S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 4 Chapter 98

Toothless Murderer 21 – Exploding Pawns

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The two brothers, Xie Tianlang and Xie Tiancheng, have both gone to hell, but that doesn't mean the case is over.

Some things are just so interesting. It's obvious that the masterminds are both dead, but the case continues, and there are still three pawns left by Xie Tiancheng out there.

Li Rui and Wang Yue, both of them can be said to have caused quite a lot of trouble for SCI, as nearly all of the family and friends of the SCI members have been implicated, and even Zhan Zhao's hand has been injured, but there are still no clues for the remaining three chess pieces.

After everyone returned to the SCI office, Bao Zheng let out a long sigh and rubbed his stomach, suffering from a stomach ache.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang followed him to his office, feeling that the time for a scolding should have come.

Bao Zheng looked to his left at Zhan Zhao and to his right at Bai Yutang, shaking his head, "What are you two going to do next?"

Bai Yutang subconsciously glanced at Zhan Zhao, who twisted his face to look aside, meaning – You're the captain, you figure it out.

Bai Yutang had no choice but to answer Bao Zheng, "We found an encrypted computer in Xie Tiancheng's hospital room, Jiang Ping is cracking the password, there may be some clues. There are also some documents and information that Bai Chi is reading. And then there may be some clues that were missed in the case up to now, we need to sort them out."

Zhan Zhao nodded to Bai Yutang, which meant – On-point!

Bao Zheng sighed, "During this period of time, please act collectively, and also, remain vigilant and don't be negligent, also..." Bao Zheng looked at Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao looked away.

"You turn back to me!" Bao Zheng glared at him.

Zhan Zhao reluctantly turned back to look at Bao Zheng.

"You saved Zhao Jue once, didn't you?" Bao Zheng asked.

Zhan Zhao shrugged.

"And then you also tortured Xie Tiancheng to death, didn't you?" Bao Zheng then asked.

Zhan Zhao's eyes widened, which meant – He died on his own, okay.

Bao Zheng waved his hand, "No matter what, he owes you two favours anyway, make him pay you back!"

Zhan Zhao blinked, "How can he pay me back?" Then a bright idea struck him and he clapped his hands, "We can make him tell us about the case back then..."

"Inside your head!" Bao Zheng felt his stomach hurt even more, "Please give me a little heart, the most urgent thing is to catch those three pawns ah, pawns!"

Zhan Zhao was speechless, "Then what can Zhao Jue help with?"

Bao Zheng rolled his eyes and muttered, "Children are children."

"What?" Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang didn't understand.

Bao Zheng stretched out three fingers, "Three pawns."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang nodded.

Bao Zheng raised his eyebrows slightly, "Have Zhao Jue find out at least two of them."

Zhan Zhao frowned, "Why let him find them, I can find them too."

Bao Zheng looked at Zhan Zhao and sighed, "There are some things that he can do, and you can't."

Bai Yutang tightly tugged on Zhan Zhao's sleeve to prevent this cat from jumping up and helplessly looked at Bao Zheng, isn't this instigating this cat to puff up its fur.

Zhan Zhao glanced at Bao Zheng with dissatisfaction.

Bao Zheng looked at the sky, "Calm down, he is so much older than you, there are some things he has done that you certainly haven't done."

Zhan Zhao calmed down a little.

"It's like how he knows Xie Tiancheng, do you?"

Zhan Zhao became completely quiet and asked, "What you mean is that he can provide us with some clues? For example, some experience..."

Bao Zheng nodded, "Otherwise what did you think it was?"

Zhan Zhao looked at the sky.

Bai Yutang shook his head.

At this time, Bai Yutang's cell phone vibrated. He took it out and saw that it was a text message sent to him by Zhan Qitian – Finish the case and come to the hospital to see your mothers, it's almost time for Zhan Zhao to change his dressing.

Bai Yutang waved his phone at Bao Zheng.

Bao Zheng nodded, not forgetting to instruct the two of them, "Be careful, tell all those men of yours to be careful as well, and catch those three pawns as soon as possible!"

"Yes."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exited the office.

Closing the door, Zhan Zhao stroked his chin, "I can't believe he didn't curse. I took it upon myself to let Xie Tiancheng die in peace without making a deal with him, and he didn't even ask me to clean the toilets!"

Bai Yutang tugged on his arm, "Let's go, it's time to go to the hospital to change your dressing, and on the way, we'll go see our mothers."

"Oh..." Zhan Zhao was dragged outside by Bai Yutang, then as if he suddenly remembered something, he pulled him, "Wait a minute."

......

When Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang returned to the office, they saw that Zhao Hu, Ma Han and the others happened to come out as well, so they asked, "Are you guys going to the hospital too?"

The crowd nodded.

Therefore, Bai Yutang asked everyone to split into two groups, those going to the hospital would go together, and those not going to the hospital would not go home for the time being, and would go together to Bai Jintang's villa, where the security was tighter.

Everyone went downstairs, and Bai Yutang drove the car out of the police station.

Zhan Zhao leaned against the car window and looked at the police station's brightly lit building... Bao Zheng's office was on the fourteenth floor, and the lights were on.

Zhan Zhao suddenly felt a little emotional. Bao Zheng has not gotten married in all these years, and has been single and alone. Every day, he goes back and forth between his home and the police station. Although he is sitting in the position of the director of the police station, which is very prestigious, he...

Zhan Zhao was thinking nonsense and suddenly heard a loud boom.

At the same time as Bai Yutang braked, Zhan Zhao saw a stream of fire burst out of the window of Bao Zheng's office, and the strong force of the explosion shook the glass to smithereens. Glass slag spilled out like raindrops all over the ground...

Zhan Zhao stared at the glass slag that bounced off the ground. Bai Yutang had already opened the car door and ran out, and the two cars in front and behind him stopped as well. All of the SCI officers rushed towards the building, while the staff in the police station ran outside one after the other.

Zhan Zhao was frozen for a long time, before finally opening the car door and getting out of the car. He stood under the police station's main building, tilting his face up to look at the fire and black smoke rising outwards from Bao Zheng's office, and the sharp alarms from the vehicles all around him were noisy and irritated him.

Just then, he felt something hard and cold against the back of his head.

"Don't move."

Zhan Zhao didn't move, didn't react at all, even making the person wonder if he had heard his words.

The man continued, "I didn't think there would be an unexpected reward, what a surprise."

Zhan Zhao slowly turned around, and saw a man in front of him who was probably in his thirties, wearing a chequered shirt and a baseball cap, who looked very ordinary.

But Zhan Zhao knew him, this man was a police officer in the police station and had been working there for many years.

He somewhat nervously raised his gun, stared at Zhan Zhao and laughed, "Bai Yutang actually left you alone, it's true that killing Bao Zheng is the most direct way to send the entire police station into chaos."

Zhan Zhao locked eyes with him for a long time, then opened his mouth and uttered one word, "Idiot."

The man froze slightly, then his hand was empty.

The gun in his hand had already moved to someone else's hand, and as soon as he turned his face... he saw that Bai Yutang had appeared by his side at some point, and was holding his gun and pointing it at him.

The man frowned and looked at Bai Yutang.

At the same time, the area around him was already surrounded by the rest of SCI.

After the crowd ran inside the police station just now, they didn't go up the stairs, instead, they were all stopped by Bai Yutang's call and turned back.

Obviously, Bai Yutang had already told the crowd that Bao Zheng was fine, so at this point, the crowd's emotions had relaxed quite a bit.

Luo Tian handcuffed that police officer.

Zhan Zhao walked past him and opened the trunk of Bai Yutang's car.

Inside the car, Bao Zheng sat up and sighed with emotion as he climbed out, "A top of the line sports car is different, even the trunk is very comfortable, the leather is very good and has no smell."

In fact, at this time, besides Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, the rest of the SCI crowd was a bit bewildered.

Zhao Hu slapped his leg, "Fuck, I was so scared that I almost hiccuped."

Even Gongsun and Bai Jintang had a rare change of expression.

Zhao Zhen wiped the tears of the crying Bai Chi on the side, while looking at Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang in puzzlement. In fact, all of them thought that Bao Zheng was still in his office, so what was going on?

At this time, a car pulled off to the side of the road.

Zhao Jue and Bai Ye got out of the car. The two of them had originally stayed in the special prison for a little while longer, and seemed to have talked to Fu Min and Mura about something. When they came back, they saw that something had happened in the police station from a distance, and that Bao Zheng's front-facing office was billowing with smoke.

Bai Ye frowned, "I wonder if Bao Zheng is okay."

On the contrary, it was Zhao Jue who was very steady, flipping through a magazine and nonchalantly said, "That kitten moved pretty fast, the third pawn has probably been captured already."

Arriving at the entrance of the police station, sure enough, they saw that Bao Zheng was unharmed, and that Zhan Zhao and the others had captured someone. Their plan was perfect.

The police station was still in chaos, and the crowd evacuated in an orderly manner, with no casualties so far.

Firefighters rushed to extinguish the fire. The explosion was moderately powerful and did not harm the overall structure of the building, but there should still be a lot of follow-up work to do. At least... Bao Zheng's office needs to be refurbished.

Qin Ou observed the explosives, hidden under the pen holder right under Bao Zheng's eyes. The bomb was small, advanced, and the same as a batch of explosives that had been seized from a shipment previously.

"It might have been secretly left out directly from the submission of the evidence." Qin Ou called Wang Ba. Not a moment later, Wang Ba personally came over and said that there was a bomb case being investigated, and that there was a bomb missing from the batch of bombs they seized.

The SCI crowd calmed down and returned upstairs. Someone from the forensics department came out of the room, holding a big black stuffed bear doll that had been blown up to the point where the cotton had escaped, and looked at the crowd in confusion.

"Ah! The Barney doll from Yang Yang!" Bai Chi was heartbroken as he pounced on the exploded bear and hugged it, "It's so badly blown up."

The crowd looked at Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, which meant – can you explain?

Back in the SCI office, Zhan Zhao gently coughed and said, "This is what happened..."

Rewinding a little bit, it started when Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang left Bao Zheng's office.

Just as Zhan Zhao was patting his chest and feeling surprised that Bao Zheng hadn't asked him to clean the toilets, a thought suddenly flashed through his mind.

All of SCI's family members had been attacked, but there was one exception, and that was Bao Zheng!

The prerequisite for SCI to be able to handle cases independently is the existence of Bao Zheng, and this elite department receives the jurisdiction of the director directly, but if Bao Zheng is gone, then it is equal to the foundation of SCI's entire existence being absolutely shaken.

So...

Being dragged by Bai Yutang to go to the hospital, Zhan Zhao said "Wait a minute"... He turned around and opened the door to Bao Zheng's office.

Zhan Zhao looked at the window and saw that the blinds were open.

So, Zhan Zhao crouched and went in, and began to search everywhere for something.

Bao Zheng looked at him in disbelief.

He saw Zhan Zhao press against the wall, go to the floor to ceiling cabinet in one corner of the office, and open the cabinet... Sure enough, the large black Barney bear that Luo Yang had given to Bao Zheng before was still there.

That was what Luo Yang got when he went to the amusement park with Luo Tian and Ma Xin last time.

It was said that that day they went around the amusement park and made their way to the front of the Hercules game machine, where Luo Tian hit the highest score with a hammer. The prize was a huge Barney bear, which was as tall as a man and came in yellow, brown, and black.

Luo Yang picked up the black bear and asked Luo Tian and Ma Xin, "Does it look like Grandpa Bao?"

Ma Xin didn't hold back at that time and laughed so hard that she squatted on the ground and couldn't get up for half a day.

Luo Yang tied a red bow on the bear and carried it to the police station the next day, where he gave it to Bao Zheng.

Bao Zheng accepted the bear and put it in his office.

Originally, it was placed in the opposite corner of the office, facing himself, but whoever entered the door asked, "Yo, when did Bao Sir buy a mirror?"

Especially that day, when Zhan Zhao stared at that black bear and laughed for a full hour, Bao Zheng shoved the bear into the cabinet. However, he clearly loved that bear and would still open the cabinet from time to time to take a look at it.

Zhan Zhao took that black bear out and beckoned to Bao Zheng, telling him to bend down and come over.

Bao Zheng was unsure, but did as he was told, and Zhan Zhao placed that black bear on his chair before telling Bao Zheng to go downstairs and hide in the trunk of Bai Yutang's car first.

After that, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang returned to the office, and... they knew what happened next.

Zhan Zhao hugged the broken bear, seemingly a little distressed, "Aiya, it unexpectedly blew such a big hole. I originally thought that at most it would be a few stitches in the groin or something like that… You've worked hard as a stand-in."

The corner of Bao Zheng's mouth twitched – He dared to use the black bear as his stand–in.

After thinking about it, Zhan Zhao placed the black bear on the desk anyway, and then the SCI crowd bowed three times to the bear.

Bao Zheng was so angry that he roared, "Enough playing around you guys! Don't do such inexplicable things!"

Bai Yutang was still a bit curious and asked Zhan Zhao, "How did you guess that that pawn would be coming after Bao Sir right away?"

Zhan Zhao reached out and tapped his head, "Change your way of thinking."

Bai Yutang froze, then raised an eyebrow, "Did Bao Sir's words stimulate you?"

Zhan Zhao let out a "Tch".

The crowd curiously asked Bai Yutang, "What did he say?"

Bai Yutang smiled but didn't say anything, probably because Bao Sir said, "Zhao Jue can do what you can't" or something like that..., so Zhan Zhao switched to Zhao Jue's point of view to think about it. Zhao Jue, Xie Tiancheng, and Xie Tianlang are all familiar with each other, and they are all pawns, and likewise, in their eyes, everyone else is also a pawn... If you want your pawns to move, they must have a clear instruction.

In other words, something like Xie Tiancheng's death is definitely an instruction! He died, and so the third pawn began to move, it was as simple as that.

Bai Yutang picked up a copy of the police officer's identity information that Jiang Ping had retrieved for him, and said to Zhan Zhao, "Let's go interrogate him."

Zhan Zhao happily nodded and went out the door, and when he passed by Zhao Jue, he reached out and gently patted him, smiling, "There are only two left, it looks like you don't have many more chances to perform."

After saying that, he contentedly followed Bai Yutang to examine the case.

The crowd clearly felt that Zhan Zhao was like a cat that had successfully scratched, with his tail up and swaying forward. Then they looked at Zhao Jue, and sure enough... Zhao Jue laughed coldly and touched his chin, "Show off cat."

Before entering the interrogation room, Bai Yutang opened the door for Zhan Zhao, while asking him, "Provocation?"

Zhan Zhao smiled, "Bao Sir is right ah, free labour is free, it's a waste not to use it."

The rest of the SCI had a false alarm, and after suppressing their shock, they were all ready to run to the outside of the interrogation room to listen.

At this time, Zhao Jue hooked his finger at Ma Han and Zhao Hu.

The two uniformly moved to look behind them first.

Zhao Jue narrowed his eyes.

The two men helplessly made their way to him.

"Follow me." Zhao Jue turned around and went out with Bai Ye.

"What are we going to do?" Ma Han and Zhao Hu were puzzled.

Zhao Jue raised an eyebrow, "To capture the fourth pawn."

The duo was shocked – The fourth one had been found too?

‿︵‿︵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: September 29, 2023 by Angel

Edited: November 2, 2023 by Angel