Chapter 705: Learned Helplessness

“Manual laborer, thin and refined, not highly educated…” Lin Dongxue summarized the scattered clues in the text.

“And there’s the supermarket’s discounted wood ear mushrooms and edamame. We can check which supermarket had this promotion,” Chen Shi said.

“My brother should still be at work.”

“Let’s go! Let’s tell him about these clues!”

At that moment, Gu You and Tao Yueyue entered. Tao Yueyue smelled the aroma of grilled oysters, her mouth watering. “Are they ready? I brought Sister Gu to try them!”

Gu You carried a pack of beer, saying, “I also bought some dark beer.”

“Doesn’t beer with seafood cause gout?” Lin Dongxue asked.

“Ha, that’s just a myth. We can verify it ourselves,” Gu You replied.

Chen Shi said, “We need to go out for a while. You two eat, these won’t taste good later anyway.”

Hearing that Chen Shi was leaving, Tao Yueyue pouted, “Going on a case?”

“We found some clues. Sorry, I’ll be back later.”

“Alright, alright, go on then!”

Before leaving, Chen Shi specifically instructed not to let Tao Yueyue drink beer.

Chen Shi and Lin Dongxue arrived at the bureau, already past six o’clock. Lin Qiupu had finished dinner and was working on some files in his office. They entered, and Lin Qiupu looked up, “What’s up?”

“Brother, we found some important clues!”

After Lin Qiupu skimmed through the information, he said, “These are indeed very crucial. Good job on finding these.”

“And from the characteristics, this person is not Lan Xiao,” Chen Shi added.

“Then how did Lan Xiao’s ID end up in his hands… Could it be that Lan Xiao is already dead?”

“That’s possible.”

Lin Qiupu shook his head. “What is this person after? Infringing on others’ lives while ruining their own… After you left, we found some more clues.” He picked up a paper from his desk. “This is Xin Bai’s account statement for the past year.”

Chen Shi looked at it. Xin Bai received monthly royalties from a novel website, spending most of it on online shopping and a live streaming platform. Lin Qiupu said, “From his computer records, we found he bought collectible cards, game discs, various snacks, and drinks online, and then sent about a third of his income to a female streamer.”

“His life is like a kid who can earn money,” Lin Dongxue commented.

“We initially thought this intruder was extorting him, but it turns out Xin Bai’s spending drastically decreased after last November. He almost stopped online spending, mostly withdrawing cash instead.”

“I guess the cash was spent by that person. Spending cash is harder to trace,” Chen Shi said.

“Hmm…” Lin Qiupu pondered. “I think we should interrogate him again. His mental state has improved, and with this information, maybe he’ll talk this time.”

“It’s worth a try.”

Lin Qiupu arranged the interrogation. This time, all three were present. Upon entering the room, Xin Bai became inexplicably nervous, with a fawning smile on his face.

“We found some of the texts you wrote in your old drafts,” Lin Qiupu started directly.

Xin Bai looked like he’d been punched in the gut, his mouth agape, body leaning back. Then he timidly asked, “What… what did I write?”

“Do you need me to read some?”

“……”

Lin Qiupu read a passage from his phone, and Xin Bai frantically waved his hands, “Don’t read it, don’t read it. It’s all indecent stuff from a long time ago.”

“We don’t think it’s fiction. It seems to document the entire process of your captivity and abuse. You wrote it yourself. We were lucky to find it. I’m sure you have something to say to us, right?”

Xin Bai picked at his nails, biting his lips. Chen Shi thought, the fear that person instilled in him loomed like a ghost in his mind. He was like someone rescued from a mine after being trapped for half a month, resisting the sunlight instead of welcoming it.

Once someone adapts to a certain state, they reject other stimuli; change is painful.

Chen Shi said, “Mr. Bai, you’re in the police station now, with many officers protecting you. That person can’t hurt you. You’re very safe!”

“But when I first called the police, they didn’t help me!” Xin Bai shouted, tears streaming down his face.

“That was a different time. Back then, the officers treated it as a routine report. Now, this is a criminal case. You wrote this, and you should believe, as your work conveys, that good triumphs over evil, and light eventually reaches the darkest corners.”

“That’s just an ideal in novels. Reality isn’t like that. People think good triumphs over evil because the powerful evil disguises itself as good. The world is cruel and hopeless. No one can change reality! You can’t help me…”

He wiped away his tears.

Lin Qiupu frowned in disgust, but Chen Shi felt a pang of sorrow. He thought of a story where an elephant trainer would tie a baby elephant to a stake. The stake was firmly driven into the ground. The baby elephant would struggle at first but gradually give up when it couldn’t move the stake.

The trainer would then replace the stake with thinner and thinner ones. The baby elephant grew, still accustomed to not resisting. When tourists eventually saw a several-ton adult elephant tied to a thin branch, they marveled at the sight.

This psychological phenomenon is called learned helplessness.

“What do you want then?” Lin Qiupu asked, “We can’t help you? You want to go back to your master, to be humiliated and abused by him? You’re willing to live like that? If you just say his name, we can arrest him and save you. Just a name!”

Xin Bai shrank like a child scared by thunder. Lin Qiupu thought this person was beyond help.

Chen Shi said softly, “Don’t push him. He’s developed a mental illness. He needs psychological treatment.”

“Who should we find?”

“Ms. Gu.”

Chen Shi called Gu You, explained the situation. Gu You laughed, “I knew this meal of oysters wasn’t free. I’ll come over now…”

A voice beside her said, “I want to go too!”

Gu You asked, “Should I bring Yueyue?”

“Alright. Be careful on the way. I’ll wait for you at the door.”

As Gu You arrived, Chen Shi and Lin Dongxue continued reading Xin Bai’s diary, skipping to the part where that person first made him kill—

“He rented a studio for me, installed cameras, and asked if I liked it. I didn’t dare to disobey him in any way anymore and answered that I loved it and thanked him. He said he’d come over at night. Every second in that room made me nervous. The cameras pointed at me like his eyes watching me. Though I knew it was his trick, I couldn’t resist. He had broken my spirit. Late at night, I heard a noise in the living room and was terrified. He stood there, his face scratched, a sack at his feet. He said: This is a gift for you! He kicked the sack, it moved, and there was sobbing inside…”