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Chapter 172: The Night of the Clowns Resurrection (1)

"Father, you've come."

Schiller stood up from his seat and greeted him with a handshake. Father looked up and took in the theater, saying with emotion, "It's been a long time since I've been here. I never thought someone would invite me here again."

Following Schiller, he sat in the front row closest to the stage. Another person had arrived earlier and was sitting in the innermost seat, The Godfather Falcone.

He turned to Father and said, "Do you remember? In our time, this place was magnificent. My favorite opera back then was La Traviata."

"And I still prefer Aida. Back then, both of these plays were all the rage, and this place was always packed. You couldn't even buy a ticket," Father reminisced.

The three of them sat in the empty, dilapidated theater. The thick layer of dust had turned the curtain into a dark red color, and the gold thread had lost its shine. Even the light bulbs along the edge of the stage were mostly not lit.

"But I still like today's play better. What should we call it?" Schiller turned to the two men. Falcone held a cigar, and as the fire flickered, he exhaled a puff of smoke and said, "Easter, how does that sound?"

"I think calling it 'The Joker Resurrection' would be more appropriate."

"Why? The Joker? Are you talking about the kind of clown from the circus? There was a circus that performed at the Gotham Theater, but that was a long time ago," Falcone said.

"I invited you both here to hear your stories," he said.

Falcone sighed, and the old Godfather said, "Let Daniel explain it to you."

Falcone and Schiller both looked at the old Father sitting in the middle.

Old Father smiled and said, "I was once a member of the Court of Owls, but that was a long time ago."

Old Father Daniel's voice was filled with nostalgia. "As I said before, when I came to this land, it was vibrant. I was kind to people and had some reputation in the gang. Many people were willing to give me face."

"Then, those birds came to me. They were not as powerful as they are today, but they told me they were willing to share with me the secret of eternal life. I was very interested and joined them."

Old Father leaned back on his chair, looking up at the moonlight streaming through the window above the stage. His voice carried through the moonlight and spread far away.

"At that time, they were not yet assassins, but rather a gathering of the privileged. However, later on, they discovered something very special in Gotham."

"Is it 'fine wine'?"

"That's right. They found that in the underground of Gotham, there is a mysterious water source that smells like fine wine, which makes people intoxicated. Moreover, those who smell this aroma have their wounds healed and even become younger."

"Immortality and eternal life, such wonderful words that no one can resist such temptation. So, the Court of Owls launched a plan to excavate and decipher the secret of this water source, and use it to obtain true immortality."

"It's called the 'Fountain Plan'."

"But at that time, the plan did not go smoothly. The people who took the risk of drinking this liquid went insane. In the end, they had no choice but to seek a religious perspective to decipher it, and they turned to me."

"I knew from the beginning that they just wanted to use me, but it doesn't matter. I also wanted to use them."

Father drew a cross on his chest and said, "At that time, I felt that I was upholding the will of the Lord and wanted to save this land with His glory. If it couldn't be done in a conventional way, then it could be done in a different way. The Lord will forgive me."

"They used that group of European nobles to help me build a church right on top of the water source. Afterwards, the Court of Owls killed them."

"The manor where you live now is what they left behind."

"So they didn't move away, but were killed?"

"That's right. The Court of Owls lied and said they left, but in fact, no one who did not participate in building the church could leave here alive. The Court of Owls would not let the secret of immortality have any exposure risk."

"So, I moved into the church and guarded it, watching the people of Gotham come and go, generation after generation."

"You always talk without getting to the point," Falcone flicked his cigar, "this isn't a sermon at the church."

"Don't say that, your Excellency The Godfather. Today is Easter, let's have some patience about it," Schiller gestured to continue, and old Father nodded with a smile.

"Later, I deciphered some secrets of the fine wine and used it to gain special abilities."

"So, you noticed my uniqueness when I first went to church?"

Old Father shook his head and said, "Actually, my ability is not as powerful as you think. Maybe it was before, but now that I am old, without being in the church and standing above the wine pool, I am just an ordinary old man."

"But at that time, it was true. When you first came to church, in my tipsy state, I saw something different, so I suggested to Falcone to have him hire you to solve his son's problem."

Schiller squinted his eyes and looked at the stage. As the old curtains slowly opened, old Father stood in the center of the stage with the Jesus crucifixion statue of the grand church behind him and a wine pool rippling at his feet.

He stood in the center of the church, and the scent of fine wine in the air made him slightly intoxicated. In old The Godfather's blurred vision, Schiller walked in, just merging with the setting sun that was setting.

The light of the golden sun burned their eyes, and after the light disappeared, Schiller's back left a shadow of a sun, but it was the deepest black after the sunset.

Schiller smiled and lowered his head, "Actually, I have always been a bit curious about why Falcone invited me, a dangerous criminal, to be your son's tutor. After all, anyone who sees my resume would not want me to have contact with their offspring."

"Are you talking about your pursuit of the serial killer? Even without Daniel's recommendation, I don't care about this kind of thing. It is common in Gotham to have all kinds of lunatics. I would rather have a lunatic than a fool."

"Let's talk about Evans. To be honest, when he came to me, I was a bit worried about him because I could clearly feel that he was not right," said Father Daniel.

Falcone sighed and said, "I think you should have noticed that he has two personalities."

"To be honest," Schiller looked at Father Daniel and said, "Before this, that is, before Evans came to me, I had no idea that he had a second personality. How did you manage to do that?"

"Because at that time, Alberto did die, and there was only Evans. Of course, you wouldn't have felt anything. The personality you felt later was the resurrected Alberto."

"Do you think Alberto was the primary personality?" The Godfather had just asked this question and then answered himself, "No, Evans is the primary personality. He is my son."

The Godfather sighed again. He felt like he had been sighing too much lately, but he continued, "When Evans was six years old, his mother died, and I was immersed in the grief of losing my beloved. I neglected to take care of him."

"One night, he sneaked out to play by himself, and when he came back, he wasn't himself anymore."

"...Was it the Court of Owls?"

"How do you think the Court of Owls developed into what it is today?" Falcone retorted. "Just based on their cultish theories? Not everyone falls for that."

"They seduce the descendants of some influential people, erase their personalities and memories, and then create a more extreme personality that will eventually pledge allegiance to them."

"That's Alberto, then?"

"Yes, my child disappeared and became a pawn of the Court of Owls. But unlike those ignorant fools, I won't mistake this change for my child's rebellious phase."

"That's their common tactic. No parent would suspect that their child has been replaced. They would only think that the changes in their child are due to aging."

"The Court of Owls has a major flaw," Falcone took another puff of his cigar and said, "They created a perfect personality, a perfect candidate to become The Godfather."

"I can understand what they wanted to do. They prepared a perfect heir for me. As long as he takes over The Godfather's position, Falcone and the Twelve Families will be theirs. They are very confident that Alberto will satisfy me."

"But it's precisely this point that makes me extremely suspicious, because before this, Evans was more like his mother than me."

"Sounds a bit ridiculous, doesn't it?" The Godfather moved his fingers and said, "At that time, I also thought I was crazy to suspect that my biological son had been replaced by someone else..."

"When he raised his knife to stab me, I finally gave up."

"I was in great pain but couldn't find any evidence. From a scientific point of view, I couldn't explain this. So I could only turn to faith for help."

Then Father Daniel's voice came, "When Carmine came to the Church, I saw a distraught father. When he told me about his pain, I didn't think it was a joke."

Daniel sighed, his tone somewhat guilty, and said, "The method of memory erasure and personality replacement comes from the underground water source of the Church. That's the method I found. In order to achieve my goal, I handed over this method to the court."

"But after seeing Carmine, I knew. My approach was terribly wrong."

"All those arguments about joining the court to spread the glory of God were just excuses for me to be tempted by eternal life."

"When a desperate father stood before me..." Daniel's voice began to tremble, and he said, "Father saw his son nailed to the cross, blood flowing everywhere, and I became an accomplice, a Judas holding a money bag..."

"I knew it couldn't go on like this. I had to stop it."

"So you used the same method to erase Alberto's personality and bring back Evans' personality?"

"Wine has another use, and that is resurrection. I didn't just bring back Evans' personality, I resurrected him."

"So..."

"Alberto was also resurrected in the same way."

"Remember the water source plan I mentioned earlier?" Father Daniel turned to look at Schiller and said, "This plan is more than that."

"In these years, the Court of Owls has used polluted drinking water or rainwater to let many people's blood flow with very diluted wine."

"A few days ago, those heavy rains awakened them."

"Why did they choose to launch the water source plan at this time? Although some people went crazy in that heavy rain, the number was far from enough to shake this city."

"They must have another plan."

"Another question, what happened at that funeral? If it's just a personality replacement, there's no need to make such a big fuss, right?"

"That was my idea. I know the Court of Owls very well and know how they control this city. They have a special metal that can resist the effects of wine." Father Daniel said.

"I suggest Carmine interferes with their transportation of raw materials and makes it impossible for that batch of goods to arrive on time, so many people won't get the umbrella's effect."

"Are you trying to deceive the court?"

"No, we know that the idea of forging a brother's identity can only fool ordinary people and not the Court of Owls."

"I'm just warning them." Carmine held a cigar and said, "I know their tricks and I'm not afraid to kill. If they have to push us step by step, then we will fight to the end."

"If they dare to touch my son again, I will make Gotham a ghost town."

In the tone of The Godfather, Schiller heard the fierceness of the underground king of Gotham in its heyday and the determination of a father.