It's a crazy enough move to silence several close friends you've spent time with to limit Suzanne's proliferation. But Creato had been deeply self-hypnotised and had coexisted with Susanna in one body for so long it wasn't surprising that he would go mad.
It's just that he's not crazy enough, or brave enough, to put an end to himself as a root cause as well.
The obvious problem is that the main thrust of both Susannah and the Meddling Revelation Society is clearly to "spread and diffuse" Susannah, and it's puzzling that the Creator who created her would do the opposite. On this point, Middendorffi says: "I don't know. The previous ones are just simple speculations based on what Creato and the second personality have done and said. I won't guess at anything that isn't based on anything."
"You're as good as never forgetting; that's impressive enough ..." the crowd sighed, and pursuing the matter with him was no good.
In addition, about Deng Wenwen's death, the police side said that Creato also gave a motive. This motive was also the same as Middendorffi's guess - Suzanne was highly disgusted with Deng Wenwen's existence. She incited the church members who were loyal to her to get rid of Deng Wenwen completely.
But this motive, though admitted by Creato, is only what he "feels". He wasn't physically present at the time of the killing, and there's no actual evidence of incitement. Plus, Creato's mental problems are now a given, so I guess he won't be held responsible for much in the Wendy Dunn case, thanks to the efforts of his lawyers.
"Fuck, when all is said and done, all these dead people are so wrong. Oh, except for the one who killed Deng Wenwen." Henry commented, "It could be argued that everything was Creato's doing, but the way things are going, it seems likely that he won't get the death penalty. If he's also been given hypnotherapy, he won't even have much guilt left when it's all blurred out of his mind. The victim's family must just want to strangle him!"
"These young men wouldn't have got this far without forming the Meditation Demonstration Society on a whim and enforcing the 'Meditation Phantom Man'." Lupin said, "The blind pursuit of novelty and excitement sometimes results in such a loss of control."
Middendorffi remembered a detail, "Didn't we say before that in the case of Wenwen Deng, the dumping of the body couldn't have been done by a girl alone? Who helped her with it?"
"Bear, you have a good memory." Lupin returned, "The police also said that the girl's boyfriend did it. The boyfriend wasn't even from the Underworld Revelation Society; if he were, he'd probably be buried in the fire."
Henry continued to comment sharply: "That's also a pure, pure, unlucky person."
"Anyway, that's pretty much it for this case; at least the part where we have to act is over. The rest of the case details will probably not be revealed again, so we'll have to wait for the official announcement." Lupin paused and looked back to Middendorffi, "By the way, this thing was tentatively labelled as a subtype of the 'Phantom Man' this time, and Bear gets major credit for its discovery and handling. Plus, you were instrumental in solving the case, and we applied for a bit of a bonus, so the payoff this time is a bit more than ever before."
After saying this string, she turned to Eli with a hesitant look. Eli guessed what she wanted to say and spoke faintly, "I didn't do anything to warrant a reward."
Lupin was about to sigh in relief when he heard Middendorffi say, "I'll split it with you."
Eli was noncommittal, only asking, "Why?"
"Every time you've been there with me, you could see it; you just didn't say so." Middendorffi said, "So you should have a share."
That seemed somewhat logical initially, but Henry heard it and only felt that Middendorffi was at a significant disadvantage. He was expecting Eli to take the initiative to push back; after all, this high-ranking person seemed to care very little about things outside of his body, but what Eli returned was, "Then I'll share all of it equally with you from now on as well."
Middendorffi didn't think twice about that and nodded casually.
It wasn't until much later, when Henry happened to think about this conversation today, that he realised that the one who had made a hard bargain was Middendorffi, who looked clueless.
***
"As usual, the Collector's case was closed and the payment approved, neither too fast nor too slow, and by the time Middendorffi received the money, Creato's case had already been transferred to the prosecution and was due to go to trial on the following day.
At this time, Middendorffi was invited to meet Creator again.
This time from the Addams family. It is said that in the communication with the psychiatrist and the lawyer, Creato was unwilling to cooperate, and only after a long time did he say, "I want to see Middendorffi, and I just want to talk to him".The Addams family is quite embarrassed and had "kicked out" Middendorffi before. The Addams family is quite sorry because they "kicked out" Middendorffi and Eli. As a result, both Suzanne and Creato are more cooperative in front of Middendorffi. And every time Middendorffi leaves, Creato's guilt becomes more apparent, and the Addams family dislikes Middendorffi even more.
But anyway, with the court hearing coming up and Creato's rare willingness to talk, the Addams family requested the meeting. The police wanted to know more about Creato's journey, and since Middendorffi was a "collector", they agreed.
By the way, since the case on the Collector's side had been completed and the police had found out the cause and effect of the issue, Middendorffi was not obliged to help Creato with psychological counselling. So this time, Middendorffi's fee is not paid by "The Collector" but jumped to "mage channel", and the Addams family paid for it themselves, just like they hired a famous lawyer and a famous psychiatrist.
This time, the place to see Creato is different from the original expensive and hidden sanatorium in the suburbs. Still, a police-designated psychiatric hospital, Creato's single room is much smaller and plainer, and the window is sealed by a security net, which is depressing to look at. But Creato himself was much calmer than the last time we saw him.
Following the procedure, Middendorffi is joined by a policeman but is not here to ask questions this time, purely as an audience. There was also surveillance in the ward, which could be viewed anytime. As for Eli, he was here, but he couldn't follow the community, so he had to wait in the waiting area.
Eli didn't even speak of safety instructions when the two parted ways, "I'll wait here."
Middendorffi was even more straightforward, saying "hmmm", turning around and leaving.
Once inside the ward and waiting for the police officer to finish the usual flow of words, Middendorffi got right to the point: "You wanted to see me too; what do you want to say?"
"To say something that only you understand." Creato sat on the edge of the bed, looking less aggressive, "It doesn't matter if you talk to the police or the doctors, but they don't understand. I can talk, but I want someone who understands me."
He's getting a little upside down in his speech, but Middendorffi doesn't care, sitting only a short distance from the bed in a chair - which was brought in as well - and replies calmly, "Speak then. "
"I want to tell you why I don't want Suzanne to keep spreading." Creato paused, then asked, "Do you want to know?"
The policeman in the back of the room was speechless as he listened and said that it was an excellent time to be spreading and selling.
Middendorffi, on the other hand, returned bashfully, "What does it matter if I want to? You say she is."
His attitude is so casual that the police are worried that Creato will flip his face. I did not expect the Creator not to care; back to: "That's fine."
Afterwards, he began to speak his mind.
"You should also know that Suzanne, although I created her, is out of my control." He started like that, not caring if Middendorffi knew, and said to himself, "I have no control over her appearing and disappearing, over her actions and thoughts. She was like a wild horse out of control, utterly unconcerned with the laws and morals of human society, and it affected me and the rest of the Hades Reveal Society.
"Ever since the people of the Underworld Revelation Society found out what Dunn looked like and went to see her, Suzanne has never been able to accept Dunn's existence. Every day, she pushes me and orders me to make Dunman disappear completely, and the more I don't listen and desperately resist, the more out of control she becomes. I had headaches every day, couldn't sleep when I needed to, and was groggy when I needed to be awake. It wasn't until I began to completely lose the memory of specific moments that I knew I had no initiative with Suzanne.
"And then, it came to that day. I was losing a lot of my memories from that day, and at the time, all I could think was that it was Susanna coming out again that caused me to lose my memory. I was so mentally chaotic that I didn't take it to heart. Who knows that not two days later, the school began to rumour that Deng Wenwen had disappeared, and people came to ask me if I had seen her. I said I hadn't. I didn't lie; Suzanne saw her, and I only confirmed it later.
"Because Reina came to me, mad as hell, and told me that she'd done it, she'd done it, and she wanted to meet and talk to Suzanne. Reina and Dunn were known to each other, and I somehow realised that Dunn's disappearance must have something to do with her. It could also be that Suzanne's memories were vaguely affecting me. Anyway, I knew Suzanne must have done something to make Reina make a move on Deng Wenwen - after all, that was her biggest claim at the time."
Reina was Deng Wenwen's murderer. She killed Deng Wenwen, dumped her body with her boyfriend, and ended up dying in the fire at the villa. She died as a college student and couldn't be held legally accountable for much. Only her unlucky boyfriend will soon face trial as well.
Creato continues to talk. He said he would speak to Middendorffi, but in reality, he was looking into the void, more like he was talking to himself, "There are more than one or two people like Reina in the Underworld. They all say they once saw Susanna but soon had trouble reaching her. Suzanne is unreal to them, impossible to grasp. They came to me when they wanted to meet and talk to Suzanne but couldn't get her down to them. Only I can make her materialise at any time; that is the privilege of being the creator."
At that, he suddenly turned his head to look at Middendorffi, "Do you know what it feels like to be in complete control of a person, a being?
"I used to like Dunwynn, but then I didn't. Those human-girl traits of hers bored me. On the other hand, Susanna looks the same as Deng Wenwen, but she can't be separated from me. Even if she didn't listen to me, and I didn't listen to her, she couldn't be separated from me. Almost everyone in the Hades Shrine knew her name, and some had even seen her in embodiment at one point, but I was still the only one who could talk to her and see her for long periods. She is the god of the Hades Revelation Society, but she also belongs only to me."
Creato smiled slightly as he spoke, "I liked the feeling of only being able to rely on me, and I fell in love with her."