S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 4 Chapter 52

Ghost Ship Murderer 18 – See

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Zhan Zhao strode towards the hospital office at the end of the hallway, and just as he reached the door, he heard a 'clattering" sound coming from inside.

Zhan Zhao frowned and thought – This sound is familiar. And then a thought struck him: someone was playing mahjong?!

The corners of his mouth twitched uncontrollably, and Zhan Zhao frowned, wondering who was playing mahjong in the hospital.

Bai Yutang, who came up behind him, also found it amusing as he reached out and gently pushed the door open... The scene in front of him was not as cheerful as what he had heard, but rather a bit eerie. This was probably the most bizarre mahjong table that Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang had ever seen in their lives.

The so called three missing one is nothing, playing mahjong naturally requires four people to fill the table, but at this moment, there was only one person sitting at the table. (Angel: Three missing one is a mahjong term for when there are only three people to play.)

The man clattered and shuffled his tiles while skillfully setting them up, and began to play mahjong with himself.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang silently glanced at each other and saw that this man went from his own seat, to the next seat, then to the opposite side, and then changed again... One person playing around the table, and with every change of position, the look on his face, as well as his entire aura, changed.

Zhan Zhao's eyes lingered on him for a while, observing the man. He was a fifty or sixty year old man, very ordinary looking, lean and thin. His eyes passed over his shoulder and jumped behind him, there was a young boy who was sixteen or seventeen years old, who was playing cards with himself. He had one deck in his left hand and one in his right, switching hands when he played, he was a lefty in one position, and a righty in the other, which was not awkward.

In the far corner, there was also a little girl who was playing chess with herself.

All three were playing a game that could only be played with several people by themselves, and were having fun.

Zhan Zhao looked around and there was no sign of Zhao Jue – Could it be that there was a mistake?

Bai Yutang frowned as he looked at these three people acting strangely and whispered to Zhan Zhao, "This place finally feels like a madhouse."

Zhan Zhao squinted at him, "I've already told you that a mental hospital is not a madhouse!"

Bai Yutang raised an eyebrow – What's the difference?

Zhan Zhao was exasperated and asked the strange man who was playing mahjong, "Is Zhao Jue here?"

......

However, the man seemed to be completely immersed in the 'beautiful' atmosphere he had created, and was so busy that he couldn't hear Zhan Zhao speak.

Zhan Zhao took a closer look at the mahjong game, and then went to see the situation of the people playing cards and chess at the back, before returning to Bai Yutang and frowning, "These three are standard split personalities."

Bai Yutang was surprised, "So casually split?"

Zhan Zhao frowned slightly, "The personalities jump in and out at will, it seems that one master personality is controlling several sub-personalities. If we are talking about treating split personalities, this is indeed a very novel approach, but will it cultivate future movie stars..."

"Ding ding ding ding..."

A crisp bell sounded from behind them, and a familiar voice was heard saying, "It's time for a break, we'll start the second round of training in two hours."

As these words fell, the few people who were having fun with their split suddenly returned to normal, stood up, and turned around to go out the door.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang turned back... and both their eyelids twitched – Sure enough!

At the door, Zhao Jue, who hadn't been seen for some time, was dressed in an odd outfit and leaning against the door frame.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang stared at him, their mouths slightly open – both expressing surprise.

Zhao Jue's dressing style seemed to have changed this time; he used to prefer loose and casual attire, basically wearing a sweater or shirt with casual trousers below. But today he was surprisingly wearing a formal suit, with black suit trousers and a white shirt with a black suit jacket. He was carrying a white lab coat over his arm, and his hair was tied up this time, combed more neatly than usual. And the key thing was...

Zhan Zhao reached out and pointed at Zhao Jue, "Why do you have a beard?!"

......

Zhao Jue proudly stroked his short, well-trimmed beard and asked with a smile, "Is it handsome?"

Of course, Zhan Zhao would never squeeze out the word 'handsome', but the overall feeling of the bearded version of Zhao Jue had changed and was extremely uncomfortable.

Zhan Zhao reached out to touch Bai Yutang's pocket.

Bai Yutang was puzzled, "Cat?"

After feeling around for half a day and only finding a gun, Zhan Zhao seriously asked, "Where's your electric razor?"

Bai Yutang was speechless, "It's in the car..."

Zhan Zhao remembered that he had just used it the day before, so he simply took the gun, "Let's just shoot him."

Bai Yutang pushed the gun down and pulled Zhan Zhao aside, whispering, "This is actually a good look, it looks more mature."

Zhan Zhao frowned, it's just alright, but it’s unpleasant to the eye.

Zhao Jue was so confident in his new look that the way he elegantly walked into the office with his white coat was not like a doctor in a mental hospital, but more like the kind of nobleman in the Republic...

Zhan Zhao felt that he was a bit visually handicapped by his bearded look and could not concentrate on talking to him.

Bai Yutang adjusted to it rather quickly, the look was somewhat close to his father's, though Zhao Jue was, of course, a bit more showy while his father was a bit more rugged.

"Why are you in this hospital?" Bai Yutang asked.

Zhao Jue walked up to Bai Yutang with his hands in his pockets, squinting his narrow phoenix eyes and smiling at him, "Tsk, you also seem to have grown up a bit recently, do you want me to give you a new look..."

Before he finished his words, Zhan Zhao punched him, and Zhao Jue hid behind Bai Yutang, protecting his beard.

Bai Yutang was speechless, "Investigate the case first, after the investigation you two can find a better place to fight one-on-one."

Zhao Jue was slightly stunned and looked at him and Zhan Zhao with his head tilted over Bai Yutang's shoulder, "What case are you investigating?"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other, and both looked back at Zhao Jue with some surprise, "You don't know?"

Zhao Jue was even more baffled, "No, I've been researching something important lately, what kind of case have you guys come across now? Is your feng shui wrong or is the black bag too dark and unlucky? How come there are always perverts in S City who come out to kill people?"

Zhan Zhao frowned and looked at Bai Yutang – Didn't Zhao Jue lure us here on purpose?

Bai Yutang also had a hard time imagining that Zhao Jue had nothing to do with this case.

"You don't know Lin Ruo?" Zhan Zhao asked Zhao Jue tentatively.

Zhao Jue blinked, "What bird?"

Zhan Zhao looked at the sky, looking at his beard and talking was so uncomfortable!

Bai Yutang frowned and asked Zhao Jue, "Why are you here?"

"I've been working here for a long time, looking for research materials." With his hands in his pockets, Zhao Jue answered frankly, "Rather, how did you guys find me here?"

"What are you researching?" Zhan Zhao was curious, "The master personality controlling the secondary personalities, using the game to establish a master-servant relationship between personalities, and ranking the split personalities?"

Zhao Jue raised his eyebrows slightly, "It's just one part of the research, there are abundant resources here."

"Why?" Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang asked together.

Zhao Jue stuck his hands in his pockets, "The medical team and some of the research projects at this hospital are among the best in the world, the director here is also a good friend of mine. Weird patients from all over the world come here, so I collect information and help them with their illnesses."

Zhan Zhao was silent for a while and leaned towards him, "Many patients?"

"A lot!" Zhao Jue clapped his hands gently, "Have you ever seen the primary and secondary personalities fall in love while the third personality becomes the mistress? Super exciting!"

Zhan Zhao opened his mouth wide – He wanted to see it so badly!

Bai Yutang gently tugged at the excited Zhan Zhao, "Cat, serious business!"

After being reminded by him, Zhan Zhao calmed down.

Zhao Jue became even more curious, "Serious business? Is there a patient in this hospital who is the murderer you are looking for?"

Zhan Zhao shook his head, "We're looking for someone, your patients should all have particularly strange illnesses, right?"

"Yes." Zhao Jue nodded, "I picked them out specifically."

"Is there a Vietnamese man called Nguyen Van Gao?"

As soon as Zhan Zhao's words left his mouth, Zhao Jue froze and seemed a little surprised, "You're looking for Nguyen Van Gao?"

"Right."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang nodded together.

Zhao Jue frowned, "Nguyen Van Gao ah..."

"What's the problem?" When Zhan Zhao saw the sign, he asked Zhao Jue.

"Hmm." Zhao Jue flattened his mouth, seemingly in quite a difficult position.

"Say it." Zhan Zhao urged.

Zhao Jue thought about it and looked at Zhan Zhao, "Little devil, didn't you write a paper before, in which you touched on the research on replacement personalities?"

Zhan Zhao looked at Zhao Jue in surprise, "You have read my thesis?"

Zhao Jue gave him a blank look, "There are not many people who can read it nowadays, you are quite credible."

Bai Yutang noticed that Zhan Zhao was obviously in a much better mood... Presumably, getting approval from Zhao Jue in the field of psychology is similar to getting an Oscar nomination for a movie.

While Zhan Zhao was in a good mood, Bai Yutang asked Zhao Jue, "What does Nguyen Van Gao have to do with replacement personalities?"

Zhao Jue frowned and hooked his fingers at the two, "Come here."

The two then followed him out onto the balcony.

Zhao Jue leaned against the balcony railing and looked down, finally picking a direction and pointing at a man sitting on a bench reading a book, showing him to Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, "He's Nguyen Van Gao."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both observed him from a distance...

Zhan Zhao frowned.

This Nguyen Van Gao was a short, dark-skinned man with grey hair, and because his head was lowered, his facial features could not be seen, he just felt thin, cold... sober!

In a long-term resident of a psychiatric hospital, one should be able to find many emotions and characteristics, but it is difficult to find sobriety and calmness, and this Nguyen Van Gao has it, which was not at all like a patient.

Zhao Jue took out a thick stack of research materials, "This man is one of the key patients in my research, you guys have come to investigate him, so you should know more about his background than I do."

Although Bai Yutang was not an expert in psychology, his basic ability to read people was pretty good. He leaned against the railing and looked at the man carefully, and after a long time, he spoke, "I don't think he feels like a male..."

The moment these words came out, Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue were both startled.

Zhan Zhao hurried over and waved his hand in front of Bai Yutang's eyes, "Yutang ah, don't lose faith in men just because some men who shouldn't have beards have them!"

Zhao Jue couldn't help but kick Zhan Zhao's shin.

Zhan Zhao rubbed his shin and glared at him.

Zhao Jue then sighed and looked at Bai Yutang, "Those of you surnamed Bai, your sixth sense is so strong that it's disgusting."

This time it was Zhan Zhao's turn to wonder, he picked up the information and flipped through it, looking at Zhao Jue, "After your research, you think Nguyen Van Gao has a female personality inside him?"

"He doesn't just have a split personality!" Zhao Jue gently waved his hand, "This person is too strange, first of all, I can be sure that he doesn't have a mental illness at all, nor does he have a mental disorder."

"Split personality doesn't count?" Bai Yutang was puzzled.

"Replacement personality is nothing more than a theory." Zhao Jue said in a deep voice, "I am still observing him, and he should have sensed my observations as well, so he is very defensive of me, and my exploration has not unfolded in depth."

Zhan Zhao frowned and stared at the man for a long time, "I don't see any feminine behavioural traits in him, how long did you spend observing him before coming to your conclusion?"

"A little over half a year." Zhao Jue patted Zhan Zhao's shoulder, "It also took me a long time to see some clues, but your little tiger's sixth sense is sharper than that of a puppy."

Bai Yutang sent an eye-dagger flying over and Zhao Jue ducked behind Zhan Zhao, "Fierce!"

Zhan Zhao gave him a disgusted look, then asked Bai Yutang in confusion, "What makes you think he doesn't seem like a man?"

Bai Yutang shrugged his shoulders, "How about doing an experiment for you guys?"

Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue exchanged a glance.

Then, they saw Bai Yutang pick up the phone and call Ma Han, "Ma Han, go to that skyscraper on the east side of the mental hospital, go up to the thirtieth floor and look at the courtyard at ten o'clock with your naked eyes."

Ma Han was baffled, but still rushed with Zhao Hu to Bai Yutang's designated location.

"Wow..." Zhao Hu leaned over the window and looked down, a little dizzy, "What a courtyard, it's full of ants down there!"

After all, Ma Han was a sniper and had good eyesight, he saw the courtyard Bai Yutang told him to look at and called Bai Yutang, "Head, what do you want me to look at?"

"There's a person sitting in the courtyard, next to the bench, do they look like a man or a woman?" Bai Yutang asked.

Ma Han took a look and replied, "Woman."

On this side, Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue, who were listening to the conversation over speakerphone, both frowned – in thought.

"How old, describe them specifically." Bai Yutang then asked.

"Um..."

Because it was so far away, the person only had an outline and form, practically a black dot.

Zhao Hu's eyes narrowed into a line, "You can even see this? It's too difficult, isn't it?"

Ma Han described them to Bai Yutang, "A woman, very thin, is she reading a book? Should be quite young, right?"

Bai Yutang nodded, "Did you bring binoculars?"

"Yes."

"Take them out and look again, and tell me who it is."

"Oh." Ma Han took out the binoculars and froze after taking a look...

Zhao Hu saw him almost frozen in place, holding the phone in his hand for a moment as if he had been nudged, with his mouth open wide, which was a rare sight for Ma Han, who had always been known for his facial paralysis. Zhao Hu hurriedly took out his cell phone and took a picture to remember.

"Ma Han?" Zhan Zhao alerted Ma Han on the other end of the phone, "Describe that person again."

"Uh..." Ma Han took a deep breath and felt frustrated, feeling like his whole confidence had crumbled, "How could this be?"

"It's not your problem." Bai Yutang continued, "Describe them."

"It's a man, grey hair, dark and thin." Ma Han described them again, then muttered to himself, very unable to forgive himself for his perception, "How could I have seen a woman at first glance..."

After saying that, he lowered the binoculars and continued to look at them with his naked eyes, and his eyes became even bigger – They were still a woman to the naked eye.

Zhao Hu patted Ma Han's shoulder from the side, "Xiao Ma Ge, don't dwell on it, you must have held the binoculars in the wrong way."

"Okay, your mission is complete, continue to investigate Jin Liang." Bai Yutang hung up the phone very irresponsibly.

Ma Han suddenly lifted his head and turned to leave, "I'm going to see the ophthalmologist."

Zhao Hu shook his head and followed behind, still teasing, "Xiao Ma Ge, do I look like a man or a woman to you? Would I look good if I were a woman?"

......

"Why is it like this?" Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue asked Bai Yutang together, it was rare to find something that the two creatures with explosive IQs put together could not understand.

"It's called preliminary identification." Bai Yutang said, "I received rigorous training with Ma Han, it's very important for snipers and pilots to identify the properties of objects at first glance. Just like Ma Han has to see at a glance if a moving person or animal is the target he wants to snipe, I have to distinguish clearly if a fast flying object is a bird or another aircraft."

Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue blinked in unison, "Go on."

"When the distance is too far, human judgement can be wrong. In the air, it is almost impossible to distinguish between a bird that is closer to you and a plane that is farther away, you can only rely on your first sense of preliminary recognition. Radar and ground command cannot always cover you, and unexpected situations depend on your senses, or experience."

Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue looked at each other – It was beyond the realm of psychology.

"After developing a habit, you will recognize what you see from the most basic attributes." Bai Yutang shrugged, "Let's use Nguyen Van Gao. Everybody focuses on different things, the average person might notice his grey hair, short stature, and dark skin at first glance... The first thing Ma Han and I judge is whether they are a man or a woman? Are there any threatening qualities?"

"Threatening?" Zhan Zhao was curious, "Then in your opinion, is he threatening?"

Bai Yutang frowned slightly and was silent for a moment, "Extremely dangerous."

......

"Hey, Kitty."

Zhao Jue suddenly leaned on Zhan Zhao's shoulder with great interest, poking his shoulder with his fingers, "What case are you guys investigating exactly? It seems very interesting."

After thinking about it, Zhan Zhao asked, "What do you think the difference between personality replacement and ghost possession is?"

Zhao Jue was stunned, and then smiled even more cheerfully, "It's really an interesting case, I want to join in!"

"Fine, shave off your beard!"

Zhan Zhao stared at his chin and wanted to go for that razor, all kinds of beards are unpleasant!

"No." Zhao Jue covered his chin in triumph, "The man look is popular these days!"

Zhan Zhao scowled, "Why don't you go shave your head!"

Zhao Jue covered his beard and asked with a smile, "Little devil, are you jealous?"

Zhan Zhao looked at the corners of his mouth, "You have a beard not a chest, all men have jealousy, my ass."

Bai Yutang wanted to remind the two of them that they had serious business to attend to, but the two of them were focused on bickering. Meanwhile, past the two of them, Bai Yutang's eyes were drawn to Nguyen Van Gao downstairs... At this moment, he was slowly putting down his book and standing up.

‿︵‿︵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: May 7, 2023 by Angel

Edited: May 20, 2023 by Angel