Chapter 1969 U: Beyond Major Events (58)_1

"I've seen in horror movies that psych therapists have their patients lie on a bed and talk to them to be put into hypnosis. These patients are made to do terrifying things, even murder. Is that true?"

Spider Man turned to Bruce and asked because he remembered that when this scene was being shown, Bruce had mentioned that this trait of manipulating is the best when it comes to hypnosis.

"Yes and no," Bruce answered neutrally, then explained, "Hypnosis can't directly control people to do things, in most cases, it is a form of intensive psychotherapy often used for patients to express their inner secrets and alleviate mental stress."

"When people are conscious, they find it hard to talk about many things. It is not that they deliberately want to conceal what they have done, but their descriptions often lack accuracy, and they are biased."

Bruce explained gently, whereas Lord Superman directly stated, "Everyone in this world beautifies their actions. Some describe premeditated murder as accidental harm. Some justify drug addiction as medical treatment. But where in this world are there so many accidental occurrences and driven-by-circumstance situations?"

"Not necessarily," Bruce opposed. He said, "Maybe when things happen, people might feel pain, regret, and sadness, but the human body's self-healing mechanism is robust. To avoid suffering, their consciousness would administer painkillers."

"The painkillers come in two forms, either to blur the memory, commonly known as forgetting, or distortion of memory. For example, if someone murdered an unarmed person, the fear and guilt afterward may lead their brains to instill a memory of the victim attacking first."

"For some time, they'd know this image was made up, an excuse of sorts. But over time, other real memories would blur, merging with this scenario, till the person believes it to be the truth."

After recalling a bit, Bruce said, "This situation often occurs during childhood. Many children come home telling their parents that their teacher has hurt them, that their classmates have overstepped their boundaries, or strange tales befitting ghost stories."

"After investigating, it's found out that these things have never occurred. So, people assume the children are lying. But often, these events are figments of their imagination, which blurred with reality, making it impossible for them to distinguish."

"The main aim of hypnotherapy is to find the real truth in these memories that have been fictionalized and beautified and understand what really took place."

"Is this really possible?" Constantine squinted.

"At least I can't," Bruce blurted out.

Other people hushed, while Arthur seemingly defending Bruce said, "Delving into another's heart is very dangerous. Flipping through a person's memories is far from a child's play."

"Indeed," Bruce nodded, narrowed his eyes and after considering for a moment, hesitantly said, "I believe this requires a very unique talent to execute flawlessly, the mental analysis talent that I was speaking of earlier."

"Reading another person's memory is not like solving a case in reality. Everything you find is virtual. And you have to discern false from true in these virtual memories, based on the clues you find. This is not just difficult but borderline fantastical."

"That indeed sounds incredible," Spider Man shook his head, "But isn't it quite terrifying for psychiatrists to unearth the patients' secrets?"

"But there is a problem with hypnosis, it requires the cooperation of the other party," Bruce held up a finger, expressing a counterintuitive conclusion. He said, "If you go into a hypnotic state thinking you won't be hypnotized, you will never be hypnotized, no matter how skilled the psychologist is, they won't be able to hypnotize you when your resistance is high."

Spider Man seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, "That's good, it would be terrifying if just by looking into my eyes he'd know all the bad things I've thought about people."

"However, there is another method," Bruce changed his tone and said, "It is the only method for forceful hypnosis."

Everyone turned to look at him.

"The person being hypnotized cannot know that they are being hypnotized; you can't have them lie on a bed, close their eyes, and wait for you to speak. Even a fool would know you're trying to hypnotize him like that."

Bruce turned his gaze to the screen, once again saying, "But this brings about a problem, hypnosis needs a stable, relaxing environment. The more tense the environment, the more nervous the patient, the lower the chances of successful hypnosis, and the higher the level of skill required of the psychologist."

"So this trait of manipulation signifies a highly skilled psychologist?" Constantine enquired.

Bruce immediately detected Constantine's diverted interest, the corner of his mouth slightly twisted in a smirk but quickly regained a neutral expression and said, "But there are loopholes to this too, which I had mentioned previously, about the lighting."

"But the washroom lighting shown here can't create a calming atmosphere, can it?" Lord Superman looked at the screen intently, saying, "It's pitch dark in there. Can anyone really relax in such a condition?"

"No, the light isn't meant for relaxation, but to shape perception, or as a more accurate expression, shape self-perception."

Bruce turned to Arthur and said, "Anyone with stage experience or has participated in movie making should understand the critical effect different lighting has on shaping a person's image."

Arthur let out a little gasp and unhurriedly brought down the leg resting on his other leg. After standing, he stretched his shoulders and looked towards Owen, snapping his fingers, he said, "Give me a light."

Owen didn't quite know what to do, so he could only simulate a stage spotlight, hanging it over Arthur's head.

Arthur pointed a finger obliquely over his head, and Owen moved the light there. Once again, Arthur hooked his finger upwards, and Owen adjusted the angle of the spotlight upwards.

In this way, Arthur's face was bathed in light, and because the light was strong and close, many details of his face were blurred. Even his eyes, usually veiled in the shadows of his eyebrows, were accentuated.

Spider Man ran to the front of the stage, and after one glance, exclaimed: "Oh my God, you originally looked about my uncle's age, but now you're at least 20 years younger, or maybe you're not that old at all."

Lord Superman also got up from his seat, Bruce jumped directly over the table in front of him, and Constantine also slowly stood up, leaving the rest of the people to walk to the opposite side of Arthur.

Now Arthur's face, bathed in the light, no longer looked as aged, weak, and tired as before. In contrast, he appeared somewhat fuller, demonstrating a handsome ruggedness, looking much younger.

Then Arthur raised his finger again, Owen adjusted the spotlight upwards, and Arthur flicked his hand to the side, bringing the light directly above him.

The result was somewhat frightening this time, all shadow under his towering browbone, eyes completely unseen. The nose's shadow was dragged below, like a sharp blade, slicing thin lips open.

This look was stern and solemn, it invoked a dark, serious feeling, reminding Lord Superman of Batman.

Then, the spotlight glided half a circle to the side of the cheek, illuminating one half of the face, leaving the other half in darkness. The shadowy side, cheekbones, laugh lines, oral sphincter, and jawline were all very pronounced, intensifying the look of hollowness, making the side seem aged.

When the spotlight moved to the side below, all the shadows of the facial features became very short. The shadows of the nose and the brown bone disappeared, and the eyes were clearly visible.

However, because all the shadows were flipped to the top, it gave an absurd and comical sense as if wearing natural eyeshadow and lipstick. At the same time, due to being out of ordinary, there was a kind of uncanny valley effect that was scary.

"When I used to stand on stage, I wondered what kind of person the audience saw me as," Arthur said in a very unrealistic tone. "I would repeatedly check my clothes, my looks, and the lighting on the stage."

"I sincerely hoped they could feel everything I had prepared for them. I wanted them to see every second of me as goofy and ridiculous, because that's the clown's job."

"But I could never make everyone laugh." Arthur shook his head gently, put a finger on his lower lip, and pressed it down until his gums showed. He kept this position and said.

"Later I realized that they were not laughing not because I was not funny enough, but because they weren't paying attention to me at all. They weren't paying attention to anyone but themselves."

"Then I found out it's much easier to scare people than to make them happy."

This time, the spotlight was directly below Arthur's face, so that the shadows of his facial muscles coincided with the big smiling face he had painted on his face with oil paint. When he slightly lifted his muscles and smiled, the shadows under his cheekbones spread upward as if they were two sharp knife edges.

"Like this, I can fully become a scary clown. And to my surprise, those people who used to not laugh at me because they weren't paying attention at all, they all started to pay attention to me with horror and fear, finally noticed me."

Arthur tilted his head slightly upward, his smiling face growing larger as he moved, reminding the others of Shiller they had seen in the illusion.

Again, there was that strange sense of discord. The clown was supposed to be laughing, but there was no warmth or happiness in his smile, only icy fear.

Screams, wails, shrieks. Arthur spread his arms wide, threw his head back completely as if bowing to everyone from the center of the stage. He was completely enjoying the moment.

"People always look down at themselves but never dare to face their filthy souls directly. All they see is emptiness."

"And I only let them lift their heads to look at me, turning their pointless attention into fearful applause, becoming part of my performance, which becomes grander and grander as it moves farther away from them."

Suddenly the light went out. Arthur pulled his jacket tight as if he hadn't done anything, tilted his head, and gently tapped the ground with the tip of his shoe.

"Great artists all have one thing in common, they manipulate the emotions of the audience with their work. Art, music and dance express it more superficially, while others go deeper, such as performance."

Arthur's gaze crossed several people and once again looked at the screen at the front of the room, looked at Beihan's expression and said.

"When you are in the environment chosen by the performer, enveloped by the lights they've designed, hearing their voice, scrutinizing their expression, you become part of the performance, and can only be manipulated by them."