S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 4 Chapter 32

A Requiem for a Murderer 32 – Action

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"The ghost is just a front, a tool for them to make money, isn't it?" Zhan Zhao analysed the previous clues and reasoned, "Originally, several PTW killers in groups of seven disguised as Ghost to carry out missions, and the reward was to continue research. From twenty years ago to three years ago, their footprints were revealed. They should already have a completed system and a large scale, so why has it not been discovered? "

"Someone is supporting them behind the scenes." Zhao Jue saw a military vehicle parked in the middle of the canyon in front of them and looked at his watch, "Bao Zheng is quite fast, isn't he?"

"Who's supporting them?"

"I'll have to find the list and the information later, these are the people you're going to arrest afterwards." Zhao Jue smiled faintly, "Aren't you very smart, think about it."

Zhan Zhao froze and suddenly realised, "Those rich people who pay ransom when other people's children are kidnapped?"

The corners of Zhao Jue's mouth picked up, "It's the best way to launder money. Sometimes when you need a sum of money urgently, in order not to arouse suspicion, ransom is the best excuse, no one will even bother to trace where it goes. "

Bai Yutang frowned as he stopped the car, feeling that the case was becoming clearer and more uncomfortable. From start to finish, it was just a huge scam, behind the scam was appalling ambition and uncontrollable so-called research. Man's exploration of mankind itself is sometimes a double-edged sword, something like academia, which is beautiful to say and cruel to do, and the consequences are more than man can bear, are they the punishment for breaking the laws of nature?

A dozen people stood beside the black military vehicle in front of them. It was the action unit of the SWAT team, heavily armed. Standing at the front was Bao Zheng, it was a rare sight to see him with a gun and wearing a bulletproof vest instead of a suit.

"Bao Sir, you're leading the team yourself?" Bai Yutang took the bulletproof vest handed over by the SWAT team leader and changed into it. The two men, obviously old friends, nodded and greeted each other.

When Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue also got out of the car, Zhan Zhao asked him, "Did you guys talk about this a long time ago?"

Zhao Jue smiled and took a few steps forward, moving over to examine the SWAT team members one by one.

Bai Yutang changed his clothes, and from the other side of the canyon, Luo Tian's car arrived. Apart from Luo Tian and Qin Ou, there were the twins and Bai Chi, as well as a slow and lazy Zhao Zhen and Bai Jintang, who got out of the car.

Bao Zheng frowned and glared at Bai Yutang, "You dragged a whole bunch of family members for a case, explain."

The corners of Bai Yutang's mouth twitched twice, and he said, "You didn't say anything when Brother was funding it!"

Bai Jintang tilted his face to examine a mountain of stones in front of him that looked like it had been half blown away, as if in thought.

Zhao Zhen reached out and grabbed the collar of Bai Chi, who was going to collect his bulletproof vest, "Aren't you a clerk? Don't get involved."

Bai Chi struggled for half a day and managed to get a bulletproof vest, but Zhao Zhen grabbed him and wouldn't let him wear it. It looked like he didn't want him to take part in any action with the special police.

Bai Jintang nodded in satisfaction, feeling that he had been right in having the foresight not to bring Gongsun along.

Bai Yutang shook his head, unable to bear looking at it, and in the process snatched the bullet-proof vest from Zhan Zhao's hand, pushing him to the twins behind him and going to Bao Zheng's side with the SWAT team leader to listen to the action plan.

"Wait a minute." Zhao Jue waved his hand.

Everyone turned back to look at him.

Zhao Jue brought over two bulletproof vests and gave them to Zhan Zhao and Bai Chi. He dragged out four SWAT team members and told them to take off their bulletproof vests and hand them to Bai Jintang, Zhao Zhen and the twins.

The SWAT team leader refused and looked at Bao Zheng – what is this?

Bao Zheng also frowned and asked Zhao Jue, "What's wrong with you?"

Zhao Jue crossed his arms and smiled, "Those four children have too weak a mental capacity, it's a minor matter if they go in and develop a psychological shadow, but it's a major matter if they delay the mission."

The four SWAT team members were indeed young, but they were also the best elites in the police force. When they heard Zhao Jue's words, they seemed to contain some contempt. What did he mean by 'weak mental capacity'? Could it be that they would be scared to death if they went in? One by one, their faces turned red and they looked at their captain with displeasure.

Bai Jintang and Zhao Zhen raised their hands, "We're family members, not operatives."

The twins looked at each other – Would they be paid for their work? Do they get guns? Work injury reimbursement?

Bao Zheng seemed to hesitate for a moment when he heard what Zhao Jue said, and when the SWAT team leader and Bai Yutang saw the situation, they both turned back to look at Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao was putting on his bulletproof vest by himself, and when he saw the two of them looking at him, he nodded somewhat regretfully; what Zhao Jue said was right.

The SWAT team leader gestured helplessly to the four team members, signalling – do as you are told.

The men had no choice but to obey the order to take off their bulletproof vests and hand them over to the others, removing their equipment in the process, very reluctantly.

Bai Chi helped Zhao Zhen put on his bulletproof vest, while asking Bao Zheng with some concern, "Is it going to be dangerous? Neither Zhen nor Big Brother have had any special training."

The twins raised their hands, "We don't have any professional training either!"

Bao Zheng glared at the two, telling them not to cause any trouble.

"Don't worry, the four of them don't need anyone to protect them, and they're more than enough to protect others." Zhao Jue smiled faintly, "Let's set up a plan of action once you're all ready, this time it has to be foolproof."

Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao – Why was Zhao Jue so high? He said he wanted to give Bai Ye a surprise, but he still hadn't figured out what medicine he was selling in his gourd.

At this point, Zhan Zhao's curiosity was at its peak and he asked Zhao Jue, "Is there a gate on this mountain temple? Where is the legendary fortress?"

Zhao Jue rubbed his chin, "There is, but I'm not the one who should be the best at finding mechanisms here, nor are you."

After saying this, the group looked back at Zhao Zhen, who was fiddling with his bulletproof vest and seemed to feel that it was getting in the way no matter how he wore it.

Seeing the crowd looking at him, Zhao Zhen stroked his chin, "Open the gate ah... you guys try saying 'open sesame' twice?"

Bao Zheng frowned heavily, he has endured until now, the major task was at hand, and this group was messing with him...

However, just as he was about to lose his temper, Zhao Zhen suddenly turned his face to look at a temple wall far, far away.

At this point, the SWAT team member who was replaced reluctantly looked at Zhao Zhen, who could not even wear a bulletproof vest, "Do you want a gun, big star?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Zhao Zhen suddenly raised his hand and threw a flying knife at the distant temple wall. Flying knives and cards were something Zhao Zhen carried with him at all times. Zhao Zhen's weight was always a mystery because he looked ever so thin, but he carried more things than Doraemon in Zhan Zhao's opinion.

The flying knife plunged into the stone wall. The bright light of the knife swayed twice, and then the whole ground moved.

The familiar sound was heard once more, and as birds rose up around them, the crowd looked up and saw that directly in front of them, the temple wall began to move outwards, with blocks of stone constantly rolling down and knocking against the hollow bones on the ground.

Soon, a huge black entrance appeared behind the temple gate.

Seeing it in person was shocking.

Zhan Zhao frowned, "This place couldn't have been excavated in recent years, could it? How could it have gone undetected?

"It's a fortress, of course it was left behind a long, long time ago." Zhao Jue smiled, "It's just that someone is making use of waste."

Bao Zheng asked everyone to check their equipment, and then looked at Zhao Jue.

Zhao Jue spoke, "After entering the main entrance there are three passages inside, one going forward, one going up to the second floor, and one going down to the basement."

“The upstairs area should be the test subjects' quarters. They are all capable of fighting, but most of them are children. Innocent people are the targets that need to be rescued, take the men with you." He said, pointing to Bai Chi.

"Me?" Bai Chi opened his mouth.

"Don't worry, I'll go with you." Zhao Jue said, pointing at Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, "The middle path, leading to the research room and lab, is the centre of the fortress. There should be more people hiding there, try to capture them alive. The ones with weapons can be taken care of."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other.

"The last one is the basement." Zhao Jue looked at Bai Jintang, "It's the incinerator and the place where the materials are hidden. It's best for those with a stronger mental capacity to go in, and the rest of the killers should be hidden in there. Maybe there are other entrances and exits, you know."

Bai Jintang nodded slightly.

Bai Yutang frowned and asked Zhao Jue, "How do you know so well?"

Zhao Jue shrugged slightly, "I guessed."

Everyone felt their lungs swell a little. Was Zhao Jue speaking nonsense with his eyes open or did he think others were mentally handicapped?

......

Bao Zheng had no choice but to stop everyone from fighting before they acted, "Everything will be discussed after the operation is over, split up and be careful!"

"Yes." Everyone split up and acted.

The first team, Zhao Zhen, Bai Chi and Zhao Jue took five SWAT team members up to the second floor together, they were relatively uncomplicated and basically just listened to Zhao Jue's command.

The second team, Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao, took Luo Tian and the others into the ground floor together, with the mission of capturing the researchers alive. Bao Zheng would also follow them in, and as for what they had to do, they would improvise when the time came.

The last group was Bai Jintang with the twins, and the SWAT team leader who took the remaining few team members in with him. This group seemed to face a certain amount of danger, but Zhao Jue said that the killers should have all escaped, so it would be fine to simply clean up the mess and just go in and open their eyes. The group was at a loss as to how to react, but the SWAT team members were specially trained to carry out missions that were fundamentally dangerous. There was no need to talk about the twins, as the more danger they were in, the more entertained they were. Bai Jintang seemed to have an idea of what to expect and didn't ask too many questions.

Everyone split up and went their separate ways.

Before entering the door, Zhan Zhao gently tugged on Zhao Jue and asked, "Did you miss anything?"

Zhao Jue had an innocent look on his face, "What is it?"

"Where is that man from earlier?" Zhan Zhao asked, "If he is part of the ghosts and has hidden his identity by pretending to be a bell ringer, he seems to be the one in charge. What floor is he on? There are so many secrets here that haven't been solved yet, we have to catch him."

Zhao Jue laughed out loud, "He has already escaped. Why do you think he ran away from here at the risk of being exposed?"

"To take some important information?" Zhan Zhao answered without even thinking, "He thought he had already blown you and Xiao Bai up, right?"

"Uh huh, and how did he escape just now?"

"Sacrificed his partner." Zhan Zhao frowned as he spoke, "You want to say that this time he tried to use the same method, sacrificing this fortress and his companions, taking the opportunity to escape after taking the important information?"

Zhao Jue gently patted him on the shoulder, "That old fox, this trick is tried and tested."

"So you're playing the oriole behind the scenes again?" Zhan Zhao looked at him, "It's not like your character."

"After this operation, you are guaranteed to reap a lot of rewards." Zhao Jue smiled lightly, and then seemed to think of something, "By the way, do you know what the best punishment for an outlaw is?"

With a shrug, Zhan Zhao was close to entering the door when he saw Bai Yutang waving at him, so he urged Zhao Jue, "Get to the point!"

"The best way to deal with an outlaw is to give him hope." Zhao Jue smiled faintly and went up to the second floor. Behind the temple door was a structure similar to a huge aeroplane hangar, and it was really as Zhao Jue said, divided into three passages and well laid out.

"Hope?" Zhan Zhao followed Bai Yutang forward and raised his head to look up at Zhao Jue upstairs, who opened his mouth to him and by reading his lips seemed to have said five words – make him feel desperate again.

‿︵‿︵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: March 5, 2023 by Angel

Edited: March 20, 2023 by Angel