The wind chimes on the street swayed and rustled in the breeze. The large sycamore leaves covering half of the road were withered and lifeless, making a crisp "crunch" sound when stepped on.
As dusk settled and the night deepened, Luo Xiaoli and Jiang Cheng strolled through the charming streets, where the surrounding shops and streetlights made the area as bright as day.
The wind wafted through the air from the steaming food stalls. He carried a shopping bag in one hand, and Xiao Li held his other bent arm.
What sets big cities apart from other places is their nightlife. Even at 10 p.m., the streets are still bustling with people. As they walk, the clothes of these strangers brush against each other, and each person releases a unique scent, some fragrant, some foul.
Jiang Cheng looked in every direction where large crowds were gathered, searching for something that could pique his interest; the joy of shopping lay solely in this.
Ahead was a barbecue stall, where balut (fertilized duck egg) and meat skewers sizzled and dripped with oil from the hot iron plate and grill. Customers waited patiently, happily leaving as soon as the stall owner handed them their share. Sometimes, the joy of adults is no different from that of children. This scene was just like a decade or so ago when children tiptoed to hand change to the vendor, grabbed a handful, and skipped away excitedly.
"Brother, look over there, there are so many people gathered around." Luo Xiaoli pointed her fair finger in a certain direction, and Jiang Cheng looked in that direction.
Under the streetlight stood a strange-looking man wearing a hat. His hair was covered by a magician's top hat, with slightly curly hair peeking out from his temples. He was tall and thin, with a hooked nose and deep blue eyes. He looked like he was from another country. He didn't have a stall; he only had a towel in his hand and two bottles of mineral water beside him.
“Let’s go take a look!” She pulled Jiang Cheng along and squeezed into the enthusiastic crowd.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I need to introduce myself again. I am Hopkins Yarvis. I am not a magician, just someone who looks like one. My real profession is a psychologist."
Jiang Cheng listened to him with great interest. Alvis's Chinese was quite standard, but he spoke a little slowly.
"So, can you guess what other people are thinking?" someone asked.
“No, no, no, psychologists are not just like that. I can judge other people’s emotions through micro-expressions and then deduce their thoughts, which is the simplest method. My greatest strength is controlling others through psychological suggestion.” A profound light flashed in his eyes.
control?
Jiang Cheng raised an eyebrow. He recalled Freud's chapter on psychoanalysis and suggestion, which discussed how language, emotions, viewpoints, attitudes, or repetitive actions, combined with the environment, can influence a person through external suggestions, driving them towards those suggestions while they constantly doubt themselves.
There are two types of psychological suggestion: positive and negative. Positive psychological suggestion can make people work harder, believe in themselves, and shine. On the other hand, constant negative suggestion can destroy a person, slowly turning them into a puppet without any subjective thoughts.
Just like the process of PUA, the belittling stimulation, after countless times, can completely affect a person, causing their psychological defenses to collapse, and they may even lose the ability to think, believing whatever the abuser says.
"My friend, why don't you give it a try?" The hook-nosed man's eyes lit up when he saw Jiang Cheng, and he immediately extended an invitation.
He readily agreed.
Alvis didn't have any props; he just poured some mineral water into a towel, and everyone looked at his actions with great confusion.
"Now, close your eyes, and I will silence everyone."
Jiangcheng did as instructed.
"Take your breath and don't relax. Start imagining things. You're not just a random passerby on the street now. You're a death row inmate... You're trapped in a prison, in a very small and cramped place, barely enough room for you to turn over. The space is filled with endless darkness."
He reached out and gently pushed Jiang Cheng against the streetlight, the cold, hard pillar pressing against his spine.
"You can clearly hear your own heartbeat. The space you're in seems empty, but as soon as you reach out and touch the cold wall, you realize how cramped the space is." Jiang Cheng's hands are behind his back, seemingly feeling some subtle sensations. "You feel suffocated, often unable to breathe, and can only slow your breathing, slow, slow, slow... Taking deep breaths will deplete your oxygen. You desperately seek some sound, but you can't hear anything. In your agitation, you start thinking about your own death, perhaps someone will come to end your life soon... Suddenly! An extremely sharp knife appears above your neck, pressed tightly against your artery, pushing into the skin, making the vein bulge. The tip of the knife is buried underneath, only needing to move forward an inch to pierce the vein. You can even feel the sharp pain of each layer of skin being pushed into the skin, and then, upon touching your vein, it suddenly pierces through, emerging from the front of your throat!"
"Bright red blood slowly gushed out, dripping... dripping onto the ground, sliding down the neck, the contents of the veins extending outwards without stopping. Can you feel the pain?"
There was warm mineral water on the towel, and it was actually dripping onto the ground, symbolizing that his blood was flowing.
However, Jiang Cheng felt nothing.
“I can’t feel it,” he said.
“You’re very determined, young man. Psychological suggestion won’t work on you.” Alvis’s gentle yet magnetic voice possessed a strange charm in the process of suggestion.
Jiang Cheng opened his eyes and shrugged.
Boring.
Seeing that some people had already gone up to try it, the onlookers were also eager to try it. Jiang Cheng adjusted the position of his mask and returned to Luo Xiaoli's side.
This chapter is not finished, please click the next page to continue reading!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
