Humans are incredibly complex creatures, and Professor Meng devoted decades to studying them thoroughly.
The more he researched, the more he felt the complexity of human nature.
The first ninety years were spent studying humans, and in recent years, he’s been researching Magical Girls.
In Yiri City, there wasn’t much to study about Huan Hong.
Jin Luan was a bit strange, studied by Professor Meng for a long period, with many findings adopted by the Human Alliance.
As for Yin Lin, she’d been under Professor Meng’s study since her debut, and the more he studied her, the more deeply he was drawn in.
It was like a hospital encountering patients with difficult and complex illnesses—some doctors would grow curious, deeply fascinated by these challenging cases.
After Yin Lin appeared, Professor Meng didn’t initially study her. On the day of the incident, he merely glanced at the video and learned that a new Magical Girl had been born in Yiri City.
This Magical Girl looked far too young. Based on past experience, a newly debuted Magical Girl’s appearance matched her True Form’s age.
Looking that small, there probably wasn’t much worth studying—likely just a child dreaming innocent heroic dreams.
It wasn’t until his students repeatedly raised doubts, coupled with the Human Alliance Headquarters’ high priority and the Eastern Alliance’s urgent Investigation order, that Professor Meng set aside his work and seriously studied this rising Magical Girl.
A quick look showed no major problems.
Like other Magical Girls, she was initially dramatic and naive, but there was a sense of contradiction, an unnatural feeling that lingered in Professor Meng’s mind.
As Yin Lin’s activities increased, Professor Meng found more and more issues. Finally, he used his connections, calling in a favor from Huang Yi to have him capture Surveillance footage of Yin Lin.
Through close-range Observation, he Confirmed some of his Hypotheses: Yin Lin had a Heart Wall and psychological Trauma.
“So what exactly is the Trauma? Any clearer inferences?”
Huang Yi chewed crunchy peanuts, listening intently.
Professor Meng replied, “This is a serious matter; I don’t dare jump to conclusions.”
Huang Yi asked, “Then any guesses?”
Professor Meng picked up his cup and drank White Wine.
After half a cup, he finally said, “Based on the cases I’ve encountered over the years, there’s a 53% chance her family has issues, an 18% chance it’s school-related, a 17% chance it’s connected to Demonic Creatures, and the remaining 12% covers other problems.”
He opened up and continued.
Yin Lin appeared to be just entering her first year of high school—also the age that’s already the legal marriage age in various regions of Earth.
All of Professor Meng’s Hypotheses were based on Yin Lin being a fresh High School Student.
At that age, if there was psychological Trauma, the most likely source was family.
Professor Meng wasn’t speaking nonsense; he was making reasonable inferences from the vast number of examples in his hands.
So-called family-induced Trauma usually affects a child for their entire Life.
Even seemingly trivial parental arguments could cause a child to remember their fierce fighting faces, leading to less communication with their parents, eventually lacking guidance and slowly becoming withdrawn.
Moreover, the harm from family often goes unrecognized by the child themselves—they might think it’s nothing, or even feel it’s fine.
That’s why psychology experts like Professor Meng are needed—those invisible mental killers have destroyed far too many people.
“So, her so-called psychological Trauma is just that?”
Huang Yi felt it was making a mountain out of a molehill.
Professor Meng said, “Your dismissive attitude, just like the victim’s own dismissive attitude, is exactly why this kind of thing is so potentially dangerous.”
Professor Meng initially wanted to scold him and explain the nuances, but he glanced at the Countdown on the table, and his heart felt like cold water had been poured on it, calming him down.
Professor Meng pulled the topic back and continued, “Yin Lin’s problem isn’t that issue. The fact that she’s aware of her psychological Trauma and actively hides it, trying to pretend to be normal, shows her Trauma is more severe than what I just described.”
He kept explaining, avoiding jargon as much as possible and using plain language so Huang Yi could understand.
“If a person both wants to kill and wants to save, and actually acts on it rather than just talking big—that’s approaching the level of split personality, indicating severe psychological Trauma.”
Professor Meng picked up the Cucumber Salad plate and placed a 3-square-centimeter piece of crushed cucumber into a bowl.
He said, “This is the effect of frequent family arguments on a child.”
He placed another piece into the bowl, now two: “This is the effect of family members getting physical, to the point of destroying things.”
Then he added a few more pieces: “This is the effect of parents hitting their child, plus the effect of being collectively bullied at School.”
Finally, Professor Meng dumped all the remaining Cucumber Salad into the bowl: “This is the effect of parents dying.”
Huang Yi was about to ask something, but Professor Meng wasn’t done. He made another gesture, pointing at the table holding the dishes, and said, “This is the effect of the entire household dying in front of the child.”
There are many examples of this in this era—not long ago, Biscuit Boy did something similar, killing the family of his Partner from the Milk Tea Shop.
Huang Yi asked, “So what do you think she actually went through? What kind of psychological Trauma?”
Professor Meng replied, “That’s what you need to investigate deeply—check the family, check the School. If not for the Witch Faction’s interference, investigating a Magical Girl’s True Form would normally be simple. Now, digging deeper will probably take considerable effort.”
Huang Yi thought seriously for a long time, apparently partially convinced: “Are you sure she really has psychological Trauma?”
Professor Meng said, “Yes, I’m absolutely certain.”
Huang Yi asked, “So you, the Expert, recommend I investigate deeply? Digging up secrets others don’t want mentioned?”
Professor Meng said, “If you want my opinion, it’s don’t touch it. She’s already achieved self-balance. If you break that balance, it could lead to good outcomes, or it could make things worse. Especially for such a child with terrifying combat power, I personally don’t advise interfering with her Life.”
Huang Yi asked, “What if interference is necessary? Hoping to resolve her psychological issues?”
Professor Meng said, “Then you’d best build up her favorability first—raise it to a level where even failure won’t result in Game Over.”
Huang Yi unconsciously tapped the table, thinking for a long time, weighing the feasibility of this matter.
Could Jin Luan and Huan Hong do it? Do they have the ability to make things better rather than worse?
So it had to be done by a Magical Girl, but if this task went to the little brat, it was clearly unsuitable for him. Yin Lin had explicitly shown an attitude of not wanting to participate in politics or have deep contact with these outsiders.
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