Have You Seen Resident Evil?

Have you seen Infernal Affairs?

Qi Haoguo suddenly asked a question that seemed quite abrupt in the current situation, but without waiting for "Duck Foot" to answer, he continued speaking to himself:

"What was Andy Lau's character's name again? Lau Kin-yan? He often said, 'I didn't have a choice before, but now I want to be a good person.' Actually, he did have a choice; Tony Leung even showed him the way—go talk to the judge. But he didn't want to choose. Why? Because he'd go to jail!"

Qi Haoguo laughed again, his tone tinged with regret. "I never intended to be a good person. I just wanted to protect what I truly cared about, to live a better life, to sleep better at night, and to find peace of mind. I simply followed my instincts, stopped what I shouldn't have done, did what I should have done, and made amends for some mistakes. I felt that was enough. But all along, it always felt like something was missing, like there was grit in my shoe, stuck there, but I wasn't sure where it was, I couldn't pour it out, and I couldn't reach it. Until you came today, I suddenly understood where the grit was in my shoe... I haven't paid enough price for what I've done."

As Qi Haoguo spoke, his eyes grew brighter and his tone rose involuntarily, as if he could barely contain his excitement and agitation. "In the past, in order to obtain certain things more easily, I paid for things I thought were unimportant. Now, if I want to get those things back, I have to pay the price. Nothing is free, especially peace of mind."

"Duck Foot" stood up, his expression a mixture of panic and disbelief. "What the hell is this stuff? Infernal Affairs? Being a good guy? Peace of mind? You fucking... you're insane! No wonder you closed all those profitable businesses and ran off to hide in this backwater, you've got a screw loose!"

As "Duck Foot" spoke, he decided to leave for the time being, because he suddenly had a hunch that the "Officer Xu" who had just spoken to Qi Haoguo on the phone might actually be a policeman.

But just as he was about to get off the sofa, Qi Haoguo, who had been sitting calmly, suddenly jumped over.

Originally, "Duck Foot" had been wary of Qi Haoguo, but after the other party uttered so much nonsense, his attention naturally dropped. Just as he was thinking of leaving, Qi Haoguo was already in front of him before he knew it.

Qi Haoguo threw a small punch from below, striking "Duck Foot's " Adam's apple with a short, powerful motion. He then pushed him back onto the sofa, twisted his arms behind his back, and subdued him.

Qi Haoguo's weight advantage was too great; "Duck Foot" had no chance to struggle and was firmly controlled.

Then "Xiao Liu" was called in, helped Qi Haoguo untie "Duck Foot's " shoelaces, and tied his hands and feet together.

Looking at "Duck Foot," who was still lying face down on the sofa, "Xiao Liu" Qi Haoguo with a mixture of excitement and worry, "Uncle, what do we do next? What should we do with this guy?"

Qi Haoguo said, "The police will be here soon. Let them handle it. By the way, I'll probably be staying at the police station for a while. If the police need to investigate anything, whether they come to my house or the company, you'll have to cooperate. As for company business and your aunt's affairs, I've already made arrangements, so you don't need to worry about them. It won't make a difference if I'm not there."

Seeing his uncle-in-law sit back on the sofa and calmly start making tea, "Xiao Liu" inexplicably relaxed as well, sat down beside him, and waited for the police to arrive.

"You son of a bitch, Qi Haoguo! You're fucking insane! You've lost your mind! Don't waste your time, do you think you can become a monk just because you're bald? People like you are destined for hell after you die, and there's no use trying to whitewash yourself! If you have too much money, share some with us; if you're tired of living, go die yourself, don't fucking..." "Duck Foot," bound hand and foot, struggled on the sofa, and finally, unable to break free, he roared with curses. From the conversation between Qi Haoguo and "Xiao Liu," he was truly certain that this guy had called the police.

Enraged, "Xiao Liu" grabbed "Duck Foot" and punched him several times in the stomach, turning his cursing into screams of pain.

"Stop, stop, stop, there's no need." Qi Haoguo put down the kettle that had just boiled water, quickly waved his hand to stop "Xiao Liu," then got up and sat down next to "Duck Foot," patted his head with a smile, and said rather earnestly:

"Don't struggle anymore. You're still young and have a chance. Once you're inside, think carefully about what you're truly afraid of and what you're pursuing. Don't be misled by appearances."

Not long after, local police from Tongshi Town arrived and took Qi Haoguo and "Duck Foot" back to the station. "Xiao Liu" also went back with them to cooperate with the investigation.

The desperate "Duck Foot" was quite "pragmatic." As soon as he arrived at the station, he took the initiative to implicate his two accomplices who were still outside and cooperated very well in helping the police lure them out. So when Officer Xu from Citong arrived in Tongshi Town, all the suspects had already been arrested.

Qi Haoguo not only told Old Xu in detail about the incident where "Duck Foot" threatened him, but also revealed many other things from his earlier years.

Listening to Qi Haoguo calmly recount his crimes, as if chatting in a teahouse, Officer Xu couldn't help but feel an urge to call Chu Xiuwen and ask, "Has Mr. Qi been through something lately?" Of course, it was just a thought; revealing the information to Chu Xiuwen now would be a violation of regulations.

When Qi Haoguo returned home, he and "Duck Foot" entered the house one after the other. Alice then "reported" the news to Xiang Kun was discussing the issue with Lao Xia on the rooftop.

According to Xiang Kun's arrangements, Alice is currently mainly monitoring not only some locations related to "Shenxing Technology", but also the entire Chongyun Village, a part of Tongshi Town, and some people who are connected with or involved with Xiang Kun.

Qi Haoguo was a secondary target of attention, on the periphery of Alice's "surveillance network." He only received more attention because of his large-scale investments in Tongshi Town and Chongyun Village during this period, and because he lived directly in Tongshi Town.

However, upon noticing the targeted anomalies of "Duck Foot" and others, which triggered Alice's early warning mechanism, she immediately allocated resources to "take care" of them.

Alice only reported to Xiang Kun and handed the matter over to him after "Duck Foot" began extorting Qi Haoguo.

If the targets of the extortion were Liu Caifu, You Meng, or individuals like Zi Cheng and Chang Bin, Alice would see it as a challenge to her "protective circle," and would immediately take pre-emptive measures, control the risks, prepare counterattack plans, and notify Xiang Kun as early as possible.

However, Qi Haoguo's status was not so high, so she only notified Xiang Kun when "Duck Foot" actually started extorting money—after all, the boss was very busy and couldn't inform everyone about everything!

On the rooftop, Xiang Kun and Lao Xia, who had just finished discussing "Shenxing Technology," Mr. Liang, John, and topics related to dreams, listened together on their laptops to the recording that "Duck Foot" used to blackmail Qi Haoguo, and then listened to the real-time conversation between Qi Haoguo and "Duck Foot."

Judging from the recording and the conversation between "Duck Foot" and Qi Haoguo, back in the provincial capital, Qi Haoguo, in order to win a bidding project, arranged for "Duck Foot" and others to secretly threaten the person in charge of a competitor, causing him to withdraw from the competition. The method of threat was to deliberately arrange for people from the sex industry to provide services to him, and then rush in to take pictures at the crucial moment.

Xiang Kun could certainly use Alice to delete all the recordings on all the devices, leaving "Duck Foot" and the others without the tools for blackmail, and relieving Qi Haoguo of any worries, but he didn't want to do that, as it would set a bad example for Alice.

Although objectively, Qi Haoguo has contributed to the development of Tongshi Town and Chongyun Village, Xiang Kun is well aware that all of this stems from the continued influence of the emotional projection of the "Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving," and is nothing more than his self-redemption in order to make himself more comfortable.

If Qi Haoguo were to kill "Duck Foot" and the others to avoid being threatened, Xiang Kun might try to report them.

However, based on his cognitive model of Qi Haoguo, it is highly unlikely that Qi Haoguo would do such a thing now, as it would be worse than death for him.

When Qi Haoguo sent the recording to Officer Xu and directly asked Officer Xu to send someone to his house, Xiang Kun wasn't surprised. However, upon hearing the question, "Have you seen Infernal Affairs?", he couldn't help but laugh out loud and said to Xia Libing:

"This guy's putting on an act. I'm thinking, if I ever face Mr. Liang, I'll give him a surprise. When I control his device and introduce 'Alice,' I can start by asking, 'Have you seen Resident Evil?' Hahahaha."

However, seeing Xia Libing staring at him with wide eyes, Xiang Kun realized that she hadn't gotten his joke, so he awkwardly pointed to his notebook, indicating that he should continue listening.

After "Duck Foot" was subdued and the police came to take them away, Xiang Kun stopped paying attention to the matter, only asking Alice to keep an eye on the follow-up, but not to have any influence or intervention.

Qi Haoguo wanted to turn himself in and say goodbye to his past self, Xiang Kun naturally thought was a good thing. However, it was his own choice, and he had to take responsibility for his actions. He had to bear the consequences of his past choices and his current ones. Judging from what he said to "Duck Foot," he had clearly realized this and was able to accept the punishment he would receive.

However, judging from the charges he mentioned, they shouldn't be too serious. Plus, he voluntarily surrendered and cooperated with the police, so he might get a suspended sentence or something?

After this little incident, Xia Libing took the opportunity to talk about the lasting effects of "Emotion-Infused Object" on people. However, after saying a few words, she noticed that Xiang Kun was in a daze, which was a rather rare phenomenon. So she stopped talking and observed him carefully. Then she realized that Xiang Kun seemed to have entered a "Hyper-Sensory State".

A moment later, Xiang Kun "came back to his senses," looked at Xia Libing who was staring at him, and said, "Just now, when Qi Haoguo suddenly burst into laughter upon hearing 'Duck Foot's' threat, I suddenly had a very faint, uncertain feeling. So just now, I entered a 'Hyper-Sensory State,' following that vague feeling, and through my connection with the 'Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving,' I sensed its presence. Then I suddenly discovered... the super-sensory information represented by the 'Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving' has established connections through more than twenty channels. I confirmed that my vague feeling came from one of them. I continued to sense along that channel and arrived at the location of a target. Guess what that target is?"

Xia Libing immediately replied, "It's Qi Haoguo."

"Ah~~~, yes! It's Qi Haoguo!" Having failed to keep them in suspense Xiang Kun had no choice but to continue, "I'm absolutely certain that the cognitive information I sensed after descending through the passage represents Qi Haoguo himself. I can basically judge part of his current physical state and most of his emotional state through his cognitive information. He's like... a 'shrunken version of Emotion-Infused Object '."

This is definitely a major discovery for Xiang Kun and his "Super-Sensing Item System".

After conducting a large-scale group emotional projection experiment in Montamira, Xiang Kun had already noticed that people affected by "Emotion-Infused Object" would have unique "labels" in their cognitive information. In his "Hyper-Sensory State," he could quickly and accurately identify these labels in the cognitive information of a large group of people.

Now, this weakened connection and label have transformed into a substantial, strong connection that can be accessed through a "Hyper-Sensory State," which carries a completely different meaning.

Clearly, this wasn't a sudden, complete "awakening" of Qi Haoguo, a change resulting from succumbing to the influence of the "Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving's emotional projection." Qi Haoguo's complete "awakening" merely allowed Xiang Kun to "discover" this change.

What truly allowed him to discover these connections in his "Hyper-Sensory State" was the Little Chubby Girl's Rage Thunder during this period of slumber.

Those series of operations led to a qualitative leap in Xiang Kun's understanding of "extrasensory information." It was from that time onward that the "Emotion-Infused Object system" within the "Super-Sensing Item System" was reconstructed, or rather, strengthened.

"Is it true that anyone affected by an 'Emotion-Infused Object' can sense it?" Xia Libing asked. "Is it only those affected by the 'Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving,' or can other 'Emotion-Infused Object' also sense it?"

Xiang Kun shook his head and said, "It's certain that not everyone affected has established a connection. There are only about twenty connections in my perception, but among those affected by the 'Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving' emotional projection, not to mention others, there are countless connections just in Montamira alone... I think it's only after the influence reaches a certain level, or rather, after conforming to that influence and reaching a certain psychological state, that such a stable connection can be established. As for the other Emotion-Infused Object, I'll have to verify them further."

After verification, Xiang Kun discovered that some of the wooden Emotion-Infused Object used in the "Youlong Restaurant" to influence diners' moods and appetites had also established a weak connection.

These connections are much weaker than those of Qi Haoguo, but they do not prevent Xiang Kun from using these connections to perceive the arrival of others and explore nearby extrasensory information in his "Hyper-Sensory State".

He was fairly certain that the targets of these contacts and links were people who frequently dined at the "Youlong Restaurant," including Chu Xiuwen and Qi Haoguo, whom he knew well.

Yes, the link representing the same person appears not only in the cognitive information of the "Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving," but also in the cognitive information of the wood carving in the "Youlong Restaurant."

It seems that in the future, when he consciously descends in a "Hyper-Sensory State," he will not need to place an "Emotion-Infused Object" beforehand; all that is needed is someone who has been deeply influenced by the "Emotion-Infused Object."

During the verification process, Xiang Kun also discovered that during his emotional perception, the cognitive information of Little Apple and Little Chubby Girl also appeared in the entire perception network, and their "level" was above most of the "Emotion-Infused Object," directly connected to him.