Starting with dissecting ghost stories

"My brother... is in danger? What do you mean?"

Shen Yuan's expression was somewhat hesitant. Not only her expression, but her mind was still a bit muddled, and she seemed unable to understand what Wu Xiaoting was saying for the time being.

Wu Xiaoting didn't say anything, but simply pulled Shen Yuan along and headed to several other places.

Convenience stores, hardware stores, milk shops... Wu Xiaoting led Shen Yuan on a series of zero-yuan shopping trips until she was about to take Shen Yuan into a mobile phone store, when Shen Yuan finally stopped her.

If Shen Yuan could still imagine a romantic drama similar to that in "Initial D" based on the interaction between Wu Xiaoting and the shop assistant at the computer repair shop, she was now completely convinced.

This street is problematic... The people here are friendlier than Shen Yuan had ever imagined.

Moreover, because of their frequent movements, many police officers have begun to focus their attention on them.

What exactly happened? And what does this have to do with my brother?

Wu Xiaoting pulled Shen Yuan into a residential complex. She easily found her way to the slide, sat on the swing, opened a packet of Mimi milk tea, and started eating, mumbling, "Now you believe me, right?"

"I believe you." Shen Yuan nodded and asked, "So what exactly happened...? And what does this have to do with my brother?" The situation just now... left her no choice but to believe it.

It's impossible that the whole street is cooperating with Wu Xiaoting's act; she doesn't believe Wu Xiaoting has such good interpersonal relationships.

"Do you believe in superpowers?" Wu Xiaoting swallowed a bite of her snack, looked at Shen Yuan, and asked seriously.

"What... special abilities?" Shen Yuan felt her heart leap into her throat, feeling quite nervous.

She had a premonition that what Wu Xiaoting was about to say might shatter all her previous understanding.

"Special abilities are those super powerful skills that ordinary people don't have..."

Just as Wu Xiaoting was about to explain what special abilities meant, Shen Yuan interrupted her.

"I know! I'm asking about that kind of special ability? Like Superman? Or the kind that lets you use magic?"

Shen Yuan has been exposed to various TV series, movies, and animations for a long time, so she has a very high capacity to accept them.

"Magic?!" Upon hearing this, Wu Xiaoting seemed greatly inspired. She held her breath and slowly raised her right hand towards the open space in front of her. Shen Yuan quickly made way for her, going around to behind Wu Xiaoting and staring intently at Wu Xiaoting's right hand and the bushes in front of her. Perhaps because she often went out, Wu Xiaoting's skin was tanned to a wheat color, but after she raised her hand, the skin on her arm exposed under her short sleeve was very fair.

Several seconds passed, and nothing happened.

"It doesn't seem to be magic." Wu Xiaoting shook her head, looking regretful. She turned to look at Shen Yuan, only to meet Shen Yuan's gaze, which seemed to regard her as if she were looking at a dead person.

"It's true, I'm not lying to you." Wu Xiaoting quickly waved her hand, stood up from the swing, turned to look at Shen Yuan, and gestured with both hands as she said, "Martin Morning, it aired when school started this year, did you see it?"

"I've seen it." Shen Yuan nodded, then asked hesitantly, "You have a different ability every day?"

"No, but it's similar, except it happens in my dreams," Wu Xiaoting said. "I have some very strange dreams every day... Sometimes I dream about things from a long, long time ago, and sometimes I dream about things from a long, long time in the future."

"But... most of what I dream about is wrong, and I can remember very little of it after waking up... I don't know how to describe it."

As Wu Xiaoting spoke, her lips involuntarily pursed, as if she herself was somewhat afraid of the dreams she had.

Her mental state seemed to be strongly affected by these dreams, which explained her instability and occasional overly neurotic behavior. "So, what does this have to do with my brother?" Shen Yuan, still worried about Shen Xing, steered the conversation back on track. "You dreamed about him?" "No, but I dreamed about the future of this street, about two weeks ago..."

After recalling for a moment, Wu Xiaoting continued:

"I dreamt that there were few people on this street, but a lot of awnings appeared. Every shadow entering or leaving the community had to have a white gun pointed at its head by a shadow in white clothes, and then a 'beep' would sound before it could enter... ...almost exactly the same as what is happening now."

"Then I started investigating what was going on on this street. I went to ask the nearby shops, and nothing seemed to have happened anywhere. But the shop owners who used to dislike me started to become more and more friendly towards me, and even my mom started..."

"Moreover, as soon as I finished asking the previous shop owner, the next shop owner would know what I was going to ask. It was as if they immediately called each other to tell me these things after I left. Even my mother knew exactly what I did today."

After a slight pause, Wu Xiaoting continued, "I'm very scared. My mom has become a bit of a stranger to me. She doesn't even say a few words to me like she used to, and she agrees to whatever I say."

"Then, I tried to see if I could stop her from becoming like that, so I started to make her angry every day. After a few times, she recovered, but sometimes, she would suddenly revert to that smiling look."

"After skipping school and observing for a few days, I discovered that whenever that person comes to the store, my mom's personality changes drastically... You know what? Everyone on the street knows her name, her address, and everything that happened to her, even though they've never actually seen that person." That person...?

who is it?

"That person's name is Wang Xinran, your brother's girlfriend."

Looking into Shen Yuan's eyes, Wu Xiaoting said, "If you go out on the street now, you can ask anyone and they'll know that the gas exploded at Wang Xinran's house the day before yesterday. Since then, my mother's emotions have never returned to that strange state."

"Wait, wait a minute." Shen Yuan raised her hand, interrupting Wu Xiaoting. "You mean... Rubbing... Sister Xiaoran has special abilities... ...can make people happy?"

"Yeah, I guess the police noticed that too, which is why there are so many police officers and doctors on that street." Wu Xiaoting nodded and said, "But... does your brother know? Could he be affected too?"

My brother...

the day before yesterday?

Suddenly, Shen Yuan remembered something.

That night, in the middle of the night, several tall men knocked on her door almost like they were smashing it open, and took her brother away... If it weren't for the fact that some of the men were wearing police uniforms, Shen Yuan would have called the police immediately.

That night, my brother was taken away by the police, and then that night...

"Gas explosion? At Xiaoran's house?" Shen Yuan finally realized and asked, "Really?"

"It's true, it's on the news. The explosion happened at Wang Xinran's house. Two people died, and the news also said that a young woman is in critical condition... It's probably Wang Xinran."

Gas explosion... Sister Xiaoran was seriously injured. That night, Brother was taken away without a fight.

Shen Yuan quickly recalled the images of her brother she had seen in the past few days.

Almost every time I see him, he has a blank expression. It's not much different from his usual expressionless face, but these past two days when he's at home, he's been showing that bitter smile from time to time...

In addition, my brother has looked thin and haggard these past few days...

For some reason, Shen Yuan felt a sharp pain in her heart.

She frantically took out her phone, seemingly wanting to dial immediately to confirm, but when she found her brother's number in the contact list, she couldn't bring herself to press the call button.

This time, my brother chose to shoulder it all alone again... without even telling me.

Shen Yuan took two steps forward, looking somewhat lost, and slumped down on the swing.

"It's hard to explain over the phone, right? Have you noticed your brother has become more cheerful lately?" Wu Xiaoting, oblivious to Shen Yuan's unusual mood, continued, "Why don't you tell him about your parents, and try to upset him?"

Tell me about... your parents?

Shen Yuan suddenly understood why her brother, who had never mentioned their parents before, had suddenly brought them up that night. Did he already know? Was he using their parents' situation to bring himself to his senses?

In the end, I still knew nothing and had been protected all along.

The people around me, one by one, all of them...

Am I some kind of cursed lone star?

"He... probably knew a long time ago..." Shen Yuan opened her mouth, but finally lowered her head and said, "He used to be a very, very good forensic doctor in the provincial department... and also a policeman."

It was probably only in front of others that Shen Yuan would praise her brother and defend him like this.

"Forensic doctor?... Oh!" Wu Xiaoting remembered that morning when the back row of the classroom was chattering about the school doctor and forensic doctor, and Shen Yuan got angry and disturbed her.

"That school doctor is your brother? She? Why are you crying?"

Wu Xiaoting, who went around to the front of Shen Yuan, noticed that Shen Yuan was inexplicably crying and panicked a little.

She squatted down, took out a few packets of snacks from the bag on the ground, and carefully presented the snacks to Shen Yuan, as if trying to comfort her in her own way.

But to Wu Xiaoting's surprise, Shen Yuan simply wiped away her tears with the back of her hand, then looked at her as if nothing had happened and asked, "So, did you also see the matter of buying Q coins using your special abilities? Will the price of these coins rise in the future?"

"...I'm not quite sure either. I only remember it was some kind of coin, and when I looked around, I could only buy it with 0 coins." Wu Xiaoting put down the snacks, looking a little embarrassed.

Is she really that okay? Shouldn't she stop crying? Wasn't she just worried about her brother?

"You can't accurately predict the future?" Shen Yuan sniffed and continued to ask.

"You can't call this predicting the future... or rather, predicting the future is just a side effect," Wu Xiaoting shook her head, her gaze slightly tilted towards the ground, and said, "Regarding dreams, I only remember there were many doors..."

"With each door I open, what I see changes, and the more doors I open, the less I remember. It seems like I stay in the dream longer... and there's a feeling..."

"The feeling that I might not wake up..."

Wu Xiaoting seemed to recall something, and a hint of fear appeared in her eyes.

Having a vague memory of dreams is not a good thing... especially her particular dreams.

The more blurry the things inside were, the more her brain seemed to automatically fill in the blurriness, causing her to imagine completely different and bizarre things.

She might see a blurry figure in her dream, but before waking up, in that dark space where she can't perceive anything, her brain will patch up all the blurriness, until it becomes unrecognizable.

Even a vague image of a person can become a terrifying monster covered in eyeballs in memory.

Over time, she began to lose the ability to distinguish between dreams and reality.

"When did you start dreaming?" Shen Yuan asked.

"About four or five years ago? It stopped for a while, but then I started having frequent dreams again." Wu Xiaoting squatted on the ground with her head down, her fingers poking at the weeds sprouting from the cracks in the floor tiles.

"Do you only dream at home? Or do you dream in other places too?" Shen Yuan continued to ask.

After thinking for a moment, Wu Xiaoting replied, "I've never slept anywhere else... Oh, I don't sleep in class, so I usually sleep in class." "Why are you telling me this?" Shen Yuan asked one last question, one that she was a little curious about.

"You seem rather withdrawn; you probably wouldn't tell anyone else," Wu Xiaoting said very honestly. "Besides, you get excellent grades; you seem quite intelligent."

"Can you take me to your house?" Shen Yuan asked earnestly.

"Hmm... Oh!" Wu Xiaoting stood up, her eyes sparkling as she looked at Shen Yuan. "Now we're the super-powered team, right? We're going to solve the world's mysteries and thwart the supervillain's plot?"

"Stop talking nonsense and lead the way." Shen Yuan picked up the bag on the ground and said, "Return everything back first, and make up for the money for what you ate. If you don't have enough, I'll lend you some."

Wu Xiaoting felt a little regretful for telling Shen Yuan. She raised her hand and said weakly:

"Um... can the team disband for now...?"

At the entrance of the First People's Hospital of the city, Wen Yan accompanied Shen Xing out of the hospital.

At the door, Wen Yan lit a cigarette. He glanced at Shen Xing beside him and asked, "You seem to be in a complicated mood." Wen Yan was a little puzzled. There were still tear stains on Shen Xing's face, and his eyes were a little red. But in addition to sadness, his expression showed other more complicated emotions.

"Hurricane...I guess so." Shen Xing nodded.

He is indeed complex, but not emotionally, but in terms of principles.

The survival strategy Shen Jingwei taught him was based on not killing ordinary people, and Shen Xing had always adhered to this principle, surviving to this day. But in fact, this bottom line had already begun to waver when Shen Xing killed Li Ya.

Li Ya is just a corrupted human. If I can kill him, does that mean I can kill any corrupted human? If someone has murderous intent towards me, can I act in self-defense?

If one's identity is about to be exposed, is it permissible to kill someone in order to cover it up?

Shen Jingwei's criteria were based on the premise that Shen Xing still wanted to survive in human society. But is the world now still a purely human society? Do I still need to abide by these rules and regulations?

To be honest, Shen Xing was indeed confused about this. He couldn't understand those deeper emotions, and every time he made a judgment about something, he only made the most beneficial decision based on the current situation.

Sometimes it's not even out of rationality.

"What did you feel when you saw Li Xiaohua's head?"

Suddenly, Wen Yan asked a question that Shen Xing didn't expect, and for a moment he didn't know what expression to make.

He quickly went through in his mind what emotions an ordinary person would have in this situation before he spoke: "Shock, disbelief... and anger."

"We should be angry, a little girl, and so many precious lives." Wen Yan said as he walked forward.

After thinking for a moment, Shen Xing followed.

"What's your opinion on crime?" Wen Yan asked, not looking at Shen Xing's expression, but staring at the zebra crossing in front of him.

"Criminal behavior is disregarding the law and the human rights of others, standing on the opposite side of morality and justice for one's own selfish desires." Shen Xing gave a formulaic answer: "No." Wen Yan, with a cigarette in his mouth, stretched out his right hand and shook his index finger.

"Any law of morality and justice is based on the opposing concept of evil. There is no good without evil, and no justice without crime. To some extent, criminal behavior affirms current cultural values."

As Émile Durkheim said, "Crime is a normal phenomenon in society, even a necessity for a healthy society."

What does Wen Yan want to say?

Shen Xing looked somewhat puzzled.

"Do you know why the Ninth Detachment was established?" After crossing the road, Wen Yan turned around and looked at Shen Xing.

"Something strange has happened?" Shen Xing asked uncertainly.

Wen Yan nodded: "Yes, but not quite."

"Regular crimes are just skirting the line of order; the police make arrests, judges sentence, and all social structures function normally." "When criminals who can break the rules emerge, the line is lowered, the public feels powerless, and this kind of unconventional violence shatters the rules and creates even more horrific scenes, spreading panic."

"In order to combat panic, the social system will be forced to operate, establish a more robust response mechanism, and complete the iteration... ...and the Ninth Division was born."

It is because of evil that order has value; it is because of the bizarre that the Ninth Division was born... What is he trying to tell me? Does crime drive social progress? Do stronger criminals drive a more完善的法制？

Why are you suddenly giving me a lesson?

"Do you think the Ninth Squad did enough?" Wen Yan asked Shen Xing earnestly. "If their response mechanism had been truly robust enough, many of the people around you wouldn't have died, and Wang Xinran wouldn't have ended up like this."

"Don't you think that to deal with such unconventional crimes, we need to use even more unconventional methods, instead of sticking to the old ways?" What do you mean?

Are you... instigating me?

The copycat's sudden change in modus operandi occurred after Wen Yan arrived in this city...

It wasn't a copycat who saw the second person at the crime scene... Did you see it?

A look of profound understanding appeared on Shen Xing's face.

Seeing Shen Xing's expression, Wen Yan also revealed a faint smile.

"Yes... I think so too." Shen Xing nodded.

"Haha, but no matter what, we can't affect what the Ninth Detachment does. We just need to do our jobs properly. I still have to go to Anning Street later. There are still so many brainwashed people waiting there."

Wen Yan laughed it off and changed the subject.

He seemed to simply want to instill this set of ideas into Shen Xing's mind first.

It has become a time bomb that could explode at any moment.