"You can tell by his accent that he's a bitch from the UK. A foreigner, wandering around with a wad of dollar bills in the middle of the night. Does he look down on us Gothamites? Falk!"
Under the dull gazes of everyone, the old homeless man standing by the concrete pillar cursed and stood up, burping with wine and wandering towards the monk's body.
Well, Mike is not the only one here. There is a group of young people warming up in the brazier. There is also an old homeless man lying more than ten meters away. When he came here before, Harley saw him, but did not say hello, and then simply forgot about him.
The two monk warriors must have seen him, but they never expected that the old drunkard would rise up and attack, and his marksmanship would be so accurate and ruthless.
"Little poison basket, this is my prey, get out of here!" The old man waved the revolver in his hand and shouted loudly.
"OK, OK," Sauron was frightened awake by the sudden change, and stepped back repeatedly with his hands raised, "They are yours, veteran."
"Mudd, this charming British accent is still so sexy, I can't even take advantage of it - burp!" The veteran burped, muttering and squatting down.
"Do you know him?" Harley asked in a low voice.
"I often see him in this neighborhood. He is a disabled veteran who participated in the Vietnam War. You can see that his left leg is a little lame." Mike said.
"Mike, do you want it?" Soran walked up to the black guy and made a slit-throat gesture with a ferocious expression, "There is at least a thousand dollars in that wallet."
Mike struggled for a moment, then shook his head slightly and said, "That's it for tonight, let's go and leave here immediately."
Harry immediately followed the good example and pushed the cart away with a clanging sound. The other young people also dispersed.
It's just that Harley left sincerely, but the others had different expressions, and they didn't know what would happen next.
"Gotham is too dangerous. Anyone can become a killer at any time..."
Harley was a little afraid to go down dark alleys. After all, among the homeless, her stroller was considered a considerable "property".
"Next time I see Selena, ask her to take me to the mercenary supermarket and at least get a Kailav hooded cloak. Well, it also needs a mask."
"Hey, Harley!"
Just when Harley was muttering and preparing to go to McDonald's to stay up all night, someone suddenly called her name around the corner.
Turning his head, Harry was immediately startled. He had a blue cloak and a blue hat. If not Judas, who was that bastard?
"Judas, what do you want from me?" She swallowed, feeling a little scared - she was so angry and impulsive that day that she hit him several times with the butt of her gun.
"Don't call me Judas, I'm a stranger." There was no emotion or anger in the stranger's voice.
Harry still followed the good example and said: "Stranger, what do you want?"
"I will never have my own affairs. I will only follow the will of the voice of heaven." The stranger said.
"Ah, God wants to see me?!" Harley exclaimed in shock.
"Come here." he said.
Harley was a little hesitant, not sure whether she should go with him or not.
"Oh, do I have the ability to refuse?"
With a sigh, Harley pushed the car and chased after him.
"Why not use a space door?" she asked.
"No need."
"How is Rachel doing now?" she asked again.
"I don't know very well, but I believe in God's arrangement." Stranger said.
Harry was noncommittal, hesitated for a moment while stroking his eyebrows, and then whispered: "Rachel left something for me when she left, but I don't know how to open it."
This time the stranger reacted. He turned his head and stared at her eyebrows for a long time with his silvery eyes.
"I don't know what she left for you. To open it, you need magic power."
"I still expect her to teach me magic!" Harry smiled bitterly.
"Maybe..." The stranger hesitated and closed his mouth.
"Maybe what?" Harley didn't let him go.
"You'll find out later."
"Hey, this is a subway station, will you take me to take the subway?" Harley looked strange.
The stranger shook his head and did not go to the ticket window. He led her directly across the platform and walked beside the railway tracks.
The Gotham subway operates 24 hours a day. Even though it was past midnight, there were still passengers in twos and threes. However, they seemed not to see Harley and the Stranger, and were just conversing there.
About thirty meters away from the platform, the stranger stopped, stretched out his hand and tapped lightly on the stone wall of the tunnel.
"Buzz--" The magic runes flashed quickly, and a golden door opened in front of the two of them.
Harry's heart moved, and the scene in front of him seemed a bit familiar...
Without any time to think, they stepped through the magic door, and the two of them arrived inside a tall and empty stone castle.
The darkness is like a cave.
Flat rocky ground, ancient rock walls, looking up at the sky, no ceiling visible.
"You brought me a girl this time..." an old and weak voice sounded from the front.
"Bang bang bang..." As the voice fell, the braziers surrounding the hall were lit one after another, and a half-meter-high golden-red flame rose.
On the high curved platform in front were seven huge stone chairs, with a frail old man with white beard and hair sitting in the middle.
Holy shit!
Could this be the old Shazam from "Thunderbolt"?!
The stranger brought me to select the Thunder Sculpture?!
Harley was shocked, delighted, and a little awkward.
She imagined herself shouting "Shazam" and then thunder flashed and she transformed into a tights...
The Stranger's words interrupted her reverie, "Your Majesty the Wizard, you asked me to select the destined person in the world who is qualified to inherit the power of Shazam. For decades, I have never dared to neglect my duties.
This girl, Harley Quinn, has shown me that she is fearless and mentally gifted. I think she deserves to be a magical guardian."
Harley was shocked, was the stranger really talking about her?
Brave and fearless, strong in spirit...
She blushed a little, and her eyes when looking at the stranger softened a lot - maybe God really had other plans for Rachel?
"You brought some children before, but they were all unqualified." The old wizard muttered.
"You can use the Book of Reflection to observe her past and future." The stranger's tone was unexpectedly respectful.
He is the Hand of God...well, the little black hand.
Is it worth it for just a thunderous sand sculpture?
Harley was a little confused.
Then, she was shocked by the stranger's words.
"What kind of book is it that can see the past and the future?"
The old wizard gently tapped the armrest of the stone chair, and the dazzling white light suddenly disappeared. A book that was half a person tall and thicker than a pillow floated in front of the wizard.
There is a huge eye on the outer cover of the book, like a living creature, turning towards Harry strangely.
Then, the book opened and the pages flipped open.
Scenes appeared in mid-air, all of which were Harley's life experiences, from birth to now.
Harley breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, this strange book did not reflect her past life.
"Well, the Holy Advent Crusade...is the coming of the Son again..."
The scene in the monastery lingered for a moment longer.
"Oh, she had hesitation..." The old wizard shook his head gently.
This was in the monastery. The night the one-eyed dragon violated Barbara, Harley woke up and was about to explode. The one-eyed dragon yelled at her, and then Angela came to stop her. Harley hesitated for a moment, and then she was ready to find a weapon to resist the rape.
burst.
"This is my first time encountering something like this. It's human nature to hesitate a little, right?" Harley couldn't help but argue.
The old wizard turned his silver eyes to her and said emotionlessly: "Indeed, your reaction is normal, but you are just an outstanding ordinary person, and my heir is not an ordinary person!
In the face of injustice, he will not weigh the pros and cons.
In the face of atrocities, he was furious and never flinched.
Facing the weak, he is full of compassion and sacrifices himself for others..."
"So, you understand, little girl, you are just an ordinary person, I want a hero!"
Harry actually didn't know how to retort.
She fell silent.
The stranger couldn't help but promote her advantages, "Your Majesty the Wizard, she is very brave, you can continue reading."
In the picture, Harley killed two guards with a baseball bat, and the old wizard frowned.
In the picture, Harley was boxing with a homeless man in an alley, and the old wizard frowned even higher.
"He obviously can't threaten you anymore, why is he so cruel..." He murmured softly.
In the scene, Harley gave the addict ten dollars, and the old wizard muttered: "How can you help others to do evil?"
In the picture, at the subway station, the old beggar kept complaining that he was hungry, Harry was hesitant, and the old wizard looked disgusted.
...
Finally, the Three Palace Demons appeared, and the old wizard's brows relaxed a little, "Not bad, he has a brave spirit. Not only was he not scared to death when facing the Three Palaces, but he also dared to stand up and resist. Not bad, really good!"
Then Harley hit the stranger with the butt of her gun, and the old wizard nodded slightly.
After playing the past, start playing the future again.
Harley craned her neck, hoping to peek into her future.
The water in the picture was rippling, making it completely unclear.
After a long time, the old wizard closed the book and sighed: "Stranger, she is stronger than ordinary people, but she is still an ordinary person."
Stranger asked: "If she gets the power of Shazam, will she fall?"
The old wizard shook his head, "When she has no power, she shrinks back and thinks too much about her own gains and losses. The power of Shazam is strength and belief. It will help her evolve and help her become a qualified hero."
"Then she chose?" Stranger asked.
The old wizard still shook his head and sighed: "The most important quality of a hero - sacrifice, will never appear in her."
Harry reluctantly admitted that the old wizard was probably right about her.
Shazam waved his hand weakly and said: "If you really have no choice, it's okay to let her become a magic warrior.
But I can still persist for a few more decades. I can wait slowly and wait for the best people to appear. (ps)"
"Let's go, it's over." The stranger said to Harley.
"Hey, even if you can't win the first prize, you can still win the second or third prize!" Harry shouted to the old wizard.
Old Shazam showed a disgusted expression and looked at the stranger: Look who you are looking for!
"Harry, don't be such a philistine."
——Don’t embarrass me!
The stranger looked a little confused.
"I don't ask much, just teach me some magic knowledge. If you don't give me the power of Shazam, I can learn it myself, okay?" Harley said.
"Chi chi chi..." The braziers were extinguished one after another, and the stone castle returned to its previous darkness.
"Why is the old wizard so stingy!" Harry said unwillingly.
"Do you know why he wants to choose an heir? He has very little life left and is about to die. He can't even speak a few words. How can he have the time and energy to teach you magic?
Moreover, when he was young, he was not a good-tempered person and had no apprentices." The stranger said.
Within a few words, the two of them were back in the subway tunnel.
Harley turned back, touched the rough stone wall, and asked curiously: "The old wizard lives underground in Gotham?"
"He is at the center of the multiverse, the Eternal Castle on the Rock of Eternity. Just now, we left this universe. It was not the earth, but the universe." Stranger said meaningfully.