Catwoman's eyes widened as she saw the multitude of vines suddenly sprouting from the small, battered flower, its crushed fibers and juices spilling.
She covered her mouth, stifling a scream. The vines spread across the floor quickly. A woman, who had knocked over a flower pot, began screaming in terror, stumbling backward and falling to the ground.
The vines wrapped around her arms and legs, as if pulling her into an endless abyss. Little Pamela stood there dumbfounded, seeing a small flower blossom on the vine by the window.
The flower seemed to smile at her, whispering in her ear: "You heard our cries and wanted to save us. You're a good girl. It's your destiny... Come on... Come on... Don't mind those evil people who scorn the plants..."
The vines enveloped the fallen woman, appearing to digest her. Catwoman, from her bedroom, gripped the doorknob, debating whether to save the woman. After all, she had no gun, and her whip and daggers were likely useless against these vines.
At that moment, the flower continued murmuring to Little Pamela:
"You no longer need to wear your least favorite color every day, or do the things you dislike. You will become the guardian of plants, embracing the greenery of the cosmos..."
Little Pamela's expression became somewhat dazed, she began reaching out to the flower. The flower disappearing in the sunlight through the window, her hand extended, the light shone on her innocent face, making it appear as if she was embracing the light. The flower continued to whisper:
"Yes... Touch me... Come on... Come on..."
"He's here!"
Accompanied by a cold, male voice, a "shattering" sound of broken window glass followed, then a sharp "swish", green blood splattered onto Little Pamela's face.
Shiller pulled the flower from his Umbrella Knife, smirking while listening to the unknown spirit's scream: "Gotcha!"
Then, he clenched his hand, causing green liquid to burst, the room suddenly shattered into fragments. To Catwoman's surprise, she was in a chamber made of the tangled vines.
Little Pamela was gone. Catwoman turned to Shiller, "What's going on? Are we inside Pamela's memory?"
"That's correct." Shiller nodded, brushing off the flower petal remnants, he added, "You saw it too, someone used a kind of curse, infiltrating Gotham. Now, we're going to find the puppet master."
Catwoman furrowed her brow, she quickly connected the dots and asked, "Is Pamela the target?"
"Earlier in the room, I saw that Pamela's childhood was unhappy. Her mother seemed to keep forcing her to do things she didn't like. But did it really end the way we saw it? Her mother was killed and eaten by the vines?"
Shiller shook his head. "Don't be naive. In the memory space, this is a common form of deception. In a nutshell, it dredges up memory fragments, exploiting vulnerabilities in their memories to trick them into making deals."
"If Little Pamela had touched the flower just now, it would mean the Pamela we know would have made a pact with that mysterious entity, becoming its agent."
Catwoman took a deep, nervous breath: "Isn't that hard to resist?"
"So, you should be wary of such traps. Someone might visit your childhood memories, impersonating your mother and offering an embrace. Once you hug them, you become their slave."
Catwoman frowned sternly, "If I were dreaming and seeing my mother want to hug me, I would punch her, figuring she was being controlled. She always hugged cats, never me."
Then, Catwoman sighed somewhat resignedly, "Okay, that's how adults are. They always have a point. When children pose fanciful questions, they think the children are insane."
"But Little Pamela is correct. Not eating meat protects animals. Doesn't it mean that plants also need protection? Don't plants feel pain?"
"You're still naive. How do you know this scenario isn't constructed by that mysterious entity?" Shiller turned to Catwoman, "Just to make you question, just to make you sympathize with the plants, then genuinely want to become what he calls a protector of plants?"
Catwoman paused for a moment and then gasped in horror, "Really? Are they that cunning?"
"I don't know whether they're deceitful or not, but I certainly am." Shiller walked down the corridor of the green chamber, as he continued, "Maybe everything you saw wasn't real. Pamela's childhood wasn't like this at all. Even the feelings of wrong, anger and fear Pamela experienced may have all been fabricated."
"The script is this, Pamela's mother always forced her to do things she disliked, decorated the room in colors she didn't like, forbade her to talk about plants and mud, creating an evil image in her mind and then using the dinner table conversation to expose injustice and hypocrisy, leading Little Pamela to firmly believe, sympathizing with the plants..."
"All this was done to guide her towards a sympathy for plants, molding her personality into someone who loves plants, making her willingly become the advocate, dedicating everything for the plants..."
Catwoman revealed her teeth, saying: "Luckily, no one is targeting me."
"However, even if someone has targeted you, you won't be easily deceived. Think about it. When your mom serves you a bowl of salad, your first reaction would be to ask, do plants feel pain?"
Catwoman paused for a moment, then said: "I would definitely ask, why is there no meat in tonight's meal... and if she doesn't let me eat, I can go out myself to find something to eat at midnight. We children of Gotham are first class when it comes to finding our own food."
"Just like a cat..." Shiller said: "Equally looking down on everyone."
"Memories can be fabricated, but certain instincts engraved deep in your genes cannot be changed. If you gave such memories to a child who grew up in a slum, it would be easily exposed. At least we know that Pamela has quite a decent background."
Entering into another green chamber, Shiller spoke: "There's another thing we know. It seems that Pamela is resisting him, and he doesn't have the means to force Pamela to become his spokesperson yet."
"So, he could only resort to this somewhat despicable method, using deception to get Pamela to unintentionally agree."
"But what can we do?" Catwoman asked somewhat anxiously: "Anyone who can use such despicable means is certainly not a good person. That girl named Pamela is just a freshman, perhaps she will be deceived soon!"
"You're underestimating Pamela. You don't know what level of existence is opposing her. The fact that Pamela can refuse his request means that she must be special."
With an umbrella knife in hand, Shiller walked, occasionally looking at the green sticky liquid stuck to his palm. A somewhat puzzled Catwoman trailed after him. After walking a while, she asked: "What are you doing? Where are you going?"
"Can't you tell?" Shiller held up his umbrella knife. Catwoman swallowed, contracting her neck, and said: "You can't possibly be planning to...".
"I will stab him.".
In the dark streets of Gotham, a figure in a trench coat was sprinting wildly. Upon reaching a slightly brighter intersection, Constantine halted.
He paused at the crossroads, throwing out a card. As the card transformed into flames in the air, it illuminated the direction for him. Constantine was about to walk towards that intersection, but stopped, then muttered to himself: "...Wait, that's the direction of Gotham University, right?"
"Oh my God! All Things Green, how do you pick such locations?!" Constantine gritted his teeth: "God bless, I hope the agent you picked is not a student there. Otherwise, I can only pray for you..."
After hesitating by the roadside for a moment, he dashed towards the nearest telephone booth. He pickeed up the phone without dialing, and flames flickered on the dial. He spoke into the phone: "Miss Magician, when the hell are you arriving? I must remind you that things have already gotten out of hand!"
"Why? Why indeed? Don't tell me the arrival of All Things Green in Gotham is a coincidence, that you cut a deal with All Things Green behind my back!"
"Now, he has invaded Gotham, or more importantly, Gotham University. He will be torn into pieces by that madman!"
"You said you were protecting Gotham. That's why I cooperated with you. But with so many coincidences happening together now, how can I trust you?" Constantine, somewhat angry, gestured outside the telephone booth, saying: "What's the deal with those madmen? What about the plants? Don't tell me they just happened to meet each other!"
"Hearing your explanation? Zatanna, you always say that I am a deceiver, but aren't you the same? In order to find your father, you are willing to do anything. One day, you would sell your soul to the devils, just like me!"
Constantine hung off the phone forcefully, looking somewhat furious. In the thick fog and drizzle, he lit a cigarette. After inhaling deeply, within the white smoke exhaled, a fire suddenly sparked.
Constantine slightly opened his eyes, took the cigarette from his mouth, staring at the cluster of sparks outside the telephone booth, he said: "Who's there? Stop playing tricks!"
He snorted and stepped onto a magic array. The array's light pierced through the thick fog, but the fire didn't extinguish.
Constantine's figure flashed, landing on top of the telephone booth. The talisman he waved turned into light points, circling around him. The next second, flames ignited where he stood. He seemed to be swallowed by the fire, screaming violently, being burned into charred wreckage.
But at this time, a voice came from the fog: "Stop pretending, Constantine, I know you're there."
The smoke dispersed, revealing Constantine's figure again in the telephone booth. He threw the cigarette away, exiting the booth saying: "Seems it's a fellow practitioner, did you guys arrive so soon?"
"Don't compare me to those idiots, unless, you want to taste the medicine again." Constantine saw, a figure was walking out of the depths of the fog. As he approached, Constantine's eyes widened and he exclaimed: "Doctor Brand?!"