"Sounds stupid," Shiller said. "He chose the worst method, but in fact, it was his inevitable choice."
The three of them were in the lobby of the Arkham Sanatorium office, with only a dim light on. After having a cup of hot coffee, Shiller felt much more awake and began to analyze.
"Anxiety sufferers have a unique hostility toward the world. They intermittently think that if everything on Earth were destroyed, there would be nothing worth their worry or anxiety."
"Then they would feel fear that if the world really were destroyed, then those things that cause their anxiety, which are also the things they care about, like their only piece of driftwood in the sea, would vanish."
"They often fall into such cycles, one moment feeling the world should be destroyed, another that they themselves should be destroyed, endlessly pulling and struggling against themselves."
"Aux clearly fell into this vicious psychological cycle, and his act of destroying the Photovoltaic Integrated Device carried a kind of retaliatory psychology."
"But this kind of retaliation wasn't 'I'll break it, and let all you bastards who troubled me die,' but rather 'This is how useless I am, this is the consequence of you giving such important work to someone like me.'"
"Many people in the workplace, when they feel anxious about pressure, think this way. They'll think 'I told you I couldn't do it, you insist on giving me this job, so it's all your fault when I screw up, you'll definitely be punished for it,' adding another layer to simple resentment, the idea of mutual destruction."
"Why is it like this?" Coulson asked curiously. "If someone made things difficult for me at work, I wouldn't think it's my fault, I would just curse them to trip and fall face-first in shit."
"Because your personality core is stable," Shiller said. "You can discern between good and bad, so you know you are innocent, but some people aren't like this. They're not inferior, they're just confused about why others treat them a certain way, or they have a disordered perception of it."
"For instance, if someone is good to him, he won't, like someone who feels inferior, always think he's unworthy. Instead, he will consider what qualities he possesses that make others treat him well, but the conclusion of this thinking isn't necessarily correct."
Coulson seemed to understand. He said, "His self-perception comes from how others treat him. If they are good to him, he'll reflect on the good aspects of himself, and if they're bad to him, he'll focus too much on his bad aspects."
"Right, that's it. And if the thought process deviates, it's easy to get the wrong answer, to give oneself wrong suggestions, like someone being good to him might be because he's warm and caring, but he thinks it's because he's blunt and good at pointing out others' problems and faults."
"With this wrong perception, there will be the wrong psychological suggestions, causing him to reinforce those traits in himself, which could actually drive him to an extreme and push others away."
"Conversely, if others are unkind to him, it could be because he's straightforward and has an abrasive personality, but he thinks it's because his professional skills are lacking and others see him as a nepotism hire."
"Once this sort of psychological suggestion takes hold, he'll be particularly anxious about it, and with each step, he'll wonder if he's being unprofessional, if his next step will be professional enough, how he can prove his professionalism."
"This could actually lead to compulsive errors," Natasha said. "Human attention is a curious thing, sometimes the more you focus in one direction, the worse you perform."
"This is one of the sources of anxiety, commonly known as nervousness," Shiller said. "When the mind is overly tense to a certain critical point, with no way to stabilize itself, it will push a person toward the other extreme—to enact the worst-case scenario."
"It's like saying 'You think I'm unprofessional, so I'll be unprofessional just to show you. After you've seen the worst of me, there's nothing left to fear,' essentially a mental defense mechanism."
"The reason why many anxiety sufferers get worse is because this kind of thinking traps them in a vicious cycle; the more they feel belittled by others, the more nervous they get. The more nervous they get, the easier they reach this critical point, then they give up on themselves, making a mess of things. Then others belittle them even more, and that's why anxiety is often referred to as an incurable mental illness."
Natasha nodded and said, "So what do you think is the way out of this vicious cycle? Like Aux, in that situation, did he really have a way to save himself?"
"Generally speaking, self-help isn't an option for anxiety sufferers, like a person stuck in a quagmire can't step up to the sky," Shiller said. "For most mental illnesses, self-help isn't a viable option."
"That's why Nick came to see me," Shiller made himself another cup of coffee, and after taking a sip, he continued. "Because as long as someone lends them a hand, there's still a solution to the problem."
"For example?" Coulson took out paper and a pen to take notes, and Shiller, holding his coffee cup, looked at him and said, "So Nick means to pull Aux out at all costs?"
"Yes, although the accident wasn't arranged by Nick, if Aux unintentionally contributed to it, then he could be considered one of us. Nick doesn't have the habit of giving up on his own people," Coulson explained.
"Well, I intend to do just that," Shiller said. "Nick must have also found out that I and one of my students need to take some responsibility for Aux's current state."
"First, we need to cure his physical illness, if he has one," Shiller continued. "Of course, if Aux is also trapped in that space station right now, it might be a bit difficult to extricate him ostentatiously, as it would draw too much attention to him."
"So first, find a way to calm him down; contact him first. Does he have a private phone or something?"
Coulson shook his head and said, "Although the communication systems on the space station have been perfected, we still can't afford to provide every employee with a satellite phone due to the costs involved. However, they do have them in their dormitories, and there's plenty of public call credit available to everyone."
"Good, then have Nick's people bring Aux back to the dormitory; his current situation probably isn't very good."
Natasha nodded and said, "That's entirely imaginable, after all, he's basically the cause of the chaos in the space station."
"But I am also a bit curious, how could an electrician, even if he destroyed the Photovoltaic Integrated System, cause most parts of the space station to lose power? Isn't there any reserve power supply?"
At this point, both agents heaved a sigh and Coulson spoke, "All the power components of the space station are managed by China. The Photovoltaic Integrated System is so efficient, and it hasn't had a single issue in tens of millions of tests. We also want to know how Aux was able to cause such significant damage."
Shiller frowned slightly; he could understand the first part of Coulson's statement. China was indeed a leader in this area with a core competitive edge—others might not even understand how their power systems worked, let alone patch them up; it's natural for countries to feel confident using this system.
However, as far as he knew, China should have included redundancies to accommodate potential human operational errors. So why wasn't there any this time?
Just as Shiller contemplated this, Nick called and said, "I am currently in Switzerland, and something doesn't add up. The Chinese spokesperson emphasized that an ordinary electrician couldn't possibly cause such severe damage to the Photovoltaic Integrated System and its accompanying storage system. They completely deny the possibility of such an event."
"Although everyone is reluctant to admit their advancement publicly, they all know in their hearts that China is the authority in this area. If they say it's impossible, then it really is impossible."
"Moreover, China has now produced the complete design blueprints, and technical personnel from various countries also believe that a single act of sabotage couldn't have caused such grave consequences. The system's safety is so robust that even if the space station were subjected to total bombardment, it could still guarantee smooth operation for at least 12 hours. Even if the space station were to fall, there would still be power up until the second it hit the ground."
"I may not understand this area fully, but after looking at the blueprints, I also think the safety system is well designed, much stronger than even my secret base. If Aux had the capability to fully destroy it, he wouldn't just be a high-level electrician. Even Ben Parker doesn't have the ability."
"Are you sure you didn't arrange this?" Shiller asked.
"I had no intention of tampering with the entire space station," Nick said. "I only meant to sever the connection between two areas and the main station. That way, even if the plan went awry, it would not result in a large-scale loss, not an oxygen crisis affecting a large part of the station like what we have now. This could potentially cost us most of our technical staff."
Shiller also believed Nick's words. He knew that to the penny-pinching Nick, technical personnel were more valuable than gold; he would not risk so many lives in a single gambit. And if he were to do such a thing, he wouldn't just leave some young superheroes as backup—it would certainly be observed by everybody.
After thinking for a while, Shiller said, "The key still lies with Aux. He's the only person directly involved. His situation is not good now. Have your men extract him first, at least get him back to the dormitory so I can talk to him."
"What do you plan to do?" Nick asked.
"Still have to use his wife as the breakthrough point," Shiller sighed softly. "It's all Charles' mess, but after all, he's young. Mistakes are natural, and it's not irreparable..."
"Alright, alright, I know you're protective of him. Just go on and do what you need to do. Call me when you need to get in touch with Aux."
Shiller stood up and walked towards the coat rack while Natasha put away her phone and said, "The boss instructed us to cooperate fully with you."
"You mean to keep a close eye on me, right?"
Natasha started laughing as she adjusted her hair and said, "If he was keeping a close eye you, there would be more than just us two. He's probably also worried that he might have gone too far himself. In case of a situation that spirals out of control, you'd have to step in."
Shiller laughed as well as he put on his coat and said, "He probably didn't expect those turkeys to be so hotheaded—once they heard there was a fight, they all rushed to Centaurus."
"Where are we headed now?" Coulson pulled out his phone, apparently ready to arrange transportation.
"To Texas, to find Aux's wife. But before that, I need to get in touch with Charles. He should take responsibility for the mess he's made."
At that moment, Natasha received another call. In an instant, her expression darkened. After hanging up, she looked intently at Shiller and said.
"The bridge between the east and west halves of the space station has broken, and there's a problem with the power system in the west half—it has become unbalanced with Earth's gravity and is now rapidly falling towards Earth!"