S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 2 Chapter 85

Password Murderer 23 – Male Phobia

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At noon, Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao ordered a very high-calorie takeaway meal. After the two of them worked together to solve a pizza, they were unscrupulous, each carrying a chicken burger, a large Coke, a large bag of fried chicken, and egg tarts, as they got into the elevator. There were two student-like teenagers who were riding in the elevator with them. Both were a little fat and were looking bitterly at the two adults who had their mouths full of oil and yet maintained super good figures. Bai Yutang glanced at the two little fat guys and smiled, “Would you like to lose weight? I will teach you a method. Exercising in the bathtub consumes the most calories…”

Before he could finish speaking, he was viciously kicked by Zhan Zhao.

……

Zhan Zhao and his student made an appointment to meet at the entrance of the sanatorium. (Angel: A sanatorium is a medical facility for ling-term illnesses.)

“Cat.” Bai Yutang asked as he drove, with the egg tart that Zhan Zhao stuffed in his mouth still there, “That sanatorium seems to be for mental patients, right?”

Zhan Zhao nodded and gnawed on his chicken wings, “En, there are people with serious psychological illnesses there. Their recuperation could also be considered imprisonment.”

“Imprisonment?” Bai Yutang was puzzled.

Zhan Zhao wiped Bai Yutang’s mouth with a napkin, then stuffed a piece of chicken thigh in it, “Ye Ling has injured many people and is a very dangerous patient.”

“Does she stab a man when she sees him?” Bai Yutang was curious, “What about the male doctors in the hospital?”

Zhan Zhao shrugged, “I don’t know, it depends on the situation.”

“How are you going to treat her?” Bai Yutang asked.

“Well, what happened to Ye Ling to make her go crazy, this is the key. Why did she develop androphobia for no reason? It would be very helpful for the case if we could understand this.” Zhan Zhao thought for a while, “I want to see if I can calm her down, and then hypnotize her to have her remember what happened that year.”

Bai Yutang nodded and raised an eyebrow, “I hope she won’t come at us with a knife.”

After driving for about an hour, they arrived at the entrance of the sanatorium. There was a red car parked outside. By the car, there was a young woman who was not very tall and had some baby fat, and she was holding some documents in her hands.

Bai Yutang’s car stopped beside the red car, and Zhan Zhao waved to the girl through the car window, “Jasmine.”

“Dr. Zhan!” Jasmine raised her hand to greet Zhan Zhao, and looked curiously at Bai Yutang, who was parking.

“Have you eaten?” Zhan Zhao asked Jasmine, and he handed over a hamburger, “There are burgers and egg tarts.”

Jasmine rubbed her chin and looked at the pile of McDonald’s and KFC wrappers in the car, then stared at Zhan Zhao, “People who don’t eat fat are kicked by horses!”

Zhan Zhao laughed, “Are you going to eat it?”

Jasmine reached out and took the hamburger, “I’ll eat it!”

While nibbling on the hamburger, Jasmine looked at Bai Yutang, who got out of the car, and asked Zhan Zhao, “Dr. Zhan, this is Officer Bai?”

Zhan Zhao nodded. Bai Yutang walked over to Zhan Zhao’s side and smiled at Jasmine, “Hello.”

Jasmine gnawed at the hamburger and looked at Zhan Zhao, then at Bai Yutang, and her heart was intoxicated, “It’s so healing, my heart beats so fast…”

After talking and laughing for a while, the three of them entered the sanatorium.

“Can you let us meet Ye Ling?” Zhan Zhao asked.

Jasmine shook her head, “She has not improved with the recent treatment. Her original fear has developed into a kind of violence, and it is very difficult to handle.”

“She doesn’t remember anything about the past?” Zhan Zhao asked.

Jasmine shook her head, “It’s hard to say whether her amnesia was caused by conscious forgetting or an accident, however, the things that she experienced in the past should have been terrible, so she was frightened like this and was left in a deep psychological shadow.”

“Isn’t it okay to see her from a distance?” Bai Yutang asked.

“Oh, it doesn’t matter.” Jasmine waved her hand, “As long as you are ten steps away from her, or there is a window or door separating you, you can interact with her like a normal person. You could also meet and pass by her on a road normally, as long as you don’t meet her eyes.”

“So strange?” Bai Yutang wondered.

“In other words, her androphobia is not the fear of males, but rather the fear of close contact with males.” Zhan Zhao said, “If you can talk to her, it will be easier.”

“Ye Ling’s life has been greatly affected. She is anorexic, depressed, and easily manic. I think that if we can’t cure her, then she will not be able to endure it for too long.”

“It’s so serious?” Bai Yutang was surprised, “Is there anyone who suffocated themselves to death like this?”

Zhan Zhao sighed helplessly, “There are many people who die from depression. A white mouse like you who has nerves thicker than the mouth of a bowl would not understand!”

Bai Yutang glanced at Zhan Zhao, then raised his hand and gently patted his hip.

Zhan Zhao jumped in surprise, but at the same time, he heard the tragic scream of a woman coming from a room in front of him. Then the sound of things being thrown came from the room, and everyone was able to distinguish it. The noise came from the room at the end of the hallway.

“That’s Ye Ling’s room!” Jasmine was shocked, but she concealed it, “Oh, someone went in!”

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang glanced at each other, and felt their hearts tighten. Maybe someone wanted to hurt Ye Ling, after all, she was an important insider of the incident.

Bai Yutang rushed over and kicked the door open. He saw a woman in white in the room, holding a knife in her hand, and a man standing against the wall with blood on his shoulders, and his hand holding his shoulder, “Ye Ling, calm down!”

Zhan Zhao also ran into the room and saw that Ye Ling was holding a fruit knife in her hand, and the knife was full of blood. Her face was pale and she was looking at the man in horror. Looking at the man again, both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang frowned deeply; it was Zhang Hua!

“Ling Ling, don’t be upset, it’s me.” Jasmine wanted to step forward, but was stopped by Bai Yutang. Ye Ling’s mood was too unstable, so it’s better not to approach. Just as Bai Yutang wanted to step forwards to get the knife from Ye Ling’s hand, he suddenly heard a ‘clang’ and the fruit knife in Ye Ling’s hand fell to the ground. She opened her eyes wide, staring blankly in the direction of the door. Everyone turned their faces and saw that it was Zhan Zhao who was standing in the door.

Zhan Zhao also noticed that she was looking at him. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up, and he subconsciously glanced behind himself, but there was no one there. At that moment, he heard Ye Ling cry out, “Mo Mo!”. Then she flew over and grabbed Zhan Zhao’s waist.

“Uh…” Zhan Zhao froze in place, and looked puzzledly at everyone. Jasmine’s eyes widened with surprise, while Bai Yutang stood on the side with his brows raised. His expression was complicated.

“Mo Mo, you finally came to see me. I’m sorry Mo Mo, you are angry with me.” Ye Ling cried with her arms around Zhan Zhao, while repeatedly apologizing to Mo Mo.

Bai Yutang turned to look at Zhang Hua, “Zhan Zhao doesn’t look like Hao Mo.”

Zhang Hua was silent for a while, “Hao Mo had the same brick-red sweater back then, and it was Ye Ling that gave it to him.”

Everyone knew that Zhan Zhao was wearing a brick-red sweater.

After that, the medical staff outside also came into the room. Bai Yutang showed his credentials and told everyone to go back. He picked the knife up from the ground, then checked again and confirmed that there were no more knives in the room, and nodded.

Zhan Zhao stretched his hand out to pat Ye Ling, “Um, Ye Ling, shall we go and sit?”

Ye Ling looked up at Zhan Zhao and asked, “Mo Mo, why did you call me Ye Ling? Didn’t you always call me Ling Ling? Are you still mad at me?”

“No.” Zhan Zhao quickly shook his head, “Come on Ling Ling, let’s go sit over there.”

Ye Ling smiled and nodded, then took Zhan Zhao’s hand to sit down on the bed. She sat down firmly and threw her hands around Zhan Zhao, “Mo Mo, I thought you would never come for the rest of your life, and that you would never forgive me!”

Zhan Zhao looked at Bai Yutang awkwardly, and Bai Yutang’s mouth twitched twice. He beckoned to Zhang Hua and walked to the door with him.

“Why are you here?” Bai Yutang asked, “How did you know Ye Ling was here?”

Zhang Hua whispered, “Ye Ling is suspended from school, and for that she needed a hospital to issue a certificate to the school. I found the hospital where she was treated from the certificate, and then inquired about it.”

Bai Yutang nodded, “What are you doing here?”

Zhang Hua answered helplessly, “I heard that Ye Ling’s condition is very serious. I didn’t expect her to be living so miserably these past years, so I wanted to come and see her. But I didn’t expect…”

Bai Yutang nodded, then he called over a doctor to take a look at the wound on Zhang Hua’s shoulder. Jasmine came out and asked, “Why is the door of Ye Ling’s room open? Didn’t I say that she could not receive male visitors alone?”

The medical staff looked at each other, but Zhang Hua said, “When I came, the door was already open.”

Bai Yutang frowned and looked back at Jasmine. Jasmine shook her head, “Impossible, no one would visit Ye Ling, and her parents have gone abroad recently. I am the only one who takes care of her, there should be no one else that would come.”

Bai Yutang looked down at the lock on the door and spoke to Zhang Hua, “Empty your pockets and let me see!”

Zhang Hua was taken aback, but immediately did so. He turned out all of the pockets on his body and showed them to Bai Yutang. Bai Yutang nodded and motioned for the medical staff to take him to be bandaged.

Zhan Zhao calmed down Ye Ling. Ye Ling stopped crying and wiped away her tears. Her originally small figure combined with the extreme thinness caused by malnutrition made her look weak and petite. She sat quietly by Zhan Zhao’s side, holding his sleeve in one hand. It seemed as though she was afraid that he would suddenly leave.

Zhan Zhao’s eyes motioned to Bai Yutang — ‘What’s the situation?’

Bai Yutang pointed his finger at the lock on the door, “The door was pried open, there are scratches on the keyhole. They are very recent.”

Zhan Zhao nodded and asked Ye Ling, “Ling Ling, who was here just now?”

Ye Ling pulled her legs in while sitting next to Zhan Zhao, played with the corner of his clothes in her hand, and whispered, “Huh?”

Zhan Zhao asked, “Has anyone come in?”

Ye Ling shook her head, “No.”

“How did that door open?” Zhan Zhao asked.

Ye Ling looked around nervously, and leaned into Zhan Zhao’s arms, “Mo Mo… He has been here.”

“He?” Zhan Zhao asked puzzledly, “Who?”

Ye Ling whispered, “I saw a figure behind me… But it has to be his! It must be him!”

“Who is he?” Zhan Zhao stretched his hand out to touch Ye Ling’s hair, and spoke softly, “Don’t be afraid, I called the police…”

“Don’t call the police! You can’t call, we will be arrested too!”

“Okay okay, I won’t call, I won’t call!” Zhan Zhao quickly patted Ye Ling to calm her down, and asked in a low voice, “Then tell me, who was here just now?”

Ye Ling madly looked left and right, then whispered in Zhan Zhao’s ear, “The murderer… The murderer has come…”

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

I could only imagine the look on Bai Yutang's face when Ye Ling clung to Zhan Zhao 🤣

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

Translated: May 8, 2021