S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 3 Chapter 50

Ghost Murderer 18 - Déjà Vu

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Yang Fan spent the afternoon in Gongsun's room. After rambling on and on, he felt much better. By the end of the conversation, Gongsun was getting a little sleepy. Yang Fan looked at him and asked, "Do you have any good advice?"

Gongsun sighed and said, "You love him so much that you're dying, what advice can I offer?"

Yang Fan was puzzled.

"Just show your love. Knock yourself out and drag him off to get married." Gongsun yawned, "What's there to withhold when you're both men? Do you want a gun? I'll find one and lend it to you."

Yang Fan looked helpless, “I… guess I can't beat him."

Gongsun raised his eyebrows, "Then do it!" (Angel: The two characters after 'then' were redacted, I'm not sure what they originally were, so I guessed based on the surrounding conversation.)

"Don't joke about it." Yang Fan glanced at Gongsun and asked, "You've used this trick?"

Gongsun narrowed his eyes and said, "I don't need him to be in estrus every day!"

Yang Fan laughed at that, then looked at Gongsun and asked, "Why do you seem to be in a bad mood?"

Gongsun sat up and gritted his teeth, "Grandpa's eight o'clock drama!"

"Huh?" Yang Fan was puzzled. Then, in turn, Gongsun spat out the bitterness in his heart at Yang Fan. Yang Fan was shocked, "He really has amnesia?"

Gongsun scowled, "Isn't it?!"

"I used to work in brain surgery, and I've seen people with short-term memory loss. It’s a lot of trouble to recover." Yang Fan said, "But doesn't that Dr. Zhan know a lot about psychological suggestions?"

Gongsun nodded and asked, "You mean, give him hypnosis or psychological suggestions to make him remember?"

"If you have bruising, you'll be fine when the blood dissipates." Yang Fan said, "But you can still use suggestion, I've seen people use it before."

"Are there any other doctors in the country who can use hypnosis?" Gongsun was curious.

"The one I saw was a Chinese man." Yang Fan said, "He was quite young, but it was a long, long time ago"

Gongsun frowned. Inexplicably, thought of someone and shook his head…

At this moment, Bai Jintang came in and asked Gongsun, "Are you hungry? Want to eat something?”

Yang Fan raised his eyes to look at Bai Jintang. He was in a hurry and was flustered earlier, so he didn't take a closer look, but now that he has taken a good look, he inexplicably felt some familiarity. Frowning slightly, he looked down and began to ponder.

Bai Jintang walked over, and as he opened and closed the door, Lisbon and Lilia slipped through the door… They scampered onto the bed, mewing and rubbing against Gongsun.

"The fever's gone?" Bai Jintang came over and touched Gongsun's forehead, finding that it had returned to normal. Gongsun said that he wanted to take a bath, and Bai Jintang seemed to disagree, but Yang Fan said, "It's no problem to take a hot bath… That’s right."

Having said that, he suddenly tilted his head to look up at Bai Jintang and asked, "Is your father a policeman? With the last name Bai."

Bai Jintang was taken aback, and so was Gongsun, who turned to look at Yang Fan.

Yang Fan tilted his face up and thought for a moment, "I seem to remember there was also an Uncle Zhan…"

Gongsun felt a little odd and asked Yang Fan, "What did you say?" 

“Oh… my father used to be a brain surgeon at the city hospital, our family has been practicing medicine for three generations." Yang Fan said, "I used to go to the hospital when I was a kid. I remember there was a boy about my age at that time, whose last name was Bai, living in the isolation room. He had just suffered a head injury and it was said that he had memory loss." Saying that, he turned his face to look at Gongsun, "Didn't I just say that there was a man who used to be able to use hypnosis to awaken people's memories, it was that boy who had his awakened."

Bai Jintang froze in place, while Gongsun was dumbfounded and asked, "How did that boy lose his memory?” At the same time, he was already full of doubts: Hadn't Bai Jintang erased all of his memories because he had been shot in the head? How did it become partially awakened again? What was going on?

Yang Fan smiled a little helplessly and said, "I think there is just some resemblance. I was very young then, so maybe I remembered it wrong."

"Is your father still alive?" Bai Jintang asked.

Yang Fan shook his head, "He died years ago."

Bai Jintang frowned, slightly annoyed.

Gongsun had been with him for a long time and naturally understood his mood changes. Reaching out to hold him and tell him not to worry, he asked, "That Uncle Zhan you mentioned, is he very similar to Zhan Zhao?"

Yang Fan thought for a moment, "Eh? When you say that, yes… they look alike, but their temperaments are different."

"How so?" Gongsun asked.

"That Uncle Zhan was very beautiful, but he was cold and felt very fierce, while the other uncle, Uncle Bai, was easier to get along with, but aren't all those who engage in psychology close in temperament? The hypnotist had a temperament somewhat similar to Dr. Zhan’s, though he was a bit more lazy and Dr. Zhan is a bit more healthy, but I really don't remember much."

"If my brain hasn't been damaged, we can let Zhan Zhao hypnotise me to dig out that part of my forgotten memories." Bai Jintang closed his eyes slightly and said in a deep voice, "Those two old guys, they've been lying to me all along."

Gongsun looked at him and asked, "What are you going to do?"

"Hypnotise him!"

The voice came from outside the door. Zhan Zhao had returned at some point and pushed the door open, and Qin Ou followed behind him. It seemed that they had just returned from surveying the scene.

"There's another case?" Gongsun asked.

"Ugh, don't mention it, it's hard to explain." Bai Yutang also walked in and asked, "What's going on?"

Yang Fan looked at the group with a bewildered expression.

"He met Brother when he was a child," Zhan Zhao turned back to Bai Yutang and said, “in the hospital!"

Bai Yutang was stunned, "It was during that time?"

“En!" Zhan Zhao walked over and moved a chair to sit across from Yang Fan, saying, "Tell me everything you can remember!"

"Oh…" Yang Fan recalled fragments of the events of that year again.

Zhan Zhao frowned, "Something is not right, the memory is obviously disconnected."

Yang Fan was puzzled. Zhan Zhao thought about it and asked, "The man who hypnotised him, did he ever talk to you? "

"He did." Yang Fan thought about it and nodded, "He asked me my name and said a few words to me."

"What words?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"That it was a secret, and not to tell anyone else, then…” Having said that, Yang Fan reached out and gently pressed one finger to his lips, “Shhh…"

He had just finished his action when he suddenly frowned and fell over head first…

"Yang Fan!" Qin Ou rushed over to catch him. Zhan Zhao frowned and went up to check. Gongsun reached out to take his pulse and said, "There's nothing abnormal with his body!"

"It's a suggestion from back then!" Zhan Zhao said, “Zhao Jue erased part of his memory in order to make him keep the secret."

"Can you wake him up?" Bai Yutang asked.

“I’m not sure." Zhan Zhao was helpless, "It's best to let Zhao Jue undo what he has done, otherwise I'm afraid his memories will be confused."

"Then is he alright now?” Qin Ou was very worried.

"Don't worry," Zhan Zhao said to him, “you can take him to rest for a while."

Qin Ou breathed a sigh of relief. He picked up Yang Fan, went out with Xiao Ding, and settled him in the next room.

The people who remained in the room were speechless, what kind of secrets were hidden back then?

“Yang Fan just said that his dad had a habit of keeping a diary," Gongsun said, “and that his dad has passed away."

Zhan Zhao thought about it and went next door, knocking gently on the door. Qin Ou opened the door and Zhan Zhao said, “... I want to read Yang Fan's dad's diary."

Qin Ou was understanding. He asked the twins to take care of Yang Fan, and took Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang to Yang Fan's home.

A little curious, Zhan Zhao asked him, "Do you have a key?"

“En.” Qin Ou nodded, "Sometimes I will go to his place."

Seeing the suspicious look in Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang's eyes, he hurriedly said, "I will cook for him and wash his clothes… Yang Fan has little ability to take care of himself…"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang's eyes were even more sceptical, and Qin Ou had to stop talking.

"Cat, you seem excited, weren't you just frustrated by looking at the ghost murderer scene?” Bai Yutang asked Zhan Zhao.

"That was… I don't know how long I've wanted to have a clue about what happened back then!” Zhan Zhao said.

Soon, the car arrived in Yang Fan's neighbourhood. Yang Fan lives in a small high-rise. Because his family has been practising medicine for generations, he lives a very affluent life and has a great house.

Qin Ou led the group upstairs and opened the door. Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang entered the house. The room was elegantly and freshly decorated, very much in line with the impression Yang Fan gave.

"His father's things should all be kept up in the attic."

Qin Ou took Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang upstairs and saw that there was a small room next door to the bedroom. Qin Ou went in and pushed out several boxes of things, "These are all the things that Yang Fan has packed up, things that were his father's belongings. "

Zhan Zhao sat down and started rummaging.

Bai Yutang and Qin Ou couldn't help, so Qin Ou turned around and went downstairs to make tea.

Bai Yutang helped Zhan Zhao carry the boxes downstairs and let him sit on the sofa to properly look through them, while he toured Yang Fan's place and chatted with Qin Ou.

"You lived here before and after your recovery?" Bai Yutang asked.

“En." Qin Ou nodded and handed Bai Yutang a cup of tea.

Bai Yutang took a sip and raised his eyebrows. It wasn't black tea, it was barley tea, which was quite delicious.

Qin Ou brought out another pile of photo albums for Zhan Zhao and put them on the coffee table, saying to Bai Yutang, "Here are pictures of Liang Yan back then."

"Really?" Zhan Zhao finally looked up.

Qin Ou opened up a photo album and handed it to Bai Yutang, saying, "In this are all photos of him, from childhood to adulthood."

Bai Yutang was a little surprised and asked, "Why do you have them here?"

Qin Ou shrugged, "Before he died, he wrote a suicide note, saying that these things were to be given to me, so I kept them."

"He wanted you to remember him for the rest of your life." Zhan Zhao sighed and reached out to flip open the photo album. Looking at it page by page, he said, "Could the person who taught him how to make bombs be in here too?"

"It's very likely." Qin Ou smiled, "I've never flipped through this album."

Bai Yutang also took a look at the photo of Liang Yan as a child, frowning slightly as he asked Zhan Zhao, "It seems like you can tell if a child is a pervert from a young age, do you see how odd his eyes are?"

Zhan Zhao took the photo and looked at it, laughing, "They're not odd, they're spiteful."

"Spiteful?” Qin Ou wondered. Bai Yutang tried to show him, but he shook his head, he never wanted to look at those eyes again in his life.

“Well… have you seen《The Grudge》yet?" Zhan Zhao asked, "That child's eyes."

Bai Yutang frowned, "Cat, you’re telling bad jokes again?"

"That's not it… In children's eyes, the pupils are larger, so the eyes will look darker and more vibrant. And children's emotional expressions are basically happy, unhappy… it is very rare to see hatred, or resentment… but this kind of expression is very evident on the faces of children, unless they are very mature, or have had a particular life experience."

"Liang Yan is not very special.” Qin Ou said, "I've investigated him and he's quite normal."

Zhan Zhao quickly flipped through the photos again, finally stopping with a faint smile, “Well… he does seem to be abnormal."

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Oooh, Yang Fan is connected to what happened to Bai Jintang back then. Why did Zhao Jue seal some of his memories? Why were Father Bai, Father Zhan, and Zhao Jue all there? What are they hiding?

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

Translated: December 6/7, 2021