S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 4 Chapter 110

The Murderer Who Returned From Hell 10 – Mysterious F

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Cheng Mu had been caught and the case was progressing by leaps and bounds. Bai Yutang was going to take the crowd back to the police station to interrogate Cheng Mu, but Chen Mi seemed to have something to offer after looking at the bomb photos.

Chen Mi was still in his pyjamas, so he asked the crowd to go upstairs to talk more about it.

Bai Yutang sent everyone back to the police station first, leaving Luo Tian with a team of SWAT officers to do the finishing touches and search the building again, while he, Zhan Zhao and Qin Ou went upstairs with Chen Mi.

Grandpa Chen was very worried and asked Bai Yutang, "Aiya, Captain Bai, what kind of pervert did my A'Mi provoke again?"

Bai Yutang told Grandpa Chen not to worry... But if they hadn't come a step early, that dry corpse should indeed have come to find Chen Mi... What was he looking for?

The crowd returned upstairs and entered through the door.

Unlike Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao who urgently need to learn about the case, Xu Lie was ready to take a good look at his "new home". Although he knew Chen Mi lived here, he had never entered through the door.

The furnishings in Chen Mi's room were simple. The living room was large, with a coffee table and sofa in the middle, they were very generous in design, and the sofa was nice.

Grandpa Chen went to the kitchen to heat up the soup, telling Zhan Zhao and the others to have the soup before they could leave.

Because Xu Lie almost kicked and hurt Grandpa Chen just now, he followed into the kitchen to help out and try to flatter him as much as possible.

Chen Mi went into his room first to change his clothes, and after he opened the door to his room and went in, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang heard him say something...

The two looked at each other – Could there be someone in the room?

Just as the two were wondering, they saw a huge, white, mop-like mass running out of the room.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang stared at the mass, and saw it quickly run out before jumping onto the sofa, lying on Chen Mi's suit and turning its head...

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang blinked – It was a white mass of fur, so huge, but with no eyes. You could see a row of small white teeth in the open mouth, and a pink tongue... a dog?

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang sat down on the small sofa and continued to observe the moving "mop" on the sofa.

Xu Lie also came out to help Grandpa Chen with three bowls of soup on the table, turned around, and also saw the mop on the sofa, a big white ball...

The corner of Xu Lie's mouth twitched, and he asked Chen Mi, who had changed his clothes and came out of the room, "Why did you put the mop on the sofa..." He said this while trying to reach out and remove it, but then he heard Grandpa Chen, who was holding two bowls of soup, say, "Ai..."

However, before Grandpa Chen's words came out, Xu Lie had already grabbed the "mop"... At the same time, the mop suddenly jumped up and pounced on Xu Lie.

Xu Lie was startled and sat on the ground, pounced on by the giant "mop" – a... alive?

Chen Mi sat on the sofa, whistled at the mop, and patted the sofa cushion beside him, "Dunbu, ignore him, come here."

That mop immediately abandoned Xu Lie, jumped onto the sofa and sat next to Chen Mi, and was nearly as tall as Chen Mi.

Zhan Zhao went over to take a look, "Is this the legendary Komondor dog!"

Chen Mi nodded, "It's also called a Hungarian sheepdog, commonly known as the mop dog."

"It really looks like a mop." Zhan Zhao reached out and touched it. The dog called Dunbu came over and sniffed Zhan Zhao, turned in a circle and laid down, accepting his petting.

Xu Lie crawled up, the corner of his mouth twitching, "There are such creatures on this earth ah... I thought the mop had become a spirit."

Grandpa Chen was distributing the soup to the crowd, while telling Xu Lie, "Be careful, Dunbu is very jealous."

Xu Lie froze and looked at Grandpa Chen in disbelief.

Grandpa Chen gave a mischievous smile.

Xu Lie then felt his eyelids twitching. He got up and tried to sit down next to Chen Mi, but unexpectedly, Dunbu raised his head and looked at him intently.

Xu Lie shrank to the other end of the sofa, keeping a body length away from Chen Mi, and only then did the Dunbu lie down again. Although the long fur covered most of its face and its eyes couldn't be seen, they could still feel that the Dunbu was staring at Xu Lie.

"Ahem." Xu Lie coughed and changed the topic, asking Chen Mi, "Why do you call it Dunbu instead of Tuoba?" (Angel: Dunbu and Tuoba are words for mop in different dialects, I think.)

Chen Mi finished reading the information, put it down, and picked up a cup of tea, "Because when I call its nickname, it feels like I'm calling my dad..."

"Pfft..." Qin Ou sprayed out a mouthful of tea.

Everyone was instantly speechless. Sure enough, even after leaving the bomb disposal team, Chen Mi was still the same Chen Mi with a weird personality from back then.

Bai Yutang asked Chen Mi, "What clues do you have about this bomb?"

Chen Mi said, "I remember this case three years ago, it was finished a bit hastily then. After I left the police station, I went to tidy up the warehouse at one point and found some clues."

As Chen Mi said this, he pointed to a room door not far away for Dunbu.

Dunbu jumped off the sofa and familiarly ran to push open the door of the room, biting the handle of a heavy box and dragging it out.

Dunbu dragged out a box that was even bigger than itself. Qin Ou was right next to it and helped pull it, and was surprised, "It's so heavy."

"Only Dunbu can drag it." Chen Mi smiled.

"Why don't you put it in several boxes?" Qin Ou helped Dunbu push it to that side.

Bai Yutang raised an eyebrow slightly and looked at Chen Mi, "To prevent theft?"

Chen Mi smiled, "Mhmm."

When the box was pushed in front of the crowd, Chen Mi opened a box that was on the box...

The crowd looked at it, and Qin Ou came over, "Oh, what a complicated lock."

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao glanced at each other, only a bomb disposal expert would make a lock that complicated.

After Chen Mi opened the box, they saw all sorts of scrap metal inside.

"Wow, what is this?!" Grandpa Chen was speechless, "Why did you keep so much junk in the house?"

Chen Mi smiled, "These are all from a warehouse."

Zhan Zhao was curious, "What warehouse?"

"My dad was still in contact with me before he died. He gave me a few keys one after another. The other keys were to his properties outside the country, which I handed over to the court to compensate the bank for the losses caused by his theft back then. But there's a warehouse I haven't mentioned to anyone, it's a small private warehouse of his, there's a lot of scrap metal inside, as well as some documents."

After Chen Mi took out a bunch of heavier metal pieces, there was an iron box underneath.

Qin Ou studied the metal pieces, "These are all parts of a bomb."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang realised that Chen Mi's father, Chen Xinglong, who could be called the thief of the century, was an expert in making bombs. Without knowing if it was hereditary, Chen Mi was also interested in bombs. Although also as a bomb disposal expert, Chen Mi's skills in bomb disposal were far inferior to Qin Ou's, but when it came to making bombs, even Qin Ou said that Chen Mi was the best. This is also the reason why Chen Mi is so successful in the demolition industry nowadays, compared to that, indeed, building bombs is more suitable for him than dismantling them.

Chen Mi pulled out one of the very old handwritten notes, flipped to a certain page, and showed it to Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, "These are the notes my father wrote about bomb making when he was young, and amongst them is the schematic plan of this kind of bomb."

"It's only within the past two years that I've been in the mood to take a closer look at the things my father left behind." Chen Mi said, "This bomb has a very detailed description of how to make it, and it also has a very rare method of dismantling attached."

Qin Ou looked at it very carefully, frowning slightly as he glanced at Chen Mi.

Chen Mi smiled and asked him, "What's the problem?"

Qin Ou asked in confusion, "Don't you find it strange?"

Chen Mi nodded, "It is strange, so I think there is something fishy."

"What problem?" Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were confused, as bombs were not in their field of study. Xu Lie on the side was even more bored, he wanted to get closer to take a look, but Dunbu was particularly wary and glaring at him, and when he got a little closer, Dunbu fiercely let out an "awoo awoo" sound at him.

Xu Lie hugged the cushion with a depressed face – This dog is really, not fierce anyone except him.

Grandpa Chen handed him a bowl of soup on the side, which meant – drink it, don't get involved in SCI matters ah, there are so many perverts every time.

"This disassembly method is wrong." Qin Ou replied to Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang.

The two froze and looked at Chen Mi.

Chen Mi nodded, "And it's a very obvious mistake. Someone who's a little bit of an insider can see it, but naturally an outsider won't be able to spot it... If you dismantle the bomb according to this method, it will cause an explosion."

Zhan Zhao flipped through the rest and asked, "Are there many errors in the notes themselves, or is it only this one bomb dismantling method that is wrong?"

"My father's notes are quite rigorous." Chen Mi said, "He would correct anything that had mistakes."

Saying this, Chen Mi flipped through a few pages that had obvious scribbles on them, and indeed, many corrections and markings had been made quite carefully.

"This kind of mistake is not something an expert would make." Qin Ou also shook his head.

"So, your father deliberately wrote the wrong bomb disposal method here back then?" Zhan Zhao asked.

Chen Mi nodded, "I thought so at the time, but I didn't look into it too closely."

"Then what does the last summary sentence mean?" Bai Yutang saw that there was another line at the bottom, specially marked with a highlighter.

The sentence that Chen Xinglong had marked for emphasis was – F is commonly used, be careful of F.

"Be careful of F?" Bai Yutang asked Chen Mi, "Does it have any meaning?"

Chen Mi shook her head, "I haven't heard him mention it, he hasn't told me much in total. Apart from telling me that I have a grandpa and a sister and telling me to take care of them when I grow up, he's hardly ever mentioned anything else."

Grandpa Chen put down his teacup, "That brute, ah, just thinking about it makes me angry!"

Xu Lie patted the old man's back, which meant – forget it, don't think about it.

"Do you know both Xu Sun and Cheng Mu?" Bai Yutang asked.

Chen Mi frowned in thought and shook his head, "Xu Sun I know because I've looked into cases involving him, but Cheng Mu I'm sure I don't know."

Asking further, what Chen Mi knew was limited.

At this time, Luo Tian came over and told Bai Yutang that everything was done.

Bai Yutang then took Zhan Zhao and Qin Ou to say goodbye, leaving a few police officers nearby in order to ensure Chen Mi's safety.

Bai Yutang asked Chen Mi if he could take the box away, and Chen Mi said it was no problem, "But it's so heavy, you might need a few people..."

Before he could finish his sentence, Luo Tian lifted that box with one hand and easily went out the door.

Xu Lie and Grandpa Chen opened their mouths wide, even Dunbu cocked his head to look at Luo Tian's back.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang said goodbye to the crowd, and before leaving, Zhan Zhao even wrapped his arms around Dunbu and took a picture. Dunbu seemed to like Zhan Zhao a lot, as for the reason – it is unclear.

Xu Lie attempted to touch Dunbu's head twice, but Dunbu glared back, and he hugged the cushion stubbornly – Why is it only fierce to him ah!

Grandpa Chen was also puzzled, "My Dunbu is so easy-going, why does he only hate you? Are you a bad person?"

Xu Lie shook his head with his mouth wide open.

Chen Mi dealt with the documents, while slowly and methodically adding, "Dogs are very sensitive, maybe you have something on you that he hates the smell of, go change your clothes and try it."

Xu Lie smelled his body, there was no strange smell ah...

He simply took a shower, changed his clothes and ran out. Xu Lie just wanted to embrace Dunbu, but Dunbu bit his trouser leg, and he was so shocked that he hurriedly jumped onto the sofa.

Chen Mi shook his head – Big stars are useless, dogs don't accept them.

Bai Yutang drove back to the police station, and on the way, he received a call from Zhao Hu, "Head, you guys enter from the back entrance of the underground parking lot, don't go through the front door, there are a lot of reporters!"

Zhan Zhao was puzzled, "Why are there so many reporters in front of the police station?"

"It's all because of Xu Lie ah!" As Zhao Hu said this, far away in Chen Mi's home, Xu Lie tilted his face and sneezed.

Grandpa Chen and Dunbu both looked at him with disgust, which meant – if you are sick, hurry to the hospital ah you plague, don't infect Chen Mi!

For the first time in his life, Xu Lie felt all kinds of resentment.

"What's the relationship with Xu Lie?" Bai Yutang was puzzled.

"That kid Xu Lie has been in the limelight lately, and there are reporters and paparazzi all around his home. A while ago, when the news of the dry corpse finding its way to his door was making waves again, there was a large number of paparazzi following him. When he went to Chen Mi's house with you guys, there were reporters following, and then the SWAT team stepped in and things got out of hand... I don't know how that bunch of reporters were so magical, but they got their hands on the footage from the underground parking lot." Zhao Hu yelled, "Captain, the video of you peeling the skin off the dry corpse was posted on the Internet."

"Again?" Bai Yutang was speechless, "Why do people upload everything online nowadays?"

Zhan Zhao hurriedly took out his tablet to watch the video, "Wow! The barrage is filled with 'ah ah ah ah', I can't see your heroic stance, Captain Bai!"

Bai Yutang was speechless and continued driving.

Zhan Zhao was watching the video when his cell phone meowed.

Clicking on it, it was from Zhao Jue, apparently he also saw the video – What case are you guys working on lately, it's so interesting!

Zhan Zhao then asked him – It's interesting ah, do you want to come?

Zhao Jue's reply was rather helpless – I want to ah, but I'm too busy to go.

Zhan Zhao was curious – What are you busy with?

Zhao Jue sent an emoticon that was covering its mouth – It's confidential.

Zhan Zhao was helpless, he thought about it and asked him again – Do you know what "F" is?

Zhao Jue replied – I've never heard of it, I asked around for you, but no one knows.

Zhan Zhao put away his cell phone and frowned, "F..."

Just as he was thinking, Bai Yutang's phone started ringing.

Zhan Zhao smoothly fished it out and found that it was Bao Sir calling, and hit the speakerphone, "Bao Sir..."

"Where are you guys?" Bao Zheng's voice sounded a little suppressed, it was not quite the tone that would be present when the murderer had just been caught and the case appeared to be coming to light, could it be that something had happened again?

"What happened?" Bai Yutang asked.

"Near the amusement park," Bao Zheng's tone was low, "that dry corpse appeared again."

After Bao Zheng's words, there was no sound from this side, and after about three seconds of silence, the crowd spoke in unison, "What?!"

"The amusement park..." Bai Yutang asked, "the biggest amusement park in the southwestern suburbs?"

"That's right." Bao Zheng nodded, "Looks like there's more than one dry corpse, Cheng Mu is still locked up in the police station."

Bai Yutang frowned, "What's near the amusement park?"

"The research centre." Zhan Zhao suddenly said.

"What research centre?" Everyone was curious.

"The archaeological research centre." Zhan Zhao reminded, "If the Wheel of Caleb was sent in one piece, it was supposed to be stored and analysed there, and all the research should have been conducted there."

‿︵‿︵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: November 22, 2023 by Angel

Edited: November 30, 2023 by Angel