Chapter 2121: A Psychological Counseling Session
Xu Huo looked around. It was called a school, but the surveillance equipment here was even more extensive than inside the city, covering almost every place without any blind spots—the main gate, the playground at the front, the school buildings, and the dormitories. Open and hidden devices were installed in an overlapping pattern. Perhaps to emphasize the existence of surveillance, some places even deliberately used large equipment and obvious markings.
"I'd like to go to the restroom first," he said to the woman.
The woman remained stern-faced and pointed to a building on the side. "That's the Daylily Building, where the teachers and school staff live. However, since you're not a regular employee, you can't enter the residential area on the second floor. You can use the restroom on the first floor. Except for the Daylily Building, do not use the restroom anywhere else on campus."
Without explaining the reason, she pointed to the school building again. "Later, go to the psychological counseling room on the third floor. The student is waiting there."
Xu Huo went to the restroom and found that although there were no surveillance cameras installed inside, the walls and floor of the entire room were fitted with sensor devices. Through these sensors, a person's condition could be quickly determined.
"I'll deal with that later," he said, rinsing his hands and walking out.
The school was not large. All the classrooms used virtual teaching systems, so aside from the breathing of living people, almost no other sounds could be heard. Xu Huo walked to the psychological counseling room on the third floor.
The door to the counseling room was smart-sensor controlled. It only automatically opened after verifying his identity. But the moment the door cracked open, a thin figure struggled to squeeze out, as if trying to escape.
Xu Huo reached out and grabbed the other person's arm. The child, unable to break free, started punching and kicking him like a madman. Realizing he couldn't shake Xu Huo off, he bit down on Xu Huo's arm. But after three seconds, the child's entire body began to convulse as if electrocuted. His mouth lost its strength, and his limbs went limp.
When the child ran out, the seven surveillance cameras in the hallway and inside the counseling room emitted a "beep beep" alarm. But when the child collapsed from weakness, all the alarms stopped completely. Yet no one came to check the situation.
"Teacher Xu, please bring the student back to the counseling room for psychological counseling," the woman's voice came through the hallway equipment.
"His condition seems a bit off. Don't we need to send him to the hospital?" Xu Huo looked up and asked.
"The punishment mechanisms for students are all controlled within a safe range. There's no problem, and no doctor is needed." The woman's voice turned cold and hard. She repeated, "Please begin the psychological counseling."
Xu Huo first brought the child back to the psychological counseling room. As the woman had said, the child was not seriously injured. By the time he sat down in the chair, he had already recovered. However, his demeanor had become listless, appearing completely cut off from the outside world, immersed only in his own inner world.
Pouring a glass of water and placing it in front of the boy, Xu Huo asked, "How old are you?"
The boy showed no reaction at all.
At that moment, the woman's voice sounded in the room again. "The badge on his shoulder has his identity information."
"Snap!" Xu Huo placed the water glass on the table with a bit of force and said in a deep voice, "I don't need outside interference when I'm conducting psychological counseling. You should at least show me basic respect. Also, my counseling process should be confidential. Doesn't this school protect the privacy of its employees?"
The woman was silent for a moment before saying, "This school is special. Any situation where staff and students interact needs to be recorded. Teacher Xu, this is to protect you."
"However, since it's your request, I will shut down the surveillance equipment in the counseling room."
Subsequently, the faint sounds of the surveillance equipment running in the counseling room stopped one after another. The boy, probably realizing the equipment was off, suddenly seemed to come alive. He stared at Xu Huo with bloodshot eyes, then began scratching his own arms frantically. He was so forceful that he drew blood immediately.
A malicious smile appeared on the boy's face. He showed no fear of the adult male who completely overpowered him in both strength and physique.
Xu Huo, who had been leaning against the desk, moved slightly to the side and patted the recorder placed on the table.
The boy's self-harming actions stopped. The smile on his face gradually faded, and his expression quickly turned numb. Then it shifted to pain. He suddenly grabbed his head and let out a hoarse scream, continuously clawing at his own face, as if trapped in extreme agony.
After screaming, the boy curled up in the chair, panting heavily. It took a long time for him to calm down. Then he looked at Xu Huo again, his eyes filled with despair.
"An emotion-monitoring chip should have been implanted in your body," Xu Huo finally spoke. "If your emotional fluctuations were truly too great, it would alert or forcibly interrupt the process to prevent you from getting too excited and doing something extreme. You've been normal so far, which means it hasn't reached the point where forced intervention is necessary."
The boy stopped his act. His expression went blank as he said, "Adults have no sympathy at all."
"An adult's sympathy should be given to those who deserve it." Xu Huo walked around the desk and sat down, saying to the boy, "When I applied for the job, I learned a bit about the laws of District 008. Children in District 008 have an emotion-monitoring chip implanted after they turn one. It's mainly used to monitor the psychological state of young children. But the law states that this chip is removed at the age of twelve. You look older than twelve, so it seems you're part of a group screened for criminal tendencies."
"The children locked up in this special school are probably all similar, but there shouldn't be many who urgently need psychological counseling. You're probably the biggest troublemaker of them all."
"The surveillance equipment here is off now. You can speak freely."
The boy leaned back in his chair. "If you want me to talk, what can you give me in return?"
"What kind of return do you want?" Xu Huo asked.
"Take me out to play." The boy dug his nails into the armrest. "You can't do the other things, but this one you can. You're a new teacher, you can apply for it."
Xu Huo typed two words on his terminal, then said, "My job doesn't include taking kids out."
"Then what can you do?" the boy retorted, then laughed as if he'd heard a joke. "You're not really here to give me psychological counseling, are you!"
"What else would it be?" Xu Huo raised an eyebrow.
The boy's expression darkened. "The person who hired you, didn't they want you to come here and kill us?"
Xu Huo said nothing, waiting for him to continue.
"The three psychological counseling teachers before you all killed students after being provoked." The boy seemed to be analyzing Xu Huo. "The out-of-zone players who get hired are all cold-hearted, brutal, and well-disguised freaks. When a little freak dies at the hands of a big freak, no one finds fault."
"Do you know when the genetic screening in District 008 started and when it stopped?" Xu Huo suddenly asked an unrelated question.
(End of Chapter)