American comics: From Hogwarts to God on Earth

Chapter 389 The Night of the Living Dead

Rune politely bid farewell to Logan and Constantine.

Logan waved his hand, indicating that he should do as he pleased, while Constantine ran to the door, leaned against the door frame with one hand, and rubbed Rune's hand a couple of times with the other.

"————"

Rune sighed and casually tossed a few wads of cash from his pocket. Constantine immediately scurried over like a dog seeing its thesis defense, gathering the scattered green bills.

Seeing Kang's behavior, Rune couldn't help but roll his eyes. Kang is probably the only one in the entire DC universe who can make a Godfather-level figure who is emotionally stable speechless.

However, you jerk Kang, now that you've taken my money, I won't be so polite when I order you around!

Rune gave Kang a deep look, then turned and left. Behind him, Wolverine's voice echoed:

'

Hey, Brit, the rice's burnt!

While picking up the money, Zha Kang shouted, "So what if the food is burnt? We're not eating at home tonight, we're going out to eat!"

Tonight's entire bill is on Mr. Rune, hahahahaha!

Finding a secluded spot, Rune opened a portal and returned to the DC Universe of Earth-3. His anchor point in this universe was the Joker's secret hideout, inside the nuclear-proof facility beneath Gotham City, but it was now deserted.

This place seems a bit lonely.

As Rune thought this, he opened a portal and arrived beside Harley Quinn. He was still unaware of what had happened; interdimensional communication devices were still a relatively new concept, and perhaps the scientists from the Marvel universe had a more refined version.

However, Rune didn't have that; for the time being, he only had a magical artifact that could receive interdimensional signals and vibrate or sound.

I should try to buy some from Tony when I get the chance, otherwise this is too much trouble.

While thinking about it, Rune asked, "What happened?"

Harley Quinn and Jester simply made a gesture of silence, while Deathstroke pointed to a spot not far away.

The city that allowed these three to team up to explore and prepare for the arrival of other superheroes was not some obscure small town, but Cleveland, a city located in the Rust Belt, the heart of America's traditional manufacturing industry.

Cleveland is located in the Midwestern United States. Geographically, it is very close to the core areas of criminal syndicates. With a population of about two million, it is an important port on the Great Lakes and has a very advantageous geographical location.

In order to protect the industrial facilities here as much as possible and prevent the port from shutting down due to excessive fighting, Deathstroke took the initiative to attack.

The eccentric but skilled Harley Quinn and the clown were both chosen by Deathstroke as actors, but the thing he discovered seems to—well, might have some impact on Deathstroke's plans.

Rune looked in the direction the death knell was pointing and saw a... zombie?

It was clear that it had once been human, but now most of its skin looked like water-soaked lime, giving it an eerie grayish-white color. Some parts of it had dark purple and black rotten bruises, its eyes were cloudy, and thick yellowish-black liquid kept dripping from its mouth.

Rune thought it was a zombie because it not only had a missing hand, but it also had no chin.

Rune looked at the death knell. "What do you think this thing is?"

Deathstroke's mouth, hidden beneath his mask, twitched, emitting a barely audible response: "Zombie, what else? Have the humans outside evolved to the point where they don't need a jaw to eat while I've been in Arkham?"

Okay. Rune also thinks it's a zombie.

Logically speaking, a mere chinless zombie is nothing special. Not to mention Deathstroke, who is covered in black and yellow armor mixed with iron, even Harley Quinn and Jester have dozens of ways to kill this thing without being touched.

But this place is only a few kilometers from Cleveland, so the appearance of this zombie seems a bit ominous.

Rune nodded, then gently waved his hand, and the zombie was pulled over. Its primary sense seemed to be sight, and when it was pulled over by the mage's magic, the zombie suddenly became excited upon seeing people.

It began to struggle, but against Rune, the zombie's small arms and legs were naturally no match for it.

So it can only breathe out at everyone, but it seems its vocal cords have been chewed up, so its breathing sounds very soft, like wheezing.

"What are you doing?" Harley Quinn asked in a low voice.

"Let's see what kind of zombie it is," Rune replied, carefully examining the poor test subject.

In the DC Universe, there are many zombie-like creatures, such as the Anti-Life Equation Infected in Deathstrike. This virus is a consequence of Darkseid's attempt to perfect the Anti-Life Equation. It can spread through any screen device, and the infected are not entirely mindless; they can even plan and ambush.

Well, that can be ruled out. With Rune's super perception and magic, he could tell that most of the zombie's brain tissue had melted away.

As for the blackout —

This can probably be ruled out as well. Earth-3 is a world where good and evil are reversed. The Black Lantern Legion in this universe is mostly maintaining the boundary between life and death, and may even be working under the hand of death.

There are probably only two possibilities left.

One is the work of the Forsaken, and the other is necromancy.

As for how to determine it—

Rune clenched his fist, making a squeezing gesture, and the poor zombie instantly turned into a pile of minced meat.

Different spells have different effects on the human body. For example, the Avada Kedavra curse only kills the soul of the person cursed, without leaving any scars.

Rune's act of crushing the zombies was to search for residual magic within them, but his actions clearly misled Deathstroke and Harley Quinn, who exchanged bewildered glances.

"He—" Deathstroke's brow furrowed beneath his visor. "Was he this crazy before?"

"He wasn't like this before—" Harley Quinn sighed. She quite liked this seemingly delicate and beautiful little wizard, but who would have thought he was a madman.

If Rune knew what she was really thinking, he'd probably be speechless. When it comes to madness, who can compare to you besides the clown?

The clown grinned and laughed.

He loved this atmosphere—partying with enemy corpses, then fighting with bayonets made of ribs or thigh bones. Wow, that's so Thai!

After crushing the poor zombie, Rune indeed found traces of magic on its spine, claws, and teeth.

It is dark magic, but it is different from the dark magic of Rune himself. This dark magic is filled with a sense of deathly stillness and heaviness.

Rune had never been exposed to necromancy before, but it gave off a feeling that it was related to death, and he also figured out how this magic worked.

"Let's go," Rune said. "We should go burn something."