The persistent knocking on the door echoed along the corridor of Xiler's Thinking Hall. The impatient Arrogant finally opened the door, and a figure clad in a white coat squeezed through the small gap almost instantaneously.
"Help...help..." Greed leaned against the door, gasping for breath while reaching out to open the door wider. He peeked out into the corridor.
Arrogant silently watched him from the side. Only after Greed confird that no one was chasing him did he finally relax, slump down by the door, and say, "Guess what? The Supre Magician, Iron Man, and Professor X are all in my room in the Thought Palace, conducting a consultation for !"
Arrogant furrowed his eyebrows and crossed his arms while looking at Greed, "Why don't you just usher them out?"
"Guess who's leading this consultation?" Greed responded, sowhat agitated. "It's Morbid! How could I eject him as well?"
As Arrogant moved towards his room, he comnted, "It serves you right! Who told you to threaten the system back then? Morbid has always been proud of our power during our youthful years."
Greed sat down on the couch in Arrogant's room, looking miserable. "Well, now Morbid will definitely tell everyone that my greed and loneliness have nothing to do with each other. They are purely personal hobbies. They won't have any psychological burdens when they start weaning off."
Arrogant snorted disapprovingly, but he still sat down behind the desk, talking while writing a letter, "So what do you plan to do? Last ti you were weaning off, I offered to take your shift, and you refused."
"DC is really boring." Greed complained, "Batman, Batman, Batman. Repetitive missions, a small map, and the psychological problems superheroes face are all restricted to adolescence."
"You know, I'm not particularly knowledgeable about child psychology, pedagogy, or family ethics, and I have no interest in cultivating an excellent graduate over four years."
"I wish I had t Batman. I would have tried to make him go bankrupt, so he would be too busy making money and wouldn't have ti for wandering thoughts." Greed mumbled grumpily.
"It's one thing for Strange and Tony to co, but why is Charles here too?" Greed sighed deeply. "Actually, he is the most troubleso. I can easily fool those two idiots who don't understand psychology. Professor X, however, is the real issue."
Arrogant, seemingly reminded of sothing, paused with his pen but quickly continued, "It's no use hiding here, Adam will probably find you soon and ask you to help him solve the problems in the universe. Dealing with the Destroying Worms isn't an easy task."
"I hope he cos quickly, this is my last supper..." Greed spoke sorrowfully.
As expected, it wasn't long before there was movent around the physical body of Shiller in the real world. As Shiller opened his eyes, he saw Adam shaking him awake.
"Wake up! Wake up quickly! Shiller! The Antimatter Universe channel has suddenly expanded, by one hundred and twenty tis no less, it's already affecting the stability of our Pri Universe!"
Adam's face was filled with anxiety and disbelief as he said, "I only left for a short while, how did the Antimatter Universe open such a big gap?!"
"Anyway, you need to go and sort out these problems quickly!"
"And what are you going to do?" Shiller asked, looking at him.
"What else can I do?!" Adam gritted his teeth bitterly, glowering at the only just awakened Strange. "I have to go to the Pri Universe to find his hand and prevent him from spreading chaos in our universe!"
Shiller waved his hand expasperatedly, "What are you waiting for? Go ahead, if you can really bring back that hand, we'll overlook your mischief."
Upon hearing these words, Adam's eyes welled up with tears. But soon, he realised there was sothing wrong with that statent. When did he ever ss things up? He was clearly dutifully debugging the code.
But he didn't have ti to argue about that now. He needed to retrieve his signal from the great world before Strange went crazy. He was already forced into a corner, if he provided more evidence for the authorities, wouldn't that be the end?
After Adam hastily left, the Whirlpool began to explain the current situation in the cosmos to Shiller and Strange.
"Oblivion has inford that the dinsional structure of the Giant Teleportation Gate of Xi'a Empire has undergone so changes. The exact cause is still under investigation, but we can't rule out human error."
"The gateway to the Antimatter Universe is unstable, and in parallel to changes in dinsional paraters, the gate has mutated as well."
"The good news for the Positive Matter Universe is that the gate now harms the Destroying Worms, and so specialised individuals can't withstand the violent dark matter particles, therefore they can't invade the Positive Matter Universe."
"But the bad news is that the colliding streams of positive and negative matter are causing mutations amongst the weaker life forms in the Positive Matter Universe and the Insect Race of the Antimatter Universe. This has led to the evolution of demons, which pose a significant threat to life in both universes, as they are naturally born amidst the chaotic streams of positive and negative matter."
Shiller listened patiently to Whirlpool's explanation, but he didn't ask him to do anything. Instead, he said, "Oblivion had better figure out quickly what went wrong with the dinsional structure. Not that I expect his answer to solve our problems, but if he can't even do that, he might as well go on a business trip with Eternity."
After the perspiring Whirlpool left, Xiler was about to say sothing to Strange when he heard the very serious voice of Professor X in his mind.
"Xiler, I can hardly believe it. Why wouldn't you co to when your condition has beco so severe? That it has already caused so much damage to your life?"
Just as Xiler was about to respond, Charles interjected a continuous stream of words: "Of course, I know you're a psychologist, but don't you know that more than seventy percent of licensed practicing psychologists regularly consult another psychologist? Don't you think I have ti to help a friend deal with psychological issues?"
Xiler was quiet. Charles sighed softly: "I apologize for being so blunt, but if it weren't for the fact that I could not find you in the universe, so I had to look for you in your thought palace, and by chance, I t your other personality trait, the morbid one, I would not have known that your condition was at the critical stage of self-harm!"
"Xiler, as a psychologist, with so many superhero patients, how can you not pay attention to your own ntal health? Use scientific ways to relieve stress and maintain a healthy and calm mindset, be a good role model for all your patients? I believe this is what a good doctor should do."
Xiler had nothing to say. Charles was absolutely right, and he had the qualifications to offer such advice. From a human perspective, he was a thorough good person, and from a psychologist's standpoint, his dical skills and ethics were equally exceptional.
If Arrogant pursued success in his teaching career, then Greed identified professionally as a doctor, so he, of course, understood that if doctors in this world started to shy away from their illnesses, how could patients have enough confidence to disclose their illnesses and seek help?
"Listen, Charles, now is not the ti to talk about this..."
"I never cancel their group therapy sessions tonight because the X-n are going into battle tomorrow. Because a calm mind is the most important weapon in the face of wars and disasters."
Xiler shook his head. Clearly, he and Professor Charles had different philosophies.
Charles Xavier's dical philosophy was to treat when treatnt is necessary. Even if there's no disease, he argued for thorough examinations, prevention over treatnt, if treatnt has begun then it requires comprehensive cooperation from society to the individual, full dosage of dication, and constant vigilance even when the condition is stable.
Xiler often told his patients "If you don't feel anguish, you don't need treatnt," but Charles insisted that, in terms of ntal issues, patients might have been tornted by a terrible ntal state to the point of numbness. They subjectively might not feel any pain, and the calm appearance could mislead others into thinking they are fine. Such judgnt is unreliable.
Of course, your average psychologist might think this but lack the ans to verify it, but Professor X was different, he could directly check brainwaves.
"Do you think I'm suffering?" Xiler asked.
"You're not in pain right now, but rather, you're very excited, particularly when you found out another big trouble is about to land on your head."
"Then why treat it?"
"So, once the big trouble is solved, you look at a peaceful universe, what do you think erges in your heart? Is it the joy of survival and the reward of hard work like other superheroes?"
Xiler was silent while Charles's voice remained gentle. The concern that emanated from there was sincere.
"Emptiness makes you suffer, but precisely because those dangerous events are what you're looking forward to, the mundane and cozy days have beco emptiness to you. For that instant dopamine explosion, you sacrifice the joy in the long periods of companionship, exchanging it for hollow suffering."
"Everyone has to find a balance between these two - not only to have enough expectations when facing big events, energetically dealing with the big events of life but also look for comforting things to fill the void during the long ordinary days."
"For people with inherent deficits, balancing the relationship between the two is even harder, but you can do it, because you have done many harder and much greater things."
"You also don't have to worry about being unable to discern those you can't feel. Don't worry about doing too much or too little at certain nodes. I will accompany you like guiding a blind person forward, until you arrive safely, Xiler."
Sitting across from Xiler, Strange couldn't hear Professor X speaking in Xiler's head, but he noticed Xiler's expression gradually softening. Even though his eyes still contained unstoppable excitent, it seed like sothing else was surging from his heart.
Strange was sure that he had never seen such an expression on Xiler, not even during their detoxification treatnt sessions for Xiler. That expression was sowhat like the nostalgia, but more like reminiscence.
What was Xiler reminiscing about?
Strange furrowed his eyebrows slightly. After this incident, he realized that they knew very little about Xiler's past. Where did that grand tower co from? What do the thousands of pieces of personality traits represent? What caused its shattering, and what allowed it to heal again?
When Xiler finally snapped out of that dissociative state, Strange couldn't help but ask, "Who were you just thinking about?"
As if he hadn't fully awakened, Xiler instinctively replied, "... a good doctor."
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