S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 3 Chapter 25

Smiling Murderer 24 - Grappling

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Jia Yuhua pushed the button on the stereo. When the music started, Zhan Zhao sat up abruptly and looked at Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang also heard it; it was the same kind of music laced with relaxing tones that he had heard in the bar that day.

Subconsciously. Ma Xin pressed the ring against the back of her hand to clear her head. This music could make people unconsciously relax, and she was already feeling its effects.

Ma Han was composed enough to notice the discrepancies in the music, and of course, his superior self-control kept him alert, fighting that slight disturbance in his willpower and trying not to get into the rhythm of that music.

Jia Yuhua slowly walked over to the desk and sat down. At that moment, a small animal, which looked like a small squirrel, crawled out of his jacket pocket.

Jia Yuhua gently stroked the squirrel as he asked Ma Xin, “The other person inside you, what kind of person are they? Do you have an idea?”

At this time, Zhan Zhao reached out and nudged Bai Yutang, “Xiao Bai, time to move, otherwise we will be discovered”

“Move now?” Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao in surprise.

“En, that kid is trying to trigger Ma Xin’s second personality.” Zhan Zhao said, “This guy doesn’t have good intentions, he wants Ma Xin’s second personality to deal with Ma Han.”

“Huh?” Bai Yutang did not understand.

“He has already judged that Ma Xin’s second personality is violent,” Zhan Zhao said, “but Ma Xin is still able to control it. The hidden personality is very agitated and eager to emerge, so if he triggered it, he could prompt that personality to do something irreversible to completely take over the shell of Ma Xin.”

“Irreversible?” Bai Yutang asked Zhan Zhao as he told the group to prepare to move, “How irreversible?”

“Think about it,” Zhan Zhao said, “Ma Xin and Ma Han seem to be very close. If Ma Xin did something to hurt her brother, then the true personality of Ma Xin would feel very guilty.”

“Oh…” Bai Yutang nodded, “I see, use her guilty heart to make it so she is unable to escape anymore, thereby letting the second personality take over her body, right?”

“Correct!” Zhan Zhao nodded, “But Ma Xin doesn’t have a split personality at all, much less the ability to hurt Ma Han… this would be revealed, wouldn’t it?!”

“Right!” Bai Yutang pulled Zhan Zhao and ran outside, instructing as he did so, “Everyone prepare to move!”

The SCI members got out of the car and followed their line of sight to the clinic. 

Bai Yutang asked Zhan Zhao, “So how do we arrest him? There’s no evidence! What incriminating evidence can we use against him if we arrest him?”

“Who says there’s no evidence?” Zhan Zhao raised an eyebrow, “That tape and the neo-Nazi flags in his drawer are enough to arrest him. Besides, he should have something else in his house!”

“Something else?” Bai Yutang was curious.

“Just go in and take a look… Ah!” Zhan Zhao suddenly exclaimed, “That Jia Yuhua…”

“What about him?” Bai Yutang asked.

“Well… watch him closely for a bit, I’m not too sure, but maybe… he could be very deadly.” Zhan Zhao added.

“Deadly?” Bai Yutang was puzzled, “Meaning he’s powerful enough to kill?”

Zhan Zhao shrugged, “Maybe, I’m not sure.”

“I’ll try to be careful.” Bai Yutang nodded. By now, the group had arrived near the clinic.

Bai Yutang gestured, signalling for the group to surround the clinic and lay in ambush.

Luo Tian and the others, who were already at the main entrance, also came over, and the group dispersed.

Luo Tian and Liu Qing prepared to break into the clinic, while Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang entered through the main door together, and Zhao Hu and the others guarded the windows and exits under the balcony.

Then, Bai Yutang nodded, “Move!”

Ma Xin was trying to describe what her imaginary second personality was like, and she truly had no ideas in her head.

Ma Han, however, noticed that the squirrel in Jia Yuhua’s hand suddenly became tense and squeaked in the direction of the door… In an instant, Ma Han realized that the animal didn’t seem to be a squirrel... How come it looked so disgusting?!

While Ma Han was amazed, he also noticed that Jia Yuhua’s face changed slightly and his hand reached out in the direction of the drawer… to get his gun?

Ma Han reached out and grabbed Ma Xin’s collar, pulling her backwards…

Before Ma Xin could understand what was going on, she tumbled over the back of the sofa with Ma Han. As she was puzzled, she heard a ‘bang’, and the clinic door was kicked open by Luo Tian. Ma Han pulled out his gun, and on the other side, there was the sound of a window breaking… he knew that – Jia Yuhua was going to run.

Ma Han asked Ma Xin to hide behind the sofa, and he jumped up from behind the sofa with his gun out. Sure enough, he saw Jia Yuhua smashing the glass window with a chair. 

Ma Han was stunned, saying in his heart… Jia Yuhua was at the window, why did he break it rather than just open it? In an instant, he realized that he was trying to get the attention of the group! Ma Han pointed his gun at him while saying, “He smashed the glass!”

Ji Yuhua frowned.

At that moment, Bai Yutang and the others had already rushed in. When they entered, Bai Yutang and the others heard the sound of smashing glass, but it didn’t change their route and they rushed straight to the clinic’s office. However, Zhao Hu and the others on guard outside the window heard the sound of smashing glass coming from the east and thought that someone had run away, so they tried to gather there.

“Ignore him! Wait for the man to come down!” Bai Yutang said into his walkie-talkie.

Jia Yuhua turned around and Ma Han pointed his gun at him, “You can’t get away.”

Jia Yuhua instantly froze, and then, surprisingly, picked the corners of his mouth up into a smile.

Ma Han was a bit puzzled… At that moment, he felt something in his ear, and he subconsciously tilted his head. The small animal landed on his right shoulder, reaching its sharp claws out to scratch at his eyes.

Luckily, Ma Han was quicker and slapped the squirrel away. The little squirrel moved very fast… squeaking and leaping to the side. With its odd movements, it leapt onto the other side of the sofa with one leap and ran directly towards Ma Xin.

At that moment, Jia Yuhua had already leapt out of the window to escape. Ma Han, slightly stunned and somewhat worried about Ma Xin, fiercely took off his jacket to throw it on that squirrel, saying, “I’m going after him！”

Ma Han immediately leapt out of the window and chased him. At that moment, Zhan Zhao and the others rushed in.

Seeing that Ma Han had jumped out of the window, Bai Yutang also rushed over and jumped out of the window with Liu Qing. Zhan Zhao went to the window and saw Luo Tian also jumping out. Holding him back, he said, “Ah, Luo Tian, help us catch that thing!”

Luo Tian was stunned and asked, “What thing?”

“Over here!” Ma Xin chased the skittish squirrel with the jacket in her hand, “It doesn’t seem to be a squirrel!”

“Get him! Watch out for his bite! We need him alive!” Zhan Zhao pointed at the scurrying little squirrel.

Luo Tian nodded, took the jacket from Ma Xin, and smacked the squirrel.

Luo Tian was much stronger than Ma Xin, and he was right on target. The squirrel was knocked unconscious and fell to the ground. Zhan Zhao hurriedly said, “Tie it up! This is an important clue!”

Although Luo Tian didn’t quite understand what clues this thing had to offer, he still reached out and grabbed the little creature. Taking a closer look, he gasped.

Ma Xin took her shoelaces out of her shoes and tied it up tightly. 

When the little thing woke up, it squealed and started struggling… but there was no escape.

“What is this thing?” Luo Tian asked as he held the little creature under the lamp, “Is it an alien? Why does it look so disgusting?”

From a distance, the little thing looked like a hairy rodent. It had a long tail and big ears, and looked like a squirrel, but… upon close inspection, this thing had a very strange nose that looked like an octopus, and it had just moved really quickly, bouncing all over, relying on that nose...

Luo Tian looked dumbfounded, but Ma Xin’s eyes were wide open. She came over to take a closer look and said, “Ah… Oh my god, it’s a nose-walking beast! Didn’t they say that they were still seen during World War II? But then, because of US military nuclear tests, they all went extinct. Oh, that’s right, someone must have preserved them, they were very controversial at the time!” (Angel: Nose-walking beasts, or snout walkers, are a fictitious creature created by German zoologist Gerolf Steiner that uses its nose to walk. They inhabited a small Pacific archipelago until it sank into the ocean due to nearby atomic bomb testing. You can read more about them here)

“It could also be a mutation that survived on some other archipelago.” Zhan Zhao said, “Or it could be that they didn’t all die at that time and mutated after being exposed to nuclear radiation. A normal nose-walking beast should be two meters long, this one is too small and its hair is too long.”

“However, a star-nosed mole would be small.” Ma Xin said, “There are more than a hundred species of nose-walking beasts, I guess it’s one of them, and that some of them are poisonous.”

“There are such strange things on Earth?” Luo Tian frowned and asked, “nose-walking beasts? Creatures that walk with their noses?”

“What’s strange?” Ma Xin glared at him and said, “This is a miracle in the history of biology, do you know that?! Do you know where elephants come from?” As she said that, she made a trunk with her arm, “A trunk can also be of great use.”

Luo Tian couldn’t laugh or cry. Zhan Zhao looked at the weird ‘squirrel’ and laughed, “If we show that to Gongsun, he will go crazy.”

“I can imagine.” Ma Xin hurriedly nodded, “Anyone who studies biology would go crazy.”

……

Jia Yuhua leapt down from the window. Downstairs, Zhou Hu and Bai Chi were standing guard. As soon as they saw the man come down, Zhao Hu pounced on him. However, when Jia Yuhua landed on the ground, he suddenly pulled something out. Bai Chi’s eyes were sharp, he pulled Zhou Hu to the side as a large ‘bang’ rang out… But it wasn’t a gun, as the group saw a flash of blue light.

“Damn it, this kid has a stun gun!” Zhou Hu yelled.

Jia Yuhua got up and ran.

Ma Han flashed aside with his gun, aimed at Jia Yuhua, then looked at Bai Yutang. Bai Yutang nodded.

Ma Han pulled the trigger… As he ran, Jia Yuhua was shot in the calf.

As he stumbled and fell, the group went over to grab him. Zhan Zhao stood upstairs and shouted down to Bai Yutang, “Xiao Bai, be careful!”

Bai Yutang was slightly stunned, saying in his heart… this Jia Yuhua only knows how to run, but listening to Zhan Zhao’s words, this person seems to have some ability.

“Everyone be careful!” Bai Yutang said to the group.

The group all nodded and scattered to surround Jia Yuhua, aiming their guns at him.

They saw Jia Yuhua on the ground, head down, holding a stun gun in his hand. His left calf had just been wounded by Ma Han. His right leg was bent and he was kneeling on his left, propping himself up with one hand and gasping for breath.

“Jia Yuhua, throw away the stun gun.” Bai Yutang said, “Put your hands behind your back.”

Jia Yuhua did not say anything. Looking at the stun gun in his hand, he suddenly threw it at Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang moved his head to the side and dodged it. Jia Yuhua then pounced like a madman towards Bai Chi. Luckily, Zhan Zhao had just warned everyone, so the group was prepared and was secretly watching out for this kid’s attack.

Sure enough, they saw him running wildly. Liu Qing put away his gun and flashed in front of him, kicking him before he could do anything…

Bai Yutang flashed behind him and gently hooked his right foot… Jia Yuhua was already unsteady with only one leg to stand on, so this time he fell on all fours. Zhou Hu went up and pinned him to the ground, put his hands behind his back, and cursed, “This kid is crazy, how strong is he?!”

“Ha ha ha…” Jia Yuhua suddenly burst out laughing and yelled, “You can’t kill me! You can’t shoot me!”

The group frowned. The man was handcuffed by Ma Han, and Zhao Hu pulled him up to see that Jia Yuhua’s jaw had been injured at some point, his face was bloodied, and his eyes were wide open. He raised his face to look at Bai Yutang and laughed, “I’m sick… ha ha ha.”

Bai Yutang was slightly stunned and raised his eyes to look at Zhan Zhao, who shrugged and said, “Looks like he’s right… This kid has a split personality himself.”

“Wow… those patients who have been treated by a madman for so long are so pitiful!” Ma Xin said.

“Heh…” Zhan Zhao laughed, “It seems he made himself sick while inducing the split personalities of others.”

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

I know that it's Sunday and that I usually upload My Vampire Faints at Blood, but I opened the chapter yesterday to start translating it and found out that it was roughly three times longer than all the other chapters. I didn't have time to get it done for today, so instead of not uploading, I decided to just upload a SCI chapter today, since I am a few chapters ahead.

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

Translated: September 6, 2021