Chapter 2548: Rustling Down (Part 43)

After leaving the ward, Shiler called Raven, and the two prepared to drive home together. But when they came downstairs, they found Victor waiting at the door.

"Is the principal okay?" Victor asked with some concern.

Shiler shook his head and said: "He does feel a bit depressed, but he should get better soon."

"This is the benefit of having a psychology master." Victor also laughed, then looked at Raven and said: "Never heard you had a brother, is she your brother's daughter?"

"She is my distant niece." Shiler said: "Distant to the point that three generations haven't been in contact."

"She is going to attend the same high school as Dick and the others?"

"Yes, they met before, and the relationship is pretty good. Oh, by the way." Shiler turned to look at Raven and said: "Aren't you going to have a gathering? When are you going?"

"It was supposed to be today, but actually I can also..."

"Which restaurant? I'll send you over."

Raven said the name of a restaurant, not far from Gotham University. Victor waved his hand at Shiler and said: "You go back and rest, I'll send her on the way."

Shiler nodded at Raven and left. Raven sighed and followed behind Victor. Victor turned to look at her and said: "What's wrong? Were you scolded by Shiler?"

"On the contrary, I did something bad, but he didn't blame me. I feel weird myself." Raven's mood was obviously not very good, appearing a bit listless, and her originally bright red hair became dim.

Victor in the sun narrowed his eyes and opened the car door for her, saying: "Perhaps the big things that seem like the sky is falling in your eyes don't count for anything in our eyes."

"I peeked at his refrigerator, causing a small-scale explosion. Now his house is a mess. I guess the housewarming banquet can't be held as scheduled. He should be rushing back to write letters."

"That really is the sky falling." Although Victor said so, he didn't have much surprise or anger. He said like a joke: "It's hard to imagine how Shiler is going to clean up the house, but I hope he goes well."

Shiler drove back to the house. The previous police, police cars, and cordon had all disappeared without a trace. It must be that Luo Yi had struck hard, and that Clay should be overwhelmed now.

Opening the courtyard door and walking in, except for a few more footprints in the front yard, there was no major problem. The real problem was the interior of the house.

There were many dirty footprints on the porch of the room, most of which were stepped out by the police, and some were still stained with blood. After all, the police from the evidence section who put the corpse together had also been here.

After pushing open the front door, besides the layout that was overturned and messy, the most important thing was that the refrigerator was broken, and the kitchen was also very dirty, making it impossible to use for cooking food for the housewarming banquet.

Pushing open the back door again, the backyard was even more outrageous. There was a big pit in the center, at least half a meter deep. The barbecue grill and the table football assembly parts were blown apart, and many parts looked like they were scorched, hidden in the grass.

Fortunately, nothing happened on the second floor. Shiler, who had been busy for a day and a night, felt a bit sleepy. Even if he couldn't stand the hygiene situation downstairs, he could only go back to sleep first.

Almost the moment Shiler's head touched the pillow, he entered dreamland. He hadn't slept so soundly for a long time.

In the spinning dream, Shiler saw some fragments of his childhood again, but this time the protagonist of the story was no longer him or the doctors and nurses he often came into contact with, but those familiar strangers who had always appeared in his memory but had never had any contact with him.

The cleaning lady would always pass by his ward door at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. She would talk to the young Shiler while dragging the floor at the door.

At that time, Shiler couldn't understand what she was saying, or rather, he wasn't listening at all. He was immersed in his own world, completely detached from reality, but the chubby aunt didn't seem to care whether he could understand or not. Every time she said things like how old he was, whether he had eaten, and that the doctor said he performed very well.

Around 6 o'clock in the afternoon, a thin old man would come to collect the trash. He would park the cleaning cart at the door of the room, pick up the trash can at the door, throw it into the cart along with the trash bag and the trash inside, and replace it with a new trash bag.

Shiler usually didn't create trash. The trash in his room was basically the sticky notes or small snack packaging thrown by the doctors and nurses who came to look after him.

The old man collecting trash would comment on everything, and then sigh a few times that life is good now, snacks can be eaten as meals. He ate a piece of his grandson's small cookie and was so sweet that he drank several large cups of water.

When the lights went out at 9 o'clock in the evening, the security guard would patrol the floor for the last time. He would gently knock on the door, push the door open a crack, stick his big head in, narrow his eyes that were not big to begin with, and say to Shiler in a tone of coaxing a child that the lights were off and it was time to sleep.

These people came every day, at fixed times, and gradually became a part of Shiler's regular life. But he had never had any contact with these people. They looked at him unilaterally and talked, and Shiler never responded.

But Shiler's memory, which far exceeded ordinary people, allowed him to remember the actions, expressions, and words of these people. For a long time, he didn't understand what these people were doing, but with the improvement of his mental condition and the learning of common sense in life, he could roughly understand that these people maintained the normal operation of this institution.

But Shiler actually didn't know what normal was. His ward had always been very clean, the corridor had never had dust, the trash in the trash can would not stay overnight, and he had never encountered any danger.

And after he grew up, he had many contacts with this kind of people. Cleaners cleaning in the university, staff handling trash, and security guards in parking lots everywhere.

Many times they would exchange pleasantries with Shiler, mostly praising his academic success, envying his talent, and flattering him that he would definitely achieve great things in the future, as if the path Shiler chose now was how difficult and how hard it was to achieve success.

It was as if they had no ability to choose this path themselves, so they chose their current life—being a cleaner, trash handler, and security guard.

It wasn't until Shiler became an adult and independent that he found that things didn't seem to be like this. For him, cleaning, handling trash, and patrolling as a security guard were much more difficult than doing academic research.

Playing a tiny screw at the bottom of a huge institution is actually very difficult. Precisely because the level is too low, the volume is too small, and there is no power, no one listens or believes what you say, so the work is particularly difficult.

Even if Shiler was just a college student, when his grades were excellent and he could bring benefits to his tutor, his superior would also seriously consider his proposal. Even if he didn't consider it, Shiler had a way to make him consider it.

But Shiler had encountered several times that a certain toilet door was broken, a certain faucet had no water, and the cleaners were complaining, but no one went to change it.

If someone asked, these tiny screws could only say "I'm just a sweeper, the above doesn't fix it, I have no way."

The word "no way" was like a horror movie for Shiler at that time. There had never been a time in his life when there was no way. Even if he didn't have the ability temporarily, he at least had a plan and would achieve it sooner or later.

The fact was also that he had a way for everything. Let alone fixing a toilet door and faucet, because of some special reasons he didn't have time to take the exam, or couldn't pass, and there was only one day left for him to deal with it, he also had a way.

But Dr. Anatoly had a different view on this. He believed that Shiler must try to accept that he had "no way," because only when he admitted this point could he see from another angle how people and people produce contact.

Later, Shiler gradually understood how these ordinary people who always had no way survived in this society.

A certain toilet door was broken, they would go to the office to find a teacher to borrow a piece of paper, write a notice, or simply call someone to help lift the broken door and block the door of the compartment, changing that place into a tool room.

The faucet was broken and couldn't wash the mop, they would take turns going to the bathroom downstairs to get water, becoming a division of labor and cooperation mode of one person mopping the floor and one person changing the water.

They survived like this. It sounded very simple, but it was abnormally difficult for Shiler.

If it were him, he would choose to knock out the superior and throw him into the compartment with the broken door, letting the superior personally experience what serious consequences would happen if the toilet door was broken.

Putting aside legal and moral issues, this method is actually much more troublesome than the ordinary person's method. First, you have to determine the target person, find the right time to start, avoid surveillance cameras, and create an alibi.

Listening to the superior who didn't act angrily in the toilet compartment is indeed very interesting, but this fun really can't make up for the energy and time consumed, more like Shiler finding a make-up for himself after losing more energy and time for no reason, similar to "at least there is fun to watch."

And its essence lies in the fact that Shiler couldn't just walk to the nearest office, knock on the door, reach out to take the paper on the table, and say to the office teacher sitting there, "Borrow a piece of paper."

Shiler, who was sitting by the bed after waking up, tidied up his hair, and then sat by the bed for a long time, until the sunset slanted, and some dazzling golden light dissolved in the silent air in the room through the gently floating window gauze.

There were too many things to do, Shiler thought. If he pushed the door open and walked out now, and then walked down a few steps, he would see a pile of trouble he couldn't clean up at all. If he chose to open the front door and back door again, the trouble would double.

And these troubles would bring more troubles, just like dominoes falling one by one. If he couldn't clean up the house immediately, the housewarming banquet tonight couldn't be held.

If the banquet couldn't be held as scheduled, he would have to rewrite the invitations, tell everyone that the time of the banquet had changed, and apologize to them.

And if he wanted to send these letters out smoothly, he needed a postman, but the current postman should have almost turned into fertilizer.

The post office has always been short of people, and the new employees are also difficult to send so many letters at once. If all the letters are not sent before the banquet, someone thinks the party is held as scheduled and comes over with food and drinks, Shiler will have to reject them at the door and apologize to them.

Then when he sends the invitation again, he may be rejected by these people because he failed to handle all this properly, letting the other party run for nothing and be full of disappointment.

Shiler lay down slowly, leaning on the pillow, and reached into the bedside table to touch a cigar, but the cigar he touched was not cut well, and he didn't know where the cigar cutter went.

Shiler had to put the box back and got up to pour himself a glass of water. Just as he finished pouring the water, he heard movement at the door. ===== CHAPTER 2549 =====