S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 3 Chapter 112

Mad Doctor Murderer 07 – Plane Crash

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“So you are saying, your brother died by this arrow?” Bai Yutang examined the arrows and noticed that both of them were almost identical, except one of them was newer and the other was worn out.

Zhan Zhao also took a look at both arrows with interest and asked Lan Xi, “Are these made by the same person?”

“They shouldn’t have been.” Lan Xi unexpectedly shook his head.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang made eye contact. Chen Yu was listening on the side in a haze and couldn’t help but ask, “Then you’re saying that we need to find the person who made the arrow?

“I haven’t finished speaking.” Lan Xi placed the two arrows side-by-side for everyone to see, “The arrow makers have similar craftsmanship, technique, habits, etcetera, virtually identical. But you guys should also know that there have been many people in this world who have painted the Mona Lisa, but there will only be one real painting.”

After listening, Zhan Zhao nodded, “So what you’re saying is that the person who made these arrows is mimicking the arrow that actually killed your brother?”

Lan Xi also nodded, “To be exact, I think there is a mastermind behind this. The arrow which killed my brother was made by an experienced craftsman, but this new arrow was made by an amateur.”

“So confidently sure?” Bai Yutang wondered, “You can even differentiate new from old?”

“Relied on feeling.” Lan Xi responded.

“Feeling…” Zhan Zhao muttered to himself as he held the arrow off to the side in a daze. Bai Yutang asked Lan Xi, “Could you explain your brother’s case to us?”

Lan Xi nodded, and went to the front of the room with everyone and sat down.

“My brother was an adventurer.” Lan Xi said lowly once he sat down, “You guys may have known, we are from the Lisu tribe where children from a young age would love to hunt and go on adventures. My brother had a strong sense of justice, he learned medicine before, as well as wrestling, he has very strong survival instincts.”

“What was his occupation then?” Bai Yutang was rather interested in this type of person.

“En… How to put it, I think he does good things as a profession.” Lan Xi smiled awkwardly.

“Good things as a profession?” This was the first time Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang even heard of such a profession.

“Here’s the thing, my brother frequently mentioned to me that this world has a lot of unjust. For example, if one day Europe decided to wage war, even if it’s a small scale terrorist attack, the media will take turns broadcasting it. Once more than ten people die, it will attract global condemnation towards violence, but also a lot of sympathy.”

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang listened and nodded, waiting for Lan Xi to continue speaking.

“But in the same vein, at places where it’s less developed, violence and terrorism is everywhere, the death toll is even higher than those ten.” Lan Xi sighed, “Anytime an African tribe decides to go on a massacre spree, there is always at least a hundred, sometimes even a thousand, deaths, but those incidents rarely get attention. People always flaunt about fairness and justice, but it’s always about power.”

“That is true.” Chen Yu nodded, “Just like Qin Tian’s death recently, the newspapers were all over it, but in reality, every day there’s people who meet unfortunate ends. There are children who get kidnapped but only get posted on the third page, but a celebrity wedding gets headlines.”

Lan Xi responded, “Just like that!”

Zhan Zhao rubbed his chin, the two of them have similar morals and outlook on the world.

“So, your brother was a social worker, right?” Bai Yutang seemingly understood what occupation Lan Xi’s brother had.

Lan Xi nodded again, “That’s right. My brother was very capable, he would raise charity money, get food supplies, and send it to the most dangerous place in the world by plane. Or if some doctors volunteer to go to a place filled with terrorist activity, he wouldl be their bodyguard to ensure their safety, lots of this kind of work.”

“En.” Zhan Zhao stated, “A very admirable person.”

“I never worried about him, but recently, things felt different.” Lan Xi explained and lowered his voice in sadness, “Brother was always sympathetic towards others but his own romantic life wasn’t the best; he always felt that these days girls are outstanding, but none have sympathy or a sense of justice.”

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang glanced at each other, in reality it’s not just women, but the society itself, people are more realistic and do not sacrifice for others as much anymore.

As Lan Xi spoke, he would sometimes look at Chen Yu who was rather uninterested in the case and stood off to the side, not paying attention to the conversation that was happening.

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao watched and realised… Lan Xi must have seen how Chen Yu protected Chen Jiayi with no regard to her own safety, and probably felt this kind girl had a strong sense of justice, and therefore he probably had a good feeling about her character. But Chen Yu did have this kind of habit, just like last time when she saved Qi Le.

Suddenly, the kitchen echoed a “wuuwuuu” sound; it was Lan Xi’s water boiling.

He wanted to stand up, but Chen Yu motioned that she would go and let the rest continue conversing over the matter.

Lan Xi looked over his shoulder and let out a sigh, “Girls like her are rather uncommon.”

Bai Yutang moved over to Zhan Zhao and whispered, “Does Chen Yu’s action have any psychological explanation behind it?”

Zhan Zhao nodded, “The key person is her grandfather.”

Bai Yutang was slightly stunned.

“You know, Chen Yu’s parents are both thieves, anybody would be worried that committing crime is a gene that can be passed down or whatnot.” Zhan Zhao whispered, “You also saw how Chen Yu’s grandfather would try to be her role model, I bet that he drilled the concept of justice into her head just so she won’t walk the same path as her parents.”

“Oh…” Bai Yutang nodded, “That makes sense.”

As they finished talking, Chen Yu brought out a pitcher of warm water and helped pour water for everyone, then sat down and put the pitcher aside.

“Ahem.” Zhen Zhao coughed lightly, making Lan Xi’s attention subconsciously divert away from Chen Yu and back onto himself and asked, “Oh right, so what was so different about your brother this time?”

“Ah yes, I usually don’t know where my brother is since we only meet around once a year, and he comes to find me every time, we usually don’t even talk over the phone. But three years ago, before my brother’s death, he suddenly called me over the phone. At the time, he was across the Pacific on a small island so the connection was really weak and choppy. He happily told me that he found a really nice girl, his true love, and he wanted to bring her back to meet me. They were even planning a wedding.”

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang widened their eyes. That good of a girl? She must be some sort of heroine then.

“What kind of girl?” Zhan Zhao asked, “Do you know her name?”

Lan Xi shook his head with regret, “I wanted to ask for more details at the time, but the connection was really weak and eventually the signal cut out. Not long later, the airline called and told me to go confirm the body. They say my brother died from an aviation accident, but his death was not caused by the accident, but rather from this arrow that pierced through his heart.”

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were stunned.

“An aviation accident three years ago?” A lightbulb went off in Zhan Zhao’s head, there was no way it’s a coincidence, right?

Bai Yutang also had his suspicions and asked, “Which aviation incident three years ago, which airline?”

“It was a small plane, it took off from a small island off the Pacific Ocean and was flying towards Guangdong.” Lan Xi explained as he handed over the detailed airline information over to Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, “That island is called Kosan, it only had around a few thousand inhabitants, all indigenous residents. But a very strong earthquake made it almost impossible to survive on, and there was no rescue for the residents either. It caused a pretty big genocide riot. Once the peacekeepers calmed the riot down, they found numerous bodies, some of them were foreign tourists who lost their lives in the riot. My brother followed a team of medical personnel there, at the time there were a lot of volunteer doctors who went to confirm the identities of the deceased. But when my brother and the team of doctors were on the plane on their way back, the plane crashed on an unnamed island where the entire crew died.”

“I don’t understand.” Zhan Zhao was puzzled, “The entire crew died, but only your brother was shot by an arrow?”

“That aviation incident was really special.” Lan Xi shook his head, “At the time that plane had a lot of passengers, it might have been over capacity.”

“Huh?” Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang found it funny, “An aeroplane can even be over capacity?”

“Because when they left, a second wave of armed force attacks started to happen. There were not enough peacekeepers, so everyone crowded onto the plane, and after the plane crashed, it seemed like a lot of passengers didn’t die. But they were on the island for around a month, with no food or water, there was a high chance that there was internal fighting, or the armed forces caught up to them, or other unfortunate circumstances… but once the coast guard found them, the number of bodies on that island was the same as the number of seats on that plane.”

“Were there any other passengers who died by an arrow similar to your brother?” Bai Yutang asked.

“I don’t know.” Lan Xi sighed, “I wanted to ask for details, but the police refused to tell me, and afterwards, the incident was coldly handled.”

“At that time, Teacher Hao went to do identity confirmation before also getting into an aviation incident, it’s the same flight.” Bai Yutang called Jiang Ping to give him the flight number, but all he received was the aviation incident and a rough list of the victim’s names. The clues were very vague, as if it was done on purpose.

“I think we should investigate it some more.” Bai Yutang gently tapped his chin with his phone, looking at Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao agreed as he glanced over at the dozing Chen Yu, “Chen Yu?”

“Huh?” Chen Yu raised her head, looking at the two.

“When did Chen Kefeng join your band?” Zhan Zhao asked.

“Oh, after Le Le’s brother passed away, we cycled through a lot of guitarists. Kefeng and Kevin returned to do music and the twins brought up partnership, so… It’s been around two years.”

“So you didn’t know them three years ago?” Bai Yutang asked.

“Of course not.” Chen Yu laughed, “Le Le and I only became popular three years ago.”

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were a bit annoyed, based on the information, Chen Yu didn’t really know Chen Kefeng. Why was there a person that wanted to kill him… and using this method, what did it have to do with the aviation incident three years ago?

“However, Kefeng has a fear of aviation.” Chen Yu suddenly said.

“Fear of aviation?” Bai Yutang scowled.

“Yeah.” Chen Yu smiled, “Originally, he was really scared of being on planes, once he’s in the sky he would become pale and sweaty, as if he was going to die, but afterwards he got better.”

Zhan Zhao paused, “Oh, last time you guys were asking me about how to treat aviation phobia, you were asking for him?”

“That’s right.” Chen Yu nodded, “Or else every time we go out for a concert, we have to wait for him to slowly get there by train or boat, it’s so annoying. But that trick with peeling an orange really worked!”

“Peeling oranges?” Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao in confusion.

“Oh, attention diversion method.” Zhan Zhao smiled as he responded, “Just like how you would eat popcorn during a horror movie, your attention is diverted, so it greatly reduces fear.”

Everyone stayed at Lan Xi’s shop for quite some time, Bai Yutang even researched archery with Lan Xi, then bought a very handsome crossbow before saying goodbye to him and taking Chen Yu away.

“This case actually became more complicated.” Bai Yutang started the car, “Could it be that Lan Xi’s brother’s case and Ma Xin’s teacher’s case are related?”

“Hm… I have a feeling that Chen Keqing is very suspicious.” Zhan Zhao crossed one leg over the other, “Once we get back, we should thoroughly investigate the aviation incident, maybe we can come across some clues.”

“I can help you guys and ask Chen Kefeng.” Chen Yu scooted over and said, “Maybe we could find something.”

Zhan Zhao stared at her before smiling, “You really want to help?”

“Yeah.” Chen Yu nodded.

“Then do you know how to act?” Zhan Zhao suddenly started to smile evilly, Bai Yutang glanced at the sky, this cat is having naughty ideas in his head again.

“Of course, Le Le and I have been acting recently.” Chen Yu proudly patted her chest, “I am really immersed in Jiayi’s biography!”

“Great.” Zhan Zhao flashed a smile, “Then you can help me put on a great show then.”

‿︵‿︵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 25/26, 2022 by Lei

Edited: August 26, 2022 by Angel