S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 2 Chapter 73

Password Murderer 13 – Haunted House

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Zhao Zhen, Bai Chi, and the twins guarded the door. Zhan Zhao, Bai Yutang, Gongsun, and Bai Jintang entered the building together with the mute uncle and searched the rooms one by one. Bai Yutang and Bai Jintang looked through the rooms very carefully, while Zhan Zhao and Gongsun paid close attention to the mute uncle.

There were five floors in the dormitory. After searching them all, everyone stopped at the room that had caught fire; it was room 311 on the third floor. The room was covered with cobwebs and dust. Although seven years had passed, the black marks on the ground, walls, and beds were still obvious; the tragic scene of the fire was vivid. Regardless of the characters of these students, this fire took five lives at once.

Bai Yutang stood at the door and looked around, then walked in with Gongsun and Zhan Zhao, and looked down through the window. Just now, Luoyang should have waved at this window, that is, the person was in this room.

“Who’s there?” At that moment, Bai Jintang, who was standing at the door, suddenly yelled. Everyone looked at the door and saw that Bai Jintang had ran away. Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang hurried to catch up to him.

“Brother, what did you see?” Bai Yutang asked.

Bai Jintang stood at the top of the stairs, staring at the empty stairs below him, “Tsk… I just saw a person in a white T-shirt running over…”

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other. Gongsun grabbed Bai Jintang, “Are you sure you didn’t see it wrong?”

Bai Jintang shook his head, “How is that possible? I just glanced at them and saw that they had short hair, and were wearing a white T-shirt and white pants… And then they disappeared in a flash.”

 At that moment, Zhan Zhao saw the mute uncle handing him the cell phone that was in his hand. Zhan Zhao took a look and saw a line of text on the screen: [That was Mo Mo, he just doesn’t want to go… He is harmless.]

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other, and Zhan Zhao typed: [Does Mo Mo refer to Hao Mo?]

After reading, the mute uncle nodded and sighed silently.

“What did you do before?” Zhan Zhao asked the mute uncle, “Why are you so familiar with this place and how did you meet Hao Mo?”

The mute uncle nodded: [I used to be the janitor of this dormitory building. Mo Mo was a good boy, he was not afraid of me and didn’t tease me, and he often bought me food.]

“What about the other three boys?” Bai Yutang asked.

The mute uncle was silent for a long time after reading the question, then typed: [Mo Mo was too silly. If he wanted to kill those four bastards, he should have told me, I could have helped him. Anyway, my life is not worth anything, he shouldn’t have lost his life.]

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang felt surprised after reading the text. The group checked the dormitory again and confirmed that there was no one upstairs before they walked back downstairs. They saw Zhao Zhen, Bai Chi, and the twins standing at the bottom of the stairs.

“Did anyone come out?” Bai Yutang asked.

Both Bai Chi and Zhao Zhen shook their heads.

Everyone felt suspicious.

“What do you think?” Zhan Zhao asked Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang smiled and raised his eyebrows, “I don’t believe that there are ghosts in this world.”

Gongsun nodded, “If no one came out, then there are ghosts.”

Zhan Zhao patted the mute uncle and motioned for him to take the group into his room. The mute uncle nodded and led the group into the communication room where he was staying while he was guarding the dormitory.

The room was very small. If everyone went it, they could only huddle together, so some of them dispersed. Bai Jintang felt a little breathless and walked over to the door. Zhao Zhen pulled Bai Chi to walk around the haunted house. Bai Chi was helpless and was dragged upstairs. The twins also went upstairs enthusiastically. Only the mute uncle, Zhan Zhao, Bai Yutang, and Gongsun were left in the room. Bai Jintang leaned on the wall by the door and smoked.

“Were those four boys bad?” Bai Yutang asked the mute uncle.

The mute uncle nodded and replied: [They were scum, and I don’t know why they gathered together. There were several scums in previous years, but that was the first time that scums had grouped together.]

“I heard that they gang-raped Hao Mo’s girlfriend.” Bai Yutang continued.

The mute uncle was silent for a moment and nodded: [It was because of this that he finally went crazy and burned them to death.]

“What about the other boy?” Gongsun asked, “Why was he not there? What kind of person was he?”

[His name is Zhang Hua, he’s the son of the principal. No one dares to bully him, nor does he bully others. He felt that the four people were not easy to get along with, so he often stayed outside the dormitory.]

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other, everything was clear now. It’s no wonder that Zhang Jianqi left, it turns out that he wanted to avoid suspicion.

At that moment, Gongsun gently pulled Zhan Zhao, motioning him to look at the bookshelf behind the uncle’s small bed. Zhan Zhao looked at it and saw that the uncle was quite knowledgeable. There were a lot of books on the shelf, and several of them had been ripped apart. Just looking at the titles of the books, Zhan Zhao frowned slightly. The books included: ‘Othello’, ‘Hamlet’, ‘Family Revenge’, ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’, ‘Wuthering Heights’…

Zhan Zhao touched his chin. He glanced at the mute uncle and saw that the mute uncle was also carefully looking at him. Seeing that they were looking at each other, the mute uncle hurriedly lowered his head and continued to answer Bai Yutang’s questions.

Standing at the door, Bai Jintang suddenly caught a glimpse of a figure drifting by in the distance at the end of the hallway.

Bai Jintang didn’t call out to anyone this time. He simply put on hand in his pocket and walked towards the end of the hallway with his cigarette in his mouth. There seemed to be a young man in white standing there under the strong light of the window. There was a faint golden circle around the backlit white clothes, and it was difficult to see his facial features. Bai Jintang wanted to get closer, but he heard a misty voice, “Don’t come any closer.”

Bai Jintang stopped and looked suspiciously at the young man in white.

“Are you a student?” Bai Jintang asked him.

The boy tilted his head and looked at him for a while, “Why don’t you ask if I am a human or a ghost?”

“Heh…” Bai Jintang stood there with his cigarette in his mouth, “There is a shadow on the ground.”

The young man smiled slightly. He sat on the windowsill and swung his legs gently, “Are you not a policeman?”

Bai Jintang nodded and asked, “Why are you pretending to be a ghost?”

The teenager was silent for a while, and whispered, “I have a very important thing to do. If I don’t finish it, I can’t leave with peace of mind.”

“Where will you go?” Bai Jintang was slightly puzzled.

The boy looked at the ground outside the window and said to Bai Jintang, “Can you let me go and not tell the police that you have seen me?”

Bai Jintang frowned slightly. At that time, the sounds of footsteps came from down the hallway, and the boy looked at Bai Jintang.

Bai Jintang nodded.

The boy smiled at him, said “Thank you.”, and went out the window.

Bai Jintang sighed lightly and shook his head. At that moment, he heard an exclamation from the side, “Ah!”

Bai Jintang turned his face and saw Bai Chi and Zhao Zhen standing at the top of the stairs. Bai Chi screamed in surprise.

“What are you doing?” Bai Jintang looked at him.

“Brother, why did you suddenly appear here? You scared me to death.” Bai Chi patted his chest.

Bai Jintang pinched out the cigarette and asked Bai Chi, “What kind of case is this?”

“Hmm…” Bai Chi touched his head, “It’s quite complicated. The case from seven years ago is involved in the current case, I can’t figure it out.”

Bai Jintang nodded, then turned around and went back.

“What’s wrong with Brother?” Bai Chi looked up at Zhao Zhen beside him puzzledly.

“En… It’s interesting.” Zhao Zhen smiled slightly, then walked back with his arm around Bai Chi’s shoulders.

Bai Chi raised his hand and patted him away, whispering a warning, “You’re not allowed to put your arm around my shoulder outside.”

……

“The four students are Wang Liang, Xu Feng, Liu Ming, and Chen Zinan.” Gongsun looked at the documents, “They passed almost none of the subjects on their academic records, and all of their teachers gave bad reviews.”

“It’s rare to see a student who can be this bad.” Zhan Zhao also looked at the documents. He typed a question out on his phone: [They often bullied their classmates?]

The mute uncle’s mouth twitched and he sneered: [They did bad things.]

“Why didn’t the school expel them?” Bai Yutang asked.

His answer was: [I don’t know.]

“You don’t know?” Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao looked at each other and asked the mute uncle, “You mean you don’t know where to start?”

[Everyone thought that they should be expelled.] The mute uncle continued typing, [But I don’t know why they were allowed to stay in school and commit evil acts. They even dared to bully teachers, let alone students!] 

Both Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao were keenly aware that there seemed to be some unusual clues from that time.

“Ye Ling, what is your impression of this girl?” Zhan Zhao asked.

The mute uncle shook his head: [A very introverted girl, though I am not very clear on the specifics as I was only responsible for the male dormitory.]

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other. When the mute uncle talked about Ye Ling, he was not very angry or sympathetic, but rather used a light tone, as if he was indifferent. He was not at all as emotional as he was while talking about Hao Mo.

“What was suspicious about the case back then?” Zhan Zhao asked the mute uncle.

The mute uncle was silent for a long time, then slowly raised his head. He moved his lips and silently said a word to Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang. Although it was silent, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang still clearly distinguished that the word was ‘principal’.

Zhan Zhao nodded: [Uncle Mute, we have one last question.]

The mute uncle nodded and waited.

Zhan Zhao typed the last question: [What is your real name?]

The mute uncle was taken aback, then typed: [I am an employee of the school. If you have any questions, you can go to the personnel department to inquire.]

Zhan Zhao nodded and typed: [Thank you.]. Bai Yutang stood up to say goodbye and the mute uncle politely sent everyone out.

After leaving the forest, Luo Tian brought Luoyang over to watch the boys who were playing on the basketball court.

Bai Yutang saw the tall Fang Yan at a glance. Fang Yan also saw them. He put his ball down, ran over to Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao, and nodded, “Police Officer Brothers.”

“The method was easy to use?” Bai Yutang asked him with a smile.

Fang Yan immediately smiled and nodded, “It’s really easy to use, Brother Bai. Thank you so much!”

Zhan Zhao narrowed his eyes and stared at Bai Yutang, “What’s the method?”

Bai Yutang just laughed without answering, and said, “By the way, Yang Fan, do you know anything about President Zhang Jianqi?”

Yang Fan was taken aback. He thought for a moment, then said, “Principal Zhang is in charge of the liberal arts department… He’s a very kind principal who often plays ball with us. He was here just now.”

“What?” Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other, frowning deeply and saying in their heart, ‘If you are really not there, then it’s fine., But you are there and you want to lie to the police to send them away? That is too arrogant!’

“Do you know where he is usually?” Bai Yutang asked.

Yang Fan nodded, “In the South Teaching Building, next to the office of the Dean of the College of Humanities. There is a principal’s office there, and he is often there.”

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other, and together they led everyone to the teaching building.

“Xiao Bai, what happened before?” Zhan Zhao stared at Bai Yutang viciously.

Gongsun was amused and said, “Xiao Zhan, why don’t you know?”

Zhan Zhao opened his eyes wide and looked at Gongsun in surprise, “You know this too?”

Gongsun smiled and shook his head, “This incident was very famous in the school at the time. You don’t even know it?!”

… This time, Zhan Zhao was completely confused, and it took him a long time to ask, “Then why don’t I have any impression of it at all? Do I have amnesia?”

On the side, Bai Yutang smirked.

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Poor Zhan Zhao still doesn't know what happened in the past, even Gongsun knows.

Bai Chi swatting Zhao Zhen away made me think back to the drama 😂

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

Translated: April 26, 2021