Chapter 120: Storming the Fortress (2) |
Wei Hongsi suppressed the excitement in his heart, restraining the urge to immediately summon the “System” panel, and continued listening to Director Shi’s briefing on the case.
Director Shi skipped over most of the details, quickly moving to how they had identified the two suspects, Zhou Huai and Chen Xuemin, successfully brought them under control, and sent them to the general team’s medical monitoring center.
These two arrest operations had been arranged and executed by Director Liang through other channels. Director Shi wasn’t privy to the specifics and hadn’t asked about them later. He only gave the general outline and the results.
It was only then that Wei Hongsi learned that on Thursday night and early Friday morning, his Old Brother had also sought Ji Cheng’s help. When he’d had dinner with Ji Cheng that day, the other man hadn’t let on a single word.
The arrest of Chen Xuemin was the most dramatic, but knowing the outcome first made the retelling seem somewhat ordinary. Still, Wei Hongsi could sense something extraordinary about it.
After finishing this overview, Director Shi added, “In the last couple of days, we’ve launched a deep investigation into the cases involving the Guide Light Society cell. We’ve apprehended and brought in quite a few peripheral members and other implicated individuals.
“Some of these cases have been confirmed to have used the ‘Psychological Virus’ you told us about last time. We still can’t determine how many people have been affected by the ‘Spiritual Contamination,’ so we hope to quickly conduct effective screenings on those with potential infection risks and make accurate diagnoses of whether they’ve been infected.”
“That’s no problem.” Wei Hongsi nodded. “How many people are at potential risk?”
“According to the broadest estimate, the number involved is about one hundred and forty people. So far, there’s no indication that the Guide Light Society members are spreading the ‘Psychological Virus’ on a large scale.”
Wei Hongsi reassured him, “It’s relatively easier to create a ‘Psychological Virus’ targeting a specific individual or a small group of people with many commonalities. But creating one that works on most people is extremely difficult.”
He didn’t dare say that possibility didn’t exist. He could only explain, from the perspective of difficulty, that the likelihood was relatively low.
Director Shi nodded. “We plan to start tomorrow, sending people to your company in batches for diagnosis.”
Wei Hongsi said, “Starting in the morning, with one hundred and forty people, we can finish it all in a single day.”
The number was similar to the one Ji Cheng had arranged for diagnoses earlier. With the previous experience, the efficiency of testing and diagnosis would be a bit higher. Plus, all the equipment and instruments were already in place. Just in the last couple of days, some people from Paradise had even come for follow-ups.
Project CDU was still running, so manpower was already available. They could also take this opportunity to integrate people from the new project team.
Wei Hongsi jotted down the suggested batch sizes and start times on a sticky note.
Director Shi placed the paper in his folder and said, “There’s one more thing. Among the detained individuals involved in the case, there are several, like Peng Jun, who were manipulated by the Guide Light Society using special methods.
“These people had no criminal intent. Although they participated in criminal activities, it was done without their knowledge or under the loss of their autonomous consciousness. They are victims themselves. Is there any way to restore them to normal?”
Wei Hongsi pondered for a moment, then shook his head. “That’s almost certainly impossible. If their brains have also atrophied like Peng Jun’s, this condition is irreversible.”
Director Shi gave a slight nod, not too surprised, as the expert team had already said the same thing.
Wei Hongsi added, “Perhaps we could find a way to remove the preset ‘Death Command’ in their brains—the thing that triggers brain death when they hear a specific audio signal.”
“That’s a fitting name. Being able to remove their ‘Death Command’ would be great!” Director Shi said with interest, then looked toward Director Liang.
Director Liang nodded. “At least it would allow them to live relatively normal lives.”
There were five individuals discovered who had been used as tools by the Guide Light Society. These people were giving the Task Force a major headache.
Although they were all relatively normal—only one person showed signs of a multiple personality disorder similar to Li Yunxiang’s, which was slightly more troublesome—if these people were left unchecked, there was no telling when they might hear the “Death Command” and drop dead on the spot.
But to ensure their safety, they would need to be isolated, practically in solitary confinement, which would be even more unbearable than prison.
Wei Hongsi said, “I can’t guarantee this. I’ll need to conduct thorough research first.”
Director Shi smiled. “No problem. We’ll support you.”
Wei Hongsi said, “I think the ‘Death Command’ and the ‘Fuse-Blown Mechanism’ share some similarities. The former is more like a simplified version of the latter. If we can make a breakthrough in researching the ‘Death Command,’ we might even be able to crack the ‘Fuse-Blown Mechanism.’”
Director Liang said, “Go ahead boldly. We’ll give you our full support.”
Following Wei Hongsi’s advice, the Task Force had used special methods to keep those few core members of the Guide Light Society under control, effectively bypassing the preset “Fuse-Blown Mechanism” in their brains rather than cracking it. The question of how to handle these people afterward had become a difficult problem.
If they were allowed to wake up, the “Fuse-Blown Mechanism” might be triggered immediately, causing their deaths. Until this problem was resolved, they could only be kept in a coma.
But this was clearly not a long-term solution. Furthermore, under these circumstances, it was completely impossible to put them on trial through judicial procedures, let alone have them serve their sentences after sentencing.
Additionally, extracting clues from their brains through dream interpretation was a last resort constrained by this limitation. The restrictions were numerous, with the subconscious firewall in their minds being the biggest obstacle.
To give a rather clumsy analogy, this was essentially the same as setting up a trap to con someone. Exploiting the victim’s ignorance of the situation could indeed extract some things. But those things that the victim considered vitally important, once touched, would trigger their extreme vigilance, and they’d grip them tightly, refusing to let go no matter how persuasive the pitch.
This was exactly the situation the Task Force was facing now. Information from peripheral members and tools was easy to obtain, but when it came to the core secrets of the Guide Light Society—such as that “pod”—they had made no progress at all.
So when Director Liang heard that Wei Hongsi’s targeted research direction was the “Fuse-Blown Mechanism,” he immediately took notice. If those few key suspects could be awakened for face-to-face questioning and communication, the range of available methods would be much broader.
If some other young person had said this, Director Liang would have just smiled and let Director Shi’s statement be sufficient. But Wei Hongsi was different. He had already proven his ability, and behind him stood Academician Zhou.
