Chapter 802: How Schiller Initially Split Apart (Part 2) (Patreon)

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If we were to explain all of this in somewhat humorous terms, we could only say that shoddy construction projects did a lot of harm, skipping plastering on the brickwork had serious consequences.

Victor furrowed his brow and touched his temple with his hand. "Shattered... What does that mean?"

"It's just what it sounds like," Schiller, his finger continually tapping the bed's guardrail lightly, explained. "The tower I built wasn't sturdy enough, and people were standing too high. As a result, the entire personality shattered into many pieces. For a long time afterward, I've been trying to piece it back together."

Victor wanted to call this absurd, but he felt it might be because this metaphor was a bit too relatable.

In the original explanation, there should have been many professional terms he couldn't understand, so Schiller deliberately chose to be more straightforward.

Otherwise, it would be too childish, could personalities really shatter? Even more bizarre was the idea that they could be glued back together???

"During this time, I wasn't in a normal societal environment, but I knew I had to go back because I still had things to do," Schiller continued.

"I had to find a way to make myself look like an ordinary person, perhaps by trying to piece the fragments back together, sticking them with something, or adding some grout in between, pretending it's a piece of contemporary art or something..."

Schiller sighed, "The reason I chose psychology as my major was because the psychologist who treated me was truly professional."

"Of course, it's also possible that my vase-repairing skills weren't right back then, and he saw through it every time, so I had too many pointless expectations for this profession. As a result, I can't even find suitable students now..."

Schiller shook his head helplessly, but Victor didn't find Schiller's explanation, which sounded like a joke, funny because he heard something heavier behind it.

"Because I couldn't glue the vase back together, I had to find another way out. I thought, instead of displaying a vase that's glued crookedly, it's better to just take out a piece of broken porcelain and call it an antique fragment."

"But to achieve this was not easy at all. After much thought, I decided to build another house, as long as this house could provide enough space for every fragment to reside and let them operate separately at different times and under different circumstances. That way, it might be easier."

"So, you built another high tower?" Victor asked.

"Yes, things went smoothly, and my plan was correct. I placed the shattered personality into the new house and invoked them in parts, which made me appear much more normal."

"But soon, a problem arose. If you want to use these fragments according to a plan, you need someone to manage them."

"Even in a newly built house, it had to be maintained. We needed a front desk receptionist, maintenance workers, security, janitors, transportation workers, lobby managers, and so on. I had to create a complete system in my own mind to ensure it wouldn't easily descend into chaos and collapse."

"It sounds like a fantasy," Victor sighed.

"Correct, soon I realized that the fragments weren't enough," Schiller sighed, "In a building, it couldn't be filled entirely with property employees; there had to be some residents, right?"

"So, apart from the functional personality fragments, I further broke down the memory part, turning each personality trait that emerged from memories into a separate fragment. They became the primary residents of the high tower, while the functional personalities became property staff."

Victor shook his head, finding all of this incredibly crazy. But after a pause, Schiller continued, "I'm explaining all this because you must understand where these things came from before you can know what happened the day I met Bruce."

"Normally, the personality fragments within my Temple of Thought represent fractions of zero point zero zero one, and when you add up these numbers, it must form a complete 'one' because all the fragments are from one whole personality that broke apart."

"If you cut a pizza into eight slices, whether you separate those eight slices or put them back together, they should eventually form a complete pizza," Schiller offered a straightforward analogy. "Before that day, the situation in my Temple of Thought was like this."

"When I came to the city of Gotham, I realized I needed a more formidable workforce to handle the various dangers here," Schiller touched his eyes. "However, Temple of Thought couldn't spontaneously create employees. All personality traits are actually fragments from the complete shattered personality."

"If you want to create more employees, you have to find an existing fragment and split it in half. This way, while they continue to perform their original job, they can also take on a new role."

Victor's thoughts told him that he understood what Schiller was explaining, but his common sense was telling him that this was simply too insane.

In essence, the volume of personality traits remained constant; it's just that, after infinite divisions, you could have an infinite number of employees.

And shortly after arriving in Gotham, Schiller, as the existing personalities couldn't adapt to the situation here, needed a new employee to handle the various circumstances.

But the total of all employees and property staff couldn't exceed one, so they had to split one-thousandth into two halves, making it two halves of one-thousandth. This way, they spontaneously gained an extra employee.

"And then?" Victor inquired.

"The personality fragment that got split into two halves belonged to a very special department, in general, it could be considered a branch of the emotional subordinates. The trait represented by this personality was 'arrogance.'"

"On a very ordinary day, a morning that was neither sunny nor warm, Anna told me that the new recruits at the registration office had taken leave, so I went to fill in for a day. That's when I met Bruce Wayne at the registration desk."

"It was because this personality trait represented arrogance, and he had some judgments about Bruce Wayne that went beyond reality. Based on these judgments, he took some actions that piqued Bruce Wayne's additional interest in an ordinary university psychology professor."

"All of this happened very suddenly, and none of the property owners and property managers in the high tower realized what was going on. They only heard a series of laughter from that personality."

"Afterward, he took a series of actions, but he felt it was entirely normal. The other property owners and property managers in the high tower didn't realize the severity of the situation."

"They should have stopped him when he, as this 'employee' who heard laughter, made this crazy move of entering the streets of Gotham at night, but because they had never experienced anything like this before, the emergency response department didn't give any warnings, which caused everyone's reactions to be delayed."

"And then?" Victor listened attentively; he felt this was quite an interesting story, likely a part of Schiller's dark history.

"On a certain night when I was out, I encountered Batman, who was investigating a case at the time..." Schiller's finger grazed the bed's guardrail, and he paused for a moment before continuing.

"You should know that when a professor with a considerable background in psychology, representing the trait of arrogance, encounters a mentally ill patient who has deceived even himself due to some mysterious reasons..."

"We engaged in some rather heated discussions about law, criminology, and behavioral studies," Schiller placed his hand on the side of his neck, and Victor looked at him, asking, "So, was this injury caused by a Batarang?"

Schiller nodded and said, "When my nerves transmitted the pain to my brain, the personality traits in the Temple of Thought began to raise alarms."

"The personality traits in the logic department finally realized that something was amiss. They found that what this personality trait was doing didn't align with my usual approach or my interests and safety needs..."

"What happened to the personality trait that was working?" Victor asked.

"It got contaminated," Schiller glanced at Bruce again, saying, "For some very mysterious reasons, at the very moment Batman directed his attention at me, this personality was contaminated by some sort of virus."

"The target orientation of this personality trait completely changed and no longer aligned with the need for regular work. So, the 'me' you see now is the 'me' you know. And the 'me' you see now is the other half of the personality fragment representing arrogance, also representing arrogance."

"Are you very arrogant?" Victor wondered for a moment and then said, "I don't think so?"

Schiller shook his head and said, "The personality trait is arrogance, but it doesn't mean that the personality traits I exhibit are arrogant, or that I would be arrogant towards anyone or anything..."

"So, what does this have to do with Bruce's current situation?" Victor asked.

"The problem lies here. We were originally one personality fragment, just split in two. Even though he got contaminated, he was still converted from my personality fragment, and he retained the trait of arrogance."

Schiller looked at Bruce and continued, "And the object that contaminated him has a special obsession with Batman. When you combine these two motives, it can lead to some very serious consequences. For instance, this personality trait firmly believes that Batman will make the choice he desires."

Schiller sighed and said, "Arrogance is a very unique emotion, encompassing traits like generalization, paranoia, stubbornness, and more. Under very strong driving forces, it can lead to various dangerous outcomes."

Victor also looked at Bruce and asked, "So, is this the result of that?"

"Correct. The contaminated personality trait believes that Batman is always a god, a higher being. He occasionally descends to the mortal world only because he wants to see how pitiful his lambs are, providing material for his dream of saving the world."

"This personality trait is very stubborn in believing that by thoroughly depleting Batman's physical and mental strength using certain methods, making Batman extremely weak and miserable, and then making him realize that in order to survive in the lower world, he must abandon his principles and compromise with these people he finds pitiful, who are actually the criminals he despises the most, it will inflict physical and mental harm on him, causing a mental breakdown."

"In this way, Batman will surely retreat to his cave and lick his wounds, just as he has done on several nights."

"So, Batman came to the hospital for treatment?" Victor asked.

Schiller shook his head, speaking with a very complicated tone, "But he never imagined that Batman would decide to become one of these people."

Schiller paused for a moment, and it seemed like his emotions were still churning. He said, "This also means that he acknowledged that he is no different from these criminals."

Victor understood Schiller's implication, but he still asked, "Did he really let go?"

Schiller closed his eyes and said, "I don't know, but if a person hasn't truly let go of their hatred, then perhaps, they wouldn't genuinely laugh from their heart, would they?"

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Next Chapter>>Chapter 803: How Schiller Initially Split (Part 3)