S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 3 Chapter 23

Smiling Murder 22 - Set the Trap

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After Zhan Zhao returned home, he washed the blood off his body and then slipped into bed.

After not seeing Zhan Zhao the whole day, the little lion came up to him and rubbed his neck affectionately.

“Good boy.” Zhan Zhao stroked him and asked, “Have you eaten yet?”

The little lion yawned and burrowed under the covers. Lying down by the pillow, he chose a comfortable position and prepared to sleep.

When Bai Yutang came in after his shower, he frowned, “Cat, do you know how many parasites there are on a lion?”

Zhan Zhao laughed, “You bathe it almost every day, surely it's clean enough.”

Bai Yutang was helpless and went to the other side of the bed to lie down, asking, “Cat, will that group fall for it?”

“Well… I suppose they will. We were quite successful this time, it’s not likely that I’ll be tested by them.” Zhan Zhao said, “As for their next step, I guess they will be looking for us.”

Bai Yutang rubbed his chin and said, “"If it's really going to be like that… I guess we’ll have to get Lu Fang to make another new set of identities for us.”

Zhan Zhao nodded and said, “There should be a man.”

“Hmm?” Bai Yutang came over and half jokingly pointed at himself, saying, “The man is right here.”

Zhan Zhao glanced at him and said, “It’s not that, what are you imagining? I mean… when I went into that room, a strange man spoke to me.”

“There was someone inside?” Bai Yutang asked.

Zhan Zhao narrowed his eyes, “It was a speaker!”

“Oh.” Bai Yutang breathed a sigh of relief and said, “What did he say?”

“Well, I think he has some sort of foundation in psychology.” Zhan Zhao said, “He may even be an expert.”

“Oh?” Bai Yutang thought about it and said, “That's right, he can exploit the weaknesses of so many people, he is obviously an insider in the field.”

“Hmm…” Zhan Zhao thought for a while, then climbed out of bed in his pajamas, ran over to the bookshelf, and grabbed a pile of information and his laptop.

“What are you doing Cat?” Bai Yutang saw Zhan Zhao taking out his phone, as if he wanted to make a call.

“Jiang Ping should still be on duty, right? Shall I call him over for a snack?” Zhan Zhao asked with a smirk.

Bai Yutang laughed, got up, and ran downstairs with Zhan Zhao. 

When Zhan Zhao retreated to the sofa in the living room, he saw that Gongsun was also there, watching TV and drinking tea. When he saw Zhan Zhao coming down, Gongsun asked, “Is everything okay?”

“No.” Zhan Zhao replied with a smile and sat down next to Gongsun. Bai Chi, wearing a set of bunny pajamas, peered down from the second floor. When he saw everyone gathered, he went downstairs with a large blanket wrapped around him. Lisbon followed him down, and the group gathered around.

Zhao Zhen and Bai Jintang were sitting at the table drinking tea, and the twins were still playing video games. Eugene had come to stay with the family and, seeing the group, asked enviously, “Is there room for one more? Can I move in? I want to leave the boss and go solo!”

Everyone looked at him helplessly.

Bai Yutang went to the kitchen to make a midnight snack for the group.

When Zhan Zhao called the police station, Jiang Ping dropped the phone and rushed over as soon as he heard the word snack.

Taking the burger Bai Yutang gave him, Jiang Ping sat down on the sofa opposite Zhan Zhao and, as he had requested, hacked into the backend of some departments to find the clues Zhan Zhao wanted.

The group ate their snacks and examined the events of the evening.

“There are quite a few psychologists with a criminal record,”  Jiang Ping said as he checked, “there are all kinds of them.”

Zhan Zhao shrugged his shoulders and said, “Psychologists are very vulnerable. They're always helping others with their psychological problems, but no one comes to solve theirs.”

“Can't psychologists consult each other?” Bai Yutang asked.

“Have you ever heard that peers are like enemies?” Zhan Zhao smiled and said, “If a psychologist let others know that he has a psychological problem, could they still run their clinic?”

The group was a little speechless.

“Here are the names and specific information.” Jiang Ping found a printer and printed out all of the information, then handed it to Zhan Zhao, “It's all here.”

Zhan Zhao took the lists and distributed them to the group, asking them to sort through them.

“How are we sorting them?” Bai Yutang and the others asked Zhan Zhao in confusion.

“There are pictures on the top, right?” Zhan Zhao smiled, “Look for ones that are not pleasing to the eye, feel very abnormal, very hypocritical, very disgusting…”

The group stared at Zhan Zhao with speechless expressions. Only after a long time did they ask, “Filtering like this?”

“En!” Zhan Zhao nodded, “Just look at them!”

“But everyone's subjective opinion is different.” Bai Chi said, “What if we interpret it wrong?”

“It’s fine,” Zhan Zhao said, “just look at it, it's all about the initial feeling!”

The group looked at each other, then finally nodded and split up to look at them.

It was interesting to watch; everyone was holding a photo, looking at it left and right, trying to see if the person was abnormal.

After everyone looked at one, they would swap photos and look again.

Zhan Zhao took a book out to take notes. If everyone thought that one person was abnormal at first glance, he would make a note of them.

Finally, everyone had looked over all of the photos. Zhan Zhao flipped through all the records and looked at them… There were a few people who scored quite high.

Zhan Zhao nodded in satisfaction and said, “Well.. these ones are considered the winners”

The group looked at each other and asked, “What should we do with these people? Investigate them?”

Zhan Zhao’s eyes rolled as he said, “Well… Shall we have Ma Xin come over for a snack? Is she on forensic duty tonight?”

The group looked at each other as Bai Yutang made the call, “Ma Han said he’ll bring her over.”

Zhan Zhao smiled.

Not long after, both Ma Xin and Ma Han arrived, and Ma Xin was a little curious.

Zhan Zhao smiled, “Xin Xin, do me a favour!”

“What do you need me to do?” Ma Xin asked with great interest.

Zhan Zhao took his phone out, handed it to her, and said, “Call these numbers and say something to them.”

“What should I say?” Ma Xin was curious. Zhan Zhao moved over and whispered in Ma Xin’s ear for a long time. Ma Xin’s eyes widened as she looked at Zhan Zhao, “How…”

The group was curious and wondered what Zhan Zhao wanted Ma Xin to say.

“Well,” Zhan Zhao nodded, “the more the better!”

“Oh…”Ma Xin seemed to be a little embarrassed. Looking around, she said, “You guys… with so many people watching?”

The group was curious, their eyes were wide open as they waited for Ma Xin to hurry up and make the call.

Ma Xin sighed, picked up the phone, and started calling the phone numbers one by one.

The first call was answered and a man’s voice came from the other end, “Hello?”

Ma Xin put the phone on speakerphone, and Jiang Ping started to record the audio.

They heard Ma Xin ask in a voice so coy that it gave people goosebumps, “Hello~ Excuse me, do you need special services?’

……

The group quickly covered their mouths, almost bursting out in laughter. They all turned their heads to look at Zhan Zhao, thinking… What kind of trick is this?

Zhan Zhao raised his finger to his lips, telling everyone to stop talking and to wait quietly.

The group waited quietly.

They heard the person on the other end of the phone seem to freeze before hanging up the phone straight away.

Zhan Zhao then gestured for Ma Xin to call again!

Ma Xin picked up the phone to call again, and the call was connected, “Hello?”

“Handsome man~~ don’t be so uptight!” Ma Xin’s voice caused the crowd to shiver, it was too unexpected.

The person on the other end hung up the phone again, and when she called again, the other person had turned off their phone.

Ma Xin blushed, and Bai Yutang hurriedly brought her a homemade milkshake, which she quickly took two sips of, improving her mood. When she called the second person, she was thick-skinned. Taking a sip of water to moisten her throat, she continued.

Her call to the second person connected.

The voice that came through said, “Hello…”

Zhan Zhao listened to it with his chin resting on his hands, and didn’t show much of a reaction.

Ma Xin repeated the question she had just asked the first person.

The other person seemed to freeze, before laughing softly and asking, “What kind of special service?”

The person spoke in a slightly provocative tone, and he seemed like a veteran.

Ma Xin quickly continued with her act, “Ah, I hate you, you obviously know!” (Angel: In this context, ‘I hate you’ has a flirtatious and provocative meaning.)

The man’s laughter was quite disgusting and he started asking Ma Xin where to meet.

Ma Xin looked at Zhan Zhao, who wrote down an address for her – it was the phone booth outside the back door of the police station.

Ma Xin held back a smile and gave him the address… then Bai Yutang called the anti-pornography team and asked them to keep an eye out, if someone went to that phone booth, they should arrest and detain them.

Ma Xin looked at Zhan Zhao. Zhan Zhao held his chin and shook his head… not this one either.

She then proceeded to call the next number.

The third call took a long time to get through before a voice came from the other end, “Hello?”

Zhan Zhao froze slightly, frowned, and carefully distinguished the voice. Feeling that there was something interesting, he picked up a piece of paper and showed it to Ma Xin.

The group leaned over to look and saw that it read: pretend to inquire about a consult and stall for time.

Ma Xin understood and asked the party on the other end of the phone, “Um… are you a psychologist?”

The man froze for a moment, then asked, “Who are you?”

When Zhan Zhao took the man's information and looked at it, he saw that his full name was Jia Yuhua, a thirty-two year old psychologist who runs a psychology clinic in China, and he was originally a teacher at a university, but was fired because of a violent incident.

“Well, Dr. Jia, I was referred by a friend to come and see you… he... said you can solve my problem.” 

“Oh…” Jia Yuhua seemed to understand and said, “What problem do you need to consult about?”

“Well… I…” Ma Xin looked at Zhan Zhao, and saw that Zhan Zhao had already quickly written some words on a piece of paper and showed it to her.

Ma Xin nodded and said, “I always feel… that inside my body… there is another person.”

Jia Yuhua froze and asked, “Are there any specific symptoms?”

“It’s that… I go to bed at night… and when I get up the next morning, my clothes are on… but they aren’t the ones I went to bed in!” Ma Xin said according to the notes Zhan Zhao made her.

“Oh?” Jia Yuhua seemed to be getting interested and asked, “So… do you feel tired? Is there any mud on your shoes? And do you find anything that doesn’t belong to you?”

Zhan Zhao frowned slightly, “This voice is full of seduction, but it’s also gentle and skillful… it’s the same as the one in the bar!”

Zhan Zhao raised an eyebrow at Bai Yutang, who was in a good mood and asked Jiang Ping to locate Jia Yuhua’s location using his cell phone signal.

Ma Xin went on to say, “Yes, and there’s more than that! Sometimes I get up with blood on me, but I don’t even know whose blood it is… Doctor, I’m afraid to go to the hospital, I’m afraid they’ll put me in a mental hospital. Do you think I’m crazy?”

“Don’t worry,” Jia Yuhua said, “come to my clinic later, we’ll talk after we meet.”

“Sure!” Ma Xin grabbed a pen and paper, then asked, “Then… what is the address?”

Jia Yuhua told the address to Ma Xin, who recorded it and put away the phone.

The group looked at each other and got up… ready to go and meet that psychologist!

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

I start my last year (probably) of university today! I'm pretty sure my schedule will allow me to keep up with the current upload schedule. I did get quite a few chapters done over the last week, so if I can keep up this pace, I might be able to upload three chapters some weeks., but we will see how it goes. 😊

Also, you may have noticed, but I've changed the font. I was struggling with line spacing and realized that the issue started when I changed to working on Google Docs rather than Microsoft Word. Rather than going back and reformatting all of those chapters, it was easier for me to change the font and default line spacing so that the older chapters match the newer ones and the font is easier to read with the smaller line spacing.

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

Translated: September 1/2, 2021