S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 2 Chapter 72

Password Murderer 12 – Ghost

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After listening to Wang Mingli’s words, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other, both feeling that the teacher’s reaction seemed a bit too extreme. Wang Mingli noticed the surprised expressions of the others as they looked at her, “I’m sorry, although the things that happened back then have passed a long time ago, I still can’t let it go.”

“Why?” Zhan Zhao asked her.

“Because Hao Mo and I were very good friends.” Wang Mingli said bluntly, “He is not the kind of person who could do this kind of thing. Living in a dormitory with those bastards was already very difficult for him.”

Bai Yutang nodded, and turned his face to look at Bai Fangqin, “Principal Bai, Director Bao previously mentioned to me that the principal who contacted to him before had the surname Zhang.”

“Oh…” Bai Fangqin smiled and nodded, “In fact, we are both principals. He is mainly responsible for the management of the science and engineering faculties, and I am mainly responsible for the liberal arts faculty… We have been partners for many years.”

“Then why didn’t he come today?” Zhan Zhao asked.

“It’s quite the coincidence. He went abroad on a business trip yesterday afternoon.” Bai Fangqin said, “It is an exchange activity with our brother school in Australia. He will be back in three days.”

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other. They only decided to reinvestigate yesterday afternoon, and the principal went abroad on a business trip at the same time… Why does it feel like he was deliberately avoiding this?

Bai Yutang observed the group and found that asking individually may be more effective than asking when they are together, so he winked at Zhan Zhao. Zhan Zhao went along with Bai Yutang, “We want to get a detailed record of the events that year, and our officers will ask you individually. We hope that you can cooperate.”

The group looked at each other and nodded. Wang Chao, Ma Han, Zhang Long, and Zhao Hu stayed to conduct the inquiry. Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao took Gongsun, Luo Tian, and Bai Chi out of the teaching building, wanting to find Bai Jintang and the others to go to the haunted house.

“What is that?” As soon as he left the teaching building, Bai Chi pointed to the front; there was a large group of people surrounding the teaching building as if something was wrong.

Bai Yutang frowned and walked over with Zhan Zhao and the others. The students were crowded around and the group couldn’t get through at all, so they could only listen to the students.

“It’s really Zhao Zhen!”

“Really!”

“I want his signature! I bought his book and read it!”

“I have seen his live performance!”

Bai Yutang looked at Bai Chi, “It was Zhao Zhen that was discovered.”

Zhan Zhao laughed, “He is quite popular among students. Do you want to save him?”

Bai Chi wrinkled his nose, “Leave him alone, let him show himself in public.” After speaking, he pulled Zhan Zhao forward. Gongsun and Bai Yutang looked at each other and shrugged.

The group continued to walk forward. They heard footsteps behind them as they turned the corner. Looking back, they saw Zhao Zhen chasing after them.

Bai Yutang looked at the students who were still grouped together off in the distance. Zhao Zhen smiled and patted him on the shoulder, “I have played rugby before.”

“Where are Brother and the rest?” Zhan Zhao asked.

“Well… It seems that they have gone to the haunted house.” Zhao Zhen said. While talking, everyone walked to the edge of the forest.

“Where are they?” Zhan Zhao looked around, “Didn’t we say to meet here?”

“Yeah…” Bai Chi turned around and saw the twins running over in the distance, holding bread and milk in their hands.

“What are those?” Bai Yutang asked the two.

“It’s time for dinner.” Xiao Ding said, “Children can’t be hungry.”

Luo Tian was really moved; he hadn’t even thought of that and he is Luoyang’s father… ‘But where did Yang Yang go?’

As he was thinking about it, he suddenly heard a scream coming from the forest. It was a girl who screamed… It felt… like Ma Xin!

Everyone glanced at each other, then rushed into the forest. Crossing the path to the pond, they saw Ma Xin holding Luoyang on the side as Bai Jintang was beating someone… It was a dirty man in a blue uniform.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other — ‘Isn’t that the mute uncle?!’

“Brother!” Bai Yutang hurriedly stepped forward to hold Bai Jintang.

Gongsun stepped forward and asked, “What’s the matter? Why are you beating him?”

Bai Jintang frowned and glanced at the mute uncle, “He touched that girl.”

Everyone was taken aback, and Ma Xin said “When Yang Yang was playing basketball, the ball rolled into the forest, so I came in with him to get it. The ball fell into the dry pond. I wanted to grab a branch, but I suddenly felt that there was someone behind me. He patted me on the shoulder as soon as I turned my head, and I was taken aback. Big Brother Bai came in and saw us, then he…”

Everyone understood. Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao looked at each other weakly; this mute uncle seems to have a scary habit of sneaking behind others and patting them.

Da Ding and Xiao Ding grabbed the mute uncle who was struggling desperately to run away and asked “What do you want?”

Everyone saw his terrible face; no wonder even a girl as bold as Ma Xin was so scared. Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang had a deep understanding, as they were scared at first as well.

“Why don’t you speak?” The twins stared at the mute uncle.

“He can’t talk.” Bai Yutang said, “He’s the gardener and cleaner here, called Uncle Mute.”

Everyone looked at each other and felt embarrassed, so they let him go. But Bai Jintang muttered to himself, “No wonder he didn’t shout…”

Gongsun glared at him, but seeing that he was doing it to protect Ma Xin and Luoyang, he ignored his violent behaviour.

Zhan Zhao took his phone out of his pocket, typed a few words, then showed it to the mute uncle.

The mute uncle took a look and saw that it read: [Why did you scare the girl just now?]

After reading it, the mute uncle shook his head and waved his hands again back and forth, as if saying ‘that’s not it.’ Then, he took his own phone out of his pocket, and everyone saw that it was an old-fashioned flip phone; it was an antique.

After the mute uncle typed a few words, he handed it over to Zhan Zhao. Zhan Zhao took a look and saw that it read: [I didn’t mean to, I wanted to tell her not to play in this area, it’s not safe.]

Bai Yutang glanced at Zhan Zhao, who was typing: [Why is it unsafe?]

The mute uncle looked around and replied: [A girl drowned in the pond not long ago, and there are gangsters that come here. Girls should not come alone.]

Da Ding let him go and said, “It looks like a misunderstanding.”

Xiao Ding patted him on the shoulder, “It’s so pitiful. How long has it been since Big Brother hit someone… Does it hurt?”

Seeing that everyone was not hostile, the mute uncle stopped trying to escape. He looked at Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao, and wrote some words on his phone: [I have seen you.]

Bai Yutang took out his police ID and showed it to him. The mute uncle took it and looked at it for a long time before returning it to Bai Yutang and nodding tremblingly at him.

Zhan Zhao asked him through his phone: [Liu Mei, the girl who drowned, do you know her?]

The mute uncle nodded and typed: [She’s a silly girl.]

Everyone was taken aback; they all felt that this mute uncle knew a lot. Zhan Zhao typed: [I heard that you stole her bag to help Lu Qi and Yang Fan.]

The mute uncle nodded and typed: [That day, I saw her wandering alone in the woods, and then I stole her bag. She was probably frightened because of me, as she screamed and ran away.]

Bai Yutang was startled, “In other words, Liu Mei was not dead when the bag was stolen that night?”

Zhan Zhao typed and asked the mute uncle.

The mute uncle nodded, pointed his finger into the depths of the woods, and typed: [I found her camera where she ran away, then I fled back to the dormitory. I was afraid that she would tell the school guards, causing them to come and look for the camera and photos, so I had to hide the camera first…]

Bai Yutang nodded, then looked at Zhan Zhao, “Cat, ask him about the case from seven years ago.”

Zhan Zhao typed: [Do you know about the fire seven years ago?]

After reading, the mute uncle suddenly trembled and shook his head.

However, the flicker in his eyes made everyone realize… that he knew.

[Can you invite us to visit your house?] Zhan Zhao asked.

The must uncle hesitated, but nodded, and then led everyone to the haunted dormitory from the legends.

“That uncle lives here alone?” Luoyang asked, wrapping his arms around Ma Xin’s neck.

Ma Xin shrugged, somewhat thankful that she did not encounter this weird mute uncle when she came last time.

“Yang Yang… Let Dad carry you.” Luo Tian stretched his hands out to hold Luoyang.

“No, I want Sister.” Luoyang hugged Ma Xin as the twins stood by and watched the show.

Luo Tian felt a little helpless and said, “Your sister is sweating from exhaustion.”

Looking at Ma Xin, Luoyang realized that she really was tired. Luoyang was used to being held by the big men in SCI and so he didn’t realize that walking and holding a seven-year-old child was, in fact, very tiring.

Luoyang was a little reluctant, but he still reached out to Luo Tian. Luo Tian picked him up easily, then took the bread and milk from the twins, wanting to pass it to Luoyang.

Luoyang suddenly smiled and waved at the upper floor of the dormitory, as if saying hello to someone.

“Yang Yang? What are you doing?” Luo Tian looked in the direction that he waved, but there was no one there.

“There was a brother there just now.” Luoyang said.

With a ‘clang’, the sickle in the mute uncle’s hand fell to the ground. Everyone looked up, but there was no one upstairs.

“Yang Yang… Where did you see them?” Zhan Zhao asked him as he turned his head.

“They were on the third floor just now.” Luoyang pointed to a window on the third floor, “He beckoned to me, he was a younger brother.”

Zhan Zhao typed and asked the mute uncle: [Is there anyone in this building?]

The mute uncle looked at the group and typed: [That’s not a person.]

Everyone felt a chill run down their back. Zhan Zhao typed: [If it’s not a person, what is it?]

The mute uncle was silent for a while, then typed: [He has been wandering around here for seven years, and has been reluctant to leave. It’s as if he has something to worry about.]

Everyone couldn’t help but gasp, and Bai Yutang looked up at the building again. Because of the disrepair of the dormitory, basically all of the windows were broken and there was no one in the darkness.

“Yang Yang, what did that person look like?” Zhan Zhao asked.

“Um… Just a little brother.” Luoyang said, “He had messy hair and a very pale face.”

“Captain.” Luo Tian look at Bai Yutang, “Can we not bring Yang Yang inside?”

Bai Yutang nodded, and Ma Xin said, “Yang Yang, shall we go to the square to play?”

Luoyang nodded and asked, “I also want to be a guest in Uncle Mute’s house. Was that brother from just now his kid?”

Luo Tian hugged Luoyang and walked out. Although he was not superstitious, he still didn’t want him to see such unclean things.

When Luo Tian and the others walked away, Zhao Zhen put his hands in his pockets and asked, “Is this really a haunted house? Could the one he saw just now be a ghost?”

Bai Yutang looked at the dormitory building, then took Zhan Zhao’s phone and asked the mute uncle: [Is there only the one door and one set of stairs into the dormitory?]

The mute uncle nodded.

Bai Yutang put away the phone and spoke to everyone, “Keep the door shut, and sweep the building floor by floor. As long as he is not a ghost, he will be found… If he can’t be found, then it’s quite evil.”

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Everyone involved in this case is super suspicious...

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

Translated: April 25/26, 2021