Chapter 520 Shiller's Hospital Routine (Part 1)

Lush greenery sways amidst the delicate sound of rain, fog rises between the trees as if, overnight, they grew into massive trees puncturing the elusive cloud-waves. Raindrops pattering against the glass created an impression of a partially dissolved painting.

"Tick, tock, tick, tock...."

The metronome by the bedside reverberated rhythmically, Shiller's breath gradually broke the rhythm, his chest began heaving faster, and with a "whoosh," he sat up from the hospital bed.

Supporting his groggy head with the heel of his palm, he swiveled his body to sit at the edge of the bed, seeing his own reflection on the white floor tiles.

He exhaled, his mouth feeling dry, automatically reached out to press the call bell by the bed. After doing so, he paused, seeming to remember something.

The call bell on the bedside table lit up, but who walked in was none other than Stark in his Iron Armor. Seeing him, Shiller shook his head, shaking off some past memories.

Fortunately, it wasn't a primary doctor walking in to tell him that he was a delusion patient and that all his past experiences were figments of his imagination. That he was in fact just a mental patient who had been hospitalized all along. Such a plot would be too cliched.

Yet Shiller still didn't understand why he was here. He looked around the ward and realized that this was a high-level hospital room.

The glossy floor tiles were immaculate, the flowers displayed by the bedside were scentless, and all the corners of the hospital bed were safety-protected. Having once worked at the Elders Council Hospital, Shiller knew that this should indeed be the best kind of room in a mental hospital.

"Whiz-," the mechanical noise of the Iron Armor resonated, the Battlesuit opened, and Stark emerged from within. He walked over to sit beside Shiller and looked at him.

That gaze hovered between "whatever it is, you can tell me," and "If you don't tell me, it means you don't consider me your friend".

Shiller felt a slight headache, he knew that both Stark and Steve must have come up with some hypothesis, but after returning to his Thought Palace, without finding any leads, he had no idea what they saw in his Thought Palace.

By now, Shiller had understood. He must have been tricked by one of his personas in his own Thought Palace, but which one was it? Was there any need to ask?

Initially, he had even saved him an abacus. He actually repaid kindness with ingratitude. Shiller fumed, promising himself that next time he would dismantle the abacus and throw away all its beads.

Now, there was an information gap between Shiller and Stark. Stark gleaned some information from Shiller's Thought Palace, but due to some petty trick by someone, Shiller himself had no idea what Stark and Steve gathered from his Thought Palace.

This was like a police arresting a criminal because of a case, the police is aware of the details of the case, but the criminal isn't.

At this point, the police wanted the criminal to confess, but this particular criminal was not just any criminal; he was a serial killer who had committed several crimes. He was not sure which case the police wanted him to confess to; if he spoke rashly, he was likely to expose many more.

That was Shiller's state right now, he knew that Stark must have conjectured something, but he didn't know what that was. If he disclosed all the potential pitfalls in his Thought Palace, he might have to keep declaring until next year, and after which, there won't be any need for him to be discharged.

Shiller reasoned based on the details he knew. The biggest change this time was that, he had let some personas that hadn't emerged since he came to this world to come to the surface, that was Moonlight Shiller, or Young Shiller.

At the same time, Khonsu chose this persona as his power vehicle. When Shiller took this persona out to face the Egyptian Gods, Khonsu should still be in the mental ward of the insane asylum.

Although Shiller only used Khonsu as a pawn, he still gave him certain privileges to move freely within the first 10 floors.

There wasn't much human presence below the 10th floor of the Thought Palace. After Stark and Steve entered the Thought Palace, if they didn't take the elevator and moved upwards from the first floor, the first entity they would meet was probably Khonsu.

If Stark and Steve were to inquire about Shiller's whereabouts, after expressing their intentions to Khonsu, Khonsu might take them to the ward where young Shiller used to live.

With Stark's intelligence, he should be able to find some hints there, thereby deducing Shiller's experiences from his teenage years.

If that was the case, Shiller speculated, he might have exposed some memory fragments from his youth to Stark.

From his perspective, this guess made sense. After all, he could not possibly know that the DC Shiller conspired with the Societal Self, and put up a show for Stark and Steve.

The Societal Self, in essence, represents the most instinctive part of humans, which equates to the real self. Usually, it's challenging to have any planned intention to do something; even the scheming DC Shiller was surprised that the Societal Self went along with the plan. Needless to say, Marvel Shiller could not have possibly anticipated it.

After repeatedly scrutinizing his hypothesis, Shiller thought that the logic held up.

Seeing as things had already come to this point, he might as well go ahead with it, He spoke out:

"Are you intending to judge me?"

Shiller turned his head to look into Stark's eyes, saying: "Peering into someone else's inner world without their consent, finding some abnormal evidence, and then using despicable means to confine them in a mental hospital...."

"Tony Stark, are you going to tell me that you did it for my own good?"

Stark was taken aback, he didn't expect Shiller, who had just woken up, to be this confrontational. He spread out his hands in explanation, saying: "It isn't like that, we were just...".

"Then, why am I here?"

Shiller stood up, glanced at the patient uniform he was wearing, and then turned around to look at Stark who was still sitting on the hospital bed, questioning:"Do you support Khonsu or Amit?"

"...What?" Stark asked a bit puzzled.

"Do you know why they had a dispute?"

"Why?"

"Khonsu believes that he only has the right to judge and rule after a crime has been committed,"

"What's wrong with that?" Stark asked.

"While Amit believes that crimes that have already been committed are irreparable, so they should kill the culprits before the crime occurs,"

"Absurd." Stark critiqued. He said, "If we go by this theory, everybody in this world is a sinner."

"So what are you doing then?" Shiller looked at Stark and asked.

"You rummaged through some old matters in my Thought Palace and determined that I should be confined to the mental hospital. So, I appeared here."

"But have I hurt others because of my mental issues? Have I committed a crime for this reason? Don't those issues only exist in my mind?"

"In essence, you're doing the same thing as Amit," Shiller said, fixing his gaze on Stark. "Even though he just killed me."

Stark took a deep breath. He said, "We did not intend to judge you, nor did we want to lock you up here..."

"Well then, I am about to leave this..." Having said this, Shiller turned to leave. A shadow swooped past him - it was Stark, blocking his path. Shiller stopped, shrugged and said,

"If you intended to let me leave, you wouldn't have worn your battlesuit today."

After saying this, he cast a glance at the battlesuit standing in the middle of the hospital room and let out a somewhat mocking smile. He said, "The cigarette I originally offered to you has now become your weapon against me."

"When you killed Amit, did you feel righteous? And now, when you use it to stop me, do you still feel the same way?"

"Even though I have not done anything, you view me as a criminal due to the potential danger and uncontrollable power within me. You monitor me and even resort to force when necessary..."

Shiller stood opposite Stark, looking directly into his eyes and said, "One day, you will pay for this belief."

Just as Stark thought that Shiller would walk out of the hospital room, Shiller instead turned back to his hospital bed, faced away from Stark and lay down without saying another word.

The moment before Shiller turned his head, Stark was sure he saw deep disappointment in his eyes, which made Stark waver.

Shiller didn't accuse him, but merely reiterated the underlying logic of his actions. When this logic was brought to the fore and openly dissected, it sounded as ridiculous as Amit's beliefs.

This led Stark to question whether he was indeed doing something wrong. After all, as Shiller pointed out, he hadn't committed any socially harmful acts as a result of his mental abnormalities. On the contrary, his current behavior, speech and manners were completely normal. Even before that, he had used his own wisdom to contribute to human civilization.

If a person was born with a bomb inside them, not knowing whether or not it would explode and harm others, should they then be condemned to lifelong imprisonment, without the right to do anything?

Between individual freedom and public safety, which one should be chosen?

Previously, Stark had always leaned towards the latter, but now he began to question the essence of this issue. Was it the individual's fault if they were born with a bomb inside them? If not, why should they pay the price of imprisonment?

Even Shiller, after being treated in such a manner, felt a deep sense of disappointment. So, how many people in this world would have noble thoughts, willing to sacrifice themselves for public safety?

"Do you know? The moment he questioned me, I really started to ponder whether we were making him go to the hospital for his real treatment, or because we were afraid that he would lose control and pose a threat to us."

"Do I really have the right to do this? To view him as a potential criminal when he has not done anything?"

In the Avengers' headquarters, Stark sat at one end of the table, with Steve at the other end. Hearing Stark's questions, Steve looked puzzled and asked, "Why did you visit him in your battlesuit?"

"If not in the battlesuit, how else should I get there? Drive? Do you know how crowded the New York morning rush hour is?!" Stark retorted.

"Why didn't you explain it to him?"

"I..."

Steve put his hand on his forehead and said, "Don't tell me you got led astray by him again."

Stark sighed and said, "I wish he was just intentionally provoking me like before, rather than genuinely feeling sad and disappointed."