S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 3 Chapter 105

Lucky Murderer 33 – Cemetery

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When Zhan Zhao and the others returned to SCI, they put in the final work of closing the case.

All the people were arrested, and the Song tomb side also arrested all the criminals involved... This time, it was almost like closing the net on a great harvest, with the big and small thieves arrested in a good fight.

"Boy!" Zhao Hu looked at the long list, “First time solving such a big case!"

"It's more like cracking an organisation." Ma Han looked at the list, "A large part of them are coerced accomplices."

Bai Yutang directed the crowd to divide the arrested criminals into several categories and process them in batches.

The two more important criminals, Chen Bi and Singh, and the relevant people were put into special cells under strict surveillance, and were not allowed to see each other.

The Lian family's father and son, as well as Dr. Fan and others, were brought into the interrogation room for intensive interrogation.

Wei Ziqiang and his group of traitors almost all confessed to their crimes and were also put into special cells, which will be useful later.

Lastly, there were the three tigers and the lottery shop owner, as well as a few inside agents within the archaeological team. These were all considered minor minions and could be dealt with according to the law.

There were actually not many main culprits in this case, and even characters like Lian Tongli were following orders. The problem with following orders is finding the main culprit, but the main culprit that Zhan Zhao and his team are looking for is the odd organisation that has been plaguing them for years. So far, there are still very few clues, and it seems that this time, apart from Chen Bi, the ones caught are also abandoned sons that the organisation wants to discard and are of limited value.

After Zhan Zhao and the others had finished the heavy interrogation work, they went through a large amount of data and smoothed out the case from beginning to end, piecing together the facts of this case. In summary, the case could be summed up into a few key words – experimental research, financial constraints, genetic memory, precious artefacts, kidnapping for ransom, a certain island, and abandoned sons.

On an island somewhere, there is the mysterious organisation that Zhan Zhao and the others have been trying to find out about. They have been conducting human experiments, this time with regard to memory genetics. Yet financial constraints seem to have become a problem that plagues the organisation. Originally, they wanted to replenish themselves by finding precious artefacts, but later turned to kidnapping for ransom. There also seems to have been a turnover within the organisation, and so there were some abandoned sons.

Bai Chi lamented, "The vampires created before, Luo Tian, and Zhao Jue... that organisation seems to have done many, many things, are they trying to create people who are not like normal humans?"

"This organisation has existed for quite a long time." Zhan Zhao brought out the information on the previous case about vampires, "It dates back almost a century before the outbreak of World War I."

"It probably existed as a military institution in its earliest days, with some source of military funding." Bai Yutang shook his head, "But after many wars, such crazy experiments should have been abandoned long ago. However, those involved in the experiments were not willing to stop there, and became an independent organisation"

"The organisation is huge and the investment in experiments is also huge, so it requires a considerable amount of money.” Qin Ou looked at the details about this organisation from the previous case, "What exactly are they studying?!"

"The cashier's checks that were previously hidden by Zhao Jue were probably the money they wanted, however it didn't work out in the end. Chen Yu's parents, the legendary Bonnie and Clyde, also failed to find the so-called treasure they hid back then, so the dog jumped over the wall!" Zhan Zhao said with slight excitement, "The urgent need for money means two things. Firstly, there is no way to run on tight funds. Secondly, they are conducting an important experiment and need funds!"

"Do you guys still remember the video that Zhao Jue sent over last time?" Bai Yutang asked, "It was the one with the immortal man's back!"

Everyone nodded, "Remember."

"Hmm." Hearing Bai Yutang mention it, Zhan Zhao also nodded, "I also think that the background of that recording is on an island."

"I'll follow the clues again to find the location!" Jiang Ping jotted down the clues and prepared to go look for it later.

"Lian Tongli and Lian Qianzhong were previously the subjects of the organisation's research, and it was Singh and Dr. Fan who conducted experiments and research on them." Zhao Hu said the results of the interrogation of the Lian family's father and son, "The reason why they made their fortune was entirely due to a few tomb raiding maps left behind by their ancestors. But the number was limited and they knew the legend about Boss Lian, so they tried to find the maps left behind by Boss Lian by searching their own memories. A large part of the maps they have are forgeries, probably things they drew after their memories were inherited."

"That's when paranoia sets in." Bai Chi shook his head, "Are they crazy for money?"

"Those three people, the three 'Qing Dynasty people' who attacked Xin Xin in the ancient tomb," Zhan Zhao also asked for the truth from Dr. Fan's mouth, "were actually subjects of research and experimentation. They escaped and pretended to be stone statues to burrow into the ancient tomb, but it was to avoid the hospital's pursuit."

"Fan Minda confused paranoia with memory inheritance and, in the end, had to discard several people as abandoned sons and send the three tigers of the Xu family to deal with them. But then a lot of attempts were made to destroy their bodies, probably because their research and series of experiments left traces on the experimental subjects." Gongsun added, “Xin Xin and I will examine the bodies further and seek clues in this regard!"

"These few people might be the key to the experiment." Zhan Zhao said, "Otherwise the other party wouldn't have taken such a big risk, even an undercover agent like Wei Ziqiang, who had been planted within the police department for almost twenty years, was used!"

"It's like the appearance of Yang Yang back then," Luo Tian was slightly emotional, "which led to a change in the direction of the experiment."

"This is a very important clue!" Bai Yutang nodded.

Zhan Zhao went on to analyse, "According to Dr. Fan's testimony, these three people have developed some special symptoms, and this symptom is likely to be the cause of this change in the direction of the experiment!"

"What symptoms?" The crowd was curious.

Zhan Zhao let out a bitter laugh and shook his head, "Everyone here can't get to the point. Dr. Fan, the Lian family's father and son, I've observed them, they're not stiff-mouthed, they're hypnotised."

"Hypnotised?" Bai Yutang frowned, "Someone didn't want them to say something, so they blocked it out?"

"Yes!" Zhan Zhao nodded, “Dr. Fan just kept shouting, 'so lucky, they are so lucky'."

"Lucky!" Everyone looked at each other, "Does that refer to the lottery win?"

Zhan Zhao shrugged slightly, "Who knows? They were in a state of running for their lives, so why would they go and buy a lottery ticket? It means they knew they would definitely win!"

"Could it be that they have luck... or the ability to predict?" The crowd all looked at Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao laughed, "How is that possible?"

"The three were wounded during their escape and hid in the tomb disguised as clay statues. One died from his injuries and the other two were very weak. The archaeological team had Dr. Fan's eyes on them and made a mistake in the archaeological notes because they found them and didn't have time to deal with them. The reason they attacked Ma Xin was purely because of an instinctive reaction!" Gongsun said, taking out the three men's brain x-rays and showing them to the crowd, "According to the analysis of the brain cross-sections, these men had a rather severe tendency towards violence, which I suspect was a side effect of the experiment. In short, they attacked Xin Xin purely because of an instinctive reaction!"

"It's a pity that I was able to kill them!" Luo Tian was a bit chagrined, "Otherwise there would have been a living person who would have known more."

Gongsun patted Luo Tian, "Those few people were already severely dehydrated and weak to the point of dying!"

"The direction of our first investigation was always swayed by the Lian family, and now it seems that the Lian family was just a front, and the reason for killing Lian Qianyi was because he had found something." Zhan Zhao showed the crowd Lian Qianyi's case, "He had been treated for paranoia before and actually underwent experiments without knowing it, so maybe he could have access to some clues. I asked him and the result was the same as the Lian family's father and son, he couldn't remember anything useful."

"Is that why they had to kill him with the sniper?" Bai Yutang sighed, "His father and his elder brother were surprisingly involved, and the only one who was kept in the dark may have been his younger sister, Lian Shuli."

"The case after that, as we have seen," Bai Chi rolled up the long closing report, “everyone went crazy just to keep the secret and grab the money."

Bai Yutang nodded, "That's what happened, it's not about whether Singh and the others are abandoned sons or not, but what this organisation has done makes it feel like the end of the road."

"There's a possibility in that regard, so we need to pursue it a little closer." Zhan Zhao looked at Bai Yutang, and both of them had an understanding in their minds – the key was in Chen Bi.

After the meeting ended, Zhan Zhao stood dazed in the hallway with the closing report in his hand, not far from Bao Zheng's office.

When Bai Yutang walked to the door, he saw Zhan Zhao's eyes fixed on the door, a hint of impulsiveness and defiance in his gaze.

"Cat." Bai Yutang took a step forward and gently patted Zhan Zhao's shoulder.

Zhan Zhao looked back at him, "Yutang, I'm not satisfied, why shouldn't we be allowed to investigate Chen Bi?"

When Bai Yutang saw Zhan Zhao like this, he couldn't bear it. He was also very torn, of course, but the elders just wouldn't let them touch that year.

With a surge of energy, Zhan Zhao wanted to rush into the office and find Bao Zheng to argue.

At this time, Gongsun hurriedly came up behind him and tapped the two of them, signalling – follow him.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang glanced at each other and followed Gongsun into the elevator.

"Jintang called us, he met Zhao Jue in the cemetery!" When Gongsun finished speaking, Zhan Zhan and Bai Yutang were both startled.

"Brother met Zhao Jue alone?" Zhan Zhao frowned, "Is he alright?"

"There's no need to be anxious." Gongsun shook his head, "Jintang said that Zhao Jue came to his office this morning looking for him, saying that he was taking him to visit Bai Ye's grave.

"Who exactly is Bai Ye?" Bai Yutang couldn't help but ask.

"I don't know, but Jintang told me to bring you guys along." Gongsun smiled, "It seems that Zhao Jue has a secret to tell you guys."

Zhan Zhao's eyes lit up slightly, while Bai Yutang had mixed feelings.

The three of them got into the car and drove to the cemetery.

The address Bai Jintang told the group was not a cemetery, rather, it was in a secluded countryside where there was an exquisite little church.

In the courtyard in front of the church, calla lilies were in full bloom. Seeing the large expanse of white calla lilies, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang suddenly thought of the special ward where Zhao Jue was back then.

Following the path to the back, they saw a figure flashing out of the courtyard door on the side. Zhan Zhao was stunned and wanted to walk over to look because he was familiar with that back… it was somewhat like Bai Yutang's.

"Cat." Bai Yutang reached out and pointed in the distance. Not far away, under a tall purple heather tree, a dozen tombstones were erected. The tombstones were clean and white... such tombstones were very rare in China.

In front of each tombstone, a white calla lily was placed.

Zhao Jue and Bai Jintang sat on a bench to the side, and the twins stood a little further away, looking at the tombstones all over the ground, seemingly full of confusion.

It was unclear what Bai Jintang and Zhao Jue were talking about.

Zhan Zhao and the others walked over quickly. Gongsun sat down next to Bai Jintang and took his hand to see how he looked, and was relieved to see that there was nothing different.

"Why are there so many graves here?" Zhan Zhao walked over to Zhao Jue and asked him.

Zhao Jue pointed at the graves and whispered to Zhan Zhao, "A group of people who died a long time ago and were deliberately forgotten."

Bai Yutang looked around and finally understood why the twins were puzzled – on these dozen or so tombstones, there were no words, not even a name, which was indescribably a bit bleak

After finishing his sentence, Zhao Jue stood up and prepared to leave.

“Ai!" Zhan Zhao stopped him, "Don't you have something to say?"

"I've finished, come and pay your respects sometime." Zhao Jue pointed to the tombstones, "There are no secrets here, only sad past events. I've called Bao Zheng and said I've already brought you here, so they'll let you in on the investigation, otherwise you'll be tracking down the identity of the owner of these tombstones yourselves.” Zhao Jue said with a sly smile.

"So who is Bai Ye?" Bai Yutang couldn't help but ask.

Zhao Jue turned back and pointed to the first tombstone on his left, "Him."

"How did they all die?" Zhan Zhao wondered. Every tombstone was the same and there were calla lilies in front of each one, indicating that they were all people that Zhao Jue knew.

Zhao Jue took a step closer to Zhan Zhao and whispered, "Don't ask why they died, it doesn't matter anymore. What matters is that the ones who deserve to die didn't, but the ones who didn't deserve to die did. Justice and all that, it's all bullshit!" After saying that, he turned around and walked away.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other.

At this time, a car hurriedly drove up, and as soon as the door opened, they saw Bao Zheng and Bai Yunwen hurriedly get out of the car. Zhan Qitian also stepped out from the back seat.

They met up with Zhao Jue, who was about to get into his car. Zhao Jue gave the three of them a slight smile and waved his hand gently as a greeting. He then got into his car and drove off.

Bao Zheng and the others all frowned and walked into the cemetery behind the church.

In the middle of the cemetery, the crowd met face to face and stared at each other in silence, somewhat awkwardly.

The three of them all subconsciously looked at the tombstones, and Zhan Zhao suddenly raised his eyebrows slightly and asked, "Why?"

All three of them stared at Zhan Zhao, and Zhan Qitian asked, "What?"

Zhan Zhao looked at the three of them intensively, "You are very repulsed by this place, and there is shame in your eyes."

Gongsun hurriedly reached out and tugged at Zhan Zhao, a child would be scolded for talking like that.

Sure enough, he saw Zhan Qitian's face sink, but Zhan Zhao was not afraid to die and pressed on, "Why is it more guilt than sadness? What do you mean by the ones who shouldn't have died died, but the ones who should have died didn't?"

“Ai!" Bao Zheng hurriedly stopped Zhan Zhao, "Xiao Zhan, you don't understand the inside story, we don't want to come here because..."

"Because you haven't avenged their deaths even now, so you feel ashamed, is that right?" Bai Yutang walked up from behind Zhan Zhao and stood with him, looking at the three who could be called fathers.

Bao Zheng shook his head helplessly and looked at Zhan Qitian and Bai Yunwen, who also turned their faces away and seemed to sigh softly.

"We want to be involved in the investigation. The case from back then, give it to SCI, it won't affect our normal work, we will do our work secretly.” Zhan Zhao said to the three.

"There's no point in hiding it any longer." Bai Yutang was of course united with Zhan Zhao, "We will definitely continue to investigate it ourselves!"

Bao Zheng frowned, seemingly a little hesitant.

While the crowd was at a standstill, Bai Jintang suddenly stood up. He had just been squatting in front of Bai Ye's tombstone looking at it, and suddenly reached out and took out something from the grass in front of it and handed it to the crowd, "What is this?"

When Zhan Zhao and the others went over to take a look, they saw that it was a pocket watch.

Bai Jintang frowned slightly because the lid of the pocket watch could be opened... only to find that it was not a pocket watch, but a necklace that could hold a photo.

In the photo, there was a young man. Looking closely, there was a strong resemblance to Bai Jintang, as well as to Bai Yutang... and to Bai Yunwen.

Bai Yutang and Bai Jintang were surprised and stared at Bai Yunwen; this was a picture of their dad when he was very young.

"Who is he?" Bai Yutang stared at him for a while and asked Bai Yunwen, "Dad, do you have a twin brother?"

Bai Yunwen walked over quickly, reached for the necklace, stared at the man in the photo for a long time, and shook his head, "I never thought I'd see..."

"Who is he?" Bai Jintang was curious.

Bai Yunwen handed the necklace back to him, "Me."

The crowd was silent and all spoke together, "Liar!"

Bai Yunwen and Bao Zheng were both embarrassed.

Zhan Zhao said, “The temperament is completely different, one brash and the other svelte!"

"Naughty!" Zhan Qitian came up and glared at Zhan Zhao, who had no choice but to look up at the sky.

Bai Yutang stared at his dad and asked, "Who is he? Dad?"

Bai Yunwen sighed, "My elder brother."

Although they had expected it, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang's mouths opened wide in shock – wasn't Brother Bai the biological son of Father Bai?

"That's right!" Gongsun interjected, "I've always suspected that at her age, Mother Bai couldn't have had a child that early! And there's a difference of eight years between the first and second child, which is somewhat..."

Of all these people, the one who cared the least about this matter was actually Bai Jintang. He stood calmly by the side, as if he had expected it, and just lit a cigarette and smoked, waiting for the crowd to go on.

Zhan Qitian walked over, “Bai Ye passed away less than a week before Jintang was born, and it was always Yunwen who took care of you. He didn't tell you because he didn't want you to misunderstand, not that he didn't love you. He sent you abroad because he was protecting you..."

Bai Jintang listened and did not say anything.

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao both squinted at Bai Yunwen. What is there to hide about this kind of thing, ah? And they suspected that Mother Bai had an affair.

Zhan Zhao rubbed his chin. The fathers were blood brothers, no wonder the faces were so similar and the DNA match was so high.

"So, who is that person?" Zhan Zhao suddenly asked Zhan Qitian.

"Who?" Zhan Qitian did not understand.

"The person who is very similar to Yutang."

"Heh..." Bai Yunwen smiled, "A time bomb planted in a central nervous system."

Zhan Zhan and Bai Yutang didn't understand.

"Don't ask about the past, that's not something that can be explained in a few words!" Zhan Qitian pulled Zhan Zhao to his side, "One day you will know."

"Then we're going to..."

"All right." Bao Zheng sighed lightly and said to the two, "Don't you two just want to investigate the case? Take all the information."

Bai Yunwen and Zhan Qitian both looked at Bao Zheng, still seemingly having a hard time.

"These two were both born to you, you know what kind of nature they have.” Bao Zheng was dissatisfied, "The two of you will be fine if you look elsewhere, but I have to work with them every day, which will give me a hard time. Anyway, the children are old enough."

Bai Yunwen and Zhan Qitian both acquiesced.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other, elated!

That afternoon, the two got all the clues they had gathered so far from Bao Zheng, plus the information Zhan Qitian had given them earlier, as well as the secret file that Zhao Jue had given them… They could almost completely piece together the past events.

Singh's memories were also blocked, and the only one who was relatively lucid was Chen Bi.

But Chen Bi's willpower was quite impressive and he appeared to have undergone rigorous training. He had been silent since he was imprisoned, no matter which method was used.

Zhan Zhao tried to hypnotise him, but Chen Bi only laughed at him for being so young, which made Zhan Zhao's hair explode with anger, but fortunately he was stopped by Bai Yutang.

Jiang Ping listed the candidate locations for that island and the group began to investigate the case methodically, with a tacit and unspoken resolve. No matter how long that experiment had been going on, how far it had gone, what the results and what the ambitions were, it was time to bring everything to a close. People are not objects for experimentation!

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Case 12 is done! Before starting case 13, I am going to take a week off, as my family is in town again and I want to spend time with them before school starts again.

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

Translated: July 29, 2022 by Angel