Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics-Chapter 5538 - 4564: Blackest Night (53)

"Why did you suddenly think to ask about this? Is Amanda Waller putting pressure on you again?" Barry asked, standing in front of the coffee machine.

Jenna pressed the button, hesitated, but then said, "It’s nothing, I just wish I could help somehow."

"This case is indeed a bit strange," Barry said with a frown, "All the residents in that old apartment experienced group hysteria. They all claim to have seen something, but Brainiac didn’t capture anything."

Jenna shivered and said, "Could they have seen a ghost?"

Barry shook his head and said, "If it were that simple, it would be better. They all say they saw something, but during follow-up questioning, no one could specify what it was. But they kept repeating one phrase."

"What is it?"

"’Don’t look out the window.’

"Out the window? What’s outside?"

"That’s the problem, there’s nothing outside." Barry shrugged, "The street outside is normal, no monsters, no criminals. But they are convinced there’s something outside the window, so much so that law enforcement couldn’t even get them to leave the apartment building."

"They haven’t been taken away yet?"

"No. They resisted too fiercely, some even behaved like mentally ill people in the throes of an episode, surpassing muscle limits and injuring law enforcement officers. Sedatives and anesthetics have no effect. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have become such a big case."

"Oh my god, what’s going on?" Jenna said with some concern, "Why didn’t you tell me sooner?"

Barry shook his head and said, "The situation is too bizarre, letting empathizers get close to these madmen is very dangerous."

"So you believe they really saw something."

Barry nodded again: "There are too many things in this world that science cannot explain. Haven’t you seen enough in Gotham?"

"But this kind of thing is considered weird even in Gotham, right?" Jenna said with a frown, "I mean, in today’s Gotham."

"If it were in Gotham, it would be easy to handle. There are enough madmen to deal with madmen. But in Brude Haven, it’s different. It’s just a quiet and peaceful little town without experience in dealing with such things."

"Barry, Barry are you there?!" A voice called from outside the door. Barry walked over and discovered it was Dick.

"Oh my god, why are you back?" Barry walked over and gave him a hug, then said, "Is everything okay on Krypton?"

"Nothing major, I heard something happened in Brude Haven, so I rushed back."

"Your parents are still in Brude Haven, I almost forgot about that," Barry said, "Where do they live? Are they close to the apartment building where the incident happened?"

"Brude Haven isn’t big, anywhere is close to that building. It’s only about a five-minute drive from my house."

Barry sighed lightly and said, "Did you come to investigate this matter?"

"Yes, I wanted to hear your opinion." Dick thought for a moment and said, "Raven originally wanted to use magic to investigate, but I was worried there might be problems, so I stopped her."

"It’s a good thing you didn’t go, that place is very eerie." Barry took a sip of coffee, thought for a moment, and said, "I suspect their minds have been corrupted by something, but we’re still investigating exactly what it is."

"There’s definitely someone with a problem, right?"

"That’s right," Barry said, "The disaster happening only in that building isn’t a coincidence, someone definitely summoned something they shouldn’t have."

Dick seemed a bit tired, he rubbed his forehead and said, "What should we do now? Should we find the professor..."

"It’s not necessary for now, after all, there hasn’t been any loss of life..."

Bang bang bang, the break room door was knocked. The blonde woman who pushed the door open said helplessly, "Someone died by the dock, get ready for field work."

Barry put down his coffee cup, threw on his coat, nodded at the other two, then left. Dick watched his back and asked, "Do you know what’s going on?"

"Things are getting weirder and weirder." Jenna paused for a moment, then followed Barry, saying, "I have to go see."

When the police car arrived at the dock, it was already cordoned off. A yellow police tape blocked a large crowd of onlookers, and the police were bustling around the crime scene. Barry showed his badge at the entrance, the officer lifted the police tape but blocked Jenna behind him.

"I’m a..." Jenna paused for a moment and then said, "A psychology student at Gotham University, Professor Rodriguez’s student."

The officer hesitated for a moment, then let her in.

"Wait for me!" Jenna said with some indignation.

"You shouldn’t have come in," Barry said, turning to look at her, "I told you, it’s very dangerous for empathizers to enter such crime scenes..."

Jenna took two steps back cautiously, then said, "Don’t even think about sending me back."

Barry shook his head helplessly and walked into the crime scene. As soon as he entered, he was shocked. A woman lay on her back on the ground, her arms slightly open, holding an eyeball in each hand—her own eyeballs. Brain matter flowed from her eye sockets. More accurately, it wasn’t just brain matter, it was the entire brain. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

"How could this be..."

The officer beside him handed him a file, and Barry flipped through it, then said, "She plucked out her own eyeballs? Then how do you explain the brain?"

Barry walked over to take a closer look and found that her brain wasn’t just a mess but had fundamentally changed—It wasn’t shredded pieces, it had truly turned into liquid.

And it wasn’t even a liquid made of cells, but seemed like some sort of liquid metal, with a layer of oil sheen on the surface, looking both disgusting and eerie.

Barry stood up, and in the corner of his eye, noticed Jenna’s face growing pale. He immediately turned into a flash of lightning and took Jenna away from the crime scene. On the dock’s pier, two figures appeared in the golden light. Jenna leaned against the nearby utility pole and started to vomit.

"I told you it might be extremely..."

"No... no..."

Barry leaned in: "What?"

"No... no... outside the window..." Jenna forcefully opened her eyes and wiped the sweat off her eyelashes, "... she looked out the window."

Barry stood there, stunned. At this moment, he opened his phone and saw the detailed information about the victim sent by Brainiac. The name field read—"Lady Jerryta."

"Another one in Forest Park!" Amanda slammed a file on the table. Federation Shield employees didn’t dare to breathe, "Again it’s the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s case! We can’t even get a decent one because of your incompetence!"

"Jenna! Jenna..." Amanda shouted.

"Jenna went out," an employee said, "She’s not here."

"Damn it, not here at such a crucial time!" Amanda was more dissatisfied. She took a deep breath and was about to curse when her phone rang.

"What? You mean you... Okay, I’ll send someone right away. No, I’ll go myself. What’s the address of the bookstore?"

Hanging up the phone, Amanda put on her coat and said, "Stay here, and let me know immediately if there’s any news."

A car with the Federation Shield’s logo slowly stopped at a bookstore. Amanda looked up at the man at the door, strong, slightly unkempt and gloomy, yet possessing a unique charm.

She recognized that face—John Constantine, once an arrogant genius magician, now a well-known mystery and supernatural novelist. "The Shades of Faralines" seemed to be getting adapted into a film.

Amanda walked up and shook his hand, then said, "Do you have any clues about the Brude Haven mass hysteria and the Metropolitan Forest Park runner death case?"

"Not exactly clues," Constantine turned and walked into the bookstore, and said, "You know I enjoy writing about mysticism and fantasy novels, so I often study this type of content. I can point you in the right direction."

"What?" Amanda frowned. She instinctively disliked these supernatural things, but she had to admit that it’s impossible for a case that stumped Brainiac not to be connected to mysticism.

"Gotham University Library," Constantine said, "It has a long history, a vast collection, and more importantly, many manuscripts with mystical annotations. I think those might be helpful."

"Why help me?" Amanda chose to question first. Although she knew it might ruin the atmosphere, Constantine wasn’t someone worth trusting.

"Helping you is helping myself," Constantine turned to look at her and said, "With how I am, I attract these mysterious entities. Once they focus on Earth, they’ll definitely notice me first. When the time comes, I’ll be in big trouble."

Amanda reluctantly accepted this explanation. She said, "Then why not look for the manuscripts yourself?"

"That’s the problem. ’Cognition’ has power. Once you know certain things, you might get noticed. I don’t want to bring trouble upon myself, so it’s best to have someone else do it."

Amanda frowned deeply: "So you came to me?"

"You have no affinity for mysticism, and are inherently detached from these supernatural forces. You’re the best choice," Constantine said.

Amanda was speechless for a moment, unsure if he was complimenting her or insulting her. But since she wasn’t interested in this, she took it as a compliment. She said, "What can I find there?"

"Many things. However, this time it’s quite special, perhaps not those usual entities. I suggest you look on the second floor of the library."

"The second floor? What’s there?"

"If I knew, I wouldn’t need you." Constantine shook his head and said, "The second floor has always been off-limits, ordinary people can’t access it. Probably only the librarian has a way to get in."

Amanda was dismissive, just about to share some modern agent infiltration techniques, when Constantine said, "Don’t think about using helicopters or breaking in, that place is under magical protection."

Amanda pressed her lips but noted this crucial detail. After leaving the bookstore, she immediately opened her phone and had Brainiac check who the librarian at Gotham University Library was.

Brainiac showed that Gotham University Library currently had no librarian. However, the previous librarian’s name was Jason Todd.