Soul Patch

Chapter 197 The Strategist

“Yes!” Wenjie answered decisively, “Not only were there survivors, but the subsequent series of events were also targeted retaliation.”

This shocked Li Shiman and her husband, as well as Liu Qingqing. They were stunned for a long time before falling into deep thought: Could such a bizarre thing be man-made?

Liu Qingqing was the first to shake her head: "It doesn't make sense. Li Shiman is indeed sick. It's been diagnosed by the hospital, and the medical records show that she's having regular checkups. How could someone control whether or not someone is sick?"

"The causes of hysteria are a difficult topic to understand in medicine. It's not impossible that someone could poison you over a long period of time and cause it through mental interference," Wenjie said after a moment's thought.

“Impossible!” Li Shiman’s mother immediately shook her head in denial: “Many details of that incident are known only to me. The other members of the expedition team don’t know, and even my husband doesn’t know.”

“Yes, impossible, illogical.” Li Shiman’s father glanced at his wife and agreed, “Only her family knows about Man’er’s illness; outsiders have no idea.”

“That’s completely illogical. Zhang Zhipeng and Li Shiman were born on the same day, month, and year. After Zhang Zhipeng fell ill, Li Shiman’s illness was cured. How can such a mysterious thing be explained by common sense?” Liu Qingqing tilted her head and looked at Wenjie, her face showing even more doubt.

Upon hearing this, Wenjie glared fiercely at Liu Qingqing.

Clearly, she said the wrong thing!

Upon hearing Liu Qingqing's words, Li Shiman and her husband were initially puzzled, but their expressions quickly turned to surprise and delight.

"Really? That boy can really save Man'er?"

"Yes, are you sure?"

The two of them pressed each other for answers.

"..." Liu Qingqing realized she had spoken out of turn and lowered her head, not daring to meet their gaze.

After a while, seeing that the two were still chasing after her, Liu Qingqing had no choice but to raise her head and look longingly at Xiang Wenjie.

She hoped that Wenjie could say something at this moment, so that the couple would stop constantly asking about this matter.

Wenjie's gaze slowly swept over the three people present, and he spoke carefully, choosing his words precisely:

"Yes, at first I couldn't figure it out either. Following the misleading advice of the planner, I naturally thought of it as a case of prayers not being returned and suffering divine retribution."

Moreover, each of these events bears the mark of supernatural forces, making it impossible not to believe. And this is precisely the effect the other party intended to achieve!

He looked around the room. The living room was spotless, with the sofa and coffee table immaculately clean. It was completely different from when he had just entered the room and was talking to Li Shiman, when the room had been uncleaned for days and was covered in dust.

What does this mean? It means that what just happened was not real; it was an illusion.

He fell asleep on the table, and then the silver needle attack, the old woman in black robes, the neighbor chasing him, and so on happened... When he opened his eyes, he realized it was all just a dream.

What exactly is real, and what is illusion?

Is what you saw actually what happened? Or is what you saw just something that people with ulterior motives want you to see?

Wenjie stood up and strolled into the bedroom.

Right now, Li Shiman is sleeping soundly on her small bed. She's sleeping so peacefully that she doesn't look like she had those words with Wenjie at all.

There was a small ornament in the middle of the desk directly opposite her bed.

Wenjie grabbed the ornament and turned back to the living room.

"What does this thing look like?" Wenjie held up the Mickey Mouse figurines in his hand and showed them to the three people, letting each of them look at them for a moment.

This little ornament is exquisitely designed, with a beautiful crystal Mickey Mouse doll swaying around a central hanging scroll.

Liu Qingqing rubbed her eyes, and after looking at it for a while, she felt a little dizzy. Suddenly, she had an epiphany: it looked like a crystal pendant used for hypnosis.

She gestured with her hand, indicating that the crystal ball had a metal chain attached to a loop, which the hypnotist would hang on their hand during hypnosis, causing the crystal ball to swing back and forth.

"Yes, from where I'm sitting, I can see this ornament as soon as I look up. Just now, when I was staring at this ornament as I walked over, I was momentarily distracted. It seemed like the bedroom became dark and eerie, as if something was brewing and swirling in the room."

Wenjie composed himself and said, "So, there's definitely something wrong with this thing. Where did it come from?"

"Ah!" Li Shiman's mother opened her mouth wide, too shocked to say a word.

Seeing this, Li Shiman's father glanced at her and reminded her:

"Have you forgotten? Wasn't this the time when you took Man'er to the psychological counseling session, and the counselor helped her choose something because they heard Man'er had trouble sleeping? Apparently, it has a sleep-aiding effect."

He paused here, and the four of them exchanged glances, concluding: "The therapist has a problem!"

"Yes, it's this little thing that connects the whole story. If a psychologist planned this whole series of events, then all the illogical parts would make sense."

First, the cause of Li Shiman's illness was poisoning. A large dose of psychoactive hallucinogens caused Li Shiman to become mentally confused and experience hallucinations.

After Li Shiman developed these symptoms and sought medical treatment at the hospital, several treatments proved ineffective.

When psychiatric treatments are ineffective, doctors may recommend psychological therapy.

Therefore, during her psychological counseling sessions, Li Shiman was repeatedly subjected to hypnosis and brainwashing by the counselor. The strong psychological suggestions and constant medication further aggravated her condition, both mentally and physically.

At this point, Wenjie paused for a moment and said helplessly, "As far as I know, many doctors in hospitals currently classify mental illnesses that cannot be explained by medicine as hysteria."

Wenjie looked at the three people staring intently at him, unscrewed the cap of his Nescafé, took a slow sip, and then said:

"Secondly, and this is also the brilliance of the scheme, the other party made good use of your past encounter in Yunnan, giving the matter a veil of mystery and successfully leading everyone's thinking in the direction of cause and effect."

If you believe that past actions have sown the seeds of this evil, then misfortune and fortune are inevitable, and you will naturally not suspect that this is premeditated revenge.

Wenjie pointed to Li Shiman's mother and looked her in the eye: "Many details of the expedition you just mentioned are known only to you. Outsiders could never know them."

Others may not know, but a hypnotist can easily extract the truths you want to know from you. Many things you subconsciously ignore might actually be known to the hypnotist.

Li Shiman's mother covered her mouth in horror and turned to look at her husband. Her husband was just as shocked as she was. Their eyes met for a moment before fixing on Wenjie.

What they considered an uninvited guest half an hour ago, someone they tried every means to get rid of, has in a short time seen through everything.

Not only were they fooled, but their negligence caused their daughter to suffer from illness for a whole year.

(End of this chapter)