Chapter 4008

"I need you to help me send a message." Strange said, "The Guardians of the Galaxy are our people; they have been captured, and we must rescue them. But I'm afraid Batman has set a trap for us. I hope they can be prepared. Can you do it?"

"Why don't you do it yourself? You're much healthier than me."

"I'll be discovered." Strange said, "The magical energy I use is not quite the same as yours, and Darkseid has strong control over the Apokolips domain. To send a message this far, the energy fluctuations triggered might attract Darkseid's attention. I don't want to take that risk. But if you do it, it shouldn't attract attention."

Constantine relaxed in place for a while, reached out to touch his chest, and said, "I really feel much better, and I don't hear them talking in my ears."

"What?"

"If I use their methods to suppress the disease, there will be a lot of side effects." Constantine said, frowning, "Even at the worst times, everything I saw was bleeding, the undead were wailing in my ears, and my own skin was gradually peeling off. For a long time, I didn't know where I was. Once when I woke up, I was standing in the middle of the road, and all the cars were honking at me."

Strange imagined the scene and felt that if he were Constantine, he would have gone crazy long ago. It seems the power in his universe has very serious limitations; humans are almost completely unable to use it directly, otherwise, there would be these side effects.

It's no wonder Constantine doesn't use this power to treat his lung cancer. Even if the lung cancer were cured, the person would have already turned into who knows what kind of monster.

"Fine, I think we can make this deal." Constantine said, "However, even if I use magic, I might be monitored; there has to be a legitimate reason."

Just as he said this, the room door was knocked. The voice of the main universe Batman sounded outside the door: "Constantine, are you okay?"

Strange quickly changed back into the blond Constantine's appearance. The two moved the trunk to the center of the room, pretending to be studying magic items. When the main universe Batman pushed the door and entered, he looked at Constantine with some worry.

"Someone told me there was coughing upstairs." The main universe Batman said, "What is that? You coughed up blood?"

"Nothing to worry about." Constantine smiled at him and said, "I didn't mean to cover the camera; it's just that some of these magic items cannot be looked at directly, otherwise they might cause harm. I don't want to kill our commander on the first day I arrive."

The main universe Batman couldn't help but look at the trunk, but the lid of the trunk was facing the door, and what was inside the trunk couldn't be seen at all. He didn't want to take the risk of looking at those dangerous items either, so he said, "I've thought about it and feel you should still attend the meeting. But you can go when the review is over and new tasks are being assigned."

"Will there be tasks for us?" Strange asked.

"Originally there weren't, but the two of you captured members of the Guardians of the Galaxy; we might have some tactical arrangements targeting them, so you'd better go listen."

"Oh, damn it." Constantine said, "I didn't come here for meetings, and do you really have to bully a sick person like this?"

"What exactly is wrong with you?" The main universe Batman walked in, frowning. He closed the door. Just as he was about to continue asking, he saw the X-ray Strange had placed at hand.

He walked over, picked it up, took a look, and couldn't help but rub his temples, saying, "I really am seeing an organ image where I can only judge which part of the human body it is from the shape for the first time. Is this really a lung?"

"Judging from the shape alone, yes." Constantine nodded, looking down at the things in the trunk without caring.

The main universe Batman looked at the X-ray, then at Constantine, and then at the X-ray again. Strange almost couldn't hold back his laughter; it was the first time he had seen such a shocked expression on the main universe Batman's face. Sure enough, he wasn't the only one who thought this was a medical miracle.

"Alright, don't just stand there, Commander." Constantine stood up, walked to the main universe Batman with one hand in his pocket, and said, "You should know what I came here for. Nothing is more important than my own life, and you agree with that, right?"

The main universe Batman was clearly hesitant. He said, "Yes, judging from the X-ray, your life is indeed more important. Have you found any good methods?"

Constantine smiled and said, "No. But if I die here, Satan won't get my soul, which can be considered a pretty good ending."

The main universe Batman frowned; he clearly didn't want this result. After a pause, he said, "I can help you contact the mages of this central universe; they might have a way. After the war ends, you can go to Battleworld for treatment."

"Better not; you know, I don't trust magic." Constantine shook his head and said, "If you insist, I will go to the meeting, but I don't guarantee what I can do."

After speaking, he took the X-ray from the main universe Batman's hand, sat back down next to the trunk, and lowered his head to fiddle with things in silence.

Strange looked at the main universe Batman and said, "Although I don't want to attend that damn meeting either, if you insist, I can go take a look. By the way, what was that called? Uh, Guardians? What's their background?"

"A team of cosmic mercenaries, not very powerful, otherwise they wouldn't have been captured by you two." The main universe Batman gave a brief introduction and then said, "They are very dishonest and didn't provide many useful clues. But they have other uses."

Then the main universe Batman left without saying much. Strange looked at the clock on the wall; there was still more than half an hour before the meeting started.

Because Constantine had been organizing the trunk just now, Strange had already discovered that the things this trunk could hold far exceeded its volume; there should be extra space inside.

"This thing is nice," Strange said, "It seems it can hold quite a lot of things; all your belongings are here."

"Sort of, there are some other things in the safe house, but most aren't useful; the good stuff is all here." Constantine said, "But it seems meaningless to you."

"In our universe, religion doesn't have special power. To be precise, religious people who haven't signed contracts with mysterious existences are just ordinary people. So, more than half of the things in here should be unusable."

Constantine nodded, not showing any particularly surprised expression. Then Strange asked again, "When I fought you before, what was up with those animals you summoned?"

"Mimicry of demon blood." Constantine said, "That magic circle was indeed a summoning circle, but it couldn't summon real demons, only the demon blood I had stored there before. They weren't completely purified and still retained the habits of demons, so they would turn into various monsters and attack others."

"You can control them?"

"Not completely, but because they died at my hands and still retain the fear from before they died, they generally won't attack me first. As long as the opponent dies faster than me, I have my own ways to seal them again."

Strange nodded and said, "The magic on your side is really too dangerous; you should really use it less."

"What about you? Was the magic energy you used to treat me just now the magic energy from your side?" Constantine asked.

"Sort of." Strange nodded, "But to prevent being discovered, I didn't use my own energy directly, but used a prop, which is about the same as these props in your trunk."

Strange took out the Eye of Agamotto and said, "The energy inside can provide healing to the pure of heart."

"Pure of heart?" Constantine smiled and said, "I didn't expect that I would still count as pure of heart by your standards."

Strange shook his head and said, "It doesn't refer to the purity of character, but to people who don't have contracts on them. You haven't signed a contract with any demon god on our side, so naturally, you count as pure of heart."

"So that means it can't treat mages?"

"Not completely, because not all mages have contracts. Some contracts expire, some parties die, and there are those like me who don't sign long-term contracts with anyone but still have stable energy sources; these people can all use it."

"I see." Constantine packed up the trunk and said, "It's almost time for the meeting, let's go."

Strange nodded. The two walked out one after the other, soon arrived downstairs at the base, and then headed to the meeting room. Just as they were about to walk into the meeting room, Constantine leaned against the door frame and coughed crazily; fresh blood seeped out from the corners of his mouth again, and his whole person was as pale as a withered bone.

"You go in first." He said to Strange while coughing, "Tell Batman I need some time to prepare medicine; I'll be there soon."

Hearing this, Strange thought that the demon Constantine had captured to use as medicine had already been replaced by Shiler. Although he didn't think the Gray Fog would be affected by Constantine, if the medicine had no effect, Constantine might notice something.

"I'll go with you," Strange said, "That kind of medicine isn't a good thing; I can help you alleviate the symptoms."

Constantine didn't refuse. The two walked toward the restroom together. When they reached the restroom, Constantine went into a stall to retch; after retching for a long time, he staggered out while holding the door frame, then collapsed on the sink, almost unconscious.

Strange again held the Eye of Agamotto in one hand and placed the other on his shoulder, transmitting healing energy to Constantine.

But the moment he placed his hand on Constantine's shoulder, Constantine turned back with a counter-twist, pressed Strange onto the sink, grabbed the back of his head, and smashed it violently against the sink counter. "Bang!"

Strange let out a cry of pain and struggled instinctively. Constantine twisted his other wrist, snatched the Eye of Agamotto, and expressionlessly smashed his elbow into the back of his neck again. Strange's vision went black, and he slid down along the sink.

"I was right, wasn't I? He isn't good at fighting." A voice echoed in the restroom, "You have to hurry over, or Batman will come looking for you."

Constantine stood crookedly in place, panting several times, tugged hard at the tie on his neck, supported Strange's armpits with both hands, dragged him into the innermost stall of the restroom, and then quickly opened the briefcase, fumbled a small bottle of potion from inside, pried open Strange's chin, and poured it in.

Strange instinctively choked and coughed twice, but soon fell into a deeper coma. Constantine walked out carrying the trunk, placed the trunk flat on the sink counter, reached out, and took out a jar from inside.

To be precise, it was a slender bottle that could be held in one hand, inside which was a mass of constantly surging black shadow.

"You aren't the slander demon I caught before; who exactly are you?" Constantine asked, squinting his eyes.

Soon, the thick black shadow flew out of the bottle; when it landed, the floor reflected the shape of goat hooves, long horns cast two sharp shadows on the face, and scarlet eyes contained a hint of a smile.

"My name is... 'Mephisto'."

?? Who deceived whom?