amaotonovel Chapter 4520 The Darkest Night (48)
Chapter 4520 The Darkest Night (48)
Chapter 4520 The Darkest Night (Forty-Eight)
"The power of death has returned!" Superbody exclaimed. "How is this possible?!"
"Damn it, let me in!" Victor said. "Go find Jack. We have to get in and rescue Schiller right now!"
“In my judgment, Schiller did it on purpose,” Brainiac said. “I don’t think he had no cards to play. Perhaps he went to find the mastermind behind it all.”
"Shut up!!!" Victor's shot froze the entire room.
The superhuman quickly stopped him: "Don't do that. Let's find someone to take us into the mental realm right now. We'll definitely make it in time."
Victor then thawed the frozen room, and the group hurriedly ran outside to find Jack. But as soon as they reached the door, they saw Jack walking towards them.
"Jack!" Victor shouted, "How is Schiller?!"
“Who knows what he’s up to,” Jack said. “He could have walked, but suddenly he stopped. I guess that skull must have pissed him off.”
Victor stopped abruptly. Brainiac said somewhat helplessly, "I already told you, Professor Fries, just how much of a bias do you have towards Schiller?"
“Uh…” Victor was a little embarrassed. He explained, “This is different. The enemies before weren’t this powerful. But this one can bring people back to life. It’s normal for me to be worried about Schiller.”
“I applaud your friendship,” Jack said, “but that’s not important. I have something for you. Come with me.”
The group followed Jack outside. Jack's truck was parked at the door. He opened the truck bed door, and inside they saw a corpse.
“Isn’t this the person you hit and killed that day?” Brainiac said.
“I didn’t kill him.” Jack shook his head. “He was already dead when I hit him. He was just a moving corpse. He seems to be trying to frame me this way so you can put me in jail.”
“He clearly doesn’t understand how to determine liability in human traffic accidents,” Brainiac said. “He deliberately entered the truck’s blind spot and didn’t move away even after you warned him. That’s considered intentionally causing a traffic accident to extort money. You won’t be criminally charged, and you won’t even need to provide humanitarian compensation.”
"Yes, I know. You're much fairer than those corrupt judges of the past. Those of us in this line of work have to have a sense of honor..."
Hearing this familiar argument, Brainiac said, "You wouldn't happen to want to repay me too, would you?"
Jack nodded vigorously, pointed to the corpse, and said, "I can control it."
"What?!?!" Before Brainiac could say anything, Jonathan squeezed through the crowd. He first looked at Jack, then at the corpse. "How is this possible??? I tried everything I could to get it moving..."
"What have you two been researching?!" It was Victor's turn to be surprised again.
Suddenly, the corpse moved, startling everyone, including Brainiac. This was somewhat unexpected, as they all realized it wasn't a living corpse that moved on its own.
The corpse stood up unsteadily, struggling to move its facial expressions, and gave them a clown-like grin. The crowd collectively took a few steps back.
"How did you do that?!" Jonathan asked.
“I fed him some of my blood,” Jack said succinctly. “The clown virus clashed with the power of death. I infiltrated through the Dream Realm and successfully took control of his mental domain.”
Everyone looked at each other, no one understanding the principle behind it. Jack didn't offer an explanation either. Brainiac asked, "Can this be mass-produced?"
“No,” Jack shook his head and said, “but this proves that the principle works.”
"What's the principle behind it?"
“Using the Joker virus to fight the power of death.” Jack thought for a moment, then explained briefly, “The Joker is immortal. And if a person doesn’t die, the power of death can’t resurrect him, and therefore can’t turn him into a zombie…”
“Wait a minute,” Victor said. “You mean that to prevent people from becoming zombies, we should turn them into clowns first?”
Jack nodded and said, "That's the fastest way. As long as no one dies, that guy who controls death will kick us away and never come back."
"He's gone, but what about the clowns?" Victor asked, arms crossed.
"It's alright, there are plenty of Batmen in the multiverse, aren't there?" Jack shook his head. "Leave it to them."
"Go back to delivering your goods!" Victor shoved him aside, then looked at the silent Brainiac, "...You're not really thinking about it, are you?!"
“Becoming a clown is definitely not an option,” Brainiac said. “There aren’t that many nature reserves on Earth to designate. But the fact that the clown virus can target the power of death is indeed a big discovery.”
“Jack,” Brainiac shouted, “you have Professor Klein draw a vial of blood. Professor Fries, you’re in charge of getting him to Klein’s chemistry lab and then sealing it up with dense ice.”
Victor's eyes widened: "You sent Jonathan Klein to study the Joker's blood?! Fear gas plus the Joker virus, who's behind this???"
“I suggest you follow my arrangements. Otherwise, I will tell Mrs. Frith and Schiller about the current situation…”
"Oh my god, no, no, no! If she knew I couldn't stop Schiller, she'd be furious and want to kill me." Victor immediately chickened out. "Don't tell her until Schiller is back safe and sound!"
So Victor had no choice but to hold his nose and drive Jonathan Klein back to his lab. Jack followed in his car. Once there, Jonathan drew a vial of Jack's blood, and Jack left.
Victor was utterly disgusted and refused to go near Jonathan's lab under any circumstances. Once Jonathan entered, Victor fired a shot from a distance, sealing the entire lab off. For safety reasons, he thoroughly checked it again, repeatedly confirming that it was properly sealed.
In his view, every molecule escaping from this lab in the coming period could potentially destroy the Earth. Victor would rather coexist peacefully with the zombies than deal with this stuff.
But the more this was the case, the less he dared to leave. He wasn't sure if any other mysterious force could break through the dense ice's defenses. If a mysterious being went in and a straw clown came out, this Earth would be unbearable.
Victor could only suppress his disgust and stand guard at the door, cursing Brainiac for being out of his mind while keeping an eye on the surroundings.
Suddenly, he saw a cloud of mist flying towards him. Victor immediately stood up in surprise and shouted, "Schiller!"
Unexpectedly, when the fog cleared, what appeared was not Schiller, but a gray ring.
The ring stopped in front of Victor. Victor was taken aback. Was something wrong with this scene? Where did this ring come from?
Suddenly, he heard a voice resounding in his heart:
"The ashes flowed freely, the fog was thick and boundless."
Where has reality gone? Where have dreams gone?
Pillars of thought, Hall of the soul
A thousand stars shine together, ten thousand flowers radiate light!
"Intelligent life has been locked on. Victor Frith from Earth, you possess the dream-weaving power to write stories. Welcome to the Gray Lantern Legion!"
"Cough cough cough cough cough cough!!!" Victor nearly choked to death: "What the hell?!"
Wait a minute. Victor seemed to remember something. He recalled hearing these words a long time ago, at least a decade or so ago. Back then, they were fighting a monster together in the spiritual world, and almost everyone summoned the power of the Lamp Orb.
He had summoned the Purple Lantern Legion, representing love, back then. Victor didn't find it strange; he loved his wife so much, of course he could use the power of the Purple Lanterns. But what was going on today?
Although I already suspected Schiller was behind it, what exactly is this dream-making power that writes stories? Do I even have that ability?
Suddenly, Victor froze. He slapped his forehead. No wonder Schiller was willing to play detective and assistant role-playing game with him, and didn't object to him actually publishing a series of detective stories. So this was what he was waiting for!
The so-called dream-making power of fabricating stories is nothing more than writing novels, isn't it? Although this is also a biography, the part that records real events is too small. Most of it is made up, so it's no different from a novel.
Victor reached out to touch the ring, but the moment he touched it, it was slipped onto his finger. Victor covered his eyes in exasperation. Was this some kind of forced sale?
Suddenly, Victor felt the freeze gun at his waist vibrate. He picked it up and was stunned.
His freeze gun can hold 21 bullets. After firing it over the past few days, he only has 10 left. He checked just now and there were 10 bullets, but now there are suddenly 11.
Victor nearly screamed. First of all, he hadn't reloaded, so there couldn't be more bullets. If someone reloaded it for him, it meant the other side also had access to the dense ice material. How could that be?!
Considering this anomaly occurred only after the ring was put on, Victor stared at it from left to right, unable to discern anything. Just then, another figure emerged from the mist.
Victor initially thought it was Schiller, but when the fog cleared, it turned out to be Constantine, dressed quite smartly.
Victor looked Constantine up and down, sensing something was off. The guy was usually unkempt, and even though he looked a little healthier after Schiller brought him back, he wasn't much better; he still exuded that颓废 (颓废 is a difficult word to translate directly, but it implies a sense of decadence, listlessness, and apathy) air about him.
This time, however, he was dressed in a formal suit from the 1920s or 30s, with lace sewn on the cuffs, wearing a top hat that Victor had only seen in movies, leather shoes, and holding a black leather notebook in one hand and a fountain pen in the other.
"What are you doing?!" Victor asked.
"Where is your book?" Constantine asked as well.
"Book? What book?" Victor didn't react for a moment.
“You wrote the book,” Constantine said. “If you didn’t write the book, where did the ring come from?”
Victor slapped his forehead again. He quickly pulled out the things he had written. He had already stapled them together in his office. As he took them out, he casually flipped through them and noticed that one passage was glowing—"I can tell that Rodriguez has something on his mind. I understand that he's not as cold as he seems..."
Wasn't this the "friendly" exchange scene he'd fabricated after freezing Schiller? Victor stared at the text, puzzled. What was wrong with this part?
Suddenly, he felt a chill run down his spine—his freeze gun had an extra bullet!
This means that he didn't freeze Schiller, but actually brought him a cup of hot tea and then engaged in a friendly conversation, just like in the book. That's why there was an extra bullet in the gun!
Victor stared in shock at the ring on his hand. What was this? Had a novel invaded the real world?!