Chapter 358 Treatment Obstructed
Clifton's lips curved into a meaningful smile. "M has his reasons for doing this. You'll have to figure out his identity yourself. I'm only here to treat you."
Finnley pressed his lips together, feeling a sudden surge of irritation and anger.
He hated this feeling of being played, and regardless of whether M had bad intentions or not, he shouldn't have deceived him.
Clifton remained calm and continued, "If you have no more questions, let's start the treatment. Before we begin, I need to ask you a few things."
Sensing that Clifton didn't want to continue the conversation, Finnley knew when to stop. "Go ahead."
"When did you realize you'd been hypnotized?"
"What are your memories like right now?"
"This treatment process is dangerous. One wrong move could mess up your memory. Do you still want to continue?"
Finnley didn't answer the first two questions, but directly answered the last one. "Yes."
He wanted to recover his memory quickly. Even though his memory loss didn't affect his daily life, he felt empty inside.
Besides, those past memories were precious to both him and Sophia. They were things they had actually experienced together.
But now, he had forgotten that most valuable part, leaving her alone to bear the pain.
Clifton asked him a few more questions before starting the treatment.
Then Clifton used common hypnosis techniques to try to hypnotize Finnley, but after several attempts, none succeeded.
He looked at Finnley with surprise in his eyes.
"To achieve hypnosis, you need to relax, but your mind has been tense the whole time."
He had treated many patients, but this was the first time he'd met someone with such strong defenses.
He tried several different hypnosis methods, but none of them worked on Finnley.
Finally, Finnley grew impatient, his brow furrowed with frustration. "Are you really the doctor M sent?"
Isn't this level of hypnosis a bit worrying?
Clifton, who had never had his professional skills questioned before: "..."
Is there any chance that you're the one who hasn't relaxed your guard against the outside world, and your instincts are resisting hypnosis?
He then tried several more methods.
Without exception, these hypnosis techniques that worked perfectly on others were completely ineffective on Finnley.
Finally, he began to doubt his own abilities.
Watching Clifton, who was nearly driven crazy by him, Finnley felt a twinge of guilt.
He cleared his throat and asked tentatively, "Want to try again?"
"Mr. Bryant, you're the most difficult patient I've ever encountered, bar none." Clifton felt a sense of defeat.
In his forty-plus years of practice, this was the first time he'd faced such a huge challenge.
Outside the door, a group of people gathered around the study entrance, their faces uniformly anxious.
"Why aren't they coming out yet? Nothing's gone wrong, has it?" Preston leaned on his cane, extremely nervous.
The last time he felt this way was when Sophia had just married into the White family and was treating Benjamin.
But at least that time the door was open, and he could clearly see what was happening inside. Now he couldn't see anything.
"Grandpa, don't worry. Clifton is an expert in psychological medicine. Let's wait a bit longer." Alaric and Sophia both tried to comfort him.
Preston sighed deeply. "I'm not worried about him. Benjamin's fate has been so rough."
Just as he spoke, the door suddenly opened, and Finnley and Clifton walked out, with his assistant carrying a case behind them.
"How did it go? Is there a way to treat him? Are you now..." Preston looked at Finnley with concern.
Finnley and Clifton exchanged glances. Finnley shook his head helplessly and said, "We haven't started treatment yet, but Grandpa, don't worry. This can't be rushed."
Preston nodded disappointedly and said to Clifton, "Thank you for your hard work. It's getting late. I've had dinner prepared. Please stay and eat with us."
Clifton waved his hand. "No, I still have some things to take care of. I'll take my leave now."
After Clifton left, Sophia walked up to Finnley and asked in a low voice, "What happened? Why was there no treatment?"
Finnley rubbed his temples helplessly and explained, "It's not that we won't treat it, we just haven't found the right method yet."
After seeing Clifton off, Preston and Alaric returned to the living room and happened to hear this.
Preston and Alaric exchanged glances, their eyes full of helplessness, but ultimately didn't ask any questions.
"Everyone must be hungry. Let's eat. We can talk about other things later."
...
Meanwhile, Clifton got into his car, tiredly rubbing his temples, and told his assistant to drive.
Just then, his phone rang. Clifton glanced at the caller ID and couldn't help but laugh and curse, "Can't wait even a moment."
He answered, and heard a deep, hoarse voice from the other end. "How did it go? Can you treat him?"
"It's a bit difficult. I've never seen anyone more stubborn than you..."
Halfway through his sentence, a fit of coughing came from the other end of the phone, interrupting him.
"Clifton! If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." M warned coldly.
Clifton's smile faded, and his expression suddenly became complicated. "Why do you have to do this? You're perfectly fine, but you insist on hiding where no one can find you. And not only hiding, but also concealing your identity."
He really couldn't understand what M was thinking. There were clearly other solutions to many things, but he insisted on shouldering everything alone.
M used to be such a bright and outstanding person, but now he was disfigured and could only live wearing half a mask.
"You don't understand." M's tone was full of loneliness, but he refused to say another word.
Clifton knew his temper was stubborn, so he stopped trying to persuade M and quickly changed the subject.
"I talked with him for a long time today and found that he was indeed hypnotized. Anyone capable of doing this must be at least as skilled as I am."
"So can you cure him?" M asked urgently.
Clifton rested his forehead in his hand and thought for a moment, but finally couldn't hold back and complained again.
"He's just like you, very stubborn. He'll do whatever it takes to achieve his goal. I clearly told him that my treatment method carries risks and could cause memory confusion, but he agreed without hesitation."
Clifton couldn't help but marvel at the power of blood relations. M and Finnley were cut from the same cloth, equally stubborn.
On the other end of the phone, M's lips curved slightly, and a flash of pride crossed his eyes.
"Get to the point. I asked you to treat him because I trust your abilities. Tell me honestly, can you minimize the damage?"
M knew clearly that if someone as strong-willed as Finnley couldn't withstand it and had his memory altered, the other party must have used very cruel methods.
This hypnosis process must have been very difficult for him.