S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 3 Chapter 98

Lucky Murderer 26 – Smarter Than

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The sudden appearance of Luo Tian and Qin Ou, and their ‘positioning', made Wei Ziqiang quickly notice and frown.

He had to inform those who were on the move and warn them that the SCI men were back and that they had to be careful, but he could not look back for fear that he might be caught on camera and leave evidence. Wei Ziqiang hesitated slightly for a moment, then coughed softly and said, "The wind has picked up, ah, it's still a west wind."

Qian Jiarang seemed to freeze and glanced back at him, then turned back to the keyboard.

"Doctor, he's moving the camera angle!" Jiang Ping saw the change on Qian Jiarang's computer, "He's checking the surveillance at the western entrance."

Zhan Zhao raised an eyebrow slightly, "Smart enough."

Bai Yutang smiled, "Still no leverage, Cat, dogs don't jump over walls in a hurry."

Zhan Zhao nodded in recognition, and picked up the intercom to say to Luo Tian and Qin Ou, "You two pretend to be in a hurry and run back while looking at your watches."

Luo Tian and Qin Ou were two very stable people who had been through different experiences, but both had been through trials and tribulations and were patient, and extremely clever and cautious. They both quickened their pace, and as Qian Jiarang switched the footage to the basement, they could only see the two men hurrying to the elevator door and entering...

The footage then switched back to the elevator, and the two men were seen in the elevator anxiously looking at their watches and talking about something.

Qian Jiarang glanced at it, smiled slightly, and whispered, "The wind is probably blowing casually, it will stop in a while, don't worry."

Wei Ziqiang lowered his head and said nothing. He couldn't look at the screen, so he couldn't tell the situation of the two men, he could only rely on Qian Jiarang to judge from the behaviour of the two men. It wasn't a careful preparation, but some sudden circumstances before they came back, they should be fine.

At this point, Qian Jiarang switched the footage to the forensic room, and saw that those staff members had already started to remove and replace the glass, and that someone else had opened the drawer of the freezer, so he gently pulled out his mobile phone and made a call.

Those staff members immediately closed the drawer and pretended to clean, and continued to clean.

At this time... the elevator doors opened, and they saw Qin Ou and Luo Tian hurriedly enter the SCI office looking for information, and at the same time... the two noticed the lights and opened door of the forensic room.

Luo Tian went over to take a look and asked, "Changing the glass?"

"Yes." The staff member in charge of leading the team came over.

Qin Ou also came to observe the men and asked, "Do you have the documents?"

"Yes." The staff member hurriedly pulled out his documents and showed them to Qin Ou.

Luo Tian took out his phone and called Bai Yutang, Zhan Zhao looked at the screen and smiled, "Smart."

Not long after, Bai Yutang's phone rang

"Hello?"

“Captain," Luo Tian pretended to be normal and told him, "is someone coming to change the glass tonight?"

Bai Yutang thought for a moment and replied, "Oh, Lu Fang mentioned it, the person is already there?"

"Yes." Luo Tian nodded as Qin Ou took stock of the crowd very carefully.

"You two keep an eye on them until they've finished changing it and then leave together." Bai Yutang instructed.

"So the information won't be taken yet?" Luo Tian cleverly asked, rounding out what Zhan Zhao had just instructed.

Zhan Zhao nodded secretly, and Bai Yutang smiled, "There's no rush."

......

Qian Jiarang looked at his watch and said with some impatience, "Tch… the wind is really annoying."

Wei Ziqiang looked out the window at the night scene and smiled instead, "It's normal to have wind, if the wind doesn't pester people, it wouldn't be called wind."

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao looked at each other. When dealing with a smart person, sometimes it was easy for that person to fall for a dumb solution because he always thought of others as smart as well.

Qin Ou and Luo Tian's suspicious and careful approach had strengthened Wei Ziqiang and Qian Jiarang's confidence.

Bai Chi asked Zhan Zhao curiously, "Brother, is this a kind of deception, or psychological warfare?"

Zhan Zhao thought about it and said, "Psychological warfare."

"But..." Bai Chi couldn't figure it out, "You don't know Wei Ziqiang and Qian Jiarang, these two people's personalities are very different, so how can you guess their mindset so well?"

“This is inferring mindset through behaviour." Zhan Zhao took out his phone and explained to Bai Chi as he sent a text message.

"Actually, smart people and dumb people are only relative, the most important thing is to figure out the other person's character. Every single action of a person will reveal at least one piece of information. Find the most significant and correct bit of this and start laying a trap, and they will easily take the bait."

"Oh..." Bai Chi saw Zhan Zhao tapping away a text message, and then looked at Bai Yutang, who was standing next to Jiang Ping, watching him intently as he set traps and recording all of Qian Jiarian's violations… with some envy. These two, it was as if they could both understand each other's thoughts without words, what kind of experience had honed this tacit understanding?

“Brother," Bai Chi saw that Zhan Zhao had sent a text message and asked again, “can you give more details?"

Zhan Zhao thought about it and nodded, "Well, what I know about Qian Jiarang is through the contrasts in his behaviour and personality."

Bai Chi tilted his head.

"In terms of his position and status, he should be a person who can give orders, but he usually speaks to people in a manner that is more eye-catching. Therefore, there is an important point in his character that he is exquisite in all aspects, and he is very good at being an official. This is also the reason why he has no outstanding talent but will climb so high. Such a person, why do you think he would come forward to discuss the matter of Ma Han, knowing that he would offend Yutang and I?" Zhan Zhao asked Bai Chi, "Do you feel that the behaviour and character do not match?”

Bai Chi thought about it and nodded, “Oh, indeed. "

"Because he probably knows that this job is not going to work out for him, as opposed to managing the relationships of his colleagues in the police department, he had another more important relationship to manage. And this relationship is his relationship with Wei Ziqiang, to the point where he can willingly work against his character for that benefit." Zhan Zhao said, gesturing to Wei Ziqiang in the video, "You have to understand that any true mastermind behind the scenes could have the ability to do things against his will, but not against his character. A short term, sudden breach of character is when he has an agenda. A long term, habitual one would mean he is just a pawn, driven by someone."

Bai Chi nodded.

"The so-called chess piece, black or white, is for use; he can use his black piece to eat your white piece, and you can in turn use his black piece to impede the direction of the black piece itself." When Zhan Zhao said this, he heard Bai Yutang cough softly, knowing that he was getting more and more abstract. He looked at Bai Chi, who had really understood just now, but was now a bit confused again.

When Zhan Zhao scratched his head, not knowing how he was going to continue, Bai Yutang translated for him, "The greatest use of the act of a chess piece is to find and understand the person playing it."

"Oh!" Bai Chi clapped his hands together, "Yes!"

Zhan Zhao glanced at Bai Yutang with some dissatisfaction, and Bai Yutang smiled, just to see Luo Tian and Qin Ou already waiting at the entrance of the forensic room, watching the group fix the glass and clean up. What was even more interesting was that the two were chatting nonchalantly about parenting at the door.

Luo Tian said that Luo Yang had been having some trouble lately with his English pronunciation not being quite accurate, and Qin Ou said he could get Xiao Yi to help him correct it, plus he wanted Luo Yang to teach Xiao Yi judo.

Qian Jiarang's frown looked impatient, after all... if they delayed too long, Wei Ziqiang would not look at the computer screen, just at the scenery, and there would be nothing to say!

"This wind is really annoying ah!" Qian Jiarang couldn't help but nag.

Wei Ziqiang laughed, "If it's windy, close the window to block it, it's easy to catch a cold when it keeps blowing, and it's annoying when you catch a cold."

Qian Jiarang understood and called the staff member in charge, "Hurry up."

While the other party was on the phone, Luo Tian glanced inside attentively, seemingly puzzled - it was late and he was still calling.

The staff member seemed to be more old-fashioned and yelled in reply, "Got it, I'll come to your place as soon as it's fixed over here!" Having said that, he hung up the phone.

Luo Tian and Qin Ou continued to talk, and eventually talked about Luo Yang and Xiao Yi's growing height. Qin Ou asked what Luo Yang liked to eat on a regular basis, and said that Xiao Yi was so picky about his food that he was too skinny.

At this time, a staff member came over and offered the two of them cigarettes.

Qin Ou and Luo Tian waved their hands gently, saying they didn't smoke - joking aside, both were super dads, how could they smoke, they were the type who wanted to hit someone the moment they saw them smoking near their son.

"You two officers, you're going to stay up late on duty, huh?" The staff member asked with a smile.

Qin Ou, who looked more amiable than Luo Tian and had a smiley baby face, nodded, "Yeah, but it's just one day a week on duty, what about you guys? Working so hard every night, huh?"

"That’s right!" The man sighed, "White collar workers are all precious these days, it's not easy to disturb them at work during the day, and the glass in office buildings is easily broken, so we have to change it at night."

A staff member who was cleaning raised his head, "But it's the first time we've cleaned a forensic room!"

Qin Ou smiled and nodded.

At this time, Zhan Zhao said into the intercom, "Luo Tian, go to the washroom."

Luo Tian tapped Qin Ou, "I'm going to go to the washroom."

"Hmm.” Qin Ou nodded, and when he saw Luo Tian leave, he went to the side and leaned against the wall to look at his phone screen.

A few staff members looked at each other. Qin Ou was standing behind the wall, once he looked up, he might see them, so it was a bit too risky to make a move now. But Luo Tuan had finally left... watching the time grow longer and longer, the two SCI members seemed to have received instructions from Bai Yutang to leave with them.

At this time, a staff member went to the door and used a hoover to loudly vacuum the floor, while trying to close the door and vacuum behind the door.

Seeing that it might raise more dust, Qin Ou stepped aside, he was not walking fast and had just turned around when he heard Zhan Zhao say, "Walk to where they can't see you and talk on the phone."

Qin Ou obediently walked to the end of the hallway. It just so happened that Yang Fan was on duty tonight, so he called and asked, "Still on duty? Are you hungry, do you want a snack?" and other such loverly ramblings.

......

At this point, a couple of staff members saw their chance. One blocked the door and vacuumed the floor, one scrubbed the door and stood guard, while the three inside the room began to work.

These people were extremely quick, and were familiar with the way to find the hidden, tightly wrapped broken fake bodies, which were all hidden in the large vacuum.

Soon the door opened and the staff continued to clean... Luo Tian returned from the washroom, and saw Qin Ou on the phone, so did not disturb him, but went to the main entrance to continue watching.

The expression on the faces of those staff members were obviously much more relaxed. Qian Jiarang also relaxed a lot and felt that the few people could call it a day, he was so nervous that he had some stomach ache.

Zhan Zhao looked at his watch and smiled, "It's almost time to come out."

Sure enough, they saw that the few staff members had packed up their things and that the glass had been changed.

After Luo Tian and Qin Ou had checked, they closed the door and went downstairs with the group. On the way out, they also loosely checked the group's cars and looked at the big vacuums, seemingly a little doubtful.

Qian Jiarang frowned, "It's really hard to deal with."

Just as he finished his sentence, he heard Wei Ziqiang cough, and Qian Jiarang was shocked, almost saying something that could not be revealed, but he also complained in his heart - Wei Ziqiang was too careful.

Bai Chi suddenly asked Zhan Zhao, "Brother, from Qian Jiarang's behaviour, did you see that Wei Ziqiang is being super careful?"

Zhan Zhao nodded.

When Bai Yutang saw that the staff were ready to leave, he turned back to Zhan Zhao and said, "It's almost time, where are the actors? Have they arrived yet?"

Zhan Zhao smiled faintly, "They should..."

At that moment, they heard Bai Chi exclaim "ya", only to see a jeep stop at the front entrance of the police station.

And at the same time, Luo Tian and Qin Ou had already entered the elevator with those staff members, ready to go downstairs.

The reason why Bai Chi called out was that the jeep belonged to Zhao Zhen. He was shocked, ah, didn't he tell Zhao Zhen that he had an important mission tonight, why is he here at this time?!

He then wanted to call Zhao Zhen to inform him, but Zhan Zhao gently pressed his hand, "Alas, the two actors were hired by me."

Bai Chi froze, "Two?" Only then did he realise that Zhan Zhao might have just been sending a text message to Zhao Zhen, but two...

At that moment, he saw Zhao Zhen open the car door, get out himself, and open the back door - and Lisbon jumped out.

Bai Chi opened his mouth, suddenly understanding what Zhan Zhao had in mind, "Brother, are you trying to force Qian Jiarang to let them out?"

Zhan Zhao sneered, “En, let's not fight with him using martial arts, let's play mind games with him!"

After saying that, he told Luo Tian and Qin Ou, who were preparing to leave the elevator, "Remember to say hello when you meet someone you know later."

The two were wondering who their acquaintance was when they looked up and saw Zhao Zhen walking over with his hands in his pockets, as slow and deliberate as ever, followed by a majestic male white lion.

Almost everyone at the police station knew Lisbon, and the police officer on duty even patted him on the head, and Lisbon flicked his arm with his tail as a greeting.

Following Luo Tian and Qin Ou out were the staff members, but they were stunned... somewhat unable to believe their eyes, they froze in place.

"It's okay," Qin Ou turned around and saw that the group was nervous, so he waved his hand at them, “this lion doesn't hurt anyone."

As he spoke, Lisbon had already seen Luo Tian and Qin Ou. He had long been acquainted with the SCI crowd, of which Zhan Zhao and the others were seen every day, and Qin Ou and Luo Tian were considered a relatively rare sight, so he was extra affectionate, roaring low and running over excitedly.

Although it was a low roar, it was still a lion's roar, and several staff members nearly fell on their asses, all frozen in place and not daring to move.

Qian Jiarang also let out a "tsk", he didn't know how to describe the sudden situation, and Wei Ziqiang couldn't look back, so he could only wait anxiously.

Lisbon went to Luo Tian and the others' side and rubbed his big head against the two of them affectionately.

Qin Ou patted its head and asked Zhao Zhen, "What brings you here?"

Zhao Zhen looked at his watch and said, "Chi Chi said they'd finished their business and asked me to come and pick him up for a late dinner."

A few of the staff huddled against the wall, looking nervously at Lisbon. Lisbon gave the crowd a sidelong glance, thinking - what are these people doing being sneaky?

Qin Ou laughed, "They haven't come back yet, it's too early, SCI is empty right now."

Zhao Zhen seemed a little helpless and shrugged his shoulders, and the three of them chatted in the corridor for a few moments.

Qin Ou saw that the staff were still frozen in place and smiled, "Go on, I've told you he doesn't bite."

"Uh..." A few people nodded and were just about to push the cart away when they heard Lisbon suddenly roar.

Jiang Ping tugged at his ears, "Ha, Lisbon has a lot of energy."

The corners of Zhan Zhao's mouth picked up to the sides, "Good boy!"

Why did Lisbon roar? Because he smelled something strange!

Zhao Zhen, Qin Ou, and Luo Tian both looked at Lisbon in confusion, and saw him sniffing the large body of the vacuum with his mouth constantly making gurgling noises, as if he was pondering something.

Zhao Zhen looked up, "Lisbon, what's wrong?"

"Hoo..." Lisbon lifted up the large white pad of flesh and slapped it on a vacuum containing a fake corpse. The plastic part of the top of the vacuum was immediately slapped to pieces, and at the same time... Lisbon's long, pointy claws burst out of the pads, making the staff members' faces white and their legs weak. Originally, being stared at by a large dog made people stressed, not to mention the king of all animals.

Zhao Zhen looked at the vacuum.

And at this moment, Qian Jiarang could no longer hold back and scolded, "Be smart! What are you afraid of?!"

Wei Ziqiang, on the other hand, had both eyebrows furrowed.

With a smile, Zhan Zhao reached out and took off his headphones and put on his portable microphone, and Bai Yutang took the walkie-talkie to the door, "Attention all departments, plan B. Zhao Hu, Ma Han, the fish is about to swim out, get ready.

And at that moment, Zhao Hu and Ma Han, who were nestled in the hallway and getting mouldy, finally heard the command and got into the spirit.

Zhan Zhao beckoned to Bai Chi, “Let’s go, Chi Chi, it's time for us to play!"

‿︵‿︵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: July 8, 2022 by Angel