S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 2 Chapter 64

Password Murderer 04 – School

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At 5 o’clock that afternoon, Bai Yutang drove to the gate of Normal University with Zhan Zhao. At that time, it happened to be the time when all of the students got out of class and the snack shop in front of the school was overcrowded with students who were looking for dinner. Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang got out of the car and walked into the school together. Looking at the students who hurried out to find food, they all seemed so innocent. The two couldn’t help but think back to the time when they were in university; their life was much simpler back then.

The two of them were very outstanding. As they walked into the university, they attracted the attention of many people. At that time, the sky gradually darkened. Bai Yutang took out the topographic map that Ma Xin had drawn for them and lead Zhan Zhao towards the pond. As they walked to the northwestern part of the campus, there were gradually fewer people around. The two of them walked into the small forest near the north gate and turned onto a brick path.

"It's really secluded here." Zhan Zhao looked around, "A girl shouldn't come here alone."

"It is very likely that someone asked her to come, or that she came for other reasons..." Bai Yutang nodded. While talking, the two walked down the path and arrived at the pond. At that time, the water in the pond had been covered. It was cleaned, and there was a thin layer of dry mud, withered water plants, and some garbage at the bottom of the pool.

Zhan Zhao stood on the shore and took a look. He pointed his finger not far away, and said, "Xiao Bai, there’s the public restroom."

Bai Yutang nodded. He suddenly pulled Zhan Zhao aside to hide.

"What?" Zhan Zhao looked at him. Bai Yutang motioned for him not to say anything, and hid behind a bush in the woods with him, staring in the direction of the pond.

Not long after, they saw a person running off of the path. He came to the pond and looked around. Seeing that there was no one around, he squatted down by the pond, opened his bag, and took some things out.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang glanced at each other and watched carefully. The man should be a male student, wearing a regular white shirt, blue jeans, and carrying a black backpack. He opened the bag and took out some paper money and incense candles.

"Mei Mei...I came to see you." The boy burned the paper and said, "I counted the days but I don't know what your first seven days are, your family refuses to tell me. I’ve been here everyday for the past few days, one of these days will be right. I will burn you some paper money. You must forgive me..."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other. They didn’t know what this person had to do with Liu Mei or what he meant by ‘You must forgive me’.

Thinking about it, Bai Yutang suddenly turned his head fiercely. Zhan Zhao turned around and saw that there was a person standing not far behind them. At first glance, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were shocked. They saw that he was a middle-aged man with dark skin, messy hair, a wrinkled face, and had scars on his face. Holding a sickle in one hand, he was standing there with one foot forward and one foot behind. Seeing his posture, it was evident that he wanted to walk behind them silently.

Seeing that Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang turned around and saw him, the man turned around and wanted to run.

"Stop!" Bai Yutang rushed up and stretched his hand out to grab the man's shoulder. The man ran and Bai Yutang realized that he was lame. After being caught, the man was pulled to the ground.

"Who are you?" Bai Yutang asked him. As he took out his handcuffs to restrain the man’s hands, the man yelled in a low voice, making a weird sound.

Zhan Zhao turned his head and saw that the boy was also startled. He was looking at this scene curiously. Seeing that the weird man was being handcuffed, he asked, "That...are you two police officers?"

Zhan Zhao nodded to him, "Who are you?"

"I..." The boy wanted to answer, but when he saw that the man was being restrained by Bai Yutang, he said, “He is not a bad person…. Although he is a little scary, he is not a bad person.”

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other, then looked at the boy in confusion.

"He is the uncle in charge of cleaning," The boy said, "He can't speak, he's mute."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang lowered their heads and looked at the sickle on the ground. The boy continued, "He is also in charge of the gardening work. He trims most of the trees and lawns in the school."

Bai Yutang looked at the gardener suspiciously and saw that he was shaking his head vigorously at him, his eyes full of horror.

"Why were you sneaking around just now?" Bai Yutang asked the mute uncle.

The uncle shook his head, his ugly face looked pitiful.

"He can't speak." The boy said.

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao looked at each other, and then released the mute uncle's handcuffs. The man limped and ran away, holding his head.

Bai Yutang stepped forward and saw a small building behind the public restroom not far away.

"That's the old dormitory building." The boy explained to the two of them, "There is a quality problem with it, and it has been abandoned for a long time."

"Who are you?" Bai Yutang asked the boy, "Why are you burning paper money by the pond?"

The boy looked at the two of them, then at the handcuffs that Bai Yutang put away, "My name is Lu Qi, I am a law student here. My girlfriend committed suicide by jumping into the pond two days ago. I am burning paper money for her."

"Girlfriend?" Zhan Zhao asked, "Is Liu Mei your girlfriend?"

The boy nodded and raised his face to look at Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, "You are the police, why are you here? Could it be... Mei Mei really didn't commit suicide?"

"Why?" Zhan Zhao asked him with interest, "Do you have doubts?"

Lu Qi hesitated for a while and nodded, "I don't believe that Mei Mei would commit suicide, but the police all said that she committed suicide..."

"Is there any basis for your doubts?" Bai Yutang asked him.

"En..." Lu Qi took his cell phone out from his pocket and handed it to Bai Yutang. "On September 2nd, Mei Mei called me, but I was in class and transferred the call to voicemail." Pressing the play button and the hands-free button, they heard a girl’s voice on the other end of the phone, "Qi Qi, I had a quarrel with that woman, and I am so annoyed. Today is all annoying. I am waiting for you in our old place. Come find me.”

"The old place is..." Zhan Zhao asked.

"Here." Lu Qi put away the phone and spoke lightly, "Mei and I come here often."

Bai Yutang frowned, "You come to a place like this for a date?"

Lu Qi smiled, "The school is full of people and there are no places to go on a date. We have no money, so we have to try our best to find a place where there is no one else."

"Do you know who the woman she mentioned on the phone refers to?" Zhan Zhao then asked.

"Maybe it's Mei Mei's class supervisor," Lu Qi said, "Mei Mei is very uncomfortable with her, and she often tried to teach Mei Mei." (Angel: This ‘teach’ is not the same as teaching a class, it is more like teaching a life lesson.)

"Why don't they get along?" Bai Yutang asked, "Do students usually call this teacher ‘that woman’?"

Lu Qi was taken aback. He raised his eyes to look at Bai Yutang, and whispered, "Um... Teacher Chen, she doesn't approve of our relationship."

"This teacher still cares about dating?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"I am the president of the student union..." Lu Qi whispered, "No matter how good my academic performance is, the teachers have high expectations of me. But Mei Mei feels like a very avant-garde girl, so everyone disagrees with us being together.”

"What about you?" Bai Yutang asked, "What do you think of her?"

"Mei Mei is a good girl." Lu Qi said, "She is just not good at expressing herself. Besides, I think that I can work hard to make money and start a business in the future. She just needs to marry me and be a little housewife, she doesn’t need to worry about anything else."

"So, if you don't think Liu Mei committed suicide, who would kill her?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"I never thought that she was murdered." Lu Qi said, "I just thought that she might have slipped and fallen into the pond... I was in class at the time, and I told her a long time ago that this place is too quiet and that she shouldn’t go there alone, but she wouldn’t listen. After all, I have some responsibility for this.”

"Can you show me your student ID?" Zhan Zhao asked him.

"En." Lu Qi took out his student ID and handed it over. Zhan Zhao took a look, nodded, and asked, "Are you free tomorrow?"

"I have no class tomorrow morning." Lu Qi replied.

"Okay, can you come to the police station at nine o'clock tomorrow morning? Let's talk about Liu Mei." Zhan Zhao returned his student ID and told him that when he arrived at the police station tomorrow, he should tell the guard that he is there to meet with SCI.

Lu Qi took the student ID. He thought about it and asked, "You guys, do you suspect that Mei Mei was murdered?"

Bai Yutang glanced at him and said, "This place is too remote, so don’t come here in the future. Besides...why is the dormitory over there abandoned?" As he spoke, he pointed to the abandoned dormitory in front of him.

"The dormitory building over there seems to have been built a long time ago. Because of serious water leakage, it couldn't be lived in, so it was abandoned."

Bai Yutang nodded, indicating that he could leave.

Lu Qi turned around and walked away reluctantly, glancing at the pond as he left.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang stood there for a while, then walked to the public restroom.

"Xiao Bai, what do you think?" Zhan Zhao asked as he walked.

"That mute uncle just now…" Bai Yutang said, "He’s really strange."

Zhan Zhao laughed, "He really scared me, did he scare you too?”

Bai Yutang smiled, "It’s not even dark out. If it was midnight, with that sickle in his hand, most people would be scared out of their wits, and…”

"And what?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"That uncle looks like he does physical work, right?" Bai Yutang asked.

"En." Zhan Zhao nodded, "Didn't that boy say that he is a gardener?"

"There is a callus on the first joint of the middle finger of his right hand." Bai Yutang said lightly, "The palm of his hand is not too rough."

"There are calluses there...He does desk work." Zhan Zhao was a little surprised.

"I don't know. He is deaf and mute, but since he has been here for many years, some school personnel must recognize him." Bai Yutang said while putting on rubber gloves. At that time the two had already reached the sinks in front of the restroom. This public restroom is shared by men and women. In front of the stalls, there was a row of three sinks.

"Xiao Bai!" Zhan Zhao suddenly yelled, pointing his finger at the second sink, "Here!"

Bai Yutang walked over and looked along Zhan Zhao's fingers. He stretched his gloved hand out and pulled out a few strands of hair from the drain of the sink... They were very long...

Bai Yutang raised his eyebrows at Zhan Zhao. Zhan Zhao took out an evidence bag to put the hair in. The two of them walked around the restroom again. Seeing that it was getting dark, they left the restroom together and walked out of the forest.

As they walked back to the main campus, it immediately became lively. They saw that the lights in the teaching building and the dormitory building were still on.

As the two walked over, Bai Yutang suddenly spoke to Zhan Zhao, "Cat, how about going to the cafeteria?"

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

That mute uncle is quite suspicious... (ーー;)

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

Translated: April 19/20, 2021