S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 3 Chapter 63

Ghost Murderer 30 - True Intentions

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Zhan Zhao and the others continued to analyse the case and were just about to move on to the second clue when Bao Zheng suddenly barged in and said, "Something big has happened, emergency dispatch."

The group was dumbfounded as they looked at Bao Zheng, it was really very sudden.

But Bao Zheng's expression did not look like he was joking. Everyone looked at Bai Yutang, who shrugged his shoulders – the boss had spoken, of course we have to go out.

Standing up and heading out, Zhan Zhao poked Bai Yutang with his elbow, "Ugh, it doesn't seem like a small thing. Which face looks better between the last time when Chen Mi was kidnapped and this time?”

"It seems to be the last time..." Bai Yutang frowned, puzzled, "Why pick this time to have an incident?"

"It's almost as if they are sincerely trying to stop us from analysing the case." Zhan Zhao followed behind with his arms crossed, feeling that Bao Zheng's aura was unusually striking.

They walked to the door and were given bulletproof vests.

Zhan Zhao raised his eyebrows to look at Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang shrugged his shoulders – it really seems to be more serious than the last one!

"Worse than blowing up a city block?" Zhan Zhao was a little puzzled, and then he saw Bao Zheng with a black face.

"Bao Sir," Bai Yutang finally asked the question that everyone wanted to ask, “what happened?"

Bao Zheng sighed softly and spoke with a grim look on his face, "Three people have hijacked a kindergarten school bus."

Everyone froze.

"No way, this kind of thing can still happen in this country?!" Zhao Hu's eyes widened, "It's not like we're in Hollywood!"

"Is there a lot of firepower?" Ma Han was also a bit puzzled, "The snipers couldn't handle it?"

"Right," Zhan Zhao also nodded, “is it a personal grudge or revenge on society?"

"What are you all arguing about, just hear me out, okay?!" Bao Zheng was powerless.

The group shrugged their shoulders and didn't say anything.

"It's a total of three people with guns, and they said they had bombs on them. They were dressed in black and masked, so I couldn't tell what their attributes were." Bao Zheng said, "So think it should be more transient, one glance at those amateurs and you can tell."

"Another bomb?" Qin Ou frowned, "The same group as the one that kidnapped Chen Mi last time?"

Bao Zheng interrupted everyone with a gentle wave of his hand and said, "Let me put it bluntly, they're not after money, they don't have a personal grudge, and they don't seem to want to hurt those children."

The group was silent for a long time.

The corner of Zhan Zhao's mouth twitched, "So they're cosplaying?"

……

Bao Zheng held his forehead, "They want one person."

"Oh!” Bai Yutang understood, "The underworld, to save their boss right? Who do they want?"

Bao Zheng shook his head and looked behind Bai Yutang, "They want Qin Ou."

……

After Bao Zheng finished his words, the group was silent, and after half a day of silence… they exploded.

Zhan Zhao's first reaction was to look at Qin Ou, "Wouldn't it be the peach blossoms that caused this again?"

"They love you enough to kidnap a school bus?!" The group was appalled.

Qin Ou was confused and waved his hands repeatedly, "Nothing like that… I haven't gotten into trouble for a long time."

"It shouldn't be an emotional matter." Gongsun did not have to go out on the mission, but he came to join in the fun, his hand still holding a sandwich that he had just taken out of the forensic room fridge, "Didn't you say there were three of them? What a strong taste, huh?"

Everyone huffed, and Qin Ou felt a little urge to bang his head against the wall.

"The kidnappers want a police officer… could it be that they have offended them before?" Bai Chi is a little worried.

"That would not wait until today. Qin Ou was not a police officer before, so they could have snuck up on him, and the cost would be much cheaper than this." Zhan Zhao pondered, "It's like there's another agenda."

Luo Tian shook his head, "Threatening the safety of children with weapons would definitely get you shot, it would be better to simply kidnap Qin Ou!”

"There is probably only one reason that would make sense." Zhan Zhao smiled, "They’re in a hurry..."

The group glanced at each other.

“Indeed." Bao Zheng nodded "He seemed to be in a hurry and said that he didn't want Qin Ou's life, but just wanted him to take a trip with them."

"I understand.” Qin Ou took a bulletproof vest and put it on, "I'll go and distract them on the school bus, then you guys can think of something to save me."

Bao Zheng nodded helplessly, "That's the idea."

All of them frowned; Qin Ou was inevitably in danger.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other, and Bai Yutang asked Bao Zheng, “Bao Sir, wouldn’t that be a bit risky?"

Bao Zheng nodded, "A risk is a risk, but… this operation might be a huge breakthrough, it's impossible to say!"

Zhan Zhao smiled faintly, "Well, Bao Sir, you want to follow the vine to find the melon, right?"

Bao Zheng nodded, "You guys don't understand the value of Xiao Qin, he's definitely one of the best bomb disposal experts you can find at the moment, and he's also the youngest."

"So, that gang wants to use Qin Ou to defuse bombs?" Zhao Zhen thought for a moment, "And time is running out so they must take him away immediately."

"This time might explain that inexplicable Chen Mi kidnapping case from before" Zhan Zhao said, "That bomb was probably planted on Chen Mi for Qin Ou to defuse, in order to test his strength."'

Bao Zheng lit a cigarette, "I think this operation will help us a lot, no matter what." Saying that, he gave a meaningful glance at Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang.

Both of them simultaneously felt a twitch in their hearts; Bao Zheng's words seemed to have an unspoken meaning.

Zhan Zhao had long suspected why Zhao Jue suddenly appeared at this time and had previously been obliged to protect Qin Ou's son... Could it be that this had something to do with Li Ying's capture, or with those in Zhao Jue's past?

As he spoke, Zhan Zhao looked at Bai Jintang, who was standing at the back, and saw him standing behind Gongsun with a cigarette in his mouth, looking at the situation, also in thought.

"I have made preparations." As Bao Zheng finished speaking, Jiang Ping hurriedly ran over, holding something in his hand – an eavesdropping device.

“Qin Ou, you're awesome, this is the latest line of my new research, absolutely cool! A miniature camera and a wiretap." Jiang Ping said and took out a metal box.

"What's this?" The group was curious.

"A camera and a bug… absolutely impossible for people to detect!" Jiang Ping was quite proud of himself.

"Where is it mounted?" Bai Yutang wondered.

Jiang Ping opened the box and gave the group a look… Surprisingly, it was a pair of contact lenses.

"This move… is too brilliant!" The group couldn't help but praise.

"Will it affect his vision?" Bao Zheng asked.

"Put them on and try." Jiang Ping asked Qin Ou to put them on.

"Well…” Qin Ou blinked as he put them on and shook his head “no effect, just like normal contact lenses."

"The quality is absolutely superb." Jiang Ping raised an eyebrow, "Jiang Ping's products are of superior quality!"

"You really can't tell at all!" Bai Yutang came closer to stare at Qin Ou's eyes for a long time and exclaimed.

"There's more." Jiang Ping took out a very inconspicuous sticker and put it on Qin Ou's pinky nail… it was similar to the small piece of half-moon-shaped flesh-coloured skin where the nail is close to the skin, and it couldn't be distinguished from the real skin.

"This is a positioning system." Jiang Ping said, "We can determine your location and search for it. It won't fall off after it's attached, to take it off, you will have to wait until the nail grows and cut it off."

Qin Ou nodded. At this time, a police officer brought a bomb disposal tool kit from the bomb disposal team.

Qin Ou opened it and checked it, all good!

"All ready to go?" Bao Zheng looked at his watch.

The group nodded, looking serious.

"Let's go!"

With that command, the group moved out.

......

The school bus was trapped in a box.

SCI's car stopped in front of the school bus, a hundred metres away as specified by the kidnappers.

The group got out and Ma Han looked around and whispered to Bai Yutang, "Captain, they're experts. There are dead ends all around and there are no possible sniping locations. There are no more than three locations like this in the whole of S City. These guys are pros."

Bai Yutang nodded and checked the terrain; it extended in all directions and the downtown area was just through a short alleyway, so it would be difficult to make an arrest. It really was the work of an expert.

At this time, the door of the school bus opened and someone waved for Qin Ou to walk over.

Bai Yutang patted Qin Ou's shoulder, "Be careful."

Qin Ou nodded, took his toolbox, and walked over.

Soon, Qin Ou got on the bus. The children were all safe and there were not many of them. A dozen little ones huddled together, huddled at the back, protected by a kindergarten teacher and the school bus driver.

Qin Ou looked at the three kidnappers in front of him, dressed in black, masked, armed, and had black suppressors, and thought to himself, ‘standard terrorist look.'

One of them took out a piece of information and seemed to be confirming Qin Ou's identity, comparing it with a nod, "That's him."

"Go!" Several of the kidnappers moved skillfully, one getting Qin Ou's hands behind him and handcuffing him.

Another took out a metal detector and scanned Qin Ou from top to bottom, removing both the weapons and the ordinary bug mounted on his shirt for show.

The group then got out of the bus on the other side and quickly got into a jeep parked a short distance away.

By the time Bai Yutang and others chased them over, the jeep had already crossed the alley and entered the rowdy streets… That kind of car that was all too common. That car didn't even have a licence plate. If it goes into the downtown area and gets a licence plate from a random place, then drives on the road… it'll be immediately indistinguishable!

Bao Zheng ordered the other police officers to rescue the kidnapped children, and he himself entered the car with Bai Yutang and the others… for the next step of the plan.

Qin Ou sat in the middle of the back seat of the jeep, and a man in black next to him took out a drawing and showed it to him, "Take a look."

Qin Ou looked down and frowned slightly… It was a scan of the internal structure of a bomb.

Zhan Zhao and the others were all watching the surveillance screen in the tracking car.

"This thing is too good!" Zhao Hu couldn't help but say, "Good view, we can see the same thing that Qin Ou can see!"

"That’s it" Jiang Ping said, "I'm working on the 3D version! When the time comes, it'll be immersive!"

The group gave him the thumbs up, want it want it!

"Where did you get the funds to research this?" Bai Yutang looked at Jiang Ping, who was operating the computer, with some confusion.

“Oh," Bao Zheng stroked his chin, "a friendly sponsorship from Jintang."

The group looked at the sky – indeed, it was a pity that Bai Jintang and Gongsun did not come, they had both been driven back home by Bao Zheng.

Zhan Zhao suddenly came over and whispered to Bai Yutang, "Alas, I now find that Brother is actually the most pitiful. So much money, but in the end, the elders bully him."

"Ahem." Bao Zheng gave Zhan Zhao a fierce look.

Zhan Zhao raised an eyebrow, thinking – I'm just saying this to you guys.

… "The second page."

At this time, Qin Ou's voice came out from the computer. He looked at the drawing for some time and seemed as if he wanted to read the second page.

The black-clothed and masked man on the side cooperated and turned to the second page for him.

And so it went on page by page.

Qin Ou frowned, and after finally reading it, he thought for a while before speaking, "This bomb is very old, not a modern technique, it should be a bomb made purely by hand in the late stage of World War II. This bomb is extremely accurate, it was definitely made by a master."

Several men in black looked at each other, there were flashes of delight in their eyes. Those looks, all of which were inadvertently seen by Qin Ou, were, of course, perfectly captured by the camera as well.

Zhan Zhao suddenly frowned, "Not good, not good."

The group's hearts were in their throats, and Bai Yutang asked, "What's wrong?"

Zhan Zhao took a deep breath, "Bao Sir, there is a mole in the police station this time."

Bao Zheng froze.

At this time, a man in black asked, "How long will it take to defuse this bomb?" 

Qin Ou shook his head, "I need to see the physical object before I can give you an answer."

"A rough estimate."

Qin Ou thought about it, "Maybe an hour if it's fast, if it's slow… maybe I can't disarm it."

"It shouldn't be impossible to disarm." At this time, a man in black suddenly laughed, "Is there a bomb that you, Captain Qin, can't disarm?"

Qin Ou froze and raised his eyes in surprise to look at the man in black. The man had just been speaking in a lowered voice, but now that he had removed his disguise, he could instantly hear that something was wrong.

"It sounds familiar!" Bai Yutang frowned.

"It's him…" Bao Zheng also found it unbelievable.

At the same time, they saw the man in black take off the black mask covering his face and showed it to Qin Ou.

Qin Ou looked at him for a long time and sighed, somewhat in disbelief – "Chen Mi…"

‿︵‿︵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: February 17, 2022