Chapter 128: Reconstruction (2) |
Wei Hongsi took Zhang Shengyong to the 16th floor and invited him to sit in his office.
As soon as Zhang Shengyong entered, he said in surprise, "Whoa, have you already become a big shot at Zhiwei? This office is bigger than your brother's."
Wei Hongsi said, "It's temporary, just for work needs."
"Oh." Zhang Shengyong nodded. "But given the contributions you've made to your company on this case, being a small leader isn't too much."
Then he thought of Yuan Zhenhui, whom he had just met—clearly working as Wei Hongsi's assistant—and said, "Wait, you're already a small leader, aren't you?"
Wei Hongsi smiled. "Sort of, but it hasn't been announced yet."
"You little rascal, not bad!" Zhang Shengyong laughed and praised, then took a USB drive from his bag and handed it to Wei Hongsi. "All the materials you need are here."
Wei Hongsi took it, plugged it into his computer, and opened it. Inside were over a hundred numbered folders, along with an explanatory document and an electronic spreadsheet.
These materials were the files containing the "Psychological Virus" that those at risk of potential infection had received.
The Task Force's judgment on those at risk of potential infection was primarily based on two criteria.
One was the content of dream interpretations from the few main members of the Guide Light Society, along with the testimonies of those involved. Anyone they had listed as a target and had interacted with was a potential victim.
The other was checking whether the videos these people had received contained the "Psychological Virus." The detection model used by the Task Force was provided by Zhiwei, though it wasn't running on Zhiwei's servers.
The so-called "received videos" didn't necessarily mean files sent directly to the target. They could also be uploaded online, where the target would see them through a video link or some kind of push mechanism.
Individually tailored "Psychological Viruses," though far less harmful than group-targeted ones, could launch targeted attacks due to their specificity.
For example, a short video might be harmless to everyone else, but when the target saw it, they would be deeply affected, making its use highly covert.
This principle was somewhat similar to a genetic virus. However, genetic encoding was far more complex, capable of targeting only a specific individual. Human emotions, on the other hand, lacked such fine granularity, so if more people saw it, it would cause "collateral damage."
The Task Force estimated that about 140 people were at risk—a judgment based solely on current investigative work. Since the screening wasn't yet complete, this number could rise in the future.
In fact, after the expert team understood the principles of the "Psychological Virus," they could diagnose infections as well. But only for very small numbers—they couldn't diagnose so many people in a short time.
Moreover, after diagnosis, treating those infected went beyond the expert team's scope of work, and they had no relevant contingency plans.
Individually tailored "Psychological Viruses" had another characteristic: since they were custom-made, the target's probability of being affected was extremely high. The experts estimated that at least 80% of those 140 people would be diagnosed, far exceeding the roughly 34% rate for the group-targeted "Psychological Virus" (referencing Paradise's Plan B).
Therefore, entrusting this task to Zhiwei was the best and most reasonable choice.
And for Zhiwei, this was also an excellent opportunity.
No matter how many simulations Wei Hongsi and his team ran, nothing was more convincing than real-world data. Those 140 people were 140 samples. The "Psychological Viruses" tailored for them would have many commonalities but wouldn't be identical—making them excellent subjects for research.
He believed that once this commission was completed, both project teams' work would be optimized and improved.
Wei Hongsi skimmed through the materials roughly, then put them away.
Zhang Shengyong said, "Before I came out, the higher-ups asked me to ask if you have any thoughts on Shen Qing becoming that organization's primary target."
Wei Hongsi said, "I thought of something this afternoon that you can use as a reference. They might want to use Shen Qing to create a 'Psychological Virus' using music as a carrier."
Zhang Shengyong noted this down, then said, "According to your brother's investigation over the past two days, Zhou Huai had his eye on Shen Qing at least two and a half years ago—back when she wasn't even a star yet."
Wei Hongsi understood his point. If they wanted to use a celebrity to spread the "Psychological Virus," the Guide Light Society could easily find an established one or a newcomer. There was no need to lay such a long line.
So the speculation he had just made could only be one of the reasons; the Guide Light Society must have other motives.
Was there something different about Shen Qing?
Wei Hongsi thought for a moment, then slowly shook his head. "Can't think of anything else for now."
Zhang Shengyong let out a soft sigh. "Really puzzling."
Wei Hongsi went out to pour Zhang Shengyong a cup of tea, then returned and placed it on the coffee table. "Have a seat for a bit. I'll look at Shen Qing's analysis data."
"Go ahead, do your thing." Zhang Shengyong waved a hand and took a sip of tea.
By now, Shen Qing had completed two rounds of monitoring.
Wei Hongsi opened the monitoring data, studied it for a while, then opened the analysis data for several "Psychological Virus"-laden videos tailored for Shen Qing, comparing them with the monitoring data.
After pondering for a long time, he asked, "What's the personal relationship like between Shen Qing and Zhou Huai?"
Zhang Shengyong said, "It's like that of a teacher and student, or maybe an older senior looking after a junior."
"Just that?"
"At least that's what Shen Qing says."
"She didn't say anything else?"
"Why don't you ask her? Looks like you two get along pretty well."
"How can I just ask the person directly about something like that?" Wei Hongsi couldn't help but shoot Zhang Shengyong a sideways glance.
Zhang Shengyong asked in surprise, "What do you mean? Should their relationship be more intimate than that?"
Wei Hongsi said, "According to the conclusions from the simulation analysis, the 'Psychological Virus' Zhou Huai sent to Shen Qing contains elements of emotional dependency."
Zhang Shengyong said, "You mean Zhou Huai wanted to develop her into a romantic partner?"
Wei Hongsi said, "Not necessarily a lover, but at least some kind of close relationship—like siblings, uncle and niece, father and daughter, or best friends."
Zhang Shengyong thought Wei Hongsi's analogies were a bit off, but he understood the point.
"Could it be that Shen Qing wasn't telling the truth to protect her privacy?" he mused. "But she really doesn't interact much with Zhou Huai."
Wei Hongsi said, "That actually aligns pretty well with her monitoring data today."
Zhang Shengyong looked confused. "That means she wasn't affected. What's so strange about that?"
"She was still somewhat affected, just very mildly." Wei Hongsi pointed at the data on the screen. "So don't you think it's odd? She's the organization's primary target."
