After that leader's death, martial law was quickly imposed in major cities across Egypt, especially in Hurgada, where the incident occurred, immediately entering a state of war. Constantly, troops entered the neighborhoods to search. This forced Deathstroke and Shiller to retreat to the safe house.
Shiller walked into the basement and seemed somewhat shocked and confused when he saw the broken sofa and the mess all over the place. Deathstroke turned his head and said, "Don't tell me motion sickness also causes amnesia."
"No," Shiller said, "I know how this was caused. I'm just surprised how you can tolerate such destruction."
"Can I tolerate it?" Deathstroke seemed puzzled, "You almost crashed me into the Red Sea. What choice do I have but to tolerate you?"
"Of course, you have a choice." Shiller looked at the pieces of the tea table on the ground and then said, "You can leave."
"Do you hear what you're saying?" Deathstroke was really shocked by his audacity and said, "This is my safe house. You're telling me to leave?!"
"The original intent of the safe house is to ensure your safety. If it's no longer safe here, then what reason do you have to stay?"
Deathstroke opened his mouth but found himself at a loss for words. Shiller went over to the sofa with the broken armrest and sat down, then said, "Perhaps you haven't even realized it yourself. Your tolerance for me goes far beyond what is expected for a temporary partner met halfway. You've seen something in me that makes you willing to sacrifice your most valued professionalism out of curiosity."
"You keep pointing this out," Deathstroke sat down opposite him but quickly stood up again to grab two cans of beer from the nearby fridge, not offering any to Shiller but placing them all on his side. He opened one, rolled up his mask, took a sip, and suddenly froze.
"Your hearing recovered?" Deathstroke looked at Shiller and asked in disbelief, realizing just now that he had been wearing a full-enclosure mask, and Shiller should not have seen his lip movements. Yet, they had just gone through a smooth conversation. It wasn't something that could be guessed so easily.
Shiller shook his head. Deathstroke stared at him for a while, but Shiller didn't seem inclined to explain, his attitude more like "you'll find out eventually anyway."
"Want to listen to my story?" Deathstroke didn't dwell on the issue anymore. Shiller was finally willing to talk, and they couldn't leave tonight anyway. Such a conversation could satisfy his curiosity. After all, his commission had already failed, and he couldn't leave empty-handed, right?
"Go ahead." Shiller seemed to have softened considerably; at least, that's how Deathstroke felt, thinking it was a good sign that wouldn't reject communication. But Shiller didn't let that assumption last long.
"I can tell that you're not as young as you look. In fact, the same goes for me." Deathstroke chose to show his sincerity by disclosing intelligence, "Your soul is older than your body. This isn't a common situation, right?"
Shiller just nodded slightly, seemingly assessing whether Deathstroke was speaking the truth. So Deathstroke continued: "Not long ago, I had an accident that nearly killed me. And when I woke up, I found myself inexplicably young again."
"But I'm very aware that when I was actually that age, I never thought about being a mercenary. At that time, I might have just joined the navy, scrubbing the deck on a naval ship before transferring to the army and becoming a part of the Special Forces, full of confidence and hope to serve the country. I never felt ashamed of that period."
"However, this situation is still troublesome because I already have a family and children. I… can't face them in this form. Especially my children, they might not even recognize me. I've been looking for ways to reverse this, visiting wizards and people claiming expertise in this field, but with no success."
"Not many things leave me so helpless. But now it seems I can only choose to accept reality. It is actually difficult and sometimes interferes with my mind. When I wake up in the morning, I can't tell whether I should check the client's information or heed the first mate's arrangements, to go and scrub the Nimitz's deck clean."
"I really should see a psychiatrist. But I can't accept electric shock and hypnosis therapy, and if it's just verbal, they won't believe I'm an old man because my body looks perfectly fine, young and strong, with no old injury marks, entirely contradicting my verbal accounts. This will make them think of me as a hypochondriac. Most diagnose it as post-traumatic stress disorder, but I know for sure that's not the case."
"I can tell that your situation is similar to mine, but also different. You seem able to fully accept this state. You know it's just an old soul residing in a young body. So I'm curious, what is your story? Does the mental illness you mentioned have anything to do with this?"
Shiller was silent for a moment before speaking, "Regarding the issue of the soul and body's age discrepancy you mentioned, it doesn't exist in me."
Deathstroke stared at him, genuinely questioning whether he had judged wrongly. Yes, your biggest issue isn't your age now. You seem like a different person… no, not entirely. It's just like you suddenly changed.
"Have you ever thought that the gap between you when you were young and you now might be larger than the gap between you and another person?"
Deathstroke paused for a moment and said, "As far as I'm concerned, that might indeed be the case. I never imagined I'd become a mercenary, although I think I've done quite well at it. But if I could truly go back, I might walk another path."
"Such as?"
"Not accepting that experiment, retiring smoothly, finding a bank security job in Buenos Aires, and enjoying family time with my wife and child."
"Interesting." Shiller's tone was too understated. It made Deathstroke feel very uncomfortable, and his gaze immediately turned cold.
"You just need a confessional, Mr. Wilson. Eagerly telling others your thoughts to illustrate how society has defeated you."
Shiller's tone wasn't really aggressive, but precisely because of that, it seemed particularly nasty. Possibly due to the aftereffects of motion sickness, he appeared a bit drowsy, leaning on the intact armrest on the other side of the sofa, saying, "Whether you believe it or not, I can see through you, and it's your whole self. Do you want to hear it from the start, or just the part you least want to hear?"
"We have time." The aggressiveness in Deathstroke's words was strong, almost threatening, similar to "You have time to talk nonsense."
"Alright then. Let me start with the rules. You don't need to respond to me, so there's no need to rack your brain figuring out how to refute what I say. You just need to use them to ask yourself if it's truly the case. You don't need to tell me the result, I'm not interested either."
Deathstroke furrowed his brows deeply, clearly for his last sentence. But Shiller didn't care, continuing on his own, "Before speaking of differences, I think we can first discuss our common ground—some inherent flaws. Including a lack of certain empathy, mental agitation, or even sexual deviation, happening as an indisputable cerebral disorder that still lacks a cure, but in reality, can't be considered a decisive factor."
Deathstroke didn't speak, neither admitting nor rebutting. Yet Shiller seemed genuinely uninterested in his reaction, continuing on his own, "Actually, it's not a rare disease. Out of ten individuals, two or three have such congenital symptoms. The key is whether it manifests, and with what method it manifests."
"The time of realizing one's condition is crucial. If it's when he's just a child, he may feel confused, unable to disguise, letting himself exhibit certain anti-social traits. This can cause fear, aversion. Children often don't understand why their nature isn't liked. This problem may haunt them for a lifetime."
"However, supposing it's after they're adults, at a critical moment, they suddenly realize their indifference. With sufficient knowledge reserves, they can disguise themselves as normal people. It's actually quite simple. Cry when it's time to cry, laugh when it's time to laugh, and no one can see there's a problem, hence the perception that normal people make up the majority. But the reality might be quite the opposite."
"Sometimes they also reveal flaws. Especially when they're not in an advantageous position or are stimulated. People will suddenly find a friend beside them is acting completely unlike himself, unknown until when they suddenly decayed, often amazed and lamented."
"The fact is, people's spirits aren't that fragile. Events that can stimulate significant personality changes are extremely rare. If you think a person suddenly turns bad, it only proves those qualities are inherent in their personality. That's his true nature, merely now exposed."
"I think we both agree that we're not inherently well-rounded individuals, equally needing disguises. That's our common point."
Shiller said a long stretch, though the words were simple enough, the true logic hadn't emerged yet. So Deathstroke's knitted brows didn't relax. But it indeed made him realize Shiller had some insight in this aspect. He increasingly anticipated hearing something more.
"Now, we must discuss the differences. This is also the main reason I can't support you. Our attitudes toward disguise are almost completely opposite. To help you understand, I'll first talk about my view."
"A long time ago, I regarded disguise as my tool. You can imagine how much convenience this brought me. With looks, a considerate personality, and perfectly timed sweet talk, effortlessly entering upper-class society. Everyone would open doors for me because of a certain beautiful trait in me, enabling countless seemingly fanciful plans to materialize."
Deathstroke glanced at Shiller. As a mercenary, he's more receptive to the dangerous signals emitted by Shiller similar to those belonging to an Agent. This lets him liken Shiller to a weapon, like a knife or a gun, highlighting his attack power and danger.
But in the eyes of some foolish and ostentatious Collectors who can't even sniff the slightest danger, Shiller might appear more like a rare surviving artwork or a mysterious antique porcelain, full of artistic and collection value. They are attracted but not vigilant, surely to be played around by him.
Shiller's demeanor when speaking made Deathstroke easily associate him with his carefree youthful days. He'd be the darling of upper-class society. But it's precisely due to his tone, forcing Deathstroke to seriously ponder what exactly was his intention for infiltrating there.