amaotonovel Chapter 4522 The Darkest Night (5)
Chapter 4522 The Darkest Night (5)
Chapter 4522 The Darkest Night (50)
Victor lowered his head, silently gazing at the journal. Constantine continued, "How did the story become reality?"
Victor looked up at him, and Constantine said to himself, "It's like trying to convince someone that a lie you've made up is true."
“I haven’t thought about these things,” Victor said. “I try to be honest with everyone as much as possible. If I have to lie, I’ll only withhold some key information.”
“I can’t understand it.” Victor shook his head slightly and continued, “Maybe it’s because I’ve almost never had to lie to make a living, so I find it hard to understand professional con artists. I don’t know how they do it, and it’s hard to imagine.”
“It’s actually quite simple,” Constantine said. “The best way to make someone believe a lie is true is through sheer force of public opinion. Get everyone around him to tell him it’s true. Then he’ll easily fall into self-doubt. Herd mentality is a terrible thing.”
"But simply repeating the same thing probably won't be effective; it might even raise suspicion. So, you can let him verify the lie himself from various angles. People around him are saying it, the media is saying it, ordinary people are saying it, and professionals are saying it. Rumors are easily believed."
“I see,” Victor said.
"Therefore, the necessary condition for turning a story into reality is that everyone interprets it from a different perspective. The more mysterious the story, the more people are needed to create it."
Victor glanced at the address book beside him and said, “I understand. To reverse the current situation, we need to create a story and then use the power of the Gray Light to turn the story into reality. The more and more we modify, the more people we need to create stories and interpret the same thing from different angles. So we need to contact people who might be able to obtain the ring.”
“That’s right.” Constantine picked up the address book and said, “Most of the people listed here are truly talented. However, since these records are from over a decade ago, many people may have changed their addresses and become unreachable. Even if we could contact them, we might not be able to obtain the ring. We can only select those we can still reach to collaborate on this project.”
"Were you a magician before?" Victor asked. He hadn't had much contact with Constantine, and the two weren't particularly familiar with each other.
Constantine nodded. Victor said, "People who study the occult should all be in the same circle, right? Why don't you try looking in the magicians' circle?"
“No,” Constantine denied, “not the same group at all. The Observers are not magicians, nor could they be. They are completely incapable of harnessing the power of the stars, and even observation is difficult for them, risking them from going mad at any moment. They keep their secrets to themselves and will never mention them except when communicating with their own kind.”
"Then why did they..."
“This isn’t something they can decide. Some people are born with a connection to the stars. You can think of it as a curse, an inescapable curse.” Constantine paused before continuing, “Schiller paid off all my debts, and I was no longer a magician. But I was soon sought out by Nyarlathotep. Even without him, there would be other mystical entities. That’s my curse. I’m destined to never escape these things.”
Victor's mood turned heavy. He pressed his hand hard on the corner of the table and said, "Are humans just toys to be manipulated at will?"
“Most of the time, yes,” Constantine replied. “But sometimes, their connection with humans is not what they want. They don’t intend to persecute humans; it’s just that their life forms are on different levels. A tiny tide from the sun could destroy all life on a planet.”
“If you walk the dark path too often, you’ll eventually run into a ghost. If you have too many connections with humans, you’re bound to run into Schiller,” Victor said coldly. “Schiller is their retribution.”
“I don’t deny that,” Constantine said. “At least Nyarlathotep learned a lesson.”
“Let Brainiac contact them,” Victor said. “He should be able to help us find most of them.”
“If it were that easy, we wouldn’t be here,” Constantine said. “They won’t admit it unless they go through the pen pals’ channels. Even if Brainiac is an AI, no one can guarantee that he won’t be corrupted, and the consequences of that corruption would be catastrophic. They won’t tell him anything, and Brainiac can’t force them.”
“Alright,” Victor said after a moment’s thought, “we’ll write them a letter and send it to the address they left. The person with the ring should reply. Who else could it be?”
“I only know you because Brainiac consulted me about printing and publishing. I knew you were writing a book. Schiller will definitely give you one.”
"Wait a minute, did Brainiac consult you about printing and publishing?"
"Yes. Weren't you going to publish some kind of detective story series?"
"What I mean is, why would he consult you? Doesn't he understand copyright law?"
“He understands copyright law, but he doesn’t understand Schiller. He asked me how the parts about Schiller were handled in my book.”
"So how did you handle it?"
“As long as we don’t name names, it’s fine.” Constantine thought for a moment and said, “I mean, we don’t use his full name or refer to his real-life identity, that’s enough.”
Victor said, "I think I know what to do. Okay, let's get down to business. How do we write it?"
“You decide for yourself,” Constantine said. “Once we get in touch with the ring’s owner, we can create in whatever way we’re good at. Everyone can submit a brief outline, just make sure it’s unique.”
What I mean is, what are we supposed to write?
“Everything,” Constantine said, “not just Schiller’s issue, but also the predicament the planet is facing right now.”
"You mean Eternal Night?"
Constantine nodded: "No one was on guard when the mastermind extinguished the sun, so he succeeded. But if we can write a story of resistance and struggle, it is possible to change reality and reverse history."
“I understand.” Victor nodded. “It seems we have a lot of room to maneuver. Because in this kind of situation, there can’t be just one group of resistance fighters. All over the world, various organizations may discover the anomaly and organize resistance. So it doesn’t matter if we all write our own stories.”
“That’s exactly right,” Constantine said.
“I already have some ideas,” Victor stood up and said, “The lighting here is far too dim for me to create. Perhaps I should go home…”
“It’s best not to,” Constantine said, standing up and shaking his head. “Rodriguez left something here to prevent the mysterious beings from spying on us. If we leave, they might see what you’ve written and take precautions. I’ve already contacted Zatanna; she’ll be here soon to improve the lighting and help us deliver messages.”
"Well, it seems I won't be leaving anytime soon." Victor didn't insist any further. He wasn't sure if the dense ice could completely block the mastermind's view. He'd always been wary of such mysterious entities and therefore knew little about them. It was best to listen to the professionals in this matter.
When Zatanna emerged from the darkness, Victor's letter was already written. Ignoring the two of them, Zatanna looked around the room and said, "I never imagined Gotham had a place like this. Truly a place teeming with hidden talents and brilliant minds."
Constantine handed him the letter. Victor quickly signed his name as well. However, he hesitated when writing his code name. He looked at Constantine and asked, "What's your code name?"
"Constantine."
"Are you using your real name?"
"No, this is my code name. My code name is the 'Constantine' of the magical world."
Victor paused for a moment before realizing what he meant. Constantine was quite famous in the wizarding world. Although ordinary people didn't have much contact with the wizarding world, they were still likely to have heard of him. People would only assume that he was using the wizarding Constantine as a pseudonym, and even the devil might think so, rather than believing that he was Constantine himself. After all, that scoundrel Constantine didn't seem like someone who could write books.
Victor definitely couldn't use this tactic, or even the code name "Mr. Freeze," otherwise it would be too easy to associate it with him. He thought for a moment, then wrote "Dr. Watson" in the signature section.
Zatanna took a look, raised an eyebrow, and said, "I didn't expect you to be a Sherlock Holmes fan."
“He’s a fan of Rodriguez,” Constantine said.
Zatanna brought over some magic candles, which provided a brighter light than ordinary candles and would never go out. After the candles were arranged, the entire study was illuminated. Constantine took his notebook and went outside, saying, "I'm going to look up some information."
Victor didn't need to do much research, since he was writing something akin to a biography, documenting the process of "Detective Rodriguez" solving cases. Even the investigation portion was relatively small; most of the writing focused on Schiller—he knew Schiller so well that he didn't need to consult any sources.
Although the sun going out is important, Victor had no intention of writing about it first. He wanted to finish the main story of "Darkest Night," and then, like many novelists, write a prequel to "Darkest Night" to explain how the sun suddenly went out.
In this story, the suicide of Chick is used as a prelude to introduce Perrotta's unusual behavior. Then, as night falls, Rodriguez navigates through a series of murders. And this is the climax of the story—the long-hidden "Moriarty" is revealed to be none other than Hugo Strange, the detective's old nemesis from many years ago.
This despicable and cunning criminal used Novi, a little girl who died at Wayne Manor years ago, to set a trap and lure the detective into a confrontation. Although he knew it was a trap, Rodriguez went without hesitation in order to save Novi.
The final battle needed to be written to be exciting, logical, and emotionally engaging for the reader. Victor thought about it and decided that it couldn't follow the actual course of events.
Firstly, Victor didn't know what Schiller had done in the realm of psychology, and he himself didn't know psychoanalysis, so what he made up might not be very logical, making it quite difficult to implement.
Secondly, while this kind of psychological battle between masters sounds very professional, readers aren't there to read academic books. Novels are about drama. Nobody reads a novel just two people reciting technical terms. Scenes, dialogues, and emotional shifts all need to be carefully designed to draw the reader in.
Thinking of this, Victor picked up his pen and wrote: