S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 2 Chapter 27

The Innocent Murderer 27 - Case Closed

---

At three o'clock in the afternoon, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang received news from Bao Zheng that Uncle An has been approved to retire early due to the recent events. In recognition of his merits and contributions to upholding public security in S City, he will be awarded the medal of honour issued by the police station next month and will receive high bonuses and generous benefits.

At five o'clock in the afternoon, all of the SCI members went to the private room at Bai Jintang's Food City to eat hot pot. Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang shared the plans to make the arrest tomorrow.

At ten o'clock in the evening, everyone left and prepared for the next day.

The next day

Zhan Zhao's book club meeting was held at eight o'clock in the morning in an activity room at the South Street Publishing House. Twelve people were present and all of them were young students; Yang Chen and Yan Jiajia were part of the crowd.

But by eight thirty, Zhan Zhao hadn't arrived and they couldn't reach him by phone. Qian Mingyue showed some stress on her face. Looking at the door, it wasn't only Zhan Zhao that hadn't come, but also the media that she had notified. The expressions of Yang Chen and Yan Jiajia already showed impatience.

At nine o'clock, the crowd began to complain.

Yan Jiajia looked at Qian Mingyue coldly, "Are you kidding me?"

Yang Chen sneered, "Maybe you are playing tricks on us."

"What are you talking about?" Yan Jiajia looked at Yang Chen, and Yang Chen turned her face away.

"Maybe he ran into something that delayed him." Qian Mingyue hurriedly spoke up. "He is a police officer, he's very busy."

As she was talking, there was a knock on the door. The door was pushed open, and Zhan Zhao stood at the door, smiling, "Sorry I'm late."

The twenty-odd people present were stunned for a while, and then they rioted in excitement, looking at Zhan Zhao in disbelief.

"Dr. Zhan." Yan Jiajia stood up happily, and Zhan Zhao nodded to her. She immediately smiled more happily. Looking at Yang Chen beside her, she seemed a little envious.

"Xiao Zhan..." Qian Mingyue seemed to be relieved, "I thought you weren't coming."

Zhan Zhao apologetically said, "I'm sorry. I was waiting for a few people so I was a little bit late." He then beckoned at the door and three people walked in; they were Lu Liang, followed by a man and a woman. They looked like they were a husband and wife in their thirties. 

Yang Chen's face paled as soon as the three of them came in.

Lu Liang looked at Yang Chen with a bad expression, "Yang Chen, you disappointed me too much."

"How could it..." Yang Chen looked at the man and woman in a puzzled manner.

"Do you remember them?" Zhan Zhao asked Yang Chen, "They are Zhao Jing's parents. You used them to do experiments. What, you didn't expect them to still be alive?"

Yang Chen was completely stunned, so she listened to Zhan Zhao unhurriedly, "We checked all the records, but we couldn't find anything about Zhao Jing's parents. If they were alive then we needed to find them; if they were dead then we needed to find their bodies." After he spoke, he reached out and patted Zhao Jing's father on the shoulder, "Next, you can talk about it."

Zhao Qi nodded and said, "We were really scared when Professor Lu diagnosed us with occasional memory confusion, so we accepted his follow-up treatment. The one in charge of our treatment was Yang Chen. She prescribed us medication and gave us treatment. Professor Lu would sometimes come to visit us at home. However, our condition was not getting better, it was only getting worse."

Lu Liang shook his head, "I blame myself for trusting Yang Chen too much. She studied with me for so many years and was really capable. I really didn't expect..." He raised his head to look at Zhan Zhao, "After you called me yesterday, I snuck into Yang Chen's office and discovered some of the materials she had hidden. They made me realise that what she was doing for Zhao Qi and his wife was actually reverse treatment. She was using unorthodox methods that made their condition uncontrollable and they developed severe depression as a result."

"Later, we were afraid that we would harm Jing Jing without knowing it. We decided to entrust her to my brother and his wife to have them take care of her. They were the only ones that knew about our condition." Zhao Qi continued. "We felt that we were truly hopeless. At the time when all our hope was lost, Yang Chen found us and gave us two tickets for a cruise."

Zhan Zhao intervened, "You all know about this cruise ship. It is a newly launched tourist line in this city which runs from S City to K City on the opposite side of the lake."

"What happened then?" Yang Chen looked at Zhao Qi and his wife, "Why didn't you two jump off? You definitely should have jumped!"

Zhan Zhao smiled, "The hint you gave them was actually to make them jump off, right? But there is one thing you forgot. Even the most perfectly planned schemes can go wrong."

"What do you mean?" Yang Chen was puzzled.

"They jumped off, but they were rescued." Zhan Zhao smiled.

"What?" Yang Chen opened her eyes in disbelief.

Zhan Zhao shook his head and looked at her, "You really don't know anything about psychological hints and suggestions. Generally, if you encourage a person to commit suicide, having them jump into the river and the sea has lowest rate of success. If people want to kill themselves, it will be painful regardless of what method they choose. Their instincts will always tell them to save themself."

Zhao Qi nodded, "After we jumped down, our minds went blank. Before I drowned, I thought 'why should I die?' and I couldn't think of a reason. Then I tried to call for help and luckily, the rescue team came out and got us."

"Unfortunately, the rescue team brought them back to K City." Zhan Zhao said helplessly. "Their memory was confused and they were depressed; their mental state was not normal. They didn't have their ID cards on them and they were sent to a psychiatric hospital in K City for treatment. Later, the K City police found the missing person information we posted and got in touch with us. We found out yesterday and sent someone to pick them up today. Fortunately, after receiving treatment in the psychiatric hospital and the discontinuation of the medication, the memory of the two has been repaired."

Yan Jiajia smiled, "What a crazy story. Okay, now you should go and arrest the murderer!" She said to Zhan Zhao. "It has nothing to do with us so we will leave first."

"Wait." Zhan Zhao smiled. "Who said it has nothing to do with you?"

As soon as his voice fell, they saw Bai Yutang walking in with a child; it was Zhao Jing.

"Jing Jing!" Zhao Qi and his wife ran over and hugged their daughter who they hadn't seen for a long time. Zhao Jing also recognized her father and mother, but when she saw the rest of the people in the room, she lost her smile completely. She screamed and threw herself into her mother's arms.

"What's the matter?" Zhao Qi puzzled, "Jing Jing?"

Bai Yutang squatted down, and reached out to pat Zhao Jing's head. "Jing Jing, don't be afraid. You can tell us. Were these the people who killed your uncle and his family that day?"

Zhao Jing turned to look at Bai Yutang and her family. Zhao Qi asked anxiously, "Jing Jing? Tell everyone, who killed your uncle and his family?"

Zhao Jing turned and stared at Yang Chen and the people behind her, and said, "Them!"

Bai Yutang called out to the police officers guarding the door, "Come in and arrest them!"

The police officers came in, and the young people struggled, "Don't talk nonsense, we didn't do anything! That child is crazy..."

Bai Yutang looked at her with a sneer, "She is very normal, you are the crazy one!"

"When we were investigating, we encountered a lot of difficulties. Because the community was near the school, there were lots of people going in and out, especially people who were playing basketball." Zhan Zhao saw that the faces of several people were a little stiff, and continued. "Because there is a basketball court in the community, students from the school often come to play basketball and many of them live here. Therefore, the security guards don't pay much attention to people who are going in and out with a basketball."

Bai Yutang nodded, "I asked the students who were playing basketball and they said that they saw a few basketball players go into the building."

"The camera didn't capture you because you didn't take the elevator and you walked up the stairs instead." Zhan Zhao smiled, "However, you must not have known that almost no one walks up the stairs to the seventeenth floor!"

"The thick dust has retained some of your shoe prints." Bai Yutang said lightly. "We found sweat as well. The evidence is solid, and yet you deny it?!"

Several people bowed their heads, speechless.

"Regarding your experiment, Zhao Jing's uncle and his family were the only insiders, so you had to kill them." Zhan Zhao shook his head and looked at Yang Chen.

"Jing Jing." Zhao Qi asked Zhao Jing, "Why didn't you tell anyone that they killed your uncle and aunt?"

Zhao Jing saw her father looking distressed, and her tears fell.

"Don't blame her." Zhan Zhao whispered, "She didn't tell anyone because of memory confusion. Also, Yang Chen probably scared her."

The Zhao family was a little confused, and Zhan Zhao said, "When you left, you left Zhao Jing a message saying 'I LOVE YOU'; it was your way of showing your love for her. However, Yang Chen and the others specifically arranged the bodies to spell 'I LOVE YOU' as if it was written by you two. If she said it, she would never be able to see her parents again. She is just a child and has a bit of confusion in her memories. Of course, she was unable to say anything. And now, 'I LOVE YOU' has become one of her demons."

Zhao Qi and his wife looked at Zhao Jing in amazement, and they nodded their heads. Both of them felt distressed. The police officers around were also a little angry. These people used their knowledge and ability to commit a crime.

After detaining Yang Chen and others, Yan Jiajia stood in place and clapped her hands, "Wow... it's amazing, that Yang Chen is really outrageous."

"Don't be so smug." Zhan Zhao looked at her coldly, "Phantom Lord of the Night."

Yan Jiajia's face changed slightly and she smiled, "What?"

"Although your server is overseas, our expert was able to trace it and prove that you are the registrant of 'Phantom Lord of the Night' on the forum!" Bai Yutang ordered the police officers, "Bring them all back!"

Yan Jiajia argued, "Why are you arresting me? I'm not an adult yet! What's wrong with registering for a forum?"

Bai Yutang only spoke one sentence to her, "The evidence of the crime is conclusive, just go obediently!" Then, looking at the next few people, "Take these people away too!"

There was a row of police cars parked outside the publishing house, and a large number of police officers escorted twelve people into the cars.

Once everyone was gone, Zhan Zhao gave Zhao Qi a business card, saying, "This person is an expert in the treatment of memory conditions. I have already called him and completed the procedures for you. Now your condition isn't severe, but Jing Jing may still need psychological treatment. You can take her to him."

Zhao Qi and his wife gratefully accepted the business card and took Zhao Jing away.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang turned around to leave, but paused when Qian Mingyue's slightly trembling voice came from behind, "Xiao Zhan..."

When Zhan Zhao turned his head, he saw Qian Mingyue's pale face. Bai Yutang exchanged glances with Zhan Zhao and turned around to leave.

"I..." Qian Mingyue opened her mouth in embarrassment, and didn't say anything for a long time.

Zhan Zhao looked back at her and said, "We found out that your mother was seriously ill and you spent a lot of money to treat the illness. With your financial strength, you shouldn't be able to pay a huge sum of money."

Qian Mingyue nodded with a dry smile and said, "I misappropriated the money and property of the publishing house, as well as some other funds. Yan Jiajia said that as long as I am willing to help her, she will lend me money to cover the rest. If I didn't help her, she said would call the police. I can't lose this publishing house. If I can't make up the money, the publishing house will go bankrupt."

After hearing her, Zhan Zhao nodded, "I understand."

"You... won't arrest me?" Qian Mingyue looked up at Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao looked outside, "The police have all left, how could I arrest you? I'm just the team's expert psychologist."

Qian Mingyue was a little bit dumbfounded, but she listened to Zhan Zhao say, "I have finished writing the latest book and it will be published in two days. You can use the royalties to pay the rest." After that, he turned around and left.

"...How could you do that?" Qian Mingyue was shocked. It was a huge amount of income and he easily gave it up. Bai Yutang, who had already left, was standing at the door and said to her, "This time the situation is special. Let's not let it happen again!"

......

At one o'clock, the Magic Week of Tianyu Casino entered the finale, and Yan Li came out to cut the ribbon.

At the end of the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Yan Li announced that the last magic performance was the performance of the world-renowned magician, Zhao Zhen, who was once again challenging the limits of mankind.

At one thirty, the final performance of Magic Week began. There was a half-hour program with several magicians performing before Zhao Zhen's performance.

Yan Li walked down from the stage and was stopped by Wang Chao and Zhang Long. They took her to the hotel where Pang Xiaoqin and An Lingli were murdered.

In the lobby of the hotel, all of the SCI members, as well as Yan Jiajia, Yan Li, Pang Ji, Pang Qing and An Youdao stood. Several people looked at each other, but couldn't speak.

Bai Yutang scanned the crowd and said, "Now we will walk through the entire process of killing An Lingli and Pang Xiaoqin."

Zhan Zhao began to tell the story, "First of all, An Lingli came to the hotel because it was requested by Uncle An. He also prepared some clothes for her. For a simple girl at her age who has a good character, the only people who could get her to go to a high-end hotel just to change her clothes are her parents." Zhan Zhao said.

Just as Uncle An wanted to argue, Bai Yutang glanced at him coldly and said, "Don't worry, you will have a chance to say something later. This process does not need to be interrupted!"

"This entire security system was cut for about half an hour in total, and three parts were taken out. The first part is that An Youdao entered the room and waited." Zhan Zhao continued to explain without stopping. "When An Lingli checked into the hotel, you were already in the room waiting. When she entered the room to change, you killed her."

All of the blood left An Youdao's face and he was silent.

"You may be able to control the clothes, however, there are some things that you can't control." Bai Yutang said, "For example, her nail polish."

"You were the one who noticed the colour of your daughter's nail polish and you told Pang Xiaoqin to change it. Therefore, Pang Xiaoqin rushed the application of the nail polish. Before it was able to dry, her nails brushed against the zipper of the dress and left some nail polish on it." Zhan Zhao said.

"You then got An Lingli to drink the medicine and killed her. Yan Jiajia dressed up as the murderer and entered the room wearing the Doraemon mask. The two of you cut the bodies up together and then left a note saying 'A gift to An Youdao' before leaving. This note was left to make it seem as though it was targeted at An Youdao and that he was not a part of the crime. Of course, this is the second part that was taken out of the security footage." Zhan Zhao continued. "Later Yan Jiajia called room service to the room. She gave him the psychological hint to put An Lingli's body in a garbage bag and take it out. Yan Li sent someone to go collect the body and put it into the prepared cake. Then, a few hours before the banquet, Yan Jiajia cleaned the scene in the hotel room alone and waited for the second victim to arrive." 

"Later, when the banquet began, Pang Xiaoqin had a conflict with Bai Jintang and Yan Li. She then ran off to the hotel room. This was most likely arranged by her father in advance. At that time, Yan Jiajia was waiting for her in the hotel room." Zhan Zhao explained.

"Yan Jiajia drugged Pang Xiaoqin's drink and killed her. She then quickly left with her head, hypnotised the person who would bring the cake in, and found someone to secretly put the head in the cake." Zhan Zhao said, and then switched his focus to Yan Li. "Yan Li was responsible for giving Zhao Zhen the anaesthetic. She knew that Zhao Zhen was on a diet for his training. As long as she delivered the food laced with anaesthetics at the right time, she knew Bai Chi would definitely give it to Zhao Zhen. The one in charge of putting the head in the cake was a magician; most likely one of the three that left after the dispute with Zhao Zhen."

"As for tampering with the security camera footage, at first glance, only President Bai Jintang could do that. However, Bai Jintang has been abroad for a while and the original people in charge of the hotel were you and Pang Ji. Therefore, it is possible for you to be able to tamper with the security camera footage." Bai Yutang took over the story. "At the end, Yang Chen pretended to be the murderer and she put the note saying 'This is God's will' on my car. The murderer that showed up on the security camera footage could never be found because you all pretended to be the murderer."

"That's the end of the story. What else do you want to add?" Zhan Zhao asked everyone.

"Haha..." Yan Li smiled and shook her head, "It's a wonderful story, but there is nothing to say. Everything you said is just guesswork!"

Zhan Zhao said slowly, "Boss, you ordered people to edit the screen according to the time. After it was done, you probably didn't watch it right?"

Yan Li was taken aback.

"If that is the case, then Boss Yan probably did not know that there is something else on the surveillance videos." While Zhan Zhao was speaking, Jiang Ping had already turned on the laptop that was on the desk. On the screen, there was a video of the person wearing the Doraemon mask coming out of the room.

The few people present immediately paled and involuntarily inhaled a cold breath.

"This murderer... Uncle An should be familiar with them, right?" Zhan Zhao asked.

Uncle An opened his eyes wide, looked at the scene in shock, and opened his mouth wide to speak.

"There must be a reason for killing her." Bai Yutang suddenly said, "An Lingli is your adopted daughter and she is usually filial. So why did you kill her cruelly?"

Uncle An was silent, but his body was shaking slightly.

"Is it because of him?" Zhan Zhao stretched his hand out and pointed gently at the person wearing the mask. "You should have created the image of the murderer so that we wouldn't suspect that the video was edited. However, if the time is too short then we will always find issues with the video. You guys chose to appear in front of us so that you would have less suspicion placed on you. But, who is the murderer who came out of the room?"

"Let's make an assumption." Bai Yutang said, "Because he came out of the room, it means that he entered during one of the times that you cut out. The first cut was when An Youdao and An Lingli were in the room, a fact that was likely to be noticed. The second cut had Yan Jiajia. This means that he went in when Yan Jiajia left and then quickly came out."

"The time frame is no longer than five minutes." Zhan Zhao asked with a smile, "Guess what he went in there for?"

Yan Li and others became nervous. Zhan Zhao pointed to the other two videos to show everyone, "Look here, this one is at the banquet and this one is in the parking lot. They are both the unknown suspect. What is different between the two? A suit!"

"Where did he throw away the suit?" Bai Yutang reached out and took the suit held by the police officer. "We found a suit without an owner in a cabinet in the staff locker room. In the pocket of the suit, an SD card and a set of miniature video equipment were found."

Jiang Ping took the card and inserted it into the laptop. There was a video and some audio on it. The video had the whole process of Uncle An killing An Lingli, Yan Jiajia dismembering the bodies with him, and Yan Jiajia killing Pang Xiaoqin. The audio was from recordings of phone calls between the six people. Because An Youdao's voice was in each conversation, it was confirmed that the bug was installed on An Youdao cellphone.

Seeing these pieces of evidence, everyone slumped on the ground. This time, they were really caught

"Why?" Bai Yutang asked Pang Ji, "Pang Xiaoqin is your biological daughter, why did you kill her?"

"My biological daughter?" Pang Ji sneered. "She deserved to die. She knew that her brother, Pang Yu, was killed by the Bai family and the Zhao family, and that my Pang family's property was taken away by Bai Jintang and yet she still pestered Bai Jintang and wanted to marry him! I really regret giving birth to her. God has no eyes! Qing'er and I did not succeed, otherwise, both Zhan Zhao and Gongsun would have died too. I want your Bai family to experience the feeling of losing your loved ones forever! God has no eyes!"

Bai Yutang frowned and ordered his subordinates, "Bring them back!"

"An Youdao." Zhan Zhao looked up at Uncle An, "I heard that your wife was in a mental hospital."

An Youdao slumped down on a chair and slowly said, "Yes, God has no eyes... She turned out to be a lunatic!"

Zhan Zhao frowned slightly, and looked at each other with Bai Yutang – Sure enough.

An Youdao looked at Bai Yutang and said, "My son's name is An Lin. I watched you and Zhan Zhao grow up. You two are rising stars; Xiao Zhan is a star of knowledge and you are a star in athletics. Your families took all of the good qualities. After my son was born, I thought that I should raise him to be a talented person like you two; someone who is capable of literary and military skills. If he is inferior to others then he needs to work hard. But I didn't expect this child to be a good-for-nothing that pretends to be a woman! When he was a child, he drove his mother mad and acted like a lunatic all day long. I can't tell others that my son is crazy so I had to fix him myself. I tried to teach him everyday and he would listen. But then he saw an article, the one that Xiao Zhan wrote. I don't know what he asked you when he ran away, but when he came back, he told me that he would only be himself in the future and continue to be a woman. I was so angry that I could only treat him as though he never existed. Later, I adopted Lingli and told everyone that she was my daughter."

"So everything you did was just to take revenge for what I said to him that day? Zhan Zhao asked An Youdao.

"That's right!" An Youdao looked at Zhan Zhao viciously, "I hate you! Do you know what kind of life I have been living for more than ten years! I just want fucking psychology to disappear from this world!"

"You found the letter An Lin wrote to me, so you thought of this plan?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"Yes." An Youdao smiled, "Yes, I want the world to think that it is because you promote psychology that you have cultivated so many murderers. Also, because you didn't pay enough attention to them, there were so many people that were killed. I am one of those victims; I have a medal of honour! I must ruin your reputation! I want you to be ruined! God has no eyes! To think that my son secretly recorded his father for evidence…"

Bai Yutang looked at the crazy An Youdao with some helplessness, and ordered the police officers to take him away.

"You can't arrest me!" Yan Jiajia cried out, "I am not an adult yet and they forced me to do everything!"

"Heh..." Zhan Zhao smiled and shook his head, "Yan Jiajia, we have asked the K City Police Department to re-check the Ripper case. If I didn't guess wrong, you took your followers to do experiments and then put the blame on Fang Wo. Because you read the material left by your father, you went through a lot of trouble to find Zhou Mo. You then deceived Wang Liyong to gain his trust and get the other part of the material. Then you came to the police station to plant the bomb and kill Wang Liyong. If An Lin had not called to warn us then the SCI office might have been blown up. You've really gone too far."

Yan Jiajia looked at Zhan Zhao, "You... it was all for you! I want you to be a god!" She looked into Zhan Zhao's eyes as she spoke.

Zhan Zhao sneered, "Stop trying to use your tricks. Your hypnosis may work on others but it won't work on me."

Bai Yutang told the police, "Take her away!"

"Mom... Mom, save me!" Yan Jiajia kept yelling when she was taken away. They didn't know if she was really afraid or just pretending to be.

"Yan Li." Bai Yutang looked at Yan Li, "Why did you do it?"

Yan Li shook her head and laughed, "I don't hate you, even now, I don't hate you. My husband died, my daughter became like this, and yet I hate only one person... Zhao Jue!"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang's faces changed slightly. Yan Li looked at her watch and smiled, "At two o'clock, Zhao Zhen's magic show begins. It is now two fifteen..."

Zhan Zhao was shocked. He suddenly thought of something, and asked, "What exactly did you put in the food that Zhao Zhen ate that day?"

"Haha..." Yan Li smiled and said, "It is a medicine that damages lung function... He has eaten quite a bit of it... Haha."

Bai Yutang immediately took out the phone, "Bai Chi, has Zhao Zhen's performance begun?"

Bai Chi was waiting in the background worriedly. Zhao Zhen's magic show was indeed an escape technique, but his escape technique was different from the past. He tied himself up and got in a large coffin, which was then nailed shut and put into a pool of water that was thirty feet deep. There was no cover during any part of the process and all he had to do was make himself appear out of the water without anyone knowing.

"It's started." Bai Chi replied, listening to Bai Yutang on the phone shouting, "Don't let him go into the water! Stop him!"

Bai Chi heard a splash sound. The coffin containing Zhao Zhen was thrown into the water and slowly sank.

"No!" Bai Chi was shocked, and wanted to rush to the front of the stage, but was grabbed by Zhao Zhen's manager, "What are you doing?"

"Let go of me quickly!" Bai Chi is fierce, "Quickly stop and pull him up!"

"Are you crazy?" The manager held Bai Chi tightly. "This is a global live broadcast. Do you want to ruin Zhen's career?!"

"No!" Bai Chi struggled, "Get out of the way, he is in danger!"

......

Bai Yutang clearly heard what was happening on the other end of the phone. He reached his hand out to pull Zhan Zhao, "Cat, let's go!"

Before turning and leaving, they listened to the words Yan Li said, "Zhao Zhen's cardiopulmonary function won't let him hold his breath underwater for more than two minutes. And…" As she spoke, she took out a pair of handcuffs from her pocket and sneered, "I changed these. I don't know if the magician can escape from real handcuffs!"

Both Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao were stunned. No way...

As time passed, Bai Chi was stopped by a group of people. No matter how he argued, he couldn't get onto the stage. At this moment, an assistant said, "It's been two minutes... why hasn't he come up yet?"

Bai Chi pushed away the somewhat stunned manager and rushed onto the stage. At this time, the audience also stood up.

Bai Chi didn't know what to do when he got on stage. The coffin was under the water. After thinking about it, he might as well jump in. As soon as he was about to jump, he felt a slap on his shoulder. At the same time, he heard applause from the audience.

Bai Chi turned his head and saw a pale and wet Zhao Zhen standing behind him. He was waving to the audience with a smile and they were clapping louder.

Bai Chi realised that he was standing on the stage like a fool. At this time, the curtain slowly fell.

Zhao Zhen had a pair of open handcuffs in his hand, but the cross on his chest was bent.

Zhao Zhen looked at the cross and smiled, "Fortunately I had this…"

"You scared me to death." Bai Chi glared at Zhao Zhen, but saw Zhao Zhen stretch out his hand, put his arm around his shoulder, and whisper, "Chi Chi, take me to the hospital. But do it secretly..."

Bai Chi was stunned. When Zhao Zhen spoke, he coughed up blood. His eyes slowly closed and he fell on him.

......

When Zhao Zhen was sent to the hospital, the emergency room doctor was someone who Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were familiar with.  Seeing Zhao Zhen's appearance, he only said a few words before rushing him into the operating room – "His life is in danger!"

Then, people from the respiratory and neurology departments rushed in along with lots of other doctors. Cotton stained with blood was pushed out and more bags of blood were sent in; the nurses were very busy. Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang stood at the door while Bai Chi sat on the bench and cried.

After thirteen hours in the operating room, the light above finally went out and the doctor walked out.

"How is he?" The three rushed up together.

The doctor nodded, "It's not his time to leave yet."

Everyone let out a sigh of relief.

"I've sent him to the intensive care unit." The doctor said, "His lungs have been severely injured and he needs a long period of rest. There was a period of time where his brain wasn't getting enough oxygen, so we don't know when he will wake up." After explaining his condition, the doctor left.

Bai Chi turned to look at Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao. Zhan Zhao reached out to pat him. Bai Chi hugged him and his tears burst out.

......

Three days later

Zhao Zhen's situation stabilised, but he hadn't woken up yet.

Bai Yutang gave Bai Chi lots of time off and asked him to accompany Zhao Zhen. Over the past few days, Bai Chi has been taking care of Zhao Zhen twenty-four hours a day, touching here and wiping there. However, he just wouldn't wake up.

In the afternoon, Bai Chi wiped Zhao Zhen as usual. This man was originally a gentleman who loved to be clean, so Bai Chi wiped him every day. He would carefully avoid the surgical scars on his chest which he had seen while changing the dressing.

"Why are you still not awake?" Bai Chi wiped and wiped with a clean handkerchief while muttering to himself. "Did you know that Lisbon has been refusing to eat? It wasn't easy for him to get fat but now he has lost a lot of weight. He keeps crying everyday, the neighbours have started to complain!"

Wiping again, Bai Chi buttoned Zhao Zhen's clothes, "You should wake up quickly... If you wake up quickly then I will make you spare rib soup…Actually, that doesn't feel sincere. What do you want me to do?"

"Are you going to do whatever I want?"

"Yes." Bai Chi continued to wipe.

"Then fall in love with me."

"Mhmm... Ah?!" Bai Chi was shocked. He saw that Zhao Zhen had already opened his and was looking at him with a smile. Although he looked weak, he was very awake. He didn't forget to add, "You must keep your promise! From now on, we are together!"

"What?" Bai Chi blushed.

"You wiped me so you saw all of me." Zhao Zhen glanced at Bai Chi, "Don't you want to take responsibility?"

Bai Chi narrowed his mouth, "Then... okay."

At the door, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other.

Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao – Do you want to go in?

Zhan Zhao shook his head – I'd rather not. There is too much love around them

Bai Yutang nodded – That's right! It's best not to disturb them and be third-wheels.

A week later, the case came to a close and everyone was sentenced.

On the weekend, Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao went to visit the old man and brought a large bag of fresh nectarines with them. After chatting for a long time and eating half of the nectarines, the two left.

Passing the ridge again, Zhan Zhao suddenly stopped. A girl in her twenties was sitting beside the ridge. She looked slender and elegant while wearing a white dress and a big hat, and was reading a book.

Zhan Zhao passed by her and saw that she was holding his new book in her hand. He went and stood beside her.

The girl looked up and asked, "Will you give me an autograph?"

Zhan Zhao nodded. He picked up the book from her hand and the pen that she offered, signed a few words, and handed the book to her.

Bai Yutang was waiting in front. Seeing Zhan Zhao hurry back, he asked, "Why are you so happy, Cat?"

Zhan Zhao reached his hand out and patted Bai Yutang's shoulder, "Xiao Bai! Let's go home and have bone soup!"

Bai Yutang was speechless.

Seeing the two walking away, the girl opened the book in her hand and saw the signature on it – Innocent murderer, innocent life.

She closed the book, stood up, flattened her skirt, and left with a smile. 

When Zhan Qitian returned home, Luban meowed and rubbed his leg. There was a note on the table with the words "I'm leaving."

Feeling helpless, Zhan Qitian gave Luban the extra box of lunch he had brought, "Hey you, eat it!"

......

In the sunny garden of the villa, Fang Wo handed over a thick pile of materials, "They are all here."

The person who received the information smiled, "You did a great job."

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

Previous Chapter | TOC | Next Chapter

Translator Notes

Case 1 is finally done!

This was the longest chapter yet. Before editing, the raw translation came to 5,800 words and the final edit came to 6,154 words; most chapters are between 2,500 and 3,000 in the end (ಥ﹏ಥ). It felt really good to get it done though.

Now that the first case is closed, I'm going to take a break for the weekend because I have to work all weekend. I also have school assignments to get done; I definitely wasn't procrastinating on those and working on this instead. I will return on Monday with case two. ｡^‿^｡

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

Translated: March 18, 2021

Re-edited: December 21, 2023