S.C.I. (Volume I) - Case 1: Chapter 16

The Digital Killer 16: Academia 

The conclusion reached by Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang was merely a deduction. To prove that Professor Xu and Doctor Zhang had actually killed someone, they still needed concrete evidence.

Furthermore, Professor Xu and Doctor Zhang were both people with a certain status in academia, so why would they go to such elaborate lengths to kill an ordinary student? And what did all of this have to do with Zhan Zhao? This last point was what Bai Yutang cared about most.

The two decided to hold their ground for now and quietly await further developments. Bai Yutang sought out Zhang Long and tasked him with conducting an in-depth background check on both Professor Xu and Doctor Zhang.

The technical team installed micro-cameras on the thirteenth floor, while Xu Qing and others set up a surveillance perimeter near the university. Afterward, the police personnel withdrew from the school.

By the time Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang returned to the S.C.I. office, night had already fallen.

Jiang Ping was busy at his computer, scanning the remnants of the burned papers that Wang Chao and the others had brought back from Wu Hao's house, conducting an image restoration analysis.

Gongsun walked out of the autopsy room munching on a piece of bread, holding Li Feifan's autopsy report in his hand.

He had found a gray patch on the neck of Li Feifan's corpse that showed signs of tissue necrosis, which must have been caused by an electric shock.

This further corroborated the deduction made by Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang.

Zhao Hu asked, trembling with fear, "Gongsun, you didn't perform the autopsy while eating, did you?!"

Gongsun turned his face to look at him, gave a few sinister, cold chuckles, and leaned in eerily to ask, "Eating what?"

Terrified, Zhao Hu let out a loud yelp of "Holy mother!" and bolted!

With no desire to sleep, the group decided to stay at the S.C.I. headquarters to work overtime.

The moment Zhan Zhao returned to his office, he opened his laptop and buried himself in writing. After making a round outside, Bai Yutang also slipped into Zhan Zhao's office.

"Didn't you see the sign hanging on the door?" Zhan Zhao pointed to the "Do Not Disturb" sign at the entrance.

"I saw it!" Bai Yutang walked over and sat down opposite Zhan Zhao. "Isn't that the one that says 'Welcome'?"

Infuriated, Zhan Zhao ignored him and continued to bury his head in his writing.

"What are you writing? Another horror novel?" Bai Yutang leaned closer.

"When have I ever written a novel?! This is an academic paper!" Zhan Zhao emphasized.

"Heh..." Bai Yutang casually picked up the books on Zhan Zhao's desk. "Look at these titles... The Essence of Human Perversion... Rationality and Bestiality... Dismemberment, Mutilation, and Body Disposal..."

Bai Yutang tossed the books back onto Zhan Zhao's desk as if discarding a cockroach. "If this isn't a horror novel, what is it?!"

Zhan Zhao gave him a fierce glare. "Get out! You are seriously disrupting me!"

Bai Yutang leaned in even closer. "What have you been researching lately? I've seen you writing for several days now."

Zhan Zhao continued typing, saying without even lifting his head, "Some material regarding obsessive-compulsive disorder. A few articles were recently serialized in the International Journal of Psychology, and the response was excellent. The editor said they want me to turn it into a book."

"Obsessive-compulsive disorder?" Bai Yutang rested his chin on his hands, propping himself up on the desk. "What's the difference between that and a mental illness?"

Zhan Zhao really wanted to hurl his mouse right at the man's nose. "The only thing you can distinguish is a dead person from a living one!"

Bai Yutang grinned as he watched Zhan Zhao's face fill with rage, his gaze scanning the space between the desk and the bookshelf. "Is it that International Journal of Psychology?" he asked, pointing to several thick journals on the shelf.

"Mm." Zhan Zhao glanced over and nodded.

Bai Yutang stood up, pulled those journals into his hands, and began flipping through them. "Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Psychological Suggestion?"

Zhan Zhao lifted his head to glance at him. "That's the one."

After reading quietly for a long while, Bai Yutang asked, "Cat, is this written in Chinese?"

Zhan Zhao knitted his brows and continued writing, ignoring him.

"How come when I look at the characters individually they're Chinese, but when they're formed into sentences, it doesn't sound like Chinese at all?!" Bai Yutang sat back down in the chair holding the journal. "The impact caused by psychological suggestion is very subtle for normal people, but for obsessive-compulsive disorder patients, it can manifest in extreme ways. In fact, most people in the world possess a subconscious form of obsessive-compulsive disorder..."

Bai Yutang read the passage with a grimace, then asked, "Is this even human language?"

Zhan Zhao wrinkled his nose, looking at him with an expression reserved for the illiterate. "It is! But it stops sounding like it once it comes out of your mouth!"

Shrugging, Bai Yutang continued to read, "For an obsessive-compulsive disorder patient, as long as one identifies the source of their disorder, one can easily utilize psychological suggestion to alter the patient's subconscious mind..." He shook his head. "What does this mean?"

"Exactly what it says on the page!" Zhan Zhao took a sip of tea and glanced at the main door. "Don't you have anything else to do?"

Yet Bai Yutang seemed highly interested in that paper. He asked Zhan Zhao, "Are you saying that by giving psychological suggestions to someone with obsessive-compulsive disorder, you can cause them to hallucinate?"

"Exactly!" Zhan Zhao nodded. "For someone with slightly weaker willpower, you can directly disrupt their thinking and beliefs. In severe cases, it can cause a total cognitive collapse!"

"Oh? Prove it to me then!" Bai Yutang tapped his own nose with great interest. "Try making me collapse."

Zhan Zhao tilted his head to size him up, then shook his head. "You don't meet the criteria!"

"What criteria?" Bai Yutang asked, puzzled.

Zhan Zhao's attention finally shifted away from his laptop. Staring intently at Bai Yutang, he said, "It requires someone whose willpower is somewhat weaker, whose foundational thinking is somewhat chaotic, and whose linguistic ability is somewhat poor!"

Bai Yutang thought for a moment. "So basically, we need to find someone who is a bit cowardly, a bit muddled, and a bit stupid, right?"

Zhan Zhao thought about it with a look of aversion, but helplessly nodded his head anyway.

Bai Yutang smiled with satisfaction. "That's easy!" Right after, he turned toward the door and barked out, "Zhao Hu!"

...

Watching Zhao Hu come trotting over eagerly from a distance, Zhan Zhao asked Bai Yutang in surprise, "What are you trying to do?"

Bai Yutang smiled. "There's no need to drive him to total collapse! Just driving him to confusion will do!" Saying this, he stood up and pulled Zhao Hu, who had just run through the door, down into a seat right in front of Zhan Zhao.

The door was shut, and the blinds were drawn completely down.

Zhao Hu was completely scratching his head. He looked up at Zhan Zhao, then at Bai Yutang. "Boss? What's going on?"

Vitally amused, Bai Yutang winked at Zhan Zhao, as if to say, "This one meets the criteria, right?"

Zhan Zhao let out a helpless sigh, looking at Zhao Hu with eyes full of sympathy.

Bai Yutang lifted his chin toward him defiantly. "If you can't pull it off, then it counts as a scam!"

Looking at that arrogant and punchable face, Zhan Zhao ground his teeth a couple of times. He cast another glance at Zhao Hu, thinking to himself, For the sake of science, I have no choice but to sacrifice you! Poor Zhao Hu thus became the guinea pig.

"Zhao Hu, are you truly Zhao Hu?" Zhan Zhao closed his laptop and asked Zhao Hu with absolute gravity.

"Huh?" Zhao Hu blinked his eyes repeatedly. "Doctor Zhan, what... what do you mean?"

Zhan Zhao wore an expression of severe solemnity. "Are you truly Zhao Hu?"

Zhao Hu shuddered involuntarily. Turning his face, he asked Bai Yutang, "Boss? What's wrong?"

Suppressing his laughter, Bai Yutang also maintained a completely serious face. "Answer the question!"

Nodding fearfully, Zhao Hu said in a trembling voice, "Yes... yes I am."

"What evidence do you have?" Zhan Zhao pressed immediately.

"...?? ...Does... does my ID card count?..." Zhao Hu reached his hand into his pocket to pull out his wallet.

But Zhan Zhao slapped the desk, declaring, "What definitive evidence do you have to prove that you are the exact same Zhao Hu from yesterday?!"

The officer sat frozen with his mouth wide open. "Is... is there a difference between... between yesterday's me and... and today's me??"

Zhan Zhao said, "I remember your grandfather has already passed away, correct?"

"...Ah, yes..." Zhao Hu nodded, struggling to keep up with Zhan Zhao's overly erratic train of thought.

"Are you certain you actually had a grandfather?" Zhan Zhao asked again.

Zhao Hu's mind was already starting to spin. "That... didn't I just say so? He's de... dead, already."

"Bam!" Zhan Zhao slammed the desk fiercely once more. "Who can prove it?!"

Zhao Hu was startled into a violent flinch. He stammered, "I... I can prove it, and my parents too..."

Zhan Zhao sat back, took a sip of tea, and said, "You mean to say, you all possess memories regarding him, correct?"

"Right! Right!" Zhao Hu nodded hastily.

"Then what if those memories are fake?"

"Fake??" Zhao Hu's eyes seemed to spin in dazed spirals. He looked at Zhan Zhao with utter innocence.

Zhan Zhao spoke slowly, "Think about it! What if your grandfather actually never existed, and you and your family were simply implanted with memories regarding a grandfather? Would you still dare to claim your grandfather existed?"

Zhao Hu's eyes widened, staring at Zhan Zhao in sheer horror.

Zhan Zhao pressed on without letting up, "Just like how everyone says aliens exist—who actually has any proof?!"

"...I... I don't know..." Zhao Hu clicked his mouth, completely at a loss for what to do.

"Could it be that you yourself are an alien??" Zhan Zhao stared directly into Zhao Hu's eyes.

Zhao Hu's expression looked exactly like someone who had just been sprayed by an AK-47.

Standing to the side, Bai Yutang waved his hand, signaling: That's about enough, he's already completely muddled!

Zhan Zhao cut him off with a resolute gaze, thinking to himself, This is only on the surface. Today, I'll let you witness just how formidable this young master can be!!

"Perhaps your entire family line consists of aliens, except you were all implanted with human memories, mistakenly believing yourselves to be human!" Zhan Zhao smiled with deep meaning. "Or perhaps, the real Zhao Hu already died yesterday, and the one standing here today isn't Zhao Hu at all, but merely someone who was implanted with Zhao Hu's memories! Do you dare to claim that what I'm saying is impossible??"

After a brief moment of silence, Zhao Hu suddenly let out a tragic shriek of "Ahhhhhhhhhhh!", leaped up from the stool, and rushed out of the office. He threw his arms around Wang Chao, who was walking toward him from the opposite direction, crying and yelling, "Who am I?! Who am I?! I don't want to be an alien!!"

Inside the office, the remaining occupants were collectively turned to stone.

Leaning against a nearby bookshelf, Bai Yutang laughed so hard his stomach was cramping up.

Zhan Zhao elegantly rolled up his sleeves. If the tiger doesn't flash its claws, you'll take me for a sick cat! He sat down, opened his laptop, and continued typing.

Once Bai Yutang had laughed his fill, he walked out. Before long, he came running back in cradling a massive stack of documents, placing them right in front of Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao lifted his head to look, seeing that they were all the case files for the victims of this "Number Case."

With a playful look on his face, Bai Yutang said, "Cat, take a look and see if these people all fit the requirements for obsessive-compulsive disorder and psychological suggestion."

Zhan Zhao blinked, then looked back at Bai Yutang with a tacit understanding. "Oh... White Rat, you've really got something here!”