Chapter 949: Schiller's Greatest Fear (Part 2) (Patreon)

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However, at the same time, Batman, putting himself in Schiller's shoes, also understood that for people trapped in such thoughts, repeatedly emphasizing "you're wrong, this won't work," or "you should do it this way" was futile.

Their paranoid delusions had reached an advanced stage, and no matter who offered them advice, they would believe that hidden behind that advice were traps. Batman had once thought the same way.

He would seek advice from many people, such as Gordon, Harvey, and Schiller, but he wouldn't fully trust the advice they gave him. Instead, after careful consideration and analysis of their personalities, he would scrutinize the way they gave advice and the content of their suggestions, looking for traps within advice that didn't even exist.

This might sound like repaying kindness with enmity, but in this state, it was more of a compulsive behavior. During those times, Batman couldn't control himself, couldn't stop thinking about these issues, one plan after another, one contingency after another, constantly swirling in his mind.

Of course, Batman wanted to save Zatanna. Even though they were no longer lovers, they were still friends, long-time friends at that. He didn't want to see Zatanna go down a path of self-destruction.

Just like Schiller, Batman didn't want another lunatic in the world, someone confined in a straitjacket, staring at the moon from a chair.

Since forceful persuasion and advice were ineffective, Batman didn't intend to convince Zatanna to return like Constantine did. Instead, he said to her, "If you have another way, you can give it a try. But I believe you must have realized by now that Professor Schiller is not an ordinary person."

"Constantine and I have seen the full extent of the high tower of thought. It's a grand structure beyond anyone's imagination, with fragments of his personality dwelling within. Their number cannot be estimated, but there might be hundreds or even thousands."

"The memory space of such a person is undoubtedly extremely dangerous. We encountered so many dangers just exploring the shallow layers. If you want to go deeper, you must be prepared."

Batman rarely spoke so many words in one breath. Originally, he wasn't a talkative person. Therefore, after he finished speaking, Zatanna seriously pondered for a moment, then frowned and said, "You make a valid point. Just from the few memory fragments we've experienced, it's clear that he's a madman, a criminal, a killer, and highly skilled at what he does."

"But I still think it's worth a try. We're not trying to provoke him; we just want to take a glimpse into the deepest part of his memory space. If done correctly, we won't be discovered."

Hearing this, Batman had some doubts and asked, "Can you really see what he fears the most?"

"Everyone has something they fear, right? If we consider the weaknesses we found earlier as items that left a psychological shadow on him, like the straitjacket representing his unpleasant time in the mental hospital, the butcher knife representing dark memories of being experimented on, or the building blocks symbolizing childhood psychological trauma..."

"These things can be considered weaknesses and shadows, but they may not necessarily be what he fears the most. When each person asks themselves, 'What am I most afraid of?' their first instinct often reveals what terrifies them the most."

Zatanna turned her head to look at the floating points of light in the air and continued, "Memories are not complete and coherent. Many people feel that their memories flow smoothly when recalling certain events, but in reality, they are fragments pieced together from various scenes."

"And the ability to connect these fragments into a complete memory is called a memory path. It's about what clue people use to recall a particular memory."

"For example, some people follow a chronological order, thinking about what they did in the morning, at noon, and in the evening. Others use logical memory, thinking about the cause and then the effect."

"These memory paths can become our channels, and each memory fragment can serve as our stepping stone. As long as our direction is correct, we can keep traveling and jumping until we find the memory scene where he asked himself 'What am I most afraid of?'"

"Then, at a certain moment within that memory, we can discover his first answer, which is what he fears the most."

Batman understood Zatanna's explanation; it was essentially making the process of human thought more concrete, another interpretation of human memory.

"The only issue is, do you really have the strength for this?" Batman looked at Zatanna, who appeared somewhat pale. He continued, "Based on the process you described, continuous traveling and jumping will undoubtedly consume a lot of energy."

Zatanna pursed her lips, seemingly unwilling to appear weak. She raised her chin slightly and said, "I can't possibly have weaker willpower than an ordinary person, can I, Bruce?"

As Batman gazed at her determined expression, he had words on the tip of his tongue but couldn't bring himself to say them. Perhaps Zatanna's decision to undertake this mission was her way of proving that her earlier departure had a valid reason. She wanted to show Batman that she was doing everything in her power to protect the world.

Constantine, who stood nearby, sighed upon seeing the deep mutual gaze between them. He said, "Alright, alright, you two are both champions of justice. It seems I'll have to risk my life and accompany you."

"To be honest, if it weren't for that Curse of Extreme Evil you mentioned, which could really bring about the world's destruction, I wouldn't have ventured here. But since we're already here, let's see what Schiller truly fears."

With a wave of her hand, Zatanna caused numerous memory orbs to float around her. Then, a white light gradually spread, creating a storm around the three of them. Zatanna raised her voice and said, "Get ready, we're about to start traveling!"

After a fierce burst of white light, Batman found himself in a weightless space, with the scenery in front of him rapidly receding.

Leading the way, Zatanna was followed by Batman and Constantine on her flanks. The three of them began to shuttle between countless orbs of light, like a spaceship traveling through the stars.

One orb after another retreated from Batman's sight. During the brief moments their gazes intersected, he glimpsed many past images of Schiller, stories he had never understood.

There was Schiller reading a book, Schiller in an examination room, Schiller driving a car, Schiller sleeping...

Time passed quickly, and memories flowed like a stream of light. During their flight through Schiller's soul, memories became the most beautiful scenery, like scenes flashing by outside a train window. They weren't breathtakingly beautiful, but they left one with a sense of nostalgia, like faded old photographs.

Just as Batman was engrossed in observing every orb to decipher the memories they held, Zatanna suddenly shouted, "Prepare for landing!"

Batman held his breath and, in the next moment, a severe sense of weightlessness struck him. A flash of white light passed, and when he was back on solid ground, the first thing he heard wasn't the sound of landing footsteps but Zatanna's scream.

"Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah!!!!"

Batman immediately turned his head to look, but before he saw Zatanna, he saw Schiller, wearing a straitjacket and a mask.

Before he could say anything, Constantine's cry came from behind him, "Zatanna!!! Did you jump wrong?!!!"

Busy dodging the straitjacket's attacks, Zatanna shouted, "No! I followed the compass pointer! The direction indicated by the mental magic was absolutely correct!"

"Then why are we back here?" Constantine turned into ashes and reappeared in another direction, but the next moment, the straitjacket's restraints pulled him to the nearby wall.

Batman focused and realized that they were back in the same memory space where he had obtained the straitjacket. Furthermore, it was the same examination room. The three of them had just fallen out of the same door as before.

Without much time to think, the three of them started running for their lives again. They were at their peak condition earlier, but now both their physical and mental energy had been drained considerably. There was no hope for a direct confrontation.

Finally, the three of them rushed into a tool room downstairs. Zatanna gasped for breath and said, "How is this possible? The compass clearly pointed here; I couldn't have jumped wrong..."

She took out a compass emitting a magical glow and muttered, "This is something left behind by the great sorcerer Merlin. It can't possibly be wrong..."

Hearing the metallic "clank" sound again, Zatanna gritted her teeth and, with a wave of her hand, a storm swept over them, and they found themselves back in the midst of traveling.

Zatanna took out the compass again and stared at the pointer, saying, "I won't make a mistake again..."

"Prepare for landing!" Zatanna shouted once more, and in the next second, they experienced the same dizziness, the same white light, the same sound of landing, and the same screams...

Batman felt that the puzzled expression he saw on Schiller's face when he wore the straitjacket wasn't an illusion. They had returned to the same examination room.

This time, Zatanna wasn't surprised. She said confidently, "This proves that the place we're looking for might be right here!"

"Let's shake him off first, and I'll use the compass to guide us!" Zatanna shouted. The three of them began running again, but this time, perhaps Schiller had been provoked, and his pursuit was more intense. They circled through the building several times before finally losing him.

Constantine was almost too tired to stand, and he looked at Zatanna, saying, "You should have used this plan earlier. We wouldn't have ended up in such a mess..."

"No one can predict the future," Zatanna sighed and said, "But at least now, we have an understanding of the terrain here."

She held the compass, and the light on her hand illuminated it. The pointer spun wildly and then stabilized in a certain direction. Seeing this, Zatanna pushed the door open and ran out. She stopped at a corridor intersection and said, "This way!"

She turned the corner and ran ahead, with the other two following behind her. They circled around for a while until Zatanna stopped in the middle of a corridor. She said, "No, it should be here, but why is there no room here?"

"Upstairs or downstairs," Batman spoke up. Just as Zatanna was about to ask another question, he said, "It should be downstairs. Remember? The exit we found earlier..."

Zatanna had a sudden realization and said, "Schiller's greatest resistance... Right! The exit to this world may connect to two paths. One leads to the buffer zone, and the other leads to the room with the answers we seek!"

"Let's go!" Zatanna started running again. She dashed down the staircase and reached the ground floor, where she ran into the patrolling Schiller. The three of them had to quicken their pace once more.

Schiller's speed was increasing, and the restraints were almost touching Zatanna's hair tips. She used all her remaining strength to rush into the canteen.

In an instant, a white storm engulfed the three of them. The process of traveling took less than a second, and after landing again, they found themselves in front of a door.

Zatanna could barely move, but she still propped herself up against the door frame, panting, and said, "Well, give him credit..."

"So, let's see what this Professor, who is so terrifying, is actually afraid of."

The remaining two were also nearly out of strength, including Batman. Even though he had been in the best condition earlier, he had taken most of the fire, and his arms and waist were wounded, staining his clothes with blood.

He was also curious about the answer because when Zatanna explained the principle of this shuttle-jumping plan, Batman thought of a question.

Would Schiller's own greatest fear, what others believed he feared the most, and what he actually feared the most be the same?

And obviously, this door in front of them would provide the answer to the first question: what Schiller believed he feared the most.

This was still a topic that piqued Batman's interest because if this answer existed, then Schiller wasn't as flawless as his speech style suggested. It might not be a tool to defeat him, but it could be a means to mock him.

In the next second, Zatanna pushed open the door, and the three of them entered a room filled with radiant light.

What caught their eyes first was a grassy field, blooming flowers, and a distant forest. However, none of these were as striking as the colossal and magnificent object in front of them—a blue cabbage.

[Read at www.patreon.com/shanefreak, and thanks for the invaluable support!]

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Next Chapter>>Chapter 950: Danger (Part 1)