Chapter 173: The Night of the Clown Returns (Part 1)

"Father, you are here."

Schiller stood up from his seat, greeted him, and shook hands with the old priest. The old priest looked up and looked at the theater. He said with emotion: "I haven't been here for a long time. I didn't expect that someone would invite me here now."

As he said, he followed Schiller to sit in the first row of seats closest to the stage. There was another person who sat earlier, that is, the godfather Falcone who sat in the innermost.

He just turned his head and looked at the priest and said: "Remember? In our time, the lights here were brilliant. My favorite opera at that time was "La Traviata."

"My favorite is "St. Louis". At that time, these two plays were popular. The seats here were full and tickets were not even available."

The three of them sat in the empty old theater. On the dilapidated stage, the thick dust turned the curtain into a dark crimson color. The gold thread on it had lost its shining luster. Even the circle of light bulbs on the edge of the stage were mostly out of light.

"But I still like today's play better. What should we call it?" Schiller turned his head to look at the two people. Falcone was holding a cigar. As the fire flickered, he exhaled a puff of smoke and said, "How about Easter?"

"I think it's more appropriate to call it IT."

"Why? Clown? Do you mean the kind in the circus? There was indeed a circus performing in Gotham City, but that was a long time ago."

Schiller shook his head and did not answer.

He said, "I invited you two here to hear your stories."

Falcone sighed, and the old godfather said, "Let Daniel explain it to you."

Falcone and Schiller looked at the old priest sitting in the middle.

The old priest smiled and said, "I used to be a member of the Court of Owls, but that was a long time ago."

Father Daniel's voice was filled with nostalgia. He said, "I said before that when I came to this land, it was full of vitality. I was kind to others, so I had some reputation in the gangs, and many people were willing to give me a face."

"At this time, the group of birds came to me. They were far from being as powerful as they are today. They told me that they were willing to share the secret of eternal life with me. I showed great interest and joined them."

The old priest leaned back on the chair, raised his head slightly, and looked at the top of the stage. The moonlight from the window there was particularly bright, and his voice passed through the falling moonlight and spread far away.

"At that time, they didn't have these killers, just a gathering of dignitaries, but later, they found something very special in Gotham."

"It's 'fine wine', right? "

"Yes, they found that there is a mysterious water source under Gotham. Its smell is like fine wine, which makes people intoxicated. People who smell this smell will have their wounds healed and even become younger."

"Eternal life and immortality, what wonderful words, no one can resist such temptation, so the Court of Owls launched a plan to discover and crack the secret of this water source, use it, and then gain true eternal life."

"It's called the Water Source Project."

"But at that time, the plan did not go smoothly. Those who risked drinking this liquid went crazy. In the end, they had no choice but to crack it from a religious perspective, so they came to me."

"I knew from the beginning that they just wanted to use me, but it doesn't matter, I also want to use them."

The old priest drew a cross on his chest and said, "At that time, I felt that I was following the will of the Lord and wanted his glory to save this land. If I couldn't do it with ordinary methods, I could change a method and the Lord would forgive me. "

"They used that group of European nobles to help me build a church on the land of the water source, and then the Court of Owls killed them."

"The manor you live in now is what they left behind."

"So they didn't move away, but were killed?"

"Yes, the Court of Owls lied that they left, but in fact, no one who participated in the construction of the church could leave here alive. The Court of Owls would not let the secret of eternal life be exposed in any way."

"So, I lived in the church, guarding there, watching the people of Gotham come and go, and die generation after generation."

"You always miss the point when you speak." Falcone flicked his cigar and said, "This is not a sermon in the church."

"Don't say that, Your Excellency the Godfather, today is Easter, let's be patient with this." Schiller made a gesture for him to continue, and the old priest smiled and nodded at him.

"Later, I cracked part of the secret of the fine wine and used it to gain special abilities. "

"So, you noticed my difference when I first went to the church?"

The old priest shook his head and said, "In fact, my ability is not as great as you think. Maybe it was good in the past, but now, I am old. If I am not in the church and not standing above the wine pool, I am just an old ordinary person."

"But it was true at that time. When you first came to the church, I saw something different in my slightly tipsy state, so I suggested to Falcone that he should ask you to solve his son's problem."

Schiller narrowed his eyes and looked at the stage. In his sight, the old curtain slowly opened, and the old priest stood in the center of the stage. Behind him was the crucifix of the cathedral, and under his feet was a pool of wine with ripples.

He stood in the center of the church, and the wine floating in the air made him feel slightly drunk. In the old godfather's hazy vision, when Schiller walked in, he just merged with the setting sun.

The golden sun's rays burned his eyes. After the light disappeared, a shadow of the sun was left behind Schiller, but it was the deepest black after the sunset.

Schiller smiled, lowered his head and said, "In fact, I have always been a little puzzled. Why would Mr. Falcone ask me, a dangerous person, to be your son's tutor? After all, anyone who sees my resume would not want me to contact their descendants."

"You mean you are tracking down serial killers? Even without Daniel's recommendation, I don't care about this kind of thing. This is common in Gotham. There are all kinds of crazy people here. I would rather have crazy people than stupid people."

"Let's talk about Evans. To be honest, when he came to me, I was a little worried about him because I could clearly feel I felt that something was wrong with him." Gu Yan

Falcone sighed and said, "I think you should have seen that he has two personalities."

"Tell the truth." Schiller looked at Father Daniel and said, "Before that, that is, before Evans came to me this time, I didn't realize that he had a second personality. How did you do it?"

"Because at that time, Alberto was indeed dead, and there was only Evans. Of course, you wouldn't have any feelings. The personality you felt later was Alberto after his resurrection."

""Do you think Alberto is the first personality?" As soon as the Godfather asked this question, he answered himself, "No, Evans is indeed the first personality, and he is my son."

The Godfather sighed again. He felt that he had sighed too many times recently, but he still said, "When Evans was 6 years old, his mother died. I was immersed in the grief of losing my lover and neglected to take care of him."

"One night, he sneaked out to play by himself, and when he came back, he was no longer himself."

"... Did the Court of Owls do it? "

"How do you think the Court of Owls has developed into what it is today?" Falcone asked, "Just based on their cult theory? Not everyone buys into that."

"That's how they lure the descendants of some upper-class people, wash away their personalities, erase their memories, and then build a more extreme personality that will eventually surrender to them."

"Is that Alberto?"

"Yes, my child disappeared and became a minion of the owls, but I am different from those ignorant idiots. I will not mistake this change for the child's rebellious period."

"This is a common method they use. No parent will suspect that their children have been replaced. They will only think that the child's changes are due to their age."

The Court of Owls has a biggest loophole. Falcone took another puff of his cigar and said, "They created a perfect personality, a perfect candidate to be the Godfather. "

"I can understand what they want to do. They have prepared a perfect heir for me. As long as he takes over the position of Godfather, Falcone and the Twelve Families will be in their pockets. They are very confident that Alberto will satisfy me."

"But it is this point that makes me very suspicious, because before that, Evans was more like his mother than me."

"It sounds a bit ridiculous, right?" The Godfather moved his fingers and said, "At that time, I also felt that I was crazy. I actually suspected that my own son was replaced by someone..."

"When he raised the knife to stab me, I finally despaired."

"I was in great pain, but I couldn't find any evidence. From a scientific point of view, I couldn't explain this matter, so I could only turn to faith."

Then, the voice of Father Daniel sounded: "When Carmine came to the church, I saw a distraught father. When he told me about these pains, I didn't think it was a joke. "

Daniel sighed, his tone was a little guilty, he said: "The method of cleaning memory and replacing personality comes from the water source under the church. That is the method I found. In order to achieve my goal, I handed this method over to the court. "

"But after seeing Carmine, I knew. My approach was wrong. "

"Those so-called joining the court to spread the glory of the Lord are just excuses for me to be tempted by eternal life. "

"When a desperate father stood in front of me..." Daniel's voice began to tremble, he said: "The father saw his son nailed to the cross, bleeding all over the ground, and I became an accomplice, a Judas with a purse in his hand..."

"I know that this can't go on, I must stop it all. "

"So you used the same method to wash away Alberto's personality and regain Evans' personality?"

"There is another use for fine wine, which is resurrection. I did not regain Evans' personality, but resurrected him."

"So..."

"Alberto was also resurrected."

"Remember the water source plan I mentioned before?" Father Daniel turned to look at Schiller and said, "This plan is more than that."

"Over the years, the Court of Owls has used the method of contaminating drinking water or rainwater to make many people's blood flow with very thin fine wine."

"A few days ago The heavy rains woke them up. "

"Why did they choose to start the water source plan at this time? Although some people did go crazy during the heavy rain, the number was far from enough to shake the city."

"They must have other plans."

"There is another question, what about the funeral? If it is just a replacement of personality, there is no need to make such a big fuss, right?"

"That was my idea for him. I know the Court of Owls very well and know how they control the city. They have a special metal that can resist the effect of fine wine." Father Daniel said.

"I suggested that Carmine tampered with the transportation of their raw materials so that the batch of goods could not arrive on time, and many people did not get the effective umbrellas."

"Are you trying to deceive the court?"

"No, we know that the forged brother's identity can only deceive ordinary people, but not the Court of Owls."

"I'm just warning them." Carmine pinched the cigar and said, "I know their little tricks and I'm not afraid of killing people. If they insist on pressing forward, then we will fight to the death."

"If they dare to touch my son again, I will turn Gotham into an empty city."

In the tone of the Godfather, Schiller heard the ferocity of the king of Gotham's underground in that glorious era, as well as the determination of a father.