Chapter 348

"How did you know I was here too?" The voice of Lady 'Justice' rang out with a smile.

Lu Mian looked at the opposite seat, unsure if anyone was sitting there, and replied with a smile:

"There's no harm in offering a greeting."

Su Qian took over the conversation:

"Congratulations on completing the first step of your revenge. Shall we have a brief chat about this?"

"No problem." Lu Mian did not show any obvious emotional fluctuations at the word "revenge."

Of course, this was also because he did not have the "Torture" gauntlets with him. After all, this was a follow-up consultation focused on psychological assessment, and he could not add external influences to avoid misleading the doctor's judgment.

Starting from seeking helpers and formulating a plan, he spoke about his experiences over the past two days. Aside from concealing the secret of the "Curly-Haired Baboons Research Society," he mentioned everything else in general terms.

After a brief silence, Su Qian's gentle voice rang out once again:

"Your mental state is well-maintained. Although you still have overreactions in specific scenarios, this is normal. Psychological treatment is not about making a person lose their emotions or feelings, but about helping you put down your burdens, learn to reconcile, find your inner strength, and no longer be crushed by nightmares. Otherwise, according to the claims of some unreliable psychiatrists, directly removing your frontal lobe would make you calm forever."

"Removing the frontal lobe?" This was the first time Lu Mian had heard of such a treatment method.

Su Qian's tone carried a hint of disgust:

"This is a hypothesis that only appeared in the last two or three years. It cannot achieve the intended purpose at all and will only cause serious harm to the patient. I can feel obvious malice in this treatment plan, as if it were deliberately spread by some inhumane fellows who want to see the jokes of doctors and patients."

A prank that disregarded other people's lives? Lu Mian turned the topic and said:

"Ms. Su Qian, you haven't even asked about my feelings or analyzed my thoughts, yet you've concluded that I've initially recovered and don't need a follow-up consultation?"

Su Qian's mood improved rapidly, and she said with a smile:

"Sometimes, a person's behavior reflects their psychological state better than their thoughts. You need to know that humans are creatures very adept at deceiving themselves, always finding a pile of reasons for their own actions, which is far less authentic than their behavioral performance. To evaluate an accurate psychological state from these complex and contradictory thoughts, one must conduct an in-depth analysis, and this easily triggers problems. Therefore, I chose to start with your behavior.

"Clearly, whether you are willing to admit it or not, you have rebuilt your social relationships, have a certain level of trust in others, and are willing to let others trust you.

"Before surrounding and capturing Guillaume Bénet, you were able to think calmly and prepare seriously. Although there were impulses and a few pathological, twisted expressions during the action, this was unavoidable; not having them would be the time to consider if a more serious psychological problem had emerged. And once the matter ended, you quickly returned to a relatively normal state, threw yourself back into life, and continued further investigation.

"Synthesizing the above behavioral performance, congratulations: you no longer have strong self-destructive tendencies and have truly walked out of the abyss of pain.

"Of course, pain will not disappear; it will only soften and fade. At some point in the future, it might suddenly be triggered again and occupy your heart once more, but there is no need to panic. With the experience of this period, I believe you can handle it well. From a psychological perspective, this is a manifestation of recovery.

"Similarly, the past will inevitably leave marks on us. Your self-destructive tendencies, degree of extremism, and pathological expressions are certainly stronger than most people's, but they are all within a reasonable and normal range."

After listening, Lu Mian slowly exhaled and said:

"Actually, I can feel it myself. My state now is completely different from when I first arrived in Trier.

"Thank you, Ms. Su Qian. Thank you, Lady 'Justice'."

He could clearly discover that, thanks to the treatment of the two psychologists and his various experiences in the Market District, he had slowly walked out of the initial crazy state where he cared about nothing, where everything was indifferent, and where it didn't matter even if he died. He had changed from a vengeful evil ghost into a relatively extreme person who wanted revenge and had sufficient ability to act.

"This is actually a self-redemption." Su Qian's tone was clearly happier than before. "The ones you need to thank most are yourself and your sister Aurora. If it weren't for the fact that you still held onto a glimmer of hope and still had some will to survive, and if it weren't for the fact that Ms. Aurora gave you nearly six years of wonderful time, allowing you to reminisce and shaping your thoughts, we would have had no way to pull you back."

Hearing this, scenes suddenly flashed through Lu Mian's mind:

Aurora using deep breaths to alleviate her irritability while teaching him knowledge; the storms of her combat lessons and the sudden "attacks" in daily life; the two of them sitting in the study, each reading different books, enjoying the quiet, enjoying the night; himself as the primary test subject, forced to eat the successful or failed recreations of hometown food made by his sister...

Lu Mian's expression gradually softened, and he remembered a sentence his sister had written in a certain novel:

The happiness and pain of the past equal the me of the present.

After a dozen seconds, he sat up straight and asked:

"Did all my nightmares last night come from that King Cake game?"

This time, it was Lady 'Justice' who responded, her voice soft and clear:

"Yes. From the current situation, you should have been subjected to a certain degree of mental corruption at that time."

"Mental corruption? Does that really involve supernatural power?" Lu Mian asked curiously.

Lady 'Justice' replied:

"Normally, that simple ritual of sacrificing the King Cake could not possibly succeed. Otherwise, this game wouldn't have been popular in Intis for hundreds of years, only gradually being forgotten by people until the Republic was established, leaving only a few families to remember it."

"Yes, I felt the same way at the time. Pouif neither used mystical language nor recited the complete honorific name; it was impossible for the sacrifice to succeed." Lu Mian echoed.

Lady 'Justice' continued:

"But there is one exception: if the sacrificer and the object of the sacrifice have a blood connection and share many similarities.

"If you frequently participate in Pouif's King Cake game and suffer the mental corruption brought by the ritual time and time again, that won't be solved by just having a few nightmares. Before they completely fade, they will gradually twist your mind and make you go crazy."

"Do the contents of those nightmares have symbolic meaning?" Lu Mian hummed and asked.

Lady 'Justice' said at a steady pace:

"That is very likely a combination of certain crazy events that happened in the past, projected into your dreams with the help of the corruption."

"So there really is such an ancient castle, and there really are such crazy people..." Lu Mian nodded thoughtfully.

After chatting with the two psychologists, 'Justice' and 'Su Qian', for a while longer, he felt that today's follow-up consultation was nearing its end.

At this moment, Lady 'Justice' took the initiative to say:

"Didn't I mention before that there might be something I need your help with?"

"No problem." Lu Mian agreed very readily.

Just consider it the fee for the psychological treatment!

Moreover, he believed that Lady 'Justice' must have considered her own abilities before making the request and that it wouldn't be too dangerous.

Lady 'Justice' said with a smile:

"If it can be successful, I will give you an extra reward, which happens to satisfy your needs in a certain aspect."

"Changing my appearance?" Lu Mian felt a surge of joy.

"Something like that." Lady 'Justice's' soft, clear voice became a bit more serious. "I hope you can go to a certain ancient tomb in the fourth level of the Trier catacombs and help me retrieve a bottle of 'Samaritan Woman's Spring'."

Samaritan Woman's Spring? Lu Mian was exceptionally stunned inside.

Lady 'Hela' had just mentioned that she came to Trier to search for something in the depths of the catacombs, and at the same time, she had asked about the legend of the "Samaritan Woman's Spring"!

Could this be too much of a coincidence?

Seeming to perceive the thoughts in his heart, Lady 'Justice' said with a smile:

"Do you think it's too much of a coincidence?

"Yes, I just hope you can take advantage of that Lady 'Hela's' exploration action to help me get some 'Samaritan Woman's Spring' water back. If you relied only on yourself, the hope would be very slim.

"Actually, I could have 'arranged' for you to go in a more covert way, but that would violate my philosophy and principles. This kind of matter still requires face-to-face communication with you to obtain your consent, rather than letting you be passively involved through secret arrangements to achieve my goal.

"To me, being addicted to manipulating others' minds is a very dangerous thing.

"Of course, being frank is also an effective means of influencing others' minds."

Lu Mian's vigilance and suspicion were dispelled. He asked doubtfully:

"Lady 'Justice', since you know the approximate location of the 'Samaritan Woman's Spring', why don't you go retrieve it yourself instead of having to find a Beyonder like me who is only Sequence 7?"

The Major Arcana cards of the Tarot Club must be demigods, far more powerful than him by an unknown amount!

Lady 'Justice' smiled:

"Simply put, in some places, the higher the sequence, the more dangerous it is."

There are places where the higher the sequence, the more dangerous it is? Lu Mian felt this exceeded his understanding.

Lady 'Justice' added:

"The higher the sequence, the closer to the original, and the more madness accumulated, naturally making it easier to be affected by certain corruptions.

"'Hela' also has benefits in this matter; at least it can save her time and allow her to lock onto a range for searching."

Lu Mian pondered for a moment and accepted Lady 'Justice's' commission, learning from her the approximate range of the "Samaritan Woman's Spring":

In an ancient tomb at the westernmost end of the fourth level of the catacombs.

…………

Ending the follow-up consultation, Lu Mian returned to White Coat Street in the Market District, intending to retrieve the "Torture" gauntlets from the iron cabinet.

Just as he entered the safe house, he suddenly had a strange intuition:

Someone had been inside!

Someone had been in his safe house!

Lu Mian's heart tightened. He strode forward and opened the iron cabinet.

Seeing that Aurora's witchcraft notes and the "Torture" gauntlets were still there, he couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.

Immediately after, he carefully identified the items and discovered that one item was indeed missing:

That piece of Earth Blood Ore was gone!

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(End of chapter)