I have a life simulator.

The assistant, holding the documents, earnestly explained:

"At the same time, the psychological suggestion and brainwashing on Xue's side have been basically completed. Through unconsciously imitating Liang's behavior and changing perspectives, she is now gradually showing the characteristics of the 'Cotton Cloth' mother to the fourth generation of students."

"The effect is very significant."

"Unfortunately, her mental state seems to be affecting her daily studies, and her grades have declined compared to a year ago."

"Don't worry too much about these two people's results."

Ayanokoji Atsuomi waved his hand and said:

"The solution for dealing with the cold has been discussed and finalized."

"First, we followed the same approach as a year ago, using drugs that would cause strong dependence on him and engaging in brainwashing to make him 100% cooperative with our actions."

The assistant hesitated for a moment, then said tentatively:

"But if we use the drug on a child this age, he will most likely not live to adulthood, and might even die young. The follow-up of the experiment..."

"Aren't there still sixth, seventh, and eighth phases of experiments?"

Ayanokoji Atsuomi gave his assistant a cold glance:

"Moreover, his death was part of the plan. After all, according to the report you submitted earlier, most of the fifth generation members are now almost fanatically dependent on him, right?"

"Yes Yes."

"So we'll use the other person's death as the topic for another round of selection. Those who survive will advance to the next round, and those who don't will be eliminated."

"I've already thought of a name for this research topic."

Ayanokoji Atsuomi smiled with a mischievous grin:

"How about cutting the mother's umbilical cord?"

"Very apt."

The assistant nodded emphatically twice and then asked:

"You just mentioned the first step, so there must be a second step, right?"

"Ah."

Ayanokouji Atsuomi, with his hands behind his back, asked the staff in the monitoring room to zoom in on a corner of the fifth-generation students' classroom, where a quiet-looking boy was sitting.

"As you just said, Ryo only won over the vast majority of the fifth generation members, just like even the best mother can have an unfilial son."

Ayanokouji Atsuomi sneered, then turned around and asked with a hint of smugness:

Are you familiar with the Rosenthal effect?

The assistant, with a psychology background, instinctively wanted to nod, but quickly lowered her head humbly and said:

"I think I vaguely remember it, but I've forgotten some of it."

"This is a psychology experiment I saw a few days ago."

Seemingly satisfied with his assistant's performance, Ayanokoji Atsuomi nodded and said:

In the 3s, American psychologists Rosenthal and L. Jacobson visited an elementary school. They selected three classes from each grade, from first to sixth, and conducted a "future development trend test" on the students in these 18 classes. Afterwards, Rosenthal gave the principal and relevant teachers a list of "most promising students" with an approving tone, and instructed them to keep it confidential so as not to affect the correctness of the experiment.

"In fact, Rosenthal told a lie; all the students on the list were randomly selected. But eight months later, when Rosenthal and his assistants returned to the school to re-examine the students in those 18 classes, they discovered astonishing results: every student on the list had made significant progress in their grades, and they were also lively, cheerful, confident, eager to learn, and their overall qualities had improved by leaps and bounds."

"This is the Rosenthal effect."

"This is also a form of psychological suggestion."

The assistant immediately echoed.

"In fact, psychological suggestion is only secondary; the key to whether this effect can take effect is only one point."

Ayanokoji Atsuomi seemed to be recalling some unpleasant memories; he tucked his hands into his sleeves and turned his back.

"It's a gap."

"The same words of encouragement will have completely different effects depending on whether they are said by a classmate, a teacher at school, or by someone you've heard is very important."

"The same sentence will have different effects depending on whether it is said to a student who is still in school, a young person who has been in the workforce for two years, or a corporate slave who has been working hard for twenty years."

"The Rosenthal effect means that only by properly managing the gap between the two parties can the desired result be achieved."

"Been taught a lesson."

The assistant standing nearby immediately showed an expression of admiration.

"Let's proceed according to plan and turn this test subject named Takuya into one of ours."

"Yes."

After arranging everything, Ayanokouji Atsuomi left the monitoring room. Ten years had passed since he took over the project, but he still couldn't deliver a satisfactory result. Although Ayanokouji himself, who was in his forties, still had time, the Naoe faction behind him might not be able to wait until that day.

After all, the person standing behind him is already seventy-eight years old this year.

Even Ayanokoji Atsuomi himself couldn't help but feel a little impatient. One of the main reasons he chose to take over the White Room Project was that he hoped to use this opportunity to gain further attention from the other party in order to inherit that enormous political legacy, thereby paving the way for his subsequent elections.

In fact, the White Room project, which had been involved in countless projects over the past decade, faced various criticisms within the faction every day, even while Naoe Jinnosuke was still alive. Therefore, Ayanokoji Atsuomi was not surprised that if the other party had really passed away, he would have been attacked and forced to step down by his political enemies the next day.

"Sakayanagi..."

The name Sakayanagi popped into my mind. This family, which had considerable influence in the domestic political and financial circles, was initially intended by the Naoe faction to be brought in as well. However, due to Sakayanagi Narimori's own opinion, the Sakayanagi family had remained outside the White Room's plans for the past ten years, adopting an attitude of understanding but not interfering.

But now that things have come to this, if the Sakayanagi family wants to buy some more time, they need to show some attitude.

After hesitating for a moment, Ayanokouji Atsuomi chose to dial the Sakayanagi family's number.

He hoped the other party could come and visit the white room.

Perhaps because of their past friendship, Sakayanagi Shigemori agreed.

"If possible, please bring your daughter along. I've heard she's a renowned genius, and she'll likely find this place interesting."

"As for Arisu... I'll go ask her."

After hanging up the phone, Atsuomi Ayanokoji finally breathed a sigh of relief.

All that's left is to package it.

Just like that photo of him holding Ayanokoji Kiyotaka back then.

-------------------------------------

"Dad, who is it?"

Sakayanagi Shigemori put his phone back in his pocket and gave his daughter, who was lying on the hospital bed, a gentle smile.

"He is my teacher."

"Oh."

Sakayanagi Arisu nodded. She knew that the teacher her father was talking about was just a man a few years older than him, but in Sakayanagi Arisu's memory, her father always bowed his head to him and showed a humble demeanor.

"Is something wrong?"

He spoke casually, like a little adult, but Sakayanagi Narumori didn't seem angry at all. Instead, he sat down happily, peeling an apple as he replied:

"He's inviting us to visit him; he's conducting what he calls an experiment with artificial geniuses."

Upon hearing the term "manufactured genius," Arisu Sakayanagi tilted her head, showing interest.

“It feels very interesting.”

"Does Arisu want to go?"

"if you can."

"Then let's wait until Arisu is feeling better and is allowed to be discharged from the hospital."

"How long will it take?"

"It might take a few more months."

"Ah."

"Does Arisu find it boring to be here alone?"

"At first, there was a little bit of fun. After all, many of the toys my dad bought me are too much for one person to play with alone. Even if they were, it wouldn't be very interesting to play alone."

"Once you recover from your illness, you can play with the other children."

"Ah."

"...I'm sorry, I've been a bit too busy lately."

“It’s okay, Dad has his own job too.”

After glancing at the time on his phone, Sakayanagi Shigemori stood up:

"I'll be leaving now. Just give me a call if you need anything."

"Ah."

Nodding obediently, Sakayanagi Arisu watched her father leave the ward.

She looked at the empty white room.

If things were as usual, Sakayanagi Arisu would be allowed to do other activities for the rest of the day, such as reading, since she could see the enormous desk and bookshelves in the corner of the ward just by looking up; watching TV, since the remote was in the first drawer of her bedside table; or going for a walk, but only in the corridor of this floor, where she could see the view of the northwest corner of the courtyard from the window at the end of the corridor, and as for the southeast corner, she could see it by opening the window of her ward.

Sakayanagi Arisu left her hospital bed and walked to the window, intending to open it to let in some fresh air.

She tiptoed to open the window. The view outside was no different from yesterday. The trees in the courtyard were tall and lush. But in this sea of ​​green, Sakayanagi Arisu seemed to catch a glimpse of another color.

She looked up for a long time before finally identifying the object.

It's a white cat.

It was a pure white cat, its tail gracefully coiled around its limbs, sitting high on a thick branch.

Sakayanagi Arisu suddenly had a strange feeling.

The other person seemed to smile at her.

Perhaps it was just a momentary illusion, because the cat quickly and nimbly leaped away.

Not taking the little incident to heart, Sakayanagi Arisu decided to take a walk in the corridor.

As one of the most expensive and best-equipped children's wards in the country, Sakayanagi Arisu, who has been living here for several weeks, has not seen anyone else move in. Apart from occasional interactions with medical staff, Sakayanagi Arisu spends most of her time walking alone in this building and the attached atrium below.

However, I feel a little more refreshed today.

"Man-made geniuses..."

Sakayanagi Arisu savored the word she had heard from her father.

She was genuinely curious.

Chapter 86: The Malice of the White Room

"The reasons why ordinary people turn into evil people are not complicated, and include the following factors: loss of humanity, lack of responsibility, improper obedience to authority, group pressure, lack of morality, anonymization or depersonalization." — Philip Zimbardo, American psychologist, who conducted the famous Stanford Prison Experiment in the field of psychology.

"He was completely absorbed; his mood at that moment wasn't simply one of joy, but rather a feeling that he was exercising control over many living things." —Golding, *Lord of the Flies*

-------------------------------------

Before the age of twelve, there is actually not a huge difference in physical fitness between boys and girls. In fact, girls who develop earlier may even be a little taller than boys of the same age around the age of eleven or twelve.

If we go back five or six years, there is even less difference in the physiological differences between boys and girls among children around six years old. Therefore, the instructor standing to the side was not surprised by what was happening in front of him, and even chuckled.

The white room subjected the test subjects to almost extreme rigorous physical training, and was equipped with a full range of fitness facilities. If an unsuspecting layperson were to enter the room used for training, they would most likely think it was a pretty good gym.

Besides rigorous physical training, the white room also teaches all sorts of close combat techniques, seemingly aiming to cultivate geniuses who are proficient in both academics and martial arts.

However, given that the fifth cohort of trainees is only six years old, the burly instructors naturally cannot personally test the results. Therefore, the final decision was to use an internal competition and elimination system.

Kitagawa Ryo didn't pay much attention at first, since everyone in the white room was used to competition and ranking. But when the day of the ranking competition actually arrived, he vaguely sensed that the atmosphere was unusual.

Kitagawa Ryo, who connects the entire group of fifth-generation members, keenly sensed some subtle changes, but when he tried to ask a few people he knew, he did not get a clear answer.

Even Ichika, who was usually closest to him, just shook her head to reassure him.

This ominous premonition was quickly confirmed. From the very first round of the fighting competition, the situation was spiraling out of control. It was no longer a healthy competition or exchange; it was as if everyone was possessed, with every move aimed at the opponent's vital points.

Before the competition, Kitagawa Ryo was informed by the instructor that he did not need to participate due to health reasons. None of the fifth-generation trainees present raised any objections. Before he could even react, he had already been kicked out of the room by the instructor and could only watch the developments inside the room through the one-way glass in the corridor.

As he clenched his fingers one by one, Kitagawa Ryo lowered his eyes. He was almost certain that this competition was a deliberate arrangement by the White Room, and that he was very likely the bait that had been hooked.

However, he also saw through the current situation of the fifth generation. The seemingly harmonious atmosphere that he had spent a considerable amount of time creating was actually just a beautiful illusion. If represented graphically, most of the fifth generation members had only one arrow pointing at him from beginning to end.