Chapter 8

Title: Dog

Translator: System Yaoi

***

Warning: This chapter contains slight descriptions of mutilation.  

Please note: System kindly requests chu to read all of her translations exclusively on Second Life Translations [https://secondlifetranslations.com/novel/dog/]. Posting her works on any other website is not authorised by System.

Chapter 8

Qin Zhao’s polite behaviour was an eerie kind of politeness.

“Please have a seat, would you like some water?” He poured a glass of water for Lu Yi, his expression devoid of emotion. He watched Lu Yi for a moment and suddenly, without any warning, his mouth stretched into a smile. “What brings you here?”

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Nw Zk eked’v alprsde, dsa eke bl vswnb vbl tzypp sq oyvla. Mbl vos pyv qynkdt lynb svbla, yde okvb y zkvvzl zktbvkdt yde pswde lqqlnvp, vblu nswze byhl qsaxle y pwnnlppqwz bywdvle bswpl okvbswv ydu xyjlwr.

Gqvla y obkzl, Ckd Hbys pvsrrle xyjkdt lul nsdvynv okvb Nw Zk. Tkp tygl clnyxl pnyvvlale yde kdekqqlaldv, yp bl xwvvlale vs bkxplzq kdnsblaldvzu, “R bye y rlynlqwz eyu vseyu. R qlzv vbyv vbl rlsrzl xsdkvsakdt xl bye zlqv. Jwv xu ckae oyp jkzzle, yde R qsatsv ycswv kv.”

Gp bl xwvvlale vblpl kdnsblaldv osaep, Ckd Hbys pweeldzu pvsse wr, y ckv zkjl y xydkyn, yde watldvzu prsjl vs vbl dsdlmkpvldv rlapsd kd vbl yka. “Mblu vssj yoyu xu ckae, obknb xlydp xu oblalycswvp byhl clld lmrsple. Mblu okzz nsxl vs qkde xl pssd. Ebyv pbswze R es? Ebyv pbswze R es…”

Typ vbkp twu zspv bkp xkde? Tl pllxp lhld naygkla vbyd obld ol qkapv xlv.

Wkdyzzu, Nw Zk prsjl wr. “Zswa ckae kp pvkzz yzkhl, cwv Hbys Dkysbwy kp elye. El qswde bkp cseu—pvaknvzu prlyjkdt, vbl alxykdp sq bkp cseu. Tkp qyvbla’p plnalvyau ekpxlxclale bkx yde vbalo bkx kdvs yd yavkqknkyz zyjl kd y ryaj.”

“Plye? Pkpxlxclale?” Ckd Hbys oyp xsxldvyakzu pvwddle. Fweeldzu, bkp lulp okeldle, yde bl pvyavle rynkdt yaswde vbl assx zkjl y esdjlu nkanzkdt y xkzzpvsdl. “Ls, ds, ds, vbkp kp yzz ryav sq vbl rastayx. Rv’p fwpv vs xyjl usw clzklhl vbyv vbkp osaze kp alyz… Rv’p dsv vkxl qsa xl vs vyjl xu xleknyvksd. Rv’p ps ekqqknwzv, ps ekqqknwzv. R nyd’v nsdvasz xuplzq.”

Ckd Hbys pvyale pvayktbv yv vbl taswde, xwvvlakdt kdnsblaldvzu, bkp hsknl tasokdt zsola yp kq bl bye qsatsvvld vbl ralpldnl sq svblap.

Uzlyazu, bl oyp byhkdt yd lrkpsel.

Generally, when encountering a person experiencing an episode, an ordinary person couldn’t remain so calm. But Lu Yi probably wasn’t an ordinary person. His buttocks seemed to be glued to the sofa, unmoving, and his drifting gaze fell in the direction of the kitchen—where Qin Zhao took his medication. He chuckled calmly, almost unaffected. “I’ve been thinking all along. In this case, whether it’s murder or dismemberment, it’s not the key. The key lies in how Zhao Xiaohua was abducted, how the surveillance equipment and his own mother’s eyes were evaded.”

Qin Zhao turned a deaf ear, as if he completely didn’t understand what he was saying. He continued to circle the room in a more unsettling manner, seemingly only to stop when exhausted or when it was time for his medication.

“Later, one of your words gave me a clue.” Lu Yi ignored him. The two of them, one sitting and one standing, were completely speaking in different dimensions, as if they came from different galaxies with a distance of a hundred thousand light-years separating their communication.

Lu Yi said, “You mentioned ‘conditioned reflex.”

As soon as he said this, Qin Zhao’s movements stopped, including his breathing.

Lu Yi smiled. “Behaviourists believe that the entire human psychological system is built on conditioned reflexes. How could I have missed it? Was Zhao Xiaohua deceived or abducted? How did the intruder avoid all the surveillance footage… I’ve thought about it for a long time and realised that no matter how we answer this question, it doesn’t fit. Unless… there was no ‘intruder’ in the first place.”

Qin Zhao stood upright, still with a lowered head and eyes, but a smile gradually appeared on his face.

“Do you know how to avoid the cameras? Only one person knows—the person is not Chen Ping, not Zhao Lishu, nor anyone else. It’s Zhao Xiaohua himself,” Lu Yi said. “Zhao Xiaohua’s parents had a strained relationship, and he lacked love from a young age. By this age, he had already shown signs of being a problem child. Similar to many problem children, when this boy accidentally discovered that all his well-behaved actions were ignored, and only when he made mistakes did his parents pay attention, he instinctively acted this way.”

“Some children develop a habit of stealing, while others have strong aggression. For Zhao Xiaohua, his approach was climbing onto the balcony of a neighbour’s house and destroying their property, killing their small animals, forcing his parents to focus their energy on him— I heard that your bird was killed by that child. The security guards said you made several complaints and requested their assistance in the investigation. How could they help? Most likely by accessing the surveillance footage. Every time a bird died, you would ask the community management to pull up the surveillance footage to find evidence of Zhao Xiaohua climbing onto your balcony. With that evidence, you would go to your neighbour’s house and complain, resulting in the boy being punished. Until one day, the bird died, but there was no sign of the boy on the surveillance footage. That’s when you realised that he had learned how to evade the cameras through repeated attempts. You successfully ‘trained’ him.”

“After that, all you had to do was reinforce and encourage him continuously.” Lu Yi lightly tapped the glass with his finger. “Mr. Qin, I noticed that your birdcage is hanging quite low. That’s not a comfortable height for an adult man. I’m afraid it’s to accommodate the child’s height, right? I also noticed that there’s a small tea table on your balcony where you keep the bird. At first glance, it struck me as odd—usually, the balcony of a bird owner is not clean because the bird splashes water and millet around from the cage. But your little tea table is spotlessly clean. I couldn’t help but wonder what was originally placed there—was it candy… or some kind of snack that parents usually restrict their children from eating?”

Qin Zhao lowered his head and suddenly laughed, a creepy laugh trapped in his throat, like a terrifying owl. “Pavlov’s dog.”¹Pavlov’s dog refers to an experiment conducted by Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov in the early 20th century. Pavlov conditioned dogs to associate the sound of a bell with the presentation of food. Initially, the dogs would salivate in response to the food. However, after repeated pairings of the bell and food, the dogs started to salivate at the sound of the bell alone, even when no food was present.

In the eyes of extreme behaviourists, everyone is Pavlov’s dog. When they occasionally succeed, such self-satisfaction exacerbates their personality disorders. In a sense, this is also a process of conditioned reflex formation.

Lu Yi looked at him expressionlessly and continued, “Since you’ve disguised yourself as a paranoid delusional schizophrenic to deceive the doctors, why wouldn’t you have installed surveillance cameras in your house? The first time I came, I was looking for cameras but didn’t find any because you stopped me—actually, they were installed on your balcony, right? Yesterday afternoon, you and Dr. Wang were sitting in the courtyard until the surveillance device you placed on the balcony informed you that Zhao Xiaohua had climbed onto it. You knew he would stay on the balcony for a long time, so you pretended nothing had happened, apologised to Dr. Wang, and went into the house to use the restroom. 

People cannot avoid using the restroom. In Dr. Wang’s mind, this short time indoors didn’t affect your alibi of ‘not leaving the house all afternoon.’ You quietly entered your own house, and the community’s surveillance could not capture the homeowner’s interior. You killed the boy in your house without making a sound. He didn’t have a chance to scream, maybe you attacked him suddenly from behind, or maybe you added something to the food you gave him… either way, with your physical strength, killing a seven-year-old boy is too easy for you. Then, you put him into the garbage bag you had prepared in advance.”

Qin Zhao sat down, rubbing his hands excitedly. “When I go to dispose of the garbage at night, I can take the garbage bin containing the body in front of everyone and drag it into someone else’s car. What about Chen Ping?”

“Speaking of Chen Ping, she is your other ‘child.’ Physically, she is already an adult, but she still lacks self-control, has fragile self-esteem, unstable psychological state, and tends to rely on and avoid. When she saw the body, you knew she would try to bury it. As for dismemberment…”

“I taught her,” Qin Zhao said, picking up a napkin and tearing it in front of Lu Yi. “Every night, at the designated time when I take out the trash, she would peep at Mr. Zhao. I intentionally let her catch me taking the garbage bin to the street behind, taking out the contents and breaking them piece by piece—a scene where I deepened her understanding through words: ‘Someone is chasing me, and only by completely destroying everything can they not find my traces. No trace can be left; otherwise, all efforts will be in vain. It must be shattered, sterilised, and disinfected’… Professor Lu, please tell me in detail how Chen Ping handled the body. After it was dismembered, did she have a clever idea to use a pressure cooker and cook the meat?”

Lu Yi looked at him coldly, and at that moment, both of them heard footsteps approaching.

“In this world, there is no one, do you know?” Qin Zhao suddenly leaned forward, almost leaning towards Lu Yi. “Only brains are left in boxes—you, and me. Neither of us is human. Our feelings are predetermined stimuli, and our thoughts are programmed. ‘Conditioned reflex’ is the only bug, the only thing that allows you to consciously manipulate others’ thoughts and behaviour. It gives you a higher power… and only with a higher power can you see the world outside the box. That’s our only way out, the only escape route.”

Lu Yi remained impassive.

“I am conducting an experiment,” Qin Zhao returned to his seat, his gaze direct, filled with uninhibited madness.

“There’s no experiment; you’re not insane,” Lu Yi stared at him steadily. “I checked your records. It wasn’t long after you moved in from the neighbour’s house that you suddenly started seeing a psychiatrist. It started because the neighbour’s child urinated in front of your door. From that moment, you began feigning illness. It took you two years, like a spider, to lay the groundwork for this plan. During this time, you carefully observed the neighbour’s daily routines, ensuring that someone would take the blame for you and cover your tracks. Even if your scheme failed after the murder, you could still pretend to be mentally ill and be sent to a psychiatric hospital for a reduced sentence.”

Qin Zhao looked at him with pity and then lifted his head. At some point, Li Yonghao had already surrounded his house with the police. Qin Zhao’s gaze casually scanned them, letting out a light laugh and shaking his head. “Ignorant, incomprehensible humans.”

He refused to admit it.

Lu Yi slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out a voice recorder. Li Yonghao handcuffed Qin Zhao and, while Qin Zhao stumbled, he merely shook his head, sighed, and proudly said to Lu Yi, “You are less capable than I imagined. I’m so disappointed in you.”

Lu Yi’s hand clenched tightly, but his gaze remained calm as he stared at a certain spot in the room. He refused to give up.

Just as Qin Zhao was humming a strange tune and being pushed towards the door by the police, Lu Yi suddenly called out to him, “Qin Zhao.”

Qin Zhao halted his footsteps.

“Who are the founders of behaviourism?”

Qin Zhao replied, “Watson and Skinner…”

“And who conducted Pavlov’s dog experiment?”

Before he could finish, Qin Zhao seemed to realise something, and his face suddenly darkened.

A faint smile finally appeared on Lu Yi’s seemingly expressionless face. “Have you ever seen Watson or Skinner? How do you prove that Pavlov exists? How do you prove that the ideas of behaviourism are not programmed into your brain? No… you don’t need to prove it because you have always known that they are not fabrications but real.”

Qin Zhao’s calm facade was suddenly torn apart. In an instant, it seemed like he switched to another personality, struggling violently. Li Yonghao firmly held onto his hands, pressing him down and said ominously, “If you move again, I’ll smash your head!”

Lu Yi walked over.

Li Yonghao: “Stay away, keep your distance.”

Lu Yi complied and stood two steps away, smiling as he said, “The true ‘brain in the box’ you mentioned won’t identify with anything or attempt to manipulate anything because there is nothing that can prove its authenticity. Do you really understand madness?”

Qin Zhao’s eyes were bloodshot, and his facial expression was extremely grim.

“Lack of moral and legal concepts, lacking empathy, easily frustrated,” Lu Yi paused. “You see, you’re just a sociopathic killer. Stop trying to justify yourself.”

With Li Yonghao’s vice-like grip, Qin Zhao was forcefully stumbling out. Suddenly, he let out a low roar. Lu Yi leaned against the door frame, tilting his head slightly as he observed Qin Zhao, seemingly mocking him. “All because of a puddle of urine?”

He glanced at the tiger-striped parrot cage that had been carried out by the police. The food and water bowls were empty, and the poor little creature curled up weakly.

Lu Yi approached Qin Zhao. “I see that you’ve lived to such an old age, and you’re not even worth a puddle of urine.”

Li Yonghao roared loudly, “I told you to keep your distance! Be careful, he might bite you!”

Sirens blared as Qin Zhao’s grimacing face against the car window gradually disappeared. Suddenly, a sharp cry erupted from the neighbouring garden. Lu Yi’s eyebrows twitched slightly, showing a hint of emotion. However, after a moment, the sorrow in that cry flashed like lightning, swiftly appearing and disappearing. Harsh curses and accusations filled the air, indicating an endless war was about to begin.

(The End)

System: This marks the end of Dog, hope chu liked this read.

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