Li Zu was lucky enough to receive special treatment and get a cell to himself.
There was no bed in the room, and it was separated from the neighboring cell by rusty iron bars.
"I really miss the single beds at Arkham."
Leaning against the wall, he said to the vacant-eyed man next door, "You know, breakfast there was toast. And if you'd just undergone counseling, you could even get a glass of milk~"
A glimmer returned to the vacant man's eyes. Li Zu's rambling had clearly brought him somewhat back to his senses.
He twisted his body and turned his face away, making sure to stay as far from Li Zu as possible.
"I wonder how the doctors at Arkham are doing. Do they still love electroshock therapy so much~"
He shifted against the wall and closed his eyes.
This was a nice place, somewhere he could sleep soundly without worry.
One day,
Two days,
Three days...
Li Zu truly seemed to have accepted his fate. He stayed motionless behind the iron bars, showing no intention of escaping.
If the doctors at Arkham saw how well-behaved he was, they would surely be delighted. But the electroshock treatment certainly could not be skipped.
On this day,
He leaned against the wall, sitting on the floor.
He was fiddling with the Killer Croc toy in his hand.
After counting the few items left in his Item Box, he realized that this battered Killer Croc toy was still his favorite.
"Only twelve hours left. Why hasn't it started yet...
It's about to begin...
It has to begin..."
He muttered to himself with a smile. His eyes were clear, but his grin was maniacal.
Outside, two patrolling Amazon warriors passed by. One of them gave Li Zu a puzzled glance.
"Don't mind him. He's just a lunatic," said the other Amazon warrior. "He always laughs like that!"
"Why not kill him?"
"He still has an important use. Look, here they come..."
The Amazon warrior stopped and jerked her chin ahead.
Four female warriors approached them.
Acting on Fury's orders, they came every day to interrogate Li Zu, hoping to obtain information about the Resistance.
It was this time again.
Right on schedule.
Li Zu swaggered out of his cell and followed behind the four women.
Those who had long grown used to the sight merely cursed him as a lunatic and stopped paying attention.
Interrogation room,
The room and its windows were sealed shut and locked from within.
Li Zu sat in a chair, still clutching the Killer Croc toy in his right hand.
The four proud female warriors now wore unusually respectful expressions.
"Queen Diana left today. She was furious. It was probably about the traitor."
"The Resistance has been searching for you."
"I heard King Arthur has a secret weapon. Ever since Queen Mera died, he has been furious. It seems he intends to release that weapon, and it will destroy more than half the life on land!"
"Finally, it's time to begin~"
He braced himself on the table and stood, tossing the Killer Croc toy to the floor.
His repeated use of the Toyification ability had greatly increased his body's tolerance for overusing his power.
Besides, he had rested well these past days!
"He can't fight his way out on his own." The four women stared at Killer Croc with disgust.
Yet they also felt a secret sense of satisfaction.
The man-eating monster that had once tortured them had become a toy. His soul was forever imprisoned in a plastic shell, able only to obey Li Zu's commands as a tool.
Li Zu did not answer. He stared at the Killer Croc toy.
"Hehehe~"
His pathological laughter returned.
Rumble~
The humanoid crocodile tore through the iron cage and bit off the thigh of the nearest Amazon warrior.
Blood and flesh slid into his stomach, and he felt a warm sensation in his belly~
"I know you're nearby, you bastard!!"
He roared.
He wanted to find that bastard in the green suit, the one with that strange grin.
Before he could spot that bastard, more Amazon warriors rushed over and surrounded him.
"It's you!!" Killer Croc sneered at the fully armed Amazon warriors.
These women had put him through plenty of suffering. Before killing that damned man, he could vent some anger on them first!
His mouse-gray scales quivered.
"Perfect, I'm hungry!!"
On a London street,
Li Zu staggered out of a narrow alley and squatted onto a bench by the roadside.
At the other end of the bench sat a pitch-black, foul-smelling thing.
He had sauntered out through the gates of the Amazon concentration camp.
He had sent the four women off to search for the Resistance.
He certainly would not admit that he had not let them keep following him simply because he was too lazy to remember their names.
Rumble~
The ground shook as a man wielding a trident and clad in golden scales descended from the sky.
World Exploration Progress: 47%
"Hey~" Li Zu grinned.
"I once loved you, but ever since you killed Mera, I swore..." the man shouted toward the sky.
A beam of light descended from above, moving faster than Li Zu's eyes could track.
Only when the man raised his trident with a clang to block the longsword, scattering sparks as he stopped the beam of light, did Li Zu see its true identity.
A beautiful queen clad in armor.
World Exploration Progress: 48%
Aquaman Arthur and Queen Diana.
The ground beneath their feet shook and cracked apart.
The clash of their weapons scratched at his ear canals, bringing an itchy sensation.
"So, you're this world's Joker?" A voice suddenly came from beside Li Zu's ear.
Li Zu turned his head in confusion.
The pitch-black thing from before had vanished, replaced by someone familiar.
A yellow suit, with lightning-bolt ornaments on the ears.
The same symbol was emblazoned on his chest.
He sat on the bench with his arms folded, studying Li Zu curiously. "Joker is actually Asian?"
"Hehehehe."
Li Zu looked at the man beside him and laughed even more happily.
"HAHAHAHA!!"
He burst into laughter.
"What are you laughing at?" The man was somewhat displeased. He raised his right hand, and his arm vibrated at high speed, faster and faster until it became an afterimage.
"I can easily pull your heart out through your chest. It'll happen so fast that your body won't even know... Want to see your own heart? You'll get the chance to hold it intimately in both hands!"
He disliked Li Zu's crazed laughter and tried to use fear to regain the upper hand.
Yet when he stared closely at Li Zu, he found himself involuntarily wanting to laugh along.
It was an uncontrollable influence from the mental plane.
"HAHAHA!" Li Zu clutched his stomach and doubled over.
He kept laughing, growing increasingly insane until he began coughing.
World Exploration Progress: 50% ...51%, 52%, 53%, 54%
After this person appeared, the World Exploration Progress began rising wildly again after a long pause.
It did not stop until it reached "57%."
And Li Zu could clearly see that he had gained something entirely new.
"Aura: Influencer."
An indescribable mental influence rode an express train of cosmic energy, spreading wildly outward from Li Zu at its center.
"Forget it..." The man lowered his rapidly vibrating arm.
"Even a lunatic like you won't survive long on this battlefield." He was very confident.
"You may not know this, but everything in this world was caused by a certain superhero missing his mother. Isn't that interesting? And I get to watch all of it without doing anything."
"This is a wonderful world, a perfect world!"
He was still talking to himself when he noticed Li Zu staring at him strangely.
As though he were looking at a lunatic.
Being watched by a lunatic with the eyes one used to look at a lunatic was deeply unpleasant.
"This world isn't interesting at all," Li Zu said seriously.
"Hearing Joker say that a chaotic world is boring is truly unexpected... I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Reverse-Flash. You can also call me Professor Zoom."
"The show is starting. Time for me to watch!" Reverse-Flash stood and vanished from before Li Zu's eyes in an instant.
He was so fast that it was as though he had been erased from existence.
Li Zu refocused. Queen Diana was still battling Aquaman, and their fight had already affected several buildings, causing destruction on the level of missiles.
"The world of superheroes really makes people love it and fear it."
(End of Chapter)
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