Chapter 519: Journey to Explore Schiller's Past (Part 1)

Stark, standing by the door, froze for a moment. For a while, he didn't react to the logic behind Schiller's behavior.

Hiding in the closet because of fear of outsiders? But when the two of them entered, young Schiller didn't stop them. If he was afraid, he could have just not opened the door for them.

Stark paused, then walked into the bedroom. This was a very small bedroom. The bed was modified from a crib. It looked like young Schiller hadn't been sleeping alone in this room for long; he should have just separated from his mother to sleep by himself.

Stark bypassed the small bed and came to the front of the closet. He pushed the cabinet door gently, finding that the cabinet door didn't move at all.

He stretched his fingers into the gap of the cabinet door, wanting to pull the cabinet door open, but the door still didn't move. Stark stepped back a few more steps and looked at this closet.

It was a huge solid wood closet, looking like a handmade product from the last era. There were some cartoon stickers on the cabinet door. Judging by the height, they should have been pasted by young Schiller.

Stark looked left and right, finding that the gap in the cabinet door was actually very small, and the inside of the cabinet was pitch black. If it weren't for standing at a specific angle and in specific light, one couldn't see Schiller in the cabinet at all. Plus, Schiller didn't make any movement, so it was hard to find that there was a child in this cabinet.

After observing for a long time, there were no other clues. Stark could only squat down, align his line of sight with Schiller in the cabinet, and the two looked at each other through the narrow gap in the cabinet door like this.

At this time, Stark discovered that Schiller's eyes were not looking at him, but had been staring at the place where he had stood before. Stark stood up, stepped back two steps, turned, and walked to the bedroom door, looking at the place where he had stood. There was nothing unusual there.

Steve also walked over. The two stood by the bedroom door and could both see Schiller's eyes. Steve turned his head to look at the living room and said: "He might be looking into the living room through the bedroom door."

Hearing this, Stark walked quickly into the living room, turned back to confirm the direction of Schiller's line of sight, and then took a step forward, standing next to the sofa.

He found that Schiller's line of sight seemed to fall on the sofa. Stark rummaged through the sofa but found nothing unusual. Just as he moved the sofa, the carpet in front of the coffee table was wrinkled. Steve, who followed, sniffed and said:

"Do you smell it? It seems there is a smell of blood..."

Stark stood up, looked around, and then set his eyes on the wrinkled carpet. He took a deep breath, seemingly having some premonition. After Steve moved the coffee table, Stark lifted the carpet with a jerk.

There was blood underneath.

This carpet, which looked perfectly fine on the surface, had a large dark bloodstain underneath after being lifted. It looked like it had been dry for a long time, but it still had a strange smell.

Instantly, Stark turned his head and set his eyes on the photo of the family of three that he had casually placed aside.

He picked up the photo frame, pressed his fingers on the photo, and his knuckles turned slightly white from the force. Obviously, the answer he deduced made him feel a bit suffocated.

Steve looked down at the bloodstain, then turned to look at Schiller, who was hiding in the closet. He turned and walked back to the bedroom, squatted in front of the closet, looked at young Schiller through the gap, and said:

"Don't be afraid, we are not bad people. Can you open the door? We will protect you..."

Young Schiller didn't answer and didn't let his gaze fall on his face, just staring at that one point, as if he were intently looking at something. Steve took a deep breath. He heard footsteps behind him and turned his head. Stark, with a somewhat pale face, appeared behind him.

The two came to the bedroom door, Stark held the photo frame in his hand, and then said:

"This is Schiller's consciousness world. Everything that exists here is actually an 'image', which is to say, they all represent a certain memory of Schiller."

"After I first entered the Mind Palace and toured here, I tried to develop my consciousness space. Therefore, I understand that some things that exist in the consciousness space are not what they appear to be on the surface, but have symbolic significance."

Steve turned his head to look at the bloodstain under the carpet and said: "I am very sure that it is human blood, but the blood flowing from any one person would not present such a regular circle, and it just happened to be blocked by the carpet. This might mean..."

Steve's tone lowered: "... a tragedy once happened here."

"In the psychology books I've read, it was mentioned that when people remember certain things, they instinctively grab onto stimulus points. Perhaps Schiller, who once witnessed a tragedy, was stimulated by the blood and the smell of blood. Therefore, the image of this tragedy in his memory is the bloodstain under the carpet."

Stark sighed and said: "Based on the existing clues, we can roughly deduce what Schiller's childhood encountered..."

"The medical records placed in his parents' bedroom show that Schiller suffered from autism. Although those few papers didn't specify the specific type of autism spectrum, his parents found out about this condition very early and actively treated him."

"Schiller had received sensory integration training for a long time. The training lasted for at least two years. In the later stage of the training, he had almost recovered, at least he had recovered most of his language ability."

"However, perhaps in the month when the medical records were interrupted..." Stark pursed his lips, his tone slowing down, sounding like he didn't want to go on:

"His parents might have been murdered."

Stark turned his head and glanced at young Schiller, who was still hiding in the closet and peeking at everything outside through the gap in the cabinet door. He said: "His parents had undergone professional training and couldn't have waited until the other party rushed into the house to discover the abnormality. Perhaps when the other party came downstairs or rushed into the corridor, they already knew they had nowhere to run."

"If you were Schiller's parents, what would you do?" Stark asked Steve. Steve's face was also very gloomy. He said:

"I would definitely protect my child first."

"Perhaps, his parents did the same..." Stark lowered his head, and that voice, which was as low as it could be, echoed in the room like a heavy evening drum.

"Perhaps, they would let him hide, hide in the largest closet in the house, and more importantly..."

When Stark said this, there was already a gasp of pain in his tone due to empathy. He and Steve both stared at the gap in the closet. Between the changing light of the coming night, they seemed to see the mother who appeared in the family photo squatting outside the closet, looking at her child through the gap, and letting out a tragic cry like a dying person:

"Don't speak! Don't make a sound! Never make any sound, no matter what you hear, don't respond..."

And the child, who had just received enlightenment in language and could express his magnificent inner world through language, returned to that silent world without a door to the outside world again.

Steve covered his face and sat down leaning against the door frame of the bedroom wall, just like before. When these details were presented in front of him, it was far crueler than listening to a story.

"Patients with Dissociative Identity Disorder, that is, multiple personality disorder, often split into a first personality just to escape some reality they don't want to face. I think, perhaps because of this, Schiller split into another personality to escape the trauma of his childhood..."

Stark's tone became calm instead. He reached out and pulled Steve up, then said: "Don't stop here, we have to find Schiller. No matter what he once encountered, I think we can treat him, just like... he once treated us."

Stark in front, Steve behind, the two walked out of the room. After returning to the corridor, their moods still couldn't calm down for a long time.

In their impression, although Schiller was sharp-tongued, money-grubbing, a riddle-maker, loved to watch the fun, and had a moral bottom line that was bottomless, he was still a relatively cheerful person. In the process of getting along with them, everyone talked and laughed, and they didn't feel anything special.

But many times, there is only harm if there is comparison. Stark's parents died in an accident, and he felt he was very miserable. When he learned that his parents were killed by Steve's old teammate, the Winter Soldier, he felt even more miserable. But he felt now that, at least, Howard had accompanied him for a period of time. Although he often drank, he was still a good father when he was sober.

And the young Schiller they had just seen was very young. Before, because of autism, he almost couldn't speak. In other words, he might not have spoken a few words to his parents before his parents were murdered.

Moreover, Stark felt that he at least hadn't faced the scene of his parents' death directly. Otherwise, he didn't know if he would be like Schiller, using split personalities to escape reality.

Thinking of this, Stark quickened his pace. He came to the stairs and looked up. The floor above was still quiet.

Stark and Steve came to the second floor. There were very few rooms here, and each one couldn't be opened. Stark looked at one of the doorknobs and said: "Did you notice? If the doorknob and lock are special, it means there might be someone inside. And this..."

Stark looked at that doorknob. It was a very ordinary spherical doorknob, exactly the same as the two doorknobs they had seen before. Stark shook his head and said: "There might not be Schiller's personality inside. It might be a place where he stores other things."

"In other words, we have to find a place with a special doorknob to have a possibility of finding his remaining personalities?"

"That's right. Next, you go to the third floor, and I'll go to the fourth floor. We'll meet up after finding a special doorknob."

After saying this, the two began to act separately. Steve was responsible for the odd-numbered floors, and Stark was responsible for the even-numbered floors. The two searched for a long time like this, and finally, Stark discovered a special place on the tenth floor. He stood by the railing of the patio and waved to Steve downstairs: ===== CHAPTER 520 =====