S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 1 Chapter 99

Shadow Murderer 07 – Dark Night Kingdom

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Bai Yutang was waiting in the car when he saw Zhan Zhao come out of the cafe in a rage, rushing to the car and closing the door, like a cat that had scratched someone and returned victorious.

"What's wrong Cat?" Bai Yutang laughed, "You usually darken others, have you met your match today?"

Zhan Zhao glared at him, "Who said I was black, the one inside is black!"

"What's the result?" Bai Yutang started the car and drove towards the police station.

"I got a phone number, so I can call him if I need any help, is that a gain?" Zhan Zhao stretched his chin to look out of the car window and suddenly cried out "Ah!”

"What's wrong?" Bai Yutang turned his face to ask him.

"Well..." Zhan Zhao looked out the car window and said, "I think I just saw someone…"

“Who did you see" Bai Yutang stopped the car.

"That Little Loach from earlier." Zhan Zhao didn't seem very sure, "It was too dark and he was pitch black, I just saw an outline."

Bai Yutang followed the direction of Zhan Zhao's finger and saw that it was a commercial street with a rather eye-catching building that had a neon sign above it - Dark Night Kingdom, like a bar.

At that moment, a traffic officer came up and knocked on Bai Yutang's car window, "No parking here!”

Bai Yutang took out his ID and showed them to him, saying that he was on a mission and would leave immediately.

The traffic officer nodded and wanted to leave, but was stopped by Bai Yutang.

"What's that place?" Bai Yutang asked, pointing at the ‘Dark Night Kingdom’.

"Oh..." The traffic officer replied, “That Dark Night Kingdom is a club."

"What kind of club?” Zhan Zhao asked.

"Well... I heard about it." The traffic officer came forward and said, "That place looks like a bar, but it's actually a gambling-based fight club.”

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao looked at each other and nodded, and after the traffic officer left, the two drove back to the police station.

"Maybe I was wrong." Zhan Zhao rubbed his brow and said, "That kind of place is not for children."

“En..." Bai Yutang nodded without saying anything and concentrated on driving, but had a vague suspicion in his mind.

When the two returned to the office, they saw everyone gathered around their desks.

"What's going on?" Bai Yutang walked in.

"Head, we're testing Bai Chi." Zhao Hu said cheerfully, “Making him memorise the map… he has memorised the whole map of S City, he works better than a GPS."

Bai Yutang laughed, but Zhan Zhao beside him froze and tilted his head in thought.

"Cat?" Bai Yutang looked back at him, "What's wrong?"

"The area where that Dark Night Kingdom is located… it has old underground tunnels underneath it." Zhan Zhao said.

"Dark Night Kingdom?" Ma Han suddenly frowned and said, "I heard Wu Qiang's men mention it, saying that he had gone to the dark night before he died… Could this dark night be the same place as Dark Night Kingdom"

"Here too!" Wang Chao rummaged through an evidence bag, pulled out a bag and handed it to Bai Yutang, "Head, look at this, this is what was in Hei Yu's pocket."

Bai Yutang took it and saw that it was a box of matches, and on the black packaging were a few words in blood red - Dark Night Kingdom.

"Head, this area is Chen Jie's sphere of influence." Jiang Ping rummaged through the information, "This club is probably also hers"

The crowd’s eyes were all bright – they had found common ground.

Bai Yutang nodded and asked, "Didn't all the evidence get handed over to the anti-gang unit, why is it still here?"

Jiang Ping laughed dryly twice and said, "I just sent it off, Captain Lan said that their style of handling cases is different from ours, they go in a general direction. These small things, we were asked to spend our free time to collect some information before sending it over."

When Zhao Hu heard this, he exploded, "What the hell! I've dealt with that Lan guy before, he's a very petty cop, and he's even showing off when he's investigating a case, I've almost lost my life to him a few times, and he's still bragging."

Bai Yutang nodded: "Don't mind him, we'll do our job, but you all remember to try not to get into conflicts when investigating cases."

After instructing the crowd, Bai Yutang winked at Zhan Zhao, "Come on Cat, let's go to that club to hang out."

Seeing the two leave, Zhang Long patted Zhao Hu and said, "Don't be angry, you don't know, that Lan Chenglin and our head have a personal grudge."

"What personal grudge?" The crowd all gathered around, each one with a face full of gossip.

"Before SCI was established, wasn't the most powerful person in the police department the captain of the criminal investigation team?" Zhang Long said, "Originally, the position was to be given to Lan Chenglin, but our head was strongly protected by Bao Sir. At that time, our head had just retired from the army, so at first Lan Chenglin was very unconvinced, saying that he relied on his father's relationship with Bao Sir, but later on, after he had worked for only six months, the whole police department was convinced, and on one occasion, he even saved the entire anti-gang unit.”

"I've heard about that." Ma Han also got excited and said, "I heard about it when I was in the Flying Tigers before, saying that the head of the anti-gang unit made a mistake in his judgment and insisted that there was a gang deal in a garage on the outskirts of the city, and that it was Chief who later drove off alone to stop the people by force. He almost got into a fight with Lan Chenglin, and then the garage blew up."

"That's right!" Wang Chao nodded, "That saved over twenty people from the anti-gang unit!"

"Then why didn't Lan Chenglin get disciplined?" Jiang Ping was puzzled, "Stirring up such a big mess?"

"Heh." Zhang Long laughed, "If you want to punish him, several police officers in that unit would have to be disciplined together. After Head saved them, he drove off by himself and didn't mention it to anyone, and those who knew about it kept it to themselves."

"... I understand, that means that from then on, that kid surnamed Lan could not influence his men anymore, so he holds a grudge." Zhao Hu bristled, turning his face to see Bai Chi dumbfounded, and reached out to pat him, "What's wrong kid, listening to your idol's glorious deeds?"

Bai Chi turned his head and asked without thinking, "Why does Brother know that there are underground tunnels around Dark Night Kingdom? He only took a glance at that map."

The crowd couldn't help but laugh when they reacted, and Ma Han patted him on the shoulder, "You're still young... keep working hard."

Wang Chao moved a chair and sat down, beckoning to Bai Chi, "Come, come, I'll tell you more about Dr. Zhan's glorious deeds."

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Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao drove to the 'Dark Night Kingdom'.

When they pushed open the door, they saw that the inside was not as chaotic as they thought: the upper floor was a normal bar with elegant decorations.

When Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang walked in, they did not want to be seated nor did they want to drink, but instead they stood in the centre and looked around. Both of them were outstanding in appearance, so they were very eye-catching.

At that moment, a man who looked like a waiter came up and asked, "Is there anything you two need?"

Bai Yutang glanced at him and turned back to Zhan Zhao, "That kid Old Hong must have made it up, saying there was something interesting here, where is it?"

Zhan Zhao shrugged his shoulders and shook his head.

"The two of you were introduced here by Brother Hong, huh?" The waiter hastily smiled and said, "It's not the ground floor, it's downstairs." After saying that, he guided Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao downstairs.

After going around a screen and finding an extremely hidden staircase, they followed the waiter downstairs and heard the deafening sound of music.

As they walked down the stairs, they saw a dance floor full of young men and women, at least half of whom looked to be on drugs, and all of whom were crazy. Bai Yutang frowned as he watched, but Zhan Zhao was so excited to be in a place like this for the first time that he said in his heart - Wow! That guy dancing on the stage is a man, he's wearing so little, and it's just a rope.

Bai Yutang turned around and glared at him - don't look!

Zhan Zhao gave him a blank look - not looking, not looking.

The waiter stopped at the entrance of the stairs, "This is it." he said, pointing to the dance floor.

"Heh..." Bai Yutang sneered, "You take me for a child?"

"Hmm?" The waiter had a puzzled look on his face, and just as he wanted to speak, he suddenly felt a strong wind blowing in front of him. When he understood, he saw Bai Yutang's fist stopping less than half a centimetre from the tip of his nose.

Swallowing his saliva, the waiter said with a smile, "So you're a connoisseur... I'm blind, I have to go down another level." Saying that, he hurriedly led the two people down.

Going down one more level and entering a long corridor, the two smelled a faint sweet smell of blood. This smell was special, it was as if it could evoke one's most primitive desire for violence. Zhan Zhao frowned as he reached out to pull a piece of chewing gum out of his pocket and handed it to Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang was stunned, but quickly took it, opened it and stuffed it into his mouth. It was only when the strong mint flavour washed up from his tongue to his head that Bai Yutang realised the difference. The smell from earlier was dangerous, capable of making people violent and have an urge to destroy, and as soon as it was washed away by the mint flavour, the feverish feeling in his head disappeared.

Zhan Zhao also stuffed a piece into his mouth and nodded to Bai Yutang - there was something wrong with the smell!

The waiter guided the two of them to an iron door, knocked on it three times and then opened the door with a clang. The waiter gave the two of them an inviting gesture and then turned around and walked back.

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao walked through the iron door, and when they saw the scene in front of them, they both froze.

They saw that it was a large and open space divided into several areas, with a ring in which boxing was taking place. There was an iron cage where two large men were fighting with their bare hands, and it looked like wrestling. There was also an area where two lean foreigners were sparring... The common point was that both sides had no protective gear and were covered with injuries, but they were tireless and furious, and the people around them were all agitated and a little out of sorts.

Zhan Zhao leaned over to Bai Yutang's ear and said, "That smell has a hallucinogenic effect and can make people manic and violent."

Bai Yutang nodded and looked around, and saw that there was another floor above, similar to a private room, with many people sitting inside, dressed decently, as if they were watching the fight below, with scoreboards for placing bets next to them - it seemed to be of a gambling nature, and to put it bluntly, it was similar to the Colosseum in ancient Rome, only that the people fighting here were humans.

"Xiao Bai!" Zhan Zhao suddenly pointed ahead, and saw a little boy carrying a tea tray walking past in the corner. Although his clothes had changed to look like a waiter, the two of them still instantly recognised that that was Little Loach.

At the same time, Little Loach also saw them and first froze, then turned around and ran.

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao looked at each other and chased after him, but there were many people in front of them, and they were all in a frenzy. One of them happened to turn around and bumped into Bai Yutang. The man, a large man, reached out and tapped Bai Yutang's shoulder, and just as he tried to speak, Bai Yutang grabbed his wrist and threw him off with a shoulder throw. The large man flipped over in the air in an unflattering manner and fell on his face.

Zhan Zhao pursed his lips, Bai Yutang's reaction was absolutely instinctive! Zhan Zhao had discovered a long time ago that, probably because of his kung fu practice, Bai Yutang was particularly alert. When he was seated, he would instinctively choose a position where he could attack and prevent being attacked at any time. Now his nerves are at their most heightened state, tapping him on the shoulder is definitely looking for a beating, Zhan Zhao concluded - this is a consequence of conditioned reflexes plus cleanliness, and it has been said that he has obsessive-compulsive disorder.

It took the big man half a day to get up from the ground. He spat out a mouthful of blood, looked Bai Yutang up and down, and then he posed and beckoned, as if he wanted to fight against him.

Other people also noticed the disturbance and gathered around curiously. By now, Little Loach had long since run away. Bai Yutang looked at the big man with a provocative face in front of him and had an idea in his mind, so he took off his jacket and handed it back to Zhan Zhao. Zhan Zhao immediately understood that he was trying to lure the boss of the place out so that he could ask about Little Loach’s situation, so he took the clothes and shook his fist: "Go for it, Xiao Bai!"

Bai Yutang could not laugh or cry. From childhood to adulthood, every time he fought, Zhan Zhao would help him hold his clothes, and the funny thing was that Zhan Zhao never dissuaded him from fighting, but also shouted "Go for it, Xiao Bai” and had a face full of excitement.

Bai Yutang's body was well-proportioned and on the surface, it might look a bit thin, but only Zhan Zhao knew that when he was naked, it was all muscles, as tough as a leather whip!

Compared to Bai Yutang, the big man was nearly twice as big, and he was exaggeratingly craning his neck, cracking his fists and neck, making a loud cracking sound.

Zhan Zhao knew at first glance that this was an amateur, but Xiao Bai had joints all over his body that rattled, and he didn't need to crack them, just shake them.

Bai Yutang didn't do too much to relax, he just moved his neck slightly, and as he did so, there was a slight cracking sound between his bones, and his movements were very smooth and beautiful. At this moment, someone suddenly whistled upstairs, and when they looked up, they saw a foreigner with long hair and a flowery shirt, watching with interest from the side of the box. He was watching with great interest from the side of the booth. Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were stunned - it was Eugene, why was he here?

After whistling, Eugene said to the man standing by the boxing ring, "Get him a pair of gloves, and look for sixteen-ounce ones."

There was a roar of laughter from the crowd, and a few good men really took the gloves and handed them to the big man. Just as the big man was about to take them, he heard Eugene laughing, "Not for you, for him." With that, he pointed to Bai Yutang and said to the big man, "With his bare hands, I'm afraid he'll kill you!"

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

I love how Zhan Zhao encourages Bai Yutang whenever he goes to fight. That's so cute 🥰

Translated: November 1, 2022 by Angel

Edited: November 3, 2022 by Angel