I stared at Dexter in shock. He had just confird it.
This ant that it was really true. I had won first place in the genius competition that was held at Delmany. This also ant that it was true that I had worked as a tutor for those missing teenagers.
My fingers felt numb. I suddenly found myself feeling unsteady on my feet because of an oncoming headache.
Dexter quickly stepped forward to hold . He started to comfort , saying, "It doesn’t matter. Their disappearance has nothing to do with you. It was just..."
Dexter’s voice was hoarse. He glanced at Zion nervously and continued, "The genius competition back then was held just for show. The organizers enticed regular families to join through luxurious cash prizes. They targeted families that hoped their children could soar to great heights."
"Sophia was also a victim in all of this. She was just a commodity the organization used, like a mannequin displayed at a clothing shop. She had no choice but to let herself be placed there as decoration. She did nothing wrong..."
Dexter was too eager to explain my innocence to . His body trembled as he held .
"Sophia..." Violette hurried forward and looked at in panic.
Zion furrowed his brows but remained silent.
What was happening now clearly proved that Damien, Violette, and Dexter were treating as if I really were Sophia.
But in Zion’s eyes, I was Sofia. After all, how could a person turn into another person just like that?
It didn’t make any logical sense.
"Sophia..."
Suddenly, an image flashed in my mind. The voice I heard was familiar yet chilling.
"Do you know what the most sophisticated way to deceive everyone is?" In my mory, Peter circled around with a smile as he said, "It’s with lies. Use lies that can deceive everyone around you, even yourself.
"Have you ever heard of sothing called the montage of lies? Each and every sentence that cos out of my mouth is a fact. But when I combine them in a particular order, it becos a lie that suits my needs."
"Sophia, you must first learn to deceive yourself with your own words."
"Let demonstrate. I’m going to tell you that the woman I’ve fallen for is in the arms of another man from a wealthy family." Each part of this sentence is technically true when taken alone, but I’ve switched the order around.
"The sentence in the correct order should read, ’I’ve fallen for the woman in the arms of another man from a wealthy family’."
The sa words were used, but the aning was expressed differently through stylistic changes. It seed to change the aning completely.
"Tell , how are you going to make him fall completely in love with you? How are you going to get him to love you to the point where he’ll do anything for you, even take his own life? How can you make him trust you and everything you say?"
In my mory, Peter suddenly approached . It made my headache intensify even further.
It seed as if Peter was teaching ways to deceive people. He was giving pointers on how to plan.
But I didn’t know who the target was.
I had no idea who it was that Peter wanted to deceive. I wondered if he was talking about Dexter.
"Rember that you’re the only one who can save this world we’re living in," Peter said. Then, he patted my shoulder and continued, "To make him believe you, you first have to deceive yourself."
"You’re a genius. I believe you can do it. I want you to beco his one and only love in this lifeti. I want you to get him to marry you, to make him obey your every word as if it were gospel. From then on, he’ll be nothing but a puppet for you to toy with."
My head throbbed painfully. I tried to understand and work out who Peter was talking about.
Finally, I caught a clear glimpse of a photo on the table in my mory.
It was a photo of Damien.
"Sophia, your families have already arranged for you two to get engaged. He’ll marry you, but that won’t be enough leverage."
Peter looked at the photo on the table and continued, "If you don’t do as I say, I’ll find soone to replace you..."
"Sophia?"
"Sophia!"
I suddenly snapped back into reality. I breathed heavily as I looked around.
Dexter and Violette were staring at anxiously. They were trying to ascertain if I was okay.
I shook my head.
I sat down slowly and leaned against the wall.
Peter wanted to get close to Damien.
He wanted to deceive myself and get Damien to fall in love and marry .
He wanted Damien to beco an obedient puppet.
"Is it so that he can control the Coleman Group?" I thought.
The Coleman Group was involved in pretty standard industries. Those included real estate, dical equipnt, dostic trade, and international trade. I couldn’t work out what Peter wanted to gain through Damien. He was just a doctor, after all.
"Sophia, you have to climb the corporate ladder to avoid being stepped on all the ti. It’s the only way you can break free from all of this..."
Peter’s voice repeated like a mantra in my head, as if it was echoing in my ears.
He was a lunatic and might have been a devil in disguise.
I was almost certain that he had sothing to do with my amnesia.
"Is it possible that a person can forget certain mories if they were in a car accident and were subjected to hypnosis, dication, or other therapeutic thods? Could false mories be implanted through hypnosis by another person after that?" I asked in a whisper.
I was starting to seriously doubt that Damien was the man I had loved for ten whole years. Peter might have deliberately misled to believe that about myself.
He might have taken advantage of the fact that I had amnesia to mislead , causing to have false mories about myself.
"It’s possible," Zion said. His expression turned grave as he continued, "There was a case where soone was incited to murder soone else three years ago. A psychiatrist had incited his patient to commit murder on his behalf."
The psychiatrist in question hypnotized his patient, who already had psychological issues to begin with. He transferred his hatred toward the victims onto his patient, causing the patient to feel the sa anger and hatred he felt toward the victim.
The patient ended up having delusions that the victim had deliberately hurt him and his family in the sa way, which led the patient to stab the victim to death in public impulsively.
I sat there without saying a word.
There was sothing off about Peter. I was almost sure of it.
Damien turned out to be just another pawn on the chessboard. He was not the one playing chess.
I wondered if Juliet was the replacent Peter had previously threatened about. He told that he would have replaced if I didn’t obediently do as I was told.
It felt as if Juliet was playing the role of a catalyst.
Perhaps Peter had intended to use Juliet as a warning to . He wanted to egg on so that I would complete my task of getting Damien to marry quicker. However, he didn’t expect to die.
It seed that Peter hadn’t anticipated that I would die at the hands of the serial killer either.
I scoffed inwardly. This ant that everything had spiraled out of his control after that.
"The case has really been closed..." Eason murmured when he finally ca back.
"The culprit managed to describe the facts of the cri very clearly. He said that he believed the victim had sothing to do with his son’s disappearance. He had approached the victim about his son multiple tis, but the victim kept turning him away. That’s what led him to commit the murder."
The case sounded clear-cut when put that way. However, it was clear that soone had deliberately arranged for it to seem that way.
There were sub-cases within the case. And behind these sub-cases were more cases.
There were problems left and right in this case.
I stared at the clues Eason had plastered all over the whiteboard and said softly, "There are two cases here. One with serial killings, and one involving mutilation. It seems to like the masterminds behind both cases are using the victims to commit murder for them."
"Victims are rarely ever completely innocent," Eason said while looking at .
He continued, "There were six cases nationwide of teenagers with Asperger’s syndro going missing simultaneously that year. Do you know why only the parents of these two teenagers are still persistently searching for their children?"
I shook my head.
"It’s because the others believed they had gotten rid of a burden. In their eyes, people with Asperger’s syndro or autism are monsters. Their parents regard them as aliens."
"Besides, when their kids went missing, the parents got to receive a large sum of donations from the public. Why wouldn’t they welco it?"
Eason sneered and continued, "Can you take a guess as to why the Blacks didn’t claim Dexter back into their household back then? He might’ve been a bastard child, but it’s not like the Blacks couldn’t afford to raise him."
"Maybe the Blacks cared too much about their own reputation. But the thing is, Dexter’s mother and Andy Black had gotten legally married in lovia."
Dexter frowned at that. He warned Eason to watch his tongue with his eyes.
Eason ignored him and continued, "They think Dexter is a monster too. It was said that he wouldn’t speak after he was born. When he was diagnosed with autism by a doctor and abandoned at the orphanage, everyone thought he was a mute."
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