S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 2 Chapter 1

The Innocent Murderer 01 - I LOVE YOU

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The author has something to say: Okay, I am the king of pits, I started writing again, and started to write again... Cat, Xiao Bai, mother is here. It's been a long time since I have seen you, come to mua!

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

The hot July weather finally came. The 30-degree temperature outside made people panic. The air conditioner was turned on in the SCI office, but Zhao Hu and Zhang Long were still hot even with the fans.

The prisoners are probably also dead because of the hot weather, so the elites of SCI are about to start growing mushrooms.

Zhan Zhao was the busiest member of the SCI team. His first few books sold very well and he is now a best-selling author. The editors almost broke into the police station to grab the manuscripts as soon as they received the call. Severely dragging behind with the manuscript progress, Zhan Zhao has not dared to go out these days in fear of being caught by the editors

Bai Yutang spends his time exercising. Bai Jintang bought a complete set of fitness equipment for the SCI team and placed in it the lounge. Bai Yutan, who was too idle, had to rely on exercise to consume excess energy. Experience told him that a certain cat must not be messed with when the manuscript is behind schedule. Once he provokes the cat, he will be scratched, and the cat will be aggrieved afterwards saying "It’s all because of you, I didn’t have time to finish it!" The cat is truly a cunning animal.

Bai Chi has recently become a super fan of Zhan Zhao. He is collecting books to read and he is more diligent in giving reminders than the editors.

Both Ma Han and Zhao Hu’s mobile phones are turned off all day long, otherwise they will be found and disturbed by some female celebrities who look like tigers and wolves.

Gongsun is even more free and his quirks have resurfaced. When he has nothing to do, he will watch horror movies in the forensic room… In the forensic room that was originally forbidden, there are often ghosts crying and wolves howling accompanied by cold laughter. Shocked, nobody dared to probe, even the flies did not dare fly over to the door.

Luo Tian’s injuries healed a long time ago. Now he lives with Luo Yang in the police dormitory. This father is always conscientious and persuaded by Luo Yang, who doesn't want to do all of the housework. Now, thanks to the care of Luo Yang, Luo Tian has completely adapted to modern life and he looks very young. Luo Yang has been looking everywhere recently, wanting to find a stepmother for himself, but there is no good candidate. 

"Huh…" Bai Yutang let out a sigh and got off the equipment. 

Zhang Long leaned in, looked, and shook his head. "Boss, you want to train yourself into a Rambo… tsk, look at this figure."

Bai Yutang looked at the onlookers outside and frowned, "You should also exercise! You can’t just sit around and eat everyday when there is not a case, right?!" As soon as he finished speaking, he received a biting cold feeling and a certain mouse was instinctively surprised. He looked around and saw Zhan Zhao coming over with a piercing look in his eyes. Bai Yutang hurriedly shut up. ‘Why is the cat so angry? It’s better not to mess with him.’ Bai Yutang thought to himself.

Walking to the bathroom with the towel, Bai Yutang’s cell phone went "meow~~", indicating that he received a text message. He opened it and saw that it was from Luo Yang who wrote: "Go to a place where no one is and call me."

Bai Yutang blinked and turned to see Luo Tian reading Luo Yang’s textbook intensively, and he said in his heart "Is this little guy getting in trouble?!"

When he reached the bathroom, Bai Yutang turned on the faucet and dialled Luo Yang’s phone, "Hey, what’s the matter?"

"Uncle Bai~~" Luo Yang called sweetly, so sweetly that Bai Yutang’s teeth were about to fall out. His goosebumps were coming out and he wiped his sweat and laughed, "What, did you get into trouble again?"

"Is my dad with you?" Luo Yang asked cautiously.

"No, I’m in the bathroom. What’s the matter?" Bai Yutang asked while washing the towel.

"Can you come to my school?" Luo Yang asked, "Don’t let my dad know."

"Why?" Bai Yutang turned off the faucet and asked, "Why am I going to your school?"

"I… the teacher told me to call my parents… can you pretend to be my dad?" Luo Yang said awkwardly.

Bai Yutang laughed, "What did you do to make the teachers so serious?"

"… Fight." Luo Yang replied, "Come on… don’t let my dad know, he will be angry."

"All right, just wait." Bai Yutang hung up the phone, took his cell phone, and went out. When he ran into Zhan Zhao, who was coming towards him, he said "Cat, have you finished writing?"

Zhan Zhao slowly turned his head, blinked slowly, and slowly uttered a few words, "I want to seal the pen!"

Bai Yutang smiled and took Zhan Zhao out, "Go, go out and move around. Always staying in the room is going to make you sick!" he said, dragging the listless Zhan Zhao away.

The car drove slowly to the entrance of Fourth Elementary School in S City where Luo Yang was. Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao got out of the car. They saw Luo Yang sitting in the communication room at the entrance of the school, who beckoned them when they looked at him.

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao saw that Luo Yang’s face was hurt from a long distance away. They glanced at each other in surprise and hurried over.

"Yang Yang, what is the matter with you?" Zhan Zhao has always loved and doted on Luo Yang, but he stopped when he saw a wound on his face. "Who is bullying you?"

Luo Yang pouted and said nothing.

Bai Yutang knew how it wasn’t possible for these elementary school students to injure Luo Yang with his skills, so he asked "Who did you fight with? Senior students?"

Luo Yang raised his eyes and looked at Zhan Zhao, then looked at Bai Yutang and muttered in a low voice, "Junior high school students."

"How many?" Bai Yutang asked.

"… A class." Luo Yang hesitated for a while and answered honestly. 

"Are you fighting with a classmate?!" Zhan Zhao was taken aback.

"I didn’t fight back or I could have hurt them!" Luo Yang was not convinced, "Dad told me that my physique is different from ordinary kids and that I can’t easily start fights with others."

"Why?" Bai Yutang asked, "They bullied you for no reason?"

Luo Yang shook his head, grabbed Zhan Zhao’s hand and said "The teacher is waiting in the office and said he wants to see my dad."

Bai Yutang sighed, entered the school with Luo Yang and walked into the teacher’s office on the third floor of the teaching building.

"Mrs. Zhao," Luo Yang’s head teacher was a female teacher who had just graduated from university. She was correcting homework when Luo Yang came running in, "my father is here."

Teacher Zhao raised her head and saw Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang behind Luo Yang at a glance. She opened her mouth and was stunned.

Bai Yutang was wearing a clean white T-shirt and white jeans, sunny and handsome; Zhan Zhao was dressed in a white shirt and slacks, gentle and handsome. The young female teacher immediately blushed and stammered "You… who is Yang Yang’s father?"

Bai Yutang walked to the teacher, moved a chair, and sat down, "I am."

"Oh…" The teacher’s face was even redder, as Bai Yutang’s handsomeness was a little unavoidable. The young teacher didn’t dare to look at him, nervously flipping through the workbook on the table.

"Teacher, you have something you need to discuss with me?" Bai Yutang asked.

"Hmm… ah, yes." The teacher recovered and said, "It’s about Yang Yang’s injury." As she said it, she raised her head and saw Zhan Zhao with an unusually beautiful pair of eyes beside Bai Yutang. Staring at him, the teacher was a little dizzy, ‘Why is there a man in this world who looks so good’ she thought to herself.

"It’s like this…" After adjusting her breathing, the young teacher said, "Yang Yang’s injury this time, I need to explain it to you. It was caused by him protecting his classmates."

"Oh…" Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang breathed a sigh of relief.

Zhan Zhao touched Luo Yang’s hair and said, "It’s just for the sake of righteousness?"

The teacher nodded and said, "However, you can’t blame the senior students, as there is a reason for the incident. But after all, this child is injured so I want to explain to the parents on behalf of the school, and I hope you won’t hold the school accountable."

Bai Yutang nodded and asked, "What’s going on?"

"Well… In Yang Yang’s class, a new student was transferred. He is called Fang Xing." Teacher Zhao said, "His identity is a bit special."

"Why is he special?" Zhan Zhao puzzled.

"His father… is called Fang Wo. I don’t know if you have heard of him…" Teacher Zhao asked.

"That felon Fang Wo?!" Bai Yutang was stunned when he heard it, "Modern Ripper?!"

Teacher Zhao nodded and said, "After hearing from Yang Yang that you are a police officer, I think you must know him."

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao looked at each other, Fang Wo’s name was so familiar to them as policemen.

Fang Wo, male, 36 years old, of Han nationality, was originally an acrobat who performed axe stunts in Tianyu Entertainment City in S City. In the past three years, there has been a series of murders in K City, the city next to S City. The killers imitated Jack the Ripper and committed crimes mostly at midnight. Ripper… So everyone gave this murderer a modern name. Last summer, after a police investigation, it was found that Fang Wo had major suspicious points. Finally, they found the axe used for the assault in his prop box. As a result, this extreme felon who carried more than 20 lives, was arrested. However, Fang Wo’s case is still under trial because although the police found the murder weapon, there is no decent evidence to prove that Fang Wo actually killed someone. So, Fang Wo has been detained as a serious felon.

"That’s right, there is a child named Shen Hao in First High School whose mother was killed by Fang Wo." Teacher Zhao said, "So he asked the students in his class to find Fang Xing and cause trouble. They threw stones at him. Yang Yang happened to see it, so he went to save Fang Xing and then was beaten by a senior student."

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao clearly know that Luo Yang himself was always misunderstood because his father was a bad person, so he was particularly sensitive to this matter and he really couldn’t be blamed.

"Fang Xing is a good person!" Luo Yang was angry, "What does his father’s quality have to do with him? He has transferred schools several times and every time he is bullied because his father is a murderer!" 

Zhan Zhao touched his head soothingly and said, "You are doing the right thing." Turning his head to ask the teacher, "The school should protect the child, after all, the child is innocent."

Teacher Zhao nodded and said, "We also thought about this. Right now, this child is not fit to come to school, so we arranged for him to take a break for a while."

After the matter was roughly clarified, Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao walked out of the school with Luo Yang, bid farewell to the teacher, and walked to the school gate. Bai Yutang reached out and patted the listless Luo Yang on the head, "Okay kid, there is nothing wrong. You did a good thing."

Luo Yang touched his head and turned his head, but he froze. Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked in the direction he was looking. They saw a thin boy in a blue T-shirt standing in the distance.

"Is that Fang Xing?" Zhan Zhao asked Luo Yang.

Luo Yang nodded.

Fang Xing did not come over, but instead stood far away, staring at Luo Yang for a while before turning around and running away.

"He is weird." Luo Yang said, rubbing his chin.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other and smiled, saying in their hearts that they were so much like Luo Yang when they were younger.

"Forget it, don’t think about it, it's going to be okay." Zhan Zhao said as he and Luo Yang got into the car. "What do you want to eat? Do you want a cold drink?"

Bai Yutang got into the car too. He looked in the rear-view mirror and frowned slightly.

"What’s the matter?" Zhan Zhao looked at Bai Yutang curiously.

Bai Yutang pointed to the rear-view mirror and motioned for Zhan Zhao to look. In the rear-view mirror, where Fang Xing ran away just now, a black Bentley drove out… the style was simple, noble, and familiar.

Zhan Zhao frowned – it should be just a coincidence.

The three of them returned to the SCI office with a large pile of ice cream. Everyone came to share the food. Luo Tian was stunned by Luo Yang’s injury. Later, Zhan Zhao explained the cause and effect to him; only then did he feel relief in his heart. Bai Yutang tacitly omitted the part of the story where Luo Yang asked him to pretend to be Luo Tian. Luo Tian is probably one of a few people who are spoiled by their sons.

After the cool and refreshing ice cream, everyone’s heat was gone. Just when they felt so refreshed, Lu Fang knocked on the door, came in and said "Xiao Bai, there is a case. Bao Sir asked you to go and see."

"Where?" Bai Yutang stood up. The people who hadn’t had a big case for a long time didn’t know whether they should be grateful or discouraged. To be honest, they would rather stay idle all the time.

"In the western-style garden district at Lane 6, 19th Street, S City." Lu Fang looked at the address recorded on the file and said slowly, "Dismembered."

"Ahem…" Zhao Hu’s ice cream caught in his throat and he coughed.

"Dismembered?!" Bai Yutang frowned.

"A family of three, the scene is protected. Gongsun has already arrived." Lu Fang gave Bai Yutang the document in his hand and said "Take someone to see it. It is said that when Gongsun looked at the scene, he just said one thing."

"What?!" Everyone preparing to travel was curious.

Lu Fang reached out and took a bite of an ice cream on the table and slowly said "There is enough perversion!"

………………

In front of an apartment building in the western-style garden district of S City, there were many people outside the cordon. Next to the garden district is a woman’s college, which was now on its lunch break. A large group of curious girls were standing outside the yellow line looking inside.

The police car stopped slowly on the side of the road. Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao, leading the SCI team, got out of the car, crossed the yellow line, and walked into the community. They heard the girls outside shouting sharply "Ah… those police officers are so handsome!"

The girls’ screams were quickly blocked by the door of the apartment building. The murder scene was in Room 02 on the 17th floor. As soon as everyone got out of the elevator, they were hit by the strong stench.

"How many days have passed since they died? How come it smells like this?!" Zhao Hu frowned and walked out of the elevator first. He saw Gongsun smoking a cigarette with the forensic box in his hand. Several police officers were vomiting in the distance.

"Aren’t you trying not to smoke?" Bai Yutang looked at Gongsun.

After exhaling a smoke ring, Gongsun pushed his glasses up and lightly said, "I had to."

Zhan Zhao was surprised and asked, "So serious?"

Gongsun stretched out his hand and gently pushed open the concealed door, saying to Zhan Zhao, "You should analyse it, what mentality did the murderer have to make the corpses like this?"

Everyone turned their faces and looked around. Behind the open door, the floor had a large, dry pool of blood covering it with the limbs of three corpses placed atop in a pattern. When they took a closer look, the limbs spelled out the English letters ‘I LOVE YOU’!

Staring at the weird image in front of him for a long time, Zhan Zhao couldn’t help but take the lead and yelled out "Abnormal!"

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Note

~ Hello

This is my first 'translating' project. I don't know if I should truly call it that as I am simply taking the MTL and editing it. I pull out the original text to dissect when something doesn't make sense, or I know that it is an idiom or saying that doesn't have translate well into English. There will most likely be some creative interpretation that happens, especially if the MTL is a mess and I can't get anything from the Chinese text, but please don't be too harsh on me; I will try my very best to not change the feeling of the story/scene.

I am doing this simply because I loved the first book and want to continue reading it. My goal for starting this project is to allow other to read these novels as I have seen multiple people working on the first book but no one really on the second book. There is no real set schedule but I will try my best to upload somewhat frequently.

This is the beginning of a long journey together with our Cat and Mouse. I'll hope you will join me for the whole journey. ♥(ˆ⌣ˆԅ)

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

Translated: March 12, 2021

Re-edited: March 7, 2022