S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 3 Chapter 7

Smiling Murderer 07 - Experience Life

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Early in the morning, Zhan Zhao felt that something fluffy was surrounding his neck. Turning over, he saw that the little white lion had jumped up onto the bed and was rubbing against him.

“Morning Seaman.” Zhan Zhao squeezed its ears and saw that the clock on the wall showed it was half past seven, and that Bai Yutang was not in bed next to him, he might have gotten up to make breakfast.

Zhan Zhao got up, and saw Lisbon lying on his stomach beside the bed, “Lisbon, why did you sleep here?”

Lisbon shook the mane on his head and went back to sleep.

Zhan Zhao got up and washed himself. When he got downstairs, he saw Bai Yutang and Bai Chi making breakfast in the kitchen, Zhao Zhen lying on the sofa to catch up on sleep, Bai Jintang eating breakfast at the table while reading a newspaper, and the twins watching the morning news.

“Cat,” Seeing that Zhan Zhao had come down, Bai Yutang handed him a plate of breakfast and said, “after eating, we’ll go to the police station, I heard that Gongsun and the others have found something.”

“En.” Zhan Zhao nodded and sat down to eat his breakfast. Suddenly, there were so many people and life became lively.

Bai Yutang drove Zhan Zhao and Bai Chi to the police station. While Bai Yutang drove into the garage to park the car, Zhan Zhao and Bai Chi walked in the main entrance.

When they arrived at the door, they saw the guard at the door talking to someone who looked like a student.

The student was wearing a black sweater, had messy hair, was holding a backpack in his hand, and said that he wanted to report a crime.

The guard asked to scan his bag, as after the bomb attack last time, all bags entering and leaving the police station must be checked, and all strangers must show valid identification.

“I am Liu Song’s roommate, I know how he died!” The boy seemed a little excited.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Chi happened to pass by as he said this, and when they heard it, the two looked at each other – Liu Song was the student who shot indiscriminately in the street and died. No one claimed his body. Later, after posting an announcement, the school called to confirm and sent two teachers to identify the body; it was indeed Liu Song.

Zhan Zhao stopped, turned to look at the student, and asked, “Are you… Liu Song’s classmate?”

“Yes.” The boy nodded, “I know how he died, I know who the murderer is!”

The guard saw Zhan Zhao and said, “Dr. Zhan, I told him that he needs to go through the security check but he refuses.”

“Why?” Zhan Zhao was puzzled.

“If I go through the security check… you are not allowed to arrest me. This thing is not mine, it belongs to Liu Song.” The boy said.

The conversation attracted the attention of many people in the police station. At this time, Bai Yutang, who had parked the car, walked over and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Zhan Zhao told him that the boy knows Liu Song and that he knew the truth of his murder, but that he refuses to go through the security check, saying that he was afraid of being arrested.

“Arrested?” Bai Yutang looked at his bag and said, “I am the police officer in charge of Liu Song’s case, give me any evidence you have.”

The boy looked around, and the guard nodded to him, “This is the captain of SCI, just talk to him if you have anything to say.”

The boy hesitated, then stretched his hand out and handed the bag to Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang took it, opened it, and frowned… Zhan Zhao and Bai Chi both took a look, and both of their eyes widened.

“Come with us.” Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao signalled for the boy to go in with them. The boy nodded. The security guard checked him with a metal detector and found that there were no dangerous objects on his body, so he let him in.

“What’s your name?” Zhan Zhao asked, “What school do you go to?”

“My name is Guo Cheng, I go to Chengnan Medical College.” The boy replied, “Liu Song is my classmate, and also my roommate.”

“You live together?” Bai Yutang asked.

“En.” The boy shook his head, “We are all locals and don’t live at the school. We rented a two bedroom apartment near the school and lived there.”

Zhan Zhao nodded and asked, “Why haven’t Liu Song’s parents been notified?”

“His parents are dead,” Guo Cheng said, “they died in a car accident two years ago.”

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

The elevator door opened, and when they arrived at the SCI office, they saw everyone there.

Bai Yutang signalled for everyone to wait to start the meeting. Together with Zhan Zhao, he took Guo Cheng to the interrogation room and asked him to sit down.

All of the SCI members curiously gathered around the window to watch, asking Bai Chi, who is this kid?

At the same time, Bai Yutang opened the bag and took four glass jars from it. The four jars are the kind that are used for specimens in a laboratory, and are filled with formalin. In the first one, there are six eyeballs, round and chubby with thin tendons on the back. In the second one, a large clump of seaweed-like hair. In the third one, six ears. In the fourth one, a lot of fingers.

“Where did these things come from?” Bai Yutang asked.

“I found them in a small cabinet in Liu Song’s room.” Gui Cheng answered honestly.

Zhan Zhao took out a pen and paper, “Write down your address, we will send someone to investigate.”

“Okay.” Guo Cheng honestly wrote down the address and handed Zhan Zhao a key. Zhan Zhao asked some people to take the forensic team and go first.

“Do you know the origin of these things?” Zhan Zhao asked.

Guo Cheng nodded, “En, I have read the novel he wrote.”

“Novel?” Bai Yutang was puzzled.

“Let’s talk about it in detail.” Zhan Zhao said.

“En.” Guo Cheng nodded, “Liu Song is actually obsessed with detective novels. A few years ago, he started contributing to a detective magazine. Because he has more professional knowledge, he can write decent pieces with lots of detail. Within a few years, he gained a little fame, many books were published, and the publisher finalized a contract with him… That’s why he got a small apartment for himself. He began to write novels seriously, and decided that he would not be a doctor in the future, but a writer instead. I got along with him quite well, so we lived together. I can be regarded as his first reader, if he writes a novel, he will let me read it first.”

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang nodded and asked, “Does he have a pen name?”

“Oh, he is called Death Smile.” Guo Cheng replied.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang glanced at each other – that weird mask is involved again.

“Liu Song is very interested in poisons, and most detective novels focus on medicine.” Guo Cheng continued, “A few days ago, he finished a new volume of manuscripts.”

As he was talking, Guo Cheng took out a stack of manuscript paper from the bag and handed it to Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao took it and flipped through it quickly, “It describes how the murderer killed twelve innocent people and left smiling corpses… The story is the exact same as our case.”

Bai Yutang frowned, “Did they imitate the content of the novel to commit the crime?”

“This novel is not published yet… I heard about his idea at the time and thought it was quite interesting, so I told him that he should write it, as he would get a good response to it. However, when Liu Song wrote it later, his emotions were a little out of control.” Guo Cheng said.

“Out of control emotions?” Zhan Zhao asked curiously, “Why was he out of control when writing it?”

“The reasoning part of the plot is pretty good, the creation of ideas and concepts has always been his strong point.” Guo Cheng said, “It’s just that the details of the murder are difficult to write, how can I describe it, in his words, it feels very fake.”

Bai Yutang nodded, “What then?”

“He was very depressed at that time. He watched horror movies all day and said that if he could really kill people, experience what it feels like, that would be good.”

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang frowned.

Outside, Gongsun, who came by to see the situation, yawned, “Stupid.”

“Huh?” Bai Chi asked Gongsun puzzledly, “Gongsun, what is stupid?”

“I meant the one who wrote the book.” Gongsun smiled, “He studied medicine, his description of murder plots should be more realistic than ordinary people, so the super realism he pursues is unnecessary. Apart from the people who have really killed someone, most readers won’t find it fake at all.”

“En, that’s true.” Everyone felt it was reasonable.

“Besides, the details of killing a person are similar to the details of killing a pig, they will resist, scream, bleed, and die, what else is there to describe?” Gongsun said disdainfully, “The allure of a novel lies in its imaginative space. Even if it is a novel with a realistic theme, it is inevitable that there are some unrealistic parts. Things that are too real are not attractive. The sense of killing people and killing pigs is absolutely the same.” 

Everyone laughed… Gongsun’s metaphor is really fierce.

Later, after about a month or two, Liu Song suddenly became emotional again.” Gui Cheng said, “He said that he experienced the feeling of killing, that it was very real, and that he felt better.”

“Didn’t he tell you how he experienced that killing?” Zhan Zhao asked, “Also, was there any change in him?”

“I couldn’t tell.” Guo Cheng said, “Although Liu Song is quite homely, he is a cheerful person by nature, so I didn’t notice, it’s just that he often went out early and returned late. Then I heard the news of his death, I also heard the news about the corpses in Nancheng, and I felt a little strange… So I thought, could something really have happened? I went to his room to tidy up his clothes, then found these things in the cabinet.”

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang nodded and asked, “You said you know who the murderer is?”

“That’s right.” Guo Cheng nodded and whispered, “I know, Liu Song said that he has a consultant who provides him with materials for his writing.”

“Consultant?” Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were surprised, “What kind of person are they?”

“I don’t know, I only saw them chatting on the internet.” Guo Cheng handed all of the QQ numbers frequently used by Liu Song to Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang.

After asking about Liu Song again, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang asked an officer to take Guo Cheng to the rest room. Everyone decided to go to Liu Song’s apartment before the meeting to check his personal belongings to see if there are any clues to the case.

Liu Qing and Shen Zhongyuan handed in their self-reflections to Bai Yutang, who was taken aback for a moment, as if he had forgotten about this. He didn’t care about what was written, so he gathered everyone together, hurriedly found Gongsun, and roughly listened to the results of the autopsy.

“Ah, so that means that Liu Song is very likely to be involved in this murder?” Zhao Hu asked.

“But whose fingers were in his stomach?” Bai Chi asked.

“Hmm… a huge hodgepodge?” Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao, “Cat, what mentality would a normal student have to make them do this kind of thing?”

“It’s hard to say,” Zhan Zhao said, “but this way of killing people does have a sense of practicing and experiencing life.”

“Experiencing life?” Bai Yutang frowned, “For writing? Or for practicing a certain skill?”

“Let’s go to Liu Song’s house first.” Zhan Zhao frowned, “I always feel that this case is very complicated.”

“En.” Bai Yutang nodded, and spoke to Jiang Ping, “Jiang Ping, look up that so-called consultant, find his identity.”

“Okay.” Jiang Ping nodded and began to check Liu Song’s chat records while Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao rushed to Liu Song’s apartment with the others.

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

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

Translated: July 1, 2021