Chapter 342: Chapter 331 Selfishness_1
Mr. Qu muttered to himself as he analyzed the word Zhou Ning had just blurted out, repeating it a few times. After eventually uttering the words "carousel," he looked completely disconcerted.
Zhou Ning’s face was full of embarrassment, and Mr. Qu blinked, suddenly at a loss for words.
Xia Momo instantly lowered her head, her hand covering her mouth, trying hard to control the smile on her face, but that’s the thing with people—the more you try to hold it back, the less you’re able to. Eventually, even tears appeared in the corners of Xia Momo’s eyes, while Doctor Lu looked puzzled.
"What’s the matter?"
Zhou Ning waved his hand hurriedly and said,
"It’s nothing, just an inside joke from before. If there’s no improvement in this fourth iteration, we don’t need a demonstration. We can wait for another opportunity to see it, and then..."
Before Zhou Ning could finish, Mr. Qu raised his hand, adopting a rather nonchalant attitude, took off his suit jacket, and gestured towards Zhou Ning, who paused without moving.
Doctor Lu pointed at himself and then stood up directly.
"Mr. Qu, do you want me to help with the demonstration?"
Mr. Qu glanced at Zhou Ning before reluctantly nodding, gesturing to Doctor Lu to come closer to his side.
"Mr. Lu, please come in front of me, turn your back to the big screen, and face Director Zhou’s direction. Just stay still, and I’ll ask you questions. Then, your answers and whether you’re lying or the meaning of your expressions will be analyzed and displayed on the big screen."
Doctor Lu’s face lit up with interest. As a chemistry doctor able to manage such a large research center and participate in such interesting experiments every day, he was very enthusiastic.
"No problem, I’ll definitely cooperate. Just to clarify, this is my first time participating in the fourth phase of the experiment."
Zhou Ning remained silent, watching Mr. Qu locate several cameras aimed in Doctor Lu’s direction, which then appeared on the big screen and began recording. Within ten seconds, the collection of the initial raw footage was completed.
Then Mr. Qu began asking questions:
"Your name."
"Lu Chengxuan."
"Date of birth."
"November 1953."
"What’s your spouse’s name?"
"Su Zhizhong."
Up to this point, Doctor Lu’s speech rate and tone had not changed, and even the features on his face hadn’t moved. On the big screen, ticks kept appearing in the comparison box, affirming the accuracy of his answers.
Mr. Qu then abruptly changed the question.
"Was your marriage a love marriage?"
"No!"
The big screen started to flicker, but in the end, it accepted the answer. The evaluation given was that the answer was dialectical; it might not be considered a negative answer from the perspective of the respondent.
Zhou Ning thought about it for a while, not quite understanding what this meant.
However, Mr. Qu’s next question came a bit faster.
"Do you have children?"
"Yes."
"Boy or girl?"
"One of each."
"Would you accept your daughter or son having a same-sex partner?"
"Yes."
The moment the word "yes" left his mouth, the comparison box on the big screen immediately signaled an alert. Everyone looked up and laughed, but Doctor Lu just scratched his head without much embarrassment.
"Generally, parents would outwardly agree but deep down, they’d probably wish they could redo their child, indeed that was against my true feelings."
Zhou Ning waved towards Mr. Qu. There were no carousel effects this time, just red comparison boxes flashing, which really looked much better to the senses.
"The improvements are quite good. This could be separated from the sixth iteration, it’s quite suitable for the simple operations of a criminal investigation interrogation. After all, interrogation rooms nowadays are equipped with multiple cameras that can capture suspects’ micro-expressions at any time. It can be promoted along with our software, but how about we settle the billing separately?"
Doctor Lu laughed, his smile reached his eyes, clearly delighted.
"Professionals are indeed professionals. But, we should give it a name, shouldn’t we?"
Seeing everyone looking at him, Zhou Ning didn’t know what to name it at the moment. Xia Momo poked Zhou Ning and whispered:
"This is like a psychological test, isn’t it? It’s not just for lie detection, but also for analyzing the meanings within micro-expressions. I think calling it a psychological testing system would be appropriate."
Zhou Ning nodded continuously.
"Mr. Xia is right, it could be called the psychological testing system. It’s perfect since it would be a sister product to our facial reconstruction system; they have different applications. Of course, we could also enlist experts who are adept in criminal psychology to give us suggestions, to expand into new research directions. I think we could ask Professor Li Chengbin."
Doctor Lu’s eyes lit up.
"That’s a good idea. I’ll contact Professor Li later to have him check it over. Besides, let’s get this to the laboratory for the Qindao City Bureau to test for any practical issues. We’re not afraid of making improvements; we just fear the system encountering unrecognizable situations in real-world applications. A multi-faceted approach will definitely enhance it, just like our facial reconstruction system."
Director Liu made a concluding remark, and naturally, the gist was to have Zhou Ning visit the research center at Qin University more often since every visit he made provided everyone with directional insights.
Zhou Ning felt somewhat embarrassed. Indeed, he was just a hands-off manager who felt somewhat guilty about spending the money.
The meeting ended, and several technicians surrounded Zhou Ning, bombarding him with numerous questions. Zhou Ning explained everything he knew, from the books and cases provided by the system to the technologies involved. He thought his explanations were rather superficial, but these technicians listened intently, continuously taking notes, which made Zhou Ning feel a bit awkward.
In the end, only after repeated interruptions from Doctor Lu did they let Zhou Ning go. He quickly returned to the office with Xia Momo and two others. Doctor Lu pushed a laptop in front of Zhou Ning.
"That’s enough, I know you’re busy with work and hardly have time to rest. It’s rare for you to come back to Qidong, only to be tricked by Mr. Xia into coming here. But don’t feel down, the competent are always busier.
This time, we don’t want to follow the same old paths for the internal selection of forensic postgraduate students. We don’t want those who are only good at exams but lacking in practical and analytical abilities. I want to do the opposite.
After all, understanding this profession, it’s clear that one must extensively engage in dissections and onsite observations. As for theoretical knowledge, I’m not worried about that. After all, anyone who can make it into the clinical majors and pass Qin University’s standards is not bad. So, would it be possible to discuss this with you?
Once these kids are selected, we’ll create an experimental class for targeted training. You all will take turns taking them to crime scenes, guiding them through autopsies. This way, they’ll become hot commodities.
After all, the talent we cultivate is most valuable in terms of practical abilities, just like Mr. Zhao by your side. His educational background may not be the best, but in his field of trace evidence, he is irreplaceable."
His words reminded Zhou Ning, who glanced at the date on his phone and nodded at Doctor Lu.
"Doctor Lu, you’re different as a dean. Alright, I’ll dutifully be at your disposal, I’ll do whatever you ask of me today. So, you want me to come up with real questions, is that it?"
I selected a few real cases and then listed some details that were discovered during the autopsy process, asking them to choose whether these events could happen, to judge their acuteness, as well as their observation skills, and their control over details," Zhou Ning said.
Doctor Lu looked up and laughed.
"I said it. Once I talk to Zhou Ning, he knows what I want to do. We’ll test these people’s abilities for real. We don’t need many; we just want the best. Students trained this way will certainly be able to stand on their own once they graduate."
Zhou Ning didn’t say anything, just smiled. Doctor Lu made some valid points. Coming out of school, Zhou Ning had seen dissections and never missed a class of a senior anatomy teacher. However, actual hands-on opportunities were too scarce. But this field truly requires talent and a heart that seeks the truth.
The three of them had already arrived at an office. Zhou Ning asked Xia Momo to look up some pictures online, or to connect directly to a computer to find the electronic versions of previous autopsy reports. Xia Momo went even further, creating a hand-drawn illustration that clearly organized the content Zhou Ning wanted to convey.
Zhou Ning chose three cases. One was the 9.17 homicide of a female student from the medical college whose body was hung from a tree. This one had a unique aspect as the body was flung over a hundred meters, a special phenomenon that could easily be mistaken for a traffic accident and very meaningful to explain.
Another was the case of a body hidden under a bed, which wasn’t particularly unusual, but it could engage the students’ sense of justice, as well as what they could do in an investigation, and expand their thinking with the use of facial reconstruction systems.
The last one was the gold bar theft and family annihilation case. In this case, the forensic doctor’s role in the secondary autopsy, as well as the criminal psychology aspect, presented a significant challenge.
Having chosen these directions, Xia Momo completed the relevant illustration work, provided scoring points, and the correct answers. Then Zhou Ning stopped what he was doing and stood up to look at Doctor Lu.
"I think that for ordinary students, even if they like this profession, there’s a limit to what they can understand. But the parts I’ve selected from these cases will show their analytical abilities. Sometimes the standard answer is a category, not something that can be completed with options ABCD."
Doctor Lu nodded vigorously, his face full of emotion.
"I will always remember, when I first met you, that one thing you said, ’Speak for the living, give a voice to the dead.’ You wanted to tell the last testimony for each victim, to bring their killers to justice. You don’t know how shaken I was the first time I encountered such a professional young man.
When I first approached you, it was because of your ability to write papers. You could explain such professional matters in simple terms, clearly, and find detailed directions for comparison from various traces.
It was also for this reason that I felt ashamed. Suddenly, I thought that before I retire, I should do something. Not just for titles or my own reputation, not just to co-author papers with others, but to help Qin University develop further under my efforts. If I can achieve that, I will have no regrets in death."
Doctor Lu was very emotional, able to speak his mind openly, and even mentioned the issue of authorship, which surprised Zhou Ning. But indeed, as Doctor Lu said, when he had approached Doctor Lu in the past, it really was for the three thousand dollars’ manuscript fee.
However, as Zhou Ning spent more time working and encountered more cases, especially solving the Red Dress serial murder, his mindset changed dramatically. He wanted to excel more, to bring many more criminals like Cui Guanglin to justice, to prevent them from harming others. Once this idea surfaced, it couldn’t be stopped.
That was the reason he had always been actively working with Xu Dayuan. Of course, there was also a private motive; according to the system’s hints, once he reached level five, he would be able to regain some of his memory. Would he then be able to clearly see the two men accompanying the scar-eyed man?
In any case, to know the past and to find out the truth about his parents was also a way to give an account of their lives.
