S.C.I. (Volume I) - Case 5: Chapter 16
The Doppelganger Killer 16 - A Cruel Story
The bearded man had completely forgotten about his brief childhood; his memories began from the age of six.
The starting point of his memory was a dark, enclosed room that carried a faint, sweet scent—one he only later learned was the smell of blood.
The first person he ever saw was a middle-aged, blonde foreigner who led him out of that dark room and into a white one. There were people dressed in white robes there—many of them—all busy bustling about, tinkering with wires, tubes, and various medications. Every morning when he woke up, he had to be injected with drugs, and then electrodes were attached to his head and body. While he sat there blankly, everyone else bustled around without a soul speaking to him, yet he felt nothing—absolutely nothing at all.
After some time passed like this, that blonde foreigner brought him to another place—still a dark house, but this time there were a dozen or so other children inside. The blonde foreigner told him, "From now on, your name is -17-1."
As he spoke, the bearded man raised his head to look at Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang sitting opposite him, and suddenly burst out laughing.
The two of them were completely baffled by his reaction, only to hear him say, "I told this story to Luo Wen once before. The expression on his face at the time was very much like yours... Both of you are the kind of people who grieve for others."
Outside the window, Ouyang Chun let out a soft sigh. At that moment, the door pushed open as Gongsun, Ma Han, and Zhao Hu walked in.
Everyone felt a deep sense of curiosity toward this bearded man. Ouyang Chun nodded gently to them, and the group gathered in front of the one-way glass, quietly listening as the bearded man continued his account.
"A long time after that, I finally understood that what they had done to me beforehand was use drugs and physical stimulation to wipe my memories and dull my nerves," the bearded man said. "Some children suffered rejection reactions and died during the process. The first batch all died because of drug reactions; the second batch reportedly didn't select for the right category of children, so some unclassified ones got mixed in; and as for the third batch, some were leftovers from before, while others like me were new arrivals."
Listening to the bearded man use terms like "new" and "old" felt rather grating to Zhan Zhao, as though they weren't human beings at all, but mere commodities. "Drugs and psychological stimulation cannot completely erase a person's memory, nor can they eliminate specific sensations!"
"That's correct," the bearded man nodded. "That's why a third component was necessary: a decade-long period of post-conditioning."
"Post-conditioning?" Bai Yutang nodded. "Just like training soldiers to not fear death?"
"The nature of it is the same," the bearded man said indirectionlessly. "It mainly targeted four points: first, pain perception; second, physical strength; third, fear; and fourth, combat skills."
"Those scars of yours—were those from training your pain perception?" Zhan Zhao asked.
The bearded man didn't answer, merely nodding slightly as he said, "A person's capacity to endure pain gradually increases. Once you adapt to a certain level of pain, you stop fearing it."
"Have you ever engaged in self-harm?" Zhan Zhao asked.
The bearded man froze for a moment before nodding. Sometimes, he truly would inexplicably cut himself with a knife.
"Actually, that kind of experiment was fundamentally flawed. It wasn't the elimination of pain perception, but rather its paralysis," Zhan Zhao frowned as he said. "People will continuously seek out that sensation of pain, much like a tattoo. Someone who gets tattooed once eagerly wants a second time, because the human body can already endure that pain, so the physical form craves even more painful stimulation."
The bearded man listened quietly to Zhan Zhao for a long while before remarking, "Edgar Allan Poe hated your kind of person the most."
Zhan Zhao looked somewhat puzzled.
"Things you are born knowing how to do, others have to spend years, or even decades, learning," the bearded man shook his head. "Edgar Allan Poe wasn't a genius at all; he couldn't even become a proper scientist, which is why his experiments always required so many sacrificial victims."
"And what about physical strength?" Bai Yutang looked at the bearded man and asked, "How old are you this year?"
"You're asking about -17-1?" The bearded man thought for a moment. "It has been twenty-eight years since I became -17-1."
Everyone present was astonished. The bearded man's appearance didn't look like that of a thirty-eight-year-old at all; he looked at least in his forties... If one disregarded his face and looked purely at his overall physique, he felt like an old man.
Outside the interrogation room, Gongsun said in a cold voice, "Muscle-strengthening agents... essentially hormones."
Bai Yutang glanced at Zhan Zhao. "Injecting drugs that enhance muscle strength carries severe side effects and accelerates human aging."
The bearded man nodded and continued, "As for the sense of fear, I don't know why... but in the end, it just vanished." With that, he looked up at Zhan Zhao. "Can you explain to me why Yangyang inherited some of the traits I acquired later on—being bold, feeling no pain, and having immense strength?"
Zhan Zhao pondered for a moment before saying, "Actually, that so-called experiment by Edgar Allan Poe was completely unscientific. Human adaptability is infinite, and the biggest prerequisite for the success of his experiments was the children he selected—who already possessed immense innate potential."
The bearded man looked confused. "What do you mean?"
"You mentioned it yourself: the first batch of children died en masse from drug rejection, but you guys didn't reject the drugs. That indicates the innate bodily functions and physical constitution of you children were far superior to those other kids." Seeing the bearded man nod, Zhan Zhao continued, "Strength is the same way. You must have undergone massive amounts of survival-adaptation training; muscle-enhancement drugs only amplify, they cannot create out of nothing—the prerequisite was your own baseline strength. Finally, regarding courage, everyone knows courage is innate, and when combined with acquired training, it gets further amplified."
"In other words... these were things we already possessed all along, and Edgar Allan Poe merely amplified them?" The bearded man gave a dry laugh. "Why does his behavior suddenly feel entirely redundant?"
Zhan Zhao stood up and said in a cool tone, "His actions were indeed completely redundant." With that, he pointed at Bai Yutang and asked the bearded man, "What do you think of him?"
The bearded man looked puzzled. "In what aspect?"
Zhan Zhao smiled. "Courage, strength, lethality, and all the skills you've mastered."
As if a light bulb went off in his head, the bearded man nodded. "I understand now. Those drugs and experiments were actually useless; the key factors were our own innate qualities and prolonged training. No wonder..."
"No wonder what?" Bai Yutang asked. "How did Edgar Allan Poe die, and how did the other children die?"
"Roughly six years ago..." the bearded man slowly recounted, "Edgar Allan Poe's experiments encountered a certain level of obstruction."
"Obstruction?" Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged glances. "His experiments weren't self-funded? Someone was backing him?"
The bearded man nodded. "Judging from the skills they taught us, that should be the case."
"What skills?"
"Killing," the bearded man said after a brief pause. "I remember one time someone came to visit us. After they left, Edgar Allan Poe started smashing and wrecking his laboratory like a madman. The experimental staff also evacuated, and in the end, he ordered us to kill each other off."
"Did you resist?" Bai Yutang raised an eyebrow. "Or did you follow orders?"
The bearded man sighed. "We agreed to escape together. I went to kill Edgar Allan Poe, but... when I brought his head back, everyone else was already dead."
"Killed by the other bearded man?" Zhan Zhao asked. "Who is he?"
"-1-11," the bearded man stated. "Actually, I had sensed something was wrong with him long ago."
Zhan Zhao paced back and forth across the room with lowered head, muttering, "Did you feel that in him, Edgar Allan Poe's experiment had truly succeeded?"
The bearded man nodded solemnly. "He was the only one left from the second generation. All the other second-generation subjects died during the final training, except for him... He truly felt no pain and possessed extraordinary capabilities, but..."
"But, from your perspective, he was a lunatic who had everything except 'obedience,' right?" Zhan Zhao finished the thought before the other man could.
The bearded man was no longer surprised by Zhan Zhao's predictive capability; he simply looked up and waited for him to explain.
Zhan Zhao nodded gently at him. "Your intuition was correct. He really is insane." Having said that, he stopped speaking, sat back down in his chair, and fell into deep contemplation by himself.
"And you've been tracking him ever since?" Bai Yutang asked. "Yangyang is seven years old this year, and you said you escaped six years ago, so..."
"Yangyang was born there; Edgar Allan Poe forced me to conceive him," the bearded man said. "Before he turned one, Yangyang was raised by Edgar Allan Poe... Perhaps because of that, his abilities are exceptionally astonishing. Sometimes even I get startled by him."
"You carried him away and then ran into Luo Wen?" Bai Yutang asked with a hint of perplexity. "What happened in between? Why did you give Yangyang to Luo Wen to raise, and why did Luo Wen end up dead?"
The bearded man sighed. "I haven't investigated it thoroughly yet, but I know he was a police officer. He was investigating a very high-stakes case, and moreover, he was also helping me track down -1-11."
Bai Yutang turned his head to look at Zhan Zhao, who had remained completely silent since a moment ago, wondering what was going on inside his head.
"How do you plan to cooperate?" The bearded man looked between Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang. "I am the only one who can catch him."
"I'm afraid it won't be that simple." Bai Yutang stood up and began tidying up the items on the table. "The evidence we have needs to be reorganized. During this period, I suggest you undergo a surgical procedure."
The bearded man froze, hesitatingly reaching out to touch his own neck.
The interrogation of the bearded man temporarily drew to a close. As for his past, unless the case required it, truly no one was willing to probe into it any further. A story like this was far too cruel—or rather, a life like this was far too cruel. From the moment he took his first step into that dark room at six years old, his life was destined to be a tragedy.
Gongsun, who had long since passed his off-duty hours, left the office feeling somewhat drained. Walking downstairs, he spotted that familiar car.
Having waited for quite some time, Bai Jingtang lowered the document in his hands, looked up as Gongsun silently climbed into the passenger seat, and asked, "What's wrong? You look awful."
Gongsun turned his head to scrutinize Bai Jingtang closely, staring until the latter couldn't help pulling him over, setting him on his lap, and kissing him. "What's with the sudden enthusiasm today? Missed me?"
Gongsun reached out to touch his jaw, speaking with a hint of ferocity. "Don't move."
Bai Jingtang was confused, but nodded nonetheless and froze in place.
Sitting on his lap, Gongsun's fingers slowly groped around Bai Jingtang's Adam's apple as if searching for something.
Bai Jingtang felt as though a single finger from Gongsun was practically going to be the death of him. Just as he wanted to reach out, he was hit with a fierce glare from Gongsun and had no choice but to stay still.
A short while later, Gongsun touched a patch of skin near the Adam's apple that felt slightly different... Although it was no longer very prominent, a white trace could still be discerned... a healed incision scar.
Catching his breath, Gongsun raised his head, staring open-mouthed at Bai Jingtang as a faint mist of moisture welled up in his eyes.
"What's wrong with you?" Bai Jingtang was completely bewildered, reaching out to pinch Gongsun's chin. "What happened?"
In the end, Gongsun shook his head, reached out to pat his face, and murmured, "Thank goodness everything turned out fine." As he spoke, he suddenly sensed something amiss and stared in shock at Bai Jingtang. "Are you a monkey or something? You can get aroused from just this?"
Bai Jingtang chuckled, reaching out to grip Gongsun's waist to prevent him from escaping. "You're sitting on my lap and feeling me up, how could I not react?" With that, he reached over to roll up the car windows and pressed Gongsun back against the seat. Amidst the swirling haze of passion, he only felt that today, Gongsun was exceptionally docile.
Zhan Zhao walked out of the interrogation room. Seeing that he was still completely silent, Bai Yutang couldn't resist reaching out to poke his cheek. Snapping out of his deep train of thought, Zhan Zhao didn't glare at him either, but instead stared blankly at Bai Yutang before getting his chin pinched and receiving a quick kiss.
Startled enough to nearly cry out, Zhan Zhao glanced all around them. "Mad Rat, this is a police station!"
"You haven't paid any attention to me since a while ago!" Bai Yutang whined pitifully. "What were you thinking about? You were so deep in thought."
"Don't you feel like Yangyang's situation is identical to Big Brother's?"
Bai Yutang thought about it for a moment and nodded. "To be honest, the two of them really don't match the bearded man's situation."
"Also," Zhan Zhao rubbed his chin, "Zhaojue gave me a call last time. I'm certain this case will involve something I need to ask him about."
"You feel these two matters are connected." Bai Yutang smiled, "Yet you're afraid of walking right into Zhaojue's trap, aren't you?"
Zhan Zhao nodded helplessly. At that moment, the two of them saw Bai Chi and Yangyang stepping out of the elevator.
Yangyang looked up at Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, wanting to address them, but not knowing what title to use, making it rather awkward. Zhan Zhao checked his watch and walked up to him. "Yangyang, hungry?"
Luo Yang nodded blankly.
"Let's go eat." Zhan Zhao took him by the hand. "What do you want? Want to try Bai's cooking?"
Luo Yang turned his head in surprise to look at Bai Yutang, seemingly finding it hard to believe he could cook. After thinking for a moment, he asked instead, "Can Uncle Big Beard come eat with us, too?"
Bai Yutang held a fair bit of appreciation for Luo Yang; this kid genuinely had a good heart. He walked over, patted the boy's head, and said, "Don't you think Uncle Big Beard's voice sounds a bit strange?"
"Ah! Yeah!" Luo Yang nodded. "Does he have a sick throat?"
"That's why he needs treatment during this period and can't eat with us right now." Zhan Zhao ruffled his hair.
"He can really be cured? That's great!" Luo Yang happily grabbed Bai Chi's hand. "Come on, Brother Bai Chi, let's go eat together."
Watching Luo Yang pull Bai Chi along as they raced ahead, Bai Yutang patted Zhan Zhao's arm. "Not bad, Cat, you really know how to coax kids."
Zhan Zhao said earnestly, "Bai, for Yangyang's health, you need to cook more often from now on and strive to avoid eating takeout at work!" With that, he walked off in high spirits. After taking a few steps, he turned back to ask Bai Yutang, "Do you think we should adopt him? It feels almost like we snatched a kid right out of someone else's hands."
Bai Yutang smiled and said, "It's still too early to talk about all that... When the time comes, let Yangyang make his own choice. He still has the right to choose, making him much luckier than his father, right?"