Chapter 3 Chapter 3
The child lying on the hospital bed woke up. She opened her eyes but looked at nothing. She didn't care at all about her situation or whether there was anyone around her.
Blood, dirt and sweat soaked her black curly hair, sticking to her pale and slightly sunken cheeks. It was obvious that this child had not suffered much hardship and torture in her life before being abandoned. She had no traces of wind, rain, sun or rain, and had no experience of worrying about life and running around for it at a young age.
But now she has completely closed herself off, immersed in her own empty world, and nothing can wake her up except the threat of death.
A hand wearing a dark purple leather glove threw a bag at her. After her body shivered uncontrollably, the aroma of hot corn juice and bread made her stomach ache and twitch, and her stomach acid was secreted and her appetite increased wildly.
During the two days she was 'taken care' by Mary, she was only forced to drink some tap water to prevent herself from dying before being taken away by the clown.
Hunger can sometimes easily defeat a person's sanity, but she seemed sleepy again, and her eyelids were about to close again. But before she closed her eyes, a cold, sharp light stopped in front of her. It was held by the same hand as before, and it was a small knife.
As expected, her eyes were drawn to it, and in the dimly lit basement clinic, a smile appeared on the clown's hideous face, but he was patient enough with this new toy. He shook the knife handle with his fingers, and then slowly lifted it up. Even though she was looking at the blade very intently, his gaze was too intense, and at one moment their eyes met.
The clown's smile was filled with chaos and evil, but as he gripped the knife handle with the tip pointing at the brown paper bag, they were having a silent communication. After all, he was a person who was full of curiosity about the people and things that interested him, and when he got a new toy, he would not destroy it immediately, but always have fun with it.
Her empty eyes could not see his malice, and drifted back to the knife. That was the 'death' she longed for. The knife was sharp and threatening, and it was what she wanted.
If you keep your eyes open for too long, they will become dry and you may even shed tears, but the clown remains unmoved.
Perhaps she understood what he meant, she struggled to sit up and was finally willing to eat, but her movements were stiff and there were slight and uncontrollable tremors. Her stomach, which had not eaten for a long time, felt a cramp after receiving the food. She ate very slowly and could not eat much at all.
The clown knew exactly what her current condition was, and didn't care about this little thing. Seeing that she had finished eating, he gestured to the door with a knife in his hand, "Follow me," and left as if he was sure that she would follow him. When she got out of bed behind him, she lost her strength and fell. It took her a long time to recover. A man wearing a clown mask came in, picked up the garbage and took it away, but didn't even look at her.
He had already reached the rooftop of the building. He waited for several minutes before she slowly climbed up and stopped two meters behind him, her hands hanging down, and she froze again.
"You're like a clockwork man, kid. Without winding your spring, you have no power, right?"
This is an interesting metaphor. The Joker likes the fun he has found for himself, but he has no intention of preaching to this clockwork doll. She will not become his audience, but she has already had an exclusive position given to her by him.
The clown turned around, strode over, grabbed her by the back of the collar, lifted her up, and took her directly to the edge of the roof. This position was very dangerous. She was light and shaky in his hands. As long as he let go, she would fall and might suffer at least multiple fractures or at most direct death.
He was testing the child's reaction to danger, and in this situation, she was forced to lower her head and stare down because she was being carried, which actually made her relax a lot.
She was very close to death. Unlike the long and unbearable torture brought by hunger strike, falling from a high altitude would definitely kill her as long as the height was high enough. Even though the building was not very tall, she still hoped for that ending.
The clown stared at her with interest, but asked, "What are you afraid of?"
Of course, the child was undoubtedly afraid, even though she had already closed herself off and left only the last instruction to pursue death, but he was the Joker, the biggest madman and the worst psychopath. What was so difficult about him wanting to know some 'truth'?
——Isn't it obvious at a glance? Hahahaha!
He thought of something funny and laughed crazily. He casually put the child down. There was a short platform outside the rooftop, which was barely enough for an adult to stand on. But she slowly sat down.
The wind blew her short curly hair, some of it stung her eyes. She closed her eyes, then slid down the platform with her hands, but the clown grabbed her collar again.
"You haven't answered my question yet, and you are mine." He said in a creepy tone, and his expression was extremely distorted because he had just laughed wildly.
"Only I can decide whether you live or die."
The clown leaned over and grasped her jaw with his hands. There was an unpleasant smell on his leather gloves, the stench of dried blood mixed with the smell of gunpowder, and perhaps something even worse and more disgusting. He saw that her eyes were always empty.
He dragged her back by the back of her collar, and a knife appeared in his hand like magic. As if suddenly changing his face, he cut her arm with the knife, and blood flowed out. The clown watched her reaction carefully. She did not show any fear, and the only response she gave was -
Confused.
A sharp knife should bring death, but why doesn't it? Bleeding. Will it kill?
She was truly a unique delight, so funny that even clowns would laugh.
The clown led her down from the rooftop and into an alley surrounded by a group of people wearing clown masks. He casually pointed to an inconspicuous subordinate standing at the edge and said, "You, this little trouble will be handed over to you from today. I don't want to have any fun with corpses for the time being, okay?"
When it comes to managing his gang, the Joker doesn't put much effort into it. He rules his men with fear, and whether they are motivated by money or fanatically worship him is of no importance to the Joker.
He didn't remember the name of that subordinate, but he saw that he was thin and looked funny wearing a mask that was larger than his head. Such a stupid thing was not suitable to appear in his team. In the past, he was thrown out as a 'consumable', but now he should be glad that he has another place to go.
The clown gang members gathered around burst into laughter, and one of them said in a strange voice: "Oh, dear Bob, you must complete Mr. J's task well. When I have children in the future, I will ask you to be my babysitter." This made them laugh again.
But the malicious words that followed were not suppressed at all, "assuming you haven't turned into a corpse by then."
It is common for the Joker to kill people in a fit of rage. Maybe Bob was insignificant before, but now unfortunately, he has caught the Joker's attention, which means that he will not get a good result no matter what. However, with the task given to him by the Joker, he is safe for the time being. But no one will tell these words to poor Bob.
They left.
…
Because of the Joker's order, Bob bought a two-story house in downtown Gotham. Originally, he thought that a two-bedroom apartment would be enough, but the Joker's men said that there was no need to save the money they got. He meant that how much money he could get within the scope of the Joker's tacit approval depended on his ability, but Bob bought a small building anyway.
Anyway, properties in the downtown area are not worth much. Even if the house is in disrepair, the previous owner removed all the valuables before selling it. Many places are leaking, paint is peeling, and glue is coming off. In addition, the furniture has been replenished - bought at the second-hand market, and the wages paid to cheap and parallel-imported workers are not much.
Bob was busy with his own home repairs, carpentry, waterproofing, paint touch-ups, and buying tools. Strictly speaking, he didn't save much money, but he felt fulfilled and had regrets.
However, there was still a lot of money left, and Bob took the 'trouble' thrown at him seriously. He would force the child to eat when she refused. It was not easy to handle whole and hard food, as it might cause choking. However, the home blender was a great invention.
Although the child's bedroom was empty and there was nothing that could cause her to hurt herself, it didn't seem good to keep her from exercising. So he tied a rope to the front of the treadmill, tied it around the child's waist, and set it to a slow speed to let her exercise. Even his strange brain could come up with this idea.
The Joker praised him every time he saw him. In short, Bob was completing his mission very well. The Joker occasionally came out of Arkham Asylum and would come to see her when he remembered her. He found that her face was no longer sunken. Except for her mental problems, she was barely a healthy child.
He took her with him, and following him, watching the bullets, the blood, and the death at the crime scene, she seemed to be slowly reviving.
She was at the place closest to death, watching the Joker kill people, and the members of the Joker Gang. When they became active, they wantonly caused destruction and casualties in the city. The smell of death was strong, but she could not get death. This desire awakened her.
Once again, they were taken out by the Joker. They were in a remote warehouse. The henchman said, "Mr. J, there's no stock here! Were we cheated? That damn Sionis..."
Because he was very noisy and thought that the damn Sionis and his deceived boss were idiots, and he couldn't even hide his thoughts, he was shot in the head. Blood splattered in the air and then fell to the ground, with white brain matter and some fishy liquid flowing out, but the common state of death would not attract any attention - unless he was resurrected.
The Joker put his gun back indifferently. Before leaving, he casually pointed at a follower, but he didn't expect that the follower was not only self-righteous, but also took the rumors he heard from somewhere seriously.
He felt that such idiots were rare, and gave a strange smile. "Black Mask delivered the goods to me? There is a cooperation? How come I didn't know this news?"
The man in a purple suit and green hair walked a few steps to the side and scanned the warehouse. Because he was too familiar with the child he brought out, he easily found her 'hiding place'.
She always hides herself, especially in a narrow crevices, preferably where only she can hide. Then she waits for people to forget her and for death to come.
It was a harmless, tolerable little quirk, and before the Joker could drag her out, the person he was waiting for arrived.
They didn't pay any attention to the corpse lying on the ground. They talked and bargained for a long time, and the words were cordial. When the workers who were moving the goods left and were about to pay for the goods, the clown patted the other person's shoulder in a friendly manner.
He laughed, "Oh my god, man, you can't-"
The sharp needle pierces the clothes and skin, and the venom is injected into them. This little thing is not big in size, so it is destined not to have a large dose, but the powerful venom does not care about this, it has already taken effect.
"You can't trust a criminal, understand? Otherwise, you'll end up like you are now, losing everything."
The two people present kept the same smile, showing a weird tacit understanding, but unfortunately one had gone crazy a long time ago, and the other had just become stupid. The clown hummed his tune and went to check the goods. He opened the box and checked each item, and casually said: "Give me my cane." This was his follower's job.
There were more than a dozen boxes in total, which contained instruments as well as some chemicals. They were not cheap and were contraband. If Black Mask had not recently attracted the attention of the Bat, it would have been difficult for him to collect these things on the black market, but this self-righteous businessman happened to run into him.
He thought he could make a fortune by doing business with criminals that even the GCPD was helpless against, but it turned out to be just a farce that should be performed on April Fools' Day.
It was already late at night when the clown finished inspecting the goods. He checked the last few boxes entirely with a flashlight. Turning around, he saw that the child who would not move unless he was taken out before came out by herself. She was holding his cane in her hand, as if handing it to him.
"Wow," an exaggerated look of surprise appeared on his face. He leaned down and looked directly into her eyes, unexpectedly finding something different in those eyes.
He is thinking.
Then his smile grew wider. He had discovered that something else had revived in her eyes, that was 'being needed, being recognized and the existence that came from it'.
Perhaps it would take something from the beginning to wake her up - either death or something else.
The clown knew the answer, so he was interested and surprised, but it was just a toy of his, and maybe he would have more fun killing time in the future.
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