S.C.I. (Volume I) - Case 1: Chapter 27

The Digital Killer 27: Accident 

With their plans settled, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang walked out of the research center's main gates.

"Cat, are we heading over to see my big brother next?" Bai Yutang asked as he opened the car door.

"Do you know where your brother is right now?" Zhan Zhao countered.

"Uh... well, about that." Bai Yutang shook his head. "Theoretically, I don't. But I have a feeling..."

"Mm!" Zhan Zhao nodded, turning to look at him. "I thought so too."

In perfect unison, they blurted out, "Gongsun's place!!"

The two of them sped off toward Gongsun's apartment. Throughout the entire drive, Bai Yutang seemed lost in thought, not uttering a single word.

Zhan Zhao wanted to say something several times, but seeing the sharp knit in Bai Yutang's brow, he swallowed his words back down each time.

When they arrived at Gongsun's apartment building and stepped out of the elevator, a massive crash echoed down the hall. Startled, the two sprinted forward. They found Ding Zhaolan and Ding Zhaohui squatting by the entrance with their hands shielding their heads. The front door was flung wide open, and pots, pans, and bowls were flying out of the apartment at regular intervals.

"What are you two doing?" Bai Yutang extended an arm to shield Zhan Zhao behind him, stepping forward to question the twins.

"We're keeping watch for Big Brother—uh, no, we're guarding the door!"

"......" Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao exchanged a look. "What is my brother doing in there?"

Big Ding and Small Ding grinned widely. "Gongsun's hand is injured, so Big Brother insisted on helping him take a bath!"

...! ...

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao drew in a sharp breath and instantly lunged into the apartment. At that exact moment, a suds-covered Bai Jintang burst out of the bathroom. Immediately following him was a dark, flying object. Bai Yutang happened to step right into the doorway...

With a loud clang... Bai Yutang was Bai Yutang, after all; his reflexes were lightning-fast. Sensing a vicious gust of wind before him, his initial instinct was to duck, but remembering Zhan Zhao was right behind him, he whipped his hand out to block. A hard object was knocked out of the air by his palm. Looking down, he saw a frying pan.

Utterly astonished, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang raised their eyes to see Gongsun standing in the middle of the room in total disarray. He was covered in stray soap suds, breathing heavily, with his left arm in a plaster cast and his right hand clutching a spatula raised over his head, ready to hurl it toward the door.

"Hold on, hold on!!" Bai Yutang quickly raised his hands to halt him. "Don't strike down the innocent here!!"

Once Gongsun clearly recognized Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang at the door, he tossed the "murder weapon" onto the ground and sat back down on the sofa, still huffing.

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao carefully slipped into the room. "Are... are you alright?"

Gongsun glared furiously at Bai Jintang, who was standing by the door, and hissed with absolute venom, "If you dare come near me again, prepare to be preserved in formalin!!"

After soothing the rampaging Gongsun and seeing him into the bedroom to rest, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang pulled Bai Jintang aside and briefed him on what had happened at the research center.

"..." Bai Jintang remained silent throughout the explanation, only frowning slightly when he heard that Zhao Jue had implanted psychological suggestions into everyone.

"So... what do you intend to do?" Bai Jintang looked at the two before him. "How do you need me to cooperate?"

"The Cat wants to hypnotize you!"

"Hypnosis?" Bai Jintang blinked, startled. "To recall the things I've already forgotten?"

"Mm!" Zhan Zhao nodded. "Big Brother, are you unwilling?"

Bai Jintang smiled and shrugged. "I don't mind either way. It's just that I'm afraid it might be difficult."

"Difficult?" Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged a look. "What do you mean?"

Bai Jintang pointed to his own head. "This wasn't an internal trauma; it was external physical trauma."

"What does that mean?" Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao, puzzled.

Zhan Zhao was taken aback. "Big Brother, the reason you forgot the events of that year was due to a physical injury, not a psychological block?"

Bai Jintang nodded. "I've seen quite a few doctors. The damaged region was the area governing memory. Right after the injury, I even forgot how to speak, just like a newborn infant."

"Cat, will it work?" Bai Yutang turned his eyes to Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao knitted his brows in thought for a moment. "Actually, human memory is divided into cerebral memory and somatic memory... I still want to give it a try."

Bai Jintang nodded. "Then it's not a problem."

Needing a quiet room, Zhan Zhao borrowed Gongsun's study. Just before entering, Bai Jintang suddenly turned and said, "Xiao Zhao, once you've hypnotized me, don't go taking advantage of your big brother while he's defenseless to do anything strange, alright?"

Bai Yutang was so infuriated he kicked him right into the room.

Zhan Zhao followed closely behind and shut the door.

Bai Yutang stood outside the door for a brief moment, then turned to walk out.

Near the entrance, the twins were sitting completely ungracefully, playing a silent but fierce game of checkers. It looked rather comical.

As Bai Yutang stepped out, the two raised their heads to look at him.

"I need to go out to handle some matters," Bai Yutang said, looking down at them. "Big Brother and the Cat have very important business to attend to and cannot be disturbed. Gongsun is also very weak."

The twins grinned, patting the two black leather cases beside them. "Unless an armored division rolls up, nobody is getting past this door!!"

Giving a knowing smile, Bai Yutang turned toward the elevator.

"Xiao Bai!" the twins called out from behind him.

Bai Yutang looked back, and Ding Zhaohui tossed something his way. "For a rainy day!!"

Catching it in his hand, he looked at it, smiled, and slipped it into his pocket. Bai Yutang waved to the twins and stepped into the elevator.

Bai Yutang drove first to the psychological clinic where Professor Xu had been murdered. The yellow police cordon was still up.

Walking up to the second floor, he meticulously observed the layout and furnishings inside the clinic. He didn't spare a single piece of furniture or utensil. By the time he finished surveying the area, Bai Yutang's brow was knit even tighter as he walked out of the building.

Arriving at the bar street, he scanned the surroundings, fixing his gaze on a structure directly across from the small building, and walked over.

It was an old three-story house with tightly closed doors bearing a sign: Operating Hours: 9:00 PM to 5:00 AM the next day. Judging by the style, it looked like a low-end dive bar.

Bai Yutang looked up, noting that a small window on the third floor was open. He raised his hand and began knocking loudly on the door.

At first, there was no sound. He kept knocking until an immensely irritated woman's voice drifted out from within: "Who is it? We're not open during the day!"

Ignoring the shout, Bai Yutang continued to knock.

Before long, the rhythmic tapping of slippers approached, accompanied by the woman's cursing: "Who the hell is it? So annoying!"

The door opened with a loud creak, revealing a young woman with disheveled hair and sloppy attire standing at the threshold.

Looking up to get a clear view of Bai Yutang, the woman visibly froze.

Bai Yutang flashed his badge. "Police."

"Oh?" The woman smiled. "You're the highest quality cop I've ever laid eyes on!"

Bai Yutang offered a faint smile. "I have a few questions for you."

The woman shrugged. "Your colleagues already asked everything."

"Then I'll ask what they didn't."

The woman threw the door wide open. "Come on in for a drink?"

Bai Yutang nodded and followed her inside.

In the study, Zhan Zhao had Bai Jintang lie back comfortably in an armchair, telling him to relax as much as possible. Although he had mentally prepared himself, Bai Jintang's sheer resistance to control far exceeded Zhan Zhao's expectations.

Hypnosis was a highly complex psychological experiment; the primary prerequisite was that the subject must place absolute trust in the hypnotist. However, Bai Jintang was a man with an incredibly powerful desire for control, an unyielding will, and a high IQ. People of this caliber found it exceptionally difficult to drop their guard and trust someone completely.

"Big Brother, relax a bit more!"

"Ah..." Bai Jintang was uncharacteristically at a bit of a loss.

"Let's begin." Zhan Zhao took a deep breath, allowing his own emotional calm to influence Bai Jintang. "Big Brother, clear your mind entirely right now."

Bai Jintang cooperated to the best of his ability.

"Next, listen to me count from one to ten. When I reach ten, I will snap my fingers. When you hear the snap, begin to recall the past. You don't need a specific memory in mind, just focus on the act of remembering itself. The moment an image flashes in your mind, seize it firmly, and then tell me what you see, alright?" Upon receiving Bai Jintang's nod of assent, Zhan Zhao kept his eyes on his watch and began to count. "1, 2..."

When he reached ten, Zhan Zhao lightly snapped his fingers.

Beneath Bai Jintang's closed eyelids, his eyeballs began to roll slowly. Zhan Zhao knew that he had entered the memory recall phase.

"An image has appeared, hasn't it?" he asked, slowing his voice down.

"Mm..." Bai Jintang nodded slightly.

"What do you see?"

"I see... a very young Yutang, and the little Xiao Zhao from next door."

Zhan Zhao understood that the absolute root of Bai Jintang's post-traumatic memory was the childhood versions of Bai Yutang and himself... This was working!

"Now, can you feel your presence there? You are right by Yutang and Xiao Zhao's side..."

Bai Jintang's eyelashes fluttered slightly—a sign that he was trying hard to connect with the feeling.

"I can..." Bai Jintang said with some hesitation.

Zhan Zhao sensed his unease, knowing that his immense urge for control was keeping him right on the edge of lucidity. Now was the critical moment...

"Brother..." Zhan Zhao softened his tone, mimicking the exact cadence Bai Yutang used to call out to Bai Jintang when they were children.

Bai Jintang's body gave a slight tremor, and his eyelashes stopped trembling. Seizing the opportunity, Zhan Zhao quickly asked, "What did you just do? What did you say?"

Hearing those words, Bai Jintang made a gesture almost entirely out of instinct...

Zhan Zhao watched, completely stunned...

He saw Bai Jintang raise his index finger, press it firmly against his lips, and softly emit a single syllable—"Shh".

Bai Yutang took his leave of the barmaid named Annie and drove straight to the psychology department of Central University. Through the university faculty, he tracked down several master's students who had studied under Professor Xu before his death.

"Ah! You're Dr. Zhan's handsome boyfriend!" One of the female students recognized Bai Yutang and spoke up with an excited expression.

Bai Yutang smiled. "Good memory. I'd like you all to tell me a bit about Professor Xu."

"Professor Xu?" The students looked at one another. "What do you want to know about him?"

"Anything will do. His personality, character, temper, and daily habits. Oh, right—he had a heart condition, didn't he?"

"Yes! And it was quite severe," the students started chattering all at once.

"Professor Xu was very rigid and barely ever smiled."

"Exactly! He found Dr. Zhan the most eyesore!"

"More than that, he couldn't stand any young PhDs at all!"

"He was incredibly strict too! And he was a total clean freak!!"

"Right! Last time I just forgot half of a quotation mark, and he tore into me with a massive lecture!"

"..............."

The students offered up a wealth of details, talking over one another.

The tight knot between Bai Yutang's brows gradually unraveled, and a smile surfaced on his face.

Sprinting out of the university, he lunged into his car and sped frantically back toward Gongsun's apartment. Bai Yutang was so exhilarated he nearly ripped the steering wheel right off. "Cat, we've all been played!"

Back in the study, Bai Jintang looked at the astonished Zhan Zhao before him with a trace of confusion. "Xiao Zhao, are you alright?"

Zhan Zhao suddenly stood up, pacing back and forth across the room. "How could this be? How could it... calm down... there's a connection..."

Not daring to make a sound, Bai Jintang simply kept his eyes fixed on Zhan Zhao as he spun around in circles.

"Bastard!" Zhan Zhao cursed fiercely, something incredibly rare for him. "We've all been played!"

He turned and threw open the door to step out of the room. At that exact moment, the elevator doors opened, and Bai Yutang came rushing back in like a whirlwind.

"Cat!"

"Xiao Bai!"

Seeing each other, the two cried out at the exact same time.

"I've figured it out!"

They stared at each other in surprise for a moment.

"You too...?"

Both nodded in unison.

Di-di-di... Zhan Zhao's phone suddenly rang—it was an unidentifiable number.

He picked it up. "Hello... Speaking... What do you want... Fine!"

Hanging up the phone, Zhan Zhao flashed a smile at Bai Yutang. "Guess who that was?"

Bai Yutang rubbed his chin. "Zhang Boyi!"

"Smart!" Zhan Zhao reached out and aggressively ruffled Bai Yutang's hair. "The fox has finally shown its tail!"

Bai Yutang let out a cold laugh and pulled out his phone. "After messing with us for so long, if I don't give him a taste of his own medicine, I'll be letting down the generations of my Bai family ancestors!"

He dialed a number. "Hello! Wang Chao! Bring the brothers over right now! Prepare to pull in the net!”