Chapter 472: The Three of Us (Part 2) (Patreon)

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Returning from Metropolis, Bruce had a lot on his mind, but he hadn't forgotten the reason for his investigation before coming to Metropolis.

Bruce didn't know when Constantine would leave Gotham, and he didn't have a way to counter Constantine's methods, so he hastened his investigation. He planned to thoroughly understand Constantine's intentions while he was still in Gotham.

Constantine had no idea about the seriousness of being tracked by Batman before. Therefore, he didn't think about leaving Gotham until he was trapped by the snow disaster.

With transportation paralyzed, many of Gotham's entertainment spots were closed. Constantine, with nothing better to do, wandered around the city. Unlike ordinary people, who saw the city as a dangerous and wicked place, Gotham felt like home to Constantine. Even in this city, few could rival his cunning. He had been kidnapped by gangs, but within a couple of days, he ended up in bed with the gang leader. Street thugs tried to extort him, but they found nothing except a couple of half-dead toads. His landlord had thrown him out, so he slept on the streets, formed a band with some hobos, and made a little money. He was even deceived by a brothel madam in the red-light district, but the next day, he had her top girl so enamored that she turned over a new leaf and quit her profession.

Constantine lived carefree and unrestrained in this city, using his unorthodox and crazy soul to bewitch Gotham.

However, this carefree life came to an end when he arrived near the great church of Gotham.

Due to his sensitivity to mystical matters, Constantine discovered a hidden wine cellar under the great church of Gotham. When he lifted the just-repaired floor tiles and saw the green-glowing liquid, his eyes widened, and they sparkled.

Perhaps due to his boldness as an artist or his knowledge that devils wouldn't let him die easily, Constantine didn't consider any safety issues when taking the liquid. He found an empty plastic bottle nearby and filled it to the brim.

What he didn't know was that while investigating Constantine, Batman was also exploring the wine cellar beneath the great church.

Earlier, Batman had found plenty of materials in his research, and these last few days, he had been wandering around the area near the church. It was then that he encountered the sneaky Constantine.

Just as Constantine was stealing the wine, Batman appeared in time to stop him. However, due to Batman's lack of preparedness against magic, Constantine teleported away.

From there, the chase between the two resumed in Gotham's streets.

At first, Constantine had the upper hand because magic was indeed very convenient, making him nearly invincible in the chase with abilities like Blink, teleportation, and duplication.

But as time went on, Batman's strong learning ability and planning skills started to come into play. Constantine realized that he was facing one trap after another, and it seemed that Batman had anticipated every move he made. Escaping became increasingly difficult.

As Constantine proved too slippery to catch, Batman's patience began to wane, and he became more aggressive in his pursuit. Constantine knew that if this continued, he wouldn't be able to escape. So he decided to find a place to lay low.

Knowing that most of Gotham's industries were owned by the Wayne Family, Constantine also knew that three places were not easily traceable: hospitals, universities, and prisons.

The next day, with a bruised and swollen face, Constantine arrived at Arkham Asylum, where he was received by Brand. Constantine asked with a bit of confusion, "Where's Schiller? Isn't he here?"

"His anxiety flared up, so he went home to rest," Brand turned and walked to his desk, taking out medical records and payment forms. He wrote on the documents and tore off two slips, handing them to Constantine.

After receiving them, Constantine scratched his head and reached into his pocket, feeling the two steel springs. Then he said, "Um, I don't have any money..."

"No relationship, he expected that," Brand took out more documents from the bookshelf and handed them to Constantine. Constantine opened them and said, "An IOU? This is too..."

"He told me to tell you, 'Sign it or not.'"

"If I don't sign, there won't be a hospital room, right? Fine..." Constantine glanced at the contracts filled with various economic agreements and signed his name.

Brand didn't even look up. He called a nurse over and pointed to Constantine, saying, "Room 13 on the 4th floor, add another bed."

"Uh, Doctor Brand, the patient in Room 13 has aggression issues. Don't you remember? That's Hugodoctor..."

Brand impatiently looked at the nurse and said, "So what can we do? The leaders of the Twelve Families are squeezing into one room. Until when does he want to occupy a single room?"

"If he doesn't agree, transfer him to the central hospital. There are plenty of spots in the morgue there."

With that, Brand left, and the nurse shook her head helplessly, sighing. She said to Constantine, "Follow me."

As they walked upstairs, Constantine chatted with the nurse. When he wasn't acting out, he was good at socializing, especially with attractive people of any gender.

Once they reached the fourth floor, the nurse stopped at the staircase and said to Constantine, "Sir, I don't know who you are, but I still have to warn you that your roommate is a bit abnormal."

"Oh? What's wrong with him?"

"He used to be our chief doctor, but for some reason, he went crazy. At first, he was very aggressive and injured several male nurses. He's calmer now, but he might still attack people. You have to be careful."

"Doctor? How did he drive himself crazy?"

"Who knows?" The nurse continued walking ahead and said, "You don't need to be curious about this in Gotham. People go insane every day, and it doesn't necessarily have to have a reason."

Arriving at the door of the hospital room, the nurse pushed it open to find a figure crouched in the corner. Frowning, she turned around and said, "Mr. Constantine, you wait here for a while. I need to get the attendants. How did he manage to tear open his restraints again?"

As the nurse left, Constantine walked over and glanced at the man. He appeared not to be young, bald, wearing glasses, and his teeth were chattering. He was muttering to himself.

Constantine leaned in to listen and heard him repeatedly uttering words like "dream" and "monster." Just as Constantine shook his head, intending to walk away and not listen to this nonsense, he suddenly heard a familiar syllable.

He leaned in again, listened for a while, and confirmed that the syllable was "Schiller."

Constantine looked around, about to ask a question when the nurse returned with the attendants. They restrained Hugo back to his bed. Constantine cleared his throat, pretending nothing happened, and sat back on his own bed.

After a while, an older nurse came in with a small cart, holding a tray. She walked to the head of Hugo's bed and administered an injection. When she saw Constantine, she asked calmly, "Brand has informed me. Do you want morphine or cocaine?"

Constantine's eyes widened, but he tried to remain composed in front of the nurse's calm expression. To avoid appearing inexperienced, he cleared his throat and said, "Morphine, please."

Soon, the medication arrived, and Constantine pretended to be asleep on his bed. Once the nurse left, he slightly opened his eyes to ensure no one else was in the room before approaching Hugo's bed.

Hugo seemed to be under the influence of sedatives and was asleep. Constantine observed him for a while but found no response, so he gave up.

In the evening, the hospital room was very quiet, and both men appeared to be sound asleep. However, after a while, Hugo on the bed moved.

His teeth chattered, and his body trembled as he struggled on the bed. A few minutes later, he suddenly calmed down, then slowly pulled one hand out of the loosened restraints, sat up straight, and released the other hand as well.

Getting off the bed, he glanced at Constantine, who seemed to be sleeping deeply. Hugo's face no longer showed fear and panic as during his episode; instead, he appeared very steady and somewhat gloomy.

He walked quietly to the door, opened it cautiously, and left without making a sound. However, the moment he left, Constantine opened his eyes.

Constantine made a slight "tut" sound and said, "Only acted for a few minutes and thought I was already asleep? Impressive."

He quickly climbed out of bed, showing no signs of being groggy from the medication. Silently opening the door, he followed Hugo and realized that Hugo had entered a hospital room on the 7th floor.

The door to this room resembled a highly secured base door, with both the frame and door panel made of metal. It looked like a place for holding dangerous individuals, but Hugo somehow managed to open it. After he went in, Constantine approached the door.

He couldn't hear anything from inside the room, so he snapped his fingers. A faint wisp of spirit drifted through the gap in the door, granting Constantine not only the ability to hear but also to see inside.

Inside the room were two men. One was the bald Hugo, and the other was a thinner man with glasses, looking paler and scholarly.

"If you still want to talk to me about your unrealistic dream-like tales, then our collaboration ends here, Hugo."

"Jonathan, I'm telling you again, it's not a tale; I saw it with my own eyes! If we can't find a way to deal with him, even if we manage to escape, the ultimate result will be us ending up back here."

"Fear has defeated you!" The scholarly man named Jonathan raised his voice with a disdainful tone. "To show people unrealistic illusions and make them afraid of them, I can do that too."

"I had already developed those weapons. Who would have thought..." Jonathan's tone turned grittier as he said, "A mysterious thief stole my work and threw me in here!"

"You told me that being locked up here happened a year ago. Do you know that Gotham now has a Superhero called Batman?"

Jonas snorted, saying, "How could I not know? It was Batman who brought me in here. At that time, he was just a kid with a stroke of luck."

"It seems we both have our enemies in Gotham." Hugo's voice grew darker, tinged with a hint of madness. He said, "If we want to escape, we need to create some chaos."

Hugo dragged out the last syllable, then turned his head to look outside the window. The lights of downtown Gotham were visible in the distance as he said, "The City of Sin? I think that suits us just fine."

"Smash the glass, ignite the money, let the bored ordinary people eat bullets, and make the self-proclaimed righteous Heroes scream. That's what we should do—"

"It's time to make some noise."

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Next Chapter>>Chapter 473: The Three of Us (Part 2)