The days of being a spiritual mentor in Meiman.

Chapter 4456 Dark Prelude (Forty-One)

“You make a good point,” Schiller said. “Based on your temperament or the way you do things, it’s not fair to say you’re not Damian. After all, falling from a tall building is a terrifying thing; in those few seconds, a person’s personality can be completely destroyed, and their temperament can be drastically changed by fear.”

“You were provoked by Neville and wanted to confront your father. While that’s certainly a bit irrational, it’s not entirely unacceptable considering your age.”

"Then why is that?!"

"because of love."

"what?"

“You don’t love Batman,” Schiller said, looking at Damian. “It’s not just you. Batman won’t love anyone who doesn’t love him. In other words, he only gives love to those who love him.”

Damian seemed stunned, as if struck by a thunderbolt, and stood there speechless for a long time. Schiller picked up his water glass, took a sip, and then said, "Those people Batman loves may have all sorts of flaws, perhaps even more than you show. They may cause trouble, make mistakes, complain, and lose their temper. But because they have always loved Batman so passionately, Batman will love them in return and accept their flaws."

"On the contrary, a person who is perfect, has no weaknesses, never makes mistakes, and does everything he can, but if he doesn't love Batman, Batman won't invest much energy in him."

"Why?" Damian couldn't help but ask, "Why is this happening?"

“Because Batman knows very well that he doesn’t have much love,” Schiller said after thinking for a moment. “He has too many things to consider and too many things to do. He doesn’t have that much time to invest his emotions in others, and because of his personal experiences, he doesn’t have that much emotion to invest. So he has to consider things carefully and can’t squander them recklessly.”

"It's unreliable to allocate your love based on your abilities or character. Everyone needs emotional comfort, and emotional investment needs to be reciprocated; otherwise, it becomes unsustainable and ultimately only leads to pain. To avoid adding unnecessary suffering to yourself, the best approach is to measure your own investment in the other person's investment."

"If you don't love him, he won't love you either. Always stay calm and rational, and never invest any more than necessary. I think that's your situation. It's normal to have resentment, and it's understandable to lose your temper. However, this is based on the premise that you don't love him, so naturally he won't understand or tolerate you at all."

Schiller sighed and continued, “It’s not just Batman, it’s the same for anyone. If you don’t love someone at all, then they have no obligation to react to any negative emotions you express in front of them, or any mistakes you make. Because you haven’t invested any emotions in them, they don’t have to invest any in you either. It’s an equal exchange, perfectly reasonable.”

“But…but…” Damian stammered for a long time before saying, “No, if that’s the case, then the Joker loves Batman so much, so Batman should love him too?”

"How do you know Batman doesn't love him? If Batman didn't love him, would he be thinking about saving him every day?"

Damian was stunned again. In fact, Schiller didn't know what Batman's attitude was towards the Joker in this universe, but judging from the other Batmen, it couldn't be said that Batman didn't love the Joker.

However, the "love" here does not refer to romantic love. It includes all kinds of love, including familial love, friendship, or universal love.

Batman's feelings for the Joker must have included a great love. He wanted to save him. Even if it was because he wanted to save everyone, including the Joker, that doesn't mean it wasn't love.

However, it is precisely because Batman's love for the Joker has always been universal—a savior complex no different from anyone else's—that the Joker has always been resentful. What he wants is Batman's special love, love that is exclusive to him alone, not even the kind given to Robin or Catwoman. It must be a unique love, one that is never repeated.

But clearly, Batman can't give that. In fact, no one can. So they'll always be a pair of star-crossed lovers, entangled in a love triangle until the ends of the earth.

"Then how...how can I show that I love him?"

Schiller feigned confusion and said, “Love doesn’t need to be shown. When you love someone, you need to try hard not to act too crazy. If you need to put on a show to appear to love someone, then you don’t love them.”

Damian was clearly bewildered. Schiller thought for a moment and said, "Don't you remember how you used to do it?"

“I…” Damian froze, as if his computer had crashed. After a long while, he slowly stood up and said, “Batman was right.”

"Sorry, what?"

“Someone tampered with it,” Damian said. “I can only remember what I did before, but I don’t remember how I felt at the time.”

Schiller narrowed his eyes: "Could you explain in more detail?"

"You made me think back to how I used to do things, so I started thinking about what I used to do with Batman. We did a lot of things together. Besides some everyday things, we went on many adventures."

"For example, once we went to fight a criminal. It was a very dangerous situation. When Batman was in danger, I used a grappling hook to pull him up. Then we successfully subdued the criminal. Batman praised me as a good assistant."

Schiller also sensed the problem. Damian had described the matter very clearly, but the issue was that his tone lacked emotion.

Given their relationship, they are father and son, mentor and apprentice, and detective and assistant. Damian should have been very worried during that dangerous situation, but you couldn't tell from his tone. Also, subduing the criminal was something to be happy about, and Damian's tone remained unchanged. And what should have moved Robin the most was Batman praising him. If it were any of the main universe's characters, although they would outwardly appear restrained and indifferent, their smugness would be impossible to hide.

Even Jason, who also returned from the dead in the main universe, could perfectly mimic the situation, the scene, and Batman's tone when Batman praised him for learning quickly after he had only been Batman's assistant for two months. He could talk about this small thing for several minutes, being humble at first, then proud, and then humble again.

But Damian was completely different. His descriptions were flat and straightforward, devoid of any emotional fluctuation or unnecessary words. This was clearly abnormal.

Even the most restrained and reluctant-to-talk person will inevitably use emotional modifiers when describing moments that are important or exciting to them. For example, words like "simply," "almost," "nearly," and "hurry up" are used. This is a completely instinctive behavior and is hard to completely avoid.

If it were the normal Damian, he would describe this scene, though not with much exaggeration, but he would likely say: "We went to fight criminals, and the situation was extremely dangerous. Batman almost got shot, but luckily I reacted quickly, pulled out my grappling hook, and pulled him up. Thankfully, we successfully subdued the criminals. Batman even praised me as a good assistant."

“It seems this is the key,” Schiller said. “Memory consists of two parts. One part is the memory of the situation at the time, which is what you described. The other part is the feeling, which is your inner emotion when this event happened. The person who resurrected you may have deleted the latter part.”

"But he might not have deleted it completely, but rather deleted the good parts and only left the bad parts. Let's do a test."

Schiller thought for a moment, then said, "I heard Batman say that he was there when you died. Your death was somewhat related to him, wasn't it?"

Damian pursed his lips, clearly reluctant to answer the question, but finally nodded. Schiller then asked, "You also feel that your death is related to him. You remember the event itself, and you remember your emotions when you fell. Do you remember how you felt when you saw Batman come to save you?"

Damian thought for a moment, then his expression slowly cracked. He shook his head and said, "No, I don't remember at all."

He clearly understood. As a child, especially one kidnapped and in danger, it's impossible not to be excited when you see your father arrive to rescue you. That's only natural. Anyone of sound mind would react completely.

But Damian just couldn't remember. He remembered the incident, Batman coming to his rescue, and his conversation with the Joker, but he had absolutely no recollection of how he felt the moment he saw Batman appear.

However, he remembered clearly what he felt in his heart the moment he fell.

First and foremost, there was fear; after all, falling from such a height, survival was impossible. Damian was afraid of death too. Secondly, there was resentment, because Batman, in a fit of anger, shoved the Joker. The Joker immediately let go, and then Damian fell. It's impossible not to feel resentment—why did you push him in the first place?

In other words, if you can push him, why can't you just subdue him? This is clearly a idiotic act that only someone who has lost their mind would do.

“Then you might have forgotten more,” Schiller said. “In the instant you fell, you might have felt resentment, after all, Batman did a bad job. But you might also have felt worry, like worrying that Batman would blame himself. Or you might feel guilty, thinking that you shouldn’t have run out and been caught by the Joker. You might also feel a sense of loss, thinking that you will never see your father again, and feel very regretful.”

"But all of that was deleted, leaving only resentment. It became impossible to rebuild love for Batman. All the good times you shared became dry, unedited logs. The love and warmth you felt are completely forgotten. All that's left are the bad impressions from those conflicts. How could you possibly love him again?"

Schiller tapped the table lightly and said, "I'm afraid the others are the same. After being resurrected, they couldn't rebuild their love for each other, but their hatred was amplified. So they all chose to stand on the opposite side of the Justice League."

“But that’s not right either,” Damian said again. “I’m right, but what about the Flash’s parents? How could they have a grudge against their young son? And that doctor, his death shouldn’t have anything to do with his friends, right?”

"Moreover, the pilot died for his girlfriend, and he didn't harbor any resentment; instead, he acted as if he didn't care. Why would that be?"

“Their emotions aren’t necessarily directed at the Justice League; they could also be directed at the world,” Schiller said, spreading his hands. “The Allens died in a home invasion, and they’ll blame society for it. Dr. O’Dea is another story; he was persecuted to death by certain departments of the government. As for Steve, people who have experienced war are prone to post-traumatic stress disorder. Once their minds are filled with the horrific scenes of the battlefield they’ve witnessed, they might wish the world would just end. The others are the same, aren’t they?”