Chapter 705: Learned Helplessness[1]

"Physical worker, thin and gentle, low educational level..." Seeing this, Lin Dongxue summarized the scattered clues that appeared in the passage.

"There’s also the discounted fungus and edamame from the supermarket. We can find out which supermarket has done this kind of promotion before." Chen Shi said.

"My brother shouldn't have gotten off work yet."

"Let’s go and tell him these clues!"

At this time, Gu You and Tao Yueyue came in. Tao Yueyue smelled the scent of the grilled oysters and drooled. "Has it already been grilled? I’ve brought Sister Gu over to eat!"

Gu You was holding a case of beer and said, "I also bought black beer."

"Doesn't black beer and seafood cause gout?" Lin Dongxue asked.

"Haha, that's just a rumor. We can verify it ourselves." Gu You laughed.

Chen Shi said, "We have to make a trip out, but you two should eat. It won't taste good after leaving it out for the night anyway."

When she heard that Chen Shi was leaving, Tao Yueyue drooped her eyebrows and asked, "Do you need to attend to a case?"

"We found some clues. Sorry, I'll be back later."

"Okay, okay, you go!"

Before leaving, Chen Shi especially told Tao Yueyue not to drink any alcohol.

Chen Shi and Lin Dongxue arrived at the bureau. It was already 6:00 at this time. Lin Qiupu was working on documents in the office after having his dinner. The two pushed the door in and Lin Qiupu raised his head. "What's up?"

"Brother, we found some important clues!"

After Lin Qiupu scanned through it, he said, "It's truly very important. I can’t believe you guys found this."

"And judging from the various defining features, this person isn’t Lan Xiao." Chen Shi said.

"Then how can Lan Xiao's ID card be in his hand... Could it be that Lan Xiao has been killed already?"

"It’s possible!"

Lin Qiupu shook his head. "What the hell does this kind of person want? Infringing on other people's lives and at the same time ruining their own life... After you left just now, we found some clues." He turned around and picked up a piece of paper from his desk. "This is a thorough list of Xin Bai's income and expenditure details over the past year."

Chen Shi held it in his hand and saw that Xin Bai received a sum of money from the novel website every month. He spent most of the money on online shopping and a live broadcast platform. Lin Qiupu said, "From the records on his computer, it was discovered that he bought trading cards, game CDs, various snacks and drinks on the Internet, and then gave a monetary reward to a female anchor. He’s almost given one-third of his income to the female anchor."

"His life is like a kid that can earn money on his own." Lin Dongxue commented.

“We originally thought that this uninvited guest had blackmailed him. However, not only was there no trace of this, ever since November of last year, Xin Bai’s expenses have greatly reduced, and there’s been almost no expenditures over the Internet. The money has been withdrawn to be used.”

"I think this person spent the cash on his behalf. Cash spent isn’t easy to trace." Chen Shi said.

"Yeah..." Lin Qiupu muttered, "I think it would be better to try questioning him again. His mental state has recovered a bit. Plus, we have this in hand. Will he talk this time?"

"It’s worth a try."

Lin Qiupu arranged the interrogation. This time, the three of them were sitting together in the interrogation room. As soon as they got to this room, Xin Bai became inexplicably nervous, wearing a smile to please them on his face.

"We found the words you wrote in the old manuscripts." Lin Qiupu was straightforward.

Like a punch in the stomach, Xin Bai suddenly opened his mouth and leaned back. Then, he asked timidly, "I... What did I write?"

"Do you need me to read a paragraph to you?"

"..."

Lin Qiupu picked up his phone and read for a while before Xin Bai waved his hands desperately. "Don't read it, don't read it. These unsightly things were written a long time ago."

"We don’t think this is a fictitious work. It seems to record the entire process of you being imprisoned and abused. This was written by you personally. We were lucky to see it. I think you must have something to say. Shall we talk?"

Xin Bai was picking at his nails and biting his lip. Chen Shi thought to himself that the fear that the man imposed shrouded Xin Bai’s consciousness like the silhouette of a ghost. He was like a person rescued after being trapped in a mine for half a month. There would be resistance to sunlight.

Once people adapt to a certain state, they will reject other stimuli and the transition is very painful.

Chen Shi said, "Teacher Bai, you’re in the Public Security Bureau right now. You have a lot of police to protect you. That person can't hurt you. You’re very safe!"

"But when I called the police for the first time, the police didn't help me at all!" Xin Bai shouted with tears in his eyes.

"This time and that time are different. The local policemen who went there at the time just treated it as an ordinary report. Right now, this is a criminal case. You wrote this. You should believe that just like the ideas conveyed in your work, evil isn’t invincible. After all, light will shine into the darkest corners."

"Novels only convey an ideal, but reality isn’t like this. People think that evil can't overcome righteousness only because those powerful evil spirits disguise themselves as righteous. This world is cruel and hopeless, and no one can change reality! You can't help me... "

He wiped his tears away.

Lin Qiupu frowned in disgust, but Chen Shi felt a pain in his heart. He thought of a story. There’s hearsay that elephant tamers would tie a baby elephant to a wooden post, and the wooden post would be firmly nailed to the ground. The little elephants would struggle at first, but when they found that the stake couldn’t be moved, they would eventually give up.

The elephant tamers would keep thinning this wooden stake. The baby elephant grows up day by day but is still used to not resisting. When visitors walk into a circus one day, they will see an adult elephant weighing several tons tied to a thin branch and be amazed by it.

This psychology is called learned helplessness!

"What do you want?" Lin Qiupu asked, "We can't help you? Will you go back to your master and be abused by him? Are you willing to live like that? We can arrest him as long as you say his name. We can save you with just one name!"

Xin Bai shrank his shoulders like a child frightened by thunder, and Lin Qiupu thought that this man was hopeless.

Chen Shi whispered, "Don't force him. He already has trauma and he needs psychological treatment!"

"Who should we find?"

"Miss Gu."

Chen Shi called Gu You and explained the situation. Gu You smiled and said, "I knew that your oysters weren’t for nothing. I’ll come over now..."

A voice next to her said, "I want to go too!"

Gu You said, "Should I bring Yueyue there?"

"No problem. Pay attention to safety on your way. I’ll wait for you at the door."

While Gu You came over, Chen Shi and Lin Dongxue continued to read Xin Bai’s diary, skipping the middle part and directly reading the part where it described the experience of that person bringing him to his first murder.

"He rented a studio for me, installed a surveillance camera, and asked me if I liked it. I didn't dare to defy him in any way. I answered that I absolutely loved it and thanked my master. He said he would come over at night and stay here. I was extremely nervous every second in the room. Those cameras were facing me, as if his eyes were peeping at me. Although I knew this was his trick, my heart couldn’t resist. My spine was broken. There was a sudden movement in the living room late at night. I was terrified. He was standing there with his face scratched and a sack was placed by his feet. He said, ‘This is my gift to you!’ He kicked the sack and it moved. There was a whimpering cry from inside..."

1. Learned helplessness is behavior exhibited by a subject after enduring repeated aversive stimuli beyond their control.