S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 2 Chapter 62

Password Murderer 02 – Unlucky Ghost

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Ma Xin and Gongsun entered the forensic room to perform an autopsy on the corpse, and the rest of the team was left with nothing to do. Bai Yutang stood up and pulled Zhan Zhao, “Let’s go, Cat. Let’s go to Normal University.”

“En.” Zhan Zhao stood up and followed. As soon as the two entered the elevator, they heard Jiang Ping yell from the office, “Captain!”

Bai Yutang pressed the door button just as it was about to close. He walked out with Zhan Zhao and they returned to the office, “What’s the matter?”

They saw Jiang Ping holding a phone in his hand, handing it over to Bai Yutang, “Ai Hu is calling.”

Bai Yutang reached out and took it, “Hello?”

On the other side of the phone, Ai Hu said a few words, causing Bai Yutang to frown, “Okay, we will come right away.”

“What is it?” Zhan Zhao asked.

“Ai Hu sad that there was a suicide case at one of the high-rise buildings on Changwon Street.” Bai Yutang said, “He told us to go and take a look.”

“A case of a suicide jumper?” Zhao Hu was a little puzzled, “Why does he want us to go to a suicide case?”

“Uh… He said there are some problems.” Bai Yutang waved to everyone, “Anyway, we’re idle, let’s go!”

Everyone got up and left Jiang Ping to watch the office as per usual. The team drove to the commercial district on Changwon Street.

Changwon Street is an area that is densely packed with high-rise office buildings in S City and most of the people there are white-collar office workers. When the SCI car arrived, there was already a large crowd that had gathered around the police cordon that was set up to keep the curious people away from the scene.

“Captain Bai!” Ai Hu saw Bai Yutang and the others from a distance and ran over quickly.

“Where is the corpse?” Bai Yutang asked.

“In the square in front of the building.” Ai Hu walked there with the group, explaining along the way, “It looks a bit miserable. According to witnesses, he fell from the 20^th floor.”

Zhan Zhao frowned when he heard it.

Sure enough, when they walked into the cordon, they saw a corpse lying in the square. His shoes and other things had fallen off, and so the man was basically just a piece of skin on the ground.

Everyone frowned.

“What do you want us to look at?” Bai Yutang asked Ai Hu, “Was it suicide? Even if it’s murder, you should be able to handle it, right?”

“No, no.” Ai Hu waved his hand, “I want you to see if there is anything special.”

Everyone was a little puzzled. Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other, then looked at Ai Hu, “What’s the difference?”

“Hmm…” Ai Hu thought for a while, “This is already the tenth person that has died from suicide in S City this month.”

“Huh?” Zhan Zhao was taken aback.

“S City has a population of 10 million, and it’s normal for 10 or 20 people to commit suicide every month. Doesn’t that mean that tens of thousands of people die every year…” Zhao Hu asked.

“If you count it as a month, it is indeed normal.” Bai Yutang raised his eyebrows, “But only one week has passed this month.”

Everyone was taken aback and looked at Ai Hu.

Ai Hu nodded, “Because of this, I asked you to come. Our brothers have been running out almost every day these past few days, all going to suicide cases. We are so depressed that we don’t want to live anymore.”

Several people from SCI laughed. Zhan Zhao suddenly asked, “By the way, you dealt with the suicide case of a Normal University student a few days ago, right?”

“Normal University…” Ai Hu thought for a while, and said, “Oh, it was a female student… Why do they have to commit suicide at such a young age? Some people can’t live even if they want to.”

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao looked at each other and walked over to the corpse.

The others also walked over and looked up at the top of the building. Let alone jumping from it, it felt scary even looking up at it from the ground.

“They can’t think of anything so they just jump. It’s really not beautiful and it’s so easy to hit others.” Zhao Hu was a little emotional.

Zhan Zhao looked down at the corpse and touched his chin as if he was thinking.

Bai Yutang asked Ai Hu, “Is there an eye witness?”

“There are many.” Ai Hu said, “It happened in broad daylight after all, there are so many people here. One of them was almost hit. Fortunately, the person was screaming as he fell.”

“Screaming?” Zhan Zhao looked up, “Is the eye witness here?”

“Yes!” Ai Hu pointed at a group not far away; there were two policemen standing there questioning a man. The man was in his thirties, slightly fattened, and had a small, flat head; his look was very ordinary. He was wearing a white shirt that many office workers would wear and was holding a bag in one hand.

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao walked over.

“I don’t know anything, I didn’t see it clearly.” The man seemed a little impatient.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang walked to the side. The police officers from the serious crimes team recognized the two and called out, “Captain Bai, Dr. Zhan.”

“You were the one that was almost hit?” Bai Yutang asked.

“En.” The man nodded, then looked at the two, “I have already said everything that I should say, okay, can I go now? I’m going to be late for work!”

Bai Yutang looked him up and down. When the man saw that no one was stopping him, he wanted to leave. However, he heard Bai Yutang say, “You shouldn’t have a job…”

The man stopped. He looked at Zhan Zhao with wide eyes and swallowed nervously.

Bai Yutang frowned and looked at him, “Are you hiding anything?”

“No… No!” The man’s voice became increasingly extreme, “What do you mean? I was almost crushed to death, and it was not me that pushed him down. Ask what you want to ask, it’s really annoying!” The man turned around and left.

“Wait.” The police officer on the side stopped him, “We just want to ask you a few questions, why are you in such a rush? Do you know that citizens are obligated to cooperate with police investigations?”

“I…” The man was still getting angry, and he stubbornly said, “I have cooperated, now you’re just wasting my time!”

Zhan Zhao stared at him for a while and laughed, “The contents of your bag have fallen out.”

The expression on the man’s face aroused everyone’s suspicions; he opened his mouth wide and looked down at his bag with an expression of overwhelming shock. He was relieved to find that there was nothing missing.

“What’s in the bag?” Bai Yutang asked him.

“No… nothing.” The man replied, “This is my privacy, you can’t ask about it!” After speaking, he wanted to leave with his bag so he hurried forward. Bai Yutang didn’t stop him, but he winked at Ma Han who was not far away.

Ma Han looked at the top of the building calmly. As he saw the man approaching, he stuck his foot out and gently tripped him.

“Oh…” The man screamed and fell to the ground, and the bag flew from his hands.

“Are you okay? I’m sorry.” Ma Han bent over to help him. He used one hand to support him, but the other was pressed on his back, keeping the man from getting up.

In front, Zhao Hu stretched his hand out to pick up the bag, smiling, “Why are you so careless?”

As he grabbed the bag, Zhao Hu deliberately pulled on its zipper. With a ‘crash’, a lot of things fell out. The crowd of onlookers in the distance screamed as they saw the contents of the bag; ¥100 notes and white flowers had flown out and covered the sidewalk nearby.

The man’s face was shocked and he couldn’t help but struggle. He turned red and tried to run away, but Luo Tian grabbed his collar. Next to him, Bai Chi warned, “Don’t run anymore! Just tell us the truth.”

The man struggled a bit but couldn’t break free from Luo Tian’s grip, so he had to give up.

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao looked at each other, and both felt a little strange. Ma Han and Zhao Hu put the money back into the back into the bag, and Bai Yutang waved to Luo Tian.

Luo Tian dragged the man over.

“What are you doing?” Bai Yutang asked the man.

“I… I’m a trader. They money belongs to me. Is taking it onto the street breaking the law?!” The man quibbled.

“The bag is not yours.” Zhan Zhao said lightly, “You look pretty desolate, and you got divorced not too long ago. That bag is very expensive, and it doesn’t match your clothes. You have no reason to take such a bag filled with money on to the streets.”

“I…” The man froze for a long time, looking at Zhan Zhao, “You… How do you know that I just got divorced not long ago?”

Bai Yutang looked at him a little impatiently, “Stop talking nonsense. You can confess yourself, or would you rather go back to the police station for interrogation?”

“No… Don’t take me back!” The man hurriedly waved his hand, “I… I picked up that bag.”

Bai Yutang calmed down, “It seems that you are very dishonest.”

Zhan Zhao raised his head to Ma Han, “Count how much money was in the bag and have someone check it. That amount of money was withdrawn this morning from a bank account nearby. The one who withdrew it should have done so urgently. After checking their identity call their homes one by one, and ask them if their child was kidnapped.”

As soon as Zhan Zhao finished speaking, he saw that the middle-aged man’s face had paled. Bai Yutan smiled, “It seems that he guessed correctly.”

“I… No…” The man was nervous.

Bai Yutang asked him coldly, “You collected the ransom, right?”

While the man insisted on staying quiet, he heard Zhan Zhao ask, “Do you want to go to prison for the rest of your life?”

The man looked up at Zhan Zhao in horror, and heard him continue, “Say it quickly. Otherwise, your crime won’t just be kidnapping, but also murder.”

The man opened his eyes wide. Bai Yutang pulled him and stuffed him into the car. Luo Tian and Bai Chi went with them. The rest of the team stayed at the scene, investigating the suicide case with Ai Hu.

In the car, the middle-aged man honestly explained what happened.

This person’s name was Xu Zhong. As Xu Zhong had explained, he was frustrated at work a while ago and was fired. After a few days of searching for a new job, he had no luck. Because he had to pay his mortgage payments, his life became more and more difficult. After his wife quarreled with him for a few days, she divorced him and all of his savings were given to her. As he was wandering outside the other day, he passed by a kindergarten. In front of the kindergarten, he saw a wealthy couple picking up their son, and he suddenly had an evil thought enter his mind. Because the couple seemed to be very busy, the child would wait at the entrance for ten minutes every day after school. Xu Zhong pretended to be a friend of his parents and tricked the child into going with him.

“You… How did you know that I just got divorced?” Xu Zhong asked Zhan Zhao puzzledly.

“Your hands are quite dark, only the spot where a wedding ring sits was light. You can see that you were wearing a wedding ring previously.” Zhan Zhao explained absently, “You look like a clerk, so you shouldn’t have the chance to be exposed to the sun too much. It can be seen that you were running around outside a lot in the summer a lot, so you were probably looking for a job. You look down, so it’s easy to guess that you are struggling to find a job and that you just got divorced… It’s just reasoning and guessing.” Zhan Zhao then urged Bai Yutang, “Xiao Bai, hurry up!”

Bai Yutang sped up, and Xu Zhong said, “I kept him at home, nothing will happen to him.”

Zhan Zhao ignored him and he looked very anxious. Bai Yutang quickly drove to the place that Xu Zhong told them. After getting out of the car, everyone rushed upstairs. As soon as he reached the door, Bai Yutang frowned; there was a strong smell of gas coming from the door.

Xu Zhong’s face turned pale and the hand that held the key shook, “I didn’t turn the gas on. Why…”

Bai Yutang grabbed the key and opened the door. Bai Chi called for an ambulance. When the door opened, Bai Yutang rushed in and opened the window. Zhan Zhao found the child lying on the floor. He was flushed and his breathing was rapid, but he was still conscious.

Zhan Zhao unbuttoned his collar. Bai Yutang opened all of the windows and the fresh air gradually circulated.

Soon, the ambulance came and the doctors carried the child down. Because the rescue was timely, the child’s life shouldn’t be in danger.

Bai Chi followed the child to the hospital and informed the child’s parents, and Luo Tian escorted Xu Zhong, who was frightened, back to the police station. Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang stayed in the room.

“Cat.” Bai Yutang saw that Zhan Zhao was slowly looking around the room, “This case is not simple, right?”

Zhan Zhao smiled slightly and nodded, “If Xu Zhong was crushed by the suicide jumper, the gas leak may not have occurred. Because he was not crushed by the jumper, the gas leak happened.”

Bai Yutang frowned slightly, “You mean that if the child is dead, then Xu Zhong is also dead, right?”

“Hmm…” Zhan Zhao touched his chin and smiled, “This case is very interesting.”

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

The chapter is being posted earlier today since I have a final exam this afternoon. I may post the first chapter of another book later tonight as well; it's about an emergency room doctor and a vampire who faints at the sight of blood, it's quite funny. 🧛‍♀️❤👨‍⚕️

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

Translated: April 17, 2021