S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 1 Chapter 117

Shadow Murderer 25 – Fire

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Luo Yang was woken up by the sound of water running. When he opened his eyes, he found himself lying on his back on the ground with a blue peaked roof over his head, which was very high, like one of those old-style work sheds.

There was some pain in his neck, a feeling that had really been missing for a long time. Luo Yang somehow felt it was very real, he guessed it should hurt very much, although he only felt a little pain.

He wanted to sit up, but found that his hands were tied. He struggled twice, but found that he could not break free, the ties were very strong.

Luo Yang turned his face and tried to sit up sideways, but he froze when he saw the person lying beside him.

"Uncle Zhan?" Luo Yang moved over and found Zhan Zhao with his eyes tightly closed.

Luo Yang called out to him for a while, but Zhan Zhao had no intention of waking up at all. He was a little scared and went up to listen, and found that Zhan Zhao's heartbeat and breathing were very weak.

"Heh..." A soft laugh suddenly came from behind him.

Luo Yang jerked his head back and saw a man standing not far away, holding an empty iron barrel in his hand. Luo Yang knew that it was a gasoline barrel. At the same time, he also smelled the strong smell of gasoline all around him, and turned his head to find that this was a place like a paint workshop or something, with many more cardboard boxes around... and the person who clanged the barrel and threw it aside was none other than Lan Chenglin.

"You, what did you do to Uncle Zhan?" Luo Yang looked at this Lan Chenglin angrily, rubbing his hands hard, trying to break free of the rope.

"Heh..." Lan Chenglin laughed and shook his head, "Little thing, have you ever heard of succinylcholine?"

Luo Yang did not understand.

"Succinylcholine is a highly toxic drug used in limited quantities, it's a muscle relaxant if used in small quantities, and in large quantities, it's highly toxic." The smile on Lan Chenglin's face widened.

"You..." Luo Yang was a little scared and turned back to rub his head against Zhan Zhao, finding that he was still not awake.

"I sprayed some on him," Lan Chenglin pulled out a lighter, his face scowling a bit, "Do you know that in my life, there are two people I hate the most!"

Luo Yang stared closely at the lighter in his hand, thinking that if he lit it...

"One is Luo Wen, and the other is Bai Yutang!" Lan Chenglin said with gritted teeth, "Luo Wen is dead, but he wants to harm me even after his death!" Lan Chenglin was panting heavily from the excitement, "As for Bai Yutang... if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be in such a fucking mess!"

With a ‘click' of the lighter, Lan Chenglin laughed out loud, "Bai Yutang will probably be here soon… Zhan Zhao used a muscle relaxant, once he inhales the smoke, he will definitely die!"

Luo Yang's face turned white as he heard Lan Chenglin continue, "Originally, they only told me to send you guys there, but I changed my mind. I can't tell you how relieved I am at the thought of Bai Yutang watching Zhan Zhao die in front of him!"

After saying that, he stepped backwards, backed up behind the roll-up door, raised his hand and threw the lighter. Instantly, tongues of fire sprang up, as roaring flames stretching along the gasoline quickly surrounded Zhan Zhao and Luo Yang in the middle. Lan Chenglin laughed loudly and pulled down the roll-up door with one hand.

......

Fearing detection, Zhao Zhen did not dare to follow too closely. From a distance, he saw the taxi enter a large factory area and he stopped the car outside the gate. His phone was kept on, and Bai Yutang kept in touch with him to confirm the location.

Opening the door, Zhao Zhen let Lisbon out, just to see Lisbon looking back as soon as he got out. Zhao Zhen also turned around, his mouth hanging open in surprise as Bai Yutang's car had already flown in.

"Where is he?" Bai Yutang rushed out of the car and Zhao Zhen, startled by his face, pointed into the factory, "Inside, it's huge, Lisbon should be able to find him." With that, he patted Lisbon's head, and without waiting for Zhao Zhen to say anything, Lisbon had already run into the factory building, and Bai Yutang followed.

Zhao Zhen wanted to chase after him, but he saw several police cars all driving up from afar.

"Where's Brother?" Bai Chi rushed out of the car, speaking with a trembling voice, his eyes red with anxiety.

Zhao Zhen didn't know what to say, he just pointed inside and gestured for everyone to go in together.

Bai Yutang followed Lisbon around the factory, but there were quite a few scrap tyres around, so Lisbon seemed to swerve a bit. Spinning around in place a few times, he roared with anxiety.

Bai Yutang calmed down, then walked over and lifted Lisbon's big head, whispering, "Calm down, I'll have to rely on you now, get a good feel for it!"

Lisbon stopped growling and gradually calmed down, turning his head sharply and staring into the distance.

Bai Yutang followed his line of sight and saw a thick cloud of smoke rising from the top of a factory not far away.

Without thinking, Bai Yutang dashed towards the factory.

The fire grew rapidly and it wasn't long before Bai Chi and the others saw it from afar. When they arrived at the factory, they saw Bai Yutang smash the window of the factory with a triangular iron and rush headlong into the fire, and with him, Lisbon also rushed in.

"Brother!" Bai Chi looked at the factory which was already surrounded by fire. The rest of SCI wanted to rush in, but were stopped by the SWAT team "Going in now will only cause trouble..."

Before he could finish his sentence, the window where Bai Yutang had just rushed in was blocked by blazing flames.

Zhao Zhen took out his mobile phone to call for an ambulance and a fire truck, while everyone else kept a close eye on the fire.

Time was ticking away, and those waiting outside could only feel that the fire was burning in their hearts, and they forgot how to breathe.

At that moment, there was a loud ‘BANG' and a chair flew out of a window on the other side. Lisbon leapt out with little Luo Yang on top of him and his tail on fire. The crowd's hearts were in their throats when they saw Bai Yutang jump out of the window with an unconscious Zhan Zhao in his arms.

The SCI crowd was so shocked that they drew in a breath because Bai Yutang's arm was on fire.

Ma Han and others rushed up to help him put out the fire with their clothes, only to find that something was wrong with Bai Yutang, who was not looking at the crowd at all and was giving Zhan Zhao chest compressions and artificial respiration like crazy. Only then did everyone realise that Zhan Zhao was not breathing.

"Succinylcholine!" Luo Yang, who was still sane, shouted out, "Lan Chenglin gave Uncle Zhan succinylcholine."

Everyone sucked in a cold breath, this move was too vicious.

Bai Yutang didn't know whether he was frantic or just too calm, he didn't react to anything, just repeated the chest compressions and artificial respiration over and over again, his mouth repeatedly calling out "Cat".

There was a faint smell of burning in the air, which actually came from the large burns on Bai Yutang's arm, but as time passed, Zhan Zhao still wasn't breathing and hope was fading. The crowd's hearts grew cold, and Bai Chi was already crying on the side.

Just as the ambulance siren sounded in the distance, Zhan Zhao suddenly coughed softly.

Everyone present had probably never felt such a wonderful sensation from a cough in their lives.

"Cat?" Bai Yutang gently patted Zhan Zhao's cheek. Zhan Zhao, who had coughed twice, was still blurred in consciousness, but was breathing... Bai Yutang's tears fell, but his face showed a smile that had been lost and found.

The ambulance crew immediately put Zhan Zhao, Luo Yang and Bai Yutang into the ambulance, and Bai Chi followed the ambulance to the hospital. The firefighters started to extinguish the fire, and the people of SCI, whose hearts had already flown to the hospital, also got into the car and followed.

The ambulance left.

Zhao Zhen, however, stood still, still lost in thought, with the scene of Bai Yutang giving Zhan Zhao chest compressions in front of him. At that moment, he heard Lisbon beside him suddenly let out a low growl as he stared at the back of the factory.

Zhao Zhen thought for a moment, put his hands in his pockets and, together with Lisbon, moved to the back of the building where he saw a man in dishevelled clothes sneaking around, looking in the direction of the fire.

A silent gesture was made to Lisbon, who dutifully quietened down, and Zhao Zhen watched the man without moving.

Seeing the man observing the fire, there seemed to be some unease on his face.

Zhao Zhen thought for a moment and flashed behind the man, suddenly calling out in a whisper, "Lan Chenglin!"

The man visibly jumped in shock and looked back, the shock in his eyes telling Zhao Zhen that he was indeed Lan Chenglin.

"Who are you?" Lan Chenglin stared warily at Zhao Zhen, "A police officer?"

Zhao Zhen shrugged and shook his head. At that moment, Lisbon also came out and sat next to Zhao Zhen. Lan Chenglin's face changed colour when he saw the huge African white lion.

"What do you want?" Lan Chenglin pulled out the gun on his waist, but before he could take aim, he saw Zhao Zhen fling his hand, and a flying knife had steadily pierced through the back of his hand.

"Ah..." Lan Chenglin cried out in pain, and his gun fell to the ground. Holding his injured hand, he leaned against the wall, "You want to take me to the police station?"

Zhao Zhen shook his head.

"You... you are one of his people?" The look on Lan Chenglin's face became even more frightened.

Zhao Zhen found this interesting and shook his head again.

"You, who exactly are you?" Lan Chenglin stared at Zhao Zhen.

"I don't like to meddle in things," Zhao Zhen stroked his chin, as if he was talking to himself, “however, in all my life, I have never seen a man so sad. If Zhan Zhao had really died... I wonder what Bai Yutang would have done."

When he said this, Zhao Zhen stopped, looked at Lan Chenglin's face and said, "You had a happy expression on your face just now."

Lan Chenglin was silent, he felt that the man in front of him looked as if he was a normal person, but was somehow different from normal people.

"That unrestrained look on your face is upsetting to me." Zhao Zhen smiled and took out the phone, "So, I also want to be unrestrained."

"You... what do you want to do?" Lan Chenglin sensed something unpleasant.

"I want to teach you some lessons so that I can feel good." Zhao Zhen tapped his chin lightly with his phone, "But it seems like you know a lot of things, so I have to get some information from you to help the SCI people solve the case."

Lan Chenglin's eyes widened as he stared at Zhao Zhen, not understanding exactly what he wanted.

"So... I think there's someone who would probably be very interested in you." After saying that, he dialled his phone.

When the call was answered, I heard Zhao Zhen say with a smile, "Hello, I’m looking for Bai Jintang"

......

Lan Chenglin tried to escape, but Lisbon was sitting right next to him watching him, and if he moved even slightly, he would hear an amazing lion's roar.

Ten minutes later, a black car pulled up behind Zhao Zhen. The door opened and the twins got out.

"Big Brother has gone to the hospital, if you didn't tell him, he wouldn't know yet, presumably because Yutang won't let anyone alarm him." Ding Zhaolan walked up and nodded to Zhao Zhen, "Big Brother asked me to bring a message, saying thank you for saving his two younger brothers, and that in future, whenever we can help, just say so."

Zhao Zhen nodded his head and smiled with some ulterior motive, "That's not bad."

Ding Zhaohui was no more composed than Ding Zhaolan and had long been eyeing Lan Chenglin on the ground. The first thing he did when he walked over was to put a gag like thing on Lan Chenglin so that he couldn't close his mouth.

Gently patting his face, Ding Zhaohui said with a smile, "Later, you will probably think that it would be better without this..." While saying this, he came closer to him and said coldly, "Without it, you can bite off your own tongue and be released sooner... Don't worry, I'll treat you well."

After dragging Lan Chenglin, who was shaking his head vigorously, into the car, Ding Zhaolan said thank you to Zhao Zhen before turning around, getting into the car, and setting off.

Zhao Zhen gently undid the collar of his shirt, looked down at Lisbon, and asked with a smile, "Very enjoyable indeed, isn't it?"

......

In the hospital, the smell of sterile water never made anyone happy. In the private ward, Bai Yutang, whose hands were wrapped in thick gauze, sat on the edge of the bed staring at Zhan Zhao, who was lying quietly on the bed wearing an oxygen mask.

When the doctor came out of the emergency room and told him that Zhan Zhao was fine and that he would be discharged after two days of recuperation, Bai Yutang felt like he was alive again. Afterwards, his entire left hand hurt like a pain in his heart, and when he raised his hand to look at it, he laughed at himself, having burned a large part of it.

Reaching over, he grabbed Zhan Zhao's hand that was exposed outside the quilt and felt that it was warm, and Bai Yutang simply felt a heartfelt sense of satisfaction. The doctor urged him several times to take painkillers, but he didn't want to, as he would get a little groggy if he ate that stuff. He wanted to soberly wait for Zhan Zhao to wake up despite the burning pain in his hands.

Just staring at Zhan Zhao's face in silence, he didn't realise that it had gotten dark and was gradually getting lighter. The man's long eyelashes finally began to flutter and he slowly opened his eyes, looking towards him with some confusion.

Bai Yutang wasn't very excited, he just wanted to do what he usually did when he woke up in the morning: reaching out to pinch Zhan Zhao's cheeks and smiling, "Cat, you're awake?"

Zhan Zhao blinked and opened his mouth, only to find the oxygen mask on his face, and looked a little helpless.

Bai Yutang reached out and gently lifted his oxygen mask, leaning closer to him, "What do you want to say?"

"Yang Yang..."

"He's fine." Bai Yutang smiled and pointed to Luo Yang who was curled up asleep on the sofa in the distance, "He watched over you all night last night, it was hard for him to fall asleep."

Nodding in relief, Zhan Zhao added in a low voice, "I figured out the whole case, from start to finish..."

Bai Yutang nodded and came forward to kiss his forehead, "I can't figure it out, you tell me."

Zhan Zhao smiled, "Okay... but you cook for me first, I'm hungry."

“En." Bai Yutang reached out to help him comb through his slightly messy hair, "Whatever you want to eat, I'll make it for you."

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Translated: June 13, 2022 by Angel

Edited: September 8, 2022 by Angel