S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 2 Chapter 59

Murderer vs. Murderer 32 - Operation Wolf Hunt (End of case file)

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Over the next few days, everyone intensively prepared. A large number of maritime police gathered in the waters surrounding the Lipari Islands, ready to act at any time.

"The action time is set for three o'clock tomorrow afternoon." Ouyang Chun said, "According to Zhan Zhao, a certain amount of information has been leaked."

"Cat, if we miss the scheduled action time...does it matter?" Bai Yutang asked. The others were also worried about this.

"It doesn't matter." Zhan Zhao said, "If Wolf is suspicious, he would think that we were running late and act early.”

Bai Yutang nodded. At that moment, one of Karula's men ran over and handed over a cell phone. Bai Yutang received the phone and heard Karula's voice, "Captain Bai, when can I act?"

"Tomorrow morning at half past six." Bai Yutang said.

"Huh?" Karula seemed a little dissatisfied, "Who can get up so early?"

Before Bai Yutang had time to reply, he heard Karula sigh, "Forget it, don't you Chinese have an old saying, early birds get the worms. I will make an exception this time. I hope we can cooperate happily." When he finished speaking, he hung up the phone.

Bai Yutang then assigned everyone’s roles, “Ouyang is responsible for directing the rescue mission. The people going with him are Luo Tian, Bai Chi, Zhao Zhen, Wang Chao, Zhang Long, and Jiang Ping.”

Luo Tian and Zhao Zhen were responsible for sneaking in early, so they made their way to the island right after the meeting. Everyone else would set off after dinner that evening. Before leaving, Zhan Zhao showed Bai Chi the layout of the Lipari Islands so that he could remember it, as he was responsible for navigating Luo Tian and Zhao Zhen.

Bai Chi seemed a little nervous, and he looked at Zhan Zhao, "Am...am I working alone?"

Zhan Zhao smiled and stretched his hand out to pat Bai Chi's shoulder, "Jiang Ping will use the computer to assist you, but you need to make the judgments based on your own knowledge. This task carries huge responsibility."

Bai Chi looked a little unconfident. Bai Yutang leaned over and whispered in his ear, "Zhao Zhen is also going to the island. He is yours, so you have to behave well and make sure he doesn’t get into danger.”

After hearing this, Bai Chi regained his spirit and nodded seriously, "Well, I understand!”

Seeing Zhao Zhen and Luo Tian discussing the equipment, Bai Chi went over and patted Zhao Zhen’s shoulder, "Zhen, don't be afraid, I promise to guide you well!"

Zhao Zhen looked at Bai Chi dumbfoundedly; the little thing hadn't figured out the situation yet.

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao shifted their focus to their plan to catch Wolf.

"Karula is not a police officer. While it is necessary for him to cooperate with us, it is best not to let him be alone with Wolf. Wolf has a lot of information, so we can't let him die."

Everyone nodded.

"Ma Han, you and Zhao Hu are still in charge of the sniper position." Bai Yutang began to assign tasks to his team, "Mason will take the police to guard the exterior to prevent Wolf from fleeing. Because Wolf has special abilities, in order to avoid casualties, it is best if we can persuade him to surrender. Cat and Zhao Jue will be responsible for this task. The twins and I will be responsible to forcibly arrest him if we need to.”

After Bai Yutang finished speaking, everyone agreed with his arrangements. However, Bai Jintang raised his eyebrows and looked at Bai Yutang, "Yutang, what about me?"

Bai Yutang seemed a little embarrassed, and said, "Brother...you are not a police officer...I think it is best if you stay back."

Bai Jintang glanced at the twins, as if to say — ‘They are not police officers either’

Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao with some embarrassment. Zhan Zhao didn’t know what to say. This mission was very dangerous; Wolf was a wild wolf and no one can guarantee what he would do. Brother and Gongsun are getting married in a few days, if there was any accident...

No one dared to persuade them, so they listened to Gongsun say, "I will go there too, so let’s go together. If we can help, we will help, otherwise, we would be anxious waiting at home.”

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other and nodded in agreement, feeling that it was reasonable.

There was nothing left to do that night. Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue had a discussion in the study until late into the night. As he returned to their room, Zhan Zhao saw Bai Yutang sitting on the bed in a daze.

"Yutang, is something wrong?" Zhan Zhao saw Bai Yutang's stern face, and walked over to ask him.

"En..." Bai Yutang sighed softly and said, "I don't know why, but I feel a little uneasy."

Zhan Zhao was surprised, "How many times have you fought a fight like this? This it the first time I have seen you nervous.”

Bai Yutang shook his head, "I don't know... I just have some bad feelings about it."

Zhan Zhao thought for a while. He sat next to Bai Yutang, stretched his hand out, and squeezed his chin, "Maybe it's some kind of premonition... You have always had a strong sixth sense."

Bai Yutang grabbed Zhan Zhao's hand and looked up at him.

"Then what exactly are you worried about?" Zhan Zhao asked, "Or is it someone?"

Bai Yutang thought for a while and said, "I'm worried about Big Brother."

"Do you think Big Brother is in danger?" Zhan Zhao asked.

Bai Yutang nodded softly. Zhan Zhao frowned and thought for a while, then he turned around and left the room.

Half an hour later, Zhan Zhao came back and said to Bai Yutang, "I have talked with Big Brother and Gongsun. They will not go tomorrow. They will stay home and prepare for the wedding instead."

Bai Yutang turned to look at Zhan Zhao. He saw Zhan Zhao looking at him with a smile and he slowly relaxed.

At around three o'clock in the morning the next day, all of the SCI members woke up. Ouyang Chun and the others spent the night on the boat. Luo Tian and Zhao Zhen had already snuck onto the Lipari Islands, looking for possible locations where the hostages might be kept.

At about six o’clock in the morning, Benjamin's car started to drive to the police station. Along the way, he was ambushed by Karula, and Benjamin was kidnapped.

Karula took Benjamin to a very hidden castle in the southern mountains.

Benjamin didn't know about the plan. When he saw Karula, who had tied him up, his eyes were wide with fear. Karula saw the fear in his eyes and he felt that it was very enjoyable.

In the backyard of Karula’s castle, there was a huge underground space, just like a zoo. In the wall that was nearly ten meters high, there was a fence that held dozens of North American coyotes in captivity.

Benjamin was chained to the fence by Karula and could see the dozen hungry coyotes staring at him maliciously; he was so scared that he couldn’t speak.

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao were hidden in Karula’s castle. Because it was similar to an altar, there were not many people that went there. Karula didn’t tell anyone about this castle, except for his few most trusted people.

At about nine o'clock in the morning, Zhao Zhen and Luo Tian successfully infiltrated Wolf's stronghold, but Wolf was no longer there and had obviously left.

Zhao Zhen and Luo Tian went around the stronghold looking for the whereabouts of the imprisoned people. They were surprised to find that Karula had set multiple traps inside. Relying on Luo Tian's extraordinary intuition and Zhao Zhen's skill, they finally found the place where the hostages were kept at around ten o'clock. Luo Tian and Zhao Zhen looked at the trapped victims who were neither human nor ghost. They both shook their heads and sighed. However, the place where the hostages were being held was filled with explosives.

The explosives were quite concealed. After finding them, Zhao Zhen and Luo Tian called for bomb disposal experts. Fortunately, Luo Tian had the ability easily get into places where only children could enter. He successfully reached the bomb and dismantled it, and all the hostages were rescued.

Ouyang Chun directed a large number of officers to move, and quietly ended the operation before the specified time. Around that time, Ouyang Chun gave an order to detonate some of the bombs on the island.

Half an hour later, news reports said that there had been an explosion on the Lipari Islands and that the details are still under investigation.

After hearing the news, Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao waited quietly in Karula’s castle with everyone, preparing for the final battle.

In Bai Jintang's villa, Gongsun was worried as he was watching the news channel.

"Don't worry." Bai Jintang reached out and touched his neck, "Yutang will be fine."

Gongsun nodded. At that moment, the doorbell rang.

Bai Jintang frowned and looked at the surveillance screen...It was the person delivering their tuxedos. As he wanted to go and open the door, his phone rang.

Gongsun picked it up and stopped Bai Jintang, "Leonard is looking for you."

Bai Jintang came back to answer the phone. The doorbell was still ringing, so Gongsun went over to open the door.

"What?" Bai Jintang answered the phone, a little impatient.

"You asked me to call!" Leonard replied lazily.

Bai Jintang froze for a moment, then he turned his head fiercely and saw Gongsun walking towards the door.

"Ce!" Bai Jintang threw the phone away and chased after him, but he saw that Gongsun had already opened the door. When he heard Bai Jintang calling him, Gongsun turned his head. He didn’t expect that the man at the door would grab him and pull him into the car behind him. The car turned around and drove away.

"Damn it." Bai Jintang gritted his teeth and rushed to his own car. The car in front drove crookedly and Bai Jintang didn't dare to chase it too closely. If there was a car accident, the person in the most danger would be Gongsun.

Seeing that the car was headed towards Karula’s castle where Bai Yutang and the others were waiting in ambush, Bai Jintang had a bad feeling and took out his cell phone...

After waiting in Karula’s castle for about an hour... Wolf still hadn’t come.

"Why hasn’t he come yet?" Zhan Zhao frowned slightly.

Karula started to get sleepy as he waited. Suddenly, they heard Ma Han, who was in charge of guarding, call out, "Boss, there is a car coming...No, it's two... The one behind is a bit familiar.”

Bai Yutang frowned. At that moment, his cell phone rang. When he picked it up, he saw that it was Bai Jintang that was calling. Bai Yutang answered and, after hearing what Bai Jintang had to say, he was taken aback. He spoke to everyone, “Be careful everyone, Gongsun was kidnapped by Wolf.”

"What?" Before everyone had the chance to be surprised, Wolf's car screeched and stopped outside Karula’s castle, not far from the entrance to the underground space. Then, Bai Jintang's car also arrived.

Wolf opened the car door and pulled Gongsun out. He held a gun in one hand and was pointing it at Gongsun.

Karula tilted his head and looked at them for a while, then raised his eyebrows. He saw Bai Jintang behind them with an ugly expression on his face.

With his gun pointed at Gongsun, Wolf looked back at Bai Jintang, "Don't come closer! Or I will kill him!"

Bai Jintang froze and didn’t move. Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao looked at each other, feeling an unparalleled level of regret. If they knew that bad things would happen, they would have brought them along.

Wolf dragged Gongsun and walked over to Karula. Everyone finally saw Wolf's true face. Bai Yutang's eyes were cold, and he looked at Zhan Zhao, "Cat, this is that person." (Angel: I’m pretty sure he is referring to the sketch that Benjamin made)

Benjamin frowned when he saw Wolf and lowered his head. His hands were still handcuffed to the fence, and he thought to himself, ‘Doesn’t this make me a live target? It would be strange if Wolf didn’t shoot me.’

Wolf stared at Karula and sneered, "I didn't expect that I would find a talisman to bring with me."

Karula blinked and glanced at the room beside him, thinking, ‘Didn’t they say that Zhan Zhao and the others would come and deal with him? If he doesn’t come out soon, I will kill him myself.’

Zhan Zhao thought for a while, then he took a look at Zhao Jue and pushed the door open. Bai Yutang took the twins and moved to flank Wolf according to the original plan. Before he left, Bai Yutang glanced at Zhan Zhao, “Cat…”

Zhan Zhao nodded to him and left with Zhao Jue.

When Wolf saw Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue coming out, he was taken aback. He gritted his teeth for a long time before saying, "Sure enough, you are already prepared..."

Zhan Zhao looked at Wolf and shook his head, "Let him go, it doesn't make sense for you to hold him."

"Heh..." Wolf was very experienced. He blocked Ma Han's shooting angle with Gongsun and sneered. "Did you really think that I would come here empty handed? If I didn’t have him, I would have been shot, right?”

After he finished speaking, he turned to look at Benjamin on the side, "You idiot! You dare to betray me! Do you know the consequences?" He looked back at Karula again, "My request is very simple. Kill this betrayer, and then the two of us will fight a fair duel!"

Karula smiled slightly and suddenly raised his hand, aiming at Benjamin...

With a "bang", Benjamin opened his eyes wide and looked at Karula before falling to the ground.

"You..." Wolf had originally planned to kill him himself, but he didn't expect that Karula would get his hands on him first. His eyes widened and they were full of anger.

"Do you know what this means?" Karula sneered, "This means that I am better than you."

Wolf squinted his eyes, "That's your fate." He pointed his gun at Gongsun and looked at Ma Han upstairs, "The sniper throws their gun down, or I will kill him!"

Ma Han frowned and heard Bai Yutang in his headset, "Listen to him."

Ma Han threw his gun down, raised his hands, and signaled to Wolf that he didn’t have another gun. As he retreated back, Zhou Hu, who had been lying on the side watching, handed him the sniper riffle he was holding. “Brother Ma, it seems like there is only one chance.”

Ma Han took gun, not aiming, but waiting for the opportunity.

"If you want a duel, you could have come alone." Karula stared at Wolf impatiently. "Why take such a low-level hostage? When did you turn into a coward? Did you even degenerate your personality?"

At that time, Bai Yutang and the twins had already circled behind Wolf and were hiding behind his car.

Zhao Jue looked at the person in front of him, and suddenly spoke to Zhan Zhao in a low voice, "Look at his eyes, he will fire the gun at Gongsun no matter what."

Zhan Zhao also frowned. Things were a little out of control, and he blamed himself for persuading Gongsun last night... Xiao Bai must be blaming himself too.

Zhao Jue saw Zhan Zhao's expression and smiled, "Are you still letting personal affair control you?"

Zhan Zhao thought for a while. Knowing that it was not the time to hesitate, he nodded to Zhao Jue, and the two turned back to look at Wolf. Bai Yutang leapt over the fence gently and skillfully while Wolf was not paying attention, and jumped onto a terrace inside the fence. He was short distance away and approached quietly.

Zhao Jue suddenly called out to Wolf, and then raised his eyes to look at him. Wolf frowned slightly, seeming to be a little uncomfortable, and listened to Zhan Zhao as he spoke in a low voice, "Let it go..."

Wolf wanted to look away, but his eyes met Zhao Jue’s unconsciously, as if his gaze was stuck.

"Let it go..." Zhan Zhao continued to guide skillfully, causing Wolf to gradually loosen his grip...

After hearing a ‘click’, Wolf's hand loosened slightly and the gun fell to the ground. At the same time, Gongsun broke free and ran forward. Wolf woke up and got away from Zhao Jue's stare. Just as he was about to grab Gongsun, Bai Yutang suddenly jumped up from behind the fence, hugged Wolf from behind, and pushed him down on impulse. As Wolf laid on the ground, he quickly drew the knife from his sleeve. As soon as he raised the knife, he heard a ‘poof’ sound. A bullet hole appeared in his wrist and the knife fell; upstairs, Ma Han had used Zhao Hu’s gun to shoot.

The twins rushed forward and handcuffed Wolf with the handcuffs that Bai Yutang handed over, and everyone was relieved.

Karula also put away his gun and kicked Ben who was still lying on the ground, "Okay, when will I get to play? I missed you."

Benjamin moved, raised his head, and slowly raised the hand that was hidden under him.

In the blink of an eye, Bai Yutang was startled; the hand gun that Wolf had dropped had fallen into Benjamin’s hands. Seeing his smile, Bai Yutang immediately yelled, “Cat!” and rushed over to Zhan Zhao.

But at that time, Benjamin was already holding the gun and pulled the trigger at Zhan Zhao, who was standing in front of him...

As the gun sound rang out, Zhan Zhao felt Zhao Jue push him. As he staggered, the bullet brushed over his arm, causing it to sting.

Benjamin saw that his shot had missed, and next to him, Karula took out his gun. Benjamin suddenly turned his face and aimed the gun at Bai Yutang.

At that time, the scene was very chaotic. Everyone’s first reaction was either to rescue Zhan Zhao or to aim their gun at Karula. No one thought that Benjamin would open fire directly at Bai Yutang. At the same time as him gun sounded, Bai Yutang felt a hand harshly tug him from behind. He lost his balance and stepped back, but he clearly saw that the bullet hit Bai Jintang, who had pulled him out of the way.

Afterwards, there was a continuous ringing of gunfire as Ma Han and Karula both shot at Benjamin.

"Brother!" Bai Yutang rushed over to help Bai Jintang up, wanting to see where he was injured, as he had seen the bullet hit him. Gongsun also shouted "Jintang" as he rushed over and looked at Bai Jintang with Bai Yutang, trying to find where he was bleeding.

However, Bai Jintang didn't have much pain on his face. He simply frowned slightly, reached his hand out to touch his heart, and gently pulled out a bullet.

The crowd around him was dumbfounded.

Gongsun ripped open Bai Jintang's suit and saw a bulletproof vest inside...

Bai Jintang smiled, he looked at Zhan Zhao outside the crowd with a relaxed look, "Xiao Zhao forced me to put it on this morning, saying that Yutang had a bad premonition and that he would not be at ease if I didn’t wear it.”

The crowd breathed a sigh of relief and sat down feeling paralyzed. Bai Yutang sat on the ground and looked up at Zhan Zhao; the two smiled at each other.

As they put Wolf into the police car, everyone was about to leave, but Zhan Zhao was turning around in circles.

“Cat, what’s the matter?” Bai Yutang looked at the bruise on Zhan Zhao's arm, "I will take you to the hospital."

Zhan Zhao asked, "Where is Zhao Jue?"

The others were taken aback; Zhao Jue was no where to be seen.

Bai Yutang stared at the wound on Zhan Zhao's arm for a long time, and asked, "Did Zhao Jue come to help because of a bad premonition...?"

Zhan Zhao was taken aback for a moment, and said in a low voice, "Was his purpose to pull me out of the way just now?"

"Don't think about it." Bai Yutang pulled him into the car, "Anyway, we had a very exciting battle today, right?"

At the foot of the mountain, Zhao Jue stood at the intersection of the winding mountain road, looking up at the clouds in the sky. A car slowly stopped in front of him.

Zhao Jue glanced at the car and continued to look up at the clouds.

The car door opened. The person inside looked at Zhao Jue and coldly asked, "Have you played enough?"

Zhao Jue looked at him and said nothing.

"Get in the car." It was a tone that couldn’t be disobeyed.

With a somewhat helpless sigh, Zhao Jue got into the car and closed the door.

The person in the car stared at Zhao Jue for a while, "Tired?"

Zhao Jue retracted his leg and put them on the seat. Falling sideways, he leaned on the man's leg, "I have been using mingzhao for too long." (Angel: if you need a refresher, mingzhao is one of the pupil techniques that was discussed in a previous chapter.)

The man gently reached his hand out and touched his ear, "Are the kids okay? "

"En." Zhao Jue snorted softly and fell asleep.

The car drove away slowly.

Over the next few days, under the personal command of Bao Sir, every person who was working for Wolf at the S City police station was caught. Interpol was also able to eliminate all of Wolf’s people in their ranks. The battle was fought beautifully.

However, before the SCI members had time to enjoy the closure of this case, there was another arduous task waiting for them; they all flew to Denmark to attend the wedding of Bai Jintang and Gongsun.

It's just that... the day before the wedding, Gongsun shut himself in his room and refused to come out.

No one was able to persuade him. Bai Jintang was so anxious that he wanted to kick the door down. Zhan Zhao touched his chin and looked at Bai Yutang, “Could it be… Could this be the legendary premarital phobia?”

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Benjamin just won't stop causing trouble. 😡

Now I am even more curious about Zhao Jue. Did he really join them just to save Zhan Zhao at that moment? Who was the man in the car? I want to know...

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

Translated: April 14, 2021