Atavism

Chapter 20

“The truth of this case will come out one day,” Liu Er said, pointing to his head.

"My intuition, that's what my intuition tells me."

The next morning, between 9:30 and 10:00, I received two phone calls, which forced me to give up my plan to continue sleeping.

The first call was from Wang Maoyuan; Liu Er had given him my home phone number.

He mentioned two things. First, our suspicions were confirmed: of the two female students Zhang Jinlong raped at the university, You was indeed You Fang. Second, yesterday afternoon and evening, Wang Maoyuan mobilized several young criminal investigation team members to conduct a thorough search of all the unrepaired cells from C3 to C27. Besides Wu Yuzhu's scratch marks, they identified two other scratch marks resembling three rabbits, and three more suspected marks. After verifying the original detention records, Wang Maoyuan speculated that those who left the scratch marks were likely serious offenders.

Five minutes later, the call was from Liang Yingwu. I had asked him to look into the Three Rabbits painting last night. There were only news reports online about British experts coming to China, but no follow-up reports about their conclusions.

Regarding the question of whether any cult uses the image of three rabbits as a totem, Liang Yingwu is still asking people to investigate, while the conclusions of British experts are already known.

In fact, the British experts didn't reach a definitive conclusion. They had originally hoped to find a definite answer through archaeology, but after traveling across much of China, they only proved that traces of the Three Rabbits motif remained in many places in the ancient East as well. These traces were not limited to Buddhism or the Sui Dynasty; they were also found in the Yuan Dynasty. I think the discovery in the Yuan Dynasty refers to the Shuangsheng Temple.

British experts have made a speculative conclusion: research has found that prolonged exposure to images of three rabbits can have a calming effect. A British psychological research institution even suggests that being in an environment where images of three rabbits are ubiquitous can lead to a state of tranquility and detachment from worldly desires. Since tranquility and detachment are goals that all religions hope their followers will achieve, these religions have unanimously adopted such images in places like churches.

Recalling the first time I saw the Three Rabbits image at the Temple of the Two Saints, it seemed to have a calming effect on me. But this makes it hard to explain why even vicious rapists are so enthusiastic about the Three Rabbits image.

These two phone calls only made me more confused. I lay in bed for a while, then got up to wash up. Afterwards, I went into the bedroom.

Liu Er is looking out the window. Now he can open the curtains without any problem.

“Wang Maoyuan called,” I said.

Liu Er turned to look at me: "What did he say?"

"It's You Fang."

“Oh…” he responded slowly, turning back to his side. “I guessed it.”

“Everything happens for a reason. So you should think about how you treat your mother again.”

"Everything has a reason, but I haven't found the reason why I came into this world yet." Liu Er avoided my question.

"Are you sure the 'April 23' case wasn't just a simple rape case?" I asked.

"You think so too, don't you?"

"Alright, let's come out and have breakfast."

While we were eating bread at the dining table, I told Liu Er about Wang Maoyuan's new discovery and the Three Rabbits Picture.

Liu Er stuffed bread into his mouth and remained silent while I spoke.

As I was speaking, it suddenly occurred to me that I had originally been investigating the cause of Liu Er's physical mutation, but now I was investigating Zhang Jinlong's rape case. I only realized the shift in focus now, which shows that the bizarre nature of the "4.23" case was too tempting to my curiosity.

But regardless of what happened in the "4.23" case, it should have nothing to do with the mutation of Liu Er. Otherwise, the sins committed by these criminals back then would certainly not be limited to just Liu Er. Wouldn't there have been hundreds of mutants by now?

The "4.23" case is closely related to Liu Er, and he obviously wants to investigate it further. At the same time, to satisfy my curiosity, I certainly won't ignore it either. As for Liu Er's genetic mutation, we'll wait for the test results of You Fang's hair. Maybe it's a genetic issue from the woman's side.

After I finished explaining the details of the two phone calls, Liu Er finished his bread, wiped his mouth, and said, "Na Duo, have you ever thought that maybe we could visit Wang Maoyuan's friends and get some results?"

"Wang Maoyuan's friend? You mean his colleague who investigated the '4.23' case with him back then? What?"

Do you think he held back something? "I said, frowning."

"No, no, I'm referring to someone else—the one who studies female sexual psychology."

I remember now, the "Six Ears" refers to the gynecologist who told Wang Maoyuan that a large number of women in eight provinces and one city suffered from frigidity.

"You suspect the two are related?" I asked.

"The time and place are similar, which makes me feel a little strange."

"What do you think? How do you think it is?" I sensed something was off and quickly asked him.

"I can't quite put my finger on it, it's just a vague guess, not as clear as other intuitions, so I'm not sure either. But think about it, if there is a connection, the serious criminals in the '4.23' case are all dead, but those people with frigidity or those whose reproductive systems have atrophied are still alive. I want to show them the picture of the three rabbits, I wonder what their reaction will be."

“By the way, now that you mention it, I remembered that the minor offenders in the ‘4.23’ case weren’t sentenced to death, right? We could work on that too.”

“You don’t need to worry about this. Do you think Wang Maoyuan’s investigation of the cells will be the end of it? Especially since he found several scratches on the Three Rabbits picture, he will definitely go to find the parties involved who are still alive,” Liu Er said.

"That's true." I thought for a moment and said, "Then I'll call Wang Maoyuan again."

"Never mind, I'll do it," Liu Er said, glancing at the half-eaten bread I still had.

"Wang Maoyuan is deeply impressed by our ability to make connections," Liu Er said to me after finishing the call.

"It's your associative thinking, or more accurately, your intuition. So, did he give you that person's phone number?"

Liu Er waved the paper in his hand: "Zhang Wuyin is a bit younger than Lao Wang, and she's also retired. I heard she's a somewhat famous female sex psychologist who has published several monographs. Lao Wang will make a call for us to make an appointment first."

"Did you ask about the surviving prisoners in the 'April 23' case?"

"He'll go look for it in the next couple of days."

Before I could even sit down at the newspaper office, I heard Wang Liu shouting, "Which brother has my latest issue of 'New Discovery'? Which brother?" He was calling out as he looked around the office.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no." He muttered as he passed my seat. "They just sent me this to write a manuscript. Just because I work in publishing doesn't mean I deserve to have my books stolen. Every time I accidentally leave one on my desk, it's gone by the next day."

"What goes around comes around," Tang the devil comforted him.

"You have to be kind, you have to be kind!" Wang Liu cried out, pounding her chest. "What am I going to do about my manuscript today?"

“Thirteen is too much!” a low voice said.

Wang Liu looked up and saw a person standing with his back to him, hands behind his back.

"One bowl of cold noodles for Thirteen Taibao." The eight words were spoken with intonation, and the person slowly turned around.

He would have looked really cool if he had worn a God of Gamblers trench coat, but unfortunately he was only wearing a tank top, which was quite unsightly.

Wang Liu was already standing there, and looking around the entire newspaper office, only one person remained who had acted so shamelessly. Of course, it was Su Shixun.

Wang Liu rushed forward and grabbed his neck with all her might.

"You took it, kid, and you dare to try and cheat me out of my money? You're asking for it! Are you going to give it back or not?"

"I didn't take it! I didn't take it!" Su Shixun shook his head violently as he desperately protested.

Wang Liu released his hand: "Tell me, where is it?"

"Thirteen's too full, that's all for lunch today." Su Shixun's face was defiant, a stark contrast to his demeanor just three seconds ago. Thanks to my introduction, the Mysterious Cold Noodles Restaurant is now a sensation throughout the Morning Star Newspaper.

"You really didn't take it?" Wang Liu's small eyes were full of disbelief.

"certainly!"

"Okay, okay, tell me quickly, I'm in a hurry to write the manuscript."

"I did see a copy of this in the restroom this morning when I went to use it," Su Shixun coughed, then added, "Moreover, the current rate of its integrity is at least 95%."

Wang Liu slapped his forehead: "Oh, I forgot to take it out after using the toilet yesterday. You know, you can't get carried away with anything." He ran two steps towards the toilet, then stopped, asking warily, "What does '95% intact rate' mean?"

"I didn't have enough toilet paper, so I just tore off two sheets. Don't worry, they're advertising sheets with pictures of luxury cars and beautiful women, perfect for wiping your butt."

A moment later, Wang Liu came running back, beaming with joy, holding a small magazine.

"Which issue of 'New Discovery' is this?" I asked.

"The third phase."

"Do you have any of the earlier issues? I'd like to borrow them." This is the Chinese version of a famous French science magazine, which was recently introduced to China. I've heard about it from others and have been wanting to read it for a while.

"Let me look," Ren Liu said. After a while, he tossed a book over; it was the second issue.

I flipped through the table of contents and saw two words that I couldn't forget—"genes".

The title might not seem helpful to me, but I still turned to page 112. The article was titled "Affection Affects Genes."

A research team from Quebec has published their findings: a mother's hug can alter a child's stress response at the genetic level. Furthermore, newborns' DNA is altered through contact with their mothers. Based on these results, the research team believes that the environment influences the genes of young humans. Previously, genes were considered innate.

At noon, I showed this article to Liang Yingwu at the Mysterious Cold Noodles Restaurant. Now, whenever he's in the vicinity at noon, he goes to the Mysterious Cold Noodles Restaurant for cold noodles.

"This is the first time I've seen this research result," Liang Yingwu said after reading it.

"Really? With your resources, you couldn't receive these research results immediately?"

Liang Yingwu shook his head: “There are thousands of research groups in the world that release all kinds of research results almost every day. However, there is still a long way to go from the research results to the mainstream of the academic community. Along this way, a large number of incorrect research results will be screened out, and often correct results will also be temporarily screened out. So it is normal that our genetics institute did not take this result seriously.”

"But I think that if it is proven that a person's genes can be changed in childhood, perhaps under special circumstances they can also be changed in adulthood, without the need for a virus invasion, but only with a certain environment."

"So what are you trying to say? That Liu Er changed his genes under certain circumstances?" Liang Yingwu asked me in return.

"Well..." I was stumped by Liang Yingwu's question, so I could only chuckle awkwardly and say, "It's just a new idea, I didn't say it would be like that. I was thinking, if the genetic approach doesn't work out, are there any other paths we can take?"

"Regarding genetics, although the results of your second hair test haven't come back yet, as far as I know, there seems to be some issue as well."

I immediately perked up: "Are there differences in genes between them and normal people? You already know, so why haven't the results come out yet?"

"Let's do a homogeneity comparison with the abnormal parts of Liu Er. The final results should be out in the next couple of days."

"Ah, I thought if it was a genetic problem, it was mostly his father, Zhang Jinlong."

"Let's wait for the results before drawing any conclusions."

The following evening, we knocked on Zhang Wuyin's door.

Zhang Wuyin lives alone, a fact Wang Maoyuan had already told us. He also mentioned that Zhang Wuyin divorced a long time ago and has been living alone for many years, focusing on academic research. He probably wanted to avoid us asking questions we shouldn't.

I'm a little annoyed. Did I give Lao Wang the impression of being such a gossip? Did I ask him something I shouldn't have? Uh, it seems like I specifically asked him about Zhang Wuyin's story.

Zhang Wuyin was slightly overweight, with short, thick eyebrows, bright, piercing eyes, and a concise, forceful manner of speaking, giving her a somewhat androgynous appearance. She handed us two cans of Coke, then plopped down on the sofa, lit a cigarette, took a drag, and asked, "Do you guys smoke?"

"No." We all shook our heads.

“You have to smoke, whether you like it or not, it’s either firsthand smoke or secondhand smoke,” Zhang Wuyin said. But when she said this, which should have been a joke, there was no smile at all, leaving Liu Er and me at a loss for words.

"Old Wang said you two kids are incredibly curious and wanted me to entertain you. Looks like you're quite to his liking. Well then, you'll have to listen to what I have to say."

"Oh," Liu Er and I replied.

"In 1981, I was working as a gynecologist at Ruijin Hospital and had just started trying my hand at women's psychological counseling. I discovered that starting in early summer, some women began to consult me about frigidity. Chinese women are very conservative, and women are often passive in sexual activity, so those who came to me with these kinds of problems were actually quite serious. After a while, some of them began to experience atrophy of their reproductive organs, and the gynecology department at Ruijin Hospital also began to see these patients, all of whom started with frigidity. A psychological problem could develop into a serious physiological problem, which was quite valuable for my research. Combined with some other reasons, I made this my research project and began to focus on and study it."

"Could you please tell me what you mean by 'other reasons'?" I asked. I wondered if this reason was related to the "April 23" case.

Zhang Wuyin looked me over and said, "The other reason is that I am also a patient."

I immediately shut my mouth tightly, but Zhang Wuyin's casual remark made me quite embarrassed.

It seems that Wang Maoyuan's fear of "asking the wrong question" has come true.

"After studying it for a while, I discovered that this disease had no psychological or physiological warning signs; it was sudden. At the same time, through correspondence with friends and classmates, I gradually learned that many provinces and cities in the south had seen similar cases, not just in Shanghai. The patients all appeared in the late spring or early summer of 1981, with the southernmost provinces, such as Guangdong and Fujian, seeing it a little earlier. Judging from the uniformity of the time, it seemed like some kind of epidemic, but no virus could be detected in the patients' bodies. After the summer of 1982, the number of new cases decreased, and the old patients began to improve at a very slow pace. Of course, it was difficult for the already atrophied reproductive organs to fully recover. In addition, I suspected that men in the same period also suffered from this disease, but most of these patients were treated for impotence."

Zhang Wuyin finished his cigarette, casually tossed the butt into the ashtray, and asked, "Alright, the story's over. Anything else you want to ask?"

Liu Er took out a piece of paper with a picture of three rabbits drawn on it and handed it to Zhang Wuyin: "Have you seen this picture before?"