S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 4 Chapter 63

Ghost Ship Murderer 27 – Ship

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Zhan Zhao used to think that 'rushing to your death' was a curse, however, sometimes it was also a description of a fact, but with a slightly exaggerated approach.

Stephen and his group were eager to send the Emilia out to sea, a ship that had just been delivered and tested in the water and was about to make its maiden voyage. Not to mention how bizarre the ship was, the risk of this alone was simply a game with the lives of the people on board.

Bai Yutang went to Bao Zheng and tried to stop the Emilia from going to sea, but Bao Zheng's hands were tied, "Look at the headlines of all the major media, this is getting more hype than anything else. The maiden voyage is tonight and there is a red carpet before boarding, all kinds of celebrities and stars are gathering, how can I stop it?"

"The case isn't over yet!" Zhan Zhao was dissatisfied, "The murderer hasn't been caught yet, and the people on board still have to cooperate with the investigation."

"Isn't the murderer Nguyen Van Gao caught with solid evidence?" Bao Zheng was also helpless, "You really want to tell the media that the murderer is Emilia's ghost? You don't want SCI's gold-painted sign? Dr. Zhan, do you want to switch from being a psychologist to a metaphysicist?"

Zhan Zhao narrowed his eyes and squinted at Bai Yutang to exchange messages – Did Bao Sir eat raw rice today? All kinds of grumpy.

Bai Yutang was helpless – Regardless of how big or small the ship was, if someone died, it would be a big news story, and if the ship sank accidentally, it would be even worse. Old Bao probably didn't want to be immortalised in the history books, but unfortunately, there was nothing they could do, they couldn't handle the group of rich and handsome people.

"So what should we do next?" Zhan Zhao asked Bao Zheng, "Just let them go out to sea? We already have a clue, Emilia should be a human not a ghost, but they will take time to catch."

"How much time will it take?" Bao Zheng asked.

"I just got an idea." Bai Yutang asked, "Can we hold them back from going to sea for half a month on the pretext that the ship is not safe?"

Bao Zheng frowned, "Of course not, who would you ask to inspect the ship? If their ship can go to sea, it means that it has already been inspected."

Bai Yutang frowned.

"Tsk." Bao Zheng looked at the two of them hatefully and reached out to poke their temples, "Use your brain."

Both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang froze, and looked at each other.

"There are plenty of ways for you to delay the ship to keep them from going out to sea, but then again, there's no need for SCI's people to step in." Bao Zheng held his chin, "Don't always expect serial killings to delay a ship, there are many reasons to take a ship apart! If you take it apart and put it back together again, it must take at least a month."

Zhan Zhao rubbed his chin, "Take the ship apart?"

At this time, Bai Yutang had already stood up, smiled faintly and tugged at Zhan Zhao, saying to Bao Zheng, "Then let's go out and continue investigating the clues."

Seeing that he was enlightened, Bao Zheng nodded in satisfaction.

Zhan Zhao was still puzzled as he was dragged out by Bai Yutang. Bao Zheng shook his head – That's why high intelligence and resourcefulness are really two different things.

After being dragged out of Bao Zheng's office by Bai Yutang, Zhan Zhao felt a little depressed as he saw Bai Yutang pull out his phone.

Zhan Zhao narrowed his eyes and looked at him, "What do you mean by taking the ship apart and putting it back together? There's no reason why I can't understand you, my IQ is obviously higher."

Bai Yutang laughed and teased Zhan Zhao, "Is IQ enough to make a living? Fifty higher than two hundred is not two hundred and fifty... hiss."

Before Bai Yutang could finish his sentence, Zhan Zhao kicked him in the calf.

Bai Yutang patted his trouser leg as he picked up the phone, "Hello? This is SCI Captain Bai, I'm looking for your captain."

Zhan Zhao wondered – Which captain?

Not long after, he heard Bai Yutang say, "Wang Ba, Bai Yutang ah."

Zhan Zhao blinked – Wang Ba, wasn't he the new leader of the bomb squad?

"I want you to do me a favour."

As soon as Bai Yutang spoke, Zhan Zhao understood.

After that, Bai Yutang also called a few police officers from different departments that he knew well, asking them for a favour. Everyone in the police station has to cooperate with the SCI's request, as mandated by Bao Sir, and even if it wasn't mandated, it's common for departments to coordinate their help. Bai Yutang is well liked, so everyone agreed.

Finally, Bai Yutang even made a phone call to the twins.

So, about an hour later, all the major TV stations broadcasted the news that the police had received an anonymous call saying that the Emilia, which was preparing to set sail tonight, had a large number of bombs on board, and for security reasons, the police had to conduct a complete inspection of the Emilia to ensure that the voyage was safe.

In addition, a number of units were deployed, police cars were everywhere, yellow lines were drawn, a large number of journalists were stationed nearby (these were the journalists recruited by the twins), and regardless of whether it was true or not, the scene was enormous and people were on edge.

Most of the celebrities who were invited were afraid of death, and when they heard that the ship might go out to sea and turn into the Titanic, who dared to go on board? So they all tried to find excuses not to go.

Stephen and the others were also taken to the police station for various investigations on the grounds of security, as the various departments joined forces to stall for time.

On the other hand, a large group of police officers arrived and went on board to do their inspections, and Bai Yutang sent Qin Ou and Luo Tian on board with Ma Xin to check things out first.

Qin Ou called Chen Mi to go as well, the two rarely appeared together and it seemed a little unnatural. Wang Ba rubbed his nose on the sidelines, and the three bomb experts searched the upper, middle and lower levels of the ship, each busy with their own tasks.

Luo Tian took Ma Xin and a few special police officers, who had come along for the fun, to check the control room on the lowest level.

"Uncle," Ma Xin carried a small box and followed Luo Tian, holding his arm with one hand, "do you think this ship feels weird?"

Luo Tian nodded, "You think so too? I also feel like something is wrong."

"It's too old!" Ma Xin said as she pointed to the pipes that crisscrossed the area, "So much dust and rust! Also, who uses lead pipes for plumbing these days? This is a ship, it's heavy and unscientific, nowadays, not to mention new materials, it has to be stainless steel pipes at least."

Luo Tian frowned and stared at a few pipes, "It's... a bit odd."

"This ship was completed too quickly." One of the engineers accompanying them came up and said, "It looks like an old ship was refurbished."

"Refurbishment of an old ship?" Luo Tian suddenly remembered the plan, the plan and the design were clearly a new ship built from scratch – Could it be a cover-up?

"Are you sure it's a conversion of an old ship?" Luo Tian asked that engineer.

That engineer laughed, "Officer, do you know how many sea trials a ship has to go through before it can go to sea? Especially such a big cruise ship, if it's a refurbishment of an old ship that's absolutely fine, at least the ship has gone to sea, but if it's a newly built ship, it was completed yesterday and wants to go to sea today? And with so many people on board? Dream on."

"Could it have been the Emilia that was refurbished?" Ma Xin felt a little creeped out at the thought.

"But the size of the ship is different, right?" Luo Tian didn't think so, but being cautious, he picked up his phone and called Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang picked up the phone and also wondered, "An old ship was refurbished..."

Before he could finish his words, Zhao Jue suddenly reached out and squeezed his hand over the phone, placing it next to his ear, "Are you guys in the mechanical room at the bottom?"

"Yes." Luo Tian was still slightly awkward conversing with Zhao Jue, Ma Xin clearly felt Luo Tian was uncomfortable and reached out to take the phone, "Great God."

Zhao Jue smiled faintly, "Oh, the sniper's sister."

"We're in the mechanical room." Ma Xin tilted her face up and looked around for a moment, describing the internal structure accurately to Zhao Jue.

"Hmm." Zhao Jue seemed intrigued as he listened, "Do you have a flashlight? Look for the four corners of the ceiling."

"The four corners?" Ma Xin took a strong flashlight and shone it out in all directions, "What are we looking for?"

"Are there any special symbols, or words?" Zhao Jue asked.

"Hmm..." Ma Xin waved the flashlight for half a day, before Luo Tian beside her suddenly reached out and grabbed her wrist, gently moving her hand a little to the left and whispering, "Is it that one? "

Unfortunately, Ma Xin's eyes were now full of Luo Tian's hand gripping her wrist, and her ears were full of the older man's low, sexy voice, refusing to think! Refusing to look at the walls!

"Why isn't there any movement?" Zhao Jue wondered.

Zhan Zhao, who knew Ma Xin better than he did, came over to listen, muttering as he did so, "That girl is probably not working again, hey hey? Is there anyone there?!"

Luo Tian leaned over to the phone and said, "I saw a blue symbol, like one of those warning signs at the entrance of infectious disease rooms in hospitals. It also looks somewhat like a warning sign for radiation hazards..."

After Luo Tian finished speaking, Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue looked at each other, and the two of them looked at the Blue Doll plan on the table together, the blue symbol...

"It seems..." Zhan Zhao picked up that information, "the problem isn't just with Emilia, it's also with the Emilia!"

"Should we go check it out?" Bai Yutang asked.

Zhan Zhao nodded.

"There's one more person to call." Zhao Jue suddenly spoke.

"Who?" Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang wondered.

Ten minutes later, a huge white lion lazily walked in, followed by a yawning, equally lazy Zhao Zhen.

"Are you guys considering hiring me as a consultant or something?" Zhao Zhen walked in with his hands in his pockets, seemingly having just woken up from a nap.

At the moment, Bai Chi was burying himself in a pile of information, as Zhan Zhao had him going through various news about the ship over the past few years as fast as he could.

"Everyone's here." Zhao Jue reached out and patted Lisbon's big head, "Let's go."

"Lisbon's going too?" Zhao Zhen was curious.

"That's not necessary, you can come alone." Bai Yutang gathered his things and led the group outside.

Zhao Zhen patted Lisbon and told him to stay behind to keep Bai Chi company, sending a flying kiss to Bai Chi as he followed Zhan Zhao and the others out.

Xiao Bai Chi blinked and looked down at the information, and after turning a page, he found that a fresh blue rose had been pinned inside the information at some point.

Bai Chi couldn't laugh or cry as he took the rose out and placed it in the pencil holder on his desk.

"Ai, Chi Chi."

Zhao Hu dragged a chair to Bai Chi's side and leaned over the back of it to ask curiously, "Does Zhao Zhen carry a lot of props on him?"

Bai Chi looked at him with contempt, "Those are third-rate magicians, okay, Zhen is a genius!"

Everyone looked at each other with a smile – Oh, Xiao Bai Chi was defending his family's genius magician.

"But why did Zhao Jue bring him on board?" Zhao Hu asked Ma Han, who was looking over the information.

"Hmm?" Ma Han seemed to be focused, but also seemed to be lost in thought, so he just casually replied to Zhao Hu.

"Hey, what are you thinking about, Xiao Ma Ge?" Zhao Hu padded over to look at the information in his hand, "What's this?"

"The hospital duty roster." Ma Han looked up.

"Why are you looking at this?" Zhao Hu was curious.

"Earlier, Zhao Jue and Dr. Zhan spoke to me separately and asked me to look through the hospital duty roster to see if there was anything suspicious." Ma Han replied.

"What's wrong with the duty roster?" Bai Chi also came over with his information in hand.

"Take a look for yourselves, is there anything wrong?" Ma Han gave the sheet to the crowd.

Bai Chi and Zhao Hu looked at each other and came over to look at it together.

After reading it, the two seemed to freeze, and then both had a puzzled look on their faces.

"Hey, don't play around, go home and sleep."

At that moment, the sound of someone speaking came from the doorway.

He Ying was seen walking in scratching her head and pouting, and beside her was Jiang Ping who was shaking his head and sighing.

"What's wrong?" Bai Chi asked.

"She still can't remember what Emilia looks like, and she just pissed off the sketch artist in the sketch room by making a sketch." Jiang Ping shook his head and joked with He Ying, "When Dr. Zhan comes back later to hypnotise you, I reckon you'll remember."

"Hmph!" He Ying frowned and looked around, "Xin Xin?"

"She's out in the field." Bai Chi walked to He Ying's side, poured her a glass of water and asked, "Dr. He, let me ask you something."

"What is it?" He Ying took a sip of water, which was good floral tea, and her mood improved, or at least her anger dropped a little.

"This duty roster, has it been changed?" Bai Chi showed the duty roster to He Ying.

He Ying glanced at it and shook her head, "No, I've been working for so long, and I've always followed this schedule."

The crowd glanced at each other – In that case, it was possible that He Ying had been attacked not because she had picked up the ring, but because someone had used the ring to lure her into picking it up so that they could sneak up on her.

......

Bai Yutang and the others drove to the dock where the Emilia was located, trying not to alert anyone as they boarded.

In the cabin, Luo Tian and Ma Xin were waiting, Luo Tian was normal, and Ma Xin was sitting with her chin resting on one hand as she looked at Luo Tian, and pink bubbles could almost be seen around her head.

Zhan Zhao shook his head helplessly – This girl was so anthomaniacal that she was almost out of her mind.

Luo Tian pointed out the spot where he had just found the marker and showed it to the crowd.

Zhao Zhen didn't know what he was doing here, but after he wandered around in boredom, it was as if he had suddenly woken up from a nap.

Speaking of which, the men in the Bai family residence were all special in some way. For example, Zhan Zhao is usually lazy and sluggish on weekdays, Bai Yutang is energetic and sober, Bai Jintang is busy at work, Gongsun is self-indulgent, Bai Chi is studious and tireless, the twins are always joking around, while Zhao Zhen, on the other hand, is never awake.

According to some weird law of constancy, the state of these people is always the same. Once there is a change, for example, if Zhan Zhao suddenly becomes diligent, Bai Yutang suddenly becomes lazy, Bai Jintang suddenly has nothing to do, Gongsun suddenly gets dazed, Bai Chi suddenly stops reading, and the twins start talking about serious matters, then 80% of the time there will be a major development. On the other hand, once Zhao Zhen wakes up from his nap, it is essentially because he has found something interesting... at least something that matches his interests.

As a highly advanced world-renowned magician who was comfortable with most things, there really weren't many things that could keep Zhao Zhen awake, and it was even harder to get him excited.

But at this moment, Zhao Zhen had his hands in his pockets, and he was circling around a few neat piles of boxes, pipes, and the like, surprisingly looking a little excited.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang asked him together, "What have you found?"

Zhao Zhen stroked his chin for a long time and stood in front of a group of boxes, "There really is something inside this ship, it's really amazing."

‿︵‿︵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 17, 2023 by Angel

Edited: July 6, 2023 by Angel