Starting from scratch, Batman crushed my dream of getting rich

Chapter 271 Why?
Gary Lester walked out of the building in a perfectly legitimate manner.

Of course, he couldn't get out of the "pen" on his own, nor could he bypass the Midnight Building's security system. Half an hour after Constantine brought him there, Midnight listed him as the highest level of surveillance target in the building—or rather, once he entered the pen, he was already under the highest level of surveillance in the Midnight Building.

In fact, during the first half of the night, he trembled like a limp lump of mud inside the iron bars of the livestock pen, his only thought being that he could get two injections at midnight to free him from this agonizing and tormenting addiction. He didn't want to think about anything else—because the moment his brain stirred, he would recall Constantine's words and realize that at sunrise, he would be used as bait to confront that terrifying, hungry spirit once more.

How could I possibly survive such a monster? His subconscious kept asking him: How could Constantine and Midnight possibly defeat it? What if I accidentally get killed? What if it escapes from the bottle again?
He couldn't explain these questions, so they tormented his brain, keeping him awake at all.

In fact, if it weren't for his relationship with Constantine, if it weren't for his willingness to entrust his life to his friend, and if it weren't for his belief that Constantine would do everything in his power to save him, his cowardly nature would have prevented him from agreeing to this dangerous plan.

Just as he was feeling confused and lost in thought, he suddenly heard footsteps in the corridor.

Is it Constantine? Or midnight?

He looked towards the door with a mixture of trepidation and anticipation—if they came to find him at this time, it might mean that the plan would change, and he might no longer have to act as bait to confront Namos.
However, the person who appeared before him was a Chinese man he did not know, Ma Zhaodi.

Lester, who had been somewhat excited, was now extremely frustrated. He sat back down, dejected. He didn't know why the other party had come to find him, but he couldn't control the plan that Constantine and Midnight had devised. In fact, Lester even doubted whether the other party knew the specific details of the plan, since they hadn't even brought him along when they came to find him.

“I know you might be a little disappointed, but don’t be.” Ma Zhaodi calmly took out a lock pick: “Constantine, stop lighting your cigarette and come help me check if there’s any surveillance magic on the lock.”

“You’re questioning a master of magical deception.” A familiar voice answered from behind Ma Zhaodi: “I confirmed the situation here when I first came. No surveillance magic will work here now. As long as you’re quick, we won’t have any flaws—but are you sure there’s nothing wrong on your end? Midnight isn’t stupid. He might notice that we’ve been hacking into the cameras for so long.”

“I will fake a loop of footage for a period of time. From the surveillance perspective, the scene here will not change at all. We can take him back directly to disguise him, change his clothes, and then send him out of the building.” Ma Zhaodi shrugged: “Midnight may be a first-class magician, but he won’t have time to learn these technical things.”

"What?" Lester ran to the railing with delight and saw Constantine walking out with a cigarette in his mouth. He asked excitedly, "I don't have to be bait to lure Namos anymore?"

Constantine's expression wasn't particularly happy. He forced a smile and patted Lester on the shoulder: "We've slightly changed the plan. You wait for us outside the Midnight Building—remember not to wander off, or if Namos notices, none of us can help you."

The mere mention of that name sent a chill down Lester's spine. He asked Constantine, "So, if the plan doesn't need me anymore, how are you going to lure Namos away?"

Constantine still didn't answer, but just took another drag of his cigarette. Ma Zhaodi, however, said, "I'll take care of it."

With a click, the locked door was opened by Ma Zhaodi. He nodded in satisfaction. The intermediate lock-picking skill was quite effective and could handle the lock on the livestock pen. Of course, this might also be because Midnight felt that the place where the zombie laborers were kept was already safe enough and there was no need to specially customize a more complicated lock.

“I’ll go in disguise as you, and you’ll go out disguised as me,” Ma Zhaodi said. “Don’t worry, my disguise skills are excellent; you’ll definitely fool the security guards at the door.” Facing the open door, Lester hesitated. “You…you’ll take my place? But Moses is dangerous.”

“It can’t handle me.” Ma Zhaodi smiled. “I just stabbed it with my sword. Don’t worry—I can protect myself better than you.”

Completely bewildered and skeptical, Lester looked at Constantine. Seeing that he didn't speak, he tacitly agreed and had no choice but to follow the two back to the room.

The disguise didn't take long. Ma Zhaodi's technique was extremely fast. Only five minutes had passed since Ma Zhaodi and he exchanged clothes, and his appearance already looked eight or nine parts similar to Ma Zhaodi.

As he was about to leave, Lester glanced at Constantine, who had remained silent, then looked at Ma Zhaodi and said, "I don't know why you're willing to help me like this. But thank you, Ma Zhaodi, I owe you a great favor."

“It’s not just about favors—but it’s to help you and him as well,” Ma Zhaodi replied. “Go ahead and wait for us outside. The matter will be resolved after sunrise. By this time tomorrow, we’ll already be on the plane.”

Lester left the room, and Ma Zhaodi watched him walk out of the building from the window. Once he was sure the plan was going well, he took out a bottle of potion and put a hair into it.

“A compound potion,” he explained to Constantine. “A potion made by a very great magician that can completely transform a person into another person.”

Constantine ignored the medicine in his hand and instead asked, "Why?"

"what why?"

"Why help a bastard like Lester? I mean, yes, he's one of my best friends, but I also know he really is a bastard—he's the one who caused this whole thing, so wouldn't it be more appropriate to hold him responsible?"

“I said, it’s not just about helping him, it’s about helping you too.”

“I’m a bastard too,” Constantine replied. “I know that very well.”

He crushed the cigarette butt in the ashtray, took a deep breath, and looked at Ma Zhaodi with a deep anger in his eyes.

"Why go to such lengths for someone like this?"

(End of this chapter)