifted from questioning to madness, then into a roar.

His chance to kill his enemies was right before him. He did not want to watch it slip away.

"Dick, it wasn't easy to create this chance to survive." Li Zu shook the plastic pork in his hand. "Come on, bring a little gift. You don't want to meet Queen Diana empty-handed, do you?"

"What?"

The crazed Dick froze. He realized he could not understand the man before him at all.

Even when Li Zu explained things plainly, Dick could never grasp his true purpose.

Whether it was killing Amazons for revenge or fabricating a false message to make them fight among themselves, those were only methods, not his goal.

"In a moment, we're going to stroll out step by step."

"Walk out? Just walk out like this?" Dick could not believe it.

Those madwomen definitely wanted them dead, just as Dick himself wanted to kill every last one of them.

"Of course~"

Li Zu walked out first, Nabu's Helmet in his left hand and a piece of plastic pork in his right.

More than a minute passed without Dick hearing any sounds of fighting. Half-doubtful, he followed them out and found Li Zu standing at the entrance with both hands raised in surrender.

A red-haired woman in silver armor stared at the two of them.

"Take Nabu's Helmet, and capture those two. Lock them in the concentration camp first!" At the woman's command, someone immediately came over.

After violently giving Li Zu and Dick two punches each,

they seized the plastic pork and Nabu's Helmet from Li Zu's hands and escorted the two of them away.

"You surrendered just like that? What were we doing all this for?" Dick wanted to demand loudly, but the longsword pressed against his neck forced him to speak quietly.

"So we won't be killed as burdens when we surrender. People with value can live a little longer... They only want that helmet!"

If they had no value worth keeping alive for, then they would make up some value themselves.

Li Zu believed King Arthur would enjoy taking the blame, and Queen Diana would be willing to believe it.

Li Zu's eyes followed Nabu's Helmet and settled on the woman in silver armor.

The woman's ugly expression improved somewhat after obtaining the helmet.

"What is this?" she asked, staring strangely at the block of plastic.

"That's my toy. Can you give it back?" Li Zu raised his voice, making sure most people could hear him.

The warriors who had rushed into the pork processing factory and carried out their companions' bodies also reported what they had seen and heard.

The pork processing factory, which reeked of greasy raw meat, was indeed filled with this kind of plastic toy.

"Freak!"

The woman threw away the plastic and turned to leave.

The two were blindfolded. They could see nothing and hear very little else.

Making even the slightest sound while traveling would earn them a heavy punch.

No one wanted to keep tasting the salty, bloody flavor in their mouths.

"What did you do all this for?" The dead Boston Brand asked beside Li Zu's ear. "To meet Diana, the Amazon queen?"

"Mm-hm." Li Zu answered in his usual concise manner.

"Lunatic!" After leaving behind that brief curse, Boston Brand shut his mouth.

Their feet kept moving, faster and faster.

If they walked too slowly, they would be shoved from behind.

They walked for who knew how long.

Boom!!

An explosion sent a wave of heat crashing into Li Zu, knocking him down and pinning him to the ground.

He could smell the faint scorched stench of his hair.

Then came a woman's shout.

It was followed by the shouts of a group of women.

When the black cloth over his eyes was removed and he regained his sight, several figures of varying shapes stood before him.

An English woman in heavy armor,

a strange man standing at the edge of the sea of fire in a blue padded jacket, holding a pistol,

and a red-skinned humanoid demon spewing flames.

The woman in heavy armor smiled at Li Zu and Dick.

"We are the Resistance!"

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival, everyone. Enjoy the holiday.

(End of Chapter)