Pokémon Detective: Cynthia Forces Me to Adopt a Pokémon

Chapter 335 Stay Away from the Source of Infection to Avoid Secondary Infection

Multiple personality disorder is sometimes referred to as dissociative identity disorder, dissociative disorder, or loss of self-identity disorder. While there seem to be subtle differences between these alternative names, they are essentially minor branches of the same broad category. Whether to add suffixes like "disorder" or "symptom" to the name, depending on the severity of the specific symptoms, requires careful consideration by a professional psychiatrist.

Although the actual prevalence of this type of mental illness is only about one in a thousand, it is not uncommon in many literary and film works due to its extreme abnormality.

"It's the kind of personality disorder where the brain simultaneously possesses two kinds of consciousness."

Upon hearing the term mentioned by the detective, Dr. Makomo showed a thoughtful expression—

"Each personality possesses unique characteristics, memories, and behavioral habits. Under normal circumstances, the original personality is unaware of the existence of another personality, while the newly emerging personality has a considerable understanding of the original personality."

"I see, is that the pattern?" Truffle nodded in sudden realization.

"Because two different ways of thinking coexist in the mind, the dreams they have are different from each other. The one who connects with Miss Azure in her dream is the newly emerged personality. In this personality's dream, there are huge stone monuments and coastal scenes. Miss Mia, on the other hand, is unaware of the existence of the new personality. In her own dream, she only sees scenes of her past life with Aya Mushroom."

"But do the two personalities in the brain really dream at the same time during sleep?"

Azure looked at Hugo and asked a question—

"Besides, multiple personality disorder is a rare condition, occurring in only one in a thousand people. Has Miss Mia shown any symptoms of this condition so far?"

"Although it's just personal speculation, I think that strange dream might be an early sign of dual personality disorder."

Hugo said—

"When I first saw Miss Mia on the shore, she was in a dazed state. She later explained that this was an unconscious action driven by suicidal impulses caused by a nightmare—a phenomenon that is actually very close to the intermittent amnesia symptoms of dissociative disorder."

"Based on the content of the dream, this split is probably caused by guilt over releasing the Pokémon Agaric. Ms. Mia's personality is introverted and sensitive, and living alone in Castelia City while looking for work must have accumulated a lot of pressure over time. Such a lifestyle is more likely to cause psychological problems."

“But when it comes to life pressures, everyone experiences them, right?” Azure said, standing beside the bewildered Mia, expressing her opposition.

Hugo understood the assistant's intention in contradicting him at this moment—anyone, upon suddenly hearing signs of mental illness, would instinctively begin to fear. Having someone else take a negative stance at this point would prevent Miss Mia from falling into complete panic. It would also make it easier to guide her to accept the other facts derived from the reasoning later.

The detective spread his hands: "I don't support the idea that 'everyone has mental illness' as some psychologists claim; that's making a mountain out of a molehill. But regarding that strange dream, there is indeed an anomaly that we can't ignore—that is, ordinary dreams cannot directly affect the dreamer's real life, yet Miss Mia really did have the thought of 'wanting to die' because of that dream, and unconsciously put it into action."

Hugo turned his gaze to Dr. Makomo, who was standing to the side, and the dream expert nodded in agreement.

“This is indeed very strange. I thought of this when Miss Mia was conducting her dream experiments, but I couldn’t figure out the cause of this phenomenon at the time. Now it seems that those strange dreams might not be real dreams at all.”

"What does this mean?" Mia asked cautiously in a low voice.

"That so-called 'dream' may be a trace left by your other personality when it tried to control your body."

The doctor slowly uttered chilling words.

“Mature multiple personality disorder does not arise out of thin air. In the early stages of this condition, the newly formed personality will only lie dormant in the depths of the patient’s subconscious and gradually gain control of the body at a speed similar to that of a crab changing its shell… Ah, that does not mean that a strange entity is invading your body.”

Noticing Miss Mia's terrified look, Dr. Makomo revised her statement—

"Multiple personality disorder is essentially still a mental phenomenon. Rather than a new self appearing in the body and beginning to take over the control of the body, it is more accurate to say that the part of the brain responsible for self-cognition has become abnormal, causing certain emotions that are usually suppressed to be released. In Miss Mia's case, it would probably be the feeling of guilt towards the released spirit."

"Like most psychological problems, multiple personality disorder is also treatable. Sometimes, it's not even necessary to go to the hospital. As long as Ms. Mia changes her lifestyle, relaxes her mind and body, seeks help from family and friends, and relieves her recent tension, the excessive emotions she expressed will return to calm."

Is...is that so?

Mia seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, and Miss Truffle patted her arm beside her.

"Don't worry, no matter what psychological problems you encounter, our Dream Research Institute will do everything we can to help you. Did you know that our institute has just invented solid dream smoke, which has a stabilizing effect comparable to the psychiatric treatments in major hospitals?"

"Let's get back to the issue of reasoning—the hypothesis of multiple personality disorder can simultaneously explain the bizarre nature of strange dreams and the anomalies that occur in the connection between dreams. And if we take multiple personality disorder as a premise and re-examine Miss Mia's series of behaviors, many questions can be answered logically."

Seeing that Miss Mia had calmed down, the detective continued in a gentle tone—

"First, there was the inexplicable suicidal impulse that Miss Mia experienced, which may be a manifestation of the self-destructive desire inherent in the newly formed personality. The new personality originated from Mia's feelings of self-condemnation and self-reproach, so she herself understood that her birth was a mistake, and in order to eliminate her mistake, this personality instinctively developed a self-destructive tendency, but not to the point of taking overly violent suicide measures. All these factors combined to create the strange scene of Miss Mia holding sleeping pills and standing on the beach."

“Hmm…that does make sense.” Azure nodded.

"Secondly, there are the memories that Miss Mia sees in her strange dreams. Although I am not yet sure what factors triggered Mia's guilt personality, multiple personalities often become active when the main personality loses consciousness—that is to say, when Miss Mia is sleeping, the secondary personality will begin to dominate the dreams in her brain, and correspondingly, the main personality's control over the dreams will decline."

The detective in the white coat said to his assistant—

"Did you notice that in Miss Mia's description of the dream, she never mentioned her own performance in the dream? In this strange dream that lasted for nearly a year, she was like an audience member sitting in front of a movie theater screen, only able to passively watch her past memories with Aiya Mushroom again and again, personally intervening in the memories but unable to change their course. This shows that what Mia experienced in the 'strange dream' was not the complete dream, but a glimpse of the dream."

"Is this... the shadow projected by another personality in the dream?" Azure murmured.

"If we take dual personality as a premise, this is the only answer," the detective said confidently. "In the dream connection experiment, Mia was able to dream two dreams at the same time precisely because of this: one was the dream of the alternate personality, and the other was a phantom of that dream."

“In addition, there’s the reason why Azure’s perspective changes during the dream connection.” Hugo methodically advanced the reasoning, taking the notebook containing Azure’s dreams from Miss Truffle’s hand.

The assistant was overjoyed: "What? This can also answer that question?"

"Although I didn't listen carefully to your conversation just now, I vaguely heard some discussion about the issue of perspective. I think that if we take dual personality as a premise, there is a way to explain the strange phenomenon that you saw, Azure."

"So what exactly happened?"

"According to Miss Truffle, Azure's perspective has shifted from the player mode of intervening in Miss Mia's dream to the god mode of observing the entire world, right?" Hugo asked the girl with her hair in a bun.

Truffle nodded hurriedly: "Yes, otherwise it would be impossible to explain the scene that Miss Azure saw at the end of her dream—that rapidly zoomed-in overhead view."

"However, the premise of our discussion has changed. The Azure Dream is not connected to Miss Mia, but to a secondary personality within her."

As the detective spoke, he glanced at the oral report in his hand, his brow furrowing slightly, just like Dr. Makomo had done before.

"Unlike Miss Mia who lives in reality, the alternate personality has lived in Mia's dreams since its inception. And in the strange dreams over the past year, that personality must have grown to some extent—you tell me, if someone grows in a dream, in what way would that effort manifest itself?"

"Could it be... the ability to freely manipulate dreams?" Azure asked uncertainly, her tone tinged with doubt.

"Yes, dreams are places where wishes can come true. Many people who have had lucid dreams claim they can freely switch between dream sequences. Spending a year in such a world would surely make one a god-like being in the dream realm..."

For some reason, the detective's voice grew softer and softer.

But having said all that, the conclusion of the reasoning, which is only a sheet of paper away, is already within reach.

"Oh, oh, oh... that means!" Miss Truffle's eyes widened in surprise—

"Miss Azure's perspective has never changed! She didn't transform into a god observing the world midway through the dream. Instead, from the very beginning of the dream, she has been possessing the original god in the dream—Miss Mia's alternate personality!"

The alternate personality can soar through the heavens and dive into the earth like a god in its own dreams, or wander slowly through the void like an ordinary person. Although Azure initially mistakenly believed that it was acting freely according to its inner will, it was merely a sense of déjà vu caused by the connection between dreams.

In reality, from beginning to end, Azure simply followed the perspective of her alternate personality—like a viewer wearing virtual reality glasses to experience an immersive movie.

"But... why would Miss Mia's alternate personality show me such strange dreams?"

Just as Azure was once again confused and unconsciously turned her gaze toward the detective in the white coat, she met Hugo's extremely stern gray eyes head-on.

"Azure, are you sure this is a dream you actually experienced within the dream connection?"

Hugo's tone was extremely serious as he showed the oral report recorded by Miss Truffle, which was indeed Azure's own.

Although he didn't know what had happened, the detective's assistant could only nod and say with certainty, "Yes. Although the memory has become very blurry, this account does match my impressions from the dream."

"What's wrong? Is there a problem with this report that I copied?" Miss Truffle tugged at the detective's sleeve curiously, her face full of confusion.

"No, the report is fine, the problem is with me."

Hugo said—

"The premise of dual personality is wrong."