Victor lowered his head, quietly staring at the notebook. Constantine continued, "How does a story become reality?"
Victor looked up at him, and Constantine said to himself, "It's like how to make a person believe the lie you've fabricated is true."
"I never thought about it," Victor said. "I try to be honest with everyone. If I have to lie, I only conceal some key information."
"I can't understand." Victor shook his head lightly and continued, "Maybe it's because I hardly ever had to lie to make a living, so I find it hard to understand those professional liars. I don't know how they do it, and it's hard to imagine."
"Actually, it's very simple," Constantine said. "The best way to make someone think the lie is true is to have everyone around them say it's true. Then they easily fall into self-doubt. The herd mentality is terrifying."
"But if it's just simple repetition, I'm afraid it wouldn't work, and instead might raise suspicion. So, you can also have him confirm the lie from various angles. People around him say it, the media says it. Ordinary people say it, professional people say it. Rumors are easily believed."
"That's how it is." Victor said.
"So, the necessary condition for turning a story into reality is for everyone to explain it from different angles. The more mysterious the story, the more people need to create it."
Victor looked at the address book beside him and said, "I understand. To reverse the current situation, we need to create stories and then use the power of the Gray Lamp to turn them into reality. The more and larger the parts that need to be changed, the more people are needed to fabricate the stories, interpreting the same matter from different angles. So we need to contact those who might obtain the ring."
"That's right." Constantine picked up the address book and then said, "Most of the people here have real skills. However, since they are records from more than ten years ago, many might have changed addresses, and we can't contact them. Even if we can contact them, it's not certain that they will have the ring. We can only select those we can still contact for a joint creation."
"Were you a magician before?" Victor asked. He had little interaction with Constantine, and they were not familiar with each other.
Constantine nodded. Victor said, "People who study mysticism should all be in the same circle, right? Why don't you look in the magician's circle?"
"No," Constantine denied. "Not the same group of people at all. Observers aren't magicians, nor could they be. They are completely unable to utilize the power of the stars, and even observing them is difficult, always risking going insane. They keep secrets, never mentioning them except to their kind."
"Then why would they..."
"It's not up to them to decide. Some people are naturally connected to the stars. You can understand this as a curse, an inescapable curse." Constantine paused and then said, "Shiller paid off all my debts for me, and I am no longer a magician. But I was soon found by Nyarlathotep. If not him, there would be other mysterious entities. That's my curse. I'm destined not to escape these things."
Victor's mood became somewhat heavy. He pressed his hand firmly against the edge of the table and then said, "In their eyes, is humanity just a toy to be manipulated at will?"
"Mostly yes," Constantine replied, "but sometimes their connection with humans is not what they want. They never thought about persecuting humans, just that life is on a different level. A small solar tide could destroy all life on a planet."
"Walking too often on dark roads always leads to encountering ghosts. Having too many connections with humanity will inevitably lead to meeting Shiller." Victor said coldly, "Shiller is their retribution."
"I don't deny this," Constantine said. "At least Nyarlathotep has learned a lesson."
"Let Brainiac contact them," Victor said. "He should be able to find most of the people."
"If it were that easy, we wouldn't need to come here," Constantine said. "Without going through the channels of the pen pal association, they won't admit anything. Even though Brainiac is an artificial intelligence, no one can ensure he won't be contaminated, and the consequences of his contamination would be catastrophic. They won't reveal anything to him, and Brainiac can't force them."
"Alright," Victor thought for a moment and said, "Let's write them a letter, send it to the address they left. The person with the ring should reply. Besides that, who else?"
"I only know you because Brainiac consulted me about issues of printing and publishing. I just knew you were writing a book. Shiller must have given you one."
"Wait a minute, Brainiac consulted you about printing and publishing issues?"
"Yes. Aren't you publishing some detective anthology?"
"I mean, why would he consult you? Doesn't he understand copyright law?"
"He understands copyright law, but he doesn't understand Shiller. He asked me how I handled the parts concerning Shiller in my book."
"So how did you handle it?"
"As long as you don't name names," Constantine thought for a moment and said, "I mean, don't use full names or point to his real-life identity. That's enough."
Victor understood: "I think I know what to do. Now, let's get to business. How do we write it?"
"Do as you see fit," Constantine said, "Once we connect with the ring bearers, we can create in the way we're best at. Everyone submits a brief outline, ensuring there's no repetition."
"I mean, what are we supposed to write?"
"Everything," Constantine said, "Not just about Xile, but also about the current predicament Earth is in."
"You mean the eternal night?"
Constantine nodded: "When the behind-the-scenes manipulator extinguished the Sun, no one was prepared, which is why he succeeded. But if we can write a story about the resistance's efforts to fight back, we might be able to alter reality, change history."
"I understand now." Victor nodded, "It seems we have a lot of room to maneuver. For such matters, there can't be just one group of resistors. There might be organizations worldwide that discover anomalies and organize resistance. So it's okay if we each write our own story."
"Exactly." Constantine said.
"I already have some ideas," Victor stood up and then said, "The lighting here is too dim, not conducive to my writing. Perhaps I should head home..."
"It's best not to." Constantine also stood up and shook his head, "Rodriguez left something here that can prevent the mysterious entities from peeping. If you leave here, what you write may be seen by them and they may take precautions. I've contacted Zatanna, he will come over later, improve the lighting conditions here, and help us send the messages."
"Alright, it seems I won't be leaving anytime soon." Victor didn't insist further. He also couldn't be sure if the dense ice could completely block the peering of the behind-the-scenes manipulator. He had always been wary of such mysterious entities, so he wasn't well-versed. It was best to listen to the professionals in this regard.
When Zatanna emerged from the darkness, Victor's letter was already written. Zatanna ignored the two of them and looked at the room, saying: "I didn't expect Gotham has a place like this. Truly a hidden gem, talent is abundant."
Constantine handed the letter to him. Victor also quickly signed off. However, when it came to writing his code name, he hesitated a bit. He turned to Constantine and asked, "What's your code name?"
"Constantine."
"You're using your real name?"
"No, that's my code name. My code name is 'Constantine' from the magic realm."
Victor paused in realization. Constantine was well-known in the magic realm. Although ordinary people had little interaction with the magic realm, they might have heard of him. People would only think he was using the magic realm's 'Constantine' as a code name, even the Devils might think so, and not believe he was Constantine himself. After all, that wretched Constantine didn't seem like someone who would be writing a book.
Victor certainly couldn't use that trick, he couldn't even use 'Mr. Freeze' as a code name, otherwise it would be too easy to link it back to him. He thought it over, then wrote "Dr. Watson" in the signature.
Zatanna picked it up, raised an eyebrow, and said, "I didn't know you were a fan of Holmes."
"He's a fan of Rodriguez." Constantine said.
Zatanna brought some Magic Candles, which provided brighter light than regular candles and wouldn't extinguish. After placing the candles, the entire study lit up. Constantine took his notebook and walked outside, saying, "I'm going to check some information."
Victor didn't need to check any information, after all, he was writing something akin to a character biography, recording the process of "Detective Rodriguez's" investigations. Even investigation parts were relatively few, most of it was describing Shiller—he was too familiar with Shiller, he didn't need to look up information.
Although the Sun's extinguishing was important, Victor had no intention of writing it first. He wanted to finish writing the main story of "Blackest Night," and then, like many novelists, write a prequel to "Blackest Night," to explain how the Sun suddenly went out.
In the main story, it began with the Chick suicide case, leading to Pelota's anomaly. Shortly after, darkness fell, and Rodriguez traversed through countless murders. At this crucial moment in the story—the long-concealed "Moriarty" revealed his true identity, none other than the detective's old rival from years ago, Hugo Strange.
This despicable and cunning criminal used the trap set up years ago at Wayne Manor involving the little girl Noel to lure the detective into a showdown. Though knowing it was a trap, Rodriguez still went without hesitation to save someone.
The showdown needed to be exciting, logically consistent, and capable of stirring the reader's emotions. Victor thought about it and felt he couldn't follow the actual sequence.
Firstly, Victor didn't know what Shiller did in the Spirit Domain, and he didn't know Psychoanalysis Method either, so the things he might make up might not be very logical, making realization difficult.
Secondly, while such psychological master games might sound professional, readers weren't here to read professional books. Novels emphasize dramatics. Two people reciting professional terms there is something no one will read. The scenes, dialogue, and emotional changes need special design to draw readers in.
Thinking of this, Victor picked up his pen and wrote: