Chapter 626: Switched Personalities
Translator: Azza
Editor: Conspiracing
Wang Ying said guiltily, "I don't know. I don't know the names of most patients, including The Silent Man."
"Okay, don’t wander around too much during this time."
"Will Zhou Xiao be okay?"
"He’ll be okay, don't worry." Chen Shi promised. After all, The Silent Man was originally going after the director. What Zhou Xiao did couldn’t be considered as aiding and abetting. It only constituted as sheltering and assisting a criminal. Furthermore, he had a mental illness, so it shouldn’t lead to jail time.
When he came back, Lin Dongxue sighed. "I really had my eyes opened today. I didn't think such a dark place existed in the world."
"Yes."
"What did you talk to her about when you went back?"
"I'll tell you later."
When they went downstairs, they actually ran into Zhou Xiao. With a cigarette in his hand, Zhou Xiao smiled and said, "You’re here to investigate the case again? How diligent."
Chen Shi glanced at the cigarette in his hand and asked, "Are you here to find Wang Ying?"
"No, I worked for a whole day, so I’m just here to relax and have a meal. Do you want to eat together?"
Chen Shi deliberately said, "Let’s go and eat at the Jiugongge we ate at last time, okay?"
"Jiugongge? When did we eat Jiugongge?" Zhou Xiao looked confused.
Chen Shi was testing him because he noticed that Zhou Xiao’s cigarette was different from the ones he had seen on his desk before. Smokers generally wouldn’t change their brands so casually. He suspected that Zhou Xiao’s personality at the moment was that of the other one.
Zhou Xiao remembered. "Police Officer Chen, you’re fooling me. That day we ate fish head with chopped peppers."
"I remembered wrong."
"Haha, and you said I had a bad memory. I don't think you have a good memory either."
This time, Zhou Xiao invited them to go to a nearby shop selling hot plated beef rice and talked about the mental hospital. Zhou Xiao said, "I just took medicine all day long. I refused at first. Later, they threatened me. I didn’t dare to resist anymore and took the medicine obediently."
It was completely different from what Wang Ying said. Chen Shi asked, "Your personality split started from back then. When you were there, your other personality took the lead."
Zhou Xiao bit his finger. "Probably! I’ve suffered periodic memory loss since then. Sometimes when something unreasonable happened in the hospital, I’d get very agitated and lose consciousness. In the next moment, I’d find myself laying on the bed. Sometimes, I’d have injuries on my body, and sometimes I would find myself in a dark and narrow confinement room. I tried to recall things, but after trying to remember, I couldn’t actually make sense of it all. Actually, I thought about the matter of a dual personality, but I was afraid to talk about it. I was worried I’d never get out of there if I did.”
"Don't your family come to see you?"
"See me?" Zhou Xiao smiled bitterly. "Every time I call, they’d always say that they were busy and talked about this and that regarding my younger brother. They’d ask me to just stay put obediently and treat the illness. These were the same words that were said every time."
"I've heard about something. There were some homeless patients who were dragged away to have their organs cut out for money. Do you know about this?"
"Selling organs?" Zhou Xiao frowned as he tried to recall.
"Your inner personality can be said to be a spiritual leader-like existence in the mental hospital. You took the lead to resist."
"That happened?"
Zhou Xiao bit his lip, as if slowly opening the gates of his memory. Suddenly, he showed a sleepy expression, closed his eyes, his head drooped, and then suddenly raised his head. His eyes had changed slightly.
"You’ve investigated carefully, officers!" Zhou Xiao said with a sarcastic smile.
Lin Dongxue thought to herself. Did he switch his personality just now? She found it very strange. The tone and atmosphere of the person sitting opposite her’ had changed to that of another person.
Of course, Chen Shi figured this out as well. He asked those questions to stimulate him. He asked, "How should I address you now?"
Zhou Xiao shrugged. "You can address me how you want."
"Did you give The Silent Man a map to help him find the director?"
"Have you found it?" Zhou Xiao asked back.
"That idiot killed another innocent person."
"Tch, If I knew, I would help him."
"You’re assisting in a crime!" Chen Shi's tone suddenly became stern. "The death of the third victim is directly related to you. He also had his own family and career. Because of your piece of paper, he’s now dead!"
Zhou Xiao played with his chopsticks and said indifferently, "There are no innocent people in this world. People hurt each other and the bitterness accumulated is shouldered by irrelevant people. After my brother was born, the whole family surrounded him. This kid took away everything from me in an instant. What did I do wrong? You officers only see the results of the incident, but never pursue the cause. If you’ve experienced all this, could you still stand here saying those words?"
"There’s never a legitimate reason to commit murder!"
"Haha!" Zhou Xiao laughed, showing a contemptuous expression. "Some things, when it happens to you, you will feel that it’s not too much to even destroy the whole world for revenge. We are those poor monsters abandoned by society. Don't think you can inquire anything about The Silent Man from me. I won’t betray my friends!"
This guy had a completely anti-societal personality. He was a dangerous person on a spiritual level. Chen Shi listened to what he said and concluded that he might know more about The Silent Man.
"Did he come to see you these past two days?"
"No comment."
"Right, how did you know that we’re the police? We’re meeting for the first time, which shows that your two personalities actually have some overlap. He’s now hiding under your eyes, peeping into your consciousness. If you don't tell me, he will because he’s kinder than you!"
"Haha, how unbelievable. I’m the real master of this body..."
Zhou Xiao's right hand kept writing on the table. It was an address. Zhou Xiao suddenly realized and picked up a bowl to hit his right hand. "Stop! Stop! You traitor!" The bowl was broken and his right hand was dripping in blood. His right hand finished writing the last word using the blood.
"Go to hell!"
Zhou Xiao grabbed his right hand and smashed it on the table desperately.
Time was running out. Chen Shi had no time to persuade him. He gestured to Lin Dongxue with his eyes. The diners in the restaurant were all shocked watching the man fight with himself.
Chen Shi checked on his cell phone and found that there was a place called "Rehabilitation Physiotherapy Center". He drove over quickly with Lin Dongxue[1] and sent the address to Lin Qiupu on the way.
The so-called physiotherapy center was hidden in a housing district. It didn’t seem to be a serious place at a glance. The sign on the door read "quantum massage, nano wrinkle removal, genetic testing" and other amazing items.
An employee received the two of them[2], and Chen Shi asked, "Do you know Qin Wanmu?"
"Why are you looking for him? He’s our manager."
"Where is he now?"
"Why should I tell you? Are you the police?"
Lin Dongxue showed her credentials, and the employee was dumbfounded. Lin Dongxue repeated the question again, "Where is the manager now?"
The employee blurted out fearfully, "He went to eat. There’s a Shaanxi noodle restaurant across the street and he always eats there."
1. Okay, at this point, I’m pretty sure the author just fully forgot that he wrote that the “three of them” went to see Wang Ying. I.e. Xu Xiaodong was originally there...
2. Yes, let’s just pretend Xiaodong disappeared to do other work...
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