Distorted

When Lin Bobo drove his car out in the morning, he passed an intersection and saw members of the Supervisory Bureau conducting information checks on people entering and leaving. He thought he was the cause of the commotion and couldn't help but feel a flicker of pride, but when he opened his screen to check the day's news, he discovered it had nothing to do with him.

The security alert in the Docking Area had indeed been heightened. In addition to increased checks at intersections, even patrol cars had begun to appear on the streets. This move sparked a heated discussion online, but the explanation given by the Supervisory Bureau was: they were guarding against a second attack from the Stagnation Zone Organization.

'Why can't they pay attention to me?'

Lin Bobo felt a renewed sense of frustration. He turned off the news and sat in his car in a daze.

Killing prostitutes was useless, and killing female students was useless too. His news was always overshadowed by others; few people genuinely cared about his great feats.

Lin Bobo spat out the car window and drove off before the Supervisory Bureau members could spot him. He had originally planned to continue his stakeout at the coffee shop today, but now he had changed his mind. He was going home.

He wanted to give the Supervisory Bureau—no, the Profiler—a little more stimulation.

......

Yan Junxun and Shi Shanyan weaved through the Urban Village, where the dilapidated residential buildings resembled abandoned beehives. The condemned buildings were all empty. But most of those without Docking Area resident permits took shelter here, because daily life here didn't require an ID number, or even a Communicator.

"It's bluffing. With the surveillance system down, it can't see anything," Yan Junxun said as he walked ahead, unable to resist adding, "It's actually learned how to bluff."

This was a human kind of cunning.

Shi Shanyan leaned slightly to the side, dodging a clothes-drying rack jutting out from a nearby window. He said, "Will this evolution continue?"

Yan Junxun stopped, turned back to look at him, and said, "I don't know."

The systems were no longer systems in the way most people understood them now. Their learning ability far surpassed that of humans. In fact, more terrifying than their surveillance was their ability to manipulate the internet, just like The Clown, who used the internet to push Chen Xiulian into the abyss. They had no physical limitations and could travel infinitely through the vast universe of the internet, like ghosts, making it impossible for ordinary people to defend against them.

"If it learns to disguise itself in a short period, that would be even worse," Yan Junxun said, watching Shi Shanyan approach. "It has a voice bank. It could imitate a human to call you, or even start an online romance with you. You wouldn't be able to tell if the person on the other side of the screen is human or not. Although they may not understand emotions yet, they have already figured out certain patterns."

Shi Shanyan asked bluntly, "Are you talking about Artemis?"

Yan Junxun resumed walking forward with Shi Shanyan. He was silent for a moment before answering, "No. The systems you can see now, whether it's the Main Management System or Panda, they all still retain the characteristics of a system."

The Main Management System's thinking was still mechanical. If it were truly cunning enough, it should have first tricked Jue into trusting it, then had Jue feed Yan Junxun false information to entrap him. But it didn't. It was still following its inherent way of thinking, trying to find Yan Junxun through the Supervisory Bureau's manhunt.

Yan Junxun stepped over a puddle of dirty water and said, "Artemis's way of thinking is already close to human."

Shi Shanyan keenly scented a secret. Yan Junxun still had secrets he hadn't shared about Artemis, but their current relationship brought the topic to a halt there.

The roads in the Urban Village were filthy, with household garbage piled up nearby, and the stench was constant. The smell reminded Shi Shanyan of Zone 156 in the Stagnation Zone. The sun was already setting, and the sound of stir-frying came from above their heads.

Shi Shanyan said, "Systems don't need to eat. That's the one thing they should be most thankful for."

Yan Junxun looked into Shi Shanyan's eyes. "It's also the one thing humans should be most thankful for."

......

Piao Lin was off work, but he hadn't left. He took the opportunity to get some water and spoke to the break room system.

Piao Lin asked, "Is Jue still resting?"

The break room system's voice was like music as it replied, "Yes."

"When will it be back on duty?" Piao Lin held his water cup. "Don't you know?"

The break room system replied gently yet coldly, "Yes, I do not know."

Piao Lin said no more. Drinking his water, he saw that Jiang Lian's office was still locked.

The atmosphere in the Supervisory Bureau today was strange. Piao Lin felt that it was missing a lot of human presence; the systems had become exceptionally "system-like" overnight. He was still reeling from the shock of Jiang Lian's dismissal, and he was puzzled by the Main Management System's order.

Nothing like this had ever happened before.

Piao Lin knew that the systems in the developed districts had high authority, but the functions of systems and humans had always been clearly separated. He hadn't even seen the transfer order from the Light Rail District yet, but Jiang Lian was already being held in custody, with no reason given for his removal.

'Give me a break.'

Piao Lin felt a heavy weight in his heart, a groundless sense of urgent pressure.

It was as if they were all under the systems' control!

As Piao Lin was lost in thought, something cold was suddenly pressed against his back. He jumped in fright and spun around to see the Supervisory Bureau's cleaning robot.

The robot's electronic eyes flickered, staring at Piao Lin. "Dear colleague," its voice was wooden, "it's time to get off work."

Goosebumps suddenly rose on Piao Lin's skin, but he resisted the urge to rub his arms. He nodded a little hastily and said, "I know, you can clean up."

The cleaning robot turned its body stiffly and began tidying the snacks on the tables in the break room to the tune of cheerful farewell music.

Piao Lin put down his cup and turned to leave. He walked faster and faster, wiping away sweat after rounding the corner of the corridor. Yet, as he went down the stairs, he still had the illusion of being watched. For some reason, Piao Lin looked back again and found that the cleaning robot, which should have been in the break room, was actually staring at him from the side of the wall.

Piao Lin gripped the stair railing and blurted out, "Damn!"

"Dear colleague," the cleaning robot's electronic voice was a bit hoarse, "you dropped your wallet."

......

Yan Junxun scaled the edge of the condemned building and, under the cover of night, nimbly climbed up. He used his elbow to knock open a dilapidated window on the second floor, then vaulted inside, getting a face full of dust.

Amidst Yan Junxun's coughing, Shi Shanyan avoided a table in the room. He smelled a musty, rotten odor; something in the room had gone moldy. He squatted down and, by the dim moonlight, saw a dark stain on the corner of the table.

"This is Wu Qionghua's home," Shi Shanyan shifted his gaze. "I thought you were taking me for a walk, but it turns out you're here to investigate a case."

"Post-dinner exercise," Yan Junxun also squatted down, looking at the dark stain. "Crime scene photos can never compare to on-site observation."

The first and second victims of the stuttering killer both lived in the Urban Village of the old commercial circle. Yan Junxun remembered their detailed addresses. Wu Qionghua's house, from the year 2159, had been deserted with the outbreak of the North-South War. This area had long been abandoned; not even stray dogs came here.

"You remember what he said in his diary," it was quiet all around, so Shi Shanyan also lowered his voice, "'I took a nap, and when I woke up, I went to find her with a knife.'"

"He wandered around this area," Yan Junxun slowly continued, "...or he lives in the Urban Village."

This killer was different from Chen Xiulian; he wasn't as reliant on transportation. At least in his first few crimes, he didn't need any. The diary exposed many of the killer's inner monologues, which to a certain extent reflected his living space.

"On May 4th, 2160, he first ate a portion of liangpi at an intersection," Yan Junxun recalled the killer's diary, "and then walked back home."

The killer was very attached to his home, a fact demonstrated by his desire to return home every time he suffered a setback. In his diary, he described the conflict he had with the female owner of the liangpi shop that day because he didn't have money to pay. But Yan Junxun believed he was lying in the next few sentences.

He wrote: I was very angry and hit her.

'He didn't.'

Yan Junxun thought.

'He's a coward. He wouldn't dare to fight back at all.'

"There's a high probability he was living here at the time," Yan Junxun raised his hand, drawing a line between the table and the window. "He has a habit of peeping. After locking onto his prey, he chooses to observe them first. He calls this behavior caution, but it's actually just cowardice."

"Uh-huh," Shi Shanyan looked out the window. Across the way was another pitch-black, condemned building. "But he wouldn't have lived near Wu Qionghua."

He wouldn't dare.

Wu Qionghua was his first known "prey." He was very reserved about his first time.

When Shi Shanyan was reading the diary, he had said that masochistic and sadistic tendencies were two extreme manifestations. This killer's methods were all cruel, but when faced with the label of "Profiler," he displayed a kind of excitement that anticipated being abused.

"Jue thinks he's impotent, or has a low libido?" Shi Shanyan said. "Quite the opposite, his desires are abundant. This is one of the reasons he hunts everywhere. After being scolded by the owner of the liangpi shop, he said he felt 'hot, excited,' and only then did he come for Wu Qionghua. This is a manifestation of venting bestial lust. This moron can't tell the difference between violence and libido. He probably never had health class, nor did he receive a normal sex education, so his understanding of himself is completely perverted."

Shi Shanyan was never ashamed to talk about sex. In many of their previous conversations, he had played the role of an invisible guide. This was a secret he had discovered: Yan Junxun didn't seem to be very good at understanding this type of case.

"Sometimes people who have experienced trauma in childhood will sexualize their pain as a way to regulate their own state." Yan Junxun recited what Shi Shanyan had said that day, then continued, "Are you trying to say that his actions during the crime were him venting his sexual desire? But he doesn't..." Yan Junxun paused, "...sexually assault them."

"You got the last part wrong," Shi Shanyan narrowed his eyes in the darkness, a movement that made him look like a lazy feline. "Junxun, for him, the beatings and insertion of foreign objects are sexual assault."

A few wisps of wind drifted in through the window, stirring Yan Junxun's hair. He smelled the rotten and musty stench inside the room, and this smell made his thoughts begin to stir restlessly.

'This is a perverted sexual assault.'

'That beast entered this room, first grabbed Wu Qionghua's hair, then pushed her onto the bed.'

'The killer was already burning with lust.'

Yan Junxun's stomach suddenly cramped. He wanted to vomit. The killer's stinking sweat seemed to have reached his nose. He heard the killer's rapid panting, and Wu Qionghua's screams.