S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 4 Chapter 70

Ghost Ship Murderer 34 – Brother and Brother

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Xiao Mi had previously called Han Wei's twin brother her brother, so the crowd fully expected her to pick out another photo of Han Wei and call him brother, but instead she pointed to another person, a photo of someone who the crowd hadn't expected in any way.

The one that Xiao Mi pointed to was a picture of Ryan.

The young blonde, the talented golfer, the man who died in the guillotine in Stephen's garden.

Everyone looked at each other.

"Why would it be him?" Zhao Hu couldn't figure it out.

"Brother!" Xiao Mi pointed to another one.

When everyone looked again, they saw that Xiao Mi was pointing at Ding Yuan, the fur tycoon who had died on the car and been swung off, becoming a high flying corpse and blocking the highway.

"Interesting, interesting!" Zhan Zhao rubbed his chin and showed Xiao Mi the picture of Stephen, "What about this one?"

Xiao Mi tilted her head and looked at it for a while, seemingly not quite sure, rubbing her chin, "Well..."

"Well what?" Zhan Zhao asked her patiently.

Xiao Mi stood up, went to the wardrobe, opened the door and started to pull a wooden panel from the side of the wardrobe that was against the wall.

Everyone followed her and saw that Xiao Mi had opened the panel and that there was an old black and white photograph underneath.

Xiao Mi took it out and showed it to Zhan Zhao and the others.

When Zhan Zhao took the black and white photo, he saw that it was a group photo of ten children, aged six or seven, holding each other's shoulders side by side on the beach. The tide seemed to be rising, and the water was above the children's calves.

The children, judging by their appearance, must have been five pairs of twins, with identical faces that looked very funny and cute.

Despite their young age, the contours of their faces and their features were vaguely recognisable.

One pair were Lan Mi and her sister.

One pair were blonde, foreign children with angelic looks, presumably Ryan.

One pair were Asian, with features that might not have come to mind if they hadn't been prompted, but after a reminder from Xiao Mi – It was Ding Yuan!

Another pair, very obviously, were the Han Wei brothers, who were somewhat baby-faced and hadn't changed too much from their childhood.

The last pair, another pair of foreign kids, boys, had changed a lot and seemed to resemble Stephen somewhat, but they weren't too sure.

Zhan Zhao took that photo and sent it to Jiang Ping for him to analyse it. After Jiang Ping analysed it, the information he returned was – It was a childhood photo of Stephen!

At this point, everyone was stunned – Ryan, Ding Yuan and Stephen were all twins, and they had been photographed together in their childhood, so if Han Wei and Xiao Mi were Blue Dolls, could it be that Stephen, Ryan and Ding Yuan were also Blue Dolls?

Zhan Zhao took the photo and examined it for a long time, "The expressions of these twins are so special, don't you think they are cute?"

Bai Yutang nodded, "They are quite cute, one is giggling happily while the other has a stern expression as if someone owes him money."

Everyone looked at the photo carefully and thought, if this photo is uploaded to Weibo, it will definitely be reposted a lot, it's so interesting, it's like performance art, it's not easy to collect five pairs of twins, and the key point is that one pair is in the same pose, but one is unhappy and the other is so happy...

"There seems to be a big difference in the Blue Doll's personalities, is it some kind of complementarity?" Zhan Zhao asked Zhao Jue.

Zhao Jue slightly raised one corner of his mouth, "One is inside the mirror, one is outside the mirror. One is lucky, one is unlucky. One is a physical object, one is a shadow. One is free and one is forever confined. Some people in this world are finished products, some are half-finished, and some are accessories. Like plants, companion populations are, generally, breeding grounds for dangerous parasites that, though not dominant populations, can bring about the demise of dominant populations."

Everyone nodded in unison as they listened, and then their shining eyes looked at Zhan Zhao – Translate that into Chinese.

Zhan Zhao looked at Zhao Jue, "Blue Doll cultivates two, a dominant type and a companion type, and it is that companion type that can be used as a killer, right?"

Zhao Jue nodded, "Mhmm, depending on their talent, they receive different training and education, and they will also engage in different divisions of work in the future, it's just a pity..."

"What's a pity?" Zhan Zhao was curious.

Zhao Jue stretched out two fingers, "In this world, there are two things that are completely out of control, which is the reason why the Blue Doll project was eventually terminated!"

"Take two things?" The crowd wondered.

"The first one!" Zhao Jue grinned, "Natural disasters!"

Everyone froze, speechless – But yes, natural disasters are unpredictable, but they couldn't figure out what they had to do with Blue Doll's plan.

"The second one!" Zhao Jue said, sighing and shaking his head, "It's what a child will become when they grow up."

Everyone frowned and pondered for half a day – There was no way to refute it, it was indeed hard to control. When a child comes from a lowly working family, they might be crooked when they grow up, and when a crooked child grows up, there is no guarantee that they won't grow up to be dog-like.

"At that time, there should have been more than these five pairs of test subjects, the ones that had grown up." Zhao Jue said in a cold voice, "These people were too emotionally charged and thus developed serious problems when carrying out their tasks, such as losing control of their emotions."

"Which kind of emotions?" Zhan Zhao was curious.

"Jealousy and rejection!" Zhao Jue said, "How can an outstanding person, who wants to be unique, tolerate the existence of an identical person? Coupled with the education and training Bruce has given them, the one on the outside of the mirror is better, and the one on the inside of the mirror is..." Zhao Jue said, reaching out and pointing to the picture of the few kids with very serious faces, "starting to get unbalanced!"

Everyone looked at each other.

"Blue Doll's companions began to resent the main body, and even killed each other!" Zhao Jue spread his hands, "So the organisation decided to terminate the experiment and Bruce was going to destroy the batch of test subjects… but at this time, an earthquake struck."

Everyone's mouth opened wide in surprise, "An earthquake?!"

Zhan Zhao nodded, "No wonder it was said to be a natural disaster."

"The huge waves caused by the earthquake caused a tsunami that washed away the lab." Zhao Jue said as he gently sketched with the pen and notebook he used to play go, and he continued, "The information I know cuts off here, and when the final count was taken, it was found that nine children were missing."

"Nine?" Zhan Zhao took the photo and looked at it again, "Did Stephen leave his twin behind?"

"Yes, that one died and the other nine are missing." Zhao Jue said lightly, "All the other test subjects including Bruce should be dead... but Bruce's body was never found."

"How do you know he's dead if the body wasn't found?" Zhan Zhao wondered.

"Well..." Zhao Jue said, reaching out and hooking his hand towards Qin Ou, as if asking for the headphones.

Qin Ou gave him the headphones.

Zhao Jue took them and asked, "Is he dead?"

Not a moment later, Bai Ye's voice came from the other side, "Look at the surveillance records, he was cut apart by a piece of iron plate swept over by the big waves. If the video is real, he can't be alive, it's unlikely to be faked under the circumstances, and the body should have been washed into the sea."

Zhao Jue spread his hands out to the crowd – See?

Both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang narrowed their eyes slightly – These two, indeed, had investigated very deeply.

"In that case," Zhao Hu stroked his chin, "geniuses like Ding Yuan, Stephen and Ryan aren't born like Lin Ruo, but rather, they're acquired!"

"Actually, they can be considered natural, but they are just test subjects." Zhan Zhao seemed to be tired of standing and leaned on Bai Yutang's shoulder with one hand, "So, Ding Yuan, Ryan and Stephen were all adopted by rich people?"

"Maybe, while drifting on the sea, they met a luxury cruise ship, and after being fished up, they met a few rich people... Mind you, those boys were all very cute and smart when they were little." Zhao Jue raised an eyebrow, "Why not adopt them?"

"Only adopting one, why didn't they adopt a pair?" Zhan Zhao thought for a moment and pointed at Han Wei, "He seems different!"

"Regardless of being the same or different, these little kids have extremely high IQs, do you know what that means?" Zhao Jue asked.

Everyone glanced at each other.

Zhan Zhao said, "They will not forget!"

Zhao Jue nodded, "They should clearly remember where they came from, how they were trained as children, what happened to Blue Doll, and... Emilia!"

"Then who killed Ryan and Ding Yuan?" Bai Yutang asked, "Or rather, were the dead Ryan and Ding Yuan, the real ones?"

Everyone frowned – Right, it could have been the other one...

Speaking of this, the crowd looked at Lan Mi.

Xiao Mi blinked and looked at the crowd.

"Xiao Mi." Zhan Zhao asked her, "How is the relationship between your brothers?"

Xiao Mi tilted her head, thought about it, and shook her head, "Pretty good!"

"Have you always lived with them?" Zhan Zhao asked.

Xiao Mi looked at the crowd, who all knew that she should also be smart enough to remember what happened back then.

Xiao Mi sat on the stool and looked at Zhao Jue.

Zhao Jue stroked her head, "Say it."

Xiao Mi nodded and pointed to the surveillance camera shot, which should be Han Wei's brother, and then to Ding Yuan and Ryan, "We were saved by a fisherman, and I had a fever."

Everyone froze slightly – Did the fever cause this change in her?

Zhao Jue rubbed his chin, "Wow, another unexpected discovery."

Zhan Zhao glared at him.

Zhao Jue flattened his mouth and poked Lan Mi to signal for her to continue.

Lan Mi thought for a moment and tilted her head, "My brothers took care of me and we lived together, until one day, Brother came looking for Brother."

The corners of everyone's mouth twitched – So many brothers!

Lan Mi pointed to the various brothers as she spoke of them, and surprisingly, it was Han Wei who found his brother.

"Brother and Brother are very close." Xiao Mi pointed to Han Wei and his brother.

When Zhao Jue heard this, his eyes suddenly lit up, "Bruce's probability theory is right!" 

"What probability theory?" Zhan Zhao's eyes also lit up, "Could it be that back then, he had already calculated that there would be companionship and eugenic rejection in so many pairs of test subjects, as well as emotional breakdowns, but like a genetic mutation, one pair would mutate out of dozens of test subjects, and thus this pair would be perfect?"

When Zhan Zhao finished speaking, he heard Bai Ye laugh on the other side of the intercom.

Zhao Jue sighed, "Stealing the show!"

Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao, "So Han Wei's twin is the most successful Blue Doll?"

"There should be another pair!" Zhan Zhao said.

The crowd thought for a moment and asked, "Emilia?"

Zhan Zhao nodded, "The pair that Han Wei and Lin Ruo met on the boat!"

"A pair?" Zhao Hu recalled for a moment, "Wasn't there only one?"

"Don't forget!" Bai Yutang said, "One was struck by lightning and died, how could they come back to life?"

"There were two?!" Zhao Hu shrieked, "Fuck! Didn't you say it was an illusion?!"

"Illusions should be combined with reality!" Zhan Zhao wagged his finger.

Zhao Jue nodded – Children can be taught.

"That pair, and Han Wei's pair, are the complete opposite of each other!" Zhan Zhao was a little excited, "It's like two different attributes, extreme yin and extreme yang! Bruce, like Bobby, wasn't concerned about whether the experiment was righteous or not, or whether it would kill a lot of people, he just wanted it to work! And he did succeed, if it hadn't been for that earthquake, when he wiped out all the failed experiments, only Han Wei and Emilia's pairs would have been left, to be precise, a male pair and a female pair!"

Everyone suddenly thought of Luo Yang again.

Luo Tian nodded, "The experiment was a complete success! A perfect Blue Doll could be bred!"

"Oh..."

At this point, Bai Ye on the other side suddenly let out a cry of realisation, "So that's what happened."

"What's going on?" Bai Yutang asked him.

"Actually, Bruce was perfectly capable of hiding in the bomb shelter at that time, but he didn't, it seems he was trying to go to another lab." Bai Ye said, "The surveillance showed that the hard iron plate that the sea water washed over should be the door to the lab."

"The water broke through the door of the lab." Zhan Zhao nodded, "So Emilia ran away... two..."

"Xiao Mi," Bai Yutang asked Xiao Mi, "who told you to be here?"

"Brother."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other.

Bai Yutang found the picture of the deceased Ding Yuan and showed it to Xiao Mi.

Xiao Mi nodded, indicating that it was him!

There was some confusion among the crowd; it was Ryan who had put a chest full of men's daily necessities in the wardrobe, and Ding Yuan who had asked Xiao Mi to temporarily stay in the fake Emilia ship.

"What about him?" Bai Yutang pointed at Han Wei and asked Xiao Mi, "What's he doing?"

Xiao Mi looked a little disappointed, "Brother left a long time ago, saying he had something very important to do. Then not long ago, my two other brothers left as well."

"Then who was bringing you food?" Zhan Zhao asked.

Xiao Mi pointed at Han Wei, "Brother's brother."

In fact, the people on this side were okay, at least they could see Xiao Mi pointing to the photo, while over there, Bao Zheng had a headache as he listened, "What's wrong with this girl? Brother brother brother, which brother is it?"

Bai Ye reached out and gently tapped Bao Zheng's shoulder, "Xiao Black, calm down."

Everyone behind them glanced at each other, the corners of their mouths twitching, this was the same as Bai Yutang's usual movement and expression when he tapped the explosive Lu Ban – They were waiting for Bao Sir to get mad.

But unexpectedly, Bao Zheng was really quiet, it seemed like the fire had gone down and he continued to listen patiently.

Gongsun opened his mouth wide and looked at Bai Jintang beside him – What's the situation?

Bai Jintang smiled – Bai Ye was clearly the boss.

Behind Gongsun, Bai Chi and Zhao Zhen also glanced at each other – It seems that Bai Ye, Bai Yunwen and Zhan Qitian are particularly strong, Zhao Jue is just like a rebellious and bad child under supervision, and Bao Sir is like, how can I say it… a little brother?

Bao Sir suddenly turned back and gave them a blank look, and the two white eyes on that big black face surprised everyone.

Bao Sir turned around and scowled – Dare to doubt my authority, when the case is finished, all of you will be sent to clean the toilets!

At that moment, the marine police ahead sent a signal to Bao Zheng, instructing them to stop the boat and switch off all the lights.

Instantly, the command room went dark.

Bai Yutang's side also heard the commotion and asked Bao Zheng, "What's going on?"

Bao Zheng said, "The marine police said a boat is approaching."

"A boat?" The crowd was curious and came up behind Qin Ou.

Qin Ou mobilised the camera above and began to monitor it.

Soon, a small boat was seen approaching, the men on Stephen's boat lowered the hanging ladder and soon, two people climbed on board.

Everyone frowned as they looked through the camera.

"Wow... luckily we spotted it early, otherwise we definitely would have thought it was a ghost!" Zhao Hu shook his head.

The ones who climbed up were none other than Ding Yuan and Ryan, two people who should have been dead.

Bai Yutang thought about it, then took the tablet and asked Lan Mi, "Xiao Mi, are they your brothers?"

Xiao Mi stared at it for a long time, and suddenly shook her head with a gloomy expression, "Brother and Brother, they should have already died. "

......

Everyone frowned – It turns out that the two that died were not really Ding Yuan and Ryan, which would prove why Ryan died silently. As long as he was killed in advance and placed there, when the crime was committed and the lights were turned on, the real Ryan hid himself!

Zhao Jue took a sip of tea from a tea cup, put it down disgustedly as if he thought it wasn't good, and asked Zhan Zhao on the side, "Have you thought it through now?"

Zhan Zhao nodded, "In this case, the entire case is clear."

......

‿︵‿︵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: July 10, 2023 by Angel

Edited: July 24, 2023 by Angel