S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 2 Chapter 75

Password Murderer 15 – Photographer

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Bai Yutang, Zhan Zhao, Bai Chi, and Luo Tian went to the studio in the center of S City following the address provided by Jiang Ping. As they entered the building, they asked the receptionist, “Is Liu Fang here?”

The receptionist replied, “He is off today.”

“Do you have his home address?” Bai Yutang asked.

“Uh… yes.” The receptionist checked and gave Bai Yutang the address of Liu Fang’s house. Everyone hurried off to his house.

Liu Fang’s family lives in a small high-rise in the city, and the address showed that he lives on the eleventh floor.

After the four people got out of the car, they rushed upstairs. Liu Fang’s house number was 1102. Bai Yutang rang the doorbell when he reached the door, but after the doorbell rang ten times, no one came to open the door.

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao looked at each other. Zhan Zhao rubbed his nose a few times, “It smells like something’s burning.”

Everyone’s eyes widened.

“I’ll get the keys from the security team.” Luo Tian turned and rushed downstairs. Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao began to hit the door hard…

“Too slow.” Said Zhan Zhao.

Bai Yutang took out his gun and wanted to shoot the keyhole of the door. At that moment, the door opened with a click. The person yawned as they opened the door, vaguely asking, “Who?”

Everyone at the door was stunned, and they saw that the one who came to the door was a young man in his thirties, or a little older. He had dyed blond hair, was wearing a black shirt and slim pants, and he was very thin; He looked very young.

The man rubbed his eyes a few times, raised his eyes, and saw Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang standing at the door. Zhan Zhao’s hand was still raised to knock on the door, while Bai Yutang was standing at the door with his gun in his hand.

The man looked Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao up and down, then raised his eyebrows and touched his chin, “Um…  I like it.” (Angel: I don’t know what he is referring to here. Maybe he is referring to the visual of the two standing there, as he is a photographer.)

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other and asked together, “Who are you?”

The man smiled and shrugged, “You came to my house, shouldn’t I be asking you that?”

“Your house?” Bai Chi asked, “Are you Liu Fang?”

The man shrugged, “I’m Liu Fang, the great photographer.”

At that time, Luo Tian hurriedly dragged the manager over. Because he couldn’t wait for the elevator, Luo Tian directly dragged the manager up the stairs. The manager was not too young. As Luo Tian dragged him up, he was already out of breath and it looked like he was about to fall down.

When he arrived at the door, Luo Tian was stunned when he saw the situation. The manager held on to the wall as he gasped, “He… he… I told you… I told you Mr. Fang was here.”

“Are you sure he is Liu Fang?” Bai Yutang asked.

His question seemed to dissatisfy Liu Fang, and he rolled his eyes. The manager nodded and asked, “What is going on?”

Luo Tian saw the manager asking him, but he didn’t have an answer. He heard Zhan Zhao answer instead, “Oh… We belong to the property. This is an ability test for emergency situations… Well, you are qualified, you can go. We will report it to the property.”

“Huh?” The manager touched his head, then shook it blankly and left.

“When did the property hire such a handsome employee?” Liu Fang asked with a smile, “You’re also carrying a gun? Is it true?”

Bai Yutang put away his gun and took out his ID to show him.

Liu Fang leaned over to look at the name on the ID and whistled, “I heard two friends talk about you. It seems you are more interesting than the legends.”

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang glanced at each other with some doubts, and listened to Liu Fang continue with a smile, “They are two beauties, both big stars, claiming that their boyfriends are in SCI.”

It was clear to everyone that he was probably talking about Qi Le and Chen Jiayi.

“Can we go in and talk?” Bai Yutang asked Liu Fang.

“Of course.” Liu Fang invited the group into his house. The room was clean and fashionable. It was obvious that Liu Fang had a lot of income. At the beginning, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang only regarded him as an ordinary photographer working in a photo studio, but it seems that he should be one of the more popular photographers in the industry.

“May I ask what it was that I smelled burning?” Zhan Zhao looked around.

“The wife next door is probably cooking again.” Liu Fang shrugged and turned to get a drink from the refrigerator. “Would you like a drink? Though I only have alcohol.”

“No.” Bai Yutang said, “We just want to ask a few questions.”

“Okay.” Liu Fang grabbed himself a can of cold beer. He walked to the sofa and motioned for Bai Yutang, Zhan Zhao, and the others to sit down.

As soon as Zhan Zhao sat down, he felt as though something soft had hit his butt, then he heard a delicate cry, “Meow…”

When Zhan Zhao turned his head, he saw a cream-white Garfield lying on the cream-white sofa behind him.

The cat was lying on the sofa with one paw by Zhan Zhao, looking at him dissatisfiedly, while licking its other paw.

Zhan Zhao narrowed his eyes, thinking, ‘This cat is so cute. I don’t know if it’s male or female, but it has a small pink bow on its ear, so it should be a little female… We can take it to breed with Luban…’

“Lilia, come here and let the guests sit down.” Liu Fang beckoned the cat, and the cat gently meowed after hearing him. She glanced at Zhan Zhao and got up reluctantly. She slowly walked to the sofa where Liu Fang was, leapt gently and skillfully onto Liu Fang’s knee, laid down gracefully, then began to lick her fur.

Liu Fang stretched his hand out and gently stroked the cat’s fur, smiling, “She doesn’t like people who are prettier than her.”

Zhan Zhao sat on the sofa and asked with interest, “Is she a mother? Has she ever been sterilized? There is a male Burmese ragdoll in my family.”

Liu Fang was taken aback, then laughed and nodded, “Lilia, are you interested in going on a date?”

Lilia turned arrogantly, pointing her butt at Zhan Zhao, and flicked her tail.

Zhan Zhao narrowed his eyes again and thought, ‘Sure enough, Garfield’s personality is very arrogant!’

“Be serious.” Bai Yutang pulled Zhan Zhao’s attention away from the cat, and spoke to Liu Fang, “Are you a graduate of Normal University?”

Liu Fang shrugged, “To be precise, I didn’t graduate. I dropped out of school in the middle of my studies to teach myself photography. Then I traveled around the world to take pictures while working… In the end, I became like this.”

“When did you leave school?” Bai Yutang asked.

Liu Fang reached out and scratched Lilia’s ear and she purred comfortably, “It’s been fourteen years.”

“Do you remember it clearly?” Bai Yutang asked him.

“I was only nineteen years old back then… How could I forget the last year before I was twenty?” Liu Fang replied lightly.

“Then, do you have impression of the name Chen Jianxian?” Bai Yutang asked.

Liu Fang frowned slightly and looked up at Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, “Why?”

“He was your classmate. Do you remember the fire from fourteen years ago?” Zhan Zhao asked.

“I won’t forget it even when I die.” Liu Fang said arrogantly, “Say it, what exactly is going on?”

“Xu Zhong and Wu Qianliang were also in your dormitory at that time, right?” Bai Yutang asked, “And Wang Youyi and Zhang Han.”

Liu Fang nodded, “Well, but I haven’t contacted them since I dropped out of school.”

“Did you drop out of school because of the fire?” Bia Chi asked him.

Liu Fang shrugged, “There are many reasons, but the fire was a major one.”

“Why do you say that?” Zhan Zhao asked.

“The fire taught me how important it is to leave a beautiful moment.” Liu Fang replied indifferently, the asked, “What happened?”

“Wang Youyi, Zhang Han, and Wu Qianliang are all dead. When Wu Qianliang jumped off a building to commit suicide, Xu Zhong was almost crushed by him.” Bai Yutang replied.

Liu Fang obviously froze for a long time. He took a cigarette from the coffee table in front of the sofa, lit it, took a deep breathe, and exhaled, “So what?”

“We think that you may be the next victim.” Zhan Zhao said directly.

“Do you think that Chen Jianxian killed those four people and will kill me next?” Liu Fang asked.

“It is said that Chen Jianxian was locked up in the toilet of the dormitory by his roommates back then, so he was seriously injured by the fire.” Bai Yutang said.

Liu Fang raised his eyebrows and shook his head gently, “He won’t kill me.”

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other, then turned to look at Liu Fang in confusion.

“Let me first explain that I have never bullied Jianxian… I was the eldest in the dormitory. They were more restrained when I was there and they didn’t dare to bully him too much.” At that point, Liu Fang sighed, “But that day, I happened to be absent, and then that happened.” As he spoke, he reached out and unbuttoned his sleeves, rolling them up and showing everyone the large burn scars on his arm… Zhan Zhao frowned slightly. He knew that this scar was from a large-scale burn, as Bai Yutang also had one on his arm.

Everyone looked at Liu Fang puzzledly.

“When I returned to the dormitory, I asked the four boys where Jianxian was. They said that he was in the restroom, so I rushed in to rescue him. Unfortunately, we both ended up having to get saved by the firemen in the end. I spent three months in the intensive care unit with him… Do you know what Jianxian said to me when he woke up?”

Everyone looked at each other and shook their heads.

“He said… Thank you for saving my life, I must keep this life, there are many things I need to do.” Liu Fang finished smoking his cigarette and pinched it out in the ash tray.

“Do you know where Chen Jianxian is now?” Zhan Zhao asked,

Liu Fang shook his head, “After that incident, I have felt that life is short and that I should do what I want to do in order to keep the beautiful moments. Then I dropped out of school and went on a long journey. As for what happened later, I don’t know.”

Everyone was silent after listening to him.

“If I told you… Seven years ago, there was another fire in the dormitory building at Normal University. It was one student who burned four others to death. Those four students were villains… What would you think about that?”

Liu Fang’s hand that wanted to reach for a second cigarette trembled unconsciously. He frowned slightly, and shook his head for a long time, “I can’t think of anything.” As soon as his voice fell, his phone rang. Liu Fang answered it, and after listening, he responded, “I see, I will come right away.” Then he hung up the phone.

Afterwards, Liu Fang stood up and spoke to Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao, “I’m sorry everyone, I must go back to work soon. Do you have anything else you would like to ask?”

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other and shook their heads. Bai Yutang took out his business card and put it on the table, “If you think of anything, contact me.”

“Definitely.” Liu Fang accepted the business card and send the four of them out.

The four people walked into the elevator after leaving.

“Cat, what do you think?” Bai Yutang asked Zhan Zhao.

“Um… Lilia is very cute.” Zhan Zhao smiled slyly. Seeing Bai Yutang looking at him feebly, he put his smile away and whispered, “Besides that… Liu Fang is lying.”

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Zhan Zhao still hasn't given up breeding Luban 🤣

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

Translated: April 29, 2021