Chapter 56 "The Clown"
Angel stared blankly at the empty space downstairs.
The battlefield, which had been chaotic but still clear just now, was now in ruins.
Riel Bieber, who was over two meters tall and weighed an estimated 300 kilograms, exploded after Lolota pulled out the Antigonus Notes. His twisted body was shattered more thoroughly than the "dock worker" that was torn apart by it. Countless pieces of flesh, internal organs and mucus swept across everyone on the field along with the surging shock wave.
The Tuxedo Clown who tried to steal the notes faced the explosion and was instantly knocked away, but what flew over the battlefield and hit the wall of the warehouse was a burning paper man. Under the flames, the clown disappeared without a trace.
The other night watchmen were not having an easy time either.
In order to control Reel Bieber, Dunn was also very close to the shock wave and was blown more than ten meters away. His head hit a wooden box beside him, and his body twitched and he fell down.
Lorota and Borgia were in the same direction, landing in the same spot. Lorota had already been seriously injured by Reel Bibb's silent howl, and then he had used his ability to find the monster's weakness and retrieve the Antigonus Notebook. Now, after being thrown and thrown like that, he was completely motionless. Borgia was slightly better, lying next to Lorota, groaning and shaking his arms, unconsciously groping in his pockets.
Leonard's condition was the worst. When he tried to control Riel Bieber through the Midnight Poet's ability, he was injured by the howling, bleeding from his mouth and nose, and fell to the ground. He was also blown to a corner of the open space by the shock wave in the explosion, and there was a lot of fresh blood around him.
Klein was the farthest from the center of the explosion and didn't seem to have suffered much damage. He had already climbed up from the ground, shaking his head, trying to stay awake.
After quickly assessing the situation on the field, Angel jumped from the roof and landed slowly with the help of the assassin's "lightness", preparing to help Leonard, who was the most seriously injured.
She did not forget the Tuxedo Clown who had escaped, but this wild Beyonder with top-notch escape skills must have been injured at this time and did not immediately appear to snatch Antigonus' notes.
Oh, and the notes...
She glanced at the ground covered with broken pieces of flesh and internal organs, and found that the notebook with an ancient and mysterious appearance, stained with Rui Er Bieber's body fluids, was lying quietly next to an arm with flesh torn and flesh, as if it had been chewed by a dog.
Is that the "Dockers" one or the "Riel Bieber" one?
Suppressing the urge to vomit, Angel turned his gaze to Klein, who still stood aside and seemed to be stunned. He said to him, "Klein, protect the notes. I'll go check on Leonard. He..."
Klein, his windbreaker covered in dust and his top hat tattered, stood motionless, his eyes lifeless, his feet twisted in a strange position, as if he had paused his tap dance.
Could it be...
She saw Sealed Artifact 2-049, the iron box containing the Antigonus puppet, lying at Klein's feet, less than a meter away. Perhaps due to Dunn's previous shooting and Rel Bieber's shocking explosion at the end, the box had already cracked a large crack. The puppet's small hands, wrapped in brown cloth, were clinging to the crack, and there seemed to be a pair of eyes inside, peeking at the outside world.
Klein was controlled by 2-049? How long had it been?
Angel bit her lip in frustration. Just now, when she was looking down from above, she mistakenly thought that Klein was stunned by the shock wave generated by the explosion. She didn't expect that this unlucky guy was directly controlled by the negative effect because 2-049 was blown next to him and directly entered the effective range of five meters.
The only question now is, is it too late to save him?
Without bothering to help the seriously injured Leonard, Angel walked directly towards Klein, who was in a completely stagnant state, and stopped about six meters away from 2-049 and about five meters away from Klein.
She still remembered the changes that occurred in Sealed Object 2-049 after it sensed the breath of the descendant of the Antigonus family in Riel Bieber's house. Now that it was in a place full of Riel Bieber's "breath", 2-049 was undoubtedly still in a manic state, which meant that it could control two targets at the same time.
Although he was eager to save the person, sacrificing himself was pointless. He was the only one present who could move. If he rashly walked into the effective range of the seal, he would be the second victim before he could save Klein. His only option was to find a stick beyond the range of 2-049 and poke Klein's body to wake him.
No, besides myself, there was also that clown in a tuxedo...
As she thought of this, she seemed to hear secret and slow footsteps.
But apart from himself and Klein, who was standing stiffly, there was no third person standing around.
It looked like Tuxedo Joker had used his ability to hide himself again. Was he planning to kill her? Or was he dealing with Klein, who was like a sitting duck?
Angel held the gun in one hand, his mind racing, his eyes scanning in the direction of the footsteps.
Notes, they are the notes of the Antigonus family!
The notebook on the ground that Lolota had taken out of Riel Bibb's body attracted her attention. The Tuxedo Clown seemed to be provoking and interfering with the Night Watchers' battle aimlessly, but his target had always been this notebook.
At this moment, she only regretted that she did not stay up late to make a few "Phantom Phosphorus Eruptions". If she had brought this special bullet to deal with invisible enemies, she would not have fallen into the current passive situation.
Unfortunately, it was too late to regret now. She could only follow the general direction of the footsteps and the connection of the notes and fire two bursts according to her intuition.
"Bang! Bang!"
As expected, this blind shooting had no chance of hitting the target, but the two shots successfully stopped the invisible clown. Angel seized the opportunity and rushed towards Antigonus's notebook. He ignored the disgusting red and yellow mucus on the cover and grabbed it in his hand.
Less than five meters in front of her, the air seemed to be distorted by the heat, and like an invisible curtain being lifted, the thin figure of the clown in a tuxedo appeared.
Calling him a tuxedo clown no longer felt right. He looked like a beggar who had found some rags. His black formal suit, worn for a fancy dinner, was ripped and ripped by the explosion. One sleeve was missing, revealing a close-fitting white shirt speckled with blood. His silk hat had been discarded somewhere, and the clown paint on his face had been stained with blood. His mouth was drawn back in anger, and his eyes, emphasized by the red paint, stared at Angel.
Bang!
The Joker snapped his fingers, and invisible bullets appeared, shooting at a speed comparable to that of physical bullets.
Angel, who had seen the opponent's methods and was well prepared, rolled on the ground to avoid the attack of the "air bullet" and raised his gun to shoot back.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Shot after shot, Angel finally realized the helplessness of the Night Watchmen who had fought the Joker before. Even if they were less than ten meters away, the Joker could still twist his body or jump and change direction to perfectly avoid the bullets shot at him.
Is it his reaction speed? Or is it the special ability given to him by the potion?
Fortunately, the threat of the gun made the Joker dare not continue to pursue. He bypassed the effective range of 2-049 and drew an arc away from Angel.
Does he know the effect of the seal?
Angel looked at the Joker's movement path in confusion, and moved away from his position at the moment the Joker snapped his fingers and sent back invisible bullets, avoiding the fatal blow.
“Crack!”
The trigger was empty, and Angel, who had run out of bullets, still failed to hurt the agile Joker. She was holding the notebook in one hand and couldn't reload, so she had to throw away the empty gun and take out the spare pistol from her armpit. However, due to this delay, the Joker had already circled behind Klein along the range of influence of 2-049.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk." The clown, now protected, was no longer silent and uttered his first words of the day: "Stop doing these meaningless things. Don't you want to rescue your companion quickly? In two or three minutes, he will never wake up."
The two of them now stood in a straight line around the area where 2-049 was effective, with Klein, who was in a stagnant state, as the center. They were ten meters away. Angel tried to bypass Klein, but the other party was very alert and immediately made corresponding movements in sync, hiding behind Klein.
The two men were like cowboys dueling with guns, circling Klein step by step, constantly adjusting their positions and looking for opportunities.
"My only mission is to get that notebook. Throw it to me and I'll leave immediately." The clown's slightly shrill voice drifted towards me on the wind. "You still have plenty of time to save him. This is a last resort, and your superiors won't blame you."
"How can you guarantee that you won't kill us after getting the notes?"
Angel put on a hesitant expression and asked slowly, his feet moving non-stop, trying to move left and right, trying to find a shooting range that could bypass Klein and hit the opponent.
"I can't guarantee that, but I can guarantee one thing: if you don't hand over the notes immediately, I'll kill this idiot first, and then have a 'fair duel' with you."
The Joker reached over his head with one hand to adjust his top hat, and with the other hand, he snapped his fingers. An invisible bullet created a shallow crater under Klein's feet, but unfortunately, the top hat was nowhere to be found, making this deliberately handsome action even more ridiculous.
No, from this position, I can only hit his hand, and with his vigilance, it is almost impossible to hit him...
Angel watched the Joker's hands and feet stretching out from behind Crane from time to time, and tried to shoot several times, but couldn't find a good opportunity.
If only someone could help...
"If you kill him, I will throw the notes next to the box and you will never get them." While perfunctorily answering the clown, Angel glanced around. Several injured Nighthawks were either unconscious or groaning, and no one could provide immediate support.
At this moment, she noticed that Klein's lifeless eyes, which had been standing stiffly, seemed to regain their spirit and he blinked at Angel.
Can people affected by 2-049 still blink?
When she was puzzled, Klein twitched the corner of his mouth again, as if he was afraid that the clown behind him would notice. The movement was very small, but the careful Angel still noticed it.
Has he gotten rid of the negative effects?
Although it was unknown how Klein did it, this was undoubtedly the best way to break the deadlock.
"How about this, I'll throw the notes at his feet first, you help me rescue him, and then take the notes and leave." In order to prevent the Joker from discovering that Klein had woken up, Angel casually made a suggestion to attract the other party's attention.
"Do you take me for a fool? If he dares to do that, I'll put a hole in his head right away."
The Joker seemed to be enraged. He raised his right hand, pinched his thumb and middle finger together, and made a gesture as if to fire an invisible bullet.
Klein, with his back to him, blinked again and then glanced down at his feet.
He is signaling to use Sealed Artifact 2-049!
Angel reacted without hesitation. He swung his left hand holding the notebook and threw the Antigonus Notebook at Klein's feet... 2-049.
At the same time, Klein bent down and squatted, avoiding the invisible bullet shot at him by the angry Joker.
Bang!
"Bang!"
The sound of snapping fingers and firing a revolver rang out simultaneously, and invisible and tangible bullets flew over Klein's head at the same time. The former grazed Angel's left shoulder as he dodged sideways, piercing his windbreaker and leaving a bloody mark, while the latter penetrated the Joker's right chest, creating an ugly wound that went through the front and back.
This guy!
How did he wake up?
The clown's eyes widened in horror. He didn't bother to continue attacking the two men. He covered the wound on his chest with one hand and wiped it towards his shoulder, wiping off the fatal wound like wiping a stain. A bloody wound appeared on his shoulder.
He pinched two fingers of his other hand together and snapped them, and flames seemed to burst out from between his fingers.
Mission failed, now I can only...escape...
His rapidly working thoughts suddenly became sluggish and slow, his joints were filled with glue, and he could hardly move at all. In his sight, the flames that jumped out from his fingers burned and disappeared, leaving only a wisp of black smoke.
It's...Anti...Brother...
The only eye that could still move turned to the ground below him. The iron box that was originally a few meters away now appeared next to him. In the cracks, pure black pupilless eyes were looking at him.
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