After the audience made their choices, the online community erupted.

Many condemned, many argued, each holding their ground. But regardless, when people were forced to choose, forced to pick their own survival over others—even children—the observers felt wounded. This sense of injury was nebulous. Perhaps it stemmed from the Punishers’ coercion and suppression of the audience, or perhaps from the audience choosing results they didn’t want to see.

Of course, many remained silent.

Could only remain silent.

Yin Chen had no time to follow the online messages anymore. But as he stood in the backstage control room, with two armed disciples behind him and two trembling staff members before him, he was extremely satisfied with the scene playing out on the screen. He was confident that everything would proceed according to that person’s plans.

Now, it was time to make people even more uncomfortable.

Yin Chen opened a bottle of mineral water, took a sip, then sat at the microphone and spoke again: “Actually, I was just joking with everyone earlier—we didn’t plant any bombs in the school.”

He paused before adding, “We just wanted to know your choice.”

Yin Feng’s attention had forcibly returned from You Mingxu’s unknown whereabouts to the studio, to these 200 strangers and the Punishers. Hearing Yin Chen’s words, his heart stirred.

By this point, the audience was thoroughly terrified. Even after hearing Yin Chen’s announcement, no one showed any relief. The atmosphere, heavy as a thousand-pound stone, pressed down on the entire studio.

Yin Feng now clearly understood why every audience member’s face looked so troubled.

Everyone should have their own final space and self-interest. None of us want to make choices under absolute moral premises, and in modern life, situations requiring such choices are nearly nonexistent. Even when they exist, they remain buried in the deepest recesses of human hearts, unknown to others. Never exposed to the light of day.

But the Punishers were cruel and dark, forcing everyone to face such exposure. It was as if society’s basic assumed rights and social contracts were ruthlessly torn apart. So what the Punishers plundered wasn’t just the life lying on the ground, but also that hidden, complex, indefinable quality of human nature.

This too was a crime.

An invisible crime against humanity.

Then Yin Chen spoke again, his voice ice-cold, carrying an ominous tone, slow and drawn out: “Do you remember your previous choice?”

Yin Feng instantly understood, his heart jolting.

He understood “her” purpose.

She wanted a stubborn, clever, yet cruel proof.

Proof that people in this world were, as she believed, inherently evil, selfish, and pathetic.

But the other audience members hadn’t yet realized this, their hearts like scattered stones, faces showing terrified bewilderment.

“Let me announce the results,” Yin Chen said.

Then, on the screen, four lines appeared:

“A. Chose good AND chose self-sacrifice or abstained: 12 people

B. Chose evil AND chose self-sacrifice or abstained: 86 people

C. Chose good AND chose to sacrifice children: 47 people

D. Chose evil AND chose to sacrifice children: 54 people”

Some audience members hadn’t yet grasped what this meant; others had already blanched, intense unease surging in their hearts. The online spectators, often quicker to react than those involved, began raising questions: “What are the Punishers trying to prove? Does believing in good versus fighting evil with evil have no relation to whether human nature is good or bad?”

This hit the nail on the head.

More people, after understanding the meaning of these choices, felt a strange stirring in their hearts—uncomfortable, yet indescribable.

I unhesitatingly chose good earlier, rejecting fighting evil with evil, believing in humanity’s inherent goodness—or at least I thought I believed. But when my life was threatened, facing a life-or-death choice, I hesitated, I struggled. In the end, I chose to let myself live.

After learning the Punishers’ origin, I instinctively chose to support “fighting evil with evil”—why not? But faced with a life-or-death choice, I couldn’t choose to sacrifice others, especially children. I didn’t want to die myself, but I knew that I couldn’t choose. So I made another choice, or at least remained silent, preferring to risk the Punishers’ punishment rather than choose to let children die.

My mind was clear, I insisted on good, and in the hypothetical choice between 200 adults’ lives and 800 children’s, I made a choice I wouldn’t regret.

Why can’t I support “fighting evil with evil”? Why should I die for others? Children? Even children? What do they have to do with me? Why can’t I choose what I want, choose to live?

…

Look, everyone made their final choice, proving to me what true good and evil are.

When these results were announced, in another corner of the city, that person sitting alone in the study showed a satisfied, even excited smile.

Everyone thought she came this time with murderous intent. They associated her with those shallow, antisocial criminals. Those people were too superficial; they never had any great thoughts about life. Who could have imagined that she held 200 hostages, faced police blades and the internet’s blazing fury, just to conduct this experiment before the world?

This simple yet magnificent experiment.

Any great psychological experiment in this world hides in the simplest choices.

One clever thought, a fleeting glimpse, yet dissecting the deepest human heart.

She placed these 200 random samples as a group, and forced them to the edge, so their every choice came from their hearts, all genuine. Those who believed in good truly believed; those who believed in evil truly believed from their hearts.

Then they made their choices.

They finally proved to the world that believers in good don’t necessarily do good; evil doesn’t necessarily do evil. Even among those supporting “fighting evil with evil”—her “practice of all evil”—more chose to save the children than those who believed in good!

Tears slowly crept into her eyes.

The person who once saved me, dying silently, unknown to all.

The closest relative who once tried to kill me.

Those sacrificed followers of mine.

And Yin Feng, that child who stubbornly insisted on doing good.

Do you see?

With an experiment unprecedented in history, I proved the simplest principle of psychology.

I am not just their mentor and godfather.

I stand at the forefront of a new direction in criminal psychology. From now on, tonight’s “Radio Experiment” will surely be recorded in psychological history, leaving an indelible mark on many souls and hearts. Even if they don’t fully understand now, having witnessed or heard about tonight will leave an imprint and influence on their psyche—this is the irresistible charm of the human heart.

Now, people finally know what I wanted to say.