S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 3 Chapter 43

Ghost Murderer 11 - A Dancer with a Complex Identity

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Zhan Zhao and the others waited in the lobby for a full two hours before they saw Zhao Zhen rush in from outside, "I'm sorry I'm late."

Bai Yutang looked at him and asked with a smile, "You didn't make a deal with Brother, did you? You're all late."

Zhao Zhen was stunned and asked, "Are they late too?"

As he spoke, he saw Bai Chi looking at him from the side with a slightly weird look in his eyes.

"Chi Chi?" Zhao Zhen looked back at him.

"What took you so long?" Bai Chi asked, "Didn't you go to change your clothes? Where are the clothes?"

Zhao Zhen froze and looked at himself, still in the same shirt and jeans from earlier, and smiled somewhat helplessly, "Er… I suddenly found that all of the suits in S City have been bought"

The group looked at him somewhat speechlessly, and Bai Chi's face became even more ugly.

Zhan Zhao winked at Bai Yutang and the two wanted to leave, but Zhao Zhen winked fiercely, meaning he wanted their help.

Seeing this, Bai Chi asked, "What's wrong? Is there something you are hiding from me?"

"No!" Zhao Zhen hurriedly shook his head. He and Bai Chi had been together for so long. Over that time, Bai Chi has gradually come out of the shadow of the inferior child from the past, but in that moment just now, the original hurt expression returned to his face, and Zhao Zhen lost his composure.

Zhan Zhao sighed, reached out to put his arm around Bai Chi's shoulder, and pulled him aside, whispering, "Chi Chi, where are you thinking of? Zhao Zhen has recently been preparing a gift for you, and wants to give you a surprise."

"Huh?" Bai Chi was stunned and looked at Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao turned his back on Zhao Zhen and whispered to Bai Chi, "He previously said that he had been very busy performing and has been leaving you out in the cold, so this time he has specially prepared a plan to cheer you up and asked us to help him hide it so that he could surprise you."

The sadness on Bai Chi's face was immediately gone, and he became a little embarrassed. He was the one who was cautious and suspicious and thought there was something he was hiding from him.

He just nodded, reached up and rubbed the back of his head, and smiled, "Oh, I was thinking too much."

Bai Chi then returned to his normal self, turned back, reached out and patted Zhao Zhen's shirt, saying, "You're attending a dinner party like that, be careful of Li Ying scolding you."

When Zhao Zhen saw that he wasn't upset anymore, he didn't care whether Li Ying scolded him or not, and his heart was relieved.

At that moment, Li Ying came over with a murderous aura and glared at Zhao Zhen, but many celebrities had already come over to greet Zhao Zhen.

Bai Chi returned to his position to keep an eye on the situation, while Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang waited in silence. Bai Yutang looked at his watch and raised an eyebrow at Zhan Zhao – What the hell is going on? What the hell does Brother want to do?

At that moment, the lights turned off.

Then, from the side door, Gongsun quietly walked in, walked into the crowd without attracting too much attention, and came to Zhan Zhao's side.

"Looking this bad?" Zhan Zhao looked at Gongsun's slightly pale face and was a little worried, he must have been overly worried about Brother's affairs.

Gongsun shook his head, signalling that he was fine.

The crowd's attention was drawn to the small stage in front of them, only to see Bai Jintang walking out with one hand in his pocket in an elegant and calm manner. The crowd, no matter what kind of mindset they had, all realized in their hearts that Bai Jintang was completely fine, without even the slightest sign of injury. It was far from the rumours that he was extremely injured, let alone that he had died in a crash and had hired a double to help keep the event going.

Bai Jintang walked up to the stage and looked at the people around him. His speech had been prepared for him in advance by Da Ding and Xiao Ding, and he had roughly matched up the people with their photos, so he had a good idea of who they were and what to expect. The main character of the evening was Zhao Zhen, and the event was divided into three stages: the first was the speech, the second was the unveiling, and the third was the signing.

Bai Jintang first made a few opening remarks. He had always spoken very little, so he delivered a few curt sentences and no one cared. Afterwards, Bai Jintang turned to the side and reached out to remove a piece of red silk from the signboard, revealing that it read Bai's Film Company.

The crowd clapped their hands. Finally, Bai Jintang introduced Zhao Zhen to the crowd and held a brief signing ceremony.

Zhao Zhen went on stage and did not forget to show his hand when signing the contract. The pen that was in the hands of the waitress who was responsible for giving it to Zhao Zhen somehow appeared in his hand. There was a lot of laughter, and the whole signing ceremony went very smoothly.

Finally, there was a performance by Qi Le and her band, the biggest stars of the music company that Bai Jintang had set up previously, and the dinner party began. The celebrities took advantage of this time to talk with each other and joke around.

The SCI members, their nerves on edge at all times, kept an eye on their surroundings, yet to the group's surprise, there were no surprises.

Bai Yutang frowned slightly and looked at Zhan Zhao, seemingly a little disappointed.

Zhan Zhao was also helpless, but at that moment, he suddenly saw someone…

Zhan Zhao called Bai Yutang over and asked, "Who is that person?"

Bai Yutang turned to look in the direction that Zhan Zhao was pointing, and saw a man wearing a black leather jacket. He had a very thin body, long hair, and black-rimmed glasses. His facial features were not really visible, except for the bridge of his nose, which was high. His face should not be ugly, his skin was pale, but his lips were slightly purple, he looked like a non-mainstream rock singer.

"I guess they're some kind of artist." Bai Yutang asked Zhan Zhao, "What's the matter?"

At this time, Bai Chi walked up behind them and whispered, "He's been staring at Zhen since the beginning." 

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both raised their eyebrows. Sure enough, their level of concern was different, when it comes to Zhao Zhen, Bai Chi is surprisingly keen like this!

Bai Yutang also took a look and found that there was indeed a problem. At this time, he saw that Qi Le's performance was over and a piano player had replaced them. The crowd continued to dance and eat, while Da Ding and Xiao Ding busied themselves with greetings.

Qi Le and Chen Jiayi were both present, and the two quietly went to Zhao Hu and Ma Han's side and spoke in whispers.

Bai Yutang was helpless, "You're not afraid of being seen by the media?"

"Don't worry."

At that moment, a woman behind them spoke, "The media have been greeted today, no one will dare to write anything, after all, this is Brother Bai's turf."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang turned around and saw a girl wearing a red plaid shirt, a tie, and shorts behind them… it was the drummer of Qi Le’s band, who is now a well-known drummer… the female delinquent from back then, Chen Yu. 

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao looked her up and down, both surprised, is this a girl who has blossomed into womanhood? This girl turned out to be a girl they didn't remember very well, it seemed like she took drugs and messed around back then… But back then, she almost lost her life to save Qi Le, which made the group remember her as a good girl with love and righteousness. Today, Chen Yu, Qi Le, Chen Jiayi, and Ma Xin are good sisters. It is said that the day Ma Xin was not happy about what happened with Luo Tian, she went back and was very upset. The next day, Luo Tian was bombarded by these three women, and even Zhao Hu and Ma Han suffered along with him.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Chen Yu raised an eyebrow, a little embarrassed.

Zhan Zhao laughed, "Chen Yu, that drum is so shiny."

Chen Yu raised an eyebrow and tapped the drum in her hand, laughing, "It’s the most expensive drum in the world, Brother Bai is generous!"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang raised their eyebrows – indeed!

"What are you guys looking at?" Chen Yu grabbed a muffin and chewed on it, saying, "I just went to the orphanage to stay with those little villains, I'm starving, I was too busy feeding them."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other. These two girls had experienced too much life and death, drug rehabilitation, dropping out of school, being ostracized, and now being worshipped as idols and having large wealth… so many ups and downs had made them both see a lot. These four girls were also strong advocates of charity and had joined forces to open an orphanage, and they would go there every day when they had free time, so their public image is quite outstanding.

"Uh, Chen Yu, I want to ask you about someone." Zhan Zhao said, glancing at the visually inclined man who was still staring at Zhao Zhen and asked, "Who is he?"

Chen Yu looked at him and smiled, "Oh, he's a dancer called Yuan Lin, have you heard of him? The one who does the ghost dance?"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang froze, both remembering the newspaper they had read that day, and nodded, "Oh… it's him."

"En." Chen Yu nodded.

"Which country is he from?" Zhan Zhao asked as he glanced at him again.

"He’s from France, but I'm not sure if he's Chinese or not, it's hard to figure out with his looks."

"Is he popular?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"His popularity is alright." Chen Yu took a sip of Coke and said, "How can I put it, his vibe is too gloomy. In Europe, it's okay to find some clubs that are pioneering, but that punk is too niche, and psychedelic stuff is not suitable for the Asian market. His ghost dance is quite shocking, but the reviews are mixed. Some psychologists even say that his dance has some kind of suggestion that increases the suicide rate of minors, so many parents don't let their children go to his dance shows, and he has little appeal for adults.

"So that's how it is." Zhan Zhao nodded and asked again, "By the way, are you familiar with Zhao Zhen?"

"Yes!" Chen Yu smiled, "He's my idol!"

Bai Yutang asked, "Does he know Zhao Zhen well?"

Chen Yu froze and said, "Yuan Lin should have just arrived… he hasn't signed with the Bai Group yet."

"Not signed?" Zhan Zhao was stunned, "Then how come he's here?"

"Probably as a guest who came with an invitation, or he was brought here as a friend by a celebrity… Anyway, he was keen to sign up with the Bai Group before, and it seems that Brother Bai didn't agree."

"Oh…" Zhan Zhao stroked his chin. Bai Yutang found it interesting that Zhan Zhao had started to ask about entertainment gossip.

"Curious about that Yuan Lin, huh?" At this time, Li Ying walked over.

"Are you familiar with him?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"Oh, I'm not familiar with him, but I respect him, he's so tough!" Li Ying shook her head somewhat feebly.

"How so?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"When I wasn't with Brother Bai, or with Zhen, I was at a brokerage company in France. It just so happened that he was brought in by a friend of mine. There is a psychologist in America called Richard Bobton…"

"Oh…" Zhan Zhao suddenly nodded, "He's an authority in psychology."

"An authority?" Bai Yutang looked at him.

"Well, he is highly accomplished in the study of psychological suggestion, and is even an expert in behavioural analysis. He has participated in many big and difficult cases over in the United States."

Bai Yutang thought for a moment and said, "Oh… the one who sent you a large thick original book from the US and signed it saying something like 'for my most respected genius', is that him?"

"En." Zhan Zhao smiled contentedly, "Being complimented on your talent by a genius is the best thing in the world."

"Haha." Chen Yu was happy and laughed. Her laughter got a bit louder and drew some people's attention, also drawing the attention of Yuan Lin, who glanced over. Chen Yu then patted Li Ying's shoulder, as if Li Ying had just teased her, and turned around to go to Qi Le.

"This girl is clever" Li Ying exclaimed, "I want to tell Brother Bai to let me take her and Qi Le."

"One Zhao Zhen is enough for you to deal with, right?" Bai Yutang laughed out loud.

"That's true." Li Ying shook her head and looked up to see Gongsun and Bai Jintang standing by a Greek-style flower pot with a fountain spouting water inside, the two of them elegantly holding cups. Gongsun was in a daze and Bai Jintang was looking at him. They occasionally exchanged a few words, and Gongsun would give him a subtle look, while Bai Jintang gave an ambiguous smile.

"I hate it…" Li Ying rubbed her glass of wine, "The air around them is so sad!"

"You haven't finished yet." Zhan Zhao asked, "What happened to Professor Richard?"

"When Yuan Lin's ghost dance first came out, it was quite a sensation. Everyone thought they had seen a superstar, but there were always doubts about his dancing. That is, his dancing was simply unacceptable to adults, but children, especially those aged 14 or 15, who were not quite mentally sound and still particularly rebellious, were particularly fond of it. It seems that Dr. Richard saw a video of one of his performances by chance. He was on tour in the US that day and the professor went to watch… After watching it, he issued a statement to the media, saying that the ghost dance contained a lot of suggestive messages, and listed a set of data from a previous study that showed a significant increase in the suicide rate of teenagers who watched the dance! The reason is that the music and the dance moves have a psychological implication that makes people hate the world, become violent and even commit suicide." Li Ying said a lot and took a sip of water.

Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao as if he was asking – Cat, is it reliable?

Zhan Zhao nodded, "Richard is an authority among authorities, and is a kind and loving person. As a loving elder, he will not say or do anything that is not based on evidence. "

"It is said that the US security department respected this authority's research so much that they shut down Yuan Lin's tour." Li Ying sighed, "All the sponsors withdrew their sponsorship, and Yuan Lin even faced charges of endangering youths."

"And then he left after that?" Zhan Zhao wanted to call Richard to ask about the exact situation. If there was research information, it would be best to have it transferred over.

"Then he took a gun and went to shoot Professor Richard." Li Ying raised her eyebrows.

"Huh?" Both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang could not help but frown. Zhan Zhao was anxious, "What about the professor? "

"The shot missed, the professor is fine. So he faced a charge of attempted murder." Li Ying said, "But he hired a good lawyer who proved that he was psychotic, then he was deported and returned to Europe. His actions caused astronomical losses to his agency and the company terminated his contract. I also left and came over to the Bai Group because of that incident and because I realized that the company's future wasn't good… that's all I know about him."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang nodded, both feeling that this person could be a clue.

‿︵‿︵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: November 6/7/8, 2021