S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 4 Chapter 62

Ghost Ship Murderer 26 – Blue Doll

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Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang asked Zhao Jue what the origin of the so-called 'Blue Undead' diamond ring was.

Zhao Jue was in a good mood after having eaten a lot, so he asked the two of them, "Have you heard of the Hope Diamond?"

Zhan Zhao raised an eyebrow, "Isn't that diamond in a museum or research institute somewhere?"

Although Bai Yutang was not interested in diamond jewellery, he had heard of the famous 'Hope Diamond', and the reason why it was so legendary had something to do with the person who handled it.

The Hope Diamond is one of the most famous diamonds in the history of mankind, having been discovered in India and initially cut to a magnitude of over a hundred and ten carats, it is considered a giant diamond. It later moved around from England to France to Holland and finally to the Smithsonian in the United States, surviving three hundred years of changes, revolutions and expeditions. Its owner changed again and again, as the family went bankrupt, the duke committed suicide, the king was killed by a dog, the queen was guillotined, various princes and nobles had a series of bad luck... and other complicated experiences. After many cuts and remodelling, from an initial size of over a hundred carats, in the end, there were only about forty carats left.

The main reason why this diamond is so famous is that the 'Heart of the Ocean', which was invented in the movie Titanic, is the 'Hope Diamond', also known as the 'Tears of the Moon', before finally being named 'Hope'. This is the famous 'Diamond of Doom' because everyone who handled it died terribly.

Zhao Jue looked at Zhan Zhao with a spoon in his mouth.

Zhan Zhao frowned, "You can't fool me with cursed diamonds! The gem itself does not have the effect of cursing people, such as the Eye of Brahma, the Mountain of Light, the Hope Diamond, the Regent Diamond... These 'evil-ridden' treasures do not inherently have any sin, it is because of the value of robbery that they will carry blood. Just like the ancient Chinese jade seal, isn't it just a stone itself? Yet those who get it can't hold the rivers and mountains, and only cause blood to flow... it has nothing to do with the stone itself."

Bai Yutang also nodded his head, agreeing with Zhan Zhao's point of view.

The corners of Zhao Jue's mouth twitched twice, and he extended a finger to point at Zhan Zhao's nose, "I haven't finished yet, I just asked if you knew, what's the point of spitting out so many bubbles all at once? You're a cat and not a crab, meow meow meow meow annoying."

Bai Yutang held down Zhan Zhao whose grinding teeth could be heard and asked Zhao Jue, "What's the relationship between the Blue Undead and the Hope Diamond?"

"Nothing."

"Then why are you asking?" Zhan Zhao asked through his teeth, "Dementia."

Zhao Jue narrowed his eyes, and the two men locked eyes, competing to see whose eyes were more murderous...

Bai Yutang helplessly reached out and snapped his fingers between the two, "Can you two communicate in a normal adult manner?"

Zhao Jue said he was an adult, did not bother with Zhan Zhao, and continued, "The one Lin Ruo investigated before was indeed the Blue Undead ring, which means that the one Emilia herself possessed was indeed the Blue Undead, and that ring was cursed, which is also recorded in history. Emilia's anger could indeed have originated from that diamond ring."

"It's still a curse after all is said and done." Zhan Zhao blinked.

Zhao Jue looked to the sky and shook his head, reaching out a finger to poke the back of Zhan Zhao's head until he was caught by Bai Yutang.

Zhan Zhao rubbed his head, considering whether to slam his watermelon juice or corn juice on his head or just slap him in the face with macaroni.

"Your head is stuffed with macaroni, huh?" Zhao Jue asked Zhan Zhao helplessly, and then looked at Bai Yutang, "Do you two really think that the one Lin Ruo and Han Wei encountered eight years ago in the shipwreck was the spirit of Emilia or a water ghost?"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang froze, then looked at each other – This is...

"If you two think that ring is the legendary Blue Undead, then it is the same as being sure that the one who attacked Lin Ruo that night was Emilia, in other words, believing that ghost ships do exist and that Emilia has been floating with that ship for so many years and is still killing people... Pirates of the Caribbean should have this plot! "

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang touched their chins, indeed...

"Then for that Emilia, you have a clue?" Zhan Zhao was curious.

"Tell me, have you been leading a carefree and licentious life lately?" Zhao Jue reached out and pointed at Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao kicked his stool, "Nonsense!"

Bai Yutang stopped Zhan Zhao from storming off and said to Zhao Jue, "I would like to, but recently there have been cases one after another, and this cat has to do research, so we haven't gone out for a holiday for half a year let alone indulge in frivolous activities."

Zhan Zhao squinted at him.

Bai Yutang patted him on the back of the neck, just like he usually pats the little lion, telling him to be quiet and not to make trouble first, and to wait for Zhao Jue to finish speaking.

"Haven't you been studying the information I gave you lately?" Zhao Jue asked, "Have you deciphered all the codes? Do you understand all the information?"

Zhan Zhao froze, then as if remembering something, he reached out and patted Bai Yutang, "Where's your phone, let me use it."

Bai Yutang gave him his phone.

Zhan Zhao found the map, opened it, found a certain area of the sea, zoomed in on the coordinates and studied it... then held his chin and thought about something.

Zhao Jue saw that Zhan Zhao really understood the point, so he did not say more, and reached out to poke Bai Yutang, "I want to eat mango pancakes."

Bai Yutang nodded and ordered dessert for him.

After reading the map, Zhan Zhao looked up at Zhao Jue, "The area where the ferry went down and the area where Lin Ruo's sailboat had an accident are in that experimental area!"

Zhao Jue smiled faintly, "Exactly."

Bai Yutang frowned, "What experimental area?"

"In the information he gave me, there were some copies of experimental plans, many of which stated the address of the experiments, but most of them were abolished. The waters where the pirates were attacked and where Lin Ruo and the others had their accident are the remains of an experimental area, just like the island where Luo Tian and the others were previously imprisoned."

Bai Yutang frowned when he saw Zhan Zhao talking about Luo Tian, "Is that damned terrorist group running another bizarre experiment?"

"Code blue!" Zhan Zhao remembered, "Your profile has code blue, code orange, and code red..."

"Project Blue." Zhao Jue smiled faintly, "The Ministry's record is only one page long."

"There was also a blue stamp on the top of that page, I remember." Zhan Zhao said, "It was an extreme danger sign used to warn of the presence of radioactive materials."

"That area of sea is indeed extremely dangerous." Zhao Jue said lightly, "Luo Tian and his group's experimental program back then was also conducted on an uninhabited island, and Project Blue, named Blue Doll, was much more cruel compared to the one Luo Tian and his group was involved in."

"Blue Doll?" Zhan Zhao lowered his eyebrows and mused, "Or blue doll?" (Angel: Zhan Zhao used 娃娃 then 玩偶.)

"It's all the same." Zhao Jue smiled lightly, "This plan was inspired by the Blue Undead and the Hope Diamond."

"With that organisation's habits," Zhan Zhao muttered to himself, "once the experiment failed, all the test subjects would be destroyed. Could it be that there were people left behind like the previous times?"

"People left behind?" Zhao Jue seemed to find this statement ridiculous and looked at Zhan Zhao, "You call those people, huh?"

Zhan Zhao frowned.

"Right... that Luo Tian that you guys picked up is indeed still human, because he is a late stage test subject." Zhao Jue sneered, "Just like experimenting with new drugs, the later the new drugs produced, the less new and more safe they actually are. The earlier the drugs are produced, the newer they are, however, the newer they are, the more difficult it is to maintain a human form, which is extremely dangerous."

"What exactly are they working on?" Zhan Zhao was curious.

Zhao Jue held his chin and gently tapped the table with a silver fork, "There are different experts who will be in charge of different experimental projects. I have to say that ninety percent of them are idiots, the remaining nine percent are crazy, and only one percent are geniuses."

Zhan Zhao raised his eyebrows, "You're complimenting yourself, huh?"

Zhao Jue laughed, "I was complimenting the person who designed Blue Doll."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other – There were not many people in this world who could be called a genius by Zhao Jue.

"What exactly is this project like?" Zhan Zhao asked, "Tell me in detail."

Zhao Jue shrugged, "I can't say anything specific even if you ask me to, I've only heard bits and pieces."

"Then tell me everything you know." Zhan Zhao threatened him with the dinner knife on the table.

"The scientist's name is Blues." Zhao Jue rubbed his neck, "He's a severely depressed person, but I have to say, he's a genius, researching biopharmaceuticals. Plus he has a personal hobby, collecting blue diamonds."

Zhan Zhao thought about it, "Blues... Bruce? I've never heard of such a scientist, is it a code name?"

"Of course I used the code name." Zhao Jue said, "I can't remember his real name. Anyway, he's been dead for more than twenty years"

"He's dead?" Zhan Zhao felt a little sad that a genius had been lost.

"You said he was a genius but not a lunatic, meaning you didn't think his actions were crazy, but he created monsters." Zhan Zhao said.

"Then is Oppenheimer responsible for the deaths of the people who died in the explosion?" Zhao Jue asked rhetorically.

"You mean he was the one who created the monster but not the one who used it?" Zhan Zhao felt that it still didn't quite make sense, after all, making a bomb and experimenting with people were two different things, but he didn't bother to dwell on it and waited for Zhao Jue to finish.

"Blue can make people sombre." Zhao Jue continued, "All the previous experimental theories, they all changed a person physiologically, such as the disappearance of pain and fear, and emotions being excluded to the greatest extent possible, in order for a person to become powerful, right?"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang nodded.

"Many people feel that the most lethal emotion in this world is anger, right?" Zhao Jue then asked.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang proceeded to nod their heads.

"So most of the monsters in the world are powerful, painless, fearless, as well as full of anger, violent and vicious, aren't they?"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang could only nod again and again.

"But there is actually another emotion that can make people burst out with even more powerful energy, more so than anger!"

Zhao Jue spoke before asking Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao, "Want to guess?"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang did not answer and looked at him, signalling – You continue!

"Sorrow and despair." Zhao Jue said lightly, "People will attack others when they are extremely angry, and when they are extremely desperate and have no way out, they will rise up to fight back. To harm someone, you need to be evil enough to do so, but to save yourself is different, you don't even have to think about it, it's human instinct!"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang frowned and listened – Resistance and inflicting harm were indeed two different concepts.

"A desperate dog can jump over a wall and a desperate rabbit can bite." Zhao Jue cupped his face with a straw in his mouth and sipped his drink, "It is also true that people who are severely depressed are often accompanied by mania and can be extremely aggressive. Everything that seems extremely dangerous to an outsider is, in his own mind, just self-defence."

"So..." Zhan Zhao looked at Zhao Jue, "what did that Bruce do?"

"Emotional stimulants." Zhao Jue said, "You should be no stranger to it."

Zhan Zhao stroked his chin, "Blue ring with a silver band... the ripples of the waves, so that's what it was."

"What emotional stimulant?" Bai Yutang didn't quite understand.

"It's equivalent to a suggestion, stimulating one's emotions, making one hallucinate with sadness and despair." Zhan Zhao said.

"A ring can do such a thing?" Bai Yutang was curious.

"That's right, a ring can hold a lot of information. Sometimes a painting, a piece of music, a gesture, or a piece of artwork has subliminal messages intentionally put inside it that can induce a change in one's emotions, just like the world famous suicide waterfall. People always say that waterfalls are 'suicide magnets', attracting many people to jump from them every year. It has been studied that several waterfalls have a particularly high suicide rate, due to the emotional pull caused by the water flow. By the same token, the dark blue expanse can create the illusion of suffocation or breathlessness. The crimson pulsing and flickering can create a burning sensation, not for everyone nor in every place, but used properly, it is the best means of forming a suggestion, especially when one's mood swings are relatively strong." Zhan Zhao gently rubbed his chin, "To symbolise the suggestion, that ring became the source of calamity."

Bai Yutang listened and thought about it, "So, the reason why Emilia was so angry back then and killed everyone, as well as the series of actions that followed, was because that Blue Undead ring had this effect? Then that Dr. Bruce was inspired to make his own ring, with the same effect, and started experimenting with people. Regardless of what happened during the experiments, they eventually failed and all the test subjects were destroyed, according to the usual practice. But one of the test subjects survived and lived at sea with that ring. That female ghost is not Emilia... but why does she call herself Emilia?"

"Her name should be Emilia." Zhan Zhao looked at Zhao Jue, "Just like how someone names their pet Einstein, Bruce named his test subject Emilia. You said he was a genius and not a madman, is it because, Bruce's intention in creating her was not to have her lose control and kill people, but for some other reason, however, she was later exploited?"

Zhao Jue smiled, he had simply given a word of advice, and by the time he had finished his mango pancake, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang had already analysed the case to a T.

"That's all I know anyway." He picked up his napkin and wiped his mouth elegantly, "Whether it has anything to do with the case or not, you guys go investigate yourselves."

"Emilia is still hypnotised after having moved from sea to land?" Bai Yutang asked, "Why did she commit this string of murders?"

"It shouldn't be that simple." Zhan Zhao gently waved his hand, "Obviously, the attack on the pirate ship back then was one of the causes of Emilia's case, and the string of cases that happened in S City in the past few days are related to her. She must have accomplices as well, she definitely didn't do it alone."

"Who is the accomplice?" Bai Yutang asked.

"Well, that accomplice..." Before Zhan Zhao could finish his sentence, Bai Yutang's phone suddenly rang.

"Hello?" Bai Yutang answered and frowned, "What? Stop them!"

"What's wrong?" Zhan Zhao was curious.

Bai Yutang looked at the time, "Stephen and the others are gathering on the Emilia, it looks like they are heading out to sea tonight. That group of people, what exactly are they in a hurry for?!"

‿︵‿︵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: June 11, 2023 by Angel

Edited: July 6, 2023 by Angel