Part 117
"I wanted to talk to you. But I was wondering, where should I start?" The Vault casually picked a topic. "How's your life in prison?"
Xavier Daniels smiled faintly. "Are you that confident of your victory?"
The Vault said, "You already lost, didn't you? Aren't you enjoying your prison reform package?"
"I might not have lost." Xavier Daniels gestured with his hand, arrogantly. "At most, I'll serve five years, or ten. When I get out, I'll still be young. I'll make sure to reform myself inside, learn new things, and never make the same mistake again. The world is made for people like us—geniuses. What is a genius? It's someone who, from birth, is destined to be a cut above the rest. Don't you agree?"
The Vault nodded, thinking it made sense. She said, "In that case, why don't I tell you about my students?"
Xavier Daniels laughed, leaned on the table, and put on a look of serious interest. "I've heard a lot. I'm very interested."
Chapter 75: Instigation
The Vault lounged lazily in her chair, crossing one leg, organizing her thoughts internally.
Xavier Daniels looked at her expectantly.
The Vault finally figured out what to say, and began in a relaxed tone:
"Harry Forrest... Actually, there's not much to say. You should be quite familiar with him. For some reason, your father once gave false testimony for him, providing a crucial assist that sent him to prison. And after Harry Forrest was released, you helped kill your father, the last living witness. You closed the final door to Harry Forrest's exoneration."
"I don't know. He..." Xavier Daniels's Adam's apple bobbed before he managed to get the words out. "My father, he's already dead. I don't know what he did back then. I was just a kid. Killing him was just an accident."
The Vault said, "Is that so? I just think the coincidences of fate are truly astonishing."
Xavier Daniels curled his lip. "Are you mocking me, or being sarcastic? Weren't you talking about your students?"
The Vault made a gesture, signaling him to be patient.
"Besides Harry Forrest, I have another student who left a deep impression on me," The Vault said. "He's a bit like you. Extremely smart, with mild social difficulties, usually quiet and not good at refusing others. He has extraordinary spatial reasoning and mathematical abilities, so he excelled at math."
The Vault let out a barely audible sigh.
"But someone with a genius mind doesn't necessarily have financial savvy. No matter how smart he was, he still did the most ordinary, routine statistical work. Earning just over ten thousand yuan a month, running around for a house, a car, marriage, and family. Because of his personality, he often did heavy work for his colleagues but never got a promotion. He wasn't happy with his life."
Xavier Daniels said, "Ability isn't just about intelligence. Pure ability without application will be replaced by computers."
"You're right," The Vault replied. "He was a perfect student. He treated his teachers with respect and humility, and was kind and gentle to his classmates. His personality could even be called a bit timid. Even when faced with bullying or extortion, he would just endure it. He hated talking, hated communicating, hated showing off, hated competition. Sometimes, just looking at him, I could feel the exhaustion he carried."
Xavier Daniels crossed his arms. "Honestly, I don't think I'm anything like him."
The Vault raised a finger, telling him not to rush, and continued, "Even I never saw any emotion like resentment, hatred, or anger on his face. Every muscle, every expression, said he was a nice guy. Through long social conditioning, he learned to disguise himself based on others' behavior. He played the role he set for himself perfectly."
Xavier Daniels shrugged indifferently. "Sorry, if it were me, I'd prefer a more flamboyant persona."
"He enjoyed being called a 'good person' or 'timid,' and also enjoyed hiding behind the internet, watching as all the clueless people hurled the vilest insults at the murderer, yet always missed him. You could say he was addicted to it. This extreme contrast gave him an unparalleled sense of achievement." The Vault spread her arms. "'Look, I've always stood in front of everyone—who can recognize that I'm the real killer?' All the social elites were being fooled by him."
Xavier Daniels shifted his posture, tilting his head to look at her.
"And what he enjoyed most was constantly appearing in front of me. Because he thought that was the greatest challenge. He admired me—a more accurate word would be worshipped, even regarded me as a deity." The Vault showed a hint of helplessness. "From his first murder to the day the police finally arrested him, over four years, he killed twenty-three people. To show his devout faith in me, he decorated the crime scenes, leaving many clues about me. As a result, I was under strict police surveillance for three months, unable to teach freely. No matter how I analyzed things for them, they were convinced I was the real culprit. At the time, I even suspected it was some enemy who hated me, taking revenge."
Xavier Daniels let out a muffled laugh. "With such clumsy methods, shouldn't you have been ruled out as a suspect right away?"
The Vault laughed too. "Honestly, I hated that feeling. Anyone would be annoyed watching a swarm of flies buzzing in front of them. I wished they could be a bit smarter. Even if not, at least learn to listen to advice. Don't let yourself be manipulated so easily by a little instigation.
"What's worse is, even now, some of them still think I was the one who incited my student to commit crimes from behind the scenes. They watch me like I'm a wolf, making me take useless criminal tendency tests every year. If psychological tests really worked, even my student could have passed them—so why do they think I would fail?"
Xavier Daniels nodded. "So people with different abilities can't really communicate. Our worlds are different."
The Vault took a sip of water and continued, "After he was arrested, before his execution, he asked to see me. I talked with him for a long time, and realized he was just an extremely selfish, despicable, and cowardly man. What he did had nothing to do with his talent—it just gave him another excuse to comfort himself."
The Vault said with disappointment, "He's not like you. He didn't have good looks, a wealthy family, or social skills. He was just an ordinary, gloomy, and looked-down-upon failure. So he killed to enjoy the pleasure of controlling life and death. Because when people face death, they abandon their dignity, grovel on the ground, and beg for mercy. He vented all his resentment from being bullied onto those victims."
Xavier Daniels said, "At heart, he could only bully the weak."
The Vault said, "Exactly. All his victims were either at the bottom of society or lived alone. From lonely old people, to migrant workers far from home, or sex workers with no way to appeal. That way, the victims wouldn't be discovered right away, and the police would miss a lot of crucial evidence. By the time he saw me, he was already like a crazed addict. He called me over just to ask me one question."
Xavier Daniels: "What did he ask you?"
"He asked me if he had performed perfectly. As if seeking my approval. I found it baffling," The Vault said. "I told him no. Because normal people don't smile the exact same way every time. From the moment he killed his first person, he was already on the path to being a psychopath."
Xavier Daniels kept staring into her eyes, feeling more and more that her gaze was deep and dark, as if looking into them would suck him into a vortex.
He pointed to his own head and suddenly asked, "Is the legend true? Can you really see it? Lines, codes, or something else?"
The Vault thought for a while and answered, "All of those, plus a bit of intuition. So don't lie in front of me—I can tell."
"A miracle," Xavier Daniels marveled. "It's like a masterpiece specially edited by God."
The Vault sneered, "You could always try smashing your own head and see if God will open that window for you. Test your luck."
Xavier Daniels shook his head. "I've never been lucky since I was a kid."
"Do you think I was lucky?" The Vault shrugged, pointing to her own head. "This scar? My own mother gave it to me."
Xavier Daniels pointed to his chest. "The scar here? My own mother gave it to me too."
·
Quinn Shelby was stunned when she heard this conversation, recalling details she had long ignored, a confused expression appearing on her face.
Henry Harris asked directly, "What are they talking about? What lines?"
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