S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 2 Chapter 18

The Innocent Murderer 18 – Reminder

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Bai Chi and Luo Tian went to investigate the nursing home. They asked the volunteers if there was a police officer named Wang Liyong who often came by.

The volunteers nodded one after another, saying that he often came to take care of an old man named Zou Mo.

"Zou Mo?" Bai Chi asked, "We want to ask him some questions, can you take us to see him?"

Several volunteers laughed, "Ask him questions? It's impossible to ask him anything."

"What do you mean?" Luo Tian asked, puzzled.

"This old man is deaf, dumb, and handicapped," said a volunteer. "he won't be able to answer what you ask."

"What?" Bai Chi was surprised, "How could..."

"Huh... retribution." A volunteer said helplessly, "When he was younger, he did too many bad things. Now that he is old, he is facing retribution. Even if he wasn't directly affected by the retribution, it would affect the future generations and his grandchildren would have to pay for it."

"What kind of bad things did he do when he was younger?" Luo Tian asked.

"He killed people." One of the volunteers spoke. "I heard that he was a murderer who committed all kinds of crimes. He has killed many people. He was later sentenced to life in prison before he became paralyzed and was sent here to simply wait for death. Nobody cared about him except for the young police officer and his girlfriend."

"His girlfriend came with him?" Bai Chi was surprised. "Do you remember what his girlfriend looked like?"

Several volunteers looked at each other and nodded, "We remember. She would wear heavy makeup but she was pretty."

Bai Chi immediately arranged for the police officers to take them back to the police station and make sketches of her. Then he went to see Zou Mo with Luo Tian.

Zou Mo was really very old; his teeth were falling out and he was paralyzed from the neck down. He was lying on the bed, looking at the ceiling with sunken eyes.

Bai Chi asked the in-house doctor and determined that the old man was really incapable of cooperating with the police before he reluctantly left the ward.

The two walked outside the ward. Bai Chi noticed that Luo Tian seemed to be in a bad mood. He thought that he was worried about Zhan Zhao, so he said, "Don't worry, Brother is okay. Didn't you just ask about him?"

"Mhmm... I know." Luo Tian laughed twice, quietly speaking.

"Then... why are you upset?" Bai Chi looked up at Luo Tian.

"The old man... his ending was really bad. He really deserved it. However, I don't know if the retribution will affect his future generations as well." Luo Tian said very sadly.

Bai Chi finally understood. It turned out that Luo Tian was worried that Luo Yang would face retribution because he had killed people before. Bai Chi shook his head helplessly. What Da Ding and Xiao Ding said was true; Luo Tian is an incredible father.

Raising his hand to pat Luo Tian's shoulder, Bai Chi said with a smile, "Then would you say that saving a life would benefit future generations?"

Luo Tian was taken aback for a moment, nodded blankly, and said: "It should..."

"Think about how many people you have saved in the last few days!" Bai Chi said, "You are not an ordinary person! What are you so worried about? Xiao Yang Yang is flourishing under your care!"

After Luo Tian listened, he nodded in relief, "You're right..."

"Why don't we go walk around in the nursing home?" Bai Chi said, "There might be some clues."

"Mhmm." Luo Tian nodded. The two of them split up and began to search the nursing home separately; one went east and the other went west.

Bai Chi met some volunteers along the way and asked them about Zou Mo's situation, Wang Liyong, and his girlfriend; the responses were almost the same. They found nothing. Disappointed, Bai Chi wanted to go back. After rounding a corner, he was suddenly pulled in by someone.

"Ah..." Bai Chi was taken aback. He turned his face and saw that a long-lost figure had appeared in front of him. The figure moved to cover Bai Chi's mouth with his hand, saying in a low voice, "Shhh…"

"Zhao... Zhao..." Bai Chi stuttered in surprise. He looked at the person in front of him; his hair grew a bit longer, hanging down to his chest, his face was pale and thin, and he couldn't see his age through his young appearance – It was Zhao Jue.

Bai Chi gradually calmed down, and noticed that Zhao Jue's outfit was a little strange. He only wore a white shirt and a pair of white slacks; they looked like what you would wear around the house. He also wore a pair of slippers barefoot underneath, and on the wrist that was extended towards Bai Chi's mouth, there was a delicately decorated platinum bracelet. Attached to the bracelet, there is a long chain which seems to have been broken.

"You..." Bai Chi looked at the bracelet on Zhao Jue's wrist in surprise... It was actually handcuffs that had broken chains.

Seeing that Bai Chi had finally calmed down, Zhao Jue let go of his hand. He rushed to hug Bai Chi, and said in a low voice, "Chi Chi, I'm so hungry, do you have anything to eat?" "

"Eat..." Bai Chi was still immersed in the shock of Zhao Jue's sudden appearance. He blankly went to look through the bag, found a packet of bear-shaped biscuits, and handed it to Zhao Jue.

Zhao Jue took the bag in his hand and tried to open twice. He sat by the wall to look at Bai Chi, "I can't open it."

Bai Chi took it, opened it, and handed it to him. He squatted down, sat next to him, and asked, "How did you get like this?"

"I escaped!" Zhao Jue said disgruntledly while eating the biscuits, "I have been waiting here for a day, why are you so slow? I would have starved to death if you came one day later. But I thought it would have been the little cat that would come. Why are you here instead?"

"He was here originally." Bai Chi took out a bottle of Coke and opened the lid for Zhao Jue. "Are you thirsty?"

Zhao Jue took two sips of the Coke, "What do you mean? What about that cat? I haven't seen him for a long time. There is also that little white tiger."

"Brother is injured." Bai Chi put his chin in his hands and sadly said, "He was shot and wounded at the foot of the mountain."

Zhao Jue was taken aback for a moment. He looked at Bai Chi with the Coke bottle in his hand, and then asked after a long time, "Which brother? Where was he hurt?"

"Zhan..." As soon as Bai Chi uttered the word "Zhan", Zhao Jue smashed the Coke bottle on the ground and cruelly said, "I knew that Bai was unreliable!"

"Uh... he's not badly hurt and the assailant has been caught by Brother." Bai Chi explained quickly, muttering in his heart – My surname is Bai too.

Zhao Jue continued to eat the biscuits angrily and he seemed to have something on his mind.

"You... why are you running away?" Bai Chi asked Zhao Jue in a low voice, "Also, why are you waiting for us here?"

"I can't go to you, so I can only wait here." Zhao Jue pouted, "I can't run if I get caught again."

"Who... who caught you?" Bai Chi noticed that under Zhao Jue's open collar, there were pale pink marks on his fair skin. Those should be... after thinking about it, his face turned red.

Zhao Jue saw the change on Bai Chi's face and suddenly laughed, "Oh... you've grown up little guy."

"Don't talk nonsense." Bai Chi stared, "You haven't answered my question yet!"

"Heh..." Zhao Jue returned the remaining bear biscuits to Bai Chi, "I have something for you to pass on."

"What are you talking about?" Bai Chi asked.

"Help me tell Zhao Zhen something; pay attention to safety when doing magic." Zhao Jue finished speaking and stood up, "I should go now."

"You... just tell him that?" Bai Chi was surprised.

"Mhmm." Zhao Jue nodded. 

He clapped his hands and prepared to leave, but was grabbed by Bai Chi, "Wait a minute, why do you say such a thing? Is Zhao Zhen in danger?"

Zhao Jue looked at Bai Chi with some surprise, and shook his head helplessly. He said, "You are so nervous, just take care of him." After finishing speaking, he lowered his head and kissed Bai Chi on the forehead, and said, "Thank you." He turned around and left.

"Wait..." Bai Chi ran a few steps and asked, "can I tell Brother that I met you?"

Zhao Jue stopped walking for a second as he turned around to nod to Bai Chi. After turning around, he went into a building. Bai Chi chased after him but he couldn't find him.

The more he thought about it, the more he didn't understand. Bai Chi touched his head, reaching out to put the bear biscuits in the bag. "Eh? Why is the zipper open? I remember that I closed it earlier." Bai Chi thought to himself.

Bai Chi opened the bag. The wallet that was originally placed in the pocket was taken out at some point.

Bai Chi had a bad hunch. He took out his wallet and flipped through it; the money was gone! Putting the empty wallet back into his bag, Bai Chi gritted his teeth, "Go home and ask Zhao Zhen to pay me! A total of seven hundred and fifty-three yuan!"

He took out his phone and called Zhan Zhao, telling him everything about meeting Zhao Ju and about what he had heard from Zhao Jue.

Zhan Zhao, who was on the phone, was completely stupefied.

"Cat... what's the matter?" Bai Yutang asked, "Zhao Jue said that someone wanted to harm Zhao Zhen?"

Zhan Zhao gently shook his head, "It's more than that... If he wanted to remind Zhao Zhen, then he could just tell Zhao Zhen directly. Why did he show up there to wait for us?"

"What does he want to tell us?" Bai Yutang asked.

Zhan Zhao touched his chin and said quietly, "He wanted to tell us to investigate starting with Yan Li."

Bai Yutang raised his eyebrows, "Why do you say that?"

"What he said was 'Tell Zhao Zhen to pay attention to safety when doing magic.'" Zhan Zhao slowly said. "It is 'pay attention to safety when doing magic', not just 'pay attention to safety' in general."

"Zhao Zhen's most recent magic show was related to Yan Li. Also, Yan Li held this magic week for no reason..." Bai Yutang touched his chin, "It's really suspicious."

"So far, everything has been complicated and confusing, but it's all related to just a few people." Zhan Zhao asked Bai Yutang, "Have those sketches come out?"

"They are all done." Jiang Ping said, pulling out the three sketches that had just been passed over. "There are ones from Zhang Yankai, the police officer who delivered the package, and the volunteers from the nursing home." Jiang Ping printed out several pictures and gave them to Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao.

The two stared for a long time before smiling at each other.

"If it wasn't for Zhao Jue's reminder then I wouldn't have been able to see it." Bai Yutang sneered.

"Who does it resemble?" Jiang Ping leaned over curiously, "These three pictures don't seem to be the same person."

"These three sketches are indeed not one person." Bai Yutang sneered, "But if you take one part from each of these three sketches, you can put them together to make a single person."

"What?" Jiang Ping was taken aback, and everyone else came over to see.

Zhan Zhao took the scissors and cut the three sketches apart; he separated the eyes, the nose, and the mouth. Putting them together, he asked everyone, "Is this person familiar?"

Everyone leaned in to take a look. With big eyes and a little angel-like appearance, it was Yan Li's daughter, Yan Jiajia.

"Why is it her?" Bai Yutang frowned and was a little confused. "Actually, women's sketches are very difficult to make. Generally, they would be hard to recognize with good makeup skills. But she…"

"She constantly kept a few parts of her face unchanged." Zhan Zhao said indifferently, "This will ensure that we recognize her but that there is no evidence against her."

"This little girl..." Jiang Ping shook his head in surprise, "I can't think of any motives for her..."

While they were talking, Lu Fang came in with a few cleaners and said, "Xiao Bai, you guys come out first, I have found someone to clean up. Have all the important documents been sorted?"

"Mhmm." Bai Yutang nodded. The rest of the SCI team had arranged and locked the important things in the cabinet. Next, the cleaners had to sweep away the broken glass and install new glass before they could continue to work.

When the cleaning staff came in, Bai Yutang wanted to walk up and hug Zhan Zhao, but saw that Zhan Zhao slightly shook his head and said to the others, "Want to know the reason?"

Everyone looked at Zhan Zhao in shock, not knowing what he was talking about.

"This is the reason!" Zhan Zhao said. He suddenly reached out and grabbed a cleaner who walked by him, cleaning a table, and pulled her hand. A small black plastic square fell to the ground. Bai Yutang picked it up and saw it was a bug.

"You?" He reached out and grabbed the person Zhan Zhao grabbed and they didn't resist. Bai Yutang took off her cleaning cap and mask; at the same time, the person laughed "hahaha". Her voice was abnormally crisp and young.

The little girl pretending to be a cleaner in front of her was Yan Jiajia. She looked at Zhan Zhao with excitement, "God, how did you find out? You are the best! It's a shame that you are a police officer!" 

"You are the one who sent the bomb?" Bai Yutang frowned and asked her.

Yan Jiajia raised her eyebrows and asked innocently, "What bomb? I don't know about any bomb. I just heard that the SCI office blew up and I was worried about my idol Dr. Zhan. I came to take a look to make sure he was okay. Ah! Although it's a bit naughty, it's not against the law! I paid the original cleaner to swap with me."

"What about this then?" Bai Yutang took the bug in front of her eyes, "How do you explain this?"

"Oh... I found it under the table just now. I didn't bring it in!" Yan Jiajia asked with a smile, "What is this? I have never seen it before."

The people of SCI were horrified by the innocent smile on this little girl's face. Jiang Ping said, "I'll take Zhang Yankai and the others to identify her..."

"It's useless." Zhan Zhao suddenly said, "They can't recognize her." He said, looking at Yan Jiajia, "You gave them a psychological suggestion, didn't you?"

"Hehe." Yan Jiajia blinked mischievously. She smiled without saying a word, and just looked at Zhan Zhao with a fascinated face, "You look better up close! It's so beautiful..."

There was no expression on Zhan Zhao's face, but he asked her indifferently, "Where did you learn this? It can't be from my book."

"Anyway, I know it." Yan Jiajia said mysteriously, "You are the best!"

Bai Yutang looked at the police officer beside him and said, "Take her down and inform her parents."

Before Yan Jiajia was taken away, she looked back at Zhan Zhao, "Come and hypnotise me, maybe you will find something you can use as evidence!"

Zhan Zhao ignored her and watched her be taken away.

"Fuck!" Jiang Ping looked upset, "Being played around with by a little girl."

Bai Yutang patted him on the shoulder and said, "We should be thanking her."

Zhan Zhao nodded, "Thanks to her, I have a clue." 

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Does anybody else love Zhao Jue? I know he was portrayed as the overarching villain in the tv show and the first book but I absolutely love him. He has his moments where he is adorable, like when he is interacting with Bai Chi or when he calls Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang by their animal personifications. I could totally hear him calling out 'Chi Chi' in a soft voice.

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: March 16, 2021

Re-edited: December 21, 2023