"In 1973, Professor Rosenhan of Stanford University's Department of Psychology conducted a daring experiment... Pretending to be mentally ill, he successfully infiltrated a well-known psychiatric hospital in New York, easily fooling the resident doctors."
"But soon, when he tried to prove he wasn't actually mentally ill, he realized he couldn't."
"On top of that, the hospital forced him to take medication with strong side effects, worsening his mental state until he became indistinguishable from a real patient."
"If his wife hadn't arrived in time to save him as planned, he might have really lost his mind."
"This is the famous 'Rosenhan Experiment'!"
"The experiment teaches us an important lesson—even a psychology expert like Professor Rosenhan struggled to prove he wasn't mentally ill. So tell me, how am I supposed to prove it?"
"Dr. Beth, I think you're just making things difficult for me!"
Clockwork Psychiatric Hospital, Consultation Room.
A young man, apparently in his early thirties, sat in a chair wearing a blue and white striped hospital gown. His mixed Asian and Caucasian heritage was apparent at a glance, and he spoke with an expression of helplessness.
Sitting across from him was a blonde-haired Caucasian woman in a standard white lab coat. A small silver nameplate pinned to her left chest read
While Raymond—the mixed-race man—spoke fluently, Dr. Beth remained calm, occasionally jotting down notes in the patient file before her.
Only when he finished did she put down her pen and look up at him.
"Logically speaking, your reasoning is sound, and your speech was quite impressive. I'd say most normal people couldn't express themselves as well as you just did…"
Raymond knew a "but" was coming.
"...But yesterday, you told me that you were from China, a famous private detective, and that you had no idea how you woke up here. Correct?" Dr. Beth flipped through his file, reading aloud as she spoke.
Raymond's face stiffened. He was speechless.
For he had actually said those words himself. He couldn't deny it—there was no way to.
There were security cameras in the consulting room. If he tried to argue, Dr. Beth could easily pull up the footage and throw it in his face.
At that time, he hadn't even realized that he had traveled to another world…
Yes, another case of transmigration.
Even though he was a veteran web novel reader and well aware of the concept, waking up in a psychiatric hospital was hardly a situation where anyone's first thought would be, Oh, I must have transmigrated!
Besides, there were no mirrors in the hospital room. In his shock and anger, he hadn't even noticed that his body was no longer his own—his only thought was to escape this dreadful place.
It wasn't until his first conversation with Dr. Beth that he began to grasp the truth.
That night, fragments of memories belonging to the original owner of this body began to appear in his mind. He learned about his current situation, his new identity, and his past experiences.
But all of that happened after his first meeting with Dr. Beth.
It was too late to take back what he had said.
To Dr. Beth, he was now just another patient suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder, with one of his personalities believing he was a famous private detective from China.
Frankly, Raymond wasn't surprised by her conclusion. After all, the original owner of this body had been sent to this mental hospital for schizophrenia.
For someone like Dr. Beth who dealt with psychiatric patients on a daily basis, a person who claimed to be a private detective from China wasn't even that unusual.
Compared to patients who thought they were God, Satan, or aliens, a mere "detective" was practically normal.
No big deal~~~ But this misunderstanding made it impossible for Raymond to gain Dr. Beth's trust or convince her that he had "recovered".
After all, there was no way he could just tell her the truth—that he was a transmigrator.
Even if she somehow believed him, that would be even worse.
Based on the fragmented memories of the original body, this world was most likely the Marvel Universe!
He wasn't sure which version of Marvel it was yet, but one thing was certain—this world had supernatural forces.
If he foolishly admitted that he came from another world and someone actually believed him, who knew how many powerful forces—both in the open and in the shadows—would come after him?
That was absolutely not an option.
Given the choice, he'd rather stay in the psychiatric hospital than become someone's lab rat.
But other than that, he had no better ideas. All he could do was try his best to outwit Dr. Beth and somehow trick his way out.
Unfortunately, she was even harder to deal with than he had expected...
"I can explain about yesterday..." Raymond braced himself, ready to use the excuse he had come up with.
But before he could finish, Dr. Beth cut him off. "Let's not talk about yesterday for now."
Instead of feeling relieved, Raymond became even more cautious. He had a bad feeling that things were going to get worse.
And sure enough, his instincts were right.
"I know that before your illness, Dr. Raymond, you were a highly respected expert in the field of psychology. Your expertise far surpasses mine... In fact, I've read many of your published works and have always admired you, even considering you one of my idols."
"But that doesn't mean you can insult my professionalism."
Dr. Beth adjusted the gold-rimmed glasses on her nose and said earnestly, "I received both my bachelor's and master's degrees in psychology from Stanford University. If there ever was a Professor Rosenhan in our department who conducted such a famous experiment, there's no way I wouldn't know about it."
"So, Dr. Raymond, even though your words sound logical and well-structured, they don't prove that you have recovered. I'm sorry."
This world doesn't have the 'Rosenhan Experiment'?!
At that moment, Raymond's mind went blank and he couldn't calm down for a long time.
Did he just dig his own grave?
In his previous life, he wasn't a psychology expert like the original owner of this body, but as a competent private detective, he had studied psychology on his own for a while.
The Rosenhan Experiment he mentioned wasn't something he made up, it was a real and well-known psychological study.
That's why he had been so confident going into his second battle of wits with Dr. Beth.
But he never expected that Professor Rosenhan didn't even exist in this world!
Which meant that the experiment he was referring to never happened either.
No matter how logical or clever he sounded, this was an undeniable fact.
As Raymond walked out of the consultation room like a soulless corpse, his future suddenly looked bleak.
It was obvious that Dr. Beth would be even more cautious around him now. After hearing him talk such serious nonsense with a straight face, it would be even harder to earn her trust.
But was it really his fault?
According to the fragmented memories of the original owner, the entire history of this world was almost identical to his previous life. Even the current president of North America was still that Obama guy.
Who could have predicted that so many small details would be different?
A psychological experiment as famous as the Rosenhan Experiment simply never happened in this world—who was he supposed to complain to about that?
"Hey, Raymond, are you okay? You look terrible."
Just as Raymond was drowning in despair and mentally kicking himself, a young voice called out to him from a short distance away.
Instinctively looking in the direction of the voice, he saw a short-haired, blue-eyed young white man waving at him, a hint of concern in his tone.
Raymond blurted out the name without thinking.
As soon as the word left his mouth, he was stunned to realize that he somehow knew this blue-eyed young man—someone he had never met before. His knowledge of this person came from the memory fragments of the original owner.
Most of the original owner's memories had already merged with his own, but that kind of integration didn't happen instantly. It took time to fully adapt.
Right now, the memories of the original owner would only surface when he saw certain people or encountered certain situations.
Like now, when that blue-eyed young man greeted him, a flood of memories appeared in his mind.
From these memories, he learned that the young man's full name was David Haller.
Like the original owner of this body, David had been sent to this hospital for schizophrenia. In that sense, they were kindred spirits.
Unlike other types of psychiatric patients, people with dissociative identity disorder usually appeared relatively normal when their primary personality was in control.
So, in this hospital, the original owner and David were among the few patients who could hold real conversations.
Over time, they had become friends.
As Raymond processed the memories and understood David's identity, his entire body stiffened.
Oh, hell no... Could it be THAT David Haller?!
My name is Legion, for we are many!
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