Chapter 1188: The Cries of the Lambs (17)

"The first thing you did after merging with the Joker to gain greater strength and a more stable position... was actually to manufacture 'mediocrity'."

"Before, there were significant differences between your linguistic logic and behavioral logic, but because they weren't so contradictory, I didn't notice. But the appearance of Sloth made me feel very incongruous."

"After you said you were going to merge with the Joker, I imagined many terrifying scenarios, such as you becoming crazier, more arrogant, and harder to deal with."

"But the result I got was that I faced a more natural, peaceful, and non-aggressive personality."

"Don't you think that actively weakening your own aggressiveness is completely inconsistent with the trait of arrogance?" Bruce looked into Shiler's eyes and asked: "Shouldn't you be proud of your arrogance?"

Shiler had just opened his mouth to say something, but Bruce continued: "This is completely different from your previous code of conduct. The sense of conflict brought by the contradiction made me feel a bit strange."

"And after the Pathological personality appeared, this strange feeling became even more obvious. You and the Pathological personality described this as an exam, with the goal of testing your teaching results... but why now?"

"If, as you said, the Pathological personality notified you a long time ago that there might be such an exam, then have you thought about why he chose this time? Has there been any significant change in the relationship between us? Has there been any special change in your teaching method that needs extra examination?"

"Or is it that the Pathological personality actually realized more clearly than you that Shiler needs treatment, that one day you must be treated, and he has been waiting for an opportunity, waiting for someone who might have the ability to treat you to appear, and he disguised all of this as an exam?"

Bruce blinked, paused, and continued: "This is actually not hard to guess; he gave me many clues."

"For example, he emphasized that he watched the establishment of the Tower of Thought, helped all personality traits grow, and named them; he is your teacher and father. Then why, in the story you mentioned about the Arrogance trait being polluted and split by the Joker's madness, did he not appear?"

Shiler was stunned for a moment. He looked at Bruce with an incredulous gaze and said: "You don't mean to say that he intentionally let the Joker virus pollute one of the personality traits, forcibly manufacturing the fated entanglement between the two of us, just for the purpose of letting you cure me?"

"I don't know if you've noticed, but your view of me is the exact opposite of the Pathological personality's. You think I have absolutely no talent for studying psychology, but the Pathological personality has praised my talent and genius more than once."

"But actually, I performed very poorly in this so-called exam, at least the first half was very poor."

"The second half wasn't any better." Shiler interrupted him.

Bruce shrugged helplessly and said: "Alright, the whole thing was very poor. Then where did his praise and appreciation for me come from?"

"As the Pathological personality, which is the opposite of the Normal personality, he helped you build the Tower of Thought. Therefore, it is possible that even without surfacing to control the body, he can observe your every move. He has been observing me."

"When he believed that I had accumulated enough knowledge and practice and had the ability to improve your condition, he said to you, the exam has begun."

"This is indeed an exam, but it is not to test your teaching results; it is to test whether, under the conditions of the right time, place, and people, I have a way to put the plan to save you into practice."

Shiler brought the umbrella to the center of his body, rested both hands on the handle of the umbrella, and looked at Bruce's expression as if to say, "I'd like to see what other nonsense you can come up with."

"And to truly treat you, the first step is to rebel against patriarchy." Bruce spread his hands and said: "The status of teacher and student is unequal; the teacher possesses natural authority. If this authority cannot be lifted and the gap in status leveled, it will never be possible to truly influence you."

"This step was taken with me by the Pathological personality. He created an illusion for me that my exam had failed, that I had to find a way to reverse this situation. He stirred up my competitive spirit, making me frame you for non-existent crimes."

"In this way, you were no longer a teacher, but a prisoner; the gap brought by status and authority was leveled."

"Neither you nor I noticed that the influence brought by this authority was more far-reaching than imagined. For a long time, I almost had no space for independent thinking; my talent and genius were not utilized."

"Because I didn't understand you, I was thinking about how to resist authority all the time; talent, inspiration, and imagination had no place to be used."

"And when you left and this authority was lifted, I almost immediately realized that recognizing, accepting, and understanding my own Pathological personality is the only way to deal with all Pathological personalities."

"And when I truly recognized, accepted, and understood my own Pathological personality, I also understood your Pathological personality, and understood the purpose of his series of seemingly unrelated actions."

"He was trying to find a method to treat autistic patients other than trying hard to disguise himself as an ordinary person and trying hard to disguise that he had been cured."

"But he is an autistic patient himself and can never jump out of this disease to view all problems from a more objective perspective. He might have felt that I could find the answer to this problem."

"In fact, I don't know why he had this confidence. According to you, we were polluted by the Joker's madness the first time we met, which means that perhaps the first time we met, the Pathological personality already had such confidence in me."

"Professor Shiler, you have some kind of judgment about all of us that is based on something outside of facts. Although I don't know where this judgment comes from, clearly, you have a lot of confidence in this judgment."

Shiler appeared somewhat dazed. Everything Bruce said was too absurd, yet it made too much sense.

Shiler certainly knew where his judgment about everyone in Gotham based on things outside of facts came from. Where else could it come from? He was a transmigrator, and this was the world of the comics he had read.

And because of this, what Bruce said the Pathological personality might have done appeared very reasonable.

The Pathological personality was also Shiler. His understanding of Batman was the same as everyone else's—Batman is the smartest person in the entire universe, and he has the answers to all problems.

It is also very likely that this includes the answer to how to fundamentally cure an autistic patient.

Shiler put his weight on the umbrella supporting him on the ground because he felt a bit dizzy.

He thought of another fact—all his talent and genius actually came from the Pathological personality. It was high-functioning autism that gave him memory, logic, and reasoning abilities far exceeding those of ordinary people.

The Pathological personality was the true genius Shiler.

When it comes to how to arrange a plan that looks like a ball of yarn and then wind it into a ball, the Pathological Shiler was the founder and an unrivaled expert.

"After I realized this, I immediately contacted Dai Weisi by bribing a large number of participants in the Lamb Plan. This wasn't difficult; there aren't many people in this world who want to deal with criminals out of hatred or a sense of justice; most people just want to go to work and earn money."

Amanda, beside him, stared wide-eyed at Dai Weisi, who had previously handed the remote control to Bruce. Dai Weisi sighed softly, looked at Amanda, and said: "I have to pay over 300,000 US dollars in alimony to my ex-wife and daughter every year, and I also want to buy my daughter a violin."

"Through Dai Weisi, I learned that Amanda had a personal vendetta against you and was trying to control you through Dr. Fitzgibbon's research results. I realized this might be a good opportunity."

"So, I had Dai Weisi contact Dr. Fitzgibbon and have him inject the nano-neural controller into your spine, but I swapped the remote control. The one in my hand now is the real one."

Bruce shook the remote device in his hand. Shiler snorted coldly and said: "What use is a remote control? I can control the Gray Mist at any time to swallow those nano-bugs."

"You certainly can, but I must remind you that the Pathological personality likes them very much, and he just broke his own norms and used special abilities to keep you from becoming even more disheveled."

Shiler's expression froze instantly. Bruce gave a smile and said: "This is what I meant by those parts within patriarchy, aside from power... love."

Shiler knew that for autistic patients, they prefer a day-after-day, regular, repetitive life. Some autistic patients become incomparably anxious and irritable when their life routine is suddenly broken, just like in the movie *Rain Man*.

Shiler took a deep breath. He also knew that the Pathological personality had existed since he was born. He was more adapted to the original world where no one had superpowers; this was part of his life routine. Actively breaking this routine meant he had to endure pain.

And the fact was, the Pathological personality used Flash in time, so that the blood Bruce poured in was only choked on a little, and most of it remained in his mouth.

And if Bruce had really poured that whole cup of blood into Shiler's mouth just now, the fastidious Arrogant Shiler wouldn't just be coughing.

Arrogant Shiler could never accept drinking blood, especially raw blood that hadn't been sterilized, heated, or processed in any way.

Shiler's arrogance was also partly reflected in his posture as a civilized and elegant modern person. Drinking blood like this, what difference was there from a primitive man?

What was important was that Arrogant Shiler had always insisted on the norms of being a teacher. Drinking a student's blood was the most ruthless breaking of these norms.

And what was even more terrifying was that for a person with obsessive-compulsive disorder, it wasn't enough to just vomit out what was drunk; just like confirming a door is locked by taking a photo isn't enough to suppress the urge to go back and check, it's the same.

The established fact of imperfection would bring extreme anxiety, no lighter than the symptoms of a broccoli allergy.

Shiler stood in place and took several deep breaths. He looked down at his blood-stained hands, his Adam's apple moved slightly, as if he were trying hard to suppress his expression of discomfort.

And at this moment, a towel was handed over. Bruce walked to Shiler's front, handed the towel forward, and said: "Here."

Shiler coughed twice. The smell of blood filling his mouth and nose made him feel very uncomfortable, so he still took the towel and wiped the blood off his face, neck, and hands.

But Bruce turned and walked back to the door, whispering a few words to Dai Weisi.

About a minute later, with a "bang," the door was kicked open, and fully armed security personnel rushed in, aiming their guns at Shiler in the room.

"Stand against the wall immediately! We are taking you into custody!"

Accompanied by the shout of the security personnel in the front, the transport personnel behind pushed in the prison cage that had previously transported Shiler.

Shiler's gaze landed on Bruce's face. Bruce just said expressionlessly: "Sorry, Professor, visiting hours are over, you should go back."

"Or, you can turn into gray mist and leave here. Anyway, it won't be long before various troubles related to me will come looking for you again."

Watching Shiler's expression gradually turn cold, Bruce looked down at the floor, then looked up at him and said: "Believe me, the prison is not to imprison you, but a pure land for you. These tight security measures are to ensure that trouble won't find you."

Shiler gave a cold laugh. While raising his hands to let the approaching transport personnel put him in a straitjacket, he stared into Bruce's eyes and said: "... This is actually a personal vendetta, right?"

Bruce nodded calmly and said: "Accepting the Pathological personality has another benefit: I don't have to be a saint anymore, so naturally, I can retaliate."

Shiler took a deep breath, then nodded forcefully and laughed in a low voice:

"I would never have thought that in this world, there would be a Batman who uses love as a blade, and even less would I have thought that one day, Batman would admit he has selfish motives."

Bruce slowly walked to Shiler's front. He took the mask from the transport personnel and fastened it onto Shiler's face.

In the empty room, Bruce reached out and pressed the mask, staring into Shiler's eyes and saying: "... Neither did I."

Shiler tilted his head forcefully to the side, shook off the mask, and then stared at Bruce and said: "For the sake of our teacher-student relationship, before you make me shut up, let me make a phone call."

Bruce stared at him for a while. Both of their expressions were calm, but beneath this silent, calm facade, it seemed as if ten thousand acres of giant waves were surging in the undercurrents.

A few seconds later, Bruce slowly turned his head and nodded toward Dai Weisi. Soon, a phone was brought over. Shiler said the number, Bruce dialed, and then Bruce placed the receiver to Shiler's ear.

After a few busy signals, Shiler said to the other end:

"Lucifer, a child has defeated his father and obtained the authority."

"I am willing to lose the bet and want to keep a last bit of dignity, so I won't be entangled. Naturally, I will also set him free."

"Now, the cover outside this car belongs to you. Open the door." ===== CHAPTER 1189 =====