Chapter 77: The Clever Bird

Sometimes, jesting with life feels exhilarating. But when life plays a joke on you, it becomes unbearable.

Xiao Yu was furious. He grabbed the phone without checking who it was and shouted into the receiver, “Calling at this time, don’t you have a sex life?”

“…”

On the other end, Wang Dong was startled by the outburst.

‘Why is the kid so irritable?’

Analyzing Xiao Yu’s words as someone who had been there, Wang Dong quickly understood.

Had he interrupted something intimate?

He had a wife, and she was so beautiful. It must be scandalous.

“Come to the hospital.” There was no time to waste. Wang Dong spoke solemnly, “Lu Jinyan nearly died.”

Hmm?

Xiao Yu’s anger was doused by a splash of cold reality, and he ended the call. He looked apologetically at his wife, wanting to say something.

“Go ahead.” Mu Qingwu stood up, and straightened his clothes a bit, “I’ll wait for you at home.”

“Okay.”

He hugged his wife, gave her a kiss, and Xiao Yu turned to leave.

Watching her brother’s retreating figure until he disappeared, Mu Qingwu’s gaze finally shifted away.

She couldn’t recall when Xiao Yu had touched a tender spot in her heart. Previously, she had been lonely, isolated. But not anymore. Now, she simply wanted to be a wife waiting for her husband to come home. She cherished this feeling–loved it deeply.

***

Screeching to a halt, a Red Flag car threw up a cloud of blue smoke in front of the hospital’s entrance. Xiao Yu burst out and sprinted into the hospital.

Reaching the emergency room, he peered through the glass window to see Lu Jinyan undergoing resuscitation. His expression turned steely.

Just half an hour earlier, Lu Jinyan had suddenly lost his sanity, consuming anything he laid eyes on, biting whatever was in sight. He gouged out an eyeball, bit off two of his fingers, and slashed his chest and abdomen with a shard of broken glass.

Had it not been for the timely intervention and emergency response, Lu Jinyan would have certainly died.

Xiao Yu was baffled.

Why strike so prematurely?

No, that wasn’t the real issue.

The critical question was another one.

How did someone manage to infiltrate a hospital closely monitored by both the police and National Security? And nearly succeeded in manipulating Lu Jinyan into harming himself?

“The process?” Xiao Yu stared into the emergency room and asked coldly.

“We were careless,” Wang Dong admitted with shame. “The team members…”

“Do you think this is the time for useless talk?” Xiao Yu turned sharply, locking eyes with Wang Dong.

Wang Dong, unsettled by Xiao Yu’s intense gaze, shook his head. “I don’t know.”

Xiao Yu, “???”

Despite the anger rising within him, reason prevailed. Wang Dong wasn’t lying, he wasn’t toying with him.

“Without our permission, not even medical staff can come and go freely.” Wang Dong said gravely, “We’ve already checked the medical staff. It wasn’t them.”

“So you’re saying…” Xiao Yu frowned, “Apart from ghosts, human involvement is impossible?”

“Yes,” Wang Dong nodded emphatically.

When baffled by something, consulting someone smarter was always the best strategy. Learning to utilize every resource effectively, he had called Xiao Yu.

With a stern face, Xiao Yu headed toward the ward. Inside his mind, a thousand thoughts raced.

The ward was in complete disarray.

Xiao Yu envisioned the scene after Lu Jinyan’s breakdown. The frenzy was triggered by a hypnotic psychological suggestion, forcing the hypnotized into a deep trance.

As with the previous incident, Xiao Yu activated the MP5 player. Upon hearing the music, Lu Jinyan began his frenzy.

“No music this time?” Xiao Yu asked.

“Absolutely none,” Wang Dong confirmed, shaking his head.

“That’s odd. What could it be then?” Xiao Yu said, puzzled.

After a thorough search that revealed no items capable of inducing hypnotic cues, Xiao Yu was stumped. 

“Pull up the surveillance,” he said.

Wang Dong was prepared, promptly handing Xiao Yu a tablet. The surveillance set up by the National Security Bureau was impressive, covering three critical areas: inside the ward, outside the ward, and the hospital corridor.

In the corridor.

Just as Wang Dong had described, only two medical staff had entered the ward. No other entries or exits were recorded.

Outside the ward.

A camera specifically installed by the National Security to monitor any approach toward the ward windows revealed nothing unusual. The only activity detected was a few birds that had perched momentarily on the window sill.

Inside the ward.

Lu Jinyan was normally untethered as his behavior remained stable when not under hypnosis. Initially, surveillance footage showed him acting completely normal. However, for reasons unknown–perhaps claustrophobia or something else–he walked straight to the window, opened it, and scared away the birds perched on the sill.

After shutting the window, he returned to his bed and lay down. But moments later, Lu Jinyan’s demeanor shifted dramatically. He sat up with a chilling, morbid smile, his face expressing twisted joy and comfort.

An outburst.

“This isn’t right, it’s irrational, impossible,” Xiao Yu muttered, setting the tablet down. 

The medical team had already ruled out any possibility of hypnotic suggestion. No one had approached the ward from outside, there were only the birds.

Could a flock of birds have possibly induced hypnosis through suggestion?

Xiao Yu pondered.

Why not?

Indeed, he harbored suspicions. Among the most intelligent birds are crows, known for their frighteningly high IQ.

Even so, it was unlikely that they could suggest and induce hypnosis in humans. Moreover, these were just ordinary birds.

Wait a second!

Xiao Yu suddenly grabbed the tablet, his eyes fixed intently on the surveillance footage.

He rewound and replayed the video.

Xiao Yu focused on the birds that landed on the windowsill.

Great tits, known locally as Heizi. Characterized by their gray-black heads and throats which starkly contrast with the white patches beside their faces and on their necks, they are small and dexterous. 

Xiao Yu remembered hearing from someone that these birds are exceptionally intelligent, even somewhat cunning, difficult to domesticate, and are a protected species.

Because of their intelligence, if trained properly, these clever birds could indeed perform tasks for humans.

For instance…

He paused the video and zoomed in on the image, staring at a great tit perched on the windowsill, a sharp glint flashed in his eyes. After zooming in, it became visible that the bird was holding a black object, the size of a fingernail, in its beak.

Wireless headphones.

Not only that.

There were five great tits in total, with the other four constantly pecking at the window glass.

The video footage switched, showing that Lu Jinyan inside the ward noticed the birds and frowned. Maybe annoyed by the birds pecking at the glass, he went to shoo them away.

At the moment he opened the window, the video switched again.

The great tit holding the wireless headphones in its beak released them, and the headphones fell onto the windowsill.

Lu Jinyan opened the window, causing the bird to fly away.

The video zoomed in, capturing Lu Jinyan muttering to himself. He leaned in, looked down, spotted the headphones, his face lighting up with curiosity. He picked them up and put them in his ears.

“Fuck!” Xiao Yu swears out loud.

His first reaction is disbelief, “Is this for real?!”