S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 4 Chapter 20

A Requiem for a Murderer 20 – Cello

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Early the next morning, when everyone was getting up and ready to 'go to school', they saw Ma Xin, wrapped in a coat and scarf, with a bag full of bags, running over happily.

"Wow! What a sight!" Ma Xin bounced around the train.

Ma Han waved at her from the window, "Didn't I say I'd drive to the station to pick you up, why did you come on your own?"

Ma Xin stood on her tiptoes and looked in, "Amazing! Did you get a train and remodel it directly?"

Luo Tian ran out to pick her up before she excitedly got into the train.

Zhao Hu nudged Ma Han with his elbow, "That sister of yours, why is there such a big difference between her personality and yours?"

Ma Han looked at the sky. Then he went out to help Ma Xin carry her luggage.

"New equipment?" Zhan Zhao curiously followed behind Da Ding and Xiao Ding who were moving machines inside.

"Xin Xin, it's so heavy, how did you carry it all by yourself?" Bai Chi also asked Ma Xin curiously, "Did you eat spinach?"

"Go away." Ma Xin was proud, "I met a handsome guy on the way who helped me carry the box."

"What handsome guy?" Ma Han and Luo Tian asked in unison.

Ma Han frowned, "You didn't meet some weird guy, did you?"

"Not really, it was a punk who plays music, super handsome and funny, with a cello on his back." Ma Xin went to the table and sat down, grabbed a sandwich and nibbled on it, all the while looking at Zhao Jue curiously.

Zhao Jue also looked at Ma Xin with a smile on his face, and helped her spread mayonnaise on her toast familiarly, “Hey, Xin Xin, eat this."

"Thanks." Ma Xin took it and ate it with a smile on her face.

Zhan Zhao held his chin and watched from the side, thinking that this girl was not afraid of being poisoned.

"Cat." Bai Yutang tugged at him, "Let's go, we're going to be late."

Zhan Zhao depressingly stood up and joined Bai Yutang, taking Bai Chi with him and going to school.

Yesterday's incident and the police vehicles visiting the school did not attract much attention from the students, instead, the school was decorated with lights and colours today, as if it was celebrating some kind of festival.

"What's going on?" Zhan Zhao wondered.

"Hey, buddy!"

Zhan Zhao and the others were stunned... buddy? When they looked back, they saw that it was Zhou Yi, whose arm was bandaged, who had somehow run behind them. He was quite excited and went up to pat Bai Yutang on the shoulder, "Chen Xi said it was lucky you saved his life yesterday! And where's that cool shooting teacher?"

"So many people in the school, what are they doing?" Bai Yutang asked instead of answering.

"The school festival!" Chen Xi walked over, followed by Liu Meng and Chen Lu.

“Ai." Chen Xi patted Bai Yutang, "Did something happen yesterday? Did you guys go to the police station afterwards?"

Bai Yutang shrugged, "I don't know."

"But you came to our rescue again yesterday."

"I only entered when I heard the gunshots." Bai Yutang asked Zhou Yi, "How is your injury?"

"It's nothing." Zhou Yi smiled and asked Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, "You two just transferred here, so you don't know about the school festival tradition?"

Zhan Zhao and the others looked at each other and shook their heads – what kind of tradition?

"Every year, the students prepare some activities for the school festival, and then based on their performance, the student council gives them a score. Along the way, the best boys and girls of the year are selected, and they receive prizes and credits." Chen Xi picked up the corner of his mouth, "You three don't need to ask, you definitely have not prepared a show."

Zhan Zhao glanced at Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang shrugged slightly.

Bai Chi shook his head, "No one has told us."

"But the rules say that if you don't do anything for the school festival, you'll lose credits and won't be able to graduate." Chen Lu took out the poster for the school festival and gave it to the three of them, "That means that everyone, good or bad, has to prepare a show or participate in an activity organised by a club."

"A show?" Zhan Zhao took the poster and looked at it in detail, looking at Bai Yutang somewhat glumly – Zhao Jue hadn't mentioned it.

"So, on the day of the school festival, all the students have to be present and are not allowed to take time off, right?" Bai Yutang's concern wasn't so much about credits or not, they didn't expect to stay until graduation anyway, so who cared if they had credits or not? The point was that if all the students were here, then Ghost would be there too, making it a good opportunity for them to investigate.

"Hey, since you three don't have a show, why don't I assign something for you?" Liu Meng ran up and put one hand on Zhan Zhao and the other on Bai Yutang, “These two handsome guys, what's your specialty?"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other and rubbed their chins, "Specialties..."

Zhan Zhao thought about it – Hypnosis and suggestion, does eating and sleeping count?

Bai Yutang thought about it – Catching thieves and flying planes? Does laundry and cooking count?

"I," Bai Chi suddenly raised his hand hastily, "I can do magic!"

"Really?" Everyone was surprised.

Bai Chi had recently learnt a few tricks from Zhao Zhen and had been itching to do some magic tricks for a while now, so when he saw that he had a chance to show off, he hurriedly took out his cards and showed the crowd a card trick.

"Okay!" Liu Meng clapped her hands, "We just happen to be rehearsing for the evening party and there's no magic show, so you're a lifesaver."

"Oh." Bai Chi nodded, while looking back at Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang.

Zhan Zhao made a phone gesture to him, and Bai Chi understood that Zhan Zhao meant for him to keep an eye on the party and call if there was anything, then was pulled away by Liu Meng and Chen Lu.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were left behind.

Zhou Yi looked at the two of them, "Apart from being handsome, do you two have any specialties?"

“Ai, you have good physical ability. The basketball team is missing Liu Ying, so we are short of people for the friendly match later, why don't you fill in?" Chen Xi suggested, "But whether you can play as a starter is questionable, after all, the competition is fierce."

"That Liu Ying, is he the one who fell out of the tree yesterday?" Bai Yutang asked.

"No!" Zhou Yi immediately perked up, "I don't know what that kid was up to with that maths teacher. That kid went in with a real gun and fired it indiscriminately, I was lucky not to die. School shootings are all the rage these days, could he have been under too much stress so he got psychotic and took revenge on society?"

"You're all on the basketball team?" Bai Yutang asked Chen Xi, "Then why didn't you go to practice yesterday and go shooting instead?"

"Different grades." Chen Xi laughed, "Besides, we're only substitutes, Liu Ying is the main player. Speaking of which, although he's great at picking up girls, he's really weird and no one knows him well."

"Do you know where his family lives?" Bai Yutang asked.

Chen Xi and Zhou Yi looked at each other and moved over to ask Bai Yutang, "Why, looking into him?"

Zhan Zhao smiled, "Don't say you guys aren't interested."

"Then the school celebration..."

“Ask the headmaster to open the back door.” Zhan Zhao raised an eyebrow.

"Will the headmaster agree?" Chen Xi was worried.

“He’ll agree."

As they were hesitating, someone leaned between Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang and nodded with a smile, "I'll agree if you take me with you, the headmaster is very easy to talk to."

The four of them looked and were startled to see that it was none other than Zhao Jue who had come, with Ma Han and Zhao Hu behind him.

"Headmaster!" Chen Xi was nervous.

"Shh." Zhao Jue gently patted him on the shoulder, "Let's sneak out!"

Chen Xi nodded, inexplicably feeling confused.

Zhan Zhao gave Zhao Jue a blank look, and Zhao Jue smiled mischievously.

So, the group 'snuck out' of the school, led by the headmaster, and went to find Liu Ying's house. Chen Xi was very well connected, so he asked a few students who knew Liu Ying well and found the area where his house was located.

"He should live in the area." Chen Xi looked at a very simple neighbourhood in front of him and felt puzzled, "He lives in this neighbourhood, huh?"

"What's the problem?" Zhan Zhao asked when he saw that he was sceptical.

"To be able to attend such an expensive public school, most of the students have never opened their own doors, and their villas should be as big as this neighbourhood, right?" Zhao Jue asked Chen Xi.

Chen Xi flattened his mouth, "Liu Ying doesn't look like a poor person."

Bai Yutang went to the communication room at the entrance of the community, took out a picture of Liu Ying and asked the administrator, "This person, does he live in your community?"

The administrator took a look and nodded, "Oh, yes."

“Which building does he live in?"

"Well... he would be a tenant not a resident. Only the last two buildings in this community have rental houses, the others have been residents for over twenty years and I know them all." The administrator wrote a few phone numbers for Bai Yutang, "These are the ones with rooms for rent, just call and ask."

“Hey." Chen Xi asked Zhan Zhao curiously, "Is he treating Bai like a cop? So cooperative."

Zhan Zhao smiled and didn't say anything. Captain Bai's aura was too powerful, wasn't it?

The crowd walked into the district. Bai Yutang called and asked a few landlords and soon found Liu Ying's residence; he lived on the top floor of building 21, room 504. It was a very old residence, the hallway was dimly lit and extremely simple.

"Wow, how did that boy Liu Ying get into the school? Or does he have special interests?" Chen Xi and Zhou Yi were puzzled, "How come he lives in a place like this, I wonder if there are rats?"

As Bai Yutang headed upstairs, he heard the sound of footsteps coming from above the stairs above his head.

The sound of the footsteps was very special, 'click click', very loud and not like a woman's high heels, but like boots with iron accents.

Listening to the footsteps, they were light and unhurried. At the same time, there is the sound of whistling...

The whistling sound was clear and pleasant, yet it was not some pop song, but rather seemed like an old folk song.

Zhan Zhao suddenly froze for a moment, because this ballad... he seemed to have heard it before.

Bai Yutang walked in front, slowly raised his head, subconsciously slowed down his pace, and also felt that this ballad sounded familiar.

Zhao Jue suddenly came up and whispered to Zhan Zhao, "Виолончель" (Pinyin pronunciation: yalanqi)

"Huh?"

On the side, Chen Xi and Zhou Yi didn't quite understand, "What qi?"

"Виолончель," Zhan Zhao whispered, "Russian for cello."

Chen Xi and Zhou Yi looked at each other in disbelief, thinking, 'This new student is too good, he can even understand Russian without thinking?'

The corners of Zhao Jue's mouth curled up and he suddenly ducked behind Ma Han.

Ma Han stiffened his body and looked at him, seemingly puzzled.

Zhao Hu was also puzzled, "Ugh, Grandpa Jue, what are you doing? Eating Xiao Ma Ge's tofu?"

Zhao Jue looked at Zhao Hu and raised a finger at him, but before he could ‘shh', Zhao Hu hurriedly covered his eyes so as not to get trapped.

At that moment, the sound of footsteps came closer and closer.

The sound of whistling was becoming clearer and clearer as the person came down from upstairs.

Bai Yutang subconsciously pulled Zhan Zhao behind him, and Zhan Zhao whispered in his ear, "I remembered where I heard the ballad..."

"I remembered it too." Bai Yutang whispered, "This tune should be even more familiar to Luo Tian."

"The two bearded men that Taber brought along." Zhan Zhao whispered, “Du She and Jie Jie, this is the song Jie Jie sang."

"Змея and Лягушка."

At that moment, the whistling upstairs turned into the sound of talking, a mixture of Russian and Chinese. Bai Yutang glanced at Zhan Zhao, who whispered, "Serpents and frogs."

As they spoke, Bai Yutang and the others turned the corner to go upstairs, the people upstairs turned the corner to go downstairs, and the two sides met on a short flight of stairs.

Both sides looked at each other.

The man coming down the stairs was a tall, thin man in a black trench coat with silver studs and a few silver chains. He was wearing a pair of yellow sunglasses, had short hair which somewhat resembled a hedgehog's head and was black, and was wearing leather trousers and mid-calf Roman boots which had chains hanging from them, which explained why the footsteps sounded so strange. Behind him, he carried a large cello case. Zhao Hu gently elbowed Ma Han, "This case is nice, it's more stylish than your case, when are you going to have it packaged like that?"

Ma Han looked at him speechlessly, and behind him, Zhao Jue suddenly let out a “pft".

This 'pft' pulled the man's gaze away from Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, and past the two, he saw Zhao Jue at the end of the pack, and then fiercely removed his glasses.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang could see the obvious Eastern European heritage from his pale blue eyes and high nose bridge.

"Oh!" The man suddenly raised his hands towards the sky, then knelt down at the top of the steps of the staircase, "Hallelujah!"

The crowd was confused by his gesture.

But the man grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth, "God, which one is your so-called miracle?"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked back at Zhao Jue, with a look that said – You know this lunatic? How come the people you know are all crazier than the last?!

Zhao Jue bristled with disgust.

Bai Yutang suddenly heard a soft shaking of chains behind him. As he turned around, he pressed his hand against the handle of the gun at his waist, and at the same time, raised his eyebrows at the man on the steps. His eyes warned – don't mess around.

Sure enough, the man's hand was also positioned behind him.

Both of them had their clothes blocking their hands, so the crowd could not see what they were holding. Chen Xi and Zhou Yi, who were subconsciously shoved to the very back by Ma Han and Zhao Hu, couldn't see anything and were anxiously jumping around.

"Oh..." The man nodded and looked meaningfully at Bai Yutang, "So it's you."

Bai Yutang thought of what Ma Xin had just said, about a handsome man with a cello helping her carry her suitcase on the train and how strong he was.

He stretched out his hand and showed Bai Yutang that it was empty, then slowly stood up, “I still have some errands to run, I'll play with you next time." After saying that, he leapt up onto the handrail of the stairs with ease.

The handrail of this old-fashioned staircase was a rusty iron pipe, only as thick as a thumb. But with his hands in his pockets, the man made his way down slowly, balancing himself somewhat too amazingly well.

When he reached the corner, he leaned back, folding backwards with ease to get out of the way of the obstacles, descended the staircase, turned a corner and landed easily on the steps again, putting on his glasses. Turning back to the crowd with a gentle wave of his hand, he said to Ma Han, "Say hello to Eleven for me."

After saying that, the man walked away.

Zhan Zhao looked at Ma Han, "Do you know him?"

Ma Han thought for a long time before shaking his head, "I'm certain I've never seen him, but I'm not sure if he's seen me before."

"It's getting interesting." Zhao Jue smiled and rubbed his chin as he headed upstairs.

Zhan Zhao followed behind him, "Why is there another strange person? Who is he?"

"He's also catching ghosts." Zhao Jue winked at Zhan Zhao, "The killers are having a mass party, so of course we can't do without a band."

"A band?" Zhan Zhao laughed, "No wonder he brought a cello."

"What did he just say about miracles?" Bai Yutang frowned and asked Zhao Jue.

"Don't mind that, don't mind that.” Zhao Jue waved his hand, "Let's hurry back to the school festival after we've finished looking around, it's bound to be lively at the annual party in the gym tonight."

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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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: January 30, 2023 by Angel

Edited: February 21, 2023 by Angel