Players, Please Board the Train

After sitting at the Xu residence for a while, Ms. Fang was ready to leave. She had already moved with Tang Guangbo to the residence arranged by the government. Before departing, she said to Xu Huo:

”Your Uncle Tang is very good at conversation. When you have time, you can chat with him.”

Xu Huo agreed, and the very next day he went to Tang Guangbo’s office.

The office had a simple and tasteful decor, but the display cabinets along the walls and the desk were piled high with small items in boxes. Tang Guangbo was cleaning when he arrived, setting down his towel upon seeing him. While cleaning his hands, he said, ”Move the things on the desk aside and have a seat first.”

Xu Huo didn’t approach the desk, instead sitting down on the nearby sofa.

When Tang Guangbo came out, he was carrying a cup of tea and a cup of coffee. He handed the tea to Xu Huo, saying, ”I heard from your mother that you don’t like coffee.”

”Not used to it,” Xu Huo replied, accepting the tea and setting it down. Then he asked, ”Do you smoke?”

Tang Guangbo pointed to the sign on the back wall, ”Smoking is prohibited here.”

Xu Huo placed the cigarette pack he had taken out on the table, asking, ”Why is this office so messy?”

”Just got settled in, a bit of mess is normal.” Tang Guangbo paused, then added, ”But you can also judge a person’s psychological state by how they move and arrange objects.”As he spoke, he adjusted his glasses and smiled, ”I invited you to sit at the desk, but you didn’t agree. This indicates that subconsciously, you don’t want to have this conversation with me.”

”No,” Xu Huo said, ”I just don’t like touching other people’s things.”

Tang Guangbo’s smile remained unchanged, ”You’ve seen quite a few psychologists before. It’s normal to feel resistant toward them.”

”For other doctors, people might have psychological illnesses, but from a scholar’s perspective, all psychology is a product of emotions. Changes in a person’s mental state are just fluctuations and shifts in emotions. Strictly speaking, they can’t really be called diseases.”

Xu Huo’s expression stiffened slightly, ”Some psychologists have told me that too.”

”I’m not seeking your approval or trying to lower your psychological defenses.” Tang Guangbo shook his head, ”Distance and defenses between people’s hearts are normal. I’m not a doctor; I don’t want to study a person’s mindset from a pathological perspective. I’m just offering a different viewpoint as an observer.”

”Humanity’s greatest evolution is thinking. If a person’s thoughts can be easily influenced by others, then that person’s emotions must be quite unstable.”

”Isn’t that what psychologists are supposed to do?” Xu Huo countered.

But Tang Guangbo shook his head, ”I’m not a psychologist.”

Xu Huo chatted with him a bit longer before getting up to leave.

Over the following week, aside from special training sessions with Painting Woman, he visited Tang Guangbo’s office almost every day to sit for a while.

During this time, he also encountered some players who came for psychological counseling. He didn’t hear the detailed process, but judging from the players’ expressions, his counseling was effective.

”You’re here again,” Tang Guangbo said as usual, pouring him tea.

Xu Huo picked it up and took a sip, ”My mother likes this tea too.”

Tang Guangbo’s expression was gentle, ”A few days ago when you came, you wouldn’t even drink the tea. I was worried you might think I’m not suitable for your mother.”

Xu Huo looked up at him upon hearing this, studying him for a moment before saying, ”You’re much more outstanding than her.”

Tang Guangbo repeatedly shook his head, ”Please don’t let your mother hear that, or my life will be difficult.”

Xu Huo smiled slightly, setting down his teacup as he said, ”You’re quite humorous.”

”Most professors and scholars I’ve met before were very serious, especially those with some psychology knowledge. They were practically desperate to uncover others’ secrets every second to satisfy their own voyeuristic desires.”

”You’re different from all of them.”

Tang Guangbo became interested, ”Then what kind of person do you think I am?”

”An observant person,” Xu Huo said, ”An observant and intelligent person.”

Tang Guangbo maintained his polite and proper smile, ”Maybe I’ve picked up some of the habits of psychology students too.”

”But you’re still different from them.” After saying this, Xu Huo stood up to leave again, adding, ”I won’t be coming anymore after this. I plan to return to Ting City in a couple of days. All my friends are there.”

Tang Guangbo saw him to the door, ”Come visit your mother more often. Although she doesn’t show it usually, she worries about you a lot in her heart.”

”I know,” Xu Huo said, politely declining his offer to escort him downstairs and leaving the government building alone.

Back in the office, Tang Guangbo returned to his desk, took out the medical record book from the drawer, and added a summary under phrases like ”excessive psychological defenses,” ”cold toward others,” and ”detached among ordinary people”: ”Skilled at using psychological disguise for counter-manipulation, possesses absolute confidence, substitutes personal judgment for factual standards, extremely resistant to psychological suggestion.”

After writing this, he added an ”S” mark after Xu Huo’s name.

Meanwhile, Xu Huo drove home with his usual expression.

After a week, he could basically conclude that if Tang Guangbo wasn’t a psychopathic mental patient, then he must be a player.

Since arriving in Capital City, his displayed interest in the local culture, history, and food was actually rapid learning. He conducted psychological counseling with warmth and politeness, but in reality, he felt no sense of belonging to humanity.

In other words, everything he did was observation and recording, like humans observing laboratory animals.

Human emotions toward animals are weak.

His purpose in coming to Capital City with Ms. Fang was likely to make contact with players.

All the players and staff members he had contact with couldn’t be trusted. That hypnotist player from the Phantom Sound Knights was incredibly powerful. If Tang Guangbo had malicious intentions, it would be very easy for him to use players to accomplish something.

Of course, it couldn’t be ruled out that he was simply interested in observing players.

Therefore, after filtering through possibilities in his mind, Xu Huo settled on Nie Xuan as his candidate.

He was about to call Nie Xuan when the red light ahead came on. Just as he stopped the car, someone came to knock on his window: ”Sir, would you like to buy some flowers?”

Nie Xuan’s call didn’t go through. Xu Huo turned to look at the person outside and waved his hand to indicate he didn’t need any.

The girl carrying the flower basket walked away disappointed.

After driving through another intersection, again while waiting at a red light, someone came to knock on his window, ”Sir, would you like to buy some flowers?”

Xu Huo directly stepped on the accelerator and drove off. In the rearview mirror, the girl with the flower basket stood in place, watching the direction he left without moving.

Half a minute later, this person appeared in his field of vision again, chasing after his car and shouting, ”Sir, would you like to buy some flowers!”

Xu Huo paid no attention, but soon he realized he had actually been driving back and forth along the same road.

His phone calls couldn’t go through either.

When he encountered the flower basket girl for the fourth time, he stopped the car and rolled down the window, saying to her, ”I don’t like flowers.”

The girl looked somewhat disappointed but still rallied her spirits, saying, ”Sir, please buy just one. My flowers are homegrown and very cheap.”