S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 3 Chapter 119

Mad Doctor Murderer 14 – Behavioural Escalation

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There was only a limited amount to be found in the rubble. The forensic officers searched inch by inch and finally found two chairs clasped together, face to face. The surrounding areas were burnt, but the two sides between the chairs were intact.

The forensics officers found some residue on the tops of the two stools, as well as a few full fingerprints and half a palm print.

The fact that fingerprints were found was encouraging to the crowd; after all, the other side was going to burn down the house in order to destroy the evidence, and the fingerprints would certainly provide a clue.

The search of the mountain went on until dawn, with few clues. There was a wild tea plantation nearby and the mountain was frequented by people, so a lot of garbage and messy items were collected and there was no way to tell them apart, so they had to wait for fingerprint identification.

The crowd returned to SCI early in the morning. After their coffee and breakfast were down, the identification results came back, and the fingerprint match resulted in no one being identified. While Zhan Zhao and the others were disappointed, the forensics department gave the crowd another hope – the hand was very big!

"Big hands?" Zhan Zhao found it strange, "How big?"

"Just bizarrely big!" Old Wang, the director of the forensics department, pushed up his old-fashioned glasses and concluded.

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao took the literal meaning of the word ‘bizarre' very seriously and found it very interesting.

"Roughly how tall is that person?" Gongsun asked.

"Let's put it this way... according to the spacing of fingerprints and the size of palm prints, the person who left the handprint could cover two sheets of A4 paper with his five fingers spread out, and his hand is quite wide." The director of the forensic section said with great interest.

"Two?" Bai Chi took two sheets of A4 paper to try it out and found it a bit scary.

"With hands that big, the presumed skeleton has to be over two metres tall, right?" Gongsun gestured and asked Zhan Zhao, "Do you remember that time we went to America to watch basketball?

Zhan Zhao nodded, "Yeah, I bought Yang Yang an O'Neal jersey that he could use as a blanket when he got it."

Bai Yutang looked at Old Wang, "You mean we're looking for a seven-foot-tall, three-hundred-pound giant?"

The crowd looked up and thought for a moment.

"If he's that size, there's no way those Forest Administration people haven't found him before, right?" Zhan Zhao found it unbelievable.

"Is it possible that they just have big hands?" Zhao Hu asked, "About the same height as a normal person yet with extra large hands?!"

Gongsun glanced at him, "Like Mickey Mouse?"

Zhao Hu was about to nod when Ma Han kicked him from behind. Zhao Hu rubbed his head, “One type of rice raises a hundred different kinds of people, some things are unpredictable."

Zhan Zhao thought about it and suddenly said to himself, "Quasimodo?"

Bai Yutang looked at him with amusement, "Cat, the idea is too romantic."

Zhan Zhao shook his head, feeling that things were developing in an interesting direction.

"It's also a clue, let's investigate it." Bai Yutang gave the information to Jiang Ping and looked at the time, "Everyone is tired, go back to sleep for four hours. After eating lunch, gather before one o'clock and we will discuss the case!"

"Yes."

The crowd dispersed. Zhan Zhao yawned and also wanted to leave, but just as he reached the door he bumped into Bao Zheng, "I thought you two were late, hurry up and get going!"

Bao Zheng urged.

He looked at Bao Zheng with a tilted head, "Where are we going?"

Bao Zheng glared at Zhan Zhao, "I already told you about the psychology seminar at the medical university and that I wanted you to give a speech!"

"Uh..." Zhan Zhao completely forgot about it, covering his face and struggling depressedly, "I'm so sleepy."

"Go even if you're sleepy!" Bao Zheng handed Bai Yutang a pile of prepared materials, "Ma Xin and Chen Yu will accompany you there."

"Huh?" Bai Yutang was puzzled, "Why do you want the two girls to accompany us?"

"They are the key figures in this case, aren't they?" Bao Zheng smiled, "The two are downstairs now, do a good job." After saying that, he happily walked away.

Zhan Zhao was reluctantly dragged into the elevator by Bai Yutang, the two thought about it left and right, and after all, Hao Ling used to work there, so it would be good to check it out.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang took the opportunity to take a nap in the car while Ma Xin drove them to the school. She and Chen Yu had been eyeing Bai Yutang's car for a long time and today they could enjoy it.

The lecture started at around nine in the morning, and when Zhan Zhao arrived, it was just before break and the school looked very busy and lively.

Cars were not allowed to drive into the school, so Zhan Zhao got out of the car early and walked. Without informing the school officials to pick them up, they wandered around the school on their own first, only they didn't have to walk long before... Chen Yu was exposed!

After all, she was a member of a popular band, and Chen Yu was soon surrounded by people asking for autographs and whatnot.

The two sides split up and met up at the lecture hall later. Zhan Zhao and Ma Xin ran to give the speech, while Bai Yutang took Chen Yu around the area to inquire about the situation.

When Zhan Zhao and Ma Xin arrived at the auditorium, they found that the psychology seminar was quite large. At the entrance stood Yu Xiaofeng, who was in charge of hospitality and organisation.

When Zhan Zhao saw Yu Xiaofeng standing in front of the auditorium in formal wear, he asked Ma Xin, "Why is Yu Xiaofeng here? Why are there so many reporters at a school-level seminar?"

"I've checked with my old classmates, and Yu Xiaofeng, like Xue Qin, switched to the psychology department. She's sweet looking and likes to be in the limelight, and she's had scandals with some celebrity before, so I don't know if she's in psychology or entertainment or doing school PR." Ma Xin shrugged, "But Xue Qin couldn't come today, so she had to hold the show alone."

Zhan Zhao nodded. At this time, he saw two foreigners standing behind the many reporters, with their hands in their pockets carrying cameras... only they were not too interested in Xiaofeng and looked around, like they were waiting for someone.

Zhan Zhao felt some familiarity, and after thinking about it, he frowned, "Why are these two here?"

Those two foreigners also saw Zhan Zhao and hurriedly greeted him warmly, "Dr. Zhan!"

"Who are they?" Ma Xin asked Zhan Zhao curiously as she looked at the two foreigners who had come running wildly from afar.

"The reporter and the editor-in-chief." Zhan Zhao said, "Social news oriented, not entertainment pages."

"Why would they know you?" Ma Xin wondered

"They covered a few international cases that SCI had investigated, and we had some contact at the time." When Zhan Zhao saw the two foreigners running closer and closer, he frowned slightly and reminded Ma Xin in a whisper, "These two have a keen sense of smell, don't reveal anything about the plane crash."

"Hmm." Ma Xin nodded.

"Dr. Zhan!" The reporter running in front was slightly older, in his forties or fifties, and greeted Zhan Zhao enthusiastically, while the one at the back picked up his camera to take a picture.

Zhan Zhao introduced the two reporters, one was called Thomas and the other Jack, both senior reporters.

Thomas suddenly came over and asked Zhan Zhao in a low voice, "How is it? Are there any clues?"

Zhan Zhao faintly froze and looked at him in confusion, "What clues?"

"Hey, hey, don't play dumb Dr. Zhan, aren't you here to investigate that plane crash from back in the day?" Thomas lowered his voice, "I wouldn't have come here if I didn't have good news!"

Zhan Zhao frowned, "Where did you hear that from?"

"Someone emailed me..." Thomas took out his phone and showed it to Zhan Zhao.

When Zhan Zhao took it, he saw that the email read – the plane crash three years ago was a conspiracy. In S City, SCI is investigating the case and it is definitely worth reporting.

Zhan Zhao frowned slightly and looked at the sender's address – it was the same person who had sent them a warning email last time, telling them not to investigate the case.

Zhan Zhao was a little bewildered. why would he notify an internationally renowned journalist to come and cover the case while warning them not to investigate further? What kind of plan is this killer working on? And there was one thing that Zhan Zhao was very concerned about – the two emails, one in Chinese and one in English, had very different wording styles! Was there a split?

"Can you reveal some clues to me first?" Thomas asked Zhan Zhao with a smile, "Where's Captain Bai? I haven't seen him for a long time."

Zhan Zhao shrugged slightly, "I think you've been tricked, we're investigating a body separation case, not a plane crash."

"Separating bodies?" Thomas was surprised.

"I'm surprised you believed in this email so much that you rushed over here yourself instead of calling to ask first.” Zhan Zhao's voice was laced with laughter but there was something in the words, "This news is more suited to the entertainment section, not with you." After saying that, he took Ma Xin and walked forward.

Yu Xiaofeng had already come down the steps and shook hands with Zhan Zhao, "Dr. Zhan, it's great that you're willing to come."

Zhan Zhao smiled as Yu Xiaofeng looked at Ma Xin again, "Why are you here too?"

"I came to be the guide." Ma Xin smiled and said, "By the way, the dean almost died yesterday, did you know that?"

Yu Xiaofeng was stunned, "What... almost died? Wasn't it Xue Qin who met a pervert?

“That’s right." Ma Xin nodded, "After Xue Qin, the dean suffered. Is someone taking revenge on you because you guys did bad things together before?"

"No... nothing!" Yu Xiaofeng hurriedly shook her head, "Don't talk nonsense!"

Ma Xin shrugged, "I'm just asking, out of concern. You also eat together down to the toes, be careful."

Yu Xiaofeng's expression was complicated, not knowing whether to be embarrassed, worried, or panicked. In short, she quickly walked around the back of those curious and inquisitive guests and entered the auditorium with Zhan Zhao and the others.

Before entering the auditorium, Zhan Zhao looked back and saw Thomas and Jack standing at the bottom of the steps, and Thomas was texting with his phone.

With a slight movement in his heart, Zhan Zhao took out his phone and sent a text message to Bai Yutang.

At this moment, Bai Yutang was touring the medical building with Chen Yu, accompanied by some enthusiastic female students who happened to have no classes.

Chen Yu asked, "Do you have to do autopsies to study medicine? Do they use real corpses and do they have samples to look at?

The students laughed and said that cadavers were valuable and scarce, and that they would only see them after they had attended classes.

Chen Yu was very clever and told the crowd about campus legends and such, saying that she was going to play a medical student in a horror film, so she had come to experience life.

A few students told Chen Yu some of the famous 'ghost stories' of the medical university, while Bai Yutang listened to every word, and one of them caught his attention.

"Two teachers committed suicide?" Bai Yutang was curious, "When did it happen?"

"Three months ago." The few girls were curious to see the handsome man in white finally speak. Was he Chen Yu's assistant? A broker? Or... the male star who was filming a movie with her?

"Can you be more specific?" Chen Yu asked, "Why did they commit suicide?"

"Well, one was Teacher Liu who gave us anatomy lessons, he jumped off a building." The girls explained in detail to Bai Yutang and Chen Yu, "Another one was Professor Wang who taught pathology, he fell into the river and drowned."

"That teacher Liu was so scary, we were in anatomy class and halfway through the lesson, he suddenly pushed open the window and jumped down." The girls all witnessed the situation that day and spoke in great detail, "The anatomy room was on the fifth floor, he didn't die instantly when he fell, he was even taken to the hospital for resuscitation, but he still died that night!"

"Suddenly jumped in the middle of class?" Bai Yutang felt strange, "No warning?"

"No!" A few girls nodded with certainty, "All thirty of us in the class saw it!"

"What about the one who drowned?" Bai Yutang asked, "Why did you say it was suicide too."

"He drowned in the school ditch." The girls went on to say, "The ditch was knee-high, how could he have drowned?"

“That’s right, everyone suspects that he had a heart attack and fell in."

"Speaking of which, why did Professor Wang go to the ditch in the middle of the night?"

"What about the school's explanation?" Bai Yutang asked, "Are they sure it was a suicide?"

"Well, the police have come and checked, and they've closed the case as a suicide!"

"Is there any horror involved here?" Chen Yu wondered.

"These two had both been possessed by ghosts before!"

"You guys are medical students, right? Do you still believe in this?" Bai Yutang found it amusing.

"But it's really bizarre, once during a class, Teacher Liu suddenly took off his shoes and hit himself in the face, smacking his face until it was swollen, saying something like, 'It's all your fault, it's all your fault, you brought this on yourself'!"

Chen Yu's eyes widened, "How perverted!"

"Isn't it?" The girls said with vigour, "And Professor Wang was so old that he ran around naked that day, wearing not a single piece of clothing! He almost got sued at the time!"

“Your school life is exciting!" Chen Yu found it quite amusing.

"Teacher Liu once attempted suicide by hanging himself, and was found by his wife in time for resuscitation. Professor Wang also attempted to jump around that time, and was talked down by the school leaders!"

"Why did he commit suicide?" Chen Yu wondered, "Efficient professors and teachers are all treated well, right?"

"They're both quite good." The girls shook their heads, "They were always talking to themselves, so everybody said they were possessed by ghosts! There's nothing wrong mentally either!"

Bai Yutang became interested in the two deceased, and he sent a message to Jiang Ping to look into it, just in time to see Zhan Zhao's text message come in. When he opened it, Bai Yutang raised his eyebrows slightly.

In the auditorium, before the seminar began, the leaders were asked to speak.

Zhan Zhao held back from yawning, so much so that his eyes were dry and astringent, and he now desperately needed a cup of fragrant coffee to save his life. Fortunately, Ma Xin was smart enough to run out and bring back a large cup of freshly ground coffee.

After taking a sip, Zhan Zhao felt saved and asked Ma Xin, "Where did you get this?"

"I asked the teacher for it." Ma Xin was very proud of herself, "I'm the master of the road here! Also, something just happened."

Feeling the effects of caffeine, Zhan Zhao asked, “What happened?"

"I was purposely walking towards the back when I heard Yu Xiaofeng arguing with someone on the phone!" Ma Xin took out her phone and gave it to Zhan Zhao, "I recorded it!"

"Smart!" Zhan Zhao put on his headphones and Ma Xin played it for him to hear.

He could only hear Yu Xiaofeng intentionally lowering her voice, but the emotional excitement made her unable to control her pitch. The high pitch even in a low voice would be recorded very clearly.

Yu Xiaofeng shouted through the phone, "What the hell do you want? I've said it has nothing to do with me, don't haunt me, okay!"

... There was a moment of silence as if the other party was speaking.

"It wasn't me, it was Keqing's idea!"

... Another moment of silence.

"I'm telling you, don't get ahead of yourself, I've given you a lot of money!"

Zhan Zhao and Ma Xin looked at each other – money?

"You had a hand in what happened then! The police haven't even investigated you yet, and now you're blackmailing me? I'm telling you, if you want money, ask Chen Keqing for it, I won't take your advice, just forget about it!"

... The other party said so two more sentences, and Yu Xiaofeng emotionally shouted out, "Kill me? Just you? Go to hell!"

... The phone hung up.

"Very intense!" Zhan Zhao looked at Ma Xin, "The content of what was said was also interesting."

At that moment, Yu Xiaofeng could be seen getting ready at the side, seemingly about to go on stage.

"Is she going to give a speech too?" Zhan Zhao asked Ma Xin.

"Of course she won't miss out on making a splash." Ma Xin nodded. As she spoke, Yu Xiaofeng was already on the stage with a calm and confident smile on her face, as if what had just happened had never happened. She looked very comfortable with the applause from the stage, reached out and lowered the microphone a bit, and smiled as she spoke.

Although her speech had little to do with psychology, she was pretty and funny, and won a lot of applause from the audience. Zhan Zhao raised his eyebrows, "This Yu Xiaofeng, she has the psychological qualities to be a murderer."

Ma Xin smiled, "Those who are doctors have good psychological qualities, she and Chen Keqing are both the kind of women who are more controlling."

She was about to listen carefully to what she was saying, when suddenly, Yu Xiaofeng opened her mouth, frowned and tried to open and close it, but no words came out, as if she had lost her tongue.

Ma Xin frowned slightly, "Something doesn't seem right."

As Yu Xiaofeng clutched her neck in pain, the audience below the stage stirred, and finally, she twitched and fell to the ground, clutching her neck in pain and trembling. Teachers from the medical university rushed up to check on her, and as there was no shortage of doctors here anyway, the crowd rushed to call the police for an ambulance.

"It's like she's been poisoned with some kind of nerve agent." Ma Xin told Zhan Zhao, "Or a serious brain attack like a brain tumour."

Yu Xiaofeng's condition then got worse and worse, and by the time the ambulance arrived, she was in shock, convulsing and unable to breathe.

After sending her to the hospital, several professors from the medical university who had just been in charge of giving Yu Xiaofeng first aid spoke to Zhan Zhao, who came up to investigate, "It must be poisoning, I think I smelled a bit of garlic, I'm afraid it's arsenic."

"Acute arsenic poisoning?" Ma Xin's eyes widened, "Has she recently eaten anything?"

"Uh... mineral water!" Several of the staff who had just followed Yu Xiaofeng said, "Bought it from the vending machine."

"Where is the water?" Zhan Zhao asked, and the crowd rushed to find it, but they couldn't find it.

"Cat."

At this time, Bai Yutang ran in with Chen Yu, "What's the situation? I saw an ambulance."

"Yu Xiaofeng has been attacked by someone, the other party does not look like they are joking this time, she will most likely die." When Zhan Zhao finished, he asked Bai Yutang, "Did you get it yet?"

Bai Yutang nodded and took out a phone, and when Ma Xin glanced at it, it appeared to be the same iphone that Thomas had just been using.

Chen Yu winked at her – Captain Bai stole something! What a quick trick!

When Zhan Zhao opened his phone to check the text message log, he saw that the last text message sent was – Is that really true? Zhan Zhao denied it, ah.

"The recipient's name is three X's ah." Zhan Zhao laughed and looked at Bai Yutang, "Why is the reporter so mysterious?"

Bai Yutang wrote down the phone number and asked Jiang Ping to check it out, while Zhan Zhao ‘shamelessly’ peeked at the text messages with other people, and after reading them, he raised the corner of his mouth.

At this time, everyone in the auditorium came out, and Zhan Zhao handed the phone to an professor who looked very old, "Teacher, I found a phone."

The old professor took the phone and before he could understand what was going on, Zhan Zhao and the others had already left.

When they arrived at the hospital, the doctor regrettably told them that even after resuscitation attempts, Yu Xiaofeng had died.

Zhan Zhao frowned and couldn't figure it out, "Dead?"

The doctor nodded, "This is a criminal case, poisoned to death. The preliminary judgement is arsenic poisoning that caused sudden death. We are waiting for the results of the forensic autopsy, we should find residual poison in the stomach solution for acute poisoning."

Everyone nodded, and after sending the doctor away, they stood and paced in place, "Something's not right! Not right at all!"

"Indeed, it seems like the behaviour has suddenly escalated." Bai Yutang also felt that something was not right.

"Could it be that they want a quick fix?" Zhan Zhao frowned, "Or is it two people with two approaches, or is it one of their own killing to confuse the public?"

As he was questioning, Bai Yutang's mobile phone rang, an undisplayed number was calling. When he picked up the phone, the other party was using a voice changer, and only said, "Next, many more people will die!" Then the caller hung up.

Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao, who gently rubbed his chin, "Maybe, there's more than one avenger."

‿︵‿︵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: September 23, 2022 by Angel

Edited: October 8, 2022 by Angel