S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 3 Chapter 99

Lucky Murderer 27 – Catching the Fish in the Net

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Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang are almost completely opposite in character; one is quiet and the other active, one is ghostly and the other cool as hell. Therefore, they spent their childhood in quarrels and rivalries, but managed to get along very well. About their relationship, Gongsun had a classic description - what is truly called love for each other is not never fighting, but always fighting yet never separating.

The so-called tacit understanding, however, is not necessarily to always get along, but to get along when you should, and to be determined not to get along when you shouldn't! It's not as hard to achieve this as legend has it, and you don't need to have the same heart, just a common goal, or a common New Year, is fine. Most things in the world seem to follow this pattern, except for relationships.

For example, good people believe in righteousness, so most of their ideas are similar, and bad people believe in evil, so their ideas are similar. Both good and evil, naturally, are the same.

......

Zhao Zhen brought Lisbon to be the so-called 'outside help'.

Luo Tian and Qin Ou saw the sudden arrival of the 'outside help'.

Neither side had any prior knowledge of what each other's next move would be, and Zhan Zhao had no next instructions, the only one who reacted differently was Lisbon. 

Zhao Zhen, Luo Tian, and Qin Ou proceeded as they normally would.

Zhao Zhen looked uncomfortably at Lisbon, who was vigorously scratching that big vacuum, and asked, "Lisbon, why, are you hungry?"

"Hu hu..." Lisbon just thought the box smelled strange, like rotting meat. He's a wild feline after all, and the king of all beasts is not speaking nicely enough, smelling the smell of the dead, it is natural to ponder it!

Those few men Qian Jiarang hired who pretended to be cleaners were nervous.

Qin Ou was more of a joker, so he laughed and asked Zhao Zhen, "Did you not feed him enough, so he’s looking for snacks?" He said, teasing the men, "Hey, what's in there? A dead man, huh?"

"No, officer, don't be ridiculous!" Those few pretending to be staff members were extremely nervous and hurriedly defended.

Zhao Zhen patted Lisbon, "Come on Lisbon, stop it."

Zhao Zhen patting Lisbon was a matter of precaution. Lisbon had been raised for over ten years and was naturally very obedient. Zhao Zhen told him to stop making trouble, but the gesture of patting him was to let him continue… should he continue or stop?

The lion also has a mind. Lisbon crouched next to the box, a paw pressed against the container to keep people from taking it away, and cocked his head and thought - To continue or not to continue? Annoying!

His arms were wrapped around the vacuum, and the men were sweating, stalemated.

But at that moment, the one who was most anxious was Qian Jiarang. Everything was going very well before, but only this last step was blocked. Is this not a rush to death?! He couldn't get away and couldn't make the decision, so he looked back at Wei Ziqiang.

Wei Ziqiang was muttering, thinking that... it might be a scheme, but it didn't look like it, and the situation was a bit impenetrable.

And by now, Zhan Zhao and the others had already gotten out of the car. Zhan Zhao whispered a few words to Bai Chi, who nodded before entering the police station through the front door, while Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao continued to hide and bide their time.

At the front door, Zhao Zhen was chatting with Qin Ou and the others, coupled with Lisbon making trouble.

He heard Bai Chi call out in the distance, "Zhen."

Zhao Zhen turned around, and Qin Ou and Luo Tian also saw Bai Chi and asked, "Where's the captain?"

"He'll be back soon." Bai Chi said as he ran over.

When Qian Jiarang saw Bai Chi coming back, he became even more nervous and turned back to ask Wei Ziqiang, "What should we do?"

Wei Ziqiang had anger in his heart and secretly regretted asking Qian Jiarang for help, this man was really an embroidered pillow, not useful in his eyes.

If there was anyone in this world who could make Lisbon throw away fresh beef that had reached his mouth, it was Bai Chi. As the saying goes, one thing leads to another, and no one can argue with the fact that Lisbon loves Bai Chi to death. As soon as he saw Bai Chi coming, he turned his back on the vacuum and headed back in Bai Chi's direction. He didn't wait for him to get to Zhao Zhen, but he stuck to him and wouldn't let him go, deliberately hooking his arm with his tail.

Bai Chi rubbed his big head, because the task he had just been given by Zhan Zhao was - to distract Lisbon, but block the way ahead!

The security at the police station was very tight and those people had already been checked once at the front door when they had just come in. In other words, those security personnel knew them and would definitely let them go when they saw them going out.

Comparatively, the people at the back door had not seen them at all, so they were bound to be checked on their way out. A cleaning box as big as a vacuum would certainly have been asked to be opened for inspection.

But the problem now was that the front door was blocked by Lisbon, so those people couldn't get through at all. Time was dragging on, and Zhan Zhao and the others would be back soon.

What worried Qian Jiarang even more was the fact that Zhao Zhen glanced at the cleaning box every now and then, obviously suspicious. The people here were fine, but if Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang came back soon, it would be troublesome. Especially Zhan Zhao, he would be able to see the clues at a glance!

Thinking of this, he couldn't hold back any longer, so he took out his phone and risked calling the staff member, saying in a low voice, "Plan B."

The staff member understood, so he pulled the cleaning box and headed for the back door.

Zhao Zhen looked at the crowd with some suspicion. Qin Ou and Luo Tian pretended not to see it, so Zhao Zhen didn't say anything more... This is the so-called common tacit understanding, right?

Bai Chi finished his task and pretended to go back to the SCI office with Zhao Zhen and the others.

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao were lying in ambush near the back door when Bai Yutang asked, "Cat, are you sure someone will jump off the wall?” (Angel: Jump off the wall comes from the Chinese idiom, “dog jumping off the wall, 狗急跳墙, which is a metaphor for the bad guy who goes out of his way when he has nowhere to go, desperate to make trouble.)

Zhan Zhao smiled, "That's why it's our turn to play."

The staff members fled to the back parking lot, and when they saw no one around, they called Qian Jiarang directly.

Qian Jiarang frowned, "You guys are looking for death!"

Wei Ziqiang was already shaking his head helplessly, it was not going well!

"So what do we do now? We'll be discovered." The staff member was nervous.

"I'll switch off the cameras in the parking lot, you guys put the stuff inside the trunk of my car, it's unlocked." Wei Ziqiang frowned, "Then you guys hurry up and leave, and be smart for me."

"Okay!" The other party hung up the phone. Jiang Ping had already recorded everything clearly and immediately contacted Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, "Dr. Zhan, it's exactly as you expected!"

"Has the whole thing been recorded?"

"Yes, it's recorded!" Jiang Ping nodded, "Qian Jiarang can't get away, but there's still a shortage of evidence for Wei Ziqiang!"

"I have a solution!" Zhan Zhao smiled and winked at Bai Yutang, who nodded and headed towards the back door.

Wei Ziqiang saw the car driving towards the back door from afar and immediately frowned - Bai Yutang's limited edition car was eye-catching enough no matter where it went, so he saw it at a glance and hurriedly coughed.

And at that moment, Qian Jiarang had his hands full. He had just switched off the footage from the underground garage and now things were beyond his control, so he was panicking too. Hearing Wei Ziqiang cough again, he was really confused for a moment, and finally turned back to ask, "What's wrong?"

When Wei Ziqiang saw that he couldn't take it anymore, he came over and said, "Parking lot."

Jiang Ping was watching at this point, and secretly praised him, "You've been tricked, kid!"

Qian Jiarang turned the footage to the entrance of the parking lot and saw Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao driving in, talking to the security guard at the entrance.

In fact, they are only exchanging pleasantries, and the security guard was asking Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao, "Still on duty so late? You're working hard."

Zhan Zhao joked with him, saying that Bao Sir was oppressing the staff and not giving them a pay rise, which amused the few security personnel.

Looking inside the garage, the men only had time to unpack two bodies and hide them in the trunk, the third one had not yet been unpacked.

Jiang Ping informed Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, "Boss, the second one is out!"

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao immediately said goodbye to the security guards and drove in.

Qian Jiarang hurriedly contacted those people, "Stop quickly, Bai Yutang's car is coming in!"

"But there is still one more container..." The other side also panicked.

Wei Ziqiang was anxious, and pushed Qian Jiarang, “Let's hide it first!"

The other party hurriedly pushed the entire vacuum to the back of a large dumpster in the corner to hide it, and just as he returned, he saw Bai Yutang's car turn in.

The men fixed their minds and pretended to be indifferent, pushing the vacuum and cleaning tools together towards the door.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang's car stopped just in time. Zhan Zhao got out and sure enough... noticed a few people.

"Wait a minute." Bai Yutang suddenly called out to them, "Do you have your documents?"

"Still working this late?" Bai Yutang asked as he looked at the papers.

"Yes, but we'll go back when we're done, we haven't worked as hard as the few officers."

Bai Yutang nodded as Zhan Zhao kept his head cocked as he looked at the crowd, seemingly observing.

"Then… if there's nothing else for the officers, we'll leave first." A few of the cleaners were about to leave when Zhan Zhao suddenly asked, "Do I look like a police officer?"

The few people were stunned and looked back at him.

Zhan Zhao came over and joked with Bai Yutang, "This is the first time someone saw me and thought I was a police officer and not a clerk, you too."

Bai Yutang laughed and looked at his watch, "Let's go, finish up early and go back to bed."

"Mm." Zhan Zhao nodded, those few people sighed in relief and turned around just to continue walking, but they heard Zhan Zhao shout again, "Wait a minute!"

The crowd froze.

Zhan Zhao ran back to stare at the big cleaning box of the vacuum and asked, "What's this?"

"A vacuum cleaner." The first one replied.

"It's that big?” Zhan Zhao pointed at the box, "Can you open it up and show me the inner structure?"

A few people secretly wiped their cold sweat, they were really careful enough! They opened the cleaning box for him to see, only to see that the inside was empty, with only some rubbish left behind.

On the other side of the computer, Qian Jiarang let out a sigh of relief, "Zhan Zhao is really difficult to deal with."

Afterwards, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang went back upstairs, while those people passed through the security check and left without any problems.

After Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao entered the elevator, Zhan Zhao stretched out one finger to scratch his forehead as Jiang Ping, who was in the control car, took out his walkie-talkie, "Team One move in, keep a close eye on them."

The arresting team, which had been set up on the periphery, was divided into three teams, and when they saw those cleaning staff coming out, the first team followed closely.

When Qian Jiarang saw that Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang had returned to the SCI office, he nodded to Wei Ziqiang and went out to dispose of those corpses.

Wei Ziqiang sat down at the computer desk and was finally relieved. As long as Qian Jiarang succeeded in taking the corpses away, the operation would be a success. Sure enough, SCI was not easy to deal with.

As soon as Qian Jiarang left the room, Jiang Ping told Zhan Zhao, who told Zhao Hu and Ma Han to make sure Qian Jiarang could not get the cleaning box hidden behind the dumpster.

The two men understood.

Qian Jiarang had just arrived at the garage downstairs and wanted to walk towards the dumpster to find the vacuum behind it when he heard footsteps behind him and looked back... shocked.

He saw Zhao Hu and Ma Han coming from behind.

"Hey, Captain!" Zhao Hu said as he called and asked Bai Yutang, "We're ready, when are you guys coming down?"

"Okay." Zhao Hu hung up the phone and looked at Ma Han, "Head said to come down right away, find a clue, and leave right away."

"Oh." Ma Han nodded, lit a cigarette and looked around. At a glance, he was a little surprised to see Qian Jiarang, who was standing awkwardly not far from the dumpster.

"Xiao Ma Ge!" Zhao Hu took the cigarette from Ma Han's mouth, "Smoking is banned in public places, be careful of fines if you smoke again."

Ma Han was a bit helpless, and after looking around, he took the cigarette and walked in the direction of the rubbish bin.

"Hehe." Qian Jiarang smiled at Ma Han.

Ma Han threw the cigarette into the bin and looked at him in confusion, "What are you doing here?"

Qian Jiarang said in his heart, "It's killing me!"

Zhao Hu followed suit and joked, "Ugh, I say Old Qian ah, are you trying to piss in the open? Watch out for a video being posted on the internet saying that you're pissing yourself."

Ma Han could not help but laugh.

Qian Jiarang grinned and pointed at Zhao Hu, "You kid, can't spit out ivory from your dog's mouth.” (Angel: Dogs can’t spit out ivory is a metaphor that means that you can only speak bad words, not good words.)

"Still not leaving at this late hour?" Ma Han still adhered to a completely different style from Zhao Hu, appearing rather suspicious and distrustful of him.

Qian Jiarang had no choice but to laugh and say, "Just leaving, there's a lot going on these days."

After saying that, he got into the car and left. After leaving the police station, he called Wei Ziqiang, “I didn't get the last one."

Wei Ziqiang frowned, "What happened to you?"

"Tsk... ran into someone." Qian Jiarang told him to watch the surveillance.

Wei Ziqiang turned the surveillance screen on the computer to the garage, just as Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao went down… it looked like they were in a hurry to leave, like they had some kind of mission.

Qian Jiarang anxious, "There are two corpses in the car, it's too risky to go back now!"

"You bring the things there now, I'll handle the last one!" After saying that, Wei Ziqiang hung up the phone and hurried out the door.

Satisfied with the line, Jiang Ping closed it and said to Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao, "The big fish has taken the bait, and the merit is complete."

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao looked at each other and after smiling heartily, they picked up the intercom, "All departments follow the previous arrangement and split up to catch the fish!"

......

With a command, the police officers following the cleaning car quickly stopped the car and all of them were arrested.

Ma Han, Zhao Hu, Qin Ou, Luo Tian, and the others led two convoys and quietly followed Qian Jiarang, ready to see where he went to destroy the bodies. If he still had a handler, then this was the best chance to make contact.

On Wei Ziqiang's end, he hurried downstairs, pushed the vacuum box out from behind the dumpster, hurried to his car, opened the trunk, took out the corpse, and was loading it in.

But then he heard a familiar voice coming from behind him.

“Wei Sir, out on an errand, huh?"

Wei Ziqiang’s face paled immediately, and when he turned around, he saw Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang standing behind him.

Zhan Zhao smiled and looked at the corpse in his hand, "Buying so much meat, preparing for the New Year?"

‿︵‿︵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 8/9, 2022 by Angel