S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 3 Chapter 68

Ghost Murderer 35 - As a Pervert

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That night, there was a seven-car pile-up in downtown S City.

The next morning, the headlines on the front pages of all major newspapers were – Famous magician Zhao Zhen involved in a major car accident and reduced to a vegetative state.

The media was in an uproar, and so was the magic community.

Zhao Zhen's agent, as well as Bai Jintang's entertainment company, were on the phone all day, but those in the know kept quiet.

The twins were working hard to create a sensation this time, and the entrance to the hospital was filled with fans, but unfortunately, the area around Zhao Zhen's ward was surrounded by heavy security personnel and was so airtight that not even a fly could get in, let alone a person.

At the same time, news of the homosexual couple's unfailing love for each other broke out, and Zhao Zhen dominated the front pages of all the major newspapers. Of course, the general public expressed their understanding and blessings.

Bai Chi, who accompanied Zhao Zhen every day to read the newspapers, felt some sense of deceiving the public; he is a very honest person by nature and always feels uncomfortable when he has done something wrong.

"Chi Chi," Of course Zhao Zhen could see if Bai Chi was happy, he reached over and took his hand, "we did fabricate the news, however, there's no telling how many people that group will harm. They can make bombs and hypnotise people, and one or two of them are delirious, it's bound to get worse over time."

"En," Bai Chi nodded, "I know."

Seeing how well behaved and obedient he was, Zhao Zhen reached out and pinched his cheeks.

……

On the other end, Ma Han and Zhao Hu were employing a construction team to cut into the walls in the basement of Zhao Zhen's old house.

"How's it going?" Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao also came.

"Boss, look at what was just dug out." Ma Han handed over a few bricks that he had pried off to show Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang took the bricks and knocked on them; the cement peeled off and the inside was yellow.

"Oh… casting the gold inside the cement and making it into a wall, it's really unnoticeable!" Zhan Zhao pointed to the brick and asked, "Then why is it in Zhao Jue's house?"

"I guess back then, it was talked about with Zhao Jue." Bai Yutang weighed the heavy gold brick, "Similar to some sort of deal, he helped Zhao Jue attach a bomb to the top of the box of materials, and Zhao Jue helped him hide the gold… and maybe take care of Chen Mi."

"Boss, we roughly calculated that this is all of the gold that was robbed from the bank back then." Ma Han and Zhao Hu piled all of the gold bricks in the middle of the basement and asked Bai Yutang, "Li Ying came that day probably wanting that box in addition to all this gold, so what do we do with it?"

"That fan of Zhao Zhen's, could the fact that there would be so many people helping out have something to do with this gold as well?" Zhan Zhao patted the dust on his hand, "Otherwise, one person obsessed with Zhao Zhen wouldn't be able to make that much of a stir!"

"Cat, do you mean that this gold is used as bait?"

Zhan Zhao nodded, "Someone should take the bait!"

"So let's start step two?" Bai Yutang put down the gold and rushed to the hospital with Zhan Zhao.

The entrance to the hospital was as busy as ever, and Zhan Zhao read the relevant news and smiled, "Lu Fang is doing a very thorough job."

"But we have the perimeter so tightly cordoned off, can that person get in?" Bai Yutang was a little troubled, "But if we let our guard down, it might arouse suspicion."

"It doesn't matter." Zhan Zhao smiled, "Don't forget, people can tolerate a lot, the key thing is that we have powerful technology!"

Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao smiled at him, "Wait for the rabbit, just release the news that Zhao Zhen's condition is unstable and he might die at any moment, that person will not be able to wait!"

Bai Yutang instructed the group, "Let's do it."

Sure enough, the news media soon started to make a big deal out of it and asked everyone to pray for Zhao Zhen.

Bai Chi was feeling conflicted every day. Bai Yutang shook his head, "Chi Chi is struggling quite a bit."

"Honest by nature." Zhan Zhao lamented, "The difference between people is here."

"How so?" Bai Yutang watched as Jiang Ping arranged the security cameras.

"There are many people in this world who claim to be honest." Zhan Zhao pondered, "Most people are reluctant to lie, but if they are told to lie for something righteous, then many will nod their heads in agreement and lie with a clear conscience. But even if the reason is righteous, lying is, and it's wrong. Those who are truly honest are those who are truly repentant and feel guilty and remorseful. Whether you lie for a good cause or for a bad cause, you are actually quite slippery and cannot call yourself an honest person."

Bai Yutang smiled, "But when it comes to making friends, it's this kind of honest person that's best, right?"

"That's for sure." Zhan Zhao smiled and nodded, asking Jiang Ping at the side, "Jiang Ping, why so many computers this time?"

"Oh, I made a few dummy lines to confuse the other side!" Jiang Ping explained to the group, "They, on the other hand, definitely know that we are monitoring… so they will definitely run computer interference. However, we designed a few extra lines to separate each of the main cameras and protect them individually. This means that it’s the same space, same camera, but we have multiple screens that can be monitored at the same time."

"Oh… this is indeed much safer!" Bai Yutang nodded, "And it's also the equivalent of an alarm, once different images appear in the same space, it means the action is on!"

"Exactly." Jiang Ping raised his eyebrows, "The best way to deal with anti-missile systems is to always have one more shell than they do."

The group all nodded, good point!

When everything was set up, Jiang Ping asked Zhan Zhao, "Dr. Zhan, are you that certain that the operation will be tonight?"

"Mhmm." Zhan Zhao nodded, "We've got the most crucial information and have captured Li Ying, it's obvious that their identities are likely to be exposed immediately. Guess what they will do?"

"Oh… Cat, so you told Bao Sir to bring elite troops to Zhao Zhen's old house to keep watch?!"

"En!" Zhan Zhao thought for a moment, "At this time, the conflict between the collective and the individual comes to the forefront. As a pervert…"

"Ahem." The group looked at him, unable to laugh or cry; this 'as a pervert' was too well said.

Zhan Zhao was a bit embarrassed, "That murderer, as a pervert, is like Liang Yan, nothing is more important than the person he is obsessed with, right?"

Everyone nodded.

"So he must be coming here to find Zhao Zhen without any hesitation." Zhan Zhao continued, "And as a group, their interests are of course bigger… They don't need Zhao Zhen, but rather two things, gold or information. The information is already out of the question, so they are likely to send most of their men to loot the gold. In addition, it does not rule out that there are smart people on the other side who guessed that I had a plan to lure them out and sent a scapegoat or two."

The group looked at each other, and they all felt that it was reasonable.

"We found the gold in Zhao Zhen's house with great fanfare, so to that organisation, Zhao Zhen is no longer useful, and the obsession becomes simply personal…" Bai Yutang frowned.

"Don't worry!" Zhan Zhao winked at him, "I'm all ready, it's foolproof!"

That night, the group began to stake out the room.

In the room, Bai Chi accompanied Zhao Zhen. The side door was open, and Zhan Zhao and the others were inside.

"Captain!"

At that moment, Jiang Ping could be heard suddenly calling out, "A virus has infiltrated and the screen is starting to be tampered with."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang moved over to look.

"It's a master, I prepared five lines and he hacked three of them, but he definitely didn't expect me to keep a backup!"

"Sure enough… the highest hand is still you!" Bai Yutang gave Jiang Ping a compliment, and Jiang Ping beautifully began to chase after the intruder, locking down his location.

"Someone's coming in!" Ma Han reached out and pointed to one of the screens, showing Bai Yutang and the others.

"Eh?" The group all moved over to look closely.

"That can't be! Isn't that Liang Yan?!" Bai Yutang frowned and told Zhan Zhao to take a closer look.

"It's true, Zhao Zhen, do you recognise him?" Bai Yutang called for Zhao Zhen to come and look.

Zhao Zhen walked over, looked down and frowned, "This… I haven't seen them before."

"He is not Liang Yan." Qin Ou said, "Liang Yan is dead, and although this person looks like him, his demeanour is not like him."

"It could be plastic surgery." Gongsun, who had also come along to join in the fun, said, "You can see that the crease in his cheek is not very natural and feels a little abrupt."

"The way he walks looks like him." Zhao Zhen muttered to himself, "No wonder I haven't seen him again!"

"Is that the crazy fan who followed you to every show and mysteriously disappeared later?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"Yeah."

"He probably has a bomb strapped to him." Qin Ou said, pointing to the way the figure was walking in the picture.

"Don't worry, I'm already prepared." Zhan Zhao smiled and rubbed his hands together, "I had already guessed that he would come up with this move.

"Captain, the location of the person who planted the virus has been located!" Jiang Ping said, "It's right at the entrance." With that, he pulled up the camera footage from the entrance and found a white RV parked on the side of the road.

"This is the one!"

"Let's go." Ma Han, Zhao Hu and Luo Tian went straight down from the elevator outside and gathered up the man in that car.

"He doesn't have any remote control device, does he?" Zhan Zhao asked Qin Ou.

"En, maybe it's remote controlled from someone outside, just to be on the safe side."

"Don't worry," Jiang Ping said, "according to Dr. Zhan's request, up and down the hospital, no signals can be received."

"Cat, the man is inside, how do you plan on catching him?" Bai Yutang asked.

"Oh," Zhan Zhao smiled, "using the most primitive method."

"The most primitive…" As soon as Bai Yutang finished asking, he saw the man walk to the middle of the hospital hallway and suddenly, a large iron cage dropped down and covered him.

"This…"

The group was speechless for a moment; a good primitive method indeed.

"I'm not going to give him the chance to see Zhao Zhen unless he takes the bomb off himself!"

The group all froze and looked at Zhan Zhao.

"That's right!" Bai Yutang instantly understood, "He's the type who would rather die with Zhao Zhen if he saw him, but he's definitely not the type to die without seeing him!"

"He can reduce the amount of bombs!" Qin Ou stared at the screen, "To blow open the door of the iron cage, he'll have to defuse the bomb on himself! This is indeed a brilliant move."

"You're so clever, Brother." Bai Chi looked at Zhan Zhao.

Sure enough, they saw that the man had really started to disarm the bomb on himself, unloading part of the gunpowder and putting it on the door, a process that probably took just under a minute.

"He's done a good job with the bomb!" Qin Ou shook his head, "That's really something! The fact that this bomb is detachable means that he still has gunpowder and can create another bomb by simply inserting a detonator."

"A good show is coming." Zhan Zhao smiled faintly.

After the screen shook slightly, the man blew open the cage as expected and walked out, still holding the rest of the explosives in his hand… two were sealed and one was already open… At the same time, the sprinkler on the hallway ceiling was seen to suddenly turn on. A large amount of water sprinkled from the overhead sprinkler, and that open explosive was thoroughly wet.

"The smoke from the bomb will definitely cause this result!" Bai Yutang nodded, "A good mechanism indeed!"

"Next to this place, there are several more iron doors." Zhan Zhao smiled, "If he doesn't use all of the bombs on him, he won't be able to get close."

"Brother," Bai Chi felt puzzled, "if he’s not a fool, he should have guessed that there was an ambush, so why is he still going on?"

Zhan Zhao shrugged, "I have already said it, as a pervert, he can't help himself! The greatest weakness of OCD is that once the first door is opened, the second one must be opened! The greatest weakness of extreme paranoia is that as long as he knows what he wants most, he will come no matter what."

"Brother…" Bai Chi frowned, "it feels like he's pretty miserable."

"This kind of person, because he was after something like love with a touch of fantasy, one would feel that he is miserable, but if instead he is pursuing fame and fortune or pursuing killing, then there is nothing to feel sympathy for."

Bai Yutang nodded, "It's like what you just said, lying is lying no matter how good or bad the reason for it is, and harming someone is harming them regardless of whether they are miserable or not."

"En, Captain Bai is quick to respond." Zhan Zhao smiled and praised.

Bai Yutang turned to look at him and smiled, "It is Dr. Zhan who has taught me well."

Sure enough, they saw that Liang Yan seemed to be like a child who was addicted to playing games; coming through level after level, using bombs to blow up doors, and finally even taking out his gun and dagger to use them, simply having fun and being so neurotic.

"Hiss…"

As the group was watching, Zhao Zhen suddenly frowned, "I… think I've seen him before!"

"Didn't you say that this person was that fan of yours who had plastic surgery?" Bai Chi asked.

"That's right… I mean, I remembered that I met him once before!"

"Sure enough." Zhan Zhao nodded aside.

"Cat?" Bai Yutang was a little confused.

"This is the most primitive trigger!" Zhan Zhao explained to the group, "The reason why Liang Yan was obsessed with Qin Ou back then was because Qin Ou did something special that caused him to have a misunderstanding, he felt that he was destined to be with him and that he was also interested in him! There is a reason for paranoia… there must be a special encounter!"

"Zhen, where have you seen him before?" Bai Chi asked.

"I'm not sure, I was on a plane once and there was a kid and a young college student sitting in a seats next to me. The kid was playing a video game and couldn't seem to get past the level no matter how hard he tried. The college student next to him taught him how to play, and at first it was fine, but once the college student picked up the console, it looked…" Zhao Zhen said, pointing to the fake Liang Yan on the screen, "very similar to his current expression, sweating profusely and eyes glazed over, as if he had to finish the last level before it was over. He made the child cry and the child's parents blamed the student. That student looked a little helpless when he saw the little child crying." Zhao Zhen said, frowning, "Then… you all know that I love to coax children."

"Oh, you turned into a toy for a kid again?" Bai Chi asked.

Zhao Zhen liked to coax children like that, everyone knew this.

"The college student saw the child crying and fleeing to her parents, so he took out a rag doll to coax him. The child did stop crying after holding it, but didn't want to return it." Zhao Zhen shrugged, "But that college student followed behind and the doll seemed important to him, so I went over and meddled a bit. I said that the little pig in that child's hand was so old that I could turn it into a new one for him, and I replaced it with a little pig for him, returning the original cloth piglet to that college student."

"What did the student say to you afterwards?" Bai Chi asked.

"Oh, he just said thank you." Zhao Zhen tilted his head in thought, "But… he indeed looked nervous!"

"Tsk… that's what stimulated him!" Zhan Zhao nodded his head.

"A pig made from cloth?" Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao, who was stunned, and took out the little stuffed pig with the odd coin hidden in it that Xiao Yi had given them from Bai Yutang's trench coat pocket to show Zhao Zhen, "Is it this one?"

Zhao Zhen took one look at it and nodded, "Yes! This is it!"

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

This is the halfway point of volume 3!

"A good show is coming." – Zhan Zhao really is turning into Zhao Jue 😂

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

Translated: March 1, 2022 by Angel