Then, Shiller and Hugo talked a lot more, seemingly engaged in a heated debate. Now, they could discern some of the words. Victor determined they seemed to be discussing something related to "love."
"Is this some kind of trendy term?" Victor said, "Yesterday, Brainiac also talked to me about this issue, saying he wanted to fall in love with the Super Body."
"There must be a reason why something suddenly becomes popular," Shiller said, suggestively.
The atmosphere in the room reached a fever pitch, and then suddenly, Shiller took a step back. The door opened, and another figure walked in. It was a robust man with a pale face and a thick beard, but his appearance was unfamiliar, and Victor didn't recognize him.
"Who is this?" Victor leaned toward Shiller and asked.
"Jerryta, a corpse collector, and also Hugo's victim. However, Hugo is his victim too."
Victor paused with the binoculars in his hand, then said, "What do you mean?"
"This guy used to collect corpses for the mob and has a necrophilia fetish. Due to unhealthy sexual behavior, he contracted a sexually transmitted disease. He was recently killed, revived, and then killed again..."
"Wait." Victor interrupted Shiller, putting down the binoculars, pouring himself a cup of hot tea, and said, "Don't condense the story now, tell it in detail."
Shiller briefly explained to Victor about Jerryta. When he heard about Hugo researching Jerryta, he just frowned slightly. But when he heard that Jerryta might have collected Hugo's corpse, he spat out a mouthful of hot tea.
"Are you saying... that he... he... would he..." Victor made every gesture he could think of to describe indescribable things, practically performing a gestural dance.
"Most likely, yes." Shiller nodded.
Victor was speechless, as this was a bit too advanced even for Gothamites. Moreover, such events had a strange sense of destiny. Logically, a necrophilia fetish is somewhat niche, but it's not a big deal in Gotham — after all, he only harms corpses, which is relatively safe among the perverts. But as fate would have it, the behind-the-scenes manipulator arrives, and suddenly the corpses can be revived. What a mess, you say.
"So, do you think he would like the bodies that can move?" Victor, true to Gotham fashion, immediately started an academic discussion, "Would a necrophiliac like revived bodies?"
"Whether he liked them before is uncertain, but now I'm afraid..."
Victor slowly put down the binoculars, glaring at Shiller, "You're not suggesting that this little employee of yours... he..."
Just as Victor was about to perform another gestural dance, Jerryta suddenly roared. The sound was so loud that they could faintly hear it. But Victor wished he could cover his ears, because the theme of what he was saying revolved around these two words — "beauty" and "love."
With interjections of "why," "on what basis," "we," "they," "you want," "I want"...
Up to this point, it was still bearable. By ignoring their gender, state of existence, and fetish, it was just a case of a passionate pursuer who considers themselves betrayed, and a victim who can't really be called a good person. They could be seen as a pair of star-crossed lovers.
But when Jerryta started describing certain detailed aspects of certain events, Victor truly couldn't take it.
"Ugh—!!!"
He put down the binoculars and started dry heaving, half-kneeling on the ground by the heater. Unable to suppress it any longer, he canceled the barrier, ran to the edge of the roof, and started throwing up, nearly emptying his entire stomach.
After throwing up, he found Shiller still enjoying the spectacle. He couldn't help but lean against the ice wall and said, "Although I can understand your kind of hobby, I suggest you see a doctor."
Shiller waved his hand and said, "You don't get it. The key isn't in these bizarre contents. It wasn't because of these details that Hugo collapsed — after all, it's hard to say whether he even has memories from that time."
"...Then what was it?" After saying this, Victor almost slapped himself. This damn curiosity, why can't I just ignore the drama?
"Hugo is actually a very inconsistent person," Shiller said. "He considers himself capable of manipulating everyone's thoughts and emotions. He takes pride in this ability, believing he is inherently superior to others, as if he is the God of the psychological and spirit domain."
"So he unscrupulously treated others as experimental subjects to study because, in his view, these people were merely lower forms of life, like lab mice. He was above them, so he could manipulate them at will."
"He conducted all sorts of experiments on them. For instance, disrupting their normal thinking, applying various suggestions to them, or making certain aspects of their personality more extreme—like injecting drugs into mice and observing their reactions."
"He is not omnipotent. Some things may also be beyond his control, but this doesn't cause him any real harm. It's like being bitten by a mouse; it might hurt a little, but it's not fatal. Even if the mouse carries some bacteria, it's not difficult to deal with. As a higher life form, he always has a way."
"However, among all these experimental subjects, there was one taboo field he could never touch—love. He could make people crazier, or more cowardly, make them euphoric, make them indifferent, but he never tried to make others fall in love with him."
"Uh, when you put it that way, it sounds normal." Victor said, "Who would expect lab mice to fall in love with themselves."
"This is precisely where his inconsistency lies. If he doesn't need the love of mice, then why does he desire the same social standing as me?"
Victor was stunned for a moment. Shiller said, "Hugo is not entirely indifferent to the opinions of ordinary people; one might even say he enjoys adulation. He wants others' praise and reverence, wants someone to love him unconditionally, to be deeply infatuated with him, and to follow him from the heart."
"...It certainly doesn't sound normal." Victor said, "He considers himself not of the same species as others and wants to manipulate them as if they were tools. But he also needs the adulation of these tools. Isn't this self-contradictory? I don't expect my desk to like me."
"Precisely. He thinks that by continuously experimenting on subjects, he is engaging in academic research. But in reality, it's a compulsive behavior born of psychopathy, meant to prove his superiority. Every time he manipulates the minds of ordinary people, it further convinces him of his superiority. This is the primary reason he repeats the process."
"The reason he falls into this cycle of compulsive behavior is that, apart from this method, there's no other way to prove he is truly superior. Because no one loves him, no one adores him, he can only indulgently exert his abilities to repeatedly hypnotize himself: I'm good enough, I'm excellent enough, I'm naturally above others."
"In this world, there is a kind of workaholic who, due to a lack of emotional support, constantly needs to prove themselves in the work arena, reaching a blind and morbid level. They are usually extreme in the workplace, especially in fields where they have confidence. They usually refuse communication and discussion and firmly refuse to cooperate, insisting that things be done their way. Only through this method of overpowering everyone can they prove they have the foundation to stand tall, that they are worthy of being loved. This is precisely because, apart from these, they have never truly been loved."
"The reason Hugo targets me so much is because he must prove that he is number one in this field, because otherwise, he has no way to anchor his existence."
Victor nodded and said, "It sounds quite reasonable. So if we're being reverse, if someone is truly adored and loved, there's no urgent need to prove one's self."
"You could say so." Shiller looked around the room again and then said, "The problem with Hugo is that he operates under the banner of academic research and experimentation but, in fact, hasn't really researched anything. He has ability, but not visible results. This doesn't mean his skill is lacking, but that he never truly engaged in research. His research into those experimental subjects was more about satisfying his own desires, which led to the process being greater than the result."
"If that's the case, then his talent must be quite good." Victor thought for a moment and said, "After wandering for so many years, his level is still not bad upon returning."
"This kind of thing doesn't require effort." Shiller shook his head and said, "Most Spirit Manipulators are born that way, with little relation to acquired cultivation and practice."
"What's this got to do with Jerryta?"
"The interesting part is here. I created a real enthusiastic pursuer, the kind Hugo wants—unconditionally loving him, following him, unable to live without him, a psychopathy-obsessed admirer."
"That is..." Victor still couldn't bring himself to say hypocritical words. Even if someone could be crazy enough to follow Hugo, there's no need to distinguish high and low, but Jerryta is clearly not the kind of follower that can bring any benefit. His obsessive love, when poured on anyone, usually only brings trouble.
"Do you think his breaking point is that Jerryta isn't presentable?" Shiller seemed to read Victor's thoughts again, he said, "But it's not that. If you listen carefully to what Jerryta said..."
"Oh my God, can I even listen carefully to what he says?!" Victor was almost breaking down, he said, "What's the need to listen?!"
"Even what you've heard is enough, it's not hard to find that his love comes from sex. That's the key point."
Victor showed a very complex expression, he said, "If I were Hugo, I'm afraid I'd be pretty disgusted too..."
Shiller shook his head again and said, "The problem is that Jerryta is sexually inverted. What this means is that his love is directed at Hugo's corpse. What he likes is not even Hugo's body, but his corpse."
"When Hugo was alive, Jerryta never expressed affection. He might even have deeply hated Hugo because Hugo used him for experiments. But once Hugo died, he fell in love. Even now, with Hugo resurrected, becoming a moving corpse, Jerryta became his fervent follower. What he loves is not Hugo, but Hugo's Death."
"Don't say anymore." Victor covered his throat and said, "I'm feeling a bit... Ugh!!!"