Who would study psychology unless they had some issues?!-Chapter 172 - 170: I’m all set to leave, and you...

When faced with a question they cannot answer, a person enters a shutdown state.

This is also a form of self-protection, or "defense."

Those interested can search for videos of college students’ graduation thesis defenses, where many students, upon encountering unexpected questions from the teachers, reveal a clear smile.

— You might think they’re trying to play cute to pass or brace for criticism; but in fact, their brain’s CPU has simply crashed, and while they appear to be present, they’ve actually checked out a while ago.

But this state isn’t exactly a "crash," as the human brain still receives external information.

If at this moment, the questioner asks another question or mentions something within the respondent’s knowledge area,

the respondent will quickly reboot and start acting; the purpose is simply to escape the awkward situation.

The first part of Nan Zhubin’s speech clearly caused Liu Pan to "shut down"; but then when Nan Zhubin mentioned "Chen Jie," it stirred a reaction in Liu Pan once more.

"Chen Jie? Is that the name of the visitor who jumped off the building?"

He said instinctively, "Hasn’t this been over for more than a year?"

Nan Zhubin squinted: "’It’s been’ over a year?"

Liu Pan steadied his voice, showing an understanding look: "I see... Senior Brother, you really haven’t moved on."

"But I still want to advise you. You know my family is in medicine; life and death, these things are quite common. Illnesses bring the possibility of accidents, which we all have to accept."

Nan Zhubin looked into Liu Pan’s eyes. Liu Pan’s words were fluent, his thoughts clear.

Clearly, he was no longer mechanically reciting a script but was genuinely expressing his views.

Or rather, imparting to Nan Zhubin certain "knowledge" he had thoroughly grasped and comprehended.

Nan Zhubin took a deep breath: "’Quite common’? Do you think this situation is normal?"

Liu Pan subconsciously raised his chin while making an understanding expression.

"It’s normal that you find it hard to accept... Senior Brother."

Nan Zhubin squinted, interrupting him: "But Chen Jie’s drug misuse is your clinic’s responsibility, right? Just brush it off so easily?"

Liu Pan instinctively refuted: "Taking medicine when sick, isn’t that quite normal?"

"Wasn’t the condition controlled? In fact, if not for the strict domestic environment, some illnesses could have been treated more efficiently with machine therapy..."

...

Nan Zhubin no longer wanted to listen.

He waved his hand to interrupt Liu Pan’s eloquence: "That’s enough. Junior Brother, your attempt to persuade me has failed."

"But thanks to your repeated switching in speech tactics, I recalibrated my expression baseline towards you—now it’s my turn to ask questions."

Liu Pan’s words halted involuntarily.

For someone at his level, who had prepared a "speech" in advance, it’s easy to stick to the text plan; but once interrupted, it leaves him particularly at a loss.

What awaited him was Nan Zhubin’s relentless attack.

"When you were initially responsible for the Li Minglu case, was it under your father’s direction—or no, that was Lin Lulin?"

"— Yes. Not my father, but rather the teacher brought it in... never mind, that’s beside the point... let’s continue. When you were responsible for the Li Minglu case, was it at the clinic or school?"

"Got it—it was the clinic. So initially even Huang Xin didn’t know."

"Let me verify—during the intervention process with Li Minglu, the medication was entirely normal, right?"

"Yes—alright, it seems like that Consultant Zhang didn’t lie to me."

Liu Pan tried multiple times during this process to speak up and regain his speaking rhythm. But every time Nan Zhubin succeeded with self-questioning and answering, it forcefully silenced Liu Pan, shoving his words back down his throat.

By now, it seemed he had forgotten what he wanted to say.

Behind him, Huang Xin sighed, his defensive posture becoming more pronounced.

"Then the last question— although the medication in the Li Minglu case was normal, there were other problems, right?"

...

Generally speaking, this question only comes up at the final crucial point;

And once obtained, the answer is essentially as good as done.

Regardless of whether it’s correct or not, you can at least gather a result.

But this time, after asking this question, Nan Zhubin was stunned.

He watched Liu Pan’s expression.

[Pupils dilated, expression rigid.]

[No eye movement, and no obvious changes around the nose or eyes.]

[But this expression didn’t seem like one prepared to tell the truth.]

[Neither showing signs of lying nor telling the truth.]

"You..." Nan Zhubin’s pupils widened.

"You don’t know, don’t you?"

This question brought a reaction from Liu Pan before him.

[It’s a "confirmation" reaction.]

Well, are you serious...

If it’s yes, then yes, if not, it’s not. Pulling out an "I don’t know" here just makes it awkward.

Nan Zhubin pursed his lips: "You’re a psychology graduate student with a psychiatrist father, involved in a case with a professor, and now you claim you don’t even know if the case had any issues?!"

His voice involuntarily rose.

[Neck leaning back, chin tucked.]

[Pupils dilated, lips pursed.]

[It’s "cowering."]

So even hearing such an evaluation brings you shame.

Nan Zhubin began to sort through his thoughts.

The Li Minglu case definitely had issues, and Lin Lulin absolutely had operations within it.

But as a direct participant, Liu Pan is simply too naive, just doing things foolishly, without understanding why he’s doing it.

In that case, unless Liu Pan repeats everything he did in detail, allowing Nan Zhubin to analyze, no answers can be revealed.

But doing so would take too much time.

At least, today isn’t the day for it.

Because according to Xia Tian’s description, another experimental subject is coming to the lab soon.

If possible, Nan Zhubin still wished others wouldn’t know about these matters.

Nan Zhubin withdrew his relentless questioning posture, straightened his back, stepped back, and planned to leave.

Unexpectedly, the previously flustered Liu Pan due to the micro-expression analysis questioning, reacted.

This young graduate student, seeing Nan Zhubin about to leave, stepped forward and grabbed Nan Zhubin’s arm.

"Nan Zhubin, wait a minute!"

Now you don’t even call me Senior Brother?

Seems the psychological damage from the micro-expression analysis is indeed significant.

Nan Zhubin frowned, reversed his grip on Liu Pan’s hand, intending to break free.

"Is it just because of that Chen Jie? Just because she died, you’re unwilling to reconcile?"

Nan Zhubin lowered his head slightly, the hand he intended to free suddenly clamped down, creating a grip difficult to escape from.

"You just said... ’just because she died’?"

Should I use Emotion Rebalancing?

Nan Zhubin asked himself internally.

No, it’s not necessary for now.

In the face of Liu Pan’s stubborn persistence, almost to the point of being a nuisance, Nan Zhubin maintained a calm tone.

"You seem to have an unusual persistence in convincing me, which makes me curious."

"There’s still some time now — although this time might not be enough to extract information, it should be more than enough to analyze your background."

"Just to avoid repeating mistakes in the future due to my previous misjudgment about your information."

The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel