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Chapter 257: Hugo Wanders in Wonderland (3)

First scared by Copperpot, then frozen by Victor, but Hugo still didn't want to give up. He thought it might be a very small probability coincidence that two geniuses with unique consciousness spaces gathered together and became master and apprentice. Although the possibility was small, it was not impossible.

Apart from these two, the most recent person with treatment records was Evans Falcone.

When Hugo saw this surname, he hesitated for a moment but decided to invite him over. Hugo believed that if he didn't use any radical means and just took a look, he probably wouldn't provoke the famous Godfather.

Evans' situation was similar to Copperpot's. He didn't know about Schiller's resignation, and he was cooperative with follow-up visits. When he came to Hugo's treatment room, it was the same as before. Hugo asked him to lie down on the chair, then started the machine and attached the electrodes to his own head.

Once inside Evans' consciousness space, Hugo was stunned again because there was a large theater in Evans' consciousness space.

That wasn't a big deal, just like Copperpot's situation, but the problem was that next to this theater was a half-built old Manor.

Having two buildings wouldn't be a big deal, but the other building was still under construction. When Hugo entered, a figure walked out of that building under construction and looked him up and down, saying, "Who are you? How did you get in here?"

Suddenly, his expression changed, and he said, "Are you an assassin?"

Hugo noticed the person on the opposite side make a slight movement with his hand, but then he regained his calmness. The person on the other side said, "No, if he wanted to kill me, he would come in person..."

At this point, Hugo also realized that the person existing in Evans' consciousness space seemed different from Evans himself. He asked, "...Dual personality?"

"Right, you must be a psychologist, aren't you?"

Hugo sensed some dangerous traits from this person, so he tried to remain calm and said, "That's correct. I'm conducting hypnotherapy for you. What's your name?"

The person looked Hugo up and down and said, "I'm Alberto. Hypnotherapy? I've never heard of that in Evans' treatment plan... I'm a new psychologist, and this is my treatment method. Don't feel nervous. I'm just confirming that your current mental state is normal."

"Fine, then don't bother me. My house is only halfway built. You can go visit the building across the street."

Hugo carefully examined the half-built house and discovered that the attention to detail was astonishing. Even the bricks that hadn't been stacked and the cement that had been mixed into a lump were clearly visible.

"What are you building?"

"A house. Why else?"

"Why do you need to build a house?"

Alberto looked at Hugo as if he was an idiot and said, "If I don't build a house, where will I live?"

That question really left Hugo stumped. It made perfect sense in reality, but he didn't know how to explain to the person in front of him that normal people don't need to build houses in their consciousness worlds.

Impatiently, Alberto waved his hand at him and said, "The person you need to examine and treat is in the house next door. Go find him there and don't bother me."

Hugo felt the dangerous aura emanating from him getting stronger and didn't dare to stay longer, afraid of causing more trouble. So he walked out of the building under construction and went to the theater across the street.

As soon as he entered the theater, he was stunned again because there were a dozen Evans rehearsing a play on the stage, and surprisingly, there were quite a few audience members in the seats.

What was even more surprising was that Schiller was among the audience.

Hugo hesitated, unsure whether he should go in because he felt a great danger among these audience members.

He swallowed his saliva and stopped his steps, silently retreating.

He didn't even dare to press that button and ended the journey into Evans' consciousness space. Evans, who had gotten up from the chair, yawned and stretched, feeling like he had a strange dream but couldn't remember what it was about. So he said, "Thank you, doctor. Is the treatment over?"

"It's over..." Hugo replied absentmindedly.

Even after Evans left, Hugo remained stiff in place because recent events had truly exceeded his expectations.

In his first step in his career in Gotham, he faced a huge challenge because his worldview was overturned. From any perspective, the possibility of three rare geniuses appearing consecutively should be close to zero.

Hugo couldn't understand where the problem was coming from. All his theories were based on the assumption that the consciousness spaces of ordinary people were chaotic, disorderly, and lacking. Therefore, he believed that being able to manifest a complete image of himself in the consciousness space made him superior to ordinary humans and capable of manipulating them.

But recently, his situation could be described as moving into a new house full of joy, only to stumble upon three big troubles in a row.

Hugo, being a professional psychologist, had strong self-regulation abilities. He quickly emerged from this shadow and pondered a crucial point: the appearance of a person named Schiller Rodriguez in the consciousness spaces of these three individuals simultaneously.

Hugo now suspected that Schiller might have used a therapy method unknown to him to remodel the consciousness spaces of these three individuals. It was not impossible.

Over the past few days, Hugo had stayed up late to read all of Schiller's papers and research reports. He had to admit that Schiller's grand theories were unlikely to be mere fabrications. It was impossible to create such intricate and realistic details out of thin air.

Previously, due to his arrogance, Hugo hadn't carefully read these papers. He only skimmed through them. But upon closer examination, he discovered that Schiller might have truly mastered some unknown psychological techniques. Perhaps he used these techniques to reshape his patients.

Hugo suddenly felt a sense of indignation. He and Schiller had both engaged in unauthorized human experiments. However, he was discovered, hunted down, and eventually fired, forced to flee to Gotham to escape trouble. On the other hand, Schiller remained a world-renowned top psychology master. It was simply unfair.

Schiller had done the same thing as him, using his professional knowledge to transform patients. The only difference was that Schiller was more covert, less likely to be discovered. Not only did he not face any consequences for his actions, he achieved fame and success. This greatly disturbed Hugo, who had just been fired and expelled.

Because of this, Hugo harbored a thought: he wanted to expose Schiller.

Then, a more dangerous idea emerged in Hugo's mind. If he could control Schiller, he could use all of his skills, knowledge, reputation, and status for his own benefit.

However, Hugo was well aware that they were both insiders in the field. Hugo had some understanding of Schiller's research direction, and it was likely that Schiller knew about Hugo as well. It would be unlikely to deceive Schiller like he deceived these patients. Even if he managed to deceive Schiller, Hugo didn't have the confidence to hypnotize a fellow professional.

Therefore, Hugo believed that he needed a meticulous plan and a partner.

Finally, his gaze stopped on the medical record at the bottom, which had a name without a surname: "Jack."

None of Gotham's weather forecasts predicted that it would actually snow in this early autumn. Although it was very fine snow and not too cold, it was still a rare sight.

Tiny and crystalline snowflakes slowly fell from the sky, covering the rooftop of Arkham Mental Hospital. After being covered, the worn-out tiles on the roof seemed rejuvenated.

Due to the hospital's construction being quite old, its architectural structure was not like that of modern mental hospitals. Instead, it retained some special features from the past, such as an underground basement for dealing with certain troublesome conditions.

Blinding light flashed, and a white halo spread before Schiller's eyes as he opened them. There were two figures in front of him.

"You're awake..." Hugo said, fiddling with a machine on the table opposite Schiller. Jack leaned against the railing beside him, idly picking at his fingers.

Hugo looked at Schiller, who was bound to a chair. At the moment, the professor was fixed in a somewhat old interrogation chair, his hands restrained by iron rings and his feet immobilized, making it impossible for him to move.

Schiller lowered his gaze and looked at the two sharp circular saws fixed near his neck. He said, "So, you brought me to the office for a handover, only to kidnap me?"

Hugo smiled and pressed a button on the wall. The small circular saws on both sides of Schiller's neck began to spin rapidly and slowly moved closer to the center, nearing Schiller's neck. However, Schiller showed no reaction, only looking at Hugo and asking, "What are you planning to do?"

"Nothing much, just hoping you'll cooperate with me in a hypnosis experiment."

"Oh? That sounds interesting..."

"I know that under normal circumstances, you wouldn't talk to me, let alone cooperate. But with this chair..."

Hugo pressed the button again, and the circular saws started spinning once more. He said, "...I'm afraid even if you don't want to cooperate, you'll have to."

Hugo picked up a book from the nearby table and held it up to Schiller, saying, "In one of the papers you published here, you elaborated on the theory of the Mind Palace, depicting it as a layered structure within the human consciousness space used to store different memories..."

"I don't know if you've truly achieved that, but now we can test it..."

"How do you plan to test it?"

"You've probably asked this question to many people, because you're certain that no one can verify this fact, no one can enter your mind..."

Hugo revealed a somewhat cruel smile and said, "...but I can."

"Now, let's wait and see if you're the greatest fraud of this century, or..."

As he spoke, he stuck one patch after another onto his own head. Jack remained silent beside him, but if Hugo had lifted his gaze to look at him before closing his eyes, he would have seen a mocking smile on his face.

In the moment of merging brainwaves, the descent into a long darkness began. Hugo never expected the process of connecting to consciousness could be this long. He had no idea how long he had been falling, but he never reached the bottom.

He felt like Alice falling down the rabbit hole, with an endless array of bizarre and surreal scenes passing before his eyes, followed by darkness and even darker darkness.

Amidst this endless descent, Hugo was driven to madness by the loneliness and weightlessness. Just as he was considering giving up, he finally landed on the ground.

When Hugo regained consciousness, he looked down and saw a black floor beneath his feet, while above him stretched an infinite number of floors.

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