Night Hacker

Chapter 3 – She’s not a psycho

Nerve speed? Seven gears? The third gear is over the threshold, but it takes the fourth gear to be an extraordinary cowherd?

Gu He pondered it while paying close attention to Fan Debao’s demeanour. Doesn’t; this extraordinary talent test resemble a psychometric evaluation?

After all, cowherds have to face all kinds of female customers all day long. If he is not strong in his heart, it is easy to deal with it badly and cause various situations.

It’s just that Miss Kumiko and Lao Fan don’t understand professional psychology, so they only use this low level test…

“Besides, this wine is not bad for you.” Fan Debao added, “Increase muscle, increase hair as well as an increase to your family jewels. The effect of wine is very good.”

 “Can you increase that?” Gu He stared, his spirits were so refreshed that he almost spit out a fragrance.

Say it early! I just wasted a drop on my collar.

It seems that the so-called “extraordinary cowherd” is a person who can grasp his limits and make customers “happy”.

As for something so mysterious, it made him worry.

“Okay.” Gu He inhaled deeply before moving to the wooden sofa’s corner and collapsing there while watching TV. Indeed, the wine was getting stronger the more he moved, and he nearly howled in response.

It must have been a hallucination when he was intoxicated; an uncontrollable swirl of light that swallowed all the agitation, discomfort, and boiling away suddenly erupted in his thoughts and made every nerve feel at ease.

Is it the effect of meditation? Distracted thoughts?

That vortex of light became brighter and more substantial…

There is also a hint box in the vortex, which reads:

 [Attention, Neural Overdrive, Attention, Neural Overdrive]

What is this, hallucinations caused by unconscious goal-pursuit?

Your unconscious wants to reach the overdrive gear, so your conscious mind gives you satisfaction through drinking? 

While Gu He felt strange, he seemed to have found a solution! Listening to Lao Fan’s meaning, this test is like bang bang bang(1), the longer you persist, the higher the talent level.

With this hallucination vortex supporting him, he won’t get drunk and or even faint.

“Hmm.” Fan Debao gently blended the wine and watched, and his face went back to being expressionless. Sure enough, as soon as he said that he could increase the size of the family jewels, he rushed over, and he didn’t think about whether it was true or false, human nature.

This talent test focuses on neurological performance.

Due to the drinks, people who are in the third-speed gear can’t be quiet; let alone the over-speed gear. Lao Fan has been messing around for so many years, and he has only seen someone in the over-speed gear during the talent test once. Their face was full of blue veins jumping, and their whole head seemed to almost explode, which was very terrifying.

But looking at Gu He  now, Gu He was just lightly roused, and there are not even blue veins on his forehead… 

Not good, Fan Debao  silently let out a low sigh, this kid’s talent is average, and his nerves are not sensitive. Looking at his appearance, it is probably between the second and third gears, with a low chance of being in the third gear…

Such neural potential, even if one becomes an extraordinary person, it is difficult to develop anything.

The accuracy of this wine is very high, Lao Fan does not need nor like to use those expensive detection helmets that are easy to damage the brain of ordinary people. Besides, he has tested innumerable geniuses and average people throughout the years, and despite a few odd circumstances here and there, he has never once misjudged the overall talent with his eyesight.

Did Kumiko misread this kid…

Only the TV’s sound could be heard in the izakaya as the two sat in silence. After a while, there was a sudden burst of footsteps outside the door of the store, a wild female voice came in:

 “Old Fan, I heard that a new cowherd has come to the Fishpond? Where is he? Come and give Sis a good time!”

Gu He saw a young woman walking into the store vigorously.

She is of mixed race, with green eyes, a high nose, and short, messy black hair.  In her hair, there are many decorations like wires and silicon strips, intertwined with black hair; she is wearing a black leather jacket, a pair of red blood-like denim leather pants, and her figure is no worse than the supermodel on TV. Taking a closer look, her entire right arm was gone from the shoulder. As such, one taking a look at her will see as if she’s an uncompleted blood moon.

A group of other female figures followed behind her, all of them are vigorous and should be hit girls. And they have a uniform logo on their leather jackets, which is a blade covered in blood. Are they part of some gang…

Not all of these women came in, some just stood by the door; some people smoked cigarettes; some people played with their brick mobile phones.(2)  

“Captain Lorna, the fish pond is now closed.” Fan Debao’s tone was very vigilant.

Lao Fan sensed a bloody murderous aura with madness. These Blood Blades had just hunted down deranged mutants…

“You don’t want to entertain our merc group? Kumiko said that I will always be the VIP of the club.”

The woman was staring daggers towards Gu He who she found on the sofa, “Is that the kid, that’s all?”

She immediately looked disgusted, “He looks good, but he’s too thin, isn’t he as heavy as me? Look, a few rounds and he’s gone. No stamina, no strength, how can he make a woman happy?”

The mercenaries at the door laughed lightly, smoking cigarettes, and no one spoke.

Gu He could tell right away that this woman was dissatisfied. She was puzzled and in agony, like many of his other clients, but she shouted loudly, acted rudely, and pretended to be unyielding.

Mercenary group? They are engaged in dangerous work and may be involved in gang fights. Captain Lorna also lost her right hand because of this. Everything becomes even more challenging when she loses her right hand. Her current behaviour is actually asking for help, wanting to get the attention and comfort of others.

“He hasn’t debuted yet, so he won’t receive guests.” Fan Debao put down the wine and warned coldly: “You can go to Li Cai to play, but you’d better not make trouble in the Fishpond.”

“Captain Lorna, good evening.” Gu He quickly got up and interrupted, showing a kind smile, “My name is Gu He.”

What is Lao Fan doing with a fierce face? What kind of attitude is this? Being a psychiatrist, Gu He felt the need to speak.

“Are you kidding me?” Fan Debao angrily said, “The woman’s personality is unstable,  and she could suddenly lose control and become a psycho(3)at any time!!”

“Old Fan…” Gu He is really angry now, even if you know that Captain Lorna has a mental problem and urgently needs treatment, you can’t say it in this way or with such words.

The construction of mental health has always required the patient and the therapist to work together. The psychiatrist needs to convince the patient that they are also a normal human being and that he is competent enough to solve the problem!

Be positive, not negative!

“Yeah, I can become a psycho anytime…”

Captain Lorna was a little annoyed and forgot to tease him. Her eyes became more and more weird, and there was a bottomless darkness in her pupils, “Are you afraid? It’s right to be afraid. When you meet someone like me, you should be afraid. of……”

But Gu He strode towards her and comforted: “You look good, even better than those supermodels. Perhaps I find dangerous ladies attractive.”

“You kid can’t look after her, don’t blame me if you die.” Fan Debao looked dull and sneered: “This is not a metaphor, she is not an ordinary person!”

“She is.” Gu He only hoped that Lao Fan would shut up quickly.

Patients are also ordinary people. He had seen countless patients who closed their hearts at first, but since Captain Lorna walked into the fish pond, she came to seek help, which gave him a chance to enter her heart.

“Huh?” Captain Lorna narrowed his eyes, not expecting this thin new cowherd to be so daring.

The group of female mercenaries who were waiting to watch the excitement by the door was also surprised. Why is this clueless dog not afraid of us, Blood Blades?

Gu He led Captain Lorna to sit down at the bar, he endured the heat caused by the wine, and began to chat and laugh:

“You look a little unhappy, but so do I. I was almost beaten to death by the Arcade Gang a few hours ago. What about you, what brought you here?”

In this sentence, the first half of the sentence is empathy, and the second half of the sentence is the goal structure, all to get close to the patient. This is the professional language of psychiatrists, not comparable to the outdated methods Old Fan used on me…

“What the hell?” Captain Lorna was a little confused, so much so that she looked at Fan Debao, what happened to this kid?

Fan Debao stared coldly and crossed his hand, keeping mum. The talent test can still continue. These sisters are more exciting and nerve-wracking than TV supermodels.

The patient refused to speak at first, but Gu He was not surprised, and continued:

“A person’s life has its ups and downs. I think it’s normal for anything to happen. I’m very happy to be a cowherd now. Do you have any happy moments?”

The first half of the sentence normalises the problem, and the second half is about finding exceptions and looking for positive energy.

“Happy?” Lorna raised her brows, stared at him for a long time, but couldn’t scare him, and then reluctantly laughed at herself: ” I don’t have any happy moments, truly miserable.”

“No.” Gu He said confidently, as long as he was willing to answer, it would be, “There must be some.”

“Is there?” She looked up at the sky, “When my scumbag parents were beheaded, they seemed a little happy.”

“…” Gu He was at a loss for words, so miserable?

Fan Debao sneered again, you insolent youngster, you think provoking this psycho is a good idea?

But Gu He already understood that this is another person living in a painful past. Before achieving happiness, such a person finds it impossible to reconcile with the past and can only belong to the future.

He decided to use a “Solution-focused Brief Therapy, SFBT”(4) strategy.

Unlike traditional psychotherapy, this therapy does not discuss the past with the patient, but focuses on the present and the future, especially the future, the future with hope.

“Captain Lorna, suppose a miracle occurs one day, and you awaken to discover that your life has been changed. What do you imagine it would be like when it becomes exactly the kind of life you want?”

He asked in a casual tone, like he was playing a game, to let the patient relax as much as possible.

Focus on the ultimate short-term cure: the miracle questions.

“This…” Captain Lorna frowned and hesitated, as if something was blocking her.

Gu He just gently asked and gave her time and space to let her take that step by herself.

“Haha, you sure are interesting.” Captain Lorna smiled suddenly, “Sisters, bring my right hand! Lao Fan, open me a bottle of 30 Year Old Fenggu 丰谷(5)! I want to have a good drinking session with him.”

Fan Debao’s fat face wrinkled, this psycho Lorna was unexpectedly laughing, he had never seen her laugh in her memory, but she didn’t seem to be out of control and going crazy… 30 Year Old Fenggu? That would cost a lot of money…

Gu He also has doubts, wait, what does that mean, bring your right hand over?

The art of  physical bonding between a male and female (〃▽〃)大哥大手机 brick phones from the 80s, think of a nokia疯子 I choose Psycho instead of Lunatic due to the plot progression ୧(ಠ⌣ಠ)୨Here’s an article for further reading: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10879-006-9040-yWine brand