A Show of Respect

As Zhang Ye rose to his feet, everyone seated in a circle stood as well. It looked like they were ready to follow him and see exactly how he planned to save Dick Grayson.

Zhang Ye knew most of them just wanted to watch the show. He had no intention of letting so many people crowd into one room, so he quickly waved them off. "Jason and Damian Wayne can take me there. It’s getting late. You should all get some rest."

"I’ve been exhausted for ages. I’m going to bed first. Ashley, remember to wake me up tomorrow morning." When it came to resting, Pietro was unquestionably the quickest to react.

With a cold snort, Ashley did not even look at Pietro as he left. She merely folded her arms, neither agreeing nor refusing.

Who knew when those two kids had gotten so close? Zhang Ye only smiled, then gave Kara and Clark a slight nod in greeting before following Jason and Damian Wayne into a corridor.

Calling it a corridor was not entirely accurate. The interior of the League of Assassins’ fortress was almost entirely made up of winding passageways. Anyone unfamiliar with the place could easily be torn apart by traps and mechanisms, or even end up trapped here until they died.

With Damian Wayne and Jason leading the way, Zhang Ye did not need to worry about any of that. Of course, even without a guide, he could have made his way through using magic.

As they passed a doorway, Zhang Ye suddenly sensed something and could not help stopping.

Seeing Zhang Ye stop, Jason and Damian Wayne halted as well. They followed his gaze, and quickly understood why he was no longer moving forward.

Damian Wayne slowly opened the door, his movements gentle, as if he did not want to disturb the person inside.

Peering through the crack in the door, Zhang Ye saw a thin, emaciated girl dressed in black robes.

"That’s Raven. Her real name is Rachel Roth, one of the Titans," Damian Wayne said, frowning slightly as he looked at Rachel on the hospital bed with a complicated expression.

"So she’s the legendary daughter of Trigon."

Zhang Ye had already recognized her identity. Or rather, he had already sensed the incomparably terrifying dark magic radiating from her body.

Extending his spiritual power, Zhang Ye cautiously approached the strange energy surrounding Raven. As the two forces gradually entwined, something unexpected happened—at the slightest contact, the other energy reacted with fierce resistance.

The magic abruptly contracted and rapidly retreated into the diamond-shaped crystal on Raven’s forehead, as though it had never appeared at all.

At the same time, after that magic vanished, Raven’s tightly furrowed brow relaxed slightly.

Interesting.

Zhang Ye narrowed his eyes. He knew Trigon could perceive the outside world through Raven, so he had been exposed from the very beginning. There was no need to hide anything.

But he had not expected Trigon not to give him a warning. Instead, he had shown Zhang Ye some respect. That made Zhang Ye curious.

Beside him, Damian Wayne and Jason both had detective backgrounds and were exceptionally skilled at noticing details around them.

Thus, Raven’s slight relaxation did not escape their eyes. They both knew a fair amount about Raven’s background and what she had endured. Nearly every hero knew the kind of pain Raven had suffered for so long.

Yet what shocked them was that Zhang Ye had clearly done nothing. He had merely looked at her, and her pain had already eased considerably. They had never seen anything so bizarre before.

Even the heroes of the Justice League could not accomplish something like this.

At once, Damian Wayne and Jason gained enormous confidence in Zhang Ye’s ability to save Dick Grayson. The tension in their hearts gradually eased as well.

"Let’s go."

Sensing their gazes, Zhang Ye did not explain much. He simply turned slightly and casually closed the door.

Since Zhang Ye was unwilling to say more, Damian Wayne did not press him. He had originally wanted to ask whether Zhang Ye could find a way to resolve Raven’s "problem," but he could not bring himself to ask now. He could only suppress the thought for the moment. Saving Dick Grayson came first.

After following the two of them for quite a while, the walls around them began to change.

If they had been walking through ordinary passageways before, then this place looked more like the dim corridors of a prison. Even the doors to the rooms had taken on a prison-like design.

"This is it."

Stopping outside a room, Damian Wayne first opened the inspection hatch on the door so Zhang Ye could see Dick Grayson’s current condition.

Zhang Ye did not hesitate. He leaned toward the opening and looked inside. Sure enough, in a dark corner of the room, a bound man was trembling all over, his face twisted in agony.

Honestly, if Zhang Ye had not known in advance that this was Dick Grayson after being corrupted by the Lazarus Pit, he would have thought the man had been poisoned by the Joker’s Laughing Gas.

Then again, the Joker did have some connection to the Lazarus Pit. As the embodiment of "chaos" in the universe, the Joker was not someone who could be judged by ordinary standards.

"How is he? Can he still be saved?" Jason asked anxiously after Zhang Ye looked inside for a long time without speaking.

At that, Zhang Ye shook his head slightly. "I can’t be sure yet. Open the door. I need to get closer and take a look."

Through necromancy’s ability to examine souls, Zhang Ye had indeed seen something else attached to Dick Grayson’s soul. But that alone was not enough. He needed a more direct method to investigate what was happening inside Dick Grayson’s body.

Damian Wayne opened the cell door, and Zhang Ye walked in first. Just as Damian Wayne and Jason were about to follow, Zhang Ye stopped them.

"Leave the rest to me. You can watch from outside. While I’m treating him, it’s best if no one else is present."

"Why?" Jason asked, confused.

Because I’m afraid I’ll scare you.

Zhang Ye thought helplessly, but he did not say much. He merely offered a perfunctory smile. "Magic, Jason. Magic is mysterious and strange. Having others around will interfere with me."

"Alright. Then Dick Grayson is in your hands," Jason said solemnly.

Damian Wayne, standing beside him, nodded gravely as well. "If you can save Dick Grayson, I’ll owe you my life."

Zhang Ye smiled faintly but said nothing. Nor did he make them any promises. He simply shut the cell door, then used magic to seal the viewing hatch and the surveillance equipment inside the room.

At that moment, the entire cell was isolated by Zhang Ye’s magic. No one could observe what was happening inside, much less force their way in—unless they were stronger than Zhang Ye.

Turning around, Zhang Ye looked at Dick Grayson, who was lost in madness, drooling, and filled with killing intent. He silently shook his head.

"Healing someone affected by magic should be Stephen Strange’s job."

With a sigh, Zhang Ye raised both hands. Instantly, ghostly green magical circuits spread from his arms to his palms, forming two strange magic arrays.

"Whatever. Let me fill in for him this once."