S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 1 Chapter 114

Shadow Murderer 22 – Seems to be Right, But is Actually Wrong

---

"That's roughly what happened." When Bai Jintang finished, he looked at Bai Yutang and then at Zhan Zhao, "Is there anything else you want to ask?"

The two looked at each other and neither said anything; it wasn't that they didn't have anything they wanted to ask, they just felt that asking about past events at that time was like rubbing salt into Bai Jintang's wounds. Originally, Zhan Zhao had been thinking of ways to bring Bai Jintang's memory back, but after listening to him talk about his experiences, he felt that it was better for Bai Jintang not to completely forget about it.

At that moment, Gongsun, who was holding a briefcase in his hand, came out of the secured passage.

"What is everyone standing around for?" Gongsun asked as he came closer. Noticing that the atmosphere seemed a little off, he looked at the three.

"Ahem..." Bai Yutang coughed softly and looked up to ask Gongsun, "How's it going upstairs"

“It’s okay." Gongsun shook the bag in his hand, "The thing is here, it's not a domestic product, so let's take it back to look for clues first, everything upstairs is fine."

Zhan Zhao opened the car door and brought Luo Yang out, and winked at Bai Yutang. Bai Yutang nodded and looked back at Bai Jintang.

Bai Jintang saw that Bai Yutang's eyes were somewhat apologetic, as if he was a child who had done something wrong, and he couldn't laugh or cry, so he raised his eyebrows and asked him, "Why are you still standing there? Go."

Rubbing their heads with some embarrassment, Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao ran into the elevator in a slightly dishevelled manner.

When the three of them had entered, Gongsun saw that Bai Jintang had already gotten into the car, so he followed them.

"What's wrong? Such a stinky face." Sitting on the passenger seat, Gongsun reached out and gently pinched Bai Jintang's ear, "It's rare to see you scowling at those two brats."

Without speaking, Bai Jintang gazed back at Gongsun and leaned over to kiss the corner of his mouth.

Gongsun froze for a moment before raising his hand and delivering a straight punch that hit Bai Jintang's chest painlessly.

"Hehe..." Bai Jintang rubbed his chest and asked with a smile, "Are you hungry? Let's go eat."

"I want to go back to the police station!" Gongsun glared at him.

Indifferently smiling, Bai Jintang faintly replied, "I'll wait for you." Then he started the car.

Gongsun looked down at the bag, waited for a while, and said, "I'll hand this over and go for dinner."

Bai Jintang reached out and stroked his hair: “Okay..."

..................

Pressing the close door button, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang let out a long sigh of relief and glanced at each other, both feeling a little uncomfortable.

Luo Yang looked up at Zhan Zhao and then at Bai Yutang, and asked curiously, “What’s wrong? Did you do something wrong?" Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were stunned, their faces were both a little red. They looked at Luo Yang and spoke in unison, "Who said that?" After saying that, they looked at each other awkwardly again.

Luo Yang had an "I see" look on his face and nodded his head without asking any more questions. As soon as the elevator door opened, he ran out to find his bearded uncle. Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang let out another long sigh and followed him with downcast expressions.

In the ward, the bearded man was lying on the bed with a layer of gauze wrapped around his neck, and Bai Chi was feeding him water with a spoon.

Luo Yang joyfully ran in, took the cup and spoon from Bai Chi, and stood on his tiptoes to feed the bearded man water.

"The doctor said he needs to drink more water." Bai Chi walked over to Zhan Zhao and glanced towards the door, "Where's Brother?"

The expressions on the two men's faces hardened again and they said vaguely, "He went back with Gongsun."

"Can he talk yet?" Zhan Zhao quickly changed the subject, looking at the bearded man and asking Bai Chi.

"He can, the wound will recover in about a week, and talking will hurt a bit in the meantime."

Seeing the bearded man drinking water from the spoon handed over by Yang Yang with happiness in his eyes, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang did not want to interrupt him, so they moved a chair over and sat on the side, waiting for him to finish drinking.

Soon, the glass of water was empty, and the bearded man turned his face to look at the two men and opened his mouth, "What's wrong?"

Without the interference of the voice changer, the bearded man heard his own voice for the first time in his life.

"How do you know something is wrong?" Zhan Zhao asked with some curiosity.

"... Feeling." The bearded man only replied with two short syllables.

Zhan Zhao frowned slightly; Bai Jintang also seemed to have this particularly keen perception, could it be that this was also by chance?

"The bearded man has been caught." Bai Yutang suddenly said, "But I don't know if he's the 2-12-11 you're talking about"

The bearded man suddenly sat up on the bed, and Luo Yang, who was on the other side, glared at him somewhat fiercely, "You are a patient, lie down!"

After hesitating for a moment, he obediently laid back down and looked at Luo Yang pitifully, as if to say – why are you so mean?

The other three looked at them and wanted to laugh… but were also a little saddened.

"I want to see him." The bearded man said to Bai Yutang.

"Do you remember an Italian nursery rhyme?" Zhan Zhao asked the bearded man.

"Nursery rhyme..." The bearded man thought about it and was a little puzzled, "What nursery rhyme?"

Zhan Zhao looked at Luo Yang, who then hummed a couple of lines for the bearded man and said, "You've hummed it before, don't you remember?"

The bearded man's face instantly turned ghastly white, and he opened his mouth, turning his face to ask Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, "You guys... where did you hear that?"

"The bearded man keeps singing it!" Bai Yutang replied, "He even came to us last night and called Luo Yang brother..."

"Impossible!" Before Bai Yutang could finish his sentence, the bearded man sat up violently with a look of panic and shock, "Impossible! He died a long time ago."

"What do you mean?" Zhan Zhao did not understand, but the bearded man jumped up excitedly. Bai Yutang walked over and pressed him down firmly, "Don't get excited yet, you need to regain your energy."

"What else did he say? What else did he say?" The bearded man asked as he grabbed Bai Yutang's wrist tightly.

Bai Yutang frowned, this man was really ridiculously strong, "He said his name was Jie Jie."

As soon as the words left his mouth, the bearded man crumbled and fell back down onto the bed, shaking his head, "How is that possible..."

"What are you talking about? What's not possible?" Zhan Zhao pulled Luo Yang, who was stunned at the side, in front of him and let the bearded man see his face. Sure enough, the bearded man gradually calmed down, sighed and slowly said, "This is not something I can explain. Take me to see him and you will understand once you meet him."

Helpless, Bai Yutang looked back at Zhan Zhao, and when he saw Zhan Zhao nodding, he led the group out of the ward together.

When they reached the parking lot, Zhan Zhao suddenly patted Luo Yang's head and said, "Yang Yang, how about taking Brother Bai Chi's car?"

Luo Yang understood that Zhan Zhao and the others wanted to talk to the bearded man alone, so he nodded and obediently got into Bai Chi's car.

As the car drove forward smoothly, Zhan Zhao looked back at the bearded man and asked, "After this is over, do you want to take Yang Yang back to raise him?”

The bearded man froze. There was hesitation in his eyes, but he still shook his head and said lightly, "I can't."

"There will be a day when the matter will be resolved, wouldn't it be good to live with Yang Yang when the time comes?" Bai Yutang asked him. "With your ability, you should have no problem raising a child, and you can ask Cat to treat your mental ailments. This child is so close to you, are you willing to give him up?"

The bearded man looked a little sad, but still gritted his teeth and shook his head, "No... I've killed people!"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged a glance, "If it was Allen Poe, then he was completely to blame, you don't have to feel guilty at all."

After a long silence, the bearded man quietly said, "I have killed other people, completely innocent people… What I owe, I will have to pay back one day." After saying that, he closed his mouth and did not speak again.

Soon, the car arrived at the police station. The few people had just entered the office when they saw Ma Han running back furiously, "Chief, there's been another incident!"

"What's wrong?" Bai Yutang handed him a glass of water and let him catch his breath first, "Did you bring him back?"

"Yes, he's in the interrogation room." Ma Han took the water but didn't drink it, saying anxiously, "There's another victim, the Shadow Murderer did it!"

"What?" Everyone was startled at the same time.

"Who died?" Zhan Zhao asked, "Chen Jie?"

Ma Han froze and stared at Zhan Zhao, "Dr. Zhan, how do you know that?"

Zhan Zhao was silent, his mind whirling rapidly.

"Ouyang Chun is already there with his own people!" Ma Han said, "Chief, what do we do?"

"Inform Gongsun to inspect the corpse, you and Bai Chi go first, we'll be there in a moment!" As soon as Bai Yutang finished speaking, Ma Han ran out of sight.

Zhan Zhao felt someone tugging on the corner of his coat, and when he looked down, he saw Luo Yang tilting his face and asking, "Aunt Chen is dead?"

The bearded man beside him reached out and stroked his hair, whispering reassuringly, "It wasn't you, don't take it to heart."

Luo Yang nodded, and his face looked much better.

Zhan Zhao sighed, is this the connection between father and son? Kinship was much more reliable than psychology. Such a bond, who would want to separate them? But the bearded man seemed to have a lot of secrets that he was not telling.

When the crowd walked into the interrogation room, they saw the other bearded man secured to a special steel seat, tilting his face up and curiously surveying his surroundings. As the crowd walked up to the one way mirror, he surprisingly turned his face as if he sensed it and smiled at them.

Zhan Zhao frowned, did he even have above average senses?

The bearded man stared at the man inside for a long time before he sighed in relief and said, "He's not 2-12-11, you've got the wrong person.”

... This time it was Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang's turn to be surprised; so where did this bearded man come from?

"Do you know who he is?" Zhan Zhao asked.

The bearded man shook his head, "I don't recognize him."

"Then who did you think he was in the beginning?" Zhan Zhao pressed on.

The bearded man turned his face to look at Zhan Zhao, and then stared at Luo Yang, who had been following him, as if to say send Luo Yang out first.

Bai Yutang called for Jiang Ping and told him to take Luo Yang to the office to play for a while.

Only when he was gone did the bearded man speak, "A man I've killed before."

"Be specific." Bai Yutang moved a chair and sat down, gesturing for him and Zhan Zhao to sit as well.

"When we were training... we would often have elimination training." The bearded man explained to the two, "It was when two people selected as opponents would fight until one of them died."

"I killed a guy back then, he was actually my best friend there, and although we couldn't speak or show affection for each other, we spent a lot of time together... He was a semi-finished product, and because he still retained some memory, he used to sing that song when no one was around. He also taught me to sing it."

"Are you sure you killed him?” Zhan Zhao asked.

"... I believe so." The bearded man thought for a moment, "Even if he was lucky enough that he didn't die and managed to escape, it's still not him!"

"You are certain of that?" Bai Yutang asked, "After all, it's been so many years since the incident."

"It's not him!" The bearded man said with certainty, "If you killed someone, you will never forget what the person you killed looked like."

Bai Yutang opened his mouth, unable to speak, and eventually nodded.

“What do you guys plan to do next?" The bearded man asked, "We agreed to work together."

Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao, as if to say – you do it.

Zhan Zhao looked the bearded man up and down and nodded, "Cooperation is no problem. You will help us catch the murderer, but you can't leave our sight for the time being. Since Yang Yang is living with us anyway, you can stay with him in the guest room."

The bearded man was stunned, but nodded, after all, the temptation was a little too great.

Bai Yutang secretly thought that Zhan Zhao was shrewd, like this, the bearded man could not escape. He turned his eyes to look at the bearded man and rubbed his chin, "You can't go in this condition! You have to take care of yourself first."

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

Previous Chapter | TOC | Next Chapter

Translator Notes

Translated: January 26, 2023 by Angel

Edited: February 16, 2023 by Angel