S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 3 Chapter 54

Ghost Murderer 22 - Turning Point

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The group began to prepare for Zhao Zhen's visit with Yuan Lin.

"This Yuan Lin's background is not simple." Xiao Ding suddenly said, "The reason we've been refusing to sign him is because we've investigated his background and it's just too messy!"

"Messy?" Bai Yutang was a bit confused, "Does that refer to the incident where he shot the old professor back then?"

"It's more than that." Xiao Ding said, "The key is his past, it’s blank!"

"What do you mean by blank?" Zhan Zhao did not understand.

"We don't really have a clean record ourselves.” Xiao Ding grinned, "But at least there is an origin, where we were born and raised and what kind of education we received as children can be traced. Look at Qi Le and Chen Yu, two delinquents we have signed, it's not that we look down on people who were born poor.”

When Xiao Ding said this, Chen Yu and Qi Lei, who were teasing Qin Yi not far away, rolled their eyes.

"This Yuan Lin has no background." Da Ding was eating the muffin in his hand and said to Zhan Zhao, "Zero, a man who appeared out of thin air with zero past."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other, feeling a little baffled.

Bai Yutang picked up the phone and asked Jiang Ping to pull up the information that he had compiled from his previous investigation into Yuan Lin… He faxed over the detailed information and they found that the man's life before he was thirteen was blank.

Zhan Zhao suddenly had a thought in his mind and winked at Bai Yutang – Luo Tian's past is also blank!

Bai Yutang thought about it, indeed, Luo Tian's file started from the time he entered the police station. It was not that simple for someone to be able to erase the first half of a person's file. That Yuan Lin, it seemed, was not an average person.

"And he's obviously too interested in Zhao Zhen." Da Ding leaned back in his chair and said, "A dancer, whose origins are unknown, who may be a pervert, and who shot a psychologist… tsk, so we never signed him, but there's one thing that's strange."

"What?"

"He seems to have a lot of money." Da Ding said, "We've done the math for him. Logically speaking, with the amount he's paid for his performances and with little advertising or participation in events since his debut, he shouldn't be able to afford a show that big, and after his financial company collapsed, he's been the one who's been paying his own way."

“Indeed." Zhao Zhen nodded, "Planning such a large performance would cost a lot if it was all self-funded."

"His wealth is unknown, and it doesn't look like he's inherited anything." Xiao Ding said, "It's not like he is a businessman, so there is only one possibility for this kind of person, there is a big boss behind the scenes… In other words, he has another purpose, so one has to be on guard."

Zhan Zhao nodded, "Hmm, interesting…"

“Cat," Bai Yutang saw that Zhan Zhao was thinking about something, so he smiled and asked, "what's your ghostly idea?” (Angel: A ghostly idea is a wicked idea or plan, or a cunning and insidious tactic.)

"I think… he might not be interested in Zhao Zhen." Zhan Zhao looked at Bai Yutang, "Rather, it's someone else."

Bai Yutang faintly froze and raised an eyebrow – "Zhao Jue?!"

Zhan Zhao smiled, “En, I always feel that this kind of person is more to Zhao Jue's liking. Zhao Zhen is still considered very honest compared to his uncle."

"Ah… ah-choo!"

Outside Bai Jintang's villa, in a black car, Zhao Jue, wearing headphones, sneezed and shook his head, "Stinky cat, dare to say bad things about me."

In the room, Zhan Zhao put his hands in his pockets and asked Bai Yutang when they were leaving.

Bai Yutang, however, had his eyes fixed on Qin Yi who was not far away.

Because Qin Yi had been stealing glances at him since the beginning, it seemed like he wanted to say something.

Luo Yang saw this and pulled Qin Yi, who was being "played with" by the three girls, over to him.

Bai Yutang knelt down and asked him, "Xiao Yi, what do you have to say?

Qin Yi looked at Qin Ou beside him.

Qin Ou asked him, "What's wrong? Talk to Uncle Bai."

"I've seen someone who looks a lot like him." Xiao Yi whispered, "It seems, seems, seems oh!"

Zhan Zhao smiled, "Is he a little bit older than him, and almost carved out of the same mold?"

"Yes." Xiao Yi nodded, "But he only came a few times and then left, as if he was very busy."

Bai Yutang naturally knew who that person was, and was furious at the mention of him. The last time he asked the question of whether he was an illegitimate son, it caused him to be unable to enter the Bai house's front door, and as soon as he walked through the door, Mother Bai chased after him.

Suddenly… Bai Yutang noticed that underneath the collar of Xiao Yi's shirt, a button was a little askew.

After staring at it for a while, he shook his head and sighed. He reached out, broke the button… and it fell off, obviously a useless piece of decoration.

Zhan Zhao also saw it, and when Bai Yutang caught the button, he reached over to look at it – a bug!

Zhan Zhao looked around, walked over, put the button in front of Lisbon's eyes, and reached out to pinch Lisbon's ear.

Lisbon had a habit, which Zhao Zhen had trained him to do, of giving a loud roar to anyone who pinched his ears.

Sure enough, they heard him “ROAR”… and it made the ears of everyone in the room perk up.

"Ah!" In the car, Zhao Jue hurriedly put down the headphones, his ears buzzing, and he shouted “Dead cat!"

Zhan Zhao smiled and put the bug on the ground, stepped on it, picked it up, and put it in the fish tank. Clapping his hands, he turned to Zhao Zhen and said, "Let's go, let’s meet that Yuan Lin and see what kind of work he's doing!"

Everyone glanced at each other, this cat, at last, scratched a victory.

After leaving the house, Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao accompanied Zhao Zhen to meet Yuan Lin.

The place where Yuan Lin was meeting Zhao Zhen was in a teahouse. Li Ying would take Zhao Zhen with her to room 221, and Zhan Zhao would pretend to be Zhao Zhen's assistant. Bai Yutang also wanted to go, but there were too many people to accommodate, so he had to pretend to be a bodyguard and would stand outside the door. Just as Zhao Jue's method reminded him, he also brought a bug for Zhao Zhen to wear in case there was any movement, so he could go in and rescue him.

The teahouse was not far away. When Zhan Zhao looked at his watch, it was already half past seven in the evening.

When the car pulled up outside the restaurant, the group got out and went upstairs. At the entrance of the private room, Yuan Lin's assistant, a somewhat fierce foreigner, was waiting.

Li Ying went up to greet him, and unlike his face, the foreigner was quite easy-going. After enthusiastic public relations, he opened the door and invited the crowd in. Bai Yutang waited at the door, and the waitress who passed by with tea looked at him shyly for a few moments, probably thinking – what a handsome bodyguard!

After following Zhao Zhen and Li Ying into the room, Zhan Zhao saw the legendary Yuan Lin up close.

Yuan Lin was sitting at the table drinking tea. When he saw Zhao Zhen enter, he hurriedly invited him to sit down, but he was not as attentive as Zhan Zhao thought he would be.

Zhan Zhao observed him for a while and found that although this man looked slim, he did not look like a dancer.

Zhan Zhao stroked his chin. This man, rather than saying he was a dancer, it would be better to say that he stretches well because of the look of his tendon muscles. He felt somewhat like Bai Yutang, but of course – Zhan Zhao was quite sure that Xiao Bai was much more handsome than him.

Bai Yutang listened to the movement inside from the doorway, and also felt that this Yuan Lin seemed to be a little different from the image he gave off. He was not warm and welcoming, nor was he as demonic as he was dressed, but he was quite a natural person.

After Zhan Zhao and others sat down, Yuan Lin raised his eyes and looked at Zhao Zhen, and then at Zhan Zhao and Li Ying, and smiled, "I heard that you are willing to cooperate with me? I thought the people from the Bai Group would come with you."

"It doesn't matter." Zhao Zhen said indifferently, "As long as I fancy it, the Bai family will be my family."

Zhan Zhao smiled inwardly – it was really like that.

Yuan Lin raised his eyebrows, "Hehe… you really are the type of person I admire."

Zhao Zhen looked at his watch and said, "I don't have a lot of time, how do you want to cooperate?"

Yuan Lin nodded to the assistant behind him.

The assistant reached into his pocket and took something out – a gun.

"Ah!" Li Ying screamed. At the door, Bai Yutang frowned, what happened?

Zhao Zhen, however, did not change his expression and said, "Just put the props away."

Yuan Lin was stunned and asked, "Can you tell it's a fake gun?"

"I am a magician." Zhao Zhen laughed indifferently.

Zhan Zhao smiled inwardly, I am a police officer, I can also see that it is a fake gun… although I can't shoot it.

Yuan Lin took the gun in his hand and grinned, "Just kidding, I scared the lady. "

Li Ying's expression changed and she said, "I don't find this kind of joke funny, Mr. Yuan. Even if you are not sincere in cooperating, Zhen's time is still very valuable."

Yuan Lin shrugged, "Just trying to lighten the mood…"

Li Ying was just about to say something else, but Zhao Zhen suddenly said to her, "Ying, go outside and have a drink."

Li Ying looked at Zhao Zhen and immediately realized that he and Zhan Zhao might want to chat with Yuan Lin alone, the less trouble the better. After all, it was a police matter and she didn't want to get involved too much, the more she knew about such matters the faster she would die! Thinking of this, she hurriedly went out the door.

Bai Yutang saw her come out at the door, and Li Ying gave him a flying kiss, "Handsome, I'm going to have some tea." After saying that, she ran downstairs to order tea and snacks.

Seeing Li Ying leave, Yuan Lin smiled slightly and glanced at Zhan Zhao who was on the side, "This one's reaction is very calm, ah, as an assistant, his quality is very high."

Zhan Zhao smiled back, "Most of the people from the Bai family have seen some scenes."

At the door, Bai Yutang raised an eyebrow feeling that this cat's words were enjoyable – En, the Bai family!

"Okay, I'm not kidding anymore, then… this one looks real, right?" Saying that, Yuan Lin took out another gun from his pocket, the black muzzle of the gun pointed at Zhao Zhen.

Zhao Zhen shrugged, "Do you want to shoot it and try it?"

Yuan Lin froze.

He saw Zhao Zhen reach out and hand the objects in his hand to Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao reached out and took the items, they were seven rounds of ammunition and a piece of identification. After opening the black leather ID and looking at it, Zhan Zhao raised an eyebrow, "Wow, what an impressive ID. This balance scale looks so dazzling, is it the real thing? The three letters of FBI are so big."

At the door Bai Yutang frowned, “Huh?"

Yuan Lin reached out to remove the gun's clip and took a look, but he was a bit discouraged – there was not a single bullet left, and when he reached into his pocket, his ID was also gone.

"Count me out." He put the pistol down and said, "Sure enough, just like Big Boss said, the SCI guys are not to be messed with."

"You're a police officer?" Zhan Zhao gave him back his ID, "This is the symbol of the legendary and omnipotent Federal Bureau of Investigation."

"Not bad, Dr. Zhan." Yuan Lin took a wet wipe and wiped the sultry punk makeup off his face as he said to the assistant at the side, "Ask Captain Bai to come in."

The assistant shrugged and ran to open the door. Bai Yutang had heard it from outside, the situation had taken a sharp turn for the worse, and he hadn't expected Yuan Lin to be a cop.

After entering and greeting him briefly, Bai Yutang called to ask Bao Zheng about the situation, who said, "It is true that a special investigator from the Federal Bureau of Investigation has come here. We only know his ID number, his identity is confidential."

Bai Yutang checked the ID number and gave it back to Yuan Lin, asking, "You're an undercover agent?"

"Not really, just a special investigator… err, half undercover of course."

"Then you shot the professor previously?" Zhan Zhao asked, "Was it you who was working with the professor?"

“Oh… the one who shot the professor was not me, that person has been secretly imprisoned after we captured him, and I took his place. The artist who performed on the stage was not me either. The reason I wear makeup like this is because I can't be caught in the act of replacing him." Yuan Lin said. Taking a paper bag from his assistant, he pulled out a photo and handed it to the crowd, saying, "We are investigating a very difficult case, and especially want to investigate this person, do you know them?"

……

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Zhan Zhao finally won over Zhao Jue for once! 😂

The next few cases are quite long, definitely up there with the longest chapters in the book 😭

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

Translated: December 24/28, 2021