Chapter 1178: The Cry of the Lamb (Part 7)

In the dimly lit room, only one screen flickered with cold luster. The image on the screen appeared somewhat eerie, with only one color distinguished by shades, and it was almost completely static, appearing cold, cruel, and devoid of life.

If anyone had truly seen a surveillance screen, they should know that the image on the screen at this moment was the scene presented by night vision goggles.

In the image was a cell as narrow as could be. A man wearing a mask sat on the bed, looking straight ahead, without any movement.

After a while, a small opening appeared on the wall in front of him, but there was no one on the opposite side of this passage, only a passage opening diagonally upward. A portion of food slid out from the passage, a sandwich packed in a special material between paper and cloth.

With a "click," the lock on the mask was opened by remote control. The mask still couldn't be taken off, but the device fixing the jaw was no longer effective. The part of the mask covering the lips in the center could also be lifted.

Judging from his mechanical chewing action, this thing probably had no taste. And after eating everything, the lock on the mask locked again. A red light lit up above the wall passage, and the person sitting on the bed reached in with the hand holding the outer packaging.

After the outer packaging was pulled away, the arm was fixed, and the infusion needle pierced into the skin. Nutrient solution and the water needed by the human body would enter the body through infusion.

The infusion time was about half an hour. After it ended, there was a small invisible door near the right side of the wall where the passage was located, only about half a person's height. After this door opened, passing through a narrow and low passage, one reached the bathroom with basic facilities.

All facilities and doors were opened and closed on a timer, but there was no pattern to the opening and closing times. Sometimes it might open twice in an hour, sometimes it might take 5 hours to open once. The same went for delivering food and performing infusions.

All these troublesome and cumbersome imprisonment behaviors were to blur time, letting the prisoner lose the concept of "day" amidst sensory deprivation, not knowing how long they had to stay here, and not knowing when this despair would end.

Most experiments call sensory deprivation the cruelest punishment for humans, and its greatest pain lies in blurring time.

Humans are a race that needs reference points to accurately feel time. If a person only possesses their own thinking and does not possess any external senses, then their experience of time will be completely different from the passage of time in reality.

And in most cases, the time felt while immersed in thinking is much longer than in the real world.

And this kind of boredom and loneliness, slowed down countless times, could almost destroy any human's will, and in the surveillance room, the two people watching this scene were both clear on this point.

"What a cruel punishment." Standing in front of the screen, William, in a suit and leather shoes, said with a smile.

And Dai Weisi, who was beside him, glanced at him and said, "Mr. Denechet, you should understand that it is precisely because you have rich experience working in other maximum-security prisons that you can come here. Why do you need to sigh about this?"

William pushed his glasses and shook his head, saying, "Indeed, many maximum-security prisons will more or less adopt long-term imprisonment and sensory deprivation to treat prisoners."

"But the main purpose of adopting this punishment is to make those manic criminals quiet, warning them not to take any jailbreak actions, and not to think about hurting prison guards. The mental trauma this brings to them is just a side effect of the warning."

William revealed a cold sneer, glanced at Dai Weisi, and said, "But here, using such harsh sensory deprivation punishment to treat prisoners, the purpose is to make them suffer mental trauma. It's normal for me to sigh at such cruel means, right?"

Dai Weisi walked to the opposite side of William, stared at the eyes behind his eyes with a cold and somewhat playful look, and said, "Do you still think they are just ordinary criminals?"

"The 16 imprisoned criminals, including Schiller Rodriguez, all possess abilities that exceed ordinary people in some aspect. This ability could be a superpower understood by ordinary people, such as huge strength, sharp fangs and claws, or it could be the ability to influence others' minds."

"These superpowered criminals existing in the society of ordinary people will pose a great threat to the public. The FBI cannot sit idly by." Dai Weisi pressed his lips tightly into a line and continued in a low tone.

"If they were just different from ordinary people, they wouldn't be imprisoned here. All prisoners transported to this prison have used their abilities exceeding ordinary people to commit serious crimes. They are not worthy of sympathy."

"For ordinary criminals, a little punishment will make them quiet, but for these super criminals, if torture is not used, they will not repent for their crimes."

Dai Weisi turned around, and at this moment, the surveillance screen had become many small squares. In the vast majority of cells, the images returned by the monitors were flickering violently. More than half of the prisoners had started shouting and yelling because they couldn't bear this terrible sensory deprivation, becoming manic and violent.

Dai Weisi just stared coldly at this screen. His eyelids twitched, and he said, "They are dangerous, but they are also precious. The abilities they possess should have created greater value for this world, but they used them to commit crimes."

"What we need to do is whip them, discipline them, let them know what pain is, and awaken the fear long forgotten in their crazy minds."

"We want to establish new personalities and new rules for them, make them feel fear, and understand shame, save them from madness, let their proud talents be put to use, and use their talents to atone for the evil deeds of the first half of their lives."

Standing in the cold light emitted by the images returned by countless monitors, Dai Weisi opened his arms and lifted his head, saying:

"These pure and beautiful lambs need a new shepherd to guide them to the glorious sanctuary, to atone for sins that ordinary people cannot atone for, so that they can receive the Lord's forgiveness and pardon. They need to be grateful for this and shout loudly."

"Thus, we call this great action—Project Lamb!"

"Project Lamb?"

In the office on the top floor of the Wei En Group building, Bruce looked at Angela's face and repeated the word she had just said. The female officer nodded very seriously and said, "That's right, I only just learned the specific name of this plan."

Angela turned around with her hand on the back of the chair and looked at the gloomy sky of Cat Getan outside the floor-to-ceiling window. Her expression was equally gloomy.

"Before, time was tight, and I didn't have time to tell you. Perhaps you also felt puzzled. I was originally just an ordinary police officer, how did I suddenly join the FBI?"

"An ordinary police officer? Forgive me for being blunt, Ms. Dodgson, you are being a bit self-deprecating. Your reputation among the FBI's major case teams is known to everyone. Everyone knows that you are best at dealing with those crazy serial killers, finding clues from their behavior, and thus solving the cases they committed." Bruce said.

But Angela revealed a bitter smile. She opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but then shook her head gently and said:

"Yes, I have fought against these cruel serial killers all my life, and I have indeed achieved some results. However, Mr. Wei En, perhaps what you don't know is that the more you understand them, the more you understand that they cannot be eradicated."

Bruce raised an eyebrow. Looking at Angela's expression, the female officer didn't reveal any special look, but said as if she were used to it, "I have seen a 13-year-old girl who slaughtered her own parents with her own hands, the reason being just that her toy bear was sick and she wanted to cure it."

"I have also seen a Wall Street elite who burned down half a street with a fire. He wasn't doing it to retaliate against society, he just liked the smell of humans burning."

"Their madness has no reason, it's very thorough, very pure. When interrogating them, they don't feel regret for ruining others, and they don't even feel pain for ruining their own future."

"I'm thinking, perhaps they are some kind of manifestation of human original sin... Do you think it's absurd? A police officer actually attributing this kind of thing to religious reasons?" Angela revealed an absurd smile, but there was no smile in her eyes, only tears flickering.

"Do you know why I chose to join the FBI?" Angela's red eye sockets were like the sunset glow of Cat Getan. Her tone was very calm, as if she had accepted reality.

Bruce didn't answer, just looked at her silently, and Angela didn't need anyone else to answer this question.

"It's not because I hate them, not because I feel fear or anger at their cruelty, but because in the years of handling cases, I found that I started to gradually understand them."

Angela lifted her head, the muscles in her neck twitched. She fell into a look of recollection and said:

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"Perhaps you know that I once received treatment from Dr. Schiller. At that time, everyone thought that I couldn't bear the fear brought by the murder cases committed by those damn madmen, but the fact was the opposite."

"In Schiller's psychological clinic, I kept crying and shouting, but that wasn't because of fear and anger, but because I was resisting, resisting the hallucinations I saw."

"At every murder scene, I could clearly and understand how the killer cruelly killed the innocent. I could clearly experience their happiness and excitement at that time, and experience the pleasure and satisfaction they obtained from this cruel behavior."

"I also became excited for this, felt satisfied for this, couldn't distinguish the difference between me and them, couldn't understand if I, who understood them, was also a hopeless born madman like them."

"As I got closer and closer to them, understood them more and more, this thought became unstoppable. And in order not to let me really slide into the abyss, I could only choose to retreat."

"Joining the FBI, although I can still do criminal investigation work, it also means that I gave up my pursuit of the first half of my life, left the front line that needed me most, and chose to escape like a coward."

Angela's brow lifted. In her consistently weathered and sharp eyes, Bruce saw a fragility like a young girl, and a confusion like a newborn.

"Countless people have asked me for the secret of my success. Everyone wants to know how I accurately find the clues to the crimes committed by those serial killers. I don't say, so they think I'm hoarding my secrets."

"But I can't tell them that in every long night I spent alone, on the sofa, in the mirror, on the other side of the bed, there was a crazy figure, following like a shadow."

"That is a born cold, cruel, crazy serial killer. It is the criminal I hate most, and it is also... another me."