S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 4 Chapter 85

Toothless Murderer 08 – Hidden Threads

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Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang's car finally arrived at the remote park. Zhan Zhao got out of the car, tilted up his face and looked at the castle on the top of the mountain, frowning, "Which bastard designed such a thing, the elevation is so high!"

Bai Yutang parked the car and got out. He visually measured the height of the mountain and knew that Zhan Zhao was going to be furious. The mountain was not too high, but it was not too low either. Climbing up the mountain directly would be difficult for Zhan Zhao, a lazy person who was always in a state of stasis.

"Why don't you wait here, while I go up?" Bai Yutang asked, and seeing the satisfied smile on Zhan Zhao's face, he shook his head, "No, I don't feel comfortable with you being down here alone, go up with me."

Zhan Zhao narrowed his eyes with a disgusted look at the steps leading to the top of the mountain, before starting to search around to see if there was a cable car or some other means of transport.

"No need to look, the cable car is under construction." Bai Yutang pointed to a sign on the side, tugged on Zhan Zhao who refused to go up, and stepped onto the steps leading to the top of the mountain.

After walking for about five minutes, Zhan Zhao suggested, "Let's rest for half an hour?"

Bai Yutang felt that he was stepping on ants, and was almost slowed to death. Zhan Zhao didn't look tired, this cat is just lazy! Thinking about it, Bai Yutang tugged on him, "Walk faster! Otherwise when it gets dark, do you want to spend the night in the old castle?"

After saying that, he pulled Zhan Zhao and quickly ran up the stairs.

"Speeding!" Zhan Zhao was dissatisfied, but he couldn't drag Bai Yutang, and he was pulled in a jog all the way up the mountain.

The two of them had been walking up the mountain for roughly twenty minutes or so, or actually jogging, and finally reached the top.

Bai Yutang looked down the mountain and nodded, the scenery was nice and the air was good, then turned to look at Zhan Zhao beside him.

At this moment, Dr. Zhan was elegantly sitting on a bench catching his breath while looking at his watch to measure his pulse.

Bai Yutang saw that he didn't seem to be so tired that he couldn't catch his breath, so he smiled, "It's not too bad ah, you won't be tired when we go down the mountain later."

Zhan Zhao raised his head and glanced at him, too tired to be venomous.

"Let's go, the castle is over there." Bai Yutang wanted to tug on Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao refused to stand up.

"Let's go, it's going to get dark if we don't go!" Bai Yutang forcefully pulled Zhan Zhao forward.

Zhan Zhao was depressed, "I used up a year's worth of exercise today, tonight I'm going to eat delicious food and replenish my stamina for ten days in a row... ah, I'm so tired I don't want to talk."

Bai Yutang couldn't cry or laugh.

"When was this park built?" Bai Yutang observed, the environment was really good, but it was also really too far away from the city. There were quite a few neighbourhoods under construction around the mountain, maybe the investors thought that it would be lively in a few years.

"How did Chang Yan and Ran Shaoqi come here to fall in love, it's bizarre." Bai Yutang walked towards the castle and found that it was well constructed, but it was nothing more than a shell. The inside extended in all directions, with stairs and corridors, but no rooms.

"This design is quite ingenious." Zhan Zhao looked at the square windows that could be seen everywhere, "The branches of the trees outside and the angle of the windows are just right, when the sunlight is abundant there must be a very obvious Tyndall effect, coupled with the shady and dimly lit interior of the ancient fortress, there will be beautiful patches of light, it can only be said that the designer is a thoughtful person! Finding such a place to fall in love, Chang Yan and Ran Shaoqi are also quite romantic aren't they."

The two of them searched for a while, and finally found a loose brick at the joint between the stone wall of the porch and the roof as described by Ran Shaoqi.

Pulling that brick out, they found that it was only a half brick, and hidden inside was a rolled up diary, a very thin one.

Zhan Zhao flipped it open and looked at it, and saw that there were about sixty pages of writing inside, which appeared to represent about two months of diary entries.

"Mhmm."

Zhan Zhao was about to flip through it, but Bai Yutang pulled him, "Go back and read it."

"Oh." Zhan Zhao closed the diary and was about to walk out, when Bai Yutang suddenly stopped... He looked at a window diagonally across from them, and dragged Zhan Zhao to his side.

Zhan Zhao looked in the direction of the window and asked Bai Yutang, "What's wrong?"

"Someone's here." Bai Yutang whispered, then frowned, "Running away."

"Could it be a murderer?" Zhan Zhao asked.

Bai Yutang went to the window and looked out. There were paths and woods outside, no one else was there, and the view was not good.

"This is a park open to the public after all." Zhan Zhao stroked his chin, "But sneaking around is a bit suspicious."

"There are cameras along the way, let's go back and have Jiang Ping check." Bai Yutang pulled Zhan Zhao down the mountain.

The road down the mountain was better, and while walking, Zhan Zhao was humming a strange tune.

Bai Yutang was a bit puzzled, and when he started the car at the bottom of the mountain, he asked Zhan Zhao, "What were you humming just now?"

"Chang Yan's song." Zhan Zhao adjusted the angle of the seat and pulled out the diary to flip through it.

Bai Yutang drove back to the SCI office, and midway there, he received a call from Zhao Hu and the others. The three who attacked Ran Shaoqi's villa were all assassins, they weren't very good, but they were professional assassins, with weapons and no identities. All three were injured, went to the hospital for simple treatment and then were taken into custody, Wang Chao and Zhang Long were already interrogating them. However, there was not much to gain, they were all contacted through the buyer's email, they went to the designated location to take half of the deposit, and they would receive the final payment after the job was done.

The interrogation wasn't difficult at all, they told them everything they could, and the other party offered them a price to kidnap Ran Shaoqi.

"How much?" Zhan Zhao was curious to inquire about the price of the killers.

"A total of 150,000 yuan for the three people who were to kidnap Ran Shaoqi." Zhao Hu replied on the other end.

"So cheap?" Zhan Zhao was dissatisfied, "Is there some kind of mistake? How much is Ran Shaoqi worth?"

"These boys are all rookies, and the other party told them that it wouldn't be difficult to kidnap Ran Shaoqi. He instructed them not to harm anyone except Ran Shaoqi, and especially not to touch Chen Jiayi." Zhao Hu whispered on the other end of the phone, "Luckily, otherwise Xiao Ma Ge would probably not have hit their shoulders but directly exploded their heads."

Bai Yutang hung up the phone and asked Zhan Zhao, "What do you think?"

Zhan Zhao had already roughly flipped through the diary while listening to the call, "It's strange."

"Is the diary strange or are the demands from the murderer strange?" Bai Yutang asked, while observing the rear view mirror.

"Both are strange!" Zhan Zhao said, "The difference in style between this diary of Chang Yan's and all the others is huge!"

"Forged?" Bai Yutang asked.

"That's not the case, the handwriting is indeed Chang Yan's, and the habit of organising the language as well as the tone are the same, just full of emotion. Your guess was absolutely right, it's filled with her feelings for Ran Shaoqi, you really do have the intuition of a wild beast!" Saying that, Zhan Zhao asked Bai Yutang, "Why do you keep looking at the rear view mirror?"

"That car behind keeps flashing its lights, it feels weird." Bai Yutang spoke.

"Flashing its lights?" Zhan Zhao moved over to the window to look in the rearview mirror and saw a yellow car behind them...

"Tsk." Zhan Zhao rubbed his chin and commented, "The owner's aesthetics are questionable, the hatchback is yellow and round... it looks like half an egg from a distance."

Bai Yutang appropriately slowed down the speed of the car... but at the same time he slowed down, the car turned a corner... and went away through the fork in the road.

Bai Yutang frowned slightly.

"Could it be a coincidence?" Zhan Zhao asked.

Bai Yutang raised an eyebrow, "It just gives me the feeling that he's trying to get our attention..."

"He probably likes your car." Zhan Zhao shrugged, "Or are you having the intuition of a wild beast again?"

Bai Yutang laughed and increased his speed... to rush back to the police station.

......

"Did you just see it?"

"I saw it! It's so rare for him to come to the company."

"Look how good of a mood the boss is in!"

"Yeah, he was so gentle when talking to him!"

......

At the reception desk on the ground floor of the Bai Group building, a few pretty receptionist ladies gathered together to whisper.

At this time, the twins slipped in. Xiao Ding saw this and came over, "What's the gossip?"

"Ah! Vice President!" A few girls smiled and said, "Guess who came with the boss today?"

"Who?" Da Ding looked over the itinerary he was going to hand over to Bai Jintang later, thinking that it was useless for him to bring anyone, he was busy today!

The lead receptionist mouthed at the twins – Sister-in-law!

The twins narrowed their eyes – Oh yeah! Is it true that Gongsun is on holiday? Wouldn't that be something restricted to watch?

The two rush into the elevator, ready to see the action.

In Bai Jintang's office, Gongsun was sitting on the sofa, crossing his legs and flipping through the newspaper.

Bai Jintang was sitting at his desk, with a large pile of financial statements and documents to be signed in front of him, but he had no intention of working at all, and was just leaning elegantly on his office chair, scrutinising Gongsun.

People are sometimes very interesting, when they are alive, it's just a moment of splendour, and after they leave, it becomes an eternal memory... But if you don't leave at the most glorious time, then the ending is often that the lights go out and the splendour is gone. Those who are alive, there is always a day when they go down to the altar...

Gongsun was ruminating when he felt a presence beside him. When he looked up, Bai Jintang had sat on the coffee table across from him at some point, and was looking at him with interest.

"What?" Gongsun asked him, holding the newspaper.

Bai Jintang reached out, pulled the newspaper out of Gongsun's hand, and took his glasses off.

Gongsun habitually squinted his eyes slightly, his good looking phoenix eyes squinting up, and his long eyelashes covered his eyes hazily...

Bai Jintang reached out and gently rubbed Gongsun's cheek with the knuckle of his index finger, feeling the kind of delicate touch brought about by skin contact... No matter how long he had been with Gongsun, as long as his skin was close, there would be a kind of electric current like surge in his blood, and he couldn't describe the throbbing.

"You seem to be at work." Gongsun reached out, retrieved his glasses and put them on, and leaned his elbow on Bai Jintang's knee, tilting his face to look at him...

Bai Jintang lowered his head, his fingers gently traced down his cheeks to his chin and he nodded, "I see that you don't want to work anymore."

There was a smile at the corner of Gongsun's mouth, and his lips were moist... Bai Jintang naturally had no resistance, and... why should he resist?

When the twins pushed the door in, they really saw the two people stuck together again.

These two were obviously adults, and generously flirted in the office.

Da Ding bristled, "Boss."

Bai Jintang slanted a glance at him, his eyes full of dislike – A light bulb!

Da Ding shook the planner in his hand, "You're very busy today!"

"Push it back!" Bai Jintang raised one eyebrow, decisive.

"That won't work!" Xiao Ding was horrified, "There are several business deals to talk about today!"

Bai Jintang still wanted to push, but Gongsun reached out and touched his tie, "I'll go with you."

Bai Jintang looks at Gongsun in surprise, "You're going with me to talk to clients?"

Gongsun gently held up his glasses, "Today, I am your secretary..."

The twins drew back a cold breath... they were dying!

Sure enough, they saw that the colour of Bai Jintang's pupils seemed to fade a little, and he waved his hand at the twins.

"Hurry up!" Xiao Ding and Da Ding ran outside, yelling as they did so, "We have to leave in half an hour!"

The moment the door was closed, the temperature in the room seemed to instantly rise... Xiao Ding covered his eyes, "Oh god, restricted ah!"

Da Ding shook his head and helped hold the door, preventing any department from running in to report on their work and being scared.

"Who do we have to talk to first later?" Xiao Ding looked at Da Ding's planner.

"We have to talk to Old Ye about the new land, but we have to go to the inauguration of his hotel first, looks like he won some kind of award." Da Ding counted the time, "I guess it'll take more than an hour, and we have to attend a small reception to cut the ribbon along the way."

......

Half an hour later, Bai Jintang walked out refreshed, pulling Gongsun, who was missing his suit jacket.

Going out, Bai Jintang straightened Gongsun's tie.

A group of girls downstairs covered their mouths and gasped.

Da Ding scowled – Do you want to be so high-profile ah?

"Go get a suit." Bai Jintang said to Xiao Ding.

"Where's Gongsun's previous suit?"

Bai Jintang smiled faintly, "It's broken."

The twins bared their teeth – Beast!

‿︵‿︵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 26, 2023 by Angel

Edited: August 29, 2023 by Angel