58: Chapter 58: Three Key Issues 58: Chapter 58: Three Key Issues “He Shouye, who greatly detested children, later became the director of the Welfare Home.
His own massive investment in adopting abandoned infants and orphans was itself an extremely abnormal and terrifying matter.
We were curious about why He Shouye would make such a decision, so to understand the process of his psychological distortion, we conducted ‘personality simulations,’ ” Li Xue mentioned on the phone, using a term Han Fei had never heard before.
“We tried hundreds of models and finally concluded that He Shouye, despite his hatred for children, chose to become a Welfare Home director.
This abnormal behavior was due to some kind of external stimulus.”
“Following the advice of several criminal psychology experts, we organized all the notes and relics left by He Shouye and eventually identified some issues.”
“After the death of his own child, he completely changed as a person.
His tone of speech, his preferences, his personality were all different from before.”
“He began reading extensively about the mental world and philosophy, often locking himself in his room and occasionally going out alone in the middle of the night, as if he was searching for something?”
“We visited several children who grew up in the Welfare Home.
Most of them have a very good impression of the director and are grateful for his care, but a few thought the director was strange, frequently asking them incomprehensible questions,”
“such as whether they had dreamed of someone standing by their bed at night, whether they saw a black box in their dreams, or whether they dreamed of a butterfly landing on a person’s head, and so on.”
“He Shouye seemed to be looking for a special child, and after a long search without success, he wanted to create one that met his requirements.
This child was probably the eighth victim in the Human-body Puzzle case.”
“Nobody knows what his standards were?
Nor why a murdered child would meet them?”
“It seemed like he was performing some sort of ritual or was perhaps guided by something.”
“Throughout the process of his personality change, one term had notably increased in his notes: the butterfly.”
“In the latter half of his life, the butterfly represented not just a creature but something symbolic.”
“The same occurred with Meng Changxi.
We checked Meng Changxi’s relics and some hidden information.
Before his disappearance, just like He Shouye, he was reading extensively about the human brain area and was obsessed with butterflies, continuously pursuing them.”
“In other words, there was a common thread between Meng Changxi and He Shouye, the butterfly being the bridge connecting them.”
Upon hearing this, Han Fei couldn’t help but interrupt Li Xue, “Meng Changxi has been missing for so long; could his belongings and the information left behind be faked?
Or could someone else purposely be framing him?”
Han Fei had met Meng Shi, and he knew the real person obsessed with those books and lured by the butterfly was not Meng Changxi, but Meng Chang’an.
“Falsifying relics is difficult; one would first need to mimic Meng Changxi’s handwriting and know all his social media account passwords.
The most crucial point is—who would spend years setting this all up?”
“If I were the real culprit, I would do these things.
Once exposed, it would be an escape route,” Han Fei didn’t want to beat around the bush and said in a lowered voice, “Rather than Meng Changxi, you guys should really pay more attention to Meng Chang’an, the most harmless-looking guy, who might even dare to kill his own adoptive mother.”
As soon as Han Fei finished this sentence, he suddenly heard a noise behind him.
His reaction was swift, but even so, when he turned his head to look, he only saw a drink bottle rolling on the corner of Old Street.
“Is someone there?” Han Fei hadn’t been reading those books for nothing.
Though he showed no outward change, he spoke into the phone, “Li Xue, someone seems to be following me, they might have overheard what I said.”
“At the entrance of the filming location for ‘Flower of Evil,’ where the families of the victims from the Human-body Puzzle case are also present.”
“Don’t go home first, head straight to North Street New Heaven and Earth Mall, there are many people there, I’ll be right there,” he said.
As if nothing was amiss, Han Fei hung up the phone and did not take any transportation, leisurely making his way to the mall as usual.
The feeling of being stalked did not manifest, and Han Fei wandered around the mall for a long time without finding Li Xue until it was almost dark when he received another call from her.
A few police officers, monitoring through surveillance cameras, kept an eye on Han Fei.
Everything was normal.
Han Fei and the police did not meet, and the police did not misinterpret the situation as implicating Han Fei, but instead unanimously decided to enhance his protection.
As a comedian without much fame, Han Fei had never been stalked before.
This time, he experienced the feeling that those big stars went through when being stalked and photographed, except those on their trail were paparazzi, and the one behind him could be a wanted criminal.
After buying enough food for a week at the mall and specifically purchasing several large locks, Han Fei finally returned to his rented hut.
After closing the door, Han Fei simply ate a meal, then added new locks to the door and windows.
“This should be safe now.”
He placed various self-defense items he ordered online beside him, practiced the combat moves taught by Li Xue once more, then began to flip through the books he had purchased online, all of which Meng Chang’an had read in his youth.
It was almost midnight when he finally rubbed his eyes and set down the book in his hands.
“Among the questions He Shouye asked the children, there are two we need to pay attention to, one is about dreaming of the Black Box, and the other is about dreaming of butterflies landing on people’s heads,” he mused.
Li Xue didn’t play games and didn’t know about the Easter Egg regarding the Black Box in “Perfect Life,” but Han Fei was different—he had just discussed it with Huang Ying.
“Could that butterfly also be searching for the Black Box in my brain?
But the game ‘Perfect Life’ didn’t even exist ten years ago.
Could it be that the Black Box existed first, and then the ‘Perfect Life’ game was created?” he wondered.
“Could He Shouye and his group be targeting orphans and abandoned infants because they are looking for people capable of harboring the Black Box?” he speculated.
Looking at the gaming helmet on the table, Han Fei had a piece of information he had not yet shared with Li Xue—he was also an orphan.
However, he did not grow up in the North Street Welfare Home of Xinhu Old City District, but in a place in Old City District called the Happiness Welfare Home.
The Welfare Home he had been a part of had provided him with a sense of family, and its festive celebrations were always lively.
Those around him were happy and joyful; they felt like a family.
But from a certain point, everything had changed.
“I haven’t made you guys laugh yet, and I’ve already lost my own smile.
Life is indeed full of surprises and hardships,” he reflected.
After connecting various wires, Han Fei dispelled the miscellaneous thoughts in his mind.
As midnight approached, he put on the gaming helmet.
Blood red descended, and the world in front of Han Fei’s eyes was instantly stained red.