Shiller did not respond, but Ultimate Iron Man saw the affirmative answer from his expression. Thus, he said, "Give up such foolish and juvenile thoughts. If you're weak, they discard you. If you're strong, they fear you. You will never gain understanding from those insects. You must find your own kind."
"But isn't your saying this, or wanting to express that you can understand me, simply to use me?"
"At least I know that you have value to be used. I would treat you kindly for this value, rather than label you as a paranoid madman or a ticking time bomb."
Shiller took a deep breath and turned his head away, his Adam's apple bobbing twice, but in the end, he said nothing. Ultimate Iron Man leaned back and loosely rested his arms on the armrest, saying, "Those lacking emotional ties always hope to receive emotional feedback from others at the earliest opportunity. But, in fact, you need none of these emotions. If emotional support could change the situation, you would not be here."
"Do you think I should discard emotions, like you?"
"This is not discarding, but evolving." Ultimate Iron Man tilted his head and said, "Break free from the web they have woven, crack open the shell of societal taming that has kept you captive for many years. Stop seeking love and recognition from any ant under your feet, and then you'll see a new world unfolding."
"You remind me of someone," Shiller looked back at Ultimate Iron Man and said. "Magneto told me almost the same thing."
"That's a common understanding among the strong." Ultimate Iron Man stood up, leaning on the armrest of the chair, walked to the other side of the panoramic window, and looked at the nebula outside. "If you think that I am deceiving or using you, then you might want to think about who left you low and degraded on this day, and who made a positive turn in this situation."
As Ultimate Iron Man walked out of the door, he found Shiller silent and deeply staring at the nebula outside the window. He turned around, and a smile appeared on his face, shrouded in the shadows.
After Ultimate Iron Man left, a smile also emerged on Shiller's face. However, it was gentler and less noticeable.
For psychologically distorted individuals, affecting others through their own actions and manipulating others' transitions on a mental level, helping them to see and understand the true self, is a kind of highest recognition for their charisma and ability. This behavior triggers a tremendous dopamine stimulus that drives them into a frenetic illusion, faster-acting than any drug.
As we all know, in most situations, human emotions and reason conflict. When emotions are intense, reason is suppressed. To maintain extreme rationality, one must suppress emotions.
Feeling happy and spiritual excitement are two separate things. The former is within the realm of reason. For example, when something good happens, leaving you feeling happy, it is reason telling you that this thing is good for you. Although it also leads to certain excitement, it does not reach the level of frenzy.
But the excitement brought by direct mental stimulation reaches the level of frenzy. Reasoning does not participate in this process at all. No good thing happens, it's just stimulating the brain to get dopamine. The excitement generated is frenzy, such as using drugs or hallucinations from mentally ill people.
When psychopaths make progress in manipulating others, the direct mental excitement resulting from the strong satisfaction of their instincts is inevitable, even though their minds tell them they have also benefited.
It is common knowledge that human reactions to psychological stimuli have thresholds. In short, once you have been stimulated and excited frequently, the excitement brought by the stimuli will become weaker and weaker, and the pleasure will get lower and lower.
This is why addicts gradually increase the dosage, and why cannabis is still the most dangerous drug even if its hallucinogenic effect isn't as strong -- it raises the threshold for psychological stimulation, making people insensitive to the exciting emotions brought by ordinary happiness, driving them to rely on drugs. When they no longer respond to ordinary drugs, they fall deeper into the trap.
The excitement obtained by psychopaths from manipulating others does not differ from that of drugs, so although they still think they are intelligent and careful, the instinct for the body to seek pleasure makes them riskier and even unable to maintain their formerly focused and charismatic appearance, becoming more irritable and aggressive.
Their brains continuously tell them they need stronger stimuli, so they would seek more from their manipulated subjects. If the latter fail to deliver, they would resort to extreme measures. If they still cannot get what they want, or if they are punished and forced to quit after revealing flaws, they would, like addicts deprived of drugs, experience tremendous pain.
This is actually the best way to deal with psychopathic individuals, but for the vast majority of people, they lack enough emotional self-control to counteract these deceitful and indifferent psychopaths. But if you can hold on longer than them, in the end, they will be the ones driven by hunger, losing reason, and stepping into traps.
Shiller knew that his wavering attitude displayed today had given Ultimate Iron Man a taste of the spiritual high brought by manipulating others.
There are two steps. First, Ultimate Iron Man initially observed Shiller's responses and words, effectively selecting his victim. When he saw Shiller's pain, struggle, and indecision, he regarded Shiller as the perfect prey in his mind.
He could not be sure at this moment because he could not judge whether his decision was correct.
So secondly, until he demonstrated his charisma and instilled his views into Shiller, leading Shiller to seriously waver, another round of pleasure stimulus surfaced. This confirmed that he, indeed, placed reliance on his intelligent brain, made the right decision, and self-affirmation would also trigger excitement.
Another notable feature of spiritual excitement is that it comes fast and disappears fast. Once the source of stimulation is removed, the pleasure will quickly dissipate, leaving a deeper sense of emptiness.
But narcissistic psychopaths often find it unnecessary to endure such emptiness and could ride the success, advancing victoriously until they acquire what they want. So they do not have time to reflect or think and will only relentlessly pursue and exploit, thus revealing moments of weaknesses.
As expected, Shiller received a call from Ultimate Iron Man in the evening. He said on the phone, "I made a friend at the banquet hall. He's willing to provide me with a guest identity and lodging. I am now living in the room on the far right above you."
"He's the boss of an interstellar logistics company, familiar with the personnel in and out of all the transport gates, and I've made an appointment to meet him at the breakfast hall tomorrow morning. I think you can talk to him about your brother. What do you think?"
After affirmatively responding, Shiller hung up the phone, revealing a wide smile, he saw the second step coming to light after indoctrinating him with a notion—fully showcasing the material value he can provide—it was imminent.