S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 2 Chapter 78

Password Murderer 16 – Born Bad

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Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao, "How do you know he is lying?"

“That Liu Fang is indeed very calm on the surface.” Zhan Zhao smiled slightly, “But the feeling he gave me seemed to be trying to suppress a certain emotion.”

“Emotion?” The group looked at Zhan Zhao curiously.

“He had the cat sit on his lap and stroked its fur… This was to calm himself down with the soft touch. But… the action of smoking exposed his emotion.”

“What emotion?” Bai Yutang asked.

“Anger.” Zhan Zhao whispered.

“Anger?” Luo Tian thought for a while, “Liu Fang started smoking when you mentioned that Wu Qianliang almost killed Xu Zhong… Why was he angry?”

“Perhaps he hates this kind of murderous trick?” Bai Yutang shrugged and opened the car door, “Or maybe it’s because Xu Zhong escaped.”

“It seems that we have to go back and ask Xu Zhong as well.” Zhan Zhao fastened his seatbelt.

“Xu Zhong has been formally arrested. Now he is in custody and awaiting trial for kidnapping and attempted murder…” Bai Chi shook his head, “Although the child is fine, Xu Zhong may not be sentenced to death, but I don’t think his sentence will be light.”

“That’s right.” Bai Yutang nodded, “Twenty or thirty years.”

“Unless…” Zhan Zhao thought for a while, “He was instigated, and there is a mastermind behind the scenes who was using him.”

“Then the sentence really may be very light.” Bai Chi nodded, “After all, it was just a wrong decision made in a moment of weakness that had serious consequences.”

While they were chatting, Bai Yutang’s phone rang. Zhang Jianqi called and said that he was going to meet Zhang Hua, but Zhang Hua yelled when he heard that he wanted to bring him to see the police. Zhang Jianqi asked Bai Yutang to give him the night to persuade his son and that he will bring him to the police station early the next morning.

Bai Yutang was helpless, he had no choice but to agree.

“It seems we should go back and interrogate Xu Zhong.” Bai Yutang turned the car around and wanted to head back to the police station, but his phone rang again.

Zhan Zhao helped him take his phone out. He took a look and was taken aback, “Xiao Bai, it’s your mother calling.”

Bai Yutang frowned, “By the way, I haven’t been back in a long time. She probably wants us to go back for dinner.”

“Well, it’s possible.” Zhan Zhao answered the phone, “Auntie… Well, Yutang is driving… Huh?”

Bai Yutang didn’t know what his mother said, so he looked at Zhan Zhao, who blinked at him blankly. Bai Yutang could feel Zhan Zhao’s embarrassment, and he felt quite puzzled. Later, Zhan Zhao could only respond with “Oh.”, and then he hung up the phone.

“What’s the matter?” Bai Yutang asked when he saw his awkward look.

“Your mother said to bring Brother back home for dinner… And to bring Gongsun with him.” Zhan Zhao whispered, “She said that since they are married, he should bring him home for a meal so that she can see him.”

Bai Yutang’s eyes widened as he looked at Zhan Zhao, “No way!”

“What should we do?” Zhan Zhao asked, “She asked us to go back too.”

“Huh?” Bai Yutang opened his mouth wide and shook his head, “I don’t want to. Why go back? It’s so embarrassing!”

“You’re right.” Bai Chi replied behind him.

Zhan Zhao looked back at Bai Chi, “Chi Chi, or you can go instead.”

“I don’t want to.” Bai Chi shook his head quickly.

“Oh my god, how long has it been since your dad has eaten with Brother?” Zhan Zhao felt more and more horrible the more he thought about it, “Will they fight?”

Luo Tian watched from the side. He thought about it and said, “You could take Yang Yang. If there is a child there, the adults will restrain themselves.”

“Yes!” Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other and nodded, “It makes sense.”

Bai Chi blinked, “Well, taking a child… Will it stimulate them even more?”

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other — ‘That’s right.’

“There’s more.” Zhan Zhao looked at Bai Yutang, “Your mother said that it was your dad’s idea. If we don’t tell Brother and Gongsun, we will die.”

Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao with a sad face, “Why is it like this?!”

Zhan Zhao looked back at Bai Chi, “Chi Chi, are you cooking tonight? Shall I go to your place to eat dinner?”

Bai Yutang widened his eyes and stared at Zhan Zhao, “Dead cat, no loyalty. Let me tell you, you can’t run away. You must go back with me obediently to be a guest!”

Zhan Zhao touched his chin and thought, “Or we could bring Lisbon? He can divert their attention…”

As they were chatting, the car pulled up to the police station, and all of the SCI members who were investigating at the school returned. Because of the many clues that they got, the group were all at the table sorting out the information on hand.

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao saw Bai Jintang and Zhao Zhen sitting in the room, chatting to pass time. The two looked at each other, then looked at Bai Chi.

Bai Chi walked over and waved to Zhao Zhen. After they left, Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao walked over.

“What’s the matter?” Bai Jintang felt embarrassed when he saw the two of them.

“Hmm…” Bai Yutang glanced at Zhan Zhao, which meant — ‘Cat, you say it!’

Zhan Zhao wrinkled his nose and looked to the side — ‘I didn’t see anything!’

Seeing that the two of them were frowning, Bai Jintang found it interesting, so he leaned on the sofa and looked up at Bai Yutang, “What are you doing? Just say something.”

“Ahem, Mom wants you to take Gongsun home for dinner.” Bai Yutang said on one breath.

Zhan Zhao looked at him with admiration — ‘So fast!’

Bai Yutang gave him a blank look — ‘Don’t make trouble.’

The two looked at Bai Jintang and saw that after he heard it, he was slightly stunned, and there was no special expression. Bai Yutang thought about it and said, “Or we could tell them that you have suddenly gone abroad for business.”

Bai Jintang raised his eyebrows and said, “No, let’s go in a while.” After speaking, he stood up and went out.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other, wondering — ‘So easily?!”

After that, the two of them didn’t think about the matter anymore. They asked Zhao Hu to bring Xu Zhong over, and the two entered the interrogation room.

Xu Zhong seemed to be in a state of depression, sitting in the interrogation room silently, with his head slumped down.

“Xu Zhong.” Bai Yutang pulled a chair over and sat down in front of Xu Zhong. Zhan Zhao sat by his side.

Xu Zhong raised his eyes and looked at the two of them, “Officers, I have already explained everything that I should explain… You, what else do you want to ask?”

Bai Yutang nodded and asked, “Xu Zhong… Did you see the person who almost killed you?”

Xu Zhong’s face turned pale for an instant, and Zhan Zhao smiled slightly; it seems that he had seen him.

“No… I didn’t see them clearly.” Xu Zhong stammered, “That… It was too fast.”

“Really?” Bai Yutang handed a picture of Wu Qianliang to Xu Zhong, “Then just look at this picture. Do you recognize them?”

Xu Zhong glanced at the photo and shook his head, “No, I don’t recognize them.”

Bai Yutang nodded, then handed him the photos that he had brought from the school. He pointed to Wu Qianliang and asked, “What about this one? Did you forget about your roommate?”

Xu Zhong hesitated awkwardly, “Oh… it’s Xiao Wu.”

“What about these other people?” Bai Yutang pulled out the photos of the other roommates and asked, “Do you recognize all of them? These few people? They were all in the same dormitory as you, right?”

Xu Zhong’s facial expression became very subtle. After a long period of silence, he shook his head, “I don’t remember… We were relatively young back them. We haven’t seen each other for a long time after we graduated.”

Zhan Zhao frowned, “Except for Liu Fang and Chen Jianxian, everyone else is dead. Did you know that? You don’t think that this accident was just an accident, do you?”

Xu Zhong swallowed, shook his head, and whispered, “I don’t know.”

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other. Xu Zhong said he didn’t know, but his expression clearly showed that he knew.

“We just went to visit Liu Fang.” Bai Yutang continued, “It is said that you used to bully Chen Jianxian back then, and that he was severely burned when you locked him in the bathroom, right?”

Xu Zhong frowned. He hesitated and was silent for a while, then nodded, “So we didn’t mix well, and we got retribution.”

“You are a good office worker, why would you think of kidnapping?” Zhan Zhao asked, “Who gave you the idea?”

Xu Zhong was taken aback. He looked up at Zhan Zhao, “This, I thought about it myself.”

“You have no criminal record,” Bai Yutang said, “but this kidnapping is still perfect. From selecting candidates and the amount you asked for, it seems very professional. Is someone giving you hints?”

“I don’t know.” Xu Zhong was agitated, “I don’t know. How long will you ask this? I kidnapped someone and I almost killed someone. You should let me die. Why do you have to ask questions? If I can’t die, then I’ll go to jail. It’s meaningless to live like this anyway.”

“Sit down.” Bai Yutang coldly said to Xu Zhong who had suddenly stood up and began to growl.

Xu Zhong sat down and said, “We just bullied Chen Jianxian back then. We didn’t expect that the fire would start and that it would be so violent. We would have gone to jail, but Jianxian didn’t tell the school and we were able to escape. After such a catastrophe, we were very grateful to him… This matter was such a long time ago and most of the people are gone, so why are you still thinking about it?”

Zhan Zhao rubbed his chin and looked at Xu Zhong with interest, as if he found something interesting.

At that moment, Jiang Ping knocked on the door and came in, speaking to Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao, “Captain, Dr. Zhan.”

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other, then walked out of the interrogation room and closed the door.

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

“I just entered Xu Zhong’s computer, logged into his mailbox and QQ, and found some interesting things. You’d better take a look.” Jiang Ping explained as he led the two to the office, “This kid joined a special group.”

“Group?” Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang thought it was interesting, “A chat group?”

“En.” Jiang Ping nodded, “The name of the group is ‘Born to be Bad’.”

“Born to be bad?” Zhan Zhao frowned slightly.

“Well, there is a very interesting passage in the group announcement. It says ‘some people are born to be bad guys…”

“There is no cause or reason.” Zhan Zhao didn’t wait for Jiang Ping to finish, then continued, “Just like some people see an injured animal on the side of the road and pick it up, some people will choose to pick up a rock and throw it at it to kill it. Some people feel sympathy when they see others suffer, and some people feel happy when they see others suffer. There are good people and bad people in the world. In essence, they are still bad guys…. because people are set when they are born, some people are born to be bad guys.”

Jiang Ping looked up at Zhan Zhao in surprise, “Not bad, how did you know?”

Zhan Zhao raised his eyebrows and sighed softly, “This is a confession of the murderer in The Eleven Sins’ novel 《The Next Victim》.”

Bai Yutang frowned deeply, “Qiao Weiming wrote it?”

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Oooh, I look forward Bai Jintang bringing Gongsun home. It should be interesting.

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

Translated: May 1, 2021