Chapter 75: Broken Clues

What exactly is hypnosis? Is it like in the movies where one can hypnotize someone with a pocket watch and a snap of the fingers? No, that’s not hypnosis, that’s more akin to magic or sorcery.

True hypnosis is a complex and intricate process. It requires a prolonged period to influence changes in the subject’s thinking, perception, memory, and behavior. For instance, a skilled hypnotist can induce temporary paralysis, hallucinations, and amnesia in their subjects.

The key point here is that the possibility of effective hypnosis is based on a special relationship between the hypnotist and the subject, such as trust, familiarity, and empathy.

Consider this. You bring a world-renowned hypnotist to hypnotize a complete stranger within three minutes. Could they succeed?

The answer is no. Instantly hypnotizing a stranger is akin to performing magic.

In the afternoon, two experts proficient in psychology and hypnosis were summoned by National Security for a comprehensive assessment of Lu Jinyan, who had once again become docile and simple-minded upon waking.

Outside the hospital.

“Confirmed, it’s hypnosis.”

Wang Dong’s expression was grim as he pulled out a cigarette and offered one to Xiao Yu. Recalling his strong denial from yesterday–that the victim couldn’t possibly have been hypnotized–now felt like a slap to his own face. A blow so severe it was suffocating.

Xiao Yu accepted the cigarette, refraining from rubbing salt into Wang Dong’s wounds.

‘We’ve known each other long enough, our friendship is still solid.’

“How did you figure it out?” Wang Dong asked with a heavy drag on his cigarette.

“Take a guess?” Xiao Yu replied, blowing a smoke ring and smiling cryptically.

‘I’m merely a transporter of system capabilities.’

“You really are a monster,” Wang Dong stared at Xiao Yu. “Aren’t you afraid that one day I’ll strap you to an experimental bench and slice your brain to see how it tastes?”

“Are you writing a novel? Always talking about slicing?” Xiao Yu scoffed, “What era do you think this is? It’s time to move with the times.”

“Hahaha!” Wang Dong burst out laughing.

Xiao Yu laughed as well. Chatting with the old silver coin without taxing his brain was genuinely enjoyable.

“What’s our next step?” Wang Dong discarded his cigarette butt.

Just like during the corpse smuggling case, he let Xiao Yu take the lead. This time, he entrusted Xiao Yu with the command again. Solving cases was like a battlefield. The competent lead and rash commands could have dire consequences.

“No need to look into the drugs anymore. We’ll know what it is once we catch the perpetrator.” Xiao Yu discarded his cigarette and exhaled a cloud of smoke, “Let’s start by figuring out what methods this person used to control the victims.”

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The National Security has already investigated Lu Jinyan’s workplace, travel routes, and acquaintances, finding no suspicious traces.

Was it possible to be hypnotized without any suspicious traces or contact? No long-term contact, no process?

Instant hypnosis implementation was simply impossible.

At eight o’clock at night, Xiao Yu and Wang Dong arrived at Lu Jinyan’s house. Lu Jinyan’s wife was a straightforward and diligent woman, and they had a daughter in junior high.

They methodically searched the hall, bedroom, bathroom, and other areas of the house.

There were no items related to hypnosis practice to be found.

Xiao Yu activated his enhanced senses–Falcon’s Eyes, Monarch Butterfly’s Nose, Wax Moth’s Ears–all to no avail.

Standing outside the apartment building, he surveyed Lu Jinyan’s residence’s exterior walls and windows. Still, nothing.

What the hell?

Frustrated and at a loss, Xiao Yu was bewildered. They had investigated his workplace, travel routes, friends, and even his home. There was no possible way he had come into contact with hypnosis.

Then how was he hypnotized?

Wait a minute… the music!

He remembered how Lu Jinyan had reacted violently to music at the hospital.

Where did the music come from?

It wasn’t a song that just anyone could sing. Music needs to be played.

What devices could play music?

Radios, smartphones, computers, MP3 players…

To induce hypnosis or control through music, the subject usually needed to be familiar with the sounds. Familiarity with something to the point of it becoming a habit took time.

The notion that a single exposure to a song could hypnotize and control a person was absurd.

Xiao Yu returned to Lu Jinyan’s residence once more.

“Does your husband have any hobbies he regularly engages in?” Xiao Yu asked Lu Jinyan’s wife.

She paused, reflecting before shaking her head, “Aside from work, he occasionally goes out for drinks with friends, or plays games.”

“Mobile games?” Xiao Yu raised an eyebrow.

“No, on the computer,” the woman clarified, pointing toward the PC in the living room.

A flicker of interest crossed Xiao Yu’s eyes as he approached the computer and powered it on. It was a typical setup. An ordinary computer with a pirated operating system and a clean desktop displaying only a few shortcut icons.

There was just one game.

Xiao Yu maneuvered the mouse to click on it. The screen lit up with the League of Legends interface.

Could someone hypnotize others through a game? The possibility was there, but it seemed impractical to execute.

If it wasn’t the game, then what? Xiao Yu’s gaze drifted to the icon for a music player.

“QQ Music?” he muttered, clicking to launch it.

As the music selection interface popped up, a small smile curled the corners of Xiao Yu’s mouth. A particular song was saved in the player’s favorites, Sleeping Elf.

Half an hour later, a National Security officer arrived at the residence with a mobile phone–Lu Jinyan’s phone. Both National Security and the police had already inspected it and found nothing out of the ordinary.

Xiao Yu systematically opened each app on the phone, examining them until his gaze fixed intensely on one particular application.

It was a live-streaming platform app.

Xiao Yu proceeded to review the history of Lu Jinyan’s visits to various live streams. There were many, but none seemed suspicious.

However…

“Brother Wang, could you use your authority to contact the technical staff at the streaming platform? I need a detailed access log,” Xiao Yu said.

While browsing records could be erased, platform data could not be entirely deleted. There had to be a trace somewhere.

An hour later, a detailed record of Lu Jinyan’s past livestream views was obtained.

Xiao Yu’s eyes narrowed as he focused on one particular stream.

The records showed that in the last six months, Lu Jinyan had accessed this livestream room over a hundred times. Aside from the initial few visits, he attended every broadcast, but he always deleted his viewing history afterward.

Could the livestream be used for hypnosis? Xiao Yu couldn’t help but smile at the thought.

He had found something significant.

The National Security Bureau began their investigation. The first step was confirming the livestream required real-name registration. No one could broadcast without it.

However, when authorities used technical means to track down the owner of the livestream, they hit a snag. The individual claimed to have lost their ID card once and denied ever opening a livestream. Even the mobile number registered with the platform wasn’t theirs.

Furthermore, when the National Security Bureau used technical measures to probe the mobile number and the livestream’s IP address, they discovered the number had been acquired illegally. The IP address was accessed via a proxy server.

The trail seemed to break there.

But it hadn’t, not really.

Xiao Yu smiled, thrilled. The clues finally made sense.