Chapter 4522: The Blackest Night (57)

"Did they put this in?" Zatanna asked, looking at the stack of paper.

Constantine nodded and said: "They set a trap on this. It was probably set to trigger at this moment."

"Then didn't we find it for nothing?"

"No." Constantine denied, and then said, "If there were no forbidden knowledge in this itself, the trap wouldn't have been able to take effect. This should be what we are looking for."

"Then they aren't worried about us taking this clue... oh. For those in your line of work, clues might be death warrants instead."

"Exactly. Not only are they not afraid of us investigating, they even hope we can face their god squarely. The method is this." Constantine shook the paper in his hand.

"Then are you going to read it?"

"I'd have to be crazy to read this." Constantine stood up straight, took a deep breath, and said, "There must be a lot of filthy things in here. I need to find someone to translate it."

"Who can translate it?" Zatanna said in shock.

Constantine didn't continue speaking, but returned to his residence and came to the basement. There was a ritual setup here.

Constantine put some things on it and adjusted the ritual setup. Putting the manuscript on it, he chanted in a low voice: "Chaos that crawls, God of a thousand faces, soul and messenger of the Outer God..."

Accompanied by his chanting, a clicking sound appeared in the room. The candlelight became dim. Circular stains spread from the center of the room, and were then gradually divided into two halves.

"According to your omniscient knowledge, respond to my thirst for wisdom—tell me what is written on the paper in a way I can understand. I only want three English words composed of letters, and a mask you give me..."

Slowly, slowly, the paper began to burn. A mysterious fragrance filled the air. The wind howled, as if traveling through a huge cave. Constantine closed his eyes. From the blasphemous tone of the flute, he heard the words he wanted—"Death, darkness, cannot be looked at directly."

With a "whoosh," the room returned to silence. Something fell into the center of the ritual. Constantine walked over and saw the colorful mask stuck with feathers in the Indian style.

"Indians..." he said, "Go find the Indians."

"This mask..." the grocery store owner crossed his arms and said, "I'm serious, I don't know where you found this thing, it's too unlucky."

"So what is this?" Constantine asked.

"This thing is actually..." Before he finished speaking, the wind chime at the door suddenly rang, Constantine turned his head and saw a familiar face.

"Dr. Nyarlathotep," Constantine said, "I knew you would find your way here too. Any new clues?"

The man in the long windbreaker shook his head

The two of them looked at the grocery store owner together. The man let out a long sigh and then said, "Since you want to know, there's no harm in talking about it. But I must warn you: do not dig too deep, or you will eventually be swallowed by it."

"What is it?"

"Death." The owner turned and took another mask from the wall, which was covered with several giant masks in an indigenous style. This one looked somewhat similar to the one Constantine had brought, but also different.

"Unlike many peoples of the world, the indigenous people of the Americas feared the ocean greatly. They believed the ocean was synonymous with death. They would not look at it, listen to it, or even record it. The only traces left behind are these things."

The owner pointed to the two masks and said, "These are masks worn by priests during rituals to sacrifice to the god of death. See? These blue feathers represent sea waves. These represent the jagged cliffs. These hanging ornaments represent the sandy beach."

His brown hand stroked the surface of the mask. Constantine quickly discovered the difference between the two. The one the owner had taken down only had the things he described. But the one he had obtained had a cluster of pitch-black feathers in the very center, surrounded by the blue ones.

"Then what about this?" Constantine pointed to the black feathers.

The owner raised his eyes to look at him and said, "It."

"It?"

"The indigenous people feared the ocean. Not because they were cowards, but because they had truly seen the horror lurking beneath it. Everything in its path would be dragged into eternal darkness."

Then the owner pointed to the red color under the eyes of the mask Constantine had brought and said, "Those who gaze upon it will have their eyes scorched, feeling such pain that they cannot help but gouge them out."

Constantine immediately thought of Lady Jieri-ta. The owner continued, "The person who made this mask must have faced it directly. In the process of making this mask, he was also constantly moving toward death. That is why I said it is ominous."

It matches again, Constantine thought. According to Brainiac, Lady Jieri-ta didn't die immediately either; she even wrote a letter.

"Why did he make this mask?" Dr. Suoxipu asked.

"So that someone would put it on," the owner answered bluntly. "Just like now, if it weren't for a group of experts like you who found it, someone might just think it's a craft item and put it on their face. Once they put it on, they are bound to see things they shouldn't."

Constantine took back the mask. The owner looked at him and said, "You had better hold some reverence. Even if you are not American, the ghosts of the indigenous people still linger above your head."

"I don't intend to put it on," Constantine explained. "But leaving it with you would be even more dangerous. This matter is not that simple."

"It's not those rats who don't even dare to show their faces causing trouble again, is it?"

"It is them." Constantine snorted and said, "I think I know what they want to do. But we are still missing the most critical piece."

"What?"

"How to summon it. Right now, whether looking out the window or putting on the mask, it seems to be just suicide, not a true summoning. The Hidden Ones must want to bring it to Earth. What will they do?"

The owner thought for a moment and said, "The indigenous people kept their distance from it and never recorded a method of summoning. However, you could ask the Latinos. I know that some Latino communities living on the East Coast also have legends similar to ours."

Constantine nodded and said, "Thank you."

Just as Constantine returned to his residence and prepared to contact his Latino friend, Amanda arrived on schedule and handed Constantine the few words she had deciphered.

"Total solar eclipse?" Constantine frowned.

"That's right. But the strange thing is, the total solar eclipse didn't happen in 1873, but in 1868, five years before that period. And coincidentally, there was also a total solar eclipse five years ago this year. What do you think is going on?"

Constantine stood up slowly and said, "Of course, it's because what happened in 1873 wasn't a total solar eclipse—it was its arrival."

"What?"

"Brainiac," Constantine raised his voice, "go check for eyewitness accounts of a total solar eclipse in 1873 immediately. Not just a total solar eclipse; check for any events where people witnessed the sky suddenly turning black or the sun going out."

Brainiac beeped twice. Amanda frowned and said, "That era is too long ago; there probably aren't any visual records."

"Enough written records will do." Constantine walked around from behind the desk, put on his coat, and said, "I have to go to the apartment in Blüdhaven. You're coming with me."

"I'll warn you first: the people inside are very uncooperative. We tried everything we could, but we couldn't get them out..."

Constantine didn't answer; he just got into the car in silence. Amanda didn't repeat herself. They soon arrived at the apartment building in Blüdhaven where the incident occurred. In front of the door, they met Barry and Schiller.

"Professor," Constantine called out, "I knew you'd be here."

"Are you here to find me?"

"Not entirely," Constantine said. "But if you weren't here, there would be no point in me coming. Because I came to hear your conclusion. About the people inside."

Schiller nodded. Amanda looked at him and said, "So, what have you figured out, Professor?"

"Don't be impatient; I haven't gone in yet," Schiller said. "Barry, go bring someone out. Remember, only let them out for a second. Then quickly take them back into the Speed Force. Don't let them stay outside for too long."

Barry nodded. A flash of golden light vanished. A figure appeared outside. In that instant, he let out a scream that sounded nothing like a human. Just as he reached out to grab his own eyes, Barry took him back into the Speed Force and returned him to the apartment.

"As I thought," Schiller said. "They all looked out the window."

"What?!" Amanda was practically screaming. "Then doesn't that mean they all..."

"Don't be impatient. Barry, did you bring the freeze gun?"

"I have it, Professor."

"Good, freeze them first. Keep them from grabbing their eyes. Brainiac, have Jack draw a vial of blood. Send it to Professor Crane's lab to extract the Joker virus. Then dilute it with fear toxin and inject them; they should be fine."

Amanda swallowed hard. One could tell from her expression that she desperately wanted to say, "Is this a method a human could think of?" But after thinking about it carefully, she felt it might actually be effective. So, she remained silent.

"Found it," Brainiac said. "In 1873, there were records of witnessing a total solar eclipse in 26 regions worldwide. Most were concentrated on the East Coast of the United States. According to the diary of a fisherman's descendant, in early December 1873, the sky went black for about 40 minutes. But only he and his daughter noticed this anomaly. Everyone else seemed not to have seen it."

"Did they look out the window?" Schiller asked.

"No. They didn't look," Brainiac said. "So they survived and died of old age. There are over 130 similar reports."

"It seems that the Hidden Ones periodically summon Outer Gods to Earth. Only those with sufficient inspiration can see them. Once they look out the window and face the Outer God directly, they gouge out their own eyes due to the contamination."

"But right now, that Outer God hasn't come," Amanda questioned. "How come these people have already..."

"Who said it hasn't come?" Constantine turned to look outside the door. That direction was the Atlantic Ocean, but it was not the point of convergence.

"I am searching through historical reports of similar incidents. This will help us pinpoint exactly where they were looking," Brainiac said.

As more and more reports appeared, the point where all the lines Brainiac drew on the map intersected landed precisely somewhere on the coast of Gotham.

When everyone drove to that location, all they saw under the overcast sky was a towering cliff standing between jagged, dark, arching reefs.