Toyman

Toyman

The violent orderlies pinned Li Zu to the electric chair.

They shackled both his hands to the chair's armrests.

Li Zu's head was encased in a strange iron ring connected to a thick cable. Its purpose was not hard to guess.

A leather strap was also cinched around his neck, ensuring his back was pressed firmly against the chair, unable to move.

Li Zu uncomfortably turned his neck and looked at Dr. Arkham. "Could you not tighten it so much?"

"Now isn't the time to be scared, you know~" Dr. Quill pressed two electrode pads connected to wires against Li Zu's temples.

They felt icy cold.

"Bad children should receive the punishment they deserve, wouldn't you say, Toyman!"

Dr. Quill looked excited.

"Mm, you're right~"

Li Zu could feel the corners of his mouth rising beyond his control.

"I hate that smile of yours!" Quill threw a punch at Li Zu's face, only to forcibly stop just before it could cause pain.

Dr. Quill muttered to himself, "I can't be in such a hurry. If I knock you unconscious now... you'll escape your punishment~"

Their conversation ended there.

The orderlies left and shut the door.

Dr. Quill Arkham finally began Li Zu's "little punishment."

He pulled down the switch beside him.

Sparks flew.

At the instant the current hit him, Li Zu still had time to think—though it was nothing but random thoughts.

Superheroes, supervillains, and most importantly, guesses about his own identity.

The current surged wildly into Li Zu's body, making him convulse uncontrollably.

Pain. Stinging. Numbing itch.

It felt like... a toe cramp, except magnified a hundredfold and spread throughout his entire body.

"Aah!!"

Li Zu could not help screaming. Surely no one could chat and laugh while being electrocuted.

Click!

The switch was pulled back, and the current flooding his body stopped.

But Li Zu, seated in the electric chair, continued to convulse uncontrollably. Chaotic residual currents still raced madly through his body, stimulating his nerves.

"This chair was developed by a relative of mine who once worked here. He used it to execute bastards like you. Sadly, he eventually went insane himself and never left this place..."

"I really, really... am sorry. But this invention isn't bad."

Li Zu felt that his tongue was no longer listening to him, as though a rope kept pulling it toward the wrong positions.

"Hehe~" Quill Arkham laughed. Clearly, he had long grown used to the ravings of Arkham's lunatics.

Though he was trying, he knew himself that he simply could not make madmen feel fear.

Dr. Quill reached for the iron table beside him, picked up the medical file, then spat on his finger and flipped to a fresh page.

He then removed the ballpoint pen clipped to his collar.

Scratch, scratch~

The sound of the pen tip rubbing against paper carried an oddly reassuring atmosphere.

"So, Mr. Toyman... can you tell me where the other patient is? If you tell me, you might suffer a little less!"

Quill Arkham stared at Li Zu. "We'll work together very pleasantly!"

"I really want to tell you everything, but..." Li Zu tried to raise a hand to scratch his head, but the handcuffs restricted him.

Helplessly, he said, "But I really don't know anything."

"You lunatics really are loyal to one another~" Dr. Quill was not surprised. He merely set down the medical file calmly, then smiled as he pulled down the switch again.

Li Zu returned to his room with the "support" of two burly orderlies.

Back to this room full of fingernails and grime, yet reeking of disinfectant.

His nose twitched.

Apparently, while he had been away, the stench of disinfectant in the room had grown even stronger.

Bang!

Li Zu's spasming, convulsing body was thrown back onto the bed.

"Thanks, David, Sims~"

He thanked the two orderlies who had so "thoughtfully" escorted him back. He had finally learned their names as he wished.

"Bastard, enjoy the rest of your life. Tomorrow, you'll have another chance at electrotherapy!" David spat in Li Zu's direction and slammed the door shut behind him as he left.

Li Zu lay on the bed, his body still twitching.

The violent convulsions of his body were beyond his control.

"How am I supposed to escape?" he muttered. "Judging by their expressions, the solution seems to be taking off this pair of gloves."

Right next to the electrotherapy room,

Inside Dr. Arkham's office.

Smack!

The medical file was slammed heavily onto the desk, and Dr. Quill sank back into his chair as though all strength had been drained from him.

"If I can capture the Joker and cure her~, Arkham will definitely gain academic recognition from every field!... But these lunatics simply refuse to cooperate. At the very least, I need to find out what that bastard Toyman is afraid of."

Electric shocks were painful, but none of the "patients" here feared them. Compared to torture, perhaps madmen feared death.

Living was the only right that could not be taken from madmen.

The air from the central air conditioning gently flipped open the medical file.

It finally stopped on Li Zu's page.

"Toyman"

"Likes: Collecting all kinds of strange doll toys."

"Mental state: Long-term contact with the Joker has caused mental confusion."

"Moderate threat level. Possesses the ability to turn objects he touches into toys."

"Burp~"

Li Zu patted his chest and stuffed the heart-shaped toast he had deliberately bitten out with his teeth into his mouth in one bite.

The toast filled his mouth. Puffing out his cheeks, he mumbled, "Thanks, Sims. You look much friendlier than David~"

After the electrotherapy, Li Zu finally received his overdue breakfast.

With energy replenished in his stomach, the spasms in Li Zu's body seemed to ease by the slightest bit.

Orderly Sims shot Li Zu a disgusted glare, pulled away the food cart, and quickly left.

Clang!

The iron door shut once more.

Sims hated interacting with these lunatics. Once he had finished his duties, he wished he could flee as far away as possible—the farther, the better!

"Blech!"

Li Zu spat out the mouthful of toast. Digging through his vomit, he found a small iron shard. He had found it on Sims's rusty food cart and secretly hidden it in the final bite of toast.

"Toyman can't free his own hands. How could you forget something so important? Sims, you're really careless~"

Using the rusty iron shard, no bigger than his thumbnail, he gently scraped at his gloves.

Creak, creak...

The strange sound blended into the chaotic surroundings, yet somehow seemed harmonious.

Passing orderlies were unsurprised. They merely gave him disgusted looks.

"These gloves are made of some really special material. So teeth really won't work."

The material of the gloves exceeded Li Zu's expectations.

Even a sheet of iron might have been easier to cut through.

But recalling Dr. Quill Arkham's words, these gloves seemed capable of controlling his special power.

Second by second, time passed. Unable to see the sky outside from the "ward," Li Zu could only calculate from the countdown on the panel that he had spent four hours cutting at them with the iron shard.

Finally,

A slit was cut into the glove, exposing Li Zu's palm.

Along with a heavy stench of sweat.

"Mm, this is enough." Li Zu pressed his palm against the special clasp on his wrist and slowly focused.

Of course, to anyone else, he looked like he was sitting on the bed, constipated.

Then something strange happened. The specially made metal clasp slowly changed after coming into contact with Li Zu's palm, turning into a different material!

(End of chapter)