Chapter 119: Robbing the Vault, Meeting a Pumpkin Head by Chance: Bizarre Methods, Overwhelming Strength

The shadow of a carriage slowly emerged from the drifting mist, the hooves of the two horses pulling it clattering against the ground.

Two figures sat atop the carriage: one slender and tall, dressed in tattered rags, with a voice eerie and wavering, resembling a scarecrow from a wheat field; the other obese and short, wearing an oversized top hat, his tone rising and falling melodically—he was the one who had just sung "The Walrus and the Carpenter," a ballad from the story of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Amidst the sky-full of fireworks, the carriage leisurely came to a halt at the breach blasted into the outer wall of the bank vault; the sounds of pyrotechnics and the bustling parade masked the explosion, so few people in the distance noticed the disturbance here. Ma Ma Zhaodi could even guess that after draining the bank vault clean, the pair would swiftly blend into the festival parade procession on the street, vanishing without a trace amidst the flow of vehicles.

Lying on the ground, he curled his body and shivered just like everyone else; his mastery of high-level acting allowed him to merge completely with the crowd of fallen bodies, making it impossible for anyone to spot the slightest difference.

As the carriage rolled past him, he rose from the ground, drew his blowgun once more, and quietly followed; the mist remained too thick, obstructing his vision, so he needed to get closer to ensure his blowdart would hit its mark.

Slap!

Just as Ma Ma Zhaodi crept forward, a hand suddenly grabbed his ankle; turning his head, he saw it belonged to a guard whose sanity was nearly eroded by the toxic gas.

"No, don't, don't go—call the police quickly."

Oh crap!

Ma Ma Zhaodi's eyes instantly widened; he was truly moved that this big brother could still think of him at such a moment, but being immobilized by the guy at this critical juncture and having noise made was something he decidedly disliked.

How the hell am I supposed to sneak now!

"Hm? Who's there?"

Seeing the danger, Ma Ma Zhaodi instantly manifested a pumpkin head atop his own; he immediately wrenched his ankle free from the guard's grip and performed a sideways roll on the spot.

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Four gunshots suddenly rang out from deep within the mist; having completed his dodge, Ma Ma Zhaodi stood up, revealing three bullet holes now puncturing the pumpkin head he wore.

"Damn it, I only dodged one; are super-villains' reactions and marksmanship really this ridiculously absurd?"

Ma Ma Zhaodi muttered a complaint, then glanced sideways to see that the guard lying on the ground had already fainted.

"How are you so good at timing things!"

During this brief delay, the green mist gradually dissipated; two figures now faced Ma Ma Zhaodi, with the two horses pulling the carriage standing beside them.

Apart from the Scarecrow, neither the two horses nor the Mad Hatter possessed any protection against the fear toxin; Ma Ma Zhaodi guessed they must have consumed the Scarecrow's antidote beforehand.

Protecting oneself from fear toxin required cumbersome measures; just like those two guards who had been splashed by the green raindrops earlier, mere skin contact had been enough to erode their sanity—this proved the fear toxin could enter the body through both the skin and the respiratory system.

Clearly, the Scarecrow and the Mad Hatter had no desire to wear bulky and clumsy biohazard suits while robbing a bank.

Wait, the Scarecrow and who?

Ma Ma Zhaodi stared at the figure holding a massive pistol, his eyes widening in disbelief; no, where is my Riddler? Why is it the Mad Hatter?

Where the hell is my much-wanted, wanted Riddler?

The two opponents could not see the expression on Ma Ma Zhaodi's face; they only noticed that three additional bullet holes had appeared on the pumpkin head facing them.

The Scarecrow turned his head to look at the Mad Hatter beside him, his eyes showing some surprise; he hadn't expected that an ugly dwarf could possess such excellent marksmanship, actually managing to locate his target by sound alone and achieve a three-shot headshot.

Then he saw a look of confusion appear on the Mad Hatter's face as well.

Is my marksmanship really this good?

Ma Ma Zhaodi sighed; the simplest and safest stealth plan had failed, leaving him no choice but to prepare for a frontal assault.

After a few seconds of standoff, the Mad Hatter finally realized that although this pumpkin-headed opponent had taken three full bullets, he seemed not dead, or rather, there wasn't even any blood on his head.

"A ghost? A specter?"

"Whatever he is—" the Scarecrow interjected from the side, "fire a few more shots and see."

The Mad Hatter raised his gun again; Ma Ma Zhaodi immediately ducked and charged forward, drawing an eight-sided Han sword from behind his back.

"Where did he pull that sword from?"

"How the hell should I know!"

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Three more shots rang out; realizing they seemed to cause no substantial damage, the Mad Hatter casually tucked his automatic pistol into his hat and pulled out an oversized double-barreled handgun from within, while Ma Ma Zhaodi continued his ducking charge; although the pumpkin on his head was now tattered, he himself remained unharmed.

"I definitely hit his body," the Mad Hatter raised his gun again, "but only the pumpkin on his head got damaged."

"Shatter that pumpkin!" the Scarecrow's wavering voice cried out as he raised his sleeve, aiming it at Ma Ma Zhaodi.

"That won't work on me, thanks."

Ma Ma Zhaodi waved his gardening glove, and a flower pot instantly appeared, containing a small plant with three leaves.

The small plant rapidly spun its leaves, immediately whipping up a fierce gale; the green toxic mist, along with the high-concentration fear toxin spraying from the Scarecrow's sleeve, was swept up by this wind and carried into the sky, vanishing without a trace moments later.

He waved his hand again; the clover on the flower pot disappeared, replaced by an ice-blue mushroom—at this moment, Ma Ma Zhaodi was very glad the confrontation was happening at night, for if it were daytime, he would have had to spend money buying coffee beans to activate the mushroom-type plants.

"Boom!"

A large-caliber revolver bullet flew from the barrel, directly shattering the pumpkin head on Ma Ma Zhaodi's face; the shattered pumpkin fragments fell to the ground, revealing beneath them—another pumpkin head.

"FXXK! (Damn it)"

"FXXK!"

At this moment, the synchronization rate between Straw and Hat reached one hundred percent; both stared at that even more lifelike pumpkin head, beginning to doubt their very existence—although they had mixed in Gotham for so many years and seen plenty of weird things, the thing before their eyes right now truly made them suspect they were seeing ghosts.

Just as the two stood dumbfounded, the blue mushroom in the flower pot began to swell rapidly; quick-eyed and fast-handed, the Mad Hatter instinctively sensed danger and immediately fired another shot, yet another pumpkin head instantly appeared, covering the Ice-shroom.

"Boom!"

This shot left the pumpkin head scarred and battered, but the ice-blue mushroom ultimately succeeded in exploding.

In an instant, a terrifying cold current swept out in all directions; bursting frost enveloped and swallowed everyone, and within merely one second, the entire entrance of the bank vault transformed into a sky-blue world of ice sculptures, all living creatures frozen in place, yet the skin textures beneath the ice layers remained exquisitely detailed and lifelike.

The movements of the Scarecrow and the Mad Hatter froze simultaneously; they were turned into two massive blocks of ice sculpture—including everyone inside and outside the bank, who had also fallen into this state, causing everything around them to sink into a strange, deathly silence.

PS: The freezing scene is as follows, though the image below depicts the freezing effect of the North Wind Bomb, which is lethal, whereas the Ice-shroom's freezing effect is non-lethal (Similarly, the image below can only be viewed on the mobile version of Qidian; remember to upgrade to the latest version).

(End of Chapter)