S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 4 Chapter 7

A Requiem for a Murderer 07 – Scene

---

Zhan Zhao walked to Bai Yutang's side and tilted his face up to look, only to see that diagonally above him was a circular staircase, the handrails of which were already rusted. At the top of one of the handrails hung a string of black chains, on which was a cross that was gently swaying with the breeze.

When he looked at the ceiling, Zhan Zhao was slightly stunned. On top was a convex bronze mirror, and the figure below was reflected on it like a distorted monster, with a pointed head, broad shoulders, thin feet and angular body, and their features were immediately arranged in an inverted triangle. No matter how handsome a person was, they were still a monster inside.

After looking for a long time, Zhan Zhao looked back at Bai Yutang in confusion, "I don't understand."

Bai Yutang pointed to the position of the cross hanging on the handrail and told Zhan Zhao, "Look carefully."

Zhan Zhao tilted his face up to look closely, only to find that... on the side of the section of stairs above the hanging cross, there was a large odd mark – presumably dried blood.

"There's blood here too.” Ma Han walked to the front of the cross, about ten paces away from the wall, and pointed to a puddle of dried marks on the floor.

"It's a good thing no one has cleaned this place." Zhan Zhao crossed his arms and studied it for a moment; the blood should not have fallen from the stairs, that is, it was from two different people? Whoever it was, with this much blood, they were probably dead, right? 

"That staircase is a dead end for shooting." Bai Yutang reached out and pointed to the staircase above the hanging cross, "It's almost impossible to shoot someone there, unless..."

Zhan Zhao did not understand.

"Stray bullets ricocheting around." Ma Han reached up and pointed to the copper dome on the ceiling, "There's an indentation, a bullet mark. The distance from this side to the top is no more than ten metres, and an ordinary gun will produce a strong rebound when it hits the copper dome. Because the top is a convex surface and the impact point is on the inside, the bullet bounced directly towards the stairs, the range of damage should be right at the bloodstain and the cross."

Bai Yutang nodded, "Based on the height of the staircase handrail, the firing point should be level with the handrail, that's no more than a metre high, if it was an adult, it should only hit the leg. It's unlikely that the person wouldn't have moved, and the blood trail shouldn't have been left there. But if it was a small child and it happened to hit the neck..."

Zhan Zhao opened his mouth – what the crowd described and the cause of Xin Xin's death matched!

"But why would someone shoot at the ceiling?" Zhao Hu didn't quite understand.

Ma Han stood in front of the bloodstain, reaching out to make the stance of raising his gun to Bai Yutang, "Here, drawing his gun, getting hit while pressing the trigger, falling down smoothly with his gun raised, the bullet flying out and bouncing back to hit."

Bai Yutang leaned against the side of the podium in front of the cross, "There's no way a regular gun could have caused enough force to make someone fall on their back instantly."

“A regular gun?" Zhao Hu looked up at the wall of bullet holes, "Someone deliberately created these bullet holes?"

Zhan Zhao glanced at Zhao Jue and understood, "The bullet holes are to create sniper points for the people on the outside to hunt the people on the inside, it’s a creative method!"

Ma Han tilted his face up and looked out through the bullet holes, reaching out and pointing to the fourth gun-hole on the left counting down from above, "Three points of contact with the three-storey building opposite, the firing point is there." (Angel: Three points of contact is how I interpreted "three points and one line", a Mandarin shooting term that means that the eyes, the front sight, and the target are in a straight line.)

"So, Xin Xin was accidentally killed by a stray bullet." Bai Yutang looked back at the cross, "Even if there was the slightest bit of error, he wouldn't have died."

Zhan Zhao frowned, so innocent, in a way, could it also be considered fate?

"You guys..."

While the crowd was analysing the cause of Xin Xin's death, Chen Zhixin and the others couldn't help but ask, "Who are you?"

The crowd was stunned, but Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue did not change their faces, "Teachers!"

"Bullshit!" Zhixin bristled and pointed at Ma Han, "That pose with the gun raised just now was so handsome! The average person can't do it."

Ma Han's eyelids twitched, "Shooting teacher."

The crowd looked at the sky, Ma Han was too insincere in his lies.

Several teenagers looked at Bai Yutang and the others suspiciously and asked in a whisper, "Are you guys... police officers or something like that?"

Bai Yutang didn't make a sound, and before Zhan Zhao could speak, Zhao Jue smiled and took a step forward, lowering his voice, “Yeah, the police."

Zhixin and others looked towards him – sure enough.

"Good boy." Zhao Jue reached out and gently patted the shoulders of the children, "Go home and do your homework, you haven't seen me..."

Before he could finish his words, Zhan Zhao raised his hand and pushed him.

"Aiya!" Zhao Jue stumbled and turned back to glare at Zhan Zhao with dissatisfaction.

Zhixin and the others also stirred, suddenly having an inexplicable feeling as if they had just woken up from sleep, so sleepy and weird.

"What's wrong?" Xiao Hu rubbed his head and looked at the crowd.

Zhan Zhao glared at Zhao Jue – You're going to die! The children were hypnotised.

Zhao Jue pouted, and Ma Han and Zhao Hu looked at each other, what was going on? Did Zhao Jue hypnotise someone just like that? There were hardly any special actions, so wasn't this just a case of being on guard?

"Are you guys cops or not?" Zhixin asked Bai Yutang, "Are you here to investigate a case?"

Bai Yutang looked at him, "Are there any cases to investigate around here?"

"How could there not be!" Zhixin was serious, "This place is weird!"

"Weird?" Zhan Zhao was interested, "What's weird about it?"

"It's just weird everywhere!" Zhixin shrugged, "We often have people disappearing here for no reason, and when they do, they disappear forever."

Bai Yutang wondered, “They’re not reported missing?"

"They're all vagrants, orphans or widows, who cares if they're dead or alive?" Zhixin shook his head, "There's not even a ghost at night, but I always run when I come back from work."

"Do you need to work at night?" Bai Yutang was curious, "What kind of work?"

"The night shift at the gas station out front." Zhixin pointed to Xiao Hu, "He's working there too."

"You have classes during the day?"

"Of course, but you can catch up on sleep during class."

Zhan Zhao frowned, this affects development ah, no wonder one is so thin and the other so fat, they are all disordered in various ways.

"You said that people often disappear for no reason, do you have any specific names?" Zhao Hu took out a small book ready to record.

"See, they really are cops!" Zhixin and the other children were very ghostly.

Zhan Zhao narrowed his eyes, and Zhao Jue came over to whisper in his ear, "Hypnotise them later..."

"No!" Zhan Zhao gave him a blank look, "Absolutely not!"

"Why?" Zhao Jue was dissatisfied.

"Only with my consent." Zhan Zhao stomped on him, "Watch out for Yutang shooting you!"

Zhao Jue looked at Bai Yutang at the side. At this moment he was standing and asking questions to Zhixin and others, that side ah... Zhao Jue tossed his head, he was going to die! It seemed so troublesome!

Zhan Zhao saw him shaking his head to himself, and was amused, "Why? Can't control that Bai Bai Bai..."

Zhao Jue rolled his eyes at him.

Zhixin gave a few names to Zhao Hu. Bai Yutang thought about it and wrote down a phone number for them, "You guys pay attention to your safety, if there is anything, call me."

Zhixin took the phone number and asked in a whisper, "Can I give it to my sister?"

Bai Yutang nodded, this boy was quite good at caring for his sister.

Leaving the church, they went their separate ways, Zhixin and the others milled about towards the run-down neighbourhood, while Zhan Zhao and the others headed back to the train station.

"You're monitoring the entire city for this purpose?" Zhan Zhao asked Zhao Jue, "Those who are missing, could it be that they have been devoured by the ghost?"

Zhao Jue smiled slightly and clapped his hands gently, "A psychological test for you guys?"

Zhan Zhao frowned, "What are you doing this time?"

"I'm very serious!" Zhao Jue emphasised, "For example, say you are a god of death.”

Zhao Hu came over, "What type of god of death?"

"The type that can take someone's life at any time." Zhao Jue stuck his hands in his pockets and asked with a smirk, "Right now you have five souls and four human containers in your hand, and one container can only hold one soul and turn into a full living person. If it holds two or more, it will turn into a split personality or multiple personalities, so how would you distribute them?"

The crowd frowned, wouldn't it be that there was one less container and one extra soul?

"Option A, kill one of the souls first and let each of the other four souls reside in a container. B, let three souls reside in the container normally. The remaining two will share a container. C, let them kill each other, and after one is killed, divide those four containers equally. D, other options."

"What a sick multiple choice question." Zhao Hu came over and asked, "Is there a difference between a man and a woman in these four containers, ah? If there is a gender difference then is it easy, give a female body two souls first, then find a male to give birth to a baby..."

"The baby carries its own soul." Zhao Jue raised an eyebrow.

Zhao Hu grinned, "How cruel!"

"What do you think?" Zhao Jue asked Zhan Zhao.

"D."

“En." Zhao Jue nodded and went to ask Bai Yutang, "You?”

"D."

"What about you?" Zhao Jue went over and asked Ma Han.

Ma Han seemed to have been lost in thought or thinking about something since earlier. When he saw Zhao Jue asking him, he replied, "I'm not really interested, you guys can guess."

Zhao Jue frowned and shook his head, "Why are you so lifeless at such a young age?"

"You're the one who's too active, you don't even think about the fact that you're already too old!" Zhan Zhao interjected, helping Ma Han retort.

Zhao Jue was furious and glared at him, "You choose D, what do you want to do?"

Zhan Zhao smiled faintly, "The five souls, put them all into one body. Burn the other three."

Zhao Jue looked at Bai Yutang, who nodded, “I choose the same way."

"Hey, you two are extremely perverted!" Zhao Jue shook his head and looked at the sky, "This way, the five souls in one body will have to fight each other!"

"Not necessarily." Zhan Zhao shook his head gently, "Only D is likely to not cause any casualties."

"Why?" Zhao Hu was puzzled.

"If you choose A, you have to dispose of one soul first, so that option is ruled out first. If you choose B, four people, one of whom will have a split personality and will threaten the safety of the other three. After all, killing one of the remaining three would allow you to occupy that container. If you choose C, it's a more brutal, pointless struggle. But if you choose D, when the five share a container and there is no other option, they can only live together in peace."

"You are not afraid that they will kill each other?" Zhao Jue asked.

"Killing each other? One or two is okay, but if there are four opponents and five people overall, it's not so easy, so the best way to mitigate casualties is to co-exist."

"But those four would have burned out!" Zhao Jue raised his eyes, "Wouldn't the cost be greater?"

"That depends on what your definition of life is like." Bai Yutang added helpfully, "A so-called piece of life, whether it is a soul or a body, a substance or a container."

Zhao Jue laughed and looked at Bai Yutang, "He's a little pervert, but why are you like this too?"

Bai Yutang shrugged, "I just like the little pervert, I can't help it."

Zhan Zhao raised his eyebrows at Zhao Jue.

By now, the crowd had reached the front of the train, Zhao Jue roared and pulled the car door, "Show off!"

The crowd laughed as they entered the carriage and they smelled a very tempting aroma.

In the dining room, Bai Jintang and the others had returned; Gongsun had brought back a few bones to study and Bai Chi had taken many pictures.

Zhan Zhao looked envious as he went over to look at the photos, that Grand Canyon was seriously quite grand. He didn't see the onion-headed church today either, and Zhao Jue refused to say explicitly what case he was here to investigate, not to mention that he hadn't understood that Bai Bai Bai, no fun!

As Bai Yutang sat down to wait for his meal, he saw Zhao Hu winking at him, gesturing for him to look at Ma Han. Bai Yutang looked over and frowned slightly – Ma Han was leaning on the table with one hand on his chin, staring at his plate in a daze. Since earlier, he had been acting oddly... Could it be that he had thought of something from the case earlier?

Bai Yutang was just about to ask, but Zhan Zhao tugged on his sleeve and turned back...

Zhan Zhao shook his head at him, signalling – it's better to let him figure it out on his own.

Bai Yutang felt the same, who does not have personal secrets, you can not ask too many questions.

After dinner, the group spent the evening reviewing information and chatting. Seeing as it was almost midnight, it was time to rest.

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao went back to their bedroom. Lying on the bed and looking out of the window at the night sky, Zhan Zhao rested his hands behind his head, "This place has a strange deadly aura."

Bai Yutang sat down next to him and said with feigned seriousness, "Cat, you really do have the keen sense of smell of a beast."

Zhan Zhao kicked him.

At this moment, Bai Yutang's mobile phone meowed.

Picking it up, Bai Yutang frowned slightly.

"What's wrong?" Zhan Zhao came over and saw that it was a text message from a number he didn't know, with just a few simple words – Want to refuel?

"Refuel?" Zhan Zhao looked at Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang reached for his jacket, "A gas station? It can't be such a coincidence, right?"

Zhan Zhao also put on his jacket to go with Bai Yutang. They encountered the twins, who had nothing to do, at the door, and when they saw the two of them going out, they immediately followed in a frenzy. Luo Tian and Qin Ou were worried about them, so they also got into their car. As soon as they started the car, the back door opened a little.

The two turned around, only to see Zhao Jue get in and reach out to point at Bai Yutang's car in front of them, "Follow that car!"

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

Previous Chapter | TOC | Next Chapter

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: December 14, 2022 by Angel

Edited: January 5, 2023 by Angel