Contagious mental illness
Chen Yingsheng woke up from a complex machine.
She lay in the machine's seat, which looked like a dental chair, with a huge working turntable above her head.
The turntable is made of high-strength transparent material, with a circle of light strips inlaid on the edge. It looks like a miniature planet from another galaxy, emitting a mysterious and tranquil light.
A streamlined robotic arm extends from the center of the turntable. Its surface is covered with a smooth nano-coating, and the metal gleams faintly, like a silver mechanical snake.
At the end of the robotic arm is a kaleidoscope that seems out of place among high-tech devices.
Chen Yingsheng stared at the slowly rotating disk above her head for a while before slowly descending into the real world. Memory Master was the nickname given to her by the media as a detective, and Chen Yingsheng was her real name.
"Are you feeling unwell?" Lao Wang's voice came from the side.
Lao Wang's full name is Wang Ruibin. He is 53 years old and is a squadron leader of the Criminal Investigation Corps of the Superpower Management Department of the Danjiang Municipal Public Security Bureau.
Chen Yingsheng recalled that she was driving her cat to take a bath in the morning, and halfway through the journey she received a call from Lao Wang, who called her to the super management department and said he wanted to test some machine.
"I'm not feeling uncomfortable. What kind of machine is this? Was what I just experienced a real case?"
"It's called Kaleidoscope, and it's a new technology from Danjiang University." A young female police officer with short hair explained.
"The kaleidoscope can collect the superpower residues from the victims of superpower murders and enter the rules and strange stories constructed by the victims' memories."
"In this ghost story, except for the rules that are simulated with the help of kaleidoscope, the scenes you experience are basically the same as the real case. It is equivalent to putting you on the scene to solve the case."
The female police officer in front of him was also a squadron leader, at the same level as Lao Wang but in charge of a different professional field. Chen Yingsheng only knew that her surname was Li and he had never worked with her.
The female police officer took the initiative to introduce herself: "I'm Li Ying, the squadron leader in charge of network security. Nice to meet you, Memory Master, I've heard of your name for a long time."
"Captain Li, you're too polite." Chen Yingsheng asked, "Su Mali is a real victim, and Su Jie Ke is her murderer."
Li Ying replied: "Su Mali's original name was Su Li, she was 29 years old and from Chen County, Liuzhu City. She was used by her lover, a member of the superpower criminal organization Agape, to participate in illegal missionary work and died from a high-altitude fall."
"Agape is suspected to be an anonymous church of the Self-Religion. Lover is his code name. Sujek is one of his many pseudonyms. His real name is unknown. He is a core member of the Agape organization and has used fake identities many times to deceive innocent women into falling in love with him."
"The lover's superpower is similar to what you speculated. The condition for activation is the unconditional love of others. When the love is strong enough, it will cost the victim's life and turn the imaginary fantasy world into reality."
"He uses the virtual world to preach. In recent years, he has attracted many people to join the church, and even some celebrities have secretly invested in it."
Chen Yingsheng followed Captain Li's gaze and saw that there was a large screen next to the kaleidoscope, which allowed her to watch everything she experienced in the kaleidoscope in reality. The screen was frozen on the scene where she accompanied Su Li to watch the stars.
She asked: "Now that we know what he looks like, can we arrest him?"
"That's not his true appearance in the kaleidoscope." Captain Li shook his head regretfully. "He has been roaming around in our country and neighboring countries, committing crimes many times. It's not like there are no survivors."
"But each survivor described a different look. The lover they saw was just the face of their own imagined perfect partner."
"So the reason you called me here today is not because of my lover's case." Chen Yingsheng said firmly.
The two captains were silent for a while. Lao Wang was not surprised at all: "See, I said she could guess it."
"It's not for love." Captain Li smiled bitterly, "In fact, the kaleidoscope is still in the testing stage and should not be used immediately, but the case we encountered is too difficult, so we have to apply for special approval."
"Su Li's kaleidoscope is just a simple experiment." Lao Wang handed her a tablet with a file on it. "Although you can't bring it into the kaleidoscope after reading it, it's better to take a look at it in advance."
Lao Wang said: "Look at me while you talk. Two days ago, an infectious mental illness incident broke out at Danjiang Normal University, and it was suspected that a person with super powers committed the crime."
"According to the advice of experts from the city's Anding Hospital, we closed the university, effectively preventing the further spread of mental illness."
"It is known that patients infected with this mental illness will attack each other indiscriminately, and those with severe symptoms will have thoughts of bleeding and self-mutilation."
"Are there any casualties?" Chen Yingsheng jumped off the machine.
"One person died, three were seriously injured, and many were slightly injured on campus."
The case file just turned to the page about the deceased Liu Tianyi, and Chen Yingsheng was shocked: "The cause of death was suicide"
"Yes, the preliminary test result given by the forensic doctor is suicide, but we have collected superpower residues from the deceased Liu Tianyi, which can enter the kaleidoscope."
Chen Yingsheng speculated: "Suicide indirectly caused by super powers"
Lao Wang sighed: "It's hard to say what it is. Our people have entered the kaleidoscope before, not only did they not gain anything, but also... Come and take a look."
Following Lao Wang to the meeting room outside, Chen Yingsheng was surprised to see two people kneeling on the floor of the meeting room, their eyes closed, their hands crossed and resting their fingers under their noses.
After walking around the two men, Chen Yingsheng discovered that there was a handcuffed person on the sofa in the corner. There was super glue on his mouth and he was sleeping soundly.
"They had participated in the Kaleidoscope test before. This time the Kaleidoscope was officially put into use and they were also invited to participate in solving the case, but they all fell into this state."
"It's different from the symptoms of infectious mental illness described in the case file." Chen Yingsheng carefully observed the fanatical expressions of the three people, "It seems like they are praying."
"It was indeed prayer." Captain Li pointed at the handcuffed man.
"He was tortured to prevent him from harming himself. He was the one who had been in the Kaleidoscope the longest, and was the most severely affected. After he came out, he kept chanting prayers in an incomprehensible language, and then tried to bleed himself with a sharp object. He was only calmed down after being given a sedative."
"What exactly happened inside? Is there a screen recording I can watch?" Chen Yingsheng asked.
"There is no video recording, and those of us observing from outside have no memory of it. The difficulty of this case is beyond everyone's imagination. A professor at Danjiang University who studies superpowers even believes that this is a long-planned crime committed by a superpower criminal organization."
"It doesn't look like something a single person with super powers can do. Could it be another Agape?" asked Chen Yingsheng.
No matter how powerful a superpower user's abilities are, they have limitations and require one or more conditions to be met to activate them.
Lao Wang shook his head: "I don't know. We have too little information. The only information we know about Agape is about lovers, and the information about Dan Shida's infectious mental illness is almost zero."
"It's not close to zero." Li Ying suddenly said, "Liu Tianyi's roommate who was not infected with mental illness and the counselor said that she played the pseudo-human game seven days before her suicide."
The Fake Human Game has been the hottest topic on the Internet in the past half month. Legend has it that anyone who has played it will meet the person they most want to meet, then stay at home for seven days, and be killed by the fake human on the last day.
"Fake human game" Chen Yingsheng was surprised, "So the fake human game leading to death is true. I thought it was a story made up by the media."
"It's not all stories," Li Ying explained. "We can't actually confirm whether the game is lethal."
Although the game has now been deleted from the entire Internet, many people played it when it first became popular.
Later, two people died, and the cause of death is still unknown. The media, which was full of gossip, linked the pseudo-human game to the two deaths, saying that it was caused by playing the game.
Observing the people who were praying again, Chen Yingsheng asked in a deep voice: "Will they wake up?"
"We have contacted the inventor of the kaleidoscope, a professor at Danjiang University. The professor said there are two methods. One is to find someone to completely crack Liu Tianyi's kaleidoscope, and the other is to force her to wake up."
"After forced awakening, there will definitely be a loss of short-term memory, and there is even the possibility of damage to the brain nerves, which is not what we expect to see."
Li Ying said: "So we found you, mainly because Captain Wang recommended you, and your previous rate of solving cases made us place our hopes on you."
"Thank you for the compliment." Chen Yingsheng's modesty was a prelude to his impatience later, "Can I enter Liu Tianyi's kaleidoscope now?"
"You see, it's very risky. Maybe we can wait for other people." Li Ying helped the handcuffed man turn over.
"I thought I cracked Su Li's kaleidoscope, passed the test, and was qualified to enter the next kaleidoscope."
"That's not a test... Never mind. You're right to understand it this way." Lao Wang handed her a pen and paper. "Do you need to record the important events of the past week?"
"It's not that I don't trust you, but I'm just in case. If you fail, you may lose three to seven days of memory if you force awaken."
"No need." Chen Yingsheng refused, "I want to enter the kaleidoscope immediately."
She stared at the man kneeling on the ground, as if she could see his eyes through his closed eyelids.
"People who seek the truth for others should not be treated like this. The truth is both justice for the dead and comfort and peace for the living."
Li Ying looked at her in surprise and didn't say much.
They quickly took Chen Yingsheng back to the kaleidoscope and let her lie on the machine again.
"Are you ready? Once the lights go out, clear your mind and observe the kaleidoscope."
The disk above Chen Yingsheng's head suddenly spun at high speed, as if it was the most dazzling galaxy in the universe. She squinted her eyes due to the stimulation of the strong light, but her whole attention was taken away by the circle in the center of her vision.
Over time, her perception of movement became distorted, with strong visual signals stimulating her retina, affecting both her visual system and the vestibular system of her inner ear.
Suddenly, she felt the world spinning around her, and then she started spinning with it.
Suddenly, the surrounding light disappeared, and the kaleidoscope became the only light source in the space. Countless tiny colored fragments jumped and intertwined under the guidance of the light, forming a flowing picture scroll.
Macaron-colored glass fragments collide with each other, blending into gentle and vivid colors such as marshmallow pink, lemon yellow, and blueberry purple, which create infinite possibilities in a small space.
The pattern changed rapidly before his eyes, and Chen Yingsheng seemed to see clouds covered with frosting, a stream flowing with strawberry jam, and a path paved with rainbow candies.
She heard a loud voice a second before she lost consciousness.
"Zuo Xufei is here to report!"
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