Chapter 3075: Mercury Chronicles (25)

Although wishing she didn't have a mouth at that very moment, Jenna still made an effort to clear her throat and took a deep breath, calming herself down so she could discern more from the lecture notes in front of her.

The notes showed that this was yet another set of serial killings grouped in threes, with the victims castrated and their skin peeled off, their bodies stuffed with scarecrow straw and left in the fields, becoming the very embodiment of "scarecrows".

This case was not ancient history like those from decades before, having occurred just a few months ago. However, the murderer had not yet been caught, meaning this was another unsolved case without conclusion.

A few seconds later, Jenna sorted out her thoughts and began to speak, "I think the killer was indeed humiliating them, but not out of his instinctual desire. Rather, it was purposeful, he was exacting revenge."

At this point, Jenna paused, then continued to explain in detail, "Because… because he filled their bodies with straw, and this kind of dry straw is usually regarded as worthless. Stuffing this material inside them was his way of saying that their bodies are filled with waste…"

"Hold on a moment, Miss," Shiller frowned slightly and said, "Is this truly what you think?"

Jenna appeared somewhat at a loss but nodded anyway. Seeing Shiller's disapproval, she explained further, "Cereal plants during the seedling stage are usually seen as symbols of rebirth and hope, and at harvest, they signify abundance. But once the bountiful crop has been harvested, what remains—the withered straw--loses its value…"

Shiller shook his head and said, "No, that's not the real reason why you've come to this conclusion. You're just forcing it, determined to find some logically-sounding explanation."

Jenna opened her mouth, but she still said, "No, that is really what I think…"

"Clearly your previous teacher hasn't guided you very well," Shiller laced his fingers together, resting them on the lectern, and said, "Some of his words and actions might have implied to you that without logic, you should feel ashamed, and so you're desperately looking for any logic that seems to reasonably explain your feelings."

"But we don't actually need to do that. The human race built modern society with logic and rational thinking, but even earlier, we formed societies based on strong emotions. Emotions are more instinctual than logic, and there's no dividing them into higher or lower, no esteemed or disdainful difference."

"If you think a more rational person is more noble, then you are denying the value of countless literary and artistic creators who have crafted numerous romantic epics throughout history. The truth is, reason and emotion are both indispensable, and to forgo one in favor of the other is a morbid state."

Shiller took a gentle breath and said, "It's inevitable for people to lean towards one side or the other using themselves as a reference but as a professor, I will sincerely encourage you to express your preferences, even if they are different from my own. It's good just to have an opinion."

"So, in my class, you can engage in purely rational argumentation, proving you have a series of tightly-connected logical reasoning abilities, or you can simply express your emotions, articulate how you feel about something. Neither approach is wrong."

"Could Behavioral Analysis possibly discount emotions? Of course not. In countless passion-driven murders, the killer's motive is often a simple emotion; they kill out of anger, they kill out of sorrow, they might even kill out of excitement. If you can't understand their emotions, naturally you can't pinpoint their motives."

"Psychoanalysis is the same. You may think it lacks logic, but in fact, the logic of psychoanalysis is intrinsic; it exists within the mind of the analyst."

"Somewhere inside their brains, an empathy organ still operates according to some logic, receiving, analyzing, and producing output, and this process still has traces to follow."

"For instance, different receptions of information could lead to different analytical outcomes. When we are at a crime scene, we experience an atmosphere in three dimensions, and with all our analytical organs working, we can draw a more comprehensive conclusion."

"But, if we are just looking at a photograph, the things we can analyze are very limited. If someone who understands how psychoanalysis works takes precautions and uses a camera or photo retouching to alter certain elements of a photograph, naturally, we won't be able to reach the correct conclusion."

"Skills that can be interfered with by various factors indicate that they have an intrinsic logic; every link in the logical chain can be influenced and might change the outcome. Something that points directly to a result regardless of any interference is a curse or a prediction; that's where logic doesn't exist at all."

"Being good at Behavioral Analysis doesn't mean you're dull to emotions; it just means you prefer rigorous reasoning. Being good at Psychoanalysis doesn't mean you lack logic; it just means you prefer to understand others through empathy."

Shiller looked at Jenna and said, "Every subject is like this. In the academic world, in fact, there has never been any framework that confines you. The so-called limitations possibly come in two kinds."

"One is that your abilities are inherently insufficient, so you can only adopt this method. You can only deduce the meaning of straw; therefore, that's all you can talk about. The other possibility is that you have limited yourself, mistaken in your assessment of the end goal, and that's why you've taken such a roundabout path."

"Which one do you think it is, Miss?"

Jenna was as if struck by a revelation.

She had always felt that psychoanalysis and behavioral analysis were completely separate because their differences were just too significant, with no apparent common ground, and the two schools of thought were constantly at loggerheads, each trying to disprove the other.

But now, standing before her, Shiller made her understand why the name Schiller Rodriguez would be engraved in the history of psychology and why he was truly a master of psychology.

In the end, psychology is the study of the human psyche, and the human psyche has never been about just logic or emotion alone but a complex interweaving of both.

If one only studies one aspect while excluding the other, it is metaphysical, one-sided, and one will never achieve academic accomplishments.

Only by placing both on an equal footing, acknowledging the mutual influence and interaction between the two, and profoundly understanding that neither side can be stripped away and still be called psychology, can one earn a place for oneself in the hall of psychology.

Compared to Schiller, Bruce fell short because, for a long time, he did not truly believe in the existence of the Psychoanalysis Method.

Like most Batmans, he believed that only stringent logical deduction, which is intricately interlocked, could be called reasoning, often neglecting the role of emotions, neglecting the changes that empathy can bring to a person.

As long as he still had doubts about empathizers, even the slightest uncertainty, he couldn't progress further on the path of psychology.

And Jenna, she once thought she had to choose between two paths. She believed that she should be brave enough to break through her own barriers, which is why she wanted to jump onto another path.

But now she realized that it was not two paths, but one; some people regard logic as the road surface and emotions as the handrail, while others do the opposite.

For natural empathizers, their empathy skill is the solid road under their feet, but this does not mean that they can never avail themselves of any handrail's skill.

It also doesn't mean that when holding the handrails, they must lift their feet off the road, but rather they should walk whilst holding on to the handrails, to walk more steadily and further.

The mistake Jenna made was that she was walking on the thin, narrow handrails to make her deductions appear more logical, and she felt quite stable.

Little did she know, fellow empathizer Schiller and students who effortlessly applied the Behavioral Analysis Method saw her and thought the girl was morbid; there was a perfectly good road to walk on, yet she chose to perform acrobatics instead.

But acrobatics are after all quite cool, so the students who still didn't know how to walk naturally thought Jenna was impressive, and that was what led her to misguide many students.

The moment Jenna understood, her feet landed back on the ground, and she stretched out her hands to grope for the handrails; in this instant, she felt her thinking had never been so stable.

When a car drives onto a stable road, the next natural step is to accelerate, and Jenna's thoughts also started working efficiently.

"Okay, Professor, I understand now. May I take back my previous words and say them again?"

"Of course, Miss, you always have the chance."

"I think we should start with the duty of the Scarecrow. When Scarecrows were invented, it was to guard a field, to prevent grains from being pecked by crows and other birds. This has a strong symbolism and is the main reason why the killer chose the Scarecrow as the theme."

"The victims must all be Law Enforcers, their role and status in Human Society are just like that of a Scarecrow in a field, guarding an area and warding off malefactors."

"The biggest difference between Law Enforcers and ordinary people is that they possess weapons that ordinary people do not have, and their duty is to maintain social stability through violence."

"Thus, the killer removed their reproductive organs, which symbolizes him confiscating their weapons, as he believes they did not perform their duties well and thus do not deserve to have weapons."

"He is mocking them, turning them into Scarecrows and placing them in the fields to say to the onlookers that if they, as part of the Human race, cannot properly watch over their jurisdictions, then they might as well be Scarecrows guarding the grains."

"I observed clear pecking marks on the skin in the photos of the handouts and on the skin that was removed and sent to the coroner, so there's a deeper layer of mockery because crows, commonly found in fields, are omnivorous birds, and the odor from decaying skin attracts them. They would tear off the still intact skin with their sharp beaks to feed."

"The Scarecrow, instead of warding off crows, implies that many crimes in society are caused by enforcers themselves. They're not only incompetent but also the root of darkness and crime."

"All of the above are conclusions I've drawn from observing photos and conducting common sense analysis, but if we talk about the killer's own emotions, he is angry and mocking. Looking at this merely as a superficial and obvious emotion, I believe what's worth exploring is a feeling of some humiliation."

"Normally, if a person has been treated unfairly by enforcers and turns these people into Scarecrows, besides rage and hatred, there would either be the joy of vengeance achieved or the sadistic pleasure of the instinct of an abuser, but not with this killer."

"The pleasure of revenge comes from the Avenger adopting the perspective of the victim, feeling their pain before death, thus feeling that the big vendetta has been satisfied. The pleasure of the abuser comes from identifying with the killer, releasing the cruel and violent aspect of their personality, bringing them joy."

"But this killer identifies with the perspective of a scarecrow. He feels as though he's been forcefully stuffed into a space, something tightly wrapping and binding him, making him feel powerless and humiliated."

"And it is precisely because these things bound him that he can only do what he did. He sees the serial killing as an act of artistic nature, and he believes that without these constraints, he should have been able to create even better works of art."

"Considering the current social situation, I think what restricted and bound him might be his personal financial status."