Chapter 2968

Night fell outside the window, and the atmosphere in the office was not harmonious.

If shutting up and drinking could avoid more awkward conversations, then Shiler had to say, the wine sent by Nyar indeed tasted good.

He didn't want to know at all how he had borrowed Nyar's debt in the first place. He had heard similar stories countless times from Lucifer.

Although the name in the story was Shiler, Shiler knew very well that it wasn't him. But although it wasn't him, it was Anatoly, which was shocking enough. He really had no interest in this doctor's glorious "love history," nor did he want to know how he had made all these powerful existences around him act like resentful women.

Sometimes it's good that Outer Gods are indescribable, at least Nyarlathotep talks less.

If he were like Lucifer, muttering about the past at tombstones when he had nothing to do, then tonight would definitely be a sleepless night. And just as Shiler said, he already had enough problems to face recently, there was really no need to add another one.

The good news was that Brand didn't seem to want to dwell on this issue. Compared to Lucifer, who always wanted to take back his feathers, Nyar seemed to have given up hope of being able to chase back the debt.

From the day Shiler met him, he had revealed a faint sense of despair. Shiler really wanted to know what that Soviet doctor had done to him.

"We still have to talk about Edward," Brand said, pinching the lower half of the red wine glass with both hands, "I have been doing pathology research for a long time and am not so proficient in those psychological theories. If you think taking hypnosis and other means will help his condition recover, I have no opinion, but if you want to ask questions when he is sober, you must pass an evaluation."

"Whose evaluation?"

"Yours, Shiler. Have you seen a psychologist recently?"

"Are you talking about my psychologist?"

"I know you don't have that thing. You don't even have a license, so naturally, you don't have to follow the regulations. But if you want to talk to Edward like a real psychologist, go get a license first, and then find yourself a psychologist. Without an evaluation result, I won't open the door for you."

Shiler pursed his lips. He felt it was very difficult to convince Brand because everything Brand said was a fact. Shiler had not practiced for a long time. Using his psychological knowledge to enlighten acquaintances was one thing, but running into a mental hospital to contact a mental patient with a very complex situation was another.

The United States had very strict regulations in this regard. Brand had already made an exception for him. According to the normal process, Shiler had to submit a visitor application two months in advance, explain the purpose and process of his visit, and could only see the patient after the review was correct.

A psychology major could not provide help. On the contrary, it was very likely to make the review even stricter, because professionals might use their professional knowledge to destroy the psychological defenses established by psychologists for patients, or they might conduct induction and hypnosis to obtain the information they wanted.

Shiler's reputation would not play a role in this situation, but might instead make the hospital authorities raise their vigilance. Even if they wouldn't refuse out of face, he might only get 5-10 minutes of conversation time, and that would be under the observation of another psychologist.

Shiler had already talked to Edward twice in informal occasions. He knew that if he pushed his luck, he wouldn't be able to stay in Arkham Asylum anymore.

Shiler also didn't want to stimulate Edward again. When the conversation started today, Edward was already unstable. Shiler was actually hesitating whether to end the conversation. Brand rushing in was within expectations.

But he really wanted to know about that serial killer principal. It was a pity that this case was different from others. The era was relatively long ago, and Cat Getan in that era was very chaotic, which caused too many obstacles to the investigation.

"Do you think only Edward has clues?" Brand asked.

"His clues are the most direct."

"Then go look for those that aren't so direct. Do you think just investigating official appointment documents is enough?"

"Of course not, but the weather is too hot," Shiler sighed.

He certainly knew that to investigate the truth of the matter, the information in official records was important, but those clues that could make a final decision were often hidden in some unknown corners, under the surging tides.

The only problem was that doing this kind of investigation inevitably required going out, and some processes were difficult to complete in an air-conditioned room. But to visit in person in 40-degree weather, Shiler felt it wasn't very necessary to catch this serial killer.

"I know what problems you are facing," Brand rested his forearms on his knees and said, "A pile of problems placed in front of you makes your psychological state worse and worse, so you chose one to solve, wanting to vent your emotions through this. But the excessively high temperature placed in front of you makes it so you can't even do this thing. But the more idle you are, the worse your psychological state becomes..."

Shiler took a deep breath, restrained his emotions, and said, "I'll go out tonight."

"Alright, I'll go get you the car keys."

Brand put down the wine glass and stood up. Shiler didn't even have time to look at his back, his mind was full of the information he had investigated during the day. He felt the problem still lay with that high school.

When he went out again at night, Shiler had a feeling of being in a different world. He remembered when he first arrived here, he also went out with an umbrella on a rainy night and met Batman, who hadn't debuted long ago.

Although it wasn't raining tonight, Shiler still took the umbrella, because this umbrella was now a weapon. He didn't have the Gray Mist now, and the umbrella was the best self-defense tool in his hand.

However, Cat Getan was no longer the one it used to be. Although there were occasional robberies, most communities were safe. Since the music festival, nightlife had become much richer. Shiler drove out at ten o'clock at night, and the streets and alleys were still lit.

But the further he drove, the more remote it became, and naturally, the fewer people there were. By the time he reached this remote boarding high school, the surroundings were already pitch black.

Shiler first drove around the high school, but didn't find anything special, so he came to the side gate of the high school. The side gate was locked with an iron chain, but it used that kind of very clumsy iron lock.

Without the Gray Mist, Shiler could only pick the lock himself. Fortunately, this wasn't difficult. A hairpin inserted to hook the lock core could easily open it, and the iron chain was just wrapped around a few times, so he opened it with a casual move.

Don't ask Shiler how he knew these things, it can only be said that he really did a lot of things when he was 25.

After entering, the iron chain returned to its original state, and he buckled the lock again. Even if he only went in for a few dozen minutes, he would have to open it again when he came back. This kind of detail couldn't be sloppy.

Shiler walked around the teaching building. Except for the lights on in individual offices, the others were pitch black. The school's main gate was locked again. This was relatively troublesome, and the lock wasn't easy to pick.

However, this school was also old. There was a bathroom window on the first floor with a broken lock that opened as soon as it was pushed. Shiler climbed in directly and came to the principal's office he had visited during the day.

The principal's office indeed had no problems. There was no decoration that could show psychopathic traits. For Shiler, the traces left by psychopathic traits were like flames in the dark night, obvious enough.

Or rather, psychopaths never chose to hide certain traits of theirs, or they only hid them from ordinary people who couldn't understand, but couldn't wait to show off in front of their own kind. This was an important reason why serial killer clubs could be organized. They craved to be appreciated, and no matter how hard they tried to suppress it, there would always be an outlet for venting.

After checking the principal's office, he went to the teacher's office for a turn. Edward was a mental patient after all, and his wording might be wrong. If it wasn't the principal, it could also be a teacher.

But there was no problem with the teacher's office either. This looked like a very ordinary boarding high school.

But Shiler wasn't reconciled. He felt his intuition was correct, so he went to the school history museum for a turn, and here, Shiler finally discovered a clue.

The school history museum and the art museum were combined, which was very normal in many schools in the United States. Not only universities and high schools, but even middle schools and elementary schools had their own school history record museums.

The school history was presented in the form of an exhibition. Shiler looked through it area by area, and finally discovered a map with some age in the last area.

This was the design drawing when the school district was initially planned, but in this drawing, the school district should have been much larger than it was now. Shiler looked carefully and realized that this school didn't just have a high school department.

In the initial planning, this school also had an elementary school and a middle school, right on the hillside behind the high school department that Shiler had just seen outside the school. It was just unclear why this boarding school now only had a high school left.

But combined with other information presented in the school history museum, Shiler felt that the initial planning was reasonable, because this boarding school itself was a church school.

Many people might feel that high school boarding is very normal, but elementary school is a bit too early. However, Western culture is different. Most of the boarding schools here are church schools. Hogwarts in Harry Potter actually refers to Western church boarding schools. Boarding from elementary school to high school is the norm here.

Although with the development of the times, many church schools have also been reformed into modern boarding schools, and it is not strange to have a separate boarding high school. But high school can be reformed, and elementary and middle schools can of course also be, so disappearing out of thin air is a bit strange.

Whether this design drawing wasn't completed at the beginning, and only the high school was built among the three schools, or whether there were once elementary and middle schools, but they were closed for some reason, he still had to go to the place planned in the design drawing to see.

Leaving the teaching building of the high school department, Shiler came to the hillside behind. This was a forest. Looking at the environment, it was not bad. Shiler climbed all the way to the top of the hillside and looked into the distance. This was actually a continuous forest.

Just as Shiler was recalling the location of this boarding high school, a voice suddenly came from behind Shiler.

"Professor, why are you here?"

Shiler turned his head, didn't see anyone, only saw the tree shadows swaying constantly in the night.