"As I said, I'm also a twin, only, my brother didn't make it. He was strangled by my umbilical cord in our mother's womb. Only I was born, but I am a natural born spirit communicator."
"From the moment I was born, I could see strange things. However, I wasn't as kind as you and your sister. When I discovered this ability of mine, I wasn't scared. Quite the opposite, I wanted to learn more, to explore the secret behind it."
"In the process of learning, I killed my pet cat and nearly killed my biological father. A mistake I made led to a full theater of deaths and killed several of my friends and many innocent people."
Constantine said all this matter-of-factly, but Angela stared at him unblinkingly. The policewoman couldn't understand how the man in front of her could be so indifferent.
"Don't look at me like that. I know I'm not a good person, but I didn't have a choice either," Constantine flicked off some ash, then continued, "Like I said, it's a curse. The demon found me on my 27th birthday."
Angela's mouth dropped open slightly, seemingly wanting to ask why he could still be here, but Constantine answered before she even asked: "I know what you want to ask. The demon who came after me, I drained all his strength and sent him back to hell. I'm sure his buddies down there, they'll treat him well."
"Now do you understand? I'm different from your sister, that's why I'm alive, and she's dead." Constantine turned around, saying, "If you really want to solve this problem, it's better to calm down firest, only then can we talk."
With all her strength, Angela pushed herself off the floor. She squeezed her gun tightly, as if it could offer her some form of security. She staggered to the couch, sat down, and covered her face with her hands.
Constantine sat down across her again, saying, "Originally, I wasn't supposed to intervene. However, I didn't expect to meet someone who has had the same experience as me in this world. For that reason, I can give you some advice."
"I just want to find out who killed Isabella, and then make them pay!" Angela leaned listlessly on the couch, saying, "I couldn't stop my parents from sending her to the mental hospital. She spent the best part of her life there."
"After I became independent, I tried several times to get her out of the mental hospital, but she refused every time. Now, she is dead. Before she died, she never got to live as a normal person." Angela's tears streamed down her cheeks, her sorrow filling the entire room.
Constantine silently smoked his cigarette. "Like I said, I can't revive anybody. You don't understand what resurrection really means."
"Resurrection is a trap set by the devils. In chasing after resurrection, you'll commit more wrongs, kill more people, give up everything you have, everything others have, only to have nothing left in the end."
"After you've done all this, you'll find out, the person you supposedly revived from the dead is no longer your family or friend, they're just shadows of the devils, their bait. All of this, it's a scheme."
Angela took a deep breath, saying, "If Isabella really can't be brought back to life, then I must make sure the culprits are punished!"
She gritted her teeth and said, "I don't care if they are angels or devils, no matter what powerful abilities they possess, I have to let them know they will pay for their crimes!"
Constantine's hand, which was holding his cigarette, paused. It seemed like he hadn't anticipated Angela's answer. When he looked at the policewoman again, he saw an extraordinary resolve and tenacity in her eyes.
This told Constantine that she must be a good cop. Without such determination, she couldn't have brought criminals to justice case after case.
"To do that, we have to figure out exactly who took your sister's soul away. So, where did she die?" Constantine asked.
"She had been staying in the mental hospital and, in the end, died in her room there." Angela closed her eyes and said with a trembling voice, "She died in...Anderson Asylum."
"...Anderson Asylum?" Bruce looked up, reading the stylized English on the plaque next to the door.
"If I remember correctly, Anderson was a wealthy man in Metropolis in the last century. The Anderson family has a good reputation on the East Coast, mainly because they built many hospitals. In the nearby cities, you can also see hospitals named after Anderson." Lex looked at the name and said.
Bruce just glanced at it, didn't say anything, and kept walking. In America, there are many hospitals named after people, most of which are donated by the wealthy or privately established. For example, Gotham's Arkham Asylum was founded and named by Arkham himself.
There wasn't much defense at the side entrance. Bruce and Lex successfully snuck inside. Not far from the fence was the main building of the mental hospital on the east side. Bruce and Lex took the shortest route to swiftly enter the hospital.
Standing in front of the window in the second-floor corridor, Bruce squinted his eyes, observing the situation in the courtyard. As he had noted, it was highly irregular. There were far too many people patrolling the yard.
All of a sudden, they heard commotion from downstairs. Bruce and Lex quickly hid in a room. They were lucky; it was an empty patient room, with no occupants and a securely locked door, so they were less likely to be discovered.
Listening at the door, Bruce heard a male and a female voice speaking. The man spoke first, in a slightly agitated tone, "Tell me, what should we do now? Ms. Parlo and the bank president are dead. What about our research?"
"Don't panic, we still have so much research funding left, don't we? Even if this business deal doesn't go through, it won't affect our next phase of the experiment."
"But, even if we don't use up all the funds for the next phase, what about the experiments afterwards? Who else will donate to us? Even ignoring the money, how do we get the Geological Bureau to cooperate with our follow-up experiments?"
"Don't forget, the most crucial step is deployment. We must have a comprehensive understanding of Metropolis' underground aquifer to ensure the effectiveness of the deployment. We only have one shot at this. If something goes wrong, all our previous efforts will be wasted."
"Don't worry." The female voice still spoke calmly: "It's precisely because this hospital is located at the meeting point of the underground waters of Metropolis flowing into the sea that we chose to conduct the experiment here. The underground water resources here are sufficient for our research."
"You're too conservative! We..."
The two debated and slowly walked away. When their voices and footsteps had disappeared into the hallway, Bruce finally came out of the door. He turned back and said to Lex, "Did you hear? They said there's an experiment going on here..."
"Where would they put the data?" Lex asked, his brows furrowed.
Then, both of them looked down at the same time. Bruce said, "The research lab for the underground aquifer must be underground. Just now, I observed the building structure. There should be a basement here."
Saying this, he quickly walked to the window and said, "According to what they said, the Parlo Company and the central bank are both aware of this experiment. They were even able to hire such professional security personnel. I suspect these people might have been transferred from the military..."
"Let's go down and see what they're up to." Lex turned and started walking down.
The two of them went down to the basement along the stairs and then began to look for the entrance to the basement. As expected, the entrance was locked, and the security inside was even stricter.
"Let's go, find the keys upstairs." Bruce said without hesitation, because he knew that observing here longer was pointless. They could not break this kind of door by force, and besides, they had no means of forcible entry at the moment.
The two of them continued upwards. As it was the middle of the night, most patients and researchers were asleep, so the two of them didn't encounter any hindrances and arrived at the fourth floor. This was where the patient rooms were located.
Bruce and Lex initially only planned to pass through this floor, then cross the bridge to the fourth floor of the opposite building, and find the dormitory where the management staff lived.
However, while passing this floor, they found out that each room had a patient in it, except for one room on the right. It was empty, with no one in it.
Bruce paused in front of the room door, took out a small flashlight, shone it on the nameplate on the door. It read "Isabella Dodgson," diagnosed with delusional disorder, admitted for 16 years.
Bruce furrowed his brows. Lex stepped forward and asked, "What's wrong? Is there anything unusual about this patient?"
"This isn't right. I once interned at Arkham Mental Hospital. Indeed, there are patients who stay in the mental hospital for 10 years or even longer due to mental issues, but the diagnosis is wrong."
"Nobody would be hospitalized for delusional disorder for so long. In 16 years, even if she hasn't recovered, her family would definitely seek other solutions. They wouldn't just leave her here."
"Plus, delusional disorder is one of the mental illnesses with a better response to medication. Unless there's absolutely no improvement in her symptoms, she wouldn't have stayed here for so long."
While talking, Bruce gently twisted the door handle. To his surprise, a gentle push, and the door opened.
Walking inside, it was a very clean and tidy patient room, with only a bed, a small bedside table, a wardrobe, and a small TV facing the bed.
Just as he entered the patient's room, Bruce paused. He stopped Lex from entering, then said, "There's a smell of blood in here..."
Bruce tensed his body, semi-squatted slightly to lower his center of gravity. Simultaneously, he began scanning the room with his eyes for any enemies. After a while, he realized that this was indeed just an empty room.
Then, he and Lex walked in. They started investigating the room with their flashlights. As Lex was searching the wardrobe, he suddenly found a loose plank at the bottom. He tried to pry it open but couldn't. He called Bruce over.
Bruce held on to the plank and pulled hard. With a snap, the plank was pulled off, revealing a letter stuck underneath. Bruce easily pulled off the loose envelope and saw that it was written on its surface:
"To my dear sister."