Chapter 1814: Summer in Fool Village (Twenty-Eight)

In addition to Constantine's choice to open a branch of the Forgotten Bookstore in Gotham, the Dark Master Jim also reopened a Forgotten Bar in the other world of Gotham as the base for his team's activities in the other world of Gotham and the Magic Academy.

The Dark Master's team is not yet fully formed, but there are already several fixed members, such as Dead Brand, Orangutan Detective Bobo, Black Orchid Susan, Lady Xanadu, Vampire Bennett, etc. At present, the Dark Master is actively contacting Swamp Thing, Doctor Mist, etc., and even Wonder Woman.

Jim stood at the bar counter and wiped the cups. The gorilla detective sat in the counter with his pipe in his mouth, his legs crossed and his hands between his legs. He shook his black hairy feet and said in a low voice similar to the roar of primates: "Are you still worried about recruiting people?"

"How can I not be worried?" Jim wiped the cup in his hand that had been wiped to a shine over and over again, and said: "Maybe you think that the earth's magic defense network was built so easily, and you should be happy, but over the years, I really know these magicians too well. Do you really think they will be happy about this?"

"I have always been pessimistic about humans," a gorilla sighed. This action seemed a bit funny. It was not that a detective gorilla wearing a detective hat, monocles, and holding a pipe had any special comedy effect when he made a serious expression. That sigh also sounded quite stressful.

"We always argued about this topic before." Jim also sighed softly, lowered his head slightly, and touched the bottom of the cup with his fingers, and said: "I think you are too pessimistic. Human beings have gone through hardships and developed to today. They have their own strength and tenacity, but now I have to admit that luck accounts for a large proportion."

"Have a drink, my old friend." Dead Brand put one arm on the bar and said: "Alcohol will massage your frowning eyebrows, and talking to friends will relax your tense heart. We all know that you have been under a lot of pressure during this period of time. Don't you want to tell us?"

"I just... I just don't want to use this pessimistic atmosphere to demoralize the team we just formed." Jim took a deep breath and said: "I haven't heard any good news since the vampire invasion, but the recent news is even worse."

Bennett, who was standing by the door, turned around, stepped over the threshold and walked in and said, "Even Constantine is standing in the sun again, what nightmares can't we get rid of?"

Jim stood there for a long time before saying, "The Green Lantern named Hal thought I was a good person who could take on the responsibility of guarding the magic defense network, so he gave me the right to allocate the Green Lantern energy shield. At first, I found many loopholes there."

The gorilla detective frowned immediately and said, "Is there a problem with the way we built it? Technical limitations?"

Jim shook his head and said, "No, someone tampered with the structure. They thought I would throw all the work to the external Supreme Sorcerer and Green Lantern. They may not have thought that I would check it. The loopholes are obvious and there is no cover."

"For whom?" Bennett asked with feeling.

"Demons and angels, or powerful creatures similar to them, are not humans, but we all know that only human magicians participated in the construction of the magic defense network."

The gorilla detective sighed and said, "That's why I think that guy named Stephen Strange is telling us fairy tales. How can he unite all the magicians of mankind to keep those monsters out? As long as one person is tempted, the whole game will be lost."

Jim finally couldn't control his sad expression anymore. He slammed the cup on the bar with a "smack" and said, "I will never feel sad for those young people who are already weak-willed, but the ones who have the ability to tamper with the magic defense network must be the great wizards. They live longer than anyone else and should be more determined than anyone else."

"I We even fought against the invasion of vampires together. We worked together to save London and humans. We were lucky to get the bargaining chips for equal negotiations with the devil, but less than a year has passed and they have forgotten all of this! "

"Humans are always forgetful." Bennett lowered his eyes and said, "It wasn't long between Jesus saving the world and Judas accepting the silver coins."

"That's why you are so anxious to gather people." Black Orchid leaned against the door frame of the back door, hugged his arms and said lazily, "Do you want to kill them?"

"I don't know." Jim squeezed the cup tightly, shook his head and said, "I don't know if the magic world can bear such a killing again, and I don't know if I can do it. They used to be our comrades-in-arms."

"No longer." Dead Brand sighed, and the atmosphere became gloomy for a while.

"Click!"

A clear sound came from outside the door. Jim turned his head and saw the mailbox sign outside the door standing up from the window next to him. He collected his thoughts and said in confusion: "Are there letters? Did anyone fill in the bill address here?"

"Don't talk nonsense, Jim." Mrs. Xanadu walked down the stairs from the second floor and said: "The bill deliveryman can't come here, maybe it's our old friend."

Bennett, who was closest to the door, walked out, pressed down the flag of the mailbox at the door, opened the mailbox door, and found a beautifully wrapped letter.

The pattern on the wax seal was a little strange, and Bennett couldn't tell the other party's identity, so he handed the letter directly to Master Jim. Jim felt the pattern of the wax seal and said, "It's a letter from Rodriguez Manor. Why didn't Schiller call me directly?"

Jim took out a demolition knife from under the bar, gently cut open the wax seal, and exclaimed when he took out the letter inside, and said, "Oh, it's an invitation."

Jim's mood finally became clearer. He opened the invitation and said, "Schiller hasn't held a banquet for several years. I went to attend one when he lived in Maryland before. The delicious food left a deep impression on me."

Jim instinctively pursed his lips, and his mouth was watering when he thought of the taste of the food, so he smiled. He opened the letter, which was written in beautiful cursive:

"Through me, enter the city of pain; through me, enter the pit of eternal misery; through me, enter the crowd of people who will never be redeemed, and record the ten millionth great victory of mankind. Please come on Tuesday afternoon..."

Jim was a little confused. The gorilla detective came over and read the sentence on the invitation, then said: "As expected, the Divine Comedy."

"Do you still read Dante?"

"Your expression now can be called discrimination. You think gorillas can't read, right? When I was still in the circus, I once sneaked into the Tuesday afternoon reading club of those rich people. They didn't like Dante, but I felt that it was necessary to form a club for this."

"So which sentence do you like best?"

"This beast...it will feel hungrier after a full meal than before." The gorilla detective raised a finger and said, "This reveals a great truth about human beings, which is just like what you are worried about now."

"When you are in hardship and death is imminent, you unite with the greatest will to survive, and you will divide and eat the devil. But when the crisis is over and everything is fine, an irresistible strong appetite will surge from your stomach and heart, not to devour the enemy, but to bite your own kind, not because you are hungry, but because you want to be superior to all your kind."

All eyes in the room were focused on the gorilla, but the gorilla detective did not feel shy or retreat. He just said deeply: "When you treat me as a monster, , I just thought it was ridiculous, because when I watched you tear a piece of flesh from your own kind with your bloody mouths, I knew who the real monster was. "

Jim couldn't refute, but it aroused his emotions. His fingertips turned white as he pinched the invitation, and he said: "A long time ago, Schiller didn't participate in any social activities in the magic world. People said he was a freak and was outside the mainstream society."

"He once told me that he had witnessed the collapse of a greater country in his dream, so he didn't care where the magic world would go. It seemed too small to him and not worth mentioning."

"That's the truth." Mrs. Shangdu said: "If you have ever bathed in the torrent of the collapse of the dynasty, you will understand that humans have repeated the same mistakes countless times, because they are such fools."

"Oh, then it's appropriate for us to move to Gotham (Gotham, which means "fool village" in English). "The dead man laughed twice.

"Okay, now let's decide who will go to the party and who will stay at home. We have a lot of things to do here."

"He only invited you, so..."

"Excuse me, he didn't write my name, but he sent the letter here, which means he invited all of us." Jim shook the invitation in his hand and said, "I don't know if there will be a dance, so it's best to bring a female companion."

"I'll go with you." Mrs. Shangdu walked from the stairs to the bar, bent down and supported her forearm on the table, one hand holding her cheek and said, "I miss the little blue-eyed guy a little. The big noise he made last time scared me, but that just shows that he is young, strong and full of energy. He will be a good rider."

"I'll go too." Bennett said, "I guess Constantine will go too. I haven't asked him what he wanted to see me last time. "

Black Orchid yawned and said, "I'm not very interested in the ball, but I haven't had a good meal for a long time, this damn high temperature."

"No one else is going? Then that's it." Jim finally put the cup in his hand back on the cup holder, moved his wrist and said, "I remember I brought the dress I wore to the Maya Carnival. I have to shave first and then change into a formal suit."

Jim hurried upstairs. Bennett was a little puzzled, and Jim turned back to explain to him, "Believe me, be solemn. Schiller's banquets are usually worthy of all the elaborate dresses."

Mrs. Shangdu lifted her hair, stroked her wrist and said, "Let me think about where I put the pearl bracelet that Vivian gave me last time..."

In the kitchen of Rodriguez Manor, Pamela opened the door of the walk-in freezer, stared at the pile of meat materials inside, and said in shock: "You hunted all the deer in New Jersey?!"

"That's the ingredients reserved for the banquet." Schiller said to you while picking vegetables on the shelf next to you: "And it's only half. The other half of the ingredients for the most important main course are still in the basement."

Pamela's body was obviously stiff for a moment, and her heart rate almost reached the peak at the fastest acceleration. She said in a trembling tone: "Then can I... have the honor to watch the processing of the other half of the ingredients?"

"Of course, miss, my honor."