S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 2 Chapter 115

Love Murderer 21 – Family Secrets

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The pendant opened the lock. Zhan Zhao reached his hand out to lift the lid of the bronze statue, but Bai Yutang and Zhao Jue stopped him. Zhan Zhao looked at the two inexplicably.

Zhao Jue heaved a sighed of relief, then raised his hand to push Zhan Zhao to Bai Yutang. He seemed a little angry, and said, “Take him home and take care of him, not afraid to die yet not realizing until death.”

Zhan Zhao’s eyes widened, and Bai Yutang hurriedly stopped him, saying in his heart that Zhao Jue was too strong and that the cat had puffed his hair this time.

Gongsun and Bai Chi looked at each other; this was the first time they had seen Zhao Jue lose his temper.

However, Zhao Jue seemed puzzled. He glanced at Bai Yutang and said, “Same with you, your temper is not like your old man at all! Just take it into your own hands, you can directly carry him back and teach him until he is obedient.”

Bai Yutang widened his eyes and somewhat puzzledly asked him, “How can I teach him?”

Zhan Zhao turned his head and glared at him – You are still listening to him?!

Bai Yutang felt a little slumped and touched his nose, doing a little self-reflection, almost as if he was accustomed t it.

Zhao Jue curled his lips and said, “What do you think, just take him back and do whatever you love and whatever you want to do! You still can’t subdue him?! Do it at dawn and see if he is soft or not! If he still doesn’t listen, do it for three days! Don’t tell me you two still haven’t done it yet.”

……

Everyone was silent.

……

A while later.

Gongsun turned his face to look for a window to look at the scenery outside, but after searching for a long time, he didn’t see a window, and remembered that this was the basement.

Luo Tian had finished moving the box, and was considering whether he should go outside to wait.

Bai Chi innocently asked Bai Yutang, “Do what?”

Bai Yutang blushed, coughed, and glanced at him, then immediately realized that… it was the hairiest moment in the cat’s history.

He saw that Zhan Zhao’s face was red and white, and he was gritting his teeth, glaring at Zhao Jue.

Zhao Jue thought Zhan Zhao’s appearance was very cute, so he looked at him and smiled.

Zhan Zhao stared at him for a while, then suddenly laughed. Zhao Jue looked at Zhan Zhao with some caution; the kitty is about to fight back.

Sure enough, Zhan Zhao ground his teeth, then smiled and said to Zhao Jue, “My dad showed me a paternity test.”

Zhao Jue was taken aback. His eyes widened and he asked, “What paternity test?”

“I am his.” Zhan Zhao replied, “He also said that I have nothing to do with you, so I should ignore you.”

“He really said that?” The fire in Zhao Jue flared and he swore, “He is talking nonsense!”

Seeing Zhao Jue’s fire, Zhan Zhao felt a little relieved, then said, “He also told me…”

“What did he tell you?” Zhao Jue stared angrily.

“Hmm…” Zhan Zhao touched his chin, “I can’t tell you, I’m afraid that you won’t be able to take the blow.”

Zhao Jue took a step forward and asked Zhan Zhao, “What did he say?”

Zhan Zhao looked for the right time, then grabbed Zhao Jue’s hair and tugged…

“Ah!” Zhao Jue jumped in pain.

“Ah… isn’t it fake?” Zhan Zhao innocently asked, “My dad told me you were bald.”

“Wo pei!” Zhao Jue rubbed his scalp, jumped, and cursed, “You did that on purpose! No matter how young or old, I must teach you a lesson today!” (Angel: Wo pei, 我呸, is an expression of disdain and disgust, and doesn’t have an English equivalent, so I left it in pinyin.)

While talking, Zhao Jue was about to rush forward to beat him. Bai Yutang quickly stepped forward to block Zhan Zhao. Zhao Jue is not weak, and he couldn’t bear to see the cat injured, so he could only stop him. Luo Tian and Bai Chi also came over to persuade him not to fight. Gongsun’s middle finger pushed his glasses up his nose and he watched the scene seriously.

Zhan Zhao felt that they seemed to be even, and his mood was better. When he saw Zhao Jue’s anxious eyes, his mood was even better. Zhao Jue became more and more angry the more he thought about it. He couldn’t beat Zhan Zhao, so he kicked Bai Yutang. Zhan Zhao immediately became anxious, “He wasn’t the one who messed with you.”

“His surname is Bai!” Zhao Jue became angry, “I love kicking those named Bai!”

“Xiao Bai, go away!” Zhan Zhao rolled up his sleeves, “I want to fight him.”

Everyone was shocked; it was the first time they had heard Zhan Zhao, who always spoke and never used his hands, wanting to fight someone.

“I have to beat you up today!” Zhao Jue also got excited. Luo Tian and Bai Chi couldn’t stop him anymore.

Bai Yutang got angry and roared, “Enough, take your anger and go face the wall!”

Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue both stopped. They glanced at Bai Yutang with some dissatisfaction. Bai Yutang was discouraged, but he pointed to the coffin on the table and asked, “Are you still going to do the serious business?”

Everyone secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Luo Tian whispered to Bai Chi, “That spirit is worthy of being the captain of SCI.”

Bai Chi nodded, “En.”

“You having the same virtues as your old man is maddening.” Zhao Jue dissatisfiedly whispered.

Everyone looked at each other… This use of old man, is Zhao Jue confused and referred to himself, or is it Zhan Zhao’s father, Zhan Qitian?

After the storm, everyone returned to the front of the coffin. Bai Yutang asked everyone to move to the back of the coffin. Luo Tian took the lid of the iron box and held it in front of everyone, blocking them. Then he found a billiard cue stick, and while standing quite far away, he carefully stretched it towards the coffin, and lifted the lid… With a click, the lid of the coffin automatically bounced open.

As soon as the lid was opened, they suddenly heard a ‘swoosh’; three steel needles shot out from the coffin, as if some kind of mechanism was set in the lid.

Bai Yutang glanced at Zhan Zhao, and Zhan Zhao glanced at him.

Zhan Zhao raised his eyebrows – What are you looking at?

Bai Yutang was a little weak, and he glanced at Zhao Jue – Just now, you were saved because of him.

Zhan Zhao looked elsewhere – Didn’t you pull me too?

Bai Yutang smiled – I pulled you this time, but not necessarily next time. Zhao Jue made you remember that you have to be careful when you encounter this situation in the future.

Zhan Zhao curled his lips and didn’t respond. He was feeling a little guilty, as he had just pulled Zhao Jue’s hair and it seemed as though he shouldn’t have, but as soon as he thought about it, Zhao Jue reached out and pinched his arm.

“Ah…” Zhan Zhao jumped in pain. Rolling up his sleeve and looking at his arm, the spot he pinched was purple.

Zhao Jue raised his eyebrows and walked over to look at the contents of the coffin. Zhan Zhao ground his teeth – As expected, this person shouldn’t be sympathized with!

……

When they walked to the coffin and looked inside, everyone was a little surprised. In the coffin there was no mummy or infant corpse like they had imaged… but rather, it was empty, with only a metal mask inside.

Bai Yutang stretched his hand out, took the mask, and glanced at Zhan Zhao. They were familiar with this mask – it was the same as the one that Bao Sir brought them at the party. It turned out that the vampire who killed Xu Tian was wearing that mask… However, this one is more delicate, with complicated hollow patterns on it, and the frame was relatively small, making it look like it was worn by children.

“He said that he buried his glory with his own hands?” Zhan Zhao frowned, “Is this his so-called glory? Not his daughter?”

Zhao Jue stared inside the coffin for a long time before saying, “If it’s like this, this little girl may be the only one in the family – the only one that survived.”

“Is there nothing else in the coffin?” Bai Chi asked.

Everyone looked in the coffin again. Except for the little bump on the inner wall of the coffin, which felt like it was chiseled out by hand, there was nothing else to see and no valuable clues were found.

Gongsun looked at Zhao Jue, “Can I take this back to the police station? Some areas need to be analyzed.”

“Please.” Zhao Jue shrugged.

“Are there anymore?” Zhan Zhao asked, “What about the corpse of the Duke, and the corpses of the other people in the family?”

Zhao Jue shook his head, “All of them were burned to death and there is no one left… If one could have survived, it would be this little girl.”

“This kind of mask and family crest appeared in two cases that have been separated by hundreds of years.” Bai Yutang was a little confused, “What is the connection between the two?”

“I want to take these corpses back too.” Gongsun said, “If you don’t mind, I want to find someone from the forensic department to collect evidence from this laboratory.”

“I don’t mind.” Zhao Jue shrugged.

Afterwards, everyone left the ghastly basement and returned to the living room. By this time, it was already very late.

“That room has been sealed for a long time and there are many dead bodies. Everyone should go to the bathroom, take a good shower, and wipe your hands, nose, and mouth with alcohol, preferably some disinfectant.”

“It’s a good idea. You have a bathroom in your bedrooms, you can shower there.” Zhao Jue smiled, “The butler can wash your clothes, they should be done by the morning. I will also leave then.” After speaking, he turned around and left.

Everyone had no choice but to take a shower and change their clothes. The butler was indeed very competent; he prepared simple, clean, and generous clothes for everyone. After everyone cleaned up, they left their bedrooms and went to the living room downstairs to see Zhao Jue. Wearing loose pajamas, he was reading a newspaper with his foot propped up on his leg.

After going downstairs, Zhan Zhao sat on the sofa. The little white lion had been waiting for him for a long time, and it suddenly crawled on his lap, rubbing back and forth against him.

Zhan Zhao stretched his hand out, lifted the lion’s hind legs to take a look, and said in his heart – Oh, it turns out that male lions are constructed like this when they are young.

Zhao Jue found his behaviour amusing. At that time, the other SCI members had rushed to the basement, and unavoidably saw the shocking scene.

Seeing that the environment was messy, Zhao Jue looked at Zhan Zhao, “The room on the second floor has better lighting, rocking chairs, and a fireplace. I prefer to read books there.”

Zhan Zhao nodded. Holding his book and the little lion, he went upstairs with Zhao Jue.

Everything downstairs was under Gongsun’s command. Bai Yutang was not relieved with the fact that Zhan Zhao was alone with Zhao Jue, so he followed them upstairs.

However, Zhao Jue brought Zhan Zhao over to the fireplace, let him sit down on the rocking chair, covered his knees with a small cashmere blanket, and put the little lion on the blanket. The butler then sent Zhan Zhao a plate a chocolate, some hazelnuts, and two cups of tea, then left with Zhao Jue.

Bai Yutang held one of the cups of tea while leaning against the glass door, looking out of the floor-to-ceiling window in a daze, while Zhan Zhao sat quietly reading the book.

The book was in its original German language, but it was not difficult for Zhan Zhao. It was just that the content of the book made Zhan Zhao frown on several occasions.

As time passed, Bai Yutang watched the lights of the police car outside flashing. Zhao Hu and the others kept moving the collected evidence into the car, his busy figure occasionally making jokes… inexplicably, it seemed a little peaceful.

Zhan Zhao was reading the book with his head down. Suddenly… he felt Bai Yutang gently put the cup down on the table… The atmosphere seemed a little different.

Zhan Zhao raised his head and saw Bai Yutang leaning against the glass door, his eyes fixed on something outside the window, like an eagle that found its prey.

Zhan Zhao thought that the look in Bai Yutang’s eyes was familiar; it was his usually look when he finds danger… Looking out along his line of sight, he saw that he was not looking too deeply into the night… In the large bushes on the side of the flowerbed, there seemed to be the flash of a human shadow.

Bai Yutang leapt to the other side of Zhan Zhao and hid behind the wall next to the glass door. He quietly silenced the curious Zhan Zhao, and said, “Cat, leave it alone, continue reading.”

Zhan Zhao nodded and continued reading.

Bai Yutang gently opened the latch on the glass door, slowly pushed it open, then moved aside… before suddenly rushing out.

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

We almost had a physical fight between Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue... 😨 

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

Translated: June 8, 2021