Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics-Chapter 4465 - 350: Research on Cats and Dogs (61)

Shiller stood in place, sighed lightly, and said, "Officer, the urgent task now is to find out who is behind the missing persons case and the murder, and bring the true culprit to justice. This is the only way to prevent more tragedies. You and I both understand this."

"You might consider me a suspect, but in fact, someone like me in this small town can barely be considered a professional. I can provide assistance in my field."

"More importantly, most people here don't really want to find out the truth. They just want to brush this matter aside. But you and I don't. We want to uncover the truth. This means that cooperating with me is much more useful than locking me up."

Shiller began pacing in the room, continuing, "Think about it, Betty and her mother appeared in the Yudon's basement, which means he is very likely the perpetrator of the missing persons case. But Yotun is already dead."

"The Yudon couple might not want to find out the truth; they would desperately try to cover it up. Then the tragedy of the Yudon family's younger daughter could happen again, because of their strong objections, the whole thing would just end like that."

"Our time is limited. Once the Yudons return, they will definitely affect the investigation, and by then, even if we don't want to give up, we will have to."

"Within the limited time, waiting for personnel from the city or professional analysis reports is not feasible. They could be back as early as tonight, and if we don't have conclusive evidence by then, you might not have any option but administrative leave tonight."

"If most technical means can't be used, then we can hardly find any physical evidence. The only breakthrough is witnesses. But currently, the seemingly useful testimonies come from two children."

"Betty is a victim, and Aisha is not a direct witness. Getting clues and identifying the culprit from them is extremely difficult. What's more challenging is how to get as much useful information from them without causing harm."

"Therefore, I say I can help. Interrogation techniques used on adults can't be applied to children, but I can use some psychological methods to ask them more clues without causing any harm."

"If you're willing, let me stay with them for a while. Maybe it will only take half an hour. I believe you have that kind of authority, Mr. John."

John stood quietly in place. Shiller's words appealed to both emotion and reason; he had said everything he could, and it seemed John had nothing more to say.

He knew Shiller was right. The Yudon couple was close friends with the police chief of Middleton. The matter of their younger daughter was suppressed due to their connections before, and it would likely be the same this time.

The current breakthrough lies with the two little girls, but none of the police present had any experience questioning children, himself included. Shiller became the only option.

It seemed innocent enough, but wasn't it all too convenient?

After thinking for several seconds, John made a decision. No matter what, he needed to know the truth. This would at least allow him to give an account to Catherine the next time he went to church.

"I can give you half an hour," John said, "but you better obtain useful information, or even I won't be able to convince the chief."

Shiller nodded. He was certainly confident. The moment he killed Yotun, he had foreseen the current situation.

Betty was key. Although she was just an ordinary little girl, she tugged at John's heartstrings. John would be particularly attentive to her various states and might even break principles for her. In this case, leveraging Betty, Shiller could reveal to John a small part of Malafax's conspiracy.

At that time, he would no longer have to deal with Malafax himself; Martian Manhunter Ron would show him what a brother's Iron Fist was.

With the police escort, Shiller was taken to Betty's room. Betty was still the same: somewhat distracted, her attention scattered. No matter who talked to her, she would only repeat a few sentences.

Although to Shiller, her brainwashed behavior was already obvious, even the ordinary police could tell something was off, but non-professionals couldn't find a proper reason to explain it all. What Shiller needed to do was provide that reason from a professional perspective.

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After the door closed, Shiller began repeatedly asking Betty some questions, mostly details about her encounters with Yotun. Betty's responses were always the same few sentences.

Shiller didn't expect to uncover any earth-shaking secrets from her; what he wanted was Betty's unusual behavior, the more abnormal, the better.

After all, psychic ability was an innate talent of Mars people, just like their arms. If on a planet full of tentacle monsters, a human handprint with five fingers suddenly appeared, any human would find it noticeable.

Humans don't have psychic abilities, so they can't explain Betty's current state; but Mars people are born understanding this, they would know the moment they see it.

When time was up, Shiller left the room, gently closing the door. He knew John should have seen the room's situation through the surveillance cameras.

But he still sighed slightly with concern and said, "Betty's mental state is very bad. Although I can't be completely sure, I think she might have been hypnotized by someone."

John's face became terrifyingly grim. He said in a deep voice, "Are you sure? Who hypnotized her?"

"I'm just a psychologist, not God. I can only tell you from Betty's state the result, but I can't trace it back to the source." Shiller lightly shook his head, "I can only tell you the person who brainwashed her used very rough methods, and the brainwashing is very deep. I don't have a good solution."

"If I had enough time, maybe I could return to the East Coast and consult my teachers and colleagues, but that's clearly impossible now. If we can't break the brainwashing, we might not find any traces of the hidden real culprit."

Shiller's helpless performance was far from over before John sidestepped past him, opened the door, and went into the room.

Shiller followed closely behind. Even though he was quite confident the current John was indeed the Martian Manhunter, it was better to stay cautious until the answer was revealed.

After entering, Shiller saw John squatting in front of Betty, reaching out to touch her head, and asking her a few questions. As expected, he got the same answers.

Betty's whole state now was like an automatic response program set with answers: as long as it involved the murder case, her responses were those few sentences, from whichever angle you asked.

Besides this automatic response program, her other programs didn't seem to be working. She didn't show anxiety or tension about the current situation, nor did she cry and fuss like a normal child, just sat there in a daze.

Just as John was about to say something, there was a knock on the door. He was called out by another officer, and when he returned, he looked even worse.

Shiller could guess roughly what he encountered; to prevent the situation from escalating, the police station was likely planning to narrow the investigation scope, minimizing the impact of this incident.

Seeing John's expression, Shiller knew he must have made a decision. So he left the room, closing the door behind him, and went to another room to find Aisha.

The previous policewoman was playing with Aisha. Seeing Shiller come over, Aisha ran to him. Shiller patted her head and nodded to the policewoman. The policewoman smiled and left.

Shiller and Aisha sat down together. Aisha glanced at the room where Betty was and whispered, "If she recovers her memory and tells on you, what will you do?"

Shiller shook his head, not saying anything.

Actually, this was the final test to see if John was really the Martian Manhunter.

If Martian Manhunter Ron broke his principles and used Mars people's psychic ability, he would naturally discover that Shiller had already rescued Betty from the basement.

This meant Shiller knew more than he claimed, had enough reason for conflict with Yotun, and had a motive for murder.

With this evidence, John could convince the police chief to investigate Shiller further. Since Shiller was an outsider, if he committed the crime, it would not be blamed on the police chief's mismanagement, nor would it affect the Yudon family's reputation. It would be a win-win result.

But this required Betty to point out Shiller.

To have Betty point out Shiller, she had to regain her memory. If it were Malafax, he would certainly do so.

Malafax wasn't stupid; he had seen Shiller when he invaded Gotham University. Although Shiller didn't show anything special back then, now seeing him here again, he would certainly realize he was not a simple person.

Being able to take advantage of this incident to give Shiller trouble, he would certainly be very willing.

But Ron wouldn't do that.

Having his mother killed in front of him, and being confined with the corpse for several days, this kind of memory would be catastrophic for any child.

Fortunately, someone hypnotized her, making her enter a dazed auto-response mode, keeping her from immediate harm. But once this mode was lifted and the real memories returned, her mental state and personality might collapse instantly.

Not everyone can build a High Tower out of fragments. Betty was just an ordinary little girl; such an experience could condemn her to spend the rest of her life in a Psychiatric Hospital.

Ron would never allow such a thing to happen, not just for his daughter, but because he was a righteous man, full of sympathy and empathy, who couldn't stand by idly in the face of such tragedy.

The real Martian Manhunter, after reading the truth from Betty's memory, had only one choice: to help her erase that memory.

You could say, if the John coming out of the door next didn't immediately point a gun at Shiller, he was surely the Martian Manhunter.

For Shiller, the indifference and cruelty in the hearts of the ruthless were like lamps in the dark, always easily recognizable from afar and distinguishable with simple means.

People often say, "The affectionate ones are always troubled by the unfeeling ones," as if the more wicked and unfeeling people go further—"Despicableness is despicable people's passport, nobleness is noble people's epitaph."

But in reality, psychopaths attract and consume each other, like greedy anglerfish, attracting other prey with their lights and following the light until they meet a more powerful monster, get devoured, and are completely digested.

Perhaps this is the main reason Human Society hasn't already perished under these madmen's leadership. It seems like the creator's mercy but more like an imm loneliness

in human society's own evolutionary immune System. In both sociology and psychology, it's a profound and wondrous miracle.