S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 4 Chapter 37

Ghost Ship Murderer 03 – Fallen Body

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Although the emails Lin Ruo received were only one short sentence, there was an unspeakable weirdness throughout them.

These few friends of Lin Ruo's came from different countries and used different languages.

After looking at it, Zhan Zhao said with certainty, "The emails were sent by the same person."

Lin Ruo nodded, "You think so too?"

Zhan Zhao was a little surprised and asked Lin Ruo, "Why do you think it's the same person?"

"It's not that I think it is, I've asked someone to confirm." Lin Ruo took out some documents and showed them to Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, "I found some linguists, and according to the evaluation, there is more than an eighty percent chance that it was sent by the same person."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other – Lin Ruo's connections are quite extensive.

Just as they were thinking, Lin Ruo's cell phone rang. He picked it up and looked at it, then said sorry and ran out to answer the phone.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang vaguely heard that he was pushing a social function.

Bai Yutang looked through the detailed investigation information, "Very systematic."

"They should have been sourced by someone else for him." Zhan Zhao stroked his chin and looked outside at Lin Ruo. How should he put it... probably because he was young and proud of his success or because the heavens had given him too many favours, this man had a sunny feeling and was smiling all the time.

"Cat."

Zhan Zhao turned around.

Bai Yutang pointed at himself, "Look this way, if you look over there again I'm going to get jealous."

Zhan Zhao laughed and reached out to gently pat Bai Yutang's shoulder, "He reminds me of you."

"That's not a good thought." Bai Yutang had an opinion.

"It's not because of anything else." Zhan Zhao put his arm around his shoulders and looked towards the balcony with him, Lin Ruo had already taken an unknown number of phone calls and seemed unable to put them off. The look of wanting to go and not being able to go was like a student in confinement...

"Good family background, good congenital conditions, physical strength and intelligence, good character and many friends." Zhan Zhao crossed his arms and gave a definition, "He's just like you, one of those people who are overly favoured by the heavens, isn't he?"

Bai Yutang shook his head, "In my opinion, if the heavens are gracious to me then they are simply spoiling and pampering him, at least I don't have that kind of temper and good personality."

"Sorry!" Lin Ruo hung up the phone and ran in, but his phone was still in his hand.

Zhan Zhao asked him, "Do you need any help?"

The corners of Lin Ruo's mouth picked up, "Sure enough, you're smart people... So what, it's better to be invited than to meet by chance, are you guys free tonight?"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged a glance – Neither had any cases lately that required overtime work.

"Why don't you call up Jintang as well, your friends too, and I'll choose the venue?" Lin Ruo was enthusiastic, "How about we get together for a drink?"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other and smiled.

"Interested?" Lin Ruo smiled.

"You want to have a party with your friends and you're afraid your dad won't approve, so you're dragging us along, right?" Zhan Zhao asked him.

"Uh..." Lin Ruo saw that he had been exposed and put his hands together to beg for help, "Do me a favour, I'm getting bored out of my mind at home."

Zhan Zhao looked at Bai Yutang – Captain Bai, can you guarantee his safety?

Bai Yutang shrugged. With so many people around, safety shouldn't be a problem, it's been a long time since everyone's been together anyway, so it's good.

The two of them nodded, Lin Ruo said thank you and then ran out to make a phone call.

......

Sure enough, when Father Lin heard that his son was going out to party with his friends, his face sank, but when he heard that he was going with Zhan Zhao, Bai Yutang and the others, his face immediately eased up and he asked where they were going to gather.

Lin Ruo said it was the home of a good friend, a foreigner named Stephen.

Father Lin seemed to know him. He nodded and told him to come home early, and ordered four bodyguards to follow him to ensure his safety.

On the way back to the police station with Bao Zheng, Zhan Zhao looked at the address Lin Ruo had given them for the meeting place and wondered, "This Stephen, is it that Stephen?"

Bai Yutang thought for a moment, "You mean that IT upstart?"

"Mmm." Zhan Zhao stroked his chin, "He seems to be a friend of Brother too, right? I've read reports before that they have worked together."

Bai Yutang frowned, "You remember the reports really well."

Zhan Zhao narrowed his eyes and smiled wickedly, "I never knew what it meant to forget." (Angel: He referred to himself as master.)

Bai Yutang was speechless.

"Is there any progress?" Bao Zheng asked the two as he drove.

"Other than the three unknown emails, the rest is just legend." Bai Yutang leaned back in the back seat and opened his phone to send a text message to contact everyone about the evening gathering. After all, there hadn't been any murders within S City recently, and he wasn't as interested in legendary stories as Zhan Zhao was, so his interest was lacking.

"Could it be that the Lin family is overly nervous?" Zhan Zhao asked Bao Zheng as he leaned back in his seat, "So far, Lin Ruo hasn't shown any obvious signs of being threatened or in danger."

"Then consider yourselves to have met one more friend." Bao Zheng said lazily, "Anyway, you guys should get along."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other – That was true, Lin Ruo could be considered perfect overall, very likeable in every way, and with the fact that he was Brother's friend, he that loves the tree loves its branches. (Angel: He that loves the tree loves its branches is an idiom that means to love a person and to love people and things related to them.)

"By the way, how are things going with Lan Qi these days?" After Bai Yutang sent the text message, he wondered if he should also ask the two brothers, Lan Xi and Lan Qi, to join them, so he looked up and asked Bao Zheng.

"Oh, he's getting better, he can run and jump now. It’s said that his marriage proposal was successful and he's going to marry Hao Ling soon." Bao Zheng was radiant when he said this.

"Okay... so it is said that after a great disaster, there will be blessings." Bai Yutang sent a text message to Lan Xi. Perhaps everyone had nothing to do recently, once they heard about the party, they all went nuts and said they were going to bring their families, and there were more than a dozen people involved at once.

"Is it okay to have that many people?" Zhan Zhao called and asked Lin Ruo, or should they change the venue and go to Bai Jintang's place instead?

However, Lin Ruo said that Stephen was super hospitable. This time, he was mainly going to see his new wine cellar and rose garden, and he had invited a few authentic French chefs, so the more people the better.

"Wine cellar, French food, rose garden ah..." Zhan Zhao grinned at Bai Yutang, "Wicked rich people."

Bai Yutang couldn't laugh or cry. Seeing a few travel magazines in Bao Zheng's car, he flipped through them, "Bao Sir, do you want to go on a trip?"

"Oh no, Yang Yang bought it the other day, it looks like he's choosing a place for Luo Tian and Ma Xin for their honeymoon." Bao Zheng replied casually. Noticing that there seemed to be a car accident ahead and some congestion, he got into the long line of cars and waited.

"Yang Yang, what a strenuous job this son is doing, even helping with his dad's wedding." Seeing the traffic jam, Zhan Zhao simply pushed Bai Yutang to the side, then turned over and lay down, leaning against him and starting to doze off.

Bai Yutang was flipping through magazines while acting as a human cushion. Perhaps because the day was too hot, the pictures of the blue sea and blue sky in the travel magazines looked very inviting. Bai Yutang stroked his chin and looked at Zhan Zhao who was sleeping lazily next to him – It seems like it's been a long time since we've gone on a trip, I wonder if there are any cruise ship and island combination trips? Take a trip for ten days or half a month.

"Why are there cops?" Bao Zheng gripped the steering wheel with one hand and looked ahead, finding several traffic police officers directing traffic, a crashed Buick by the protective wall, and several officers setting up a perimeter. Could it be that someone had been killed in the crash?

"What happened?" Bao Zheng asked a young police officer as he rolled down his car window and passed by the place where the incident had occurred.

Bao Zheng's trademark big dark face had long been known up and down the police station as the equivalent of a shiny police badge. The young officer immediately stood at attention and replied, "Commissioner, there has been a car accident!"

Bao Zheng was amused by him, "The commissioner wasn't in a car accident, who was in a car accident?"

"Uh..." the police officer scratched his head, "It's like this, the Buick owner just got on the elevated road when a body fell from the sky and hit the hood of his car. The owner was so scared that he lost control of his car and hit the protective wall. The two cars behind him did not brake in time and rear-ended him, and the three car owners suffered minor injuries.

"What did you say fell from the sky?"

Bai Yutang rolled open the rear window and leaned out to ask, and Zhan Zhao, who was leaning on him and had already fallen asleep, woke up and sat up.

Similar to Bao Zheng's big dark face, the SCI captain's amazingly handsome face was as recognizable as a landmark.

"Captain Bai, it's a corpse falling from the sky!" the young police officer reached out and pointed not far away, and they saw a corpse lying in the middle of the police perimeter...

Bao Zheng frowned and parked his car aside, while giving Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang a glance with a complicated expression – Possessed by an evil spirit!

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other innocently – Despised again.

When the two got out of the car, the first thing they did was not to look at the corpse, but to tilt their faces up and look above them.

This was an elevated bridge, but there were no high-rise buildings on either side, so how could a body have fallen? Could it be that it fell from a plane passing by? Not likely, if it was a civilian flight then it couldn't have happened at all. A private jet? The airspace here doesn't seem to be open...

Bai Yutang walked over to check the body.

The body was not as badly damaged as expected. It was male, looked like he was only in his thirties, and was dressed very decently, with a tie and belt that were all luxury designer brands. Bai Yutang took a photo and asked Jiang Ping to check the identity of the deceased.

Although Zhan Zhao was not a forensic scientist, he noticed that there seemed to be something wrong with the injuries around the body. If it had really fallen from the sky, as the police officer said, then the body should have been smashed and deformed, but this body was not badly smashed, instead there were many small scrapes around the body, and it looked more like it had rolled down from a low place.

"What do you think?" Zhan Zhao asked Bai Yutang.

"Rather than saying he was a flying fairy from out of the sky, I believe he fell from some big truck." Bai Yutang called Jiang Ping to check the digital surveillance near the time of the accident, and sure enough, he found a large container truck with a dead man on top. Jiang Ping took a picture of the licence plate, and at this time... Ai Hu and the others arrived with their men.

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao sensibly returned to the car, so as not to be scolded again for being too nosy, and went back to the police station with Bao Zheng.

Bao Zheng drove while shaking his head, muttering to himself, "I really should change the feng shui array or something when I have time, you two are simply possessed by evil spirits!"

……

After returning to the police station, everyone was almost ready to go to the party. Those with family members had gone to pick them up, leaving Jiang Ping alone at the keyboard. Both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang had thought about this, if Jiang Ping ever got married, the bride would probably be virtual… There were rumours that he was already married, but of course, in the rumours, the bride was still virtual.

"Head, do you know who the one who died is?" Jiang Ping said out of the blue.

Bai Yutang was a little puzzled, "Who died?"

Jiang Ping looked at the sky, "Didn't you just send me a picture?"

"Oh..." Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both remembered, but also grew a little curious. Why did a pretty decent person die on top of a shipping container and then get thrown off the truck?

"This person is called Ding Yuan, have you heard of him?"

Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao, "Do you have a brief description in your memory bank that doesn't forget?"

Zhan Zhao blinked, "A fur tycoon, haven't you heard of him?"

Bai Yutang frowned, "A clothing manufacturer?"

"To be precise, he is a fabric merchant who supplies raw materials to fashion brands, very famous." Zhan Zhao crossed his arms and shook his head, "Why did he die at such a young age?"

"Wow... it's not a coincidence." Jiang Ping checked the information, drinking his drink with a straw in his mouth. They don't know what he saw, but his facial expression was quite complicated.

"What's the problem?" Bai Yutang asked him.

"Uh... shouldn't be that sinister, I guess it's just a coincidence." Jiang Ping turned back quietly, "Previously, when Lin Ruo went out to sea to find the Emilia, there were a total of three ships in the fleet for that trip, and one of them was provided by Ding Yuan."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both froze and glanced at each other.

"Hiss..." Jiang Ping rubbed his arms, "It's probably a coincidence, but goosebumps are forming. Besides, the previous few were drowned, so he wouldn't have fallen to his death when he arrived here."

Bai Yutang thought about it and walked out. Zhan Zhao knew he was probably going to the basement so he followed.

The basement was Forensic Doctor Yang's territory. The S City Bureau had two forbidden areas where no one dared to go near, one was Gongsun's forensic room on the 13th floor and one was Forensic Doctor Yang's forensic room and mortuary on the second basement level.

The power supply in S City had been restored, but the second basement level was still completely freezing without the need for a chiller.

When Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao pushed open the door of the autopsy room, they saw Dr. Yang and his assistants dissecting the corpse that had just been delivered to them.

When Zhan Zhao took a look, it was indeed Ding Yuan's.

"Old Yang."

"Yo." When he looked up and saw the two of them, his first reaction was to protect the corpse, "You two are here to snatch the corpse for Gongsun again? I won't give it to you! It's been a long time since I've had a fresh one."

Zhan Zhao stifled a laugh, and Bai Yutang held his forehead. Old Yang was as lively as ever after he recovered from his injuries. It was said that after Bobby's illness and death, Old Yang went back to the prison to see Satan, and also looked after Hao Ling and Lan Qi as if she was his daughter, and it was said that he would be the witness for their wedding in a few days.

"I won't, I just wanted to come and ask how the man died." Bai Yutang walked over to the autopsy table and looked at the gruesome pale corpse on the table.

"Drowned." Old Yang answered.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other – Bizarre.

"There's more." Old Yang picked up a glass dish at the side and showed it to Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, "We found some seaweed in his lungs, seaweed that only exists in the ocean."

"Drowned in the ocean?" Zhan Zhao frowned.

"I can only say that he drowned in seawater, whether it was in the ocean or not is not guaranteed." Old Yang rubbed his chin, "The time of death was probably last night."

"By the way, I also found a strange thing." Old Yang cupped the dead man's hand and took a UV torch to illuminate it, showing it to Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang.

They saw that on the skin, there was a mark that seemed to be stamped on by some kind of stamp, and inside the circular stamp was an ancient sailing ship.

"What is this?" Bai Yutang was puzzled.

"It's like a seal that children play with." On the side, Old Yang's assistant answered. She was a mother of two children, so she had more experience, "Nowadays, when you go to an amusement park, every time you do an event, you will get a stamp printed on your hand. This kind of stamp will still leave traces on the skin even after washing it off, and it will be illuminated with a UV light."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both remembered that Luo Yang and Xiao Yi had quite a few of these stamps, and they liked to stamp them on their hands when they went to the amusement park – But Ding Yuan, as a mature and wealthy man, and still single and childless, why would he have such a stamp on his hand?

"So you don't recognise this stamp?" Bai Yutang asked the assistant.

She shook her head and said with certainty, "My two little ones are demon kings, I'm more familiar with all the amusement parks in S City than my own kitchen, there's definitely not a stamp like this."

After staring at the pattern for a while, Zhan Zhao took out his phone. When he was in Lin Ruo's study just now, he took some photos of some materials, and among them was a photo of the legendary Emilia.

When he compared the photo with the stamp, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang's eyes widened a little – It was the same! The ship in the middle of the stamp was the Emilia.

‿︵‿︵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 23, 2023 by Angel

Edited: April 9, 2023 by Angel