Chasing the Trail
The hypnosis session lasted only half an hour. The woman woke at the last second of the thirtieth minute. Seeing Xu Huo seated back behind his desk, she said, "It felt like I had a nightmare, but the second half was strangely relaxing."
"That means you were able to relieve your stress," Xu Huo said.
"Was that hypnosis?" the woman asked, puzzled. "I felt like I was conscious the whole time, as if I'd actually gone on a trip. Hypnosis never felt so novel before."
"People have different experiences at different stages. Deep down, you've already found the answer—you just needed someone else to guide you to it." Xu Huo smiled.
The woman smiled and nodded. "I hope I run into you again sometime."
The woman left the Treatment Room with her friend, and the two of them departed the clinic together. After they were gone, Xu Huo left as well, carrying a business card from a Haiyun Technology executive that he had gotten from the woman.
An ordinary employee like her wouldn't know the group's confidential information, but no company could completely conceal internal changes. During the hypnosis, the woman had let slip that a few days earlier, she had seen an executive get beaten in his office, apparently for botching something. The employee benefits the company was supposed to provide had also been repeatedly delayed, and the finance staff had been working overtime for days. None of them looked happy.
Xu Huo found a relatively cheap place to stay, then contacted a local black market organization to buy information on the executive. Since information could easily leak through Jixin Terminals, the seller had chosen the most primitive delivery method: a face-to-face exchange, money for goods.
He picked an entertainment venue near where he was staying