S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 5 Chapter 1

Witness of the Three Murderers 01 – One Half Witness

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In May, the weather didn't turn warm, instead it rained continuously. The damp and stuffy environment makes people have little energy, and it’s easy to get to Friday. The rain is not light, and there is also a strong wind.

The SCI office was empty, with only Jiang Ping, who was tapping on the keyboard at the desk, and Zhan Zhao, who was on the sofa looking at a book as thick as a brick.

Today is the day of the police department's regular test, and all the people who need to go out in the field have gone to the shooting range to undergo a shooting test. Jiang Ping, as a standard technical nerd, has never needed a weapon, while Zhan Zhao was prohibited by Bao Zheng from approaching the shooting range, to which Zhan Zhao was very dissatisfied.

The sound of the neighbouring forensic doctor opening the door came from the quiet corridor, and Gongsun was on a call while walking over.

Before entering the SCI office, Gongsun was heard saying slightly helplessly, "I'd better not go."

Zhan Zhao's eyes moved away from the thick book and looked toward the door.

Gongsun put away the phone and looked up. Seeing that Zhan Zhao was looking at him curiously, he said, "Song Jiajia called, she is currently working at a private appraisal centre, and has recently been helping a collector appraise a batch of bone artefacts."

"What are bone artefacts?" Zhan Zhao was curious.

"They’re tools made from bones." Gongsun said, "She wants me to help appraise them."

"You're surprisingly not going?" Zhan Zhao was surprised, "Aren't you the one who loves bones and corpses the most?"

Gongsun said, "That place is too far away, and in this hellish weather, your brother forbade me from going out."

"How far is it?" Zhan Zhao narrowed his eyes, "Your brother forbade me from going out", this sentence clearly shows love.

"North of the botanical garden, at least a two and a half hour drive." Gongsun said as he reached for a bag of potato chips on Bai Chi's desk.

Zhan Zhao raised his eyebrows slightly, looking up and down at Gongsun's every move, then smiled.

Gongsun chewed on the chips and looked at Zhan Zhao, ''Why are you smiling so sinisterly? Don't keep learning Zhao Jue's expressions when you're not doing anything."

Zhan Zhao simply closed the book, "You are willing to fly to the other side of the world for a corpse, there is no reason why a two and a half hour drive and strong winds and rain would make it difficult for you. Moreover, Brother would not restrict you from travelling, he would send you to the designated place with a phone call. Not to mention wind and rain, he would send you to the designated place even if he was under a knife..."

Gongsun continued to chew his chips.

"Hmm." Zhan Zhao's pair of beautiful eyes looked at him again for a long time before he said, "It seems that the problem is not with the bone tools, but with this windy day and the botanical gardens."

"Ahem." Gongsun choked on the chips and pounded his chest while reaching for the teacup on the table, "You'll be silenced sooner or later if you continue to be so godly."

Zhan Zhao raised an eyebrow and started searching the information stored in his head, "There was a case in the botanical gardens ten years ago, it was August, and there was a strong typhoon that year, is it related to that case?"

Gongsun popped up from the sofa and rubbed his arms, "Goosebumps!"

Zhan Zhao blinked, and at that moment, the elevator doors opened with a ding.

Everyone turned around and saw that it wasn't Bai Yutang and the others who came, but Bao Zheng.

"Still not back?" Bao Zheng came in with a folder and glanced around, frowning.

Zhan Zhao stared at the folder, "Bao Sir, is there a case?"

Bao Sir handed him the information and said, "There's no case, but there are some technical questions I want to ask you."

Zhan Zhao took the file, opened it, and saw that it was a psychiatric appraisal report.

Zhan Zhao looked at Bao Sir with some confusion.

Bao Zheng said, "There was a murder case a few days ago, a woman was killed in a park on the waterfront."

"Why was she murdered?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"It's not very clear." Bao Zheng replied.

Zhan Zhao frowned.

Gongsun asked, "Were there no witnesses?"

"It was morning when the crime occurred." Bao Zheng said, "An old man who was on his morning jog witnessed the entire process, and he was the only eyewitness."

"Is this the man?" Zhan Zhao looked at the photo on the profile, then frowned, "The old man has a history of mental illness?"

Bao Zheng nodded.

Zhan Zhao looked through his medical history and suddenly stood up.

Gongsun could see that Zhan Zhao's eyes were sparkling, as if he had seen something rare.

Bao Sir wanted to laugh a little, "I figured you would have that look on your face."

"What's the problem?" Gongsun was curious.

"What a rare case!" Zhan Zhao said.

Gongsun moved over to look, "What kind of illness?"

"Vision loss due to mental problems!" Zhan Zhao said, "Also called one-half deficiency syndrome, he can only see half of the world with his eyes!"

Gongsun was puzzled, "Half?"

Zhan Zhao drew a horizontal line in front of his eyes, "The patient is only able to see half of the world no matter how he turns his eyes."

"There's this kind of disease?" Gongsun had never heard of it, "Then what is the cure for this disease?"

"I haven't come across this kind of case, but there was a case like this in Zhao Jue's treatment materials where he cured someone through hypnosis." Zhan Zhao replied.

"Still out running with this kind of disease? Isn't he afraid of falling into a hole or hitting a tree?" Jiang Ping was confused.

"He's already cured." After reading the medical records, Zhan Zhao stroked his chin, "Hmm... natural recovery? This is really rare."

At this time, the elevator door opened again, and a group of people ran out of the elevator in an uproar. Bai Yutang and the others had returned.

The crowd had just finished their assessment, and Jiang Ping had already pulled out their report cards, "Tsk tsk, did everyone do well on the exam?"

Bai Yutang saw that Bao Sir was also there, so he came over and asked, "Bao Sir, a case?"

"Just consulting." Bao Sir said, "To put it simply, an old man on a morning jog witnessed a murder and accused someone of being the murderer. But the old man has a history of a very rare mental illness, and the opposing attorney says his word is not credible. In addition, the person the old man accused was a complete stranger to the victim of the case, plus it was early in the morning when the murder happened and the other person said he was sleeping at home, so he has no alibi."

Bai Yutang frowned, "What about the investigation of the murderer?"

"Ai Hu and the others are investigating." Bao Zheng sighed, "But there are absolutely no clues."

Bai Yutang asked, "Then what? Need us to take over the investigation?"

"That's not it." Bao Zheng shook his head, "I just think this old man is a bit suspicious."

Everyone looked at Bao Zheng curiously, "Where is the suspicion?"

"This old man is a witness to three murders."

Bao Sir's sentence made everyone freeze.

"Three?" Zhao Hu jumped up, "This probability matches winning the lottery!"

"It's even lower than the probability of winning the lottery." Bao Zheng said, "The earliest one was six years ago, then three years ago, and then now." Bao Zheng said, "The problem is that he accuses the same person of murder every time, yet there is insufficient evidence every time. The two earlier cases are unsolved, and now this one is expected to be a bit of a long shot as well."

"The same person, is this the one he's accusing now?" Zhan Zhao asked.

Bao Zheng nodded.

"Sounds like a personal grudge is more likely." Bai Chi made milk tea and came over to distribute it to the crowd, "Hasn't the other party sued him in return?"

Without waiting for Bao Zheng to speak, Bai Yutang pointed to the psychiatric report in Zhan Zhao's hand.

"Oh..." Bai Chi nodded, that's right, with this uncle's "illness", any wrongdoing can be explained.

"The two of them have no personal grudges, they don't know each other at all." Bao Sir shook his head, "But this matter is still a bit strange, the key is that no one can figure out whether this uncle is sick or not, and whether he is telling the truth or not."

"So?" Zhan Zhao looked at Bao Zheng.

"What Ai Hu and the others want is for you to go and talk to that uncle." Bao Sir said.

Zhan Zhao raised an eyebrow, "No problem."

Bai Yutang grabbed the car keys, "I'll go with you."

"I want to go too." Zhao Hu was obviously quite interested in that uncle's situation, he went by himself when he wasn't included and dragged Ma Han along.

Soon, Bai Yutang drove out of the police station and onto the stormy road.

In the car, Zhan Zhao took out the information.

The old man's name was Liu Jin, he is sixty-one years old, and was originally a college teacher who taught maths. He developed one-half deficiency syndrome at the age of forty-five, underwent five years of very disorganised treatment, and was suddenly cured on his own at the age of fifty.

Zhan Zhao frowned, still very puzzled by the words ‘cured on his own', "Actually healing on his own... this is really a miracle."

"Ai, Dr. Zhan," Zhao Hu leaned on the back of his seat and curiously asked Zhan Zhao, "previously, I saw the news that there was an idiot who was knocked on the head and woke up to become a genius, what kind of situation does this belong to?"

Zhan Zhao nibbled on a chocolate bar and looked at Zhao Hu, "The probability is similar to being abducted by aliens."

Ma Han was looking at another file, it was the "suspect" who was identified by the old man as the murderer three times in a row.

"Yue Hai..." Ma Han frowned at the photo on the information, it was a very decent old man, who looked to be in his fifties, dressed like a business elite.

"So familiar ah?" Zhao Hu came over to look.

"Yue Hai often appears in magazines and newspapers, he's a very successful businessman." Zhan Zhao said.

"What kind of business does he do?" Bai Yutang was curious.

"He runs a shopping mall." Zhan Zhao said, "But he has already retired, and his business has been handed over to his children to take care of. One of his sons and one of his daughters are both very capable, and have both come to some of Brother's business gatherings, I have a bit of an impression."

"This old man looks quite kind ah." Zhao Hu touched his chin, took out his cell phone and searched for news related to him, then frowned, "This old man is crippled, he usually comes out either on crutches or in a wheelchair, and his movements seem very inconvenient."

Ma Han asked, "Why is he lame?"

"That's unknown." Zhao Hu fiddled with a tablet and couldn't figure it out, so he called Jiang Ping and asked him to help check.

At this time, the very idle Jiang Ping had long since investigated all the information on the duo and passed it over.

"Doctor, Yue Hai also has a mental illness!" Zhao Hu said, "His leg was injured before and later healed, but he was left with a limp. He has travelled all over the world for medical treatment, and his legs are obviously healthy with no problems at all, but he still limps."

Zhan Zhao stroked his chin, "This also belongs to a type of PTSD..."

"Is it possible to pretend to be lame? Pretending for decades?" Bai Yutang asked.

"I'm not sure." Zhan Zhao shook his head, "I'll only know when I see him myself, but I can brainstorm a bit."

Saying this, Zhan Zhao smiled and took out his cell phone to dial Bai Jintang's number, "Brother!"

Bai Jintang froze for a moment on the other end of the phone before saying, "Calling so sweetly? What happened now?"

"Do you recognise someone called Yue Hai?" Bai Yutang asked.

"I do." Bai Jintang sighed, "Did he die or commit a crime?"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both narrowed their eyes, and Zhao Hu came forward, "Is that kid a bad guy?"

Bai Jintang was helpless, "No, I'm thinking that the people whose names come out of your mouths are essentially those who have already been unlucky or are about to be unlucky."

The corners of everyone's mouths twitched.

Zhan Zhao looked at the sky, "I just wanted to ask you what his character is like."

"There's no deep friendship." Bai Jintang answered dryly, "The old man is usually not in good health and rarely comes out, but I know his son and daughter. There are business dealings, in which they are rather serious. The son is a slight playboy, but it's within the normal range."

"Oh..." Zhan Zhao stroked his chin.

"What about Gongsun?" Bai Jintang asked.

"At the station." Zhan Zhao replied.

"You guys aren't at the police station?" Bai Jintang's voice sank a bit, "You guys are still running around outside in this kind of weather? You two don't need to be so diligent ah..."

"Ah... the signal is suddenly really bad!" Zhan Zhao hurriedly hung up the phone.

However, being reminded by Brother Bai, the crowd subconsciously looked out the car window.

The rain outside was pouring down. There were not many cars on the highway, and the branches of the short trees on both sides of the road were standing up, similar to a wig that was about to be blown off.

Bai Yutang concentrated on driving, and the windshield wipers swung regularly on the windshield.

"The old man lives so far away?" Zhao Hu flipped to his address.

"On the waterfront." Ma Han said, "That park where the murder took place is White Gull Park."

"White Gull Park... is that the one with a lot of palm trees?" Zhao Hu asked, "Isn't that right next to the botanical garden?"

Ma Han nodded, "It's part of the suburbs... Not only does Liu Jin live there, Yue Hai also lives in that area, only one lives in a garden neighbourhood and one lives in a beachfront villa."

Zhan Zhao held the information of the two people in both hands and compared them in detail, "These two people really don't have any intersections at all, why does Liu Jin insist that Yue Hai is a murderer?"

Bai Yutang said, "If Liu Jin is mistaken, there might be some reason for it, but if he's not mistaken..."

Everyone glanced at each other – Then this Yue Hai, the one who had killed at least three people, was a serial killer.

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Welcome to volume 5!!! Strap in for a long journey, there's 233 chapters to the end of this volume. That being said, I actually finished chapter 70 today, which is the final chapter for Case 20. The first four cases are all linked, so get your notebooks ready in order to keep track of everything.

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: January 1, 2024 by Angel

Edited: January 2, 2024 by Angel