mtl008 Chapter 2974: The Green Trees Are Thick and the Summer Is Long (8)
Chapter 2974: The Green Trees Are Thick and the Summer Is Long (8)
Chapter 2974: The Green Trees Are Thick and the Summer Is Long (Part )
"What's wrong?" Brand poured Schiller a cup of coffee and asked, "You don't look very happy."
"Mrs. Cobert is not in good condition." Schiller was obviously distracted. He said while thinking about something, "Of course, considering her mental state and physical fitness, it's great that she can hold on until now. What I'm worried about is that if she continues like this, Cobert may also have problems."
Brand sat next to Schiller, shoulder to shoulder, and said, "He was reluctant to do the biopsy because once the test was done, it would be impossible to hide it from his mother, which might cause further mental distress to her."
"What's the probability?"
"Based on my experience, there is more than a 90% chance of this happening."
"It must be lung cancer then."
"To be honest, I did suggest that he find a way to test it without alerting his mother."
“Is there such a device?”
"Even if Wayne Hospital didn't have it, Batman certainly had it, but he told me that he probably wouldn't be able to handle it knowing the outcome, and it would be hard for him not to show it in front of his mother, and the result would be the same."
"Cobert is too dependent on his mother." Schiller took a sip of coffee and felt much better. He continued, "For so many years, his only outlet for emotional release has been his mother. This is very unhealthy, but his mother does need meticulous care, and no one can blame him for being filial."
"There always comes a stage when people realize that they are all alone at the end of their lives," Brand said with emotion. "If you have a wife and children, you may be able to transfer your emotions, but if not, you can only learn to endure loneliness."
The two were silent for a while, and Schiller took the initiative to stand up and said, "I'll go check my room."
Brand nodded, stood up, and took him to the guest room in the reception department of Arkham Asylum. Since it was a comprehensive sanatorium hospital, there were many hotel-style rooms.
Brand chose a corner room for Schiller. There were two large floor-to-ceiling windows at the corner of the living room, overlooking the sea. The room was well air-conditioned and very cool, and was also equipped with a computer and projector for office use.
As soon as he saw the computer, Schiller remembered that he still had some papers to grade. He gave up the idea of going to the activity building and decided to finish his work first.
Before that, he called Helen first and asked them to be gentle and not to damage his house. As a result, he heard James Gordon's voice in the background. If nothing unexpected happened, these people had a fight and sent him to the police station.
Schiller really didn't want to care about it. It was better to deal with teenagers' homework than the teenagers themselves. No matter how bad a paper is, there is a limit, but teenagers don't have that limit.
Schiller watched from noon to afternoon until Brand knocked on his door again. After opening the door, he saw Brand carrying a bottle of wine. Brand said, "There's a small gathering at the activity building tonight. Do you want to go?"
Schiller looked at the emails that had been almost all sent, nodded, took the bottle of wine from Brand, raised his eyebrows in surprise and said, "You got rich?"
"No, someone else gave it to me."
Schiller walked to the wine cabinet and chose a place for this bottle of good wine. He looked at the label of the wine and felt that it looked familiar, but his mind had not yet completely cleared out the junk papers of the students, so he did not think much about it.
They came to the restaurant at dinner time. Schiller ordered a table full of cold dishes. Brand felt a little funny and said, "It seems that you are really overheated. What is the temperature in the city now?"
"43 degrees, can you believe it?" Schiller said as he cut into a piece of salmon. "But there are people who can even play football for half a day in such weather."
"Young people are so energetic." Brand shook his head.
They ate and talked, and dinner time was over soon. They came out of the restaurant and headed to the activity building. Brand took Schiller into the club lobby without registering his identity.
Schiller chatted with people he knew well or not. Although they were not the colleagues and friends he often saw in the Gotham University Faculty Club, they were almost the same.
People sat scattered around the table, drinking and chatting, some reading, some reading newspapers, and some playing cards. Over the years, the entertainment form of this class in Gotham has not changed much.
However, with the development of technology, there was a projector on one wall of the hall playing movies, and several people were sitting there watching.
Schiller was just a little curious about what movie was playing. He walked over and took a look. Wow, isn't that Selena?
It looks like a love movie about exploring an ancient tomb in Mexico. Selena plays a role similar to Lara, which is very suitable for her because she is not only beautiful, but also a good fighter, which makes the most of her advantage as a thief.
The male lead is not so good. Not only is he not as handsome as Bruce, but his fighting scenes are also rather stiff. The plot is so bad that Schiller is unable to complain. When the monster from underground rushed out, the male lead actually ran away first, while the female lead played by Selena still loves him to death. If this was the real Selena, she would have slammed him against the wall and couldn't get him off.
Schiller sat there and watched for a while. He really couldn't stand the plot of this melodramatic love drama anymore. Everyone else was watching with gusto. Looking around, everyone was wearing hospital gowns.
Just as Schiller was looking at the audience in the front row, he suddenly saw a familiar figure.
"Who's that? What's his name?"
Brand looked in the direction Schiller pointed, and after a brief recollection, he said, "Him, his name seems to be Nygma. I remember his illness should be post-traumatic stress disorder and severe obsessive-compulsive disorder."
"Edward Nygma?"
"It seems so." Brand took out his phone and searched for information before saying, "Yes, Edward Nygma was admitted to the hospital four years ago. His condition was very serious when he was admitted. He wrote and guessed riddles uncontrollably. After a period of treatment, his condition improved, but he was unable to stop taking the medication."
"After several electric shock treatments more than a year ago, his condition has improved. Now, apart from his love of reading riddle books, he is almost like a normal person. His attending physician has determined that if there are no accidents, he will be able to be discharged from the hospital in the second half of the year."
Schiller felt a little emotional. He had been wondering where the Riddler of this universe had gone, and had even asked Gordon to keep an eye on him. It turned out that he had been admitted to the hospital a long time ago, and was almost cured now.
However, Schiller is pessimistic about whether Edward can truly recover. The Riddler is one of the few real mental patients in Gotham. People like the Joker and the Scarecrow generally have antisocial personalities and are not considered mentally ill, but Edward is a real mental patient.
In the original comic plot, he showed very obvious obsessive tendencies. He once said that he did not want to leave riddles, but he had no choice but to continue committing crimes, leaving riddles, and then being sent to a mental hospital.
"How was he sent in?" Schiller asked.
"He came here on his own." Brand seemed to have finally remembered something. He said, "One day he collapsed at the door of the mental hospital. The nurse found that he was covered with wounds. She was afraid that he would get an infection from the rain, so she took him back to the ward. It turned out that he had serious mental problems."
"We were preparing for a music festival at that time, and we were worried that he would cause trouble if we let him out. The asylum was doing well, and we didn't need a patient like him, so we just admitted him."
"Are you sure the blood on him is his own?"
"You suspect he killed someone? Actually, we suspect that too, but we are not police officers and cannot ask any questions."
"You know you can get Gordon, right?"
"There's no need for that." Brand emphasized, "He was only 4 years old four years ago. He was just a kid, just like Cobblepot back then. Why should we be so harsh on him?"
"I'm just worried that his illness might be related to his experience. Who caused his injuries?"
"I don't know, but it looks like he was beaten. Combined with his symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, he may have had a serious childhood trauma, perhaps due to school violence."
“You’re always working on maybes.”
"Because I'm a pathologist," Brand said, "Luckily, he's recovering well, and if nothing goes wrong, I'll have him discharged in September."
"I'll go over and take a look." Schiller put down his glass.
He walked over and sat next to Edward. The other party seemed to be startled by him and turned his head, but did not look at Schiller. Instead, he squinted his eyes and looked up, just staring at Schiller.
"Hello, Mr. Nygma, I'm Schiller, a professor of psychology at Gotham University, and Dr. Brand is my friend."
Schiller took out his business card and handed it to Edward, while looking at his face. He indeed looked similar to most Riddlers, but younger and not so pale. From the outside, he didn't look like a mental patient.
But when he stretched out his hand, Schiller could clearly see that he had some physical disabilities. The movement of turning his wrist was rather stiff. When he took the business card back and put it in his pocket, his shoulders seemed to be locked and he didn't know how to exert force smoothly and naturally.
"Have you ever had electroshock therapy?" Schiller asked.
Edward nodded silently.
"How are you feeling? Are you feeling a little more relaxed?"
Edward really thought about it carefully, then nodded with his neck shrunk. He did not show any fear, because modern electric shock therapy requires complete anesthesia, which means that you will not know anything when you lie on the operating table. It is mainly used to stimulate nerves and help recovery.
His performance was somewhat beyond Schiller's expectations, because this type of mental patient should be more excited when communicating, even talking incessantly, which would appear to be nonsense to ordinary people, but psychologists can infer their current state through their language logic.
Edward acted a little shy and was very silent, which was actually a good sign, because that's how it should be when facing strangers. Schiller also showed some pressure, and it would be abnormal if he could get excited.
Learning to avoid is an important part of the recovery of similar mental patients. This can help them establish correct social thinking and reduce their aggressiveness. Although it seems that Brand knows nothing, he is still good at treating diseases.
"How have you been feeling lately?" Schiller eased the pressure and asked in a slower tone.
"It's fine. It's always been fine, Edward said."
"Which ward are you in? Maybe I can come visit you later."
"7013," Edward said. "Can I leave a riddle on the door?"
"Of course you can if you want." Schiller just thought of 7013 next to 7014, where Cobert's mother lived.
"Do you know Mrs. Cobblepot?"
Edward seemed to have finally come out of that avoidance state. He nodded vigorously and said, "She's fine, but she's very ill. Cobert will bring me riddle books, he will read them and answer my riddles..."
Schiller found that the muscles at the corners of Edward's mouth and neck were still twitching a little, which should be the sequelae of taking medicine, but the basic language logic was clear, and there was no abnormal excitement when mentioning the riddle. He was indeed different from other riddlers.
"I know you like riddles very much. Do you prefer life with or without riddles now?" Schiller asked again.
This time Edward thought for a long time and then spoke at length.