Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics-Chapter 5539 - 4565: Blackest Night (54)

"Hello, this is the American Federal Shield, I’m Amanda Waller. I have some questions for you. Mr. Todd, are you available now?"

"Go ahead," came the somewhat muffled voice on the other end of the phone. "I’m waiting for the subway, the signal isn’t great here. The good news is, the punctuality rate is only 16%, so I probably have time."

Amanda knew Jason Todd was in England and wouldn’t return soon. So she asked, "How much do you know about the second floor of Gotham University Library?"

"Not more than you, I’ve never been up there. It’s not a good place. Why are you asking?"

"There have been many murder cases that might be linked to mysticism, I need to go up there to look for information. Do you have any way to get me up there?"

"Find the principal of Gotham University, appoint you as a librarian. Remember, it has to be the principal, and there needs to be an official paper edition of the employment letter, not an email."

"A librarian?" Xi Wana eyed Amanda and said, "So you’re finally giving up your hopeless organization of superpower users management to find yourself a secure job?"

Amanda rolled her eyes dramatically and then said, "Who said I’m giving up? It’s precisely because I need to investigate that I must..."

"Oh, I get it. Brainiac, help me make a job application."

This time Amanda was a bit surprised, she said, "Aren’t you going to ask me..."

"Fun fact, I’m also a magician. I’m the principal of Gotham Magic Academy. Do you think I don’t know those recent cases are related to magic?"

"Then why don’t you investigate it yourself?"

"How do you know I haven’t?"

"What’s the result of your investigation?"

"The result is that this matter can’t be investigated by a magician." Xi Wana tapped the table, his face became serious, he said, "Magic talent is a gift, but it’s also a curse. Magicians can usually sense things ordinary people can’t. But if those things themselves have harmful properties, then magicians will die faster than ordinary people."

"So you are afraid."

"I don’t deny that," Xi Wana said, "but even if I don’t care about my life, Brainiac wouldn’t agree to let me go. Because if I also become that kind of madman, who knows how many lives it would take to stop me."

His palm shone with magical light. The power of arrogance from the Seven Sins transformed one of his eyes into a bright blue. This wasn’t Amanda’s first close encounter with magic, but the substantial power surrounding Xi Wana brought a particularly strong sense of oppression.

"You don’t need to scare me," Amanda steadied herself and then said, "Since you want to rely on an ordinary person like me, you naturally have to give me more information, so I won’t end up flailing around like a headless chicken, and we all die in the end."

"Knowledge is power," Xi Wana said, "If I tell you too much, you might become contaminated too. Keep your innocence—or should I say foolishness, it could serve you well in this matter."

Amanda was a bit sulky. These people spoke as if they were playing charades, and their tone was mystifying. She wasn’t pleased. But the case still needed investigating. She took her employment report and headed to the Gotham University Library.

And then she discovered, just as Constantine said, that the second floor was protected by some mysterious power. The staircase seemed to be climbing upward, but soon you would find yourself going down again, landing back on the first floor. Even holding the employment report didn’t help.

Just when Amanda thought she was being played, Brainiac reminded, "Perhaps wait until night."

"Night? What’s special about night?"

Amanda soon found out what was special about night. As darkness fell, everyone left. The entire library felt transported back to the 17th century when it was first established, an entirely different atmosphere.

The ambiance was so quiet that Amanda could hear her own heartbeat. She summoned her courage and walked toward the stairs.

After hanging up, Jason put his phone in his pocket. Standing at the door of the All Souls College, Oxford University’s office, he handed over his card: "Hello, I’m looking for Naog Sokhup."

The receptionist took the card, glanced at it, and said, "I’m sorry, but may I ask why you’re looking for Doctor Sophocles?"

"He’s not here, right?"

The receptionist nodded and said, "The doctor was invited to Buckingham Palace to help the Queen with her troubles."

"When will he be back?"

"Perhaps soon. He..."

Before she finished speaking, the door behind opened suddenly. Naog Sokhup, dressed in black trench coat, took off his hat and looked up at Jason: "Come in."

Jason followed her into the living room. As Doctor Sophocles sat down, he said, "The Queen has encountered some troubles."

"What kind of trouble?"

"Technically, I’m supposed to keep it confidential. But you’re not British, so telling you doesn’t matter. A servant in Windsor Castle committed suicide. Initially thought to be bullying, but someone pointed out it might be related to heresy. The Royal Family doesn’t want this matter to blow up, so they brought in experts to resolve it privately."

"Was it resolved?"

"Far from it. Actually, it’s more troublesome because it might not be heresy but an Evil God."

Jason furrowed his brow and said, "Amanda Waller called me, wanting to access the second floor of the Gotham University Library."

"You came for this?"

"No. Look at this." Jason pulled out a newspaper from his coat, with the headline revealing: "Shocking! Brude Haven’s collective hysteria incident may be related to contaminated drinking water?"

"It can’t be contaminated water," Doctor Sophocles said, "A similar case recently happened in Austria. With so many mysticism events breaking out simultaneously, it’s not a good omen."

"That’s exactly why I came to see you," Jason said, "Is the magic realm going to stir again?"

"This couldn’t be done by those mages. Their magical illusions can’t push people to this extent. It must be some mysterious entity."

"Who might it be?"

Doctor Sophocles shook his head and said, "It’s unclear now, we’ll have to visit the Forgotten Bar."

The lighting in the Forgotten Bar remained dim. Master of the Dark Night, Jim, sat there cleaning his weapon, Black Orchid was drinking, and Detective Ape was reading a book.

After listening to Doctor Sophocles’ account, Jim frowned and then said, "I can’t think of any mysterious being with such abilities. You know, Earth isn’t a place one can come and go as they please."

Jason continued to ask, "If it’s an unknown mysterious presence, what’s the purpose of doing this?"

Jim thought for a moment and said, "Actually, this is very strange. Driving people mad isn’t a good choice. Polluted souls are almost unusable and no mysterious being would accept them."

"Then he himself..."

"That’s the point, he himself didn’t take them. In the past, there have been cases where devils drove believers mad, then forced them to death and took their souls. But this madness seems to be just madness, with no intent to kill. How many death cases are there so far?" 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"We only know of two cases."

"How did they die?"

"One opened his chest cavity, another dug out his eyeballs."

"This doesn’t seem like the work of devils," Detective Ape said, "Devils are very cunning. They would disguise the suicides of induced believers so perfectly, making people believe it was due to excessive drinking or an accidental fall into a well, and not use such obvious ’being lured by an evil god to suicide’ scenes to announce themselves."

"Maybe he didn’t intend to hide."

"Then how would he deceive the next person?"

Jason was speechless. He had just learned that all the servants in Windsor Castle had been quarantined. In such circumstances, the situation would hardly spread, making it indeed a poor choice.

"I think the pollution indeed happened," Detective Ape continued, "but it wasn’t an evil god actively luring, someone was courting death."

"What do you mean?"

"This sort of thing isn’t uncommon," Jim added, "Some mysterious beings don’t care about Earth, but humans fancy their great strength and insist on borrowing power from them. Once they piss them off, the beings give the followers powers with severe side effects, leading them to their own deaths."

"But surely not so many people pissed him off?"

"That’s the strange part. Haven’t you found anything special?"

"Still investigating," Doctor Sophocles said, "but they should be quick, since it concerns the Queen’s safety..."

Doctor Sophocles picked up his phone, scrolled through his mailbox, and then said, "Oh, here it is. They found a letter among her belongings."

"A letter? What does it say?"

"No one dared to open it." Doctor Sophocles stood up and said, "I have to go back. Maybe there will be news soon."

"What’s this?" Barry looked at the envelope on the table. Another agent said, "Found it in the victim’s house."

"This doesn’t seem like her style," Barry said, "She wouldn’t use such high-quality stationery. The wax seal is too high quality. And in this day and age, who still handwrites letters?"

"The issue is that this letter isn’t from this era," the agent said, "It’s been authenticated as a letter written in 1873."

"What’s written in it?"

"We wanted to see but Brainiac stopped us. He thinks this letter might be the source of the pollution. We’re looking for a safe way to read it."

Barry shook his head and said, "There’s no safe way to do that. Perhaps it’s better to think from another perspective."

"What?"

"Find a safe method to read the body."

The door to the morgue opened, and Shiller walked in. The breath he exhaled turned into a white mist. Barry stepped forward and lifted the white cloth covering the head of the body. Seeing the bizarre death condition, Shiller also raised an eyebrow.

"Brains turned like this are rare," Shiller said, "Have you ruled out the possibility of chemical means?"

"Completely ruled out," Brainiac said, "I sent some liquid to Jonathan Crane for testing. It was a complex mixture of heavy metal solution, which shouldn’t be present in the human body. And there’s no chemical method that can turn a human brain into this."

"She felt very afraid," Shiller said, looking at the hollow eye sockets, "She knew she shouldn’t have done it, but it was too late. She just wanted to make some remedial measures, but just gouging out the eyes was useless. Those things had already entered her brain, then melted it, and finally ended like this."

"’Don’t look out the window’—what does it mean?" Barry asked.

"Literal meaning," Shiller said, "At the right time, at the right place, looking out the window, you can see those things you shouldn’t see."

"So... when is the time?"

"Do you really intend to look?"

"Uh, no," Barry said, "I was just curious."

"Curiosity is the beginning of disaster." Shiller said, looking at the face of the body, "But I’m curious too. Let me see that letter."

"Are you sure?"

Shiller nodded. Barry handed over the letter, and Brainiac spoke up first, "Are you sure you won’t go mad? If you go mad, no one could stop you."

"Good point," Shiller paused his movement, then said, "If my own madness can’t overcome the madness it brings, then maybe there will indeed be problems. But I know a surefire way."

"What is it?"

"Hello? Jack? I have a letter addressed to you here. Would you like to come and take a look?"

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