S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 1 Chapter 103

Shadow Murderer 11 – Luo Wen's Request

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After the two of them came out of the archive room, Bai Yutang found Xu Qing and asked him to contact Han Zhang to check out Luo Wen's details.

Taking another look at the time, it was already two in the morning, and because too many things had happened today and too many questions were on their minds, the two of them didn't feel like sleeping at all.

"Cat, do you want to go for a snack?" Bai Yutang grabbed his jacket, "I'm so hungry."

"Ah, I'll go! I'm hungry too." Zhan Zhao put down the information and chased Bai Yutang out of the office.

When they got downstairs, the two didn't drive, but walked forward in a leisurely manner.

"Xiao Bai, where do you want to go?" Seeing that Bai Yutang passed by several of the restaurants they were used to going to without meaning to go in, Zhan Zhao asked him in confusion.

"Cat, how about we go to the night market and eat at a roadside stall?”

"Oh~~ you want to go to those punks to inquire about the situation, huh?" Zhan Zhao took two steps forward and reached out to put his hand on Bai Yutang's shoulder, "What do you want to ask about?"

Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao's paw on his shoulder, "Luo Wen was in that district for so many years, there's no way he doesn't have a few friends, right?"

"That's right, and with so many brothers having died recently, there must be quite a few people talking about it." Zhan Zhao nodded and saw that a lively night market was not far ahead. He wanted to rush forward, but was grabbed by Bai Yutang, "Wait a minute, you can't go like this."

Zhan Zhao did not understand, "Why not?"

"Heh..." Bai Yutang laughed, reached out to untie Zhan Zhao's tie and tucked it into his pocket, unbuttoned his shirt collar, unbuttoned his suit, and finally reached out to rub his hair a couple of times, "Okay. "

Zhan Zhao looked at himself and looked up with a smile as he stared at Bai Yutang's hair.

"What do you want?" Bai Yutang's scalp tingled at his look and he reached into the pocket of his jacket, "I'm fine like this."

"Hair~~" Zhan Zhao reached his claws out and tried to grab Bai Yutang's hair, "Not dishevelled enough!"

Bai Yutang hurriedly dodged to get out of the way, then turned around and ran, and the two of them simply ran, one after the other, into the night market.

For the night market, two or three in the morning is when business is good, and not all of those who come to shop are so-called gangsters, but mostly couples from the neighborhood, students who have slipped out of school, men and women. Young people have too much excess energy, and in their opinion, it's a bit of a shame that the good times are spent sleeping.

It was only after entering the night market that the two realised that the chances of finding a clue about Luo Wen from here were too slim. With all these stalls and people, where would they find it?

After half an hour of shopping, Bai Yutang had nothing to show for it except for the two large bags of food that Zhan Zhao had bought. With no gain at all and an unfilled stomach, it would be better to have OCD and eat while he walked than to just be shot.

Beside him, Zhan Zhao was struggling with a box of takoyaki, eating with gusto and not forgetting to remind Bai Yutang that his OCD and cleanliness addiction could be cured through hypnosis.

After a few more steps, Bai Yutang suddenly stood still and looked at a small shop next to him. Zhan Zhao followed his line of sight and immediately understood what he was looking at. He saw that it was a small shop selling plush dolls of various colours, including a strange style of plush bear that they had just seen at Luo Yang's home.

Bai Yutang seemed to be a little hesitant.

"There's a clue." Zhan Zhao lifted his foot and wanted to go inside, but was grabbed by Bai Yutang, "Cat, could it be that someone else bought it for him?"

Zhan Zhao smiled faintly, "This bear doesn't seem to be too high quality, but all the other toys that are better than it are on the floor, only that bear is on his bed. Children usually put their most important toys on their beds, they cuddle up and sleep with them, and they are given by the people they like the most."

When they entered the small shop, a young girl ran out, looked Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang up and down, and asked, "What do you want to buy?"

Zhan Zhao didn't answer, but walked straight over and took down the little bear, "This is the same as the one Yang Yang used to have, finally."

Bai Yutang said to the younger sister, "How much is it? Wrap it up for me, I want to give it to a child."

"Okay." The younger sister took the bear, put a plastic bag over it and asked, "Is it okay to wrap it in a bag like this? How old is the child?"

"Seven or eight years old, little boy." Zhan Zhao looked at the bag, it was a kind of cellophane with flowery cartoon designs printed on it, and there were a dozen more with different designs on the side, and he asked Bai Yutang with some difficulty, "What kind of paper was the original one wrapped in?"

Bai Yutang shook his head, "I don't remember."

"You've bought this before?" The younger sister asked somewhat tentatively.

"A friend bought it before... but they're no longer around.” Zhan Zhao said somewhat casually and somewhat lost, "This one was bought for his son, the original one got lost."

"That... Yang Yang you guys are talking about, are they called Luo Yang ah?" The younger sister thought about it, and asked nonetheless.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other, their faces showed surprise at the same time, "You know them?"

Seeing the two of them move in unison, the younger sister smiled and nodded.

"Could it be possible that the original one was also bought from your shop?" Bai Yutang asked.

“En... Brother Wen bought it for his son." The younger sister nodded and seemed a little sad as she pulled out a yellow duckling patterned cellophane wrap and said, "It's this one."

"You know Luo Wen?" Zhan Zhao asked, and was just about to continue when he heard the younger sister ask, "You two are police officers, right?"

Both of them froze at the same time, somewhat unsure of how to react.

The younger sister smiled and said, "Brother Wen taught me how to recognize police officers." Saying that, she looked up at the two, "He said that those who keep watching your expression when talking to you are either trying to chase you, or are the police."

“Cough cough~~" Bai Yutang coughed, holding back his laughter and turning his face to look outside, while Zhan Zhao's face flushed red. He, a big psychologist, was actually seen through by a 17 or 18 year old younger sister – it was so humiliating.

Seeing that both of them were a bit awkward, the younger sister handed the wrapped bear to Zhan Zhao and said, "My name is Xiao Xi, I know Brother Wen very well, are you guys checking him out?"

"... He's dead." Bai Yutang was silent for a moment before saying to Xiao Xi, "We're looking into who killed him."

Xiao Xi was shocked to hear this and nodded, "You guys ask, I'll tell you anything as long as I can avenge him."

"You and he were friends?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"Mm." Xiao Xi nodded, "Brother Wen loved his son and always came to buy some gadgets, he was different from the people here."

"How is that different?" Zhan Zhao was curious.

"Anyway, he just feels different at first glance." Xiao Xi smiled, "It's just like you guys... One look and you know you're not the same as them."

"Do you know who Luo Yang's mother is?" Bai Yutang asked her.

"Yang Yang wasn't born to Brother Wen himself." Xiao Xi blinked and said, "He was picked up by Brother Wen and then raised by him until he was that big."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other in understanding – sure enough.

"What do you know about Luo Wen's death?"

Xiao Xi bit her lower lip and hesitated for a moment, saying, "I really don't know anything specific, but Brother Wen came to my place before he died and he gave me something, saying that if I met a good police officer that I could trust, I should give it to them, but that they should agree to one condition."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were surprised, today's snack was really too profitable, and they hurriedly asked, "Agree to what?"

Xiao Xi smiled, "Adopt Yang Yang and raise him well."

As soon as the words left her mouth, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both froze and looked at each other again, somewhat unsure of what to do.

"When Brother Wen gave me that thing, he said..." Xiao Xi didn't wait for the two of them to say anything before she continued, "he may not live long and the one thing that he was most worried about was Yang Yang, and what was in this disc was a big secret that could save Yang Yang's life."

"I promise." Zhan Zhao opened his mouth first.

"Cat?" Bai Yutang couldn't help but tug at him, "This isn't a joke."

"What does it matter?" Zhan Zhao asked, "We have a house and money anyway, it's not like it's a lot of work to raise a small child, he's so grown up and doesn't need to be nursed."

Bai Yutang pulled him aside, "He's a child, not a kitten or puppy, be responsible..." At this point, he suddenly stopped, stared at Zhan Zhao for a moment, and asked, "What did you just say? "

Zhan Zhao blinked, "He's so grown up and doesn't need to be nursed."

"Not that..." Bai Yutang waved his hand, "The sentence before that."

"It doesn't take much work to raise a small child." Zhan Zhao whispered, but his face was unconsciously a little red.

Bai Yutang picked up the corners of his mouth and smiled, "And the sentence before that?"

... Pursing his lips and glaring at him, Zhan Zhao still muttered, "We have a house and money."

"We?" Bai Yutang repeated.

“En~~" Zhan Zhao nodded, "We." Then added, “Luo Yang is a smart kid and has a certain mental illness that needs to be treated. When we're not free, we can always leave him with Mum and Dad... They all love kids anyway..."

Bai Yutang nodded to stop his words and smiled, "Okay, we'll raise him!" Turning back, Bai Yutang reached out and pulled out his ID and gave it to Xiao Xi, "We promised to adopt him and raise him."

Xiao Xi took Bai Yutang's ID and looked at it, then handed it back to him, walked over and closed the roll-up door outside the shop and turned to lead the two men into the inner room.

The small room behind the wall was obviously Xiao Xi's bedroom, it was simply furnished, with just a bed, a computer and a few cupboards.

Xiao Xi took out a small box from the wardrobe and said, "This is what Brother Wen gave me, and it also contains Luo Yang's adoption papers, which he has prepared."

Bai Yutang took the box and opened it to see that inside was a folded document and a small USB stick.

"Have you looked at it?" Bai Yutang asked as he took out the USB stick.

Xiao Xi shook her head, "I didn't dare to look at it, but I want to look at it now."

"Why do you want to see it now?" Zhan Zhao was puzzled, he found this girl's psychological activities very interesting.

"I didn't dare to watch it before because I was afraid of knowing who had harmed Brother Wen, but I didn't have the ability to help him take revenge." Saying that, she looked at Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, "Now I know that someone can avenge him, I want to see who the person who did this to him really is."

Hearing Xiao Xi's words, the two looked at each other and smiled, this girl was really something else. Opening her computer, Bai Yutang plugged in the USB stick and saw that there was only one video inside.

Clicking on the video – what appeared was a scene of the night, which looked like a dimly lit alleyway.

There was no sound in the video and after a while, a man appeared in the image. He was very young and dressed in exaggerated clothes, like a gangster.

They saw him staggering to a position in the middle of the shot then suddenly stop, as if he saw something. He then spoke, and it was not clear what he was saying. As he was saying it, a frightened expression suddenly appeared on the gangster's face, and he took a step backwards, and then, with a shudder... he was shot in the forehead and fell to the ground on his back.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang's eyes widened, this kind of technique – Night Punisher!

Then, another person walked into the picture. Gun in hand, he walked next to the gangster's body and looked down.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both watched with widened eyes, this man, they knew him!

The man kicked the punk's corpse a few times, then tilted his face up and laughed loudly. Although no sound could be heard, the distorted face could still show how happily he was laughing.

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao looked at the person in the picture and felt a chill down their backs. If it wasn't for the identical appearance and body shape, they could hardly recognise that person, but the two of them would never mistake this face – Lan Chenglin!

After leaving the building, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang walked towards the police station holding the bear that Xiao Xi had given them. Bai Yutang called Bao Zheng and told him that it was a matter of great urgency and that he should come to the police station as soon as possible.

Rushing back to the police station, the two did not return to the SCI office, but barged straight into Bao Zheng's office.

Bao Zheng, who had just arrived from his residence, saw the two of them, one holding a bear and the other carrying a bag of food, and couldn't laugh or cry, "Going on a date, huh?"

The two of them looked at each other and blushed.

Bao Zheng closed the office door, "What's the urgency, asking for wedding leave, huh?"

"Pfft..." Bai Yutang was thirsty from running and had just poured a glass of water to drink when he coldly spewed out a mouthful of water, choking and coughing.

When Bao Zheng saw that both of them were on the verge of becoming boiled shrimps, his anger at being disturbed from his beautiful dream subsided a little and he asked, "What's wrong? Speak!"

Bai Yutang reached out and handed him the USB stick.

Bao Zheng took it, opened his computer with some suspicion, inserted the USB stick, clicked on the video and took a look… then wrinkled his brows and sighed.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang saw that Bao Zheng did not look surprised after watching it. Could it be that he already knew?

After a moment of silence, Bao Zheng rubbed his brow and said, "I only thought he had something to do with this case... I didn't think there was another layer to it."

The two men were stunned. Zhan Zhao thought for a moment and said, "Bao Sir? You won't let us interfere, could it be that you've teamed up with Interpol to investigate the case of Lan Chenglin?"

Bao Zheng nodded, smiled slightly, and raised his hand to the two men to make the gesture they felt most cold about – shhh~~

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Translated: November 15, 2022 by Angel

Edited: December 1, 2022 by Angel