Chapter 453: The Beginning of Confrontation (Part 1) (Patreon)

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In a spacious and bright doctor's office, Merkel sat in front of Schiller, who was buried in writing medical records. Merkel frowned and asked, "So, you mean I am in your dream now?"

"Correct. Now, can you tell me exactly what's going on?" Schiller replied.

Merkel's demeanor was quite different from his usual mature and steady appearance as a young butler serving in the Manor. He appeared calm and amiable, always talking about the weather and carrying a unique British humor. In short, when you see him, you can easily associate him with the most typical British butler.

But now, when he frowned and squinted his eyes, a sharp temperament spread from him, making it hard not to associate him with certain professions related to agents or soldiers.

"If I don't tell you, can't I leave here?" Merkel asked.

Schiller shook his head and said, "No, you can't stay here for too long. If a person stays in a dream for too long, their body's functions will be affected, just like a plant that has been asleep for years, and their muscles will atrophy."

"I mean, will you let me leave here?" Merkel asked again.

Schiller nodded and looked into Merkel's eyes, then said, "I hope you can understand one thing. I spent money and time to find a butler who can take care of the Manor for me."

"But when I was away, you rummaged through my things and ended up here. So please don't say that I imprisoned you. This is entirely your own mistake, and I am the victim."

Merkel seemed to want to say something, but Schiller interrupted him before he could speak.

"I don't care what your political stance is or what other purposes you have for doing this job. But I hired you to do your job well."

"I hope I don't have to remind you of how many things you messed up during this time."

Merkel always frowned, and Schiller saw that he was completely clueless, so he continued, "Merkel, you haven't been here for long, but during this time, you forgot to deliver food to the newsboy, ruined two newspapers while ironing, broke a button on a custom suit, almost broke a decoration on my desk, and left a deep scratch on the teak bookshelf with a handcart. These losses are more than three times your commission."

"I hope you think about why I haven't fired you yet, even though I know you're a Soviet spy and you're clumsy."

Merkel widened his eyes, and he also wanted to know why.

If, as Schiller said, he had already noticed something was wrong when Merkel got off the train, why did he still hire him? And why didn't he fire him even when his work was not going well?

It was the winter of 1988, and those familiar with history might know that the situation during the Cold War was very severe. During this time, no normal American was willing to have any relationship with the Soviet Union.

"Are you making a statement to me?" Merkel asked.

Schiller sighed and covered his forehead with his hand, saying, "I guess you haven't received much training, or you're simply a self-taught spy."

"I won't even mention how you used spy tactics in front of a newsboy to handle a cigarette butt."

"I can also ignore the fact that you did nothing for a long time after coming to my Manor because you didn't dare to take risks."

"I can even not mention how you opened my personal mail without judgment and didn't get any important information.""When you adopt a radical attitude in this situation and demand that I speak clearly, it doesn't add to my pressure, it only exposes your guilt," Schiller sighed and said. "I guess you're a pure British person, but you got involved in some cause because of certain ideological education."

"Now, what occupies most of your mind is still ideals and struggles. I can't say that this is wrong, but obviously, you seem to have simplified things too much."

Merkel frowned and stared at Schiller, saying, "No matter how you slander me, I won't shake my attitude."

"Okay, let's change the topic. What mission did you come here to execute?" Schiller asked.

Merkel remained silent.

Schiller propped his face with his finger, slightly tilted his head, stared into Merkel's eyes, and said, "When you were in the Manor before, you didn't like to look directly into my eyes. Actually, you should know that this is not out of politeness, but because there is something in your eye contact that cannot be hidden."

"This is actually a very interesting phenomenon. All the Marxists I know have different eye contact from others."

"Do you know any other Marxists?" Merkel finally couldn't help but ask.

Schiller suddenly changed the topic and said, "Since you came into my dream during this time period, it means that you should have started from the third floor of the Manor and worked your way down, finally touching the bottle on the bookshelf. Did you find anything else?"

"Do you have anything to be found?" Schiller showed a rather helpless expression and said, "Your thinking is completely immersed in the work of an agent, to the point where you don't even realize how stiff your use of language is."

"You need to understand one thing, Merkel. You must have more doubts than me now, and you must have more questions to ask than me."

"If you want to get answers to these questions, you must first answer my questions. Do you think the answers you want to know are not worth revealing some information in exchange?"

Merkel stared at Schiller's eyes in silence, seeming to confirm whether this was another trap. But in the end, he spoke, "I can't guarantee that I will answer every question."

"Okay, one question for one question. If you can't answer, I'll move on to the next one."

Schiller played with his pen in his hand and asked, "Did you find anything in my Manor?"

Merkel paused, and his expression became somewhat vivid, as if recalling something unpleasant. He said, "I can understand that for safety reasons, you locked every door in the Manor. Okay, if it's for safety, then you can give each door a different lock, and it's understandable that different locks correspond to different keys..."

"But why did you hide every key in different places, design a puzzle for each key, arrange several clues for this puzzle, and crack several codes to get these clues, and go to the library to flip through several books to get these codes..."

Merkel raised his finger to cover his eyes, and his tone revealed deep helplessness. "That's why I came into your dream at this time. I spent most of the night solving these damn puzzles."

"He... am I crazy?" Schiller muttered in confusion.

"What?" Merkel asked.

"Nothing, did you solve it?"Merkel gave Schiller a resentful eye contact and said, "After spending several hours, I finally opened the door and ended up here the moment I touched that bottle."

"Don't be upset. I recently updated the puzzle library on the second floor of the room because someone gave me a pretty good hardcover edition of 'The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.'"

"If you opened the doors in order from south to north, then you should have at least finished the first two puzzles. I think that's the most impressive part. What about you?"

"Is this the second question?" Merkel asked.

"Come on, don't be so boring. It's just a casual conversation," Schiller waved the pen in his hand and lowered his head to look at his medical records. He said, "You always try to gain the upper hand with a dominant attitude at every crucial moment. It's probably because you're in a vulnerable position and lack a sense of security."

"You see, every action and expression of yours reveals a lot of information. It's not just about putting on a cold face with a show of dominance that can deal with me."

Merkel's eyes remained fixed on Schiller. In fact, he felt something strange because the Schiller in front of him seemed unusually patient.

Actually, Merkel knew that his current attitude couldn't be described as lacking a sense of security; it could even be said that he was somewhat fearful. During his time working at Schiller Manor, he had spent a lot of time with Schiller and knew what kind of person he was.

Merkel had never studied psychology, so he didn't know the professional terms for certain conditions. He could only sense that Schiller was somewhat neurotic, with many stubborn and rigid habits, and his temper was somewhat inscrutable.

He would invest a great deal of time and effort in some peculiar and useless things, such as putting a different lock on each door, then setting up hundreds of puzzles to protect the keys. He would also spend a lot of time polishing those peculiar collectibles like umbrellas, an Earth globe, a telescope, and glasses, among others.

But at the same time, he appeared very impatient with many important matters. For example, he would read the newspaper during breakfast without fail. If either breakfast or the newspaper arrived late, he wouldn't start.

He strongly resisted breaking his routine, but he would often go out in the middle of the night.

When he spoke, he was always direct and to the point, hardly considering the feelings of the listener. He would also make a big deal out of some very ordinary communication, intentionally letting people know that he had seen through the essence of their inner thoughts.

This temperament, which was very different from ordinary people, made Merkel feel that he was a bit crazy.

And now, the Schiller in front of him seemed perfectly normal, almost too normal.

When Merkel decided to put on a tough stance, he actually had no intention of leaving here alive. Based on his understanding, his mysterious employer wouldn't have the patience to listen to the usual rhetoric used in interrogations by agents.

Merkel also didn't know how long he could hold on in this kind of communication.

Originally, his expectation was that whether he could leave here alive or not, as long as he didn't reveal the secret in his heart, it would be considered a success. He never anticipated that he would still have room for negotiation.

Schiller's change of attitude had no logical basis, so Merkel could only assume that Schiller was in a good mood at the moment, which made him relax a little and try to seize more opportunities to save his life, preferably by obtaining some intelligence.

"Well, it seems like you're not interested in chatting right now. So, you can ask your first question," Schiller said.

Merkel swallowed and gradually relaxed his body, focusing his attention on his thoughts. He looked into Schiller's eyes and asked, "How did you manage to do it?"

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