S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 2 Chapter 112

Love Murderer 19 – Basement

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Bai Yutang’s hands and feet are very fast, and it’s not difficult to make dinner. He baked a large pizza, made macaroni with seafood and cheese, a big pot of seafood soup, as well as two strawberry sundaes for the children. When he saw them, Zhao Jue hurriedly shouted from outside, “Ah, I want one too! Put more strawberries!”

Everyone looked at him helplessly. Bai Yutang turned to look at Zhan Zhao, and Zhan Zhao looked away. Bai Yutang made two more: one for Zhao Jue, and one for Zhan Zhao. He originally wanted to make one for Bai Chi too, but Bai Chi asked, “Can you make chocolate pudding…”

Zhao Jue probably didn’t know that Zhan Zhao has liked to eat strawberry sundaes since he was a child; it’s best to fill a large glass with ice cream and cover it in sweet strawberries, then slowly eat it with a spoon. Bai Yutang’s hadn’t made Zhan Zhao one, as he guessed that he would not eat it in front of Zhao Jue… because he was afraid of being laughed at. However, now that Zhao Jue said he wants one, he made one for each of them.

After they finished playing, Bai Chi and Luo Tian took the two children to wash their hands. The butler and the maid helped Bai Yutang deliver the cooked food. The butler politely tasted the macaroni with a spoon and exclaimed, “The craftmanship is amazing.”

Bai Yutang smiled at him, “I have made a lot, let’s eat together.”

The butler immediately bowed to him politely, “You are so considerate.”

The corner of Bai Yutang’s mouth twitched, and he wondered if Zhao Jue doesn’t find the foreigner to be uncomfortable.

Afterwards, everyone took their seats and the food was served. Fang Xing and Xiaoxiao first put a spoonful of macaroni into the mouths, chewed it, and shouted, “Delicious!”

Zhan Zhao put something in his mouth and said in his heard that if Xiao Bai opened a restaurant, he would definitely make a profit!

Zhao Jue ate happily and said, “Your mother’s genes are different, Yunwen doesn’t even know how to wash an apple.”

“Ahem…” Bai Yutang was eating and was not prepared for Zhao Jue’s words, and chocked.

Zhan Zhao quickly patted his back. A little curious, he asked, “Uncle Bai can’t even wash apples?”

Bai Yutang nodded with a dry smile.

“Do you want to know about the embarrassing things Yunwen and Qitian did when they were young?” Zhao Jue asked with a smile.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were very tempted. They looked at each other before hearing Zhao Jue ask, “What about Bao Zheng?”

Everyone immediately raised their eyes to look at Zhao Jue. With sincere eyes, their eyes met, and they seemed to have three words written on their foreheads — Really want to!

Zhao Jue smiled, put the fork full of macaroni down, moved the sundae in front of his eyes, and took a spoonful of sundae to eat.

Bai Yutang turned to look at Zhan Zhao, and saw that he had done the same action. However, Zhan Zhao didn’t seem to pay attention to Zhao Jue’s actions, but rather he stared down at the little lion above his knees.

Everyone looked at Bai Yutang, and Bai Yutang had goosebumps. This was Zhan Zhao’s usual eating habit; he liked to eat salty and sweet foods together, and he is very happy when eating, but after dinner, he often has diarrhea… Zhao Jue’s behaviour is almost exactly the same as Zhan Zhao’s.

“When we were young… well, it was almost the same as Zhao Hu in your team.” Zhao Jue said suddenly.

“Ahem…” This time, Gongsun, Bai Chi, and Luo Tian all choked.

Gongsun wiped his mouth with a napkin and asked, “Really?”

“That’s right.” Zhao Jue laughed, “Once, we all went into an air-raid shelter to catch a murderer who had escaped… The air-raid shelter had been destroyed by artillery shells during a battle, and many people were said to have died in it.”

Zhan Zhao’s attention was attracted. He raised his head to look at Zhao Jue, and didn’t pay attention to the little lion on his lap. With his front paws on the table, he leaned over to smell the macaroni on the table, and the sauce stuck to his nose.

“Achoo.” There was a slight spice in the macaroni sauce. The little lion had a keen sense of smell and was choked at once. He hurriedly backed away, scratched his nose with his front paws, and sneezed vigorously.

Zhan Zhao quickly reached out to grab a napkin and wipe his nose.

Zhao Jue bit the grilled sausage that was on his fork, and spoke as he ate, “When I came out of the air-raid shelter, I told Bao Heizi that there was a little girl sitting on his shoulder.”

Gongsun widened his eyes and asked Zhao Jue, “What happened next?”

“He asked us what to do, and Qitian and I told him that the child came up with him. As long as it can’t feel a humans breathe, it will probably leave. Therefore, he must not look back before it leaves… because once he turned his head, his breath would hit the child, and they would be entangled for a lifetime.”

The corner of Bai Yutang’s mouth twitched, “Bao Sir believed it?”

Zhao Jue laughed, “He didn’t dare to turn his head for a week, and then his neck stiffened. Yunwen asked Qitian and I to accompany him to the hospital. We both paid the medical expenses and were scolded.”

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were so shocked that they couldn’t bring their food to their mouths, and they couldn’t help but sigh, “… They have changed a lot in twenty years.”

Zhao Jue smiled, “People will grow up, if you were deceived a lot, you won’t be deceived, and if you aren’t being deceived, you will deceive.”

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other, a little confused about what Zhao Jue meant.

In addition, what made Zhan Zhao more concerned was that Zhao Jue mentioned his father. Wasn’t he a judge, how could he have been a police officer in his youth? Why would he go to the scene with them to catch the killer? Also… in his mind, his father is a person who never laughs. Although he occasionally played pranks on him, he couldn’t imagine him bullying people with Zhao Jue when he was younger…

“It seems that it’s only Uncle Bai’s character that’s never changed.” Bai Chi said while drinking his soup.

“That’s right.” Zhao Jue sneered, looking up at Bai Yutang, “Those surnamed Bai, their nerves are very tough… hundreds of poisons can’t invade it.” (Angel: Hundreds of poisons can’t invade is a Chinese idiom meaning that a person’s will and ability to control themselves are relatively strong, and it is not easy for them to be confused or conquered by the outside world.)

Bai Yutang felt that Zhao Jue seemed to have something hidden in his words. He heard Gongsun suddenly ask, “You said those surnamed Bai, does this apply specifically or generally?”

Zhao Jue was taken aback. He turned his face to look at Gongsun, then smiled, “Sure enough, you are a few years older and not as sharp… Forget it, I said too much.”

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang turned to look at Gongsun, who shrugged — No point in asking, Zhao Jue is too vigilant.

Zhan Zhao turned his face back and asked, “Why did my dad catch the murderer with you?”

“Don’t you know that Qitian was a medical student?” Zhao Jue said, “No… to be precise, he studied medicine and law. At that time, he was a part of a group that studied abroad relatively early, so he was exposed to forensic medicine. When we handled cases, we all asked him for help. He was working as a prosecutor at that time, so he had to help us and provide some forensic assistance.”

Gongsun stretched his hand out and touched his chin, “Let me just say that in previous files, especially those handled by Bao Sir when they were young, I have seen a lot of professional forensic analysis… It turns out to be like this. It was really not easy to do such an analysis at that time.”

Zhan Zhao frowned and was a little confused… Why didn’t he know about this kind of thing? Even if his father didn’t tell him, he has been very close to his mother since he was a child, so why didn’t his mother tell him about this? He didn’t even know that his mother used to be a very skilled police officer.

Zhao Jue seemed to see Zhan Zhao’s doubts and smiled. He scooped some shrimp balls from the seafood soup with his spoon and said, “Yunwen’s most reckless time was when he ate an apple and went to the hospital.”

Everyone looked at him with their eye wide open.

Zhao Jue stuffed the shrimp ball into his mouth, then took the knife and cut a slice of pizza, placing it in front of Xiaoxiao, “On that day, Qitian brought a lot of apples and said they were planted by a friend of the unit and that they were very sweet. Then, Yunwen picked up one to eat, and Qitian scolded him, telling him to eat it after washing it as there may be pesticides. He also handed him a bottle of dish soap.”

Bai Yutang blinked and asked, “He didn’t know how to wash apples with dish soap, right?”

“En.” Zhao Jue nodded, “He walked to the sink outside, poured the dish soap on the top of the apple, and then shook it. He thought it felt very clean, so he walked back in eating it. We asked him how it tasted, and he said that it had the smell of the dish soap. Half an hour later, he had a stomach ache went to the hospital for gastric lavage.” (Angel: Gastric lavage is the procedure commonly know as stomach pumping; it’s the process of cleaning out the contents of the stomach.)

Everyone was silent, and they all felt that Bai Yunwen was absolutely wise to find an almighty housewife like Bai Yutang’s mother to live with. This decision led to Bai Yutang’s superior self-care ability, and indirectly led to a happy life for Zhan Zhao…

“You seem to be very happy when talking about the past.” Zhan Zhao said lightly.

Zhao Jue smiled, “I’m very happy.”

“Then why betray them?” Zhan Zhao asked tentatively.

Zhao Jue looked at Zhan Zhao’s face for a while before replying, “I have never been loyal to them. Without loyalty, how can I betray?”

After speaking, Zhao Jue stopped talking and bowed his head to eat.

……

After the meal, everyone drank a cup of tea. Zhao Jue asked, “Are you full? Let’s go for a walk and digest.”

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were a bit speechless; what exactly does Zhao Jue want to do?

Gongsun suddenly reached out and touched his chin, “Do you have a disgusting corpse for me to dissect?”

Zhao Jue raised his eyebrows and looked at Gongsun, “Smart!”

Gongsun sighed helplessly, “You told us to eat early because you were afraid that we would not be able to eat after seeing the corpse, and that we should digest the food after eating so that we would not vomit it out when we dissect it?”

Zhao Jue nodded, “Well, I have always been quite considerate.”

“Actually, you don’t need to be.” Bai Yutang smiled indifferently, “Corpses have almost no effect on us.”

Zhan Zhao nodded, “Gongsun can eat stewed pig intestines and watermelon juice when dissecting, it doesn’t matter.”

“Alright.” Zhao Jue sighed, “Since you insist, I will take you there.”

“Why is there a corpse in your house?” Bai Yutang asked suddenly.

Zhao Jue smiled, “Don’t worry, they have been dead for hundred of years, I am definitely not the murderer.”

Zhan Zhao thought for a while, then asked, “The body was also obtained from the castle?”

“En…” Zhao Jue nodded, “You are still so smart… Yes, I turned over every brick so that I didn’t miss even a hair… I didn’t miss anything!”

“The family that you are studying has something to do with your experiences?” Zhan Zhao asked.

Zhao Jue thought for a while, then said, “You’ll know after seeing it, don’t ask.” After speaking, he pushed open a heavy wooden door and a tunnel appeared, leading into the basement.

“Is this?” Gongsun asked, “The underground wine cellar that used to be common in European-style villas?”

“Your sense of certain luxury goods is beyond that of ordinary people.” Zhao Jue nodded, “However, this underground cellar does not contain wine.”

After speaking, everyone walked down the tunnel.

There were lights on both sides of the tunnel, which were very bright, so there was not a gloomy feeling at all. As he was walking, Zhan Zhao noticed mottled marks on the wall and stopped…

“What’s wrong?” Bai Yutang asked.

Zhan Zhao leaned over to take a closer look, “Look at these marks… Do they look like…”

“It’s a paw print.” Luo Tian said, “Obviously, some people were unwilling to die, but were dragged down here anyway, so there are long scratches on the wall from their fingers. There should have been two people holding their arms, dragging them down.”

“I have collected every brick in this basement and reinstalled them according to the standards of forensic investigations.” Zhao Jue said, “It’s absolutely authentic, even the fingerprints are still here… none of them have been destroyed.”

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other. At that time, everyone reached the door. Zhao Jue reached into his pocket and took out disposable medical gloves for everyone, and said, “I’m about to open the door, are you sure you are all ready?”

Everyone frowned unconsciously, thinking that Zhao Jue may be exaggerating, otherwise, the scene inside really might not be suitable for ordinary people.

Seeing everyone nod, Zhao Jue raised his hand and gently opened the door…

There was a ‘creak’ that sounded from the hinges, and the door in front of them opened. Everyone felt a gloomy wind hit their face… There was a dim light in the room, and everyone was stunned by the sight.

Zhao Jue flipped the switch on the wall, and instantly, the lights were shining like daylight… All of the scenes in the room were clearly presented in front of their eyes.

Everyone was speechless.

“Brother…” Bai Chi looked at Zhan Zhao suddenly.

Zhan Zhao nodded and said, “Go.”

Bai Chi covered his mouth and ran out quickly. Luo Tian couldn’t accept this, so he said, “I’ll see if there is something wrong with Chi Chi.” After speaking, he turned and left.

Zhao Jue turned back at the group and asked, “How is it?”

Everyone’s expressions became cold. After a long time, Zhan Zhao asked, “The owner of this house… are you sure he was a human?”

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

The amount of information about Zhan Zhao’s parents that was hidden from him makes me nervous. I’m not sure why, but it seems off, especially when there isn’t that much hidden about Bai Yutang’s parents.

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

Translated: June 5, 2021