Skinner's Box (Fang Mu (Eastern Crimes)) (39 page)

But what could such a controversial scientist have to do with the cases?

"The '80s and '90s were a period during which intellectual thought, having been restricted for so many years, suddenly erupted." Teacher Zhou seemed to be staring at something far away, as if recalling a great era of excitement and enthusiasm. "I had wasted too much of my life during the Cultural Revolution. You might imagine my excitement when I finally had a chance to pursue my aspirations. Life is but a handful of overly-hurried years, and what scholar does not desire to leave his theories and writings for later generations to study? So, after I took over as director at the Institute of Psychology, I chose to dedicate myself to a project which, at the time, I believed could change the course of human evolution—the Indoctrination Field Scheme."

"Indoctrination field? What does that mean?"

"
The results of Skinner's experiments led him to believe that so-called 'free will' did not exist in humans, and that our actions are controlled purely by reinforcement mechanisms. Although this theory was heavily criticized, it has in fact benefited later generations, " Teacher Zhou said. "Desensitization therapy and flooding therapy, used to treat people suffering from phobias and anxiety disorders, are both based on Skinner's behaviorism theory. Skinner dreamed of building a human society on the foundations of behavioral engineering and using his brand of 'radical' behaviorism to control people's behavior. Truth be told, I was intensely interested in this, because during the Cultural Revolution I had witnessed far too many acts that went completely against human nature. I very much wanted to learn what exactly had caused the entire nation to succumb to a collective disorder. If I could discover that illusive and mysterious force, then we could thoroughly reinforce and strengthen humanity's social nature in order to build a better world. And so we envisioned the construction of a great project, a great arena that could externally influence human behavior and this we named the Indoctrination Field."

"You mean..."Fang Mu suddenly felt nauseated."You mean using drills and training to foster certain personality traits, and thereby influence behavior—just like training animals?"

"I understand your revulsion." Teacher Zhou closed his eyes. "I also know that this scheme is unethical. But for me, academic success was just too enticing of a force. At the time I rationalized that even if I might be reviled by future generations the way Skinner was, as long as I could make a contribution by exploring the mystery of being human, it would be worth it. So, I decided to go ahead and initiate the Indoctrination Field Scheme."

At some point the sky outside the window had begun to darken. An ominous line of black clouds drifted slowly over to cover the city and snow seemed eminent. The cramped little room dimmed even further, leaving the two men's faces obscured in shadow but for the hot orange dots at the ends of their cigarettes.

"Only I and my immediate assistant knew about the scheme, " Teacher Zhou continued. "Our first step was to select a few people to be test subjects; most of them were kids from ordinary families. Every year a number of graduate students would come to the Institute of Psychology to do internships. I asked some of these interns to follow the test subjects and take impartial notes on their daily lives, but I did not tell them why. Meanwhile, I secretly recruited some volunteers from the community. These, too, were just ordinary people, and after putting them through a rigorous series of interviews, I made sure that none of them knew each other or had even the most indirect of connections to one another. After observing the test subjects for a period of time, I arranged for the volunteers to manufacture some sudden occurrences in the subjects' lives, such as making them witness sexual behavior, or be suddenly embraced by someone, or be taken to a pitch-black location and left, etcetera, etcetera. After each incident occurred, I had the specific volunteer sign a confidentiality agreement and then compensated him with a monetary reward, and then I severed all ties with that person. Once this step was complete, I dismissed all the interns involved in observing the test subjects and replaced them with new interns who would observe the test subjects' reactions and post-occurrence behavior. The reasons and details were not divulged to these new interns, either, of course. In this way I could ensure that no one would know the purpose and process of the experiment."

Fang Mu frowned. "Let me see if I understand what you're saying. You mean, you artificially manufactured some events in the test subjects' lives?"

"Correct." Teacher Zhou seemed to struggle to spit the word out. "That way I could make the test subjects think the way I wanted them to think, act the way I wanted them to act. In other words, force them to experience the lives I had chosen for them."

Fang Mu's gaze had fallen to the wooden floorboards. He looked up suddenly and studied the old man. His body was slumped against the bed frame and the wall, chin hanging down against his frail chest, looking for all the world like a child caught in the act of doing something naughty.
But who could have imagined,
Fang Mu wondered,
that this man's heart had ever harbored evil intentions?

"What happened next?"

"There were five people total in the first batch of test subjects. Apart from the child who witnessed a sexual act, none of the others exhibited any intense, long-term emotional reactions, so ten years later I selected a second batch of test subjects. I was full of confidence at the time; my plan was to allow this scheme to continue in the long term, and allow myself twenty or twenty-five years to complete the experiment. If all went well, I would have accomplished a feat the likes of which anyone in the academic world would be envious. Skinner had proved how helpful positive reinforcement could be in establishing good behavior, and I would prove how equally effective punishment could be in molding a person's thoughts and actions. But exactly two years later, the unexpected happened…"

"What was it?" Fang Mu asked.

Teacher Zhou let out a sigh and gently thumped his forehead against the railing of the bed. "While I was reading over a report from an intern who had been following one of the test subjects, it occurred to me that that particular test subject had had an extremely strange emotional reaction, one much more intense than I would have imagined likely. My assistant was the one in charge of this test subject, so I asked him about the report. At first he was evasive, but when I pushed him on the matter, he finally admitted that there had been a problem with the community volunteer involved—not only had he not acted within the experiment's guidelines, he had actually raped the girl...

"Shen Xiang?" Fang Mu blurted.

"Yes." A tear rolled down each of Teacher Zhou's pale cheeks. "The news shocked me to the very fiber of my being. I stayed in my office for the rest of the day. I began to doubt whether what I had been doing could be considered true scientific research or not, and for the first time I considered abandoning the whole project. But my mind was made up once and for all by what happened next."

"Which was?"

Teacher Zhou, slumped against the bed railing, was now sobbing so hard he was unable to continue. As Fang Mu glared at the tearful old man, he did not know which he felt more, loathing or sympathy.

After a long time, Teacher Zhou's sobs finally subsided. He wiped his eyes with his sleeve and said, voice quavering, "One of the children, after we experimented on him, couldn't bear the terror in his heart, so he killed himself. The child's name was Weiwei…"

"What?" Fang Mu jumped to his feet. "Sister Zhao's son?"

"Yes," Teacher Zhou said, peering at Fang Mu with eyes that seemed to be begging for him to charge over and beat him into oblivion. "After Weiwei died, I decided to completely abandon the Indoctrination Field Scheme. I destroyed all record of the experiment, including the several treatises on which I had worked so long and hard. After that I resigned from my position as director, for I no longer felt I deserved recognition as a psychologist. I changed my name and completely withdrew from all the social circles in which I had been involved, then bought this piece of land and built the orphanage. Then I brought Sister Zhao here, who was on the verge of emotional collapse. I had done irreparable harm to so many children; all I wanted to do was nurture as many kids as I could who had been abandoned or deeply hurt. My hope was that if I could help enough children, I might atone for the horrible mistakes of my youth."

As he finished, Teacher Zhou's body seemed to crumple against the wall, as if he had expended his last ounce of strength in the telling of his tale. By the relaxed expression on his face, however, the act of disclosing the secret that had weighed so heavily on his heart for so many years seemed to have given him some relief.

But Fang Mu could not relax. He lit a cigarette and forced himself to calm down. The old man in front of him had, until very recently, been someone he had admired greatly. But this same old man's actions had been the root of so much tragedy.

Fang Mu finished his cigarette and opened the folder again. Speaking in the most official-sounding tone he could muster, he asked, "Teacher Zhou, did you keep any records at all from your experiment?"

"No."

"Okay, then are you able to recall the names of the test subjects and interns and volunteers involved back then?"

"I remember some of them."

"Good." Fang Mu pulled out a piece of paper from the folder and handed him a pen. "Circle any names on this list you recognize."

Teacher Zhou put his glasses on and scanned the list from top to bottom. As he did so, the look on his face changed. He glanced up. "Where did you get this list?"

Fang Mu stared back at him with a blank expression. "Just mark which ones you recognize."

Teacher Zhou considered the names a moment, drew a few circles on the list, and handed it back to Fang Mu.

Fang Mu looked at the list. The names Teacher Zhou had circled were Shen Xiang, Tan Ji, Jiang Dexian, Jiang Peiyao, Ma Chunpei, and Xia Lili.

Seeing Fang Mu's frown, Teacher Zhou repeated the question. "Where did you get this list?"

Fang Mu hesitated, and then decided to tell the truth. "The police suspect Tan Ji of killing Jiang Peiyao, and Jiang Dexian of killing Ma Chunpei."

"
What?
" Teacher Zhou exclaimed. "Jiang Peiyao and Ma Chunpei were the volunteers in charge of Tan Ji and Jiang Dexian, respectively."

Fang Mu felt the blood draining out of his face. "What exactly did you have them do to them?"

"Let me think," Teacher Zhou said anxiously. "According to the plan, Jiang Peiyao was supposed to abandon Tan Ji in an empty movie theater; Ma Chunpei and Xia Lili were to pretend they were father and daughter, and have...have sex in front of Jiang Dexian... Ah, so, what's happened to her? To Xia Lili?"

"She died six years ago, from tertiary syphilis," Fang Mu replied icily. "Otherwise she, too, would have been murdered by Jiang Dexian."

Teacher Zhou's face was deathly pale. He snatched the paper from Fang Mu's hand. "Then who are Huang Runhua, Qu Rui, Shen Baoqiang, and Nie Baoqing?"

"Shen Baoqiang and Nie Baoqing are victims in two other homicide cases. We suspect their killers to be Qu Rui and Huang Runhua."

"Well, what do Qu Rui and Huang Runhua have to do with Tan Ji and Jiang Dexian?" Teacher Zhou seemed to be holding onto a last glimmer of hope.

"We believe the four of them are conspirators, together with the fugitive, Luo Jiahai." Fang Mu focused intently on Teacher Zhou's eyes. "Shen Xiang's boyfriend!"

Teacher Zhou's mouth gaped wide as he stared, stunned, at Fang Mu for several seconds. Finally he slumped back against the bed and its rusty old metal frame creaked in protest.

"Which means..." Teacher Zhou mumbled to himself.

"Which means," Fang Mu continued for him, "the Indoctrination Field Scheme never ended!"

"Impossible!" Teacher Zhou scrambled to his feet, his emotions spiraling out of control. "I destroyed all record of the experiment
years
ago. There is no way they could have found out who those volunteers were!"

"Nothing's impossible!" Fang Mu crowded forward a step and pressed his face close to the old man's. "Who was your assistant back then?"