r18novel Chapter 125, Section 22: The Gallows of Sinners
Chapter 125, Section 22: The Gallows of Sinners
Chapter 125, Section 22: The Gallows of Sinners
As the trunk was opened, a strong stench of corpses was released.
A thin layer of mud covered the bright red children's clothes. The girl's hands were tied behind her back, and her exposed skin had lost its color—no, it had actually begun to rot, especially in the thinner areas, such as around her eyes.
Maggots were wriggling in the rotting eye socket.
It's obvious that the girl had been buried for some time and was only dug out today.
Qin Wei roughly understood why Johnny had gone mad.
He closed the trunk in despair, and the clown's hoarse laughter echoed from behind the car.
"Hehehe, kid! Do you like it? Although it's not a gift I prepared for you, it should have the same effect, right? Let me guess—did you promise Johnny you'd save his daughter? Don't promise things you can't do!"
The commotion attracted the villains, and more and more people poured out of the house, learning the gist of what had happened from the clown.
"Kill him! Avenge Johnny!"
"Kill him, kill him now!"
"Hey you noisy idiots, shut up! I'm your leader!" The clown shook his short limbs, and he even frantically untied the tourniquet, spraying blood onto the faces of every opponent.
He remained calm, even though the situation seemed terrible.
In the past, Joseph would have given up on the meeting if he had told him that the trip was likely to end badly. But this time, Joseph added, "Go with peace of mind. The Joker will live forever until his mission is accomplished."
At first, he didn't believe such nonsense either.
He loaded five bullets into his revolver in one go and pointed the gun at his comrade.
And what did Joseph do when he was being targeted by a gun? He gracefully spread his arms with an 83.333% probability.
"Shoot! What are you hesitating for?"
Click!
The sound of an empty gunshot made the clown's eyes light up, and he immediately fired a shot into his own head.
Another blank shot!
The Joker was surprised to find that Joseph hadn't lied; they really didn't seem to be going to die until their mission was complete—until Qin Wei strangled him with his tie, the feeling of suffocation making him somewhat panicked.
"Hey kid! What do you think you're doing, hanging me?"
"Thank you for killing that Frena. Otherwise, I wouldn't know what to do with you. Would you reveal her whereabouts if I dismembered you?"
Qin Wei, talking to himself, grabbed the other end of his tie and tied it to the bumper of Old Ford.
"You've decided to block my other option, including your own path to survival. Now I can send you to meet God with a clear conscience. — Oh! No, the devil doesn't meet God. You only deserve to be immersed in lava and howl. Before that, you will experience the cruelest punishment in the world."
He stepped into the driver's seat.
Qin Wei can't drive, but he can press the accelerator.
The road was long, with no forks or traffic lights, enough for him to slowly drive to the end.
"Hehehehe, I think I know what I'm going to suffer. As you said, this is truly a cruel punishment!"
The clown hanging from the back of the car was still laughing, but he soon stopped laughing.
As the vehicle started, the rough concrete road rubbed away the clothes and flesh on the clown's back.
It hurts so much! It really hurts!
The clown instinctively rolled over, pressing his chest against the ground, but that only made things worse.
The neurotoxin hidden in the inner pocket of his coat was crushed, spraying yellowish-green gas all over his face. This was supposed to be a small gift he had prepared for Qin Wei, but the other man didn't give him a chance, smashing his hands in the first instant.
The clown was in so much pain he wanted to scream, but the toxins that had invaded his body forced him to laugh out loud, to laugh uncontrollably. This was a kind of self-inflicted wound.
At this point, the Joker finally realized that Joseph had deceived him, or rather, that the other party had hidden some crucial information—before the mission was completed? Oh…
I should have known better. My mission was to die at his hands, to make him whole.
"Hehehehe...hahahahahahahahaha...what you're doing...how is it any different from what I'm doing?! What's the difference?!"
！ ！ ！ ！ ！ ！
The clown burst into laughter.
Qin Wei heard it, but he was too lazy to reply.
In reality, he felt he wasn't much different from the Joker; during the raid on Arnold's mansion, he too was caught up in a killing frenzy.
And the cruel punishments at this moment are definitely not for the purpose of upholding justice.
He just wanted to vent his anger.
Great Lord Wayne, I am not you at all, you have mistaken me for someone else.
With a sharp screech of brakes, the old Ford came to a stop at the intersection, a worn-out tie trailing behind its bumper.
The clown has disappeared?
To be precise, the whole street was filled with clowns.
His flesh and blood, the purple shreds of his clothing, and the lingering laughter in the air together pieced together the picture of this bloodthirsty path.
The matter ended abruptly. When Qin Wei returned to the house, Johnny had smashed his head against the wall, leaving a bloody mess. His daughter's death, coupled with the clown's neurotoxin, had driven him completely insane.
Soon Oswald arrived with a large number of Romans, and the villains surrendered at Qin Wei's signal.
Was this a successful operation?
Without a doubt, the Joker was killed with almost no cost.
But was this really a successful operation?
Qin Wei expressed his doubts, especially when he witnessed Shirley collapsing onto Johnny's body, sobbing uncontrollably.
After venting her emotions, the woman didn't whine or make a scene because he broke his promise. Instead, she bowed deeply to him, expressing her gratitude for his revenge on Johnny's behalf. Perhaps she already knew Johnny was on a path of no return, or perhaps she had a premonition of the ending when the child was taken hostage by the clown; in any case, she was remarkably calm.
But this will only increase the pressure on Qin Wei's heart.
Because he was horrified to discover that he really wanted it and had tried to save Johnny.
From the moment Qin Wei approached Johnny Frost, he was thinking about how to use him, how to extract the last bit of value from him through meticulous care. After all, Johnny was a criminal who had stolen cars, beaten people, and committed countless evil deeds while working with gangs.
Qin Wei felt no guilt whatsoever in using him.
But he didn't know when it started, maybe it was a heart-to-heart talk in a bar, or maybe it was an embrace at a crossroads, but he gradually began to regard Johnny as a person.
They experience joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness; they feel lost and lament about life; and they are constantly bothered by unpleasant things.
Qin Wei began to feel curious about the villains of Gotham. For the first time, he wanted to understand those Gotham villains who he had once regarded as "monsters that could be slaughtered at will."
That day, he declined Oswald's invitation to the party and left alone.
For the next six months, Mr. Will, the mastermind behind the Oss faction, seemed to have vanished from Gotham. He gave up his rented house, and the Senate was empty. One night, Selena sneaked into the Senate, but unfortunately, she found no trace of human activity inside.
The window gaps were sealed with waterproof strips, a thick layer of dust covered the floor, and a dead cell phone sat on the coffee table.
Qin Wei removed all communication devices, and no one could contact him anymore.
Selena opened the wardrobe, and the smell of mothballs wafted out. Clothes filled the sides of the hangers, but the center was empty.
The girl was certain that something had once hung in that blank space, but Qin Wei had taken it away.
Meanwhile, in an alleyway on the Upper East Side, a smooth, round head rotated 120 degrees.
Kama!
The unfortunate robber collapsed, lying next to the victim he had just killed. Both men had wide-open eyes, blood trickling from their mouths, and moonlight filtering through the gaps in the buildings, casting a silvery veil over their bodies.
The robber's accomplice was a boy who looked like he was still underage. Like all the misguided Gotham teenagers, he was afraid to kill but always carried a dagger. His ferocious tattoos filled every inch of his exposed skin under his motorcycle leather jacket.
If he dresses up in a fierce enough manner, no one will dare to cause him trouble.
But this guy in front of me seems to be an exception.
He was completely shrouded in a black cloak, like a vampire emerging from a coffin.
The boy had heard from his accomplices about this mysterious guy who specializes in attacking criminals at night. Some people died at his hands, while others only had their limbs broken. The villains called him the Judge, but the citizens he saved preferred to respectfully call him the "Knight of Judgment."
Damn it, the legend is actually true!
The boy had just pulled out his dagger when he was kicked away. Immediately afterwards, a hand emerged from the cloak, and Wolf viciously grabbed his mouth.
Tell me, are you afraid of pain?
The other person's voice was deep and hoarse, yet possessed a captivating and mysterious power, like a needle slowly injecting fear into the boy's heart.
The hand was slowly applying force, squeezing one white tooth after another out of the gums. Apart from the blood at the corner of his mouth, the boy was so terrified that he couldn't even shed a tear.
"This is the first and last time," he said, before reaching out with his other hand and cleanly severing the boy's arm.
The broken bones pierced through the flesh, and the boy fainted from the excruciating pain.
"nailed it."
Qin Wei placed two fingers on his ears, as if he were communicating with someone.
"Another mission. A murder just happened two blocks from here. There are three perpetrators, and each of them has a murder on their hands." A processed, mechanical voice responded to him through the earpiece.
"So that means I don't have to hold back, right?" Qin Wei paused before continuing, "By the way, we've been working together for a month now, is it still inconvenient for you to reveal your identity?"
"It's not time yet. The owls are still circling in the sky, and I can hear their wings flapping."
"Alright, Alfred."
Qin Wei tried to bluff the other party's identity, but the other party's blank response didn't seem fake.
"Who is Alfred? Let me find out—wow, quite the big shot! Oh no! You ruled out a wrong answer, you're so cunning! By the way, are you really that curious about my identity, Mr. Vigilante of Gotham?"
"Don't call me a vigilante! I'm not like that guy. I won't inherit anyone's will. I'm just myself."
Qin Wei's tone sounded quite dissatisfied; being arrogant was a valuable trait.
Although someone may be unwilling to admit it, in Gotham, where Batman disappeared, a guy took over a job, maintaining the last vestiges of dignity in this dilapidated city in a darker and more ruthless way.