S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 1 Chapter 92

Shadow Murderer 01 – The Night Punisher

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A puppy died in the alley.

An older brother passed by holding the younger brother's hand.

Saw the puppy in pieces.

The little brother knelt down and cried for the puppy.

The elder brother asked the chickadee flying by, "Who killed the puppy?"

The chickadee said, "I don't know."

The elder brother asked the hamster passing by, "Who killed the puppy?"

The hamster said, "I don't know."

The elder brother asked the ant that crawled by, "Who killed the puppy?"

The ant said, "You can ask the moon."

The brother looked up and asked the moon, "Did you see who killed the puppy?"

The moon nodded, "I did, it was your little brother."

The elder brother looked down at the little brother

The brother crouched by the dog's body

His shoulders were shaking. But he was not crying, he was laughing.

The little brother looked up at his elder brother

Smilingly, he said, "It's the puppy, he killed himself"

Spring was in full swing in March, and the SCI crowd, fresh from solving a major case, had a rare three-day holiday.

"Cat? What are you doing?" Bai Yutang asked in confusion as he looked at Zhan Zhao's documents, newspapers and books spread out all over the bedroom.

Zhan Zhao looked up at him, "Looking for information."

"Looking for information on what?" Bai Yutang ruffled his books and walked in, "You're writing another book, huh?"

"En~~" Zhan Zhao flipped through it and finally found a document, handed it over and said, "Xiao Bai, this is the last case you handled when you left the Criminal Investigation Department, right?"

Bai Yutang reached over and looked at it, "That's right, it passed through my hands for a while. Then I transferred to SCI and the case was handed over to Ai Hu."  While talking, he looked through the information..."Unsolved case?" Bai Yutang was surprised, "This case is half a year old and has not been solved yet?!"

Zhan Zhao nodded and said, "That murderer is known in the media as 'The Night Punisher'"

"What 'Punisher'..." Bai Yutang raised his eyebrows in disapproval, "The thugs he killed were either stealing something or having a fight or something. None of them are death penalty crimes."

"This case is very strange." Zhan Zhao said, "There was no motive, the victims had nothing in common. And in the end, this Night Punisher disappeared for no reason."

Bai Yutang sat next to Zhan Zhao and held his nose, "You say, Cat, it's rare to get a break, so stop talking about the murderers killing people, okay?"

Zhan Zhao slapped his hand away, "By the way, what were you doing outside just now?"

"I washed all your clothes!" Bai Yutang smiled, "Diligent, aren't I?"

"What?" Zhan Zhao rushed out and pulled open his own wardrobe and found nothing. Then he looked at the balcony and there was a line of clothes drying in all directions, "White mouse, why did you wash all my clothes?!"

"You even dared to put the stuff from the corpse in your pocket last time!" Bai Yutang said with a straight face, "Who knows what else you put in there? The sun is nice today, so I washed them all for you."

"Damn mouse, your cleanliness addiction is getting worse again!" Zhan Zhao was furious, "What about this evening? We still have to go see Qi Le's concert!"

.......

At night, in front of the S City stadium, Bai Yutang, dressed in white, and Zhan Zhao, also dressed in white, got out of the car together.

Seeing the sea of fans in front of him, Bai Yutang's mouth opened wide in shock, "Why are there so many people? Is this girl actually famous?"

Zhan Zhao glanced at him, "This is a concert held in a stadium with 10,000 people.” As he said that, he grabbed the collar of the white woollen coat on his body. Damn it! The clothes that Bai Yutang wore when he was a student were just right for him to wear now – hmph!

"Isn't that girl Qi Le in love with Hu Zi?" The moment Bai Yutang spoke, Zhan Zhao covered his mouth, "There are reporters everywhere here, if they hear you, it's over." After saying that, he dragged Bai Yutang and barged inside.

"Cat, you are getting more and more violent..." Bai Yutang was dragged by his arm to go inside. He thought that the way Zhan Zhao was rushing into the crowd with murderous energy was really cute.

Everyone was walking inside, but there was someone who was going outside, which seemed a bit abrupt.

His head was lowered and he did not see Bai Yutang. His walking speed was particularly fast, and when he suddenly found someone in front of him, his eyes were flooded with white.

The man looked up and collided with Bai Yutang, "Watch out!" Zhan Zhao turned around and saw it, and gave Bai Yutang a tug.

He dodged deftly to avoid it, but their shoulders still bumped into each other. When Bai Yutang saw that the man had a full beard and seemed to be not young, he hurriedly smiled and said, "Sorry~~", before turning around and following the flow of people into the stadium.

The man stopped in his tracks and stared back at the distant white shadow, as if he was pinned in place, motionless.

Those who passed him afterwards thought he was a madman – as his mouth kept muttering over and over again, "White… looks good. White really does look better than black..."

The concert went on for nearly four hours and when he came out, Bai Yutang was feeling dizzy and his ears were ringing. It was more tiring than catching a thief, but Zhan Zhao beside him was very excited.

In the words of the Ding twins, people's appearance can be deceptive: for example, Bai Yutang, when you first see him, you may think he is a playboy. But honestly, he grew up with a very strict upbringing. Drinking, dyeing his hair, getting piercings, courting girls… not to mention doing it, he never even thought about it. In addition, he has a slight cleanliness addiction and likes a quiet environment. If Bai Yutang has suffered countless losses because of his relatively flirtatious appearance, then Zhan Zhao is the one who has made others suffer countless losses with his 100 percent pure appearance.

Sitting in the car, Bai Yutang rubbed his temples, "It's so noisy~~"

"Xiao Bai, is that the person who just bumped into you?" Zhan Zhao suddenly reached out and pointed towards the exit.

"Huh?" Bai Yutang looked over in the direction of Zhan Zhao's finger, and sure enough, he saw that the person who had just bumped into him was still standing in the same position. Because they had taken a different exit when they left the stadium, they hadn't seen him.

"He wouldn't have been standing until now, would he?" Bai Yutang opened the car door, but was pulled by Zhan Zhao, "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to take a look." Bai Yutang was a little puzzled when he saw that the man was still standing there motionless.

"I'll go too, that man doesn't look normal!" Zhan Zhao was a little worried and was about to get out of the car as well.

Just then, a large group of excited young people came out of the stadium, with fireworks in their hands, holding glow sticks, singing and dancing. The crowd immediately drowned the man, and when the crowd dispersed, they looked again...

And they didn't see the man, not a trace of him.

Bai Yutang rubbed his eyes in some disbelief and looked back at Zhan Zhao, to see that he also had a surprised expression on his face. The two walked towards that exit and stood there looking around, there was no sign of the man...just as if he had evaporated into thin air.

"Evil!" Back in the car, Bai Yutang put on his seat belt, "Cat, did you get a good look at that man just now?"

Zhan Zhao shrugged, "No, I only saw a silhouette, didn't you see him face to face? Don't you remember what he looked like?"

"...A man, with a full beard… I thought it was some old man..." Bai Yutang started the car, "but just now, looking at his standing posture, he does not look old."

"Maybe it’s just someone who looks similar,a mistake..," Zhan Zhao blinked, "Or maybe he is a huge fan, he didn't buy a ticket and couldn't get in so he had to listen from outside."

Bai Yutang also found it funny, and didn't think any more about it. When the car was halfway down the road and passing through the East End, he saw a number of police cars parked on the side of the road and a row of people squatting against the wall holding their heads, with watermelon knives and other things on the ground.

When he pulled over, Bai Yutang rolled down the window and called out to a police officer, "What's wrong?"

The young policeman stammered a little nervously when he saw Bai Yutang's brightly lit identification, "Uh... Captain... Bai, that, a dispute between the West District and the East District's hooligans."

Bai Yutang frowned slightly, "Haven't the East and West districts always been peaceful? How come there's a fight?"

The police officer lowered his head and whispered, "A few days ago, the boss of the West District, Hei Yu, died. People from the West District said that the East District did it and wanted to take revenge. Yesterday, the second in command of the East District, Lao Hong, also died. The two died in a similar way, so the East District said that the West District did it, and today there was a fight."

Bai Yutang nodded, "Both Hei Yu and Lao Hong died? How did they die?"

"It is said that both died at home." The police officer reached out and made a shooting gesture, "Both were shot in the head, and the gun was said to have been nailed to the wall. It looked as if black was eaten by black."

"The gun was nailed to the wall?" Zhan Zhao wondered, "Pinned down with nails?"

"I'm not sure exactly." The young police officer rubbed his head, "I heard it from someone."

As they were talking, they heard one of the officers shout, "Don't run!"

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao glanced at the sound and saw a gangster who had probably taken advantage of the police's lack of attention to slip away. As they watched, he turned into an alleyway and disappeared.

Bai Yutang thanked the officer and drove away.

"Nailed the gun to the wall?" Zhan Zhao was puzzled, "What does that mean?"

Bai Yutang frowned and shrugged, "It's also strange that these two people died… Hei Yu and Old Hong had at least a few dozen brothers guarding their homes. How could they be taken out with no one noticing, it sounds like the work of a professional killer."

"Huh?" Zhan Zhao pointed out the car window and said, "The punk who just escaped."

Bai Yutang slowed the car down, and turned his face to look. He saw a young yellow-haired guy standing at the entrance of the alley across the road, looking around with a cigarette in his mouth.

"Heh..." Bai Yutang turned the steering wheel and the car made a turn.

"You're not arresting him?" Zhan Zhao asked with a smile.

"This kid is only a teenager, he hasn’t been out long and is not too bad. He earns money for his sister's education." Bai Yutang sighed and said, "I can't do anything about it, his parents died early and he didn't want to give his sister away."

"You know him?" Zhan Zhao was a little curious.

"I've seen him in a case before." Bai Yutang said lightly, "I think that police officer just now probably also let him run on purpose. The patrol officers in this area are not very hard on him..."

’Bang…’ just as Bai Yutang's words fell, there was a muffled sound from the back. It sounded like a punctured tire or a firecracker, but the two men's professional instincts told them-- it was a gunshot!

"It came from behind." Zhan Zhao got out of the car and pointed to the street they had just rounded out of.

Then, screams were heard.

The two men darted around the corner and saw that pedestrians on the side of the road were standing far away looking into the alleyway, where a man was lying at the entrance. A bad feeling immediately welled up in the two men's hearts.

Dashing across the road, Bai Yutang stepped forward to take a look and saw the little yellow-haired guy from earlier lying on the ground, eyes wide open. He was already dead and there was a bloody hole in his forehead that was still bleeding out.

"Where was the shot fired from?" Bai Yutang asked a pedestrian standing closest to him.

"The alley… I think… it was ..." The pedestrian, also stunned, pointed warily in the direction of the alley. Bai Yutang ran in without saying a word.

After calling the police, Zhan Zhao lowered himself to examine the body… and noticed that he was really young, just sixteen or seventeen. The top pocket of his shirt was bulging. Zhan Zhao opened the pocket and pulled out a plastic bag. He saw that wrapped in the plastic bag was a very cute style silk scarf, still new… it should be to give to his sister...

Sighing softly, Zhan Zhao stood up, feeling sad. At that moment, Bai Yutang came running back from the alley.

"How was it?"

Bai Yutang shook his head, "Didn't see anyone." Looking down and seeing the stiffened body, he too sighed listlessly.

Soon, the police car pulled up and the two of them told the officers about the situation and left.

When he got into the car, Zhan Zhao suddenly said, "Xiao Bai… it’s very similar."

"Similar?" Bai Yutang didn't react at first, and then snapped to surprise, "You mean, that Night Punisher?"

Zhan Zhao nodded, "At midnight, one shot to the head, no reason, kills all the little gangsters, could be anywhere..."

"Tomorrow we will go to the police station and pull out the information to see, if it is really solid then we will take the case over." Bai Yutang started the car, "That’s enough."

The car slowly drove away, and a yellow tape barrier was put up at the entrance of the alley where the incident took place. All around the building, many residents have opened their windows and poked their heads out to watch. There was a window that was also open, only no lights were on. A man stood in front of the window, his mouth open and breathing heavily, laughing as he did so, seemingly excited, "See… white looks good, doesn't it? White really does look better than black… Look."

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Translator: Turtle

Edited: September 14, 2022 by Angel