S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 4 Chapter 74

Ghost Ship Murderer 38 – Code

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Hearing Ma Han's words, everyone looked at the old white ferry.

The mottled rust stains on the hull and the vicissitudes caused by years of wind and rain coupled with the dark waters shrouded the surroundings with a layer of eeriness, the demonic feeling was like steaming seawater, with a scent that made people anxious, lingering in the surroundings.

"Mm-hmm."

At the moment when the atmosphere was freezing, Zhao Jue suddenly let out a chuckle that wasn't light or heavy.

Everyone immediately bristled and turned back to look at him.

Zhao Jue tilted his face to look at the stars in the sky and asked, "What's the date on the lunar calendar today?"

Everyone frowned and looked at him in confusion, not understanding what he was saying.

Only Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao – Cat, what did he say?

At this moment, Zhan Zhao was also tilting his face and looking at the ghost ship, "Lunar calendar... could it be the tides?"

Everyone frowned – This place was close to a distant island, and there were quite a few shoals.

"Today seems to be the middle of the lunar month." Bai Yutang counted the days, "High tide?"

The water level will rise at high tide. With this kind of shoal, when the water level is low, you definitely won't be able to get close to the shore, and the people on the shore won't be able to approach either... But if there are small boats on the shore, then they will be able to paddle over without any problems when the tide rises... Do they simply refill their supplies each time?

After all, no matter what level of experimental product this Emilia is, to maintain life, eating and drinking water is a must!

Bai Yutang visually measured the distance between the two boats and took a few steps back.

"Hey!" Zhan Zhao grabbed him, "What are you doing?"

Bai Yutang pointed to the opposite boat, "Going up to see what's there."

Zhan Zhao was a bit nervous, "The situation is unclear now, do you know that there are people up there? What if it's a bunch of zombies?"

Bai Yutang looked at the sky, and helplessly looked at Zhan Zhao, "Cat..."

"It's possible!" Zhan Zhao firmly shook his head, "You've seen it before, those kinds of experimental products which can easily turn into aliens if they mutate. What if there's a walking corpse up there, what if it spreads the zombie virus?"

Bai Yutang was speechless – This cat always followed Bai Chi to watch some messy dramas lately.

"Hey, Bai Ye is back." Bai Yutang suddenly reached out and pointed behind Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao turned around, and Bai Yutang took a few steps back and scurried forward, stepping on the railing...

Zhan Zhao took a look at where Bai Ye was and knew that he had been tricked, and when he turned back... he saw that Bai Yutang had stepped on the railing and leapt onto the big ship opposite them.

"Ai!" Zhan Zhao became anxious.

Luo Tian hurriedly followed and jumped over.

Zhao Hu and Ma Han didn't have such freakish explosive power as the two of them, so they found ropes to throw and hook onto the railing on the opposite side.

They wanted to go over, but Bai Yutang poked his head out from behind the railing and waved his hand at the crowd on the opposite side, saying, "There's no need to come over, there's enough manpower."

Everyone was puzzled.

Just then, they saw Luo Tian pulling someone to the side of the boat.

Looking again, it was an old man with grey hair, who looked like he was probably in his sixties, with sideburns and falling beard, wearing a white shirt that was tattered and torn.

"Oh." Zhao Hu couldn't help but say, "Robinson?"

Zhao Jue raised his face, tilted his head to look at the old man, reached out, smiled and touched his beard.

The old man originally had a loose gaze, his eyes seemed to have little focus as he looked around, but in the end, he was attracted by Zhao Jue's action and stared at him, then exclaimed, "You..."

"Doctor?" Han Ling recognised him after half a day, and behind him, Lan Mi also tilted her head, looking at the man on the ship in disbelief, as if she didn't believe he was Bruce.

"Doc..." Han Ling wanted to shout again, but the old man suddenly struggled to get up, grasped the railing and poked his head out, squinting his eyes and carefully surveying Zhao Jue. After a long time, he opened his mouth wide, and then his excitement overflowed and he excitedly asked, "You cracked it, didn't you? It's cracked, isn't it!"

Everyone was a bit baffled.

Zhan Zhao looked at Zhao Jue, "Cracked what?"

"Brother." Lan Mi tugged on Han Ling, "He's the Doctor? Why is he so old."

When Xiao Mi said this, everyone frowned and thought about it – Usually, Zhao Jue and his generation were not human beings but demons, and it was hard to tell their ages, they were obviously forty or fifty years old, but they looked as young as twenty or thirty years old. Of course, Zhao Jue was special, he kept a moustache and he looked a little more mature, but he looked as though he was in his late thirties at most, and if he shaved his moustache and pretended to be young with his long hair, he would really look like he was a young man in his twenties… The same was true for Bai Ye, who looked to be about the same age as Bai Jintang at a little over thirty, but they were clearly supposed to be the same age as Zhan Qitian and Bai Yunwen, whose sons were both in their mid-twenties. Zhan Qitian and Bai Yunwen's ages were visually slightly older than the two, but they were also younger than their peers, and it seemed that the only one who was truly close in appearance to his peers was Bao Zheng.

"Why haven't you changed?" Bruce couldn't see anyone but Zhao Jue in his eyes at this point, "You must have cracked that code, haven't you!"

These words instantly drilled into Zhan Zhao's ears and he hurriedly asked Zhao Jue, "What code?"

Zhao Jue smiled faintly, "Can you guess?"

Zhan Zhao was furious, he really wanted to beat up this smiling face.

At this time, the SWAT team members got the injured Lin Ruo on board, as well as the frightened Jiang Nan.

Qin Ou went to check Lin Ruo's injuries and found that his shoulder was dislocated, and the gunshot wound on Jiang Nan's leg wasn't serious, so he started to give them simple treatment.

......

Bruce was still staring at Zhao Jue, asking the question over and over again, "The code... you cracked it, didn't you?"

"Sure enough, geniuses also have such a day." Zhao Jue crossed his arms and looked at Bruce indifferently, "A person should know where the limit of his ability is, the biggest disadvantage of a smart person is that they can do anything, so they spend their whole life exhausting themselves, and when they find out that they really can't, their life will probably end."

"Hey." Zhan Zhao asked him, "What are you talking about? What code?"

"I've already said I'll let you guess." Zhao Jue winked at him.

Zhan Zhao thought for a moment, "I remember in Xu Kai's case before, he was also facing rapid ageing, after which you took him away. There's also the little lion, who's age has stopped increasing... Could there be a code in this?"

Zhao Jue smiled faintly, "I have already given you all the information in my hands, if you can't figure it out, then it proves that you're dumber than me."

Zhan Zhao ground his teeth – Can I bite you to death!

Zhao Hu and Ma Han threw some rope over to Bai Yutang and the others.

It wasn't too easy for Bai Yutang and Luo Tian to successfully transport Bruce to their boat, as the old man was going somewhat crazy as if he'd lost his mind. He looked very agitated now, grabbing his head and walking from side to side behind the railing, rambling on and on, "Why don't you have a side? What exactly is that code?"

Zhan Zhao looked at Zhao Jue, but saw Zhao Jue looking behind him.

When Zhan Zhao turned around, he saw that on the small boat that had just rescued Lin Ruo and the others, Bai Ye walked out.

Everyone looked behind him, but there was no one else.

Bai Ye walked over to the railing and stood there looking around, seemingly confused.

"Bai Ye." Zhan Zhao called out to him, "Where's Emilia?"

Bai Ye looked up at Zhan Zhao, "Who is Emilia?"

Zhan Zhao held his forehead... What kind of people are these?

"The one with the axe just now." Lin Ruo reminded him.

"Slaughtered." Bai Ye said, and with one hand on the railing, he jumped straight down.

Everyone was shocked.

"Could it be that he can swim?" Zhan Zhao moved towards the railing, "It's not scientific! How can a person with the surname Bai know how to swim!"

On the opposite side, Bai Yutang, who was tying up that constantly struggling Bruce with Luo Tian, looked at the sky and shook his head.

Bai Ye didn't jump into the sea, but jumped down and landed steadily on that police boat.

The two SWAT team members looked at him.

Bai Ye didn't tell them to move the boat, but crouched down and looked around at sea level.

The two officers looked at each other, thinking, what is Bai Ye looking for? Sharks?

"Did anyone jump off the boat into the sea just now?" Bai Yutang asked the two men.

The two officers frowned and shook their heads.

"What are you looking for?" Zhan Zhao asked him as he leaned over the railing.

Bai Ye raised his head and said, "Including the one I slaughtered, there are a total of two corpses on the boat, a man and a woman."

Zhan Zhao stroked his chin, two people?

Lin Ruo and Jiang Nan glanced at each other – That's not right! A man and a woman, if the woman was Emilia who was killed by Bai Ye, and the man was Xiao Gu... then what about Aria?

"There should have been another body on the bed." Lin Ruo shouted out, "Aria! Pinned to the bed by an axe..."

Thinking about it, when Emilia chased them out in annoyance just now, she had an axe in her hand, which means she pulled it off of Aria, could it be that Aria is still alive?

"Watch out!"

While everyone was searching for the missing "corpse", Zhao Hu suddenly shouted.

Bai Yutang and Luo Tian had managed to tie Bruce up, and were about to send him down on the rope to the other side for Zhao Hu and the others to catch, when they heard a sudden "whoosh" behind them, bringing with it a gust of wind.

Bai Yutang felt that the wind came from below, which means that someone swung a weapon vertically... He turned around while simultaneously pushing Bruce to the other side.

Luo Tian turned around and caught Bruce who was pushed over... when he heard a loud bang... and sparks shot out in all directions.

An axe grazed Bruce's shoulder and chopped down, cutting through the iron railing, all the way into the iron hull of the ship.

Bai Yutang turned back around, and while stepping away from the axe, he saw that there was a woman standing in front of him. She was dressed in the outfit of Lin Ruo family's maids, and her appearance was very similar to that of Xiao Mi... She was holding a long axe in her hand, her body was soaked through, and there was a good sized wound on her left shoulder that went all the way down to her chest, which was continuously bleeding out.

Bai Yutang frowned... thinking that this was not a human being, such a big wound on the left side of her chest yet her heart is fine? Still alive and kicking and killing people? What species are these people exactly!

Aria was kicked and flew away. When she landed on the ground, she bounced up and raised her axe, and ignoring Bai Yutang, she rushed towards Bruce.

Luo Tian hurriedly pulled Bruce back... In order to prevent Bruce from struggling and falling into the sea, they tied him up before and were preparing to lower him with the rope, but now, it has become a burden. Bruce couldn’t walk on his own, and it was too late to untie the rope, as Aria was aggressive and moved strangely fast.

Luo Tian dodged another axe swing, and Bai Yutang pulled out his gun.

"The gun won't kill her." Down below, Bai Ye shouted, "Take this."

As soon as Bai Yutang turned around... he saw a long black stick-like object being thrown up by Bai Ye, spinning and making odd noises.

Bai Yutang instinctively reached out and caught it with one hand, and on the other end, Luo Tian yanked Bruce as if he was yanking a log, dodging left and right, and kicking away the crazy Aria, whose eyes were bloodshot like a madman.

Zhan Zhao and others watched with fear and trepidation, but that ship was taller than their boat, and as long as they were positioned towards the centre of the deck, the people below would not be able to see anything, and couldn't help them urgently.

Bai Yutang took it into his hands, only to realise that what Bai Ye had thrown to him was a long knife. He had practised sparring before and practised all kinds of combat, but he truly had very experience with weapons. Who would practise with a knife for no reason, it's not like he was filming a drama.

But the moment he handled the knife, Bai Yutang instinctively felt a little excited... Maybe it was because of some kind of genetics caused by the history of human development, but male fighters will all have an adrenaline rush after touching a cold weapon.

Bai Yutang inexplicably felt that the knife was quite easy to handle, and reached out… pulling the knife out.

Zhan Zhao saw Bai Yutang draw out the brightly shining knife, and was a bit puzzled – He had not seen him use one before.

And beside him, Zhao Jue suddenly sighed.

Zhan Zhao subconsciously turned to look at him, and saw that Zhao Jue's eyes were shining, the corners of his mouth were raised, and his tongue gently licked the corner of one side of his mouth – He seemed to be very expectant and excited, and he had a rare concentration.

The crowd saw Bai Yutang on the ship, and then heard a "pop" sound... like something was chopped up, then heard a heavy sound like something hit the ground, and the crowd couldn't help but frown.

"Motherfucker." Zhao Hu bristled, "Captain is a clean freak, he won't be splashed with blood, right?"

Zhao Jue's eyes narrowed into slits, but he heard Zhan Zhao by his side quietly say, "You're all excited for nothing."

Zhao Jue blinked and looked back at Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao smiled faintly, "Yutang wouldn't cut her in two."

Zhao Jue gently raised an eyebrow.

At this time, Bai Ye got on the boat and said to the crowd, "It's almost time! Their boat is almost here."

As he spoke, Bai Yutang walked over to the side of the ship, and he was clean, he hadn't been splattered with blood.

Zhao Jue then frowned and pouted, and Zhan Zhao smiled slightly.

At this time, Bao Zheng and the big police boat also came.

Bruce was sent to Bao Zheng's boat, temporarily detained, and everything would be discussed later.

On this side, when Zhan Zhao and the others made their way to the obsolete PT1001 via the hanging ladder, they saw that Aria was lying flat on the ground, and there was a knife sticking out of her right shoulder, pinning her to the ground so she couldn't move, but it didn't injure any of her vital areas, so she shouldn't die.

Zhao Jue glanced slyly at Bai Yutang and scowled.

Gongsun frowned after taking a look, "How vicious!"

The SWAT team members combined their efforts to pull out the knife, and transported Aria onto the boat after securely tying her. After cleaning up the mess, Bao Zheng ordered the two small boats to drive away, and the police boat took temporary shelter at a faraway place.

That left PT1001 parked there.

On PT1001, everyone went into the cabin to take a general tour, and found that it was very close to the smaller mock-up ship, but the model and the real thing were two different things after all, and the real thing was much more intimidating.

Many people stayed on the boat this time, Lin Ruo insisted on staying, Han Wei, Han Ling and Xiao Mi also stayed, and Gongsun, Bai Jintang, Zhao Zhen and Bai Chi stayed due to curiosity... Of course, there was also Bai Ye, who was wiping the long knife in his hand.

The original crew from the previous ship also came aboard, and Qin Ou looked at the location shown on the positioning device, "That ship will probably arrive in about twenty minutes."

"The ship can already be seen." Zhao Hu pointed in the distance with his night vision binoculars.

Bai Yutang went over to look, only to see that sure enough, far away, a large ship that was close in size and shape to this Emilia was slowly being sailed over.

The crowd glanced at each other and looked back at Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao spread his hands, "When they come aboard, the mystery will be solved."

"There's still twenty minutes left, let's take a break." Bai Yutang casually said, but on the side, Bai Ye was staring at Zhao Jue, "What kind of outfit are you wearing?!"

Zhao Jue stroked the beard on his chin, "It's more stylish than yours, are you jealous?"

Bai Ye frowned slightly, and looked at the crowd before eventually asking Gongsun, "Give me a scalpel."

"What are you doing?!" Zhao Jue hurriedly hid behind Zhan Zhao.

Gongsun handed over an electric razor, hoping for chaos to ensue.

Bai Ye raised his eyebrows, "This is even better."

Zhao Hu asked Gongsun with some confusion, "Why are you carrying a razor around? Don't you always carry a scalpel?"

Gongsun smiled and touched Bai Jintang's chin beside him, raising an eyebrow at Zhao Hu, "This is called fun."

The corners of Zhao Hu's mouth twitched.

"Ah!" After being grabbed by Bai Ye, Zhao Jue was pressed into a chair and had his chin pinched.

"Help, police! Someone is committing murder!" Zhao Jue struggled and called out to Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang thought for a moment before asking Bai Chi, "Is there something to drink, I'm thirsty."

"Oh... there is." Bai Chi looked at the struggling Zhao Jue with sympathy, then ran to open the large bag that he had brought on board with him, "Do you want to have a snack?"

The crowd had been hungry for a long time, and Ma Han and Zhao Hu had thrown up their late-night meals earlier, so of course they needed to replenish their strength.

Thus, no one sympathised with Zhao Jue, and everyone took advantage of the twenty minutes to rest, eat and drink.

Bai Ye turned on the razor and felt someone poking him.

Bai Ye turned around, and Zhan Zhao reached out and asked with a smile, "Can I do it?"

Bai Ye handed him the razor, then used one hand to grab both of Zhao Jue's wrists and the other hand to hold Zhao Jue's head, which meant... shave it.

Zhan Zhao smiled, beaming as he held the buzzing razor – So awesome!

"Yaah!"

With Zhao Jue's miserable scream, the crowd of people who were happily eating exchanged a look with each other – Sure enough, the big boss is still Bai Ye!

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Zhan Zhao prevails! The beard is gone!

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: July 23, 2023 by Angel

Edited: July 27, 2023 by Angel