Enforcer's Handbook

Jock never expected that he would receive a piece of bad news on this seemingly ordinary night, so that after being silent on the other end of the phone for a long time, he couldn't help but ask the other party, "Are you sure you got it right?" , that guy Hogg wants to commit suicide?"

"I am sure."

Lucy was convinced of this, "When we were in the coffee shop just now, he planned to shoot himself in the head in front of me."

"But why? What's wrong with him recently?"

Jock was puzzled.

It stands to reason that Hogg has become a member of the Fishing and Boat Club, and soon he will be able to replace the secretary-general and become a member of the High Council. That means that his life will return to its peak, even when the Foster family is at its peak. During this period, they never had such power.

He couldn't understand why Hogg would want to commit suicide.

"Mr. Hogg's situation is exactly the opposite. His mental state seems positive and upbeat, which is different from common patients with depression, but..."

"Just what?"

"It's just that he firmly believes that he is a substitute. He thinks that he can stop the time of the entire world for 2 seconds. When he shoots at himself, his substitute will activate his ability to avoid the bullet."

After a long period of communication, Lucy has roughly figured out Hogg's stand-in and abilities. According to the other party's description, the image of his stand-in is a person wearing a windbreaker and a mask, but he is still a beginner. At this stage, he is still unable to skillfully use his stand-in.

"What the hell is that?"

Jock was immediately furious. He had heard by chance when he was drunk that Hogg's childhood dream was actually to become a psychic because he thought the rescuers on TV were very attractive. Feng could cause people to chase and scream wherever he went, but when he grew up, he realized that for the Foster family, rescuers were no big deal.

As long as he wanted to, he could see any rescuer other than Six Stars and Candidates at any time, and he also learned that most of those people just looked glamorous, but had done countless dirty things behind their backs.

Could it be that Hogg was sick enough to fulfill his childhood dream?

"I don't know, but his description sounds somewhat similar to that of a psychic, except that there will be an image similar to an 'evil spirit' appearing around him."

When these words came out of the mouth of the current leader of Foster, Lucy knew that the other person was terminally ill.

In particular, she observed that when Hogg talked about these things, his expression was as usual and his emotions did not fluctuate at all, as if he was talking about a very ordinary thing. This reflected his deep belief in the fact that he was a substitute messenger.

"Similar cases have occurred before. I met a patient who fantasized about having the ability to fly. He was an employee of Uni-President Technology."

"Lucy, you know I'm not interested in this. You just need to tell me how long it will take to cure him. We can't recommend a crazy person to become a member of the High Council."

"I mean, you guys need to prepare for the worst."

Lucy said, "In the case I just mentioned, the company employee climbed to the top of the company building one night and jumped from the top."

The patient had no subjective thoughts of suicide. He had just been suppressed for too long, and he went to the rooftop on a whim. He wanted to activate his ability to circle in the night sky like a bird, and then return to his post to continue. Work.

But he failed to go back after all. When Lucy arrived, the law enforcement officers had already sealed off the scene. Because the scene was too horrific, they had covered the scattered parts of the body with cloth.

"Generally speaking, the greater the power they imagine, the more likely they are to self-destruct. What's worse is that they usually don't even realize that they are committing suicide."

Just the concept of "stopping the time of the entire world for 2 seconds" is enough to make Lucy think of dozens of dangerous behaviors. This ability is much scarier than flying.

"You mean I need to send someone to keep an eye on him 24 hours a day?"

"To ensure safety, I will take him to my hospital first, but this can also be an opportunity for us to understand his true thoughts."

During the conversation just now, she also realized that after learning that he was also a substitute, Hogg became much more talkative. If you put aside his attempt to commit suicide with a pistol, it should be considered a harmonious exchange. .

"Sorry to trouble you, Lucy, I've already transferred the money to your account."

"knew."

Lucy paused and said, "I owe you a favor, so I will try my best to cure him."

After hanging up the phone, she paused in front of the bathroom mirror for a long time, took out a simple makeup bag and touched up her makeup. From now on, she also had to become a stand-in messenger. This was the only way to get close to Hogg. If online If there is a lack of information about the substitute messenger, it is up to her to fill in the gaps.

"You're back."

Seeing her come out of the bathroom, Hogg said enthusiastically, "Speaking of which, I don't know your substitute yet. What does your substitute look like and what abilities does it have?"

"about this point……"

Lucy deliberately lowered her voice and whispered, "My stand-in ability is to fly in the sky, but this city is full of people from psychic research institutions. Do you want to go back with me? I can demonstrate it to you there. "

She had already thought of her words and planned accordingly.

When Hogg arrived at her place, she used drugged water to let Hogg have a good sleep first. After he woke up, she would use sedatives to make him slowly accept the truth, depending on the situation.

This is a painful process.

The vast majority of patients are unable to accept the process of transforming from an omnipotent esper back to an ordinary person, so even if they are vaguely aware of which side is reality, they are still unwilling to accept it.

But Hogg's tendency to pull out a gun and commit suicide if she disagreed forced her to speed up the entire treatment process.

"No problem, I happen to be free tonight."

Hogg agreed wholeheartedly. This was the first time that he put aside his real identity to communicate with someone. This feeling was strange and pleasant, and he happened to want to learn more about the substitute messenger from the other party.

For example, are there any other substitute messengers in this city?

Or maybe it's the knack for manipulating a double.

"That would be perfect."

Lucy straightened her clothes and said, "Shall I call a taxi?"

"No, I still have a hover car in the garage, which I don't use much."

"Then I'll trouble you."

Lucy nodded.

In about ten minutes, the hover car parked downstairs of the hospital. This is a hospital that specializes in treating mental illnesses. There are no departments for prosthetic repair or implantation. In order not to put pressure on patients in terms of the environment, the decoration style of the building is more It's close to an ordinary office, at least from the outside you can't tell it's a hospital.

Lucy relied on her excellent professional skills to earn her first pot of gold in District 1.

The first district may be the city with the highest frequency of mental illness in the coalition government. According to incomplete survey reports, about two-thirds of the company’s employees are more or less prone to anxiety, depression, excessive work and intense stress. The competition left them breathless.

But she doesn't hate the District 1 lifestyle.

It is this kind of life where pressure is everywhere that provides them with a lot of opportunities to make money.

She knew very well that the city was not as peaceful as people imagined. Just like now, police sirens were heard in the neighborhoods near the hospital. Recently, there seemed to be more and more criminals who dared to challenge the violent terrorist mobile teams.

"Doctor Lucy!"

As soon as she got off the car, a familiar figure sat up from the chair in the waiting area on the first floor of the hospital. He greeted the two of them excitedly, "I've been waiting for a long time."

The man was still wearing his work suit, and it looked like he had slipped out during work.

"Mr. Allman, if I remember correctly, you don't have an appointment today."

As the most famous psychiatrist in the hospital, Lucy will naturally not keep her patients waiting. She will confirm the time with the patient in advance for every psychological consultation.

She didn't like patients coming in uninvited, especially at this time.

Moreover, if she remembered correctly, the patient named Allman had recovered a week ago.

His symptoms were somewhat similar to that of the previous company man who imagined he could fly. When they first met, Mr. Allman had firmly believed that his hands could turn into iron blocks and even transform into various tools and weapons at any time. , during the three hours of consultation, she spent most of the time listening to the abilities Allman had set for himself, as well as the true thoughts hidden in his heart.

During a month of follow-up therapy, she helped Allman return to reality and help him accept who he was.

In fact, they are all ordinary people.

Despite your fantasies, in the real world it is impossible to turn your hand into a gun out of thin air and then shoot your annoying boss in the head.

Lucy had to lament that there were more and more such patients recently, and even big names like Hogg Foster were no exception.

"I know, but this time the matter is a bit urgent."

Allman seemed to be in a state of extreme anxiety. He looked much more haggard than when they last met, his hair was messy, and his beard looked like he hadn't shaved in a long time.

"I still have some things to deal with now. Let's talk about it later when we have time."

"But Dr. Lucy, you said that those are all my fantasies. It's impossible for my hands to really conjure a gun." Seeing that Lucy was about to leave, Allman suddenly raised his voice excitedly, "You He also said that if I hate my boss, I can use my imaginary powers to kill him!"

Lucy did not deny this.

Patients always need an outlet, and if they can relieve their stress by killing someone in their imaginary world, that might be a solution.

"But, he was really killed."

Allman suddenly smiled, and his smile was so ferocious that he said, "His head exploded, and white things were scattered everywhere."

And Lucy finally saw clearly the right hand that had been hidden in his sleeve.

Allman's palm was missing, and a silenced pistol was strangely connected to the front of his forearm.

The sirens outside were getting closer and closer to them.

Also heard was the roar of armored hover vehicles. They came to this neighborhood and stopped above the hospital.

Small Theater One Hundred and Thirty One:

A certain day of a certain year, a certain day, a Monday, in the morning.

Song Lan found that Lu Xiang's whole person had changed since he came into contact with the game.

He had never dreamed before that adjectives such as timid and delicate could be applied to Lu Xiang.

Lu Xiang went wherever there was danger at work. No matter how brutal the crime scene was, she would not even blink an eyebrow. Sometimes she even had to put on gloves herself to handle the highly decomposed corpses, even if she worked overtime for more than ten hours. He never complained about being tired; Lu Xiang in the game would be frightened to the point of gasping for breath when a thief jumped out suddenly. Every two hours of playing, his eyes would be so sore that he couldn't open them and had to be rubbed or hugged. Only then can you recover.

Song Lan didn't know how far Lu Xiang's gaming technology had progressed, but her ability to act coquettishly had improved several levels.

He felt that people in the counterintelligence department might never have imagined that Minister Lu, who was at home, would behave like this.

"Lao Lu."

Looking at the cartoon-style thief who was not scary at all on the screen, Song Lan couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

However, he still hugged Lu Xiang, who was so frightened that he jumped up from the chair and threw herself into his arms.

"This game, it doesn't seem to be a horror game."

Judging from the content, it is a thief-catching simulator made by a small company, but sometimes players will go out unexpectedly and pretend to be thieves.

"I think it can be."

Lu Xiang quoted a sentence she saw recently, "The most important thing is to have fun playing games, and I am very happy now."

In the past few days, she had truly experienced the joy brought by the game, "Are you happy watching it?"

"happy."