Hell is a bustling place, no one can definitively say how big it is, but the many types of demons living here probably number in the billions or more.
Unlike angels that only can be born from the Holy Spring, demons can reproduce on their own, which leads to their presence in nearly all corners of this vast land.
Every time Constantine comes to Hell, he feels the living conditions of the demons are dire, for wherever he lands, he always sees varying types of demons migrating or battling, presenting a thriving scene filled with vitality and competition.
But this time, after Constantine landed, apart from seeing the desolate landscape, he didn't see a single demon, which is truly abnormal.
There are two possibilities for this situation: either a devastating war just took place here, with the entire Demon Legion wiped out; or a horde of demons knew beforehand that Constantine was coming and laid a trap for him.
But neither possibility makes sense. Although demons appear incorporeal to humans, they can bleed and get injured in Hell, and they leave behind corpses when they die. If a great battle had just taken place here, there should be bodies strewn all over the place. But not a single drop of blood, let alone a body, can be seen.
If someone had set a trap for Constantine, how come he's still standing here safe and sound?
Constantine is fully aware of his notorious reputation in Hell. To all demons in Hell, every Constantine is infamous, if they truly intended to deal with him, they wouldn't give him any chance to retaliate.
After standing in place for quite some time, Constantine didn't notice any commotion. He even began to suspect himself if he had chosen the wrong place. Is this really Hell? Since when did Hell become so tranquil?
On closer inspection, it wasn't totally devoid of demons. Right on the horizon to the right, there seemed to be a group of flying demons headed in his direction.
Constantine crossed over a hill towards the group of demons. Even though not all demons possess the capability to communicate, he at least had to try and understand what exactly was happening.
Constantine called out to the leading flying demon. The demon was terrified at his sight, yet it seemed to not recognize Constantine. After speaking with it at lengths, he only understood that it was frantically running to avoid something.
This was truly strange. In Hell, with its gravity, airborne demons should be near the top of the food chain. Adult airborne demons have few natural enemies, and especially a group like this would have nothing to fear. What could possibly have them fleeing in panic?
Constantine planned to investigate the matter but dared not teleport himself there directly. He walked a certain distance forward and climbed another small hill. From a relatively elevated cliff, he looked down and realized that it was even more desolate below, with not a single demon in sight.
The distant horizon, veiled by swirling clouds and mist, was dotted with islands floating faintly in the air. Unable to discern what they actually were from afar, Constantine was prompted by his curiosity to teleport himself to the base of one such floating island using a Teleportation Magic spell.
The moment his feet hit the ground, Constantine was struck dumb.
Above his head was a gigantic city.
Not a city-state of Hell or the Holy City of Heaven, it was a very typical major city on the East Coast of the United States—in essence, Gotham.
Constantine thought he must be seeing a mirage.
He must be hallucinating—how could Gotham appear in Hell?!!
Who dumped the ultra-ultimate-deluxe-customized-toilet into the septic tank?!
Lost in his thoughts, Constantine suddenly felt a gust of cold wind sweep over his head. Looking up, he saw a bat-shaped fighter jet speeding over his head. Before he had a chance to react, he was yanked up into the air by a grappling hook wrapped around him.
Constantine was hoisted high up into the air, his stomach filled with cold wind. Managing with difficulty to steady himself, he grabbed the grappling hook around him and looked back. Who on earth were these two masked blokes?
"Hahaha, we caught another one... wait up! Tim! You got the wrong catch! This guy is not a demon!!!"
A hoarse roar came from the wind. Constantine saw the lad in the red hood yelling at his companion who was steering the jet: "When I told you to launch the hook, I meant for you to aim. How could you..."
"Keep it down, Jason. We have enough demons to generate electricity. We were just doing a routine patrol. This guy is way more suspicious than any demon"
"Wait a minute, isn't this Constantine?!! Land, Tim, land quickly, you've caught Constantine!"
"No way, John's in the city. What would he do... is that really Constantine?!! I'm landing on the east side!"
Bound by the grappling hook, Constantine struggled hard. Of course, he wanted to use a teleportation spell; but then he realized that the damned rope binding him was enchanted with anti-magic.
So Constantine could do nothing but hang there as the batplane flew around one side of the floating island and headed to the other side below it. The metallic support structure of the power system was below, and a bay door slowly opened in the underbelly of the aircraft. The Batplane slowed down and flew in.
The plane came to a stop, Constantine had also landed, and the two young men from the plane jumped down and came to Constantine's side, standing on either side of him and looking at him as if he were a rare animal.
Constantine opened his mouth, unsure of what to say for a moment, he had realized that the two guys in front of him knew another version of him from another universe, but he didn't know what the relationship was like between him and them in that universe, whether they were friends or foes.
But actually, this was a question that didn't need to be thought about at all. Constantine was self-aware if the other universe's version of him was friends with these two guys, how could they still be standing in front of him unscathed?
"Are you the Constantine from another universe?" said the young man who was only wearing a mask as he removed his mask, revealing a still somewhat youthful face.
It looks like his name is Tim, Constantine thought, he can't be more than 20 years old – he's just a kid.
"It's me," Constantine replied, "Firstly, can you guys tell me what's going on overhead? Why is Gotham in Hell?"
"You're in Hell, so why can't Gotham be in Hell?" the young man in the red hood retorted sarcastically, "Does your family own Hell?"
"Alright, Jason, don't be so hot-tempered," Tim said, pushing the young man named Jason.
"Why don't you ask me why I'm so hot-tempered? Who was the one who was on the phone with Batman for three hours?! There are seven Robins at Wayne Manor right now, why do I have to be the one to take Batman's call?!"
"Because you lost at rock-paper-scissors, who else is there to blame?" Tim shrugged and then patted Jason's shoulder, "Aren't I taking you out for some fresh air? Okay, let's take him back."
After saying that, Tim walked in front of Constantine, grabbing the end of the grappling hook that was binding him and said, "I'm sorry, I can't let you go right now because if you use magic here, it could impact the operation of Sky Island and if we fall off, it will be troublesome; we can discuss it when we get up."
"Wait!!!" Constantine yelled, "First tell me what is going on, why are you guys coming to Hell? How did you get here?!"
As he yelled and struggled frantically, the not-so-strong Tim couldn't hold him up. Jason walked over to try and help, but was annoyed by Constantine's shouting.
In the end, with no other choice, Jason gave Tim a look, and Tim had to let go of Constantine. He leaned against the wing of the Batplane, crossed his arms, and started to explain to Constantine what was happening.
The war between the Prime Universe, the Green Lantern Corps, and the Apocalypse Star was huge. The two sides conducted thousands of minor confrontations in over 20 sectors before finally beginning to launch a major attack tentatively.
The main force of the attack was, of course, the Green Lantern Corps, which included the Green Lantern. But considering the cause of this war, there were also superheroes from Earth who went to help, such as Superman and Wonder Woman from the Justice League, who were the main force.
Someone might ask, why is one of the three giants missing? The answer is, Batman needed to stay on Earth to deal with a bunch of troublesome things, the most troublesome of which was Gotham, which had taken flight.
The people of Gotham were free, physically. But it's apparent that this freedom hadn't been approved by Batman, and he was not happy about it.
Although he's usually not very happy, this time he was obviously extremely unhappy; otherwise, he wouldn't have left the universe's chaotic situation behind and rushed home.
If it were for strategic defense and attack reasons, temporarily taking to the sky would be fine. But when I was around, you didn't fly, and when I'm not around, you swiftly fly up to the sun, and even don't inform me about it.
This sounds like your family not moving when you are around, but once you go to school, your family completely moves and no one informs you of the new address. This is simply a new era of American bullying.
He's Batman, can he swallow this down?
So while the other members of the Justice League were focusing on the war in the universe, Batman decisively, resolutely, and without looking back, returned to Gotham to clean house.
Yes, clean house. The lunatics in Arkham Asylum had come up with a bad idea, where were my dear Robins? Where were you when Gotham took off?
Even without thinking, Batman knew instantly. When Gotham took off, the kids must have been comfortably sitting in the living room of Wayne Manor, each with a small cupcake and a cup of red tea, clapping till their hands were numb.
The only one who might have tried to stop it, Dick, had been sent by Thomas to learn ballet. Truly, elite education does more harm than good.
Batman angrily returned to Gotham, he initially planned to first round up the lunatics running loose in the street and send them back to the insane asylum, and then deal with the little birds. But as soon as he returned, he encountered an extremely difficult problem.
The power system of Sky Island, a product of the heated minds of the lunatics in Gotham, had reached the end of its life span. The scrap parts and system could not persist any longer.
So, on the first day Batman returned to Gotham, he received the warm welcome of the lunatics from Arkham Asylum and the people of Gotham—a historic, incredibly sincere and enthusiastic welcome.
For the first time, Batman understood what it meant to be overwhelmed by hospitality.