Chapter 999: Battle for the Gao Ta (34)

Shiler tilted his head slightly, pursed his lips, and then said, "Hmm... there are indeed some additional clues. For instance, Lady Das actually belongs to the Medusa clan, and she has a son named Etrigan. The relationship between Belial, Lady Das, and Etrigan should be an internal breakthrough point."

"Now, the clues are truly finished." Shiler looked at Batman, and Batman looked at Shiler. After they stared at each other for a few more minutes, Shiler spoke again: "... There is one last tiny bit. The version of me under Belial is very difficult to deal with. He specializes in conspiracies, excels at hiding behind the scenes to stir up the situation, and is also good at long-term planning. However, he also has weaknesses. As for what they specifically are, you will have to find them yourself."

After saying this, Shiler looked at Batman again, and Batman looked at Shiler again. They continued to stare at each other. Shiler frowned and said with some dissatisfaction, "You must understand, we are both the same person. It is impossible for me to tell an outsider my own weaknesses..."

Shiler sighed and said, "Fine, consider it a bonus for this psychotherapy session. The weakness of a conspiracy is that it cannot be brought into the light. If you manage to take down Belial, he cannot become the king himself; he can only go find another monarch. And if you take down that other monarch as well, he will still only be able to go find the next one."

"Of course, you could also try to find him a monarch of the same type as your helicopter engine. That way, if he wants to plot a conspiracy, he must first convince his boss, who is full of justice and stubbornness. He is not very good at convincing people."

Shiler continued to stare at Batman, and Batman continued to stare at Shiler. Shiler pressed his hand against his brow and said, "There really is nothing more. You are going to avenge me; why would I lie to you?"

After saying this, Shiler began to pace in place. He looked down at the footprints he had made and said, "I don't remember if I told you, but this isn't a game of children begging for candy. You're lingering here—don't tell me you want me to write you a strategy guide on how to defeat myself?"

"You seem very dissatisfied with the psychotherapy. Of course, I know you are very dissatisfied with my teaching and treatment, but when we first met, what did I say to you?"

"Don't take my class, kid!"

"You chose the class yourself. The attention you cast upon me out of curiosity has burdened me with an unsolvable curse, yet I still conscientiously teach you, and even use my professional knowledge to provide you with psychotherapy... Don't look at me like that; are you trying to get a prescription?"

"Although I have the right to prescribe, I must remind you that I haven't written a single prescription in nearly ten years. If you aren't afraid of death, I will mail the prescription to Wayne Manor."

"What a tolerant person I am, even deserving to be called someone who returns kindness for evil. You must understand, my treatment method..."

"That is why I am asking you, how is your wound?" Batman interrupted Shiler's rambling, looked into his eyes, and said.

Shiler's pacing paused very noticeably for a good while. He sighed in place, steadied his center of gravity with one foot, turned around, crossed his arms, narrowed his eyes, and stared at Batman, saying:

"Did you not listen to me earlier? I already said that I would be taken away by the agent and captured by General Fuxin. Getting so many wounds is just a necessary part of my integration."

"So you don't feel pain?"

Shiler was stunned again, or rather, frozen would be more accurate. He pursed his lips, looked at Batman, and asked, "What did you say?"

"You have a sense of pain, don't you?" Batman also looked into his eyes and said.

Shiler revealed a very absurd smile. He lowered his head, blinked, and said as if sighing, "Why don't you just ask me, 'Do you bleed?'"

Shiler raised his upper lip, bared his teeth, stared into Batman's eyes, and said, "You know, I don't buy that. I have no morals, and I won't be forced by conscience. The question of 'being a god or being a human' has no meaning to me. You haven't found a good knife."

"This is not a knife." Batman took a deep breath, looked into Shiler's eyes, and said, "I just want to know if you are in a lot of pain right now, and how the wound is healing."

Shiler stared straight at Batman and slowly spat out one word: "Get out."

After saying this, he turned and walked toward the castle, and Batman actually followed him, but Shiler completely ignored him.

Shiler returned to the end of the long table in the front hall, sat down, dumped out the food on the plate that had already gone cold, and used his eyes to command the demon behind him, letting General Fuxin provide him with some new help.

Batman, however, walked to the right side of the table and sat down in the first seat on the right. Shiler's hand holding the fork paused, but he continued to focus on the food on the plate.

"You are feeling nervous." Batman said in a deep voice, "Facial expressions are unnatural, limbs are trembling slightly, muscles are twitching with tension, heart rate is increasing, breathing frequency is too fast..."

"If I could see these terms on your exam paper, I would be happier." Shiler said without changing his expression. He put a piece of meat cut into a perfect square into his mouth and began to chew.

"Your chewing frequency has changed." Batman stared at Shiler's movements and asked, "Your anxiety disorder is acting up. Why?"

"When I am with you, my anxiety disorder often acts up. If I were grading your thesis at Arkham Asylum, Brand would definitely be surprised at why all the anti-anxiety medication disappeared overnight."

"Your words have also increased." Batman said, "Heartbeat is accelerating, nerves are excited, blood flow speed is increasing."

After saying this, he glanced at the movements of Shiler's hands and then said, "What follows is dry mouth and loss of appetite. Now, the volume of food on your plate is two-thirds smaller than before on average. If you don't want to eat, you don't have to keep cutting it."

With a "clang," Shiler's blade carved into the surface of the dinner plate. He sighed, put down the cutlery in his hand, and although his fingers were still shaking, he wiped his mouth with a napkin.

Shiler turned his head to look at Batman and said, "I said before, you are not suitable to be a psychologist."

As he spoke, he stood up and walked to Batman's side.

The next second, Batman tilted his head, and a sharp dinner knife was stuck less than a centimeter from the side of his neck. Shiler let go, looked down at Batman, and said, "I already said, before starting treatment, you should have restrained your patient."

Shiler straightened his body, took a deep breath, walked slowly back to his seat, sat down, grabbed the back of the chair, pulled the chair forward, took a new dinner knife from the demon's hand, and then looked at the side of Batman's neck, saying:

"You should understand that the knife the agent gave me was entirely within my plan. Guilt is your emotion, but it is my weapon. But actually, this knife isn't aimed at you; Constantine is my target."

"So, you don't need to feel guilty about this at all, nor do you need to try to cast more attention on me. I have already experienced what kind of power your attention has."

Shiler seemed to relax. The expressions of his anxiety disorder acting up just now had completely disappeared. He kept eating the food on his plate. Batman extended his right hand and pulled out the dinner knife on his left side.

"Why won't you believe that I am truly concerned about you?" Batman threw the dinner knife onto the table, making a "clang" sound. Shiler's hand movements paused immediately, but soon, he returned to normal. Batman looked at him and said, "... Increased alertness?"

"You suffer from autism, your own emotions are relatively weak, but the fact that you can become a psychologist shows that you are still able to perceive the emotions of others. This is the reason why your anxiety disorder just acted up."

"Your logic tells you that it is impossible for me to care about you, but in fact, you have perceived my concern, haven't you?" Batman shook his head and said, "This kind of intense contrast even caused you to have an allergic reaction similar to the one you have to broccoli..."

"You are overthinking it." Shiler replied without changing his expression. The two fell silent. After a few minutes, Batman suddenly asked, "Between my concern and broccoli, which one are you more afraid of?"

Shiler instinctively opened his mouth, but made no sound. Batman saw his mouth shape and was stunned. Afterward, he said in shock, "... The word you wanted to say just now, it wasn't broccoli??!!!"

Batman took a deep breath, panted for a while, calmed his shock, and then slowly said, "You actually think my concern is more terrifying than broccoli??!!!"

Batman felt that his thinking was a bit chaotic now. The absurdity of the whole thing completely exceeded his imagination. He remembered the initial cause of this whole thing.

Zatanna approached him and invited him and Constantine to find the whereabouts of the Curse of Extreme Evil. And when he learned that Zatanna possessed the ability of mental travel, he agreed to Zatanna's request.

And the reason he agreed was because he wanted to enter Shiler's Tower of Thought to find out what Shiler was afraid of.

Next, they went on a series of ups and downs in the rooms of Shiler's Tower of Thought, and finally, they reached a conclusion that left them both crying and laughing—Shiler is afraid of broccoli.

At that time, none of the three took this answer seriously. Batman even felt at the time that this might be a joke Shiler had set up long ago waiting for them to make fools of themselves, just like that madman often did.

But what happened next was even more beyond his expectations: Shiler is truly afraid of broccoli.

A world-class psychology expert, a famous detective, a criminal mentor, a madman who can be like a fish in water in a city like Gotham and even lead the trend—such a person, appearing in various literary works, should have a deeper, more special, and allegorical weakness.

For example, childhood trauma, for example, emotional wounds, for example, scars left behind in some unknown sinful story...

But no matter what, it shouldn't be an extremely common ordinary vegetable—broccoli.

However, Shiler is truly afraid of broccoli.

After confirming this fact, Batman truly had a feeling of being unable to cry or laugh. Reality is often more absurd than fiction, because reality doesn't need to follow logic.

To target Shiler's weakness, there is no need to pay the huge price Batman had previously envisioned. The cost of making one Batman cape could buy a mountain of broccoli.

Batman originally felt that this was already very outrageous, but just now, Shiler's instinctive reaction told him that reality is even more outrageous than he thought.

Compared to broccoli, Shiler is actually more afraid of Batman's concern.

In other words, Batman doesn't even need to prepare a mountain of broccoli; preparing a mouth is enough.

And when realizing this problem, the first reaction in Batman's heart also made him feel a sense of spinning.

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The answer to this question, which he had once desperately wanted to know, was simple to the point of being ridiculous.

But what is even more ridiculous is that he is resisting using this answer. ===== CHAPTER 1000 =====