Another Side Effect of NZT

Chen Chen walked out of Zheng Jian's office.

His expression remained normal. No one could tell that half a minute earlier, he had just argued with an associate professor.

Following the stairs down, Chen Chen reached the first floor, walked through the lobby, and exited the office building.

Only then did Chen Chen take out his phone and check the time.

It was exactly ten o'clock.

"The time... has come."

Chen Chen murmured softly, then followed the path toward the dormitories.

After he had walked more than ten meters away, a sudden thud sounded behind him.

It was as though something soft yet heavy had fallen hard from upstairs.

The passing pedestrians fell briefly silent, but then a wave of piercing screams erupted.

The entire campus boiled over...

Chen Chen did not look back. He simply chose to leave.

Actually, Chen Chen had not been certain before that Zheng Jian's wife had been killed by Zheng Jian.

But sometimes, certainty was unnecessary. Suspicion alone was enough.

As for why Chen Chen had suspected him?

It was simple.

First, medulloblastoma was not a common illness for someone Zheng Jian's wife's age. It was a malignant glioma of the posterior cranial fossa that occurred mostly in children and was rare in adults.

Of course, Chen Chen would not have considered all this based on that point alone, but one must not forget Zheng Jian's identity.

Zheng Jian held doctorates in both biochemistry and pharmacology, and he was also a teacher at the School of Life Sciences.

Simply put, he had sufficient expertise and the necessary conditions to obtain his wife's somatic cells at any time, induce them into cancer cells in a laboratory, and finally inject them back into his wife's body.

That was why Chen Chen had asked whether he often gave his wife IV drips at home.

Of course, those two points alone proved nothing. Zheng Jian also needed a motive to kill his wife.

Then his second wife—the daughter of a high-ranking official—was naturally the motive.

Simply put, it was the cliché story of a scumbag abandoning the wife who had stood by him through hardship after achieving success and fame, choosing instead a woman who could further his prospects.

Since there was a motive, reverse deduction naturally led to the conclusion that Zheng Jian had killed his wife.

But that was only speculation. What truly led Chen Chen to that conclusion was the photograph displayed in his office.

According to criminal psychology, this was a form of psychological compensation.

By placing a photo of his ex-wife on his desk, he could, first, ease the guilt in his heart.

Second, it could make those around him think that he treasured his ex-wife deeply, reducing suspicion that he had committed a crime.

However, people were not cold-blooded animals after all. For countless years, moral notions of right and wrong had restrained everyone. Not everyone could easily cross that line.

Thus, although Zheng Jian had successfully killed his wife, his heart was far from at peace.

The fear of being exposed, his guilt toward his wife, and the condemnation of his conscience constantly tormented him. He did not even dare see a psychologist.

It became a burden that had weighed on him for years.

Later, this burden even made him begin to fear his dead wife, leading to the scene from before.

Though a photograph of his ex-wife sat on his desk, it faced away from him...

By then, Chen Chen's guess had reached a sixty percent likelihood.

Do not think sixty percent was insignificant. Aside from certain inevitable events such as "the sun rises in the east," "water flows downward," and "objects fall rather than rise," most things in the world were merely random events with a certain probability.

A sixty percent chance was already enough for Chen Chen to take a gamble.

So, after entering Zheng Jian's office, Chen Chen first acted submissively, causing the other man to lower his guard.

Then, adapting to the circumstances, he planted a "seed" in Zheng Jian's mind by fiddling with the mantel clock.

This was a common method of hypnosis.

Human consciousness was divided into the surface consciousness and the subconscious. Under normal waking conditions, the surface consciousness held the dominant position.

So-called hypnosis involved guiding and suggesting to place the patient into a light sleep state. At that time, the subconscious would be released, allowing the hypnotist to bypass the conscious mind and communicate directly with the patient's subconscious.

That was also why Chen Chen had directly sent the materials to him. He wanted Zheng Jian to completely lower his guard.

However, even at that point, Chen Chen still could not hypnotize him.

Although hypnosis sounded mysterious, it was ultimately nothing more than that. For a psychologist to hypnotize someone, that person had to actively cooperate; otherwise, everything would be futile.

Moreover, Chen Chen understood that no matter how submissive he acted, Zheng Jian could not possibly let down his guard entirely.

But that had only been Chen Chen's first step.

The second step was that the mantel clock chimed on the hour.

And at the same time the clock chimed, Chen Chen asked, "Who is the woman in the photograph?" This step caused Zheng Jian's subconscious to link the mantel clock with his ex-wife.

However, because Chen Chen had set the mantel clock five minutes ahead, it was only 9:55 at the time. So Chen Chen set it back, while deepening the impression of that "seed" in the other man's mind.

Next came the third step.

Chen Chen suddenly went on the offensive, questioning Zheng Jian about the cause of his wife's death. Such an extreme shift would usually catch someone completely off guard.

Moreover, the question itself left him utterly flustered and shocked.

That was also why Zheng Jian had become so furious.

Because sometimes, anger was merely a reflexive cover for guilt when people were caught unprepared.

At the same time, Chen Chen laid his cards on the table once more, directly telling Zheng Jian that he was going to hypnotize him.

Although this put Zheng Jian completely on guard, it was also a form of suggestion.

It was precisely that suggestion that planted the seed in Zheng Jian's mind that he might be hypnotized.

Then came the final step.

Chen Chen deliberately made the motions of hypnotizing Zheng Jian, pushing his nerves to the breaking point, only to suddenly make a mistake and drop the photo frame onto the floor.

At that moment, Zheng Jian's first thought was—Chen Chen's attempt to hypnotize him had failed.

Finally, Chen Chen turned and left.

Seeing the man questioning him leave, Zheng Jian's tightly wound will relaxed in an instant. Within just a few minutes, his mind had undergone intense shifts from calm to tension, then extreme tension, and finally calm again.

As if he had just ridden a roller coaster, Zheng Jian's mental strength was completely exhausted.

And that was when Chen Chen delivered the final blow!

Dong!

The mantel clock chimed, like a pistol's trigger being pulled.

In that instant, the seed buried in Zheng Jian's heart erupted completely, igniting the fear and guilt he had hidden away for so many years!

Like a flash flood bursting through a dam, under Chen Chen's hypnosis, Zheng Jian leaped from the fifth floor and ended his sinful life...

It was that simple.

Still, I really was decisive. A living, breathing person—and I killed him just like that.

Chen Chen thought silently.

Was all this a side effect of NZT-48, or had the sudden acquisition of power unleashed the darkness within him?