Chapter 197: Fight Magic with Magic

Yu Dazhang could now confirm that this Ceng Ceng Lisi definitely knew Liu Qi.

There was no such coincidence in the world.

A girlfriend suddenly appeared beside Liu Siyuan who could keep him in check, and this woman was also Liu Qi's schoolmate.

To cover up her overseas experience, she had even been given a clean background.

Even if her background were dug up, people would think Ceng Ceng Lisi was trying to cover up the fact that she had been given a warning during her school years.

What she actually wanted to wash away was her ability to hypnotize others.

Running into another professional… Among all the cases Yu Dazhang had handled, this one had the most highly educated suspect by far.

Two Cambridge University graduates.

This setup was rather sophisticated.

Yu Dazhang logged off the messaging software on his computer, then returned to his seat, took out a notebook and placed it on the desk.

He flipped to a fresh page and wrote down four names with his pen.

Liu Qi, Liu Siyuan, Ceng Ceng Lisi, the butler.

Then he drew a circle around Ceng Ceng Lisi's and the butler's names, and wrote the word "Pawns" outside the circle.

"These two hidden pieces are arranged quite cleverly."

A faint smile appeared at the corner of Yu Dazhang's mouth, and he promptly drew a smiley face above Ceng Ceng Lisi's name.

"So what if you can hypnotize? China has plenty of formidable psychology masters of its own."

"The best way to deal with someone like you is to fight magic with magic."

Undeniably, every industry has its hierarchy, and the field of hypnosis is no exception.

Yu Dazhang knew very well that an ordinary hypnotist would be no match for someone of Ceng Ceng Lisi's caliber.

In fact, he had a certain understanding of the field as well, having dealt with several similar cases in his previous life.

Hypnosis falls under the category of psychology, and is a behavioral science.

It mainly influences the target's mind through induction.

For example…

Having a hypnotist directly order a subject to kill someone is something that simply cannot be done.

That kind of plot only happens in movies, just to fool the audience.

The real-world approach is:

The hypnotist uses language or specific gestures to gradually induce the subject to develop hatred toward the target.

As that hatred keeps accumulating and gradually reaches a certain threshold, the subject will naturally begin to entertain the thought of killing.

The kind of thing you see in movies—waving a pocket watch back and forth in front of someone's eyes—is merely the most rudimentary, entry-level technique.

A hypnosis expert needs no props and can hypnotize directly through language and gestures.

A hypnosis master, on the other hand, can precisely pinpoint the subject's psychological weak point and achieve instant hypnosis.

In psychology, the levels progress in order: foundational, applied, developmental, clinical.

Mapped onto the hypnosis industry, that would be: rookie, advanced, expert, master.

From Ceng Ceng Lisi's profile, one could deduce that she was at least at the expert level, and very likely had reached the caliber of a master.

That evening.

In a residential building on the outskirts of Songhai City.

Yu Dazhang stood in front of a residence's door.

He first glanced at the house number on the security door, confirmed it was correct, then raised his hand and knocked lightly twice.

However, there was no response from inside—dead silence.

He knocked a few more times~

Still no movement.

Not home?

He hesitated for a moment, then raised his hand again, this time with more force, and knocked several times in a row.

Still no response, as if a stone had sunk into the sea.

Just as Yu Dazhang was about to give up.

"Who is it?!"

A man's loud shout came from inside the house, sounding as though he had been woken from a dream.

"Police." Yu Dazhang replied in an icy tone.

His voice was not loud, but it carried an unquestionable authority.

Almost the instant his words fell, a clatter of bangs and clangs rang out from inside, as though someone had knocked something over in a panic.

"Wait a moment, wait a moment, I'm coming right now."

From the sound of it, one could imagine the man hurriedly getting out of bed and getting dressed. Half a minute later, the door opened.

A man just over thirty, wearing a shirt and dress pants, stood inside the doorway in slippers, his face heavy with fatigue.

He first glanced at Yu Dazhang, then leaned out and looked both ways down the hallway.

What's he looking for… Yu Dazhang watched him, puzzled.

After confirming there was no one else, the man straightened up and faced him squarely:

"Are you the police?"

Yu Dazhang took out his badge and held it up to the man's eyes.

The other man examined it carefully, and once he was satisfied, said in a serious tone:

"What do you want with me?"

Yu Dazhang nodded:

"Are you planning to talk at your place, or come with me to the station?"

The man's expression changed instantly; he immediately stepped aside:

No mistakes, one sentence at a time, full content available here!

"Please come in."

Yu Dazhang glanced at him; the man was quite handsome.

Yet there was an indescribable sense of weariness in his eyes, a look of being Burdened with worries.

Inside the room, Yu Dazhang surveyed the furnishings.

A typical one-bedroom, one-living-room layout, with a total area estimated at around thirty square meters; the living room barely held a simple wooden dining table.

The entire apartment was kept very clean and tidy, yet it lacked a touch of vitality.

"Ye Zhiyu."

"Present!"

"Ah, you don't need to do that," Yu Dazhang quickly waved his hand at him:

"This is your home, not inside the station; you're making me feel rather awkward."

Looking at the man standing perfectly straight, he felt somewhat at a loss between laughter and tears.

"It's habit, just habit." Seeing Yu Dazhang speak casually, Ye Zhiyu relaxed:

"Officer, please sit first; I'll go pour you some water."

"That's enough, no need to trouble yourself." Yu Dazhang sat at the dining table, then pointed to another chair:

"Come sit; I have something to tell you."

This man named Ye Zhiyu obediently walked over and sat in the chair opposite Yu Dazhang.

"What kind of biological clock is this?" Yu Dazhang asked curiously:

"Sleeping at seven something in the evening—are you just waking up, or just going to sleep?"

Ye Zhiyu smiled sheepishly:

"If you hadn't come, I would have slept until ten at night, then gone to work at the courier sorting center in the early morning."

In 2014, the e-commerce industry was booming, and the courier business was gradually becoming a mainstream industry.

The work was a bit hard, but it did solve many employment problems.

From that time on, as long as a person wasn't lazy, there was always a bowl of rice to eat.

Yu Dazhang sighed:

"A top student from Peking University back then, no matter how down on his luck, shouldn't have ended up doing the 'Iron Man Triathlon'."

"What Iron Man Triathlon?" Ye Zhiyu was completely baffled.

In those days, courier services, food delivery, and ride-hailing hadn't been categorized yet... Yu Dazhang could only change the subject:

"Didn't you try any psychology-related professions?"

This person in front of him was no ordinary individual.

He had studied psychology at Peking University, a scholar-level figure who became an industry celebrity while still in school.

After graduation, he took a job at a psychological correction and guidance center.

But just one year after starting formal work, he committed a crime.

On a Sunday afternoon, he arrived at the elevator entrance of a shopping mall.

No one knew how he did it, but everyone he spoke to at the elevator entrance, without exception, handed over all the money they had on them.

For the entire afternoon, he acted like a toll collector, collecting money from over a hundred people at the elevator entrance, totaling more than one hundred thousand.

Strangely, not a single person reported it afterward.

Later, when the police investigated, all those people said they didn't remember such an event happening, and couldn't even describe Ye Zhiyu's appearance.

When asked about the money, they gave various reasons, but mostly claimed they had spent it themselves.

This case came to light only because Ye Zhiyu went to the police station to turn himself in.

On the third day after the incident, Tuesday morning, Ye Zhiyu arrived at the police station, saying he had used hypnosis to defraud over a hundred people of their money.

The suspect was brought in, and his attitude toward confessing was good, but there was one thing that gave the police a major headache.

The money couldn't be recovered.

(End of this chapter)