S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 4 Chapter 102

The Murderer Who Returned From Hell 02 – Shadow of a Corpse

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The Wheel of Caleb was lost, no matter whether the body was brought back to life or stolen, it was a national treasure after all, so the airport blocked the exits and searched carefully.

The things were accompanied by Song Jiajia and other staff as they were transferred to the plane, so even if the Wheel of Caleb was resurrected during the flight, it could not escape from the plane. The only possibility was that it had disappeared after the plane landed, which meant that it had been lost at the airport in S City.

Bai Yutang absolutely didn't believe that the dry corpse had come back to life, so there was no need to ask, someone had stolen it! And according to the professionalism of the technique, it should be a premeditated artefact theft.

"How many people know that you guys are arriving today?" Bai Yutang asked Song Jiajia.

"This... quite a few people, there's the staff of the research team over there, the museum personnel, and the research team of the university over here and a few experts I invited." Song Jiajia cried out, picking at the wall beside her and hanging her head, "Ah! My thesis is going to go down the drain ah! I've been researching for several years!"

After a while, the relevant investigators from the cultural relics department, the foreign affairs department and the police department all arrived.

Bai Yutang was not in charge of this type of theft case, plus he was on holiday, so after roughly explaining the situation to the police, he tugged Zhan Zhao, who was excitedly studying that box, and withdrew.

The driver arranged by the twins had already been waiting at the airport entrance for a while, and coincidentally, Bai Jintang and Gongsun's flight had also just arrived, so they were picked up together.

Gongsun was so tired that he dozed off in the backseat. As soon as Zhan Zhao got into the car, he tugged at Gongsun and told him that Song Jiajia and the others had brought the Wheel of Caleb.

Gongsun, who was half-sleeping, jumped up, hitting his head at the same time, ready to jump out, "The Wheel of Caleb ah ah ah ah!"

Bai Jintang helplessly tugged at the waist of Gongsun's trousers, while asking Zhan Zhao, "What is the Wheel of Caleb, a vodka brand?"

The corner of Zhan Zhao's mouth twitched as he pointed at Gongsun, "Brother, you should be able to guess what it is just by looking at how excited he is."

Bai Jintang's eyes twitched, "Another corpse?"

Zhan Zhao nodded.

Bai Yutang saw Gongsun struggling to get out, so he said, "Forget it Gongsun, it's gone."

Gongsun froze and turned back, "What's gone?"

"The body, it disappeared after it was taken off the plane." Bai Yutang said, "It might have been stolen."

"What's the point of stealing that?" Bai Jintang was a bit puzzled and asked, "Gongsun isn't suspected, right?"

Gongsun squinted at him, giving up his struggle while being dragged in and pressed onto Bai Jintang's lap. He closed the car door and the driver drove home.

Gongsun curiously asked Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, "Was the body stolen, or did it revive itself and run away?"

When Zhan Zhao was about to touch his chin and make a comment, Bai Jintang and Bai Yutang spoke in unison, "How can it still be alive when it's a dry corpse?"

Gongsun covered Bai Jintang's mouth, telling him not to interrupt, and asked Zhan Zhao, "How was the box damaged?"

Zhan Zhao described the process of the incident with a little more supernatural colouring.

As he was talking, Bai Yutang's phone rang.

Bai Yutang had just got off the plane and changed to the local phone card he used for work when the phone rang.

Bai Yutang looked at the sky, "Another murder before dawn, huh? What kind of chaos is this?"

But looking at the caller ID – it was Ai Hu's.

"Wasn't Ai Hu called to the airport just now?" Zhan Zhao curiously moved over to look.

Bai Yutang answered the phone, "Hello?"

"Captain Bai, you haven't slept yet, have you?" Ai Hu knew that Bai Yutang was on holiday and was afraid that it would affect his rest.

"No, what's wrong?"

"You guys just came on the same flight as the archaeological team, right?" Ai Hu asked.

"Yeah."

"Did you notice a male passenger on the plane with grey hair?" Ai Hu asked, "A navy blue chequered shirt, earthy yellow jacket."

Bai Yutang put the phone on speakerphone and looked at Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao crossed his arms and tilted his face up to think for a moment, "Hmm... isn't he the one who sat in one of the furthest corner seats in business class?"

"Right!" Ai Hu said in his heart that Zhan Zhao was indeed a human scanner.

"I didn't see his face clearly, I only saw his clothes, he bowed his body and lowered his head. What's the situation?" Zhan Zhao was curious.

"When the box containing the Wheel of Caleb was rolled out, he passed by the box." Ai Hu said.

"Isn't he an ordinary passenger?" Bai Yutang was puzzled, "Why would he appear in the special passage?"

"It's like this, this person is called Xu Sun, ever heard of him?" Ai Hu asked.

Bai Yutang was slightly startled.

Zhan Zhao opened his mouth wide, but without waiting for Zhan Zhao to speak, Gongsun asked, "That murderer Xu Sun who killed his wife and dismembered her body?!"

Bai Jintang helplessly rubbed his eyebrows, it really felt like he was back in S City, killing his wife and splitting her body.

"Oh..." Zhan Zhao understood, "I thought he looked a bit odd, so he was wearing handcuffs and shackles."

"Right." Ai Hu nodded, "He fled to the UK half a year ago, and was just captured in the past few days. He was extradited back to prepare for trial, and by coincidence was on the same flight. The police officer who was escorting him was taking him through a special channel, and they happened to pass right by the side of that box. Xu Sun collapsed to the ground after he passed by the box."

Everyone froze.

"Is he airsick?" Bai Yutang asked.

"He died." Ai Hu said, "The cause of death is unknown, but there were no traumatic injuries."

At this time, there were some noisy sounds coming from the other end of the phone, and the crowd seemed to hear Song Jiajia saying, "Let me talk to them!"

Ai Hu was helpless, "It's like this, that female archaeologist said that it's a matter of great importance... ai..."

Before his words were finished, the phone seemed to have been snatched by Song Jiajia, "It's terrible, something big is going to happen!"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang subconsciously asked, "What's the matter?"

"It is rumoured that one of the conditions for the resurrection of the Wheel of Caleb is to encounter a sinister soul." Without waiting for Song Jiajia to open her mouth, Gongsun muttered to himself, "The Wheel of Caleb is a kind of vicious witchcraft magic, if an evil and resentful soul comes into contact with a corpse, or if the corpse senses the presence of a demon, it will become a new carrier for the demon. Legend has it that the sinister person will voluntarily give up their body, allowing their soul to inhabit the dry body of the undead corpse and do evil."

Song Jiajia nodded vigorously over there, "Just now that police officer said that this dead man was a villain who killed his wife and dismembered her body. It's over, his soul might be residing in the Wheel of Caleb, causing the dry corpse to come back to life and break out of the box."

Zhan Zhao and Gongsun held their chins and nodded – Oh, so that's how it is.

Bai Yutang looked to the sky, thinking to himself, what kind of superstition is this? Xu Sun probably died of a sudden heart attack, it's just a coincidence.

Bai Jintang was seriously thinking – There are so many people at the airport, so this incident should not have anything to do with his own bad luck, right?

Bai Yutang asked Song Jiajia somewhat helplessly, "Then what do you want me to do?"

"Investigate!" Song Jiajia said, "That guy will go around hurting people."

Ai Hu on the side didn't wait for Bai Yutang to speak before advising Song Jiajia, "Miss, ah, it's not like there's any murders happening right now, it's not a good idea to file a case just because of a legend, right?"

Bai Yutang nodded – it was something like that.

"Captain Bai, I'll take care of it." Ai Hu said, "I'll contact you if I need anything."

"Okay." Bai Yutang nodded and hung up, then looked to the side, Gongsun and Zhan Zhao were discussing various legends about the Wheel of Caleb.

Bai Yutang shook his head, and opposite him, Bai Jintang crossed his legs and asked him about his trip. Bai Yutang gave a rough account.

Thus, the Bai brothers discussed the normal human category of cosy travel topics, while Zhan Zhao and Gongsun were enthusiastically discussing the non-human category of supernatural topics... until the car finally drove the crowd home.

......

And at this time, in the baggage area of the airport, Bai Chi took his phone and asked the twins for a car to pick him up, "Zhen and I just got off the plane, mhmm, mhmm..."

Xiao Ding teased him there, "Did you bring any gifts?"

"I've got a lot of gifts." Xiao Bai Chi chatted with the twins while looking into the distance, why are there so many airport security guards and police officers?

Zhao Zhen lazily leaned against the luggage cart, and not far away there were a few passengers who recognised him and took out their phone to excitedly take pictures.

"Da Ding and Xiao Ding said that the car that picked up Brother and the others has just left." Bai Chi was a bit regretful, "They will send another car that will arrive in about half an hour."

Zhao Zhen continued to support his cheeks lazily, and at the same time also noticed the strange situation not far away. With some amusement, he asked Bai Chi, "Your brother won't bring bad luck to such a degree, right? Just passing through the airport has caused another mess."

Bai Chi was also a bit curious, "I think I saw Ai Hu. Are you hungry? I'll go buy some food?"

Zhao Zhen reached out and wrapped his arm around Bai Chi's shoulders, his whole body hanging on him, "I want to eat you, can I?"

Bai Chi glanced at him, "You haven't eaten enough yet? Big hooligan!"

Zhao Zhen laughed and rubbed Bai Chi's head, saying that he wanted to eat a burger.

After recuperating for most of the month, Zhao Zhen finally put on a little bit of weight under the unremitting efforts of Xiao Bai Chi.

Bai Chi ran to buy burgers for Zhao Zhen, and in the process, he looked over to see how Ai Hu and the others were doing.

"Two chicken burgers." Bai Chi ordered with the waitress while looking into the distance from time to time.

When the young waitress saw that he was a cute little student-like handsome guy, she got close to him, "I heard that a cultural relic was lost."

Bai Chi was surprised, "Cultural relic theft?"

"I'm not sure, I heard that someone died." The waitress whispered while sending two chocolate bars to Bai Chi, and then asked, "Do you want a drink?"

Bai Chi thought about it, it's too late to drink too much, it's better to share a glass of milk with Zhao Zhen, so he said he wanted a glass of fresh milk.

The waitress was fetching the drink when the other waitress ran back and got behind the counter, "It's so scary!"

The girl who was pouring the drink for Bai Chi was curious, "What's wrong?"

"I just saw a freak in the toilet, scared me half to death." The waitress said while patting her chest.

"What kind of freak?"

"Dry and skinny... like a dry corpse."

"No way?"

"It's even more frightening than the last time I saw that Quasimodo."

"Didn't they say that there was a dry corpse that escaped over there? You didn't run into it, did you?"

"Don't scare me, I have a night shift tomorrow."

......

Bai Chi took the drink and paid for it, then turned around and walked out the door... a dry corpse?

He ran back to the luggage area, but did not see Zhao Zhen. Instead, a reporter stood there awkwardly, holding Zhao Zhen's bag in his hand, and seemed to be helping them look after their luggage.

Bai Chi knew this person. He was a certain gossip tabloid reporter who has followed Zhao Zhen a few times, was caught by Bai Yutang once, was scared by Big Brother Bai once, was caught by the twins once, and was almost divided by Zhan Zhao that time. Didn't he say he was going to change his profession?

Bai Chi saw him carrying the bag and laughed, "So dedicated ah?"

"Ai." That reporter hurriedly waved his hand, "I quit being a paparazzi a long time ago, I have a new job." Saying that, he took out a business card and showed it to Bai Chi.

Bai Chi took it and looked at it. It turned out that this person was called Zhang Yang, and was now a photojournalist for a major newspaper in S City, as well as the editor of a certain hunting type of column.

"It's good that you're here." Zhang Yang helplessly shoved the bag in his hand to Bai Chi, "That guy Zhao Zhen, he ran to the toilet himself and even asked me to watch your luggage." After saying that, he took his camera and ran away cursing...

Bai Chi turned back to look at him and noticed that he was heading towards the place where the security guards gathered. He probably came because he heard the news that something strange had happened at the airport, right?

After standing for a while, Zhao Zhen came back.

Bai Chi gave him the food, but Zhao Zhen frowned, "No drinks, I want to pee."

Bai Chi breathlessly dragged him to a place where there are fewer people, but thanks to Zhao Zhen's usual noble gentleman style and status as a big star, he sometimes spoke chaotically and rudely.

"Didn't you go to the bathroom?" Bai Chi helped Zhao Zhen peel off the outer packaging of the burger.

"The bathroom door was locked by someone inside." Zhao Zhen was dissatisfied.

"Then go to that one over there?" Bai Chi pointed to the distance.

"Not going!" Zhao Zhen continued to hang on Bai Che's shoulder, "It's far, I have to walk a lot more."

Zhao Zhen lay on Bai Chi's shoulder and asked him to feed him a burger. Bai Chi had no choice but to bump him with his shoulder, "Restrain yourself, you'll be photographed and written about."

Zhao Zhen chewed the burger and continued to nuzzle against Bai Chi. Bai Chi saw a text message on his cell phone saying that the driver had already arrived at the door.

"Let's go." Bai Chi pulled Zhao Zhen out to the car.

Getting into the car, Zhao Zhen was chewing on his burger while looking out the window. He seemed to be attracted by something upstairs, leaning over the window and looking up, "What is that person doing?"

Bai Chi came to his side, and following the direction of his finger, he saw a man climbing out of a window on the side of the terminal building, about four or five stories up. He was dancing and running around, and seemed to be shouting something at the same time.

Zhao Zhen opened the window and heard the man shout, "Help!"

"Ah..."

But with a clear scream from him, as well as the screams of the crowd of onlookers who were attracted by the cry for help, the man fell straight down from the building. Between the height of the window and the concrete floor below... he should be dead.

The driver stopped the car, Bai Chi got out of the car and saw the body in a pool of blood in the distance, and the clothes... were so familiar.

Airport security and the police who happened to be present quickly rushed out to maintain order, and many people gathered around.

Bai Chi ran to get close. There were too many people to see clearly, but by coincidence, a rounded thing rolled out of the crowd, and with a click, it fell at his feet. Bai Chi looked down, it was a black Canon camera lens cap.

Staring at the lens cap for a while, Bai Chi frowned. Just now, Zhang Yang was carrying a Canon DSLR, and his clothes also seemed to be, the same.

"Chi Chi."

Bai Chi turned back and Zhao Zhen waved at him.

Bai Chi ran back to the car.

Zhao Zhen touched his head, "Let's go, you're on holiday, leave this to the police."

The driver also nodded, "Cars can't be parked here for very long."

Bai Chi nodded and closed the car door.

Bai Chi repeatedly recalled the scene from just now in his mind. A man jumped out of the window... because of the bright light inside the room and the darkness outside, he could not see the man's face clearly. Recalling the silhouette now, it seemed to be Zhang Yang. But at the same time, Bai Chi seemed to see someone else, standing right behind Zhang Yang... because he was looking up from the bottom, Bai Chi noted that he saw the top of a head.

"That reporter."

Just then, Zhao Zhen suddenly spoke.

Bai Chi looked at him. Zhao Zhen's perspective should have been a little better than his own, "Is it really that reporter?"

Zhao Zhen nodded, then frowned, "He looked like he saw something terrible."

Bai Chi was surprised, "He jumped out the window because he was scared?"

"The key is what could scare someone enough to jump out of a window that high." Zhao Zhen raised one eyebrow, "Or maybe he was pushed down, I saw another person behind him."

"Right, there was someone else."

At this time, the driver also spoke. His angle was different from Zhao Zhen and Bai Chi's, he might have seen something.

Bai Chi asked curiously, "Who is that person?"

The driver shook his head, "I only saw the top of a head, I didn't see the face, but I always come to the airport to pick people up, I'm most familiar with the airport, and that location seems to be the bathroom near the baggage area."

Bai Chi froze and looked at Zhao Zhen.

Zhao Zhen stroked his chin, "That bathroom was locked when I went there."

The two were chatting when suddenly, the driver braked sharply...

"Wa!" Bai Chi lunged forward, and Zhao Zhen also lurched. The driver's sudden braking made the drowsy Zhao Zhen and Bai Chi wake up.

Fortunately, there were fewer cars in the early hours of the morning, otherwise there would have been an accident.

"What happened?!" Bai Chi came back to his senses, rubbing his head that hurt from the impact and asked the driver, "Flat tire?"

Zhao Zhen saw the driver's pale face and asked, "You're not feeling well?"

"How about I drive?" Bai Chi asked.

"No... no need." The driver fixed his mind and apologised while continuing to drive.

Zhao Zhen and Bai Chi were shocked and asked the driver curiously, "What's wrong?"

"I'm probably bleary-eyed." The driver had a confused look on his face.

"Blurry eyes?" Bai Chi wondered, "What did you see?"

"I... I saw a person crawling on the back window of our car." The driver said awkwardly.

Bai Chi and Zhao Zhen immediately turned back to look, but there was no one on the back window.

"Who did you see?" Bai Chi asked.

"I couldn't see it very clearly, it felt wrinkled, with a pair of eyes that were black. It scared the hell out of me." The driver also shook his head, "It was lying upside down on the rear window, and then climbed down."

Bai Chi was puzzled, and Zhao Zhen beside him gently poked his shoulder.

Bai Chi turned around. He saw Zhao Zhen reaching out and pointing to a spot on the rear window of the car – He saw a clear fingerprint print on the glass, and the strangest thing was that the direction of the finger was facing downwards.

Bai Chi pounced into Zhao Zhen's arms, and then looked up at Zhao Zhen with eyes wide open in resentment, meaning – You're up to no good, aren't you? Quickly say that it is your mischief!

Zhao Zhen helplessly touched the back of Bai Chi's neck, then shrugged his shoulders – I really didn't do anything.

‿︵‿︵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: October 29, 2023 by Angel

Edited: November 23, 2023 by Angel