Marvel: The Sole Player

Constantine felt that was unlikely.

After all, most of the friends he knew were no longer able to speak, and the channels for news circulation had basically been physically cut off.

After much thought, he could only conclude that rivals in the same trade were enemies, which was why Darian was hostile toward him.

Constantine wasn’t annoyed; instead, he shamelessly took another half-step forward.

He said with a grin, "Buddy, don’t misunderstand. I’m not here to steal your business. You might not have heard of me yet, but I, Constantine, am famous in the exorcism circle for being loyal. I have friends everywhere, and whenever I come across something good, I always share it with them."

Darian’s mouth twitched.

Hah, a good thing? More like a good death.

He wore his disdain directly on his face, too lazy to even feign politeness: "Sorry, I don’t befriend poor losers."

Constantine wasn’t happy to hear that and puffed out his chest: "Who’s a poor loser? I’m an exorcist, at the very least. I’ve been in this line of work for over ten years; I’ve got some savings, maybe even more than you."

That was pure nonsense.

Constantine’s financial situation was always in the red. Going from feast to famine was his daily routine, and he had only survived this long thanks to his friends helping him out every now and then.

Unfortunately, his friends had a ridiculously high attrition rate. Plus, his credit in his circle of acquaintances was long since ruined. Whoever he called wouldn’t pick up, and whenever he knocked on someone’s door, he’d hear them say they weren’t home, just that they’d left their vocal cords at home.

As a result, he was so poor now that he couldn’t even afford exorcism tools; he was almost running out of money to protect America.

Today, he’d finally managed to catch a private job and wanted to earn some extra cash, but Darian had intercepted it halfway.

But living in this World, reputation is what you make of it, and he absolutely couldn’t lose on momentum.

Just as Constantine was preparing to brag a bit more, an old man with a full head of white hair came running up the stairs, panting.

"Katherine, I saw Jack’s car downstairs, and there’s a very luxurious sports car parked next to it. Who did he bring back?"

When Jack saw that the person who arrived was his father-in-law, he hurried up to explain: "I invited a priest from a nearby church. He has already dealt with the demon inside Lily’s body. That sports car downstairs belongs to this priest."

(.V.)

Constantine looked at Darian in shock: "That ridiculously handsome supercar outside, is it yours?"

"Isn’t that obvious?"

Darian wore a standard Bruce Wayne expression, that kind of indifferent look that says, "I’ve never seen money, and I’m not interested in money."

Constantine swallowed his saliva, his tone suddenly becoming incomparably sincere: "May I ask if your church is still hiring priests? What do you think of me? I can recite the Bible really smoothly."

"Sorry, our church doesn’t accept poor losers with a net worth of less than eight figures."

Constantine:.....

Although he wasn’t welcomed, Constantine unilaterally accepted Darian as his friend in his heart.

Strong and filthy rich—this was simply the perfect candidate for a friend.

Constantine tried to exchange contact information with Darian, but was directly rejected by Darian, who demanded he leave the house.

Hearing this, Constantine protested on the spot: "This isn’t your house, why should you kick me out?"

Jack, standing on the side, cautiously interjected: "Um, Mr. Constantine, just a moment ago, the priest bought the entire house. He is the Master of this house now."

Constantine: "...."

I hate rich people!

In the end, Constantine left reluctantly.

Before leaving, he insisted on shoving a crumpled business card into Darian’s hand, indicating that he could call him if he needed help.

Jack’s family didn’t dare stay in this haunted house any longer either. After thanking Darian profusely, they quickly packed their luggage and left with him.

As for the furniture and appliances in the house, they were all packed up and left for Darian.

Darian had already said that the feng shui of this house was bad; how could they dare to move these things to their new home?

What if there were some unclean things attached to them that followed them over? They didn’t want to experience today’s events all over again.

It had to be said that Jack’s family was much smarter than the protagonists in most horror movies.

The families of the protagonists in those horror movies, knowing full well their house was haunted, would stubbornly refuse to leave, insisting on staying to pit their wits against the evil spirits, only to end up either half-dead or the whole family lining up to meet their maker.

Of course, a large part of the reason was poverty.

They had already emptied their life savings to buy the house, and some were even carrying decades of mortgage debt. Once they gave up the house, the whole family would have to go out on the street to become homeless, eventually triggering the execution line of the real World.

Because of this, they would rather live with a malicious spirit than move out.

After all, a ghost might not necessarily take their lives, but triggering the execution line definitely meant death.

Darian, however, didn’t care about these things.

If any blind demons or monsters really popped out, the only one who would end up scared would be them.

However, he did discover another shortcut for grinding missions.

That was exorcism.

If even an ordinary NPC like Jack could issue missions, then other NPCs who encountered supernatural events might also be able to trigger missions.

Darian immediately decided to strike while the iron was hot and verify it.

The next morning, he drove back to the church and found the real priest who had been knocked unconscious by him with a Bible that day.

"Hey, Father, do you remember me?"

"It’s you! The person who attacked me yesterday!"

The priest’s eyes widened, instantly recognizing Darian as the assailant.

Darian said with a chuckle: "What attack? Don’t put it so harshly. I was saving you."

The priest: "????"

That blow almost gave me a concussion; the back of my head is still buzzing. You call that saving?

Darian didn’t say much and directly pulled out the holy halo and put it on his head.

In an instant, soft holy light blossomed from his entire body. The light converged behind him into a pair of huge wings, and distant hymns faintly echoed in the air, causing one’s mood to involuntarily calm down.

"Oh my God!"

The priest opened his mouth wide, staring blankly at Darian: "You, you are..."

Darian raised his hand to stop him: "No need to say it. My identity needs to be kept secret; just keep it in your heart."

The priest nodded frantically, made a sign of the cross on his chest, and asked devoutly: "May I ask, this heav... sir, do you have any instructions?"

Darian put away the holy halo and said sternly: "The human World has become filthy again recently. Hell is making frequent moves, and a large number of demons are pouring into the human World. I have come here to fulfill my duty: to sweep away all evil and protect the peace of the human World."

The priest immediately became respectful: "May the Lord bless you. What can I do for you?"

Darian revealed a kindly smile: "It’s very simple. I need an identity in the human World. I think the profession of a priest suits me quite well, but a church can only have one resident priest, so you understand."

The priest: "...What are you talking about? Actually, I don’t quite understand."

Just like that, the priest took off his Roman collar, packed his luggage, temporarily handed over his position to Darian, and then left the church with a beaming smile after receiving the ten thousand U.S. dollars in travel expenses sponsored by Darian.

A paid vacation approved by superiors.

Looking at the entire church system in America, he was probably the only priest who could enjoy this kind of treatment.

Darian changed into the Roman collar he had prepared, put on the cross necklace, held the Bible in his hand, and instantly transformed into a standard-looking priest—upright posture, gentle expression; no one could find any fault with him.

Not long after, a lady walked into the church and went straight into the confessional.

Darian understood that she was here for confession, so as the current priest, he walked into the compartment opposite her.

The confessional was separated by a mesh screen, and the light was dim, making it impossible to see the face on the other side.

The woman spoke immediately: "Father, I have sinned."

Darian immediately entered his role, his tone steady and gentle: "What is it, my child?"

The woman hesitated for a moment, then said in a low voice: "Father, I want to confess. I have betrayed my husband."

Good heavens, charging in like a bull right from the start.

That’s some bull!

Darian placated her gently: "My child, the Lord will forgive everyone who truly repents. As long as you promise never to commit it again, the Lord will surely forgive you."

The woman poured out her heart: "But I can never face my husband and children, because the person I cheated with is my husband’s twin brother."

Darian: "....."

No, what exactly are you aiming for?

Don’t they look exactly the same?

Darian was a bit confused. After thinking about it, he said: "Everyone has the right to reform. As long as you truly repent, I believe your family will forgive you. And your husband, I believe he is a strong man; he will choose to forgive you."

"Really, Father?"

"Of course."

The woman suddenly covered her face and wept: "But I am already pregnant with his brother’s child. Father, what should I do now?"

I am a priest, not a doctor. You should ask these questions at a hospital.

Darian was speechless and said casually: "Don’t worry, at least when the child grows up, his appearance won’t arouse your husband’s suspicion."

The woman: "???"

After the woman left the confessional, Darian had Ultron contact the woman’s husband and tell him the news.

As for what would happen next, that was none of his business.

However, this woman was just the beginning.

Not long after, all sorts of people walked into the church, and most of them were there to confess, with content that could be described as all-encompassing.

There were those who cheated, those who used fish to take off, those who cross-dressed as fallen women and hadn’t been discovered to this day, and even those who had killed people, excitedly describing their criminal process to Darian, only to later keenly realize that Darian knew their secret and intended to kill him to silence him.

Darian: "....."

Didn’t you tell me yourself, you idiot?

Darian directly physically saved this murderer and packaged the recording and the person together to the Metropolis Police station.

He shook his head, unable to believe that the talents in Metropolis were no fewer than those in Gotham.

No wonder Superman didn’t dare to keep his super-hearing on all the time; he was probably afraid of hearing these polluted things and losing his ears and brain.

Finally, Darian waited for his target.

It was a middle-aged couple who said they suspected that a toy in their house was cursed, as it would appear mysteriously in various places in the house every day, even though they had never moved the toy.

[Mission: Cursed Puppet]

[Objective: Destroy the cursed puppet]

[Reward: EXP +1000, Random Item *1]

Darian felt a surge of joy.

Sure enough, exorcism could trigger missions.

It was a pity that the reward was too ordinary, not even containing an Anchor Shard, just like a daily mission from S.H.I.E.L.D.

In the time that followed, Darian stayed in this church, accepting one exorcism commission after another in the identity of a priest.

The difficulty of most missions was truly not high.

The level of those demons and monsters was uneven. The ones with physical forms didn’t even have combat power comparable to Lawyer Matt, and the ones without physical forms were even less worth looking at—at most, they could create some hallucinations to scare ordinary people, but they posed no threat to Darian at all.

The few that were slightly stronger were still a grade lower than the demon Darian encountered on the first day, and they were directly physically transcended by him using the Golden Desert Eagle.

Perhaps because the enemies were too weak, the mission rewards were generally meager, and they could only be completed as daily missions.

Not long ago, Constantine, having gotten news from somewhere, learned that Darian was the priest of this church and would come over every few days to chat with Darian, saying it was to strengthen their friendship.

Darian originally wanted to kick him out, but Constantine was very tactful; every time he came, he would bring him some NPCs who had encountered supernatural events, so he let him stay in the church.

Constantine smoked a cigarette, exhaled a puff of smoke, and frowned: "Darian, I’ve noticed that incidents involving demons seem to be getting more frequent lately. What do you think?"

"I’m sitting and watching."

Darian was sitting on a large sofa, holding the controller in both hands, his eyes fixed on the ridiculously large TV in front of him, controlling the character on the screen to commit all sorts of inhumane acts against NPCs.

"Also, don’t smoke in my place. Didn’t you see the slogan I posted on the wall?"

Constantine looked over and saw a piece of paper posted on the wall, which read: "Constantine is forbidden from smoking; violators will be fined two hundred."

Targeting me, right!

Constantine said disdainfully: "Who are you looking down on? A mere two hundred, I can still afford that."

As a result, Darian said: "Two hundred? What, do you think I’m a poor loser like you? It’s two million. Didn’t you see the unit after the number?"

Constantine leaned in to look closely, and there really was a unit, only it was smaller than an ant.

Constantine: "....."

Damn it, how the hell is anyone supposed to see that!

After spending some time together, Constantine discovered that Darian was completely different from an ordinary priest.

After all, what kind of proper priest would dig out a recreation room under the church!?

Yes, the location they were currently in was still the church, just under the church.

Darian found staying in the church all day too boring, so he specifically used a diamond pickaxe to dig a recreation room under the church, which was filled with various games and entertainment facilities.

Usually, he would hide in the recreation room to pass the time, and the confessional was handled by the Ultron Robot; anyway, no one could see who was in the compartment.

To this day, those who came to confess didn’t know that they had actually been pouring their hearts out to an AI.

They could be considered to be at the forefront of the times.

After all, in a few years when AI becomes popular globally, let alone confession, even fortune-telling will be possible.

It’s just that there were too many bizarre people confessing, and Ultron had never been very good at human emotions, so it often ended up not knowing what to say.

The person confessing: "Father, do you think I did something wrong?"

Ultron: "I understand this feeling of yours too well. I will use the most direct, the most truthful, the least roundabout, the least dragging, the least wordy, the least fussy, the least nonsense..."

The person confessing: "?"

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