S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 4 Chapter 78

Toothless Murderer 01 – Funeral

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After the end of the ghost ship case, Bao Zheng wanted to give the SCI members a long holiday to take a rest, but seeing that the Spring Festival was approaching, and there were no particularly big cases at the moment, Bai Yutang proposed to save the holiday for the Spring Festival, and that they could deal with some easy paperwork first, and everyone felt that such an arrangement was more cost-effective.

Work was originally idle, but with the recent graduation of new police officers, the police station saw an influx of a lot of new recruits, and one or two of them took SCI as a shrine. The police station had recently set up some additional departments related to public relations and data, and a lot of female police officers had come to the police station. The girls heard that SCI was full of beautiful men, and the group came up to visit the office.

Of course, being looked at by a group of girls is not a hard thing. Zhao Hu enjoyed it quite a bit, and urged Bai Yutang to recruit a few female police officers to come over. When men and women work together, they don't get tired, right?

Somehow, these words reached Qi Le's ears, and Hu Zi's following days were not easy.

Ma Han also suffered a lot, but the one who harassed him was not his big star girlfriend Chen Jiayi nor the young girls in the police station, but Zhan Zhao.

After all, on the ghost ship before, Zhao Jue had done something to Ma Han, and then the case was solved, but it was not used.

Zhan Zhao originally thought that it might be related to the experimental base on the island, but the base was blown up, and the island was in ruins, not to mention that Zhao Jue had slipped away. So… Ma Han became a mouse that had been subjected to unknown experiments, and Zhan Zhao stared intently at him all day long, looking at Ma Han as if he had messed with the ghost behind his back.

Early that morning, Bai Yutang dragged Zhan Zhao, who studied the information at night and did not sleep, into the station, accepting the attention of passing girls along the way. When they got out of the elevator, they ran into Zhao Hu, who was holding a cell phone, "Head, I'm taking half a day off this afternoon."

"Oh..." Bai Yutang just nodded, then from the office, Ma Han walked out, "Captain, I'm taking half a day off this afternoon."

"Oh..." Bai Yutang nodded again, then Bai Chi walked out in the elevator, "Brother, I'm taking half a day off this afternoon..."

The corner of Bai Yutang's mouth twitched, and just as he wanted to ask what they were up to, Ma Xin came running out of the forensic room next door, "Boss, my lord and I need to take a half day off this afternoon..."

On the other side, Luo Tian also touched his head and walked out with a cell phone, "Captain, can I please take half a day off..."

Without waiting for him to finish, Bai Yutang reached out to stop everyone, "Are you guys rushing to get on the boat or go buy bus tickets together? Why are you all taking this afternoon off?"

Everyone glanced at each other, and Bai Yutang signalled for them to speak one by one.

Zhao Hu spoke, "I'm going to a funeral."

Bai Yutang raised an eyebrow – He couldn't argue with that, so he granted the leave.

Looking at Ma Han again, Ma Han replied, "Attending a funeral."

Bai Chi scratched his head, "Attending a funeral."

Bai Yutang then looks at Ma Xin, who blinked, "Attending a funeral."

Finally, the crowd looked at Luo Tian, who was embarrassed, "Attending... a funeral."

Zhan Zhao stroked his chin, curious, "What day is today, so many funerals?"

"It should be the same funeral." Ma Xin asked.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang froze, "Whose funeral?"

"Chang Yan." The crowd answered back in unison.

"Chang Yan..." Zhan Zhao pondered for a moment, "It's so familiar."

Bai Yutang remembered and asked, "The female singer who sang on stage at the opening of Brother's hotel the other day?"

"Oh!" Zhan Zhao also remembered, "The one who sings beautifully?"

Everyone nodded.

Zhan Zhao was shocked, "Isn't that girl only in her twenties?"

Ma Xin nodded, "She was already in poor health, and recently her condition deteriorated and she was not able to be saved, she just passed away."

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao glanced at each other, both feeling that the world was unpredictable.

"What a pity." Zhan Zhao was a little emotional, but was also curious, "Did you guys know her well?"

Zhao Hu nodded, "Le Le is very familiar with her, and I'm also quite familiar with her, she's a very nice person."

Ma Han nodded, "She is Jiayi's junior."

Ma Xin sighed, "I just got acquainted with her and she left."

Bai Chi scratched his head, "I like listening to her songs. Zhao Zhen introduced us to each other last time, and we've been in contact since then, chatting often."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at Luo Tian – Are you counted as Ma Xin's family going to the funeral?

Luo Tian shook his head, "I am accompanying Yang Yang to go, Yang Yang is very familiar with her."

"Yang Yang knows celebrities?" Jiang Ping was curious, "What a wide range of friends."

Luo Tian was helpless, "When everyone was busy, Yang Yang had no one to take care of him, so Chen Yu took Yang Yang to accompany Chang Yan who was recovering from her illness. Yang Yang takes care of people, and Chang Yan, not to mention being a singer, turns out to be highly educated with superb English, and the relationship between the two is very good... Yang Yang cried for a few days after she died."

"Do you two usually use the entertainment section of the newspaper to wrap things up?" Gongsun walked out of the forensic room wearing a tie, and in a rare moment, took off his white coat and wore all black, "These days, the front page is filled with news of her passing."

"Is she very popular?" Zhan Zhao wondered.

The crowd gave him a contemptuous look.

Bai Yutang asked Gongsun, "You are also going to the funeral?"

Gongsun nodded, "She was a singer under Jintang's company, Jintang met her when he was in Italy, and she always called Jintang brother."

The crowd opened their mouths wide – So well acquainted?

"She is fatherless and motherless, so the funeral was organised for her by Jintang. In addition, there are important people arriving today." Gongsun pushed up his glasses, "Leonard."

Zhan Zhao's ears immediately perked up, "The mafia boss is also going? Is he a little fan as well?"

"Little fan?" Gongsun laughed, "I heard Jintang say that Leonard has been chasing after her since he was sixteen, but never succeeded. She's his goddess, so he's probably heartbroken at this moment."

The crowd couldn't help but all to draw a cold breath.

Zhan Zhao walked into the office and leaned on the back of Jiang Ping's chair, "Ay, search for a few videos of Chang Yan, I didn't get a good look last time."

Bai Yutang approved everyone's leave and went back to his office to continue his work.

Zhan Zhao lay on the back of Jiang Ping's chair and watched a few videos from Chang Yan's concert.

"Hmm..." Zhan Zhao stroked his chin as he listened to the song, "Her voice is good."

"But she's not particularly good looking." Jiang Ping was a little curious, "To be able to charm Leonard for so many years, she must have an attractive personality."

After listening to two songs, Zhan Zhao became dazed.

"Hey." Bai Yutang poked him, "They're all taking the afternoon off, why don't we go out for a walk as well?"

Zhan Zhao blinked, stretched out a finger and wiggled it, "No time." After saying this, he took away a few DVDs of Chang Yan's concert from Bai Chi's hands, entered the meeting room, and casually closed the door with a bang.

Everyone looked at each other in disbelief.

Bai Yutang looked at the sky – Did this cat find something again?

The morning was uneventful, and everyone was busy with their own business. At noon, the ones who took time off went to change into black clothes, picked up their own families, and went to attend Chang Yan's funeral.

Bai Yutang was in his office, watching the news with Jiang Ping.

Today, Chang Yan's funeral could be described as a sensation in the city; celebrities gathered, the queue of fans at the entrance of the funeral hall was long, the streets were full of white candles and white roses, and all the shops in the city were playing her songs.

"What illness did she pass away from?" Bai Yutang asked Jiang Ping.

"It seems to be congenital heart disease." Jiang Ping looked up Chang Yan's information, "The doctor originally said she wouldn't live past twenty, it's already a miracle that she lived to twenty-seven."

Bai Yutang nodded, seeing that the people entering the funeral were indeed all big names, but his brother's venue was not open to anyone, and the press section was at the entrance. After all, it was a funeral, and the atmosphere was very solemn.

At this time, with a bang, the door of the meeting room was opened. Zhan Zhao yawned and slipped out, walking over to hang on Bai Yutang's shoulder, "I'm starving to death."

Bai Yutang looked at him with amusement, "You're still alive and kicking?"

Zhan Zhao pointed to his stomach, "I want to eat!"

Bai Yutang looked at the time and asked Jiang Ping, who stayed behind to guard the office alone, "Shall we go eat together?"

Jiang Ping stood up excitedly, "Okay... ah!"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were startled by him, and they saw Jiang Ping rushing to the TV, "Leonard is here!"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang also went over to look. Leonard was wearing a black coat with sunglasses, and got out of the limousine in a very low-key manner, his aura strong. The most surprising thing was that Eugene followed him. That cauliflower had changed into all black, and his playful look was gone, and what was particularly surprising was that his red hair was all dyed black.

"Leonard's aura is simply extraordinary." Zhan Zhao tsked and pointed to the screen, "Brother has come out, only Brother can suppress this scene ah, even mafia bosses can't cover his domineering aura."

He saw Bai Jintang walk out and politely greet a tall and thin old man with a full head of silver hair, who was very handsome and elegant, then walk inside.

"Brother still has such polite moments?" Bai Yutang asked Jiang Ping, "Who is that old man?"

"You two are really isolated from the world, huh?" Jiang Ping was helpless, "His name is Ran Shaoqi, a world famous musician."

"I think I've read about him in a magazine, he seems to be one of the best conductors in the world." Zhan Zhao stroked his chin, "This kind of national treasure-level artist doesn't count as someone from the entertainment industry, right, so why would he come to the funeral?"

"Didn't you just say that Chang Yan is Chen Jiayi's junior? These two are both students of Ran Shaoqi."

"Chen Jiayi." Zhan Zhao pointed at the TV screen.

They saw Chen Jiayi in a long black dress, with a black veil around her face, walking out in a royal maiden fashion and helping Ran Shaoqi walk inside, wiping her tears with a tissue as she did so.

"Ah." Jiang Ping can't help but sigh with emotion, "Sister Jiayi, I can't believe that she can act like a delicate little girl behind Xiao Ma Ge's back, so well split."

"Hmm..." Zhan Zhao gently stroked his chin again, letting out another syllable with unknown meaning.

Bai Yutang patted him before he could say anything strange, "Aren't you hungry?"

"Hungry." Zhan Zhao stood up and led Bai Yutang to eat.

Jiang Ping wanted to continue watching TV and asked the two to help bring a takeaway, so he didn't go out.

When the two entered the elevator, Zhan Zhao suddenly and mysteriously told Bai Yutang, "If I said Chang Yan wanted to die a long time ago, would you believe it or not?"

Bai Yutang didn't know whether to laugh or cry, "The tone of your voice is a bit like an entertainment gossip page."

Zhan Zhao smiled faintly.

"How do you know that?" Bai Yutang was curious.

Zhan Zhao's fingertips gently tapped his chin, "She has, the flavour of drunkenness on her."

Bai Yutang smiled faintly, "Isn't it a matter of personal charm?"

Zhan Zhao tsked twice and shook his head, "Most women with stories have some charm, but women who are drunken and dreamy have magic."

Bai Yutang laughed out loud, "You're quite the researcher."

Zhan Zhao smiled and reached out to pinch his cheeks, "Don't be jealous ah, I only like you..."

Before he finished his sentence, the elevator doors opened, and two young police women holding documents were standing in the doorway. Staring at the ambiguous behaviour of the two people in the elevator, they froze for three seconds, then tilted their faces up, "Yaaaah!"

Bai Yutang hurriedly pressed the door close button. The elevator doors closed, but the two still heard the excited shouts from above, "So cute!"

Bai Yutang shook his head, Zhan Zhao stroked his chin and pondered, "Women are really unpredictable these days!"

......

Too many people gathered outside the solemn hearse. The funeral was held in a church handpicked by Bai Jintang. After the speech session, there was a lengthy farewell ceremony for the remains, but because there were just too many people, the congregation, who had finished their farewells early, were waiting and resting in the backyard of the church, waiting for the funeral ceremony.

The backyard was very large, with towering trees and elegantly manicured gardens.

Ma Han walked to the edge of the garden, leaning on the railing and looking into the distance... This church was built on the top of the hill, and below it, half was the high rise buildings of S City, and the other half was the sea, so the view was very beautiful.

Chen Jiayi, Qi Le and the others were busy, so Zhao Hu and Ma Han came out to get some fresh air. Zhao Hu ran to get something to drink, and Ma Han looked at the distant view on his own, in a daze.

He didn't remember what Zhao Jue had done to him before, he only remembered after listening to the descriptions of Zhan Zhao and the others. He didn't feel that there was anything wrong with him in the past few days, but at night, he would set up a video camera in front of the door, fearing that he had been split by Zhao Jue or implanted with some kind of personality, and he would be finished if he ran out in the middle of the night to kill someone.

As he was thinking, he felt footsteps behind him and glanced back.

He saw that not far away, an old gentleman with silver hair slowly was walking over, until he came to his side and stood by the railing looking out over the scenery.

Ma Han didn't recognise him, and most of the people here were political and business celebrities, so he didn't want to get involved, so he turned around and prepared to leave.

"You're Jiayi's boyfriend?" That old man, however, suddenly opened his mouth and asked Ma Han.

Ma Han glanced at him and thought for a moment – He remembered that this old man was the teacher who taught Chen Jiayi how to sing. But Jiayi didn't really have much talent for singing, and was better at acting.

"Jiayi likes you a lot, I heard you're a police officer?" The old man then asked.

Ma Han nodded.

"My name is Ran Shaoqi." The old man introduced himself, very polite and poised.

Ma Han nodded, signalling that he knew.

"You're the same as what Jiayi told me, so cool." Ran Shaoqi was amused by Ma Han's silent nature, "Xiao Yan and Jiayi are like my own daughters, both of their personalities are so different, but they're both very likeable."

Ma Han thought that perhaps the old man was sad about Chang Yan's death and needed to find someone to talk to, so he didn't say anything and listened to him.

"Do you have handcuffs?" Ran Shaoqi suddenly asked a strange question.

Ma Han looked at him, feeling puzzled.

Ran Shaoqi asked one more time, "Do you have any?"

At this time, Zhao Hu came with two cans of drinks, followed by the exhausted Qi Le and Chen Yu.

Both Qi Le's and Chen Yu's eyes were swollen like walnuts. Zhao Hu felt that these two were going to be depressed if they continued to cry, so he brought them out for some air, and saw Ma Han talking to Ran Shaoqi.

Ma Han was dumbfounded by Ran Shaoqi's question, but he nodded his head, signalling – Of course.

"That's great." Ran Shaoqi suddenly stretched out his hands, clenched his hands with both fists facing each other, and placed his hands in front of Ma Han's eyes.

Ma Han didn't quite understand what he meant by that.

"Arrest me." Ran Shaoqi said calmly.

At this time, Zhao Hu, who had walked up to him and was sipping his drink, also froze – What did he mean by that?

Ma Han looked at him for a moment and shook his head, "I don't quite understand."

"Xiao Yan was killed by me." Ran Shaoqi's one sentence flabbergasted everyone present, yet he remained calm and clouded, "Arrest me."

The crowd was bewildered by him.

At that moment, a voice was heard, "Since he said so, cuff him and leave."

The crowd turned their faces, and saw Leonard leaning against the railing, with Eugene behind him, who was watching curiously.

"How is that possible?" Qi Le was puzzled, "Didn't you just return to China?"

Chen Yu nodded.

"She died because of an illness." Ma Han turned back to Chang Yan, "The forensic report doesn't show signs of homicide, she truly died of illness."

"That's right, Master." Zhao Hu reached out and put a hand on Ran Shaoqi's shoulder, "You're just grieving a lot, aren't you? Take it easy, while it's sad to see a white haired person send off a black haired person, look on the bright side ah."

Ran Shaoqi shook his head and said seriously, "Arrest me, otherwise a lot of people will die."

Ma Han frowned slightly. Behind Ran Shaoqi, Zhao Hu winked at him and pointed to his head, meaning – Does this old man have a problem with his head?

Chen Yu was more quick-witted and hurriedly slipped away to try to find Chen Jiayi to help.

"Yaaaah!"

Just as the crowd was at a standstill, a scream was heard from the back.

Qi Le jumped in shock, "No way!"

Ma Han and Zhao Hu glanced at each other – Today, both Big Brother Bai and Qi Le, the bad luck stars, were present. There wouldn't be another murder case, would there?

When they saw a large number of people surrounding the back door of the funeral hall in the distance, with many ladies screaming, Ma Han and Zhao Hu rushed over to look.

Ran Shaoqi quietly stood in place, looking into the distance, saying to himself, "See..."

As he was saying this, he felt someone walk up to him.

Ran Shaoqi turned back, and saw Leonard standing in front of his eyes. With his sunglasses off, his three dimensional profile was complemented by deep eyes. His blue eyes were like the deep sea, without emotions, cold... worthy of being the eyes of the mafia.

Leonard sized up Ran Shaoqi for a moment, then put on his sunglasses and turned to walk away.

"Leaving just like that?" Eugene followed behind while asking Leonard, "Have you calmed down? Do you want to die for love?"

Leonard walked out slowly, "If I want to die for love, I'll sacrifice you first."

"What about that old man?" Eugene asked, "He said he killed your childhood sweetheart."

Leonard walked out of the courtyard and stood in the doorway, looking back for a long time before saying, "He's dead." After saying that, he got into the car with Eugene and left.

Leonard was gone, and the backyard of the church was bustling with activity.

Ma Han and Zhao Hu, with the help of the twins, dispersed the crowd, and saw that there was a woman lying on the ground. She was in her forties, her eyes were wide open and her face was pale. She was lying on the ground, looking straight up at the blue sky. At a casual glance, it was clear that she had already died.

She died right next to the table where the catering was provided, and there was a half-spilled glass of water beside her hand.

Ma Xin had just been beside her getting a sandwich for Luo Yang to eat, and watched as the woman drank half a glass of water and suddenly fell on her back. She went up and felt her neck, and she was dead!

Gongsun came over, wrapped the cup in a handkerchief and brought it to his nose to smell. He frowned and exchanged a glance with Ma Xin, who was sniffing the corners of the corpse's mouth – The odour was so strange, was it poisoned?

Gongsun opened the dead woman's mouth and saw that her tongue was burnt.

After staring at her mouth for a while, Gongsun suddenly reached out to Ma Xin, "Give me some chopsticks."

Ma Xin took disposable chopsticks from the table and handed them to Gongsun.

Gongsun took the chopsticks and gently tapped the dead woman's teeth...

"Wow..."

There was a sudden uproar around the area. They saw that after Gongsun just gently tapped, two teeth in the female corpse's mouth fell out.

Gongsun frowned slightly, "Evil!"

Ma Xin's eyes widened, "What kind of poison is this?!"

On the side, Bai Jintang's originally dark face was, at this moment, even darker. Behind him, the twins looked at the sky – Bai Jintang and Qi Le were both possessed by the god of bad luck, it's truly an endless cycle of death when they meet… and there's no cure for it.

......

In a restaurant across the street from the police station, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, who were feasting on seafood fried rice and fish siu mai, felt their right eyelids begin to twitch.

The ill-timed phone rang.

Bai Yutang took his phone out and placed it on the table, and saw that it was Ma Han who was calling.

Zhan Zhao poked at a siu mai with his chopsticks and looked at Bai Yutang, "I almost forgot, Brother and Qi Le are both there today."

Bai Yutang held his forehead and pressed the speakerphone button, then he heard Ma Han's steady voice from over there say two words, "Someone's dead."

......

‿︵‿︵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: August 6, 2023 by Angel

Edited: August 18, 2023 by Angel