S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 1 Chapter 115

Shadow Murderer 23 – Becoming Clearer

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Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao were sitting on the sofa in the barber shop looking at a magazine. The two of them had been waiting for almost an hour. The owner of this barber shop was a friend of the two, so it was easier to talk and do things.

"It's done!" The barber pushed the already freshly groomed beard in front of the two. Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao looked up and both stared.

After the messy beard was removed, what appeared in front of everyone's eyes was a neat and clean face. Although it didn't look too young, the features were indeed very standard. Not only was it not ugly, but it also had some of the handsomeness of a mature man… When they saw it, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang nodded straight away. There was also a clear resemblance between that face and Luo Yang’s, it was hard not to admit that they were father and son. 

"Not bad!" Bai Yutang nodded, opening his mouth to speak, but felt a little embarrassed and laughed, "Give yourself a name, you are always called Big Beard, it feels weird."

The bearded man was stunned for a moment, seemingly embarrassed, and said, "I... haven't read any books. A name, you guys can help me."

Zhan Zhao rubbed his chin and thought about it, "Let's call you Luo Tina. Yang Yang is called Luo Yang, you are called Luo Tian, it sounds quite pleasant."

The bearded man listened and pondered softly for a few moments before nodding and saying, "Okay."

After cleaning up, the three of them got into the car and drove towards Chen Jie's villa. On the way, Zhan Zhao asked the bearded man many questions, all of which sounded meaningless. Although Bai Yutang didn't quite understand what Zhan Zhao was trying to do, this cat must have his reasons for asking questions, maybe there were some clues again.

Not far from Chen Jie's villa, Luo Tian suddenly said to Bai Yutang, "Someone is following us."

Bai Yutang's face did not show any sign of surprise and he said without moving, "They have been following us since we left the police station, don't worry about it."

Zhan Zhao blinked, looked at the two cars that employed alternating tracking behind them, and asked Luo Tian, "When did you first notice this?"

"Just now." Luo Tian replied.

"What kind of feeling was it?" Zhan Zhao continued to ask.

"Well..." Luo Tian thought for a moment, "It's just that I get panicky and feel like there's danger, and it's spot on every time."

Zhan Zhao glanced at Bai Yutang and whispered, "Xiao Bai, they might be making some moves."

Bai Yutang nodded and tilted his chin at the rearview mirror, "They're already gone."

When Zhan Zhao and Luo Tian followed Bai Yutang's line of sight, they saw that the two cars that were originally following them had slowed down for some reason and soon disappeared.

"What the hell are they doing?" Bai Yutang frowned slightly.

Luo Tian suddenly asked somewhat nervously, "Will something happen to Yang Yang if he is left alone in the police station?"

"Don't worry." Zhan Zhao said, "I asked Jiang Ping to take Yang Yang to Bao Sir before I left."

"Don't worry." Bai Yutang also smiled, "Being with Bao Sir is safer than being with us." As they spoke, the car had already arrived at the scene.

The three of them got out of the car, crossed the yellow line and headed inside.

"Chief!" Ma Han and Bai Chi were studying the case with Ouyang Chun, and when they saw Bai Yutang and the others coming, they hurriedly greeted the group and hailed them over.

"Well?" Bai Yutang asked.

"It was done by one person." Gongsun spoke, "I conducted a preliminary autopsy, but I can tell you with certainty that the murderer is the same Shadow Murderer from the previous cases."

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao looked at each other – that is to say, the murderer was not Jie Jie... But things were centred around the bearded man, Luo Yang, and so on. The connection between them was becoming clear, and a thousand threads were entangled. As long as they could grab the main thread, the rest of the trouble would be solved, but where exactly is the main thread?

"I want to see the scene first.” Zhan Zhao said.

"Once you've seen it, we'll take the body back." Gongsun led Zhan Zhao upstairs with him. Instead of following, Bai Yutang called over all of Chen Jie's men, asking them one by one about last night and taking a closer look at the entire villa's terrain.

By the time Bai Yutang was done, Zhan Zhao walked down with a puzzled look on his face.

"What's wrong, Cat?"

"The technique is the same as in several other cases, the only difference is that in Chen Jie's study, there are obvious signs of it having been rummaged through."

"Are you saying that after the killing, the murderer looked for something?"

Zhan Zhao nodded, "The books had been carefully gone through, book by book.

Bai Yutang thought for a moment and asked, "Cat, how did you guess that it was Chen Jie who died?”

"Xiao Bai, do you think this case is very complicated?" Zhan Zhao asked instead of answering.

Bai Yutang shrugged noncommittally, "It's not complicated, I just feel that there's no place to start."

"How so?"

"There are actually two cases, one is the Night Punisher and the other is the Shadow Murderer, but they are somehow related to each other," Bai Yutang said as he walked over to the flower bed and sat down.

"Chen Jie's death should be unplanned." Zhan Zhao sat down next to Bai Yutang.

"Moreover, that Shadow Murderer changed his habits during this crime." Bai Yutang said, "Originally, he didn't kill women, but this time he did, and originally, he killed people cleanly and left, but this time he looked for something."

"The timing of Chen Jie's death is also interesting." Zhan Zhao continued, "It was right after Jie Jie was arrested."

Bai Yutang was taken aback and nodded, "We met Jie Jie at Chen Jie's club, and after Jie Jie was arrested, Chen Jie died... That day, Wei Yong also died for no reason."

"Do you remember Wei Yong told us that Jie Jie was a friend of Luo Wen, which was actually Luo Tian." Zhan Zhao said, "He was intentionally wrong, and then he died. If Yang Yang hadn't come to us and told us about Luo Tian, we wouldn't have known that in fact Luo Tian and Jie Jie were two different people.”

"Chen Jie's role was to conceal Jie Jie's existence... using Luo Wen's bearded friend as a front." Bai Yutang frowned, "Why would she want to hide such a dangerous tool for killing?"

"Three reasons." Zhan Zhao nodded, "Either to hold it for someone else, to use it themselves, or, to use it for themselves while holding it for someone else."

"Oh~~" Bai Yutang understood, "That's why she was silenced, Chen Jie was just a link, there was someone else behind it. Killing her and taking the items was cutting off her connection to the people behind the scenes."

As the two were analysing, they saw Bai Chi running over, "Brother, found something!"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang glanced at each other, then stood up and followed Bai Chi towards Chen Jie's study.

When Bai Chi walked to the desk, he saw a small goldfish bowl with a purple long-tailed goldfish inside, and the bottom of the bowl was covered with coloured stones and a few aquatic plants.

After staring at the fish tank for a while, Zhan Zhao suddenly let out an ‘ah' and said, "Chi Chi, you're a genius!"

"There's something inside!" Bai Yutang pointed at a black object among the coloured stones at the bottom. The object was so packed into the many coloured stones that it was impossible to spot with a casual glance.

Zhan Zhao reached out and picked out a long pair of tweezers from the pen holder next to him, then reached into the stones at the bottom of the fish tank and quickly picked up the black object. Only then did the crowd see that it was not a stone, but a cylindrical plastic capsule the size of a bullet.

After putting it on the table, Zhan Zhao squeezed the two ends and twisted it gently. The capsule split in two and was hollow inside, and contained a pocket-sized USB stick the size of a fingernail.

Everyone's faces showed their delight as Zhan Zhao ran downstairs and brought his laptop, turned it on and inserted the USB stick.

There was a video and a few texts on the drive. Zhan Zhao clicked on the video first.

The image was somewhat familiar, it was a dimly lit alleyway.

"It's the same as the video given by Luo Wen!" Bai Yutang said.

Sure enough, the image showed a dead punk and a laughing Lan Chenglin. The crowd couldn't help but be a little disappointed; they originally thought it was some kind of major discovery, they didn't expect it to be something that they already had

They were losing hope when they heard Zhan Zhao say, "There's more!"

The video that Luo Wen had given them stopped after Lan Chenglin laughed out loud, but this one was still playing. Just after Lan Chenglin laughed, he suddenly turned back to look at the other side of the alley, and before long, a man came from the other end. That man entered the shot and looked down at the corpse on the ground.

It was a grown man in a black suit. It was impossible to see what he looked like because he kept his head down, but judging from the curly brown hair and the shape of his body, he was a foreigner.

"It's him." Luo Tian, who was standing far back watching, suddenly spoke up.

"Who?" Bai Yutang turned back to ask him.

Luo Tian scanned the crowd and whispered, "2-12-11"

"He's taken good care of himself." Bai Yutang raised an eyebrow, "No big beard and well-dressed."

"I think I've seen him somewhere before." Zhan Zhao suddenly said.

“En." Bai Chi nodded, "I seem to have a slight impression of him too."

The crowd held their breath as they looked at the two. These two people's brains were like photocopiers, they could definitely remember what they had seen, but just what circumstances would make the two of them see a person at the same time? Moreover, not having a deep impression meant that they had only met once...

"I remember!" Zhan Zhao said, "That day at the junkyard, when we caught Taber, it was one of his men."

"Right!" Bai Chi tapped his head, "That's him!"

"That's right!" Ouyang Chun said, "Lan Chenglin was working as an inside man for Taber, and this man was one of Taber's men, and the two had dealings with each other."

Bai Yutang paused the picture and summoned Chen Jie's men, asking if they had seen this man.

The subordinates took a few glances and all said they had seen him; this man often fought in Dark Night Kingdom, his martial arts were good and he was ruthless enough, so many bosses wanted to take him in.

After hearing this, Zhan Zhao understood and asked Bai Yutang, "Xiao Bai, those bosses who died all had one thing in common, they all went to watch fighting at Dark Night Kingdom... What is the purpose of watching the fighting?"

"To find a powerful person." Bai Yutang sneered, "To find a last resort to keep himself safe... Hide a bodyguard who no one knows exists and only follows your orders! They thought they could protect themselves, but they didn't expect to find someone who wanted their lives!"

Bai Yutang immediately called a few of the previous victims and got the answer – the bosses had all been very restless for a while before they were killed and didn't trust everyone around them, but had returned to normal in the days before they died.

“They were finding trusted bodyguards!" Zhan Zhao said, "None of the murdered men's villas could have been accessed from the outside, but what if the killer was on the inside to begin with?"

"But he was a newcomer." Bai Yutang seemed a little puzzled, "Even if he was walking around inside, how could he go undetected and not arouse anyone else's suspicion?"

"It can be done!" Luo Tian behind him said, "He can definitely do it if he's 2-12-11."

Everyone looked at each other, then they saw the bearded man tilt his face up to look around the interior of the room, find a chair to stand on, and gently tap on the ceiling of the room.

The rooms were centrally air-conditioned and therefore all had a suspended ceiling and ventilation ducts connecting several rooms.

"Such a small hole?" Bai Yutang frowned, "How would an adult get in?"

Luo Tian looked at the hole and nodded, “If he can… so can I."

Everyone was startled as Bai Yutang reached out to gesture for him to demonstrate, and they saw Luo Tian move his shoulders and easily twist and misalign his joints, burrowing inside like a soft snake.

Bai Yutang suddenly thought of that night when he had grabbed Jie Jie, his arm was abnormally soft as if it had no bones.

Everyone in the room felt pain all over their bodies watching his actions; this was indeed something only someone with no sense of pain could do.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other, no wonder Jie Jie disappeared out of thin air that day in the car park, it turns out that not only can he take the underground tunnel, but also the interior of the house... the air vents.

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Translated: January 29, 2023 by Angel

Edited: February 23, 2023 by Angel