Chapter 69 Chapter 69 The pot returned to its owner...
[Illusion] cards, as the name suggests, are magic that can create illusions.
From a magical academic perspective, the magic contained in this card is essentially cognitive magic. If the caster does not give clear orders, then the illusion that the spell ultimately presents will largely depend on what the person under the spell is thinking - that is, everyone will see something different in it.
This kind of semi-freedom is precisely when cognitive magic can be most effective. This is because it often evokes things that the person under the spell isn't even aware of. Who knows oneself better than oneself? Ultimately, the person under the spell will likely be defeated by the illusion they created.
Furthermore, the illusion created by the [Illusion] card isn't purely virtual; it can modify reality to a certain extent. While it doesn't offer any offensive moves, it's enough to provide the same immersive thrill as a 6D movie.
Therefore, even Scarecrow, who has a profound understanding of fear and illusions and has experienced fear many times, can only be terrified by the illusion in the 6D holographic viewing room specially built for him by Li Hua. He goes from disdain at first to surprise when he finds that the surroundings do not seem to be completely virtual illusions; then to horror when he finds that he cannot escape; and finally falls into desperate fear, transforming into the famous painting "The Scream", shaking like a sieve in the cage made of earth and stone.
Taking advantage of the fact that no one around was sober except himself, Li Hua casually slung his staff over his shoulder, and declared victory loudly to the scarecrow, thinking he looked very handsome, in order to comfort his lost middle school soul.
"Now tell me, who is the Master of Fear?"
Although they were the only two people still awake on the entire street when Li Hua used the [Illusion] card to give Scarecrow a holographic simulated movie-watching experience, according to Li Hua's understanding, the details of this battle, especially his own second-year dialogue, would not be leaked.
But Li Hua overlooked one point: they were now on the street, and the street was surrounded by buildings, and they were residential buildings.
Even though it's a workday, a building with this many people in it certainly wouldn't be empty. Furthermore, with the rapid development of technology, remote work from home and self-media careers are no longer new.
It was only because Gotham's citizens, over the years, had developed a habit of avoiding crowds. They had also developed a survival code: "Run when chaos breaks out, and hide inside, turn off the lights and windows, and pretend no one's around." That's why Li Hua misunderstood that "no one's watching here."
What's more, this is just a gang fight, which is not really that thrilling for the citizens of Gotham living in buildings. After all, this is a fight between gangs, and their target is the rival gangs rather than civilians. As long as they don't appear on the streets at this critical juncture, there is no risk of being affected.
Therefore, some brave citizens who stayed at home would peek through the gaps in the curtains and prick up their ears to try to find out what was happening on the street. Others would use text messages or place a small camera in the window to record the video, acting directly as "war correspondents."
On the other hand, since the spell of the [Illusion] card will automatically disappear after Li Hua leaves, in order to let the scarecrow "enjoy" the fear more, Li Hua stayed where he was and maintained his mana output after reporting the current situation to his friends.
When Jason, Benjamin, Tim, the Gotham police, and reporters arrived, they saw the Scarecrow, who had been so frightened that he was sitting on his knees, curled up in a ball, trembling, and had completely lost the will to resist. If his body had not been rising and falling with his breathing, he would have been suspected of being dead.
There are also many "heroes" around, some of them have fallen to the ground like dominoes, while others are like garlic planted in the ground with only their heads sticking out of the earth and stone cage.
The one who caused all this, the young magician in a flowing pink dress, was standing outside the crumbling scarecrow cage. He said to them with a grin so bright it showed his fangs: "Look at this scarecrow. It's just a wimp. It fainted after just a few hits."
Li Hua didn't use up much of his magic power. He had been thinking of admiring the scarecrow's fear-dominated look - just like what the scarecrow did to other people, but unexpectedly the scarecrow cheated and quit halfway.
It wasn't that Li Hua was a psychopath. It was just like when you acquire a new skill in a game, you can't wait to practice with someone and see how it works in real life. This was Li Hua's first time using pure magic to strike an enemy, so how could he resist seeing the results?
But perhaps because the Scarecrow had rich experience in being poisoned by fear gas, he hit the wall cleanly and neatly after discovering that he could not escape the fear illusion, and used physical calmness to free himself from the fear illusion. With his actual actions, he proved to Li Hua what it means to "learn physics and chemistry well, and you will not be afraid of mysterious powers."
This made Li Hua quite regretful.
Even though they didn't know what Li Hua was thinking before, seeing this scene, most people couldn't help but have a question in their minds -
Who is the villain here?
"...That's the whole story." Li Hua saw Batman, who was rushing back to Gotham in a hurry and calling Superman, looked unhappy, so he apologized before he could say anything, "I'm sorry, I know I was wrong."
"I shouldn't feel happy or proud because of the suffering of others, even in the name of 'justice'. I admit that I was indeed carried away at the time. Building happiness on the suffering of others is not justice at all."
Damn it, it must be because he was poisoned by the psychopath Scarecrow, otherwise how could he have such an evil and wrong ideological decline? You know, Li Hua has been a good student with excellent character and academic performance for 16 years!
It must be the bad habits created by Scarecrow and those gangsters that polluted him. Next time Scarecrow escapes from prison or encounters gangsters, he must beat them up decisively and not waste time talking to them so as not to pollute his pure mind.
Because Li Hua was stacking armor so quickly, Batman, who had never seen such an honest child who took the initiative to self-reflect, had to speak before the topic completely deviated:
"It's good that you're aware of this, kid. But that's not what I want to say. I rushed back so quickly to ask you about the specific details of what happened not because I want to blame you, but because I suspect you've been targeted."
Batman had previously wondered why Li Hua would conflict with Scarecrow.
Batman knew Li Hua's style of operation. Unlike experienced drivers like Benjamin, Li Hua, a novice driver, was cautious. He mostly worked with the team, followed instructions, and reported in real time.
The Scarecrow's fear gas attack had no effect on Li Hua, who was covered in buffs. The ordinary person's dose of it had no effect at all, and the flying needles couldn't even hit him.
Scarecrows can't fly, and they don't have a preference for aerial combat. Previously, Li Hua engaged in melee combat because that was all he could do. But with the [Land] card, things changed. During a crowd evacuation, Li Hua could practically avoid leaving the land, controlling the [Land] card remotely, making it impossible for him to touch the scarecrows.
Without prior preparation, even if they happened to encounter each other, there would be no chance of a fight between the two. Because when Li Hua discovered the scarecrow, he had a lot of ways to instantly subdue him, and the battle would be over so quickly that no one would be able to take a photo of the two of them together.
Li Hua's confession just now almost confirmed the possibility that Batman was worried about.
The scarecrow had prepared far more than the normal amount of fear gas, nasal filters, fake police uniforms... It was obvious that he was coming for Li Hua who was alone.
"We guessed this, so we immediately had Ben send Li Hua back to the manor." Jason said to Li Hua in a stern tone, "You're too honest. Bruce hasn't even scolded you yet, and you've already confessed everything."
Benjamin: "I think what Li Hua said is very good. Being able to recognize the problem before it goes astray and stop it is a good quality."
Jason: "That's because you're a good kid, Ben. If those guys can enjoy the pain of others, then there's nothing wrong with letting them entertain the public. Just be happy if they don't get killed."
Li Hua: "Before you start a heroic debate and a brawl in the dance studio, please answer me this: if you already knew about this, why didn't you tell me?"
Benjamin: "Don't worry, there won't be a fight. If I were really that serious, I wouldn't have made peace with Kevin and Lenny... Oh, did I not tell you about Lenny?"
Li Hua: "No, who is Lenny?"
Jason: "Your other cousin? Or cousin?"
Benjamin: "No, it's just another person who wanted to kill me before and later became my good friend. So I said it before, I still have a lot of charisma."
...Wait, why did the topic suddenly turn to this?
Superman, who had been eavesdropping on the conversation between the teenagers, looked secretly at Batman, expressing his doubts with his eyes.
Are they...always like this? That question seems quite important to that kid named Li Hua. Do I need to be reminded?
Batman, accustomed to the three boys' impulsive thinking, coughed lightly and forced the topic back to where it had strayed. "Jason, Li Hua just asked why you didn't tell him earlier. I think you need to explain this to him."
"...I almost forgot. I started talking so much that I completely deviated from the topic," Jason said. "We were just suspicious at the time. Without solid evidence, it was hard to jump to conclusions for fear of provoking him. To be on the safe side, we decided to have Li Hua return to the manor and wait while we dealt with his poisoning. Then you could come back."
Of course, Li Hua, who dared to perform aerial stunts on impulse, is not a timid person by nature.
But at that time, Li Hua was poisoned by fear gas that was more than ten times stronger than that of an ordinary person, and he was indeed in a state of poisoning. Although No. 666 could make him unable to see hallucinations, the fear gas - after all, it was still poison gas!
Fear gas not only makes people see hallucinations, it also has an impact on the human body. The physiological principle of fear is that the sympathetic nervous system in the body accelerates the secretion of adrenaline and thyroid hormone.
It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand it, just focus on the key points - it will quickly secrete “adrenaline”.
Because of No. 666, Li Hua can no longer see fear hallucinations, nor fall into a negative mental state of fear. So once so many physiological buffs are activated...
...The same principle can also make people fall into a state of extreme excitement.
This is why Li Hua fell into an excited state of battle. He was not excited because he saw Scarecrow in trouble, but because he had stacked several layers of frenzy and battle continuation at that time, and was literally emotionally excited.
It can be said that it was fortunate that Li Hua still had a bit of self-awareness as a magic boy and a talent for "defeating fear with fear" at that time. He used the [Illusion] card and played the trick with the lowest actual damage at this stage.
Otherwise, if Li Hua was a little arrogant or serious, and jumped into the "octagonal cage" to fight with the scarecrow, under the dual blessing of physiological BUFF and magical BUFF, the scarecrow, as the "culprit", would be in danger of his life.
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The author has something to say: Li Hua: I thought I was just putting the blame on someone, but it turns out that the blame is really your scarecrow!
I searched Baidu for the principles related to fear, and it is roughly that when people face a strong enemy, they have two physiological reactions, the avoidance reaction (fear) and the attack reaction. The principles of these two reactions are similar and it is easy to switch between them in reality (if you can't escape, just fight) (if you can't win, run away).
The scarecrow's fear gas causes people to feel fear physiologically. Now that the negative state of fear has been suppressed by No. 666, the only reaction left is to fight.
【Catch the bug three times】
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