S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 3 Chapter 111

Mad Doctor Murderer 06 – Arrow

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"Xiao Yu, I'm fine." There was something really pitiful about the way Chen Kefeng was dying as he pulled Chen Yu's hand and said he was fine.

Bai Yutang saw that the atmosphere at this moment did not seem suitable for asking questions, while Zhan Zhao looked at Chen Yu and Chen Kefeng's facial expressions to analyse their psychology at this moment. How can I put it, the standard husband has love and the concubine has no intention! Chen Kefeng seems to be in love, but Chen Yu may not like his personality. The most important thing is that Chen Yu's upbringing and her personality are relatively strong, and she has no good feelings for this kind of rich man with a weak personality... Alas, this kind of thing is most unpredictable, and it is not true that if you give, you will get a return. Hopefully Chen Kefeng will wake up sooner than later.

Zhan Zhao was doing psychological analysis over here, while Bai Yutang was a little anxious to hurry up and ask Chen Kefeng for clues.

"Ahem." Qi Le came up and patted Chen Yu, leading the men to step aside and signalling for them to let them ask Chen Kefeng first. Ma Xin was pleased that everything was okay, and since SCI was still busy after all, she and Luo Tian left first.

Bai Yutang walked over and asked Chen Kefeng if he knew who had attacked him. Chen Kefeng was at a loss, "I didn't even see who it was, but I saw a woman in white come out from around the corner, and then I felt a pain in my chest. It was like someone had stabbed me."

Bai Yutang frowned. Indeed, according to what Chen Yu said, that moment happened so quickly and suddenly that Chen Kefeng was probably confused.

Zhan Zhao seemed uninterested in Chen Kefeng, and seeing Yang Fan taking notes on his case to the side, he walked to the door and found that Chen Keqing had disappeared. This was a bit strange, with her paranoid personality and overbearing temper... she definitely would have come in to stop them from disturbing her brother's rest. Why did she leave?

Thinking of this, Zhan Zhao hooked a finger at Yang Fan, who went to the door, and asked him in detail about Chen Keqing's situation, including the family and so on... Of course, Zhan Zhao did not forget Chen Keqing's tutor who died, the one that Ma Xin spoke of, Teacher Hao.

"Oh... you mean Hao Ling ah, it's a pity." Yang Fan shook his head, "She was one of the best doctors and an anthropologist."

"Oh! Just like Gongsun, the kind of anthropologist who can identify corpses and participate in archaeology?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"Well, she certainly can't compete with Gongsun in terms of fame, everyone knows he's the best." Yang Fan nodded, "Hao Ling was really good at anthropology in addition to clinical medicine, it's just a pity that she met with a plane crash on the return trip when she went to identify the bodies of a certain tribal massacre."

"Hao Ling used to be a colleague of yours?" Zhan Zhao was inexplicably interested in this teacher, probably out of some instinctive sensitivity.

"Well, it was quite congenial! She and Gongsun should know each other too, they're both elites in the industry." Yang Fan replied.

"Then why does it sound like Chen Keqing is poor at medicine judging by Ma Xin's tone?"

"Where does she have any medical skills, she just loves the limelight and is exposed everywhere thanks to her reputation as a beauty." Yang Fan laughed and shook his head, "She indeed got into this hospital because of her background, and many of us say that patients who are seen by her really take a big risk. So she's basically an idle doctor, minding the equipment and all that. Speaking of doctors..."

Yang Fan said to Zhan Zhao, "That student, Ma Xin, who was here just now, I used to always hear Hao Ling mention her ah. She really liked that girl, said she had talent as well as a sense of responsibility and had excellent potential to become a good doctor, but unfortunately she looked up to Gongsun too much, so she was abducted.”

"Oh..." Zhan Zhao nodded with uncertain meaning.

At this time, Bai Yutang brought Chen Yu and Qi Le out with him and shook his head at Zhan Zhao, signifying – nothing was found.

Bai Yutang told Zhao Hu to send Qi Le back, while he and Zhan Zhao took Chen Yu and prepared to go find Lan Xi.

Zhan Zhao told Bai Yutang and Chen Yu to wait for a while, and went into the ward again.

Bai Yutang didn't quite understand, so he looked inside and so did Chen Yu.

They saw Zhan Zhao running in and asked Chen Kefeng, "Are you not on good terms with Kevin? Why didn't he come to see you?"

Chen Kefeng froze, then smiled indifferently, "Oh, no, our relationship is still okay, but that kid has a problem with his brain and is most afraid of hospitals, blood, disinfectant... once he encounters these three, his legs immediately go weak and he can't even crawl up."

Zhan Zhao heard this and frowned slightly. Kevin's behaviour is not hemophobia, but the standard post-traumatic stress disorder, ah, fear of hospitals, blood, the smell of medicine… Could it be that the post-traumatic stress disorder was produced from a surgery?

Just thinking about it, Bai Yutang urged, "Cat, it’s late, the sky is almost dark."

"Oh, I'm coming." Zhan Zhao asked Chen Kefeng one last question, "Do you suspect that the killer could be targeting your family?"

"I don't think so." Chen Kefeng frowned, "Although my sister is more short-tempered, it shouldn't be so bad that it would attract someone to kill me, right? Then... could my sister be in danger?"

"We're just guessing." When Zhan Zhao saw his agitation, he could see that the siblings had quite a good relationship, and was even more certain that Chen Keqing was acting oddly and seemed to be concealing something.

When Zhan Zhao saw that Chen Kefeng was not in good spirits and his injuries were serious after all, it would be somewhat inhumane to ask further questions, so he said goodbye to him and told him to get some rest. Leaving a few police officers to tighten security, he left with Bai Yutang.

On the way, he received a call from Luo Tian, saying that Ma Xin was very upset over the death of Teacher Hao and wanted to take half a day off to go to the cemetery, so naturally Bai Yutang said that he should let Luo Tian accompany her.

When Zhan Zhao saw Chen Yu sitting in the back seat in a daze, he turned his head and called out with a smile, "Chen Yu ah."

"Hmm?" Chen Yu leaned over.

"You don't like Chen Kefeng, huh?" Zhan Zhao was quite direct. 

Chen Yu shrugged, "I don't like rich kids, and I don't like musicians."

Bai Yutang thought it was funny, "You're making music yourself!"

"So I don't want one!" Chen Yu muttered in a small voice, "Look at you and Dr. Zhan, you are one literary and one martial artist, if both of you were martial artists, you would definitely fight."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other. This was true, there was one literary and one martial artist and they were still pinching every day, if there were two literary or two martial artists, then wouldn't there be a river of blood?

"Do you know Chen Keqing well?" Zhan Zhao asked again.

"Chen Kefeng's sister? She is very domineering. We are not familiar with her, she seems to have some problems with her mental capacity." Chen Yu said helplessly, "Sometimes she can be hysterical, but she loves her brother very much."

At that moment, Chen Yu's phone rang, "Oh, it's my brother, he probably thinks I'm staying out too late."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were listening to Chen Yu answer the phone and pamper Chen Mi, and found it quite amusing. Together with her grandfather, the Chen family was probably very lively now.

The car stopped at Jiuli Lane, and Chen Yu led the two of them to Lan Xi's shop, the door of which was half open and half closed. The sound of 'shnk, sink...' was coming from inside, as well as the sound of two foreigners talking.

When Zhan Zhao, Bai Yutang and the others pushed open the door and entered, they saw two foreigners making bows there, and a young, healthy bronzed-skinned man grinding a piece of wood in front of a small table.

"Lan Xi." Chen Yu called out to him. The man looked up, his expressionless face showing a smile when he saw Chen Yu, but he was a little puzzled when he saw that she was followed by Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang. His eyes then fell on the evidence bag containing a long arrow that Bai Yutang was holding, which he was unable to hide.

Lan Xi put down the wood and stood up to stare at the arrow.

At this time, the foreigners came over and asked Lan Xi how to use the bow and crossbow, who were probably also amateurs being introduced.

Lan Xi suddenly took the bow and arrow from his hand and put it back, pointed at the door, and told them to get out!

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were both startled and thought, wow... what a temper.

The foreigners looked at each other, thinking that Lan Xi was not in his right mind. His serious face coupled with his Lisu bloodline led to features that were more pronounced than the average Han Chinese, and his skin was a bit darker and more fierce. The foreigners decided that this was not a man to be messed with, so they cursed and left.

Lan Xi went over and closed the door behind them, then reached for the evidence bag Bai Yutang was holding and frowned when he saw that the arrow still had blood on it.

"Lan Xi?" Chen Yu asked, also finding his expression frightening at this point.

"Uh..." Lan Xi probably came back to his senses and nodded somewhat apologetically to Chen Yu, returning the arrow to Bai Yutang, but his eyes still would not look at it.

Zhan Zhao could see that Lan Xi's personality was trying to be simple, so he said to Chen Yu, "Introduce us."

"Oh." Chen Yu hurriedly introduced them, telling Lan Xi that these two were police officers, that something had happened, and that they knew that he was a connoisseur in this area, so they wanted to consult him on some matters.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang raised their eyebrows – Chen Yu was really a witty person, these few words sounded so good.

Lan Xi nodded and took the arrow in Bai Yutang's hand, "I know this arrow."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang's hearts were filled with joy – we've got something!

"I want to find the person who used this arrow!" Lan Xi suddenly raised his head and spoke seriously to Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, "Do you know who they are?"

Bai Yutang shook his head gently and asked Lan Xi first, "Where were you this afternoon?"

Lan Xi froze and said, "I was in the quarry to the west."

"Went to the quarry?" Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were both curious.

Lan Xi pointed to the black triangle on the tip of the arrow, "Do you think this is iron? This is stone!"

"Huh?" Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were both curious, this black thing was stone and not iron? They couldn't tell at all!

"Arrows made out of this kind of stone are lighter than iron ones, so they will be more accurate." Lan Xi explained to the two.

"Oh..." Zhan Zhao nodded and asked again, "Any witnesses?"

Lan Xi smiled and took out a large bag of stone arrow tips from a side counter, "I ground them all afternoon with the workers, it takes at least half an hour to grind one of these arrow tips. I hired nearly a hundred workers from the quarry to grind them all afternoon, you can ask, I have been there almost every day these days."

"Why do you need so many arrow tips at once?" Bai Yutang wondered.

"Oh, there's a foreigner who recently bought a forest area to open a hunting theme park, and he needs a lot of these crossbows." Lan Xi said, taking out the order to show the two of them.

Chen Yu looked to the side to find cups to make tea for the three and told them all to sit down and talk.

Lan Xi's alibi was strong, and Chen Yu had said that it was a woman who had attacked.

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao then told the story of Chen Kefeng's attack while placing the arrow in front of Lan Xi.

"A woman?" Lan Xi frowned, "You guys said that the one who shot the arrow was a woman?"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang nodded, wondering, "What's the problem?

Lan Xi held the arrow and said, "Crossbows generally shoot very thin arrows because crossbows are not bows and have limited propulsion!"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both nodded, as if asking – so what?

"This arrow is not thin and has barbs, it is forbidden to sell these arrows, so you can only make them yourself!" Lan Xi said, taking out all the arrows available for sale in his shop and showing them to the crowd to check, "The thickness of the arrow will determine its transformation from a hunting tool to a murder weapon. All the arrows I sell here are registered, and no one dares to sell such arrows. Besides, this kind of arrow needs an extremely strong bow, otherwise it won't be able to fatally shoot someone."

"In that case... the person who shot the arrow is also a master at making arrows?" Bai Yutang asked again, "Why are you so shocked that the one who shot the arrow was a woman?"

Lan Xi thought for a moment, then picked up a medium-sized crossbow from the side and gave it to Chen Yu, "Try holding it with one hand."

"It's so heavy." Chen Yu was able to lift it with her hand, but her arm shook as she held it up; Chen Yu was a drummer and had some strength in her arms.

Lan Xi took another, larger one, "To shoot this kind of arrow, you need at least a bow like this." He said and gave it to Chen Yu, who was able to hold it before feeling her arms getting very sore.

Bai Yutang reached out and took it to try it, nodding, "It's hard to do with the arm strength of an average woman, men have to be trained to hold it."

Zhan Zhao frowned and asked Chen Yu, "Was that woman tall?"

Chen Yu rubbed her head, "Well... it felt like an ordinary woman. When you guys say that, I'm not too sure, I just saw a glimpse of her."

Zhan Zhao nodded and stopped asking questions.

"By the way," Bai Yutang put down the crossbow and asked Lan Xi, “why are you looking for the person who shot this arrow?"

Lan Xi's face slowly sank as he led the group into a compartment at the back. He opened a wooden window on one of the walls, and it turned out that there was a traditional shrine inside. A black and white photograph was offered, along with an incense burner, an urn at the back, and a long brocade box in front of it.

"This is..." Zhan Zhao thought the photo of the deceased looked a bit like Lan Xi.

"My older brother." Lan Xi whispered, "His name is Lan Qi." With that, he took out the brocade box and opened it... and they saw inside was a crossbow arrow that was almost identical to the one that Zhan Zhao was holding in his hands, with a barbed tip.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both froze.

"My brother was killed by this arrow." Lan Xi's cold voice said, "I must find the person who shot this arrow! They might be the one who killed my brother."

‿︵‿︵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: August 18, 2022 by Angel

Edited: September 13, 2022 by Angel