Deviant: No Longer Human-Chapter 796: Qiao Mingze: The Therapist Needs Therapy!

Shanghai Serenity Psychology Clinic.

Room 1503, 17th floor, Kerry Parkside Tower, 1378 Huamu Road, Pudong, Shanghai.

Just beside Century Park, lush, green, oddly peaceful for the city, a glass giant rises, its windows shinning like secrets above the traffic.

But on the seventeenth floor, a scene much less polished was just beginning.

A woman lounged back in her chair, one leg hooked over the armrest like she owned the damn building. She lifted a slender, almost lazy hand to her mouth, hiding a yawn behind red lips that looked way too inviting for an office. "So let me get this straight, your precious son knocked up some girl and started an affair when he was what, twelve? Then, poof, something happened, he vanished, nobody knows shit, and now he’s back, dragging along more women and kids than you can count. You seriously have no clue how to handle any of this?"

As she spoke, her pen tapped a slow, bored rhythm against the notepad, her handwriting looping carelessly across the page.

Her desk was too neat to be believable, except for a couple of potted plants looking way too healthy for a workaholic. Books on the shelf: parenting, brain science, some stuff about manipulation that’d scare most mothers.

Behind her, floor-to-ceiling windows let the city sprawl beneath her feet; one wall showed off abstract paintings, another was plastered with diagrams about child psychology and, weirdly, sex addiction.

This was Dr. Qiao Mingze. Psychologist. Or, as she liked to say, "professional sanity dealer." But today, forget the stiff coat or nerdy glasses. She was rocking a loose, white party dress that did absolutely nothing to hide the smooth bare skin of her breasts, the fabric skimming just above the edge of her reddish areola, one wrong move and it’d all be out in the open.

Her hair, icy white, all wavy and half-tucked behind one ear, fell in a soft cascade over her bare shoulder. Her eyes? The kind that could hypnotize you or undress you, maybe both. Silver and diamond necklace, earrings that flashed every time she turned. She looked less like a shrink, more like a woman about to set the night on fire.

Honestly, it was the sort of "clinic attire" that would get her sued six ways to Sunday, if she wasn’t, right now, just listening to an old friend try to explain how her son’s life turned into a dumpster fire.

"I wouldn’t say I’ve lost count yet, but yeah, I have no idea how to handle any of this..."

Opposite Dr. Qiao Mingze sat another woman, much more put-together, in a crisp dark suit that practically screamed ’corporate.’ Sleek black hair framed a face that was mature, sharp, a hint of makeup in all the right places. Even now, she looked like she could handle a hostile courtroom, but not this.

She shot a glance at the doctor lounging across from her, "Mingming, what are you even wearing? And are you... okay?"

Honestly, it was supposed to be a counseling session, but if anyone needed therapy right now, it might’ve been the so-called doctor.

Qiao Mingze yawned wide, making zero effort to cover up. "Don’t mind me. I just woke up from a blackout last night. If it wasn’t for you, I’d have skipped today altogether. Anyway, where the hell have you been all these years? How long has it been since you last called me, five years?"

The suit-clad woman, Xinyue Zhilan, raised a brow, irritation flickering in her eyes. "Shouldn’t you be married by now? What are you doing clubbing like some college kid?"

Qiao Mingze’s eyes glittered with a half-drunk, half-seductive glint, cheeks tinged with a rosy flush. "Who says I’m married? Men aren’t really my thing. But let’s get back to you. Your son, what do you actually want from me? You said after his accident, you know nothing. Now he’s got power, some top-secret military background, and women popping up with kids?"

"Yeah..." Xinyue Zhilan nodded, trying not to look overwhelmed.

"Well, there’s your problem." Mingze twirled her pen, smirking. "If you don’t know what happened, how do you expect to understand anything? Isn’t it normal for someone alone to find company? Or are you just freaking out about the number of women he’s with? Why not just ask him how he plans to juggle all of them? You said they all know about each other, two young twin girlfriends, another one showed up ’today’ with a kid, and they’re not clawing each other’s eyes out. Sounds like they’ve already made peace with it. So what’s the actual problem?"

Xinyue Zhilan stared, clearly thrown by Qiao Mingze’s brutal nonchalance. "Isn’t this... problematic?"

Qiao Mingze just shook her head. "Honestly? The only thing that’s weird is that he got a woman pregnant when he was twelve, and she was older, right? That’s a bit fucked up, that too even before his ’supposed’ accident. But ignoring that, the rest is normal. Maybe the real issue is, you can’t accept that he’s grown up, doesn’t need you, and now has a family of his own. He disappeared at twelve, came back a man, with his own life. Maybe you’re not worried, just... left out. Maybe, instead of interrogating him, just talk. Find out how he survived, what he went through. Maybe you’re more jealous of the life he built than you realize."

"...Jealous?" Xinyue Zhilan blinked, caught off guard.

"Not jealous-jealous. Just... left behind, now that he’s got his own family." Qiao Mingze yawned again, completely unfazed.

Xinyue Zhilan rolled her eyes, pretending not to care. Jealous? Please. If anything, she was glad, she finally had granddaughters to dote on. But still... something stung.

Seeing that look, Qiao Mingze finally gave in with a sigh. "Alright, forget it. About the woman he got tangled up with before the accident, did you ever actually talk to her? Figure out what really happened?"

"Ah, about that..." Xinyue Zhilan couldn’t help but force an awkward smile.

"...!!!"

The moment she finished, Qiao Mingze’s eyes went wide. "Hold up. Are you telling me he raped someone at that age?"

"Will you keep your voice down!" Xinyue Zhilan hissed, clamping her hands over her ears at Mingze’s outburst. "It wasn’t like that... it was just... a sedative, I don’t even know where he got it—"

Qiao Mingze couldn’t shut up even if she tried. Her fingers drummed frantically on the table, a manic tempo. "Okay, I get it, I get it, you... you really need to get to know your own son better, Zhilan. You have no idea who he is!"

"What are you trying to say?" Xinyue Zhilan’s tone was flat, but her eyes were searching.

"I’m saying, you still think you’re the center of his world. Have you even stopped to wonder, this woman who showed up today, says she cared for him, bore his kid, was there after he fell off that damn cliff, who do you think he’s closer to now, her or you? If you try to confront him about her, how do you think that’s gonna end? And what about all the others? Have you even tried to figure out what he thinks of you now? Or even back then? Maybe that’s how he ended up on such a twisted path to begin with."

Xinyue Zhilan’s expression hardened, a frown creasing her face. "So you’re saying he wouldn’t have... drugged her if I’d been more involved? If I’d been a better mother?"

Qiao Mingze pressed her lips together, sighing, her sarcasm melting away for once. "Maybe, maybe not. Don’t make that sad face. Look, people remember who stood by them when they had nothing, not who comes around when the storm’s already passed. Not everyone’s like me, picking up your call after five years of radio silence..."

She ended with a half-smirk, her tone somewhere between a jab and genuine affection.

Xinyue Zhilan’s eyes shimmered, but she didn’t cry. She was just... lost in thought, chewing over the memories. Was her son the way he was because of her? Had she been too absent, too wrapped up in everything else?

Ironically, Qiao Mingze couldn’t have been further from the truth, after Wang Xiao fell from that cliff, it wasn’t Eveline who took care of him, but Eleanor and Amelia. But if you asked anyone where Xinyue Zhilan stood in her son’s life now, would she even be in the same league as Eleanor or Amelia? That was a question she wasn’t sure she wanted answered.

"I couldn’t call you... it wasn’t just you, I pushed everyone away." Xinyue Zhilan’s voice was soft, almost breaking. "I was just... buried under everything. All I did was work or obsess over my daughters. I’d ask them every single day where they were, what they were doing. My husband... he just fought with me about my job, started gambling, fell apart... and when he came begging for money, I shut the door in his face."

"...You divorced him?" Qiao Mingze blinked, caught off guard.

Xinyue Zhilan shook her head, looking a little complicated. "Never even got the chance. Honestly, I don’t know where he is now... and it’s probably better if we never cross paths again."

That was a shock, Zhilan had always been the traditional type, hard to break. Hearing something so cold from her now? Mingze almost wanted to shout, "See? I told you, men are trash. They’re never reliable when it really counts!" But she bit her tongue, not wanting to push her friend any further today.

Xinyue Zhilan’s gaze fell to her lap, clearly done digging up the past. Qiao Mingze picked up on it, softening. "So... your son. Do you think he’s changed... maybe gotten... corrupted by power?"

"Hm?" Xinyue Zhilan glanced up, surprised.

"I mean... if he was already like that before, and now he’s got more power, haven’t you wondered...?" Qiao Mingze let her question hang, careful but direct.

Xinyue Zhilan shook her head. "He’s... better now. I don’t think he’s coercing anyone anymore. The two girls seem genuinely happy with him, and the woman who came today, she looked older, wise. I only ever saw him angry once, and it was justified."

She thought back to that managing partner who’d tried to court her, her son had handled it, and aside from that, she hadn’t seen anything truly evil in him.

Qiao Mingze narrowed her eyes, skeptical. "So he’s turned a new leaf, huh? You sure? What about... lust? You said he’s got plenty of women. Isn’t he ever satisfied with just one? Is it lust, or greed, or both?"

Xinyue Zhilan’s face went a bit red. Lustful... well, he did try to get Wenxi into bed several times right in the living room, as if forgetting they weren’t alone.

Seeing her friend’s awkward expression, Qiao Mingze grinned. "Ah, thought so. I guess your house isn’t all that safe, is it?"

"Why would you say that?" Xinyue Zhilan stared, genuinely baffled.

Qiao Mingze leaned forward, serious for once. "Seen anything... weird around the house? And I don’t mean ghosts."

"Weird like what...?" Xinyue Zhilan blinked, suddenly uncertain.

"Like, has he ever acted... off? Towards you, I mean." Qiao Mingze gave her a pointed look.

Xinyue Zhilan’s face flushed rosy red. "Mingming, don’t be ridiculous!"

But Qian Mingze wasn’t backing off. "Hey, you said yourself, he’s got power, a bunch of women, and plenty of lust. Sometimes men who spend years away from family come back... different. They’re not really family anymore, not quite strangers either. Sometimes lines get blurry...."