Chapter 158 128: Autism and Claustrophobia! Found Out Something

"What else could possibly happen to me?"

"I killed five people and didn't feel a thing. I almost died and have no psychological trauma."

Xu Huo said with a smile:

"Go on, tell me. Nothing's a problem."

"I can take it."

"But... I think Sister Chu Xi is about to leave."

Wang Chao said kindly after a moment of thought.

"It seems she's angry that you ran off to fool around. She's probably packing her things to go home right now."

Xu Huo stood up.

He started walking out.

"Hey? Why are you walking so fast!?"

"I thought you said you could take it!"

Wang Chao was stunned. He tried to keep up but found he couldn't match Xu Huo's pace.

He broke into a short run and quickly hopped into the passenger seat of the police car.

"She's not really mad, is she?"

Xu Huo looked at Wang Chao and asked. His expression was complicated, revealing two conflicting emotions.

One was fear.

The other was pleasant surprise.

"Probably. She looked pretty mad to me. She was even breathing heavily."

Wang Chao thought for a moment and said, "It was after you came back yesterday. You said a few comforting words to her and then you were taken away."

"Right now she should be... packing her things?"

"Tsk, it wasn't easy. She's finally showing some emotion."

Xu Huo let out a long sigh of relief, a smile spreading across his face.

Wang Chao: ???

A baffled look appeared on Chao Zi's face. Before he could say anything, Xu Huo shot a question back at him.

"Have you ever felt that Chu Xi is a bit... vacant? Like a child with developmental issues?"

Wang Chao paused, not knowing what to say.

But Xu Huo didn't press him.

"Don't worry, we're just talking."

"She really does have some problems. I'm not insulting or slandering her. I mean she has problems in the literal sense."

"Of course, her brain and intellectual development are perfectly normal. The problem is with her mind and her perception."

Xu Huo began to explain.

Chu Xi's problems were huge, absurdly so. If she hadn't had someone patient to take care of her, she likely would have died as a child.

Chu Linhai spared no expense to give her a normal life.

"You've probably heard about her family's situation from Captain Li, right?"

"Her police service number has been 'restarted' three times."

"Her grandpa, father, and brother... all three of them died. Her father and Captain Li were partners. He was Captain Li's mentor back then."

"Was it... because of a case?"

Wang Chao asked tentatively.

Only a case could be the reason for targeting a family of police officers and killing several of them at different times.

"That's right, a case."

"A huge human trafficking case. The squad was investigating up the chain, but the other side got desperate and lashed out."

Xu Huo nodded.

"It's been almost twenty years. Twenty years ago, they were on vacation, driving out for fun in their cheap little car, when they were recognized by human traffickers."

"They didn't have their guns, no backup."

"Some of those guys were high on drugs. They went crazy and tortured her parents to death right in front of her. Disemboweled them. The kind of thing where she had to watch every single moment."

"Back then... she was only seven."

"The traffickers weren't idiots. They knew who the parents were. They didn't kill the children, but planned to take them away and sell them."

"Fortunately, Li Jianye and his men caught them later."

As he spoke, Xu Huo fastened his seatbelt.

While buckling up, he continued to patiently explain.

"The kids were never sold, and their daily meals were more or less normal."

"But when they were found, they were in a cellar, locked in a cage."

"Afterward, when the two of them got out, the brother became hot-tempered but was still reasonable. The sister, Chu Xi, developed mental problems."

"Claustrophobia and autism."

"Mhm, she basically lost any chance at a normal life. But luckily, Director Chu Linhai was willing to spend the money."

"He found top-tier private doctors, and there was some slight improvement. They didn't put her condition in her official record, so she was able to attend school like normal."

"Later on, she became the police department's mascot."

Xu Huo started the car. Feeling the hum of the engine, he felt a sense of calm.

Claustrophobia refers to the condition where a person, when confined to a small, sealed space, feels extreme distress, as if they are drowning, and will try to get out even if it means dying.

For example, by jumping out of a window.

Autism is even more complicated. It's a very extreme condition.

People with it either become incredibly brilliant, or they get trapped in their own mental world, unable to escape.

In Xu Huo's previous life,

there had been many famous historical figures who had autism.

For instance, Newton, Mozart, and Darwin had mild forms of it.

Then there was Einstein, who was suspected of having a mild case. Why suspected? Because between the ages of three and seven, and during his early school years, he showed all the signs of autism. But as an adult, his romantic history and quirky photos confuse the issue...

So, in a way, it's also a 'genius disease.'

"Huh?"

"So... that means Sister Chu Xi being angry... is actually a good thing?"

It slowly dawned on Wang Chao.

"Of course. She can communicate with me, but haven't you noticed she barely interacts with anyone else? Even with me, she shows no major emotional fluctuations."

Xu Huo said.

"Then how did you two meet?"

Wang Chao switched into gossip mode, eagerly waiting for the juicy details.

Hearing this question,

Xu Huo fell into deep thought.

'What could I say?'

'Should I tell him it all started back in middle school, when a young boy began eyeing a pretty girl's... lunch?'

'Hilarious.'

'Would I admit that the first step to becoming a Bandit was stealing lunch from a little girl with autism?'

'I did it for half a semester straight, to the point where even the girl with autism was left speechless. The next semester, she started bringing an extra portion.'

'After all, autism meant being trapped in one's own world, not being an idiot who didn't know how to eat. She had conscious thoughts. Chu Xi's case wasn't severe back then. She could listen in class and do her test papers; she was just a little girl who was often silent, emotionless, and zoned out.'