Chapter 1562

"Then may I ask boldly, what is the current state of your personality being so fragmented?" Charles asked rather cautiously.

Shiler sighed and said: "Your earlier analysis of the phenomenon of lacking control over personal resources during childhood does exist, but it was not present in the orphanage; rather, it was in the laboratory of that foreign organization that took me away."

"The orphanage I was in mostly adopted children with congenital illnesses; only a few healthy children, especially boys, were quickly adopted and left."

Charles immediately noticed a certain key point in his words, raising his eyebrows and saying: "Eastern countries?"

Shiler nodded and continued: "Caring for children with congenital defects requires great patience, and the wages are extremely meager; ultimately, those teachers who could stay long-term were mostly very compassionate."

"Aside from some mischievous children with bad temperaments, the remaining majority got along fairly well; although material conditions were not good, they still managed to get by."

"The children had very few toys, and the orphanage could not afford disposable or easily damaged ones, so the most common type of toy there was wooden building blocks, because they were cheap enough, could even be handmade, yet offered endless ways to play."

"At that time, a popular way of playing among the children was to stack the blocks as high as possible."

"The teachers seemed to believe that this competition and praise for the winner could encourage their social interaction, so they frequently had the children play this game; but due to the social barriers of autism, I almost never participated."

"However, repeatedly watching this game also affected me; when I immersed myself in my own world, I began to replicate this game's form, starting to stack a tower of wooden blocks in my mental world."

"Later, the teachers seemed to feel that simply stacking towers was insufficient to develop the children's intellect, so they began painting the blocks with colors, telling them these represented certain things in daily life; the teachers would say the names, and the children would stack the designated blocks accordingly, thus helping intellectually impaired children establish as much recognition of everyday objects as possible."

"After observing for a while, I also began assigning meaning to the blocks in my mind—for example, this block represents arithmetic, that one represents written text I have recorded, and the one beside it represents the method of speaking to people."

"Because I repeated this many times, the abilities I possessed seemed to truly become the blocks I had stacked, gradually turning into a tower in my mental world."

Charles listened intently until Shiler stopped speaking; after a long while, he finally reacted, saying: "How wonderful—I am also hearing of this for the first time."

"But good times did not last." Shiler pressed his lips together; Charles saw for the first time on his face a certain strong emotional fluctuation—possibly sorrow, possibly regret.

"When that foreigner came to take me away, I had a premonition, so I cried and screamed loudly, refusing to go with him; the teachers could do nothing with me, only able to persuade that foreigner to leave first."

"But they did not intend to give up, and when they came the second time, I hid myself; at that time, I did not know that those who came this time were not inspectors."

Charles frowned deeply, as if he had already anticipated what would happen next.

"They found a group of people, possibly those they had previously bribed, or possibly developed later after becoming interested in me; regardless, that group stormed into the orphanage, claiming the orphanage director had abducted and sold one of their relatives' children—namely, me."

"They wanted to take me away this way, but the teachers and director who lived with me daily had long noticed I possessed some special ability; I absolutely refused to leave, so they blocked that group, and a major conflict erupted between the two sides."

"In the end, were you still taken away?"

Shiler nodded and said: "Those foreigners gave them guns; the teacher and caretaker who had always looked after me were killed; after that, I do not know what happened, for I was swiftly taken from the border out of this country."

Shiler took a deep breath and said: "Witnessing all this caused me great stimulation; the tower I had stacked in my mental world completely collapsed."

Shiler glanced sideways and added: "After that, for a very long time, my thoughts were extremely chaotic; I only remember one thing: if at that time I had, as usual, not cried, not screamed, not spoken, and left with that foreigner, perhaps none of this would have happened."

"So, for a long time after arriving at the laboratory, I did not speak, which also caused my later id to likewise not speak."

Charles remained silent for a long time before saying: "... I am very sorry."

Shiler shook his head, indicating everything was in the past, and softly sighed: "That organization lifted a stone only to drop it on its own foot; I bound all my abilities to the wooden block tower; the tower collapsed, and I had no response to any external stimulation; their control methods left me nothing but the memory of how to manipulate others, and nothing else."

"Some of my violent actions were merely due to my lack of rational thought at the time, but they thought it was time to send me back, that I could create a major bloodshed at a critical juncture."

Charles narrowed his eyes, involuntarily lifting the corners of his mouth, and said: "The result must have been quite tragic, then?"

Shiler nodded and said: "In the laboratory, I was under strict control, so they never discovered my violence toward enemies and allies alike."

"They wanted me to interfere with the development of a major event, simply put, to frame the government for wantonly slaughtering protesting civilians; but because I killed them, delaying some time, I missed the optimal moment, and that country's intelligence organization discovered their plot, and also discovered me."

"At that time, my abilities were uncontrolled, and abnormalities were easily detectable, so I was captured and sent to a place called the Ninth Institute."

"Another laboratory?"

"More or less." What Charles did not expect was that Shiler nodded and said: "More like a combination of laboratory, sanatorium, and high-security prison."

"I underwent very strict investigation and interrogation, but at that time my mind was utterly unclear; after several rounds of irrelevant questioning, they also discovered my mental state was dire."

"They conducted ability tests on me, then determined that if I were a madman, I would likely have to spend my life here, for if released, I might well cause large-scale casualties."

"Originally, things would have ended here, but coincidentally, the organization that abducted me was caught red-handed over this matter, uprooted entirely, and the country's officials finally discovered that the other side used psychology as a weapon, causing harm possibly far greater than real weapons."

"They were not very interested in my personal abilities, for they were not keen on individual heroism, but they wanted to know how that organization controlled me, so they dispatched a batch of psychology experts of that time to study me."

"But because the wooden block tower representing all my rationality had completely collapsed, I could not answer even a single question; the vast majority of experts, after engaging in a year-long tug-of-war of irrelevant questions with me, reached a conclusion—I should be completely mad."

Shiler tilted his head slightly and said: "Originally, this research project had been dragging on with no results, but later, a case similar to mine truly caused serious consequences; they finally realized they could not delay any longer, so they brought in a professional psychologist—a truly good doctor."

"He came not to study, but to treat illness." Shiler rubbed his lips with his fingers and said: "He believed we should first find the cause of my madness, find a way to treat it, and only then could results be achieved."

"He probably would not gain much approval from many people, would he?" Charles asked.

Shiler nodded and said: "In that country, psychology was just beginning to develop; at that time, most experts leaned more toward the pathology of mental illness than psychology, let alone education."

"They found nothing wrong in the pathology aspect, so they thought it was probably hopeless; although not entirely denied, most held a pessimistic attitude, only that doctor persisted."

"Through his persistent efforts, I was first diagnosed with autism; after a period of treatment for autism, the effects were not obvious, because the doctor felt it might be due to other causes."

"Through countless conversations I no longer remember the number of, he finally gleaned some clues from my fragmented utterances of madness, and began studying the blocks."

"Afterward, through an unknown length of prolonged exploration, he finally realized the fundamental cause of my fragmented consciousness; at the time, everyone thought this was absurd, believing the doctor might have gone mad together with me."

"This cannot entirely be blamed on them." Charles said, lowering his head to write: "Even to me, this does seem somewhat absurd; if I were the first to encounter such a case, I would not even be certain my mutant abilities could find the clue, so it seems that doctor is far more excellent than I."

"He merely had more patience... he is the most patient person I have ever seen." For some reason, Shiler's last half-sentence actually carried a hint of gritted teeth.

"But he is indeed a genius in psychology; he began gradually guiding me to rebuild my tower."

"After a long time, my consciousness had basically cleared; the new tower, though full of ugly splices and joints, was at least usable; but by then, this project of mine was no longer very important."

"The Ninth Institute had become a dispensable research institution; the director was there to retire, staff were there to pass time; the vast majority did not know my background, only assuming I was a recovering mental patient."

"The vast majority sympathized with me, thinking I could already manage self-care was good enough; the director's wish was merely that I use my high-functioning intelligence to enter university; only that doctor did not give up, letting me become a normal person."

"Actually, after the tower was rebuilt and personality reassigned, I had already come infinitely close to being an ordinary person." Shiler shook his head and said: "But his demands were so high as to be outrageous; I and he tormented each other for over a year before, thanks to the director's connection, I took the college entrance exam and completely left this research institute."

Upon hearing this, Charles finally showed a smile, as if he had breathed a sigh of relief; Shiler, however, crossed his arms and said: "This sounds like a story of determined striving, right? But in fact, after entering university, I did not study properly at all, but that is another story."

"Now I am certain, he is a doctor far more excellent than I." Charles lifted his gaze to meet Shiler's eyes and said: "His greatest quality lies in daring not to abandon a patient whom even hearing about makes one want to give up."

After a moment of silence, Shiler said: "Every Shiler is chasing his footsteps; arrogance is no exception."

After saying this, Shiler again lifted his gaze to look into Charles's eyes, his gaze somewhat excessively focused.

Charles could not help but ask doubtfully: "Do you think I resemble him? Why does your gaze when looking at me overflow with nostalgia?"

"Saying this might be a bit offensive, but you two indeed share similarities—you are both good doctors."

"I'm afraid it's not just that, is it?"

Shiler remained silent for a long time before finally speaking: "Your two eyes are too alike, especially the color."

Charles widened his eyes slightly and asked, "He's not Oriental?"

"No, he's a Slav, a psychological expert from the former Soviet Union."