S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 4 Chapter 43

Ghost Ship Murderer 09 – Ghost Ship Project

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When Bai Yutang flipped open the folder, he saw that it was a detailed plan, with some concept drawings, and some real-life photos.

The information showed that Stephen and the others were building a cruise ship, at the shipyard at S City Docks.

And that ship, which was almost identical to the Emilia in the drawings, only more modern and larger, was a very quaint and beautiful cruise ship.

And what was most staggering was that this cruise ship, because of the technological needs of modern shipbuilding, had done away with sails and masts, but had kept the sculpture on the bow. The sculpture was different from all previous ships – it was a beautiful woman holding a skeleton in her arms, which looked very bizarre.

At this moment, Bai Jintang suddenly let out an "Oh...", as if he remembered something.

"What did you remember?" Bai Yutang asked him.

"I think I heard them talk about it once before." Bai Jintang said, "It's Lin Ruo's birthday soon, a few of them seem to be talking about preparing a big gift for him, they were raising money before, and I seem to have contributed a bit from my side."

"You mean they wanted to celebrate Lin Ruo's birthday, so they simply built an Emilia for him?" Zhan Zhao was surprised and asked Bai Jintang, "So how much did you contribute? This is a cruise ship!"

Bai Jintang shook his head, "The twins gave the money, I guess, but Stephen's uncle is the king of ships, so something like building a ship should have a friendly price, it won't be that expensive."

Everyone looked at each other in disbelief.

Bai Chi, who had quickly gone through all the information, looked up and said, "It's not just a ship!"

Everyone turned around, "What else?"

"There's also the whole route, including the island that was legendarily slaughtered by Emilia back in the day, and it seems they're going to make this cruise ship and island into a tourist project that will also include exploring Emilia's silent waters or something..." Bai Chi blinked. "The whole project, if made, also involves tourism and some entertainment show aspects, the whole business plan is perfect, so many people are involved, you could call it a ghost ship project."

"Brother, did you participate?" Bai Yutang asked Bai Jintang.

Bai Jintang laughed dryly and shook his head, "I've never had much interest in such things, if I knew they were doing this, I wouldn't have even put up the money."

"Why?" Zhan Zhao wondered, "It sounds quite lucrative, and there must be many powerful people in the business world in S City who would be invited, it's a good place to expand your popularity and make connections!"

Bai Jintang was a bit helpless, "Anyway, all the unveiling, building inauguration, dinners... I'll avoid them if I can..."

Everyone looked at him in disbelief.

"I understand!" Qi Le appeared out of nowhere, "It's like people don't dare to invite us to cut the ribbon for their openings."

"Because it's inauspicious." Chen Yu flattened her lips helplessly, "People die everywhere we go."

Bai Jintang nodded, "That's how it is."

Everyone looked at each other. With Bai Jintang's level of unluckiness and the addition of Qi Le, the God of Misfortune No. 1, and Chen Yu, the God of Misfortune No. 2, this maiden voyage of the Emilia really made people sweat.

"What are you guys doing up here?" Luo Tian asked Ma Xin, who was holding his arm, 'Is the scene all cleared up?"

Ma Xin looked at the door, and when she saw that no one was there, she whispered, "Those who should be sent away have been sent away, and the others are starting to drive people away, they don't seem to be very cooperative."

Bai Yutang frowned slightly.

At that moment, footsteps sounded downstairs.

Bai Chi hurriedly put the documents back on the desk, and everyone looked at each other – After all, they didn't have a search warrant, and this kind of information was a business secret, so for the time being, they should just pretend they hadn't seen it.

The door to the room opened and Lin Ruo came up, "Sorry, I really didn't expect this to happen."

"Is Stephen alright?" Bai Yutang asked, "I heard he left the hospital."

"He's on his way back." Lin Ruo sighed, "Sally's life is no longer in danger, but she still needs to recuperate."

The atmosphere was slightly awkward as everyone nodded.

At this time, Gongsun came up at last carrying a box and said to Bai Yutang, "The body is being transported back, the scene investigation is over and the garden will be temporarily sealed off."

Bai Yutang nodded, and Gongsun took Ma Xin back to examine the corpse first.

Lin Ruo seemed a little tired and pulled a chair over to sit down.

"Where are your friends?" Bai Yutang asked him.

"They've all gone back, the police have finished questioning them, and each one is protected by at least a dozen bodyguards, so nothing should happen." Lin Ruo was listless and looked at the crowd, "Are you guys not going back to the police station?"

Bai Yutang said, "There are still some things I want to ask you."

Lin Ruo nodded, "Do you want me to go to the police station or to my studio?"

"Let's go to your place." Zhan Zhao seemed more interested in Lin Ruo's studio.

"Oh, when Stephen comes back, I'll say hello to him and then we'll go." When Lin Ruo saw that there were still people in the room collecting evidence, he subconsciously tucked his legs up and set them on the chair, staring at the carpet.

This was the place where Sally and Kevin the butler had been attacked, someone had gathered evidence earlier, and at this point, Zhao Hu and Ma Han were still looking around.

Bai Jintang and Lin Ruo chatted idly, sort of passing the time while Lan Xi and Lan Qi helped to send the girls home, and the large villa became less crowded.

As Zhan Zhao watched Lin Ruo for a while, he seemed a little dejected, though he didn't see any unease or agitation.

There was actually something strange about this, that is, Lin Ruo did not feel that he had brought trouble to his friend with this incident. Usually, people's emotions are completely different when they are in trouble themselves and when they are causing trouble for others, but the result of this incident is clearly laid out, and it is connected to Stephen. But Lin Ruo, being a responsible person, did not show any sign of guilt, which meant that he also knew some other clues. This time, could it be that Stephen had brought this calamity on himself?

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged a look.

The conversation between the two men's eyes was something only they understood... it had become a tacit understanding and habit.

Bai Yutang obviously also noticed that Lin Ruo's mood was stable, so he looked at Zhan Zhao – Strange.

Zhan Zhao nodded and glanced at the desk – Guess, does he know about this plan and what they are up to?

Bai Yutang frowned slightly – Even if he did know, the other party was trying to celebrate his birthday with good intentions, there was no reason why he wouldn't feel guilty at all.

Zhan Zhao rubbed his chin – Just now, before Lin Ruo went downstairs, his emotions were more disturbed than now, and he also showed some guilt, but why didn't he feel guilty now?

The two of them were silent for a while, and together they looked at Zhao Zhen who was yawning not far away.

Zhao Zhen had nothing to do and was a little sleepy, yawning as he received two sharp glances and was startled, looking at Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang in confusion.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang winked at him together and looked at the document on the table.

Zhao Zhen blinked and spread his hands – What does that mean?

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at the sky, and then at Lin Ruo.

Zhao Zhen just wanted to laugh, he noticed that Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang's electrical frequencies were in sync, the details were all exactly the same, but he still didn't understand what it meant, so he looked helplessly at Bai Chi for help.

Bai Chi looked around and thought that Zhan Zhao might have wanted Lin Ruo to 'happen' to see the document, so as to test whether he knew about the plan this time.

Bai Chi pouted his mouth at the plan on the table and gave Zhao Zhen a swift nod of his head and a wink.

Sure enough, it was easier for lovers to communicate with each other over the airwaves, Zhao Zhen immediately picked up on the message and looked in Lin Ruo's direction.

Lin Ruo was sitting on a chair at the moment, but he was quite active and not very quiet, pulling the chair and moving it around.

Zhao Zhen flicked the coin in his hand at one of the chair's legs, and no one heard a sound as the coin bounced onto the carpet, but Lin Ruo's chair leg was already askew and he stepped back, pressing his back hand against the desk to keep his balance.

This move was so violent that the desk behind him tilted and the papers on the desk fell to the floor with a crash, along with the pens in the pencil holder and so on.

Lin Ruo had been distracted just now and thought it was his own fault, so he hurried to pick things up, and while he was bending down and looking down, a photo that had fallen out of the folder caught his attention.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged a look – Purpose achieved!

At that moment, Lin Ruo pulled out the half of the photo that was still in the folder and looked at it; it was a photo of the Emilia at the shipyard, which was close to sixty percent completed.

The expression on Lin Ruo's face as he looked at the photo with wide eyes was obvious even to Bai Yutang, who was not trained in psychology – He had never seen it before and should not have known that his friends had prepared such a 'surprise' for him.

Lin Ruo quickly opened the folder and stood up to look through it, the more he looked, the harder his face looked.

Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao, meaning – How is it?

Zhan Zhao nodded gently, from Lin Ruo's expression, he had gotten the clue he wanted.

"What's wrong?" Bai Jintang asked Lin Ruo, which counted as helping Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang to fuel the fire.

"Nothing..." Lin Ruo shook his head.

At this time, the sound of opening the gate came from downstairs. Zhan Zhao walked to the balcony, he saw the black car that usually transported Bai Jintang drive into the garden. Opening the door, Xiao Ding stepped out, followed by Stephan.

"Wow..." Xiao Ding looked ahead at the rose garden that had been flattened by a forklift, "What's this for?"

Da Ding parked the car and got out, standing next to Xiao Ding, "Didn't we just buy these roses, such an expensive variety, why are they all being torn up?"

Bai Jintang walked over to the balcony, and the twins raised their hands and waved at him.

Xiao Ding yelled, "Boss, I heard that you were attacked today? Who was it? Let's go get rid of him!"

Bai Jintang was speechless.

At that moment, Lin Ruo grabbed the folder and quickly walked downstairs.

Both Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao kept silent and quickly followed.

Stephen had just gotten out of the car when he saw Lin Ruo running over to him in a huff, dragging him to a tent on the side.

The twins looked at each other and tilted their faces up to look at Bai Jintang with some curiosity.

Bai Jintang shook his head, signalling – Ignore them.

When Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang quickly reached the outside of the tent, they heard the conversation inside.

"What are you guys up to?" Lin Ruo was asking.

Stephan seemed to freeze, but quickly replied, "Wanted to surprise you."

Lin Ruo seemed to run out of words and was silent for a long time, "How many more people are involved? Ding Yuan didn't participate?"

Stephen was silent for a moment, "Everyone participated, so did Ryan..."

"You guys..." Lin Ruo seemed a little speechless, and it was not clear whether he was anxious or angry.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other – Everyone? Did he mean the handful of friends they hang out with?

When Zhan Zhao felt that the time was right, he pointed his mouth at Bai Yutang, meaning – Go in!

Bai Yutang walked into the tent and bumped into them.

Lin Ruo was tugging Stephan and holding a photo in one hand as he stared at him.

Just listening to their conversation from outside, one could not feel the delicate atmosphere between them.

Lin Ruo looked at Stephan, Stephan looked at Lin Ruo, the two seemed to have something to hide... like they were concerned about Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao read some details from their expressions – These two have secrets that they can't say!

On the second floor, Bai Chi carefully went through all the books and materials in the study, especially some of Stephen's records and documents.

Zhao Hu and Ma Han were at the door keeping a lookout for him.

Zhao Zhen looked through Stephen's belongings.

"Hmmm..."

Bai Chi was looking at the information, judging the scope of Stephen's friendships as well as his preferences, when he heard Zhao Zhen suddenly let out a syllable of unknown meaning.

"What's wrong?" Bai Chi turned back to look at Zhao Zhen.

Although Zhao Zhen was not an official member of the SCI and was not interested in investigating cases, Zhao Zhen had special abilities and was also the nephew of Zhao Jue. Bai Chi knew that he was extremely smart and could definitely find clues that others could not find if he wanted to.

"It doesn't seem good to pry into other people's privacy." Zhao Zhen touched his nose, as if he wanted to say something.

"What did you discover?" Bai Chi ran over.

At the door, Ma Han and Zhao Hu looked in curiously.

Zhao Zhen raised an eyebrow at the two, which meant – Is there anyone at the door?

Zhao Hu and Ma Han took a closer look and shook their heads at him, no one!

Zhao Zhen nodded and lowered his voice to tell the three of them, "In this room, there's a secret door."

"Could it be a safe or something?" Bai Chi thought that since Stephan was so rich and liked to take risks and stuff, it wasn't unfathomable to have a secret room inside the room.

Zhao Zhen reached out, gently pressed on some unspecified spot, and they saw a bookshelf shift away.

At the back, a hidden door appeared.

"It's open?" Bai Chi was surprised.

Zhao Zhen gently opened the door, and saw that behind it were dark stone steps leading down to the ground floor.

Zhao Hu glanced at it, "This is the second floor, and it leads down to the basement, the structure of this house is complicated enough."

Zhao Zhen closed the door to the room and stretched out his finger to gently "shhh" everyone.

"Wow, don't just casually do that, it looks creepy." Zhao Hu inexplicably thought of Zhao Jue.

Zhao Zhen pointed down, "I heard a sound."

"What sound?" Bai Chi was surprised.

Zhao Zhen leaned against the wall and listened again, "The sound of nails scraping the wall... and the sound of chains."

Everyone looked at each other in disbelief.

Zhao Hu grinned, "There's not some kind of fierce beast locked up down there, is there?"

"Probably not." Zhao Zhen crossed his arms and said carelessly, "There's also the sound of a girl singing."

After Zhao Zhen finished his words, he looked at Zhao Hu and the others, who had their mouths open and were scrambling to rush up against the wall to hear what was being sung...

‿︵‿︵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: April 9, 2023 by Angel

Edited: May 9, 2023 by Angel