Chapter 939: Deep in the Mist and Rain (End)

Looking at Batman's face, Zatanna shook her head. The past of youthful recklessness was like smoke; they were both too young and inexperienced at the time, and everything just happened that way.

At that time, the Waynes had just died not long before, and young Bruce was in a very bad mood. To help young Bruce walk out of his grief, Alfred invited a very famous magician—Zatanna's father, Mr. Zatara—to Wei En Manor to perform magic.

Young Bruce had no mood to watch the performance. He ran out the back door of the hall and bumped right into Zatanna.

At that time, he was still in a state of being traumatized, so he poured out his grief to Zatanna, and Zatanna felt very sympathetic. That was how the two formed a bond.

In the years before Bruce went out to study, the two were a couple. But later, Zatanna left without saying goodbye because her father had gone missing. She needed to go out to find him and didn't want the affairs of the occult world to involve Bruce, so she didn't tell him the truth. The two parted ways and never saw each other again.

Seeing each other again this time, they found that both had matured significantly and were no longer the versions of themselves they were familiar with in their youth. Zatanna sighed, but as the person once closest to Bruce, she could read his expressions and actions.

She leaned closer to Batman, looked into his eyes, and said, "You know where the curse is, don't you? Why won't you tell us?"

Batman opened his mouth, then looked at Constantine and said, "Do you know who I heard the word 'curse' from last time?"

"Who?"

"Schiller."

Batman sighed and said, "You should have noticed that many Cat Getan citizens have gone mad. Schiller said this is a curse. He said he could exorcise this curse, but the method is to use another, more powerful curse."

"A more powerful curse?" Zatanna's expression turned colder, and Constantine's expression also sank. He said, "It couldn't be that Schiller has already obtained... but how could he..."

Constantine's train of thought didn't lead to the Soul of the Curse at all, because he and Zatanna were both people of the occult world. They had very rich occult knowledge, and similarly, in the occult world, the Soul of the Curse is not a curse.

The occult world has a strict definition of a curse. Simply put, it is a persistent, mediated negative magic. First, it must be persistent and mediated; more importantly, it must be magic.

The Soul of the Curse was actually Constantine's twin brother, whom he killed in his mother's womb. It had been residing in Constantine's body. In the occult world, this belongs to a type of "spirit," not a curse.

Soul, spirit, and curse are three completely different things in the occult world. The Soul of the Curse can have an effect similar to a curse, but it doesn't rely on him casting curse magic, but rather on his own special nature.

Constantine himself is unfortunate; he possesses a special soul, and his twin brother, born with him, has a soul exactly the same as his. At the same time, the Soul of the Curse was killed in a very coincidental state, yet it survived.

This is an extremely special attribute, which can be understood as an incurable disease never seen in the medical world. Its lethality lies not in short-term destructive power, but in the fact that doctors have never seen this disease, so they don't know how to treat it.

Schiller does not understand occult knowledge, so he doesn't know that the Soul of the Curse is not a curse. He told Batman he had a curse, and Batman doesn't know much about true occultism, so he also thought Schiller was talking about a curse.

But regardless, the Soul of the Curse does not belong to the kind of curse recognized by people in the occult world, so even though Constantine knew Schiller had taken his brother's soul, he didn't associate it with this.

"I think it's indeed possible." Constantine said with a grave expression, "Generally speaking, a curse has no physical form, but it must have a medium. These magicians' goal is also the curse medium. Once they control the medium through some method, they can successfully use the curse."

Batman froze again. His mind began to flash back to previous scenes. The moment Schiller's umbrella tip touched his body, he felt emotions that were like those of a living thing.

"Umbrella..." Batman whispered.

Constantine leaned in, confused, and said, "What? What word did you just say?"

"I said 'umbrella'... the medium is very likely the umbrella." Batman repeated. Hearing this, Zatanna immediately said, "Who is this Schiller? But no matter who he is, he cannot hold such a curse and act recklessly. This is very dangerous!"

"Let's go. We'll find this person named Schiller, make him hand over the medium, and then we'll take it away to destroy it. We must not let such a dangerous curse harm this world!"

But Constantine, who had originally been on Zatanna's side, stiffened after hearing that the medium might be Schiller's umbrella. He said, "Zatanna, sometimes the line between black and white, good and evil, isn't that clear. I think violence isn't the only way to solve problems..."

"I can understand your desire to solve the curse, but you must come up with a perfect plan. Otherwise, I won't allow you to run wild in Cat Getan." Batman also spoke up.

Zatanna froze in place. She looked at Constantine, then at Batman, then back at Constantine, as if remembering something. The suspicion and shock in her eyes surged like a tide.

At this moment, Constantine took the initiative to walk up, put his arm around Zatanna's shoulder, and said, "Zatanna, you're still too young. Some things can't be solved by brute force. Magic isn't omnipotent either. You have to be methodical..."

"My god! This again!" Zatanna rolled her eyes, spread her hands, and said, "I know you don't like using the power of magic to solve problems and always like to take many detours. But in such an urgent situation, do you really have to lecture me with these grand principles?"

"No, Zatanna, listen to me. Actually, this matter... um... have you considered... that is, this plan you proposed of going directly to his door might... encounter a little bit of resistance."

Constantine held two fingers together and looked at Zatanna, saying, "Have you considered that the person who took the curse medium might not be particularly willing to cooperate with us?"

Zatanna said, puzzled, "Not willing to cooperate with us? Of course he isn't willing; otherwise, he wouldn't have taken that medium. But him not being willing isn't a reason for him to walk around with such a dangerous thing."

"If everyone could carry a big bomb and go to various important occasions, then what would we need police and security for? We can't just let a criminal kill people because they aren't willing to hand over their weapons, right?"

Hearing Zatanna's logic, Batman instinctively frowned and said, "... Has he committed a crime with that thing?"

After saying this, Batman froze for a moment, then coughed lightly, as if reflecting on why he would say such nonsense.

"The problem is, he might become a criminal." Zatanna tapped the floor of the helicopter with her hand and said, "And we can't gamble on whether he will behave himself and not use that thing to destroy the world."

"If he wanted to destroy the world, he wouldn't need that thing..." Constantine said in a very low voice. Zatanna's gaze immediately swept over, and Constantine shut up. But Batman said:

"If there really is a highly dangerous curse, as you say, existing within Cat Getan, then I must find it. However..."

"What 'however' now?!" Zatanna said angrily, "What is wrong with you two? Why haven't you grasped the current situation?"

"Not to mention who this thing has fallen into the hands of, that group of black magicians won't hesitate here like we are. If they find out about this, they will definitely go crazy trying to find that person and snatch the curse medium from his hands!"

"We must take this thing before they do and destroy it. No matter whose hands it's in, could he possibly be a match for us?"

Unexpectedly, when she asked this question, Constantine and Batman both fell silent.

Constantine put the fingertips of both hands together, moved them lightly, and said, "... This question is indeed worth debating."

"If the holder of the curse medium is indeed Schiller, we certainly can't let him keep holding it." Batman's eyes were shrouded under his brow ridge. He said, "I suspect he might not even know how dangerous this thing is, because like me, he knows almost nothing about the occult world."

Constantine thought for a moment, nodded, and said, "That's true. Schiller might know that the occult world has always existed and is influencing Cat Getan, but he might not know what that thing is, or where it is. Perhaps when he obtained the Curse of Ultimate Evil, he didn't even realize he had already obtained it."

"Many items in the occult world have this nature. After ordinary people obtain them, it is difficult for them to realize their danger."

"Don't most of the plots in the horror movies you've seen originate from cursed dolls or items possessed by vengeful spirits?"

"In short, if the curse medium is really Schiller's umbrella..." Constantine concluded, "Then you'd better not expect me to go ask Schiller for his umbrella. He won't give it to me. But..."

Constantine cast his gaze on Batman. Batman looked back at him in silence. Constantine walked up again, put his hand on Batman's shoulder, and said, "Perhaps you don't realize your weight in Schiller's heart. He is willing to spend so much time on your thesis, perhaps he also..."

"Not possible." Batman said expressionlessly, "Haven't you noticed? No one in this world could possibly be more important than that umbrella. No matter who asks him for the umbrella, the result is the same."

Constantine recalled the process of getting to know Schiller, and then recalled the rumors he had heard from others—this "others" mainly refers to a certain unknown cryogenics expert, a certain unknown restaurant owner, and a certain unknown son of a godfather.

Then, he nodded deeply, feeling that Batman was right. But soon, he stroked his chin and said:

"Since we can't ask for it directly, we can find a way to trick him out of his umbrella. I am confident that I can exorcise the curse without damaging the umbrella itself. As long as we can trick him for two or three hours, everything will be solved."

Batman's tone suddenly rose a bit. He asked Constantine: "... How to trick him?"

Constantine looked at Zatanna again and said, "This brings us to the genius magician before us."

"Let me reintroduce her: Zatanna Zatara, magician, sorceress, and more importantly, a master of mind magic and memory intrusion."

Batman immediately turned to look at Zatanna. Zatanna rolled her eyes, understood Constantine's train of thought, and said, "That's true. Head-on conflict will always consume power. If we fight among ourselves and let those black magicians pick up the bargain, that wouldn't be good."

"I do have a way to directly intrude into people's memories. At the same time, like some mysterious existences, I can also find weaknesses in memories and construct opportunities for the other party to compromise... Yes, that's right, let's do it!"

Zatanna became happy again. She walked to the side of the helicopter, turned back to look at Constantine, and said:

"Alright, those old-fashioned grand principles of yours are still a bit useful. Let's go. We'll find a safe place, directly enter the memory of the person named Schiller, and hypnotize him to make him put down the umbrella."

Constantine revealed a fake smile that didn't reach his eyes and said, "Miss, you really are a genius. A perfect plan. Then you two should..."

As he spoke, he approached the helicopter cabin door, but the moment his hand touched the door, with a "click," the door locked. Batman looked straight ahead, expressionless, and said:

"Not you two, it's us."

Constantine froze in place.

Soon, the wind picked up in Cat Getan. At the edge of the clouds, light was squeezed out from the gaps in the dark clouds, reflecting on the ground with a sense of desolation that could pass at any moment.

Fine lines of rain hit the helicopter's propeller, and the rising water vapor looked like fog and clouds.

The helicopter gradually shrank into a black dot, flying toward the skyline, where a towering tower stood, looming in the depths of the mist and rain. ===== CHAPTER 940 =====