Part 131
At this point, they were undoubtedly much luckier than The Vault. Although there were trivial troubles and quarrels in their families, and although their parents had sometimes disciplined them physically out of anger, they had never experienced a disaster in their childhood that could reshape their entire lives.
What their families gave them, above all, was warmth. To them, their parents were like a protective umbrella. They could sympathize, they could understand, but they could not shamelessly claim to truly empathize.
Quinn Foster said, “As for this kind of psychological trauma, The Vault still chose to hide it. She doesn’t want me to help her in this regard. So, this is a secret.”
Someone exclaimed in surprise, “Why?!”
Quinn Foster glanced, almost imperceptibly, at the quiet Quinn Shelby in the corner and said, “Not all wounds wish to be healed. When something becomes a memory that will never return, people would rather engrave it into their lives as proof that it once existed, as a reminder, than let it disappear along with someone else.”
“Huh?” a team member asked in confusion, “Why remember it at all? Surviving a disaster? Escaping death? Psychological problems are painful—does she want to live with it for her whole life?”
Quinn Foster looked at the speaker and asked, “Do you think that children who are abused by their parents will automatically hate them? As law enforcement officers, you must have encountered many such people.”
On the side, Henry Harris said, “No, they won’t.”
Quinn Foster said, “Exactly, they won’t. Most children, though fearful, still yearn for their parents. They might even cherish those rare moments of gentleness more than children from ordinary families. That’s instinctive love. As long as the parent shows even a little affection, that love is hard to break. To gain a bit of approval from their parents, they’ll make themselves more obedient and sensible. They’ll actively forget the unhappy things, find all sorts of excuses to rationalize their parents’ absurd behavior. Rather than blame their parents, they’re more likely to blame themselves. After all, children spend twenty-four hours a day with their parents—convincing themselves they are loved is the only way to keep a little hope in life. Do you expect a five- or six-year-old to truly understand what hatred is?”
The team member who spoke earlier nodded awkwardly.
Henry Harris said, “Even some adults, in high-pressure, isolated environments, and with the other party’s shifting attitudes, can develop Stockholm syndrome.”
Quinn Foster said, “Ordinary children won’t remember things from so long ago, but for The Vault, that period of her life must still be very clear. There were many things she couldn’t understand at the time, but as she grew up, she could look back on them. Each time she revisits those memories, she faces them with a more mature mindset. Being unable to forget is painful. Maybe she believes her trauma can never be healed, and if that’s the case, she won’t allow others to keep digging into her past. So she refuses treatment. This is also her way of protecting herself.”
No one knew how to respond. Language was simply not enough to express the feelings in their hearts.
Henry Harris sighed. Julian Grant had been silent since just now.
Quinn Foster let out a low laugh and said, “Of course, I know this isn’t what you care about most. Pity can’t prove someone’s innocence—in fact, it might even be the trigger for perversion, right?”
Henry Harris retorted seriously, “That’s not what we think.”
“After The Vault’s mother died, she behaved strangely for a while.”
As Quinn Foster spoke, he no longer hid his gaze and looked directly at Quinn Shelby.
The latter sensed the look, slowed his breathing, and raised his head.
Quinn Foster said, “She never explains, never mentions it, simply because she’s broad-minded enough not to care about others’ opinions. But besides that, who is she considering?”
Quinn Shelby’s already erratic heartbeat became even more frantic. He asked, “What do you mean?”
Quinn Foster turned his face away coldly, no longer looking at him. “I truly didn’t know about this before. If I had known such an absurd idea existed, I would have explained for her. Today, I won’t speak as a psychologist, just as an ordinary person, to explain to you her innocent words as a child.”
Julian Grant’s brows were tightly furrowed. In fact, ever since Quinn Foster started talking, his expression hadn’t relaxed.
He recalled something Quinn Shelby had said to him, and a vague realization dawned, making his chest feel inexplicably heavy and uncomfortable.
Quinn Foster said, “When Ms. Qi had just left, The Vault was too young to understand what true death meant. The people around her told her that her mother was a bad person, that her mother was gone and would never come back. To a child, that only means being abandoned by her parents. So, she wanted to tell others, that’s not true.”
—Mom came back.
Quinn Foster: “But she couldn’t express it. High intelligence, lack of family education, a mother with mental instability, long periods of loneliness—her environment taught her how to carefully look after others, but not how to express herself. She didn’t even know how to lie, because she never needed to in her life.”
—Mom is here, right beside you.
Quinn Foster’s tone was quick and cold, every word laced with severity and sarcasm: “The first time she faced so many strangers—strangers who kept criticizing her mother—no one told her what to do. All she could do was keep mentioning Kevin Quinn to them, awkwardly chatting, clumsily expressing her thoughts, trying to please them in her mother’s name, in her own way. What do you think she was doing? Was a young child pretending to be mysterious? Was she, right after her mother’s death, desperate to attract attention? Or, after arriving in a happy new environment, trying her best to destroy it?”
—She told me you’re lying, you’re unhappy. Why?
Quinn Foster: “The day before she woke up in the hospital, the police found her mother’s body. At the same time, her brain injury caused her vision to change. That is, acquired savant syndrome. She only knew her world had changed, but could she understand what that meant? She’s a genius, but that doesn’t mean she knows everything without learning.”
—There’s something on your face.
Quinn Foster: “She believed this was a gift from her mother, a blessing from above. It allowed her to see through adults’ lies, to distinguish kindness from malice, to survive alone in this uneasy and unfamiliar world.”
—It’s something Mom left for me.
Quinn Foster: “She wanted to tell everyone, ‘Look, Mom is still by my side. She’s a good person. She loves me.’ That’s all. She actually made it very clear. Patiently, tactfully, she told you again and again.”
—I didn’t lie. I know what I’m saying. Mom is here.
Quinn Foster stood up, pointed at Quinn Shelby, and said, “It was just a six-year-old’s way of comforting herself. Why twist it into something so filthy? You didn’t understand back then, and you still don’t now?”
Quinn Shelby stared, his eyes blank, lips trembling. He stared straight at Quinn Foster, his body trembling slightly, but he couldn’t make a sound.
Is that really how it was?
How could it be like this?
The room was silent, except for the increasingly heavy breathing of a few people.
Julian Grant blinked, feeling a slight stickiness under his eyes, and only then realized he was crying. He quickly wiped his face, suppressing his emotions. Fortunately, everyone else in the room was too preoccupied to notice his loss of composure.
“You think she gave you psychological trauma, but you don’t realize how much psychological trauma your family gave her.” Quinn Foster sneered, “From then on, she refused others’ kindness, stopped mentioning her gift, stopped talking about her mother. She chose to live alone, never confiding in anyone.”
All the blood in Quinn Shelby’s body rushed to his head. “You…”
Quinn Foster snapped, “You say she was gloomy as a child, withdrawn as an adult, seems like a freak—so what? How much of that did you teach her? She finally managed to become presentable thanks to Logan Carter, and now you say she’s learned to put on a mask. I say you’re the one who’s crazy!”
Quinn Shelby finally found his voice and roared, “What do you mean by trauma? She chose this herself, she insisted on living alone. She kept running back to the old house saying she wanted to find her mom!”
Quinn Foster shouted back, “Go ask your father!”
Quinn Shelby charged at him, but his brothers beside him finally snapped out of it and quickly held him back.
Two of them pinned his arms and shouted, “Old Xie! What are you doing?”
“What do you mean?” Quinn Shelby’s face was flushed, his hoarse voice squeezed from his chest, but it seemed to have lost all strength. “Tell me clearly, what do you mean?”
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