Director Wang was stunned when he heard this, and said, "How is that possible? Does he have nothing better to do?!"
Chen Xu tidied up the information Xiao Min had given him and said, "It's true! Uncle Wang, this is a huge problem. To be frank, this is definitely not something you and our city can handle. Um, Uncle Wang, I absolutely didn't mean any disrespect. Please listen to me!" Hearing Director Wang cough slightly in displeasure, Chen Xu quickly said, "When I came into the room just now, that person's computer was playing a very strange song. When I heard that song, I couldn't help but feel a sudden surge of anger! Really! Like I was possessed! And after my two friends listened to that song, they actually attacked me! One of my very close female classmates even picked up a knife and tried to stab me! It was really like they were possessed!"
Director Wang exclaimed incredulously, "No way?!"
"Really!" Chen Xu exclaimed immediately. "How could something I experienced firsthand be false?! I've read some similar materials, which say that these kinds of songs might be subconscious songs that can hypnotize and influence a person's subconscious! Not long ago, there was a report about a girl who suddenly committed suicide while listening to someone's songs. That's pretty much the idea. These kinds of songs can make people incredibly manic and want to vent, causing them to desperately attack others and also hurt themselves! If someone has just been hypnotized, it's not so bad, as they can easily regain their senses. But if they're deeply hypnotized, like that person just now, who stabbed himself more than a dozen times and was almost dead, they were still under hypnosis!"
"Really?!" Director Wang was also a little scared and said, "Xiao Xu, don't scare your uncle. This kind of thing is no joke! Have you been watching too many science fiction movies? There's no such music!"
Just then, a melody suddenly drifted into Chen Xu's ears, the same eerie music as before. Chen Xu, somewhat oblivious and frantic, quickly said into his phone, "Did you hear that? It's that music! Uh?"
music?!
Who turned on that music again?!
Chapter 109: A Terrifying Song!
When Chen Xu rushed into the room with his ears tied with his clothes, he found that all the police officers were in a daze. Some of them stood there like dumbfounded chickens, while others had a painful and complicated expression on their faces.
Chen Xu immediately cried out in alarm and rushed over to shut down the computer. As soon as the music stopped, the police officers seemed to wake up from a dream. Some of them found that their hands were already on their holsters and broke out in a cold sweat.
What exactly happened just now? They didn't completely forget; at least they could recall that they suddenly felt a murderous intent and wanted to vent it, and then someone was about to draw a gun... If it had been half a minute later, it could very well have been a tragic bloodbath!
Someone immediately reported the incident to Director Wang, who immediately said urgently, "Bring that computer over right now! Be careful! Don't lose any data on it! Also, bring Xiao Xu and his friends to headquarters! Protect the scene and don't allow anyone to enter. At the same time, tell the hospital to do everything they can to save the injured!"
Upon hearing Director Wang use the word "please," everyone became extremely respectful. Indeed, if Chen Xu hadn't reacted quickly, few of the police officers in the room would likely have survived! Everyone present was filled with gratitude towards Chen Xu, and their polite words made Chen Xu feel somewhat embarrassed.
Although being a police officer means being prepared to die in the line of duty, nobody wants to die, especially not in such a bizarre way! Thinking about what just happened, the group felt a chill run down their spines.
Chen Xu and the others drove straight to headquarters in a police car. Before getting in, Guan Yi gave the keys to the Nissan Teana to a policeman, asking him to return it to its rightful owner. Upon seeing the car, the policeman chuckled and said, "Isn't this Director Wang's son's car? How did it end up with you?!"
Guan Yi and Chen Xu exchanged a smile, thinking to themselves, "What a coincidence!"
In the police car, Tang Bixuan, still shaken, recounted what had just happened.
She delivered the cake to the address on Qingyang Road. She knocked on the door and the person let her in. But after she put the cake on the table, she suddenly heard the door close behind her.
Tang Bixuan, a petite and pretty girl, lived in this unfamiliar city. Naturally, she occasionally encountered people who coveted her looks. So, although she was somewhat timid, she was extremely vigilant. Upon hearing the door close, her first reaction was to rush into the adjacent bedroom and slam the door shut behind her!
Just as she was closing the door, she saw the man rushing towards her with a kitchen knife! Then he started hacking at the door recklessly!
This really terrified Tang Bixuan, so she immediately called Chen Xu… Normally, she should have called the police at this point, but Tang Bixuan sometimes heard some bad rumors online. For example, there was a news story about a robber who broke into a hair salon at night, raped and brutally murdered a girl, and the girl's roommate was hiding behind the door. After calling 110, no one came until the next morning.
This is a fairly popular post. Although it says that such incidents are extremely rare, it emphasizes that if you encounter danger, you must first seek help from someone you know.
As for Tang Bixuan, Chen Xu and Gao Xiaojie had been very kind to her these past few days, treating her like a little sister. So, without realizing it, this girl, who didn't have many friends, directly called Chen Xu's cell phone. Then, she spent those darkest ten minutes of her life in utter terror.
Those ten minutes felt like an eternity, because soon the man's beastly roars echoed from outside, though he stopped hacking at the door. But Tang Bixuan dared not open the door to look. Only after hearing Chen Xu's voice did she dare to come out, and then she saw a bloody scene.
Seeing the little girl's panicked state, Guan Yi and Gao Xiaojie hugged and comforted her. The police car, sirens blaring, sped to the police station.
When they arrived at the police station, Director Wang was actually waiting for them at the entrance. By then, he already knew the whole story. Upon seeing Chen Xu, he warmly took his hand and said, "Xiao Xu, I really have to thank you! If it weren't for you, we would have suffered a huge loss!"
Chen Xu exchanged pleasantries repeatedly, and Director Wang pulled him into his office. After the secretary served tea, Director Wang began to inquire about the specific details of the matter with some of the bureau's staff.
Everyone says going to the police station is scary, but now Chen Xu and his group are sitting on the sofa drinking tea. The police officers around them are all very kind and polite, which makes Chen Xu and his group feel quite flattered. After explaining the situation, some people still don't believe it, saying that this is too sci-fi.
Director Wang thought for a moment and said, "Xiao Xu, is that music harmless to people in the short term after it's played?"
Chen Xu nodded, and Director Wang clapped his hands and said, "Then I'll go and try it myself!"
Now everyone in the room was trying to persuade him, but Director Wang kept shaking his head and saying, "This matter is too big. Of course, Xiao Xu, it's not that I don't believe you, or that I don't believe everyone who just experienced this. But seeing is believing. If this song is really that terrible, the consequences would be unimaginable once it spreads! And Xiao Xu is right, this kind of thing is no longer something that our city can handle. We have to report it to our superiors immediately and come up with a proper solution. If I don't try it myself, how will I write the reports later?"
Everyone agreed that this made sense; it was too sci-fi! If word got out, people would think it was a fantasy! How could they feel at ease without trying it?
So Director Wang and another senior police officer removed all the dangerous items from their bodies. They placed the computer in a sealed interrogation room and had a technician wearing a soundproof headset operate it.
Everyone else was watching from outside via camera. After Director Wang made a gesture, the technician turned on the computer. Sure enough, as soon as it booted up, a program automatically popped up and started playing music.
The technician watched Director Wang and the policeman nervously. The two men initially appeared tense and ready, but after more than two minutes, they gradually became confused. About a minute later, their faces turned violent. At this moment, Chen Xu immediately shouted into the microphone, "Turn off the music immediately!"
This task shouldn't normally be directed by someone as lowly as Chen Xu, but the problem was that he was the only one here who truly understood the music. Upon hearing the order, the technician immediately shut down the music software, not the computer. At that moment, the two men, who had been glaring at each other, ready to fight, suddenly seemed to wake from a dream, staring at each other in disbelief, their foreheads covered in cold sweat!
Chen Xu and the others rushed into the house and saw Director Wang and the policeman sitting slumped on the floor, completely disheveled. Director Wang, trembling slightly, lit cigarettes for the two of them and swore, "Damn it! There really are such sci-fi things?!"
Although their reactions were a bit slow, it was probably because they were mentally prepared. Even so, they didn't last more than a few minutes! However, because they were prepared, they remembered the process very clearly.
"I was listening to music just now, and I kept thinking that I couldn't make a mistake, I couldn't make a mistake," the policeman recalled. "But gradually, I got a little engrossed in the music, and then I felt my mind getting more and more confused. Then a fire rose up in my heart, like I wanted to destroy everything! Yes, I wanted to destroy everything, including myself! What about you, Lao Wang?"
Director Wang took a drag of his cigarette, smiled wryly, and said, "I'm pretty much the same as you. I always feel like I want to punch the earth through."
Everyone was horrified upon hearing this. Just as Director Wang had said, if this music were to spread, who knew what kind of chaos it would cause! This was indeed not something that their municipal public security bureau could handle. Director Wang immediately instructed his secretary to prepare a report, while he himself quickly made a call to the provincial authorities.
The person on the other end of the phone didn't believe it at first, but the problem was that Director Wang said he had personally experienced it, which forced the higher-ups to take it seriously.
The technician and Chen Xu both took a look and found that the music was actually just a simple MP3 file. Because the person had set the music playback software to start automatically when the computer was turned on, and the song was also playing on a loop, the music would start playing as soon as the computer was turned on.
Faced with this kind of situation, everyone was very efficient. The report and the music file were quickly transmitted to the province. After studying it, the province found that it was indeed as Director Wang said, and immediately reported it to the higher authorities.
At this moment, Chen Xu found a restroom and hid inside, then began questioning Xiao Min.
Chen Xu vaguely remembered that the "Qingxin Pushan Mantra" from the game "Jin Yong's Heroes" only worked when played by Xiao Min. Others, even those who recorded it using lossless methods directly from the computer's audio track, had no effect on other machines. However, upon inspection, Chen Xu found it to be a very ordinary speaker. According to Xiao Min, this level of hardware shouldn't be able to achieve a hypnotic effect.
“That statement is incorrect,” Xiaomin explained. “In the future, audio and video recordings that can influence the subconscious and hypnotize the brain will be strictly regulated and must be conducted in accordance with specified standards. This does not preclude some people from conducting their own research without utilizing these standards.”
So that's how it is!
This subconscious music was naturally made using current hardware standards, which means it can be played on any machine, which is a big problem!
Sure enough, things were in big trouble. In the afternoon, Director Wang, with a grave expression, brought over an urgent document and said, "Everyone, take a look. Something really has happened."
When Chen Xu and the others came closer to take a look, their expressions instantly changed!
The document is titled: "Sudden Riots Erupt in Luxor, a City in Central-Eastern Egypt, Suspected to Be Linked to a Strange Song!"
Chapter 110 of the main text: "The Great Compassion Mantra" and "The Song of the Demons"
Luxor is a city in south-central Egypt, situated on the banks of the Nile River south of Cairo. Located on the southern half of the ancient Egyptian capital of Thebes, it is a famous tourist city and is known as the world's largest open-air museum and a city of palaces. Every year, hundreds of thousands of tourists from all over the world come to visit.
The document shows an S level, which means highly confidential.
Such confidential documents were not normally accessible to anyone, not even Director Wang, let alone Chen Xu. However, Director Wang was the first person in China to discover this kind of music, hence the honor. Director Wang also had a strange trust in Chen Xu, so he invited him to come and see them.
Just a few hours ago, a strange piece of music suddenly started playing in the air over Luxor. The music was broadcast over the city center, and a few minutes later, a conflict broke out between Luxor residents and tourists.
Traffic was paralyzed, countless vehicles collided, and people, their eyes bloodshot, began fighting desperately, frantically attacking anything they could reach. The riot lasted for half an hour until the music stopped on its own. During those half hours, according to incomplete statistics, approximately 300,000 people participated in the riot, with tens of thousands dead and countless others injured! Ancient Luxor was instantly transformed into a hellish scene!
This incident quickly caused panic around the world. According to survivors at the scene, they went crazy when they heard the music, and immediately came to their senses when the music ended.
Music that can influence a person's thinking?!
Music that can turn a city into a ghost town in an instant?!
This is terrifying! It's more terrifying than any weapon of mass destruction!
Because this music works so quickly and has an almost indiscriminate effect... its impact on police officers and soldiers is particularly terrifying... since these people are armed!
Among those killed in the Luxor incident, some were shot by police. This inevitably raises the question: what terrible consequences would have occurred if this music had been played unprepared over a city with a military presence or a military base?
The Luxor incident shocked officials worldwide. To avoid panic, media outlets in various countries reported that a riot by a non-governmental armed group had occurred in Luxor, and the United Nations strongly condemned it. The United States, once again acting as the world's policeman, passed a resolution just two hours after the incident, ordering the deployment of UN forces to Luxor.
As for the situation in China, the only publicity surrounding the incident was the phrase "Luxor riots," with nothing else mentioned.
If this were to get out, the resulting panic would be immense. No national organization could possibly withstand it. However, this matter could only be kept secret from the general public; state institutions couldn't possibly conceal it. Therefore, upon hearing that this strange music had also appeared in Harmony City, the authorities almost immediately dispatched experts by special plane!
At this moment, Chen Xu's watch also received an urgent request for help from Hao Aiguo... The military gave that special communication tool to SMMH, i.e., Chen Xu, not because they wanted this guy to mess around hacking into the military's systems for fun, but also because they hoped to be able to contact this genius in the future if anything came up.
After all, the cooperation with SMMH is definitely a long-term relationship, so the military won't bother them unless there's something urgent. They wouldn't want to bother such a powerful figure with every little thing.
However, this matter is very serious, indeed very serious. Chen Xu immediately sent the relevant information to the military, including the principles of subconscious hypnosis, etc. But regarding the next step, Chen Xu could only say, "I'm sorry, I'm not a god. I can only conduct some investigations secretly, but it's difficult to find a way to crack it. But if terrorists ever use this method to commit evil in the future, please play this music immediately. It should have a restraining effect on subconscious music with malicious messages."
Chen Xu naturally gave the military the "Great Compassion Mantra," which can be said to be the perfect nemesis to the music that was codenamed "The Song of the Devil" by the militaries of various countries!
The Great Compassion Mantra originates from the righteous chants of Buddhism. Legend has it that even the Buddha roared like a lion, delivering a powerful blow to the head of a criminal. The Great Compassion Mantra can make people reflect on and feel disgust for their mistakes from the bottom of their hearts, while the Demon Song can incite an uncontrollable wickedness from the depths of one's soul!
Since the two songs are rivals, what would happen if they were played simultaneously? Or, would the one with the loudest voice win?
Of course not.
Songs that influence the subconscious don't rely on loud volume, but on hypnosis. So, although the Demon Song wasn't loud, it was captivating, much like the legendary power to mesmerize the soul.
Guan Yi, Gao Xiaojie, and Director Wang all personally experienced this. Based on their own experiences, they both felt a sudden surge of murderous intent within them, as if someone in their brain was shouting, "Kill him! Kill him!" This subconscious influence is quite surreal, as evidenced by the reactions of Director Wang and the captain of the criminal investigation team after hearing it.
The two had known each other for decades and had a good relationship. But after listening to this music, they couldn't help but think of each other's bad points... his position was higher than theirs, his salary was higher, and even when he secretly drank their water, his face was really annoying, etc. These were reasons that weren't really reasons at all!
Under the hypnotic influence of this music, these trivial grievances are amplified infinitely, to the point of even wanting to kill! The Great Compassion Mantra is the exact opposite; that song has a subconscious influence on people, making them compassionate, encouraging them to think in a positive direction, repent for their mistakes, and guiding them towards goodness.
Therefore, the influence of the two types of music on people is to amplify good and evil thoughts. When they clash, they can basically neutralize each other... because no matter who a person is, unless they are a legendary saint, it is impossible for them to be without evil thoughts and only have good thoughts. Even the most wicked person has a kind side... Human beings are inherently contradictory, and the battle between good and evil has been ongoing since the advent of wisdom.
Therefore, playing both pieces of music simultaneously would plunge someone into a state of intense internal conflict. The likely outcome would be someone remaining still and contemplating, rather than launching an attack on those around them. So, if they could buy enough time to prevent chaos, special law enforcement officers could then use music-free headphones to locate the source of "The Devil's Song." Even if they couldn't apprehend the criminal, they would have time to turn off the music and maintain social order.
Of course, the Great Compassion Mantra differs from the Demon Song in that the Great Compassion Mantra requires special hardware, while the Demon Song does not. However, the equipment required for the Great Compassion Mantra is not difficult to manufacture; it is entirely possible with current technology, although its requirements are much higher than those of ordinary computer sound cards.
Hao Aiguo was overjoyed when he received the music, because his previous plea for help was merely a trial, but he never expected that SMMH actually had a solution! This not only made Hao Aiguo feel that SMMH was even more unfathomable and filled him with even greater awe, but the Great Compassion Mantra also had a near-perfect effect after being tested. It could be guaranteed that as long as this Great Compassion Mantra was present, there would absolutely be no more Luxor incidents.
Harmony! Harmony is the only way forward!
No one could bear such an outcome if something really happened. Even if we can't catch the other party, it would be good to have something to restrain them.
The information provided by Chen Xu was very comprehensive. Hao Aiguo said that the audio hardware requirements, frequency output, etc., could be completed tonight, and after testing, the finished product would be immediately distributed to cities across the country. Professional personnel would then be arranged to monitor it, so that in case of any accidents, they could at least keep them to a minimum.
When the domestic experts arrived, Chen Xu was studying the victim's computer.
The situation was urgent, so the police were extremely efficient. Within an hour, they had identified the injured man. His name was Meng Chong. He had attended university in the city and graduated two years ago, but still didn't have a formal job. His income came from software reviews on various websites; he was a seasoned online reviewer. Furthermore, his computer's usage records indicated that he was also a hacker.
Chen Xu discovered the Red Hacker Alliance's dedicated communication software on his computer and learned that his usual ID was Xiaobai Meng. He was considered a prominent figure in the Red Hacker Alliance. Although he was not as good as Guan Pingchao or Blue Baby, he was still young and overweight, and had a nickname: "Network Reconnaissance Machine".
A hacker rarely excels in all aspects of computer science; some are skilled at scanning for vulnerabilities, others at cracking passwords, some at spoofing data, and still others at defense. While Meng Chong's overall skill level wasn't particularly high, his investigative abilities were top-notch, often uncovering previously unknown information.
Chen Xu checked the computer's usage records. According to the intelligence provided by Director Wang and Hao Aiguo, the organization or individual who developed this music currently has no intention of targeting China. Therefore, Meng Chong hearing this song is likely a coincidence. And if it is a coincidence, then this computer should have recorded something...
Chapter 111 Clues
Chen Xu checked the usage records on Meng Chong's computer and the information of several software programs, and finally locked onto a foreign domain name.
This domain name is generally inaccessible through the domestic network because many foreign domain names and IPs are blocked. However, this is not a problem at all. Using a proxy is very simple... Chen Xu was already very familiar with it when he helped his father access Aicheng back then.