Chapter 583: The Sudden Assault of Dead Memories (Part 2) (Patreon)

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Next, the stage continued to change rapidly, shifting between scenes—a dark alley, an office, a classroom. In each of these scenes, Hugo would be mercilessly beaten by Batman, and he'd either end up in police custody or a mental hospital.

As these scenes flashed by, Schiller's voice echoed throughout the theater. He said, "If you ever seek a psychologist in the future, remember not to choose one like this."

"Perhaps you already know that this doctor named Hugo Strange has a solid theoretical background. He even comes up with many small inventions, and his execution is commendable..."

"One could say that in terms of overall qualities, he's superior to me. After all, I cannot create a hypnotic machine or use physical means to hypnotize people. But there's one thing where I excel..."

"That is, I understand deeply that the ultimate goal of being a doctor is to heal patients, and if you aim to be a teacher, it's to educate students."

"If a doctor doesn't want to heal but instead wants to harm and control, or if a teacher isn't interested in educating but rather in manipulating, then their ultimate destination is a mental hospital."

Accompanying the visuals of Batman once again dragging the unconscious Hugo, this time to Arkham Mental Hospital, Schiller's voice turned cold, resembling the frigid Gotham rain.

"If he consistently has an unconventional understanding of his profession, it means he's not fit to be a good doctor or teacher."

"If he doesn't want to be an ordinary person, then he can only become a patient."

Victor slightly tilted his head and turned his gaze towards Schiller, asking, "Is this why you always claim to be an ordinary person?"

Before Schiller could respond, Joker Jack, sitting in the front row, suddenly jolted awake. He shook his head, stretched, yawned loudly, and muttered, "What a brief rendezvous! His temper is just terrible!"

Afterward, he turned his head back and looked at Schiller. "Ordinary people and his ordinary friends, Batman probably has realized that his memories have changed by now. He might be rushing back into his subconscious."

Jack had just finished saying this when, in the next stage, two Batmans appeared. One was standing in a small alley near Gotham Cathedral, and the other descended onto the rooftop of a large church.

As expected, in the alley, Batman faced Hugo, while the Batman standing on the rooftop scanned his surroundings. He didn't stop until he spotted the other Batman holding an empty salt shaker.

He recalled that this was when he had pursued the murderer of his parents. After visiting the killer, he found that the man had turned into an Alzheimer's patient, losing all capacity for resistance but still deeply fearing the name Falcone.

Recalling these scenes, his thoughts churned. He remembered a sentence Schiller had said to him back then: "Fear is the deepest and most difficult-to-erase scar etched into the human soul."

Just as he pondered this, the heavy tolling of bells resounded, echoing in every corner of Gotham...

He remembered that when he heard these bells, he swore to spread fear to every corner of the city, making all criminals tremble, just like the pervasive evening bells of Gotham.

The voice of Hugo pulled Batman out of his reverie. He suddenly realized that in the position of Schiller in his memories, it wasn't Schiller but Hugo.

Then he heard Hugo say, "How can you not seek revenge against him? He killed your parents, and now he's incapacitated. Isn't this the perfect opportunity?"

"If you let him go like this, how can you talk about revenge? What you should be holding isn't that broken shaker but a knife or a gun. You should go and kill him, follow your inner choice... go back... to slay your enemy..."

The Batman on the rooftop reached for his eyes, and, unsurprisingly, the other Batman in the alley punched Hugo, knocking him down.

The Batman on the rooftop took a deep breath and let out a slow sigh. He felt that if this were a dream, it was a terrible nightmare. If he had encountered a professor like this...

Batman couldn't help but envision the scenario. However, he believed he wouldn't succumb to Hugo's manipulation. Even if Hugo were truly like Schiller and appeared in his life for an extended period, Batman thought that within a semester, he would surely send this teacher to a mental hospital.

What would happen if, at the beginning of his Batman career, he had encountered a professor like this?

Watching his past self, the Batman who continuously asked Hugo the same questions, inquiring about his crimes, and if he didn't answer, breaking his legs, Batman felt that this shouldn't be him. Why had he become so obsessed? Viewing this behavior from an outsider's perspective, it truly resembled that of an irrational lunatic. Was this what he desired?

If he had initially envisioned spreading fear throughout every corner of the city using these methods, Batman suddenly understood why Schiller's expression would turn disdainful and somewhat sympathetic whenever he saw Batman throwing punches.

Because when viewed from a third-person perspective, Batman in this scene seemed even more like a lunatic than Hugo lying on the ground—paranoid, gloomy, and irritable. This was the epitome of antisocial personality, wasn't it?

Where would it lead if this continued?

Batman couldn't imagine such a scenario. However, he believed that if he continued down this path of thinking, he would create more advanced equipment for himself, devise more elaborate strategies, find more criminals, and then use these tools to deal with them. What would come next?

If he dealt with all the criminals, what would he do?

Perhaps he would view everyone as potential criminals, formulate more plans, and be prepared to confront them at any moment, even putting some of those plans into practice.

Fighting non-existent illusions was a typical symptom when a person suffering from a mental illness had an episode. Batman recalled a phrase he had once read in a psychology textbook, possibly written by Schiller...

Batman shook his head and began to contemplate whether the Batman he had imagined in this scenario was truly afflicted with a mental disorder.

Furthermore, he started to wonder if the relentless suspicion and violence that had arisen from this suspicion were truly necessary. Were they a result of his own will, or were they symptoms influenced by a mental illness?

As the saying goes, when you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail. After studying psychology, everyone appears to have a mental disorder, including oneself.

The stage froze on Batman deep in thought. Then, it gradually collapsed, and when the scene changed once more, the room layout on the stage appeared somewhat unfamiliar.

It looked like a guest room in a manor. A handsome young man sat on the edge of a bed, while another frail, small man occupied a chair near the head of the bed.

Victor turned his head and looked at Schiller, asking, "Is this when you met that Metropolis student named Clark?"

Schiller nodded and said, "This Dr. Taichi seemed to want to compete with me as well. Since he's in Metropolis, it's good to have him guide Clark..."

The young man sitting on the bed appeared troubled. He was sharing his worries, but it was evident that Taichi wasn't paying serious attention. He had no interest in the trivial matters happening at the school.

"You mean you can casually run and achieve world record-breaking results?" Taichi asked Clark with a raised voice. "Do you have any other miraculous abilities?"

Clark, caught up in painful memories, wasn't cautious enough. He said directly to Taichi, "I'm very fast, incredibly strong, and I have some other extraordinary abilities. But I don't know where they come from, and they've caused me a lot of trouble..."

"Trouble?!" Taichi raised his voice. "You dare call these immensely powerful abilities 'trouble'? Are you insane?"

Clark appeared somewhat bewildered, and Taichi exclaimed loudly, "You should use it for something! You could even rule this city! Rule this country and even Earth itself, why don't you?"

"Why should I do that?" Clark stared at Taichi with a puzzled expression. "Why should I rule Metropolis, or Earth for that matter?"

"Because you are more powerful than them, more powerful than anyone!"

"Why should being more powerful than everyone mean I have to rule over them? I can help them, save them, but I won't interfere in their lives, just as I wouldn't want others interfering in mine."

"You're a madman!" Taichi jumped off his chair and screamed, "You could easily have everything! You could have all the Alices in the world, turn the entire Earth into a paradise! And yet, you're troubled by such incredible power?"

"No, I won't change the lives of ordinary people, because the rules I create for them might not be to their liking. They might feel unhappy, and besides, I won't make any rules. I haven't even graduated from college..."

Clark's thoughts were clear, and he was nothing like Batman, who could obsess over a single issue for days. Despite possessing the world's most intelligent superbrain, he often approached things from a perspective of kindness as a human being...

Compared to Batman, whose mission was to combat crime, Superman's stance was more about helping others. From his perspective, the only thing that needed distinguishing was who needed help and who didn't. Or rather, in Superman's eyes, everyone needed help, as long as it fell within his capabilities, he would help as much as possible.

There was no wavering in his core stance. Superman could handle the chatter of villains in Gotham with ease. If, like in the movies, there were scenes with two ships, each with a bomb and people pressing buttons, Superman would consider both sides as weaklings, both in need of his help.

Joker could talk endlessly, but Superman would just dismantle one ship's cabin and carry it away. By the time Joker finished speaking, he'd probably have taken over three hundred punches from Superman.

Superman aimed to help every person equally, and when someone became the ultimate saint, he remained unwavering.

So, no matter how Taichi tempted, seduced, or persuaded him, Clark felt he couldn't do it.

Finally, Taichi lost his patience. He pulled something strange from his suitcase, placed it on his head, which looked like a hat but more like a device, with a circle of light bulbs that emitted light.

It was Taichi's Brainwaves controller, a device he had developed. Not only did it work in the Dream Realm, but in reality, it was also activated simultaneously.

Taichi could control it with Brainwaves. When he activated the Brainwaves controller in the dream, the real-world Brainwaves controller would search for the Brainwaves currently connected to Taichi and enter his consciousness space to modify his memories.

Everything had gone smoothly so far. The real-world Brainwaves controller had been successfully activated and had reached Clark's Brainwaves, entering his world of consciousness.

As mentioned earlier, Schiller had sent these two individuals into the subconscious of Batman and Superman, starting from his Temple of Thought, descending into the Dreamland, then along the Dreamland, finding the consciousness of Superman and Batman, and finally, entering their subconscious, bypassing their conscious minds.

However, Taichi's Brainwaves controller couldn't do this. When he entered someone else's world of consciousness, he directly entered their conscious mind, which was very unstable.

Clark had been sleeping peacefully in his school dormitory, even having a dream. However, when the Brainwaves controller invaded his consciousness, his mind started to become active.

Normally, when consciousness started to become active, it meant transitioning from sleep to wakefulness. But the Brainwaves controller's hypnotic function kept pacifying Clark's Brainwaves, preventing him from waking up.

However, as the superbrain's activity increased, the vast amount of information stored in Superman's mind also became active. While the consciousness was continuously calmed, it remained in a dream. When these vast amounts of information started moving, there was no space for them to go, and now, only one channel was open...

When all the redundant information rushed into Taichi's mind through the Brainwaves controller's channel, he didn't even have a trace of resistance left. All of his consciousness space was filled with this garbage information.

Just how extensive was the extraneous information in Superman's brain? It was probably to the point where Schiller would feel dizzy just by looking at it...

Clark had a relatively shallow understanding of the extent to which he could apply his superbrain. He hadn't learned how to process and filter information; instead, he had learned to record it all. Every piece of information he had encountered since birth was stored in his brain, down to the tiniest detail.

From a computer science perspective, suddenly being filled with so much information had already reached a level of intrusion and disruption.

Taichi's superficial consciousness space had fallen, but what set him apart from others was that he had done some research on his own consciousness space.

In the fairy tale Manor, the rabbit hole in the backyard was actually a passage to Taichi's subconscious, similar to the hole Schiller dug in the Temple of Thought's ground floor.

Realizing that his superficial consciousness was beyond salvation, Taichi desperately leaped into his own subconscious through the rabbit hole.

It can be said that at this point, there was still a chance to save the situation. All that needed to be done was to clear out those pieces of information. Taichi thought this way too.

However, as his personality sank into his subconscious, his superficial consciousness no longer had any personality activity. As a result, Brainwaves activity also stopped, and he couldn't control the Brainwaves controller any longer, nor continue hypnotizing Clark.

Just because Clark wasn't using his superbrain didn't mean he couldn't control his own consciousness space like an ordinary human. Just before waking up from the real world, he sensed that his brain was being invaded.

So, he had no choice but to wake up and sink into his consciousness space, wanting to see what was going on. At this point, the Brainwaves controller's channel was still open. Clark followed this channel and entered Taichi's superficial consciousness.

Discovering that his own memories were crowded here, Clark initially thought someone had stolen his memories. Consequently, he began searching for this culprit on the surface, eventually finding the rabbit hole.

Without much thought, Clark jumped directly down the rabbit hole and coincidentally encountered Taichi, who had just taken refuge here.

Clark, within his conscious self, had no knowledge of who Taichi was, but Taichi knew exactly what wrongdoings he had committed. Seeing Clark approach, he bolted, and Clark, sensing his guilt, chased after him.

Taichi had no chance of outrunning Clark, and soon he was about to be caught. His only option was to flee through a particular path.

When Schiller had come to pick up Hugo and Taichi to enter Batman and Superman's consciousness space, they had taken the same route, the one leading from Dreamland, creating a passage from the depths of Taichi and Hugo's subconscious directly to Dreamland.

In other words, there was a hole at the bottom of Taichi and Hugo's subconscious, leading straight to Dreamland.

With no other escape, Taichi reluctantly jumped down the hole, knowing that beneath it lay a fantastical realm. If he could enter that realm and find a place to hide, he might be safe.

On the other side, Hugo, who was being pursued by Batman, had the same idea.

And coincidentally, there was a hole in Batman's subconscious, one that Joker had created when he ventured into Batman's mind through Dreamland.

Hugo searched for an escape route and, finding only this one, didn't hesitate to jump down. Batman, not wanting to fail his exams, was determined to catch up...

So, Taichi and Superman, Hugo and Batman, all entered Dreamland through the holes in their own consciousness spaces.

The four of them chased and ran, and now, things were even livelier.

Clark had no idea why Batman was here and thought he was here to assist Taichi. Batman, upon seeing Taichi, realized he was another murderer involved in the case, and he wanted to pursue him as well.

In Dreamland, when Hugo and Taichi encountered Batman and Clark, it was chaos. Batman's darkness clashed with Clark's radiance, resulting in constant explosions.

As the drama unfolded, Morpheus in the audience couldn't sit still. After disappearing with a "whoosh," Schiller brought out a bottle of wine. The others, without needing any reminder, leaned back in their chairs, preparing to enter the dream.

Morpheus rushed back to his home, only to find it mostly demolished. Instantly, anger surged within him, overpowering his fear.

Suddenly, all activity in Dreamland ceased, and Morpheus appeared in the center of the battlefield. His robe billowed without wind, and his demeanor exuded both power and authority.

"Stop all of you! You wretched humans! You've disrupted Dreamland and must pay the price..."

Everyone was immobilized, unable to move. Morpheus knew the extent of his own power and didn't notice the anger in Clark's expression.

Seeing Clark's position, he understood the source of this anger. Clark was just a step away from capturing Taichi, and now Morpheus had frozen everyone in place. In Clark's eyes, this was nothing but protecting Taichi.

When it came to carrying out justice, Superman had little patience for those who resisted.

Morpheus took a deep breath and sighed. Suddenly, he saw a shadow of a ship in the distance.

A large ship slowly approached and stopped far away from Morpheus. Angrily, Morpheus shouted, "Schiller! Look at the mess you've made! Why are you standing so far away? Afraid I'll beat you?!"

Schiller, standing at the front of the ship, shook his head and said, "I'm not afraid of you hitting me; I'm afraid..."

As he spoke, he extended a finger and lightly pointed it behind Morpheus. Morpheus snorted and said, "Don't think you can use these tricks..."

In an instant, an incredibly dazzling light burst from behind him. A sun rose in the dreamland kingdom, and the center of the light grew brighter until it burned a hole through the entire space.

Silently and abruptly, in a single moment of brilliant radiance, everything within sight in Dreamland was leveled.

Upon seeing the light, Batman remembered the twenty-plus floors of Schiller's building that had been demolished. He quickly retreated and was then pulled back onto the ship by Schiller.

The dream god Morpheus made a last-ditch effort to resist, but his reaction time was too short. He was also too close to Superman. When the sun exploded, he was thrown the farthest.

He was considered the farthest thrown because the other two human souls had no chance to fly away. Like moths drawn to a flame, they melted on the spot.

When Morpheus landed and lay there, blinded by the brilliance, he heard a low, echoing horn sound. He saw the shadow of a large ship...

He saw two figures jumping down from the ship. One of them was Schiller, and the other figure seemed vaguely familiar to Morpheus, or rather, very familiar.

Constantine walked casually to where Morpheus lay, lit a cigarette, took a drag, exhaled a cloud of smoke, and then looked down at Morpheus, saying:

"Now, you can finally tell me why you didn't want to give me a pleasant dream, can't you?"

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Next Chapter>>Chapter 584: Schiller's Mishap (Part 1)