"Wait a minute, so you knew Shiller not from your investigation into the serial killings, you met him when you were a child?" Constantine also sat down, questioning Angela in disbelief.
Angela took a couple of deep breaths, trying to keep her emotions in check, then shook her head, "No, I didn't know him at that time. I only remember that the specialist my parents arranged was late that day, so he had a medical intern handle my preliminary examination."
"The intern introduced himself as Shiller, but by then, I was already terrified. The moment I saw him, I started crying..." Angela opened her mouth as if to say something else, but ended up shaking her head and giving a bitter smile, "I remember how flustered he was."
"He had no idea why I burst into tears when I saw him. He spent ages trying to calm me down, but nothing worked. Only when I wore myself out from crying could the examination proceed."
Angela shook her head, "I was completely shattered. He asked me why I was crying, but I can't remember what I responded with. It must have been some incoherent ramblings."
"But I told him everything. What struck me was that he wasn't surprised or skeptical about me seeing monsters. Unlike most people, he didn't jump to the conclusion that I had some sort of mental illness."
"He said that he could help me, so I wouldn't have to suffer from this problem anymore and nobody would ever figure out I have any mental issues."
Constantine's eyes widened. He looked at Angela, "Did you say that it was Shiller who made you stop seeing those things??? That's impossible. Isn't it because the demon chose your sister over you?"
"He didn't explain much to me." Angela shook her head, "At that time, I was exhausted from crying. He played a calming piano piece for me. I eventually fell asleep, and I have no knowledge of what happened next."
Constantine stayed silent, lost in his thoughts. After a while, he murmured, "In theory, you could see those things because of the occult, and your inability to see them was also due to the occult."
"Any psychiatric or psychological treatment should have been ineffective. Your inability to see those things was likely because the demon gave up on your soul and went after your sister instead."
"How do you know the demon went after my sister?" Angela retorted, "From my sister's letters, she committed suicide to thwart the mysterious organization's conspiracy, not because the demon pursued her, how can you be so sure that the demon chose my sister?"
"If the demon had chosen you, you'd still be able to see them, but you can't, so..." Constantine shook his head, "Indeed, we can't make assumptions. After all, your sister has passed away. We have no idea if the demon had reached out to her before..."
"If the demon had chosen you from the beginning, there shouldn't be any way for you to stop seeing those things..." Constantine mumbled, deep in thought, "Shiller must have used some other approach, it's just impossible."
"If he really had such a method... If he really had such a method..." Constantine repeated under his breath, while Angela told him, "When I woke up, he told me to firmly believe those things didn't exist, and to deny their existence whenever asked."
Then, she looked up at the ceiling, "But that wasn't the last time we met. After I let the murderer slip away, I started to suffer from severe psychological problems again, almost to the point of being crippled by insomnia and nightmares."
"At that time, I was working on an assault case in the Rushing City. During the investigation, I fainted and was taken to a hospital by my colleagues. There, I met Shiller again, but this time, he was a resident physician."
"Initially, he didn't recognize me, but I remembered his face. When I told him that I was the little girl who cried at the sight of him, he was very surprised. He said he never expected me to become a police officer."
"I have to admit, when he gave me that surprised look, I felt rather delighted. He might have thought of me as a weepy weakling, but I had already cast off that shadow."
"At his office, we chatted for a bit. He did a couple of check-ups, diagnosed me with anxiety disorder, and gave me some medication. When I took the pills after returning home, my condition improved significantly."
"Around that time, I was serving as an assistant detective, investigating a series of serial murders in the Rushing City."
"I was supposed to be working side by side with my superiors, but I always wanted to do more. That's why one day, I ended up being the first witness at a murder scene..."
"The code name for that case was..." Angela paused for a moment, seeming reluctant to recall that event, but finally, she spoke, "Carnage."
"The perpetrator liked to flay people alive then leave the victims in a location to die."
"He would lure the police there, giving the victims a glimpse of hope at being rescued, only to detonate a bomb and kill them." Angela's voice began to tremble at this point, making even Constantine shudder.
"And I... I was the police officer who was lured there, and seen by the victim." Angela could no longer hold back her tears.
"I saw the victim's eyes, his gaze. The moment he saw me, a glimmer of hope ignited amid the despair and pain in his eyes. He had such a strong will to live. We were merely a few steps away, I could have saved him if I had moved a bit closer..."
"Then, the bomb exploded, he died, I saw... I saw the spark of hope in his eyes die out completely, leaving nothing."
Constantine sucked in a gulp of cool air. Though his understanding of psychology was basic, he knew that such psychological trauma could inflict great damage on a person. Still, he asked, "What happened next?"
"I fell into utter madness, totally losing my sanity." Angela sobbed, "I don't remember clearly what exactly happened, but when I woke up next time, I saw Shiller again."
"He looked at me with an extremely helpless expression, and then..." Angela revealed a strange expression, said, "I didn't mean to, but I really couldn't control my emotions... I cried again."
Constantine could almost visualize the look on Shiller's face then. He sighed, looked at Angela, and asked, "What happened next, did he cure you again?"
Angela nodded, "I don't know how he did it, but anyway he played some soothing music, and I fell asleep again. When I woke up, those horrific memories had become blurry, as if they were far away from me."
"After that, we talked a lot. I found out that he was also investigating the serial murders. He told me that the departure of the incubus was temporary and if I couldn't reach a state of spiritual self-consistency, the madness would come back sooner or later."
Angela sniffed, wiped her tears, the firm look she always had suddenly returned to her face, "He told me that if I wanted to completely get rid of the incubus, I had to face it fearlessly."
"So, I strove for opportunities in external tasks, in every task I performed brilliantly, better than anyone else. Finally, I returned to the Metropolitan Police Department, got involved in my first major case, and played a key role in the breakthrough."
"I feared nothing, no murderer, no matter how brutal or violent he was. I did my utmost to bring them to justice. In this way, I managed to overcome my past fear and became the most famous female detective people talked about."
Constantine patted Angela's shoulder. This time, he truly admired this policewoman. Having suffered countless mental tortures himself, he knew how difficult it was to escape from such a state.
When one's spirit is plunged into a trough, it's not as simple as "just think over." It's impossible, just like trying to get an over-cliff-fallen man to step on his right foot with his left foot and asking a drowning person to paddle his way up."
Although changes in the external environment can help heal psychological trauma, in the end, it depends on the individual's strong willpower to pull through. Clearly, the heart of this female detective is much stronger than most people.
Angela stood up, turned her head to look at the still lit light in the emergency room, "He had saved me a few times. Even though I'm not a doctor and can't save critically ill patients, I can find out what's really going on."
"Anyway, it must have something to do with that mysterious organization." Constantine put out his cigarette, tossed the butt into a trash bin nearby, Angela reloaded her gun, holding her pistol, she walked out, saying, "I will make them pay."
Constantine stood at the spot, also looked back at the still lit light in the emergency room, then turned around and walked outside.
As he walked out, he was still mumbling in confusion to himself, " The first demon was the one I summoned to flirt with, what were the Hellhound and then big guy up to? How did they happen to appear there?"
Suddenly, his expression turned somewhat cold. He pulled out the Bible from his bosom, then tore off a page from it, and held it in his hand, saying, "Forget it, I'll get rid of these meddling guys first. Owl? Hmph..."
After they all left, a deserted corridor remained, lit by the emergency light, behind the emergency room's door, lay Shiller, who was wearing a respirator. His face was pale, and around him, doctors in surgical gowns bustled.
The monitor equipment beside him gave out stable "beep" sounds, suddenly, the beeping started to accelerate. The chief surgeon immediately said, "The condition is getting worse, quickly!"
The doctors around him turned into a frenzy of activity. After the sound finally returned to stable, a few seconds passed, the beeping began to speed up again, the doctors started to bustle again in frantic activity. After it stabilized, it worsened again.
Just like that, worsening, rescuing, stabilizing, worsening, rescuing, stabilizing... Despite three exhausting attempts, Shiller was still in danger.
At that moment, in Shiller's Thought Palace, Shiller, who was dressed in a black suit, stood in the centre of the palace's bottom, head raised, and cried out:
"Death! Death! Are you there? Death! I have some questions for you, can you come out and meet me?!"
"...Why haven't you come? Gray mist, can you die even more transparently?"
Soon, the aggrieved voice of Gray Mist came from above, "I've tried my best, but the doctor's medical skills are too excellent."
"..."