The North American Gourmet Demon Handbook

180 Death of an Idealist

"What a pity, my friend, that such a powerful force should be used against you first," cried Calvin Hope.

Then he knelt on one knee.

All the feather grass in the wasteland suddenly flew up from the ground and rushed towards Calvin Hope.

They transformed into powerful willpower, wrapped around him, and began to flow into his body.

Damn, is he going to transform?

Li Shanze tried to rush forward and interrupt Calvin Hope's transformation.

However, he was blocked by the strong wind pressure and could not get close no matter how hard he tried.

Li Shanze had always wondered why no one in the anime tried to interrupt the protagonist or boss's transformation. Now he understood.

The tattered suit on Calvin Hope suddenly exploded, and the suit turned into more than 400 blood crows. These blood crows entangled Calvin and pecked at his flesh with their beaks.

"What the hell is this?" Li Shanze asked loudly, shielding his eyes with one hand amidst the raging wind. "Why does it look like some kind of sacrificial ritual?"

"I don't know! It might be a voodoo blood sacrifice!" Charlie shouted anxiously, "The power he has gathered is too great! I can't interfere with this ritual!"

"No, this is not a voodoo blood sacrifice!" The elf Ella hid in the pocket of Li Shanze's windbreaker, who was held in Charlie's arms. She carefully exposed her head and shouted.

"This is extremely sophisticated witchcraft, a reverse sacrifice like Prometheus, the fire thief!"

"Calvin Hope wanted to become a fire thief and bring the flame of equality to his people, so he had to undergo a dark martyrdom in reverse!"

Li Shanze discovered that the elf seemed to be quite proficient in ancient Greek mysticism, including concluding that his throat, which could render supernatural powers ineffective, was the throat of Apater, the goddess of lies.

When he thought of this, Li Shanze's heart moved.

However, Ella saw through his thoughts and quickly stopped him: "No, Li Shanze, don't use your throat or the 'Ultimate Mystery' to destroy this wilderness!"

"This place is completely built on supernatural power. If Li Shanze destroys it, it will be difficult for everyone to escape!"

So you can't just flip the table, right? You have to kill this guy honestly?

Li Shanze smacked his lips.

"No, it's not just that. Don't forget, Li Shanze has already used the 'Ultimate Mystery' once, and the Paradox Clock Tower is already crumbling!" Ella continued.

Xia Li stared into Li Shanze's eyes and said seriously, "Why is Li's origin the ultimate mystery? Where are you from? I really want to ask this, but let's solve the current problem first. When this is over, I want to hear your full account, Li."

"Yes, I promise, I will explain it to you clearly." Li Shanze promised solemnly.

At this time, Calvin Hope was already roaring in pain as he was bitten by the Blood Raven.

Li Shanze continued to look at Ella: "Ella, I want to stop this ceremony, what should I do?"

"Lord Ella can only think of one solution, Li Shanze! That is to find a way to get Prometheus away from Mount Caucasus!"

At this time, the blood crow was gnawing at Calvin Hope's flesh while shedding its feathers.

These feathers immediately turned into chains and wrapped around Calvin Hope's bloody body.

"I have to do something? Even if it's just to save someone!"

Li Shanze watched as the blood crow began to eat Calvin's internal organs, and Calvin's body began to reveal its white bones. Li Shanze didn't believe that anyone could survive in such a situation.

"Xia Li, help me suppress this strong wind temporarily, even for one second!" Li Shanze shouted.

"I will!" Charlie held the staff tightly in her hand.

Li Shanze gathered all his strength and pounced on Calvin. The wind pressure in front of him was indeed temporarily suppressed by Xia Li using some unknown method.

So Li Shanze ran as fast as he could, stretching out his hands desperately to pull the tall and thin black man who was still kneeling on the ground silently.

It's getting close, it's almost close, just pull Calvin away from the "Caucasus" -

Li Shanze held his breath and stretched out his hand fiercely, ignoring the blood crows pecking at his arm fiercely.

However, a blood crow suddenly blocked his way and flew into his hand, making him miss. Then, a strong wind blew and blew Li Shanze back.

"Damn it, damn it!" Li Shanze fell to the ground and pounded the ground angrily.

"This is my own choice, Li." Calvin's voice sounded painless. "I chose to follow my ideals. You should be happy for me."

At this time, the blood crow had begun to peck away Calvin Hope's bones, and then held the white bones in its mouth to replace his human bones.

Even the blood crow in Li Shanze's hand was no exception. It also had a white thing in its mouth. It struggled desperately, trying to escape from Li Shanze's hand to complete its work.

Li Shanze snatched the "bone" from the blood crow's beak and found that it was not a bone at all, but a replica of the clause in the Housing Act that restricted black people from buying houses.

After it was taken away, a new roll of paper emerged from the blood crow's beak. Li Shanze snatched it away again and found that it was the Jim Crow Law.

Li Shanze believed that Calvin Hope's bones had all been replaced by various unequal laws or unequal clauses.

"You're going to use this thing to replace your bones?" Li Shanze shouted in disbelief to Calvin who was in the middle of the hurricane.

A strong wind blew across the wasteland, making the worn-out paper in Li Shanze's hand rustle.

Calvin had no time to answer Li Shanze because his skull had fallen to the ground.

The Blood Crows are reassembling Calvin's skull with calcified parchment, which is the "Grandfather Clause" that restricted black people from voting in 1916. (Note: requiring grandfathers to have voting rights before voting)

"The skeletal system, the legal framework of institutional oppression." When the head was reassembled, Calvin Hope finally spoke.

But his voice was no longer his own voice, but was exactly the same as the voice of Martin Luther King, who chanted "I Have a Dream" that Li Shanze had heard in the corridor.

Not only that, Calvin Hope's head no longer looked human.

To be precise, he is more like two of his political idols put together.

On the left side of his face is Martin Luther King, and on the right side is Barack Obama.

Two completely incompatible halves of the face were pieced together into something that could hardly be called a human cheek.

Looking at the blood crows that were still busy, Li Shanze felt that everything before him had become so absurd that it was ridiculous.

"Are you even human anymore? What should I call you? Martin Luther King, Jr.? Or Barack King?"

"I am now a monument to four hundred years of oppression of African Americans."

This time, Calvin used the voice of Barack Obama, and his tone was very calm.

“My bones are the legal framework of institutional oppression, my muscles are the detailed fibers of racial exploitation, my nerves are the electrical networks of cultural discipline, and my viscera are the organic embodiment of systemic violence.”

“I am the ideal of equal rights.”

"Yes, the idealist Calvin I knew is dead. After losing the protection of his realistic shell, he was devoured by his grand and passionate ideals."

Li Shanze sighed.

"I should have thought of this earlier. Without realism, any ideal is just a castle in the air."

"Besides, the one I killed was probably closer to the real Calvin. He climbed up from the bottom of the gang step by step. Even if such a person has an idealistic side, he will never be able to take the lead."

Li Shanze crushed the blood crow in his hand, and his fist creaked.

"Is Calvin really a split personality? When was that idealist personality implanted into his consciousness? Just like West Loken and Robert Stroman."

"Who did all this?"

"answer me!"

181 Question

After witnessing the changes in Calvin Hope, Li Shanze felt that something was increasingly wrong.

This is not just because the existence in front of him is too weird and full of incongruity.

The being before him had his entire body replaced with various symbols of racial oppression, and even his face was pieced together.

In this transformed Calvin Hope, there is no sign of Calvin Hope's existence, nor can any trace of Calvin's personality be found.

It’s not that Li Shanze thinks that Calvin Hope, who didn’t receive a good education and climbed up from the bottom of the gang, will definitely not have an idealistic personality.

However, there is another problem here.

Even if you are an idealist, have you never imagined what the world would be like after your ideal is realized, how you would live in such a world, and what you would become?

Look at this deformed and strange existence before you.

His skeleton is the legal framework of institutional oppression, and his nervous system is a Hollywood model full of white savior complexes.

Even their voices and faces are those of Martin Luther King, the civil rights fighter, and Barack Obama, the black political icon.

This guy is definitely a good guy.

Moreover, in this so-called “ideal” good guy, Calvin Hope himself is absent.

Li Shanze could see all kinds of things in this good guy, but the only thing he couldn't see was Calvin Hope himself.

What's even more ridiculous is that this good guy is covered in all kinds of historical and ethnic memories of the oppression of black people - combined with his advocacy of deleting these histories and memories, he actually wants to delete his present self.

Combined with the previous situation of the bald wizard West Loken - this poor guy was originally a dock worker named Robert Stroman. Not only his memories, but even his wizarding skills were implanted afterwards.

Therefore, Li Shanze concluded that this idealistic Calvin Hope was a personality that was implanted forcibly.

This is some kind of more advanced consciousness implantation.

But it is just a puppet with a stamp of thought, just like the puppet running for senator before.

So, what was the purpose of the mastermind behind the scenes using extremely sophisticated means to secretly implant such a personality into Calvin Hope?

Such great efforts should not only be to deprive Calvin Hope of his identity, but there may be a deeper purpose.

After quick thinking, Li Shanze came to a conclusion.

Paradox Clock Tower.

What if the mastermind behind this is interested in Calvin Hope's identity as a wizard of the Brotherhood of Time and wants to use him to destroy the Brotherhood of Time's holy land?

This explains why this "idealist" Calvin, after passionately discussing American winning and pointing out that black people need to win, suddenly pulled a big one.

According to normal human logic, the next conclusion is of course to lead the black people to victory, right?

But he said he wanted to delete the history of white people winning against black people, and even to delete himself - the implicit purpose here is to destroy the paradox clock tower.

Li Shanze concluded that this was the ideological imprint implanted in the personality and also the ultimate goal of this personality.

This way, all the strange behaviors are explained.

The so-called human rights, ethnic equality, and resistance to oppression that this false implanted personality believes in are just a gorgeous cloak to hide this goal.

Once this goal is achieved, whether the false personality can continue to exist is obviously not a concern of the person behind the scenes.

No, it would be better to say that as long as it really destroyed the Paradox Clock Tower, it would inevitably self-destruct without leaving any trace, and it would save the effort of cleaning up afterward. It would be a perfect crime.

After Li Shanze quickly figured it all out, he questioned the bizarre pseudo-person in front of him.

"Why do you say that my idealistic personality is implanted?" The pseudo-man seemed confused. He suppressed the spiritual pressure brought by the huge willpower in his body and smiled.

It's just that his two completely asymmetrical faces were put together with their mouth corners raised at the same time, showing his white teeth, and the expression was hard to describe as half-smile.

It was so weird that Li Shanze couldn't help but get goosebumps.

"Look at your existence. You are now a complete aggregation of oppressed historical memories, a museum of racial oppression. If you want to erase history, you are erasing yourself."

Li Shanze resisted the urge to punch this fake person in the face and continued to test him patiently.

"Can't I be a staunch and pure martyr? Like those staunch and pious saints in history?"

The fake man questioned, but his tone sounded like he was talking to himself, or confessing himself.

"Those fanatical believers and martyrs all believe that their souls will ascend to heaven after their death. They are essentially selfish. But you claim that what you want to do is to build a paradise on earth where blacks and whites can coexist in harmony. This is altruistic, and you are not a martyr."

Li Shanze didn't think the word "martyrdom" was worthy of those fanatics, so he changed it to "martyr".

The fake man had no time to argue with Li Shanze. He continued to ask, "But, haven't you seen those brave warriors who sacrificed themselves for others? Can't I be that kind of warrior?"

Li Shanze unexpectedly detected confusion in the pseudo-man's tone.

What was he confused about? What was he thinking about what "I" should be like? Li Shanze's heart moved.

"I have seen countless brave men who sacrificed their lives for justice. They all died in fierce battles with natural disasters and brutal enemies."

"But what do you want to do? All you want to do is erase history, just escape reality."

"I've never heard of a warrior who sacrificed his life just to escape."

Li Shanze said to the fake person in front of him in an almost mocking tone: "You are not a brave warrior, but a deserter."

"You are covered in the history of oppression inflicted by white people on black people, yet you are unwilling to fight. You only want to escape reality and want to escape by deleting history and revising your memory."