Chapter 259: Dream Stealer and Truman (Part 2)

Schiller, who had the globe head, stretched out his hand and snapped his fingers. A screen appeared above the heads of several people. He said, "You can see the situation outside through my consciousness space, just like this..."

"This is Hugo Strange. What you are seeing now is his first day in Gotham..."

Hugo Strange's face appeared on the screen. In the first-person perspective, a sleeve of a white coat appeared, followed by an arm shaking hands with Hugo.

"We are watching your first-person perspective now, right?" Victor asked.

"Yes, I am being polite to him at this moment. Pay attention, I will introduce the topic of psychological theory next..."

Several people were very interested and stared at the screen intently. Hugo in the first-person perspective quickly started his long speech, and Schiller kept discussing with him. After a while, Schiller's hand in the first-person perspective took out a bottle of wine from his bag.

"Wait, isn't it a bit strange to drink during an academic discussion?" Yin Wens asked, "You are obviously discussing a serious academic topic. Wouldn't he think it's wrong if you took out a bottle of wine at this time?"

"It is precisely because we are discussing a serious academic topic that he won't pay attention to these things, because all his energy is focused on how to refute my theory. Look at his expression, pay attention here..."

Schiller got a pointer from somewhere, and then pointed at the picture on the screen and said, "Did you see it? He looked down at my hand that was opening the bottle cap, but while I was doing this, I looked up at the He asked a question, and his attention was distracted..."

"His curiosity about what I was doing was far less intense than his desire to refute me and prove himself."

The two hands in the first-person perspective on the screen took out two wine glasses, and then poured wine for Hugo and himself. Several people heard Schiller say: "I am used to having a drink after get off work, what about you? Dr. Hugo?"

Hugo seemed to be indifferent. He didn't look like an alcoholic, but he didn't seem to dislike drinking. When Schiller pushed the glass in front of him, he seemed to give Schiller a face, so he picked up the glass and took a sip.

As the debate became more and more intense, Hugo began to pick up his wine glass frequently in between his thoughts. Schiller pointed to the screen and said, "He began to use minor objects as pauses and turns in his thinking, just like many people like to spin pens, bite fingers, and play with erasers in class..."

After a while, it can be seen from the screen that Hugo began to feel drowsy. Victor asked, "Is he going to sleep?"

"Yes, guess where the first act will start?"

"Just like us, we wake up in the original scene and don't realize that we are dreaming at all." Cobert said in a low voice.

Schiller shook his head and said, "This is a good start, but a little mediocre. If the cause of a script is too bland, the subsequent development may not be very exciting."

"Where do you plan to start, professor?"

Schiller stretched out his hand and snapped his fingers again, and all the items in the house began to retreat. The floor was pulled out section by section, the sofa disappeared layer by layer, and the cabinets and tables were all integrated into the floor and ceiling in a magical folding way.

Then, all kinds of things came out from the walls of the space and formed another scene. Several people stood in the center of this space. Yin Wens looked up and down and said, "This seems to be... a train compartment?"

"Yes, I think a gradual opening would be a good choice. You may have seen it in some movies. The protagonist takes a train to a strange city. He looks at the scenery outside the window and fantasizes about his future life. Although this kind of opening is a bit literary, I like it very much..."

Speaking, Schiller walked to the door of a compartment and opened it. It was Hugo Strange sitting inside.

"But I think something is missing." Yin Wens touched his chin and said, "Oh, by the way, in drama creation, the protagonist needs some motivation. Only with motivation can the protagonist do things..."

"Of course, I have made preparations, but I would like to state that I did not control his mind. Just like you, he also has the ability to think independently in the consciousness space."

"Now..." Schiller snapped his fingers, and the narrow corridor and the layers of partitions on the train unfolded like a cardboard box and turned into a plane, leaving only Hugo and the chair he was sitting on, and the table in front of him.

Several people followed Schiller's footsteps and walked to Hugo. Cobert asked: "Can't he see us?"

"Good question." Schiller said: "I was just about to say this."

"People's consciousness space and dreams are divided into many layers, at least in my case, different floors cannot communicate with each other, nor can they interfere with each other."

"Are we on the same floor as him?"

"Yes, the place you are in now is the 'theater' in my mind palace, which is the 68th, 69th and 70th floors."

"What is this concept? Is there any difference between the floors?"

"Of course there is. It's actually very complicated to explain, because such a palace of thought was not built in a day, but there are rules to follow. Simply put, the lower the floor, the more chaotic it is, and the higher the floor, the more orderly it is."

"Hugo is now on the 68th floor, which is the stage, and you are now on the 69th floor, which is the auditorium."

"And I, although I am standing next to you now, I am actually on the 70th floor of the theater, which is the director's room, or the director's office."

"So, I can control everything on the stage, like this..." As Schiller finished speaking, he snapped his fingers again, and a newspaper appeared on Hugo's table.

"Newspaper? What's written on it?" Yin Wens wanted to move closer to take a look, but he didn't seem to want to get too close to Hugo. Schiller reminded him: "You can move closer to take a look, he can't see you."

"In my mind palace, each part has different rules, and in the theater, the higher consciousness can see the lower consciousness, but the lower consciousness can't see the higher consciousness."

"So, you can see him, but he can't see you. At this time, in his field of vision, he should be sitting on the train, entering Gotham City as the train moves forward."

"Hasn't he arrived? And he's chatting and drinking with you..."

"You have a lot of stupid questions." Jack stared at Yin Wens who was asking questions, Schiller waved his hand and said, "Don't be like that, Jack. I like people who like to ask questions."

"Generally speaking, people are not aware that they are dreaming when they are dreaming, just like when you first came here. Although everything is inconsistent and weird, you are completely unaware of it."

"There are a small number of people who can realize that they are dreaming in their dreams, and use the principle of believing in the truth to the extreme, and complete many things that cannot be done in reality in their dreams. We generally call this kind of dream a 'lucid dream'."

"But obviously, Hugo, who just fell asleep, could not realize that he was dreaming. In his opinion, he just received the employment notice and sat down. I got on the train to Gotham, and then I saw a newspaper on the train..."

"So what was the motivation you mentioned before?"

Schiller waved his hand again, and another newspaper appeared in Hugo's hand. The newspaper looked a bit old. Victor leaned over to take a look and said, "Is this a report about you?"

"Yes, I hinted to him that he had noticed me before he came to Gotham, and investigated some information about me. This should arouse his curiosity about me, and will speed up his arrival at Arkham Hospital, and lay the groundwork for the subsequent plot..."

"And then..." Schiller snapped his fingers, and the table was pulled away from Hugo, and the newspaper flew away. After dancing until he disappeared in the air, Hugo stepped directly into the office of the attending physician of Arkham Psychiatric Hospital.

"Why jump directly?" Victor asked him: "Wouldn't he feel a little strange?"

"Isn't it like this in dreams? One fragment after another, jumping from breakfast to class to lunch break and then to going home after school. You can't listen to a complete math class in your dream, right?"

"What should I do next? Is he going to start working?"

"No, his motivation is not enough. I have to add fuel to the fire."

Then, Schiller waved his hand, and a person who looked exactly like him appeared beside him, except that his head became Schiller's normal head instead of a globe.

"What is this? Is it your clone?"

"He is the next actor to appear..."

As Schiller spoke, another of himself walked into the office of Arkham Hospital, then shook Hugo's hands enthusiastically and said to him: "Thank God, you are finally here."

After that, Schiller began to be polite to Hugo, and Victor commented: "You really acted like an unscrupulous quack who is eager to shirk responsibility."

"This is exactly what I want. If I leave him with the impression that I am very incompetent and eager to shirk responsibility, then he will think that I am not worthy of the name, and then he will have a stronger motivation to expose me and overthrow me. My theory. "

"I really don't understand." Victor crossed his arms and said, "What is the ultimate purpose of your arrangement of this play? It's not really just for fun, right?"

"Watching fun is one aspect. After all, it's a long night and you can't sleep. It's not bad to direct and perform a play by yourself, but there is indeed another purpose. You will know it later."

Then, Schiller's character left the stage and Brand's character walked in. Before they asked, Schiller explained, "This is just a puppet I made. Brand didn't come here. After all, his field is pathology and he is not interested in these things."

Then. Hugo began to speak about his "The Palace of Thought does not exist". During this process, Jack laughed very happily, and almost laughed out loud in the end. He wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes and said, "It's like a person saying in a dream, 'People don't dream'. This is a funny joke, hahahaha! It replaced the joke that Schiller is an ordinary person in my heart..."

Since Schiller's head was a globe, others couldn't see his expression, but Victor still joked: "What did I just see? Did you roll your eyes in Texas?"

Then, they saw Hugo come out holding an egg-shaped machine, and Cobert frowned and said, "What is that?"

"It should be something he made with his own mind, just like the chicken wing head and ice gun you just made. He believed that he made this thing, so it really appeared."

Then they saw Hugo pick up the medical record and start looking through it, then walk to the phone and start calling.

Suddenly, a piercing ring sounded in the space, and Cobert looked down in confusion and saw a ringing phone floating in front of him.

"Your phone." Schiller said with a smile.

"What's going on? He called me in a dream, and then he really called me?"

"I let him call here, otherwise it would be meaningless for us to just watch. I always think that immersive drama performances have great development potential, and the interaction between actors and audiences is also of utmost importance..."

"So what should I do now?"

Victor patted Copperbot's shoulder and said, "Answer the phone."

Copperbot picked up the phone, and he really heard Hugo's voice. At this time, the two were facing each other in the office, Hugo holding the phone on the left side of the table, and Copper holding the phone on the right side of the table.

"Hello, is this Mr. Cobblepot? This is Arkham Psychiatric Hospital. My medical records show that you need to come for a follow-up visit recently. Are you free tomorrow afternoon?"

Cobblepot was stunned, but he still agreed to the request for a follow-up visit. Then he looked at Schiller and said, "What should I do next? Do I really go for a follow-up visit?"

"Didn't you see what I did just now? Imagine a virtual personality, then materialize it and let it go down to participate in this performance for you."

Schiller introduced to Cobblepot how to materialize another self in the consciousness space. He emphasized: "The trick is that it is best not to give it a higher-dimensional perspective, like a Cobblepot who actually received a follow-up notice, didn't know why, and planned to go..."

"Are you saying to create a virtual memory for him?" Cobblepot asked with a frown.

"Yes, you can give him a reasonable reason, for example, in his memory, he didn't know I had resigned, and felt that the follow-up visit was just a routine matter, so it was okay to go. This would help him to be more involved in the next performance..."

When another Cobert was created, the others were amazed. When he walked into the clinic and lay on the chair, Hugo brought out the machine, and Cobert in the audience asked: "What is he going to do?"

"He may want to enter your conscious world."

"But isn't he in the conscious world?"

"Remember the rules here? What you believe is true. He thinks this is the real world, and he is a psychologist, so he plans to enter your mind."

"And this is what I said, my other purpose, and it is also the topic I have been focusing on recently..."

"What?"

"Dream within a dream."