S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 1 Chapter 85

The Murderer Is Not Human 18 – Trick to Catch a Ghost

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Zhan Zhao and Shang Luo walked to the door together and stopped in their tracks as the cries, footsteps, and the sound of misaligned joints... all disappeared from outside the door in an instant.

The two men looked at each other with some confusion on their faces.

Shang Luo rushed out with a single bound and was stunned when he looked up.

Zhan Zhao, who walked out with him, was also frozen – he saw a mummified corpse standing in the hallway, its black eyes staring straight at the two of them, its skin already dried and shrunken, a pasty colour... She was leaning crookedly against the handrail. not moving a muscle.

Bai Chi, who was staring at the monitor in the car, saw the mummified female corpse and huffed in fright, his hands clutching his clothes in a death grip, "It's really.... really a mummy!"

Bai Yutang also looked at the monitor in disbelief and rubbed his chin, "When Cat went upstairs just now, he didn't see that thing ah... how did it suddenly appear."

At this point, he heard Shang Luo say warily, "Although I often hear loud noises, it's really the first time that it walked out like this."

Zhan Zhao wanted to walk over and check it out, but was stopped by Shang Luo: "Wait a minute, could it be dangerous?" Saying that, he took a step forward, "It's better for me to do it..."

Nodding, Zhan Zhao cooperated and took a few steps back, letting Shang Luo handle it.

Walking in front of the mummified corpse, Shang Luo first raised his hand and pushed it. The corpse lost its balance and slid down the handrail to the ground, showing no sign that it would move at all, still a mummified corpse.

"Phew~~" Letting out a long breath, Shang Luo hurriedly went back to the collection room to get some gloves and put them on, giving a pair to Zhan Zhao as well, "Dr. Zhan, do me a favour."

Zhan Zhao gladly put on the gloves, and together with Shang Luo, they carried the mummified corpse back to the collection room and put it into the coffin.

"This should be fine..." After closing the lid of the coffin, Shang Luo took off his gloves and said to Zhan Zhao somewhat apologetically, "It's really... surprising that this kind of thing could happen. "

Zhan Zhao nodded in agreement, "This is indeed unbelievable, such a coincidence that it happened when I was here, it seems that I am not in harmony with this mummified corpse."

"Hehe..." Shang Luo laughed dryly, rubbed his nose, and said, "Maybe it's been too long since a stranger has come in, and the sudden popularity has charged the corpse..."

Hearing Shang Luo's words, Bai Chi suddenly said to Bai Yutang, "Brother, didn't you say that corpses can't have black cats near them... otherwise they will flush the corpse's yin energy and cause a fraudulent corpse."

"That one hit the nail on the head!" Bai Yutang nodded seriously in agreement, "Shang Luo must not have known that he had invited a cat demon there tonight, or a black cat that didn’t even have a single a stray hair."

Hearing Bai Yutang speak in a serious manner, Bai Chi shivered unconsciously again.

"Situation lifted!" Bai Yutang picked up the walkie-talkie and said to Ma Han and Zhao Hu, "You two should go back and continue monitoring, don't alert the snake."

"Okay." Zhao Hu put away his gun and was just about to head back when he was pulled to the side by Ma Han.

"Chief, there's a situation!" Ma Han pulled Zhao Hu into concealment and reported to Bai Yutang in a low voice.

Bai Yutang listened to Ma Han's low and serious voice and knew that he might have found something unusual, so he picked up the infrared binoculars at his side, "What's the situation?"

While pointing in the direction of the courtyard wall and gesturing for Zhao Hu to look, Ma Han replied to Bai Yutang, saying, "There's someone on the wall."

Bai Yutang took his binoculars and looked, and saw a man crouching on the courtyard wall. He was wearing black clothes, so it was hard to discern him in the night, and only someone like Ma Han, who had been a sniper and was exceptionally sensitive to changes in the surroundings, would be able to spot him at first glance.

The man looked around as he crouched on the wall, and without much delay, leapt downwards and entered the courtyard.

"Chief, what should we do?" Zhao Hu asked, "It wouldn't just happen to be a thief..."

"Don't move yet, I'll come over." Saying that, Bai Yutang turned off the walkie-talkie and put on the headset, then said to Bai Chi, "You stay here alone while keeping watch, and keep me informed of Cat's situation promptly."

“En! Okay." Bai Chi nodded, taking the walkie-talkie and holding it in his hand, staring at the monitor.

Bai Yutang opened the car door, jumped down, and ran quickly to Ma Han and the others.

"Hu Zi, you come in with me." Bai Yutang patted Zhao Hu, then turned his face to Ma Han and said, "You keep watch here, if he runs out, catch him!"

"Yes." Ma Han nodded and continued to hide in the shadows.

Bai Yutang took Zhao Hu with him and the two of them quickly flashed to the outside of the courtyard wall.

After taking a few steps back and running forward, Bai Yutang leapt up the wall silently, climbed the wall, and peered into the courtyard.

They saw a dark figure crossing the courtyard and crouching at the corner of the villa, turning back alertly.

Bai Yutang quickly ducked his head and hung on to the wall with one hand, his body suspended in mid-air.

A moment later, he looked out again and saw that the dark figure had moved to a floor-to-ceiling window, and that the man had pulled out two iron blades that resembled lock openers and pried at it with a faint ‘click'.

Once again, Bai Yutang quickly ducked down.

At the same time, the man looked back one final time and glanced around.

He then quickly opened the floor-to-ceiling window, flashed in, and closed it gently with his backhand.

Bai Yutang listened quietly to the movement, and Zhao Hu under the wall and Ma Han not far away were holding their breath... At this moment, they saw Bai Yutang give a gentle wave to Zhao Hu, then leap and dart over the wall.

Zhao Hu also ran a few steps, climbed up the wall, and landed in the courtyard without a sound.

The courtyard was empty and once the two men landed, they did not rush into action, but hid behind a bush and watched the situation carefully.

Bai Yutang made a gesture to Zhao Hu, meaning – he would follow the man in from this side, Zhao Hu would enter from the other side, listen to the headphones, and act as instructed.

Zhao Hu understood and nodded, and also gestured for Bai Yutang to be careful. After exchanging a nod, the two ran out of the bushes at the same time and split up to encircle the villa.

Bai Yutang ran to the floor-to-ceiling window and saw that it was open, so it seemed that the man was planning to come out of here later. Before opening the door and entering, he noticed a few scratches on the window lock, which should have been caused by the lock pick just now... He then had an idea in his mind. Originally, he suspected that it was an unsuspecting thief who had come to commit a crime at this time... but now it seemed that it was not a thief, or else he would not have been so clumsy.

At this time, he heard Bai Chi's soft voice coming from the headset, "They are still in the collection room."

Bai Yutang secretly said that Bai Chi was smart, he was telling him the location of Zhan Zhao and Shang Luo so that he could easily avoid the two people's actions, and the timing was just right... This kid, maybe he was born to be a police officer!

Without rushing to open the window to go in, Bai Yutang passed through the gap in the open glass window, listening to the situation inside, and heard the subtle sound of the switch of the rooms, so he immediately pushed open the window and dashed in.

Once inside, he quickly ran to the hidden doorway of the room and listened to what was going on outside while looking around - the room he was now in was a small lounge-like room with no lights on and a faint light coming in from outside the doorway... It appeared that there was a light source!

Bai Yutang meditated and analysed ~~

Shang Luo and Zhan Zhao entered the villa and turned on a total of three lights. Bai Yutang recalled what he saw through the camera on Zhan Zhao's tie clip...

The first one Shang Luo turned on was the light in the living room... The white light was bright, it wasn't this kind of feeling.

The second was the light in the hallway and staircase, a spotlight, the light was yellow... the light coming through the cracks under the door was a faint warm light… which should be caused by this light.

The third light, on the other hand, was in the collection room, which was not considered because it was upstairs.

The light here is relatively dim... that is, it is far from the light source or is somewhat obscured. Judging from the interior structure of the room that he just saw, Bai Yutang was sure that behind this door was the other side of the stairs and hallway.

In that case, the ideal place where that person who went in could hide... would be the corner of the hallway and the staircase.

After considering the situation completely, Bai Yutang was ready to look at the situation outside. He did not choose the hidden doorway, as the angle to see the stairs and corridor was a dead end, and the door had to be opened wide to allow visibility, which would make it easy for the hidden person to be discovered by Shang Luo.

He chose the other side, where the door joined the wall – where there was an extremely thin gap... Through the gap, Bai Yutang could indeed see a person standing against the wall at the corner of the corridor and staircase.

Just seeing that person blocking himself with a large decorative vase, Bai Yutang frowned slightly as he noticed that the person was holding a brightly shining dagger in his hand.

What surprised him even more was that the man hiding in the shadows with a sharp blade in his hand... had a mask on his face – the Eagle King?!

Bai Yutang's heart moved, that Eagle King mask was made to look very much like the real thing. If you just look at the face, you would definitely think that what was standing there was a statue of the Eagle King.

Bai Yutang suddenly thought of the surveillance video he saw that day at Fu Yishan's house... especially the one at the end that pushed the mirror...

A name suddenly popped up in his head – could it be him?!

The purpose of choosing this time to commit the murder ...... should not be to kill Zhan Zhao, but to kill Shang Luo, so he will definitely be taken aback if he sees Zhan Zhao and Shang Luo together.

At this time, he heard Bai Chi whisper, "They're coming out of the collection room."

Bai Yutang heard the sound of talking coming from upstairs, and he clearly saw the man at the corner of the stairs move… He seemed a little panicked, he should not have expected another person to be present.

The two men could not be allowed to come down now! --The first thing that flashed through Bai Yutang's mind was the notion that the two men coming down now would ruin this plan of action but rather that Zhan Zhao might be implicated.

As long as the two of them didn't come down now, there was a good chance that the man would abandon the plan and return the way he came, in which case he could be caught red-handed!

But how to inform that cat...

On a whim, Bai Yutang took out his mobile phone and after pressing it a few times, he quickly sent a text message to Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao's phone vibrated as he and Shang Luo walked to the stairway and were just about to raise their feet to go downstairs.

When he took it out, he saw that it was a text message from Bai Yutang, with only two numbers – 96.

It took barely a second before Zhan Zhao suddenly let out an "ah" and turned around to run back.

"What's wrong?" Shang Luo watched in confusion as Zhan Zhao answered a text message and then hurriedly ran back towards the collection room, and he followed suspiciously.

The man who was hiding also seemed relieved, but Bai Yutang could see that he was a little hesitant... Zhan Zhao's actions and that text message had probably aroused his and Shang Luo's suspicions...

He was worried, but he heard Zhan Zhao say as he walked: "Dare to curse me for going back late and running into a ghost? I'll take a picture with the mummified corpse and send it over to scare him to death!!!"

"A thief cat~~" Bai Yutang secretly praised in his heart. "This cat is almost a genius."

With the sound of Shang Luo's relieved laughter coming from upstairs, the man in black was visibly relieved. Seeing him turn back, Bai Yutang hurriedly withdrew, closed the window and hid in the corner, picking up his headset and softly said, "Return the way you came!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, he heard a slight rattle from inside.

As soon as the floor-to-ceiling window opened, the man came out and dashed towards the courtyard wall, climbed it, and jumped down in one leap – followed by a muffled grunt from beyond the wall.

Knowing that Ma Han had got him, Bai Yutang also quickly rushed over, climbed over the wall, and came out, just to see that Ma Han had already pinned the man to the wall and handcuffed him. At that moment, Zhao Hu also climbed over.

Without making a sound, the three men quickly escorted the man back to the car parked by the flower bed.

Reaching out to remove the man's mask with one hand, Bai Yutang smiled faintly after taking a look, "I guessed it was you! Qiu Yu, Secretary Qiu!"

"Be honest!" Zhao Hu opened the car door and shoved a depressed-looking Qiu Yu inside. Ma Han got in as well, and the surveillance continued.

Bai Yutang trotted back to the car and sat down next to Bai Chi, when his phone vibrated.

It was a text from Zhan Zhao. When he opened it, Bai Yutang was delighted. He reached out and closed all the windows before patting Bai Chi next to him and said, "Let me show you something funny.” 

Bai Chi's eyes widened in curiosity and he went over to see a picture on the screen, with Zhan Zhao smiling smugly while standing next to... a mummified corpse with black eye sockets.

He saw Bai Chi freeze for a long time, and then screamed miserably, "Ah~~~"

Touching his ears which were almost deafened, Bai Yutang was thankful – fortunately he had closed the car windows.

After Bai Chi regained his composure, he suddenly asked Bai Yutang, "Brother? What does that 96 mean? I saw it on the screen just now."

Bai Yutang smiled faintly, "What is a 9 turned around?"

"Oh~~" Bai Chi suddenly realised, "9 turned around is 6, it means – turn around and go back."

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Translated: July 17, 2022 by Turtle

Edited: July 21, 2022 by Angel