Chapter 183: Chuck: I Gave You a Chance, But You're Useless!
"What's he doing?"
Trish stared in astonishment at Sheldon, who was frozen, seemingly only able to glance at his sides with the corner of his eye, mumbling something to himself.
"He thinks he's trapped in Professor Erickson's philosophical nightmare again."
Cheryl, a classmate of Sheldon's, took both physics and introductory philosophy classes with him.
She witnessed Sheldon's first introductory philosophy class.
The first philosophical concept Professor Erickson introduced was the Eastern concept of transformation and perception—the idea of nested realities and infinite possibilities that completely bewildered Sheldon.
That night, he had a nightmare in which he transformed into a butterfly, a fat butterfly lying motionless on his pillow. His sister Missy approached with a flyswatter and swatted him on the head.
The next day, he lay in bed, unwilling to move, unable to distinguish between reality and fantasy, feeling that nothing made sense anymore.
"Professor Erickson is quite impressive,"
Trish said admiringly as she listened to her sister's explanation of the whole story.
"Of course,"
Cheryl nodded. "Professor Erickson has traveled all over the world, especially throughout Asia, and has a profound understanding of philosophy. Not only is she rich in theory, but she's also very skilled in practice. She has made outstanding achievements in psychological hypnosis for addiction treatment. Her hypnosis recordings have been very successful in helping people quit smoking and drinking, reshape their personalities, and become better versions of themselves."
At this point, her eyes lit up, and she looked at her sister hopefully. "Trish, if you're interested, you could listen to them."
"Sheldon, this isn't a dream."
Professor Alicia Harper wasn't focused on Cheryl and her sister. Looking at the distraught little Sheldon, she said with some reluctance, "How about this? As long as you strictly follow our agreement, you can still be my lab assistant, and you don't have to work with Dr. Wolfe."
As the physics professor assigned by the dean to be specifically responsible for little Sheldon, she knew what was going on with him.
After his first philosophy class, young Sheldon suffered a severe existential crisis. Beverly, who should have been comforting him, didn't immediately intervene. Instead, she attached a brainwave monitor to him and observed with scientific interest.
Knowing Sheldon's character, she knew he wouldn't skip class without good reason, so she called him immediately. Beverly, without hiding anything, explained the whole situation.
Alarmed, she went in person to try to reassure Sheldon, whose worldview had been shattered.
Sadly, it was to no avail.
She then sought help from Professor Erickson, the man who had caused all this, but he insisted that Sheldon should work through it on his own.
While many people struggle to recover from such existential crises, perhaps it's destiny!
Perhaps Sheldon is truly a once-in-a-generation genius.
Unable to convince the stubborn Professor Erickson, and unable to get Beverly's help, she was completely at her wit's end. Finally, desperate, she was about to call Chuck for help when Paige, having heard the news, approached and offered her assistance.
It was unknown what Paige said to Sheldon, but Sheldon did immediately snap out of his catatonic state and was even about to give up physics to focus on philosophy.
She tried to persuade him earnestly, because Sheldon was receiving such exceptional treatment because of his scientific talent. If he gave up physics to focus on philosophy, his treatment wouldn't be nearly as good. In her opinion, philosophy wasn't something that everyone could study because it was too difficult to achieve recognition. Sheldon's worldview was easily shattered, and he couldn't distinguish between reality and illusion and chose to shut down. Obviously, he wasn't cut out for studying philosophy.
But Sheldon insisted, and she didn't push further. Unexpectedly, after signing the paperwork to transfer his major, Sheldon stared at the soap bubbles he was blowing and gave up the transfer because he thought of a new physics theory from watching the floating bubbles.
"Okay."
When Sheldon heard that he didn't have to work with Chuck, he swallowed hard and felt that his body belonged to him again.
Professor Alicia Harper immediately reiterated the rules she'd already established with young Sheldon: that he couldn't visit her anytime, anywhere, or pester her endlessly, and that the experiments were hers, not his.
"Are you afraid of butterflies?"
Chuck walked up to young Sheldon, looking down at him.
"I'm not..."
Young Sheldon felt a darkness before his eyes, and he involuntarily took several steps back before emerging from Chuck's shadow. He stubbornly said, "I just don't like butterflies. No, I don't like insects in general!"
"And you're still calling yourself Batman?"
Chuck replied bluntly. "Even if I gave you a real Batsuit, you wouldn't be able to use it."
"..."
Young Sheldon was stunned. Batman couldn't fly, but with the Batsuit, he could glide from high altitudes and land safely on his bat wings. Then he recalled the terrifying dream he'd had of himself lying motionless as a butterfly, nearly swatted to death by his sister Missy, and he felt incredibly frustrated.
Well,
to some extent, what Chuck said was true. Even if he were given the chance to become Batman, he probably wouldn't be able to do it.
In fact, it wasn't just about gliding. Whether it was prowling in the darkness or dealing with the dirty, crime-ridden streets of Gotham, there were countless discomforts, none of which he could endure.
But as long as no one mentioned it, he would only think of the glorious future, admired by everyone, and never consider anything like that.
Chuck's point was, in a way, almost like what Professor Erickson had said in their first philosophy class: "Most college courses teach you things you don't know. In my class, I'll teach you things you think you know, but actually don't know at all."
"No!!!"
Little Sheldon yelled, then looked at Chuck with deep resentment. "Why are you so mean to me?!"
"I'm the demon,"
Chuck said seriously.
"...I, I'm not talking about you."
Little Sheldon paused, then remembered that he had just muttered everything out loud. Not wanting to be targeted by Chuck again, he lied unconvincingly.
As always, as a highly intelligent human child who managed to survive to adulthood, little Sheldon's various quirks had flexible boundaries.
It all depends on who he's dealing with!
"Really?"
Chuck looked at him. "Name me someone who's more demonic than me!"
"..."
Little Sheldon was even more flustered when he saw that Chuck wasn't convinced. He really couldn't think of anyone more demonic than Demon Chuck!
Not to mention those around him, even the comic books he'd read didn't give him the impression that anyone was more villainous than Demon Chuck!
(End of Chapter)
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