S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 3 Chapter 33

Ghost Murderer 01 - Ghost Incident

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On the first day after the summer vacation came to an end, Bai Yutang got up early and woke Luo Yang, who had spent the night playing with Lisbon and the little lion, changed his clothes, and sent him off to school.

Luo Tian had unfortunately not been able to accompany Luo Yang this summer.

The police department was recently invited by the International Peacekeeping Force to select two officers to undergo anti-terrorism training, which has pretty strict physical requirements.

SCI was given a spot. Bai Yutang has participated in this training before, it was very intense but very useful for training professional qualities. The only person in the entirety of SCI who has not received professional training is Luo Tian, and Luo Tian has unlimited potential, so Bai Yutang assigned the spot to him. However, the training period was two months, from the end of July to the beginning of September, and Luo Tian had to go abroad. In other words, to attend the training, he would not be able to spend the summer with Luo Yang.

Luo Yang is usually a very studious child, and apart from his classes, he has to practice martial arts, read books outside his regular classes, and learn some random stuff, all of which are activities he chose to pick up on his own, and as a result, he has basically no time to play. He worked through it so that he could play together with everyone over his summer vacation. He had already managed to arrange trips to amusement parks and museums, and to go travelling, and he wants Luo Tian and Ma Xin to go together with him so he can create opportunities for the two.

When Luo Tian got the opportunity to go abroad to train, he naturally wanted to go, but he couldn’t bear to make Luo Yang sad, so Zhan Zhao and the others collectively worked to break the news to Luo Yang. However, what they didn’t expect was that once Yang Yang heard that his dad had been given such an opportunity, he hurriedly agreed and said something very typical – A man should put his career first!

In the end, Luo Tian reluctantly got on the plane and Luo Yang was taken home by Zhan Zhao.

Therefore, this summer, Luo Yang lived a full life. The SCI members came in shifts, each taking a day to spend with him, and he would go back to Ma Xin’s house at night. When Ma Xin was on duty, he would return to spend time with Lisbon.

Today was the first day of classes. Bai Yutang tidied Luo Yang’s backpack and asked him with a bottle of juice in his hand, “Should I put some juice in your backpack?” 

“No, there’s a water fountain in the classroom, just pack a bottle.”

“Is that so?” Bai Yutang thought about it, but put the bottle of juice in for him anyway, “The water fountain is not hygienic, bring your own drink.”

“Oh.” Luo Yang nodded and took his backpack.

“What about lunch?”

“I’ll eat at the school cafeteria.” Luo Yang replied.

“Do you want to bring a snack?”

……

“An umbrella?”

……

“By the way, what’s served at the cafeteria? Should I pick you up so you can eat at the police station?”

“Uncle Bai…” Luo Yang looked at Bai Yutang somewhat speechlessly.

Bai Yutang signaled that he understood, but he had never taken care of a child in elementary school before, so he had to ask a lot of questions.

Zhan Zhao also got up quite early, and the two of them got ready to send Luo Yang to school and then go to work.

When the car arrived at the gate of the elementary school, Luo Yang got out of the car, put his small backpack on, and said goodbye to Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang waved at him and said, “Go in and go to class right away, we’ll pick you up in the evening.”

“Okay.” Luo Yang thought for a moment and then asked, “Uncle Bai, is my dad coming back tomorrow?”

“That’s right.” Bai Yutang nodded, “It’s possible that he’ll be back today.”

Hearing this, Luo Yang let out a cheerful shout, cheerfully said goodbye to the two of them, and ran off to the school.

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao watched Luo Yang enter the school gate, meet his classmates and walk into the school together while talking and laughing, and only then did they feel comfortable enough to drive away.

“Luo Tian might really come back early.” Zhan Zhao took out a newspaper and looked at it, saying, “The other day, I heard from Bao Sir that Luo Tian got the highest score in the final round of examinations and even saved an American soldier while hiking, so he’s earned a lot of face. Bao Sir was very pleased while talking about it, didn’t you also get first place last time? Ma Han was also first when he went, so they all said that SCI is the best.”

Bai Yutang laughed, “That’s a good thing, when he comes back we can celebrate. I wonder if he got as tan as I did back then?”

“Definitely.” Zhan Zhao smiled “Luo Tian was already tan, unlike you, Captain Bai, who is naturally beautiful.”

Bai Yutang laughed, shook his head somewhat helplessly, and asked, “What about the recent case? How was the follow-up last time? Didn’t you talk to Interpol on the phone the other day?”

“Negotiation failed!” Zhan Zhao was very dissatisfied, “He said that the case was still under investigation and that he would contact us when the results are available, and I was so angry!”

“It’s obvious that they won’t tell you. What about Zhao Jue?”

“Zhao Jue seems to be very busy these days. He sent me a text message the other day saying not to look for him for a while.” Zhan Zhao flipped to the next page of the newspaper, to the social news section, and frowned slightly, “Heh…”

“What’s wrong?” Bai Yutang asked when he saw Zhan Zhao smiling a little helplessly.

“There was a taxi driver who said that he had hit a ghost, thus triggering a car accident.” Zhan Zhao looked at the newspaper and said, “Three people were injured, but fortunately no one was killed.”

“Crashed into a ghost?” Bai Yutang frowned, “The driver was drunk, right?”

“No, no drugs or alcohol were found.” Zhan Zhao finished reading the article and said, “No history of mental illness either, and his family said he is usually normal, has been driving a taxi for about ten years, and has always been an outstanding employee… Could it be that he was under too much stress?”

“It’s not likely.” Bai Yutang said, “What exactly did he see?”

“Well… he said he was stopped in front of the gym by a young woman in white. The woman got in the car and said she was going to the beach.” Zhan Zhao read out the specifics described in the newspaper article to Bai Yutang, “But when they got to the beach, he turned around and saw that the woman was gone. The driver was terrified and drove away quickly. But when he was on the road, he suddenly saw the woman in the rearview mirror. He was so shocked that he braked sharply and was rear-ended… Then he got out of the car and shouted for someone to look for her… but there was no one in the car. The firefighters looked at his car and said that the back of the car was badly battered and the back door was jammed, so there was no way anyone could have gotten out.” 

“In other words, there was no one behind him?” Bai Yutang asked.

“En.” Zhan Zhao nodded, “Either the uncle suddenly had a hallucination, or else… he really hit a ghost.”

“Is it likely that it was a hallucination?” Bai Yutang asked.

“Well… without taking drugs, the odds are the same as if you had a nightmare in the first half of the night, woke up with a cold sweat, then laid down again and had the same dream continue in the second half of the night.” Zhan Zhao shook the newspaper and turned to the entertainment section.

“Zhao Zhen!” Zhan Zhao looked at the headline on the entertainment page, “A big star is a big star, ah, only special performances are advertised here.”

“Brother’s entertainment company is working with his team, right?” Bai Yutang asked, “I think I heard the twins and his agent talking last time, it seems to be quite a big deal this time.”

“Zhao Zhen is indeed powerful,” Zhan Zhao nodded, “for pushing the limits of science!”

Bai Yutang smiled.

“Ghost wizard?” Zhan Zhao glanced at the title of another article and said, “A new musical, there are so many performances this month.”

“What musical?” Bai Yutang turned the car around and prepared to go back to the police station.

“A well-known domestic troupe is coming to perform. I heard that the lead dancer is a world-famous actor who has won many awards, and that he has created an original ghost dance.”

“Ghost dance?” Bai Yutang frowned and asked, “What’s that?”

“It’s dancing with a ghost mask, right? It seems to say it’s shocking.” Zhan Zhao smiled and asked, “Want to go see it?”

“When is it? Let’s go if we have time, I’ll ask Da Ding and Xiao Ding if they can get us tickets.”

“Tomorrow night.” Zhan Zhao said, “Luo Tian will definitely be back, so we shouldn’t have to watch Yang Yang.”

“Good…” The word had just left Bai Yutang’s mouth… when he suddenly braked hard and turned the steering wheel.

“Uh…” Zhan Zhao grabbed his seatbelt but still jolted forward. Bai Yutang honked the horn sharply to disperse the pedestrians beside him as the car rushed into a gap on the side of the road… Luckily, there was a temporary parking space there.

“What happened?” Zhan Zhao felt the car stop and asked in a daze… but then he heard a loud “bang”.

Zhan Zhao raised his head and saw that a taxi that was driving in front of him and Bai Yutang had suddenly stopped, and the cars behind that could not dodge it crashed, rear-ending each other.

However, with Bai Yutang's sharp braking and horn honking to alert them, several drivers behind them swerved to a stop or slowed down… so there were only three cars that crashed, while there were a few cars that just grazed by. For a while, the street was filled with the sound of cars honking their horns and pedestrians screaming.

Zhan Zhao took out his cell phone to make a call.

Bai Yutang, on the other hand, unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of the car, running over to the first car that was rear-ended. He saw that the car’s windshield was covered in blood and that the driver was slumped over the steering wheel, gasping for breath.

“Yutang!”

Bai Yutang turned around and saw Zhan Zhao pointing at the second car that was rear-ended, his face grim.

Bai Yutang walked over and took a look, and he couldn’t help but frown. The car behind was moving too fast and the impact was too violent. The trunk of the taxi was completely flattened, and the front of the second car was also dented. It seemed like the driver hadn’t been wearing a seatbelt and had died on impact.

The third car also hit pretty hard, but the airbags deployed and the driver was wearing his seatbelt. Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao went to help him open the door. He climbed out himself, looking a bit dizzy but okay, and leaned against the car, asking, “What’s going on…”

All of the other drivers also got out of their cars and looked over at the first taxi, and soon, the traffic police and ambulance arrived.

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao stood aside and explained what had happened to one of the traffic police officers. It was the taxi who suddenly braked sharply, so it can be said that the accident was solely their fault, and the cars behind could not avoid it in time, so they rear-ended each other.

At this time, the ambulance crew carried the taxi driver out of the car and brought him to the ambulance. Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang watched him being pushed into the ambulance, and they heard him dazedly shout, “Ghost ah… there was a ghost ah…”

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were stunned and looked at each other.

“There’s another one, ah, is it true that there are ghosts these days?” The traffic police officer put away his notebook and sighed.

“There are ghosts?” Bai Yutang asked, “There was a rear-end collision last night too, right?”

“En.” The traffic police officer nodded after reading the identification Bai Yutang showed him and said, “Captain Bai, this is really mysterious, it’s been happening for the past half a month. There have been three cases already, and in each case it was a taxi driver who had an accident, either getting rear-ended or crashing, and as each one was getting lifted out of the car, they would say that there was a ghost!”

“There’s such a thing?” Bai Yutang frowned.

“Maybe there’s too much social pressure lately.” The traffic police officer shrugged and went off to clear the traffic.

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao looked at each other, got into the car, and headed back to the police station.

“What do you think?” Zhan Zhao asked.

“It’s weird.” Bai Yutang said, “But this kind of thing, it can’t be fake, right?”

“Well… not necessarily, because it’s targeting a particular group of people.”

“You mean taxi drivers?” Bai Yutang thought about it, “But this is too difficult to do, it’s not easy, is it?”

“Unless it’s from a drug… well, or magic.” Zhan Zhao nodded, “It’s very difficult, and it’s unlikely that a drug will cause each person to have the same kind of hallucination.”

“Should we ask Zhao Zhen?” Bai Yutang asked, “I guess he’ll say it’s similar to escape magic.”

“But that kind of escape magic is all prearranged, while the taxis are randomly selected while they are driving!.” Zhan Zhao said, “If it continues to happen, we’ll probably have work to do.”

“En…” Bai Yutang parked the car in SCI’s parking lot and said, “Call him later and ask him before we go ask Bao Sir.”

At S City’s number one elementary school, in the third grade class, the first class finished.

Luo Yang got up and moved around a bit, opening the juice bottle to drink the juice. After taking a sip, he looked at the bottle somewhat helplessly – carrot and tomato juice, no wonder it tasted so strange, it was really Bai Yutang's style, sunny and healthy.

“Yang Yang,” A girl at the desk in front of him turned back to him and said, “The car that just dropped you off, it's so cool.”

Luo Yang thought about it, and yes, the car that Bai Yutang has with the flying wings is very cool. (Angel: The flying wings refers to the hood ornament on Bentleys.)

“What are those two to you?” Another girl asked curiously.

“Oh, my dad’s colleagues.” Luo Yang replied.

“Is Yang Yang’ dad rich?”

“No.” Luo Yang shook his head, “My dad is a police officer, that car is for work.”

“Like James Bond?”

……

Luo Yang could only giggle.

“Yang Yang, your father is a police officer?”

At this time, a boy next to him came over and asked, “Then are they catching ghosts?”

“Huh?” Luo Yang was puzzled and asked, “What ghost?”

“My dad drives a taxi.” His classmate said, “He said that recently he has encountered many ghosts, and there is also talk of a phantom, so he is too afraid to get out of his car or to pick people up with it, and that he is ready to change jobs.”

“Really?” Luo Yang sat down and asked curiously, “What kind of ghosts?”

“It is said to be a while female ghost, they also say it’s a white phantom.”

“Are phantoms the same as ghosts?”

“Both eat people, I think.”

“Phantoms are not transparent.”

“Ghosts float around.”

“Phantoms will flutter…”

A few kids were talking, but Luo Yang was holding his chin in one hand and staring – ghosts…

‿︵‿︵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: October 4/5, 2021