Chapter 1678: Bruce Wayne and the Chamber of Secret (Part 4) (Patreon)

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“Gods? Are you saying you have the blood of Angels and Demons?”

Harley plopped down on the soft, large mattress that Helen had conjured, looking at Helen’s slightly surprised expression. She spread her hands and explained, “Sorry, but I’m not from your Space. In fact, I don’t know the New York you just mentioned; the city I live in is called Gotham, in New Jersey State.”

“New York isn’t far from New Jersey State,” Helen said, jumping onto the bed. She crossed her legs and sat in the middle, scanning Harley from head to toe.

The girl in front of her, with platinum hair, was significantly older, having already entered her teenage years. Her skin was fair, and her features were sweet, but for some reason, she exuded a gloomy Gothic aura, which was uncommon for girls of her age.

“My other father, or you could understand it as my mother, is an Asgardian god. You’ve heard of Norse mythology, right?”

“So your gods in this Space are the ones from Norse mythology? Odin and all that?”

“Yes. So what about your Space?”

“There are many. Angels include Lucifer Morningstar, Michael, Gabriel, and so on, while Demons have Beelzebub, Azazel, and others. I heard Diana say that Zeus really exists.”

“Do you have Cosmic Gods there?”

“What’s that?”

“Hmm... a powerful being that lives in Space, rarely understood by humans,” Helen said, stroking her cheek with a finger, seemingly unsure how to explain it to Harley. After pondering for a while, she finally said, “They exist as the opposite of interstellar civilizations, with only one powerful individual per race, and each one is different. The powerful ones among them can even occupy a dimension, known as Dimension Demons, with representatives like Mephisto, who rules hell, and Lord Dormammu of the Dark Dimension.”

“What about magic in your Space?” Harley asked. “Who do you owe debts to? ... Wait, you do need to borrow money, right?”

“Essentially, yes,” Helen replied affirmatively, though she shook her head and added, “But by the time I was born, humanity no longer needed to rely on borrowing.”

“Then what do you rely on?”

“At first, it was stealing, and later it became cheating. I mean a kind of ‘comprehensive financial activity’…”

Harley didn’t fully understand Helen’s meaning, and the two exchanged information about their respective Spaces. By the end, Helen had completely leaned against Harley and rubbed her head against her arm, saying, “I don’t know why, but you look a bit different from the people in this world. You seem especially dark, but I really like it. I often feel that people here are too cheerful.”

“Oh, come on, I’m already the most cheerful one among the people from my Space,” Harley said, rolling her eyes as she spread her hands. “If you knew someone who came with me, you’d understand what true darkness is.”

“Enough of that; let’s talk about school. What grade are you going into?”

“That old sorcerer said I could go directly into fourth grade, but she also mentioned that if we adapt well, we could skip grades.”

Helen gasped, shifting her position to lean away from Harley a bit and scrutinizing her from head to toe. She remarked with a hint of awe, “Looks like she has a lot of confidence in you. I hope you can handle it.”

“What do you mean?” Harley looked at Helen in surprise, asking.

Helen shook her head, as if finding it hard to describe the situation. She soon leaned back against Harley, and the two girls rested their heads together at the head of the bed. Helen’s eyes darted as she said, “Did you go through preparatory classes in your village?”

“No, we were just thrown into the Sorcerer Supreme’s study. I almost passed out from altitude sickness just now.”

“Wait!” Helen exclaimed, sitting up straight, her eyes fixed on Harley. “You mean you’ve been to the Sorcerer Supreme’s study? Who took you away from there? Was it Master Ancient One?”

Harley detected a hint of urgency on Helen’s face. She blinked and shook her head, saying, “No, not that old sorcerer. They referred to him as Master Song, and there’s a little girl named Shirila, who’s not much older than me.”

Helen sighed in relief, but Harley noticed something off and squinted at Helen, asking, “Who is Master Ancient One? Why do you look a bit scared of her?”

“I…” Helen dragged out the syllable, summarizing who Ancient One was in the simplest terms, and then she said, “Currently, the Kamar-Taj college study is shared by two Sorcerer Supremes. The Ancient One occasionally comes back, and I’m just worried... the study is too messy.”

This statement seemed incoherent, and Harley squinted even harder. She brought her legs from the edge of the bed up onto the mattress, sitting cross-legged like Helen, and peppered her with questions.

“What happens if the Ancient One comes back? The one responsible for cleaning the study is that little girl Shirila. What are you worried about? How could the study possibly be too messy?”

“Uh…”

Helen didn’t seem skilled at lying, and more importantly, the pure atmosphere of this Space made her fabricated lies impossible to fool a Gotham person. Although Harley wasn’t particularly skilled at detective work, the dark nature of her Space made it so that suspicion wasn’t only Batman’s specialty.

“You must be hiding something fun from me!” Harley huffed, saying, “If you don’t tell me, I’ll go tell Master Song!”

“Oh my gosh, don’t do that.” Helen looked up in despair and then said, “We’ve only just met. You can’t make me spill my secrets like that.”

“But secrets are only fun when shared with others,” Harley insisted, shaking Helen’s shoulders vigorously. “Just tell me! I’m interested in everything fun in this world. Who knows, I might be able to help!”

Helen appeared conflicted, pressing her lips together repeatedly, her slightly chubby cheeks puffing up as if she was about to reveal the secret.

In the end, Helen couldn’t withstand Harley’s persistent coaxing any longer. She moved to the edge of the bed and jumped down, waving Harley to follow her. “Come with me to my room; I’ll show you something.”

Harley was a bit wary, but not excessively so. This girl was a thorough fun-seeker; even though she hadn’t completely turned into a Female Joker due to Schiller’s relationship, she still had a bit of madness and wasn’t afraid to take risks for fun.

Harley followed Helen to her room, which was adjacent to hers, perfectly mirrored in layout, each with a large bed and a massive wardrobe beside it. Helen crouched at the bottom drawer of the wardrobe, rummaging for something. After a moment, she pulled out a book.

Curious, Harley leaned in. Helen blew a puff of air on the book cover to clear the fine dust, then ran her finger over the strange characters etched into the cover.

When her finger moved away, a dizzying string of words was revealed—“Book of the Dead.”

Harley gasped, closing her eyes tightly and shaking her head, saying, “Are you serious? I bet this book contains astonishing darkness! Where did you find it?”

“In the Sorcerer Supreme’s study.”

Harley froze momentarily as Helen glanced around, peeking out the door to ensure no one was in the hallway before returning to the desk with the book.

She placed the book in the center of the desk and moved a chair over for Harley. The two sat facing each other at the desk.

The blizzard in the Himalayan Mountains continued unabated, and the storm howled outside the round Zen window. The bright light reflected off the snow outside spilled into the room, casting long, cold shadows on all the furniture.

“Like you, I didn’t enter school normally. We’ll talk about that later, but… I think you’ve noticed that I’m much more logical than the average child my age. This intelligence comes from my father, one of my fathers.”

“Don’t ask for any details; in short, I’m both a god and a unique genius in all of Space. He bestowed upon me not only a wise mind but also a strong curiosity. So, when I walked through the portal into the Sorcerer Supreme’s study, I touched some things I shouldn’t have.”

“This book?”

“Yes, I’m sure the Ancient One had just left not long before, and before she left, she was studying this book.”

“What’s so special about this book?”

“I’m trying to investigate, but it means something more serious: the current Sorcerer Supreme, Strange, doesn’t even know this book exists.” Helen gently stroked the edges of the book with her finger and continued, “Otherwise, he wouldn’t have opened the portal for me in his study. He didn’t even know the Ancient One was using the study at that time. I don’t understand why the Ancient One would hide this from him.”

“That doesn’t sound like a good sign.”

“Of course not,” Helen shook her head gently, saying, “When a sorcerer studies something behind everyone’s back, it means their desire for knowledge exceeds their thirst for truth

otherwise, why not collaborate with more brilliant minds to conduct research?”

“And an extreme desire for knowledge will inevitably blur one’s own existence,” Harley added. “When a person’s power reaches its peak, they can easily fall into such a state. They might believe there’s an ultimate answer they have yet to attain, and they will stop at nothing to obtain it.”

“I’m worried about that.”

“But that doesn’t justify stealing this book! It would be better to let the Ancient One study it!” Harley exclaimed, her eyes widening. “At least if some monster jumps out, she can handle it!”

“I can handle it too; monsters aren’t scary at all,” Helen replied, looking into Harley’s eyes. “What’s terrifying is that the elephant is right in the room, but we can’t see it.”

As the scene gradually froze on the ornate, Gothic-style “Book of the Dead,” everyone in the Rodriguez college office seemed to be acting out a mysterious tableau.

“I’ve never heard my teacher mention this book,” Strange said, his eyes narrowing slightly. As his lashes intertwined, a deeper darkness filled his pupils.

Schiller’s expression was a bit complex, as if he recalled that the author of this book was none other than Schiller Rodriguez.

[Read at www.patreon.com/shanefreak, and thanks for the invaluable support!]

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Next Chapter =>Chapter 1679: Bruce Wayne and the Chamber of Secret (Part Five)