S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 3 Chapter 83

Lucky Murderer 13 – Extra Bullets

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When Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang entered the ward to see Lian Qianyi, the one giving him first aid happened to be – Yang Fan.

"Yo." Yang Fan took off his stethoscope and came out.

"How is he?" Bai Yutang asked. 

"Generally speaking, he's fine, just a slight concussion and a bruised rib, luckily he didn't hurt his internal organs. There are some bone fractures on the left small arm, as well as some bruises." Yang Fan closed the file and smiled, "He's quite healthy, he should recover soon."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both nodded and asked if they could go in for questioning, only to hear Yang Fan say "Ahhh~" twice and hold out one finger and wiggle it gently.

"Didn't you say the injuries are not serious?" Bai Yutang was puzzled, "Can't we ask questions?"

"He hasn't woken up from the anaesthesia yet." Yang Fan replied casually.

"... Such a small injury needs anaesthesia ah." Bai Yutang was a little surprised, thinking that a cast or a splint would be enough for a broken bone.

Yang Fan froze, staring at Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, then reached out from his pocket to pull out a bag, which held a very small bullet, "That means he was not shot by you?"

This time it was Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang's turn to freeze.

Bai Yutang took the bag, "Where was the bullet?"

"The rib injury I just mentioned was caused by this bullet, it's very dangerous." Yang Fan shrugged, “I removed the bullet so he was given an anaesthetic."

"You just fired a shot at his tire, didn't you?" Zhan Zhao asked Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang nodded.

“Overall, he got lucky." Yang Fan took out another evidence bag from his pocket and handed it to Zhan Zhao, "He was wearing this pendant around his neck, the bullet was deflected by it and got stuck directly in his ribs."

Zhan Zhao looked at the pendant and saw that it was a chain with an antique coin hanging from it. The writing on it was a bit worn, so he couldn't tell what it was, and there was an empty space caused by the bullet.

"When will he wake up?" Bai Yutang asked.

"Tomorrow." Yang Fan said, and left.

Lian Qianyi was rolled out and sent to the ward, and Bai Yutang called for police protection. This time the case had escalated... someone was trying to kill Lian Qianyi! It was he who walked away and escaped – but the question is when did he get shot?

Bai Yutang thought for a moment and turned to walk out.

“Hey, Xiao Bai." Zhan Zhao hurriedly chased after him. Bai Yutang drove to the basement where the car was stored in the police station… After walking over, he leaned over the car window to take a closer look.

Bai Yutang frowned, "Cat!"

"Hmm?” Zhan Zhao also went over to look.

"Look here." Bai Yutang reached out and pointed to the starting point of the broken glass on the car window, "This could be a bullet hole, he may have been shot in the car!" With that, he called Ma Han.

A short while later, Ma Han and Zhao Hu came running down. 

"Head." 

Bai Yutang hooked his fingers at them both and pointed to the starting point of the broken glass on the car window, “Is this a bullet hole?” After asking that he took out the bullet that was in Lian Qianyi and gave it to them.

"One hundred percent." Ma Han stared at the ragged hole and looked at the bullet again, "The firing point is far away."

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao both frowned.

"But there might have been an accident when the shot was fired!" Ma Han said, pointing at the glass, "Logically, if the bullet entered head-on, the other party should have aimed at the driver's head, but the car seemed to veer at that moment, so the bullet went diagonally into the glass and the hole was not a full round hole, but a shattered fan like this."

"We didn't hear the gunshots nor did we notice anything wrong at that time.” Zhan Zhao analysed, "Could it be that the sniper happened to shoot at the same time you hit the tire, so the car veered."

"Head, did you shoot his tire when his car was turning?" Ma Han asked.

Bai Yutang nodded.

"That kid is definitely an old hand." Ma Han smiled, "Usually snipers wait until the other party is turning to shoot with the sole purpose of not leaving a bullet behind!"

"Is there such a possibility?"

“There is.” Ma Han pointed to the car and said, "The car was shot in the front while turning, through a layer of glass, then the opponent's head, then through the back of the head, which would match the angle of the car's turn and fly out of the front window of the car. The premise is that this window should be open and the bullet will fly out and fall to the ground without being noticed, and he will just have to recover the bullet at that time.”

"That's really a coincidence!" Zhan Zhao laughed and patted Bai Yutang, "That shot of yours saved him."

Bai Yutang laughed bitterly and shook his head, "... Luckily he wasn't aiming at either of us at the time."

Zhan Zhao thought about it and was a bit scared. The two of them were standing in the middle of the road, so if they were targeted, they would have been walking targets, but Bai Yutang was there, so he would have been able to turn the situation into a safe one. This time it was a coincidence that the shots were fired together and that the sniper bullets were not aimed at them, so Bai Yutang didn't notice. It's not like this kind of thing has never happened before. Bai Yutang''s sixth sense is more sensitive than a police dog, so he will be able to discover it in time! After thinking about it, he gave Bai Yutang two more pats on the shoulder and smiled at him.

Bai Yutang saw Zhan Zhao smiling with confidence, and nodded his head – Indeed, he was not afraid of snipers.

Ma Han stared at the bullet, "Well, this looks like the kind of bullets used in military pentathlon competitions!" 

Bai Yutang asked, "Bullets for training guns? Are they rented by the club?"

“En, the kind of bullets that clubs rent or use to assemble guns." Ma Han took out the bullets and looked at them, "Guns from gun clubs are strictly controlled, it's not easy to take them out, but..."

"But what?" Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both asked.

"Many places sell parts nowadays, not to mention guns, even tanks can made." Ma Han was familiar with the gun clubs in S City, "I might know a few places that can come up with training guns."

With that, he pulled Zhao Hu, who was still studying the fan-shaped cracks on the glass, and went to check where the gun came from.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang went upstairs and back to the SCI office.

"Why did they want to kill Lian Qianyi? Does he know something important?" Zhan Zhao muttered to himself.

“Hmm..." Bai Yutang replied distractedly.

"Hey." Zhan Zhao poked him, "What's wrong with you? You were fine just now, did Ma Han piss you off somehow?"

"No!" Bai Yutang hurriedly shook his head, "I ran into Old Wang from the sniper team a few days ago, he said he was retiring and couldn't find an instructor who could lead the newcomers."

Zhan Zhao froze, "What does that mean?"

"The special forces may be interested in transferring Ma Han to lead the newcomers over there..."

"How can that be!" Zhan Zhao immediately disagreed, "Ma Han is so capable, what a loss for SCI if he is transferred away!"

"So when Bao Sir hinted at it that day, I had already made it very clear that I didn't want this." Bai Yutang scratched his head, "But as you know, the sniper team is tied to the special forces, Bao Sir alone can't make the decision, the person responsible for the transfer between these areas is Qian Jiarang."

"Just that narrow-minded Qian Jiarang?!" Zhan Zhao frowned, "Doesn't he have a problem with us? He must be determined to get rid of Ma Han this time so as to embarrass you."

"You think so too?" Bai Yutang asked, "Then do you have any good suggestions?"

"What do I suggest?" Zhan Zhao's eyes narrowed slightly, "Split him up!"

Bai Yutang didn’t know whether to laugh or cry and reached out to put his arm around his shoulders, "When there's really no other way, then we should really split him up."

"Who is his superior?" Zhan Zhao asked, "You have to start with the big fish for this kind of thing."

"I think the surname is Wei, called something like Qiang."

“It’s hopeless!” Zhan Zhao looked at the sky, "Bao Sir has already offended him. I can't say anything, and you know that those in charge of personnel transfers are generally not very likeable."

Bai Yutang shrugged his shoulders.

"Oh... no wonder you're listless." Zhan Zhao rolled his eyes and smiled faintly, "... We have to think of a way to avoid it, we can't be poached, can we? By the way, does Ma Han know?"

"Not yet." Bai Yutang shook his head, "He had a hard time getting out of the sniper team, so he definitely wouldn't be willing to go back even if he was given the job of commander."

"Why? This is also considered a promotion!"

Bai Yutang smiled, "SCI is saving people while the sniper team is killing people. Although they are also saving people, it definitely feels different.”

"That's true."

The two of them exited the elevator and returned to the SCI office, and they saw that everyone was there.

"Captain." As the crowd asked for clues, Bai Yutang rushed in and told them about the case, preparing to re-interrogate these three tigers of the Xu family.

Zhan Zhao thought about it at the door before finding a moment to slip out, then went to a corner and pulled out his phone, dialling a number.

"Hello?" When the caller picked up, Zhan Zhao asked, "Hu Zi, is Ma Han with you?"

Zhao Hu answered the phone and didn't quite understand what was going on, "No, we were at the entrance of the gun club, he went in to find the manager, I was looking around."

"Let me tell you something, don't get excited."

“Okay." Zhao Hu smiled, "I don't get excited that easily."

......

He waited for Zhan Zhao to finish talking about the personnel transfer.

"Holy shit!" Zhao Hu got really excited, "Which son of a bitch gave the transfer order!"

"Do you want to keep your partner or not?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"Naturally!" Zhao Hu was unhappy, "I'm still planning to have a wedding with Xiao Ma, what's so great about being an instructor dragged off to the deep woods over a personal vendetta! If the sniper training management are looking for the older guys to retire, why should Xiao Ma Ge go?!"

"Then go and think of something." Zhan Zhao prompted, “The snake has a snake way, you have a lot of ways."

Zhao Hu froze, "Oh... I get it!" After saying that, he hung up the phone.

Zhan Zhao put away the phone and looked back, only to see a white shadow behind him.

"Ah..." Zhan Zhao was startled and looked fixedly, only to see Ma Xin standing behind him nibbling on a piece of black rice cake and smiling at him.

"Xin Xin, what are you doing..." Zhan Zhao wiped off his sweat. How come all the people coming out of the forensic room float the same way, walking without sound.

“Hey," Ma Xin shook her head and pointed to the forensic room, "I have made a major discovery!"

Zhan Zhao was taken aback and hurriedly followed her into the forensic room, "What major discovery?"

"I did a little body cleaning for the victims." Ma Xin said, holding a black rice cake in her mouth and reaching out and uncovering the white cloth covering the three corpses with one hand. Zhan Zhao frowned, and saw three men's bodies in white, like bare pigs.

"Xin Xin," Zhan Zhao couldn't help but ask, “you've seen so many of these, do you still have feelings when you look at Luo Tian?"

Ma Xin took off her gloves and held the black rice, and continued to laugh, "Mmm~ Luo Tian's has a lot more feeling to it.” 

When Zhan Zhao saw that girl with a bad smile on her face, he knew that she and Luo Tian were probably having a show, and he really did let her win.

"Look here." Ma Xin reached out and pointed at the dead body's chest and ribs.

When Zhan Zhao looked down, he saw that all three corpses had an indentation which was circular and not quite complete, but he could see the general condition.

"I didn't notice it originally, as they had many more injuries, but then I realised that they also had some abrasions on their necks. It seemed that they were wearing chains before they died, but there were no chains on the bodies!" Ma Xin said, walking over to the computer, "So I guessed, could it be that before they died, all the pendants they were carrying were taken away from them? Between the pendants being gone and the bodies having pretty much the same indentations, so..."

"They're probably wearing the same pendant!” Zhan Zhao also walked over

Ma Xin pointed out a picture, "I did a high magnification scan of the three indentations, then overlapped them and simulated them to resemble a copper coin shape, and asked Jiang Ping to help me with 3D imaging, and it really is a copper coin!"

Zhan Zhao stared at the copper coin for a long time, then reached out and took out the evidence bag that Yang Fan had given them from his pocket. The copper coin had been pierced by a bullet... but... it was the exact same copper coin as the one shown on the display!

"Lian Qianyi also has a history of confused thoughts and carries the same pendant as Ah Mao and the others, they are related." Zhan Zhao walked out quickly and saw that Bai Yutang was walking quickly while on the phone, "Cat, Ma Han has found a clue about the gun, guess who it belongs to?"

Zhan Zhao shook his head, "Who?"

"A senior member of the gun club, Lian Qianzhong. This kid was a two-time sniper rifle shooting champion!" Bai Yutang hung up his cell phone, "Motive or not, we can invite him back for a private chat."

Zhan Zhao nodded and held out the copper pendant for Bai Yutang to see, "There's common ground over here too!"

‿︵‿︵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: May 13, 2022 by Angel