Chapter 6123 - 5136: Journey of Wonder (11)

Greed paused for a moment, finally concluding, "So, when you feel disoriented in life, when your cognition and feelings don’t match, there’s no need to rush to blame yourself, nor even blame society."

"In the long process of Earth’s evolution, only the human race broke through the curse of evolution that has killed countless species over millions of years. This is a brand new path, one that no one has walked before. It’s possible to take the wrong path or to be in a period of growing pains."

"If you’ve seen the evolutionary chart of dinosaurs, you’ll find that on the evolutionary path, anything is possible. Strange branching routes always appear, and even the most successful ancient creatures that have survived to this day may have traveled very obscure, niche routes back then. The evolutionary chart of modern Homo sapiens has barely started, and no one knows what will happen next."

"Your rebellion against the identity and gender assigned to you by society may very well be the starting point of a small branch on the evolutionary tree of the human race, the origin of humans breaking through physiological and psychological limitations. Yet, human life is too short, and the evolution process is too long, that’s why you feel helpless and hopeless."

"But if someday another race looks at us like we look at dinosaurs, at our evolutionary chart, then what society considers to be cognitive disorders might also be seen as brave attempts in the history of evolution, just like the first aquatic creature that stepped onto land millions of years ago."

"Is this true?" Little Superman asked, somewhat bewildered, "One day will we really evolve to have body structures without gender differences?"

"It’s better to ask if this is really workable?" Deathstroke was skeptical, "Though I’ve heard of asexual reproduction, and something like... self-splitting? But is this mode really suitable for humans?"

"I’m a psychiatrist, I’m not responsible for saying the ’right’ thing," Greed admitted bluntly, "I’m just comforting my patients, helping them find hope in life. Sometimes, the trivial details in life, those things that cannot be changed on a micro level, are too despairing, and all we can do is to explain the meaning of pain from a more macro perspective, which has always been quite effective."

"Alright." Little Superman thought for a moment and said, "If I had gender identity disorder, what you said might indeed make me feel a bit better. I would think that perhaps this is a flaw of the human race, and I might be able to help humans make up for this flaw, or at least pave a new way. If that way is blocked, it’s still not impossible to go this way."

"Then I’ve achieved my aim," Greed said, "As I said, psychiatrists are not responsible for judging right or wrong. We try to speak to your heart with logic that you accept, help you sort out the logic, vent emotions, find new goals, and then return to face life again."

"What a great profession," Deathstroke lamented, "Just comforting my wife and children wears me out; they are normal people but sometimes have complaints. I can’t imagine how long I’d survive facing so many mentally ill patients every day, having to patiently comfort them."

"You should consider how long you can keep them alive," said the agent, pointing out sharply, "Sending them to Heaven is also a form of psychological healing, isn’t that how you see it?"

Although Deathstroke did not speak, his attitude seemed more like agreement. Instead of going to great lengths to comfort patients, it would be better to end their pain quickly; at least he could guarantee that it’s painless.

Greed, finally couldn’t bear it any longer, manipulated the light ball to fly to Nina’s ear, incessantly trying to dissuade her from taking those pills. But unfortunately, the wind force was too weak, and Nina seemed to think the window was not closed properly. She turned to look, saw the window was closed, assumed it was her imagination, and continued taking the pills.

"Can we control something to hit her?" Deathstroke wasn’t worried about Nina’s safety; rather, this person looks like a key character in the story. If she ends up taking pills and killing herself, how would they continue?"

The group tried a bit, initially thinking the four of them combined could at least lift a mouse or something, but in reality, it wasn’t possible. The strength of four people was the same as one person, at most they could slightly nudge things, but nowhere near the level of object control.

But at this moment, Greed had an idea. Hanging on the window frame was a wind chime, which seemed to be homemade by Nina, with shells and some beads, not considered a whole object, could be possessed separately, allowing them to collide and make sounds.

They immediately possessed different parts of the wind chime separately, colliding with each other and indeed made sound to attract Nina’s attention. She showed a thoughtful expression, walked over, and took the wind chime down.

The next second, the color of the entire room turned grayscale, and the people originally in the room disappeared. A noise came from outside the door, a much younger-looking Nina and another Black girl, walked in hand in hand.

The two of them chatted warmly, talking about the news of the latest rock band’s performance. But it wasn’t long before a man with a beard walked in, pointed at the Black girl and said something, which struck the girl heavily, and she ran out crying. Nina, in anger, threw things from the room at the man but ended up being beaten by him instead.

Greed could roughly guess what’s going on; the man was either Nina’s father or relative, likely living here. He didn’t know about Nina’s gender identity disorder, mistakenly believed she was a teenager bringing girls home, implying something unspeakable, so he came out to drive the girl away.

This isn’t about caring for Nina. If it were truly about caring, they wouldn’t burst in without knocking; if anything were broken, it would greatly hurt both sides’ self-esteem. Clearly, this is a deliberate act of control and humiliation. To be harsh about stopping it, it’d be better to intercept at the door rather than inside the bedroom; this behavior is obviously aimed at uncovering something.

Greed understands this well, but Little Superman misunderstood. He said, "That person must be the landlord, right? Maybe they’re just trying to prevent them from misbehaving in the house?"

Deathstroke nodded; he had the same interpretation. In rental situations in European and American countries, there’s something important to note: whether the house allows parties. Many overseas students from Eastern Countries mistakenly think parties are similar to gatherings, where you just eat, drink, and chat together. However, many European and American youths throw parties that resemble acts of insanity, aside from drug use and promiscuity; they intentionally bring large speakers powerful enough to shake the building. Renting such a house is a sin.

Because most landlords refuse parties, tenants often say they’re honest people when renting, but secretly bring people in. Even if they don’t make noise, if someone overdoses, it’s big trouble. As soon as the landlord finds out, they’ll immediately stop it, making their guesses quite reasonable.

Soon, a flash of memory reappeared. It’s the same room, with a younger-looking Nina cautiously cleaning some dull-looking shells and stringing them into a pretty Wind Chime, seemingly intending to give it to someone.

The scene quickly shifted to Nina hugging her knees on the bed, crying. The Wind Chime was placed beside her, inside a delicate-looking box, appearing not to have been given away.

"Did that girl reject her?" Deathstroke’s thoughts were still within normal reasoning, "Using a handmade Wind Chime as a normal gift seems fine, but if it’s for a confession, it should be more elaborate; failure wouldn’t be unjustified."

"Wait a minute," Little Superman interjected, "If she considers herself a girl, wouldn’t she not confess to another girl? Or does gender identity disorder coexist with homosexuality?"

Greed sighed, likely having figured out the situation. He said, "Have you heard of the trauma bonding effect?"

"What?" Little Superman asked, then said, "For such things, there’s no need to ask me if I’ve heard of them; I definitely haven’t since I’m illiterate."

"It refers to people with the same type of trauma habitually coming together to support each other. They prefer viewing those with similar trauma as their kind, staying together rather than seeking help from those with healthier mindsets."

"Your explanation reminds me; there was an Iraq War veterans’ support group in my previous community, organized by retired veterans promoting fellowship. They even invited me a while back."

"You do resemble a veteran," the agent commented, "Although I think they wanted to pull you in to see if you had any special missions; you appear entirely untraumatized."

"I certainly don’t," Deathstroke remarked, "If killing made me remorseful, could I be an assassin? Why would a vegetarian enter a barbecue restaurant?"

"Exactly," Greed nodded in agreement, "Many community support groups exist in such a manner—people with shared traumas gather to discuss their current situations, supporting and relying on each other."

"Many psychiatrists would recommend their patients join such support groups, allowing them to share experiences with similar individuals, believing it helps them walk out of the shadow."

"Would you do that?" Little Superman asked.

Greed shook his head and replied, "I understand my peers. Some patients remain trapped within their own world for extended periods, completely disconnected from external communication, worsening their conditions. At such times, external intervention is needed; even simply being where there are people helps alleviate their ailments."

"But my approach differs due to multiple factors. Firstly, no one is unaware that these traumatized individuals show significant declines in judgment and execution from long-term social disconnection, turning into lambs to the slaughter. Many malicious people intentionally infiltrate support groups, exploiting members’ psychological weaknesses to inflict harm."

"Secondly, several support groups are sponsored by churches, especially more extreme denominations or heresies. Those places become intricately designed traps, weaving a web of friendly atmosphere that penetrates members’ lives comprehensively and devours everything they offer."

"Therefore, I don’t recommend my patients join any form of support organization, and advise them to be cautious of deceitful involvement, leading to minor conflicts with the heresies behind these groups."