S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 2 Chapter 70

Password Murderer 10 – Forensics

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Bai Yutang drove to the address that Jiang Ping gave them. As soon as they stopped, Gongsun laughed loudly.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other, and both turned to look at him puzzledly. They saw that Luo Tian, who was beside Gongsun, was also frowning as he looked out the car window. Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang turned their heads at the same time and looked in the direction that Luo Tian and Gongsun were looking. They saw an iron fence gate not far away, and a few large letters painted with red paint beside the door; ‘Back Door of the Cemetery’.

“Heh…” Bai Yutang also laughed, “I just said that this address was familiar, turns out it’s on the street behind the cemetery.”

"It's not auspicious to live behind the cemetery." Gongsun shook his head, “Did Jiang Ping play us?”  

“It doesn’t seem like it.” Zhan Zhao pointed his finger to the other side, “There is a small house there.”

Everyone turned their heads and looked in the direction that Zhan Zhao was pointing. Not far away, there was a small house surrounded by high walls, and the gate was facing the back door of the cemetery. There were a few big black dogs in the yard and they all started barking when they saw Bai Yutang’s car. The dogs were not small and they looked fierce, but everyone was accustomed to seeing Lisbon, so they were not bothered by the dogs.

Bai Yutang checked the house number and the address, “It should be here.”

Everyone got out of the car and walked over to the house.

Luo Tian walked to the door and rang the doorbell while everyone waited by the door. Luo Tian pressed it for a while, but no one answered.

“Is he here?” Zhan Zhao looked inside, “The curtains are drawn.”

Luo Tian pressed the doorbell for a while, and everyone felt a little disappointed. They were thinking about leaving, but then they heard a dry and hoarse voice faintly ask, “Who’s there?”

Everyone felt a little grateful. Fortunately, they came in broad daylight, if it was night, with the cemetery behind them, the atmosphere would be scary.

"Is Qiao Weiming there?" Zhan Zhao asked.

The man on the electronic doorbell hesitated, "Who are you?"

Before Zhan Zhao could speak, he heard Gongsun say, "Gongsun Ce."

After he spoke, there was silence. After a while, the door of the house opened, and a bearded man in pajamas and slippers ran out. When the dogs saw him, they crowded around excitedly, barking and wagging their tails. The man beckoned to the people at the door and said, “Wait a moment, I will lock the dogs up.”

Bai Yutang looked at Gongsun, “That person is Qiao Weiming?”

Gongsun shrugged, “It might be his dad… He’s looks quite old.”

After the man locked the dogs up, he walked back to the door. An inexplicable gloomy aura radiated from his body, causing everyone to frown slightly.

“I’m Qiao Weiming.” The man introduced himself. His eyes scanned the group one by one, and finally fell on Gongsun, “Why are you here?”

Gongsun pointed to Bai Yutang next to him, “This is Bai Yutang, the captain of SCI.”, then pointed to Zhan Zhao, “Zhan Zhao, SCI’s resident psychologist.”, pointed to Luo Tian, “SCI team member”, and finally pointed to himself, “SCI’s forensic pathologist.” Looking at Qiao Weiming, he said, “There is a case that we would like to consult with you about.”

Bai Yutang took out his ID and showed it to Qiao Weiming, “Can we have a few words with you?”

Qiao Weiming nodded. He opened the door to let the group in, then carefully closed the door, locked it, and led everyone into the living room.

Unexpectedly, although Qiao Weiming looked sloppy, the living room looked very clean and tidy. Everyone was allowed to sit, and Qiao Weiming said, “Sorry, I just got up. Feel free to take a seat, I’ll go freshen up.”

After speaking, he hurried left to go to the bathroom upstairs to wash.

Before he left, Zhan Zhao asked, “Can we take a look around?”

Qiao Weiming was taken aback as he opened the door, but he nodded, “Make yourself at home.” After he spoke, he closed the door and locked it.

“Hmm…” Zhan Zhao touched his chin thoughtfully.

“What’s the matter Cat?” Bai Yutang asked.

“He is a very nervous person.” Zhan Zhao smiled, “He seems to be insecure.”

“Of course there is no sense of security if you have done bad things.” Gongsun stood up and looked around. He stretched his hand out and pulled Zhan Zhao, “Let’s go upstairs and look!”

Bai Yutang and Luo Tian looked around the kitchen, while Gongsun and Zhan Zhao ran upstairs.

Looking around the kitchen, Luo Tian said to Bai Yutang, “It’s really clean, quite unlike the usual bachelor.”

Bai Yutang smiled, “Isn’t your house very clean?”

 Luo Tian was taken aback for a moment, then smiled, “Yang Yang cleans it.”

Bai Yutang opened the refrigerator and glanced at its contents.

“What’s wrong?” Luo Tian asked curiously.

“He seems to be a vegetarian.” Bai Yutang replied, “There are only vegetables in the refrigerator. There’s not even a single egg.”

Luo Tian frowned, “The other day, Yang Yang asked me why Buddha and Hitler were vegetarians.”

“Heh… What a difficult question.” Bai Yutang shrugged and closed the refrigerator door. When the two left the kitchen, they saw Gongsun and Zhan Zhao running down from upstairs, coughing as they ran.

“What’s the matter?” Bai Yutang asked.

“Cough…” Zhan Zhao coughed and said, “The studio is full of smoke, enough to be considered second hand smoking just by being there.”

“It really feels like a writer’s house.” Gongsun went around the kitchen, and seemed a little puzzled as he returned.

At that time, the door to the bathroom opened, and Qiao Weiming came out after freshening up. He had shaved his beard, changed into a white shirt and jeans, and walked out neatly, apologizing to the group, “Sorry, I’ve been rushing the manuscript these days. It’s been a long time since I went out and saw people.”

Everyone was finally able to see his appearance clearly. They saw that this man was in his thirties, and looked much older than Gongsun. Wearing a pair of black-rimmed glasses, what does it look like… A hooked nose, a round face, an eagle beak… It felt a little weird when he smiled. Zhan Zhao looked at him for a moment and frowned slightly. It was as if this Qiao Weiming had undergone surgery or something, as his expression looked so uncomfortable and his whole person felt a little uncoordinated.

“What happened to your facial muscles?” Gongsun asked him.

Qiao Weiming raised his eyebrows and smiled, “As expected, he is the best forensic pathologist in S City.”

Everyone was puzzled, and they heard Qiao Weiming continue, “Three years ago, I had a stroke and my facial nerves were paralyzed. It’s finally been cured, but I still smile a little weird.”

Gongsun frowned, but didn’t say anything. He just looked at Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, his eyes seeming to say ‘Now that he’s here, just ask him what you want to know.’

Bai Yutang didn’t say much, he just said, “Mr. Qiao, we will get straight to the point.” As he spoke, he put a document in front of Qiao Weiming.

Qiao Weiming opened it and saw that it was the autopsy report of the burned students. The corners of his mouth twitched unnaturally, and he put the report down. Qiao Weiming crossed his legs, “This is the last autopsy report I did before leaving my job.”

Bai Yutang nodded, “We now suspect that the deaths of these five boys are suspicious, so we want to ask you about some details of the circumstances around that case.”

Qiao Weiming nodded, “It’s been seven years, why did you think of taking it out for investigation now?”

Bai Yutang smiled slightly, “This case is somewhat related to the one that we are currently investigating, so we are re-examining the case.”

Zhan Zhao suddenly spoke up, “Mr. Qiao seems to be writing a book under the pseudonym ‘The Eleven Sins’.”

Qiao Weiming nodded, “Since I can’t be a forensic pathologist, I have to use a pen name to make some money.”

Gongsun smiled a little disgustingly, “Are there any other photos from the autopsy that year? In addition, what about the details of the corpses’ organ inspections?”

Qiao Weiming stared at Gongsun for a while, then smiled, “Gongsun, long time no see.”

Gongsun frowned slightly, thinking to himself, ‘Still giving me a heartfelt greeting?!’

Qiao Weiming stretched his hand out, picked up the autopsy report, and spoke to Bai Yutang, “I know that you would like me to cooperate with the investigation, and cooperation is my duty, but…  I want to clarify that the school, the families of the deceased, and the police had reached an agreement that year, and I wrote this report according to their wishes.” Qiao Weiming looked at Zhan Zhao again with a smile, “I have read your book, it is wonderful and dreamy.”

Zhan Zhao raised his eyebrows unconsciously, “What is so dreamy about academic books?”

Qiao Weiming raised the corners of his mouth and replied with a weird smile, “At the end, the evil forces were finally punished. The righteous side represented the light and defeated the evil… This ending is very dreamy.”

Bai Yutang interrupted him, “Let’s talk about the case from that year.”

“Alright.” Qiao Weiming opened the autopsy report and said, “I might as well tell you… Those five children died in a way that is far from being as simple as what the report says! This was a carefully planned, extremely cruel murder case with many secrets.”

Everyone was taken aback, and Bai Yutang asked, “How do you know?”

Qiao Weiming smiled and shook his head, “From the corpses… Forensic pathologists naturally get everything that they want to know from the corpse… Isn’t that what some people often say?” As he spoke, he looked at Gongsun.

Gongsun glanced at him with a sneer, but didn’t say anything. He listened as Qiao Weiming continued, “Everything I know can be found in those photos, all of the clues are there.” As he spoke, he closed the autopsy report and passed it over to Gongsun gloomily, “In this post-mortem report, there is a code… The key to what happened that year.”

Gongsun raised his hand and accepted the autopsy report, and heard Qiao Weiming say “Aren’t you the best? There is no secret that I can discover that you can’t, right?”

After listening to him, Gongsun smiled without anger. His smile extended to the bottom of his eyes. The other three couldn’t help but shiver; Gongsun was successfully provoked!

“I have read your book.” Gongsun put away the autopsy report and looked at Qiao Weiming, “You really haven’t changed at all.”

“Hmm…” Qiao Weiming raised his hand and shook his head, seriously saying, “That’s not right Gongsun, I have changed. I have changed a lot… Now I have found something more interesting and exciting than practicing medicine. Practicing medicine can no longer satisfy my already enlarged heart.” (Angel: He is not talking about physically enlarging his heart. Having an ‘enlarged heart’ means that he can think about things that ordinary people can't think about, he can tolerate things that ordinary people cannot tolerate, he doesn't worry about things that ordinary people worry about, and he doesn't worry about things that ordinary people worry about.)

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao looked at each other, knowing that the initial purpose of their probing has been achieved, and that the questions have all been asked. They also have a certain understanding of Qiao Weiming; this person seems to be very difficult to deal with, and it is useless to say anymore. Bai Yutang stood up and said goodbye to Qiao Weiming.

Qiao Weiming said, “I won’t send you out.”, and stood in the living room, watching everyone leave.

When Gongsun walked to the door, Qiao Weiming said, “Gongsun, if you want to try to enlarge your heart, the practice of medicine is no good.”

Gongsun turned his heard and gave him a disgusted look, “Before your heart expands into a pear shape, you should go and see if you are sick. It’s not good for your health to expand too much.” After he spoke, he turned and went out.

Bai Yutang and Luo Tian walked in front, and Gongsun and Zhan Zhao walked side by side behind them. Hearing what he had said, Zhan Zhao gritted his teeth, “He’s really displeasing.”

Gongsun gritted his teeth as well, “I really want to personally expand his heart!”

After getting into the car, Bai Yutang heard Luo Tian say, “Captain… I found some things. That Qiao Weiming, something is not right!”

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

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

Translated: April 24, 2021