Main Universe Constantine seemed lost in memory. After a while, he said somewhat wistfully, "What fond memories of those youthful days. Thanks to Adam and Eve, thanks to that snake, thanks to that forbidden fruit... Oh, wait, did I thank Adam in person?"
Constantine and Shiller couldn't bear to listen. Shiller silently started loading bullets into the gun, which seemed to have a motivating effect. Main Universe Constantine rummaged again and actually found something.
As he opened his palm, Shiller was stunned. Because what appeared in Main Universe Constantine's hand was a bullet casing from a handgun, and this bullet casing was very special, not a common handgun bullet model.
Shiller took the casing and examined it carefully, then confirmed it was a 9x18mm handgun bullet, also known as a Makarov pistol bullet. What makes it special is that this 9mm bullet can mostly only be used in a Makarov pistol. Its bullet head is larger than other 9mm bullets and is not compatible with many German-style 9mm handgun bullets. The casing is about a millimeter shorter than most 9mm bullet casings, so he could recognize it at a glance.
And if he remembered correctly, Anatoli used a Makarov pistol in his suicide.
Shiller was speechless, unsure whether to wonder where Lucifer got this casing or how it ended up in Constantine's hands.
"I won it in a bet," said Main Universe Constantine. "That was when Lucifer's bar had just opened, and I went to support him. We drank and played games, and you know, there had to be some stakes. Of course, I wanted some good items."
"And then you asked for this?"
"This isn't what I wanted," Main Universe Constantine said, curling his lip. "He must have been jealous of my win, so he threw this junk at me. It doesn't have much of Satan's power; it's useless. So I just kept it at the bottom of my box.
Constantine took the casing from Shiller's hand and examined it, clearly looking not at its model but at the Satan's power entwined around it, and the deeper emotions within.
"Oh, I feel annoyance," Constantine said. "He doesn't like this thing; it bothers him. So he casually tossed it to you."
"See what I said?" Main Universe Constantine responded. "Someday, I need to have a chat with him about this..."
"I'd advise against it," Shiller said. "This thing has quite a history, so you best not court bad luck."
Both Constantines stared at Shiller. After contemplating, Shiller said, "Lucifer has a good friend, and this should be from him."
"If they are good friends, why feel irritated?"
"Probably because this bullet once passed through his friend's head," Shiller said. "Seeing the bullet your friend used for suicide wouldn't make you happy, would it?"
Constantine took a breath and said, "Suicide?"
"What's more important is what happened afterward," Shiller paused before saying, "You could say if not for this bullet, nothing would have happened. It's normal for him to be upset."
Shiller held back many thoughts. He guessed the bullet probably wasn't something Lucifer retrieved, but more likely Anatoli picked it up afterward. However, his purpose for giving it to Lucifer was unknown.
Shiller knew Anatoli would likely make a deadly Hell joke about this thing. He never cared about such things, but Lucifer might. Obviously, this item troubled him greatly; he couldn't bear to throw it away, yet it frightened him to keep it. Luckily, losing the bet allowed him to give it to Main Universe Constantine.
"The power in this isn't strong indeed," Shiller said, "But the story behind it will grant it greater power."
"Since you say so, I recall now," Main Universe Constantine remembered, "Later, I found after getting this thing that it didn't seem particularly useful. I thought maybe I couldn't use it, so I subtly asked him about the origins of this item. He was vague, but one sentence made a mark on me."
"What did he say?"
"'There are two types of comedy in this world — beauty begins with birth, beauty begins with death.'"
"That doesn't sound pleasant," Constantine commented, "The focus should be on the latter half. Is Satan's friend okay?"
Back then, he might have been a bit dead, but he's okay now. Shiller answered in his mind. He couldn't help but ponder the phrase, which didn't have any complex philosophical meaning, possibly just a sudden reflection from Anatoli. Because, just because he died, did he come before Lucifer, and they got acquainted, this could indeed be considered beauty begotten by death.
However, thinking of Anatoli's subsequent experiences, the phrase now seemed rather bleak. Perhaps this was the main reason Lucifer discarded the casing; it was too much like fulfilling a prophecy.
Shiller gazed at the casing for a long time, then said, "Do you have anything else?"
"I got just this from him directly. But I also collected some supposedly blessed by Satan items," Constantine pulled out some mystical spell materials. After the two researched and identified them, most were unreliable, though one or two might have contacted Satan, but held no power.
"Blessings aren't so simple," Constantine said. "Sometimes, even when angels and demons want to bless something, they can't succeed. Even if they do succeed, the effect is very short-lived. The reason is that the thing has no connection with them, and thus can't bear their power."
"The connection is the most mystical part of this whole process," Constantine continued to explain. "Just using something, or even being fond of it, doesn't necessarily constitute a connection. Like the sculptures or thrones in the Demon Palace, they may seem closely linked to demons, but if moved to the Human World, they may not be useful at all."
Main Universe Constantine nodded, clearly affirming this statement. From his expression, it seemed he had moved them before.
"The best connection is clearly emotions, which is also the most stable universal solution I've found so far. As long as angels and demons infuse emotions into something, it can possess eternal power. Whether positive or negative emotions, the deeper they are, the stronger they become."
This wasn't surprising at all. Shiller thought, emotions are the underlying logic of God's creation, intricately connected to the power operation rules of the entire Real Universe. These mysterious beings seem to also become stronger through emotions.
"Thank you," Shiller said. Then he left with Constantine. On their way back, Constantine asked, "That friend of Satan you mentioned, is he still alive?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Satan can control life and death, even possesses power beyond God in certain domains. If he doesn't want his friend to die, then of course, he won't die."
"What if his friend is determined to die?"
Constantine shook his head and said, "Satan's original sin is arrogance, he usually disregards others' feelings."
"What if he can't stop it?"
Constantine frowned slightly, about to retort, but he reluctantly entertained it as a possible hypothesis, then said, "It's not a good choice. Breaking Satan's arrogance is extremely dangerous. If it breeds resentment, even the soul can't find peace."
"Sounds truly terrifying," Shiller said. "Is there any possibility he might choose to accept death and let the other person go?"
"It's not easy," Constantine said. "An arrogant person finds it difficult to accept abandonment, especially through death, which is the greatest humiliation to him. I can't imagine how he would allow a person to do this."
"Perhaps he truly understands him?"
"Understand?" Constantine sneered, "Such beings never bother to understand others, because there's no necessity. They control the entire cosmos, everything, life cycles, all cannot escape their grasp. If you had such power, would you bother to understand anyone?"
Normally, one wouldn't. Shiller thought to himself, a person so strong and so arrogant is almost incapable of empathy. However, he could somewhat guess why Lucifer couldn't win over Anatoli.
Just like Batman and Constantine in the Prime Universe. If Batman is out for revenge against Constantine, or merely venting his dissatisfaction, then Constantine wouldn't listen to him, he has enough ways to escape from Arkham Asylum, and Batman wouldn't catch him.
However, Batman bore no personal grudge. Constantine committed those acts, Batman merely thought Constantine's mental and emotional state was concerning, and if he didn't receive professional healing, he might become even sicker, so he sought to heal him.
Anatoli's self-destruction in Gotham was neither out of resentment towards this world, nor abandoning Lucifer, he aimed to improve this world, rescue the most irredeemable place.
In some sense, this was what Lucifer wanted to do, not out of the goal to save the world, but to break away from determined fate—what Lucifer resented most was predetermined fate.
Gotham's tragedy was clearly a written script, unable to be changed, impossible to be saved. Lucifer doesn't care whether the people here live miserably, he simply hated the feeling of "being chosen to definitely do something."
Anatoli broke Gotham's determined fate, making it no longer irredeemable, which was what Lucifer wanted to do but couldn't. Thus he couldn't help but forgive Anatoli's death.
Once again, if Anatoli bore slightest selfish intention, like resentment over the Soviet Union's collapse, or dissatisfaction with Lucifer himself, thus choosing to commit suicide, Lucifer surely wouldn't spare him. But it was completely none of that.
At that moment, Shiller somewhat understood Lucifer's collapse. It was precisely because he couldn't resent Anatoli's death, he was disoriented. Certainly, he understood better the collapse of Anatoli's creditors; being defaulted was already miserable enough, could Lucifer not fault Anatoli? He surely couldn't let those loan sharks go, could he? Although never seen in person, one could imagine what horrific attacks the wolves of Wall Street endured back then.
When returning to the Justice League base, the Justice League members had already come back. Anatoli was with them, clearly the Sun Cannon couldn't be used anymore, yet he hadn't given up, seemed to plan organizing a Multiverse Justice League rescue mission.
Shiller stood outside the conference room door, glanced at Anatoli, and shortly after, Anatoli stepped out. If the pendant caused any emotional disturbance in him, he hid it well enough so Shiller couldn't see anything.
However, when he pulled out that bullet casing, he finally got the chance to see Anatoli's slightly cracked expression.