Death Notice

“Boom!” A powerful gust of wind swept over them, forcing the spectators at the edge of the field to stumble back two steps.

The fight had barely started when the two large, burly men launched into a fierce collision. Their blows landed heavily, every blow drawing blood, neither willing to give ground. Hans Gerth stood over 1.9 meters tall with long limbs. He had the physique of a bodybuilder—not overly bulky, but exceptionally well-proportioned.

Clown Grant was an almost seven-feet-tall colossus. Among the five serial killers, his build was the most imposing—tall and broad-shouldered. It was precisely because of Grant’s ugly face and enormous body that he had often faced discrimination and fear from others in the past.

Their fighting styles were different. Captain Hans, a typical German soldier, used military combat techniques—practical and straightforward. Echoes of Western boxing, Brazilian jiu-jitsu grappling, and even Muay Thai kicks could be seen in his moves. Though not flashy, his attacks were vicious, pummeling Grant like a punching bag.

The Joker, in contrast, seemed clumsy. He shielded his head with his arms, defending tightly but mostly stood passively taking hits. Only during the short pauses between Hans’s attacks would he occasionally throw a counter-punch.

Yet, this stark contrast between offense and defense made Captain Hans’s colleagues frown deeply. For the first time, they felt worried about their comrade. The reason was simple: Grant’s punches were frighteningly heavy.

Every punch the Joker threw, though appearing casual, generated a powerful sonic boom. The shockwave of his fists echoed like a pile driver across the field. Each blow made the onlookers’ hearts lurch, as if they were watching a cannonball launch towards them.

“This guy’s bare strength attribute must have already broken a hundred! Could a single bare attribute exceeding a hundred bring a qualitative change?” Qin Lun’s eyelid twitched faintly. An inexplicable thought surfaced in his mind.

The intervals between missions for the five serial killers were similar. Accounting for his bloodline and class advancements, Qin Lun believed his core attributes should be among the top of the five.

However, Grant was different. His murder trophy—the Human Skin Mask—could temporarily transform his physical attributes. Clown Grant could therefore prioritize elevating one or two attributes, like Strength and Constitution, while neglecting others. This gave him extreme advantages in specific areas while allowing adaptability when needed—his greatest strength.

After several rounds of probing, Captain Hans finally grew impatient. A sharp gleam flashed in his eyes. Seeing Grant throw another punch, he brought his arms together in front of his face and deliberately stepped forward to meet it.

“Boom!” Hans, protecting his head and face, seemed to be hit head-on by a speeding truck. Grant’s heavy punch sent him flying backwards. With a thunderous crash, he smashed through a stack of wooden crates used for cover instantly filling the center of the field with splinters and a swirling cloud of dust.

“Haha, the Captain has finally met his match!” Seeing Captain Hans sent flying, his companions weren’t surprised. Everyone could see that Hans had pushed back with his leg to disperse the force, taking no real significant damage. He had deliberately used his body to test the power of Grant’s punch.

A dangerous aura rose from the dusty haze filled with scattered wooden debris. The surrounding spectators held their breaths, intently focused. The mutual testing between the two was over. The real contest was beginning.

“This feeling…” Qin Lun frowned slightly. A silver clock face shimmered into view within his right eye’s pupil, intently fixed on the center of the dust cloud.

Within the perception field of his Clock Eye, a humanoid mass of light slowly rose from the dust. An intense aura visibly radiated from its body, swirling around him and gradually taking the form of a colossal, wolf-shaped figure.

The giant wolf, with bristling fur and a wide-open bloody maw, burst forward from the smoke. A streak of white light flashed across the center of the training ground. The wolf instantaneously covered dozens of meters, appearing like lightning before Grant, clamping its jaws fiercely onto him.

“Impressive!” Qin Lun’s eyes lit up. Even with his Elf sight, he could only see a blurred shadow of light. If not for his powerful Perception, he wouldn’t have been able to track the wolf’s speed.

“Good timing!” A gleam of excitement flashed in Grant’s eyes. The thick muscles of his arms bulged high. He thrust his arms upward and downward, forcibly prying open the giant wolf’s jaws.

A flicker of human-like anger passed through the white wolf’s eyes. It charged forward, pushing Grant back with unstoppable force. A long plume of dust surged upwards in the Joker’s wake.

“Boom!” The swirling dust hit the training ground wall with terrifying speed less than two seconds later. A massive dent, three meters across, appeared in the wall, surrounded by a spiderweb of cracks radiating outwards.

Everyone spectating except Qin Lun was stunned speechless. Unlike Qin Lun, they knew these walls were specially constructed reinforced concrete. They used special cement mixed with gravel, stronger than ordinary concrete, rivaling the hardness of diamond.

The smoky, luminous wolf flipped through the air and landed, revealing Captain Hans’s form once again. Though successful with his strike, there was no trace of triumph on the Captain’s face. Instead, his expression grew colder and graver.

Embedded in the wall dent like a spike, Grant slowly lifted his head. A gray-white mask now covered his face. The mask felt unnaturally smooth to the touch, densely stitched with tiny seams as if painstakingly pieced together from fragments of fine leather.

Grant’s eyes, hidden behind the mask, were bloodshot, filled with violent brutality. He pressed a hand against the wall, pushed lightly, and freed himself, dropping back to the ground.

“Clap! Clap! Clap!” The masked Joker elegantly applauded. The Human Skin Mask stretched into a mocking smile. He gave Captain Hans a slight nod of acknowledgement.

“Hmph!” The Captain snorted coldly. He sensed derision in the Joker’s gesture; his opponent was openly mocking him. White vaporous energy erupted more violently from Hans’s body, twisting into the form of a furious giant wolf roaring at the sky.

“Hans actually getting angry in a fight? Truly a rare sight!” Major Montana, observing, shrugged and turned to Qin Lun. “Should we stop them?”

The Major’s question came from concern. He knew Captain Hans’s strength well but understood Grant far less. Naturally, he sought Qin Lun’s opinion as the interrogator who was also considered a friend.

“No need. The real show is about to start!” Qin Lun curled his lip in a light laugh. “Major, there’s no need to worry about Captain Kluge. His Superhuman bloodline makes him incredibly tough. Just wait and see!”

“Boom!” An explosive sound came from beneath the giant wolf’s feet, sending shards of rock flying. However, the vapor-transformed white wolf remained frozen in its skyward roar. Only when the sounds of fists meeting flesh echoed from the opposite end of the field did the enormous wolf image vanish. It was merely an afterimage, left behind as Hans moved at blinding speed.

“The perfect synergy of strength and speed. Truly astonishing combat instincts. But… such a thick scent of blood!” Qin Lun frowned slightly, unable to resist asking Major Montana, “What Superhuman bloodline does Captain Hans have?”

“Ho ho, Major Gerthard, you noticed?” Major Montana chuckled, shaking his head. “No rush. This isn’t the place for explanations. I’ll tell you the details later.”

“Fine.” Qin Lun spread his hands noncommittally and turned back to watch the two fighters.

Upon transforming into the white wolf, Hans’s strength soared again, and his speed became utterly terrifying. He appeared only as flashes of white light zipping around Grant, the wolf form visible only in the split-second before contact.

After putting on the Human Skin Mask, Grant’s combat performance seemed to worsen. His large, powerful frame struggled awkwardly to dodge the wolf’s relentless attacks. Despite his shielding, abnormal swelling appeared on his protecting fists and shoulders. Wounds occasionally burst open, splattering drops of blood around.

Yet, to Qin Lun and all the other spectators, watching the figure scrambling in apparent disarray on the field provoked a sudden chill, like the menacing calm before a volcanic eruption.

The white wolf seemed to sense it too, its assault increasing to a frantic pace, its movements blurring into a continuously connected stream of afterimages. Finally, after an upward kick caught him from below, the Joker was sent airborne. Unable to plant his feet to dodge, he was tossed through the air like a ball, battered relentlessly.

“Almost time,” Qin Lun murmured to himself. A faint electrical light gleamed in his eyes. Within the silver clock face in his right pupil, a third hand slowly materialized, locking onto the large, beleaguered figure in the center of the field.

At that exact moment, as the wolf’s shadow pounced once more, Grant—who had been shielding his head with his arms—suddenly let his arms drop. He opened his wide mouth wide; the Human Skin Mask twisted into a hideous, grotesque smirk.

His body twisted unnaturally in the air, as if boneless, leaving him upside-down. One palm stretched out, perfectly timing and landing firmly on the pouncing wolf’s head—a perfect, inverted handstand atop his attacker.

The wolf figure visibly paused, its eyes registering surprise. But Captain Hans reacted swiftly. He tilted his massive lupine head back and snapped his enormous jaws upwards towards the figure above him.

Then, Grant’s body shimmered like a television screen losing signal. He disappeared abruptly. The spectators tilting their heads upward seemed to miss a heartbeat, plunged into bewildering disorientation.

Only Qin Lun’s eye twitched with a sudden bloodshot vein. He instinctively snapped his gaze downwards under the wolf’s suspended figure. There stood Grant, inexplicably back on the ground, looking up at the giant wolf above him. The Human Skin Mask curved into an utterly unnatural grin.

“So fast! Agility exceeded a hundred? No, more than that… it’s approaching Kelly’s speed when she moves!” Qin Lun felt a shock run through him. His calculations told him Kelly’s base Agility, plus her gear, broke at least 150 points—outpacing bullets.

“The mask has advanced significantly… and the cost is way smaller!” Remembering how, back in the World War II World, Grant could only unleash this after losing an arm, now his ‘Joker’s Gift’ activation only required weathering a beating—an astonishing, earth-shaking difference.

Ground-bound, Grant slowly drew a fist back towards his ribs. He inhaled deeply—golden light, almost tangible, erupted and condensed around his knuckles. Then he pushed off the ground, rocketing upwards to meet the soaring wolf.

Finally, the wolf and the other spectators spotted the Joker surging from below. The fur of the vapor-formed wolf stood on end like steel needles. It unleashed a primal roar, jaws gaping wide, and plunged downwards in a direct collision course with no attempt to evade…