After less than a second of thinking, Batman concluded that he had no means to deal with a psychotic patient who had gone out of control, even if he was frail and wearing restrictive clothing.
His knowledge of psychiatry told him that many patients in the throes of a mental illness episode can have terrifying strength, and they were absolutely crazy, fearless of pain, and could generate all kinds of horrifying illusions, making them very aggressive.
In such situations, confronting them directly was not a good idea considering that Batman had already found the weakness items. The best option was to find the escape spot that Zatanna mentioned, take the weakness items, and leave this memory.
But the "da da da" sound of the metal ring dragging on the floor kept coming from behind him, even getting closer. When Batman looked back, he saw Shiller in his restriction clothes approaching him with a distance of only three meters.
Due to the dim lighting, Batman couldn't make out any specific features. But what was very noticeable was his restriction clothes, the metal buckles had been ripped apart, and his face was covered with a metal mask revealing only his eyes. Judging from his gaze, this was definitely Shiller.
Batman immediately sped up, continuing to run downstairs. From Shiller's earlier diary entries, Batman had already found a clue to the escape route.
The "da da da" sound resounded again. Thanks to his previous experience dealing with murderers, Batman swiftly found a room and nimbly hid under the bed.
From under the bed, Batman could see the door slowly being pushed open, and a figure stepped in. The shadow stretched across the smooth floor and spilled under the bed. From this angle, Batman could still see the straps of the restriction clothes and the metal buckles dragging on the ground.
Batman watched as the Shiller in the restriction clothes walked a full circle around the room. This Shiller didn't seem to have more than the typical human vision, therefore, he didn't find Batman hiding under the bed. After he walked out of the room and the "da da da" sound of metal hitting the floor finally disappeared, Batman crawled out from under the bed.
Batman remembered that before he ran down, he saw a map of the entire hospital on the wall near the staircase. But due to the weak light in the corridor, he couldn't make out the details of the map. So now he had two things to do, one was to find a light source, and the other was to take another look at the map.
Batman looked around the ward. It was a four-bed room and much messier than Shiller's room. He decided to search the room to see if he could find a flashlight.
When he opened the cabinet, he found all kinds of miscellaneous items. While rummaging through them, Batman found a stack of manuscript paper.
It was an old-fashioned type of manuscript paper he had never seen before, each sheet was rather thin, and a stack of them was not very thick. More importantly, on the top of the manuscript, the name "The Ninth Management Bureau" was written in red Chinese characters.
There was a horizontal line below the characters, and the lined grid of the manuscript paper beneath it was blank. Thus, Batman turned his attention to the name.
Of course, Batman knew how to write the Chinese characters for "hospital," but it made him somewhat puzzled since the manuscript paper held neither of these characters, nor any specific place names. As for the so-called "management bureau," Batman had never heard of such a thing either.
Soon, Batman found several damp matches from the corner of the cabinet. He lit one using the rough wall surface, igniting the rolled-up manuscript paper, and then rushed to the map by the stairway.
On the map, he found the name he was looking for, and then he went down another floor, rushing into a room. There was a sign hanging next to the door that said "Recall Room".
Immediately, Batman saw the open window.
Outside the window was not a view but another point of light, Batman realized that this could be the path that would lead to other memory spaces. However, he didn't leave immediately because he saw numerous files in the Recall Room.
The clues that Batman now had were scattered. He knew something crucial was missing. According to what was written in Shiller's diary, he had attended several recall sessions here, which means there was a likely chance that Shiller's diagnostic report could be found here.
Why did he come here? Why was he wearing restrictive clothing? And why did he have to disguise himself as an ordinary person before he could leave? Batman figured, perhaps he could find the answers here.
So, he glanced outside the Recall Room window, and saw that Shiller had not yet followed, so he turned on the desk lamp on the office table, and began to search through the filing cabinet.
Batman remembered that Chinese name, but he didn't find any file bearing that name in any of the three large filing cabinets in the room. So, he went on to rummage through the drawers by the desk.
In the end, he found a file in the farthest and bottom-most drawer, it was placed inside a blue folder. Upon opening it, Batman finally saw the familiar name.
This diagnostic report was unlike any others he had seen before, there were no photos on it, no specific personal information, not even an age. Nonetheless, Batman eyed the file that had labeled Shiller as "Patient No. 1."
Moving further, Batman saw the diagnosis result first on the report; it read Shiller was suffering from a severe stress disorder after a traumatic event.
Batman frowned, given what he knew about Shiller, he did not seem to be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Reading further down, Batman found the diagnostic records he had wanted to find, but there was a warning before these records.
"Patient No. 1 has an extremely serious propensity for violence, and has received professional training. Treatment and recalls should be conducted under professional security measures to avoid severe stimulation; if there is a violent reaction, specific measures can be taken..."
Upon seeing the phrase 'specific measures', Batman suddenly opened his eyes. Specific measures? Does that refer to medication or anesthesia?
Batman dug out other medical records, which also had similar reminders, but the reminders for the other people all specified the medication, such as the specific category of sedatives and specific calming methods. Only on Shiller's medical records, a mysterious "specific measures" was written.
Batman felt he had found a clue. So, he continued reading. The following were all brief printed treatment records.
"November 7, Patient No. 1 showed emotional changes, seemed extremely resistant to eating in an enclosed space, exhibited screaming, convulsions and other aggressive behavior, was taken into the observation room for observation, nothing major."
"November 9, Patient No. 1 again exhibited aggressive behavior, was taken into the observation room for observation. Safety measures were compromised, specific measures were effective, was taken into the observation room for observation, nothing major."
"November 11, the condition improved slightly...."
"November 22, Patient No. 1 again exhibited aggressive behavior, specific measures were effective, was taken to the observation room...."
"December 1, Patient No. 1 again...."
The more Batman read, the more peculiar it seemed. It seemed like Shiller was constantly having episodes, but each time he did, it seemed like nothing major happened.
Moreover, the hospital hardly took the measures it should have. In these records, there were hardly any mentions of restraining violence and the use of sedatives.
Shiller's routine here seemed to be having episodes, being restrained, taken to the observation room, found to be unharmed, then released, and then having episodes again next time.
Normally, for patients with aggressive tendencies, the dosage would be increased. Even when they exhibit violent aggressive behavior, tranquilizers might be used, and these would be continuously administered for a period of time to prevent them from harming others or themselves.
If Shiller was regularly taking tranquilizers, how did he manage to exhibit violent behavior every few days? And how did he repeatedly manage to break free from the straitjacket every time?
Batman, who knew some pharmacology, knew that this was almost impossible. Based on Shiller's height and weight at the time, it was practically impossible for him to metabolize the tranquilizers in such a short time, let alone have the strength to resist the security measures of the mental hospital.
Batman put the box he had been holding on the table, opened it, and took another look at the straitjacket.
He found that the quality of the garment was good. Even if he were to try to get it off when completely unresistant, it would take a long time. So how did Shiller manage to break through security measures time and time again?
Batman's gaze fell back on the previous warning. He looked at the words "received professional training", lost in thought.
Earlier, when he fell into the chemical tank and was pulled out by Shiller and taken to the hospital, he indeed fell into a coma for some time. However, he woke up relatively quickly. Therefore, he heard the conversation between Shiller and Victor at his bedside, which was about how Shiller originally split.
Simply put, Shiller had tried to build a tower of blocks in his memory when he was a child. But because he had no skill, and was all emotion back then, when he was stimulated, the tower of blocks collapsed.
Because the tower of blocks collapsed, his way of thinking and behavioral patterns were different from those of ordinary people. Therefore, he ended up in a mental hospital. In order to leave the mental hospital, he had to glue together the fragments of the collapsed tower of blocks to form the current Thought Palace.
From his exploration earlier, Batman saw evidence, such as his attempt to disguise himself as an average person but failing, the design of the high tower, and so on. Clearly, however, Shiller only told part of the story.
He didn't mention his frequent outbreaks of aggressiveness, what this so-called professional training was, and what these specific measures were.
Batman felt that Shiller's weakness might be hidden in those parts of the truth he was concealing. At this moment, he heard the "click click" sound again, approaching the room where he was.
Without hesitation, Batman picked up the file, stepped on the table, and prepared to escape from the window.
But just as he was about to jump, a shadow rushed through the window, knocking Batman to the ground.
Constantine rolled and crawled all the way until he hit the opposite wall. He let out a cry of pain, covered his forehead and stood up, then gasped,
"Finally... finally escaped! It's safe! That Memory Space was... it was so dangerous..."
The next second, he turned his head and found himself face-to-face with Shiller, who was wearing a straitjacket and a mask.