Chapter 1491: Twilight Event (13)

"A long time ago, my teacher once told me that the initial reason for his entanglement with me stemmed from my gaze, or more specifically—my choice. When I became interested in him, he became the Joker, and the Joker is destined to be inextricably entangled with Batman."

"As the teaching deepened, more information appeared in his scattered words. The entanglement between Batman and the Joker seems to be a fate woven by this world for these two people, which no one can break. Its priority is almost higher than everything else happening in this world."

"Later, I learned that the states of the Joker and Batman are complementary. Their madness is like plants that have been intertwined since the seedling stage; they are already blood-linked and inseparable."

"From this, it can be inferred that the stronger Batman is, the stronger the Joker becomes, and I have indeed experienced this personally."

"When I was desperately pursuing strength, wanting to save Cat Getan, whether it was the Joker inside my teacher or the other Joker in Cat Getan, they were all extremely crazy and reckless."

"But when I began to gradually let go of all this and pursue my own life, I discovered that the kind of madness inside them that once made me despair seemed to have healed itself. Even though some morbid thinking still remained, they were more like philosophers and artists."

"Thus, I had some other thoughts."

Bruce stood on the highest point of the roof of Westminster Abbey, overlooking all of London. Hearing the crazy laughter and the screams of vampires coming from below, he continued to speak to Beelzebub in his mind.

"Known: First, I can use some methods to turn others into Jokers; second, the stronger the Joker, the stronger Batman becomes."

"Then is there a possibility—I go find someone strong enough, turn him into a Joker, the Joker becomes stronger, I become stronger accordingly, and the stronger me can then go find someone even more powerful, turn him into a Joker, the Joker becomes even stronger, and I become even stronger, and then I go..."

"Huh?"

"When this idea appeared in my mind, it was just a preliminary plan, and there were many problems in practice, but I still summarized many laws that should work through my previous experiences."

"First, I must find a target and have some entanglement with him. I gaze at him, he gazes at me, I attract his attention, and he attracts mine."

"But I don't fully trust this kind of fate entanglement that leans towards philosophical and metaphysical concepts. I think there might be more direct ways to achieve this transformation."

"And one day before, someone drew my blood, but a certain powerful entity he entertained dared not drink it. It wasn't disgust, but pure fear. He emphasized that I am special, and anyone who drinks my blood will have an incomprehensible bond with me. I think this will be the means for me to implement the plan."

"The method of implementation is already there, and the next step is to select a target. But for a long time, I didn't have a suitable target because I didn't think anyone in ordinary society was stronger than me. Even if they exceeded me in some aspects, the improvement they could bring was far from worth the effort I spent."

"Until my teacher led me to see the magical world. I had some understanding of this before, but my eyes were mostly focused on magicians like Constantine. I had no interest in borrowing debts from demon gods, so I never focused on understanding the existence of the magical world."

"Later, I read many books introducing creatures of the magical world, historical classics of the magical world, and theological books in the Forgotten Bookstore, and then I discovered that the powerful demons and angels recorded in the 'Bible' are real."

"But demons and angels are not good targets. Demons prefer to toy with human souls, and angels are even less likely to drink human blood. But just in the process of selecting targets by reading classics, I noticed that one type of creature is simply the perfect target, and that is vampires."

"They naturally feed on human blood. They don't need any deception at all; they will drink my blood. So, when I was at the Forgotten Bookstore, I asked Constantine to help me find a vampire. I wanted to see if he would be transformed by me."

"But just at this time, the magical world was in turmoil, and it happened to be the time when vampires returned in large numbers. I heard the news of the appearance of the vampire ancestor Cain, and from the 'Bible' and many other classics recording the past of the Garden of Eden, I generally understood his identity, personality, and behavior patterns."

Bruce sighed softly and said: "No one has ever firmly chosen Cain; this is his greatest weakness."

"In the Garden of Eden, whether it was God or Adam and Eve, they all preferred Abel. When he was expelled from the Garden of Eden and came to the Red Sea, even Lilith, who had a grudge against Adam, did not choose him. In the end, he could only leave."

"People who lack affirmation and admiration during their growth will form a psychology of fearing others' praise. When encountering others' firm affirmation and choice, the first thing that appears is a hesitant and suspicious psychology. Driven by this psychology, they will become anxious about gains and losses and lose their reason."

"The plan is going very smoothly." Bruce looked at the glow on the horizon in the distance and said: "Now the plan has succeeded halfway. Cain has been turned into a Joker by me. Next, I need to observe how the dynamic strength between me and the Joker is realized."

"Since Gabriel dared to send people to your bar to provoke you, it proves that he is not afraid of being discovered by you at all." In the palace of the Hell Satan, Constantine leaned against the side of the throne and said to Lucifer: "Or rather, he is betting that you can't find him."

Lucifer frowned slightly and said: "You also know that if I really want to know where he is, I don't need Azazel to investigate at all."

"Of course, the omniscient and omnipotent Lord Lucifer doesn't need to investigate anything he wants to know, but if you fly over to catch him directly, it will make him feel proud instead." Constantine snorted and said: "You are the Light of the Beginning, God's favorite son. You are different from other angels, especially different from Gabriel."

"It can be said that you are not even the same species. Among all angels, God only values you. To take a step back, only Michael can be compared with you. If you personally care about Gabriel, the little follower who has been following you two, he can laugh in his dreams."

Lucifer pursed his lips and didn't speak. Constantine pointed out very bluntly: "He counted on your biggest weakness being arrogance. Even if he sends mortals to harass you, almost dancing on your head, you can't lower your status and run in front of him to be furious."

"You have never looked down on any angel, whether it is Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, or Uriel, you don't take them seriously. It has been like this since before you fell from heaven, because you know that God is the God of others, but only your Father."

"Enough." Lucifer interrupted Constantine, but there was not much anger in his tone. He just sighed and said: "Don't mention those old things. In any case, I won't let Gabriel get his wish."

He stood up from the throne and walked down the stairs, his voice echoing in the empty palace.

"The war between heaven and hell has no meaning. I am just pursuing freedom outside of love, and I have to be entangled in thousands of years of war trifles. If the first war of falling from heaven was the price I paid for my own choice, then what was the second war for? It can't be revenge on God, right?"

"Don't you hate God?"

"It doesn't count as hate, it's just hard to understand the way he loves me, so I plan to avoid it and seek peace."

"You can have such leisure because you understand that he loves you and know that he will choose you no matter what, so you can squander it wantonly, not caring at all, and not even giving emotions like hate."

Constantine's Adam's apple moved, his tone lowered, and he said: "You are favored, so you will never understand those who are forgotten in the corner, how crazy things they can do to find a sense of existence, just like I fell into hell, but I will never look back."

"Do you think I should tolerate Gabriel?"

"Of course not. Although I will tell you that if you completely ignore him, he will feel very painful, but I still hope you can go and pierce his unrealistic fantasy. This is good for heaven, hell, and the human world."

Lucifer turned his head to look at Constantine and said: "Then what do you think I should do?"

"Simply finding him and beating him up, or even sealing him up is useless. He will only provoke you again and again to find a sense of existence. Even the more everyone pays attention to him, the crazier he will be. Even if he is blamed by God, he will only be ecstatic because he is finally valued."

"But you can't do nothing, otherwise he will sooner or later stir heaven, hell, and the human world into a mess. As for what to do to make him give up completely... I can only suggest you go ask Schiller."

Lucifer's expression froze. The expression on his face could be described as "Isn't your map of Yan a bit too short?"

"You know better than me how proficient Schiller is at breaking a person's psychological defense line, it's just that he will make you pay a price too."

Lucifer stood on the spot, gritting his teeth. After a long while, he turned and walked out of the palace, while Constantine sighed and said.

"You would rather go to Schiller than lower your status to beat Gabriel up. I can only say that no matter how much bad luck you have, you asked for it, arrogance."

After Lucifer left, Azazel brought Constantine back to his palace. Satan did not express his position, and Azazel did not torture Constantine again, but just found a room in the palace and threw him in.

Constantine lay on the bed for a while. Just as he was about to fall asleep in a daze, he heard a shout ringing in his ears.

"Wake up! Wake up quickly! John Constantine, wake up quickly!"

As soon as Constantine opened his eyes, he saw a beautiful girl with dark skin constantly shaking him. He thought he was dreaming, muttered a few words, and wanted to turn over and continue sleeping.

"Wake up quickly, I am Luna, Midnight's sister, something big happened!"

Constantine woke up suddenly, looked at the girl in front of him and said: "Midnight? Old Man Midnight? What happened to him?"

"Today is my birthday. He just came to see me and said that Constantine finally fell into his hands, but I clearly saw you in the palace a few days ago... Are you really John Constantine?"

"Of course I am Constantine."

"Strange, then who is the one my brother talked about?" The dark-skinned girl showed a puzzled face, but still sighed, shook her head, and planned to leave.

But Constantine grabbed her wrist and stared at her: "Are you sure your brother said he saw me in the human world?"

"Yes, he said a vampire was chasing you, you were injured, and had to escape to Old Man Midnight's bar, and he saved you."

Constantine opened his eyes slightly and said in a daze: "Black under the lamp, black under the lamp... You really have it, Gabriel!"

He sighed again and said: "But you hindered Schiller from taking back my heart, Gabriel, cleverness is mistaken by cleverness, I'm afraid you are really going to have bad luck."

On the other side, in Old Man Midnight's bar, Midnight, who got the news from his sister, rushed back to his bar in a hurry. In the guest room on the second floor, except for a pool of left-behind blood, there was nothing, and Constantine had long since disappeared.

Midnight gritted his teeth and cursed. Lucifer and Azazel would certainly not misidentify Constantine, so it could only be that the one in the real world was fake. Realizing that he had been played, Midnight walked to the center of the room and began to chant a spell at the pool of blood.

But just at this time, the door was knocked. The sound of opening the door came. Midnight looked back and saw a man in a dark red plaid suit standing outside the door, followed by a very strong young man.

"Hello, I'm looking for Constantine, I chased him here."

Midnight was suddenly full of anger. Just as he was about to attack, he met the man's desolate gray eyes. Years of experience and intuition in mixing with all kinds of people made his aggressive words turn on the tip of his tongue and were swallowed back.

"You are late, he has already run away."

"Is the one who ran away Constantine?"

Midnight narrowed his eyes immediately, turned his head to look at this uninvited guest, and then heard him say: "You know magic, see who controlled his corpse, I will find him, the body belongs to me, the soul belongs to you."

Midnight turned his head to look at the scene in the room, knowing that he had no other choice. If the guy who played him released the news, his prestige would be greatly affected, and he must chase him back as soon as possible.

Thinking of this, Midnight did not hesitate anymore. The speed of his chanting became faster and faster. In an instant, a burst of light rose from the blood. Midnight's pupils shrank, and he exclaimed a name.

"Gabriel??!"

"!"

Schiller's brows frowned fiercely. ***