And the result was just as Arthur predicted: the male student was finally completely defeated by the girl's sweet gestures, carrying out almost all of her requests.
What's more, over time, the number of her intimate gestures decreased, eventually almost disappearing.
In this scenario, the male student should have realized he was being used and distanced himself from the girl, right?
No, pure rational and purely utilitarian logic does not align with this kind of psychology. Or, more precisely, the "benefit" here is no longer purely material or even reciprocated emotion, but the endogenous pleasure arising from the process of being desired.
At this point, he became entangled in another psychological state: being forced to "separate" from the pleasure brought by the closeness, his mind naturally couldn't immediately break free from this addiction.
Instead, it fell into an addictive state, seeking ways to restore the lost excitement. The external manifestation was his increasing effort to please the girl, working harder when receiving nothing in return. The more he was rejected, the more he clung to her.
Of course, humans are the most malleable species, both physically and consciously. After a long enough period without receiving pleasure stimulation through intimate actions, the student's mind would gradually adapt to this state. His brain would automatically readjust the pleasure threshold, his instinct would no longer be controlled by pleasure but would be suppressed by reason, and that would be the moment he realized the truth.
But here, a deeper layer of manipulation is revealed.
Before that moment occurred, she would naturally reintroduce stimulation through intimate gestures, making the student feel like a traveler in the desert, finally finding an oasis after a long, dry journey.
At that point, they are no longer bound by the reward, but by the hope of being rewarded again.
This is the most dangerous and deepest form of manipulation compared to continuously maintaining stimulation with intimate gestures. Continuous maintenance would eventually cause "desensitization" to the stimulation. But maintaining an intermittent rhythm—as if waiting until the other person is thirsty to give them a sip of water—not only makes the value of the "sip of water" precious but also causes the manipulated person to fall deep into the cycle of "stimulated - lost stimulation - sought stimulation - satisfied stimulation" and be unable to escape.
Furthermore, the moment the manipulated subject ceases to rely on the source of manipulation and realizes the truth will be prolonged and deepened.
There was once an experiment on rats, where the rats were left to struggle in water tanks until death. On average, a rat could survive for 15 minutes. Afterward, the experiment was conducted on another rat, but just before it was exhausted and died, it was taken out, allowed to rest and regain strength, and then thrown back into the water tank. By repeating this, the time the rat survived was increasingly extended, reaching an astonishing number of hours—countless times greater than the initial 15 minutes.
All of this is simply because no matter how much the rat is struggling, it is convinced that it will eventually be rescued, and instinct helps it overcome its limits.
The same principle applies here, albeit on a lower scale, not a life-or-death stimulation.
Only in this way could Arthur imagine and rationalize why Lindsey could manipulate a normal boy like Martin into doing something as serious as murder. Of course, this also involves the inherent characteristics of Martin's personality, which Arthur doesn't believe is a coincidence.
Manipulation through the control of physical stimulation like this is very dangerous for people like Martin, but its effect isn't as great on those with pronounced narcissism, arrogance, etc. But setting that aside, if Lindsey is indeed the mastermind pulling the strings, Arthur is certain she manipulated Martin in this way.
Currently, the difficulty lies in finding incriminating evidence.
Sarah still hasn't reported anything, indicating that the online investigation is also unpromising. If investigating public information is difficult, they certainly cannot submit an application to investigate Martin's chat history on messaging applications.
"Tch, she certainly knows how to pick her target..."
Arthur couldn't help but sigh, putting a cigarette in his mouth and exhaling smoke.
It could be said that the suspect who is highly likely to have directly committed the murder being a 13-year-old minor is the most difficult part of this case.
Moreover, Arthur has a feeling that even investigating the chat history will yield nothing. If Lindsey was cautious enough to devise a murder plan and create a false suspect like Scott, Arthur doesn't believe the opponent would leave a vulnerability like a message explicitly inciting murder online.
Nonetheless, Arthur has at least managed to see what can be described as the full picture of this case.
Lindsey, starting from some point in time, manipulated Martin, eventually inciting the boy to commit murder.
A month ago, Scott's house was vandalized (rock-throwing), escalating a conflict between Scott and a neighbor, which eventually developed into a conflict between Scott and the priest.
It's also possible that before or during this time, Martin found and used the spare key to enter Scott's house, using the syringe as the murder weapon and simultaneously to frame Scott later.
The priest was murdered, and the syringe with residual poison was also found in Scott's house—a closed loop of evidence. It is expected that after some time, the department will report whether the tissue residue on the needle tip belongs to the priest. Once confirmed, Scott is highly likely to be unable to escape conviction, as there are no other suspects; the circle of evidence, relationships, and suspects has closed.
Martin's identity is also too good of a cover; basically, no one would think the culprit is even a minor.
Finally, even if the police somehow investigate and find Martin to be the culprit based on scattered clues, it will be a dead end. Arthur is confident that Lindsey will leave no trace; spiritual incitement cannot be traced and certainly cannot be used as evidence.