Business is business; past grievances didn't affect Satan's judgment. As an old-fashioned Demon King, he possesses an almost bizarre calm and depth.
As for the bonus offered by Constantine, Su Ming had no objections either. After all, both the Joker and Mad Laugh were in Gotham, and something was bound to happen this time.
Satan only does business when ordinary people are in despair, so his impact on Su Ming won't be felt on the battlefield.
By reaching Pandora directly through Satan, Constantine also managed to avoid offending God.
Overall, everyone seemed satisfied, but as for whose interests were harmed, it was probably only the citizens of Gotham.
Nevertheless, the people of Gotham have quite a strong mental capacity. After all, how one dies is still dying, right? Signing a Demon Contract for a bit of glory before dying isn't bad either.
After both Constantine and Satan carefully signed the contract, a young woman with a face full of pain was delivered by Satan's demon army.
In the Spirit Thin Prison, a place with almost no limits, Satan's power is far superior to the outdated Seven Deadly Sins. He merely took out his phone, made a call, and soon his subordinates handled everything.
"Is that... a smartphone?" Su Ming felt somewhat uneasy.
"Yes, do you think I'm too old to use a phone?" Satan said with a smile.
"How does it work?"
"It's a demon, it just looks like a phone."
Satan seemed to be in a good mood, gesturing for his subordinates to leave Pandora behind and then turned around as if sinking into the ground, disappearing. Yet, as he left, his smile towards Constantine and Su Ming left an uneasy feeling.
Constantine sighed. He knew this was just the beginning of trouble, but for now, he could only weather the storm and talk about the future later.
"I have something else to attend to, you guys talk it out."
With that, Constantine took out a key, twisted it a few times in the air, pushed open a non-existent door, and left.
Pandora, evidently tortured by the demons, writhed on the ground like a wounded animal, her blood staining the gray floor.
Seeing Satan and Zha Kang leave, Diana and Green Arrow finally approached. They didn't want to have any dealings with demons.
Diana disliked demonic creatures, while Green Arrow was not skilled in matters of the Magic Realm.
Despite feeling uneasy about Constantine and Deathstroke using demons to find Pandora and causing her much harm, Diana knew that sometimes justice required all necessary means.
She went over to help Pandora up, letting her lean on her shoulder.
"Dai... Diana."
Pandora's expression was complex. The last time she fought alongside the Justice League seemed like yesterday, so why use such methods to find her now?
Neither she nor the Magic Box should appear before the world!
Diana felt guilty. She glanced at Su Ming and then averted Pandora's gaze slightly: "I'm sorry, but we truly need the power of the Magic Box."
When Satan's men came to capture her, she must have resisted, but aside from her immortality, her physical strength was only about as much as a female special forces soldier. Those high-level demons had legs thicker than her entire body.
Her weapons were two pistols, which to the tough demons were like mosquito bites.
So the rebels were beaten, that's how demons work.
Heavily injured, she pushed Diana away, gasping for breath as she steadied herself: "Impossible, you know what the Magic Box represents, Wonder Woman."
Diana certainly knew. During the Trinity of Ashes, when Cindy attacked, she experienced it herself. She had even been controlled by the Magic Box.
But as the only female member of the Justice League, with an Olympus background, Pandora and she had the best relationship back then.
Diana simply couldn't bring herself to force it now, especially since Pandora was also thinking about the world.
So she turned her gaze to Su Ming, asking him what to do.
Su Ming wouldn't want to make Wonder Woman uncomfortable. At this point, it's best for the mercenary to be the bad guy.
"What she says doesn't count; I call the shots here." Su Ming signaled for Diana to step back, and he'd talk to this poor woman.
"Who are you...?" Pandora wiped the cold sweat off her face, trying to bear the pain in her body, but through her sweat and blood-blurred vision, she only saw a stranger.
Su Ming sighed. Another one who can't keep up with the times, not even recognizing Zorro.
The dark clouds on the horizon kept rolling. Regardless of the situation, they didn't have time to waste: "Don't ask who I am, but the Multiverse needs you to hand over the Magic Box. You can name your terms."
Pandora furrowed her brows, looking at Diana, and Wonder Woman nodded affirmatively.
Seeing Diana's assurance, Pandora's attitude shifted to doubt. She instinctively clutched the corner of her robe, as the golden skeleton hung on her belt with a rope.
Beneath her eyes were painted purple tear streaks, giving her eyes a deep appearance.
"Are you serious?"
Su Ming spread his hands before him, trying to ease the tension: "You should have felt it too, the waves that just passed through the Cosmos, no matter where you are, that roaring is resonating in your heart..."
"Yes, Pandora." Diana held her hand and said apologetically, "Perhaps you don't know what happened before, but now the Origin Wall has shattered, and our world is in grave danger."
"Wait..." Pandora waved her hands repeatedly, moving to sit on the steps at the entrance of the Mysterious House while holding her waist, and took a gentle breath: "I've been secluded in Eastern Europe, and only last meeting did I learn about the Multiverse. Can someone explain to me what this Origin Wall is?"
Hearing this, Su Ming sighed deeply. Has she really been in Eastern Europe all this time? Probably in Antarctica....
However, he still gave Diana a look, indicating they should return to Earth first to explain, while he took the opportunity to check on the situation in Gotham.
.................
Batman naturally noticed that shockwave, and at that time, he was watching Joker on TV.
When the unseen wave hit, the Joker, who was frantically jumping around on screen, seemed to be paused by a remote control. He stopped, his mouth agape, with only his eyes still moving.
At that moment, Batman too felt a pang of unease as he rapidly pondered what had just occurred.
For a while, the two were in a silent mime show, and Batman seemed to just stand in the chaotic room watching Joker perform, with a hostage tied up in the corner behind him.
"Oh? Hahahaha!!! Has it come?" Joker broke free from his pause with a big laugh, as if he had heard a great joke, delighting in it: "Ah, little Bat, it seems Luthor is way ahead."
"What do you know?"
Batman surreptitiously flexed his wrists; there had been a killing machine set up in this room before he came in, with the hostage tied to it. Batman had disabled the mechanism to save the person.
Joker displayed a coy expression, tilting his head: "Are you begging me? Oh? Hahaha...."
"...." Naturally, Batman would not answer such a trivial question.
After laughing for a while, Joker worked to catch his breath, dramatically exhaling.
"I don't care at all what Luthor did; he's too dull, destined to be just a loser...Batman, have you ever secretly wished that when I left the Destruction Legion, I should have helped you kill them all? Have you ever thought about it, just kind of... secretly secretly thought about it?"
"No one deserves to die."
Batman replied coldly.
Joker shook his head from side to side, initially expecting a different answer this time.
"Even if he's about to destroy the Multiverse, he doesn't deserve to die? If you don't want to do it, I'll kill him for you, how about that?"
"....."
Batman remained silent. He had never considered this question.
Or rather, he forced himself not to consider this question.
But when the darkness hidden in his heart was brought to light by Joker, he could only deny it, unwilling to let Joker be satisfied.
Yet Joker did not care at all; he shrugged as if very helpless: "I knew it would be like this, I knew it, knew, but I won't let you die from the destruction of the cosmos, no way.... Pity, we don't have much time left, and I still have so many games to play."
"This can hardly be called a game, and you know it." Batman hid his entire body under his cape, and although the so-called game was already halfway through, Batman was enduring various torments too.
Not only physically but psychologically as well.
Joker seemed to be constantly hinting throughout this game for him to kill, or allow him to kill criminals.
What is this hinting at?
"Indeed, it's somewhat dull, but you always have a comprehensive strategy, don't you? It makes my gaming experience poor." Joker pretended to lower his head in frustration, rubbing his eyes as if crying.
Initially, it seemed like he was sobbing, but his shoulders began to tremble faster and faster, and soon the fake crying turned into laughter, his white face glaringly visible in the dim environment from the TV.
"Hahahahaha, even though I went through quite an ordeal digging out the Underground City below the museum, if you don't like it, I can let you skip levels. Do you know what it means to skip levels? If you answer my question correctly, I'll let you directly confront the most interesting final level, how about that?"
"...." Honestly, Batman did not want to play a single level.
Joker guessed his thoughts, immediately crouching to the camera so his face filled the entire screen, Batman seeing his mouth full of yellow teeth.
He whispered softly as if in a murmur: "Did you know? Catwoman has been saying you'll come to save her, but I don't really believe it. I think she might not last till that time, hehehe....."
"If you want to play, just bring it on; no need to mimic the Riddler, it only makes me despise you."
"Oh, when I found out he was hung in front of the police station with Bat lip marks on his ass, I was so happy, you know? I thought you truly had a sense of humor to face life with laughter. Alas, I was only happy for a second before realizing it couldn't be you; it must have been that guy dressed like a Little Bee, such a pity."
Joker said it was a pity, but watching his face twitch as if having spasms, it was clear he was quite pleased.
Batman cut off his nonsense: "What do you want to ask?"
"Ah? Just a tiny question, really simple...." Joker raised the remote in his hand, and the image on the screen changed again: "If Batgirl and your new friend could only have one survive, who would you choose?"
The screen showed the images of the two: on one side, Barbara was trapped in a tree, red explosives piled like mountains covering her, only her head exposed outside.
On the other side was the Windbreaker Warrior, who had agreed to wait outside but had been caught at some point. Currently, he was submerged in an old bathtub, with an unelectrified cable submerged in the water....