S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 3 Chapter 8

Smiling Murderer 08 - Suspicious

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Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang left with the SCI members and Guo Cheng, and drove to Liu Song’s residence. Guo Cheng and Ma Han sat in the Jeep driven by Luo Tian, while Bai Yutang drove the Jeep with Zhan Zhao, Gongsun, Bai Chi, and Ma Xin.

Zhan Zhao sat in the car looking at the information about Liu Song, and asked,

“Gongsun, medical students are very courageous, right? They stay calm when things happen?”

Gongsun raised his eyebrows, “Being a policeman does not make you brave and invisible, most of them are the same as normal people. Their reaction to most things is not much different, it’s just because they have a gun that they can be professional and courageous. However, when they encounter a ghost, they will still be afraid of encountering a snake.” (Angel: I am pretty sure that the author wants to convey that even if they encounter something outrageous, they will be afraid of the mundane events.)

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao both raised their lips into a smile. Bai Chi asked, “Gongsun, do you mean that there is a problem with Guo Cheng?”

“Hmm,” Ma Xin nodded, “I think so too.”

“Huh? Why is he suspicious?” Zhan Zhao asked Ma Xin as he leaned back into his seat.

“Oh, if the friend who lives with him is weird and they found those kinds of things… would most people bring them to the police station themselves?” Ma Xin asked, “If it were me, I guess I would call the police on the spot, I wouldn’t move the things.”

Zhan Zhao smiled, “This is indeed suspicious.”

“En, I also think he is suspicious because the information he knows seems to be too detailed.” Bai Yutang said. 

“Indeed, Bai Chi nodded, “the details of those cases are not known to too many people, even so, we are near Nancheng, where they are investigating with great fanfare. Even the students in the schools know about it, so there is no reason for him not to know.”

Everyone nodded.

“Brother,” Bai Chi asked, “Guo Cheng has so many flaws, why didn’t you just expose him?”

Zhan Zhao smiled, “Well, Guo Cheng may indeed be an insider, but he may not be the murderer.”

“That’s right,” Bai Yutang nodded, “ it’s better for us to not act for now, and hope that we can get some clues from him.”

Soon, the cars arrived at the address Guo Cheng told them, which is in a relatively remote community. The housing in this community is very old, it’s the kind of old-fashioned tube buildings that the group hasn’t seen for many years. Bai Yutang parked downstairs and went upstairs with Guo Cheng.

Guo Cheng took everyone to the fourth floor. The house number was 401, and it has an old-fashioned anti-theft iron door. The forensic team members had basically completed gathering samples, so Bai Yutang led the group inside.

The decoration of the room is quite simple, but it looks quite clean. Zhan Zhao observed from Guo Cheng’s appearance that he is not a neat and tidy person, just an ordinary boy. However, the cleanliness of the room should be a place where a boy with at least a mild level of OCD towards cleanliness should live. It’s very simple, just compare Bai Yutang’s room to Bai Chi’s room. Bai Chi is a clean and tidy normal boy, while Bai Yutang has OCD towards cleanliness. The difference between the two rooms is quite big and can be seen at a glance.

Bai Yutang and the others looked around, while Zhan Zhao observed Guo Cheng’s every move. From the details of each of his actions, Zhan Zhao feels that… he seems to be quite nervous. As for what he is nervous about, he is probably the only one that knows.

Liu Qing followed Bai Yutang and the others into the room to check, while Shen Zhongyuan walked over to Zhan Zhao when there was no one around, and spoke to him in a low voice, “That Guo Cheng, I seem to have seen him before.”

Zhan Zhao was taken aback for a moment. Turning to look at him, Shen Zhongyuan whispered, “I just didn’t remember before, but after sitting in the car for a while, I suddenly remembered. He has been to the police station several times before, I saw him when I passed by.”

Zhan Zhao frowned. Seeing that Guo Cheng and Bai Yutang were in Liu Song’s room, he signalled Shen Zhongyuan to go outside to talk.

The two walked outside and Zhan Zhao asked him, “Why did Guo Cheng go to the police station?”

Shen Zhongyuan replied in a low voice, “He worked in the canteen of the police station, it seems he was responsible for getting hot water.”

“Oh?” Zhan Zhao was a little surprised, it was indeed strange.

“The drinking fountains in the station are mostly used by police officers, but the place where the hot water was dispensed was external. Because there was a police compound behind the station, it was basically open for those people to use. I have helped an aunt from the police compound fetch water several times, so I have some impression of him. He shouldn’t remember me, after all, there were a lot of people around, but he was the only one responsible for fetching water.” Shen Zhongyuan explained in a low voice, “So when he came this time, I felt a little weird.”

“En.” Zhan Zhao nodded, “Police compound… en, that’s it.”

“What’s the matter?” Shen Zhongyuan asked puzzledly, 

Zhan Zhao thought for a while, then waved to Shen Zhongyuan and whispered a few words in his ear.

Shen Zhongyuan was taken aback after hearing this and asked, “Is this reliable?”

Zhan Zhao smiled, “Just do as I say.”

“En.” Shen Zhongyuan nodded. Zhan Zhao called Luo Tian and Bai Chi, whispered a few words to them, and had the three of them go together.

After the three of them left, Zhan Zhao looked around at the surroundings and walked back into the room.

In the room, Bai Yutang had long discovered that Zhan Zhao had taken the others to talk outside. Letting the three of them go first, Bai Yutang raised his eyebrows at him – What’s the matter Cat?

Zhan Zhao smiled slightly, motioning to Bai Yutang – I’ll tell you later.

Liu Song’s room is full of weird elements. Except for the furniture that is too clean and tidy, the rest are strange posters and decorations.

“Will anyone decorate with such a distressing poster?” Zhao Hu stared at the poster on the wall in a daze.

“He seems to be quite interested in death masks.” Ma Han flipped through newspaper clippings on the table, and saw that most of them were about smiling death masks.

“Captain Bai,” At this time, Old Chen from the forensic science department walked in, pointed to something under the bed, and said to Bai Yutang, “we just found something under the bed.”

Bai Yutang looked at him and asked, “What?”

“We can’t open it,” Old Chen said, “it seems to be nailed shut, and we couldn’t open it after expending a lot of effort. However, the sampling of the surrounding area is done, so we are just waiting for you before we lift the bed frame.”

Bai Yutang nodded and walked over. When he tried to lift the bed frame, he frowned, “It’s heavy, it’s nailed down.”

Zhao Hu stepped forward, rolled up the bedding from one side, placing it on top of the bed, and saw that there were a few huge cement nails in the bed frame.

“What kind of bed frame is it?” Wang Chao asked inexplicably, “We aren’t on the ground floor, can it be nailed with cement nails?”

“Can you get the nails out?” Bai Yutang looked at everyone.

At this time, they saw Liu Qing holding a pair of pliers, no one knew when he had gotten them.

Bai Yutang raised an eyebrow, this one is powerful!

“Hehe.” Liu Qing smiled, “I borrowed it from the uncle who is repairing their bicycle by the front door.” After speaking, he used the pliers to pull the nails out one by one.

After working for a while, Liu Qing finally got all of the nails out and got off of the bed. Wang Chao, Ma Han, Zhang Long, and Zhao Hu walked to the four corners of the bed and lifted the bed frame up… With a click, the bed frame was lifted.

At the same time, everyone felt a stinking smell hit their faces.

Both Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao frowned, they couldn’t be more familiar with this smell.

“It’s a dead person.” Gongsun frowned and whispered.

After the bed frame was removed, two decaying corpses were uncovered. The most disgusting thing was… that the two corpses were both nailed to the bed frame, and there were more than a dozen mice. These mice have died, probably from suffocation, but the bodies were bitten by them.

“Really abnormal.” Ma Xin frowned.

“I probably know who they are!” Gongsun said.

Zhan Zhao looked in the direction that Gongsun was pointing in and saw that the fingers of the two corpses were chopped off.

Gongsun put on his gloves, and walked over to check, “That’s right, they are middle aged men. Take the bodies out, once I compare them to the fingers in Liu Song’s stomach, I will know if they are theirs.”

Bai Yutang nodded and took the group of people out first so Gongsun could prepare the bodies for transportation.

“My god.” Guo Cheng covered his mouth and said to himself, “Who did I live with? I didn’t even know that he hid two corpses under the bed!”

Bai Yutang glanced at Zhan Zhao and raised his eyebrows – Cat, how is it?

Zhan Zhao smiled slightly – He is a medical student that is not even afraid of organs in bottles, yet he threw up after seeing two dead bodies? Why does that feel so unbelievable?

“Have you always lived with him?” Ma Han asked, “Nailing a corpse under a bed would take a lot of effort.”

“I go home often.” Guo Cheng said, “Liu Song doesn’t have any family, so he has always lived here. I am a local, so I often go home for dinner.”

“Why don’t you live at home?” Zhan Zhao asked.

“My parents have a bad relationship.” Guo Cheng whispered, “They are always quarrelling, I don’t want to go back, it’s annoying to watch. Some days when one of them is not home, I will go back to eat.”

Everyone nodded, and Zhan Zhao said, “You shouldn’t be able to live here anymore, go home first for now.”

“Uh… officer,” Guo Cheng said suddenly, “you… can you send someone to protect me?”

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were taken aback. Liu Qing asked, “If Liu Song was the murderer, he is already dead, so what are you afraid of?”

“That’s right.” Zhan Zhao smiled, “When he was alive, you lived with him every day and he never did anything to you. Now that he is dead, are you afraid that he will hurt you?”

“It’s not that…” Guo Cheng laughed, “Then… what if he is not the murderer?”

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang smiled and asked, “Do you think that the murderer is someone else?”

“It’s not that.” Guo Cheng shook his head, “... Wasn’t there a consultant, did you catch them?”

“En.” Zhan Zhao nodded, “However, there is a high possibility that Liu Song is the murderer, though we still need to investigate further.”

“Uh… you don’t care if I live or die?” Guo Cheng was anxious, “This…”

Bai Yutang smiled slightly, “Well, tell us your address and I will arrange patrol officers to strengthen the patrols in the area where you live. Rest assured, it doesn’t matter, it’s not a big deal if you go home or back to school.” After speaking, Bai Yutang beckoned to a police officer next to him, “Send him home, and then take a look around his home.”

“Okay.” The police officer nodded, and Guo Cheng was sent away crying.

As they left, Bai Yutang asked Zhan Zhao, “Cat, did you have Luo Tian and the others go and wait first?”

Zhan Zhao gently raised the corners of his mouth and smiled, “En, they are waiting near where he lives.”

“How do you know where he lives?” Bai Yutang asked, “The school or his home?”

Zhan Zhao thought for a while and said, “Well, for one… it used to be the safest place for him, but now it is very insecure.”

Everyone glanced at each other, and they didn’t know why Zhan Zhao was keeping them in suspense.

Leaving Liu Song’s residence, Gongsun and Ma Xin wanted to go back to do the autopsy, but they had stayed up all night, so Bai Yutang ordered them both to go back to sleep, and to come back early tomorrow morning.

Ma Han, Zhao Hu, and the others sent the corpses back first. Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao drove Gongsun and Ma Xin home. 

Liu Qing was in the car with them, “Captain, in this way, all of the clues are broken.” Liu Qing said, “Everything is pushed onto Liu Song… there are no other clues about the murderer.”

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang nodded. Gongsun said, “The only clue left is Guo Cheng who has the corpses.”

“We must keep an eye on Guo Cheng,” Bai Yutang said, “otherwise, if this clue is broken, it will be troublesome.”

“Don’t worry,” Liu Qing said, “Zhongyuan is very capable and will surely find clues.”

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

They sent Ma Xin home first, and Luo Yang came to open the door. Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang coughed. Luo Yang smiled and pulled Ma Xin’s hand, whispering in her ear, “Sister Xinxin, why didn’t my dad send you home?”

The car drove away, returned to the front of their villa, and they dropped Gongsun off. Bai Jintang’s car also happened to return at that time, so he took Gongsun into the house.

“Oh~~” Liu Qing leaned back into his chair and spoke with emotion, “You are like a family. When I was at the Nancheng branch, everyone was like an enemy.”

Bai Yutang smiled, “The working environment is very important, especially for the police. A companion who does not trust you is more dangerous than an enemy.”

“It’s true.” Liu Qing nodded. 

At this time, Bai Yutang’s phone rang. Zhan Zhao stretched his hand out and retrieved it from Bai Yutang’s pocket, then frowned. Zhan Zhao did not turn on speakerphone but everyone had already heard the caller’s voice. Jiang Ping was shouting with great excitement, “Boss! Found something! A great discovery!”

After that, Jiang Ping habitually hung up after only saying half of it…

“I have to beat him when I have time.” Bai Yutang gritted his teeth.

“Let’s go back quickly.” Zhan Zhao put the phone away, “It is estimated that Jiang Ping has discovered some shocking clues!”

‿︵‿︵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 7/8, 2021