Chapter 940: Journey to Explore Schiller

Zatanna's mind magic required almost no preparation—no long treatment process, no medical records, no logs, not even the patient's presence. The helicopter just carried them to the safe room in the Batcave, and Zatanna said she was ready.

Batman squinted at her and said, "Schiller isn't here. How are you going to enter his inner world?"

Zatanna shook her head and said, "Bruce, occultism is more magical than you imagine. In your impression, the spirit realm might be another world hidden beneath the real world, identical to the real world."

"But in reality, the spirit realm is called the spirit realm precisely because it can communicate with human souls. Messengers who can walk in the spirit realm can walk into people's hearts."

"Then can you peek into other people's hearts at any time?" Batman asked. But this wasn't actually a question; his tone was very certain and revealed vigilance. However, Zatanna shook her head and said, "No, walking in the spirit realm requires paying a huge price. Not everyone is Constantine, who can swindle a bunch of demons into paying the price for him."

Zatanna sighed and said, "Actually, when you and I hadn't broken up yet, I had already touched the threshold of magic. I also tried to roam the spirit realm in my dreams. At that time, I treated the warnings of adults as wind past my ears, thinking I had mastered the most magical power in the world and could use it recklessly."

Zatanna's brow revealed a trace of sadness as she said, "The price of magic perhaps isn't paid in a day or two. It will permeate every corner of your life, letting your life and your future slide toward the abyss."

"My father's disappearance wasn't an accident." Zatanna shook her head slowly and said, "This is the price we have to pay."

Having said that, she walked forward and looked up into Batman's eyes. She was very close to him, yet felt she could no longer see through those deep blue eyes. Zatanna said, "I can hear it, I can feel it—you hold too many unnecessary fantasies about occultism. Promise me, Bruce, never take this step. Otherwise, you will never be able to turn back."

"Control power, pay the price; to make up for the price paid, attempt to control more power, and pay an even greater price... this is magic." Constantine sat on a sofa to the side and said, "If you weren't born with this curse, it's best not to get involved. Everything I do is just to save myself."

"Since we're ready, let's begin." Zatanna turned her head away, seemingly not wanting to talk about this topic anymore. She took two steps back and said to the two, "You'd better find a safe place to sit. When roaming the spirit realm, the body stays in place. You must ensure the safety of your bodies. I've heard of more than one unlucky person whose body was eaten by their pets when they returned from the spirit realm."

A "hissing" exhaust sound came, and the door to the safe room closed completely. Batman, Constantine, and Zatanna sat on sofas in three different directions. Zatanna chanted mysterious incantations, and soon, Batman felt a layer of hazy white fog shroud the entire room.

He felt his body become very light, and he had an urge to dance. He could no longer suppress the desire to move, so he followed his instinct and stood up. Turning his head, he saw himself still sitting on the sofa.

The other two were the same, but both were familiar with this. Zatanna waved her hand and said, "Let's go. First, we'll find Schiller's soul in the spirit realm, and then we'll enter his memory."

Constantine and Batman said nothing, just letting her execute the plan. Zatanna flew into mid-air, and Constantine and Batman followed behind her, shuttling through a space filled with hazy mist.

The spirit realm was not empty. Batman found that he could still see the scenes of the real world, but these scenes were like being covered by a thin layer of mist, and the colors became more brilliant.

He could see that as he swept across the city, countless souls emitted various lights. Neon lights flowed on the surfaces of buildings, and the wakes left by flight cut through the light, appearing psychedelic and brilliant.

"You think this is magical, right?" Constantine said while flying, "But in fact, the spirit realm is far more dangerous than you imagine."

"The reason it appears so ordinary here is because demons are unwilling to come to Cat Getan. If you changed to another city, you might encounter demons looking for food or monsters native to the spirit realm at any time."

Batman frowned. Constantine explained further: "The spirit realm seems to have existed since ancient times, and so have the monsters here. But for some reason, Cat Getan not only has no demons, but even the nameless monsters that should have been born from the power of the spirit realm have disappeared."

Hearing Constantine's words, Batman pursed his lips. But at this moment, Zatanna shouted, "I think we're almost there! See that light spot ahead? That is Schiller's soul. He should be in the laboratory of Cat Getan University..."

"He should indeed be at Cat Getan University." Batman said. Zatanna stopped on the roof of a building and nodded, saying, "It seems that's him. Let's get closer... My god, is that the Green of the All?"

Batman followed Zatanna and stopped on the roof of a building. He saw that in the sky above the laboratory building, there was an unknown monster made of vines. It was incomparably huge and eerie, and at this moment, it was extending a thick vine into the teaching building.

"The Green of the All is dealing with Schiller, so why did he chase and kill me? Or did Schiller reach some deal with the Green of the All again?" Constantine asked, confused.

"Alright, don't waste time. Our goal isn't the Green of the All." Zatanna's hands began to glow, and then she explained: "I will directly use mind magic to intrude into his soul. At the same time, I will select the weakest link in his soul—simply put, the weakness in his memory."

"Humans all have things they fear and hate, don't they? Everyone has some bad memories. In these memories, their control over their own soul is relatively weak, and we can take advantage of the situation to fabricate some special memories or build a scene that is favorable to us."

"And his reaction in these scenes will affect his actions in reality. For example, we can build a scene where he is destitute and sells his umbrella, so in reality, he will voluntarily take out the umbrella and hand it over."

"Or, we can also simulate a memory where he hates the umbrella very much in a weaker link, making him throw the umbrella away himself. Of course, this will be a bit difficult, so it depends on the specific situation."

"Is there anything to pay attention to when entering the memory space?" Batman asked.

Zatanna thought for a moment and then said, "Remember, in every memory, there is generally a scene or item that can best stimulate his emotions. If we want to stimulate his weakness, we must find this item. The owner of the memory will have a more intense reaction when facing this item, so we can use it to guide the other party."

"Once this item is found, the other party might have an extremely intense reaction because their pain point has been poked. At this time, we must quickly find the way out; otherwise, we might face something very terrifying."

"Of course, after we get this item, we can use it as a support point for the fictional memory, and our first goal is to find this thing."

"Where will the way out be?" Batman asked again.

Zatanna paused and said, "Generally speaking, it will be in a place the other party is relatively resistant to or unwilling to contact. As long as we can find that place, we can get rid of that memory and go to a safer memory space."

"Alright, let's get ready to go." Zatanna waved her glowing hand lightly in the air, and a portal appeared. The three walked in. Then, Batman felt himself arrive in a tunnel filled with hazy light.

He didn't need to fly himself; the light ball at the end continuously transmitted suction. But at this moment, he heard Zatanna let out a scream.

"My god! His memory, why is his memory so chaotic??!! Hold on to me! Hurry, hold on to me! Otherwise, we will be separated!!!"

Hearing her shout, Batman subconsciously wanted to grab her hand, but everything happened too fast. The light ball at the end split into three, and the huge suction pulled the three toward three different directions.

Batman had just reached out his hand when he was instantly sucked into the light ball in the center, and then he lost consciousness.

It might have been a long time, or it might have only been a split second. When he opened his eyes again, Batman felt an intense white light flickering before his eyes.

After the initial dizziness, Batman found that he was lying on a hospital bed, and what he was wearing was no longer the Bat-suit, but a hospital gown.

He stood up from the bed and looked at this ward, finding it different from the wards in his impression.

This was a double room, which appeared a bit messy at the moment. The bed next to him was tilted, the table between the two beds was overturned on the ground, and water cups and sundries were scattered all over the floor.

Batman frowned. He saw that the patient information was hanging on the head of the bed next to him, so he walked over to look closely and found that it was written in a few lines of Chinese.

Batman knew Chinese; he knew almost all the mainstream languages in the world. But the name and information written on it made him feel unfamiliar. The only information it could tell him was that this seemed to be a mental hospital in China.

Batman frowned slightly. He knew he should be in Schiller's memory now, but why had Schiller been to a mental hospital in China?

At this moment, Batman didn't feel that the bed next to him was Schiller's, because it was a very typical Chinese name, which didn't look like an English transliteration. So, he looked around and started looking for clues in the room.

The entire ward was not large. Two beds were leaning against the left and right walls of the room. Opposite the beds, there was a cabinet for personal items, and between the two beds was a table, which was currently overturned on the ground.

Batman first pulled the curtains, but found that the scene outside the window was foggy, and he could barely see any specific scenery. He guessed that this might be because the memory space had not expanded outward.

Then, Batman walked to the side of the overturned table, put the table back in place, and picked up the water cup from the ground.

But just then, he found that the side of the table near his bed—the bed he woke up on—was very smooth, with no traces at all.

However, on the other side of the table, there was a very obvious circular mark. Batman looked at the cup in his hand, and after placing one of the cups on the circular mark, the shape of the cup bottom completely overlapped with the circular mark, which meant that this cup had always been placed here.

Batman leaned in to observe carefully. He found that one side of the circular mark was deeper and the other side was shallower. He paused, sat on the hospital bed next to the table, and after placing the cup on the circular mark, turned the handle toward himself.

Then he found that if the cup was filled with water and picked up by the handle, the bottom of the cup without the handle would inevitably rub against the table. Therefore, this circular mark would be deep on one side and shallow on the other.

This clue told Batman that the patient in this hospital bed might have obsessive-compulsive disorder. After all, judging from the overall depth of the circular mark, the patient's every action of drinking water was exactly the same; otherwise, it would be impossible to leave such a deep mark.

In recalling the series of actions of this patient, Batman suddenly froze for a moment, and another scene appeared in his mind.

Batman walked to the side of the bed without marks and sat down, watching the slightly old wall skin of the mental hospital peel off, the wooden floor being pulled out strip by strip and turning into tiles, the table changing from round to square, and Schiller opposite him drinking a cup of water just sent over by a gang leader.

When Schiller put the cup down, the crisp sound of the cup bottom touching the table was deafening. Batman saw Schiller flick the handle of the cup with one finger and then turn the handle toward himself.

At this moment, the distance between the cup handle and the edge of the table completely overlapped with the distance between the circular mark and the edge of the table. ===== CHAPTER 941 =====