Afterwards, Constantine grasped the weight of the pact — his answers were tickets to Shiller's flowers.
Shiller bought Constantine's silence with these answers, so he couldn't reveal the true face in front of any Constantine performing for Shiller.
Then, the distant Constantines would stage amazing performances for Shiller who could not only watch, but also participate in it — achieving zero distance interaction between audience and actor.
This drove Constantine mad.
Constantine was someone who didn't need other people to tell him who he was, even the Joker couldn't completely achieve this, the Joker still needed Batman to tell him who he was.
Not Constantine, he knew who he was, knew what path he was walking, and where it led.
Rock music is the art of a confused era, but rock is not confused. Rock shows chaos, but rock music is never chaotic. The most charming part about it is that it takes the particular confusion and chaos of some era and presents it with distinct and exact composition, allowing people to appreciate the beauty of tragedy art through music.
Constantine was rock.
What do rock fans hate the most?
Not when others call them disorganized, mad, psychedelic, saying they're just a bunch of lunatics, that those who listen to rock music are all violent or are uneducated drifters. True rock fans don't care about any of that — what they hated most was when someone claimed they were here to "save rock".
Constantine realized that he had become a very commercially and publicly successful rock song.
It made him want to throw up.
And the person who had successfully made him this way was now saying, "Since you are so successful, I can now enjoy other art forms with ease." And then he left.
Furious again, Constantine took to drinking heavily.
Zatanna then screamed at him in the loudest decibels he'd ever heard.
"You damned jerk! You've let down all your friends who've put in so much effort for you, you are ungrateful!"
Yes, that's it, the main source of Constantine's regret was this, he was now at a complete loss for words.
If he chooses to corrupt like before, it would be akin to making an enemy of the world, he would be the subject of disapproval from everyone in the world.
Please note, this is not a sort of disapproval they had for him before, when they sympathized with him after understanding his story and then began to appreciate the beauty in his tragedy, but something else.
Most human-loved tragedy art is like this, either because of an external force on the protagonist in the story or because they derive comfort from their misfortune.
Even those who love and understand tragedy art will not see any beauty in ingratitude and unappreciation, they will only resent quietly, even if you have the chance to reverse the tragedy, you do not cherish it, why should such a good fortune fall to you?
The old Constantine was like a cigarette, harmful, but addictive. The present Constantine was like a pile of crap, people say crap can fertilize fields, but everyone avoids a manure cart like the plague.
So Constantine can no longer continue corrupting, so all he can do is try to stop Shiller from leaving, but due to a rather large strength gap, he can't actually do that in reality, so Constantine can only think of ways to sabotage other Constantines' business.
This was the pitfall of the pact. When describing his story, Constantine could only use pronouns.
Or he could describe things as they really are, such as recounting what the Black Sun did, but he could not say who the Black Sun was.
Of course, if he points out Shiller's identity to those familiar with him using pronouns like "a certain professor" or "a certain psychologist", they would likely guess it right.
But these were among the few secrets Constantine held concerning Shiller, they were his entire stack of chips, and a gambler who is on a losing streak would never lend their stack of chips to others, even if doing so would win them the game, they would rather take it all themselves.
And like this, Constantine pursued Shiller, and watched helplessly as Shiller came into contact with many other Constantines.
This was very simple, the problem didn't lie with Shiller, but rather that nearly every Constantine, just like Shiller said, was greedy. In addition to power, there was also the factor of having to seek attention.
They were almost eager to accept the power bestowed by the Black Sun, the process was just like how Constantine had previously described to another self.
Constantine would coincidentally come across certain things by chance, most of which were brought about by a doctor named Naog Sokhup, this doctor would pretend to be unaware and seek Constantine's help.
The most difficult situation to turn around was that Constantine would assume from his own empiricism that this person was another friend of his, and then they would give their all to resolve the matter, inevitably encountering all types of trouble in the process.
Then, this Doctor Sophocles would rely on his extremely rich mystical knowledge to convince Constantine to start researching some mysterious god with the image of the Black Sun, of course, he also had the very good qualification of being an Honorary Researcher of All Souls College, Oxford University.
Constantine also had a remarkable reserve of mystical knowledge, he quickly connected the Black Sun to a series of deity systems that had in some way instigated abnormalities in this world, in plain words, the Cthulhu Mythos.
Once the existence of the Black Sun was confirmed, they would start another series of explorations, usually reading ancient books, or they might go to some relics to find leftover clues.
In the end, of course, they happily gained contact with this mysterious god, and Constantine, relying on his tricky scamming technique, deceived a great deal of power.
He would naturally use this newfound power to solve the trouble they'd encountered, at the crucial moment, it was likely this Doctor Sophocles would die for him, just like Constantine's other friends had.
But this time, the outcome is different. The trouble that Constantine is in is something that he can't solve smoothly. He will die and wait in the Fog Realm for his rebirth.
This whole process gave rise to a major problem — almost none of Constantine's selves would listen to each other's explanations.
Most Constantine's are very seasoned, so, compared with a PhD with official credentials that could withstand investigation, another suddenly appearing self is clearly more suspicious.
Just like when Constantine was encountered at the seaside cabin, another self didn't listen to explanations but started fighting immediately. Sophocles would arrive soon after, and Constantine couldn't call out his name, completely unable to alert his other self.
He couldn't even compare notes with Constantine after his death because, for unknown reasons, all their souls disappeared, and not having gone to Hell, Constantine couldn't get in touch with them.
Constantine was really going mad.
Moreover, he's probably the only follower of the Black Sun who was ever converted. Although he was the first follower, whether he was praying, calling, or even knocking on the door, this popular newly-appointed god was always busy.
More importantly, Constantine now can't use magic; he's just an ordinary human. His ability to traverse the cosmos is only because Lucifer has given him the help for old times' sake. If he gets into some trouble like before, he won't survive.
The punishment was indeed more severe than he imagined — the pain in his heart was unbearable. This pursuit has turned into a pilgrimage of penance.
In this gruelling journey, the youthful body he had regained was exhausted again, and the gifts he had received were taken away. Was it because he wasn't devout enough? No, it was because he was too devout.
Constantine was still persistently following in Shiller's footsteps until he discovered he was situated in an incredibly chaotic city. Most of the buildings here had been razed to the ground, as if they had just experienced a magical century war.
Constantine saw Shiller walk into the only building that still had a few floors left standing. He immediately followed him in.
Constantine lost his way in the building, but he finally made it to the top floor. He heard faint sounds of conversation and heard Shiller say, "Come in, John."
Constantine inexplicably walked in.
"Let me introduce you to this, this is the type of black box we use to launder money. Of course, it's not him, but other versions of him."
"Heaven and Hell once stipulated a gambling rule. No one in the cosmos is allowed to examine the makeup of the power inside Constantine's body. Anyone could blindly pour energy into his body. When he dies, the one with the most shares wins and obtains all the power he possesses."
Peter's eyes widened, and he immediately drew a conclusion, "So you stole power from Barbados and infused it inside him, getting all the power that demons and angels had put in after his death, and thus laundering the dark energy into something usable?"
Constantine was also taken aback.
But, not because of Shiller and Bruce's operation. Nothing they do could surprise him.
He looked at Shiller and asked, "So… it's all just to launder money?"
Shiller glanced at him and said, "I seem to recall someone who conjured a city's worth of broccoli."
"That isn't..." Constantine suddenly stopped talking, looked up at Shiller, raised an eyebrow to say," I did it, so what?"
As he fell clutching his heart, he saw the laughter in Shiller's dissipating grey eyes.
"To teach the dirty how to be clean, then teach the healthy how to decay — God often feels his great strength using these methods, but for the followers, it's a complete tragedy."
And Peter asked somewhat anxiously.
"If the black box is opened, the dark energy will still be recycled. Doesn't this mean it will keep accumulating? Where do you store it? It sounds really dangerous. If the dark power leaks out, it'll be a big problem."
"So I ask you, do you believe in the existence of angels?" Bruce said.
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"Have you heard about Eden?"
"Ah?"
"There's a lake in Eden. However, angels usually don't go there. Except for the guard, almost no one goes there."
"But the guard will still go there, right?!"
"Of course the guard needs to be there. Why else would I hide the power there?"
"Also..." Shiller resting his hands on the umbrella added, "Judging from the behavior of the guard, he has serious OCD and mysophobia."
In Eden, beside Lake Eden, Uriel, who is holding a long spear, cannot believe the sight of the ink-black lake water.
Two seconds later, a roar of anger echoes through Heaven and all cosmos in between.
"Barbados!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"