Bai Xing's Little Trick: Reading and Controlling Thoughts

Abandoned Factory.

This was Sato's Secret Base, secluded enough that the police had yet to discover it.

"Ten M4 Carbines, fifty magazines, and grenades. Sato, Nekozawa finally delivered the order he owed us last time."

Looking at the unharmed Sato before him, Tanaka Kouji was filled with excitement.

He hurriedly brought out the weapons that had only arrived yesterday and showed them to Sato one by one. He could hardly wait to follow Sato and do something big!

But Sato merely smiled. "No rush. Before that, there's one more thing I need to do."

Tanaka froze. "Huh? What is it?"

Sato took out a camera.

"Let's record a video first. Even I don't know what consequences that matter might bring, so we need to prepare before we go."

"A video?"

"That's right. It's about time we found ourselves some more helpers."

Tanaka took the camera, adjusted it, and aimed the lens directly at Sato.

"You can begin."

With a seemingly friendly smile at the corners of his mouth, Sato waved at the camera. "Hello, everyone. I'm Sato. Perhaps you're wondering why I'm not lying in a laboratory. Did the Ajin Research Management Association, which publicly rejected Tanaka's demands in harsh terms and placated the public with hypocritical excuses, secretly release me?

"The answer is no.

"For certain reasons, I managed to escape from there. At the same time, I've decided to show everyone the resolve of us Ajin and demonstrate our strength.

"If the government does not establish an Ajin autonomous district as demanded, I will take corresponding measures.

"The target will be the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the agency overseeing Ajin research!

"At three o'clock in the afternoon five days from now, if we have still received no response, we will act immediately.

"Everyone is welcome to come and watch. And if there are any Ajin who support me, please make sure to come.

"Come fight alongside us, comrades!"

Three days passed.

Just as the outside world was thrown into an uproar by Sato's declaration of war,

Bai Xing finally emerged from his room.

Smack!

The moment he stepped outside, he heard a sharp slap from around the corner nearby.

"I told you not to go near Bai again. Didn't you hear me?!"

Bai Xing raised an eyebrow slightly, recognizing Takahashi Hitomi's voice.

The one being slapped, however, was Misako.

"Miss Takahashi, I... I had Mr. Iketani's permission."

Smack!

Before Misako could finish, Takahashi Hitomi slapped her again.

"Remember, I'm the leader of the Takahashi Syndicate. Are my words somehow less effective than Iketani's?!"

Misako said nothing more. After Takahashi Hitomi told her to "get lost," she quickly left.

Right afterward, Takahashi Hitomi rounded the corner and headed toward Bai Xing's room.

But when she looked up, she found Bai Xing standing there.

"Ah!" she cried in fright.

"Bai."

Bai Xing waved to her. "In that case, you come with me."

With that, he turned and went back into the room.

After three days of study and practice, Bai Xing was ready to test a new little trick he had devised.

His original test subject had been Misako.

He had not expected Takahashi Hitomi to be jealous enough to use her status to suppress Misako.

To Bai Xing, it did not matter who the test subject was. What mattered was whether the little trick worked.

So he changed the target to Takahashi Hitomi.

Takahashi Hitomi felt as though she had been caught red-handed. She truly did harbor some unusual feelings toward Bai Xing.

Faced with this mysterious, powerful, handsome man brimming with distinctive charm,

few girls could keep themselves under control.

What was more, Bai Xing had saved her life at a critical moment, resolved the crisis, and avenged her father's death.

Even though he had threatened her before, that had faded beneath a special filter.

Naturally, she had developed certain special feelings for Bai Xing.

Especially after seeing Misako climb into Bai Xing's bed, those feelings had been intensified by jealousy.

Now that she had entered Bai Xing's room, Takahashi Hitomi's heart was filled with nervousness and secret delight.

Bai Xing, of course, saw through her girlish thoughts perfectly.

Unfortunately, he felt no emotional impulse toward either Misako or Takahashi Hitomi.

So he said bluntly, "I intend to test a newly developed little trick on you. If you refuse, I'll find someone else."

Takahashi Hitomi's cheeks instantly flushed red, and she spoke in a voice as faint as a mosquito's. "W-what little trick?"

Bai Xing lifted an eyebrow, realizing that she had misunderstood.

"A method of interfering with neurons and the brain. It may carry a certain degree of danger. Think carefully before making your decision."

Only then did Takahashi Hitomi realize it was not what she had imagined.

Yet her face turned even redder.

She only felt that she had made a complete fool of herself before the man she liked.

Girls in love did not care about such things.

In order not to let Bai Xing look down on her, and to gain a little more standing with him,

Takahashi Hitomi did not care whether it might be dangerous, nor did she even ask for the specifics.

She simply nodded and agreed.

"Fine! I accept!"

After having Takahashi Hitomi sit down, Bai Xing gently placed his hand atop her head.

Fine, dense currents of electricity immediately flowed from his fingertips and seeped into her body.

It looked simple, but it required extremely precise control.

Bai Xing's concept was simple in one sense and complicated in another.

For example.

You hired a young model at a club, ran your hand over her smooth, tender thigh, and then told her, "You're beautiful."

From this example, we could derive the following information:

The hand stroked the young model's thigh. (The tactile neurons in the fingers.)

The sensory cells transmitted that sensation to the brain. (Nerve fibers carried it to the brain through nerve impulses.)

The brain's nerve cells analyzed it and determined that the sensation was smooth and tender.

The brain sent that judgment to the mouth, instructing it to speak. (Nerve fibers transmitted it through nerve impulses to the muscles on the vocal cords that controlled speech.)

A voice spoke: "You're beautiful."

Several concepts were involved here.

Neurons.

Neurons were highly specialized cells, the fundamental structural and functional units of the nervous system. They could perceive stimuli and conduct excitation.

Nerve impulses.

The process by which, after nerve cells in a human or animal body were stimulated, excitation was conducted along nerve fibers in the form of electrical signals.

Conduction.

The conduction of nerve impulses was an electrochemical process, consisting of sequential electrochemical changes along nerve fibers.

When nerves were stimulated, the permeability of their cell membranes changed dramatically.

This change altered the amount of Na, sodium, and K, potassium, ions flowing in and out.

Both K and Na were elements with only one electron in their outermost shell.

Both K and Na ions carried a +1 charge.

Less K flowed out of the cell, while more Na flowed into it.

This created a potential difference between the inside and outside of the cell.

One neuron after another used this potential difference to pass stimuli to the brain.

The neurons in the brain also thought, judged, and reacted in the form of nerve impulses.

Based on this, Bai Xing possessed the ability to control magnetic fields. By generating electrical currents to stimulate them, he could potentially perform the following two operations.

First, read thoughts.

The transmission of sensations, the brain's thinking, and the delivery of commands all revolved around one core element:

nerve impulses.

That was, the potential difference.

Therefore, if the principles behind the potential differences in human neurons could be deciphered, Bai Xing could take over her brain.

Second, control thoughts.

By adding a certain level of electrical stimulation to the conduction process between neurons in the brain,

and altering the potential differences during conduction, he could, to a certain extent, distort and control a person's thoughts.

For instance, Bai Xing was currently distorting Takahashi Hitomi's thoughts into a steadfast, unwavering, utterly devoted love for himself!

He did this because it was simpler.

It was, in a sense, merely going with the flow.

Takahashi Hitomi already liked Bai Xing somewhat, but that feeling was still very basic.

It was only attraction born of biological instinct, or perhaps admiration for strength.

It had nothing whatsoever to do with love.

Yet after Bai Xing's distortion and control, Takahashi Hitomi could even give up everything for him. Even if he told her to die, she would not hesitate in the slightest.

Of course, this was not real love either.

Still, Bai Xing's experiment could be considered a success.