S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 3 Chapter 26

Smiling Murderer 25 - Key Clues

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Seeing Jia Yuhua’s madness, Bai Yutang hurriedly had Zhao Hu cover his mouth then handcuff him, before finding a doctor to check his body. So far in this case, it has been hard for them to catch someone alive… they can’t let this one die!

However, Jia Yuhua’s mental state seemed to have some sort of strange instability.

“Cat, is there something wrong with him?” Bai Yutang couldn’t help but ask Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao frowned and said, “Let’s go to his office first and check it out, then go back!”

Bai Yutang nodded and let Zhao Hu and the others take Jia Yuhua away first, then returned to Jia Yuhua’s clinic with Zhan Zhao and the rest of the team.

In the office, Ma Xin and the others were crowding around the nose-walking beast, and Ma Xin said, “I just called Gongsun, he said he would be here within half a minute. He was so excited that he was a bit incoherent!”

Ma Xin had not finished her words when they heard the sound of a car stopping outside the door, followed by hurried footsteps up the stairs… and someone came flying through the door.

“Where is it?” Gongsun almost broke the door.

The group looked at him helplessly as Bai Yutang reached out and pointed to the nose-walking beast that had been tied up.

Gongsun walked over and his eyes widened as he locked eyes with the little thing. The group saw that he looked as though he had seen the eighth wonder of the world. Dumfounded, the group’s mouths were open as they sighed… Gongsun can even make such an expression.

At this time, Bai Jintang also walked through the door.

He had been sleeping well when a phone call suddenly came. Gongsun answered the phone and went crazy, jumped up, got dressed, and dragged him out of bed while babbling, “Go, go…”

Bai Jintang knew Gongsun for so long, but he had never seen this kind of expression on his face, it was too cute.

“Is this the disgusting thing that got you this excited?” Bai Jintang frowned as he leaned closer.

“Is this thing genuine or is it a disguise?” Zhan Zhao asked Gongsun, “Although I do believe in the existence of aliens, no, aliens definitely exist, but this thing does not look real.”

“I’ll have to take it back and do some tests to find out, but it doesn’t look fake. If the nose was fake, there’s no way it could be so flexible and easy to use.” Gongsun said, “With it being so small, it could be a genetic mutation, artificially bred, or a deformity that developed when the embryonic cells were contaminated… Anyway, this is an amazing discovery.”

“Could there be more than this one?” Zhan Zhao asked.

“En.” Gongsun nodded, “It would be amazing if they could be found in larger numbers.”

After saying that, he took out his toolbox, grabbed the cage, and put the tied-up nose-walking beast inside. He then took Ma Han and Ma Xin back to the SCI office.

Afterwards, Bai Yutang looked around the clinic with Zhan Zhao, Luo Tian, and Bai Chi, while Liu Qing and Shen Zhongyuan looked around the outside of the clinic, searching for clues.

“Where did he get something like this?” Zhan Zhao pulled the CD out of the stereo and carefully looked it over, “It’s very difficult to make and the cost should be very high, it’s more likely that he… copied it from somewhere.”

“He has detailed patient records on his computer.” Jiang Ping looked at Jia Yuhua’s computer and said, “Several of the suspects who died before are on his list.”

“In other words, they weren’t necessarily patients, but they were all connected? Right?” Bai Yutang asked.

“There is that possibility.” Zhan Zhao nodded as he opened a drawer and took out a red, neatly folded flag from inside. Opening it, he spoke to Bai Yutang, “Xiao Bai, look.”

Bai Yutang stood further away to take a look and smiled coldly, “A Nazi flag, I’ve heard a lot about it but it’s the first time I have seen one.”

“Wow…” Jiang Ping also came over to look at it, “It’s the first time I have seen one… It’s a bit creepy when you see it in real life, you don’t usually get goosebumps seeing it in movies or documentaries.”

Zhan Zhao nodded, “This is the horror of mental suggestion… The information we receive as children creates a reservoir of information in our minds that serves as a basis for us to judge what is right or wrong, telling us what is right or wrong. For example, God, Buddha, the Bodhisattvas, and such, are all compassionate and powerful, and they can be used as a psychological support in times of distress. Whereas the devil, demons, and such, are evil and powerful and can act as a deterrent to us. It is simply that one makes us live and ones makes us die… The instinctive human fear of death and the accumulation of acquired information makes us subconsciously stay away from existences such as the Nazis. Therefore, once we see the real thing and feel this threat, which was originally far away from us, now exists right next to us… it gives you a creepy feeling.”

“That’s right.” Bai Chi nodded, “That’s it, as soon as I looked at it, all my hair stood up.”

“Hearing about things is nowhere near as stimulating as seeing it in person.” Zhan Zhao said, “It’s like hearing the number of people killed in a massacre and seeing the mass graves with your own eyes, they are two different concepts.”

Bai Chi nodded and sighed, “Why join an organization that horrible?

“Simply put, people are in pursuit of power.” Zhan Zhao looked through Jia Yuhua’s notes and medical records while saying, “Everyone is afraid when faced with death, so death is the best deterrent for people. In ancient China, generals in war would often hang the heads of their opponents on the heads of their horses, which was the best deterrent to their opponents. Also, primitive tribes would use the bones of their enemies as ornaments… The fact that you can control the life and death of others means that you are above them, and that you will experience the satisfaction from the power and authority that that gives you. In today’s society, because of the growth of education, the large population, and an inherent inequality of intelligence and conditions, the majority of people are very ordinary. The desire to perform is inherent in human beings, and once they are aware of their ordinariness, they develop a desire to perform and transcend, to become something more than ordinary… so everyone wants to have power. The more romantic ones are achieved through spirituality, such as dreams, fantasies, games, books, movies, and such. The more realistic ones are divided into two categories. The first is to improve oneself in a way that does not harm others, such as studying, exercising, and so on, so that you achieve a better-than-average status and thus gain self-satisfaction. The other is through abnormal channels… Among them, violence is a very prominent one. If you are more violent than ordinary people and have the ability to take other peoples’ lives, others will naturally fear you. When such people are gathered together, they become a violent organization, that is, budding terrorists.”

Bai Chi nodded somewhat helplessly and said, “I don’t know why, but every time I hear you analyze humans or the human mind, Brother, I think that humans are uninteresting and cruel creatures.”

“All living things are like that.” Zhan Zhao smiled and patted him, “You have to think of it this way, Chi Chi. Out of the ten people around you, how many good people, how many bad people, how many trustworthy people, how many people are worth learning from… and so on. For example, if nine out of ten of those people are good, then the world would be ninety percent good… what a wonderful world!”

“Then… what if I look at the criminals I’ve caught.” Bai Chi said, “Out of ten, ten of them are abnormal.”

Bai Yutang couldn’t help but laugh.

“Tsk.” Zhan Zhao stretched out a finger and waved it gently, saying somewhat slyly, “That’s why picking the group is so important. The most powerful thing about people is not selective attention, but rather selective ignorance.”

Bai Chi listened with his eyebrows furrowed together, and he rubbed his head while asking, “That’s so deep, Brother, can you say it more simply?”

“I can translate Cat’s words into Chinese.” Bai Yutang added from the side, “If you’re optimistic, life is good. If you’re pessimistic, you won’t survive. It’s important to recognize reality, but you must also learn to lie to yourself.”

“Oh…” Bai Chi nodded his head, “Very reasonable!”

Zhan Zhao turned back and gave Bai Yutang a blank look – Stealing my thunder?!

Bai Yutang shook his head while laughing and continued to check the drawers.

“Cat!” 

Zhan Zhao was examining the flag when he heard Bai Yutang call him.

“What is it?” Zhan Zhao walked over to take a look.

“Look here.” Bai Yutang tugged on the last drawer of the desk, but it wouldn’t open; it was locked.

“It’s locked?” Zhan Zhao asked.

“En, where’s the key?” Bai Yutang asked.

Bai Chi also came over to look and asked, “Someone from the forensic team should probably bring a metal detector over, how can we find it in such a big room?”

Bai Yutang held his finger to his lips – shhh – while gesturing for Bai Chi to look at Zhan Zhao.

When Bai Chi looked over, he saw Zhan Zhao rubbing his chin and starting to look around.

He walked over to the front of the office chair that Jia Yuhua usually sat in all of the time, sat on the swivel chair, then began to turn left and right, looking around the four walls of the room.

Finally, Zhan Zhao stopped. He suddenly stood up and stared at the large leather office swivel chair. After looking at it for a while, he reached out, lifted the cushion on the chair, patted it, then turned it over.

As he searched, they saw Zhan Zhao raise his eyebrows as he spotted a place where a thread had come loose.

Bai Yutang also saw the loose thread. Reaching out to the stationery holder on the desk, he grabbed a paper cutter and gave it to Zhan Zhao, who gently cut the leather cushion open… Sure enough, inside the foam padding, there was a small key.

Bai Yutang took the key out and inserted it into the keyhole of the locked drawer, and with a turn… it clicked open.

“That’s amazing!” Liu Qing and Shen Zhongyuan, who had just returned from searching outside, witnessed Zhan Zhao’s search for the key and both found it incredible.

“It doesn’t seem to be the first time you’ve done this, Brother. You’re so good at finding things, so why do you never know where you put your things?” Bai Chi muttered.

Zhan Zhao narrowed his eyes, reached out, and pinched Bai Chi’s cheek.

“Ouch…” Bai Chi, sore from the pinch, hurriedly escaped and rubbed his face.

“Doctor, how did you find that?” Liu Qing asked curiously.

Zhan Zhao thought about it and said, “Well… looking for something blindly is not scientific, it is best to just imitate the mindset of the person in question.”

The group widened their eyes as they listened to Zhan Zhao’s teachings.

“Firstly, rank what you are looking for, whether it is of primary importance, secondary importance, or of lesser importance.”

“Things that are less important but hold a level of secrecy we usually keep in lockers, safes, and such… something with locks.”

“Things of secondary importance are basically undetectable. Smart people keep them in places where others can’t find them, for example, a bookshelf full of hundreds of books with only a single book hiding a certain page inside.”

“Things of the primary level of importance, on the other hand, are generally related to the life of the person and their family, so in addition to being secretive, they have to be placed close to you so you can protect it at any time… This is more secure.”

“In this room, the thing that has the most contact with its owner … should be – this cushion.” Zhan Zhao shook the cushion in his hand and said, “This style of cushion is somewhat versatile and inconspicuous, that is to say… it can be carried at all times. It can be a cushion on a chair, or a cushion in a car, and the longer it stays with Jia Yuhua, the more suspicious it becomes.”

Liu Qing and Shen Zhongyuan looked at each other, both finding it too unbelievable.

“Cat,” At this time, Bai Yutang opened the drawer, smiled, and said to Zhan Zhao, “it seems that… it really is something important.”

Zhan Zhao and the group all looked down… and saw that in the middle of the drawer, there was a large number of burned CD’s, and on top of each CD, there was a small swastika drawn with a black marker.

‿︵‿︵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: September 7/8, 2021