First scared by Cobblepot, then frozen by Victor, yet Hugo still didn't want to give up. He thought that this might also be an unlikely coincidence; two geniuses with unique consciousness spaces gathered together and beca master and apprentice. As slim as this possibility was, it was not impossible.
Besides these two people, the most recent one who had a treatnt record was Evans Falcone.
When Hugo saw this surna, he hesitated for a mont, but he still decided to invite him over. Hugo thought that as long as he didn't take any radical asures and only took a look, he should not provoke that famous godfather.
Falcone's situation was similar to Cobblepot's. He wasn't aware that Shiller had left; he was more receptive to follow-up appointnts. When he ca to Hugo's consultation room, as in previous sessions, Hugo had him lie on the chair, then turned on the machine and attached the patch to his own head.
After entering Falcone's consciousness space, Hugo froze again because, in Falcone's consciousness space, there was a grand theater.
This wasn't really a problem, as it was just the sa situation as with Cobblepot. However, the issue was, next to this theater, there was an old mansion that was half-constructed.
Having two buildings would be fine, but the one beside was still under construction. As Hugo entered, a figure stepped out of the halfway-built building, looked Hugo up and down, and said, "Who are you? How did you get in here?"
Suddenly, his expression changed, "Are you a killer?"
Hugo noticed the man's hand had twitched slightly. But he soon regained calm and said, "No, if he wanted to kill , he would have co in person..."
At this point, Hugo also realized that this person, existing in Falcone's consciousness space, seed different from Falcone himself. He asked, "...Dissociative identity disorder?"
"That's right, you're not a psychologist, are you?"
Hugo felt a dangerous quality from this man. He then calmly responded, "Right, I'm performing hypnotherapy on you. What's your na?"
The man looked at Hugo and said, "I'm Alberto. Hypnotherapy? I've never heard of that in Falcone's treatnt plan..."
"I'm a new psychologist, and my treatnt happens to be like this. You don't have to be nervous, I just want to confirm that your current ntal state is normal..."
"Alright, then don't distract from my work. My house is only half-built, you can go and visit that building over there."
Hugo carefully observed this half-constructed house. He discovered the details were astonishingly intricate, even the bricks that were not stacked and the cent mixed into a slurry were clearly visible.
"What are you building?"
"A house, what else?"
"Why are you building a house?"
Alberto looked at Hugo as though he were an idiot, and said, "If I don't build a house, where should I live?"
This question stumped Hugo. This logic would make perfect sense in the real world, but he didn't know how to explain to the man in front of him that people normally do not need to build houses in their consciousness space.
Impatiently, Alberto waved him off, "The person you want to check and treat is in the house next door. You go find him. Don't bother ."
Hugo could feel the ever-increasing dangerous vibe from Alberto. He did not dare to stay long, fearing that he might stir up more trouble, and so he left the construction site and headed for the theater across the street.
As soon as he stepped into the theater, he was stunned again. There were more than a dozen Falcons rehearsing a play onstage, and what was ironically shocking was that there were quite a few audience mbers.
What was even more shocking was that Shiller was in the audience.
Hugo hesitated for a mont, unsure whether or not to go in, because he could sense an overwhelming danger from the backs of these audience mbers.
He swallowed nervously, but he halted his steps and quietly back out.
He didn't even dare to press the button. He ended this journey into Falcone's consciousness space imdiately. Falcone, who got up from the chair, yawned. He felt like he had a strange dream but couldn't rember what he dreamt about. So, he said, "Thank you, doctor. Is the treatnt over?"
"It's over..." Hugo answered, his mind elsewhere.
After Falcone left, Hugo was still frozen in place because what had happened recently was indeed beyond his expectations.
His career in Gotham has faced a huge challenge from the start, as his worldview has been overturned. From either perspective, the probability of three such rare geniuses appearing consecutively should be zero.
Hugo couldn't understand where the problem was. All his previous theories were built on the basis that ordinary people's consciousness spaces are chaotic, disordered, and lacking. Thus, he believed that his ability to manifest in complete form within individuals' consciousness spaces made him already superior to regular humans. For this reason, he could manipulate them.
But his recent situation can be compared to happily moving into a new ho and then getting ambushed three tis.
Hugo, true to his profession as a psychologist, had excellent self-regulation. He quickly got out of his shadow and thought of a key point: Shiller Rodriguez - the person who appeared in the consciousness spaces of these three individuals.
Hugo now suspected that Shiller might have used a therapy thod that Hugo was not aware of, transforming these three individuals' consciousness spaces into the current state. This was not out of the question.
Hugo had spent the last few nights furiously devouring all of Shiller's papers and research reports, and he had to admit, the theory of Shiller's Thought Palace couldn't possibly be made up out of thin air as it was just too intricate and realistic.
Because of his own arrogance, Hugo hadn't previously taken the ti to ticulously read these papers, rely glancing through them. But after careful study, he discovered that Shiller may truly have mastered a lesser-known psychological technique, possibly using it to reshape his patients.
Hugo suddenly felt a sense of indignation. He, too, had conducted unauthorized experints on humans, was discovered, hunted down, dismissed, forced to seek shelter in Gotham, whereas the acclaid world-renowned psychology master Shiller got off scot-free. It was outrageously unfair.
Shiller was clearly doing exactly what he did: applying professional knowledge to modify patients. Yet because Shiller was subtle and not easily detectable, he did not pay any price but instead gained fa and accomplishnt. This upset Hugo, who had recently been dismissed and exiled.
Because of this, Hugo had thought of a plan: to expose Shiller.
Then a more dangerous thought surfaced in Hugo's mind. If he could control Shiller, all his techniques, knowledge, reputation, and status would be at his disposal.
However, Hugo aware that they were both professionals; while Hugo had so understanding of Shiller's research approach, the reverse should also be likely. It didn't seem plausible to deceive Shiller like his patients, and even if successful, Hugo was uncertain whether he could hypnotize a fellow professional.
Thus, Hugo reckoned, he needed a detailed plan, and a partner.
Finally, his gaze landed on a dical record at the bottom, on which was written a na without a surna - "Jack".
All the weather forecasts in Gotham had not predicted that in such an early autumn, it would really snow in Gotham. Although it was very fine snow and not too cold, it was still a peculiar phenonon.
Fine and crystalline snowflakes slowly fell from the sky, landing on the rooftop of the sowhat old Arkham ntal Hospital. After covering the tarnished tiles on the hospital roof, the building surprisingly looked brand new.
Because the hospital was quite old, its architectural structure didn't resemble a modern ntal hospital. Instead, it preserved so peculiar features of last century's ntal hospitals, such as a basent for dealing with troubleso disorders.
The harsh light flickered as a white halo blurred the vision in front. Shiller opened his eyes and saw two silhouettes in front of him.
"You're awake..."
Hugo was tinkering with a machine on the table opposite Shiller while Jack was listlessly picking his fingernails leaning against the nearby railing.
Hugo looked at Shiller, tied tightly to the chair opposite him. The professor was bound to an old interrogation chair, with hands held by iron rings and feet locked securely. He seed completely immobile.
Shiller glanced at the two sharp circular saws fixed next to his neck and said, "So summoning to the office to handover work was a ruse to kidnap ?"
Hugo smirked, pressed a button on the wall, and the small circular saws by Shiller's neck began to rotate quickly, inching towards him. But Shiller didn't react, simply looking at Hugo and asking, "What exactly are you trying to do?"
"Nothing much, just hoping you'll cooperate with my hypnosis experint."
"Oh? This could get interesting..."
"I know, in a regular setting, you wouldn't talk to , let alone cooperate with . But with this chair..."
Hugo pressed the button again, and the circular saws resud spinning, explaining, "...Regrettably, whether you want to or not, you'll have to cooperate."
Hugo picked up a book from the table next to him and held it up to Shiller, saying, "In one of your papers published here, you detailed the theory of the Thought Palace, describing it as a multi-tiered building within the human consciousness space, used to store different mories..."
"I don't know if you've truly achieved this. But soon, we can verify..."
"How do you plan on verifying?"
"You've probably asked quite a few people that question, right? Because you're sure no one can verify this claim; no one can enter your mind..."
Hugo revealed a sowhat cruel smile and said, "...But I can."
"Let's wait and see if you're the biggest fraud of the century, or..."
With that, he began affixing one electrode after another to his own head. The silent Jack stood by, but if Hugo had looked up before closing his eyes, he could've seen the mocking smile on Jack's face.
The mont the brainwaves rged, a long descent into darkness began. Hugo never expected the process of connecting consciousnesses to be this extended. He did not know for how long he kept falling, but there never seed to be an end.
He felt like Alice falling into the rabbit hole, endless unusual images sweeping across his vision, followed by darkness - and even darker abyss.
Amidst the ceaseless falling, loneliness, and weightlessness, Hugo was on the verge of insanity. Just before he contemplated giving up, he finally landed.
When Hugo regained consciousness his gaze fell to his feet; beneath him was a black floor -
And above him, countless floors stretching into infinity.
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