Chapter 123
Chapter 123: The Beginning of the End
As the door was pushed open, the Thousand-Face Demon Lord's silhouette appeared before the 3 of them!
When they saw what he looked like at that moment.
Guan Ming felt his scalp explode, instinctively stumbling back a full step!
Because, growing jarringly from his crisp suit, were 3 heads!
The one in the center was Ye Desheng's masked face.
And stitched and spliced onto his left and right shoulders were the severed heads of Tiffany and Chen Daozi!
"I just knew that counterfeit rat lurking in the gutters would be here too…"
"Joker."
The Thousand-Face Demon Lord looked down upon them from above, all 3 heads opening their mouths in unison.
Faced with this terrifying oppressive pressure, the Joker's expression didn't change in the slightest.
"For such a grand and magnificent performance, how could I, as the most devoted audience member, possibly be absent?"
"I trust you will understand my thirst for knowledge…"
"Director Christopher."
"Oh ho~"
The Thousand-Face Demon Lord laughed.
"It seems you have seen through my plan entirely."
"How about it… are you interested in willingly offering yourself to become one of the perfect components of my flawless body?"
"As it happens, I still lack a few organs to complete the final Five Qi Return to Origin."
"Hahaha, that won't be necessary."
The Joker waved his hand dismissively.
"After all, someone once asked me the very same question."
"But I refused her."
"Because… compared to her."
"Your absurd path to godhood is nothing but pitiable delusion."
"Heh… Delusion, is it?"
The Thousand-Face Demon Lord wasn't provoked in the slightest.
"I once doubted myself the same way, in the endless darkness of night."
"But now…"
The Thousand-Face Demon Lord spread his arms wide.
"The right time! The right place! The right people!"
"The path to godhood has already been laid at my feet without a single obstacle!"
"It is as though the will of this entire world!"
"Has been standing behind me through some unseen design, sweeping away every hindrance in my path!"
"Everything—all of it—has gone so smoothly that it intoxicates the mind!"
"And so…"
"This is no delusion. It is a coronation that is about to become fact!"
"Hahaha! Clap clap clap!"
The Joker began to applaud again. "Your confidence truly fills me with genuine delight, Mr. Christopher."
"In that case…"
"I shall refrain from interrupting your revelry, and clear out a little private stage space for the grand performance you are about to put on.
"Because…"
"If nothing unexpected occurs, that man should be arriving about now."
"And I still have some minor personal grudges to settle."
With that, the Joker stepped forward and made to walk toward the door.
"Wait! What do you think you're doing?!"
Guan Ming immediately panicked, instinctively calling out to stop him.
The Joker paused, turned his head, and tapped his own temple.
"Has your brain broken, dear audience member?"
"You…"
"Surely you haven't developed the delusion that I'm actually your companion during our little escape just now, have you?"
"I…"
Guan Ming was instantly left speechless, his complexion cycling between green and white.
Indeed, all along the way down from the 7th floor.
His subconscious had already come to treat this guiding Joker as a comrade.
Forgetting entirely that…
The other party was also a monster with hands soaked in blood, just like the Director!
Watching Guan Ming's deflated expression, the Joker laughed in delight.
"Hahaha, what a fascinating human reaction."
"But… I have no interest in a feeble creature like you."
The Joker turned his head, his gaze blazing as it fixed onto the Silk-Stocking Desperado.
"Silk-Stocking Miss, however—your ability and your character are both of the finest caliber."
"I wonder… would you have any interest in joining our Arashin-kai?"
The moment those words landed, the Thousand-Face Demon Lord blocking the doorway was the first to object inwardly.
Whether the Joker stayed or left, he couldn't care less—he had long since seen through it all.
The Joker before him was nothing more than a Stand-In that could be discarded at any moment; devouring it would yield nothing of value.
But the Silk-Stocking Desperado absolutely could not leave!
Her heart and her extraordinarily unique Plunder ability were the most perfect final piece for completing his Five Qi Return to Origin!
Just as killing intent surged in the Thousand-Face Demon Lord's eyes and he prepared to first crush the Joker's Stand-In and forcibly detain the Silk-Stocking Desperado—
"I'm sorry, I refuse."
The Silk-Stocking Desperado's voice was the first to break the deadlock.
Hearing that answer, the Joker didn't show any sign of disappointment either; he simply gave a casual shrug.
"In that case, I won't press the matter."
"After all, the threads of fate are already intertwined—we will meet again one day, Silk-Stocking Miss."
"Farewell."
Just as the Joker was about to turn and fully depart this place of strife—
"Wait a moment."
The Silk-Stocking Desperado suddenly called out to stop him again.
She raised her hand and pointed at Guan Ming beside her.
"Mr. Joker, take him with you."
"Keeping him around, when you face that man…"
"Could serve as a bit of extra insurance for you, couldn't it?"
"After all…"
"Not everyone has seen you, or knows who you are."
The Joker's footsteps stalled.
He turned his head, a smile spreading across his face.
"My, my, Silk-Stocking Miss—I find myself growing fonder of your brilliance with every passing moment."
"If we could become colleagues, we would surely make a wonderfully compatible pair of friends."
"What a pity, however…"
"Our paths do not lead to the same destination."
"But this condition of yours—I accept it."
The Joker turned to face the Thousand-Face Demon Lord blocking the doorway and gave a slight bow.
"What do you say, Mr. Christopher? Would you allow me to take this negligible piece of garbage with me?"
The Thousand-Face Demon Lord let out a cold snort.
"A worthless fool who isn't even worth picking from between one's teeth. I have no use for it—take it if you want."
For the Thousand-Face Demon Lord at this moment, he had no desire to cause unnecessary complications by making an enemy of the Joker.
He understood better than anyone how strange and troublesome the Thousand-Face Demon Lord ability was.
To stubbornly fight the Joker's Stand-In to the death over a living person with no value—
Potentially even exposing his own trump cards in the process—would be an absolutely losing transaction.
"Then I thank you for your generosity, Mr. Christopher."
The Joker bowed again, then beckoned toward Guan Ming with a wave.
Guan Ming stood frozen in place, his mind a total blank.
He looked at the Joker, then at the Thousand-Face Demon Lord.
Finally, he turned his gaze to the Silk-Stocking Desperado, his eyes flickering with uncertainty, until at last he clenched his fist, about to harden his resolve—
"Sis, I don't—"
"Get lost! You little brother!"
The Silk-Stocking Desperado suddenly kicked out hard, sending Guan Ming flying toward the Joker.
She turned her back to Guan Ming. "You know where to go and who to find to stay alive!"
"Staying here, you'd only be Dead Weight!"
"As it happens… it's time I settled things with him personally."
Watching the Silk-Stocking Desperado's resolute back.
Guan Ming stood dumbstruck beside the Joker, unable to utter a single word.
As the weak one, in a clash of this scale between gods.
There was nothing he could do—staying behind would make him a complete and utter burden.
The Joker, however, gave no room for argument; he seized Guan Ming by the collar and forcibly dragged him out through the Morgue's main door.
In the instant he turned and disappeared into the darkened corridor, the mocking smile that had been on the Joker's face vanished.
In its place was a darkened gaze.
‘That woman…’
‘Just now, that sentence of hers clearly saw through my secret.’
‘And she even saw through who my target is.’
‘Never mind, though…’
‘Facing the Thousand-Face Demon Lord, she will die here today without question.’
‘And what I must do now is complete the task Nightmare has assigned me—at any cost!’
The Joker calculated inwardly.
‘If Nightmare were to find out that I not only got the 7th Seat Tiffany killed…’
‘But also failed to eliminate No Words Needed…’
‘He would hunt me to the ends of the earth!’
‘But as long as I proceed according to the script I've set…'
‘Even if this Stand-In of mine can't defeat him, I've already laid another failsafe long in advance!’
‘No Words Needed…’
‘Will absolutely not walk out of this hospital alive today!’
Thinking this, the Joker dragged Guan Ming out of the Morgue.
However, the moment they had just stepped into that corridor—the Path of the Underworld that had previously been packed with Ghost Doctors—
The Joker's footsteps halted.
Not only him; Guan Ming, being dragged along, froze too.
Because this wide, darkened corridor was now…
A slaughterhouse!
Black blood, reeking of filth, covered the floor!
The hundreds of Ghost Doctors and Ghost Nurses that had previously been standing guard outside the door—
Were now nothing but a carpet of severed limbs, dismembered arms, and scattered chunks of flesh!
"This…"
Guan Ming's mind crashed on the spot; the words escaped him involuntarily.
"The Thousand-Face Demon Lord… went berserk and slaughtered even his own underling ghosts to fuse with them?!"
The Joker surveyed this carnage-strewn scene, his pupils contracting slightly.
Then his face bloomed again into a smile of excitement.
"No… This wasn't done by the Thousand-Face Demon Lord."
The Joker stared hard into the endless darkness at the corridor's far end.
"This is…"
"The person I have been waiting for all this time—he has finally arrived."
Just as the Joker's words fell!
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
The sound of armored footsteps echoed out from that darkness.
With every step that fell, the grotesque severed limbs all around instantly crumbled into a carpet of black ash!
The darkness seemed to recoil in fear, retreating to both sides.
At the end of that deathly silence, a tall, upright silhouette began to emerge.
He was clad in black-and-crimson armor, his left hand holding a lantern exuding a Primordial Black Aura.
And in his right hand…
The high-ranking Ghost Doctor from before had been hoisted into the air by him with one hand, dangling casually!
Then it too crumbled to ash, following in the footsteps of the other ghosts.
Jiang Nan's crimson pupils, burning in the darkness, had already locked onto the Joker and Guan Ming.
At the same time, they also announced the beginning of the end of this entire farce.
The game…
Was about to end.