Chapter 100: His Memories

This man, who had murdered his own children with his bare hands, actually had the audacity to stand before me and declare himself a good father and a good husband.

I gave a cold laugh. "Even a fierce tiger does not eat its own cubs. Do you really think you have the right to call yourself a competent father?"

"I know you might not believe me, but I had completely lost control of myself back then." Song Wenxuan's eyes held a complex mix of emotions. "Please let me finish. At the very least, give me a chance to defend myself in the final moments of my life."

"Speak," I said. "I want to hear how exactly someone turns into a devil."

"Five years ago, I was studying abroad for my doctorate in psychology. My thesis topic was human stress responses and mental self-protection. The main focus was testing the limits of human mental endurance to discover the underlying principles of the brain's internal self-regulation."

"The testing process was somewhat cruel, but as long as my experiments succeeded, people would be able to artificially regulate their emotions. Depression, bipolar disorder, and all sorts of other mental illnesses could be easily cured."

Song Wenxuan's original intentions had been good. This was the reason that kept him going as he buried himself in his experiments.

"My project went very smoothly at first. But as the experiments deepened, I gradually found myself unable to secure suitable volunteers. Left with no other choice, I had to bring in patients through unofficial channels. However, during the later stages of the testing, a minor error on my part resulted in a patient's death. Because of the fatality, my research was suspended. The company funding my experiments withdrew their capital and refused to sponsor me any further."

"I had no choice but to temporarily abandon the project. I chose a different research direction to secure my doctorate first, and then I brought my family back home."

"At the time, our country's field of psychology was relatively underdeveloped, so despite my youth, I was appointed as the director of a psychiatric hospital. During my tenure, I could never forget the research I had been forced to abandon."

"So I used the resources at my disposal to continue those unfinished experiments. Several months passed without any progress, until I finally encountered a highly unusual patient."

An unfathomable expression crossed Song Wenxuan's face. "I had seen thousands of psychiatric patients during my career, but he was an absolute exception. Even now, I still can't determine whether he was actually a madman or not."

"He didn't like to talk and kept to himself. He looked to be around sixty years old. He didn't know his own name, he had no family, and his entire file was completely blank." Song Wenxuan sighed, his voice finally shifting to carry a trace of remorse and fear. "His only distinguishing feature was a Buddha Head Pendant he wore. No matter what he did, that pendant never left his body."

"A Buddha head?"

"Yes. The Buddha head had two different faces. I had never seen a deity or Buddha like it before. Looking back on it now, it might have been the symbol of some evil god."

Song Wenxuan's words sent a massive shockwave through my heart. 'The Two-Faced Buddha again!'

"At first, I suspected he had Alzheimer's, but I later realized the situation was far more complicated than I thought."

"The old man had a very unique aura. No matter how manic or insane a patient was, they would all become incredibly docile as long as they were near him."

"I even saw a patient with congenital cerebral palsy—someone whose intellect would never exceed that of a three-year-old—following behind the old man without ever leaving his side. He even learned how to serve tea and pour water!"

"To me, this was completely unimaginable. It simply couldn't be explained by medical science."

"And so, I began to actively engage with the old man. It took nearly a year before he finally opened his mouth to speak. He told me that this was not some special superpower, but hex sorcery!"

"The 'hex' refers to employing methods like evil arts, gu poison, and drugs, while the 'head' refers to the target receiving the spell."

Song Wenxuan paused for a moment. "Perhaps you think I must be crazy. A returned overseas scholar specializing in psychology and Western medicine actually believing in such ethereal nonsense?"

"I really did think that way at first. But as the old man demonstrated more and more methods that exceeded the boundaries of scientific explanation, I began to doubt myself. The psychological framework I had spent over a decade building collapsed. I started secretly researching the hex sorcery art in my own office."

"When practiced to a profound level, hex sorcery can silently manipulate another person's mind. This kind of mental control coincided perfectly with my original research project. In order to receive more guidance on my cultivation, I abused my authority to change the old man's ward and satisfied some of his bizarre requests."

"Things like catching a few live rats and sparrows every day and putting them in his room."

"We coexisted peacefully. Utilizing my rich knowledge of psychology and pharmacology, I progressed very quickly in the hex sorcery art. Just when I thought I was about to open a new window into psychology for all of humanity, the old man suddenly stopped teaching me and made a new demand."

"He told me to send a few cats or dogs to his room every week."

"The city's back alleys were filled with stray cats and dogs. Although I found it strange, I still met his demands in order to obtain the subsequent methods. Every night, I would drive out alone to catch strays."

"About a month later, the insatiable old man made yet another demand. He needed larger animals, like pigs and sheep."

"My income at the psychiatric hospital was fairly good at the time. I gritted my teeth and bought live pigs and sheep for him, telling him this was the last time I would help and that I hoped he wouldn't push his luck."

Song Wenxuan lowered his head as he spoke. "But I soon realized I was wrong. Horribly wrong."

"Three months later, the old man made his final demand. This time, he wanted—living people!"

Just listening to him, I felt a chill and couldn't help but interject. "Did you satisfy his demand?"

Song Wenxuan shook his head. "No. But that was exactly when the nightmare began."

"When I refused the old man's demand, he didn't get angry. He only said, rather meaningfully, that it wouldn't be long before I was kneeling in front of him, crying and begging for his help."

"The strange events began that very night when I returned home. First, the sound of a child playing with marbles came from the ceiling. Immediately after, a child's footprints could be clearly seen on the floor. When we woke up the next day, we even found a child's excrement left on the balcony."

"Over the following days, the situation grew worse and worse. My children were in a constant daze, saying every day that there was an unknown child in the house who wanted to play hide-and-seek with them."

"I knew the old man had cast a hex on me, so I searched everywhere for masters to take a look. But my identity as a psychiatric hospital director was very sensitive at the time. These actions appeared bizarre to outsiders. Everyone, including my wife, Wang Fengyao, thought I was under too much pressure and had developed a mental problem."

"My life turned into a complete mess. Later, after returning from a business trip, I discovered that my wife would wake up every morning feeling as if she had been violated in her sleep. Her body had indeed undergone subtle changes. As for my three children, they constantly played with a nameless child, always heading straight for wherever it was most dangerous."

"There was even one instance where the three of them ran down into a dry well. If a kindhearted passerby hadn't seen them, all three would have suffocated to death."

"When I asked them about it afterward, their answer was always the same: an unknown child had insisted on playing hide-and-seek with them."

"I couldn't stay silent anymore. If this continued, my family would definitely be in danger."

From these words, it was clear that the Song Wenxuan of that time still cared deeply for his family and was trying his best to protect them.

"What happened next? Why did you kill your own children with your own hands?" I asked, pressing both hands onto Song Xiaofeng's shoulders. The boy couldn't understand Song Wenxuan's explanations; in his young heart, he only wanted to kill the terrifying man before him.

"How could I ever bear to do such a thing? I wasn't the one who killed Song Xiaoyao. Or rather, by that point, I was no longer myself." Song Wenxuan caught his breath and continued. "After returning from my business trip, I went back to the Isolation Ward to find the old man. I originally wanted to have a proper talk with him, but instead, I witnessed a scene I could never forget for the rest of my life."

"It was three-thirty in the afternoon. I sent the caregivers away and entered the Isolation Ward alone."

"The moment I pushed the door open, I smelled the foul stench of blood. By the time I regained my senses, I realized there was a bizarre symbol drawn in fresh blood on the floor. The old man sat in the center of the pattern, holding a human head in each hand, while two corpses lay side by side beneath the bedboard."