Volume 1: Welcoming Gotham Chapter 22: No hope, eat well, have fun, and prepare for the afterlife
“This is a sign formed after a certain curse solidifies. The black circle represents that it may come from hell or a similar place, and the ghost claws that appear represent the type of curse.
Generally speaking, the presence of hands, chains, and tentacles is evidence that the being that cursed you wishes to restrain you, rather than simply torture you."
Sitting next to Mason, John Constantine, the master of black magic and a famous prodigal and scum, blew smoke rings and casually "introduced" Mason to the features of the strange tattoo on his arm.
He acted very confidently and had some useful information when he spoke. Mason nodded repeatedly, but fear and helplessness appeared in his eyes.
The posture was very much like a teenager who had strayed into a supernatural event and was at a loss as to what to do.
The young man hesitated for a few seconds and said in a low voice:
"When I was trapped in a desperate situation, it made me an offer I couldn't refuse, which brought me back to the human world. I don't want to have anything to do with these things."
"Ha, I'm very familiar with this way of fooling people."
Zha Kang grinned, smoothed his messy short hair, took a puff of smoke and exhaled it through his nostrils, pretending to be a "master" and said:
"It's probably a devil pretending to be a god. They like to play this kind of game of playing hard to get, but some evil gods with weird personalities will occasionally play this trick.
So you've got to give me more clues, Mason.
Besides, you see, I left my sweet girlfriend and came here to warn you of the impending danger. Perhaps I can continue to help you, but both the devil and the evil god are a group of petty guys.
I’m taking a big risk too…”
He glanced at Mason calmly and said meaningfully:
"I believe that a good kid like you who is being watched by Batman would not sit idly by and watch others get into danger because of you, right?"
Mason now knew why that jerk Kang came to "meddle in other people's business". The bastard must have discovered some clues and wanted to squeeze some benefits out of him.
The young man pretended to hesitate.
He lowered his head and began to avoid Zha Kang's gaze, whispering:
"But I have nothing to give you, Mr. Wizard. As you can see, I am just an unlucky young man who just escaped from a gang."
"Hey, that's very insincere of you, kid."
Zha Kang stood up and no longer pretended to be a "philanthropist". He played with the silver angel-shaped lighter in his hand, and his tone became gloomy.
He walked to the window, and, with his back turned to Mason, he said:
"Do you want me to reveal your little secret?
In that pit, the pit left after the house disappeared, there are two living beings, one is you, and the other is your companion, right?"
"this……"
Mason seemed frightened.
He curled up on the bed, and Zha Kang looked back at him, with an expression of "I know everything" on his evil face.
He threatened:
"Xiao Zha is a powerful but simple-minded white wizard, and Batboy is a fool who likes to mess around with bats, but I am different. In order to survive, I have to learn a lot of crooked ways, and I happen to be good at tracking the breath of life, which is what the hell creatures are best at.
Mason, you don't have to hide this from me.
I have had many experiences where I had to make deals with the devil in order to survive in desperate situations, and I understand your pain and helplessness.
But you must trust me first, then I can help you better.
Don't be afraid, kid. The handsome John in front of you has personally exiled no less than fifty hell creatures in the past twenty years and helped at least one hundred people remove various curses.
I'm a real expert in this area.
tell me!
What did you get from that mysterious dark wizard?"
"External energy has been detected entering the body, currently being analyzed... This energy is some kind of mind-guiding spell, with a weak enchanting effect, but is harmless to the human body.
Caster: John Constantine."
A line of prompts popped up on the screen in front of Mason. He knew he had to say something to calm Zha Kang down, otherwise this guy with no bottom line would cause who knows what trouble he would cause.
So the young man hugged his knees helplessly on the hospital bed and answered in a painful tone:
"Well, I 'm not the only unlucky person that wizard has taken to this house. There are three other people imprisoned with me.
We were treated as toys of that monster. He set up a maze-like illusion for us to fight each other, and all kinds of monsters roamed in it.
I formed an alliance with another person.
We supported each other and were forced to sign a contract with the monsters before we made it to the last day.
The wizard told us he wanted to see this kind of murderous desperation to make something weird, and if Batman and you and your girlfriend hadn't interrupted the process at the critical moment, I would be a corpse now."
He looked up at Constantine and said:
"We did get some 'trophies' during those five days of fighting, but they were just tricks set up by the wizard to give us hope and then make us despair.
If you can really help me lift this curse, I would be happy to give you all the spoils as a reward.
Those things are ominous!
I don’t want them at all.”
"Very good, this kind of honesty is exactly what we need."
Constantine's eyes lit up when he heard the word "trophy". He walked over to Mason, put his hand on his shoulder, patted him and said:
"Where are your friends now?"
"Snapped"
Mason shook off Zha Kang's hand. The young man glared at him and said:
"I have endured five days of hell on earth, Mr. John, and I am not a fool, and the spoils held by my friends are our last hope.
You want them to be able to.
But this curse! "
Mason pulled back his sleeve, revealing the ominous symbol, and said:
"You must first remove this curse, or demonstrate that you have the ability to resolve it."
"Oh, this is making it very difficult for me."
Zha Kang curled his lips and reached out to put his hand on the tattoo mark on Mason's arm to examine it carefully.
However, with his rich experience in dealing with creatures of Hell and his knowledge of black magic, it was difficult for him to find useful information from this symbol for a while.
The more he looked at the ghost claw tattoo, the more frightened he became.
An expert can see the trick. Just from the appearance and details of the tattoo, he can tell that the other person is a very powerful guy. The most important thing is that the tattoo on Mason's body does not reveal any aura, but there is a taboo picture. If you don't look carefully, you will think it is just a performance art of a young man pursuing freedom.
Just the degree to which this aura is concealed is enough to tell that the person on the other side is a "super big guy".
At this moment, Constantine regretted getting involved in such a thing.
Seeing that Zha Kang fell silent, Mason felt that this scumbag wizard might have the idea of backing out, but the young man was unwilling to miss the guy who came to him on his own initiative.
The character card could not identify the effect and triggering method of this soul curse, which made Mason feel like there was a time bomb in him that could explode at any time.
He himself knew nothing about magic, and it would probably be too late for him to learn it now.
So he needs someone who knows what he's doing.
At present, no one is more suitable than Zha Kang, a non-mainstream spellcaster who is greedy and has no bottom line. As long as I offer a reward that can satisfy Zha Kang, he will definitely not be able to resist the desire in his heart and participate.
"My friend and I stole the magic book that the wizard was carrying before his house disappeared!"
Mason whispered.
Zha Kang's eyes suddenly lit up, like a light bulb...
Uh, okay.
This is the energetic Zha Kang starting to cast a spell.
Two balls of green light surrounded this guy's eye sockets, as if he was wearing some strange glasses.
At the same time that Zha Kang was casting the spell, the Cat School badge that Mason was wearing around his neck began to vibrate slightly and was immediately suppressed by Mason's arm.
The shaking of his arm made Zha Kang glance at him and say:
"Don't be afraid, I'm here."
"No, this is not what I want to shake."
Mason explained:
"My arms are starting to get hot while you're looking at it."
He didn't lie.
When Zha Kang used magic to check the tattoo, his entire forearm began to feel hot, as if it was reacting to being observed.
This sentence surprised Constantine.
He slid several steps away and immediately lifted the magic. He looked at Mason's shaking arms in doubt and said:
"Even this level of weak observation can cause a reaction? Well, kid, I have to say that your disease is probably incurable. Eat something good these days, have some fun, and be in a good mood.
Well, I have something else to do.
Oh, by the way, my girlfriend is waiting for me in the restaurant, and I don’t want to make her angry.
I'm leaving first."
After saying that, this shameless guy who sensed the risk decisively drew a large circle on the wall behind him with a burning cigarette, apparently preparing to open a portal and leave.
"We stole two magic books! One of them contains a complete collection of black magic that is said to come from another world."
Mason said this, and Zha Kang's movements in drawing the portal suddenly slowed down.
"And some amazing potions from his treasure trove."
Constantine's cigarette went out, and the green fluorescence on the wall dimmed.
"I used one of these potions to revive my friend whose heart was torn out by a monster... The whole process took less than ten seconds."
The young man sitting on the hospital bed added quietly.
This time Zha Kang turned around suddenly.
He looked Mason up and down with a suspicious expression and said:
"I feel like I've fallen into the trap of a seemingly harmless but actually scheming villain. I won't lie to you, Mason.
The curse on you is very troublesome.
I haven't seen this level of 'dirty stuff' in almost ten years. If you want me to help you, you have to bring some real stuff."
"Hard stuff? Sure."
Mason reached out and took down the recording board hanging beside the bed, picked up a pen and followed the healing potion blueprint recorded in the alchemy branch on the light screen in front of him. He quickly wrote down the raw materials and production process, and then threw the paper to Zha Kang.
The latter glanced at him, curled his lips and did not try to hide the contempt on his face.
He swung the paper and said:
"I can make you a box of this low-level potion in the time it takes me to go to the toilet. It's meaningless to a master like me. It's useless except that it's quick to make and the process is simple."
"Okay, then give me the blueprint back."
Mason stretched out his hand to ask for it. Zha Kang quickly folded up the papers and stuffed them into his arms. He lit a cigarette for himself, blew out a puff of smoke and said:
"I mean it's useless to me, but it's good for cheating newbies. If you're lucky, you might be able to trick a few innocent female apprentices into bed.
Well, you didn't hear that, and I didn't say anything about 'having sex'.
Don’t tell this to Xiao Zu!
Otherwise I will curse you and make your life worse than death!
So, this is what you can give me?
Get the knowledge from the mysterious wizard's treasure trove? But if you're being frank, it's hard for me to help you if that's all you have."
"I'm not a mage. I can't remember so many complicated things."
Mason glanced at the scumbag waiting for his turn .
When he thought of the stories about Zha Kang in his mind, he suddenly had an idea, so he wrote down the forbidden things like Voldemort's Horcruxes, and handed it to Zha Kang, saying:
"This is something from another magic book. I just glanced at it at the time, and I don't know if it will be of any use to you."
Constantine took the paper and glanced at it.
He didn't care much at first.
But when he saw the introduction about "Horcrux" and the description of the "immortal" state after the soul was cut, this guy narrowed his eyes immediately.
Zha Kang's most famous deed is that he sold his soul to a dozen devils at the same time so that his creditors could restrain each other, thus ensuring that he would not go to hell in a short time.
For Zha Kang, who is dancing on the edge of a knife almost every moment, the Horcrux, which is absolutely forbidden knowledge in the eyes of outsiders, is just perfect for him.
A cool man like him who is either provoking the big guys or on the road of provocation every day must wish that he could divide his soul into dozens of pieces and hide them in different places.
To avoid accidentally overturning the car one day and ending up in an irreparable situation.
Look, even Zha Kang himself knows that it is only a matter of time before he fails.
"Tsk, just so-so."
Xie Zha Kang, who clearly wanted the note but insisted on pretending to be stubborn and saying "I don't want it", flicked out a ball of fire and burned the note in his hand.
He lowered his head and lit a cigarette for himself, took two quick puffs and said to Mason:
"What you gave me is too cheap, it doesn't interest me at all. But who can blame me for having a compassionate girlfriend? In order to please her and prevent her from giving me a hat or something on a whim, I'll take your life-saving job.
Don’t go to places where many people have died recently, and don’t fight with others, just stay still!
I'll go back and research it and give you a reply in a few days.
But it's against the rules to do this job without getting paid, and since you insist on paying, I can't refuse."
When Mason heard Zha Kang's shameless statement, his face remained expressionless but he was delighted in his heart.
He knew that Zha Kang had taken the bait.
Constantine, who was stubborn, blew out smoke rings, took something off his collar and threw it to Mason, saying:
"I'll use it to contact you."
Mason took the thing in his hand and found that it was a small button with a very complex and strange shape on the metal surface, which looked like an eyeball.
He immediately got the information tag of this thing:
Constantine's Eye of Hell
Quality: Excellent enchantment/inscription items, outstanding craftsmanship
Effect: The Eye of Hell, which exudes the aura of black magic, can reveal nearby traps, lurking lives, or approaching dangers to the wearer. It can also be used as a communication and positioning item, sharing everything it sees with its owner.
Producer: John Constantine
Status: This item requires Enchanting Lv3, Inscription Lv2 and Jewelcrafting Lv2 to analyze the blueprint.
Item Description: You'd better not ask where Constantine learned this method of monitoring hell creatures, you just need to know that he paid a lot . My God, the succubus sisters of the Nine Hells are very difficult to deal with in various situations.
"I am very happy when you give me something."
Mason also placed the eerie Eye of Hell accessory in front of him, and when Zha Kang turned and left in style, he said:
"But can you remove the surveillance magic you cast on this thing? Although I am young, I am not used to carrying such a trendy 'magic camera' around."
"Oh, you're an expert."
Having his thoughts exposed, Zha Kang turned around and grinned without any guilt.
He patted his head and said embarrassedly:
"It's a professional habit, don't mind it, I just have a bad habit of peeping at other people.
I'm not exaggerating, I used this thing to spy on Zappa bathing last time and it really worked, but of course it was terrible when she chased me and chopped three of my alien planes afterwards ."
As he spoke, he reached out and fiddled with the Eye of Hell pendant.
The eyeball icon above the emblem also closed its eyes strangely.
"I know you don't tell Batman these things because you adore him so much and don't want him to know that you are locked in darkness and alienate you."
Zha Kang waved his hand and drew a pentagram on the wall, opening a cool door.
Before leaving, he turned to Mason and said:
"So this is a secret between the two of us, little Mason, and your powerful friend John will give you a surprise, but it depends on how generous you are.
Learn more from Bruce Wayne.
The amount of money that guy paid to Zuckerberg for his performance made me wonder if he wanted to support my girlfriend, and it also made me hate myself for not being a woman...
What the hell!
