Chapter 1494: Birds and Return (End)
In the days of being a spiritual mentor in American comics, I met Mu Shaoshengpin 4447 words ① 0900:02
In the shooting room of the BBC headquarters building in London, UK, Bruce took a cup of hot coffee from his assistant and smiled at him.
A blonde female producer came over and shook hands with Bruce and said, "Thank you very much, Mr. Wayne. If it weren't for you, this variety show plan might take another five or six years to meet the public."
"No need. It is precisely because I had similar ideas that I set up this black diamond puzzle many years ago. It is also a wish come true to be able to cooperate with the BBC, meet outstanding talents from all over the world, and compete for the position of millionaire in the competition."
The female producer smiled, shook Bruce's hand tightly, and said, "It is my honor to work with you..."
...Oh, the manuscript is ready, let's start."
Bruce nodded, and finally adjusted his suit. Under the guidance of the director, he looked at the camera lens and showed a standard smile.
"Hey, audience friends, hello, I'm Bruce Wayne.
"Yes, it's the "rich bastard" you often talk about. I don't think anyone wants to see me on such a beautiful morning - but what if I have a million dollars behind me?"
"Good news, guys, I have long wanted to see you poor guys fighting for money, so a few years ago, I cut a precious black gem into a thousand pieces and buried them all over the world. In this show, you will see all kinds of experts use all kinds of tricks to compete for this million dollars."
"The conditions for victory are very simple. Find the fragments and bring them to me. Whoever brings the most fragments wins, but the premise is that there must be no missing one of the thousand fragments."
Bruce stood up, walked in front of the camera, and said in a low voice.
"According to the rumors when I got the gem, this precious black gem has a terrible curse, and only the most daring adventurers can participate. That's why don't think about faking it. I won't be fooled by your little tricks. "
"However, I can't take the responsibility for you being cursed, and no one wants to see you explode and die in the show, so anyone who touches the black diamond with their body - you are eliminated. "
"Cooperation, competition, or to be frank... fighting, it's up to you to decide, now, the game begins!"
"Click" the TV was turned off, and the red hood sitting at the table covered his face with his hands. He sighed and said: "I always think Batman is a bit too old-fashioned, but this... He is a bit too trendy!"
Then he said with some doubts: "I remember that the variety show "Millionaire" was only broadcast on TV in 1998? Well, it seems that he has spent a lot of money to bribe the people in the TV station."
Sitting by the window, Schiller closed the book in his hand, pointed to the seat opposite, and said: "You have also studied for a few days, how is it? Is there anything you don't understand? ”
“”Regarding the skills of leading a conversation, I think I have learned it well, but the macro part…” Red Hood frowned and shook his head. He gestured with his hands and then said: “Most of my life experience in the first half of my life was gained through practice. Although I also like to read some miscellaneous books, I rarely learn technology from books. If possible, professor, I think I may need some practical guidance.”
Schiller nodded with satisfaction and said: “The reason why Jason Todd is my favorite student is that he has a long mouth. If he doesn’t understand, he will open his mouth to ask. If he doesn’t understand, he will tell me. Some people have half of your communication ability and will not wait until now to graduate.”
Red Hood grinned and showed a bright smile. At this time, he showed some of the naivety of a young man, like a bird nestling next to an eagle and trying to straighten the fluffy feathers on its chest.
"How about this, I'll take you to hell, and you can see how I communicate with the devil of hell, how about that?"
Red Hood nodded vigorously, but soon he asked hesitantly: "I heard that you are here to teach Bruce magic this time?"
Schiller closed the book and stood up, glanced at the TV that had been turned off, and said: "If he had half of your hard work, he wouldn't have graduated until now."
Schiller walked to the cabinet and took out a piece of paper with a string of numbers left by Constantine. After Schiller dialed the number according to the string of numbers, the phone emitted a burst of light.
Then Schiller picked up the glowing receiver and dialed Constantine, saying, "John, open the channel to the dream world. I want to take Jason to hell... Yes, right now. OK, bye."
After Schiller put down the phone, he took out a bottle of wine from his wine cabinet and said to Red Hood, "In theory, we can go to hell through the magic circle, but that's a bit slow. When I went to hell before, I left beacons in many places. Constantine has the authority of the dream world given to him by the god of dreams, so he has to go through the dream world faster."
"Come on, drink the wine, I'll take you to meet an old friend that one of my personalities met in hell." Red Hood knew that what Schiller said about "going to the dream world will be faster" should be unexpectedly faster, but he didn't expect that after he drank the wine and felt dizzy, he felt a terrible sense of weightlessness. He lowered his head and found that he was falling freely above a demon castle.
"Bang!" "Ouch!"
Red Hood fell heavily to the ground. It didn't hurt, but it was quite scary. The overall feeling was a bit like a dream, but he was not awakened by this high-altitude fall.
When he got up, he found that Schiller was already waiting for him in front of the gate of the demon castle.
The two walked into the magnificent gate from the drawbridge, and the blood-red battle flag hanging on the city wall read "Long Live Azazel" in the universal language of demons.
Azazel was a ball of black mist floating in the air, and in the black mist there were countless pairs of eyes emitting golden light. When he saw Schiller walking into his throne room with a red hood, he asked in that vague and low tone.
"Schiller, what are you doing here?"
"Of course I'm here to talk to you."
"I don't need a pope, I don't trade power, I don't start wars, I don't have revenge to take, I don't have jealous demons or angels, and I'm not interested in anything outside my palace."
If Azazel had a head, it would have been shaken like a rattle by now.
Schiller was about to speak, and Azazel's eyes stared at him, and then said: "If you say you or your students want to be my pope, I'm now called Lucifer."
"No wonder you can live so long and share Satan's power from Lucifer, Your Majesty Azazel." Don't praise me, if you don't have anything to do, leave quickly. "
"I really have something to do. "Schiller began to pace in Azazel's palace, and said with his head down: "When Lucifer came to hell and seized the position of Satan, he would do his best to educate the two demon kings in hell to form a new trinity, and these two demon kings are you and Beelzebub."
"Later, the ancient demon king Belial was not satisfied with this and even wanted to monopolize the position of Satan, and that fool Archduke Astro provoked a protracted war in hell."
"Everything is over." Azazel said in a deep voice: "Thanks to you and your student Batman, hell is now extremely peaceful, so no matter what conditions you offer, I have no need to negotiate with you. I enjoy my current power and status, and there is no need to go further."
"Really? But you have many agents in the human world."
Although Azazel has no eyebrows, Red Hood can still see that when Schiller said this, Azazel's mood immediately became not very good.
"Are you threatening me? But I did not break the agreement between heaven and hell. All my agents signed contracts with me voluntarily, and I did not treat them unfairly. At least compared with those demons who like to torture believers, I am tolerant enough. "
"Of course, Your Majesty, but have you ever thought that you are a little too tolerant."
Azazel's eyes narrowed slightly in the black fog. Schiller stopped and turned to look at him and said, "I know what you have done to humans. You keep lowering the threshold of the contract, borrowing more and more power, making the power more and more adapted to the human body, and constantly expanding the base of wizards to collect more interest."
"This is indeed a good way. You are making the magic world more and more dependent on you. The longer this continues, the lower the autonomy of the magic world and wizards. In the end, they can only kneel at your feet and pray to you for power. "
"Do you want to stop all this?" Azazel's tone became lower and lower, even threatening. Unexpectedly, Schiller shook his head easily and said, "No, I want to encourage all this. "
Azazel's countless eyes hidden in the darkness widened, and then he heard Schiller say.
"If I'm not mistaken, your plan has reached a bottleneck. If the number of mages continues to expand, it will attract the attention of the angels, and your contract with heaven should state that the normal order of the human world cannot be disturbed."
"What exactly is the normal order is determined by the angels. In this regard, you have no initiative. Once you cross the line, they have a reason to attack you at any time. The church is the best knife in their hands."
"Your Majesty Azazel, you invested a lot of energy in the early stage to expand the base of believers, but now, because of the agreement with heaven, the number and scale of believers have reached a bottleneck period. If you want to recover the cost of the initial investment, what are you going to do? "
Azazel was a little confused by him. It's not that Schiller's situation was difficult to understand. Azazel knew the current predicament of hell better than Schiller.
Since the emergence of humans, demons have been labeled as villains, so it takes them much more effort to expand their followers than angels. The demon kings of hell spent a lot of money to open up this shortcut to the magic world.
Magicians are not ashamed to borrow power from demons, but they are proud of borrowing more and borrowing faster. This is an important stronghold for demon kings to fight against angels, and it cannot be lost.
But as Schiller said, the number of people and power levels in the magic world are basically saturated now. If it continues to expand, it is very likely to be cleared out by the church. The witch hunt back then was the result of the devils testing the bottom line.
On the surface, the demon monarchs can't compete with the angels. The human world is still the territory of the church, and the demons can only do some private transactions. If you don't give them stronger power, why would they believe in you instead of the church?
Demons can only buy horse bones with a lot of money. This is also the reason why the church always prohibits people from studying taboo power. The taboo power provided by demons is evil, but it is really strong.
The war provoked by Grand Duke Astro also consumed a lot of power of the demon monarchs. On the one hand, it was the output of power in the human world, and on the other hand, it was an internal war. After so many years, the demon monarchs with strong accumulation have also been a little stretched.
But there is no good solution to this situation. Most demons can only waste it like this, and can only compete with who has a stronger family background, but in this way, the living power of hell will be constantly consumed, which is exactly what the angels want.
The human world is like a chain holding the devil, and also like a thorn piercing their hearts. Sooner or later, all the power will be drained by this blood transfusion tube. Azazel can see such a future, but he is powerless to change it.
"What can you do?" Azazel had to ask this question. He knew how dangerous it was to cooperate with Schiller, but he had no choice.
"Your Majesty Azazel, I believe that after your years of hard work, your basic base of believers in the human world has been consolidated, right?"
"Of course."
"So, your believers are very pious to you?" "You can say that."
"Then why don't you harvest them?"
Azazel's countless golden eyes stared at Schiller through the black fog. He observed the indifferent expression on Schiller's face, and was silent for a long time before speaking.
"Do you know what you are saying? You want me, a demon, to take away the souls of your kind?"
"That's too low-level, Your Majesty. Souls can only be harvested once, but if you only give them a little power and let them find other powers for you, you can harvest more."
Schiller looked up at one of Azazel's eyes and said his true purpose in a cold tone, like pulling out a long-hidden sharp dagger.
"Or, we can unite all the demons in hell and harvest the entire magic world. The monopoly step has been completed. The next step is to refuse to deliver, breach of contract and collective price increase."
Azazel stared at Schiller, and Schiller also looked at him and said: "Belial and Astro are dead, Beelzebub is on our side, and the remaining demon kings are not a big deal."
Schiller looked down at his palm, and his low voice echoed in the throne hall.
"As long as you give the order, the demons will collectively break the contract - the precious birds in the magic world who are used to flying will never tolerate their wings being broken, crawling clumsily on the ground, and letting the dirt dirty their feathers."
"At that time, they will bow down at your feet and pray to you for strength at all costs, to repay the price they should pay as weak creatures who want to stand shoulder to shoulder with the gods."
On a rainy night in Gotham, a female figure carrying a cello case walked slowly on the street. She heard the sound of variety show advertisements coming from the store window, but did not stop for it, just because the cold and sadness made her want to return to the rented apartment quickly to enjoy the warmth of the fireplace.
And just as she hurriedly opened the door, the enchanted phone floated up and made a harsh ring. She put down the violin case in her hand and walked over to answer the phone.
"Zatanna! Zatanna! It's me, I'm your Uncle Scott!" A scream that was not human came from the other end of the phone: "Zatanna! Lord Stross, who I contracted, broke the contract! I can't use magic! I've become an ordinary person!"
The man on the other end was shaking, and he almost cried while saying: "And your Uncle Poker, Aunt Stewart, and, and your cousin and nephew, the magic family is over! We are over!"
"The demons have collectively broken the contract! The magic world is completely over!!!"
With a "pop", the telephone receiver fell to the floor, and the figure of the magician lady was no longer in the dark apartment room.
No one can sleep in London tonight.