S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 3 Chapter 53

Ghost Murderer 21 - Various Leads

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As soon as he cried out for his dad, the group saw the little guy flying over and wrapping his arms around Qin Ou, hugging his legs and tilting his face up, smiling more brightly than the sun overhead.

"Xiao Yi?" Qin Ou froze before immediately picking him up with surprise and joy, "Why are you here… Why did you dye your hair? I almost didn't recognize you."

Xiao Yi pouted and said, "Uncle Zhao dyed it for me, saying it looks good this way. He said that it's not poisonous and that my hair smells good."

"Er… does it?" Qin Ou leaned over and smelled it, and it indeed smelled good. He was somewhat helpless. His hair did suit him, and he looked like a foreign doll, but even if it looked good, how could he dye a child's hair? He wondered if it would hurt his body.

"Daddy." Qin Yi seemed to be very close to Qin Ou. He nuzzled his neck, sweetly cooing and coming up to kiss him.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other – Ah, this one and Luo Yang belong to two different styles altogether.

"What brought you here? You didn't fly here on your own, did you?" Qin Ou asked Qin Yi, "Have you eaten yet?"

"No." Qin Yi pouted and muttered, "Uncle Zhao said that he was going to take me to dinner, then I ran off on my own."

Qin Ou frowned slightly and asked, "Why did you run away? It's so dangerous. It's lucky that Yang Yang ran into you."

"I was afraid that they would find you." Qin Yi muttered with a laugh, "I found you first to tell you that Jemma said that you must not have the heart to defend against others."

Qin Ou was slightly taken aback, and Zhan Zhao raised an eyebrow at Bai Yutang – He looks like a little dumpling, I didn't expect him to be so opinionated!

"Let's all go inside." Gongsun walked over.

"There are ingredients at home." Bai Yutang moved forward, "Let's make you some delicious food!"

Zhan Zhao was starving too, so he hurriedly followed him inside.

Gongsun reached out to help Luo Yang with his school bag and asked, "Yang Yang, why did you buy flowers?

Luo Yang was a bit embarrassed and said, "Dad said that Uncle Jintang was sick."

"So you came to visit him with a butterfly orchid?" Da Ding and Xiao Ding couldn't laugh or cry and said, "Yang Yang, next time you come to visit him, you don't need to bring a butterfly orchid, just a cactus!"

"Huh?" Luo Yang's eyes widened and he blinked, but Gongsun shook his head and pulled him into the house.

Qin Ou carried Qin Yi inside as well. Qin Yi leaned on his shoulder just in time to see Zhan Zhao, so he called out, "Uncle Cat."

Zhan Zhao's eyes twitched.

Bai Yutang stifled a laugh and asked Qin Yi, "Do you think he looks like a cat?"

Qin Yi shook his head and said, "Uncle Zhao showed me his portrait the other day, it looked like it was painted. He said his surname was Cat and his name was Kitty." (Angel: Zhao Jue said his name was Kitty Cat… I can't with this man 😂)

Zhan Zhao's face turned black, and he said to himself, "What a bastard Zhao Jue is!"

When he entered the house, Qin Yi threw himself into Yang Fan's arms, and was even more intimate than he was with Qin Ou.

Zhan Zhao looked at Bai Yutang again, and the two of them knew in their hearts that Qin Yi was the same as Luo Yang, a child who worried about his father's future.

Bai Jintang came down and saw Gongsun waving at him, so he immediately walked over.

"Yang Yang, the patient is here, give him the flowers!" Gongsun said to Luo Yang

Luo Yang was quite embarrassed to give the flowers to Bai Jintang and said, "Uncle Jintang, get well soon."

The corners of Bai Jintang's mouth twitched, but he took the brightly blooming butterfly orchid and thanked Luo Yang, unable to laugh or cry.

Ma Xin and the others were all there. The group of girls saw Qin Yi and all flocked over to look. Chen Jiayi hugged little Qin Yi and said, "Aiya, what a cute little brother!"

"That's right!" Ma Xin reached out and pinched his white cheeks, "So tender!"

"Blonde hair is perfect for him!" Qi Le nodded.

"He'll be a handsome man when he grows up!" Chen Yu squeezed his arm, "Aiya, so tender and soft, very smooth."

Qin Yi was embarrassed and kept his head down in a shy manner as he tried to crawl back into Qin Ou's arms.

On the side, Luo Yang had been curiously watching. This boy is so shy, he looks even better than a girl.

Shortly after, Bai Yutang made spaghetti and baked prawns, and everyone sat down in twos and threes to eat.

Zhan Zhao came back with a pile of diaries and took over the whole sofa with Bai Chi, reading them while eating. Bai Chi had a pile of horror novels under his feet and was shivering while wrapped in a blanket.

Qin Yi and Luo Yang were eating while teasing the little lion and Luban, with Lisbon lazily leaning on the side as a pillow for them.

Qin Ou fed Qin Yi and asked, "Yi Yi, how did you get here? Did Uncle Zhao bring you here?"

"En." Qin Yi nodded and muttered in a small voice, "Jemma is sick and Jack has to stay with her, and I missed you again… A lot of people have been trying to catch me lately, and they've all gotten hurt over it."

"Are Jemma and Jack his grandparents?" Gongsun asked.

Qin Ou nodded and frowned as he asked, "Is something wrong with them?"

"No." Qin Yi shook his head, "Uncle Zhao arranged for them to go on holiday to Easter Island, where it's safe."

"What kind of people are after you?" Zhan Zhao asked.

Qin Yi thought for a moment and said, "Some people in black clothes, I didn't even see them, they were blocked by Uncle Zhao's people."

Zhan Zhao thought for a moment and took out the photo of Liang Yan taken with the mysterious woman when he was a teenager and handed it to Qin Yi to look at, asking, "Do you recognise this woman?"

Qin Yi looked at it and nodded, "I've seen her before."

"You've seen her before?" Qin Ou was a little surprised and asked, "Where?"

"She came to my school once," Qin Yi replied, "but she didn't look like a bad person. She was holding an injured puppy and asked me to take it to the infirmary so the doctor could take a look at it, as she had to leave in a hurry."

"What about the puppy?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"It was a stray dog. It was later sent away to a shelter and was adopted, I think." Qin Yi thought for a moment and said, "But Uncle Zhao told me that this woman was a vixen."

Everyone was startled. Yang Fan put a piece of mushroom into Qin Yi's mouth and said, "Children are not allowed to say that."

"Did she look as young as she does in the photo?" Zhan Zhao then asked Qin Yi.

"Yes." Qin Yi nodded, "Just under thirty I think, so pretty."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other – indeed, another monster that doesn't age!

"But," Qin Yi continued, "when I told Uncle Zhao that this aunt was pretty, Uncle Zhao laughed so hard he couldn't straighten his back and said, 'What's pretty? This is an old demon, a thousand year old demon!'"

After saying that, another prawn was stuffed into his mouth and he started chewing it.

Zhan Zhao held his chin with one hand and laughed, "Oh… thousand year old demon ah…"

At this time, Bai Jintang finished his meal and walked over, saying to Zhan Zhao, "Xiao Zhao, about my memory..."

"Brother, what have you remembered?" Zhan Zhao hurriedly asked.

When Bai Jintang saw Gongsun looking at him a little nervously, he forgot to swallow the noodles in his mouth and smiled, "I remembered some... very fragmented pieces, and..." saying this, he reached out and pointed to the woman in the picture, "I've seen her too."

"What?" Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were both surprised.

"You've seen her?" Gongsun was surprised, "When?"

Bai Jintang shook his head and said, "My memory is a bit confused now, there are some things that don't seem to have happened recently, scenes that seem more like twenty years ago, scenes like that often pass through my head like a slide show. Also, I remember looking up at this woman, which means that she was taller than me at the time, so I should have been very young."

"When you were young…" Zhao Zhen couldn't help but frown and ask, "Meaning this woman looked like this over twenty years ago"

"Could it be a mistake?" Bai Chi asked.

Bai Jintang shook his head, "It shouldn't be, I remember it very clearly."

"Brother," Bai Yutang asked, "you want to try to use hypnosis to bring back both previous and recent memories?"

Bai Jintang nodded and said, "According to what Yang Fan said, my memory is most likely not caused by trauma, but rather someone has deliberately sealed it... that person could be Zhao Jue, using hypnosis. Can you wake it up?"

Hearing this, Zhan Zhao frowned and said, "In theory, this is absolutely feasible, but as I said last time, there is a great danger in doing so. It may lead to memory confusion, unless Zhao Jue is willing to help."

Just as Zhan Zhao finished his words, the phone in his pocket rang and he frowned slightly.

Bai Yutang raised an eyebrow and smiled, "I think it might be Zhao Jue."

"En." Gongsun nodded, "He's amazing every time, and always comes just at the right time."

Zhan Zhao took out his phone to take a look, and sure enough… 

After picking up the phone, Zhao Jue asked with a smile, "Has Xiao Qin Yi arrived yet?"

Zhan Zhao nodded and said, "He's here… You brought him here? Thanks for protecting him this time"

"Well, I happened to come by plane, I brought him along because it was private. Recently, there are many people who want to capture him. If I left, I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving him alone even if security guards were assigned, so I discussed it with his grandparents and brought him here." Zhao Jue said, with a smile and a polite turn of phrase, he seriously said, "Little Kitty, do not do memory recovery for Bai Jintang."

Zhan Zhao frowned and asked, "Why? "

"It's not the right time yet." Zhao Jue said, "Listen to me, don't rush!"

Zhan Zhao sulked for a moment and asked, "Then when will it be the right time?"

"When the time comes, you don't need to do it, I'll do it." Zhao Jue said, "You should have also found out that the person who did the manipulation was me, so naturally it is the safest for me to unravel it. This time, it was because of an accident that so many things were messed up and it screwed up the plans of those people. I don't know if it was a blessing or a curse, but you can follow this clue and find it."

Zhan Zhao thought about it and said, "Hmm… does it have something to do with that woman?"

Zhao Jue smiled, "That woman is not simple, remember to be careful when you meet her, she is an important character."

"You call her an old demon, is she even older than you?

Zhao Jue thought about it and said seriously, "Remember those video recordings you saw before?''

Zhan Zhao thought of the man who didn't age and the weird island in the video, and nodded, "Indeed, they should have gone through several generations."

"Kitty?" Seeing that Zhan Zhao did not seem to want to confront him, Zhao Jue relaxed his mood and asked with a smile, "How about it? Do you want me to give you some clues about this case?"

"Haha." Zhan Zhao let out a laugh, "Thanks a lot, but it is too late. I have already thought of it, and I am just lacking the confirmation."

"Haha." Zhao Jue laughed and praised him, "Indeed, you really are smart enough!"

"Take care of yourself, you don't need to worry about things here, just do your thing at ease." After saying that, Zhan Zhao hung up the phone and went back to sit down by the sofa, continuing to eat and read the diaries.

Bai Yutang did not ask him more. Zhan Zhao seemed to already have a clue and an idea, and turned to Bai Jintang and said, "Brother, it seems that it is not the right time."

Bai Jintang was quite helpless. Gongsun stood beside him and coolly said, "What does it matter? The ones from that time have been forgotten for twenty years now anyway, and you don't know how to ask people these days"

"There are some things others don't know." The corners of Bai Jintang's mouth picked up and he whispered, "I do want to ask someone, there are some details I just remembered the other day, would you like to explain them to me?"

Gongsun didn't doubt it and asked, "What did you remember?"

When Bai Jintang saw that he was nervous, he whispered into his ear, "We were doing that… kind of intimate thing, it wouldn't be good to ask someone else. Do you think I used to have the habit of recording? It would be great if I did, we can discuss it properly!"

Gongsun blushed and seeing Qin Yi and Luo Yang on the side looking at them curiously with wide eyes, his face immediately became embarrassed.

Zhao Zhen had just finished his meal and was about to put his plate down to go sit next to Bai Chi for a while when his phone rang and a text message arrived.

He picked it up and saw that it was from Li Ying.

"Tsk…" Zhao Zhen frowned, seemingly a little annoyed.

"What's wrong?" Bai Chi asked him.

"Oh… that ghost dance performer is still pestering me about a collaboration." Zhao Zhen said.

"Oh!" Zhan Zhao hurriedly stopped Zhao Zhen and said, "Don't push him away, follow the trail!"

Zhao Zhen froze and raised his eyebrows, "He's a suspect?"

Zhan Zhao nodded.

"You want Zhen to use the beauty trick again?" Bai Chi seemed a little reluctant.

"Don't worry," Zhan Zhao waved his hand and said, "that Yuan Lin has big quirks, I'll follow Zhao Zhen and we will test him out!"

The group looked at each other. Since Zhan Zhao was so sure, let's go… there's bound to be a clue.

So Zhao Zhen texted Li Ying back – promise him a meeting, today!

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Happy New Year! 🎉

Kitty Cat and Uncle Cat 😂Zhou Jue never stops teasing Zhan Zhao

The author often switches between Luo Yang and Yang Yang. Before, I used to edit it so that it was Luo Yang outside of dialogue and Yang Yang in dialogue, but this time I left it the way it is originally written. What do you guys prefer? [Update March 17, 2022: I have decided to continue editing it for the sake of consistency.]

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

Translated: December 23/24, 2021