Genius Detective - Chapter 389

Chapter 389

Chapter 389: The Programmer Who Went Crazy

Chen Shi said, "It seems that we have to start the investigation with Shida . "

Gu You said, "I want to hypnotize Little Worm to see if the effects of the brainwashing can be removed . "

"Will the success rate be high?"

"It’s just an attempt!"

Gu You got Sun Zhen to lie down . Sun Zhen, who already trusted her a great deal, entered a hypnotic state after just a few words of guidance . Gu You said next to his ear, "Try to say the word 'Zhou' . "

Even in a hypnotic state, Sun Zhen shook his head desperately, "I can't say it! I can't say it!"

"When you think of the word, what do you feel? Fear? Anxiety?"

"Fear! It’s fear!"

"It seems like that person must have tortured you . Rest assured, you are with us now and it’s very safe . Try and think of the word in your mind . You’ll feel a little scared, but it doesn’t matter . I’m here with you!"

Gu You held Sun Zhen's hand . Sun Zhen had sweat all over his brow and stuttered, "This . . . This . . . This . . . "

With constant encouragement from Gu You, Sun Zhen finally said the word, "Zhou! Zhou! Zhou!"

"That’s amazing . It's successful!" kk praised .

"It's just a small step . " Chen Shi said . Zhou Xiao's brainwashing associated those information with deep fear . Gu You was using a systematic desensitization method to slowly reduce his fear .

Gu You encouraged him, "Now, say the name 'Zhou Tiannan' . "

"Zhou . . . Zhou . . . " Sun Zhen suddenly sat up, eyes wide, sweating, "No! I can't say that!"

"He woke up?" kk asked in surprise .

Gu You shook her head . "The brainwashing effect is too deep . Long-term treatment may be needed to remove this 'patch . '"

Chen Shi suggested, "I have an idea . If he saw Zhou Tiannan with his own eyes, would he remember everything at once?"

"Excessive stimulation may also cause his mind to collapse instantly . " Gu You said .

Sun Zhen piped up, "I want to give it a try . I hope to do something to help you catch him . "

Chen Shi said, "Now that I know his name, I'll go to the bureau and look for his photo . Wait for me . "

Chen Shi returned an hour later and said, "I found dozens of people named ‘Zhou Tiannan’ in the household registration database . Let's try them one by one!"

"Wait!" Gu You looked at Sun Zhen . "Let's get you into a hypnotic state first . This time I’ll guide you to enter a deeper state, so that you’ll have a buffer . "

"I’ll listen to Miss Gu . " Sun Zhen said .

Gu You poured a glass of water for him . After drinking a large glass of water, Sun Zhen lay down again, and soon went into hypnosis under the guidance of Gu You . He was hypnotized three times in total . Each time deeper than the last . He could only hear Gu You's words now as he entered something like a semi-conscious altered sleep state .

Gu You said, "Open your eyes!"

Sun Zhen opened his eyes and kk said, "It's scary . He’s just like a zombie . "

Gu You explained, "His consciousness has entered a deep state of hypnosis . Even with his eyes open, there would seem to be a layer of frosted glass in front of his eyes . . . Mr . Chen, let's start!"

Chen Shi showed him the photos . After Sun Zhen looked at each photo, Gu You would ask, "Is it him?"

Sun Zhen shook his head . Judging by his physical movements, he was in a state of extreme tension, as if he was playing Russian roulette by himself .

Upon seeing a certain photo, Sun Zhen suddenly struggled as if he was getting electrocuted . Gu You was unable to hold him down as she desperately asked him to calm down and not to be afraid . At that moment, kk went over and kissed his forehead .

Sun Zhen relaxed his limbs as if he was in extreme bliss with a smile across his lips . He lay down calmly and serenely .

Gu You looked at kk in surprise and kk asked, "Sister Gu, how did I do this time?"

"No comment!" Gu You smiled, "Little Worm, you will wake up when I count to three . One, two, three!"

Sun Zhen sat up like someone who was drowning . His chest heaved up and down and he was breathing heavily . He was still remembering the kiss that had just happened . He looked up at Gu You with a red face . "Miss Gu, just now . . . "

"Yes, that's right, Sister Gu kissed you . " kk said, looking as if he was excited about the drama that would ensue .

Gu You didn't know how she should respond . Sun Zhen's mental state was still relatively fragile . She didn't want to shock him with the truth, so she could only agree tacitly .

Chen Shi held the photo in front of him . "Little Worm, are you still scared when you see this face?"

Sun Zhen stared at the photo for a few seconds, shook his head, and smiled shyly, "I will just remember being kissed by Miss Gu and feel a little excited!"

"Pavlov's dog[1]!" Kk commented .

"Fuck off!" Sun Zhen chucked a shoe at him .

"Ahem, let's be serious . Who is he?" Chen Shi said .

"Zhou Tiannan!" Sun Zhen said clearly and forcefully . "My former colleague . "

"What happened to him in 2007? What's the connection with Shida Company?"

"Pour me another glass of water . " Sun Zhen drank the water, wiped his mouth and said, "Actually, Zhou Tiannan and I met over the Internet . It was the kind of relationship where we admired each other’s talent . At the time, I was still in school and he was already working in an IT company . His monthly salary was 10k . It was naturally fucking amazing in the eyes of a loser like me . I called him ‘Big Brother’ and we often had fun together . One year, the Japanese embassy website was hacked . That was us . ”

"In 2007, he accepted a project to build a virtual engine for a game . The gameplay was equivalent to the laws of physics in the virtual world . For example, how far can a stone fly when it is thrown, how quickly things fall, etc . . . "

"We understand . No need to explain!" kk said .

Sun Zhen continued, "Back then, China's technology in this area was still behind other countries . It could even be said that no one here had done it yet . Zhou Tiannan thought it was a very challenging job and took it on . The company gave him a year's salary in advance . They allowed him to work at home . He got me to share the work for part of the project and gave me some financial remuneration . It took a lot of effort and I’m not exaggerating when I say that it’s like building a magnificent pyramid . I wrote the code and found several bugs after doing some debugging . And the more the patches we applied, the more mistakes we made . This put heavy pressure on us . ”

"In order to cope with the high-intensity work, Zhou Tiannan seemed to have started taking some hallucinogenic drugs . I found out indirectly and I suspected that he had developed a mental problem . Once he asked me online, 'Sun Zhen, do you think this world we live in is also a virtual game?’ He also found some information . Something about a holographic projection theory, multiverse hypothesis and that the real world was just a virtual simulation… I thought he was going to go crazy, so I suggested that he stop with the project and not destroy his health . But he was totally obsessed . You guys may not understand this frame of mind . Writing code is not the same as writing an article . Those who write online novels can close their eyes and make things up . Any bugs can be explained away casually . But coding is different . A single bug can crash the entire program, often destroying weeks or even months of hard work . There are news of programmers committing suicide on the Internet due to this .

1 . Ivan Pavlov’s experiments using dogs are quoted to this day, however, some of his experiments were very cruel . I happen to remember this from a course I once took that touched on classical conditioning, but it’s something I highly recommend reading about .