Chapter 1776 S: Apocalypse Major Event (43)_2

Shiller picked up the newspaper from the coffee table and unfolded it, shaking the corner of the paper as he said, "I'm not referring to his inability to see through Jack's verbal trap and his decision to stay in Gotham."

"Then what is it?" Helen revealed a puzzled expression.

Shiller glanced at the newspaper, sighing as he said, "As you said, in our daily lives no one can be vigilant about every word others say. If someone intentionally sets a trap with their words, it's normal for misunderstandings to occur. Everyone who first arrived here faced a crisis of survival, under those circumstances, it's even more challenging to discern every word, it can hardly be considered a mistake."

"Jack, from his first encounter with Bruce, used words to manipulate Bruce, leading him to believe that he had only built the city of Gotham. But this wasn't the trap itself, it was a setting up for the trap."

"Jack wanted Bruce to think he had made a mistake," Shiller concluded.

"Then why would he do that?" Helen pressed.

"It's another psychological trap — exaggerating any mistake that could occur in daily life, emphasizing the need for someone to take the responsibility, thereby causing a sense of urgency and stress in the other party."

"If I'm not mistaken, Jack would say to Bruce, 'Your psychology professor would be extremely disappointed that you couldn't avoid such a simple psychological suggestion' — this is a common tactic to suppress others psychologically, inventing a non-existent disgusted environment around him, pushing him towards self-blame and self-doubt."

Helen seemed keenly interested in these theories, she stopped eating, attentively staring at Shiller, asking, "Then what is his motive behind suppressing Bruce? To plant self-doubt in him, causing bigger errors?"

"You're indeed smart, Miss Helen." Shiller put down the newspaper, looking into Helen's eyes, "It's to induce compulsive mistakes."

"The more one feels disappointed by others, the more guilt and inferiority they feel, and the less they dare to engage in normal social interactions. The more they rely on the person who suppresses them. This vicious cycle's intention is to manipulate others."

Helen ingested Shiller's words, then understood why he said that Jack's usage of words to mislead Bruce was merely a staging of his trap.

"He exploited Bruce's tension during his survival crisis, making him commit a minor error, then went on to exaggerate the significance of this error. At the time when Bruce was brought into this world having had no contact with others, he fabricated an atmosphere where the entire world was disappointed in him."

Reaching this inference, Helen developed another confusion, she asked, "If Bruce felt really stressed due to this, then what mistake would he make? Or rather, what mistake would Jack want him to commit?"

"It would certainly be a more significant, more irreversible error."

Helen pondered deeply yet failed to reach an answer, hence, she could only gaze at Shiller with a probing look.

Shiller picked up his teacup, taking a sip, then sighed, saying, "Being misled by others' words isn't a big deal, even the world's most professional psychologists can't say they've never misunderstood others. I'm no exception."

"Humans are sensory beings. We can only understand others' intentions through their words and actions. Understanding, in itself, is the hardest thing in the world. Misunderstanding is an intrinsic characteristic of humans, it's difficult to escape."

"But if Bruce really falls into the actual trap, he'll make a bigger mistake. This is the error that would truly tarnish my reputation in the academic world."

"And what is that?"

"Helen, I ask you, if you had committed a minor error and someone told you your dad and mom would be really upset by it, and you still have a chance to make up for it, to prevent them from being disappointed, what would you do?"

After contemplating for a while Helen answered, "I'll certainly make the utmost efforts to amend it, after all, I wouldn't want them to be disappointed."

While saying this, Helen suddenly paused, then seemingly enlightened, she said, "Oh, I get it now! My parents love me, so even if I made some mistakes, they'd understand and forgive me."

"But if I desperately try to amend out of fear of them being disappointed, the driving force would be fear. Fear usually makes people lose their sense and commit even bigger mistakes."

"By that time, a minor error that could have been understood might evolve into a massive blunder truly breaking their hearts. If they express disappointment then, I'd rather feel wronged."

"That's because I was making amends precisely to prevent them from getting upset or being disappointed. Even though I ended up causing more trouble, they should understand that all I did was out of love for them, and an irreconcilable contradiction arises this way."

"While my parents want to teach me not to repeat such mistakes, I'm measuring their love for me with whether they understand or forgive me."

"Once it gets to the point of requiring others to prove their love, misunderstandings will never cease to exist. Because what needs to be proven was never love, but whether the love was enough, and it'd never be enough."

Shiller looked at Helen with great approval, he nodded, saying, "The trap Jack sets using Bruce's minor mistake and the stressful atmosphere he created, is to make Bruce feel more compelled to prove his academic skills to me."

Helen frowned, "That's right, what Jack told Bruce was equivalent to 'Even a question as simple as this you got wrong, your teacher would be greatly disappointed'. So Bruce would definitely try to answer the following questions correctly. But I'm still a little confused, according to this logic, what major error would Bruce commit?"

"Why does he have to answer the questions?"

Once again, Shiller picked up the newspaper, and while skimming through it, he said, "Why should he answer a paper that I set?"

"Because you are his..."

Helen paused, then lowering her tone, she expressed, "Oh, right, you're just his university professor and he has already graduated from college. No graduate would return to university to take an exam organized by their former professor."

But then Helen stuttered, "But I heard that the two of you are quite close, he might consider you as his..."

"Father?"

Helen nodded.

"So does he have to take a completely meaningless test because of it?" Shiller shook the newspaper, saying, "His graduation thesis was a rebellion against patriarchy, if he took it again and failed, wouldn't that just prove I was lenient during his previous exam?"

"So, were you lenient?"

"Have you heard of the Pacific Ocean?"