S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 3 Chapter 114

Mad Doctor Murderer 09 – Prank

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Two pieces of music, aimed at Chen Yu and Ma Xin, two unarmed girls, were the biggest headache for the SCI team.

A bomb, aimed at Ma Han and Qin Ou who were travelling at random, which was so powerful that if it was not Qin Ou who was there this time, then whoever was there would probably be either dead or injured.

This was a bare naked intimidation, or deterrence.

Zhan Zhao looked at Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang sighed softly, "Send the forensic department and the bomb removal unit to check out the scene."

"Speaking of which..." Zhan Zhao suddenly asked Bai Yutang, “with both Qin Ou and Chen Mi gone, who is the current leader of the bomb removal unit?"

"Oh... I heard from Bao Sir two days ago that it’s an expert who came back from abroad who has a very arrogant reputation, and is also a friend of Brother." Bai Yutang replied.

"Huh?” This was new to Zhan Zhao, "Brother used to be very familiar with the police?"

"Oh... because Brother opened a hotel, a company, a supermarket, a hospital, in short, opened messy things, and then was loaded with dozens and dozens of bombs, so he met the bomb disposal people!" Bai Yutang replied.

The corners of Zhan Zhao's mouth could not help but twitch. To the side, Ma Xin heard this and was also surprised, "Wow, big brother Bai is too godly!"

"Well, that's why that bomb disposal expert made fun of him for being possessed by the god of bad luck."

"Oh? Apart from Gongsun, there's actually someone else who makes Brother eat his words?" Zhan Zhao was curious.

"Of course not." Bai Yutang shook his head, "The police officer wasn't very good at Chinese, so Brother retaliated by giving him a very overbearing Chinese name."

"What name?" Zhan Zhao and Ma Xin asked together.

"Oh, he likes tigers and asked Brother if there was a surname for tigers." Bai Yutang explained to the two, "So Brother told him that the tiger was the king of all beasts, so his surname should be Wang. He also said that he was such an arrogant maverick, so he picked another overbearing word, thus he was named Wang Ba! "

Zhan Zhao and Ma Xin both grinned, "So unethical! That's too much!"

While talking, Yang Fan wandered over and seemed to have heard the name 'Wang Ba', and laughed, "Oh... that Wang Awkward Man... I know him, he and Qin Ou are quite familiar." (Angel: The author uses 王囧人. 囧 is a pictograph in internet language. Because it looks like a face with drooping brows and a mouth, it has a few meanings; expressing helplessness or anxiety, a person who is embarrassed, shy, or feeling shameful, as well as someone who is surprised or scared.)

"Wang Awkward Man?" Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao were both puzzled.

"Oh, Qin Ou said that he had worked with him in the past to defuse bombs, and that Officer Wang had a habit of telling cold jokes while defusing bombs." Yang Fan was helpless "Qin Ou's laughing point is super low, that time he laughed so hard that his stomach hurt, and when he was dismantling the bomb, his hands shook and he almost cut the wrong wire."

"This ah... "Zhan Zhao had some interest in this police officer, but thought about it and felt strange, so asked, "that Wang Awkward Man was a bomb disposal expert abroad, why suddenly come to our area? "

"I don't know about that." Yang Fan shook his head, "I'm leaving, you guys go see Chen Yu, she's fine now."

Zhan Zhao and the others nodded, parting with Yang Fan and heading back.

"Xin Xin, you guys be careful these days." Bai Yutang instructed Ma Xin, "Especially Chen Yu... she may have inadvertently discovered something and thus attracted a murderer."

"Right, I feel the same way." Zhan Zhao nodded, "The other party seems to be very determined."

"Determined?" Bai Yutang had some feelings about this adjective that Zhan Zhao used.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Zhan Zhao concluded.

"Such a coincidence?" Bai Yutang laughed, "Me too."

The two men exchanged a silent glance, both a little uneasy – a police officer's hunch was something that called for a headache, as it was basically good things never happen and bad things happen.

Back in the ward, Chen Yu was stable, but the memory of what she had just done was gone, and the doctor said she needed to stay in hospital for a day for observation.

Leaving Ma Xin and Chen Mi to look after her, the others went home first. Bai Yutang sent Zhao Hu to look after the group of girls, and he took Zhan Zhao back to the police station first.

In SCI's office, several colleagues from the forensics department were gathered, and Bao Zheng was also there, listening to their report on this phone booth bombing.

Seeing that the two had returned, Bao Zheng took the report and thanked the forensics officers, then gave a wave to the two, gesturing – follow him into the office.

"Cat..." Bai Yutang asked Zhan Zhao in a whisper, “as far as you can see, how is Bao Sir feeling?"

Zhan Zhao whispered, "Typhoon level nine."

"That serious?" Bai Yutang asked, Bao Zheng was about to lose his temper again.

Sure enough, when he entered the room, Bao Zheng’s face darkened, "How did this happen?"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other, both signalling – the other one explains.

"You speak first!" Bao Zheng looked at Bai Yutang.

"The case is unclear now." Bai Yutang told the story of what happened when they met Lan Xi that afternoon.

"Lan Qi?" Bao Zheng recalled that the name seemed to ring a bell, "The plane crash... I'll ask about this for you tomorrow and see if I can get the information."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were pleased, of course.

"But why would someone want to kill Chen Yu? And why would a phone booth explode?" Bao Zheng frowned at Zhan Zhao, "Just now, Officer Wang from the bomb disposal team told me that the amount of explosives was very large, but fortunately only part of it detonated, and the other part was deliberately physically insulated by the person who put it there. If all of it had detonated, Ma Han and Qin Ou would have been killed even if they had escaped quickly. In addition, the bomb was remotely controlled, and the other party clearly just wanted to scare the two of them. What is the situation?"

"Well..." Zhan Zhao pondered for a moment, "If I were to put it simply, I think it could be that we have accidentally touched on a certain case. And this case is one that the killer has planned well and can't afford to fail, so he doesn't want us to touch it! So he wants to warn us – he doesn't want to hurt the innocent, but if we dare disrupt his plans again, we won't be so lucky, and he's proved he's got it in him."

"Then can you describe what kind of person that so-called 'he' is?" Bao Zheng held his coffee and listened as Zhan Zhao gave a psychological profile of the killer.

"This is a typical targeted and planned crime, the murderer is not mentally disturbed nor perverted, but treats this crime as a task that must be completed." When Zhan Zhao spoke about his specialty, he immediately came to life and dragged a stool to sit down, reaching for the chocolates on Bao Zheng's table to eat while saying, "The murderer is very clearly directed, and the murderer feels that he is humane and righteous, not a homicidal maniac, so he is not willing to hurt the innocent. It is evident that he is normally a more responsible and successful career man. But what he has to do is so important to him again that even if he has to put aside his moral boundaries, he still has to finish it!"

"Wait..." Bao Zheng interrupted Zhan Zhao with a helpless and powerless face, "Can you speak a human language that I understand?"

Zhan Zhao flattened his mouth and Bai Yutang on the side also took a chocolate, "This cat said that the killer might be an avenger."

Bao Zheng listened and rubbed his chin, "Oh... revenge ah."

Zhan Zhao gave Bai Yutang a cross look and Bai Yutang stuffed the chocolate into his mouth, "Why?"

"Taking a quote out of context!" Zhan Zhao was dissatisfied.

Bai Yutang nodded, "Then remove all the antecedents you're going to say and come to the conclusion of what the killer might be"

Zhan Zhao ground his teeth for a long time, "... The Avengers..."

Bai Yutang shrugged his shoulders was stomped on by Zhan Zhao, his scalp tingled with pain and he looked at him helplessly.

"If it's revenge, the methods will get more and more extreme, we've come across many such cases before." Bao Zheng took a deep breath, "The killer probably didn't expect to be targeted by you guys first thing in the morning either."

"I also think... after all, if Chen Yu didn't know us, if Brother didn't have us working on Qin Tian's case early in the morning, and if Chen Kefeng's case didn't come to us, it might have been a long time before we found out that all these cases were connected." Bai Yutang whispered, "Besides, this kind of revengeful person's attitude towards the police can fully prove the murderer's determination and the extent of his hatred. Cat just used the word 'determined' well, and there might be more things happening in the future."

"So do you have any clues?" Bao Zheng was worried, "There are many academic exchanges and large conferences that will be held in S City in the next few days, I can't afford to have bombs all over the streets!"

"Yes!" Zhan Zhao's eyes lit up, "Chen Kefeng's sister, Chen Keqing!"

"Cat, what do you suspect she knows?" Bai Yutang asked.

"Well!" Zhan Zhao nodded, "Judging from her reaction to that arrow, I think she knows quite a lot. Especially since Lan Xi's brother was also killed in a plane crash, or by an arrow, I think Chen Keqing might know a lot about the plane crash back then!"

"Then why did the killer try to kill Chen Kefeng but not Chen Keqing?" Bai Yutang was puzzled.

"Well… as a threat? Or some other purpose, this still has to be checked." Zhan Zhao said as he ate Bao Zheng's chocolates one by one, finding the taste and texture superb!

At the end of the meal, the box was snatched away by Bao Zheng, "You two go and analyse the case if you want to, also, don't forget about the university psychology conference tomorrow!"

Zhan Zhao was pulled out of the office by Bai Yutang, with a hundred and twenty reluctances in his heart, "I obviously have a clue, what's the point of going to a school conference, waste of time."

The two walked back to the office as they talked, and there was a thick stack of information on Jiang Ping's desk.

"What are you checking?" Bai Yutang took the information and read it.

"It's information on all the people who died in that plane crash." Jiang Ping sighed helplessly, "I've found everything, but there's a lot of information, so it might take a while to go through it all."

Bai Yutang crossed his arms and looked at Zhan Zhao, "Cat, I don't think this is the way to go, think of a way to move forward by retreating."

"Then how about sending someone to keep an eye on Chen Keqing?" Zhan Zhao suggested.

"That's fine, but that young lady is so feisty, we have to be careful, otherwise there will be a lot of trouble." Bai Yutang found Zhang Long and Wang Chao and told them to follow Chen Keqing.

After all the arrangements were made, Bai Yutang looked at the time, "Let's go Cat, we can still sleep for two hours after we go back and take a shower."

"Let's go for a late night snack?" Zhan Zhao suddenly got excited, "I haven't eaten properly all day, it is necessary to sacrifice the temple of the five organs."

"You're not sleepy?" Bai Yutang wondered.

"I have to go to a conference tomorrow, perfect time to catch up on sleep." Zhan Zhao walked outside with his hands in his pockets and was in a good mood when he and Bai Yutang found a place to have a late night snack. Bai Yutang could tell that Zhan Zhao was somewhat interested in this case.

"There are still no clues about the patchwork corpse case." Bai Yutang gave Zhan Zhao a dish to eat, "We'll go to that university tomorrow, so we can check it out."

"Yeah, it's not like there's nothing we can do, it's Ma Xin and the others' alma mater, so consider it a field trip to investigate." With chopsticks in his mouth, Zhan Zhao was adamant to have another order of crispy salted chicken.

The two of them were eating happily when Bai Yutang's phone rang.

"Zhang Long and the others..." Bai Yutang said, looking at the caller ID.

"No way, they were just sent out and they followed up this soon?” Zhan Zhao padded over to listen.

"Captain, we're keeping an eye on that Chen Keqing, she's at the bar right now, but something really weird just happened." It was Zhang Long who spoke.

"What happened?" Zhan Zhao asked across the phone.

"Chen Keqing just got off work and went to the bar for drinks with two girls, so we pretended to go in for drinks too." Zhang Long said a little about the situation, "Halfway through the drink, we suddenly heard the three of them screaming. We went over to take a look and found a finger and a toe inside the cocktail they had half drunk… and they were all human."

"Cough cough..."

Zhan Zhao was clutching his cup and drinking sago pudding when he choked in shock.

Bai Yutang also recoiled a little, "In each person's cup?"

"Yeah, they're throwing up right now and the bar is a mess, we've called the police. Captain, why don't you come and see for yourselves?"

"Okay, Cat and I will go over there."

Zhan Zhao rubbed his chin, "Fingers and toes, this is a typical prank!"

Bai Yutang pulled Zhan Zhao up from his chair to take him out, "Not everyone can get a person's fingertips for a prank, right?"

Zhan Zhao raised the corner of his mouth, "That's true."

When they drove to the bar, they saw that many people from the forensics department had come, and Gongsun was also there.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other and walked over, only to see the ambulance parked aside. Chen Keqing and a few girls were there, still holding their throats and vomiting. The three of them all had a big attitude, and they wouldn't go even though the ambulance crew wanted them to get in.

Zhan Zhao paid attention and observed. Although he didn't know much about designer brands or otherwise, these few people were well-dressed, and their jewellery and bags were all very high-class, so they were probably well-off.

"Why are they throwing up like this?" Bai Yutang asked the smiling Gongsun, feeling a little weird – Gongsun was in such a good mood, something must be odd!

“It's this." Gongsun pointed to the cup with the fingertips to show the crowd.

It turned out that those cocktails had fresh white milk at the bottom, so the toes and fingers sank to the bottom and could not be found until the end of the drink, when the drink was almost all gone. No wonder it was so disgusting.

"That's not even the most disgusting thing." Gongsun reached out and pointed to the half-eaten burger on the table and pulled out a piece of meat from it to show to Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang.

Zhan Zhao frowned, and Bai Yutang, who had a cleanliness problem, felt sick to his stomach just looking at it.

They saw that what Gongsun had pulled out was half a slice of ear... Although it was sliced very thinly, one could tell at a glance that it was an ear.

"Actually, this isn't the most disgusting!" Both corners of Gongsun's mouth curled up, "Next time, sell this horror movie to Jintang and his screenwriter."

"There's something more disgusting?" Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang said in unison, it was hard to imagine what could be more disgusting.

"Look at this." Gongsun pointed to the ground, and they saw that there was a pile of vomit there, which should have been just thrown up by the three girls.

Gongsun took out a plastic bag and inside were a few pieces of pink meat that looked like pig liver, which was a little more pink in colour.

"What's this?" Zhan Zhao tilted his head.

"Oh, they found this in their vomit, a human tongue." Satisfied with the horrified expression on Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang's faces, Gongsun continued, "Judging by the degree of digestion, it should have been eaten during dinner and has already been partially digested!"

Both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang felt their eyelids twitching – Who would play such a prank?

‿︵‿︵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 29/30, 2022 by Angel

Edited: September 22, 2022 by Angel