Chapter 2908: When Night Falls (37)

"Which point in time are we going back to?" Constantine looked at the portal created by Doctor Fate and turned to ask Shiler: "If the opponent is the Flash, do we need to travel back to before he became a vampire? I heard he was a good guy."

"And..." Constantine said with a hint of hesitation: "I must warn you, the Speed Force is something even mages can't fathom. If you want to go head-to-head with the Flash, we don't necessarily have great odds of winning."

"We won't be going head-to-head with him," Shiler said. "The 'me' inside Zan's body will put enough pressure on him."

"You mean..."

"What is the most effective way to deal with an enemy by traveling through time?"

Constantine immediately understood. He said: "Of course, it's to go back to his infancy and punch him directly. I get it. The other you will go and tell the Flash that we are also traveling through time, and then he will think we might travel back to his infancy when he has no ability to resist."

"To prevent his past self from being killed, he must travel back immediately to protect that self, and he won't run into us at other points in time. This is a diversionary tactic."

"Exactly so." Shiler nodded and said: "At the same time, we will go find the person who can truly deal with him."

"His own self before he became a vampire?"

"Correct." Shiler stated his plan: "We can't contact the Justice League right now, but there are only a few answers. If the traitor is the Flash, then we will use his past self to deal with him. If the traitor is someone else, then the past Flash and the modern Flash joining forces—there is no one they cannot deal with."

Constantine nodded, signaling that he understood, but then he asked: "Did you come to me just to find a way to travel through time?"

"Coming to you is the most efficient."

"You could just say you think I'm easy to bully."

"I'm just more familiar with you."

"It's ready," Doctor Fate said. He handed over a pocket watch, on which golden light flickered. Constantine took it, looked at it, and handed it to Shiler. Shiler discovered that the dial of this pocket watch was quite complex, featuring years, dates, and times.

"Rotate it to the time point you want to go to, and pass through the portal to arrive. But remember, return before the energy is exhausted. You must dial the correct time when you return."

Shiler put away the pocket watch, nodded at Doctor Fate, and then said to Constantine: "Can you find a way to bring Zatanna along?"

"She has no body," Constantine said. "Maintaining a soul form consumes a lot of energy, and she can't use magic either. Why bring her along?"

"Do you really think we only need to find the Flash to successfully persuade him to come back with us?"

"Isn't that the case?"

"Many things have already begun before they even start. For someone who runs so fast to be bitten by a vampire, perhaps it's because he's stupid, but it's more likely that someone had a premeditated plan."

"Also true, he might have been targeted long ago... perhaps as early as when he was just born. Once we try to find him, we will alert the person who has been watching him. This is truly too troublesome."

Constantine began to think. After a while, he said: "I'll go get some equipment, but I don't guarantee I can solve all the enemies."

"You only need to be responsible for the magic part," Shiler said. "Leave the rest to me."

Constantine had no better solution. Doctor Fate needed to stay here to stabilize the portal and also help him guard the House of Mystery. The other members of the Justice League Dark were still scattered around the world, and Zatanna's condition was poor; they had no more helpers.

Soon Constantine returned. He was wearing a long trench coat with empty pockets; it wasn't apparent what he had packed. The magical radiance flowing in his eyes also quickly extinguished.

But Shiler knew that Constantine's fighting style was not that of a warrior who fought with brute force. His application of magic was very clever, more like a trickster than Zatanna. No one knew exactly how to truly hurt him.

Before passing through the portal, Schiller asked: "You sent the Arkham Knight and Doctor Strange to the Legion of Doom base because you wanted them to kill that monster and then resurrect it?"

"That's the best-case scenario," Constantine said. "If we can truly possess a necro-vampiric monster, I'll make sure Mary pays."

"How did she offend you?"

"You think I volunteered to do research for her?"

"I thought you would be interested."

"Yes, but she stiffed me on the bill."

The American Midwest is always quite sunny, possessing both the vastness of the Central Plains and the bright, scorching sun of the West. Even though it is already autumn, the heatwave hasn't receded quickly, and the afternoon remains somewhat muggy.

As the wind chime on the door rang, a man in a trench coat hurried into the coffee shop, ordered a large iced coffee, and after gulping down a few mouthfuls, let out a long breath.

The coffee shop clerk smiled and said: "Just arrived, haven't you, sir? It's much cooler now."

"This damn weather." A heavy British accent.

The coffee shop clerk immediately said: "Are you from England? Then I think you should try our new beans; it's a flavor Europeans like."

"That's great, but you'll have to give me a hot one. I have a friend who is that typical old-fashioned European antique..."

"I understand, French or Belgian, I guarantee it will satisfy him."

Schiller, having changed into a suit, walked in. Constantine, leaning against the bar, said: "I suspect you just came over to buy clothes."

"Your suspicion is very reasonable," Schiller walked to a chair on the side, sat down, and said: "But don't forget how my clothes were ruined."

Constantine rubbed his nose and stopped talking. The hot coffee was soon served. Schiller pretended to be somewhat curious and said: "I heard that every city in America has a superhero. So, who is the one in Central City?"

"Oh, you misunderstood. Not every city has one, but our city happens to have one. Have you heard of the Flash? The fastest man in the world. He is also a regular here, though it's a pity he always comes and goes in a hurry."

Constantine also leaned in and said: "I've heard of him. His uniform is red, right? I think his aesthetic is much better than that so-called Batman."

"I think so too. People in Central City all think he's even better than Superman because he always moves very fast and never causes traffic jams because of saving people."

"He's a great kid," an old man slowly drinking coffee nearby said. "But this place is also far from being as bad as those cities on the East Coast. Central City's crime rate is almost the lowest in the entire U. S."

"I can see that," Constantine put down his cup and said. "From the moment I left the airport, I brushed past at least ten people, but my wallet is still here."

The old man and the clerk both laughed. Constantine suddenly asked mysteriously: "Who do you think the Flash really is? Is he really the long-distance runner speculated in the newspapers?"

The old man waved his hand and said: "We don't go in for guessing the identities of heroes here. Since he wants to be a masked hero, there must be a reason for it. As long as he is doing good deeds, there's no need to care who he is."

"That's true," Constantine said.

The two of them quickly finished their coffee and left the shop. Constantine sighed and said: "People here are quite tight-lipped. It's indeed much better than the East Coast. If it were Metropolis people, they could gossip with you for two hours."

"People in the Midwest are indeed more simple and honest," Schiller said. "I just didn't expect you wouldn't know the Flash's true identity."

"I know his name is Barry Allen," Constantine said. "He's from Central City, an overly optimistic and cheerful silly kid."

"But you don't know what profession he is in."

"I don't even know what profession Superman is in; I don't care about that," Constantine shrugged and said. "I only know they each have their own hotness. Batman is the hottest."

Constantine and Schiller strolled around the city center. Central City is not very large, and the city center is basically just that one area. They found a restaurant with outdoor seating and sat down.

"If the crime rate here were a bit higher, maybe we could wait for the Flash soon, but it looks like no one intends to provoke him today."

"Is that so?" Schiller said noncommittally. "Is your wallet still there?"

"Of course... huh???"

Constantine froze the moment he touched his trench coat pocket. Where was his wallet?

He immediately rubbed his hands, knowing there was work to be done. His wallet actually contained no money, nor any identification documents; it only held some paper runes stained with his magic. He could track this power to find the thief's location—it was essentially fishing for a culprit.

Constantine stood up and pointed in a direction. The two soon walked toward the other side of the city center. One could clearly notice that the buildings were becoming sparser and the patrolling police were fewer—this was a sign of entering a slum area.

Central City doesn't seem to have true slums, only some fringe communities. The overall city appearance is quite good, but regardless, this city still has a dark side.

They crossed a street and soon discovered that the atmosphere of this community was completely different from the city center. Most people walked quickly with their hands in their pockets, and there were almost no cars parked on the side of the road.

This was the right place, Constantine thought. He soon tracked the power to the front of a house.

"You go get the wallet back; I'll walk around the area," Schiller suddenly said.

"Uh, isn't the point to teach this thief a lesson?"

"The thief's crime doesn't warrant that. I have a premonition that there will be some good ingredients here."

Watching Schiller's departing back, Constantine shook his head. His intuition told him not to care what Schiller intended to do.

Schiller circled this community and finally stopped at the wall of a backyard of a house. He thought he had found his target.

The public security in American Midwestern cities is indeed better than in coastal cities. Central City is also famously stable, not as disaster-ridden as other cities in comics.

But thinking about it, with a sufficiently large population base, there will always be a few natural psychopaths. And because the superheroes guarding this city are almost completely unable to deal with such people, their living conditions are much better than in places like Gotham or Metropolis.

Missing persons cases are the most common cases in the United States.

According to common sense, the U. S. is a paradise in the minds of many. Every year, countless people rush from their own countries to this most advanced and powerful country in the world.

Some countries are far away and it's difficult to get here, but other countries in the Americas are much simpler. Every year, countless Mexican immigrants cross the border into the U. S.

But when have we ever heard of a massive increase in the U. S. population? Logically speaking, with immigrants moving in for so many years, even if not a hundred million, there should at least be tens of millions, but the U. S. population is almost rock-solid.

So where did these newly added populations go?

The answer is that they vanished into thin air.

The U. S. crime rate does not count missing persons cases, especially in big cities. Even if a legal adult U. S. citizen goes missing, it takes a long time to open a case, let alone those undocumented people without status.

Among them, some indeed go missing voluntarily due to bankruptcy, or commit suicide outside the scope of police enforcement, but the vast majority have met with misfortune passively.

And the vast majority of these misfortunes come from foxes hidden among the chickens. The number of serial murder cases in the U. S. is countless times higher than what is statistically reported on the surface.