The Mystery of the Inner Demon

Chapter 354 The Bright Side

“You’re right. I’m not only Professor Zhong’s student, but also Xiao Yu’s good friend, so I don’t understand…” Lü Dandan looked at Zhong Kui, who was standing not far away, looking like it was none of her business.

Just as Qi Fei was about to explain, Jiang Tianyi stepped forward and said, "Let me explain Xiao Yu's situation. After all, it will be easier for us to explain since we are both psychology majors."

After a brief exchange, Lü Dandan walked towards Zhong Kui with reddened eyes, reaching out to touch her face with heartache, but Zhong Kui dodged her hand.

She reluctantly withdrew her hand, and Jiang Tianyi gently comforted her, "Then I understand, the person in front of you right now is not Xiaoyu."

Lu Dandan shook her head: "Every year I try my best to buy Xiaoyu's favorite irises from the far south and bring them here. I hope she is doing well. Such a kind and upright girl should not suffer such a cruel fate."

"If I may ask, you were already in your thirties ten years ago. If you were Professor Zhong's student, it seems you've known each other for quite some time," Qi Fei said.

Lü Dandan nodded: "That's right. I studied under Professor Zhong for my bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees. As for Xiaoyu, you could say I watched her grow up. She's an extremely intelligent girl. I remember when she was little, Professor Zhong would have her take a psychological assessment questionnaire and then anonymously send it to us for evaluation. She saw through the professor's intention and deliberately filled it out randomly. As a result, the class filled in all sorts of answers, listing almost every kind of mental illness, which left the professor both amused and exasperated."

Professor Zhong has countless students, but I've always felt that his most accomplished student was Xiaoyu. She perfectly inherited his talent. No, she surpassed him. I don't know when it started, but she could debate with Professor Zhong about psychological theories. I've heard them debate a few times. Xiaoyu, being young, was more radical in her theories, and the professor often had to correct her, reminding her of ethical issues in scholarship. Sigh, now that I think about it, if Xiaoyu had listened to the professor back then, none of that would have happened. I heard she encountered a very extreme patient, which led to what happened.

As Lü Dandan spoke, she looked at the burned ruins, and her eyes unexpectedly met Zhong Kui's. She was so frightened that she took a step back.

She didn't know when it started, but Zhong Kui was staring intently at her, a gaze that wasn't normal.

"Don't be afraid, I'm just curious about Zhong Xiaoyu's past." Zhong Kui walked up to Lü Dandan, revealing a carefree smile. "Is it possible that she wasn't fooling around back then, but was actually filling out the questionnaire seriously, and none of you, including Zhong Huaiting, noticed?"

“Impossible. Professor Zhong was one of the best psychology professors at the time,” Lü Dandan denied outright.

Zhong Kui didn't argue with her, but just sneered: "Forget it, people only accept things that conform to their own beliefs. It's not like that book 'The Illusion of Division' wasn't written by Zhong Xiaoyu."

Jiang Tianyi looked at Zhong Kui in surprise: "You knew about this book before?"

“Huh? Why can’t I know?” Zhong Kui said, as if it were a ridiculous question.

Jiang Tianyi said, "Although I haven't practiced Xiaoyu's theory, logically speaking, if you understand the principle of autonomous personality splitting, it will trigger your defense mechanism, making it difficult for Xiaoyu to control you." Upon hearing this, Zhong Kui's eyes lit up: "Such a good thing! I only know there's a book, but I haven't read the contents. Dr. Jiang, do you have it here?" As she spoke, she looked at Jiang Tianyi with the innocent longing of a child for candy, making Jiang Tianyi's ears turn red.

"Zhong Kui, tone it down!" Qi Fei grabbed her and pulled her over.

Zhong Kui grinned mischievously and said, "What's wrong? Are you jealous?"

Lu Dandan watched the interaction between the two with suspicion and asked, "Are you and Xiaoyu, or rather, this Miss Zhong Kui, just friends?"

"He's my boyfriend," Zhong Kui readily admitted.

Qi Fei, however, understood the subtle meaning behind Lü Dandan's words.

“She and Zhong Xiaoyu are completely different people, so…” Qi Fei tried to explain.

“I know,” Lü Dandan interrupted Qi Fei, saying with concern, “I don’t mean to condemn you. I’m just worried that, given Xiao Yu’s current unstable state, I don’t know if Miss Zhong Kui can handle such a high emotional burden as falling in love. Before Xiao Yu’s accident, I once suspected that she was in love; it was a woman’s intuition. But I never knew who her other half was. It’s just that for the past ten years, because the murderer in this case has never been found, I have always been troubled by the person she loved. I wish that it was Xiao Yu standing in front of me right now, so she could tell me the answer.”

Zhong Kui seemed used to others expressing their longing for Zhong Xiaoyu in front of her, and was not angry about it. Instead, she was very interested in what Lü Dandan meant: "You said that a high-emotional event like love would affect me. What you really mean is that you knew back then that Zhong Xiaoyu had mental problems, otherwise you wouldn't have connected her possible love affair with this case."

Lu Dandan was stunned. Zhong Kui's sharpness was something she had never seen in Zhong Xiaoyu. This sharpness was like a knife piercing her nerves.

The reason it hurts is because Zhong Kui is right.

Even after all these years, she herself hadn't realized it.

Seeing the astonished Lü Dandan, Zhong Kui smiled and said, "It's alright. You can slowly reminisce about the time you spent with Zhong Xiaoyu back then. There must be a reason why you had such thoughts, but you were just too embarrassed to say it because of your feelings for Zhong Xiaoyu and her father."

Lü Dandan fell silent for a long time. Her gaze then fell on the bouquet of irises in Zhong Kui's hands. She said, "You're right. I know I have repressed feelings for Xiaoyu. For the past ten years, I've often had the same dream, and it's so similar to this scene. Xiaoyu is standing here, in the ruins of the villa, holding these irises, staring straight at me just like you. Except, she'll start picking these flowers and eating them, one bite at a time. Every time I wake up, I remember the scene in my dream clearly. I come here year after year, bringing these irises, hoping that Professor Zhong's spirit will appear and tell me the meaning of this dream."

Zhong Kui was clearly very interested in these words: "Iris flowers, aren't they the symbol of Zhong Xiaoyu in your heart? That is her bright side. In your subconscious, you think that Zhong Xiaoyu has eaten up her bright side."