"I think he must have seen something in that office, do you remember? When Batman went to the restroom, he kept looking at the documents in the drawer in the office. Could those documents have recorded something?"
"But it's a mental hospital, what does it have to do with the so-called town of Lodestone and Ragusa, Italy?"
"In Sicily, there is a legend that the city of Ragusa was built on the third vertebra of the Devil, hence it is filled with all sorts of criminals."
Constantine exhaled a puff of smoke and spoke in a slightly hoarse voice: "When I traveled in Europe, I met a member of the Mafia there. He said, the founder of the city of Ragusa had been invaded by demons. To suppress the demons about to climb from Hell, he built the old city."
"The old city is like a cone deeply inserted into the spine of the Devil, nailing Him to the ground, never to rise again." Constantine squinted his eyes, recounting: "And there is a local legend, if you keep digging along the ruins of the old city, you can penetrate the demon's brain and eyeballs to reach the furnace of Hell."
"Wait." Spider Man suddenly interrupted Constantine and said: "Do you remember what the allegory Shiller told us was? 'He who is born of fire, shall perish by fire.'"
"Does Hell really exist in this world?" Lord Superman conspicuously disbelieved, he said: "I have searched the entire Earth, but never seen any demons or angels."
"Because they're not on Earth, nor is the spirit prison I am in. It can't be reached by ordinary means, and if they reject you, you'll never find them."
Constantine pondered deeply again, then said: "I didn't hear about any necklace in the city of Ragusa, but I know that in similar old city ruins, there are always one or two objects from the old times remaining."
"The grand mages of that time had real power, they maintained a delicate balance with demons and angels, and they left some blessings and curses in the objects."
"As time went by and the inheritance was lost, people later treated these objects that could create magic effects as sacred artifacts. They believed they could bring them great power."
"But the strong power of the ancient mages really came from their strong willpower to never bow to demons or angels. Objects are ultimately external objects, but modern mages do not understand this."
"This led to many tragedies, as nine out of ten people I knew who found the treasures of the ancients could not withstand the backlash of the objects' curse and eventually made a bad end."
"I think we can sort it out from the beginning." Spider Man was used to explaining something in chronological order, he said: "Shiller said on the bus earlier, there should be a main storyline in the entire game, and it wasn't aimless. It's possible that he found some clues."
"Out of the several games, the most likely places to find clues would be Nihelet Manor and the unknown mental hospital. Do you remember the demon in Nihelet Manor? He had the power of pyro control, could that be related to the prophecy Shiller mentioned?"
"The Nihelet family has too many secrets." Constantine sighed lightly and said: "The biggest doubt is Hancock. In the scenes we have seen, his background has not been mentioned at all, is he really unrelated to the killer devil?"
"Do you remember? In the plot of Nihelet Manor, Lady Nihelet's mother's family, that is, the Prosi family, was completely burned down overnight. Mr. Prosi said it was done by Mr. Nihelet."
"But ordinary flames could not have destroyed the entire Manor overnight, at least it would have taken a few days, unless it was the kind of fire controlled by the killer devil. But if Mr. Nihelet knew that his butler was a killer devil, how could he dare to keep him at home?"
"I think that Hancock and the killer devil are partners." Spider Man said: "It was he who sent the killer devil to burn down Lady Nihelet's mother's house."
Spider Man rested his chin on his hand, pondering and speaking: "Looking at it this way, and considering what Shiller said, could that servant be the child of the cultist?"
"The servant's father had obtained a cursed necklace in the old city of Ragusa in Italy. The necklace had the power of the devil suppressed beneath the city of Ragusa."
"His father brought the necklace back to America. In order to activate the power within the necklace, he blood sacrificed a town called Lodestone, making the town disappear out of nowhere."
"And the sister Shiller mentioned must have played an important role. Perhaps she is the servant's mother. After the cultist came to the town, he kidnapped a girl and impregnated her, then offered the entire town as a sacrifice. The power of the necklace was granted to the unborn child."
"Later on, Hancock discovered this child and found out his abnormality. He sent him to the Nihelet family to help him seize the family's fortune."
Lord Superman nodded and said: "It is indeed possible. In the entire game of Nihelet Manor, we did not see anyone investigating in the Manor. This is actually the most abnormal part, because whether it is any Batman, they all prefer to actively look for clues."
At this point, Bruce, who had not spoken for a long time, sighed and said: "Believe it or not, Shiller made up the whole story."
The others all turned to look at him, with Spider Man especially baffled saying: "Isn't that impossible? There must be a blueprint for a story, how can he make up a whole story with a plot, logical progression, and various details in a few seconds?"
"Other Shillers may not be capable of such a thing, but this Dr. Shiller is an expert at it," Bruce sighed deeply and said: "Because his treatment is charged by the hour, and his consultation fees are astonishingly expensive."
"What does one have to do with the other?" Lord Superman was also a bit puzzled, he said: "What does the cost of the consultation have to do with the ability to tell a story?"
"If you were a psychologist, you'd often encounter a type of patient who, upon arriving at the psychologist's clinic, does not seek to unload their secrets and relieve their stress, but becomes obsessed with probing the psychologist's past."
"Even ordinary people feel safer and more comfortable talking when they understand something about the other party, making it easier to open their hearts."
"For some people, this condition is more pronounced. They derive pleasure from learning others' secrets, which gives them a sense of control and security. However, in an environment where they know nothing about those around them, they experience anxiety, especially when starting new relationships with strangers."
"So, when they visit a psychologist due to anxiety, they become even more tenacious in prying into the other person's secrets, and if you become increasingly defensive or overreact, the therapeutic process may be unable to continue."
"Psychologists are human too, they have their own needs to keep secrets. In most cases, if a patient is too aggressive, psychologists would choose to refer them to another doctor. But Doctor Schiller is different."
Bruce gave a heavy sigh and said, "He would never let go of a patient fee. He values money over his life."
"Therefore, he developed a skill to fabricate an intricate story with a clear beginning and end, exciting plot, coherent logic, and many details that correspond to reality, within three seconds, revealing it to the patients upon their inquiry."
"These stories are often very complex with many characters of different identities, each with their own backstory and intersecting paths, even their relationships and corresponding emotions are very real."
"Usually, these stories would also involve grudges of generations, with footsteps scattered throughout both the New and Old World, and they often contain many theological and philosophical metaphors, sometimes even involving the occult."
"Wait." Spider-Man interrupted Bruce and asked: "Why design such a complex backstory? A simpler one would make it easier for the patient to understand and feel safe, wouldn't it allow them to start treatment quicker?"
"That's precisely the problem. As I told you, Schiller charges by the hour, and it's expensive."
"How expensive?"
"Two million US dollars per hour, uncapped."
"Hiss——"
In the projection room, a series of gasps echoed. Bruce spread his hands helplessly and said, "Don't ask me how I know. There was a time when I was very interested in Schiller's background and used the doctor's personality as a breakthrough point."
"I probably stayed in his room for just over 30 minutes, and when I left, I received a bill for a million dollars."
"Did you find out about his background then?"
"I ended up with a new story."
The others collectively facepalmed.
"Obviously, the more complicated the story, the longer it can be dragged out, the more fascinating story, the more it piques curiosity." Bruce shrugged lightly and said, "As long as people know a bit about Schiller, a glimpse of his talent, they'll certainly want to know what made him."
At this point, Arthur, who had been quiet, turned to look at Bruce, seemingly curious about the answer himself.
"Schiller is who he is because he made himself that way." Bruce gave a hardly surprising answer, he said: "His birth, growth, the people and events he experienced, and the hardships he suffered are not the main reasons why he is as he is today, but because he wanted to be this way."
"People's curiosity about a person's past is essentially an arrogance and vanity." Constantine remarked, "They think that because he is different from most people, he must have had a more different past."
"People believe that what they want is the best, and if others have the ability to get what they want yet discard it and choose a different path, people think something must have happened to him, there must be some unknown reason."
"So, it's not just curiosity they harbor, but also envy, they probe into the past of these eccentric people, to find out about their possible sufferings, to confirm their thoughts, and to justify the actions of the public through their compulsions."
"Perhaps." Bruce shook his head slightly, "I don't rule out the possibility that Schiller may indeed have found some clues in Nihilite Manor and the mental hospital, but this story is very likely a fabrication."
"But why would he do that?" Spider-Man still didn't understand, "Doctor Schiller should know that he can't stay in this room for too long, right? Even if he left out the part of fabricating the story, he should have other ways to achieve his purpose."
"That's right." Unexpectedly, Bruce admitted directly, then he sighed again and said, "But this Schiller is different. If he were a fox, he would storm into the chicken coop not because he's hungry, but because he wants to see the chaos."
"Or rather, the chaos in the chicken coop, the fury of the watchdog, and the anger of the coop owner is the spiritual sustenance he truly needs. For this, he would even dare to risk being shot with a shotgun."