153: Chapter 153 Midnight Snack

Jennifer looked at Karen on the ground and offered no opinion.

On this crazy night, being unconscious was indeed much happier than being awake to face a floor full of shredded meat.

Qin Ming shrugged. "Let's go. After all that exercise, I'm a bit hungry. Let's see if there are any fast-food joints still open in this town."

They took a walk around the town's blocks.

The supermarkets and restaurants had long since closed their doors.

Just as Qin Ming was considering whether to just head back, Emma suddenly pointed at a neon sign on a street corner. "Look, Brother! That pizza place still has its lights on!"

It was a slightly dilapidated Italian pizza shop.

Qin Ming pushed open the glass door, and the doorbell gave a crisp chime.

There were no other customers in the shop.

A fat owner wearing an apron sat behind the cash register, dozing off.

Hearing the movement, he didn't even lift his eyelids.

"One extra-large Hawaiian pizza with double cheese. Two orders of fried chicken, and four cups of iced cola." Qin Ming tapped on the counter.

The owner moved sluggishly, turning to walk toward the back kitchen.

Before long, steaming hot pizza and fried chicken were served on the table.

"No matter what world you're in, high-calorie fried food is always the most direct comfort." Qin Ming picked up a piece of fried chicken and took a bite.

"The crispy skin is okay," Emma commented while gnawing on a chicken leg.

Just then, the glass door of the pizza shop was pushed open again.

Accompanied by the crisp chime of the wind chimes, two young girls stumbled in, supporting each other.

"Holy crap, I'm so wasted," Devon leaned against the ordering counter, shouting with a thick tongue.

"I know. You promised not to get hammered tonight." Tara rolled her eyes helplessly, reaching out to pull Devon away from the counter.

The fat owner didn't even look up, still keeping his eyes closed in a feigned sleep, clearly long accustomed to these drunken young men and women on Halloween night.

"Those guys kept buying me drinks!" Devon spread her hands, her tone carrying an unabashed pride. "I couldn't help it. Everyone thinks I'm sexy. That's the original sin, Tara."

Tara sighed and sat down in a booth three sections away from Qin Ming's group. "They must be after your inner beauty."

"Whatever they're after, I certainly caught everyone's eye tonight." Devon slumped onto the table and let out a drunken burp.

Qin Ming sat in the corner, taking a bite of the cheese-laden Hawaiian pizza, watching the scene without any emotion.

Emma held a fried chicken leg with her two small hands, her mouth covered in grease. Hearing Devon's words, she tilted her head and commented in a low voice, "Brother, she's so noisy. Can I go cut her tongue off? Just a small piece."

"Eat your chicken leg quietly." Qin Ming handed Emma a tissue.

Just then.

The pizza shop's doorbell rang abruptly once more.

The action of pushing the door was very light, making almost no sound of friction.

A figure walked in silently.

The temperature inside the shop seemed to drop a few degrees in that instant.

It was a man dressed as a clown.

But he didn't have the bright, comical red nose and rainbow-colored afro of a typical clown.

His entire body was only in extremely jarring black and white. He wore white face paint, with his eyes and lips painted an exaggerated black, and a small black-and-white clown hat on his head.

In his hand, he carried a bulging, large black plastic trash bag, looking as if he had just finished cleaning up a dismembered body from a crime scene.

The clown stood stiffly at the door, his black eyes, which lacked any white, staring fixedly at Tara and Devon in the booth.

"Look! Holy crap!" Devon pointed at the clown at the door, hooting and hollering as if she had discovered some novel toy.

Tara followed her finger, and the moment she made contact with the clown's gaze, a strong chill surged up her spine.

She subconsciously shrank into her seat. "Yeah, it's not funny at all. I'm about to scream."

The clown ignored their reaction.

Carrying the black trash bag, he walked with a slightly comical yet stiff gait to the empty booth opposite the two girls and sat down.

He tossed the plastic bag onto the table carelessly, and it made a dull sound of clashing metal.

Wednesday stopped her knife and fork, her gaze lingering on the black plastic bag for two seconds. "There are various sizes of hacksaws, hammers, and bloody scalpels in there. The smell on that guy is like rotting internal organs that have been kept in a basement for three months."

Jennifer didn't speak, but a moth resting on the windowsill fluttered its wings and fled the moment the clown entered, as if extremely frightened.

This represented danger.

Emma swallowed the chicken in her mouth and tugged on Qin Ming's sleeve. "Brother, look back at that clown. Haven't we seen him somewhere? He feels a bit familiar."

Qin Ming took a sip of the iced cola on the table and followed Emma's gaze with a casual glance.

The highly recognizable black-and-white paint, the exaggerated rotting mouth, and that signature black trash bag.

"I see him clearly." Qin Ming turned back, his tone flat. "That's Art."

The one who was hacked by Jason last Christmas.

"Hey, handsome!"

In the other booth, the drunken Devon was completely unaware that death was already sitting right in front of her.

She turned around and waved at Art across the aisle.

Art slowly turned his head, grinning with that large mouth covered in black paint to reveal a row of yellow, rotten, sharp teeth, forming an extremely exaggerated and terrifying smile. He didn't make a sound.

"Devon, stop it!" Tara urgently pulled at her companion's clothes, her instincts screaming in alarm.

Devon brushed off Tara's hand. Instead of stopping, she doubled down. "My friend wants your number! She thinks your costume is awesome!"

"I'm going to kill you!" Tara lowered her voice, glaring at Devon through gritted teeth. "Let's go, hurry up."

"Are you afraid of him?" Devon scoffed, pointing at Art. "Doesn't he dress like this just for people to see? He must be some college student doing performance Art."

Saying that, Devon actually stood up from her seat and swayed her hips over to Art's booth.

"Uh, excuse me?" Devon sat down opposite Art as if they were old friends and took out her phone. "Can I take a picture with you?"

Art still didn't speak. Maintaining that terrifying smile, he fumbled around in the black trash bag, pulled out a filthy plastic ring, and reached across the table to put it on Devon's finger.

Devon looked at the comical ring and burst out laughing. "Okay, seriously, this is the sweetest thing a man has done for you tonight." She turned to show off to Tara.

Tara felt her stomach churn; fear had already broken her into a cold sweat. "Seriously? What the hell?"

"I think we should just get our food to go." Tara stood up and walked toward the cash register.

"Why? Because of him?" Devon followed reluctantly.