S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 3 Chapter 39

Ghost Murderer 07 - A Series of Attacks

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Early in the morning, Bai Jintang heard the sound of soft footsteps approaching while he was sleeping, and he was slightly surprised that they were so close yet he didn't even notice them! However, he was not worried, nor did he feel threatened. How should I put it, the sound of footsteps gave him an inexplicable sense of peace of mind. 

When the footsteps were close enough he suddenly reached his hand out…

“Ah…”

The person whose wrist he had grabbed gave a soft cry and fell directly onto his bed, pressing against him. He didn't know why, but just that soft cry and the weight pressing against him made Bai Jintang inexplicably excited.

When he opened his eyes, he saw the person in front of him looking at him with some surprise as he asked, “You…did you remember?”

Bai Jintang was stunned.

The person who came was naturally Gongsun.

Gongsun and Bai Jintang were both very busy, so they didn't really have much time to be together. Neither of them had a set work schedule, and oftentimes when Gongsun came back, Bai Jintang was sleeping.

Gongsun would usually go over with light steps and Bai Jintang would inevitably sneak up on him, pull him into bed, hold him down, kiss him good morning or good night, and make love to him.

So just now, Gongsun was surprised by his sneak attack, but at the same time his heart was rejoicing, it’s just that… the hint of doubt that passed through Bai Jintang's eyes made Gongsun understand… that he still might not remember and was just reacting instinctively.

And in the same way, the hint of loss that flashed in Gongsun's eyes gave Bai Jintang the feeling of a flutter in his heart.

“Can you leave the hospital yet?” Gongsun stood up, opened the airtight soup pot in his hand, and served the chicken soup stewed by Bai Chi to Bai Jintang for breakfast.

Bai Jintang sat up and looked at him, “You made this?”

“Bai Chi made it.” Gongsun replied.

“Who is Bai Chi?” Bai Jintang was a little confused, “Did my father have another one or is it our child?”

Gongsun gave him a fierce glare. Bai Jintang raised an eyebrow, took a sip of the chicken soup, felt it wasn't too bad and continued to drink it.

At that moment, his attending physician walked in to check on Bai Jintang's condition.

Gongsun asked, “How is he?”

The doctor nodded and said to Gongsun, “He can be discharged.”

“Don’t we need to set up a follow-up appointment?” Gongsun was a bit puzzled.

The doctor smiled and said, “You don't have to come to the hospital for a follow-up consultation, those world-class brain experts Mr. Bai brought in late last night are more knowledgeable than me.”

Gongsun was embarrassed, while the doctor smiled, approached Gongsun and asked, “Can you give me your phone number?”

Gongsun was stunned. Thinking that the doctor wanted to keep in touch with him so that he could keep an eye on Bai Jintang's condition, he tried to give his number.

However, the doctor suddenly laughed and helplessly said, “Okay, I’m leaving.”

Puzzled, Gongsun turned back to look at Bai Jintang, and saw him narrowing his eyes slightly as he watched that doctor walk out, soup bowl in hand, his look somewhat unkind.

“You really invited the brain experts to see you, huh? You couldn't wait until you were discharged from the hospital?” Gongsun asked him.

Bai Jintang raised an eyebrow, “What if they treat me carelessly and make me stupid?”

The corners of Gongsun's mouth twitched and he looked at Bai Jintang with a disgusted look, feeling so ashamed.

Bai Jintang lowered his head and continued to drink his chicken soup, then he suddenly remembered and asked, “By the way, what line of work do you work in?”

Gongsun gave him a blank look, “Forensics.”

Bai Jintang looked at him with some surprise and laughed, “That’s quite exciting, did we do it on the autopsy table… hmph.”

Before he could finish his words, Gongsun threw a pillow over. Fortunately, the chicken soup had already been finished.

Soon the twins arrived and were surprised to see Gongsun there, “Gongsun, when did you get here?”

Gongsun didn’t answer, but said, “The doctor said it's time for him to leave the hospital, take him away.” After saying that, he turned around with the pot and went outside to wait.

Bai Jintang rubbed his neck and stood up, his head suddenly buzzing.

He pressed one hand to his temple, and a super steamy image surprisingly appeared in his head.

“Hmm.” Bai Jintang rubbed his chin and made a thoughtful expression.

“Big brother, what have you remembered?” Da Ding and Xiao Ding had surprised looks on their faces.

Bai Jintang looked at the two, “How did you two know?”

“Because you have such a dirty expression on your face.” Xiao Ding replied bluntly.

Bai Jintang smiled faintly and asked, “By the way, is there any official business lately?”

“There is the ribbon-cutting for the opening of the performing arts company, and the dinner party announcing Zhao Zhen’s joining.” Da Ding and Xiao Ding said, “They are tonight, if you can't make it we can postpone them.”

“No need, otherwise it would be bad if the outside world really spread the rumour that I've suffered from cerebral palsy.” After speaking, he asked, “By the way, doesn't Gongsun have to work?”

“He asked Yutang for leave to look after you for a few days before returning to work.” Da Ding replied.

“Oh… then let him stay with me for these few days.” Bai Jintang smiled and muttered to himself, “It should be fun.”

“Big brother, you're so unkind” Da Ding couldn’t help but say, “Be careful not to make Gongsun ignore you.”

Bai Jintang smiled and said in a low voice, “I won’t.”

Da Ding and Xiao Ding looked at each other, a little surprised, did Bai Jintang really not remember anything? He used to be so nervous about Gongsun, how could he afford to tease like this?

Bai Jintang changed his clothes and asked again, “I fell in love with him at first sight, didn’t I?”

“Well,” Da Ding and Xiao Ding nodded, “sort of.”

“Hmm… it’s even more interesting.” Bai Jintang changed his clothes and said, “By the way, I want to be alone with him a lot, so don't get in the way.” After saying that, he strode out and went after Gongsun.

Xiao Ding nudged Da Ding and asked, “What's this all about?”

“I think Big Brother is excited.” Da Ding replied.

“You think so too, huh?” Xiao Ding muttered to himself, “Gongsun seems to be out of luck, Big Brother is blackening.” (Angel: Blackening, or 黑化了, is a term that describes when the protagonist of an anime has fallen into a terrifying state of madness due to some shock or mental stimulation.)

“Let’s go.” Da Ding tugged on him.

“Where to?” Xiao Ding wondered, “Big Brother said not to get in the way.”

“Tch, why are you so upright? It's probably not a coincidence that Big Brother got hurt this time, let's bring more people to follow him."

“That’s right!” Xiao Ding nodded.

……

“Okay, en, Ma Xin can handle the autopsy, so you can stay with Brother for a while.” Bai Yutang hung up the phone and saw Zhan Zhao running over with two cans of cola, and he asked, “Gongsun called?”

“En, he said that Brother is out of the hospital.” Bai Yutang took one can and opened it, taking a sip of the cold cola. He immediately let out a long sigh of relief, feeling relieved all over, as the day was still a bit hot.

“Actually, it’s not bad to take this opportunity to fall in love again.” Zhan Zhao said to himself, “It's been a while since they both had a break too.”

“Will it be alright?” Bai Yutang muttered to himself, “I'm afraid that if my brother plays too big a game, he won't be able to end it if he really wants to.”

“Don’t worry,” Zhan Zhao waved his hand and smiled, “he didn't take the ring off, so I’m not worried, but he will definitely take this opportunity to make trouble with Gongsun.”

“I'm more worried that after he remembers, Gongsun will just kill him.” Bai Yutang finished his cola, crushed the can, and threw it into the recycling bin.

“Crushing the cola can means that you have some kind of subconscious tendency towards violence, throwing it in the recyclable bin means you have your sanity. Your sanity and violence are fighting against each other.” Zhan Zhao said. “The way you crushed the can this time was more violent than before, indicating that the criminal this time made you feel annoyed, especially since he hurt your loved ones, so now you are very violent!”

After Zhan Zhao finished speaking, Bai Yutang saw him crush his can, put it on the ground, stomp on it to make it dead flat, pick it up, and throw it into the trash. Then he nonchalantly said, “I'm violent too! I need to vent too! We better catch that murderer, I'll burn her hair with a candle if she's really a ghost!”

Bai Yutang smiled and nodded… At that moment, the two heard a sharp braking sound coming from the road outside.

The two were startled at the same time, their nerves strained to the highest point. They looked all over the street for where a car accident had occurred.

However, the cars on the street were still in order and the sound of such sharp brakes was actually quite common.

“Phew…” The two of them breathed a sigh of relief, and looked at each other a little helplessly, sure enough, they were too tense.

Looking further down the street, they saw many drivers pulling over and getting out of their cars to look around somewhat nervously.

“It's said that the traffic conditions have gotten a lot better recently.” Zhan Zhao suddenly said to Bai Yutang, “The traffic police said that drivers are very careful to keep their distance when driving, and they all look tense when they hear the sound of emergency braking.”

“Although they didn't show that video to the public, the name ‘Ghost Murderer’ has apparently spread, right?” Bai Yutang muttered to himself, “Everyone who drives is afraid of encountering a ghost.”

“In a sense, he caused a big commotion.” Zhan Zhao said, “In comparison, he may be even more powerful than a serial killer.”

“That’s true.” Bai Yutang nodded and opened the car door for Zhan Zhao to get in, fastened his seatbelt and asked, “Cat, the taxi company has no clues at all, where to next?”

“Well…” Zhan Zhao thought about it and didn't have time to speak before he heard the phone ring.

“It’s Bai Chi.” Zhan Zhao picked it up and answered, “Chi Chi?”

“En, okay.”

Hanging up the phone, Zhan Zhao lifted his spirits a bit and said, “Chi Chi said that Zhao Zhen called just now, saying that he saw some clues in the video. He said that he would come to the police station right away, so let's go there and wait for him.”

“Finally, there's a clue.” Bai Yutang started the car with a sigh of relief, “Seems like it just takes a professional to do it.”

As the car drove along the bustling street to the police station, Zhan Zhao suddenly sighed, “Hey, Yutang, hasn’t it been a long time since we’ve been shopping? I always feel that the streets of S City are very busy.”

“Shopping?” Bai Yutang smiled, “It's probably been a few years since I've been shopping, at most I went to the supermarket for New Year's Eve.”

“That’s right.” Zhan Zhao rubbed his chin, his clothes were always bought by his mother. As he spoke, he pointed to a tall building in front of him and said, “Look there, it's a big advertisement! It’s only one man in his underwear.”

“It’s an underwear ad, I think.” Bai Yutang turned the car around and saw a lot of people gathered in front of the huge LED screen in front of him, which was showing a collection of clips of Zhao Zhen's performance.

“Zhao Zhen is pretty awesome.” Zhan Zhao leaned against the car window and looked out, saying, “Last time Bai Chi said that Zhao Zhen can no longer go to the central area of the shopping street, especially the bigger malls, because he would be recognized and then surrounded by people asking for autographs.”

“So famous, huh?” Bai Yutang was also a little surprised.

“En, it is said that he was originally very famous abroad, and then after settling in this country for Chi Chi, the centre of his career shifted back here. This time, Brother's company was able to sign him, and it is said that they fought off many other companies.” Zhan Zhao said seriously, “In yesterday's entertainment section, three whole pages were devoted to Zhao Zhen's article.”

“With that much exposure, it's no wonder there are crazy fans doing such irrational things.”

As they spoke, the car had arrived at the entrance of the police station. They saw Bai Chi's car parked there as well, and he was struggling to take things out of it.

“Chi Chi?” Zhan Zhao went over to look at him, “You've gone to borrow books again?”

“En.” Bai Chi nodded. Zhan Zhao picked up a few books, looked at them, then looked at him with admiration, “So dedicated? You won't have nightmares reading these at night?”

“I don’t know. I happen to be on duty tonight so I asked Zhen to bring Lisbon with him to keep me company, so I guess I won’t be afraid.” Bai Chi said a little nervously.

“What kind of book did you get?” Bai Yutang came over to look and saw the titles of the books: 《Haunted Mansion》, 《Dead Body in the Attic》, 《The House of a Thousand Corpses》, and 《The Fierce Ghosts》...

Bai Yutang looked at Bai Chi, “Aren't you most afraid of reading this kind of book?”

“No, I can put up with it for work!” Bai Chi said with a serious face.

Bai Yutang reached out and patted him on the shoulder, saying, “Just do your best, don't force yourself.”

The three of them walked towards the police station together.

Bai Chi was sharp-eyed and caught a glimpse of Zhao Zhen's car at the distant intersection.

“He's here!” Bai Chi walked to the intersection to wave at Zhao Zhen.

At the same time, they saw a car that had been parked next to them suddenly start up and head straight towards Bai Chi.

Fortunately, Bai Yutang was right next to him and threw the books away to pull Bai Chi out of the way, but he didn’t expect that the car would turn and head straight for Zhan Zhao, who was on the side.

“Cat!” Bai Yutang called out. Zhan Zhao was quite smart, he threw the books at the car and ran up the steps in front of the police station. The car saw that it couldn’t follow Zhan Zhao, so it turned around and went back.

At that moment, the entrance of the police station was in chaos, and many pedestrians had become the target of the car.

As the car was about to run into the crowd, Zhao Zhen's Jeep drove over, and he turned the steering wheel to push the car towards the curb.

The pedestrians took the opportunity to scatter as the car was backing up and trying to drive towards the road.

Then a gunshot was heard.

Bai Yutang shot out the left front tire of the car, which rolled over into the roadside flower bed as it was going too fast.

The crazy car finally came to a halt.

“Is everything okay?” Zhao Zhen came over to check on Bai Chi.

Bai Chi was unhurt, but he had lost his books and was crying. Some of the books had been stepped on by frightened pedestrians, so he would have to pay the library for them. 

Zhan Zhao and a few police officers rushed over to the flower bed. Bai Yutang went into the flower bed to take a look and shouted to the people outside, “Call the ambulance and the fire department to come over, the driver is stuck in the car!”

The driver was stuck between the steering wheel and the seat and couldn't get out, but the man was still alive.

When Zhan Zhao squatted down to look at the man, he saw him pounding on the window like a madman, shouting, “Ghost! There's a ghost!”

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang glanced at each other and looked into his car. There was no one but him in the car… and this was a private car, not a taxi, so why was it haunted? How did the ghost get there?

“Heh,” Zhan Zhao sneered and said, “I'm not sure about anything else, but this ghost should have something against us, right?”

Bai Yutang looked at him and frowned. First it was him and Zhan Zhao, later it was Brother and Gongsun, and now it was Bai Chi and Zhan Zhao… Attacks are happening one after another, if they said it was a coincidence, who would believe it?

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

I love how Zhan Zhao so easily analyzed the way Bai Yutang crushed his can 😂

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

Translated: October 13, 2021