A month ago, after attending the funeral of his father, Constantine once again left Gotham and returned to London without saying goodbye.
A few days later, he squatted on the toilet of a public toilet that was full of urine, took out the deflated "Sika" cigarette box in his trouser pocket, took out a cigarette, held it in his hand, and stared at the cigarette butts.
After a long time, he sighed bitterly, recited a spell, and pulled out a green-brown spore from the cigarette butt. The spore expanded into a tobacco leaf, and a human face appeared on the leaf.
"What took you so long?" Swamp Monster's dull voice came from the Leaf Man's face.
"My dad went to hell and went back to Gotham, and then Richie insisted that I take the Paradise Mountain mobile phone..." Constantine took out another cigarette and lit it, the smoke blurred his unshaven face,
"I have to use a little trick to get rid of that quantum ghost.
You definitely don’t want Harley to know about the life council’s plan, right?”
Swamp Monster was silent for a moment and said: "Are you implying that her attitude towards us is unfriendly? Is she firmly on the side of heaven?"
Constantine exhaled a puff of smoke and said with a strange smile: "She firmly stands on the side of her own interests.
As long as you can be sure that your interests are consistent with hers, even if the enemy you face is her biological father and mother, you don't have to worry about her betraying the alliance.
If the interests are inconsistent, even if you are her biological father and mother, don't believe that she will stand on your side."
"I feel like her and I have the same interests, because she is also a human being, and she just saved the earth from the Kryptonians." Swamp Monster said.
Constantine was holding a cigarette in his mouth, staring at the ceiling with blurred eyes, and murmured: "Don't think about it, she can't be an ally!
She has made her attitude clear - she hopes that Zed will successfully become the Holy Mother.
That outcome was best for Zedd, and she chose to side with Zedd."
"Isn't choosing Zed the same as choosing heaven?" Swamp Monster became excited, "It took tens of thousands of years of struggle for human beings to take back control of their own destiny from the hands of the gods.
The following era should have been the prosperous age of human civilization.
But Heaven only used a mere Son and stole the next two thousand years.
Does she want mankind to be toyed with by heaven for another two thousand years?"
"This is exactly why I cooperate with you," Constantine blew out his cigarette butt, and a sharp look flashed in his eyes, "The next two thousand years must belong to humans!"
"But Harley——"
Constantine raised his hand to interrupt it, "Everyone has his own ambitions, and you can't force them. Harley is a good friend, but she may not be a like-minded fellow traveler."
"I understand the truth, but with her joining me, I will feel more at ease." Swamp Monster muttered.
Constantine lit another cigarette with a lighter and said confidently: "Don't worry, I have convinced the devils that I am an absolutely reliable spy of hell and a guard of Satan.
At the same time, through my previous actions against the devil, I taught heaven to believe that the devil and I are incompatible.
Now hell and heaven think they have control over me, but I am your spy."
Swamp Thing said: "This kind of task of traveling among multiple forces and acting as a multi-faceted spy is what Harley is best at."
"You don't trust me?" Constantine said with a dull face, "If you don't trust me, why bother looking for me?"
"In principle, I still trust you very much, because you are Zed's lover, you have her heart, and you are the only one who can deceive her most easily.
However, if Harley is there to guide you, your chances of success will be higher." Swamp Thing said.
Constantine's face was filled with uncertainty, "I don't want to lie to Zed, but this is the best choice, the only choice..."
...
a week ago.
London, the corner of an alley.
Dark clouds cover the sky, the wind bites the bones, and the damp cold wind seems to hide sharp scalpels, always ready to penetrate into people's flesh.
"This is the best choice, the only choice, and I'm not wrong!"
Constantine murmured, raised his head with confused eyes, and raised the empty wine bottle in his right hand high with the mouth of the bottle facing down, but not a drop of wine was shed.
"Bang!" He cursed and threw away the bottle. He staggered up from the corner and accidentally stepped on several empty wine bottles on the ground, sliding forward.
"Plop--" He fell to the wet and cold cement floor, and his mind became even more confused.
"How did John get into this mess?"
Benjamin, who had a hole in his heart, squatted beside him and tried to poke his head with his finger.
"Poor John, who took away your handsome and plump face?" the half-melted Ann Marie said pitifully.
Frank raised his head and said with a smile: "His temperament is still a little worse than Harley's. He talks nicely, but when it comes to doing it, he starts to get entangled again."
"John, don't give up on yourself, don't give up on yourself, at least you still have love. You still have Zed, she loves you, don't tell me you don't care about her!" the old man with bruises on his face advised.
"There's something wrong with this guy's brain. Who is it?" Frank asked.
"Hello, my name is Palmer Ray, John's friend." The old man smiled kindly.
"I said there was something wrong with your mind, and you still smiled at me?" Frank said strangely.
The old man continued to smile and said: "Brother, you are so handsome. You are my type. I can tolerate your rudeness."
"Fuck, you are really John's friend!" Frank took a few steps away in disgust.
"Lei, don't you know what John is struggling with? He is about to take action against Zed!" Benjamin said.
"Why don't I know what to do?" Lei said blankly.
Ann Marie said: "He is not a mage, his thinking is not as active as ours, and his memory is often lost."
Constantine groaned, raised his head, and shouted: "Can you please stop arguing? It makes my head hurt!"
Dad Kang leaned over and sighed: "John, stop tormenting yourself, go back and take a bath and have a good sleep."
His body was pierced through seven or eight wire clothes drying racks, his right palm and head were strung together on a clothes rack, and his left foot was strung together with his left arm... It was a very weird posture, and his expression was very painful.
"The last thing I want to see is you, go away, go back to your hell!"
Constantine growled lowly, and Kang's father disappeared in a whoosh.
"Wow, John is so talented. He has already begun to put his thoughts behind him." Ann-Marie exclaimed: "It took Harry more than a year to see me with the same magic attribute that was undergoing a terminal transformation."
"John's deathbed transformation has only begun for two days, is it about to end?" Benjamin exclaimed.
"You are so noisy!" Constantine cursed, and Anne-Marie and Benjamin disappeared.
"John——"
As soon as Frank opened his mouth, he also disappeared.
"John, I don't understand what they are talking about, but since it is related to Zed, I am qualified to say a few words.
Because I took you in, I was killed by the Holy Crusaders, and Zed was lost in my hands, and I failed to protect her," the gay old man said.
"What do you want to say?" Constantine got up and fumbled in his pocket, but only found an empty cigarette box.
"Think about Zed, no matter what, she will not like you now."
Constantine smiled bitterly and said: "Just because I kept thinking about her, I was mentally stimulated and started my second deathbed transformation."
Lei sighed: "No matter what you want to do, being decadent and hesitant is always the worst choice.
You are a born winner, don't be like a loser and rely on alcohol to escape reality."
"You are right. Doing it or not doing it is better than hesitating."
Constantine sighed, got up, and the ghostly figures around him disappeared one by one.
He went back to the rental house, took a shower, shaved cleanly, and combed his hair neatly... The handsome middle-aged man was back again.
...
On the evening of December 23, at Glaston Castle, on the hill behind the Holy Advent Crusade headquarters, in the hollow of a big tree.
"John, you shouldn't have come," Zed said nervously.
Constantine held her hands with an unprecedented seriousness: "Zed, I want to take you away."
Zed turned around, facing away from him, his big eyes covered with moist sadness, "I'm sorry, John, this is my destiny, I was born for this."
"You don't love me anymore?" Constantine asked.
Zed shook his head repeatedly, "I love you, but I am not qualified to love. I will be satisfied if I can miss you passionately for the rest of my life and know that you are alive and well somewhere on earth.
Go away, may all be well with you as the New Jerusalem conquers hell!"
New Jerusalem…
Constantine sighed secretly and his eyes became firm.
He made a decision.
He held a cigarette between his fingers and looked at the sky at a 45-degree angle. The corners of his eyes quickly moistened, and a drop of crystal clear tears left a wet mark on his handsome and mature face.
His eyes were red, his straight nose was red, and his breathing began to be slightly choked.
The sobs were so clear in the quiet tree hole that Zed immediately turned around and saw his once bohemian, unruly and unrestrained boyfriend, crying silently like a helpless child.
"John, don't, don't cry." She went to pull him, and he threw himself into her arms, squeezing his face against the soft part of her chest.
"Zed, I don't want to lose you." He said muffledly, his hands quietly wrapping around her slim waist.
"John, I only love you in my life, and I will continue to love you." Zed sighed.
"I will always love you..." He started groping her body.
Zed hesitated to push him away, and he sobbed again.
Her heart softened, and so did her body.
"One last time," she said softly.
A smile appeared at the corner of Constantine's mouth, but the smile quickly turned into something more bitter.
"Okay! I swear, for the last time..."
......Lie to you.
This time, there was a real cry in his voice.
...
December 24th.
Glastonbury, a hotel.
Constantine was sitting on the sofa, one cigarette after another, and the room was filled with smoke.
Suddenly, clusters of green-brown tobacco leaves popped out of the cigarette box on the table, and a half-meter-high swamp monster took shape.
"Constantine, the entire species hangs by a thread, you—"
"I did." Constantine interrupted him and laughed at himself: "Do you know what my biggest wish is now? I hope that God is merciful and tolerant and can tolerate any mistakes made by innocent believers."
"What did you do? I asked you to elope with Zed, but you bastard, she is still at the Crusade headquarters!
I gave you a month and you accomplished nothing!
Damn your ass, you still swore that day and made me believe you." Swamp Monster was furious.
"Don't be anxious, don't be anxious, I have a better plan, I guarantee to satisfy you."
He scratched his finger with his nail, wiped it on Swamp Monster's lips, and asked, "What do you smell?"
The swamp monster looked puzzled, and licked the blood obediently, and then his expression changed drastically, "You, have you fallen?"
"She was defiled by me." Constantine smiled bitterly.
"John Constantine, you are such a bastard!"
Swamp Monster grinned widely, but his eyes looked at him very complicatedly, with a trace of undetectable alienation and vigilance.