S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 3 Chapter 40

Ghost Murderer 08 - Blackout

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Firetrucks and ambulances arrived at the scene as quickly as possible. Several firemen took out their saws and cut open the door of the car, which had been deformed by the impact, to treat the driver inside.

The driver looked a bit strange and was shouting like a madman.

“Captain, he seems to have a mental problem.” One of the firemen said to the doll-faced man crouching to the side looking at the angle of the car, “We'll have to find a way to subdue him first.”

“Hmm…” The captain of the fire brigade rubbed his chin and said, “What’s with all the mental illnesses lately.”

As he said that, he asked the doctor beside him, “Do you have a tranquilizer gun? Give him a shot.”

The doctor gave him a blank look, “Do you think I'm a veterinarian? 

The two seemed to know each other and bickered for a few minutes. After bickering, the doctor tried to persuade the crazy driver, but had little success.

“Can anyone knock him out?” The doctor asked Bai Yutang and others, “His ribs are crushed, if he keeps struggling, he's going to hurt his internal organs and bleed out!”

Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao shrugged and walked over, gesturing to that doctor that he had a solution.

The crazy driver was still yelling. Zhan Zhao asked the others to step back, squatted down, and stared at him for a while, then whispered something.

The doctor watched curiously from the sidelines.

A few firemen were also waiting behind them. They didn’t know what Zhan Zhao was doing, but since he was a police officer, they guessed it made sense, and since the man was so crazy, it was really impossible for them to save him.

The captain of the fire brigade and the doctor looked at each other, and the doctor asked Zhan Zhao, “Did you really knock him out?”

Zhan Zhao smiled and said to him, “He's lost a lot of blood.”

“It's not going to kill him.” The doctor took a few paramedics with him and worked with the fire brigade to save the man.

With the driver no longer resisting, rescue seemed easy, and the crew got him out and onto a stretcher.

“Are you sure he won’t die?” Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang asked.

“He's fine.” The doctor nodded, and Ma Han and Zhao Hu followed him into the ambulance.

Before closing the door, Zhan Zhao reached out and snapped his fingers in the driver's ear, and as if his acupressure points were relieved, the driver instantly woke up and immediately started screaming and struggling again, however his hands and feet had been tied in advance, and Ma Han and Zhao Hu were holding his arms down. The doctor looked up at Zhan Zhao as Bai Yutang closed the door and the ambulance drove away.

“That’s awesome.” The captain of the fire brigade looked at Zhan Zhao with admiration and said, “Are you out in the field? When we get another psycho setting fires, we should ask you to go so we don’t have to bother.”

“Psychopaths setting fires?” Zhan Zhao was curious and asked, “Did you just say that there have been a lot of psychopaths lately?”

“Not really,” The captain of the fire brigade nodded, “there have been several incidents in a row this month where they have set their homes on fire, some of them had their wives and children in their homes.”

“Burning their own homes?” Bai Yutang was a bit puzzled, “Were they all psychopaths?”

“Who would do this if they weren't psychos?” The captain of the fire brigade said, then walked back to some of his teammates, muttering as he did so, “They even say that they saw a ghost and set fire to it.”

“What?” Both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang heard it and went forward to stop him, “Saw a ghost?”

That captain of the fire brigade froze and looked at the two men. He nodded his head and asked his own team members, “Those who set fires these days are saying they saw ghosts, right?”

“En!” Two of the junior team members nodded their heads, “They said that they saw a female ghost in white clothes who came in and out of the house. Later, they found out that the female ghost was afraid of fire and set her on fire. One set the curtains on fire, which caused a fire to break out. One was even more powerful, he lit up the gas tank. The most unfortunate one set the fire when his wife and children were in the room and they all died. Later, he was admitted to a mental hospital.”

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao looked at each other. The young team member seemed to want to rant a bit more, but the captain said, “Where did you get all this from? Don't preach feudal superstition.”

Bai Yutang called out to the captain and asked him, “Do you have time to go upstairs to the SCI office?”

The captain and several members of the team looked at each other. Cooperating with the police? They were all half colleagues, so naturally, they followed them upstairs.

When they got to the entrance of the lobby, they saw Zhao Zhen and Bai Chi standing together.

The other people from SCI who came down to help were helping Bai Chi pick up the books on the ground. Some female police officers from other departments saw Bai Chi looking at the torn books with a distressed look and immediately burst out in motherly love, rushing to help pick them up while comforting him, “Chi Chi, don't feel bad, your sisters will help you to glue them all back together.”

“Really?” Bai Chi was delighted, and the motherly police officers went into the office with the torn book to mend them.

The books that weren't damaged were picked up by the other members of SCI, while Zhao Zhen looked at Bai Chi worriedly, “Are you hurt? Do you know that man?”

Bai Chi shook his head, he had never seen that man before, and he didn't understand why he had tried to hit him. However, looking at his behaviour, he must be a lunatic, so it was probably just a coincidence.

The group took the elevator up in groups. Lisbon often causes a commotion in the lobby, so Bai Chi stayed with him and went up first. Zhao Zhen stayed behind, and when he saw Bai Chi go up, he walked over to Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao and asked, “What do you think?”

Zhan Zhao shrugged, “That car has been parked there this whole time, there's no reason for him to suddenly go crazy when Chi Chi arrived.”

“And there were quite a few people present at the time, he could have turned the car around and hit someone else, but instead he went straight towards Cat.” Bai Yutang said, “Coupled with what happened last time with Brother and Gongsun, it's obvious that this time, if it wasn't aimed at us, then something in the house was placed in the wrong direction and offended the evil spirit.”

“You believe in this too, huh?” Zhao Zhen looked at Bai Yutang helplessly.

“It's because I don't believe it that I have to check.” Bai Yutang was also helpless.

“Oh…”

As they were talking, two fire brigade members came over and handed Zhao Zhen a small notebook and pen that they had brought along with them, “Zhao Zhen, sign this for me.”

Zhao Zhen was stunned and reached out to give them his signature.

As they walked into the elevator, the two young firefighters were able to get their autographs.

The two young firefighters were overjoyed to get their autographs and looked at Zhao Zhen with admiration, even taking out their mobile phones to take pictures together. Their captain seemed to be out of place, so he asked, “Is he a star?”

“Captain, you are so outdated!” A young firefighter said, “He’s a big magician.”

“Is that so?” The fire brigade captain looked at Zhao Zhen with some surprise, "Then can you make the elevator stop instantly…”

Just as his words finished, the group felt the elevator shake… and stop moving.

The corners of that captain's mouth twitched, “That… I was just kidding.”

Zhao Zhen shrugged his shoulders and looked at Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao, “It has nothing to do with me.”

Bai Yutang reached out and pressed the side of the lift, frowning, “An earthquake?”

“That's not it.” Zhan Zhao shook his head, “Lisbon was calm when he went up with them just now, no unusual signs. Animals would refuse to enter an enclosed space before an earthquake.”

Bai Yutang and Zhao Zhen both looked at Zhan Zhao with admiration, somewhat impressed that he could still analyse the problem rationally under such circumstances. They were not sure whether to say he was calm or slow to react.

“Captain, it’s all your terrible mouth’s fault!” The young team members looked horrified, “Blah blah blah!”

The captain was very powerless.

At that moment, the light in the elevator flickered and went out.

“What's going on?” Bai Yutang frowned.

At that moment, they heard the snap of fingers. A glimmer shone in the darkness, and Zhao Zhen could be seen with a flame lit above his finger.

“Wow!” The three firefighters applauded.

“Uh…” Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both looked at Zhao Zhen.

Zhao Zhen smiled, “A new prop, it's being tested.”

Zhan Zhao fumbled for the emergency bell and pressed it twice.

“Captain!” At this time, Luo Tian's voice came, “The power is out! You guys bear with it for a while.”

As soon as his voice fell, the emergency lights came on in the elevator.

“It's the police station's own power generation system.” Bai Yutang said, looking up, “It probably won’t be restored quickly. Emergency power cannot support the elevator.”

“Zhen, Brother, are you all right?” At this time, Bai Chi's voice could be heard.

“We’re fine.” Zhao Zhen replied.

“This elevator moves at about 8 meters per second. One floor is about 3.5 meters tall, except for the main floor which is a bit taller, about 5 meters. We have been in the elevator for no more than six seconds, therefore we should be between the 10th and the 12th floor.” Zhan Zhao calculated.

“I'll be right there.” Luo Tian agreed and went downstairs.

The firefighters looked at each other, and the captain said, “The quality of the police is really high these days.”

Zhan Zhao smiled and winked at Bai Yutang – this fire brigade captain has a lively personality.

Shortly after, the elevator doors were forced open… Luo Tian appeared in front of everyone, at the bottom of the open doors.

The elevator was stuck in the middle of two floors; three quarters on the tenth floor and a quarter on the eleventh. The group crouched down and jumped out.

Soon, they were all out of the elevator.

“Is everyone all right?” Luo Tian asked everyone.

“We’re fine.” Zhan Zhao shook his head, and everyone returned to the SCI office.

Luo Tian called Luo Yang and told him and his classmates to stay in the classroom and not move around.

“Why did it stop?” Bai Yutang was a little puzzled.

“There’s a city-wide power outage.”

At that moment, Lu Fang walked in, “The whole of S City is without power and the traffic is in chaos!”

Bai Yutang frowned, “How did that happen? Can there be an unexpected power outage in this day and age?”

“Didn't they say that the New York blackout was caused by aliens?” Lu Fang gave a smile, “I guess they visited S City this time.”

The group was speechless.

“Hmm…” At that time, the fire brigade captain suddenly spoke with some concern, “That ambulance, I wonder if it has safely arrived at the hospital.”

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both froze, and picked up the phone to dial Ma Han's mobile phone.

No one answered.

Bai Yutang hung up the phone. After about three minutes, the phone rang loudly. Bai Yutang picked it up, and heard the panting voice of Zhao Hu, “Head, we're here, the man is in the emergency room.”

“Is everything okay?” Bai Yutang asked.

“It’s fine, I’m just exhausted.” Zhao Hu yelled, “Are all doctors like Gongsun?! Our car was stuck on the road and this paramedic made us run a few blocks to the hospital while pushing the stretcher.”

Bai Yutang laughed, “You two wait there, his testimony is important. Get a doctor to see if there's really something wrong with him.”

“Okay.” Zhao Hu agreed and hung up the phone.

With all of these incidents happening, everyone had a vague feeling that the power outage was not as simple as it seemed.

“The cause of the incident is still being investigated.” Lu Fang made his way out the door, “When the investigation is finished, I'll have the results sent over.”

Bai Yutang called out to him, “Right, Lu Fang, help me pull up the information on all the arson cases during this period, specifically the ones where people with mental illness burned down their own houses.”

“Okay.” Lu Fang nodded and left.

A few young firefighters tugged on their captain, “Captain, how awesome is this police station? It's so much better than our fire station!”

The fire captain seemed to be lost in thought and didn't say anything when he heard what they said.

Noticing his reaction, Zhan Zhao asked, “What's your name?”

“Oh, my name is Qin Ou.” The fire brigade captain gave them his name.

“Let’s talk about those cases of psychopaths setting fires.” Bai Yutang motioned for him to sit down. Zhao Zhen, seeing that the group had something to do, was in no hurry. He went to a sofa on the side of the room and sat down, leaning against Lisbon. The rest of SCI wondered how Bai Yutang had gotten a fire brigade captain to come here.

“About those psycho arson cases?” The young firefighters asked.

“Can you tell us specifically?” Zhan Zhao asked, “It might be related to the case we're investigating.”

“Okay.” Qin Ou nodded, took out a notebook, and said, “I've made some notes. It’ll be faster for you guys to read it than for you to listen to me.”

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other and took his notebook to read it. They saw that the small notebook was densely packed with notes, relevant clues, and case analysis…

“Do firefighters have to do these kinds of things?” Bai Yutang asked.

Qin Ou smiled, “No, I used to be in the bomb squad, so I probably have some professional instincts, and I don't think it's like a simple arson case.”

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were both stunned, thinking that this was a bit outrageous. The bomb squad was already in short supply of personnel, but he switched to become a firefighter?

“Bomb squad Qin Ou?” On the side, Jiang Ping widened his eyes in shock, “Aren't you the bomb disposal expert who caught the serial bomber five years ago?”

“Oh, I've heard of that too!” Wang Chao raised his hand, “But you look so young.”

Qin Ou smiled, “I have a babyface, I’m over thirty.”

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other, they had indeed heard of the name Qin Ou. The serial bomber was very famous, he was a lunatic who planted bombs for more than ten years. They heard that he was finally caught by a bomb disposal expert.

“Wow… aren’t you an expert in bomb disposal?” Jiang Ping seemed to have some difficulty accepting it, “I heard that you even went to the war and helped the peacekeeping forces defuse bombs, how could…”

Qin Ou looked at his uniform and smiled, “Experts also have to retire.”

When everyone saw him smiling, it didn’t seem like he was upset, but they didn’t want to ask him further. However, the bomb squad is not very restrictive on age, so why did he quit in his thirties?

Afterwards, Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao asked for some more relevant clues. Qin Ou, who was experienced in handling cases and extremely smart, had recorded the clues very comprehensively. Of course, what really aroused his suspicion was that the female ghosts seen by the arsonists were all basically the same. In Bai Yutang's and Zhan Zhao's opinion, the female ghosts that Qin Ou drew according to the arsonists' descriptions were also very similar to the female ghost in the taxi ghost incident.

After all was said and done, Qin Ou didn't ask much else, and Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang sent him away.

“Such a powerful character, why did he quit? Of course… firefighters are great too, but bomb disposal experts are really hard to come by.” Bai Chi muttered.

“Probably too much pressure.” Zhang Long said, “Don't they say that bomb disposal experts all suffer from mental illnesses?”

“It does seem like it’s because of a heart condition.” At that time, Jiang Ping had found some information, shook his head, and said, “He investigated that bomber because that bomber came after him and blew up his family, his friends, his wife, his son…”

The group drew in a cold breath and looked at Jiang Ping.

Jiang Ping shrugged his shoulders, “If it were me, I would be out of that profession too, no, I don’t think I could keep living.”

The group sighed and shook their heads.

“Right,” Bai Yutang came back to his senses and asked Zhao Zhen, “the video has a clue?”

“En,” Zhao Zhen smiled, “it should be useful to you guys.”

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

My friend and I have been working hard on a cute little fanfic. We are pretty happy with it so far and would love to share it with you guys if you want to read it!

In other news, we hit 1,000 comments! I know half of those were me responding to you guys, but it's still amazing to see. I want to thank every one of you who have commented, it's always fun to read and respond to you! ❤

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

Translated: October 13/14, 2021