This left the domestic audience feeling quite puzzled.
After all, under normal circumstances, when an anime gets this popular and the Chinese dub voice actors receive so much praise from the audience, they would have already stepped up to make videos and ride the wave of attention, starting their own accounts.
So, most viewers believe the production team must have signed some kind of confidentiality agreement with the domestic voice actors, forbidding them from seeking publicity before the anime has finished airing.
Watching Yun Ruoxi stubbornly “covering her ears and stealing the bell,” clinging to her stance until they had no choice but to leave, Lin Zhen grew distressed as well. He could only, along with the others, keep gently and persistently trying to persuade her on the side.
Hoping she would come to her senses on her own.
At the same time.
Lin Zhen was also considering what could have happened to Yun Ruoxi to make her so utterly broken.
Recalling what had happened before, he first suspected that perhaps, while she was imprisoned, people from the Hand of Saint had done something to her.
However, since the training camp deliberately avoided teaching students about brainwashing, Lin Zhen really hadn’t even considered the possibility of “brainwashing.”
After all, professional terms like “Mental Brand” and “worldview distortion” were things he had never even heard of.
His understanding of brainwashing was limited to using language and environment, subtly influencing someone just like the camp tried to make the trainees accept everything about the camp and the Hand of Saint.
Chaos tried to persuade her until his mouth was dry, but it had no effect. He couldn’t help but whisper, “Should we go call the Doctor?”
Lin Zhen’s eyelid twitched, and he waved his hand, “No need.”
He silently mouthed, “I suspect Little Xi ended up like this because of the Doctor.”
The people nearby, after reading Lin Zhen’s lips and realizing what he meant, couldn’t help but feel a chill in their hearts.
If the Doctor could do this to Yun Ruoxi, then he could do the same to any of them.
If that’s the case, then the camp and Hand of Saint are far too terrifying.
Even though Lin Zhen dismissed the idea of calling the Doctor, he also knew they couldn’t just stay stuck in this stalemate.
After thinking for a while, he gritted his teeth and decided to play his trump card.
“Little Xi… Let me ask you, the little bird that Xiao Ai gave you… did you… “
“Kill it…?”
Lin Zhen forced out those last two words, and the quilt bulging up on the bed immediately trembled noticeably.
A trembling voice came from beneath, “I-I didn’t…”
“Really?” Lin Zhen pressed on.
“I, I, it ran off on its own… I…”
The girl seemed torn about what to say, her words growing tangled and confused.
Taking the chance, Lin Zhen forcefully lifted the quilt.
The blue-haired girl sitting on the bed hadn’t even reacted before Aili threw herself into her arms.
“Big Sister, Xiao Ai doesn’t blame you for anything, I forgive you for everything. You just have to tell us, it’s okay.”
“I, I…”
One crystal-clear tear after another slid down from the corner of her eyes, and the girl kept repeating the same words, like a broken-down robot.
Lin Zhen gripped her right hand, while Zi Jiu held her left.
“Go ahead, it’s all right. We’re listening.”
“I, I, I…”
The girl stared at the hands gripping hers, as if drawing strength from them, then suddenly wailed loudly:
“I killed it, wuwuwuwu!”
After saying it, she clung to Aili and burst into loud sobs.
“It’s all right, Big Sister, it’s okay now that you’ve said it. The little bird is gone, but Xiao Ai is still here. Xiao Ai can be your little bird, I’ll stay with you forever and ever and ever.”
Aili gently patted the girl’s back over and over. As her younger sister, she was now the one radiating a gentle warmth, almost like an older sister herself.
Lin Zhen signaled the others with his eyes, and while Yun Ruoxi was venting her emotions, he called them out of the room, his expression solemn:
“Little Xi’s problem is very serious. Did you all see what just happened?”
“We heard about it,” everyone nodded.
“Little Xi…
Just now, she almost tortured Duxie and the others to death. I’m not saying Duxie and the others don’t deserve to die, but torture…
and to unconsciously smile while doing it…
no matter what, that’s not something Little Xi would ever do!”
Thinking back to that moment and Yun Ruoxi’s involuntary smile, Lin Zhen still felt a chill run down his spine.
“Little Xi admitted she killed the little bird, so that faint scent of blood I noticed near the trash can in her room earlier must have been real. From Xiao Ai giving her the bird, to Little Xi killing it… That was less than three hours,” Yun Che analyzed in shock.
“Even though Little Xi has killed before, she was always kindhearted, unwilling to hurt others. During the team battle, she was terrified after almost killing Heishui.”
Lin Zhen gritted his teeth, “She killed the little bird, almost tortured Duxie after the captivity ended—it must be something they did to her, making her uncontrollably bloodthirsty.”
Zi Jiu understood who Lin Zhen meant by “they.” “But they’ll never admit it.”
“Could it be some kind of brainwashing?” Yun Che suddenly said.
[Smartest protagonist group in history, they speak clearly and never act like cryptic weirdos, I love it.]
[In other anime, this would have been drawn out for several episodes, full of cryptic lines and misunderstandings, only to finally spill it at the end.]
[For real, it’s the same in American dramas, it’s so frustrating.]
[I thought the brainwashing thing with Little Xi would only be discovered in the final episodes, but they figured it out this episode!]
[She started smiling and killing right in front of everyone. If they couldn’t see something was wrong, Lin Zhen’s character would be ruined.]
“Brainwashing? Is there such technology?” Lin Zhen asked hurriedly.
“I don’t know,” Yun Che shook his head. “It just suddenly came to mind—it feels like the perfect fit.”
“Brainwashing… brainwashing…” Lin Zhen muttered the word over and over. Indeed, it suited Yun Ruoxi’s condition perfectly.
It even fit them all.
He immediately looked at Chaos and said quickly, “Chaos, go to the Xu Ningshi and check the courses or knowledge that can be exchanged—see if there’s anything related to this.”
“Got it, I’ll go now.” Chaos nodded. He knew he couldn’t help much here anyway.
“Zi Jiu, help me with something too,” Lin Zhen said, turning to her.
“Say it,” Zi Jiu replied.
Lin Zhen pointed at her collar. Zi Jiu looked down and saw words had appeared on the collar.
“Try to find Jiao Guan Xia Guang, see if you can get any information about brainwashing, or anything about Little Xi, from her.”
Zi Jiu quickly finished reading, and the tiny words of condensed metal on her collar instantly scattered and vanished.
She hurried off at once.
“What about us?” Yun Che and Anvil asked.
“I can’t think of anything else, so let’s go back in and keep Little Xi company. Let’s ask how she’s feeling.”
Lin Zhen actually had an idea, but he couldn’t say it here, and he wasn’t sure it would work.
He, Yun Che, and Anvil walked back into the room.
By now, Yun Ruoxi had nearly cried herself out, her sobs much quieter than before, clinging to Aili’s stomach like a little child, head pressed close.