Volume 4 Chapter 11: Reunion

The Joker’s Gift was very troublesome to activate, but that did not stop it from being powerful. In fact, this skill not only had the ability to Simulate, but it also had transformation effects.

The simulating ability of the skill was a bit like Qin Lun’s Combat Model created within Death Notice, capable of analyzing the enemy’s fighting patterns and attributes. But it was not data-based like the Combat Model, and largely relied on the Joker’s own combat talent.

The other ability, transformation, allowed the Joker to convert his body attributes during the skill’s duration. For example, converting Strength to Agility, or converting Life Force to Mana, and so on.

In a way, the killing skill attached to this Human Skin Mask was the most direct expression of the Joker’s combat talent. Qin Lun and the four other Serial Killers, if you ignored right and wrong, were among the most outstanding individuals in humanity.

The mental hallucinations shown in Qin Lun also appeared in the other Serial Killers, just with different names. For example, the Shepherd had paranoia, and Disciple Hansen had war trauma after-effects…

Such mental hallucinations and delusions often caused the patient’s will to collapse. But few people knew that some humans with special talent could, in turn, make use of these mental hallucinations, actively or passively causing their brains to develop in extraordinary ways.

Qin Lun’s data-based Death Notice and Combat Model, and Grant’s Joker’s Gift, were both abilities that could only be used smoothly after extreme brain development. From this angle, becoming an Apostle just meant gradually digging out the Serial Killer’s potential that was originally hidden in their bodies.

No one yet knew how terrifying these Serial Killers would become if they leveled up into enhanced Serial Killers within the Shattered Starry Sky.

The reason Qin Lun stayed only twenty-something meters from the fighting, rather than using that modified Kar98 sniper rifle from far away to support Grant, was mainly because he was afraid the sniper rifle would not break the pursuers’ defenses.

That sniper rifle was very powerful against ordinary people, but it only had a 7.22mm caliber. Even with armor-piercing bullets, from too far away it would be useless against Superhumans. Since he had decided to stay and deal with the pursuers together with Grant, he had not thought of running away. Besides, in just five minutes, where could he run? They must either beat the enemy together with Grant, or simply surrender.

The FN-500 had a range of 100 meters, and he chose to reduce the distance to within 30 meters before shooting, due to close combat considerations. If the FN-500’s maximum energy concentration could not harm the enemy, he would have to jump out and join Grant in attacking Little Red Riding Hood.

The moment Qin Lun activated Weakness Crosshair, both people in the fighting circle sensed it. Both the Joker and the red-haired girl had an instinctive feeling for that kind of spine-chilling danger.

Compared to the red-haired girl, the Joker, who had experienced Weakness Crosshair once before, reacted faster. He pushed off with his feet, unexpectedly ignoring the red-haired girl’s attack, and directly used his body as a shield in front of her. At the same time, he turned his head and roared toward Qin Lun’s hiding place, “No! She’s mine, mine!”

Bang! With the gunshot, the Joker grunted, a bloody flower blooming on his shoulder. However, although the Joker’s Parasitic Virus Bloodline had strong recovery ability, the defense of the initial bloodline was not enough to withstand the FN-500’s maximum energy concentration.

Moreover, with Perception control, Qin Lun changed the originally spread-out Light-energy Scattergun into a straight line, completely piercing through the Joker’s shoulder.

Thump! Little Red Riding Hood’s head, wearing the infrared night-vision goggles, jerked backward. A stream of blood shot out from her left eye area, and she fell backward, dragging the large red scythe.

At the same time the red-haired girl fell, a black shadow leaped up from a patch of grass not far from the fighting circle, rushing over like a whirlwind, closing in on the two in just a few seconds.

Qin Lun flipped his hand, the FN-500 disappeared into his sleeve, and a sinister black dagger appeared in his palm. Holding the Dagger of Sin in a reverse grip, while still over ten meters away from the two, he leaped up. His body did a front flip as if weightless, drifting a distance through the air, passed over the Joker’s head, and pounced down toward the red-haired girl like an eagle.

“No way!” The Joker roared as he turned, kicking out toward the back of Qin Lun’s head.

“Hmph!” Qin Lun frowned slightly, twisting his body nimbly in midair and kicking out, sole against sole. The Joker staggered back a few steps, and Qin Lun was helplessly pushed far away by him. The two stood in a line with the red-haired girl at the center.

“Ouch ouch ouch, that hurt!” The red-haired girl shook her head and stood up, tearing off the shattered infrared night-vision goggles. Above her left eyebrow bone was a large gash, blood dripping down her face.

Just now, Qin Lun’s shot had most of its power absorbed by the Joker’s body. Plus, the red-haired girl alertly leaned back, so she avoided serious injury to her left eye, only getting her eyebrow scratched by fragments of the night-vision goggles.

“You can’t kill her alone!” Qin Lun stared closely at the Joker and cautiously said, “Let me help you!”

“My collection items must always be completed by me alone!” The Joker clutched his shoulder and growled low.

“Killing her here means one less obstacle in future missions!” Qin Lun slowly narrowed his eyes, a faint red glow beginning to show in his pupils. Even with the Joker having only one arm, he did not dare be careless. This guy’s displayed ability just now was too terrifying.

“For people like us, missions are not the top priority!” The Joker’s mouth stretched to his ears, he stuck out his tongue to lick the blood on his lips, slowly lowered his arms, and bent his body like a hunchback. “If you interfere, then I’ll help her instead!”

The Joker’s words were somewhat puzzling, but Qin Lun, also a Serial Killer, could understand. He looked expressionlessly at the Joker and did not speak again. He understood well—reasoning with a Serial Killer in the grip of obsession was useless. In the same situation, if it were him, he would do the same!

The red-haired girl covered her face, looking at the Joker, then at Qin Lun. Her eyeballs rolled, she shrunk her neck, stood on tiptoe, and carefully backed away.

She had only retreated a few meters when the two Serial Killers, standing like statues facing each other, suddenly turned their heads expressionlessly to look at her.

“Oh… hi, two Handsome Guys, the moon is so round tonight!” The red-haired girl tilted her head, smiled, and waved her small hand at the two. Then she suddenly turned, dragging the large scythe, and dashed off toward the small woods. “Little me won’t disturb you two enjoying the moon, bye-bye!”

“She ran away, aren’t you going after her?” Qin Lun raised his eyelids.

“I’m not sick, why would I go seek death alone?” The Joker took off the Human Skin Mask, turned to pick up his severed arm and tucked it into his chest. Walking into the distance, he said lightly, “There’s plenty of time. Sooner or later, she will be my collection item!”

The two soon met up with Lin Feng. The spoiled young master had seen everything through the sniper rifle’s scope, knew these two bosses had a dispute, and followed them fearfully. Qin Lun took the initiative to ask about Lili and Little Lian.

“Those two didn’t manage to break out; they surrendered to the Allied Forces!” Lin Feng said carefully. “But, their Main Quest hasn’t failed yet; it seems they received a hidden branch storyline!”

Not long after the two Serial Killers left, the red-haired girl and a beautiful girl in a white dress walked out from the woods.

“You messed up again!” The white-haired beauty in white said angrily, looking at the red-haired girl.

“Don’t blame me this time! Even you, Irene, couldn’t handle those two!” The red-haired girl looked thoughtfully in the direction the two had left. “But, those two guys don’t seem like ordinary German soldiers!”

“Of course they’re not the same, they’re Superpowered Beings!” The all-white beauty proudly lifted her chin. “I captured two of their people, though.”

“Just two medics!” The red-haired girl said discontentedly. “The two I encountered were different!”

“Well then, Liv, tell me, how were they different?” Irene raised her delicate eyebrows, asking doubtfully.

“I can’t explain it, but they were just different!” The red-haired girl puffed her cheeks, saying unwillingly.

Actually, during the fight, she had keenly noticed that Grant’s performance was too abnormal, realizing the Joker used a powerful skill with a time limit, and his actual combat power probably wasn’t higher than hers. If she could have kept stalling, she might have been able to defeat her opponent.

But when she was caught between the two Serial Killers just now, she sensed that the two had another kind of terrifying aura hidden in them. If those two hadn’t been confronting each other, she probably wouldn’t have noticed.

“What exactly are they?” Listening to her companion’s account, the white-clad girl also frowned, looking up into the distance.

…

“Is this the safe house Skorzeny provided?” Qin Lun asked, looking at the large white house ahead.

“Mm, according to the Lieutenant Colonel’s address, this should be the place!” Lin Feng checked the notes and nodded affirmatively.

After half a night’s effort, the three had finally slipped into Casablanca. Casablanca was an Islamic city, and the residents were not friendly toward any Western colonizers.

Even if they were discovered to be German, they wouldn’t actively report them to the British and American garrisons. With the Apostles’ language translation ability, as long as they got past the outposts on the city outskirts and put on some Arab robes, their identity was almost never exposed.

“Hurry inside, the Lieutenant Colonel has been waiting for you for a long time!” After the three confirmed the code phrase, an Arab man led them inside.

“Lieutenant Gerthard, Mister Kluge, it’s great that you managed to escape!” After entering the house, Skorzeny, along with Wurdenbeller and Captain Bock, came out to greet them.

Among these three, Skorzeny and Captain Bock both had bloodstains on them, seemingly injured during the breakout. Only the Vampire Wurdenbeller was unharmed.

“Lieutenant Colonel, were Madame Monica and the Roberts couple captured?” Qin Lun’s gaze swept sharply behind them as he spoke calmly.

“No, I haven’t had the Baron’s Vampire Bats look for them yet!” A gleam flashed in Skorzeny’s eyes. “Come inside and we’ll talk!”