S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 3 Chapter 3

Smiling Murderer 03 - Unexpected

---

After returning to the office, Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao took the materials and prepared to read them. Wang Chao came over and asked, “Boss, I heard that a newcomer is coming.”

“It’s just a cooperation.” Bai Yutang looked at him and sighed, “Ha… this kid is well-informed.”

“Of course.” Zhang Long smirked, “Boss, several of my former classmates were in the Nancheng branch. I heard that the entire sub-bureau has been assigned to K City, and there were only two that weren’t. Those two were assigned to come work with us. It’s obvious that they are valued by Bao Sir and that he asked for them.”

“That’s right.” Zhan Zhao nodded, “Speaking of which, do you know those two?”

“I know, I know.” Zhang Long pulled a chair over and sat down, “A person has a reputation as a tree has a shadow. Although those two are not as famous as you, it’s enough for them to be known.” (Angel: A person has a reputation as a tree has a shadow is a proverb meaning that a person’s reputation is very important.)

“Tell me about them.” Bai Yutang said with some interest.

Bai Chi also came over with a chair and sat down, listening to the gossip.

“Let’s talk about Shen Zhongyuan first, Wang Chao said, “That kid has a nickname, Xiao Zhuge.”

“Oh?” Zhan Zhao raised an eyebrow, “Is it because he is very smart?”

“I don’t know whether he is smart or not, but it is said that he is resourceful and has a lot of ghost ideas.” Wang Chao said, “He has solved a lot of cases, but…” (Angel: Having a lot of ghost ideas means that you have ideas and deep thoughts, it can be used to mean that they are dangerous types of people.)

“It’s just what?” Bai Yutang asked.

“Well, my brother said that he is too slippery, and that he can’t distinguish between good and evil.” Zhang Long was straightforward and said it directly.

“Can’t distinguish between good and evil?” Zhan Zhao frowned slightly, “Does it mean that his background is not clean, or that he has an affair with the underworld?”

“Hmm… I only know that he has a good relationship with Zhihua.” Wang Chao said, “A lot of inside information was revealed to him by Zhihua.”

“That’s nothing,” Bai Chi said, “we often ask Zhihua for news.”

“Well… that’s just what I heard. Anyways, my brothers have all worked with him, and they have just one comment.”

“What comment?” Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang asked at the same time.

“Difficult to get along with.” Zhang Long answered simply and neatly.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang glanced at each other and shrugged.

“What about Liu Qing?” Zhan Zhao asked.

“This Liu Qing is very delicate regardless of his name, his nickname is Judge.” Wang Chao laughed. (Angel: Judge refers to the Judge of Hades; they are evil, sinister and cunning, but most of them are kind and upright in their hearts.)

“Judge?” Zhan Zhao was curious, “Between him and Bao Sir, who is darker?”

Zhang Long couldn’t laugh or cry, “Doctor, his face is white but his face is expressionless all day long, it’s like facial paralysis. He is also a super capable fighter.”

“Being able to fight is a good thing.” Bai Yutang said, “Don’t all police officers want to be able to fight?”

“But half of the time he fights with others, and half of the time he fights with his own people.” Wang Chao said.

“Fighting with his own people?” Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao looked at each other, feeling puzzled, “What’s the point of fighting with your own people?”

“I heard that he has a grumpy temper, and that he can be super impulsive.” Zhang Long said.

“Super impulsive? More impulsive than Huzi?” Zhan Zhao asked with a smile.

“Oh,” Wang Chao waved his hand, “Dr. Zhan, you don’t know, Huzi is impulsive but at least he is obedient. Captain and you don’t need to tell him to restrain himself, even if we tell him to restrain himself, he will listen. But that Liu Qing doesn’t seem to recognize his six relatives, and the key point is that no one in their division can beat him… Head, if he comes, you can fight with him first to convince him, what do you say?” (Angel: not recognizing six relatives is used to describe people who are not affectionate, and do not care about family relationships.)

Bai Yutang laughed dryly, “Thanks for coming up with that.”

“That’s right,” Zhan Zhao leaned over to look at the case in Bai Yutang’s hand, and asked, “what kind of case is this? How troublesome could it be to make Bao Sir lock it in the cabinet?”

“Oh, it’s definitely that case.” Wang Chao said as he came over.

“What case?” Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at him, “This kid is well-informed.”

“I heard that there are three cases that are inextricably linked together. One of the victims was a friend of Liu Qing, so Liu Qing was ordered not to participate. But as I said, this kid has a bad temper, so he investigated it himself and something went wrong… Later, the case became unclear, and the bureau originally wanted to punish him.”

“Why wasn’t he punished?” Zhan Zhao asked, “A police officer who disobeys like this should be punished.”

Bai Yutang agreed.

“Oh.” Zhang Long waved his hand, “Think about it, if it was entirely his fault, how could he not be punished, also, would Bao Sir have sent him here?”

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other, feeling that there was reason in his words, “Would it be that there is something tricky?”

Wang Chao and Zhang Long looked at each other and spoke in a low voice, “I heard that the captain of their criminal police team had some conflicts with that Liu Qing and Shen Zhongyuan, so to get revenge, they didn’t listen to the advice of the two, and that caused them to suffer heavy losses.”

“Hmm…” Bai Yutang frowned slightly, and looked at Zhan Zhao, “Cat, what do you think?”

Zhan Zhao shrugged, “They haven’t come yet, so I can’t explain it.”

“Weren't they supposed to come after two o’clock?” Bai Yutang looked at the watch on his wrist, “Why haven’t they come yet?!”

“It’s almost three o’clock.” Jiang Ping checked the time and called Lu Fang to ask. The news was… the two people hadn’t come at all, and they hadn’t even called.

“Wow.” Zhang Long and Wang Chao looked at each other – They’re really something! 

“Forget about them.” Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao, who was holding the information, “Cat, want to wander around before we eat?”

“Do you want to go to Nancheng?” Zhan Zhao asked, narrowing his eyes.

“En, first we’ll go to the Nancheng branch to see the situation, and along the way, we can stop to wander around the locations of these cases.”

“I will go too.” Bai Chi ran over.

Luo Tian was drinking water and quickly put down his cup, “I will go to.”

The four of them changed their clothes. Zhan Zhao looked at the documents as he walked to the elevator.

“Hey,” Before the four of them got into the elevator, they saw the door of the forensic room open. Gongsun poked his head out and called out to them, “there are some discoveries.”

Everyone glanced at each other and ran over. Bai Yutang asked, “What did you find?”

Gongsun pointed to the corpse on the dissection table.

“Why is the corpse still here?” Bai Yutang was puzzled, “Didn’t it get handed over to the criminal police team?”

“Forensic Pathologist Yang isn’t here,” Ma Xin replied, “so we did an autopsy first.”

“What did you find?” Bai Yutang walked over to look. Everyone couldn’t help but be curious, so they squeezed forward.

“This man has a thing in his stomach.” Gongsun said as he stretched his hand out, grabbed a tray, took off the white cloth covering it, and showed it to Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao. When they leaned in to see, they both frowned fiercely… on the tray, there were a bunch of… fingers.

They seem to have been in the stomach for a while, as the surface has been somewhat corroded… they looked quite strange.

“Huh?” Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were taken aback.

Feeling it was familiar, Zhan Zhao flipped through the information he had just read, and said, “The murderer of a serial murder case here cut off all the fingers of the deceased and took them away. In the end, the police never found those fingers.”

“How many people are there in total?” Gongsun asked.

“Well, three died, all of them were teenage high school students.” Zhan Zhao replied.

“Hmm… this is not right.” Gongsun waved his hand, “This group of fingers belongs to two people, and they are middle aged men, at least forty years old, they shouldn’t be high school students.” As he spoke, he stretched his hand out to take the information from Zhan Zhao’s hand, glanced at it, and frowned, “Does this murderer take the same organ from the deceased for every three people he kills? Three are fingers, and three are ears… does he kill in units of three?”

“En, it should be a coincidence, not paranoia, because the only thing relating to three is killing people in units of three… there is nothing else in common.” Zhan Zhao said.

“Units of three?” Bai Yutang pondered for a while, then asked, “What profession can you think of that works in units of three?”

Everyone looked at each other and shook their heads, having no idea.

“However, like this, this corpse and this case should belong to us,” Bai Chi said, “there is something in common!”

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao looked at each other and felt it was reasonable. Bai Yutang patted Gongsun and said, “Gongsun, today Bao Sir’s face is dark, this arduous task is left to you!”

Before Gongsun could refuse, Bai Yutang took Zhan Zhao and ran away. Bai Chi and Luo Tian hurriedly followed. Gongsun took the tray of fingers, looked at it, then handed it to Ma Xin, “Xin Xin, take it to Bao Sir, just say that it was found in the corpse.”

Ma Xin wrinkled her nose, “It’s me again…”

Gongsun raised his eyebrows and put on the posture of a strict teacher, “Why? You don’t want to go?”

“I’ll go.” Ma Xin walked forward holding the tray.

When she reached the elevator, the elevator door opened, and a person rushed out quickly… Ma Xin hugged the tray quickly and looked at that person… it was Zhao Hu.

“Hu Zi, didn’t they say you were injured?” Ma Xin looked at him in surprise, “Are you okay?”

“Okay, okay.” Zhao Hu hurriedly waved his hand, and Ma Han walked out behind him. Before he could say anything, he heard Zhao Hu yelling, “I heard that Shen Zhongyuan and Liu Qing are coming to SCI?”

“En.” Wang Chao raised his head and said, “They’re really something, they still haven’t come yet.”

“Mother.” Zhao Hu asked, “Where are they? Why didn’t they come?”

“They went to Nancheng.” Gongsun walked over with his hands in his pockets and asked the two of them, “What’s wrong?”

“They can’t go.” Zhao Hu stomped his foot, “That Liu Qing is a mad dog, the last thing he wants to see is our boss… he will definitely try to cause trouble!” After that, he ran out with Ma Han.

 “Wait.” Gongsun grabbed the two of them, “What are you two anxious about? So what if they cause trouble?”

“Uh… aren’t we worried that Boss will suffer?” Ma Han asked.

“Heh… when have you ever seen someone surnamed Bai suffer a loss?” Gongsun curled his lips disdainfully, “Don’t forget that Zhan Zhao is by his side, don’t worry, nothing will happen.”

“Then do I need to call to warn Boss?” Zhao Hu asked.

Gongsun put on an innocent look and smiled, “No need for that. Think about it, isn’t Liu Qing a mad dog… the best way to deal with a mad dog is naturally to subdue it… leave it to them. If Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao can’t handle it, how can those two lead SCI?”

Ma Han and Zhao Hu put away their phones. Gongsun nodded. Ma Xin pushed the tray she was holding in front of Zhao Hu, “Want to try one?”

Zhao Hu was anxious just now, so he didn’t see what was on the tray, only now having a chance to look…

“Oh…” Zhao Hu hurriedly covered his mouth and stepped aside, “What is that, it’s disgusting!’

Gongsun returned the tray to Ma Xin, and said to everyone, “By the way, whoever of you is free, help me find out if there are any corpses whose fingers have been chopped off in the recent murder cases.”

Ma Han and Zhao Hu immediately turned and ran away, while Jiang Ping searched the computer archive.

Gongsun stood at the elevator thinking, when the elevator door behind him suddenly opened… Gongsun was dragged into the elevator before he could react.

“Can you be less violent?” Gongsun looked at Bai Jintang, who had pulled him into the elevator, with some dissatisfaction, “Why are you here?”

Bai Jintang raised the corner of his mouth and smiled, leaning into Gongsun’s ear and whispering a few words.

“Really?” Gongsun was surprised and delighted, and Bai Jintang nodded.

Bai Yutang and the others drove to Nancheng. Bai Chi leaned on the window and said, “This is the first time I have come to Nancheng. Why does it look like a suburban area?”

“The branch office should be nearby.” Zhan Zhao pressed on the navigator to find the location.

Luo Tian leaned against the window and looked out, wondering, “Why does it seem so depressing?”

“Luo Tian, you don’t know.” Bai Chi said, “Because it is sandwiched between K City and S City, the land prices are relatively cheap, and the rent for farmers is also very cheap, so many people who work in K City and S City live here.”

“So dragons and snakes are mixed here, there are all kinds of people.” Luo Tian said. (Angel: mixing dragons and snakes is a metaphor for mixing bad guys with good guys, or capable guys with mediocre guys.)

“En.” Zhan Zhao nodded. After determining the location of the Nancheng sub-bureau, he looked at Bai Yutang, “Xiao Bai be careful of others waiting in ambush.”

Bai Yutang was taken aback for a moment, then smiled, “There is that possibility.”

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

  Previous Chapter | TOC | Next Chapter

Translator Notes

I wrote this on my lasted upload of My Vampire Faints at Blood, but I'll put it here as well. I have decided to try to upload on a schedule to see how it would work for me. As of now, the schedule is My Vampire Faints at Blood on Sundays, and SCI on Wednesdays and Fridays. This is a tentative schedule and may change if it's too much, or if I have extra time.

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

Translated: June 21/22, 2021