Chapter 153: Who knows the trolley problem?
"Huh? I didn't say anything?" Lin Xi lied with his eyes open. "Mr. Jack, you heard wrong."
Jack hesitated.
His drug-clouded brain occasionally heard hallucinations.
Maybe this is another auditory hallucination.
Lin Xi felt the girl he was supporting tremble a little, as if she wanted to straighten up and say something, but she still couldn't open her mouth.
She patted the girl's shoulder comfortingly, looked up at Jack and said:
"Mr. Jack..."
The man raised his eyes.
"Did your wife come home later?"
This is an unreasonable question.
The man's wife had died many years ago, and in order to revive her, he captured them and planned to drown them in this big water tank.
The girl should be well aware of this.
Why did you suddenly ask him this?
Jack didn't understand.
But when he looked at the black-haired girl's face, the words "cats have nine lives" and "you owe me" that the girl had just said came to his mind again.
Nine lives, nine conditions, untying Jess counts as one, leaving eight.
In that case, let's just count each of the next eight requests as one. Of course, answering the questions also counts as agreeing to a request.
"No, she died of illness."
"What disease?" The girl's next question followed without pause.
What disease?
Serious illness.
A serious illness that can kill people.
But what exactly is the disease?
Jack found that no matter how hard he tried to think, he couldn't find out what disease his deceased wife had from the chaotic memories.
He only knew that his deceased wife's life was like a candle in the wind. Once the wind blew, it disappeared in the most beautiful years of her life, leaving him with endless pain and regret.
He was confused for not long before the girl asked the next question.
"What's her name?"
Jack frowned subconsciously.
name?
It is the most important mark in a person's life, accompanying them from birth and used to distinguish themselves from others...
How could he forget?
He did remember that there was a name that kept circling in his mind...but he couldn't grasp that name.
Who is it?
...Who is it?
Jack's expression twisted.
"What does she look like?"
At some point, the girl got closer to him.
Jess had been placed by her against the wall inside the glass device, and was now squatting there, looking at them through wisps of dirty hair.
"I look like her? How much?"
Very similar.
Jack stared at the enlarged face of the girl, lost in thought.
It can't be said to be similar, it's exactly the same.
He didn't actually find these girls based entirely on their looks.
Long black hair, Asian race...those are external features, too easy to identify and too easy to disappear.
He chose his prey based on impression - a vague impression.
The impression was in his mind and he remembered it very clearly.
It's the face in front of me.
Strange, why are they so similar?
It was as if he knew at the first sight that she was the prey he must catch.
"Isn't it very similar, almost identical?"
The girl answered for him.
Jack was stunned for a moment and nodded.
"Sir..." The girl raised her hand and gently placed it on the left side of his neck.
The warm palm was pressed against his skin from just below his ear to just above his collarbone.
Jack shuddered.
Not long ago, he had done something similar to the girl, placing his hand on her neck.
At that moment he felt the pulsation of fresh life beneath his palm, arousing a brutal and cruel desire to kill in his heart.
But now, the roles were reversed, but he did not feel any murderous intent towards the girl, nor did he feel the trembling feeling of having his fatal position held by someone else.
He felt only a kind of emotionless indifference, as if even in this situation—this isolated, defenseless, and completely disadvantaged situation—
The girl remained calm, as if she was the real hunter, and everything happening before her eyes was just a farce, a fun thing that could at most make her smile, nothing more.
Jack was surprised at his own thoughts.
"Mr. Jack, what did you think of when you saw me?"
"At the beginning, when you first saw me... just tell me what you really think."
"Your first reaction, your intuition... what came to mind when you saw me? Haha, that's a question..."
Lin Xi pressed his hands even tighter.
Looking into those honey-colored eyes, Jack subconsciously followed her line of thought.
"...white." He blurted out.
This time it was Lin Xi's turn to be stunned.
She could feel from the pulse in her palm that the Ripper was not lying.
Since a while ago, Lin Xi has been wondering whether the Ripper's motive for killing, "to revive his deceased wife" is true. Does the so-called "deceased wife" really exist?
You know, the man in front of you is estimated to be in his forties. If he is really looking for someone based on the impression in his memory, and looking for these girls who are too young, it means that his "deceased wife" died a long time ago.
If the "deceased wife" really existed, why did this man wait so many years before preparing for his "resurrection ceremony"?
Because of drug addiction that escalated from alcoholism?
Because of the pressure of life as a homeless person?
Or was it because, when all the above reasons occurred at the same time, a person appeared. This person used some method to make him believe that a girl who looked like "Lin Xi" was the prey he was looking for and part of the ritual he was preparing to perform?
Lin Xi suspected that the so-called "certain method" was a clever psychological suggestion.
The reason she asked him those questions just now was to confirm her guess.
Narrowing the distance helps to put psychological pressure on the other person, gentle words can make him relax his guard, and the hand on the neck is to determine whether he is lying by checking his pulse.
The first question is - did your wife come home later?
This is a topic-opening question that paves the way for the following questions.
The second question is - what disease did she have?
Jack couldn't answer.
The third question is - what is her name?
He still couldn't answer.
The fourth, fifth, and sixth questions that follow...are all related to appearance.
Can you really recall that person, that blurry face in your memory from more than 20 years ago?
Is the image of your "deceased wife" the same as the face of the person you see now?
Then comes the seventh question.
This is the question Lin Xi wants to ask most.
What keywords came to Jack's mind when he saw her for the first time?
All psychological suggestions, no matter how clever, will always leave traces.
It's like an artist's personality always reveals itself in his work, just like a signature; anyone who understands his art can tell at a glance that it's his handwriting.
And if the image of "Lin Xi" was implanted into the mind of Jack the Ripper through psychological suggestion, Lin Xi thought, there should also be clues related to the suggester.
Sure enough, the "Ripper" gave Lin Xi the answer he wanted, a key word -
--White.
But the range of white is really broad.
The sculptures in the church can be white, the walls can be white, a bright light can be white -
There are so many white things that this one keyword alone cannot help Lin Xi narrow down the scope.
but……
Looking at Jack's confused eyes, Lin Xi knew that no matter how much she asked, she would not get anything out of him.
"Okay. One last question, Mr. Jack."
She spoke slowly, but did not take her hand off the man's neck.
"—Would you rather be blown to ashes, or spend a few months in an American prison before being executed? You know that with your crimes, you will definitely be sentenced to death if you fall into the hands of the police."
...What's the problem?
Jack's mind didn't wrap around it for a moment.
Before the girl mentioned it, he hadn't even considered the future. He knew he would be caught sooner or later, but before he was caught, he had to complete his ritual.
The discovery of his hiding place today only accelerated his plan.
He doesn't care what his future holds.
However, he still thought about what the girl said and said slowly:
"...I'd rather be blown to death. But before that, she will be resurrected."
Then he saw an emotion called pity appear in the girl's eyes.
That is the pity of the strong for the weak who cannot escape fate no matter how hard they struggle.
She looked at him as if he were a poor wretch who had been sold and was still counting money for others.
Under this look, Jack felt a subtle sense of shame and a strong, indescribable anger.
He suddenly pulled the girl's hand down from his neck and gave her a cold look.
"Game time ends here."
Lin Xi didn't resist. She even smiled at him and waved.
It made his own sudden mood swings seem even more comical.
But Jack has never been one to control his temper.
Under Lin Xi's gaze, he slammed the side door of the glass device shut.
The sealing rubber ring tightly sticks to the edge of the glass.
Lin Xi took a look at the top of the glass device. There was a hole with a tube connected to it - that must be the water inlet.
When Jack walked farther and farther away, left the "kitchen", and went upstairs, causing the harsh creaking sound of the stairs outside the door to come again, she turned her head and looked at Jess, who seemed to have no care about anything, raised her hand and tapped the communicator in her ear.
Noah's voice responded to her: "Ten more minutes, Miss Lin."
"Okay," she said, not keeping quiet just because Jess was there.
Jie Qian slowly raised her head, staring at Lin Xi with cloudy eyes.
Lin Xi smiled at her.
Jie Qian moved her lips: "You..."
"Hmm?" The girl tilted her head.
Jessie: "Who were you talking to just now?"
Lin Xi nodded frankly.
This doesn't need to be kept secret; she did speak to the FBI on the phone.
As for the communication with Noah and Gin after hanging up the phone with the FBI...
Please, who would know?
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