dmims Chapter 164, Section 61: Only a demon can defeat a demon.
Chapter 164, Section 61: Only a demon can defeat a demon.
Chapter 164, Section 61: Only a demon can defeat a demon (Part 2)
William disliked the sensations caused by the effects of amber gold compounds in his body.
My heart rate spiked to over 210 in an instant, and every capillary in my body was expanding and breaking. Then, under the influence of my body's self-healing ability, it was urgently repaired. The feeling of pain and itching was like a dull saw slowly cutting through my nerves.
But the most terrifying thing was that he saw "that thing" again.
A huge, almost sky-filling black shadow lurked behind the clouds, and even the moon overhead looked like a menacing, eerie blue eyeball.
It has vertical pupils like a reptile, and when the nictitating membrane scrapes across the eyeball, the world is filled with the slippery sound of mucus.
The sound sent chills down William's spine.
Every claw that first embeds itself in the amber-gold composite sees him; they prefer to call it "the truth of the world" rather than an illusion. William only glances at it briefly before lowering his head.
The court had repeatedly warned them not to stare at him for too long, as human reason is too fragile.
Qin Wei didn't know why William stood there stunned after the shot, but he knew this was a golden opportunity. The Kevlar body armor restrained the muscles around the wound, which prevented him from losing too much blood. He endured the excruciating pain, pulled off the sling, tightened it at the distal end, and gripped the butt of the rifle under his armpit.
Aim and fire.
The bullet whistled past as it was sliced down by the hidden blade, turning into a fleeting spark in the night.
The next second, William flashed in front of Qin Wei like a ghost and pressed down on the latter's hand as he tried to pull out the high-explosive pin.
"Do you know why I didn't finish you off with one strike? Cherish this chance I'm giving you, and tell me, where is Mary!"
Even if I told you, would you believe me?
Unfazed by the threat, Qin Wei stared coldly into those angry eyes.
William fell silent; he truly couldn't believe Qin Wei.
He now seems to have only two choices: kill the enemy on the spot or force them to come in person.
"Let me take you there? Of course, but I have one condition."
Qin Wei pointed to the severed arm on the ground.
"I want to bring this thing with me."
Where is the clown who caused all this trouble?
He had arrived downstairs at the hospital where Harvey Dent was.
Everything was proceeding in an orderly fashion under the guidance of fate, and now, it was time to taint the white moonlight in Batman's heart.
Poor Knight of Light.
He walked into the dark alley, and when he stepped out again, he had transformed into Qin Wei.
He had prepared height-increasing insoles beforehand, and his trench coat was also lined with stiff shoulder pads. His appearance and physique were exactly the same. This master of disguise was indeed very skilled.
He laughed a few times, adjusted his voice, and strode into the hospital.
Qin Wei was indeed prepared; he had even arranged for Romans to stand guard at the hospital entrance.
These people were all Oswald and Reus's confidants, one of whom had even participated in the defense of the abandoned warehouse and naturally knew Qin Wei.
"Mr. Wei!"
Several people nodded in greeting.
"Hmm, where's Os?"
"Mr. Cobblestone was just here. Should I inform him?"
"No need, I'm going to see Harvey."
Joseph's face was tense in the cold night wind, but he couldn't help but laugh again. He needed to get rid of these annoying guys and find a dark corner to let loose.
But it seems these guys don't want to let us through.
"It may be presumptuous to say, but Mr. Coppert repeatedly emphasized that anyone wanting to enter the hospital must have their identity verified."
"What does this mean? Do you want me to produce something to prove my identity?"
"Uh—not really."
The leading Roman was so intimidated by Joseph's audacious swagger that he didn't even dare to raise his head.
"I just wanted to rub your face—"
"Are you kidding me? Can't you see all these injuries on my face?!"
The clown wasn't unprepared; he deliberately drew some wounds on the human skin mask, including bruises and knife cuts, with the blood not yet completely congealed.
Any normal person, seeing such a pitiful face, would surely not have the heart to touch and rub it.
"I'm sorry—I'm sorry, sir!"
The Romans trembled at Joseph's harsh words and quickly made way for him.
Joseph snorted and walked through the door.
But just as he brushed past the Romans, a sinister smile immediately appeared on his face, as if his wicked scheme had succeeded.
He covered his mouth the entire time while taking the elevator to his ward, so his laughter could only echo in his mouth and throat. Although not being able to laugh out loud was agonizing for him, this tense yet exciting experience was not something he could do every time.
Joseph's smile deepened as he stepped out of the elevator.
The corridor was packed with Oswald's men, who lined both sides of the passageway, turning the originally wide passage into a narrow, winding path.
"Hahahaha!! You knew I might come. It seems you remember some of the things he said to you, besides the comics."
Joseph the Joker walked down the corridor under the intense scrutiny of the crowd.
Pushing open the ward door, Harvey Dent, dressed in a white hospital gown, lay in the space filled with disinfectant, while Selena sat on a caregiver's chair beside him.
Upon seeing Qin Wei arrive, Catwoman stood up and offered him her seat.
"I'd like to speak with him alone for a couple of minutes. Could you give us some space?"
Selena, unsuspecting, nodded and left the room.
"Now it's just the two of us, darling—"
The clown murmured evilly as he approached Harvey, who was lying on the hospital bed.
Harvey had just woken up and was staring blankly at the incandescent light bulb on the ceiling. The bleeding from half of his disfigured face had stopped, and he was soaking in tissue fluid and cool medicine.
The morphine in his body was still working, so he couldn't feel any pain yet. However, he was more concerned about the situation on the battlefield than about the physical injury.
Were the bus bombs defused? Did Wei manage to save the two school buses?
The burden weighing on his heart prevented him from taking a break.
Hey! My old buddy, how are you?
Just as he was in a daze, Qin Wei's voice rang in his ears.
"How are you?" He turned half his face with difficulty, his voice hoarse.
"I lost. I lost to the Joker. We didn't find the item, and the bomb exploded. Maybe our approach was wrong from the start. Gotham can't be saved."
"Is that so—all our efforts—wasted?"
Harvey forced a smile, but tears welled up in his eyes. Although he tried hard to suppress the negative emotions, his mind was filled with the image of his deceased wife, Greta, and her smiling face.
You encouraged and guided me to confront my inner demons. It was because of you that I mustered the courage to return to Gotham. But why did you leave me? Click!
A crisp sound.
The tension in Harvey's mind snapped.
"Wei—can you help me—find—there's an ancient Roman coin in my coat pocket."
"Happy to help!"
Joseph's lips curled into a barely perceptible smile as he reached into Harvey's coat and found the coin.
During the melee at the crossroads, it shielded Harvey from a fatal bullet, leaving a dent in the front bearing the head.
Perhaps this is fate. The balance of the two sides of the coin has been completely broken. Now, no matter how high you toss it, when it falls back into your palm, people will see Octavian with a distorted face.
Holding the coin in his palm, Harvey's broken heart found some solace. Since fighting alongside Gordon and Qin Wei, he had rarely used coin tosses to help him make decisions, because he could see every path and its corresponding destination.
But now, he has fallen into deep self-doubt.
"Gotham has completely fallen. Let's end it in our own way."
In a daze, Harvey heard another voice from within.
who are you?
Oh! Perhaps I shouldn't have asked that question; you are me.
Years ago, when I was beaten and locked in the basement by my gambling father, you were the only one who stayed with me in the darkness.
You haven't appeared all these years, and I thought you had abandoned me long ago.
"Harvey will never betray Harvey. I will disappear when you don't need me, and I will appear when you are all alone."
"I can feel your pain, and I'm finding a way out for you in the darkness."
"You secretly wrote down that evidence too, didn't you? A full 182 names, you even memorized those long legal names. What was the purpose? Could it be for your closing statement in court?"
"Actually, we all know that these people can't be brought to court. The more people involved and the higher the level, the greater the resistance. You're keeping these names so that Wei can kill them."
"But have you ever considered the difference between being murdered and being murdered by you?"
Yes, what's the difference?
Harvey muttered to himself.
But just as he was about to succumb to the allure of his second personality, a phrase Qin Wei had once said suddenly flashed through his mind:
"The pure and innocent Knight of Light is more important to me and to the whole of Gotham. All I can bring is violence and terror, but you can give people hope and faith."
"Killing is indeed the most efficient way to solve certain problems, but have you ever thought about what to do with the people I can't kill?"
"Those who hide in the fortress."
"A person hiding in a pile of money."
"People who hide under the protection of the entire country."
"The bodies of vampires are immortal, but you alone can wield a sharp blade and slay their souls."
"Let them die under the law, confiscate those blood-stained coins—believe me, these things often break them more than death itself."
Harvey didn't know if it was just his imagination. This wasn't the first time he'd heard similar words. It was as if Qin Wei had foreseen this day long ago, and in their conversations, the other party always seemed to be intentionally or unintentionally strengthening his psychological defenses.
It was these words that sustained Harvey's last shred of rationality.
"I am the Knight of Light of Gotham. The Knight of Light needs no choice!"
Harvey, with a strength he didn't know he possessed, hurled the coin wolf to the ground.
Applause erupted in the ward; it was Joseph the Joker.
"What a noble character of a knight of light who was not consumed by revenge."
He was clapping with a furrowed brow, even though his eyes were full of disappointment.
The biggest difference between him and Maroni lies here: he scoffs at the idea that "people always have two faces," and because he represents pure chaos, he firmly believes that there is absolute justice in this world.
He never sought to achieve pathetic self-satisfaction by belittling his opponents; in fact, the more his opponents firmly believed in justice and fairness, the more accomplished he felt.
Sacred sculptures can evoke a sense of blasphemy in humans.
To be honest, he never considered Harvey a rival. In that previous universe, the fallen Bright Knight was just a pawn he placed to drive Batman insane.
But now it's different; for the first time, he's starting to seriously examine this face riddled with scars.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Harvey~dent! Have you ever danced with the Devil by the palemoonIight?"
"| always ask that of all my prey. I just like the sound of it. "
The clown ripped off his human skin mask. Before engaging the Knight of Light in battle, he needed to introduce himself, just like that night with Qin Wei. This damned pale man always possessed a kind of mad elegance.
Then, in Harvey's shock, he quickly covered his face with the ether-soaked handkerchief.
He could have killed Harvey and severely injured Qin Wei, but that wouldn't have been fair to Harvey.
The clown's enemies should die from their own laughter.
When Oswald stormed into the ward with a gun, Joseph was already gone.
A cold wind rushed through the open window, filling the entire room, and under the pale moonlight, it seemed to echo with a ferocious and piercing laugh.
After confirming that Xavi was alright, Oswald slapped the goalkeeper, a Roma player, to the ground, and then, in front of everyone, viciously slapped himself twice.
Qin Wei repeatedly told him to protect Harvey, but he still almost messed things up.
The little penguin's back was covered in cold sweat.
"This was my fault—"
In front of his men, Oswald began to reflect on his actions. In the six months since he became the leader, he had learned many lessons from Maroni: no matter how big a mistake his men made, he was always the first to examine himself.
He made many mistakes when he was a lackey, some of which caused considerable trouble. It was because he had experienced the pain that he knew the hardships of being a lackey.
Humiliation and abuse never bring submission, but rather fear and anger.
"I'll reiterate once again, anyone entering this hospital must have their identity verified!!"
Oswald finally turned his gaze to his trembling subordinates kneeling on the ground.
"Don't be afraid, I won't kill you. Take off your clothes and go home."
Held hostage by William Claw, Qin Wei returned to the Senate in the Lower East Side.
He transformed the basement, which was originally infested with snakes and rats, into a place resembling a human laboratory, with a clawed corpse lying on the operating table with its head blown off.
In the display case in the left corner, the first shelf holds a skull mask that exudes an ominous aura, the second shelf holds a shattered wooden puppet, and the third shelf holds a flamethrower.
The first two are from Black Mask and Ventriloquist, respectively, while the Flamethrower is the first medal he received after becoming a Chaplain.
One night three months ago, Qin Wei stopped Firefly Garfield, who had set fire to the city hall.
Considering that Firefly had supplied fireproofing materials to the bulletproof bus that robbed the bank, he did not kill it outright. He "merely" broke the victim's limbs and dragged him to the police station entrance.
This flamethrower naturally became part of his collection.
To be honest, Qin Wei felt that this thing didn't have much collectible value except for its commemorative value, since the previous collectibles all possessed special abilities.
Especially the puppet "Scarface," who still dreams of teaming up with Qin Wei to unify the Gotham underworld, while Qin Wei is like a scumbag, neither promising nor refusing. Sometimes, when he doesn't want to go back to the settlement, he runs to the basement and gets through the long nights listening to "Scarface's" stand-up comedy.
The scene returns to the present, where William Cobb I sees a large freezer in the corner. Upon opening the door, he is deeply pained by the sight of "Frozen Mary," who is now just a torso.
How dare you treat her like this?
"Why are you so agitated? Isn't she immortal? At the rate your claws heal, once she thaws, her hands and feet will grow back in a few hours."
Even so, William was still furious.
"No matter what, Claw is still a human being!!"
"Oh? You're expecting me to have empathy for you?"
Qin Wei's answer was lukewarm.
"Don't worry, it will be here soon. After all, I'll soon be one of you too."
Qin Wei applied the severed limb to the wound. It must be said that William's knife was really fast. The wound was as smooth as a mirror, and the frozen limb was applied perfectly, as if the arm had never been severed.
Then, to William's astonishment, flesh began to reconnect, and the pale limbs regained their color.
"You—you did Hengyao."
"Is your memory failing you? I just said I'd soon be one of you."
Qin Wei raised his hand, which had fully recovered, and pointed to a blood hole on his collarbone that was rapidly healing.
Just now, taking advantage of William's momentary lapse in attention, he picked up the scissors on the table and stabbed himself, then stuffed the amber gold pendant Jason had given him into the wound.
"By the way, you were never human in my world, but demons—"
Qin Wei squinted.
William's breath caught in his throat at that familiar gaze.
It is this same god of the world, the god of the world that exists when predators ambush their prey.
"If the demon Kyo can defeat the demon, I am willing to fall."