S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 3 Chapter 9

Smiling Murderer 09 - Deadly Clue

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When Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao drove back to the SCI office, they saw a lot of people gathering.

“What are you doing?” Bai Yutang walked in puzzledly.

“Boss, it’s amazing!” Jiang Ping shouted at Bai Yutang. Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other, and ran over to look. They saw that Jiang Ping had pulled up some information on his computer, “Look, I just got this information from his computer.”

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao looked at each other and hurriedly walked over. They saw Jiang Ping turn the laptop that the forensic science member had brought them, facing the screen towards Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang.

“This computer has a password,” Jiang Ping said, “do you know what the password is?”

Zhan Zhao looked down at the computer, frowned slightly, and asked, “Nationalsozialist?” (Angel: Nationalsozialist is the informal and originally derogatory term for a Nazi party member.)

“Amazing,” Jiang Ping looked at Zhan Zhao and quickly typed in a string of letters, “as expected of Dr. Zhan. It took me half an hour to crack!” While he was talking, the computer logged in automatically and the desktop that appeared made everyone frown. The black swastika symbol in the center of a circular white flag pattern on the red background was very dazzling.

“Is this guy a Nazi?” Liu Qing asked with his eyes wide open, “I thought there were no Nazis in China!”

“China does not have Nazis.” Zhan Zhao said, “The neo-Nazi’s are the development of the old Nazi’s. In Germany, Nazis are strictly prohibited, so the so-called neo-Nazis are just some radicals and xenophobes. Even Japan has no Nazis, there are just some extreme right-wing militaristic ideas. In China, the Nazis had no room for survival and development, and no foundation. Believing in Nazism in this country just shows this student’s ignorance and combativeness. For example, many students now think that it is cool to wear skull decorations, and the interest in Hitler is far greater than that of Gandhi.”

“There are indeed a lot of scary things in his computer.” Jiang Ping moved the cursor as he spoke, “It is a great gathering of topics such as terrorism, exploring news from purely supernatural mysteries, to horror movies and banned videos, and some neo-Nazi research reports.”

“Is there anything about him killing people?” Zhan Zhao asked suddenly, “Looking at how excited you are, there should be something more amazing, right?”

Jiang Ping sighed helplessly, “Dr. Zhan, I can’t hide anything from you. There are some horrifying things… but it may be uncomfortable to watch.”

“Let’s look.” Bai Yutang quickly told Jiang Ping.

“Well, I found a few videos here, let’s take a look, it has more artistic effects than Blair Witch.” Jiang Ping frowned as he spoke, opening the video, “This is how the victims were killed.”

“Was it all captured?” Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang asked in surprise.

“See for yourself.” Jiang Ping shook his head and pressed the play button. There was a slight shaking on the screen, but the picture quality was very clear. 

“It should be shot with a DV.” (Angel: A DV is a a digital video camera.)

“En, we found this kind of DV in Liu Song’s house.” Ma Han took out a DV from an evidence bag and showed it to Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao.

At this time, they saw a Nazi party flag appear in the picture, and then the camera moved little by little.

“It’s inside that little cabin!” Liu Qing said.

At this time, they heard screams.

Then, the camera moved and three boys with knives appeared on screen. They were fighting fiercely and stabbing each other.

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao frowned, “Those students are killing each other?”

Not long later, after a brutal fight, the students all fell to the ground.

At this time, the picture moved fast, as if the person holding the camera went to the deceased lying on the ground, and the camera gradually advanced towards their faces.

In the picture, the face of the deceased looking up at the sky and their empty and confused eyes appeared, as well as… the smile that gradually formed on their face… Then, the camera shook – it was like someone was laughing, laughing so much that they couldn’t control it, causing the camera to tremble gently.

At this time, there was a voice outside the image, “Hurry up…”

Then, the picture zoomed out and steadied. With his head covered, a man in a black military uniform walked into the picture. He cut off the fingers of the deceased with a knife and put them in a glass jar with formalin; it was one of the jars brought by Guo Cheng.

Soon, the screen turned off and the video ended.

In the second, third, and fourth videos, the process and technique are the same as the first one, except that the pictures are more bloody and the methods are more cruel… Everyone looked a little nauseous.

“It’s abnormal.” Liu Qing couldn’t help saying, “It’s really abnormal!”

“Cat, what do you think?” Bai Yutang asked Zhan Zhao.

“Hmm… there seems to be two people.” Zhan Zhao touched his chin, “That person who told him to hurry up… This person who cuts the organs from the corpses seems to be acting as a cameraman and a subordinate, and the one who really commanded the action is that person.”

“Indeed, Jiang Ping, is this person the same as Liu Song?” Bai Yutang asked Jiang Ping.

“That’s right.” Jiang Ping pointed to the comparison chart on the computer and showed Bai Yutang. Judging from the body structure, this man with the mask is Liu Song.

“Sure enough, there is someone behind the scenes.” Bai Yutang frowned, “That voice, is it the same as Guo Cheng’s?”

“It’s not.” Jiang Ping pulled up a few audio clips from when Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao had previously talked with Guo Cheng in the interrogation room. Comparing them with the voice in the video, the results showed that they were completely different.

“It’s completely different?” Bai Yutang frowned and thought, “Now the only clue is this mysterious person, see if you can find this person’s whereabouts from Liu Song’s clue!”

Everyone nodded. Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao sat down and asked Jiang Ping, “What about their chat history? How is it?”

“Huh…” Jiang Ping shook his head helplessly, “I downloaded all of Liu Song’s chat records, and spent a long time reading them. This kid only talks in some private groups and it’s all about the Nazis, with topics like terrorism… Most of the people who spoke were ignorant young people, so there is not much substance.”

“That person is very cautious,” Zhan Zhao said, “he broke all of the clues relating to Liu Song. It can be seen that he had planned to use Liu Song as a scapegoat.”

“Why did Liu Song go crazy with a gun in the downtown area that day?” Bai Yutang asked, “It seems that he wanted to get our attention.”

“It’s very possible.” Zhan Zhao frowned, “At this time, the Nancheng branch was merged to S City, the case was transferred to us, and Liu Song went crazy, it’s really strange.”

“Head, I keep thinking that this is just a prelude.” Jiang Ping reached out and touched his neck, “It’s been a long time since we met a pervert, it’s time for one to come out, otherwise, wouldn’t it be lonely?”

Bai Yutang glared at him, “Shut your crow’s mouth!” (Angel: Crow’s mouth refers to a talkative and annoying person who says bad things.)

At this time, Zhan Zhao’s phone rang.

“It’s Bai Chi, there seems to be a clue.” Zhan Zhao took out the phone and asked Bai Chi, “Bai Chi, has anyone come?”

“Brother, he came, Guo Cheng actually lived in a bungalow just behind the police compound, but he just left with a big suitcase and got into a rental car. We followed him, the direction seems to be going out of town.” Bai Chi replied, “Brother, does he want to run?”

“Is he going out of town or to the station?” Zhan Zhao asked.

“That direction… it’s not likely that he’s going to the station, just leaving the city and heading to K City.” Bai Chi replied.

“K City?” Zhan Zhao thought for a while and said, “Follow him, try not to be discovered by him.”

“But Brother,” Bai Chi said, “Zhongyuan said that Guo Cheng may have already found us.” 

“Huh?” Zhan Zhao was taken aback and asked Bai Chi, “Why?

Bai Chi turned on hands-free and spoke to Shen Zhongyuan, “Zhongyuan, tell Brother.” 

“Dr. Zhan,” Shen Zhongyuan said, “that taxi seems to be driving in a hurry and has violated the rules for overtaking in some sections… It feels wrong, it seems to be trying to get away from us.”

“Oh…” Zhan Zhao frowned.

“Guo Cheng should not be that sharp.” Bai Yutang asked, “Did Guo Cheng stop the taxi or did it come to pick him up?”

“It came to pick him up. He made a call before so we thought he was calling for a taxi.” Shen Zhongyuan replied.

“That’s bad,” Zhan Zhao frowned, “someone wants to do away with the witness…”

“Do away with the witness?” Bai Chi and the others were startled.

“Then let’s stop them!” Luo Tian said.

“Don’t get any closer!” Zhan Zhao yelled, “He is waiting for you to be unable to hold back any longer and get close.”

Bai Yutang frowned slightly when he heard that, “He wants to do away with the police too?”

Zhan Zhao nodded and asked, “How many people are Bai Chi, Luo Tian, and Shen Zhongyuan?”

“Three…” Bai Yutang frowned and spoke to the people on the other end of the phone, “Bai Chi, look at the license plate number of his taxi.”

“Oh! Okay!” Bai Chi reported the taxi’s license plate number to Bai Yutang, and Bai Yutang asked Jiang Ping to notify the taxi company and to connect them to the phone in that car.

Zhan Zhao walked to the table and prepared to negotiate.

The phone rang for a while. When it was connected, a voice came through, “Hello?”

When everyone heard the voice, they frowned… It’s just like the person in that video!

Jiang Ping started recording the call and motioned for Zhan Zhao to say something to him!

Zhan Zhao nodded, and spoke to the person at the other end of the phone, “You were cheated by him.”

There was silence on the other end of the phone, then the man replied, “He won’t lie to me.”

Jiang Ping quickly compared the characteristics of the two audio clips and nodded to Zhan Zhao – exactly the same!

“He asked you and Liu Song to do everything while he was standing aside taking pictures, this is the proof!” Zhan Zhao said. Both Bai Yutang and Jiang Ping were taken aback and looked at Zhan Zhao. Zhan Zhao waved his hand slightly to signal for them not to panic.

“How do you know?” The man’s voice was obviously surprised.

“Did he ask you to pick someone up?” Zhan Zhao asked.

“I…” The man hesitated.

“Hurry up and stop!” Zhan Zhao said, “Otherwise you will both be dead!”

“I…” The man whispered instinctively, and he heard Guo Cheng ask him, “What’s the matter?”

The man was listening to the phone with earphones, so Guo Cheng couldn’t hear Zhan Zhao’s voice.

“Boss,” Luo Tian asked Bai Yutang, “what should I do, they are about to get on a bridge!”

“Hurry up and stop!” Zhan Zhao continued, “You have no way to survive once you get on that bridge!”

“Why should I trust you?” The man asked Zhan Zhao.

“You have a bomb in your car, you are no longer useful to him, he wants to kill you and blame the crime on you.” Zhan Zhao said, “The only thing that can stop him right now is the person you have in your car, stop now!”

“Stopping and getting caught by you is also a death sentence!” The man said excitedly.

While talking, Zhan Zhao heard the phone ringing on the other end, and quickly said, “Don’t answer!”

“We have no retreat!” The man said firmly.

“Okay,” Zhan Zhao said, “you don’t need to stop, but you are not allowed to answer the phone. Listen to me, do as he arranged before, but as soon as you answer that phone, there is only a dead end!”

The man hesitated for a while and said, “Okay!”

Zhan Zhao hung up the phone.

“Cat, what’s the matter?” Bai Yutang asked Zhan Zhao as he called everyone downstairs to prepare for action.

“Let’s talk about it on the road, the murderer wants to cut off all of the clues!” Zhan Zhao said as he walked outside with Bai Yutang.

‿︵‿︵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 21, 2021