Chapter 3055: Mercury Chronicles (5)

"In this world, there are people who lack vision – not that they have poor vision, but that they have none at all. They lack a standard for judging everything. They can't discern the quality of most things, especially whether they like something or not. It's difficult to hear from them any genuine praise or rejection for something."

"Many people think this is because they are reserved and don't like to make judgments lightly. They assume these people have their own thoughts but choose not to express them verbally."

"But in reality, that is not the case. Some people have lost the ability to judge their own preferences, which is a manifestation of the Self being overly interfered with."

"During the time they were establishing their Self, or in the past, their choices were always being questioned and scorned. The positive feedback of making choices and reaping rewards was completely overshadowed by the negative feedback of criticism and doubts, turning the act of making choices into something painful for them."

"The positive feedback is gradually weakened, preventing them from feeling the solid happiness that comes from choosing something they like. Over time, the concept of liking something disappears."

"Their preferences begin to rely heavily on the judgments of others or the general public. They might start thinking they like something if someone says it is good or if most people say it is good."

"And if they obtain that thing, they usually feel it is indeed good under the effect of psychological suggestion. If it actually causes them trouble, they would first doubt themselves."

"Recovering one's own vision is a long process. Psychiatrists need to guide patients to keep making decisions, to unearth their subtle emotions towards each decision, acting as external positive feedback, helping them establish their own preferences."

"What if you unearth the wrong thing?" Gordon asked.

"There's no right or wrong," Shiller answered. "A psychiatrist only needs you to be healthy. Whether you like pink or blue has no impact on the psychiatrist or on you."

"You might originally tend to like pink, but under the guidance of a psychiatrist, you feel that you prefer blue. But actually, that's not important. What's important is that you dare to like blue, and that has made you healthier."

"Every time I hear you talk about this I find it somewhat terrifying," Gordon said earnestly. "It seems that you can easily change a person fundamentally."

"It's not so simple, but it is indeed doable. That's why psychiatrists have very strict evaluation procedures and must regularly undergo psychotherapy. However, pessimistically speaking, if a psychiatrist wants to do harm, these evaluations can't stop them."

"We can only rely on morality?"

"Yes, but the premise of what I've said is, the other party is an exceedingly good psychiatrist. If not good enough, whether they are good or bad is meaningless; they're just a fraud that wastes money."

"Let's get back to the subject. I think I understand what you meant by the oil drum representing something, but what about the flame? You said that fire represents rebirth. Is that some kind of religious symbolism?"

"Your level of psychoanalysis can be said to be only higher than Bruce's, Chief Gordon. There is no religious implication in this serial killer case."

"Well, thanks for the compliment. Please, continue."

"Just as with execution in an oil drum, if he chose to use water, I would think his mental state has not improved, still expressing his suffocating and painful emotions. Why he shouldn't need me to explain, right?"

"Yes, talking about water always makes one think of suffocation."

"The same goes for fire, but the difference is, when someone is burned to death, they undergo a qualitative change. This is a physical issue, which I should probably not need to explain either."

"His act of trapping victims in oil drums already shows that he is using the victims metaphorically to represent himself. From this, we can infer that he is saying he has undergone a qualitative change, and by connecting what I've said about treatment methods, it indicates that through therapy, he has undergone a qualitative change and has been reborn."

"Alright, I'm starting to understand," Gordon said, nodding. "You judge the mental state by the oil drum, and then use the mental state to infer the meaning represented by the mode of death."

"Yes, that's the Psychoanalysis Method. We start with the mental state, feel the perpetrator's state of mind from the details at the scene, and then infer various meanings from there."

"What about the Behavior Analysis Method?"

"It's the complete opposite. They start by noticing the mode of death, like, the person in this oil drum was burned to death. From there, they speculate: Is the killer venting anger? Is it a metaphor for his past? Is it to express some kind of thought?"

"They then use more details in the case to eliminate options one by one, eventually arriving at the correct answer."

"They don't pay attention to the oil drum?"

"They might, but they're more concerned about where the drum came from, and whether they can find the perpetrator's trail from the locations where the drum once was. Regarding why choose an oil drum, they only consider things like its thermal conductivity, how long it would take to cause the victim's death, and whether there is time to evacuate before the police can find the body."

"I see," Gordon said, feeling that he truly understood. "Indeed, Behavior Analysis seems a bit more reliable."

Shiller didn't get angry, he simply said, "It's just easier for the average person to understand."

"Yes, I don't get all this stuff about the psyche being empty or compressed, but I know that if we could find traces of where this oil drum has been, we might actually be able to deduce the killer's movements."