S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 5 Chapter 10

Witness of the Three Murderers 10 – Ten Generations

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The iron door was pushed open with a clatter. In the dim space, the light bulbs hanging in mid-air were swaying due to air currents, and there were swaying lights and shadows on the ground. Amid these lights and shadows, there were also black human figures.

Bai Yutang subconsciously raised his head. At a glance, he saw corpses of various colours hanging in mid-air. Zhan Zhao also drew in a breath of cold air – What's this situation?

At this time, a low growl came from the warehouse. Everyone followed the sound and looked over, and two large Great Danes walked to the middle of the warehouse. Under the shadow of the lights, the two huge black dogs, with their two pairs of red eyes and sagging facial skin, gave them a different, dangerous feeling from the ferociousness, a dangerous feeling.

Bai Ye held back Bai Yutang, who was about to pull out his gun, "The bodies are fake, don't get excited."

Bai Yutang froze.

Zhan Zhao came over, "These... fakes are very impressive!"

Bai Yutang frowned, he felt that there was a strangeness in this warehouse.

"It's even weirder inside, just think of it as an adventure into a haunted house." Bai Ye patted him, signalling for him to relax.

Zhan Zhao's interest in the haunted house was high, but after all, he was catlike, and the two big dogs in front looked a bit scary, he didn't know if they would bite or not.

As Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were confused, Zhao Jue had already walked over slowly, heading straight towards those two large dogs.

Those two dangerous giant dogs initially looked at Zhao Jue with some wariness as he approached, but by the time he walked up to them, the two dogs seemed to have smelled something...

The two of them came close to Zhao Jue and sniffed carefully, then they let out a very intimate whimpering sound and their entire appearance became obedient. Zhao Jue reached out and gently touched the two dogs' big heads.

At this moment, the elevator doors opened.

Eugene walked out with his hands in his pockets, "They've really come ah, my goddess's premonitions are still as accurate as ever."

Zhan Zhao squinted his eyes and looked at this perennial cauliflower. Eugene naturally also saw Zhan Zhao, laughed twice, and then glanced at Zhao Jue.

Eugene looked at the sky and muttered to himself, "I'd better go back to Italy... I feel that the situation is getting worse and worse."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang also walked into the warehouse.

Bai Yutang walked to the side of the elevator and frowned at the pit of corpses, but when he got closer, he was able to tell that the corpses were fake! These were similar to the simulated props used for filming movies, the corpses were all rubber and made to look incredibly realistic.

Zhan Zhao looked around and said, "It feels just like the scene of a horror film."

"My goddess has this taste, there's no way around it." Eugene smiled when he saw Zhan Zhao and came over. As he was trying to get close, he felt that someone tapped him on the shoulder. When he turned around and saw Zhao Jue's face, Eugene was so shocked that he jumped up and shouted over his shoulder, "Don't tap on people's shoulders, okay? You scare people to death!" Saying that, he clasped his arms to protect his chest and glanced at Zhao Jue, "You didn't take the opportunity to do something to me, did you?"

Zhao Jue slanted a glance at him and didn't say anything, but raised his head.

At this moment, the sound of footsteps came from the rusty iron bridge spanning over the factory building, click, click, click.

Bai Yutang tilted his face up. Just by listening to the sound of the footsteps, it was an expert...

At the same time, a black figure jumped from the iron bridge...

Bai Yutang frowned slightly – Jumping down from such a height?

However, contrary to the height, the sound was so light that it was almost inaudible when the person landed on the ground, lighter than a cat.

That person stood up. Judging from the proportions of their body, it was a woman, with proportions so good that they were otherworldly. She was wearing a black slim-fitting dress, with short black hair and black boots. Her face could not be seen clearly, with only a pair of eyes visible. Her coat was a high-collared one, and the collar was pulled up to where the bridge of her nose was, covering off most of her face.

Zhan Zhao paid attention to the woman's eyes, green pupils and snow-white skin. Judging from the outline of her face, she should be a foreigner, but her hair was black.

She surveyed the crowd around her, and finally, her gaze settled on Zhao Jue.

Zhao Jue looked at her and smiled faintly, "Grown up."

The woman reached out and slowly tugged the collar of her coat down a bit...

The crowd couldn't help but frown – She was a very good-looking girl, with very good-looking eyes, nose and face shape, but there was a large burn on her chin, which extended upwards to the left cheek, and downwards to the inside of the collar of her coat, which probably covered her neck as well...

Looking at her age, she was estimated to be less than twenty years old. It was unclear what she had experienced that had so badly injured her, however, the age of this group of people couldn't be judged by their appearance, and the crowd couldn't deduce how old she actually was.

That girl looked at Zhao Jue for a while before turning back to look at Bai Yutang and Bai Ye... she seemed a little confused as she tilted her head.

Zhan Zhao analysed her character from her actions and surmised that this girl was most likely mute.

Sure enough, he saw Eugene waving his hand at her, "I'll just take them down, you go play your game."

The crowd was even more puzzled – Play? Play what?

That girl turned around, stepped on an iron railing next to her and leapt... After going up to the second level, she took a few more leaps, almost flying up and down between the railings like a gymnast, and finally returned to that iron bridge, her footsteps receding.

Bai Yutang frowned. This strength was simply exceptional, could this be another test subject? Thinking of this, he subconsciously looked at Zhan Zhao.

Naturally, Zhan Zhao was also very interested and took a few steps back, tilting his face up to look at the iron bridge above while asking Zhao Jue, "What generation?"

When Zhao Jue passed by him, he reached out and made a ten gesture with his middle finger wrapped around his index finger.

Surprised, Zhan Zhao tilted his face up again to look, but the girl had already run away.

Bai Yutang was puzzled and asked Zhan Zhao, "What does that mean?"

Zhan Zhao told Bai Yutang, "Tenth generation! The information Zhao Jue gave me before has records, the tenth generation of completed products is a more successful generation of experiments, the only drawback is that their obedience is too low. The official records are all cleared, but Zhao Jue has mentioned that he secretly kept one of them and raised them in a friend's place... She is the only completed product that Zhao Jue has acknowledged."

"Unfortunately, her vocal cords were damaged in the fire." Zhao Jue walked into the elevator, "She can't talk."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang followed into the elevator, and inexplicably had the illusion that this elevator seemed to lead to an alternate dimension and that they were far away from the world they lived in, the world of normal humans.

The elevator quickly stopped, and the moment the door opened... the butterfly-potted plant appeared in front of everyone's eyes.

Zhan Zhao opened his mouth wide – The aesthetics are high-end!

Bai Yutang, on the other hand, frowned with a disgusted face – So disgusting!

Behind the potted plant, the woman Bai Yutang and Bai Ye had just encountered in the deep alley ran out, and Zhao Jue walked over and stretched out his hands.

The two hugged each other.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang turned their faces to look at Bai Ye in a bit of a gossipy manner, but at this moment, Bai Ye's entire attention was on that potted plant, and they didn't know if he didn't see it or didn't want to see it.

Zhan Zhao heard Zhao Jue call that woman "Kalin", and according to the pronunciation, it should be the French pronunciation of "wind chime"... Remembering the cell phone tone that Zhao Jue had set for her, it was very appropriate!

Zhao Jue and Kalin got along well. The two went to a small round table behind the potted plant, sat down, and began to talk in a low voice.

Bai Yutang tugged at Eugene, expressing his concern about the "fake" corpses outside.

Eugene beckoned, signalling – I'll show you around.

Bai Ye didn't follow but stood still admiring the potted plant, so Eugene led Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang out a side door. There were iron stairs leading upwards in front of them, and Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang followed Eugene up the stairs to the top of the warehouse... where there were several rusty iron bridges crisscrossing the building, which the girl had just jumped off of.

Zhan Zhao looked down to gauge the distance visually and sighed – It looked even higher from above. The tenth generation really is a perfectly finished product, and the body functions are several times superior to those of normal people.

"What's your relationship with Kalin?" Bai Yutang asked.

"Well, a working relationship... My boss asked me to be her chauffeur." Eugene spread his hands, "She and my boss are old acquaintances, the two of them have a good relationship. Kalin has always lived a reclusive life with Mia, but recently she suddenly said that she wanted to come to S City, so my boss sent me here to give her a hand. Anyway, I have to do whatever she tells me to do… Don’t you think that he's so overdoing it? If she wants me to be an escort, then won't I lose my virginity? I've kept my body like a jade for so many years, is it easy for me?"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang gave Eugene a disgusted look.

"Is Mia the girl from just now?" Zhan Zhao asked.

“Mhmm, Mia is a bit like Kalin's adopted daughter, she's only fifteen years old, but her appearance looks like she's eighteen. Girls nowadays grow up too fast! It's not easy to be a parent these days."

Zhan Zhao frowned slightly – This was a typical overgrowth phenomenon, which was also present in the other generations of test subjects before and was the most difficult aspect to overcome. However, Mia's situation was special. The other test subjects were all normal in the early stages, stunted in the middle stages, and overgrown in the late stages. But Mia's generation seems to be in overdrive in the early stage, so according to the pattern, they should be delayed in the middle stage and normal in the late stage, which solves the problem of sudden death in the late stage quite well, similar to Tian Ji’s horse racing, changing the result just by switching the order, which is a very smart approach... Since Zhao Jue admitted that this generation is the best generation of the "test subjects", he should have his reasons. (Angel: Tian Ji’s horse racing, 田忌赛马, the full idiom states: Tian Ji races his horses and accepts a loss to ensure two wins.)

"What does Kalin do?" Bai Yutang was curious, "Why make so many simulated corpses? A woman living in a place like this with two dogs, isn't she afraid?"

"Afraid?" Eugene seemed to have heard a very amusing story and laughed heartily, "I've heard of people being afraid of ghosts, but have you heard of ghosts being afraid of people?"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both looked at him – What did he mean?

Eugene scratched his head, "All the houses Kalin picked are similar to ghost houses, it's not the kind of place she's not used to living in."

Zhan Zhao stroked his chin, "Sure enough, it's a matter of aesthetics..."

"It's not like she's some kind of monster with bad taste, it probably has something to do with work." Eugene said, "I'm not sure exactly what Kalin does, but Leonard thinks highly of her. I asked him about it, and he said that Kalin is the person who knows the most about death in the world... I wondered if it could be a similar role to that forensic scientist you have at SCI. But then I found out that that doesn't seem to be the case, so I didn't delve deeper into it, after all, aren't women who carry mysteries the most fascinating?... In addition, her sixth sense is so strong that it defies belief."

"Sixth sense?" Zhan Zhao's eyes lit up.

"The reason why I worship her as my goddess is because she is simply a god!" Eugene was slightly excited, "A woman who possesses a minute of God!"

"What minute of God?" Bai Yutang was puzzled.

"From my observations, it’s anything." Eugene profoundly stroked his chin, "This woman can predict what will happen one minute in advance! Just like when you guys came just now, she said that someone was coming without any warning, and accurately judged that the one who came was not an enemy." Saying that, Eugene asked Zhan Zhao with great interest, "Ai, I say, that what’s-it-called discipline of yours, is there any research on telepathy, brainwave transmission, or anything like that?"

After Eugene asked, he realised that Zhan Zhao wasn't listening to him at all...

Bai Yutang was also a little puzzled. Zhan Zhao was still interested in Eugene's words just now, but without knowing what he saw, his attention was completely drawn away in the next second.

Bai Yutang walked to Zhan Zhao's side and looked in the direction he was looking at... He saw that not far away, there was a platform below where the iron bridges intersected, and on the platform, the girl called "Mia" was crouched there, holding a piece of chalk in her hand and quickly drawing circles on the ground. There was a large black checkerboard on the ground. Mia drew a hollow circle, and then a solid circle after that, occasionally turning the board, busy and happy.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang instantly understood what Eugene meant when he asked her to "play".

Bai Yutang watched for a while and asked Zhan Zhao, "Is she playing chess with herself?"

Zhan Zhao nodded.

"Go?" Bai Yutang felt that the board appeared to be a bit larger.

"No, it's much more complicated, she should have created her own rules." Zhan Zhao studied it carefully.

"This girl has always been like this." Eugene said, "Boring as hell."

"You're the one who's boring." Zhan Zhao spat at Eugene, “She's not boring at all." After saying that, he quickened his pace forward and went down the stairs.

"Hey!" Eugene tried to stop him, "Don't go near her, she's unfriendly to the living."

Bai Yutang followed.

Zhan Zhao had already walked over to the checkerboard.

Mia continued to draw the pieces by herself, but she glanced at Zhan Zhao out of the corner of her eye, clearly not too keen on outsiders invading her territory.

Zhan Zhao reached out and picked up a piece of chalk on the ground then drew a hollow circle next to the solid circle she had just drawn.

Mia raised her head and looked at Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao sat down and crossed his legs, "I'll be more interesting to play with."

Mia tilted her head to look at Zhan Zhao, then lowered her head to look at the board again and drew another circle. Zhan Zhao also drew one after her, and just like that, the two of them started drawing, one for you, one for me.

About five minutes later, Mia squatted down, hands clasped on her knees and tilting her head to look at the board, seemingly stumped.

Zhan Zhao then reached out and gently turned the board, gave her his side, then reached out and drew a solid circle in a place, which meant – switch sides and play.

Mia raised her head to look at Zhan Zhao, and a hint of a smile unexpectedly appeared on her slightly indifferent face. Then she lowered her head and proceeded to draw a circle.

The corners of Eugene's mouth straightened, he crossed his arms and asked Bai Yutang, "Besides the fact that you are attracted to his beauty, what else do you see in him? Can you two really communicate normally?"

Bai Yutang gave Eugene a cross look, and Eugene hurriedly grabbed the railing beside him so that Bai Yutang couldn't throw him down.

Bai Yutang could understand that smile of Mia's just now. To be honest... Zhan Zhao had a period when he was a child when he was interested in chess and he also played with himself. With his IQ, he simply couldn't be satisfied with ordinary board games, so he created his own huge set of rules, and ordinary people, not to mention playing with him, couldn't even remember all the rules. Zhan Zhao just turned the checkerboard and placed the pieces by himself, playing happily but looking quite lonely. For this reason, Bai Yutang always thought that it would be nice if someone could play chess with him. Fortunately, Zhan Zhao's interest in chess games quickly passed, and his interest after that seemed to shift to cracking codes... All in all, Zhan Zhao's mind was quite active, and his interest kept shifting.

Mia and Zhan Zhao drew circles like this for at least half an hour. Eugene stood until his legs were sore. He leaned against the railing, rotating his ankles and rubbing his neck while asking Bai Yutang, "What kind of rhythm is this?"

At this, Mia suddenly stopped, reached out, pulled Zhan Zhao's sleeve, then pointed to her stomach and rubbed it, it looked like she was trying to express – she was hungry.

"Hungry... call for take-out?" Zhan Zhao's first reaction made Bai Yutang hold his forehead.

Mia dragged Zhan Zhao and ran elsewhere. Bai Yutang and Eugene followed and saw the two of them arrive in the kitchen.

Eugene looked around, "Wow... this is the first time I've learnt that there's a kitchen here. There wouldn't be a body hidden in the fridge too, right?"

Mia opened the fridge, there were a lot of ingredients in there, and she looked at Zhan Zhao.

"Ahem..." Zhan Zhao coughed and nudged Bai Yutang, which meant, "Xiao Bai, go!"

Bai Yutang was speechless. He walked over to the refrigerator and looked inside, asking, "What do you want to eat?"

Mia reached out and took out a packet of macaroni.

Bai Yutang took the macaroni, picked a few more ingredients out, and started cooking.

Half an hour later...

With tears in his eyes, Eugene held the macaroni and rubbed the corner of the table, "Where can I find a man whose face value is proportional to his cooking skills... I have tasted the flavour of happiness, what I used to eat was all shit."

Bai Yutang gave Eugene a disgusted look – Don't say such disgusting words while eating!

Eugene buried his head and ate the pasta.

While eating the macaroni, Zhan Zhao shifted to observing Mia.

Mia was very satisfied with the flavour of the macaroni, stuffing her mouth and giving Bai Yutang a thumbs up as she chewed. Bai Yutang was also a bit surprised, this girl, had a sense of innocence that didn't match her appearance. Although her appearance, especially the injuries, could easily give people the illusion that she was unfortunate, from her demeanour and affectation, she looked like she had grown up in happiness.

The scent drew Zhao Jue in as well, and Kalin, who had come in with Zhao Jue, visibly froze when she saw Mia sitting with Zhan Zhao and eating macaroni.

Mia held the bowl and asked Kalin to taste the macaroni, behaving like a small child who wanted to share a meal with her mother.

Zhan Zhao continued to observe – Her mental maturity was lower than that of her peers, but her intelligence was high and she had no problems expressing herself... This was interesting.

Zhao Jue snatched the macaroni from Bai Yutang's hand and pointed at him, then pointed at Kalin and said, "That Grim Reaper you're looking into, she knows them."

‿︵‿︵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: January 9, 2024 by Angel

Edited: March 7, 2024 by Angel