Chapter 351: Back to the Culvert

"There is one more thing that makes me very uneasy," Zhong Kui continued. "This is the main reason I asked you to come here." The whistling wind passed by her ears, making the two of them have to stand very close to hear each other clearly. The sea breeze blew horizontally, slapping on Qi Fei's face, even the salty fishy smell of the sea breeze couldn't cover the floral fragrance between her hair.

This ambiguous atmosphere made Qi Fei intoxicated. Zhong Kui's voice carried the warm air she exhaled: "Do you remember when we first met, you didn't recognize the road to the wooden house on Zizai Shan?"

Qi Fei nodded and laughed helplessly: "That was you messing around in my brain. I was really angry at that time."

Zhong Kui's next words punctured the warmth of the moment: "That was a psychological technique left by Zhong Xiaoyu for me, a method of using hypnosis to disturb people's cognition, especially visual attention. After seeing You He's mask, I have been thinking about this problem. At that time, we were in the culvert, and no one found any flaws. I don't believe this was entirely the effect of the mask and the environment."

"Although I claim to be a shaman, I know there is no such thing as transformation in this world. All there are are illusions, similar to what I did to you. Someone performed a re-correction of our attention in advance, and it was when we were completely off guard. It's like I used a wind chime as a trigger in the wooden house, on the premise that you didn't know I was using the wind chime to hypnotize you. This means that this person can be someone we have no defense against at all, and we don't know what the trigger device they used is."

Qi Fei felt a chill down his spine after hearing this: "Is Xi He's person lurking by our side?"

The sound of the waves rose and fell, as heavy as Qi Fei's breathing.

He suddenly realized the reason why Zhong Kui brought him here: "You suspect Shanqiu and Dr. Jiang?"

"Not just them, any acquaintance around us is possible," Zhong Kui said. "I don't understand. It's understandable that you were hypnotized without knowing it, but up to now, no one has been able to deceive me."

"I must report this to the bureau immediately," Qi Fei said and was about to take out his phone to make a call.

But Zhong Kui stopped him: "This person must have had contact with both of us at the same time. The greatest possibility is that they are mixed in your police station."

"That..." Qi Fei's mind went blank. He had a mediocre relationship with his father, Qi Dongjun, since he was a child. The people in the police team could be said to have replaced the role of his family, and they were no longer ordinary colleagues. What Zhong Kui said were all people he trusted most or relied on most. It was very difficult for him to point the finger of suspicion at them.

Zhong Kui saw his loss and said: "Let's verify one thing first to see if it's possible to deceive our eyes with just the mask in the environment of the culvert. At the same time, we can observe the reactions of the other two. If one of them is the person who played tricks on us, they might reveal flaws."

The reeds that were lush in summer had now withered and fallen, and the entrance to the culvert was much easier to find than last time.

Due to the scouring of the sea, this so-called scene actually didn't have much value for investigation.

Wu Shanqiu and Jiang Tianyi, who were kept in the dark, thought they were returning here to search for evidence related to You He.

Just like the beginning, everything in the culvert needed to be groped in the dark, only this time everyone was much calmer. After all, the unknown is the source of fear.

The sound of the power switch being turned on came, and the dazzling strong light turned on one after another. A man appeared under the light, like a male lead in a drama.

The blinding light made everyone subconsciously raise their hands to block their eyes. After slowly adapting, a person who was extremely similar to Xi He in both body and face appeared in front of them.

"Xi He?" Qi Fei pretended to be nervous and pulled out his gun to aim at that person.

The first to make a sound was Wu Shanqiu: "Eh? Is this an impersonation? This mask is too obvious! Was it transferred from the Yuanxi Police Station?" She said, boldly stepping forward to look closely, and even reached out to pull the edge of the silicone mask.

"No way, this looks very obvious, it's different from what we saw last time," Jiang Tianyi followed closely. "We weren't told about this. Was it arranged by the Yuanxi Police Station?"

"Is it my eyes? How did you guys see it so quickly?" Qi Fei pretended to be surprised.

"Hmph, it shouldn't be the same mask, otherwise we were all blind last time," Zhong Kui said with no lack of sarcasm on the side.

However, the person wearing the mask spoke, with a heavy Yuanxi accent: "This was restored 100% by professionals according to the evidence. The effect of wearing it on the face should be the same as what you saw at the time."

A handsome and arrogant face of Xi He suddenly spoke a dialect. This scene was strange and funny, making Wu Shanqiu burst into laughter: "If that guy Xi He knew you guys were playing like this, he would be so angry he'd run to Yuanxi to settle the score with you."

"Don't curse our brothers in Yuanxi." Qi Fei said irritably. "Let's talk about business. Everyone recall the situation at that time and see where it doesn't match. Why was such an obvious disguise not seen by us at that time?"

"Maybe the difference is that You He completely imitated the essence of Xi He, plus everyone was nervous at the time," Jiang Tianyi frowned tightly. "But this is not enough to be completely misidentified. If this scene is 100% restored..." He couldn't help but look at Zhong Kui and asked, "What is your opinion?"

Zhong Kui raised an eyebrow and said: "I said, the only explanation is that we were all blind at that time. However, as a psychologist, you should know that many times our eyes will deceive us."

Jiang Tianyi was thoughtful, his brows furrowed in thought, and his gold-rimmed glasses reflected the strong light in the culvert, making it impossible to see his eyes. After a long time, he slowly said a sentence: "How did he do it?"

Zhong Kui watched Jiang Tianyi with a scrutinizing gaze. Jiang Tianyi looked up unexpectedly and met her eyes.

"How did you do it?" the two said in unison, and then showed surprised expressions at the same time.

Zhong Kui first approached Jiang Tianyi, observing and sizing him up, making Jiang Tianyi very uncomfortable.

"Zhong Kui, it's not me," Jiang Tianyi said calmly. "It seems it's not you either."

And Qi Fei was more nervous than them at this time. Because yesterday, when Zhong Kui proposed her inference on the beach, the target of his suspicion pointed to Jiang Tianyi—a person who could approach the other three at will and possessed hypnotic ability.

However, he was Jiang Tianyi, the Dr. Jiang who accompanied him through those darkest times. ===== CHAPTER 352 =====