Chapter 951: What Shiler Fears Most (Part III)

But at the same time, Batman, who put himself in Shiler's position, also understood that for people who have fallen into this kind of thinking, repeatedly emphasizing to them "You are wrong, this won't work" and "You must do this or that" is useless.

Their persecutory delusion is already deep-seated. No matter who gives them advice, they will feel that there is a trap hidden behind this advice. Batman used to think this way.

He would find many people to give him advice, such as Gordon, Harvey, and Shiler, but he wouldn't completely trust the advice these people gave him. After comprehensive thinking and repeated consideration, he would instead analyze the personalities of these people based on the way they gave advice and the content of the advice, to deal with the traps in the non-existent advice.

This sounds like returning evil for good, but in this state, it is more like a compulsive behavior. At that time, Batman couldn't control himself, couldn't stop himself from thinking about these problems. One plan after another, one backup after another, kept circling in his brain.

Batman certainly wanted to save Zatanna. Even if they were no longer lovers, they were at least friends, and could be considered old friends for many years. He didn't want to see Zatanna go down such a path of self-destruction.

Just like Shiler, Batman didn't want there to be one more crazy person in this world wearing a straitjacket and sitting in a chair looking at the moon.

Since tough persuasion and advice were useless, Batman didn't intend to persuade Zatanna to go back like Constantine, but said to her, "If you have other ways, you can try, but I believe you should have discovered that Professor Shiler is not an ordinary person."

"Constantine and I have seen the full picture of the Mind Tower. It is a magnificent building beyond anyone's imagination. Fragments of his personality traits live in this tower. The number is inestimable, but perhaps there are hundreds or thousands."

"The memory space of such a person must be very dangerous. We only explored the shallow layer and encountered so many dangers. If you still want to go one step further, you must be prepared."

Batman rarely said so much at once. Originally, he wasn't a talkative person either. Therefore, after he finished saying these words, Zatanna thought about it seriously, then frowned and said, "What you said makes sense. Just the few memory fragments we have experienced tell us that he is a madman, a criminal, and has a high level of professional expertise."

"But I think it's still worth a try. We are not trying to stimulate him, just want to go deep into the memory space to take a look at what he fears most. If operated properly, it won't be discovered."

Hearing this, Batman asked somewhat puzzled, "Can you see what he fears most?"

"Everyone has things they are afraid of, right? If the weakness items we obtained before are items that once left him with psychological shadows, for example, the straitjacket might represent his unpleasant life in the mental hospital, the butcher knife might represent his dark memories of being treated as an experimental subject, the building blocks might represent the mental trauma he suffered in childhood..."

"These things count as weaknesses and shadows, but they can't be called what he fears most. When everyone asks themselves 'What do I fear most?', they will have a first reaction, which is often what they fear most."

Zatanna turned to look at the points of light floating in mid-air and said, "Memory is not complete and coherent. Perhaps many people feel their memory is fluent when recalling certain things, but in fact, it is also spliced together from fragments of many scenes."

"And what can piece these scene fragments into complete memories is called the memory path, which refers to what clues people use to recall this memory."

"For example, some people follow chronological order, thinking of what they did in the morning, what they did at noon, and then what they did in the evening. Some people use logical memory, thinking of what the cause is first, and then what the result is."

"These memory paths can become our channels, and each memory fragment can serve as our springboard. As long as the direction is correct, we can find the memory scene where he once asked himself in his heart 'What is the thing I fear most?' through constant shuttling and jumping."

"Then, we can find his first answer in his heart in a certain moment of memory, which is what he fears most."

Batman understood Zatanna's explanation. This was nothing more than making the process of human thinking more concrete, more like another explanation for human memory.

"The only problem is, do you really have spare energy?" Batman looked at Zatanna's somewhat pale face and said, "From the process you described, constant shuttling and jumping will definitely consume a lot of power."

Zatanna pursed her lips, seeming unwilling to show weakness. She lifted her chin slightly and said, "I can't possibly have weaker willpower than an ordinary person, right? Bruce?"

Looking at her stubborn appearance, Batman had some words on the tip of his tongue but couldn't say them. Zatanna making such a decision might also be because she wanted to prove that her leaving without saying goodbye back then was not without reason. She wanted to prove to Batman that she was indeed doing her best to protect this world.

Constantine, standing on the side, saw them looking at each other affectionately, sighed, and said, "Fine, fine, you two are both justice warriors. It seems I can only risk my life to accompany the gentleman."

"Seriously, if it weren't for the Curse of Ultimate Evil you mentioned that could really destroy the world, I wouldn't be willing to come here to take risks. But since we've already come here, let's go see what Shiler is afraid of."

Zatanna waved her hand, and countless memory balls of light flew around her. Immediately after, the white light gradually spread, forming a storm around the three of them. Zatanna raised her voice and said, "Get ready, we are going to start shuttling!"

After a violent white light, Batman discovered that he was in a weightless space, and the scenery in front of him was retreating rapidly.

Zatanna led the way, with Batman and Constantine as flanks flying behind her. The three began to shuttle through countless balls of light, like spaceships shuttling between the stars.

One ball of light after another retreated before Batman's eyes, and in the brief moment of line-of-sight intersection, he saw many shadows of Shiler's past, but stories he had never understood.

There was Shiler reading a book, Shiler in the examination room, Shiler driving, Shiler sleeping...

Time passed like a white horse passing a crack, memories were like flowing light. In the process of the soul shuttling and flying, memory became the best scenery, just like the scenery flashing past the train window. There was no heart-shaking beauty, but it always made people feel like seeing faded old photos.

Just as Batman was immersed in observing what kind of memories were recorded in each ball of light, Zatanna in front suddenly shouted, "Prepare to land!"

Batman held his breath and concentrated. The next second, a violent sense of weightlessness attacked him. A white light flashed, and when he had his feet on the ground again, the first thing he heard was not the sound of footsteps landing, but Zatanna's scream.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!"

Batman immediately turned his head to look, but before seeing Zatanna, he first saw Shiler wearing a straitjacket and a mask.

Before he could speak, Constantine's scream came from behind: "Zatanna!!"

"You jumped wrong?!"

"!"

Zatanna, who was busy dodging the attack of the straitjacket straps, shouted, "I didn't! I jumped according to the compass needle! The direction indication of mind magic is absolutely correct!"

"Then why did we return here?!" Constantine turned into an ash clone again, appearing in another direction, but the next second, he was whipped by the straitjacket straps onto the wall next to him.

Batman looked closely and discovered that this was the memory space where he had obtained the straitjacket before, and it was the same follow-up clinic. The three of them had just fallen out of the previous door.

With no time to think, the three began to flee for their lives again. When they were in their prime, they still had to struggle with Shiler for a while. Now that the three had consumed a lot of physical strength and energy, there was no hope for a head-on battle.

Finally, the three rushed into the tool room downstairs. Zatanna panted heavily and said, "How is it possible? The needle was clearly pointing here. I couldn't have jumped wrong..."

After speaking, she took out a compass emitting magical brilliance and muttered in a low voice, "This is... this is something left by the Archmage Merlin. It's absolutely impossible to be wrong..."

Hearing the metallic "da-da" sound start again, Zatanna gritted her teeth, waved her hand, and the storm swept past. Several people returned to the shuttle again.

Zatanna took out a compass and stared fixedly at the needle on it, saying, "I won't read it wrong again..."

"Prepare to land!" Zatanna shouted again. The next second, the same dizziness, the same white light, the same sound of heavy objects landing, the same scream...

Batman felt that the puzzled expression he saw on the face of the straitjacket Shiler shouldn't be an illusion. They had returned to this follow-up clinic again.

This time, Zatanna didn't feel surprised anymore. She said firmly, "This proves that the place we are looking for might be right here!"

"Shake him off first, I'll use the compass to lead the way!" Zatanna shouted, and the three began to run again. But this time, perhaps because Shiler was stimulated, the desire to pursue was even stronger. The three circled around the building a few times before shaking him off.

Constantine was almost too tired to crawl up. He looked at Zatanna and said, "You should have used this plan earlier, we wouldn't have to be so embarrassed..."

"No one can predict the future." Zatanna sighed and said, "Fortunately, we already have some understanding of the terrain here."

She held the compass, light shone on her hand, and the needle spun wildly, then stabilized in one direction. Seeing this, Zatanna pushed the door and ran out again, then stopped at an intersection and said, "This way!"

She turned and ran over. The other two could only follow behind her. After circling a large circle again, Zatanna stopped in the corridor. She said, "No, it should be here, but why are there no rooms here?"

"Upstairs or downstairs." Batman said. Just as Zatanna asked again, he said, "It should be downstairs. Remember? The exit we found before..."

Zatanna showed a sudden realization expression and said, "The thing Shiler resists most... that's right! The exit of this world might connect two paths, one leading to the buffer zone, and the other leading to the room with the answer we want!"

"Go!" Zatanna started running again. She rushed down the stairs quickly, arrived at the first floor, and just happened to bump into the patrolling Shiler. The three had to speed up their pace again.

Shiler's speed was getting faster and faster. The straps almost touched the tips of Zatanna's hair. She used her last bit of strength to rush into the cafeteria.

Instantly, the white storm swallowed the three. The shuttling process took less than a second. After landing again, they arrived in front of a door.

Zatanna was almost completely unable to move, but she still supported herself on the door frame, stood up, panted heavily, and said, "Fine, he's ruthless..."

"Then, let's see, what would such a terrifying professor be afraid of?"

The remaining two also had almost no strength left, including Batman. He, who was in the best state just now, bore most of the firepower. There were wounds on his arms and waist, and blood stained his clothes.

He was also curious about the answer, because when Zatanna explained the principle of this shuttling and jumping plan, Batman thought of a question.

What Shiler thinks he fears most, what others think he fears most, and what he actually fears most—will the answers to these questions be the same?

And obviously, the door in front of them would tell them the answer to the first question, which is, what Shiler thinks he fears most.

This was still a topic Batman was very interested in, because if this answer existed, then Shiler was not as impeccable as his language style.

This might not be used to deal with him, but it could be used to mock him.

The next second, Zatanna pushed open the door, and the three walked into this room full of light.

The first thing that came into view was grass, flowers blooming in succession, and the forest in the distance, but none of these were as eye-catching as the huge object in front of them.

That was a huge, incomparably magnificent, towering into the clouds, covering the sky and sun—broccoli. ===== CHAPTER 952 =====