S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 1 Chapter 108

Shadow Murderer 16 – Cruel Story

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The bearded man had completely forgotten about his short childhood, his memories starting at the age of six.

The starting point of his memories was a black, closed room with a faint sweet smell that he did not recognise until later as the smell of blood.

The first person he met, a middle-aged blond foreigner, led him out of that black room to a white room where there were people dressed in white, lots of them, all busy, fiddling with some wires, tubes, and medicines and stuff. He had to get up every morning to be injected with drugs, and then some electrodes were pressed on his head and body. He was the only one sitting dully, while everyone else was busy, and no one was talking to him, but he felt nothing, nothing at all.

After some time like this, the blond foreigner took him to another place. It was still a dark house, but there were about ten other children inside, and the blond foreigner told him that from now on, his name was 3-17-12.

As the bearded man spoke, he looked up at Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, who were sitting opposite him, and suddenly laughed.

The two were baffled by him, but they heard him say, "This story, I told it to Luo Wen once, and the expression on his face at that time was very similar to yours... You are both people who will feel sorry for others."

Outside the window, Ouyang Chun sighed softly, at which point the door was pushed open and Gongsun, Ma Han, and Zhao Hu walked in.

Everyone was curious about the bearded man, and Ouyang Chun gave them a gentle nod as the group came to the one-way mirror and listened quietly as the bearded man continued on.

"Much later, I realised that what they had done to me before was to use drugs and physical stimulation to erase my memory and dull my nerves." The bearded man said, "Some of the children died of rejection in the process; the first batch before that were all dead because of the reaction to the drugs; the second batch was said to have failed in the selection of the type of children, so there were some untalented ones mixed in; the third batch had some that were left over from before, and some, like me, were new."

Zhan Zhao listened to the bearded man's kind of talk about new and old which was truly a bit harsh, as if they weren't people but just objects, "Drugs and mental stimulation can't completely erase a person's memory or eliminate specific sensations!"

"That's right." The bearded man nodded, "That's why a third part is needed, a ten year period of later adaptation."

“Latter adaptation?" Bai Yutang nodded, "Like training soldiers not to be afraid of death?”

"The nature is the same." The bearded man said blandly, "The main thing is to focus on four things, one is pain, the second is strength, the third is fear, and the fourth is skill."

"Those injuries you have, you got them from training your sense of pain?" Zhan Zhao asked.

The bearded man did not answer, just nodded gently and said, "One's ability to tolerate pain will gradually improve, and when you have adapted to a certain amount of pain, you will no longer be afraid of it."

"Have you ever hurt yourself?" Zhan Zhao asked.

The bearded man froze, then nodded; sometimes, he would indeed just cut himself with a knife for no apparent reason.

"Actually, this experiment is simply wrong, it's not pain elimination, it's pain paralysis." Zhan Zhao frowned, "People will constantly seek that pain, just like a tattoo, people who have gotten one are tempted to get a second one because the body can already bear that pain, so the body wants to seek the stimulation of more pain."

The bearded man listened to Zhan Zhao quietly for a long time before saying, "What Allan Po hates most is people like you."

Zhan Zhao was somewhat puzzled.

"What you are born with, others take years, even decades, to learn." The bearded man shook his head, "Allan Poe wasn't actually a genius at all, he didn't even make it as a scientist, so his experiments always required many sacrificial victims."

"What about power?" Bai Yutang looked at the bearded man and asked, "How old are you?"

"You're asking about 3-17-12?" The bearded man thought for a moment, "It has been 22 years since I became 3-17-12."

Everyone was surprised, the bearded man's face didn't look like a 28 year old, it looked at least forty... If you didn't look at his face and just looked at the overall image, you'd think he was an old man.

Outside the interrogation room, Gongsun said in a cold voice: "Muscle-strengthening agents... are also commonly referred to as hormones."

Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao, "Injecting drugs that enhance muscle strength can have strong side effects and speed up a person's ageing.”

The bearded man nodded and continued, "As for the feeling of fear, I don't know why... in any case, I'm not afraid anymore." Saying that, he raised his head to look at Zhan Zhao: "Can you explain to me why Yang Yang inherited some things I acquired later in life, boldness, no pain sensation, and strength?"

Zhan Zhao thought about it and said, "Actually, that Allen Poe's so-called experiment is simply unscientific; human adaptability is infinite, and the biggest prerequisite for his experiment being successful is that the child he chose - has a strong potential itself."

The bearded man was puzzled, "What do you mean?"

"You have said that the first batch of children collectively died of drug rejection, but you did not, that means that your child's own functions and physical qualities are better than those children." Seeing the bearded man nod, Zhan Zhao continued, "The same goes for strength, you should have done a lot of survival adaptation training, muscle enhancers only strengthen, they do not create, provided you are strong yourself. Lastly, when it comes to boldness, as anyone knows, boldness is innate and is further enhanced with the addition of acquired training."

"That is to say... these are all pre-existing qualities that we have and Allan Poe has simply enhanced them?" The bearded man laughed, "Why do you think his actions are redundant?"

Zhan Zhao stood up, and coldly said, "He indeed made the same move many times." Saying that, he pointed at Bai Yutang and asked the bearded man, "What do you think of him?"

The bearded man was puzzled and asked, "In what way?"

Zhan Zhao smiled, "Guts, strength, killing power, those skills that you have mastered."

The bearded man looked like he understood and nodded, "I see, all those drugs and experiments are actually useless, the key is our own talent and long hours of training, no wonder..."

"No wonder what?" Bai Yutang asked, "How did Allen Poe die, and also, how did the other children die?"

"About six years ago..." The bearded man said slowly, "Allan Poe's experiments were somewhat thwarted."

"Thwarted?" Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other, "His experiments were not self-sponsored? Someone funded it?"

The bearded man nodded, "Judging from the skills they taught us, it should be."

"What skills?"

"Killing." The bearded man thought for a moment and said, "I remember that a man came to see us, and when he left, Allan Poe began to go mad and smash his lab, and the experimenters withdrew. In the end, he wanted us to kill each other."

"Did you resist?" Bai Yutang raised an eyebrow, "Or just do as you were told?"

The bearded man sighed, "We agreed to escape together and I went to kill Allen Poe, but... when I returned with his head, everyone else was dead."

"Killed by the other bearded man?" Zhan Zhao asked, "Who is he?"

"2-12-11" The bearded man said, "Actually, I had sensed that something was wrong with him a long time ago."

Zhan Zhao lowered his head and paced back and forth in the room a few times, saying, "Did you think that in him, you saw the success of Allan Poe's experiment?"

The bearded man nodded earnestly, "He is the only one left from the second generation, several other second generations died in the final training, only he... is truly pain-free and has outstanding abilities, but... "

"However, in your opinion he is a madman, he has everything but 'obedience' right?" Zhan Zhao didn't wait for him to finish before continuing.

The bearded man was no longer amazed at Zhan Zhao's precognitive abilities, he just lifted his head and waited for him to answer.

Zhan Zhao nodded gently to him, "What you feel is correct, he is truly crazy." After saying this, he stopped talking and sat back in his chair, contemplating alone.

"And then you followed him until now?" Bai Yutang asked, "Yang Yang is seven years old, you said you escaped six years ago, so..."

"Yang Yang was born there, Allen Poe forced me to create him." The bearded man said, "Until he was one year old, Yang Yang was raised by Allen Poe... and probably because of that, he was extraordinarily capable, and sometimes I was surprised by him."

"You took him away and then met Luo Wen?" Bai Yutang was a little puzzled, "And what's involved with that? Why did you give Yang Yang to Luo Wen to raise, and why did Luo Wen die?"

The bearded man sighed and said, "I haven't found out yet, but I know he was a police officer and he was investigating something of great importance, plus he also helped me find 2-12-11"

Bai Yutang turned his face to look at Zhan Zhao, who had not glanced at him since earlier, and wondered what he was thinking.

"How do you want to cooperate?" The bearded man looked at Zhan Zhao and then at Bai Yutang, "Only I can catch him."

"I'm afraid it's not that simple." Bai Yutang stood up and gathered the things on the table, "The evidence we have has to be rearranged, in the meantime, I suggest you go for a minor operation."

The bearded man froze and reached out to touch his neck with some hesitation.

The interrogation of the bearded man came to an end for the time being. Regarding his past, if the case did not require it, no one would really want to explore it any further; such a story was too cruel, or rather such a life was too cruel, from the time he first set foot in that dark room at the age of six, his life was destined to be a tragedy.

Long after quitting time, Gongsun left the office in some dismay and walked downstairs to see the familiar car.

Bai Jintang, who had been waiting for a long time, put down the documents in his hands and looked up at Gongsun who had silently sat down in the passenger seat, "What's wrong? You look so ugly."

Gongsun turned his head and looked at Bai Jintang carefully, until he couldn't help but pull him over, put him on his lap and kiss him, "What, so enthusiastic today? Did you miss me?"

Gongsun reached out to touch his chin and said with a bit of ferocity, "You are not allowed to move."

Bai Jintang was puzzled, but still nodded, and didn't move.

Gongsun sat on his lap and slowly ran his fingers around Bai Jintang's Adam’s apple, as if he was looking for something.

Bai Jintang felt like one of Gongsun's fingers was going to kill him. Just as he wanted to reach out, he was met with a fierce glare from Gongsun, so he had to keep quiet.

Not long after, Gongsun felt a somewhat different skin by the Adam's apple... although it was no longer very obvious, he could still see a white mark... a healed scar.

Sucking in a breath of cold air, Gongsun raised his head and looked at Bai Jintang with his mouth open, a faint mist in his eyes.

"What's wrong with you?" Bai Jintang was completely confused and reached out to pinch Gongsun's chin, "What's wrong?"

Gongsun eventually shook his head and reached out to pat his face, "Luckily everything is okay already." As he spoke, he suddenly felt that something was wrong and stared at Bai Jintang in surprise, "You're a monkey, you can even react to this?"

Bai Jintang laughed and reached out to pinch Gongsun's waist to prevent him from escaping, "You sat on me and reached out to touch me, how could I not react?" As he said that, he reached out and closed the car window, and pressed Gongsun into the seat. Amidst the ecstasy, he only felt that today's Gongsun was particularly docile.

When Zhan Zhao walked out of the interrogation room, Bai Yutang saw that he still wasn't saying anything, so he couldn't help but reach out and poke him in the cheek. Zhan Zhao, who was thinking too intently, came back to his senses and did not glare at him, but instead looked at Bai Yutang somewhat dully, and his chin was pinched and he was kissed.

Startled and almost screaming out, Zhan Zhao looked around, "Crazy mouse, this is the police station!"

"You've been ignoring me since earlier!" Bai Yutang said pitifully, "Thinking of something? Thinking so intently."

"Do you think that Yang Yang's situation is the same as Brother's?"

Bai Yutang thought about it and nodded, "To be honest, both of them do have different situations from the bearded man."

"There's more." Zhan Zhao rubbed his chin, "Last time, Zhao Jue called me and said that there must be something I would want to ask him about for this case."

"You think these two things are related." Bai Yutang smiled, "But you're afraid of falling for Zhao Jue's scheme, aren't you?"

Zhan Zhao nodded helplessly, and at that moment, the two saw Bai Chi and Luo Yang coming out of the elevator.

Luo Yang raised his eyes to look at Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, wanting to call out to them, but he didn't know what to call out, so he was a bit embarrassed. Zhan Zhao looked at his watch and walked up to him, "Yang Yang, are you hungry?"

Luo Yang nodded blankly.

"Let's go eat." Zhan Zhao took his hand, "What do you want to eat? Do you want to try Xiao Bai's cooking?"

Luo Yang turned his face to look at Bai Yutang in surprise, as if he couldn't believe that he could cook, and after thinking about it, he asked, "Can Uncle Big Beard come and eat with us too?"

Bai Yutang admired Luo Yang for a few moments, this child had a decent heart, which was good. He went over to him and patted his head, saying, "Do you think there's something wrong with Uncle Big Beard's voice?"

"Ah! Yes!" Luo Yang nodded, "Does he have a problem with his voice?"

"That's why he has to be treated during this period of time and can't eat with us." Zhan Zhao stroked his hair.

"Can it really be cured? That's great!" Luo Yang cheerfully pulled Bai Chi and said, "Come on, Brother Bai Chi, let's go eat together."

Bai Yutang watched Luo Yang pulling Bai Chi forward and patted Zhan Zhao, "Good for you, Cat, you are good at coaxing children."

Zhan Zhao said seriously, "Xiao Bai, for the sake of Yang Yang's health, you should cook more often in the future and try not to eat work meals!" After saying that, he walked away happily, taking a few steps, then turned back and asked Bai Yutang, "Do you think we should raise him? It feels like we've snatched the child from someone else's hands."

Bai Yutang smiled and said, "It's still too early to say that... when the time comes, let Yang Yang choose for himself, he still has the right to choose. Much luckier than his father, isn't he?"

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Translated: December 15, 2022 by Angel

Edited: January 5, 2023 by Angel