S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 1 Chapter 69

The Murderer Is Not Human – The Curse

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Akasha's terrifying appearance and eerie tone startled the few young women present into screaming.

Bai Yutang frowned, "Anyone who is not a police officer, get out." With that, he said to Qu Yanming and the other bodyguard at the door, "You two watch the scene first."

The two cooperatively invited everyone else out of the room. The fortune-telling lady called Akasha shouted in a broken voice as she walked away, "You will be punished by the devil if you don't believe in the curse and in the devil…"

Shaking his head, Bai Yutang turned around to see Gongsun and Zhan Zhao already gathered around the safe, carefully examining the corpse which was emitting eeriness all around.

Gongsun frowned deeply and looked at it for half a day before saying to Bai Yutang, "I have to go back and take out the corpse to determine the cause of death."

Bai Yutang was silent for a moment and asked, "Was he dismembered and put in there?"

Gongsun shook his head, "No… he was folded up."

"Folded…" Bai Yutang smiled bitterly, "Folded a person up?"

"To be honest…" Gongsun smiled faintly, "it indeed doesn't seem like something a human could do." After saying that, he walked out of the room to wash his hands.

Bai Yutang patted Zhan Zhao, who was still staring at the corpse in the box, and asked, "Cat, what are you looking at? So serious?"

Zhan Zhao thought for a moment and said, "Xiao Bai, have you ever seen a hydraulic press used to compress a car when it is being recycled?"

Bai Yutang nodded, "Indeed, four steel plates on all four sides, plus one more on the top, can squeeze a person into a square. The question is, why do they need to do this?"

"Two states of mind~~," said Zhan Zhao, hugging his arms, "The simple state of mind is that the murderer wants people to focus on the curse of the box corpse."

"And the second?" Bai Yutang followed with, "The not-so-simple state of mind?"

"Hmm, that has to be analysed in terms of his actions." Zhan Zhao said, "This murderer is very meticulous, confident and even arrogant."

"Hmm~~" Bai Yutang nodded, "Judging from the murder scene he made out of the secret safe, we should also add that he is boring."

Zhan Zhao slowly walked around the table in a circle, surveying the safe from all angles. "He too should have circled around like this after he finished as if he was admiring his masterpiece. He stuffed the phone into the victim's mouth, which is the best proof that he was laughing at him, and at everyone. It was as if he was saying…"

"He is a god…" Bai Yutang took over, "Not a human being… right?!"

Zhan Zhao felt helpless and nodded his head.

Bai Yutang understood and concluded, "Good! Another pervert who plays with people's lives."

At this point, two synchronised voices came from the doorway, "Aiya~~so creepy! Is that what the boss wants to spend money on?"

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao turned around and saw the twins appear at the door with a leather case in one hand.

"There is nothing else for you two to do!" Bai Yutang glared at them, "The person who is receiving the money is inside… the stuff is gone!"

"That… where's Boss?" Xiao Ding looked around.

The others also looked around. Bai Jintang was standing in the doorway just now-- where did he go?

In the bathroom, Gongsun turned on the tap and washed his hands. Perhaps it was a habit from years of being a forensic doctor, but Gongsun would first wash with his gloves on and wash them clean, then he would take them off and wash his hands.

Head down, rinsing off the water, his mind was filled with the odd posture of the corpse from earlier. He suddenly felt warmth on his back… When he looked up, he saw that Bai Jintang had stood behind him at some point from the mirror.

Somewhat puzzled, he glanced at the person in the mirror, "Why are you here?" Gongsun asked as he washed his hands.

Without saying anything, Bai Jintang smiled and lowered his head to Gongsun's ear, saying, "The way you examined the corpse just now was so sexy." As he said that, he wrapped his hands around Gongsun's slender waist and gently stroked through his black sweater~~

"You…" Gongsun turned around and gave him a fierce glare, "Public space… Wu…"

Bai Jintang seemed to be waiting for this opportunity. He lowered his head and captured Gongsun's lips in a slightly violent kiss.

At the end of the long kiss, one hand held Gongsun's waist and the other cupped his chin, forcing him to look at himself as he said with some difficulty, "What to do…"

Gongsun was baffled by him and asked him with a slight gasp, "What ‘what to do?’"

Bai Jintang gently licked Gongsun's ear, sticking his tongue into it, causing Gongsun to shudder lightly and try to flee… The hand around his waist tightened and stopped his attempt to escape. 

"What to do?" Bai Jintang whispered in Gongsun's ear, "Now even if you smile at Yutang… I'll be jealous…"

Gongsun froze. He was startled when he realised that Bai Jintang's hand had gotten through the hem of his sweater and was caressing the skin along his waist.

"What are you talking about?" Gongsun's hands were still in the water with gloves on, so he couldn't stop Bai Jintang and could only grit his teeth and scold him, "Let go!"

Bai Jintang obediently took his hands out and reached into the sink, helping Gongsun remove his gloves. Afterwards, he intertwined their hands and washed them together in the slightly cool water.

"I want to lock you up so badly." Bai Jintang embraced Gongsun, resting his chin on his lean shoulder, "Let no one see but me!"

Gongsun was powerless and looked sideways to see Bai Jintang rubbing against his neck like he was being pampered. He picked up a handful of cold water and splashed. Bai Jintang was startled and backed away, but the front of his suit was already wet. 

Gongsun laughed and turned to run. But to his surprise, Bai Jintang took a step forward and hugged him by the waist.

"Ah~~" Gongsun only had time to let out a short cry of surprise before he was hugged and pressed against the washstand by Bai Jintang, who kissed him fiercely~~~.

When the two of them came out of the washroom, the officers from S.C.I. had already arrived.

After the scene was investigated and evidence was taken, Gongsun asked the group to lock up the safe and bring it back to the S.C.I  forensic room. Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang saw his eager face and knew that he couldn't wait to get the body out of the safe.

It was at this moment that an argument was heard from the doorway. Carlos' secretary, Lu Yan, was grabbing Qu Yanming and the other security-guard, saying that they would be held accountable.

"It's you guys! No one can do anything but you!" Lu Yan, who was unusually agitated, said to the police officer beside her, "Officer! Arrest them! It must have been them who did the tampering. There is no one else!!!"

"But…" Zhan Zhao suddenly asked, "the key is with you… isn't it?"

"I…" Lu Yan faintly froze and let go of Qu Yanming and the other security-guard. Somewhat disoriented, she muttered to herself, "It can't be a curse… It's just a legend… It can't be true…"

"What legend?" Zhan Zhao felt that she was acting a little strange and brought her alone to the lounge to sit and chat.

Bai Yutang and the other police officers questioned everyone present and took notes before settling on Qu Yanming and the other guard named Feng Jie.

Somewhat apologetically, he patted Qu Yanming on the shoulder, "You two still have to go to the station to make a more detailed statement. You also need to describe the details."

After saying that, he let Wang Chao and Zhang Long take the two back to the bureau for the time being.

Before he left, Qu Yanming looked back at the lounge, his eyes a little complicated.

"What's wrong?" Bai Yutang was a little baffled.

"Well…" Qu Yanming thought for a moment and said, "Captain, this morning, I heard Mr. Carlos and Secretary Lu when they were putting the box corpse in…" he said, pointing to the door of the Special Meeting Room, "they were arguing very intensely inside."

"Yeah!" Feng Jie stated, "I heard it too."

"What were they arguing about?!" Bai Yutang asked.

"I couldn't hear them clearly because the door was closed, but they repeatedly mentioned the word curse." Qu Yanming said.

"Yes!" Feng Jie added, "Because Lu Yan's voice is very shrill, these two words were the clearest."

By this time, Zhan Zhao and Lu Yan had already come out of the room. Wang Chao and Zhang Long lead the three of them back to the police station.

"Cat, how is it?" Bai Yutang saw Zhan Zhao frowning intensely and felt that the situation might not be too good.

Zhan Zhao sighed and said, "Let's talk about it as we walk." With that, he pulled Bai Yutang and headed out.

"Where to?" Bai Yutang was a little confused. He still wanted to go and watch the surveillance footage of the museum.

"Carlos's house!" Zhan Zhao said.

After telling Ma Han and Zhao Hu to watch the CCTV footage, Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao left the museum and drove towards Carlos's villa on the outskirts of the city.

"Just now, Lu Yan told a very interesting story." Zhan Zhao tapped on his chin with his index finger, "There was something concerning the curse of the box corpse."

"Tell me about it." Bai Yu Tang asked with great interest.

"This box corpse has a very special origin." Zhan Zhao said, "It's the last box corpse of the 'Tu Xi' tribe."

"The last one?" Bai Yutang wondered, "No more after that?"

Zhan Zhao shook his head, "The Tu Xi tribe is extinct, wiped out!"

Bai Yutang was slightly surprised, "Wiped out? You mean… they didn’t  naturally go extinct?"

"Mm." Zhan Zhao nodded, "The Tu Xi's lived in the jungle of a small island in Southeast Asia. About a hundred years ago, a Dutch merchant ship dropped its anchor on that island. The Tu Xi's rescued them and treated them with hospitality…

However, when the sailors were rescued, they marvelled over the exquisite craftsmanship of the Tu Xi box corpses, so they killed all the Tu Xi's and tried to rob the precious box corpses… The only Tu Xi leader who survived burned all the box corpses…"

"What about… the box corpse… that was on display here?" Bai Yutang was confused.

"…It was that leader…" said Zhan Zhao.

"……" Bai Yutang had quite a bit of surprise on his face, "You mean…"

Zhan Zhao nodded: "Those Dutch people were infuriated… They had seen the process of making a box corpse, so they made that leader into a box corpse while he was alive."

After hearing that, Bai Yutang frowned, "No wonder that corpse's expression was so painful and resentful."

"Before that leader died, he cursed the Dutchmen and their descendants, with a spell… that had been passed down from generation to generation in the Tu Xi tribe." Zhan Zhao said, "According to Lu Yan, Carlos got this box corpse from an old Dutchman."

"That old man is the descendant of one of those Dutchmen?" Bai Yutang asked, "What happened? Was the curse fulfilled?"

"It is said that… they all died." Zhan Zhao said, "Carlos had also recently lost his wife who had been with him for twenty years… and his youngest son had a strange illness and became crazy. He, therefore, began to believe in the curse and wanted to find someone to break it off."

Bai Yutang was silent for a moment, "Lu Yan argued with him, probably because she was afraid that if this thing was sold, it would bring bad luck to others."

"Sigh~~" Zhan Zhao looked at him, "It's good that Brother didn't buy it."

"You believe in it?" Bai Yutang smiled, "Cat, you used to be the most disbelieving of all this ghost and god-talk."

Zhan Zhao nodded, "I do not believe in it. All demons are cultivated from the human heart." Glancing at Bai Yutang, he slowly said, "Therefore, being targeted by someone with a demonic heart is no different from being targeted by a demon."

"Hm~~Correct." Bai Yutang stopped the car in front of Carlos's villa, raised his hand and cupped Zhan Zhao's chin. "It's good that you care about my brother and Gongsun… but…" while saying that, he came forward and kissed Zhan Zhao's cheek, "do not be too obvious, I will be jealous." After saying that, ignoring Zhan Zhao's surprised eyes and reddened face, he kissed him…

Zhan Zhao pushed Bai Yutang's head away with all his strength and scolded viciously, "Crazy mouse! Don't you know how to read the situation? In broad daylight you…"

"Ahhh~~~~~" The two men's flirty bickering was interrupted by a shrill and unusual woman's scream. It came from the villa.

"…Just now…"

"…Yeah!"

"You heard it too…"

"…Yes!"

"…Inside…"

"…Yes!"

The two men quickly got out of the car and rushed to the door of the villa. No one came to open the towering iron door when they knocked on it.

"Ahh~~~" another scream, which is even more disastrous than earlier, rang out.

Bai Yutang took two steps back, ran and leapt up, quickly stepping on the iron gate and wall ~ ~ In three steps, he climbed the wall, leapt down, opened the door with his backhand, and ran inside with Zhan Zhao.

After passing through the garden, there was a white mediaeval-style villa with constant screams emanating from it.

Not caring about anything else, Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao rushed straight into the villa...

The first thing they saw was a middle-aged woman who looked like a maid kneeling on the ground and screaming incessantly.

Several bloody mutilated animal limbs were lying in front of her— what looked like white puppies. Their white fluffy fur was stained with blood, and it looked a million times more gruesome.

"Hehehehehe…" a soft laugh came from above.

When the two looked up, they saw a young boy sitting on the handrail of the gallery on the first floor. He looked no more than 13 or 14 years old, with short curly brown hair, a pale complexion and a white shirt with black trousers…

He was sitting on the black iron railing, swaying his legs leisurely, and it looked like he might fall off at any moment.

In his left hand, the teenager held a bloodied, sharp knife. His face and the front of his shirt was stained with blood. In his right hand, he was holding the head of a bloody puppy, laughing and looking down at Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao. He seemed to be humming a certain song ~~ his voice was intermittent and indescribably strange.

Zhan Zhao stared at him for a moment and slowly said, "OCD…"

Bai Yutang gazed at the teenager above him and froze when he heard Zhan Zhao's words, "OCD? Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder?!"

Zhan Zhao nodded, "He sat in the doorway of the fifth room, the fifth section of the railing, with only five buttons fastened. He changed his legs every five shakes and only hummed five words each time… and the animal corpse is divided into five sections…"

"Can you bring him down without hurting others or yourself?" Bai Yutang asked Zhan Zhao.

After thinking for a moment, Zhan Zhao smiled faintly, "No problem."

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Translated: February 24, 2022 by Turtle

Edited: March 21, 2022 by Angel