After the Bishop came back, he looked at the umbrella that Cobblepot had used as a cane, sighed, and said softly, "He is indeed generous."
Jerome noticed something was off and ventured, "Has the Professor left?"
Shiller nodded, put away the extinguished white candle, arranged the items in the box, picked up the box, and walked to the door. He looked left and right, then turned back to Cobblepot and said.
"I must emphasize a few points to you. First, I am not a psychologist, so if you and your old friend reunite and start sobbing uncontrollably, I won't be able to console you."
"Second, using magical tools to revive or recreate someone inevitably comes at a cost. Don't think that the person will obediently stand still and chat with you. The sole purpose of the illusions in the room is to kill you."
"Third, since he gave you that umbrella, I won't ask for it back. I can only remind you that this thing is strong, but also very dangerous. Do not carelessly point it at anyone, unless they are your enemy."
"Finally, when we proceed, both of you follow closely behind me. Don't look around or touch anything irresponsibly. Rush to room 1905 in one go, and don't stop no matter what you encounter."
Cobblepot and Jerome exchanged glances; having known Shiller's capabilities, they had no issues following his lead as a small team leader. Even if they had objections, they knew they couldn't argue, one psychological anatomy class was enough.
Shiller forcefully pushed the door open and bolted toward the elevator, with Cobblepot and Jerome quickly following behind. Although Cobblepot had a limp, his speed was not slow; although that leg was painful, it was much stronger than before.
As soon as they entered the darkness of the corridor, something followed them up. Shiller realized that it was something he had brought out from the 13th floor, but there was no time to consider that now.
When they reached the elevator, they were out of luck; the elevator was on the 6th floor and would take some time to arrive. Shiller turned to Cobblepot and said, "Try to use the dining hall to delay its movements a bit."
As soon as the word "delay" was uttered, Cobblepot knew what to do. The doors of the dining hall burst open, and a blast of cold air surged out.
Though it was very dark across and none of them could see the monster, in those few seconds, the corridor turned completely white as if covered with snow, and footstep sounds became very faint.
With a ding, the elevator arrived. The three rushed in at the highest speed and pressed the door close button. As the elevator doors were closing, Shiller saw many pairs of eyes appearing outside the door.
Now it was time to see if there were any monsters inside the elevator. Shiller looked around the reflective walls, saw nothing unusual, and the creature known as Kaleidoscope seemed to be absent, which was the only piece of good news lately.
Jerome pressed the button for the 19th floor, but the elevator would stop at the 16th floor. Shiller turned to Jerome, who thought for a moment and said, "The 16th floor has regular guest rooms. It's not clear inside the rooms, but there seems to be a monster near the windows that can't move. With good luck, there should be no issue."
The elevator doors opened at the 16th floor to complete darkness, and no sound was audible. Shiller felt a breeze coming from the window, similar but not quite the same as the wind outside the building. The elevator doors soon closed.
Just before the doors closed, a scream was heard, and a figure swiftly crossed the corridor and slapped against the wall opposite. Now Shiller could confirm that the wind was exactly like the one outside the hotel.
The elevator finally reached the 19th floor. The silence on the 19th floor was unimaginable. Jerome sensed something was wrong, and Shiller took the initiative to speak, "The monster that appears at midnight and the one in room 1913 have both been killed by me. Now, as long as we don't enter the room voluntarily, it's safe."
Jerome raised an eyebrow and said, "You know that the monsters here can't truly be exterminated, right?"
"Of course, I can't exterminate them, but they can exterminate each other," Shiller glanced back at Cobblepot, obviously hinting at the relationship between the two monsters, just like the relationship between the restaurant and Cobblepot. They can devour each other or even perish together.
After swiping his card, Shiller opened the door with a push and strode in, continuing to speak as he walked, "Turn on the lights!"
In the darkness, there was no response. Jerome and Cobblepot both stood at the doorway, afraid to enter. Jerome knew how dangerous the room was, while Cobblepot was studying an umbrella, his expression showing he was completely enamored with it.
Standing in the center of the room with his arms crossed, Shiller said again, "I'm going to say this one last time, turn on the lights, otherwise I'll take down all the plaques from the 13th floor and nail them up in front of you, letting them crash into the room one by one until they knock you out and kill you."
With a snap, the lights came on.
Shiller waved Jerome and Cobblepot over.
Both of them walked in, observing the room that was completely unrecognizable. Jerome clicked his tongue and said, "Looks like you made quite a commotion."
With that, a large TV cabinet flew up and then violently smashed back down on the floor, making Cobblepot shake in fright. However, Shiller pretended not to see and stood his ground, saying, "We are here to ask for your help. This is a friend of mine, he wants to meet someone from his memories."
"Of course, we aren't asking you to do this for nothing. If I'm not mistaken, you're about to devour another monster in this room. We promise not to move the elevator. If you manage to escape, perhaps you could go to other floors."
The room remained silent with no reply. The creature could understand human speech, but apparently did not have the ability to communicate directly, only able to show illusions.
Suddenly, the scenery in the room changed and the three of them were back in the elevator. This time, a bright light illuminated within it, reflecting off the walls of the elevator as if they were shattered into countless pieces.
"Are you worried about the monster in the elevator? It wasn't there when we came up, but the moment you step in, it might also appear. I'm curious, can't you fight it?"
The illusion disappeared, and a mirror appeared in front of Shiller. Suddenly, many hands reached out from the mirror, grabbing at Shiller. Cobblepot stepped forward wanting to do something, but Shiller stopped him.
Shiller was pulled towards the mirror by the hands. Just as he was pressed against the mirror, both the mirror and the hands vanished. He understood that the room was telling him if he encountered that monster called 'Kaleidoscope', he could very likely be pulled into the mirror, and being a monster himself, there were none who would answer his calls for help.
This indeed was troublesome. Shiller remembered what Jerome had mentioned earlier — he had avoided all reflective objects. But since the illusion monster could read memories, it indicated that Jerome's solution in his mind wasn't the real answer.
It looked like they had to play the game of driving the tiger to swallow the wolf once more. Shiller wondered if the monster from the 13th floor could come into conflict with the Kaleidoscope. Before the elevator doors closed, he saw a bunch of eyes, none of which had opened yet.
The room indeed could read memories, and as Shiller thought of this method, a figure gradually began to appear in the room, and Cobblepot's expression became excited, it seemed that Colin had appeared.
Shiller and Jerome did not intend to dampen the spirits there, they simply walked straight into the bedroom. Shiller sat on the bed, only to fall straight to the floor—the bed was an illusion, the real bed had been moved a bit toward the window.
"Are you being childish?" Shiller asked the room, "I've managed to get plenty of toilet water elsewhere, don't force me to flush you."
Jerome, however, sprawled on the bed in a starfish pose, looking at the ceiling and said, "I always feel that the monster in this room is different from the others, it has emotions that other monsters don't have, you're a psychologist, don't you understand this?"
"I'm not a psychologist, but if you miss it that much, I can bring it back."
"There's no need for that."
"What did you see in this room?" Shiller asked.
Jerome's face visibly changed for the worse, he shook his head and said, "Nothing much."
Suddenly a figure appeared by the window, Shiller turned around and saw it was Jerome, his pupils dilated, not knowing what he saw, his face filled with sadness and pain.
A piece of glass flew up, heading straight for his chest, Jerome seemed completely caught off guard, and only at the last moment did he barely dodge to the side, resulting in a huge gash across his abdomen from the glass.
"So that's how he got hurt." Shiller said disdainfully, examining him, "You knew it was an illusion."
"Everyone has moments like this, but don't tell me you don't," Jerome said coldly as he sat up, staring down Shiller, "Monster."
Shiller was almost amused by his accusation—someone who looked like Joker calling him a monster. But Jerome started shouting at the room, "Let me see what this guy has seen in the room, I can laugh at him with you!"
The room went silent for a while, and Shiller rolled his eyes slightly, saying, "Guess why it's so afraid of me?"
Jerome looked surprised, raised an eyebrow and shook his head, saying, "No, impossible, everyone has psychological weaknesses, even Bruce Wayne does, no one can face all their memories without being affected."
Shiller also sat on the edge of the bed and said, "But a person can deceive themselves."
"But it can distinguish between real and false memories."
"Memories are real, it's just the order that's different," Shiller said as if speaking to the room, "When I was a child, I was locked in a laboratory, I just grafted the feelings from that time onto memories of later, when I left there, I did indeed feel like a newborn baby."
"But a pregnancy full of pain and blood is not beautiful for the baby or the mother at all, it's the outside world, full of expectation, that is happier welcoming the arrival of a newborn."
"Those feelings of not being connected to the world are also true, because at that time I had no connection with the world, existing in an isolated environment, the only thing that gave me some realism was the death of others in the laboratory."
"Because everything external seemed perpetually existing to me, only death was uniquely final, and at that time my mental state was also unstable, and the more unstable I became, the more my unique talents emerged."
"Every person whose death I witnessed, I could establish a special connection with; through the walls, I saw those chaotic colored lines representing all the emotions they experienced in their lives, they had no secrets from me, allowing me to accurately locate every manipulator behind the scenes later."
"If you don't believe it, try and find it, my earlier memories are all warm moments, and if you have any logic, you would find that impossible."
The bed in the room floated up.
But this time, it was not slammed down, Shiller looked out the window and seemed to see a familiar figure again, the room seemed to want to repeat its trick, but Shiller just shook his head, saying, "The person you created doesn't quite resemble them."
The room seemed unwilling to believe that, but Shiller caught another point and said, "It seems there's a part of the memory you can't mimic... who invented the Ark Reactor?"
The spectral figure by the window disappeared.
Indeed, Shiller said, "Do you know Mickey's Wonder House?"
The bed fell down with a snap.
Shiller laughed.
"I happen to know it, shall I sing it for you?"
The curtain flying up by the window covered Shiller's mouth, yet he pulled out a white candle from his briefcase and in his mind recalled those roles in the High Tower that were not to be mentioned.
The room reading Shiller's memories whipped up a gust of wind and blew the candle out, but Shiller didn't intend to give up, stood up, and went to pick up the candle.
Suddenly, another figure appeared in the room, another illusion created by the room, but this time, the figure made Shiller feel especially familiar.
The woman turned her head, Shiller saw a haggard face—it was Martha Wayne.