Chapter 2942: When Night Falls (24)

Doctor Strange, with the body controlled by Zan, went up to the second floor of the abandoned factory with Shiller.

Constantine watched their backs, his eyes shifting as he said, "I am a magician too, I think I can..."

Just as he turned around, a sniper rifle was pressed against his forehead, followed by a smack of the gun butt, knocking Constantine to the ground.

Arkham Knight, without even lifting his eyelids, said, "A globally renowned genius magician getting pinned to the ground by a newly transformed young vampire and can't even get up, who are you kidding?"

"Are you saying this guy is playing tricks?" Dick asked.

"His trickery never stops, but we really need a magician's help, which is why we spared his life; otherwise, I would have shot him long ago."

Dick shrank his neck, feeling that Jason in this universe was particularly violent, but also felt curious, so he said, "Can you take off your mask? I kind of want to see what you look like."

Arkham Knight glanced at him and said, "I am Jason Todd, what do you think I look like?"

"I know, Doctor Shiller told me, but I just want to know if you and the Jason in my universe look the same."

Arkham Knight ignored him, huffed coldly, and walked away. Moonlight Shiller and Khonsu followed upstairs, as if Shiller's soul entered Zan's body, then his own body would be soulless and in need of protection, especially given Constantine was lying unconscious downstairs.

Arkham Knight and Dick had some downtime and talked about the Doomsday Army brought up by Constantine, but found it uninteresting. Still, Dick couldn't help his curiosity and asked.

"Why are you dressed like this? I don't think this is Jason's style. Was this armor made by Batman?"

Arkham Knight's fists clenched, but he still said, "Do you think only Batman can make armor like this?"

"Not really, it just kind of looks like his style," Dick shook his head and said, "You must have a really good relationship with him, even imitating him in armor creation."

Arkham Knight's fists clenched tighter, and Dick, oblivious, said, "You must be a player too, right? I was also invited, but due to some reasons, I missed the official launch. How does it feel meeting other counterparts?"

Arkham Knight was somewhat annoyed and walked away to reload his gun while Dick, sensing that he didn't really want to chat, felt a bit wronged but decided not to bother further and stood silently arranging his own gear.

Soon the door upstairs opened, and two people came out, Doctor Strange led the way and the freely moving Zan followed. His pupils were a rare dark brown, nearly the same color as his hair, and his skin was dark, giving him a Latino look.

Different from the ferocious vampire form they had seen before, Zan's demeanor had become calm, and he smiled nodding at the two of them.

Dick, curiously circling around him a couple of times, tentatively called out, "Doctor?"

"That's me." Zan's voice was a typical young voice, but controlled by Shiller's soul, it sounded deeper.

"Really can't see any change," Akamuki averred very appropriately, "He doesn't even look much like a vampire, more like a living person."

"Because this kid has some unusual power inside him," Doctor Strange said. "I didn't notice it before, but when we swapped souls just now, I faced some resistance and realized he seems to have another kind of power, which is precisely what protects him from sunlight and holy artifacts."

"What kind of power?"

"I don't know; I'm not a magician of this universe, so I'm not familiar with the distribution of demon gods here, but it feels like it's not an evil power, rather like a tenacious rock."

Arkham Knight and Dick both seemed thoughtful, pondering who on Earth might possess a similar power, but as they had never really left the East Coast, they had no specific targets in mind.

At that time, Constantine woke up, looked at Zan, and marveled, leaning against the corner and saying, "I'm really curious about how it feels to wear a bodysuit. Doesn't it feel like you're running naked?"

Unexpectedly, Shiller seriously responded, "It's my first time wearing something like this, but it's actually much more breathable than I thought, and very convenient for movement, no wonder Superman can wear a layer of bodysuit under a suit and not feel hot."

"Justice League recreated gear and uniforms for almost every superhero. Some people are used to their own equipment and didn't change, but young superheroes like the Magic Twins are probably still very dependent on the League's resources," Arkham Knight said.

He looked at Dick, who looked down at himself; he was wearing Nightwing's purple bodysuit, which differed from Zan's only in color—his was blue.

"I definitely won't dress like this next time," Dick said. "This thing offers no neck protection at all. I'd rather wear an Elizabethan collar."

"That makes sense," Shiller nodded and said, "I also want some neck protection. Got any good suggestions?"

Doctor Strange shook his head and said, "Even if you wore a shepherd's spiked collar, it wouldn't help. Theoretically, if a vampire bites any part of your body, it can poison you then bleed you out and feed you their blood, completing the initial embrace. Biting the neck is just more convenient."

"But..." Doctor Strange looked at Arkham Knight and added, "Your outfit could indeed offer a strategy against vampires. If you keep your entire body tightly covered, it could be effective against less experienced vampires."

"Why do you know so much? Are there vampires in your universe too?"

"Of course, but they're a bit different from the ones in your universe. They actually aren't afraid of sunlight, and things like crosses, holy water, and garlic aren't very effective. Moreover, when they turn into bats, it's a single giant bat instead of a bunch of small bats. Very few of them use magic; most are just bloodsucking monsters."

"Wait." Constantine looked at Doctor Strange and said, "So, you're from another cosmos?"

"Are you just figuring that out now? Seriously, a magician turned into you is really something else." Doctor Strange looked disdainfully at Constantine and said, "Every single organ of yours has an average of three holes, and you still follow such a lousy boss devotedly, even Baron Mode is not as self-degrading as you."

Constantine could of course see the situation inside Doctor Strange's body; although he was injured and had been scratched on his arm earlier, the energy filling his body was real. Moreover, it seemed that he wasn't subject to any copyright restrictions of magic, seemingly doing whatever he wished.

It seemed that the cosmos he came from held many secrets, and Constantine thought it would be good if there was a way to figure them out.

Suddenly, he remembered an invitation he had received earlier, which seemed to invite him to participate in some game, but he was worried that it was a demon's trap and didn't open it. Could the arrival of these otherworldly visitors be related to this?

At that moment, Shiller was already preparing to leave. He said, "I don't think he teleported here by spell, there must be a mode of transport, and he must have found a legitimate reason to come out."

Doctor Strange nodded and said, "Exactly, this kid looks very green. He probably couldn't find any good excuses, just something like patrolling. I'll have a puppet look around for any cars or spacecraft."

Soon, Doctor Strange found a small spacecraft in a meadow not far from the factory, bearing the Justice League's symbol on it.

Zan had just sat down when he heard a voice.

"Brother! Brother! Damn it... answer the phone!"

"I'm here," Shiller said.

"Oh, my God, you scared me! Weren't you supposed to be patrolling around Washington? How did your spacecraft end up on the East Coast?"

"It's a long story," Shiller said with a lively tone: "I detected the trace of a vampire and chased it here, but sadly, he got away."

"I told you not to act on your own. Come back quickly, Superman is calling a meeting."

After ending the communication, Shiller glanced at the name displayed on the communicator; it turned out Zan's sister was called Jenna, and her profile picture showed a short-haired girl who looked almost exactly like her brother. However, considering they were twins, this was pretty normal.

The spacecraft had an autopilot function, which Shiller activated with a press of a button and started mulling over what Doctor Strange had just told him about not noticing any special abilities in this young man named Zan.

However, considering he might even become an important member of the Justice League, it was almost impossible that he didn't have superpowers, which implied that his powers required a trigger condition. But for now, Shiller could not speculate what that specific trigger condition might be.

After Shiller flew away in the aircraft, Doctor Strange returned to the base, where he used magic to create a screen depicting Shiller's first-person view.

"I left a little spell in this person's eyes," Doctor Strange said. "It allows me to use his eyes to watch everything."

"I think this is quite dangerous," Dick said. "What if it's discovered? They'll definitely be silenced, right?"

"Don't underestimate me," Doctor Strange replied with a smile. "They can destroy the body, but the moment the body is destroyed, I can pull Shiller's soul right back, and any corpse that has been summoned by me can be summoned again at any place, even if it's scattered."

Dick looked surprised, and Arkham Knight frowned, saying, "But you said you were severely beaten by your counterpart earlier."

Doctor Strange became agitated at the mention, saying, "I couldn't bring my own body from my universe, but they can bring energy, which is completely unfair!"

"The rest is one thing, but one of those guys, who knows how many Demon Gods he deceived to get so much energy, was like a shining globe; he threw energy around like it was free, and I almost got smashed to death by him!"

"And another even more outrageous one, while the others chased different targets, he actually came into my dreams and warned me not to cause trouble, otherwise I'd never leave the Dreamworld. It's a good thing he's not a player, or what's the fun in that?"

Dick and Arkham Knight exchanged glances, both thinking how lucky they were that their counterparts weren't so powerful.

As the conversation continued, Shiller's aircraft landed. He emerged from the Justice League's hangar, coming face to face with an anxious Jenna.

"You're back just in time! Someone at headquarters was attacked; Superman and Wonder Woman are asking everyone to gather together to avoid being ambushed alone, you were the only one out patrolling who hadn't come back, I thought you were already..."

Shiller walked up to Jenna and gave her a hug, saying, "I'm fine, let's go."

He walked past Jenna, but she stood frozen in place, feeling her brother's body as cold as a corpse.

She slowly opened her mouth, tears gathering in her eyes.

However, as she turned around, she subconsciously touched her own neck where Zan's teeth had been less than two inches from her artery moments ago, yet now she could still feel her strong pulse through her fingertips.

After a moment, she seemed to make up her mind.

"Brother... wait for me!"