S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 4 Chapter 47

Ghost Ship Murderer 13 – Sound and Shadow

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"I'm a little bit scared." Jiang Nan seemed a little troubled that Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang wanted her to describe this horrible experience, it was something she wanted to forget immediately, how could she still dare to remember it?

Zhan Zhao did not push her, letting her sip her hot tea to calm down a little, and ran off to ask Bai Chi for his ipad, searching for who knows what.

Bai Yutang also did not say anything, waiting patiently at the side while everyone else went about their own business.

"Do you know?" Zhan Zhao stuffed an earphone in his right ear and seemed to be picking out songs from Chi Chi's ipad, “Actually, Emilia is your own imagination."

Jiang Nan was puzzled, "Isn't it caused by hypnosis?"

Zhan Zhao was still concentrating on selecting the music, nodding as he did so, "In fact, hypnosis is not magic, no one can create a character out of thin air, it is all pieced together based on certain informational clues, imagination, or the picture base, psychological changes, etc.

"In fact, the thing that made me suspicious of you in the first place was the music you picked."

Jiang Nan thought about it, "The music, what's wrong with it?"

"Music is one of the things that can most mobilise people's emotions and best express them. Art is the second language of human beings, and in my opinion, the art of images like painting and photography is like human expressions and body language, expressing emotions as if you were watching a pantomime, where you see the picture and you imagine the voice yourself. In contrast, music and singing are like human language, expressing emotions as if you were listening to a conversation, where you hear the sound and you imagine the picture. Yet the normal environment of a normal person's existence is one in which sound and picture co-exist, and you would be hard pressed to find a period of time when there is no sound at all, only picture, or no picture at all, only sound."

Jiang Nan nodded. Zhan Zhao said it in a very straightforward manner, although she didn't know exactly what he was trying to say, it was understandable.

Bai Chi blinked at Zhao Zhen – Brother seems to have improved his Mandarin!

The corners of Zhao Zhen's mouth twitched – It was indeed a lot more civilised.

"The hypnotic technique used by the other party uses the content of the speech to make you imagine the images, and then uses the images to make you imagine the sounds, in other words, some of the images and sounds are imagined by you, while the rest of the sounds and images are illusions, shown to you by the other party, so in reality, you don't see anything! And what I need to know is what the other party said to you and what they showed you, you don't need to follow my train of thought or understand my actions in this process, just answer the questions I ask." When Zhan Zhao finished, he handed headphones to Jiang Nan, "Listen to this."

Jiang Nan didn't quite understand what Zhan Zhao was trying to do, but nevertheless paused for a moment as she put her headphones on.

"Do you like it?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"Hmm, what do you mean?" What Jiang Nan heard was a song with male vocals, the music was soothing and she seemed to have heard it before, it was by a famous singer.

"Do you like it?” Zhan Zhao asked, "Just answer it simply."

"Well... I don't like it." Jiang Nan shook her head, "But it seems to be very famous..."

"I don't recognize them." Zhan Zhao smiled slightly, "So don't worry about whether they're famous or not, or whether most people like it or not, just tell me your truest feelings."

"Don't like it." Jiang Nan was a little more decisive than she had been earlier.

"And the reason?"

"The vocals aren’t to my liking."

Zhan Zhao smiled faintly, nodded, and changed to another song for her.

After listening to several songs in a row, Jiang Nan shook her head, "Don't like any of them."

Bai Chi was embarrassed and reached out to scratch his head, it seemed like his taste was very different from his idol's.

And all of Jiang Nan's reasons boiled down to one – I don't like the voice, it's not my style.

Everyone looked at each other in silence – It was obvious that Jiang Nan really liked vocal control!

Zhan Zhao looked up again and said to Bai Jintang, who was leaning against the wall watching the scene, "Brother, say something for us to listen to."

Bai Jintang froze, "Huh?"

"Say something." Zhan Zhao smiled, "Like 'Gongsun is so sexy' or something like that."

Bai Jintang was originally not interested, but upon hearing this, he raised an eyebrow and spoke, "Gongsun is indeed sexy."

Gongsun, who had come to watch the fun, chewed his sandwich without changing his expression.

Zhan Zhao asked Jiang Nan, "Do you like the sound of this voice?"

Jiang Nan nodded, "It's quite nice to hear." Saying that, she turned back and pointed at Bai Yutang, "Actually, I like his voice the most."

Zhan Zhao slightly raised an eyebrow, “You have good taste! Not... a slap in the face!"

Bai Yutang was speechless, what was Zhan Zhao playing at this time?

Zhan Zhao used the ipad to search for a picture of a male celebrity to show Jiang Nan, "Is he handsome?"

Jiang Nan raised one eyebrow, "Handsome my ass."

Zhan Zhao smiled and changed it, "How about this one?"

Jiang Nan shook her head, "It's okay..." Saying that, she pointed at Zhao Zhen, "Personally, I like this type of look better."

The crowd all turned back to look at Zhao Zhen.

Zhao Zhen bowed slightly, expressing his honour.

Jiang Nan also seemed to be affected by this, nodding her head in appreciation, while on the side, Bai Chi flattened his mouth and pulled Zhao Zhen a little to the side.

Zhan Zhao rubbed his chin, reached out to hold Bai Yutang's chin and asked Jiang Nan, "Not handsome?"

"Handsome." Jiang Nan nodded, "But... overly handsome, not my type."

Zhan Zhao pointed at himself, "What about me?"

Jiang Nan was silent for a long time, "Very annoying!"

Zhan Zhao was surprised, "Why?"

The crowd was also surprised.

Jiang Nan said, "I hate men who are whiter than me, thinner than me, better looking than me, and have boyfriends who are even more handsome than my boyfriend!"

To the side, Ma Xin clapped her hands, "The voice of the heart!" Saying that, she gave her master, Gongsun, a cross look in passing.

Gongsun finished his sandwich and sipped his iced coffee, in a state of transcendence.

The corners of Zhan Zhao's mouth twitched, and he saw the crowd around him holding back their laughter, secretly pressing down on the corners of their mouths that were curled up.

Zhan Zhao calmed his wounded heart and pointed to Bai Jintang, "What about him?"

Jiang Nan looked up at Bai Jintang and shook her head, "Hmm... a good man, but not my type."

"What about Lin Ruo?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"Like!" Jiang Nan nodded and said, pointing to Zhao Zhen, "They have similar temperaments."

Everyone looked at each other again in silence – She likes the refined and noble man.

"What about women?" Zhan Zhao asked, "What kind of woman do you like the look of?"

Jiang Nan didn't even think about it, "Someone like Chen Jiayi."

"You like the elegant and beautiful type, huh?" Ma Xin asked.

"What about the voice of a girl?" Zhan Zhao then asked, "Is there anyone you know among your acquaintances?"

"Well, I don't know her well, but I like her songs a lot." Jiang Nan said, "The lead singer of that very popular band called Qi Le."

Zhan Zhao nodded, "You like smoky voices?"

"Mm." Jiang Nan nodded, "I like a very desolate kind of female voice, one that's very storytelling and experienced, and which has a perfect vocal range."

Everyone silently glanced at each other again – Still vocal control!

Bai Yutang curiously asked Bai Chi, who was checking the song list on his ipad and reflecting on his own aesthetics, "Is that girl Qi Le a good singer?"

Bai Chi raised an eyebrow, "No way, Brother! She's known as a once-in-a-century great voice."

"Really?" Bai Yutang didn't usually like to listen to songs, and especially didn't like rock and roll and other stuff, it was too loud. And he thought Qi Le had a broken voice...

At the main entrance, the twins were showing him a ‘V’ from afar – No taste! That little girl with the broken voice is a cash cow!

Zhan Zhao stroked his chin, "There's a big difference between the voice of a woman you like and the voice of a man, Yutang's voice is of the magnetic and sexy type."

Bai Yutang rubbed the bridge of his nose, "I'm flattered."

Jiang Nan shook her head, "I haven't studied it in detail, it's just a feeling."

"But the preference for bass is pretty uniform." Zhan Zhao asked again, "What about personality? Is there anything you require aesthetically for a girl's character?"

"Mmm." Jiang Nan nodded, "Someone a bit more independent, I guess."

"That's it?" Zhan Zhao asked, "No requirements for a kind heart or consideration for others?"

Jiang Nan shook her head with a faint smile, "Let's talk about being independent first."

Zhan Zhao continued to nod.

"Three views aren't too righteous huh?" Jiang Nan asked. (Angel: The three views generally refer to the world outlook , outlook on life , and values.)

Zhan Zhao smiled faintly, "You simply despise such things as three views, being able to survive before you say anything is what you are about."

Jiang Nan nodded in satisfaction, "As expected of the best psychologist."

Zhan Zhao stood up and went to Jiang Ping's side, "Help me make a sketch."

“Mmm." Jiang Ping opened the sketch resource library, and Zhan Zhao began to select the eyes, nose, face shape, and got busy...

Everyone looked at each other in disbelief.

Jiang Nan asked Bai Yutang curiously, "What is he doing?"

Bai Yutang shrugged, "Solving the case."

Jiang Nan had no choice but to sit back and wait.

Not long after, Zhan Zhao came over with a piece of coloured photo paper, the back of which was facing Jiang Nan, "Let me show you something."

Jiang Nan tilted her face up to look at the back of the photo paper in Zhan Zhao's hand, "What is it?"

"You should take a deep breath first, the picture is a bit scary." Zhan Zhao cautioned her, "Please make sure your emotions are stable."

Jiang Nan laughed, "Are you afraid of scaring me? I've even seen a ghost before, what else can I be afraid of?"

“Okay." Zhan Zhao nodded, flipping the photo over, facing her head on.

"Ah!" Jiang Nan suddenly screamed, stood up and took a step back, hitting the chair behind her and falling backwards, fortunately Bai Yutang was ready to step forward and help her.

Jiang Nan's breathing was obviously rapid, and she covered her chest and looked at Zhan Zhao, "How... how could this be?"

Zhan Zhao looked at the photo in his hand, "This is how you saw Emilia's ghost when you were in a hypnotic state, isn't it?"

Jiang Nan took a few deep breaths and nodded with an incredulous look, "Unbelievable, it's exactly the same! It's really exactly the same! Only that ghost is a little paler, has purple lips and is more deathly, but the resemblance is really..."

"Slow down." Gongsun brought a paper bag over and told Jiang Nan to breathe deeply into it and try not to get excited anymore.

At this time, the others also came over to look at the portrait of the ghost of 'Emilia'.

The girl in the picture was about seventeen or eighteen years old, very young, also quite good-looking, but not the kind of overt beauty, but also not delicate, both eyebrows were flat and straight, the end of the eyebrows hung slightly down, looking a little pitiful, the eyes were rather dull, the appearance was similar to that of the Eurasian mixed race, the bridge of the nose was very high, and the lips were very thin.

"Hmm..." Zhao Zhen reached out, covering the upper part of the portrait's face, “the mouth looks like Qi Le's."

"Right!" Bai Chi nodded.

"The nose looks like Sister Jiayi's." Ma Xin's eyes were sharp.

"Face shape..." Bai Chi tilted his head.

"The whole face could be beautiful, but the cheekbones are slightly larger, ruining the roundness of the whole face." Gongsun said, "But this aesthetic is unique to the oriental. Our aesthetic, especially for women, is mostly limited to the point that a melon face with a pointed chin is beautiful, so once a woman has large cheekbones, it will feel like it ruins the beauty of her face. But the truth is that if you break away from the limitations of your own aesthetic, many regions see large cheekbones and chins as beautiful." Gongsun took the portrait and commented on it, "The eyes are hollow, but they are not unpleasant to look at, the two eyes are slightly apart and don't appear particularly intelligent, while the straight and even somewhat upside down eyebrows are the most special."

"What's special about them?" Bai Chi asked.

"What was the name of the actor in 'The Pianist' again?" Gongsun asked.

"Adrien Brody." Bai Chi answered, it was one of his favourite films and he was impressed with the male lead.

"That actor just had two straight and slightly upside down eyebrows." Gongsun smiled faintly, "Having two upside down eyebrows is actually quite common within foreign males with high brow bones, because the human eye socket is originally a round shape. This kind of person with similar straight flat eyebrows will have a sad look once he raises his eyes, this kind of look doesn't need to be overly interpreted by the actor, it's the best tool to illustrate the emotions driven by tragedy."

Jiang Nan nodded, "Indeed."

"Hmm..." Bai Chi held the sketch and looked at it for half a day, “this person doesn't give the impression of being scary at all."

Everyone nodded.

At this time, Jiang Ping helped Zhan Zhao print out another photo.

Bai Yutang took it in his hand, glanced at it, frowned slightly, and showed it to the crowd, "This one is scary."

The picture was presented to the crowd and everyone couldn't help but frown.

Jiang Nan began to breathe rapidly again, and Gongsun told her to take a deep breath while saying, "This face is indeed going to be scary."

"Why does this one feel so much scarier when the two people clearly look similar?" Bai Chi looked at the photo over and over again.

"Because it's perfectly symmetrical, isn't it?" Zhao Zhen asked Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao nodded, "It's two right sides of the face put together as one."

Zhan Zhao put the two photos in front of Jiang Nan's eyes, "Actually, this Emilia is a person pieced together through a combination of your understanding of her profile, your own experience, your basic aesthetics, and certain hints given to you by the other party... and so on. And what gives you the feeling of terror is an instinctive human fear, it's like how people sometimes fear themselves in the mirror, especially in the funhouse mirrors."

Jiang Nan nodded gently, "So that's how it is..."

Zhan Zhao hid the scary photo behind the normal one, then pulled Bai Yutang over and made him sit facing Jiang Nan.

Bai Yutang sat down.

Zhan Zhao covered Bai Yutang's face with the photo and winked at Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang put his hands on the back of the chair, he could not see Jiang Nan's expression through that photo, but he understood Zhan Zhao's intention, and with his tacit understanding mode turned on, he opened his mouth to ask, "When Emilia was with you, what did she say?"

Jiang Nan felt as if Bai Yutang's voice had some kind of magic power, and as she was less afraid and as the Emilia in front of her wasn't scary anymore, she slowly opened her mouth and told the crowd what had happened during this rather short period of time she had spent together with Emilia.

......

At the dock, on the huge cruise ship, a man stood at the bow of the ship, the dark sea and darkness intertwined. The sea breeze blew his hair up and his face was tilted up to the night sky, where black clouds obscured the stars.

Speaking slowly, a low and somewhat sultry voice came out and was blown away by the sea breeze...

"Emilia, who's next?"

.....

"Yes, at your service."

The ear-piercing sound of a gunshot, resounding through the night sky... As a storm came in, the waves gradually began to become rough, like a roaring beast with its black mouth wide open, the waves in its mouth were countless unjust souls sinking deep into the sea, everything on the sea was their pay, hatred surged, and there was no escape.

‿︵‿︵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 20, 2023 by Angel

Edited: May 13, 2023 by Angel