S.C.I. (Volume I) - Case 1: Chapter 26

The Digital Killer 26: Orders 

The moment Zhan Zhao's words left his mouth, Bai Yutang felt a cold shiver run down his spine. "Cat... are you saying that those researchers will go murder someone or commit suicide? When? How..."

"Don't panic just yet, I'll explain it to you slowly in a moment," Zhan Zhao said somewhat anxiously. "The urgent matter at hand is that we must gather all the personnel together, and this place needs to be placed under temporary martial law."

"Alright..." Bai Yutang was just about to dash outside when he suddenly remembered something. "Then what about you? Are you alright?"

Zhan Zhao found it amusing. "What could possibly happen to me? I've just been concentrating for too long, so I feel a bit tired."

"No way! We can't leave you here all by yourself." As Bai Yutang spoke, he scooped Zhan Zhao up in a bridal carry and dashed outside.

"Ah!" Zhan Zhao was so startled he didn't even know where to put his hands and feet. "You dead rat, what do you think you're doing! Put me down!"

Bai Yutang carried him as he ran outside. Ma Han and the others who were sitting in the lobby were all startled; they had been a bit overly shocked these past few days. They had just seen Gongsun carried out of the cremation room, and this time it was Zhan Zhao, so they immediately swarmed over in a tense panic.

Zhan Zhao's face turned completely red, and he truly wished he could find a hole in the ground to crawl into. Helplessly, under the current circumstances, the more he struggled the more bizarre it would look, so he could only submissively play the ostrich while being held by Bai Yutang.

Bao Zheng was also caught off guard. Bai Yutang set Zhan Zhao down to the side and reported Zhan Zhao's discovery to Bao Zheng.

Everyone present was stupefied. Bao Zheng hurriedly brought over the head of the research institute and asked him exactly how many people were in the facility, and which ones were specifically responsible for and frequently in contact with Zhao Jue. He rapidly deployed police forces to soothe all the relevant personnel, and the entire research center was also temporarily sealed off.

After a period of great chaos, the members of the S.C.I. were finally able to stop and catch their breath.

"Cat, give me a detailed explanation of what this suggestion is all about." Bai Yutang let out a long breath, sitting down inside a meeting room of the research center. Bao Zheng, Wang Chao, Ma Han, and the others also sat down, quietly waiting for Zhan Zhao's explanation.

After resting for a period of time, the color on Zhan Zhao's face looked much better. He fell into a brief silence, seemingly organizing his words. "Mm...

When speaking of psychological suggestion crimes, the most famous one is the Millennium Music Stampede Event that occurred in Ohio, USA, in 1999."

Bai Yutang nodded. "I've heard of that case. Several hundred people were trampled to death, right?"

"Exactly," Zhan Zhao said. "On the surface, this case appeared to be a tragedy caused by people becoming excessively excited while attending a concert. But in reality, the singer, Manson, had implanted a psychological suggestion into everyone."

"How did he implant it?" Ma Han and the others all wore expressions that practically said, "that's so magical~~"

Zhan Zhao explained patiently, "The steps of psychological suggestion can be illustrated with a simple example. For instance, if you want to teach a puppy to sit, first, you must say 'sit' to it, letting it get used to this vocal command. Then, when it sits down, you give it food as a reward. By repeating this multiple times, the dog's subconscious will connect the three elements: 'the command to sit—the action of sitting—the food'. In other words, the dog doesn't actually know what the word 'sit' specifically means, but it will instinctively sit whenever it hears it because it can obtain food."

Everyone nodded, indicating their understanding.

Next, Zhan Zhao pulled out a sheet of paper, wrote down a few sequential numbers on it, and said as he wrote, "To summarize, psychological suggestion is divided into four stages: issuing the order; completing the order; giving the reward; and becoming familiar with the order."

Bao Zheng stroked his chin. "To be more specific, how did that singer complete the suggestion?"

"First of all, the admission tickets Manson distributed to every single audience member were all in the shape of a foot. In other words, he instilled the suggestion of a 'foot' into everyone. For human beings, the difference from dogs lies in the fact that humans possess associative thinking. A person will extend their imagination to actions based on an image. Speaking of a foot, what is the action that everyone thinks of?"

Everyone looked at one another and spoke in perfect unison: "Stomp!"

Zhan Zhao nodded. "Exactly. In other words, the first step was already completed. Everyone received the order, which was the image of a foot, and they also associated it with the action—stomp!"

"Then, Manson began the concert. Because his band belonged to heavy metal rock, it carried immense infectious power. Throughout the entire performance, Manson continuously performed the action of 'stomping' and repeatedly demanded that the excited crowd perform the action along with him. He even pushed his bass player down onto the stage and stomped on him with all his might. In this manner, he completed his second step, demanding the completion of the order to 'stomp'."

Everyone held their breath as they listened, their faces filled with horror.

"The third step is giving the reward. The reward here is not material, but spiritual."

"Spiritual?" Bai Yutang knit his brows.

"If you have someone you like, what do you most like to see them do to you?" Zhan Zhao asked Bai Yutang.

"..............." Bai Yutang was speechless, his face burning slightly. He thought to himself, You heartless, foolish cat, the one this young master likes is you, and what I want most is for you to throw yourself into my arms... but these words simply can't be spoken.

"Uh... smile at me," Wang Chao answered.

Zhan Zhao nodded. "Exactly. To be precise, it is having them notice you and show goodwill toward you, right?"

"Mm!" Everyone nodded together.

"Those who went to attend the concert were all fans of Manson, and they normally liked him very much. Manson utilized his smiles exceptionally well to serve as the reward," Zhan Zhao continued.

"Smiles?" Everyone seemed somewhat puzzled.

Zhan Zhao suddenly gave a sweet smile toward Ma Han, Wang Chao, and the other police officers.

............!!..................

Everyone drew in a sharp breath, their eyes staring straight, while their hearts shrieked: An absolute enchantress! An enchantress... too cute...

Zhan Zhao immediately asked, "Who did you think I was smiling at just now?"

Everyone exchanged looks once more, blushing without speaking. They thought to themselves, Just now we were only focused on how beautiful the smile was, and didn't notice who you were looking at.

Yet Zhan Zhao didn't perceive anything unusual at all, continuing his explanation, "I was actually smiling toward that general area, not at any specific individual. However, in the eyes of the person watching, they would feel that I was smiling exclusively at them alone, right?"

Everyone nodded foolishly. In truth, no matter what Zhan Zhao said right now, these dense young fellows would submissively nod along, completely dazed by his charm...

Bao Zheng was holding back a laugh in the back, while Bai Yutang was gnashing his teeth to the side. This oblivious cat, how can he not have a shred of self-awareness? He shot another glare at his subordinates, thinking to himself, You little brats, how dare you look at the Cat with such lecherous eyes? Just wait until we go back, this master will discipline you to death!!

The pitiful crowd was still intoxicated by Zhan Zhao's sweet smile, completely failing to notice that Bai Yutang had already turned angry from embarrassment.

Zhan Zhao continued his explanation, "There were massive display screens at Manson's concert. He repeatedly smiled with deep affection toward the audience below, smiling wherever the sound of stomping feet was loudest. Consequently, his fans stomped their feet with absolute desperation."

Bao Zheng lit a cigarette. "In other words, he let those people become familiar with the order, and the suggestion was completed!"

"Yes!" Zhan Zhao nodded. "Finally, it was time for him to execute his plan. When the concert ended and the crowd was dispersing, the audience members were heavily congested. At that moment, the foot pattern from the tickets suddenly appeared on all the display screens from all directions, and the music also resounded at this exact time. As a result, a portion of the people began to frantically trample other individuals—and the tragedy occurred."

Everyone let out a long breath after listening, but the horrified expressions on their faces still hadn't faded.

"Then, Zhao Jue..." Bai Yutang seemed to be the first to recover.

Zhan Zhao lowered his head and drew a large bug on the paper, resembling a beetle. He showed it to everyone. "What is this?"

Everyone looked at it seriously for a moment, each giving a different answer. Some said it looked like a beetle, others a cockroach, and Bai Yutang was even more outrageous, saying it looked like a rat riding on top of a cat...

Zhan Zhao shot him a glare and said, "This is the famous 'Rorschach psychological test'. Generally, everyone looks at things from different angles and will perceive it as a different shape. However, what the shape resembles is determined by the brain's judgment, rather than recognized by the subconscious."

"What? Subconscious recognition..."

Zhan Zhao used a red pen to draw three circles on the beetle. When everyone looked closer, they saw three English letters: "D-A-D".

"Dad?" Everyone was bewildered. "Father?"

"Exactly!" Zhan Zhao continuously tapped the desk with the pen in his hand. "While you were looking at this drawing, your subconscious had already accepted the message of 'dad'. Meanwhile, you heard me continuously tapping the desktop. Then, when I hide this drawing away." Zhan Zhao placed the sketch paper to the side, tapped the desktop again, and asked, "When you hear the sound, did that pattern appear in your minds?"

Everyone thought about it for a moment, and all of them nodded.

Zhan Zhao put away his pen. "In other words, during the tapping, the concept of 'dad' had already appeared within your subconscious. It's just that I didn't give you a specific requirement to fulfill, so... you merely perceived it without taking action."

Bao Zheng finished his cigarette. After a moment of silence, he asked, "What is inside Zhao Jue's drawings?"

Zhan Zhao let out a sigh, pulling out a drawing. "This is a drawing brought out from Zhao Jue's room just now." As he spoke, he used a red pen to draw several circles on it, showing it to everyone once more. They saw that what the red circles outlined were four letters: "K-I-L-L".

"Kill..." Bai Yutang drew in a deep breath. "Heavens..."

Zhan Zhao knit his brows. "I've checked them all completely. It's present on all the drawings, spanning at least several years."

"This fellow is truly a lunatic!" Ma Han was filled with utter disbelief. "He can still harm people even while in this state?!"

"Then... how should we conduct treatment on the researchers?" Bao Zheng lightly massaged his forehead.

Zhan Zhao shook his head with difficulty. "It's very troublesome. The crucial point is that we must know what order Zhao Jue used! The action he demanded is to kill, but it didn't explicitly state whether it is murder or suicide. Furthermore, Zhao Jue is an exceptionally brilliant genius in the field of psychological suggestion; his methods certainly wouldn't be as simple as controlling a puppy to sit."

"How so?" Bai Yutang was puzzled.

"The time he utilized for the suggestion is far too long," Zhan Zhao thought for a moment. "So long that it is fully sufficient for a person to go seek out the reward on their own."

"Seeking out the reward on their own?" Everyone's mouths fell open.

"Cat, that's cutting it close~~" Bai Yutang massaged the space between his eyebrows.

A trace of grievance appeared on Zhan Zhao's face, and he grumbled softly in his heart: It was inherently very complicated to begin with~~~

Bai Yutang hurriedly coaxed him, "You continue, you continue. It's just that our capacity for comprehension is too poor." —Too cute!!

Zhan Zhao continued, "To put it simply, everyone has something they want the most, right?"

Everyone nodded.

"What a person thinks about the most in a day is what they want the most. In other words, the suggested behavior will gradually penetrate deep into a person's thinking, becoming a sort of subconsciously accepted existence... Meaning, in order to obtain what he wants most, he will adopt this exact method." After Zhan Zhao finished speaking, he picked up his teacup and took a sip, looking at everyone with his eyes sparkling—did you all understand??

Everyone nodded submissively.

Bai Yutang stood up. "It's clear now. In other words, once the thing they want is right before their eyes, and they receive the order, then that person who was under the suggestion will employ the method of murder to obtain what they desire."

"Correct!" Zhan Zhao looked at Bai Yutang with the gaze one would use for a star student. Bai Yutang cursed in his heart: Just what breed of cat is this? How can he be this cute~~

Bao Zheng tapped his chin. "Meaning, if we want to treat everyone, we absolutely must first know what the order Zhao Jue gave them is, right?"

"Yes!"

"But he can't speak!" Ma Han wore a complex expression. "How can he issue an order if he can't speak?"

Zhan Zhao pondered, "I searched virtually everywhere just now and didn't find any clues. However..."

"However what?" Seeing Zhan Zhao hesitate, Bai Yutang leaned forward to ask.

"I think..." Zhan Zhao raised his eyes to look at Bai Yutang. "Your older brother might know..."

"What?" Bai Yutang was startled. "You mean the events from back then..."

Zhan Zhao nodded. "The order, or perhaps... the intent... Right now, the only clue might be what remains trapped inside your brother's memory.”