Chapter 157: Number Eleven

At the dawn of the last century, a dark age.

War, plague, and political upheaval transformed the world into an absurd dreamscape. Overnight, nations wealthy enough to rival kings could plummet into debt, and happy families could shatter with a single explosion.

It was also an era when mental illness was most prevalent.

Countless people couldn't withstand the sudden changes in life, the vast disparities between rich and poor, or the shock of life and death separations, leading to the collapse of their own mental world. Schizophrenia, mania, post-war psychological trauma, severe depression.

But at the same time, it was an era of rapid development in the treatment of mental illnesses.

Before then, mental illnesses were not widely recognized, so the methods of treatment were limited and extremely ineffective. To put it bluntly, this field was virtually a blank slate. However, it was this very factor that led to the emergence of countless bizarre treatment methods.