S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 1 Chapter 106

Shadow Murderer 14 – The End of the Tunnel

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Luo Yang led Zhan Zhao and the others to a strange place – the entrance to an abandoned underground tunnel somewhere in S City.

This underground tunnel should have been built many years ago and was located in the corner of a deserted private factory building on the outskirts of S City. Bai Yutang stared at the pitch-black entrance and asked Luo Yang, "The bearded man you mentioned lives in this tunnel?"

Luo Yang nodded and shook his head, saying, "This is just the entrance, his house is very far inside."

"Lives in the underground tunnel?" Ouyang Chun rubbed his chin in some confusion, his face showing a bit of puzzlement. To be honest, he wasn't quite sure what exactly Zhan Zhao and the others were investigating at the moment, but it did seem to be related to this case, so he didn't ask more questions and waited to see what would happen.

Luo Yang moved a pile of scrap cardboard boxes that appeared to be cluttered next to him, revealing a small cabinet at the back. Inside the cabinet was an old-fashioned oil lamp and a box of matches. Skillfully lighting the oil lamp, Luo Yang looked up and said to Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao, "Let's go." After saying this, he carried the oil lamp and took the lead in walking into the entrance of the underground tunnel.

The cave, the most primitive of human dwellings, had been forgotten, and instead of leaving any warm memories in our consciousness, this former home was inexplicably clouded with a mysterious and frightening aura.

As the three of them walked along the dusty tunnel, following Luo Yang's slow steps inside, Zhan Zhao was amazed to find that Luo Yang was not afraid at all. Few children are not afraid of the dark; humans fear the dark, fear caves, fear most of the unknown... This has caused most of the initial human nightmares to contain a long, dark, always incomplete tunnel, all of them leading to faraway places, and what awaits us at the end of the tunnel will be an unprecedented presence of danger.

The sound of water droplets hitting the ground became extremely clear with the unique caged sound effect of the tunnels, accompanied by the sound of the four men's footsteps, creating a wonderful echo, as if something was trailing closely behind them.

Bai Yutang asked Zhan Zhao in a curious whisper, "Does this tunnel connect with the last ones?"

Zhan Zhao nodded, "They are all connected, this area of tunnels is in a net-like structure and the terrain is very complicated.”

Luo Yang, who was walking ahead, said, "Keep close, there are many forks in the road here, it will be bad if you get lost.

With a smile, Zhan Zhao asked Luo Yang, "Is there a three-way junction up ahead, where the left and middle two are blocked, and only the right one is open?"

Luo Yang's eyes widened in shock as soon as he heard it, "How do you know, have you been here before?"

Zhan Zhao smiled and didn't answer, instead he asked, "Yang Yang, have you always come alone?"

"Yes." Luo Yang nodded, "Uncle Big Beard and Dad have taken me a few times, and then I have mostly come alone."

"Luo Wen has come here too?" Bai Yutang interjected with a question.

“En." Luo Yang nodded. Soon, the group turned a corner and indeed saw the three-way junction that Zhan Zhao had mentioned earlier, so they walked into the path on the right. This fork was a little narrower than the one just now, so the three of them formed a line and continued to walk. Zhan Zhao asked Luo Yang again, "Yang Yang, are you not afraid to go into this dark tunnel by yourself?"

Luo Yang looked back at Zhan Zhao with some confusion, "What is there to be afraid of? There is no one else here, at most there will only be two or three small rats."

Ouyang Chun, who was walking at the end, couldn't help but be surprised, "In a place like this, even a bold adult would have to think twice about coming in alone, this kid is really bold."

Bai Yutang noticed that Zhan Zhao frowned slightly, so he leaned over to his ear and asked in a whisper, "Cat, what's the problem?"

Zhan Zhao shook his head gently and glanced at Bai Yutang, gesturing – let's talk about it later.

The four of them walked forward some more, when they heard Luo Yang say, "We're almost there."

Zhan Zhao thought for a moment and asked, "There should be a rather large shaft ahead of here that leads to the surface, so there will be more space, but the mouth of this shaft has been sealed shut, right?"

Luo Yang tilted his head to look at Zhan Zhao, "How do you know everything?"

Zhan Zhao reached out and stroked his head, smiling, "Is your Uncle Big Beard usually around at this time?"

Luo Yang shook his head, "He shouldn't be around at this hour." As he spoke, a large rusty iron door appeared in front of everyone's eyes, with a ring-shaped swivel handle on it. Luo Yang took two steps forward, gripped the iron ring and pulled down hard. As he did so, the wheel slowly turned one revolution, and with a creak, the thick door opened.

Behind the door was a dark room. Luo Yang walked in with his oil lamp, jumped up and pulled a rope hanging from the ceiling in the middle of the room, and then the light in the room came on.

"How can there still be electricity?" Ouyang Chun was quite surprised.

"Not only is there electricity, there is also a closed circuit..." Bai Yutang said, pointing to a television set on a table in one corner of the room.

The crowd looked around and saw that it was an enclosed space of about ten square metres, with neatness being the first impression given. Bai Yutang raised an eyebrow, "This kid was a soldier?"

Zhan Zhao also noticed that the room's arrangement and sharp furnishings indeed looked like someone who had received military training, and suddenly thought, "Xiao Bai, the number 3-17-12, could it be related to a military camp?"

Bai Yutang stared at the bed against one of the walls in the room for a moment, then shook his head again and said, "He should have received military training, but not necessarily been a soldier."

"How can you tell?" Ouyang Chun asked.

Bai Yutang thought about it and found it a little difficult to say, "I can't say, there just seems to be something missing."

"It's something related to the army, right?" Zhan Zhao said as he looked around at the empty walls and simple furnishings.

"Ah! Right!" Bai Yutang suddenly realised, "Normally those who retired from the army would keep some things from the army, like uniforms, medals, mugs and stuff."

"It's possible that they were thrown away." Ouyang Chun said.

"No way." Zhan Zhao shook his head and reached out to gently touch the wall, walking slowly around the room as he said, “Normally, there are only two kinds of justifiable reasons for the average person to maintain a certain unusual habit: one is extreme liking and one is extreme adaptation. For example, Xiao Bai was in the Air Force and enjoyed that feeling when he was a soldier, so he kept some of his habits after he retired, and his uniform and everything related to the army was placed in a more prominent place because it was his glory. Conversely... if he was a deserter, or if army life made him unhappy, he would do everything possible to eradicate any trace of his army life... retaining habits can only mean that this way of life has become an instinct. "

Ouyang Chun still didn't quite understand after hearing Zhan Zhao's description, so he asked, "You mean, he's a deserter?"

"Looking at his behaviour, this militaristic life has eroded his entire life, and generally having such a heavy influence is largely formed at an early age. Now, in this day and age, where is there a regular army that recruits young children... if they are an adult soldier, there is no way they would not have kept a souvenir of that life."

"Many veterans who were exposed to the Vietnam War rely on their uniforms and guns more than their lifestyles." Bai Yutang agreed with Zhan Zhao and emphasised, "This person's life is more brutal than militarisation!"

"Then what exactly is it?" Ouyang Chun's status as an Interpol officer made him recall quite a lot about the training methods of terrorist organisations, but on second thought it seemed unlikely.

Zhan Zhao shook his head and smiled, "I can only say that he has lived in a militarised environment for so long that he has completely adapted to this way of life without being able to change and is extremely disgusted by it, yet he cannot get rid of it." As he said this, Zhan Zhao had already slowly circled the room almost three times. Finally, he seemed to have touched something and tapped on the wall twice, making a ‘thud' sound.

Bai Yutang's eyes lit up: "Hollow?”

Bai Yutang stepped forward and tapped on the wall a few more times, then took out his key and picked a crack in the wall.

Bai Yutang reached in and pulled out a box, about the size of a shoe box.

Ouyang Chun and Zhan Zhao gathered around to look at it, and even little Luo Yang approached curiously.

When Bai Yutang opened the lid, everyone was stunned to see that inside the box, there was a white skull.

The three of them were all police officers and they could tell at a glance that the skull was not an imitation, but belonged to a real person. Subconsciously, Zhan Zhao looked down at Luo Yang and saw that he was stretched out on his tiptoes, looking at it with nothing but surprise and curiosity in his eyes, completely unafraid. Thinking of this, Zhan Zhao suddenly reached out and violently tapped Luo Yang's shoulder. The ’slap' startled Ouyang Chun and Bai Yutang, and when they looked at Luo Yang, they saw him looking at Zhan Zhao with wide eyes, as if he was asking, "You called me?"

Bai Yutang also saw some clues, and thought about the last time he saw him at the orphanage, that fierce puppy barked at Luo Yang, who didn't even seem to frown.

Ouyang Chun huffed and muttered to himself, "Would a normal child be this bold?"

Zhan Zhao hesitated for a moment and reached out to pinch Luo Yang's arm while asking, "Yang Yang, does it hurt?"

Luo Yang blinked and shook his head, "No, it doesn't hurt."

"Cat, what are you doing?" Bai Yutang was confused by Zhan Zhao's action and was about to ask a question when he saw Zhan Zhao raise his hand and pinch him on the arm as well.

"Hiss..." Bai Yutang bared his teeth in pain and was just about to glare at him when he heard Zhan Zhao say softly, "I used the same amount of force."

Bai Yutang and Ouyang Chun were both shaken, what kind of condition is this, this kid doesn't know fear or pain!

Zhan Zhao squatted down and looked straight at Luo Yang and said, "Yang Yang, are you particularly strong?"

Luo Yang thought for a moment and nodded, "Mm."

Bai Yutang also remembered that Luo Yang had once ripped apart a puppy with his raw strength, beaten Yu Qingyan badly with his bare hands, and that the iron gate just now was not something that an ordinary seven-year-old could pull.

Zhan Zhao stood up, turned his face to look at Bai Yutang and asked, "Who do you have in mind?"

Bai Yutang froze for a long time before saying, "My brother..."

"Brother's strength also exceeds that of an average person," Zhan Zhao nodded, “and his nerves are dull to pain and there is no sense of fear."

Ouyang Chun on the side listened for half a day, then blinked and asked Bai Yutang, "Could it be your brother's son? That is, your nephew? You are adopting him, that's a messy relationship."

Zhan Zhao looked at him helplessly and thought, 'This Ouyang Chun still has some sense of humour'. But Bai Yutang waved his hand firmly and said, "No, the ones surnamed Bai would not grow that dark! If you want to identify relatives, it would be the one surnamed Bao!" As soon as he finished speaking, he was pinched by Zhan Zhao again.

"But do you remember, Brother wasn't like this before, he only changed after he was rescued." Zhan Zhao rubbed his chin and said, "And... his condition is not as powerful as Yang Yang's,"

Bai Yutang nodded, his brain was a mess and his chest felt congested. Shaking his head, he looked down and showed that skull to Zhan Zhao, "Should it be a male?"

Zhan Zhao took it and looked it over, "An adult male."

"There seems to be something else in the box." Ouyang Chun said, pointing to an envelope at the bottom of the box.

Bai Yutang took out the envelope and felt that there was a thick stack of things inside. When he opened the envelope and emptied it out, a stack of photos poured out.

The photos were old, black and white, and were of a group of about ten teenagers who looked like they were on a camping trip, as the background was a bush. There was something odd about all these teenagers, instead of the smiling faces that normal kids should have on a camping trip, they were all expressionless.

"It seems like they're getting older!" Zhan Zhao reached out and pulled out a few pictures, "They look five or six years old in this one, while here they're seven or eight, and these ones are almost up to ten years old."

Ouyang Chun also took a few pictures and looked at them, and only after a long time did he draw a breath and say, "What a terrible expression..."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both agreed with him, how could such an expression be described? Completely lifeless, expressionless, paralyzed, one could even say it was the face of a living dead person.

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao looked at each other with a sharp glance - this expression was familiar, it was the expression on Bai Jintang's face after he was rescued and just came out of the sterile room, and it really felt similar at first.

At that moment, there was a sudden ‘clang' from the doorway, as if something had hit the iron door.

All of them were startled, and Bai Yutang instantly rushed out, shouting, "Stop!"

Zhan Zhao was so anxious that he shouted and chased after him, "Xiao Bai, don't run around, you'll get lost!" But Bai Yutang had already rushed after a dark, fleeing figure in front of him. Seeing that it was getting farther and farther away, Zhan Zhao, in a rush, shouted, "3-17-12!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, he saw the dark figure jerk to a halt. Bai Yutang pounced on him, pinned him down and handcuffed him. The dark figure, after hearing the string of numbers, seemed to have been blinded and did not react at all, which was strange even to Bai Yutang who had handcuffed him.

"Uncle Big Beard!" Luo Yang wanted to rush up to him but was held back by Ouyang Chun, "You guys said you wouldn't arrest him..." Luo Yang protested to Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao stroked his hair and whispered, "Don't worry, as long as he didn't do anything bad, we won't hurt him, we just have a few questions to ask."

Luo Yang looked into Zhan Zhao's eyes and eventually quieted down.

Bai Yutang reached out and pulled the man in black up from the ground and brought him back into the room. In the light, the men could see the bearded man's face for the first time.

Zhan Zhao was somewhat surprised at the youthfulness of the man's face under his thick beard, and the faint desperation in his eyes, and was about to ask a question when he heard Bai Yutang give a slightly puzzled "Huh", then frowned and said, "Cat, the man who hit me that night was not him!"

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Translated: November 22, 2022 by Angel

Edited: December 22, 2022 by Angel