ASA Ch23: Tenant

Chapter 23: Wasn’t he the one who liked me? Hypocrite.

“Xie Zijing is a very genuine person.” Lu Qinglai looked at Qin Ge and said, “Perhaps in his language, he likes to play with some clever words, but his emotions are absolutely genuine. He can’t disguise his feelings.”

Because Xie Zijing’s “sea area” was too small.

It was not like a typical “sea area” with ample space to manage emotions.

Emotions were a psychological and physiological response, the result of receiving stimuli; as Lu Qinglai put it, they were the brain’s answer after calculation. Some were conditioned reflexes, and some were unconditioned reflexes, but in any case, it was always a conclusion drawn after evaluating something.

Xie Zijing couldn’t perform more complex calculations with his emotions. He couldn’t fake or embellish; all the emotions he expressed were absolutely genuine.

“Have you ever patrolled through his ‘sea area’?” Lu Qinglai asked, “How does it feel?”

“Incredible. His ‘sea area’ is definitely not quite right, but I couldn’t leave that small room,” Qin Ge replied. “This is the first time I’ve seen such a narrow ‘sea area,’ and Xie Zijing said you think there’s nothing wrong with it.'”

Lu Qinglai took another sip of coffee.

“You rarely patrolled through other people’s ‘sea areas’ right?”

Qin Ge admitted, “After obtaining the qualification as a psychological adjuster, I usually only do ‘sea area’ checks for new recruits in the Crisis Management Office, and I have very little practical experience.”

“Ah,” Lu Qinglai nodded. His action of putting down the coffee cup was gentle and rhythmic, and Qin Ge always felt that his every move was also carefully calculated, with grace and courtesy, but lacking in authenticity.

Lu Qinglai spoke again, “I can tell you that Xie Zijing’s sea area did indeed suffer damage at some point, and the degree of damage was extremely severe. As for why it was damaged, that’s his privacy, and I can’t tell you. But his self-repair ability is very strong, so even though his sea area is as small as a room, his personal mental state is not affected at all.”

Qin Ge nodded slowly.

He had seen Xie Zijing’s Barbary lion. As a sentinel with an abnormal ‘sea area,’ his spiritual body could not always remain intact and undistorted.

In the textbooks of sea area research, he had seen too many cases of spiritual body deformities due to mental disorders. The spiritual body was the materialization of the mental world, and when the mental world lost control, the spiritual body would inevitably undergo various bizarre changes.

“I’ve taught him for four years, and in these four years, I’ve patrolled through his ‘sea area’ countless times, and I’ve never found anything unusual,” Lu Qinglai assured Qin Ge. “And there are more people with damaged ‘sea areas’ than you can imagine; even if his ‘sea area’ is narrow, it doesn’t mean his mind is abnormal. You can rest assured; Xie Zijing’s mind is indeed fine.”

Qin Ge pondered for a moment and couldn’t help but express his true thoughts: “But I want to help him. What’s outside the room in his ‘sea area’? I want to explore it. There must be a reason for the confusion and forgetfulness in Xie Zijing’s memories.”

“If your exploration will make him suffer, will you still do it?” Lu Qinglai asked.

Qin Ge was momentarily stunned.

“Have you ever thought that the reason he only keeps a single room is because he can’t accept what’s outside?”

Qin Ge had not considered this possibility.

“Don’t think that all unusual things are bad,” Lu Qinglai said, tapping the ceramic cup with a metal spoon. The sound was clear and rhythmic. “For some people, the unusual is actually a form of self-protection. They can’t comfort and vent their emotions through conventional means, so they maintain normalcy on the outside through the unusual… It’s really pitiable, isn’t it?”

Qin Ge’s Adam’s apple moved slightly.

“Professor Lu…,” he forced a smile, “Why are you trying to influence me?”

He looked at the coffee spoon in Lu Qinglai’s hand. The rhythmic sound abruptly ceased.

A white mist emanated from under Lu Qinglai’s feet, engulfing Qin Ge’s lower limbs.

“I just wanted to play a little game with you, but since you’ve seen through it, these hints are no longer useful.” Lu Qinglai laughed heartily, then turned serious and said, “I’m glad that Xie Zijing has a friend who cares about him, but I don’t agree with your excessive involvement in Xie Zijing’s deep-sea area. That’s a place even I haven’t reached.”

He tapped the table, and white mist crawled up his body. After a moment, the mist disappeared, and a golden monkey obediently perched on Lu Qinglai’s shoulder.

“I’m off to my class.” Lu Qinglai patted the monkey’s tail, looked at his watch, and said, “I’m going to lecture the guides at the Special Management Committee about ‘sea areas.’ If you’re interested, you can come along and listen.”

He didn’t tell Qin Ge what kind of suggestion he intended to impose on him. Qin Ge sat in the booth until he finished his coffee and then headed to the conference room as instructed by Lu Qinglai.

His conversation with Lu Qinglai confirmed one thing for him: something had indeed happened in Xie Zijing’s past, but Lu Qinglai didn’t intend to share it with Qin Ge and warned him not to intrude into Xie Zijing’s “sea area” without permission.

“That’s a place even I haven’t reached,” so you can’t go in—it seemed to be the hint left by Lu Qinglai.

Qin Ge felt somewhat uncomfortable. It felt like he had been excluded by Lu Qinglai and Xie Zijing. He unreasonably blamed Xie Zijing in his heart: Wasn’t he the one who liked me? Hypocrite.

Lu Qinglai was a well-known psychological adjuster and a teacher for many of the fresh graduates at the Special Management Committee Qin Ge arrived late and had to stand against the wall, like the others.

Lu Qinglai leaned on the lecture desk, looking relaxed. He didn’t use a projector, nor did he plan to write on the board. His hands were empty, and he began his lecture as if he were having a casual conversation.

After listening for a while, Qin Ge realized that Lu Qinglai was talking about how guides could subtly uncover the mental details of sentinels when providing “sea area” guidance.

All guides could provide “sea area” guidance, but they could only do so on the surface, touching only the shallow “sea areas.” Only psychological adjusters had the ability to enter the deep “sea areas,” continually delving deeper to discover the secrets hidden in the deepest depths.

“In the past, we believed that only psychological adjusters could impose suggestions on sentinels while invading the deep sea area, adjusting their emotions and psyche. But guides can actually do it—yes, that’s right, they can do it even in the shallow ‘sea areas,'” Lu Qinglai smiled.

Qin Ge furrowed his brows slightly: it was suggestions again. He didn’t understand why Lu Qinglai had such a penchant for imposing suggestions on others.

“It’s just that the content of the suggestion must be carefully chosen.” Lu Qinglai spoke with a clear and powerful tone, easily capturing the audience’s attention. “Certainly, we can’t directly shout in the sentinel’s ‘sea area,’ ‘Love me, be infatuated with me, give me money’… Yes, Xiao Hu put it well.”

He pointed to one of the participants and nodded slightly. “We should influence the sentinel’s self-judgment.”

Qin Ge shivered.

“Every person’s ‘sea area’ has self-awareness. Find it and communicate with it.” Lu Qinglai’s gaze swept over the audience, briefly resting on Qin Ge’s face. “Tell it: you are outstanding; you are attractive; you are worthy of love; you are likable. Or… you are disgusting; you are disappointing; no one will like you.”

Qin Ge stood frozen, and only then did he realize that his fists were clenched and goosebumps were rising on his skin. Fear and shock made him feel cold.

The words spoken by Lu Qinglai also surprised those in attendance. This was no longer within the scope of guiding “sea areas.” What he was teaching was a way to impose suggestions and control sentinels or guides.

Someone raised their hand to object: “It can’t be that easy. Trying to influence the ‘sea area’ is the primary cause of riots or even tsunamis. Every person acts in self-preservation, especially when we intrude into their ‘sea areas. Anything said by an intruder won’t be trusted by their self-awareness.”

Qin Ge thought: No… If the person seeking help has extraordinary trust in the adjuster, they would completely open up their “sea area” to the adjuster and believe everything he says without any doubt.

In the study of the ethics and morals of psychological adjusters, a significant emphasis was placed on how to control the level of mutual trust between adjusters and those seeking help when they face each other.

It was a risky profession, both for those seeking help and for the adjusters themselves. Delving into the “sea areas” was a high-risk behavior, and it was absolutely forbidden to control those seeking help within their “sea areas.”

After listening to the questioner’s words, Lu Qinglai raised his hands and applauded, saying, “Very good! Excellent!”

He then turned and picked up a marker, writing “restraint” and “protection” heavily on the whiteboard.

“In fact, this is the topic I wanted to discuss today: how to restrain ourselves when entering someone else’s ‘sea area’ and how to protect ourselves when facing intruders. What I mentioned earlier was just an appetizer…”

He looked toward the back row. Qin Ge had already left.

By the time Xie Zijing and Tang Cuo arrived at the Special Management Committee, it was nearing noon.

Tang Cuo had come to deliver documents to the Special Management Committee and obtain Qin Ge’s signature. When he left his office and saw Xie Zijing at the entrance, struggling to ask an elderly man for directions, he realized that Xie Zijing had no idea how to get to the Special Management Committee. So, they decided to share a cab and come together.

“I’m looking for Vice Secretary Cai,” Xie Zijing said, presenting his Crisis Management Office work ID to the committee’s gatekeeper.

Gatekeeper: “Vice Cai is on sick leave.”

Xie Zijing reluctantly put away his work ID, not hiding his disappointment.

After contacting Qin Ge, the two waited for him as instructed, standing under the shade of a tree at the entrance.

As they waited, Tang Cuo was suddenly approached by someone calling his name. Bi Xingyi came running across the zebra crossing, wearing a smile on his face.

Bi Xingyi happened to be the teacher in charge of this year’s high school entrance examination at the Second Middle School. Their school was among the first batch to undergo testing tomorrow, and Bi Xingyi had come to the Special Management Committee to collect the number plates.

“We only have 18 students from our school, so it’s quite easy for us.” He warmly shook hands with Tang Cuo and asked, “Mr. Tang, do you work at the Special Management Committee?”

After some small talk, Bi Xingyi bid farewell to the two of them. He walked a few steps away but then returned to ask, “Mr. Tang, are you free tonight?”

Tang Cuo: “Yes.”

“Bi Fan is new here, and she doesn’t have many friends. Thanks to your help yesterday, we’d like to invite you for a meal.” Bi Xingyi smiled and said, “Just a casual home-cooked meal, is that okay?”

Tang Cuo was not particularly skilled in social interactions, and the sudden invitation caught him off guard. He hesitated for a while until Bi Xingyi mentioned that Bi Fan was bored at home by herself, which ultimately made him agree.

Xie Zijing saw Qin Ge coming out from a distance and noticed that he was dressed in a white shirt, looking very neat and sharp. He resisted the urge to whistle and gave Qin Ge a bright smile.

Qin Ge quickly signed Tang Cuo’s document and sent him to the Special Management Committee to deliver it. Then he pulled Xie Zijing aside into a nearby alley.

Xie Zijing pretended to be surprised, his face filled with a mischievous grin. “Wow… here? Isn’t it a bit inappropriate?”

“Put your dirty thoughts aside,” Qin Ge asked in a hushed tone, “You said only Lu Qinglai and I have entered your ‘sea area.’ When did you start refusing other guides from cruising?”

Xie Zijing thought he looked quite handsome when he was serious. His gaze slid down Qin Ge’s neck and disappeared into his collar. “After starting college.”

“Why?”

“When I was in college, Professor Lu helped me patrol. After college, when I went to the Western Division, I didn’t like other guides entering my ‘sea area.’ They thought my ‘sea area’ was abnormal.” Xie Zijing mustered the courage and reached out to hook his pinky with Qin Ge’s.

Qin Ge didn’t bother to shake it off, but after some thought, he couldn’t help but ask, “Who said your ‘sea area’ was disgusting? Was it Lu Qinglai?”

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