Chen Xu was so startled he almost jumped up, because he recognized the music as the one Xiao Min had played!
The sounds of Huo Hu struggling inside the room suddenly stopped. He looked up in confusion. The sound was coming from the computer. Was the computer playing music by itself? ...Because of the limited view, he still couldn't see Xiao Min's watch, which was blocked by the computer case.
The music was soothing yet carried a sacred and solemn atmosphere, like the chanting of Sanskrit. As the music played softly, Chen Xu, who had been anxiously waiting outside the door, frantically searched the balcony for a weapon. He picked up a flowerpot, but it wasn't suitable; the clothes rack was too long. After much searching, he finally found a beer bottle that had been lying there for who knows how long, and was ready to rush in and fight Huo Hu to the death. But as the music drifted from under the door, Chen Xu unconsciously felt his tension and anxiety gradually dissipate. He recalled some happy memories, and a feeling of joy welled up inside him, and he no longer felt nervous or afraid.
If Chen Xuge was like this outside the door, then Huo Hu inside the room was even more so. He just sat there on the bed, staring blankly. Although he looked a lot like a fool, it was much better than when he was struggling frantically earlier.
Huo Hu was certain he had never heard this song before, but the melody brought back memories of his time with that girl.
They met online. He moved to this city after graduation because of her; he had just graduated and started working as a teacher that year, while the girl was a sophomore. However, at school, the girl kept her distance from him outwardly because she thought teacher-student relationships were inappropriate. But he didn't care at all, watching her active in every corner of the school… student council, arts performances, sports fields…
The two communicated online almost every day, rarely even texting. Because the girl was afraid of being found out and the negative impact it might have, they both used pseudonyms when browsing the internet.
A year has passed, and although they chat online every day, they have never spoken more than five times in real life.
Finally, after the girl went home for summer vacation, the two-month wait became unbearable for him. So he really wanted to make things clear with her, even if it meant quitting his job.
But then the girl told him that she had met a boyfriend during the summer vacation, and they had already slept together...
"Ah...ah!" Thinking of this, Huo Hu let out an extremely angry roar while clutching his hair, shouting and covering his ears, and rushed out as if he had gone mad.
At this moment, the music is slowly chanting: "Siseng, Amuye, Svaha. Svaha Maha, Asidoye. Svaha. Zheji, Asidoye. Svaha Padma, Jiesiduoye..."
Chapter 82 of the main text: The Great Compassion Mantra of the Subconscious
It took Chen Xu a long time to react. He cautiously pushed open the door and found that Huo Hu was gone, and the house was empty. Xiao Min's music was also stopped.
Chen Xu scratched his head in frustration, wondering what was going on. The thought of almost being exposed still made him a little uneasy. He was even more confused as to why Xiao Min had suddenly started playing music on her own, so he angrily asked, "You almost killed me, do you know that?!"
Xiaomin's answer surprised him greatly: "I was saving you just now."
Chen Xu hesitated for a moment, then Xiao Min offered an explanation. It turned out that Xiao Min had been working the entire time, and during that period, it wasn't under absolute privacy protection. It wasn't in Chen Xu's possession and hadn't received any orders from him, so it was operating autonomously. Based on the program's autonomous judgment, when it heard someone making a painful scream, the system would automatically play that music to soothe the person's emotions.
So that's why Xiaomin suddenly played music. And the song she played was a subconscious song that future scientists were researching... the Great Compassion Mantra.
Many psychologists are now researching the subconscious, such as through hypnosis. Decades later, this research has made groundbreaking progress.
This progress is evident in some videos and music. Some Chinese experts have created several pieces of music based on their research, many of which draw inspiration from religious and ancient musical works. After being analyzed by the experts, they have set specific frequencies for the music, allowing it to be played in a particular pattern to create a hypnotic effect on the subconscious.
It seems like the lullaby Chen Xu played during our last game session was actually a piece of background music from the novel *The Smiling, Proud Wanderer*... the *Qingxin Pushan Mantra*. It's a calming and stress-relieving song. This music also contains some subconscious information, but it's beneficial to the body. This kind of music can relax you without forcing commands on the brain. It allows you to relax and fall asleep gradually under this subconscious, soothing hypnotic influence.
This type of music requires specific frequency bands of audio to produce its effect. Therefore, recording this music using other methods will not achieve the same result. Furthermore, current computer sound cards cannot handle such a high level of technology, so apart from Xiaomin, playing this music on other computers will not have any effect on her subconscious.
The music Xiaomin is playing now is an adaptation of the Buddhist mantra "Great Compassion Mantra" by future scientists. The purpose of Buddhism is to guide people towards goodness, and many religious musics circulating in Buddhism carry a sense of compassion.
After analysis, scientists discovered that this music can influence the subconscious mind, awakening the most beautiful memories and conscience deep within a person's heart. It also evokes remorse for past mistakes. In addition to admiration, they developed similar subconscious music based on this information. Its main applications are in interrogation and personal confession. Some prisoners with weak willpower and less serious crimes, under the subconscious hypnosis of the "Great Compassion Mantra," will consciously confess their crimes and thus repent… This discovery is truly significant, directly leading to a substantial decrease in future crime rates.
Of course, some argue that this kind of subconscious influence violates human rights, and that governments have very strict control over songs and information that can affect people's subconscious. But that's a topic for another time.
By this time, Xiaomin had already copied all the data from the computer. Chen Xu asked Xiaomin to start analyzing it, setting the keywords to "throat-cutting," "Gao Xiaojie," or similar phrases. He quickly put his watch on his wrist and rushed out the door.
When they got downstairs, Chen Xu still didn't know which one was Huo Hu. Just then, he heard two old ladies walking by saying, "What's wrong with young Huo? He seemed distracted and wouldn't respond when we called him." The other old lady said that something might be wrong with him, as young Huo was usually a very nice person.
Upon hearing this, Chen Xu went up to her and asked, "Grandmas, is the 'Little Huo' you just mentioned Teacher Huo Hu?"
The two old ladies immediately agreed, and one asked, "Who are you? Do you need to see Xiao Huo?"
Chen Xu immediately said that I was his student, that he hadn't come to class today, and that I had come specifically to see him.
Upon hearing this, the two old ladies laughed and said, "So you're Xiao Huo's student! I knew it! Xiao Huo is such a nice person, he must be very popular with his students. Xiao Huo just went towards the university. You should follow him and see what's going on. He seems a bit distracted. I hope nothing bad happens to him."
Chen Xu thanked him and chased after him, feeling quite puzzled. How could such a perverted throat-slitting man have so many friends?
Chen Xu chased after the figure for a block in the direction of the university and finally spotted a similar target. When he peeked through the crack in the door from inside the house, he hadn't seen clearly at all; he'd only seen a silhouette, and couldn't remember what color the clothes were. So now he was staring intently, looking for a bandage on the back of the head, or something that looked distracted or absent-minded.
He actually caught him! Right at the gate of the university, he saw a guy who seemed very absent-minded, wearing a woolen hat. The reason he seemed absent-minded was because this guy looked like he was popular; many people greeted him, but he ignored them all, which seemed very strange to onlookers.
Chen Xu immediately followed cautiously. He had a student-like face, and the gatekeeper, assuming he was a student of the school, let him in without stopping him.
That person was indeed Huo Hu, because Chen Xu heard someone call him Teacher Huo. He felt that if he had followed the wrong person, it could only be said that he was unlucky. He stared at the back of the man's head for a long time and found that although he had covered his head with a woolen hat, and the hat was black, he could still vaguely see dark bloodstains on the hat.
Chen Xu followed this guy and walked and walked. They ended up near a rockery garden on the university campus. This rockery garden was actually a park, but since it was winter and there was no snow yet, the trees were bare and didn't look very pretty.
Hohu sat on a rock next to a pine tree, oblivious to how strong the wind was. He just sat there, seemingly oblivious.
Chen Xu crouched behind the artificial hill, observing him from a distance, rubbing his hands incessantly because of the cold… He wasn't wearing gloves! The two remained like that, one sitting and the other standing, for over ten minutes, until Chen Xu felt his whole body was about to freeze. Suddenly, his wristwatch vibrated.
Chen Xu quickly walked to a spot some distance away, where he could see Huo Hu. He whispered to Xiao Min, "Have you found anything?"
Xiaomin replied, "Yes. We found an encrypted Word 2003 file in the documents. After cracking the password, we found it was a diary entry with relevant keywords."
"Send it out so I can see it!"
Chen Xu looked at the text that appeared on his watch: "Today everyone on the internet is talking about a girl named Gao Xiaojie. This girl looks so much like her! That smile, that look in her eyes, they're all so similar! So similar!"
Chen Xu was startled when he saw this. Gao Xiaojie resembled someone? Who?
Chen Xu immediately asked Xiaomin to find the relevant information in the diary. They quickly found the first entry: "I video chatted with her today, and she's unexpectedly beautiful. I always thought there were no beautiful women online, but I never thought I'd find a flower among millions of dinosaurs?"
Upon seeing this sentence, Chen Xu knew he shouldn't laugh, but he couldn't help but burst out laughing. However, this statement isn't entirely accurate. There are plenty of beautiful women online, but not many who have nothing better to do than chat. If you haven't met one, you can only blame your bad luck; you can't blame society for your misfortune!
Scroll down: "Yesterday was April Fool's Day, and I jokingly asked her to be my girlfriend. She readily agreed, but we both knew it was just a joke. But today, when I saw her online, I deliberately said that I was very serious yesterday. Then she said that she was serious too. I didn't expect online dating to happen so suddenly, but seeing that our chat history was already eight hundred pages long, I knew that this was definitely not a spur-of-the-moment thing. So I decided that after graduation, I would go to the city where she lives."
"I successfully became a math teacher at the university, and I even met her. She was even prettier than in the videos, but she said that any rumors between teachers and students would have a bad influence. She was a student council member and didn't want to be gossiped about. I thought about it and agreed, so I agreed to let Chen Xu scroll down. I found that most of the posts were about how much he missed her. Seeing this, Chen Xu felt a little sorry for her. The two of them were clearly in love, but when they met, they pretended not to know each other and could only communicate online. It was really sad... No wonder this guy became a pervert!"
The few times he mentioned meeting in the diary were all here, so it's no wonder he's here now.
What happened to the girl?
Chen Xu continued flipping through the pages, until he reached September of this year.
"Today she actually broke up with me?! She told me she spent the summer with a man... How could she do this?! How could she betray me like this? I came to this city specifically for her, I waited for her for a whole year! I spent two months of the summer vacation without seeing her, and I was in a state of constant anxiety, and she, how could she do this to me?!"
“I met her while I was drunk. I hugged her, but she pushed me away. She said she had deleted everything related to me, chat logs, notes, and so on. She said no one knew about our relationship. I never expected her to be so heartless. I even thought that if I killed her, no one would know.”
"November 3rd. I don't know how I got through these past two months. Seeing her and her boyfriend together every day felt like my heart was being torn apart! Today is her birthday, and I spent the whole day running around to finally buy her a gift. But she didn't accept it and told me not to see her again."
"I hate her so much! At this moment, I suddenly want to kill her. Looking at her long, white neck, which was once my favorite, I've decided to destroy her!"
"November 10th. I prepared for a week. I prepared clothes, razor blades, and even found out that she would be shopping on the pedestrian street that night, and that her boyfriend was going home that day!"
Upon seeing this, Chen Xu was shocked. January 10th? He remembered that the throat-slitting man first appeared on November 10th!
Could it be that...
Just then, two girls walked by, laughing as they went. Seeing Huo Hu sitting there, one of the girls said with a smile, "Teacher Huo! What are you doing posing like a thinker?"
Seeing that Huo Hu ignored her, the two girls exchanged a glance and said, "Teacher Huo is acting a little strange today." Then the two girls went up to him.
Chen Xu was watching anxiously from the sidelines! After reading Huo Hu's diary, he roughly understood why Huo Hu had become the way he was now.
Perhaps this person was originally a good person, but there's a saying that a good person's anger is truly terrifying. Huo Hu is like that! He invested too much energy and emotion in a girl. After the failure, his love turned to hate. And actually, unknowingly, his long-suppressed emotions, unable to find an outlet, erupted, subtly distorting his mentality!
Chen Xu hadn't read the rest of the diary, but there was no need to. All the evidence pointed to Huo Hu as the perverted throat-slitting man! His attack on the first girl stemmed from love turned to hate, while his subsequent attacks on other girls were because they might resemble the first girl in some way, or at least have a striking resemblance.
This person's mind is severely twisted!
It's clear from the fact that his first attack on his ex-girlfriend wasn't in a fit of rage, but rather a carefully planned attack that he waited a week before striking. And his subsequent attacks on other girls were all motivated by the thrill of revenge!
His current state clearly shows a constant struggle between good and evil thoughts within him… Chen Xu has read many books of this kind; it's a form of schizophrenia. But just as he was struggling, Xiao Min played the Great Compassion Mantra, which temporarily calmed him down. However, he's still in an extremely abnormal state, meaning that he could easily become violent and attack someone if provoked!
Chen Xu slowly followed the two girls up, keeping a close watch on Huo Hu from the side.
The two girls were completely unaware that they were approaching danger. One of them chuckled and said, "Teacher Huo Hu, what are you doing?"
Hohu lowered his head and didn't say anything.
Another girl patted her and said, "Never mind, Professor Huo Hu is probably thinking about something. Let's not disturb her."
So the two girls said, "Teacher Huo, we'll be going now," and prepared to turn and leave. Chen Xu, standing beside them, breathed a sigh of relief.
The two girls did turn around and leave, but girls are naturally inclined to gossip and chat. As they walked, they said, "By the way, have you heard? That guy who slit throats yesterday is back! Right there on the pedestrian street!"
Chen Xu immediately felt a sense of foreboding upon hearing this, and at that moment, Huo Hu suddenly looked up from behind them!
But the two girls were still unaware of what was happening. One of them said, "I saw a news report online. The girl who was attacked yesterday looks like Gao Xiaojie, the one who made the game 'Jin Yong Heroes'!"
"You mean Gao Xiaojie?" Huo Hu's voice suddenly rang out behind the two girls. The two girls turned around and saw Huo Hu standing up, his face gloomy and expressionless.
A girl asked with a smile, "Oh, what, Professor Huo Hu, you know Gao Xiaojie too?"
Just then, a voice shouted from behind, "You two, get out of the way!" The two women were startled and felt a strong impact on their bodies. They were immediately knocked down to the sides of the flower bed. Chen Xu rushed forward with a brick in hand. Before he even arrived, the brick was thrown directly at Huo Hu, hitting him squarely on the head. Blood gushed from Huo Hu's head, and he swayed but did not fall.
The two girls were immediately shocked. One of them screamed, while the other shouted, "What are you doing? Help! Someone's hitting Teacher Huo Hu!"
Chen Xu was both angry and anxious. How could these two women act like this? However, he also knew that Huo Hu had a good reputation. If there wasn't solid evidence, no one would associate him with the throat-slitting man.
Huo Hu was stunned for a moment, then looked at Chen Xu and exclaimed in surprise, "It's you?!" Then a fierce glint flashed in his eyes: "How did you find me?!"
Chen Xu did not answer, and Huo Hu did not wait for Chen Xu to answer either. He reached into his pocket and immediately produced a blade that gleamed coldly!
Chapter 83: One Against N!
As soon as Chen Xu engaged in combat, he realized that he had overestimated Huo Hu.
A recent graduate student, despite being a deranged throat-slitting man, clearly lacked training. With two severe head injuries, his mind was clouded. He raised his hand and slashed fiercely with a blade, seemingly aggressive, but the blade's attack range was pitifully small. Chen Xu easily grabbed his arm, forcefully locking the joint. Huo Hu screamed in pain, involuntarily releasing his grip, and the blade fell to the ground. Then, Chen Xu used the momentum to throw Huo Hu to the ground, locking his hands behind his back.
The commotion quickly attracted a group of people passing by the university. Hearing a girl scream, people rushed over, including security guards. They saw two people grappling, and the one pinned down was none other than Mr. Huo, a teacher at the university… Mr. Huo was well-liked and many people knew him. Seeing Mr. Huo being beaten by a stranger, and in such a pitiful state… how could he not be pitiful? He was locked under Chen Xu, his forehead bleeding profusely from being hit with a brick, his hat having been knocked off during the struggle. The wound on the back of his head had reopened, bleeding profusely…
This was a serious situation. Several boys immediately rushed forward, shouting, to push Chen Xu away. A few even resorted to physical violence.
Chen Xu yelled, "Stop hitting me! Your teacher Huo Hu is actually a throat-slitter!" But the problem was, nobody paid him any attention. Several people hit and cursed, "You're the throat-slitter!" Then, without warning, Chen Xu took a few hits. His grip loosened, and he lost control of Huo Hu. A boy grabbed him and ran away.
These two moves really angered Chen Xu!
Although he knew these people were unaware of Huo Hudi's true identity and were likely being fooled, the problem was that even a clay figure has a temper! Chen Xu had taken several blows and was in considerable pain. Seeing Huo Hudi run away, his anger flared up instantly!
Emotions are something everyone experiences!
Seeing a fist coming straight at his eye, Chen Xu tilted his head and kicked one of the boys away. Then, like a mad tiger among sheep, he unleashed a brutal beating on the five or six boys who were ganging up on him!
One against six?
It sounds exaggerated, but you have to understand that these six people are all students, and they've never actually trained. They're relying on sheer willpower and ruthlessness. Plus, their teamwork is terrible. After Chen Xu withstood a few punches and kicks, he used grappling techniques to take down two of them, and the scales of victory began to tip in his favor.
The students couldn't withstand the beating. Moreover, Chen Xu's methods were extremely vicious… because all the fighting techniques he learned targeted vital points. A kick to the abdomen, a strike to the throat—he could essentially incapacitate an opponent with a single blow, while others would only feel a slight pain when they hit him. And he had long since become accustomed to this kind of pain during his virtual training.
So, aside from not using his most vicious and ruthless move, the "Crippling Kick," Chen Xu took down the six boys in almost two minutes. He had all six of them lying motionless on the ground. But just as he tried to escape, several more people rushed up, one of whom was a security guard wielding a rubber baton.
"This is never going to end!" Chen Xu panted heavily, knowing that fighting was more physically demanding than any other sport. He was exhausted and out of breath, but he couldn't feel any pain. Chen Xu knew that this was because people release too much adrenaline during excitement, reducing their pain perception... He'd have his moment to cry when it stopped.