S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 2 Chapter 89

Password Murderer 27 – Crazy

---

The twins were eating chicken in the neighboring room while watching the game. They heard the window of Bai Jintang’s room shatter, so Xiao Ding quickly turned off the TV and ran to open a window… He saw a bright light flash on the roof of a building next to the Bai Group’s office, which was the reflection of a sniper riffle sight.

The two rushed out. When Bai Jintang called them, the two had already rushed outside. Da Ding answered the phone, and Xiao Ding used the walkie-talkie to order his subordinates to flank the building.

The security guard of the other building hadn’t noticed anything, but he saw a large group of people rushing in. Xiao Ding fiercely said, “No nonsense, the police will handle this!”

The security guard saw that everyone had a gun, so naturally he didn’t dare to say anything. After all, a gun in such a safe country is already earth-shattering in his opinion, let alone everyone having a gun, so they are definitely the police.

Xiao Ding brought people to the roof, and Da Ding went to the security room. Sure enough, the security guard was sleeping… When Da Ding switched the surveillance feed to the camera on the roof, he saw a man in black already packing his gun case and preparing to leave. Da Ding quickly picked up his walkie-talkie, “In the southeast corner, wearing a black coat… He should be a professional. Catch him alive, ask who his employer is!”

Xiao Ding glanced at their opponent, and everyone guarded the stairs at the exit. Not long after they arrived, the door to the roof opened… The middle-aged man carrying a black sniper riffle case came out and saw that several guns were aimed at him.

The man was startled, and quickly raised his hands.

Xiao Ding snorted when he saw him, “Damn, it turned out to be a rookie. No wonder he broke ground on Tai Sui’s head.” (Angel: ‘breaking the ground on Tai Sui’s head’, 太岁头上动土 , is an idiom that is a metaphor for offending people and things beyond one's ability.)

The man had never seen such a scene. He had been a killer for several years, and this is the first time he had encountered this kind of thing.

Xiao Ding put away his gun, pointed his finger at him, and motioned for him to bow his head.

Seeing guns all around him, the man lowered his head slightly. Unexpectedly, just when he lowed his head, he saw Xiao Ding move forward and hit his face with his knee.

The sound of a ‘bang’ filled the stairwell.

“Ugh…” The man covered his face, and his hands filled with blood.

Xiao Ding reached out and grabbed his collar, forcing him to look up, and sneered, “Brat, if it wasn’t for Boss telling me not to, I would have given you a full clip. Do you know who you almost hit? You came out without knowing the rules?!” After speaking, he threw the person into the stairwell, “Who asked you to come?” (Angel: Giving him a full clip basically means that he would have unloaded the entire clip of his gun while shooting at him.)

“I… I’m just the middle man. The target is only known by the client.” The man clutched his nose and groaned, thinking about the situation in his heart, ‘Could it be that my client told me to snipe an underworld boss?’

“Who is your client?” At that time, Da Ding came.

“I… only have their phone number.” The man gave Da Ding his phone. Da Ding glanced at the number, and motioned at Xiao Ding to go back.

Xiao Ding glanced at the man, and looked back at his subordinates who were still waiting behind him, “Not leaving yet? Why are you still standing here?”

“We’re not pulling the trigger on him?” One subordinate asked.

“Ah, no!” The man yelled in surprise.

Xiao Ding shook his head, and pointed at a few men who wished iron could turn into steel, “No wonder people say that a day in the underworld is a lifetime in the underworld. You guys all work for a wealthy and well-known corporate executive, why do you only know how to use your triggers to solve a problem?!” (Angel: Wish iron could turn into steel is a Chinese idiom which describes being dissatisfied from the expectations you hold of a person.)

Several subordinates put away their guns in a hesitant manner. One of them took the man’s sniper rifle case, and gave him a blank look, “Fortunate you.” After that, he kicked him and followed the twins downstairs.

The man reacted, and wet a large area of his crotch. He trembled as he quickly took out his cell phone, and called his client, “Hello, you… Who did you tell me to kill?”

On the other end of the phone, the client froze for a moment, “Why would I tell you this, we always do things without asking for names. Didn’t I give you the photo and address?”

“Damn, is it a big brother?” The man wiped the sweat from his forehead, “I had a dozen guns pointed at me before I could leave and it scared me to death.”

“Who was it?” The other person asked.

“… I think I recognize them, the two who took the lead were twins…” As soon as he finished speaking, he listened to the person on the other end of the phone and took a breath.

As Da Ding wanted to have someone check who the phone number was registered to, a call came from that exact number. Da Ding sneered and answered the phone.

When Da Ding and Xiao Ding returned to Bai Jintang’s apartment, they saw Bai Jintang smoking on the sofa while Gongsun was eating an apple.

“Big Brother.” Da Ding said, “The person who opened the shop was injured by mistake. The client gave the address and the photo without mentioning anything else. The person who opened the shop and took the business apologized, saying that if he knew it was Big Brother, he would not have dared to accept anything.” (Angel: I believe they were talking using underworld terms when they called the sniper ‘shop owner’)

“Client?” Gongsun asked, “A professional killer? Who wants my life?”

“The client is Qiao Weiming.” Xiao Ding replied.

“Bring him to me.” Bai Jintang frowned.

Gongsun waved his hands quickly, “Ah, wait wait, no lynching is allowed!”

Bai Jintang looked at him, “This kid is looking for death.”

“He is in a hurry because he is afraid that I will figure out the password.” Gongsun smiled a little proudly, “Don’t worry, he won’t be so arrogant in a few days. When this case is solved, we will have enough evidence to sentence him indefinitely.”

Bai Jintang nodded and looked up, “Then let someone kill him in prison.”

Gongsun was angry and pointed at him with his apple, “Bai Jintang, what else do you know how to say besides taking action?” (Angel: This sentence gave me a lot of issues, so I left it as is. I decided that it wasn't worth more than 30 minutes of my time struggling with it any longer. Here is the original text if anyone has any better ideas, 你除了会说做还会说什么？！ )

Bai Jintang raised an eyebrow, stared at the apple in Gongsun’s hand, and smiled, “Are you suggesting this?”

“Huh?” Gongsun was taken aback.

Bai Jintang stood up and carried Gongsun into their room, while saying to the twins, “Change the windows to bulletproof glass, and also, tell the shopkeeper to run away to the other side of the earth!” After he finished speaking, he closed the door.

Da Ding reluctantly shrugged and turned his head. He saw Xiao Ding still wearing headphones in his ears, and excitedly said to him, “Score!”

Looking at the sky, Da Ding grabbed Xiao Ding by the collar and dragged him back to their apartment.

……

On the other side, Bai Yutang answered the phone while driving. After hanging up, his face was ugly.

“What’s the matter?” Zhan Zhao asked while chewing on a huge corn on the cob.

“Someone tried to snipe Gongsun.” Bai Yutang answered, “The twins intercepted the man. It was a professional assassin, and his client was Qiao Weiming.”

“What?” Zhan Zhao was taken aback, “Was he afraid that Gongsun would figure out the password? No, why did he choose this time, why not earlier?”

Bai Yutang frowned and shook his head. He called Ma Han and asked him and Zhao Hu to take a team to arrest Qiao Weiming.

Their car stopped at the bottom of Liu Fang’s apartment building. As Bai Yutang got out of the car, his phone rang, and it was Ma Han, “Captain, Qiao Weiming ran away. The person who was sent to watch him said that Qiao Weiming went out this morning and went around the city a few times to dump him.”

“What?” Bai Yutang frowned, “Look for him!”

“Yes Sir!” Ma Han hung up the phone.

“Where will Qiao Weiming go?” Zhan Zhao asked. Bai Yutang frowned and shook his head. At that time, the elevator door slowly opened, and Bai Yutang pulled Zhan Zhao to the side. Both of them frowned because they smelled the most familiar and annoying smell — The smell of blood!

The two took out their guns and glanced at each other. Bai Yutang blocked the elevator door that was about to close with his foot, and flashed out of the elevator.

There was no one in the hallway, but the door of Liu Fang’s house was open.

“Dammit!” Bai Yutang immediately rushed in, and Zhan Zhao followed. When the two entered through the door, they saw that there was no on in the room. However, there was a pool of blood on the ground, and next to the pool of blood lay a white kitten.

“Lilia!” Zhan Zhao hurried forward to check on Lilia. There was a hole in Lilia’s stomach, as if she had been shot, but she was still conscious. She weakly opened her eyes, looked at Zhan Zhao, and whimpered, “Meow…”

“Xiao Bai!” Zhan Zhao looked at Bai Yutang who had run out of a room after searching it.

“There’s no one here.” Bai Yutang took out his phone and called for backup. Seeing that the cat was bleeding a lot and that the blood on the floor had yet to dry, he said, “It hasn’t been long since they left!”

“En!” Zhan Zhao took off his coat and picked up Lilia, then went to the elevator with Bai Yutang. A different elevator than the one that brought them up opened in front of them, and there was blood in it.

The two went downstairs, and Zhan Zhao quickly called a taxi to bring Lilia to the nearest veterinary hospital. Bai Yutang looked around and informed the police to block off the roads within a 10-kilometer radius for investigation. He suddenly remembered that he had informed some officers to watch Liu Fang…

Having a bad feeling, Bai Yutang ran to the underground parking garage and saw a car parked near the entrance. He quickly walked over, took a look, and took a deep breath. The officer in charge of watching Liu Fang had been shot in the head. Bai Yutang put his finger under the officer’s nose, and felt that there was breathing! He quickly called an ambulance.

When he walked by the guard station, he saw that the uncle who was guarding the door had also collapsed in a pool of blood. Bai Yutang stepped forward and touched his neck… Fortunately, he was not dead.

Three minutes later, a yellow cordon was put up around the outside of the building, and the ambulance roared as it drove the injured officer and guard to the hospital. Bai Chi followed it to wait for the results of the operations and to ask about the situation. Bai Yutang led everyone to watch the surveillance footage in the security room… and saw that it was Qiao Weiming who kidnapped Liu Fang with a gun.

There was also footage from the underground parking garage. They saw Qiao Weiming pulling Liu Fang downstairs. The police officer wanted to stop him, but Qiao Weiming fired a shot. Fortunately, Liu Fang raised his hand and hit Qiao Weiming’s hand, so he didn’t fire straight and didn’t hit between the eyebrows. The security guard seemed to be holding his phone, wanting to call the police, and he was also hit…

“Captain… Is this Qiao Weiming crazy or something?” Zhao Hu frowned as he watched the footage, “He took a hostage at gunpoint and wounded people, where is the intelligence in that? Is he a desperado? What irritated him?”

Bai Yutang shook his head, “A wanted order has been issued and the whole city is looking for him. Go and check the road sections where the inspection points are set up and all of the places where Qiao Weiming may go, the sooner the better. With Qiao Weiming’s behaviour suddenly becoming abnormal, Liu Fang may be in danger!”

Everyone nodded and acted. At that time, Zhan Zhao returned.

“How is she?” Bai Yutang asked him.

“Lilia’s stomach was pierced horizontally by the bullet. Fortunately, she will be okay. There was too much blood loss, so she has to stay at the vet for a while.” Zhan Zhao said, “I head that he also injured a police officer and a security guard.”

Bai Yutang nodded and let Zhan Zhao watch the surveillance footage.

“That’s bad.” Zhan Zhao gently rubbed his temples, “Liu Fang may be in danger.”

“If Qiao Weiming wants to kill him, he wouldn’t have captured him alive…” Bai Yutang said, “He should be fine for now.”

“No…” Zhan Zhao shook his head, “I’m not talking about his life being in danger.”

“What do you mean?” Bai Yutang raised his eyebrows, “Ah, that’s right. Qiao Weiming seems to be crazy about Liu Fang, would he be too cruel to him?”

Zhan Zhao sighed, “If I didn’t guess wrong, if we don’t rescue Liu Fang within twenty-four hours, there will be unmanageable results.”

While talking, Bai Jintang’s car stopped at the door. Gongsun got out, holding documents in his hand.

“Gongsun?” Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao said in unison, “Are you okay?”

Gongsun shook his head, “I heard that Qiao Weiming went crazy, kidnapped Liu Fang, and shot at the police officer, right? Let me tell you that password first so that we can solve the case quickly.”

“What’s the password?” Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao asked.

“It’s size!” Gongsun whispered.

“Size?” Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang glanced at each other, a little puzzled.

“Look!” Gongsun spread out the photos from the autopsy report on the table, “The body of Hao Mo and the four other corpses never appear in the same photo, right?”

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other and frowned.

“When our forensic pathologists were doing this seven years ago, we did not have as complete of a forensic department as we do now. We basically did all of the photographing and evidence collection by ourselves!” Gongsun said, “So, all of these scene photos and body photos were taken by Qiao Weiming!”

“Ah…” Zhan Zhao nodded, “There are photos of the four corpses here, but Hao Mo’s corpse hasn’t appeared with any other corpse. He is always alone!”

“That’s right!” Gongsun said seriously, “The photo was taken very carefully. There was no reference object, nothing to compare it to, plus it was burnt and unrecognizable. It was Qiao Weiming who did the technical analysis to identify him…”

“In other words, if Qiao Weiming says that he is Hao Mo, then he is Hao Mo!” Bai Yutang looked up at the group, “In other words, he is not Hao Mo at all!”

Gongsun nodded, “Correct!”

“Hao Mo isn’t dead?” Bai Yutang asked, “Then who is dead?”

“Hmm…” Zhan Zhao suddenly touched his chin and said, “I seem to understand... the whole story of the case, the truth of that year, and… Qiao Weiming’s true purpose.”

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

Previous Chapter | TOC | Next Chapter

Translator Notes

Zhan Zhao has his priorities right; always got to the cat first. But how dare Qiao Weiming hurt precious Lilia!

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

Translated: May 10/11, 2021