章 1481: Chapter 1000: High Tower Contest (34)_1

Shiller slightly tilted his head, pursed his lips, and then said, "Hmm...there are indeed some more clues, such as, Lady Dasala actually hails from the Medusa Clan, she has a son, called Atrigan, the relationship between Beelzebub, Lady Dasala, and Atrigan could be an internal breakthrough."

"So, that completes the clues." Shiller looked at Batman, Batman also looked at Shiller, after a few minutes of staring contest, Shiller spoke again: "…And one last thing, dealing with my other self under Beelzebub is quite challenging. He is proficient in conspiracies, adept at disrupting situations from behind the scenes, and good at long-term planning, however, he does have vulnerabilities. As for what they are, you will need to find out yourself."

After saying this, Shiller once again looked at Batman, Batman once again looked at Shiller, their staring contest resumed. Shiller furrowed his brows and said somewhat discontentedly, "You must understand that we are the same person. I would not divulge my vulnerabilities to outsiders..."

Shiller sighed, saying, "Okay, consider this as a complimentary gift for this round of psychological therapy: the weakness of a conspiracy is that he cannot step forward, if you were to get rid of Beelzebub, he will have to find another king. And if you get rid of that king too, he will just need to find another one."

"Of course, you could try to find him a king that is similar to the type that your helicopter engine belongs to. This way, in order for him to scheme, he must first persuade his superiors filled with righteous single-mindedness. He is not particularly good at persuasion."

Shiller continued to stare at Batman, Batman continued to stare at Shiller, Shiller pressed his forehead with his hands, saying: "There really is nothing more. You are seeking to avenge me, why would I lie to you?"

After saying this, Shiller began pacing on the spot. Looking down at his own footprints, he said, "I don't remember if I've told you this before, but this isn't a child begging for candy. You wouldn't be lingering around here hoping for me to write you a guidebook on how to bring down myself, right?"

"You seem to be very unsatisfied with the psychological therapy, of course, I am well aware, that you are not satisfied with my education and treatment. But do you remember what I said to you when we first met?"

"Don't pick my class, kid!"

"You chose the course yourself, you drew my attention because of your curiosity, and made me bear an unsolvable curse. But still I diligently taught you and even utilized my professional knowledge to provide you with psychological therapy...Don't look at me like that, you want to get some medication?"

"Although I have the right to prescribe, I must remind you that I haven't been dispensing a single prescription for nearly ten years. If you're not afraid of death, I will send the prescription to Wayne Manor."

"I am such a tolerant person, I even treat injustice with kindness. You must understand, my treatment methods..."

"So, I asked you, is your wound okay?" Batman interrupted Shiller's continuous chatter, looking into his eyes.

Shiller's pacing noticeably halted for a moment. He stood in the same spot, took a deep breath, and steadied his center of gravity with one foot. Turning around, arms crossed, eyes narrowed, he looked at Batman and said:

"Didn't you hear what I said earlier? I told you, I will be taken away by the agents, captured by Rotting Heart General. All these injuries are just a part of the necessary process of my merging."

"So, don't you feel the pain?"

Shiller was taken aback, or more accurately, he froze. He pursed his lips and asked Batman: "What did you say?"

"You do feel pain, don't you?" Batman also looked into his eyes.

Shiller showed a ludicrous smile. He bowed his head, blinked, and with a hint of regret, said, "Why don't you just ask me directly 'Do you bleed?'."

Shiller lifted his upper lip, revealing his teeth, staring into Batman's eyes. "You know, I don't entertain these antics, I lack morality, I can't be interrogated by conscience. The question 'To be God or to be man' holds no meaning for me, you didn't find a good knife."

"This isn't a knife," Batman took a deep breath and looked into Shiller's eyes: "I only want to know, is it really painful right now and also, how is the healing of the wound."

Shiller looked straight into Batman's eyes, slowly exhaled a word: "Scram."

Having said that, he turned and headed toward the castle, Batman followed him, but Shiller paid no attention to him at all.

Shiller returned to the end of the long table in the foyer, emptied his plate of cold food, and motioned to the Rotting Heart General behind him to provide some new assistance.

But Batman walked to the right-hand side of the table and sat down at the first seat. Shiller's fork-holding hand paused momentarily, but his attention remained solely on his meal.

"You are feeling nervous," Batman said. "Unnatural facial expressions, slightly trembling limbs, muscle contractions, increased heart rate, rapid breathing…"

"If I could see these words on your exam paper, I would be more pleased," said Shiller, not missing a beat. He put a perfectly square piece of meat into his mouth and began to chew.

"Even your chewing speed is different," Batman continued, watching Shiller's movements. "Your anxiety disorder is acting up, why?"

"The times when I am with you, my anxiety frequently acts up. If I were at Arkham Mental Hospital grading your paper, Brand would surely marvel at how all the anxiety-relieving medications could disappear overnight."

"You're talking more, too," Batman interrupted. "Increased heart rate, excitable nerves, accelerated blood flow."

Having said that, he glanced at Shiller's hand movements, and then added: "This will lead to dry mouth and loss of appetite. Currently, the pieces of food on your plate are on average two-thirds smaller than before. If you don't want to eat, there's no need for you to keep cutting."

With a "clang", Shiller's knife carved a mark on the surface of the plate. He sighed, put down the silverware in his hand. Although his fingers were still trembling, he wiped his mouth with a napkin.

Shiller turned his head and said to Batman, "I told you before, you're not cut out to be a psychologist."

As he spoke, he rose and walked over to Batman's side.

The next moment, Batman shifted his head as a sharp dinner knife was embedded next to his neck, less than a centimeter away. Shiller let go of the knife, looking down at Batman and saying, "Like I said, before starting any treatment, you should restrain your patient."

Shiller straightened up, took a deep breath, and slowly returned to his seat. He grabbed the back of the chair, pulling it forward. He took a new dinner knife from the demon's hand and looked at Batman's neck while talking:

"You should realize, the knife Agent gave me, was all part of my plan. Guilt is your feelings, but my weapon. But actually, this knife is not meant for you, Constantine is my target."

"So, you don't need to feel guilty about it, nor should you attempt to pay more attention to me. I've already experienced the power of your attention."

Shiller seemed to relax, the signs of an anxiety attack he displayed earlier faded away. He continued eating the food on his plate as Batman reached out his right hand, pulling out the dinner knife on his left.

"Why won't you believe that I truly care about you?" Batman threw the dinner knife onto the table, it clattered loudly. Shiller's movement faltered, but quickly went back to normal. Batman eyed him and asked, "..... heightened vigilance?"

"You suffer from autism, your emotions are weak, but you managed to become a psychiatrist, it signifies that you can discern others' emotions, this is why you just had an anxiety attack."

"Your logic tells you that I couldn't possibly care about you, but you sensed my concern, didn't you?" Batman shook his head and said, "This intense contrast even provoked an allergic reaction in you, similar to that to broccoli..."

"You're overthinking it." Shiller replied calmly. They fell into a silence. After few minutes, Batman suddenly asked, "Which do you fear more, my concern or broccoli?"

Shiller instinctively opened his mouth, but didn't utter a sound. Batman saw him and was caught off guard, then he exclaimed in shock, "... The word you were about to say, it isn't broccoli?!!"

Batman took a deep breath, calmed his surprise and slowly spoke, "You actually find my care scarier than broccoli?!!"

Batman felt his thought process was disrupted, the absurdity of the whole situation was far beyond his imagination. He recalled how the whole thing started.

Zatanna approached him and invited him and Constantine to search for the Curse of Evil. When he learned that Zatanna had the ability to journey into the mind, he accepted her invitation.

His reason for accepting was that he wanted to enter Shiller's Tower of Thought, to discover what Shiller really feared.

Next, they embarked on a thrilling adventure in Shiller's Tower of Thought. In the end, they reached a laughable conclusion - Shiller was afraid of broccoli.

At that time, none of the three of them took this conclusion seriously. Batman even thought it might be a joke set up by Shiller to make them look foolish, as Shiller often did.

But what was even more surprising was that Shiller really was afraid of broccoli.

A world-renowned psychology expert, a famous detective, a crime tutor, a lunatic who thrived and even led the trends in a city like Gotham, such a character should have a more profound and symbolically significant weakness.

Perhaps childhood trauma, heartbreak, or a scar left behind by a secretive heinous crime...

But it definitely should not be a common vegetable - broccoli.

However, Shiller really was scared of broccoli.

After confirming this fact, Batman really found the whole thing hilarious. Reality is often stranger than fiction, as it doesn't have to make sense.

To target Shiller's fear, he didn't need to pay the huge price he initially thought necessary. The cost it took to make a Bat Cloak could buy a mountain of broccoli.

Batman thought that was ridiculous enough, but just earlier, Shiller's instinctive reaction proved reality was even more absurd than he had thought.

Shiller was more afraid of Batman's concern than broccoli.

This meant Batman wouldn't even need to prepare a mountain of broccoli, all he needed was to show care.

The moment he realized this, Batman felt the world spinning. His frantic desire to know the answer to this question seemed rather laughable now.

What was more laughable was his resistance to using this answer.

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