S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 5 Chapter 196

The Intelligent Killer 01 – Omnipresent

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Su Feifei and Tony sat together in the meeting room.

"Are you both seventh generation?" Zhan Zhao asked.

Tony and Su Feifei nodded. They briefly recounted what had happened to them.

Tony was a very typical seventh generation, the most "moderate" type, as Ding Ying described.

In various aspects, he was slightly better than the average person's normal level: a bit taller, slightly higher IQ, better memory, and a bit more athletic talent... but nothing extraordinarily beyond ordinary people, and he didn't have any congenital illnesses; his health was very good. Tony maintained a good relationship with Ding Ying.

Su Feifei, in contrast to Tony, belonged to the seventh generation which had the most "mutations".

Su Feifei was indeed Shen Yan from back then, but she had no blood relationship with the Shen family.

Wang Hua, Shen Xin's ex-wife, had a friend who once worked in Ding Ying's studio. Upon being informed by her friend that the child was an experimental subject, Wang Hua adopted Su Feifei. As a foster father, Shen Xin cherished Shen Yan very much. Even after Wang Hua divorced him, he insisted on keeping Shen Yan by his side to care for her.

The issue with Shen Yan was her multiple personality disorder.

Ding Ying discovered that the seventh generation was prone to defects, commonly heart disease. Those without heart disease fell into two categories: people like Tony, and people like Shen Yan.

Usually, different personalities emerge in extreme situations for reasons such as self-protection or sharing pain.

However, Shen Yan's multiple personality disorder was innate.

Shen Yan was born with two personalities: Su Feifei and Shen Yan, also known as "personality twins".

In general, different personalities would take turns occupying the body, but Shen Yan was different. She had both personalities present simultaneously from a young age.

It was as if there were twins inside one body, often talking to each other and acting after mutual consultation.

This type of multiple personality disorder had less physical harm. Although it seemed odd to outsiders as the child often talked to herself, the concurrent personalities did not affect sleep. Personalities that appear in turns might cause physical fatigue, ultimately leading to bodily collapse.

Shen Xin and Wang Hua's divorce was partly due to their different views on raising their daughter.

Wang Hua advocated for Ding Ying's involvement in Shen Yan's life to monitor her growth closely.

However, Shen Xin was strongly opposed. To him, it was like raising twins, no big deal.

Although Ding Ying had developed the seventh generation, the research was ongoing, and data was still limited. When Shen Yan reached around ten years old, changes began. Her personality started to expand.

The expansion was peculiar: Shen Yan's own personality remained stable, while Su Feifei's personality underwent further splits. From Shen Yan's perspective, her twin sister Su Feifei might sometimes appear as Mi, Fan, or other bizarre individuals.

Ding Ying was highly intrigued by Shen Yan's condition and studied each personality Su Feifei created.

Logically, Shen Yan had a good living environment and a warm family. Even though her parents were divorced, they both loved her. Her adoptive mother and brother also had good relationships with her. Why did she suddenly develop multiple personalities?

Ding Ying discovered a clue when he found one of Su Feifei's created personalities was a girl. She turned out to be the daughter of the famous Shen family witch, Shen Jinmei, the legendary Shen family's younger sister who successfully resurrected and avenged herself.

Through investigation, Ding Ying found that Shen Yan had recently heard her grandmother recounting the story of Shen Jinmei and the younger Shen sister...

After testing, Ding Ying was shocked to discover that Su Feifei's personality could create new personalities through her imagination.

......

After hearing about Su Feifei's condition, Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue couldn't sit still – Auch a rare case! So rare!

Bai Yutang waved for them to be patient and asked Su Feifei, "What exactly happened five years ago?"

Su Feifei said, "About six or seven years ago, I began to experience a strange symptom. I often had dreams at night, very peculiar dreams. Shen Yan thought it might be one of my personalities not sleeping at night. But I remembered that my dreams were continuous and cyclical, as if someone was talking to me at fixed times."

Zhan Zhao understood, "Oh, so you went to my book signing because of this? Why didn't you call me later?"

"The phone was wiped." Su Feifei pointed to her head, "She was very scared."

"Who?"

"Shen Xiaomei," Su Feifei said. "Xiaomei told Shen Yan that there was an omnipresent demon at home that could contact her through the television, cell phones, and other electronic devices, trying to force a terrifying personality into her."

Everyone felt chills down their spines – They didn't quite understand, but it was frightening.

"Xiaomei told Shen Yan that she was afraid of electrical appliances and anything connected to the internet. When she was scared, she wouldn't let Shen Yan sleep. Fortunately, there was a basement in the house, dug by their father to make a wine cellar. Shen Yan said she wanted to live in the basement. After explaining the reason, their father decorated the basement into a room that a five- or six-year-old girl would like, and at our request, it was free of any electrical devices."

"And after that?" Zhao Jue asked. "Could Shen Xiaomei sleep well?"

Su Feifei nodded, "Shen Yan said that Xiaomei said the demon couldn't enter the basement, so it couldn't force strange personalities into them while they were asleep."

"Was the demon that Shen Xiaomei mentioned the AI?" Zhao Jue asked.

"Mhmm! Because at night, when Shen Yan wanted to sleep, the AI would wake up Xiaomei's personality. Xiaomei couldn't clearly explain what was said." Su Feifei said. "Originally, we didn't take it too seriously until five years ago when that incident happened..."

Everyone listened attentively, finally about to learn the truth of the incident from five years ago.

"One night five years ago, Shen Yan discovered the AI that was harassing Xiaomei. She wanted to call Dr. Ding Ying, but the phone wouldn't connect, and the cell phone froze." Su Feifei said, "I suggested we wait until morning, but Shen Yan insisted on going to find Dr. Ding Ying immediately, believing that everything was designed by him... That night, I secretly went to my mother's house. She took us to Dr. Ding Ying, but he knew nothing about any strange phone calls or AI. When my mother brought us back home... she found that the entire family, along with the car, was gone. On our way back, we noticed signs of a car accident on Sanbo Bridge... Seeing that our father's car was not at the door, my mother didn't let us go home but instead sent us to a friend's place far away... That friend, who later became my mother, just passed away recently... She was also Dr. Ding Ying's former assistant."

Everyone understood now why Shen Yan's phone was left in her room when she left, it was intentionally not brought with her.

"So, you don't know how your family was killed?" Bai Yutang asked.

Su Feifei shook her head, "All these years, my mother pretended to search for me, but it was actually to avoid anyone finding me, keeping me in a state of disappearance. Besides, my mother didn't like Shen Yan and Shen Xiaomei's personalities, and she already had her own family, so I avoided contacting her to prevent implicating her. But... after that, Shen Yan rarely appeared."

"Isn't Shen Yan the primary personality?" Bai Yutang asked Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue.

Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue both shook their heads, "Su Feifei is the primary personality!"

Everyone was curious – Shen Yan had always been present before...

"But Shen Yan couldn't create personalities." Zhan Zhao explained, "Su Feifei had a dual personality from a young age, with Shen Yan as the twin she created for herself. As she grew older, Su Feifei's seventh-generation talent emerged, creating personalities through imagination. Although Shen Yan was a secondary personality, she was always there. In other words..."

"Shen Yan was originally Su Feifei's personality manager." Zhao Jue added, "When Shen Yan stopped, the aunt took over."

"Why did Shen Yan stop and disobey?" Bai Yutang asked Su Feifei.

"Because she felt guilty." Su Feifei said, "I wasn't always around, sometimes I was lazy. Shen Yan was always there and had a special bond with our father. She believed that insisting on finding Dr. Ding Ying that night led to the family's death, so she hid... Until recently, before going to the Shen family house again, she hadn't appeared, leaving only me and those personalities."

"Shen Yan's rank was higher than Auntiet's, so Auntie couldn't control her, hence calling her disobedient." Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue were already getting excited – This was such an interesting case.

"And what about you?" Bai Yutang asked Tony.

Tony replied, "I was the first to tell the doctor that I thought there was something wrong with Che Dongming. The doctor asked me to take care of Su Feifei, so I recommended her to an entertainment company to act and become famous. For someone who could disappear at any time, the more famous, the safer."

Everyone thought that made sense.

"You know Che Dongming?"

"I’ve met him before," Tony smiled slightly. "I've always had a theory."

Everyone looked at him.

Tony pointed at Su Feifei, "Che Dongming is the same type of case as Feifei. His heart disease is fake, his multiple personality disorder is real. He used his hospital stays to escape Ding Ying and Guan Yi’s monitoring and took advantage of the people he met in the hospital to do his own thing."

"How do you fake heart disease?" Bai Chi found it challenging to grasp.

"If you have AI assistance... it’s not difficult." Bai Yutang asked, "Was Che Dongming good with computers?"

"Who knows? If he could fake an illness, hiding his skills should be easy. If he’s like Feifei, he would have one particularly outstanding talent amidst generally above-average abilities. Feifei’s talent is in physical abilities, while Che Dongming’s might be in intelligence. The doctor hoped Che Dongming could become his student to continue his research." Tony seemed a bit nostalgic. "The doctor said Che Dongming had a natural talent for psychology, but he had an inherent malevolence... The doctor was very conflicted about his condition, feeling it was a pity for him to die young but also thinking it might be better if he didn’t live to wreak havoc on the earth."

"Is he really dead?" Bai Yutang wondered if he should dig up the grave to check for any bone fragments for DNA testing, but then realised the previous information about Che Dongming might have been fake, so who would he compare it to?

"Has AI really developed to the point where it can be omnipresent and self-aware like in the movies?" Zhan Zhao asked Jiang Ping.

Jiang Ping frowned and shook his head, "If machines had independent consciousness, the earth wouldn’t be a carbon-based world anymore. We can discuss it when Transformers start flying around. This AI is likely designed to simulate a certain human and is continuously improving... But! AI improvement requires a lot of data. How many serial killers are there? The base number is too small. Computers can beat human chess players because they have extensive training and data support, and their mission is to play chess. Similarly, if this AI’s ultimate goal is to control and incite people to commit crimes, it also needs a lot of data and practice. Without enough data to support it, it might have partial functionality like data analysis and information transmission, but someone still controls specific actions."

"And the ultimate goal? To create a perfect killing program?" Bai Yutang asked.

Jiang Ping nodded and clicked his tongue, "This thing can grow very quickly. While it may not have self-awareness, it can easily surpass human skills. Just think, in a few years, humans can no longer beat computers at chess."

"Who owns this company?" Zhan Zhao pointed at the witch commemorative coin.

"Er..." Jiang Ping checked, “They use an avatar every time, no photos, and the alias is M, no specified gender."

Bai Yutang asked Tony, "You suspect Che Dongming is the owner of Magic Company."

Tony nodded, "Not only do I suspect it, but the doctor also had suspicions. He might have been killed because of what he knew."

Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue asked Jiang Ping to investigate that company.

Bai Yutang then asked Su Feifei and Tony, "How did you know there was a murder in the cornfield?"

Tony took out his phone and showed Bai Yutang his chat with Ding Ying.

Tony’s message was: Doctor, where are you?

Ding Ying’s reply was: In the cornfield (with a playful emoji sticking out its tongue). Remember to squat down and look.

Everyone frowned at the emoji – An ordinarily cute expression looked eerily creepy here.

In the meeting room, everyone instinctively glanced at the phones on the table, the computers on the desks, and the surveillance cameras in the hallway... Almost all devices could connect to the internet now, even a toothbrush had Bluetooth... If Che Dongming wasn’t dead, could he be listening to their conversation about him right now from somewhere?

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: July 7, 2024 by Angel

Edited: December 27, 2024 by Soojin