S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 4 Chapter 49

Ghost Ship Murderer 15 – Sailing to the Deep with Emilia

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"How exactly did Emilia describe her feelings to you back then?"

Zhan Zhao was still asking Jiang Nan.

"Well... Emilia kept emphasising that she was betrayed, and that she hated them, but specifically... she didn't say anything." Jiang Nan also seemed confused, "That feeling is actually quite strange, I felt as if I wasn't quite awake, that is, I believed whatever she told me and unconsciously did what she instructed me to do. It felt like a nightmare, as if I wanted to roll over, but I couldn't move. If I was awake, I definitely would have asked her more questions, but I was completely out of control."

Zhan Zhao nodded, it was a typical state of shallow hypnosis, but he didn't know if the other party wasn't skilled enough to do deep hypnosis, or if they were so skilled that they deliberately didn't do deep hypnosis.

At this time, Zhao Hu and the others called back. Bai Yutang had just told them to follow the address to find the Master Jin Liang who might be the next victim, they had arrived and there was no one at the house. According to the security guard at the door, Master Jin had gone out early in the morning and hadn't returned yet. However, he would often go out of town to help people with their feng shui and it was usual for him not to return home for a few days.

Jiang Ping called Jin Liang's agent and was told that Jin Liang had been resting for the past few days as he was not feeling well and had not accepted any work.

Bai Yutang frowned slightly, thinking there might be something wrong, so everyone started looking for this Master Jin.

At dawn, all the places where Jin Liang usually went had been searched, but there was no sign of him, and his car was not in the garage, so the crowd had to ask the radio station to broadcast his licence plate number and car characteristics, seeking clues.

This is, after all, a not too small celebrity, so it shouldn't be that difficult to find him, but there was no sign of him anywhere, so it's likely that something has happened.

......

"Haah~"

Around seven o'clock in the morning, a yawning Xiao Bai Chi went downstairs to buy a few pancakes and hot dogs, as well as a large bag of buns, and went upstairs to bring breakfast to the crowd at SCI who had stayed up all night.

He had just entered the lobby of the police station with his big bag when he heard someone behind him call out, "Bai Chi."

Bai Chi turned back, only to see a man walking over, who was quite handsome and looked familiar...

"Ah!" Bai Chi instantly recognized that this was the former team leader of the bomb squad, Chen Yu's brother Chen Mi.

After Chen Mi left the police station, it was said that he started his own demolition company, he was a professional and had a lot of resources in various areas, and his business was doing well. However, Chen Mi rarely had contact with the police department anymore, and would not join Chen Yu in their gatherings, so they had not seen each other for a long time.

"Captain Chen." Bai Chi still admired him, although Chen Mi was not as talented as Qin Ou in terms of professional skills, he was at least a heroic figure.

"It's been a long time since I was Captain Chen." Chen Mi put one hand in his pocket and asked Bai Chi, "Are Captain Bai and Dr. Zhan here?"

"Yes, why don't you come up and sit down?" Bai Chi smiled and invited him to eat a bun.

"Chi Chi."

At that moment, someone not far away yelled and rushed over, "Do you have any food? I'm starving to death!"

Bai Chi saw that Zhao Hu and Ma Han, who had been looking for Jin Liang all night, had parked their car and were walking towards the police station, and it was naturally Zhao Hu who came to him begging for food.

They didn't park their car in the underground parking lot, so they were probably going to have to go out and look for him again after they returned to say a few words.

"Have you found him yet?" Bai Chi gave Zhao Hu his breakfast.

"Not yet." Ma Han came over and shook his head, and seemed a little surprised to see Chen Mi.

Chen Mi asked, "Working on that case at Stephen's house?"

All of them nodded and looked at each other, narrowing their eyes together at Chen Mi, "I don't suppose you have a clue?"

"I don't know if it counts..."

"It counts!" Without waiting for Chen Mi to finish his sentence, he was dragged upstairs by the crowd.

In the SCI office, Zhan Zhao was sitting on top of a swivel chair, holding a picture of Emilia in his hand and spinning around in circles, seemingly dazed and lost in thought, with such a blank look that the officers from the other divisions who passed by the office door couldn't help but sigh – Zhan Zhao was getting more and more godlike.

Bai Yutang was watching a video of Jin Liang fooling people next to Jiang Ping, and Zhao Zhen was napping on the sofa.

Jiang Nan was exhausted after days of hard work and had just drunk a glass of milk with honey that Bai Chi had made for her, and had fallen asleep on the large, comfortable sofa in the lounge.

When Bai Chi walked into the office with Chen Mi, everyone looked up together, obviously a little surprised.

Bai Jintang had been in the hallway smoking a cigarette and washed his face before returning to the office, but when he saw Chen Mi, he nodded his head in a friendly greeting, causing everyone to doubt him again – Brother Bai's friendships were a little too broad.

Everyone exchanged a few pleasantries.

Chen Mi then said, "Xiao Yu told me about the case you came across at Stephen's villa last night."

Everyone glanced at each other and nodded as they waited for him to continue.

"I've been keeping an eye on the news over the past few days, and it seems that quite a few people have died." Chen Mi crossed his legs, "I thought of something that might be relevant."

"What is it?" Zhan Zhao was curious.

"I got some work a while ago that is related to Stephen." Chen Mi said, "Stephen and the others are building a cruise ship, which is almost finished, and they seem to want to do some kind of event on it, as they want my company to install some explosive devices."

"Installing explosives on the ship?" Bai Yutang frowned, "What are they up to?"

"I went on a tour of the ship, measured the dimensions and stuff, and I noticed something strange about that ship. The design was imitated antique, and there were a lot of mechanisms and scary arrangements on board. Supposedly, the theme of this cruise ship is a horror ghost ship tour." Chen Mi shrugged, "However, with explosions on board, the amount of explosives needs to be strictly controlled. They told me the general idea, so I needed to assess the overall condition of the ship first and then test it out, it's quite a big project."

Everyone nodded.

"So what problem did you find?" Bai Yutang asked.

"There is no problem with the overall design of the ship, the result of the assessment is that the hull is strong enough, and the explosions of smaller performances are perfectly bearable. The first test was very successful, the problem lies in the final loading." Chen Mi was serious, "This time, in addition to explosive devices and some fireworks shows, there is a lot of equipment that needs to be installed in advance. This ship has already been launched, and I just brought the last batch of gunpowder on board a few days ago."

"Wait a minute..." Bai Yutang looked at Chen Mi in surprise, "you mean, the boat is already done?"

Chen Mi nodded, "Yes."

Everyone glanced at each other – So soon? But the information showed that it would take some time, and many of the pictures were of unfinished or half-constructed designs... Was it a trick?

"Chen Mi, what's the name of that boat?" Zhan Zhao asked afterwards.

"The Emilia." Chen Mi replied, "I observed the whole ship when I was measuring it, and it had this name on the side of the hull, drawn in a style similar to the kind commonly seen in ghost ship movies, with bleeding gothic fonts, so I was rather impressed."

Zhan Zhao frowned, "These people are really playing with fire..."

"And then what?" Bai Yutang returned to the topic, "What happened when you were transporting gunpowder on board?"

"It wasn't the delivery that went wrong, it was the inspection afterwards." Chen Mi frowned and said, "Being careful when dealing with gunpowder is a must, I will always check every step, and just during the latest check, I found that the measurement of gunpowder had been adjusted."

Everyone froze slightly.

Zhan Zhao asked, "What do you mean?"

"Simply put, I found that the gunpowder I transported there before had been changed by someone." Chen Mi was worried, "This time, the gunpowder was mixed and measured differently from the one I had done before, and if it wasn't for the fact that I had been in the bomb squad for many years and have a sharp nose, ordinary people wouldn't have been able to find out. That mixing method was not for making gunpowder at all, but for making explosives, and it can be said that once the ship reaches the sea and triggers the mechanism, it will definitely blow up and sink."

"Wow..." Zhao Hu raised an eyebrow, "Wouldn't it be another Titanic?"

"This cruise ship is huge, the scale really may not lose to the Titanic, and the facilities on board are definitely enough to accommodate a thousand people. When the time comes, I reckon my family's livelihood will be at stake." After Chen Mi finished speaking, he shrugged, "I told Stephen about this at the time, thinking that someone might have a grudge against him... you also know, the one who would lay such a heavy hand is estimated to have a deep hatred, and is a highly intelligent lunatic. I advised him to call the police to deal with and interrupt this plan. "

All the police officers present nodded – It was simply crazy to the point of insanity, blowing up and sinking a boatload of people in one breath, insane as can be.

"But Stephen didn't agree?" Zhan Zhao asked, frowning.

"Actually, it's not just Stephen, they have many, many investors in that one project. I don't know why they are so anxious to go to sea, maybe that group of proud sons of heaven were bursting with confidence. But I couldn't afford to play, so I later lost the deposit and terminated the contract."

"Very wise." Zhao Zhen praised, "But it would be hard to find another company in S City that is more professional than you, right?"

"There aren't many companies worldwide for them to choose from." Chen Mi was confident in this regard, "Even if Qin Ou is better than me at dismantling bombs, he may not win at planting them."

Everyone nodded, they had indeed heard Qin Ou talk about it before.

"Originally, I had a confidentiality agreement with my client, but now it's not really an employer-employee relationship, and since I heard Xiao Yu talking about that night's case, I felt the need to talk to you guys about it." Chen Mi was obviously a little worried about this matter, "This ship should never go to sea, no matter what kind of ship it is, the spirit of injustice is possessing it."

Bai Yutang nodded.

When Chen Mi finished speaking, he got up and said goodbye.

After asking Bai Chi to see him off downstairs, everyone in the room looked at each other.

"Jiang Ping." Bai Yutang pondered for a long time, "Check out Stephen, Lin Ruo and their gang's three previous generations for me, I want detailed background information."

"Okay." Jiang Ping began to complete this huge workload of searching and sorting.

When Bai Chi had just returned, Zhan Zhao told him to go to the database, the library and the old newspaper collection to find all the information related to the Emilia, the shipwreck, and the families of these people.

Zhao Zhen and Bai Chi went together.

Zhao Hu then asked Bai Yutang, "Head, do you think that it's not some psychopathic serial killer this time, but someone seeking revenge?"

Bai Yutang had just called Qin Ou and Luo Tian to check the source of that powder in detail with Chen Mi to see if they could find the buyer, and when he hung up the phone, he nodded to Zhao Hu and Ma Han, "There would be no choice if it's a pervert, there must be a reason for finding this group of people to do it."

"I also feel that Stephen and the others seem to have something in their hearts, they just won't say it." Zhan Zhao crossed his arms, "But this time, it's not like Bobby's case previously, the intention of revenge is so obvious, playing god a little more this time."

As he was talking, Zhao Hu's mobile phone rang, he picked it up and told Bai Yutang, "Head, the radio station said that a taxi driver saw Jin Liang's car near the shipyard, Zhang Long and the others just rushed over there and confirmed that the car was Jin Liang's, but Jin Liang was not there, and some residents nearby said they heard a loud 'ping' last night, which was probably a gunshot."

Bai Yutang frowned and immediately led the crowd to the dock.

Just as he was heading out, Ma Han received a phone call from Chan Jiayi. Unless it was an emergency, Jiayi would not call and disturb him when he was at work. As he walked outside, Ma Han answered the call, and after listening to it, he frowned and whispered to Bai Yutang, "Jiayi said that the production company has asked her to play Emilia again, seemingly saying that Jiang Nan is no longer playing the role, and she also said that she just received a VIP cruise ticket from Stephen and his side, inviting her to join the maiden voyage, which is scheduled for three days from now."

"So soon?" Bai Yutang raised an eyebrow.

"Subtle enough." Zhan Zhao rubbed his chin, not forgetting to instruct Ma Han, "Tell Jiayi that she must not go, as well as Qi Le and the girls."

Ma Han nodded, "They told the twins about the boat tickets, and the twins helped them brush it off, but Jiayi said quite a few others received invitations, especially some newcomers, and because of the rare opportunity of a ship full of distinguished people this time, they all jumped at the opportunity to go."

"Tsk..." Zhao Hu shook his head, "Don't they know it's a ghost ship?"

"I guess it's more exciting to know." Bai Yutang scowled, "If Jin Liang has really died on the Emilia, that ship is the scene of a murder and no one will be able to sail it out of the docks."

......

However, after rushing to the scene of the crime, everyone was disappointed.

At the scene, Ai Hu and the others were also there, and it seemed that someone had called the police first.

Seeing Bai Yutang and the others arrive at the scene, Ai Hu wondered, "Captain Bai, do you also care about suicide cases?"

When Zhan Zhao looked at the small yacht where Ai Hu and the others were, he couldn't help but frown. Beside him, Bai Yutang also had an ominous feeling that Jin Liang had died on the yacht instead of on the cruise ship.

When they went on board, they saw a male corpse lying on the deck at the bow of the boat. The deceased was none other than the fabulous master of feng shui, Jin Liang.

Jin Liang died in a horrible way, having been killed with a shot to the head through his mouth, leaving the boat a bloody mess.

Gongsun walked over with his case and squatted down to look at it, shaking his head, "He didn't know he would die like this."

The first thing that Gongsun and Ma Xin did was to strip the dead man of his clothes.

The corners of Ai Hu's mouth twitched as he looked at Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang – What's going on?

Just then, the sound of a loud siren and very loud firecrackers came from the shipyard in the distance.

"Wow, is there a new ship leaving the factory?" Ai Hu was quite excited and went onto the ship to look into the distance, "It's huge, is it an ocean liner? It's the first time I've seen such a big cruise ship leave the factory."

"Captain."

At this time, Ma Xin called out to Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang turned around and saw Jin Liang's body lying on the ground, the clothes on his back removed, and saw that on the left side of his back, near his heart, there was a stamp mark.

In the stamp this time, there was a ship that was sinking...

"Look."

At that moment, Zhan Zhao suddenly reached out and pointed at the huge cruise ship that was being towed out of the dock by a tugboat in the distance. Usually, such cruise ships on their trial voyage would require a tugboat to tow them out of the dock because their hulls were too huge...

Everyone looked at the place where Zhan Zhao pointed... They saw that the huge white cruise ship being towed behind the tugboat was extremely imposing. However, the attention of Zhan Zhao and the others was drawn to another thing, which was the snow-white hull with the distorted red English letters on it… just like how Chen Mi described it, with gothic style distorted letters written in blood – 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: April 28, 2023 by Angel

Edited: May 20, 2023 by Angel