S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 5 Chapter 13

Witness of the Three Murderers 13 – Track

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Jiang Ping had compiled a group of cases, and Zhan Zhao was going to carry out the second step of screening.

First, it was necessary to exclude cases with too much social attention! Cases with too much social attention would be searched and viewed anytime, anywhere. No matter for which purpose, or if there was a suspicion, this section could only be excluded.

Second, they had to make a selection.

In Zhan Zhao's words, there is always an opposing side to everything that exists in this world. Since you can use the method of elimination, you can also use the anti-elimination method, which is to take the conditions that you want the most and filter them out first.

If it was difficult to find the murderer, you could first look for the butterfly and the Grim Reaper. These two are like companions that always appear at the same time, and finding them must be a direct help in finding the murderer!

So, the question arises, how could they find the Grim Reaper and the black butterfly? These appear on the night of the wake! So the most direct and "lucky" condition is – someone who just died today!

If any of the results Jiang Ping sifted out matched this condition, then today was the night of the wake, and it was possible that they could find the Grim Reaper.

Once Jiang Ping searched, he helplessly shook his head at Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao stroked his chin, expressing – sure enough, life can't always be that lucky.

"So how should we choose?" Jiang Ping asked.

"Depending on the customs, some have a wake for one day with cremation the next day, some for two days, some for three days... and so on." Zhan Zhao said, "Search for people who died one, two and three days ago respectively, and after searching, investigate whether they have been cremated or are still holding a wake."

Jiang Ping tapped the keyboard a few times and finally raised an eyebrow, "Ah!"

Everyone looked over, "Really?"

"Mhmm!" Jiang Ping pointed out the results of one of his searches and said, "There's a man named Wu Hua, thirty-six years old, who died just two days ago. He died when he lost his footing and fell down the stairs."

With that said, Jiang Ping called and found the police station where his house was located, and asked them to go and see if the wake was still going on. Not long after, the police officer who went to check called and said that the family was holding a wake for three days, that today was the last day, and that the cremation would take place early tomorrow morning around five o'clock.

Everyone felt that the situation was going quite well, so they asked Jiang Ping, "What case was he watching?"

"Wu Hua's wife died in a traffic accident nine years ago." Jiang Ping said, "Wu Hua has been regularly searching for news related to the case of his wife's death. In addition, he searched for traffic accidents, as well as... information on insurance fraud."

Zhan Zhao narrowed his eyes slightly, "Insurance fraud?"

Jiang Ping said, "After his wife died, he received two generous insurance payouts."

Zhan Zhao called to ask Mia if she had any information on this murder case from nine years ago.

Not a moment later, Mia sent an email, there was indeed some. Jiang Ping also found some. The two pieces of information were put together, and surprisingly, there were photos of Wu Hua's wife's corpse.

Gongsun looked at the photos and shook his head, "With only these few photos, it's impossible to tell if it was an accident or murder. Moreover, if someone dies in a car accident, the cause of death itself is not a big problem, the key is the reason why it will happen, such as whether the car was tampered with or not, whether there was any special medication ingested before the death, and so on. The body has already been cremated, and there is no evidence for the death."

"Then if Wu Hua's corpse is consistent with this case, there should be an undead needle in his throat, right?" Zhan Zhao asked.

Gongsun nodded.

Bai Yutang frowned, "The key is how we can check without evidence and only theories."

"How about asking Zhang Yu?" Zhan Zhao suggested, "There are at least a few labourers that set up the mourning hall, perhaps he knows someone."

Bai Yutang called Zhang Yu, and sure enough, after a while, Zhang Yu called back and really did have acquaintances. He was able to help arrange for two people to go in and pretend to be labourers to investigate the body, and they would help distract the family.

The crowd felt that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Of course, Gongsun should go for the autopsy, but the key was the other one who would cooperate with him.

The crowd thought about it and felt that Zhao Zhen was an excellent candidate because he needed to do an extremely difficult thing, stick a tracker to the body of that butterfly.

Jiang Ping showed the tracker to Zhao Zhen. The great magician picked it up and looked at it for a while. It was like a small piece of tape, transparent and non-reflective. If it was stuck on the butterfly's body, it was indeed possible that it could go undetected, however, the difficulty of sticking it was still relatively high. Especially since the butterfly's wings are quite fragile, once stuck on the wings, it may affect the butterfly's flight, so the area that it can be stuck to was even smaller, and it was simply impossible for anyone other than Zhao Zhen to be able to accomplish this task.

With everything ready, the group set off and rushed to Wu Hua's neighbourhood. Zhan Zhao and the others hunkered down outside, while Zhang Yu took Gongsun and Zhao Zhen with him and entered Wu Hua's house.

Wu Hua did not remarry, and the funeral was held in his hometown, just on the outskirts of S City. He still has elderly parents at home and no children.

Jiang Ping investigated Wu Hua's living conditions after the death of his wife. To summarise it briefly, he travelled around, ate, drank, and had fun, living quite comfortably, which seems to increase the suspicion about Wu Hua.

The police station's surveillance vehicle was parked near the residence. Zhao Hu and Ma Han drove the Jeep, and in the back seat was Xiao Bai Chi, who was holding a computer to communicate with Jiang Ping.

Just now, Jiang Ping had arranged for technicians pretending to be electricians to set up cameras at several important intersections in the neighbourhood, which could be watched from the surveillance vehicle, as well as on Xiao Bai Chi's tablet. On the other side, Luo Tian, Qin Ou, Zhang Long and Wang Chao were guarding various intersections on standby, so that as soon as the Grim Reaper appeared, they could catch him immediately.

The crowd began to wait anxiously.

Zhan Zhao glanced at Zhao Jue who was sitting in the surveillance vehicle eating popcorn, and was somewhat speechless.

At this moment, a display on the monitor that had been black lit up.

These were cameras that Gongsun had brought in, which were installed in a bag. Gongsun had placed the bag in a place with a fairly good view when he entered, so... the four cameras with different viewpoints installed in the bag captured the interior of the mourning hall in its entirety.

There weren't many people in the mourning hall. There were a few monks chanting sutras, and Zhang Yu, along with a middle-aged man who looked like a labourer, was saying something to a grey-haired old man, who was presumably the father of the deceased Wu Hua.

It's always heartbreaking to see a white-haired person sending off a black-haired person... But associating Wu Hua with the major suspicion of killing his wife and scamming the insurance company, the crowd also couldn't sympathise with this deceased person.

Gongsun pretended to be organising the deceased's remains and took advantage of the fact that the family's attention had been drawn away by Zhang Yu and the others to quickly inspect the deceased's throat.

The surveillance vehicle as well as the crowd of police officers waiting in ambush on the periphery were waiting nervously. If there was a nail, it meant that their investigation was in the right direction, but if not... then all of the deployment would be in vain.

About a minute later, Gongsun's lowered voice came, "There!"

Everyone was relieved to hear this, so the next step was to wait for the butterfly or the Grim Reaper to appear.

Zhang Yu asked the person in charge of the funeral, he was next to the corpse the whole time and didn't notice any butterflies or anything, so... the crowd felt some hope that maybe the Grim Reaper hadn't arrived yet.

Soon, it was approaching midnight. The surroundings were quiet, and the sound of scripture chanting in the mourning hall kept repeating over and over again, making people drowsy.

Everyone was a little worried about Zhao Zhen, who still had an important "mission" in the mourning hall... Would he fall asleep?

Bai Yutang called Bai Chi over and looked at the situation inside. Xiao Bai Chi felt that everyone's worries were in vain because Zhao Zhen should have fallen asleep.

This great magician was usually lazy, never sitting if he could lie down, never standing if he could sit, so getting him to focus in this kind of drowsy environment was basically impossible.

Gongsun sat with him on the chair next to the hearth and had already nudged him several times, but Zhao Zhen would wake up and fall asleep again.

"This is not the way to continue." Bai Yutang felt that he had to think of a way to keep Zhao Zhen awake.

After Zhao Zhen was once again nudged awake by Gongsun, Gongsun helplessly asked him, "What do you need to do to stay awake?"

Zhao Zhen thinks for a moment and rubs his chin, "I guess I won't fall asleep if I have Chi Chi sing for me."

In the surveillance vehicle, everyone turned to look at Bai Chi.

Bai Chi was embarrassed, "Sing?"

Bai Yutang was helpless and gave him a walkie-talkie.

Bai Chi held the walkie-talkie and blushed, there were so many people...

Bai Yutang knew that he was shy, so he pointed to the restroom next to the surveillance vehicle, meaning – Go in and squat down to sing for your family.

Bai Chi's face was all wrinkled. At this time, Zhao Jue raised his head and reached out to take the walkie-talkie, "There are many ways to keep him awake, I'll talk to him for a couple of minutes."

Before Zhao Jue finished his words, Bai Chi snatched the walkie-talkie, narrowed his eyes and looked at Zhao Jue, which meant – What do you want to do?

Zhao Jue was hurt – The rabbit glared at him!

Xiao Bai Chi eventually took the walkie-talkie and burrowed into the toilet before closing the door, not forgetting to probe out to warn, "No eavesdropping!"

Everyone nodded. Just after the door locked with a click, Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue both nosily went over to listen, but Bai Yutang grabbed them back with one hand each and told them not to cause any trouble.

They didn’t know what method Bai Chi used, but Zhao Zhen really stopped dozing off. However, another problem came, that is, Zhao Zhen couldn't keep the corners of his mouth from moving and smiling.

Gongsun wanted to take the bag containing paper money in his hand and smother him with it, reminding him, "Young master, they're holding a funeral, restrain your facial expression!"

Zhao Zhen coughed softly and stifled his smile, then got up and went to stand at the door to get some air.

Time passed little by little.

In the Jeep at the entrance of the alley, Ma Han stared at the intersection while Zhao Hu yawned.

"Xiao Ma Ge," Zhao Hu opened the compartment and flipped through the backseat in a busy panic, "are there any snacks?"

Ma Han pointed up.

Zhao Hu opened the upper compartment of the car and inside was a packet of weirdly flavoured beans.

Zhao Hu took it out, "Who hid this?"

"Yang Yang." Ma Han said.

“Oh." Zhao Hu opened the package and stuffed two into his mouth. The flavour was strange and a bit spicy, but it was refreshing.

"Yang Yang is getting more and more thoughtful, even if it's not his father's car, he still stuffed snacks." Zhao Hu rummaged through the drawer to see if there was anything else.

Ma Han casually said, "He's just trying to think of a marriage proposal move for his dad."

"Pfft..." Zhao Hu sprayed out all the water he had just drank, “Propo... proposal?!"

Ma Han raised an eyebrow, "I guess it's going to happen soon. Luo Tian is not in a hurry, but Yang Yang is."

Zhao Hu was happy.

"Cough..." At this time, Luo Tian's cough came from the walkie-talkie.

Beside Luo Tian, Qin Ou patted him, which meant – Is there such a thing?

The rest of the SCI started gossiping as well, and Bai Yutang sighed – Concentrate! Concentrate!

Zhao Hu teased Luo Tian with his walkie-talkie, asking him if he wanted to get help from Qi Le and their group of girlfriends.

Luo Tian scratched his head in embarrassment and was about to tell them not to add to the chaos when he suddenly froze and said, "Just now..."

Qin Ou also nodded, "It seems like something flashed by..."

When Zhao Hu heard this, he took out his tablet to look at the monitor, "Huh?"

Hu Zi tapped the screen and sliced through the footage of an intersection.

"What's wrong?" Ma Han asked him.

"There seemed to be a black shadow whizzing..." 

Ma Han frowned, "Which camera?"

"This one." Zhao Hu found the camera that he had just watched. Since it passed through the intersection that Qin Ou and the others were guarding, according to the direction... it should pass through the intersection in front of them.

Ma Han had just raised his head when he saw something in front of him... right through the intersection.

"There's something." Ma Han picked up the walkie-talkie and looked for Bai Yutang.

Zhao Hu was still wondering, “What is that? A gust of black wind..."

"Captain, look at intersection number three." Ma Han said.

On the other end, Jiang Ping drew out the footage of intersection number three and presented it to Bai Yutang... Just a moment after the footage had just been zoomed in... something flashed.

Everyone froze.

Bai Yutang said to Jiang Ping, "Slow it down and have a look!"

Jiang Ping slowed the picture speed, and the crowd clearly saw a person... fly past.

"Are they flying? Why are they moving so fast?" Zhan Zhao was surprised.

Zhao Jue also curiously came over, “Wow, the shape of a human!"

"Can humans do this?" Jiang Ping found it unbelievable.

"Make it clearer and see what he looks like." Bai Yutang said.

Jiang Ping found the frame with the best clarity from the many screenshots and began the high-definition processing. After a few rounds of improvement, the picture became clearer... The person flying past in the picture was a person wearing a black cloak, and his face was clearly visible – It was the one that Gongsun had drawn earlier – the Grim Reaper!

Everyone frowned.

"Why does he feel so tall?" Bai Yutang referred to the height of the fence on the side and looked at the picture carefully while asking Jiang Ping, "What kind of shoes is he wearing?"

Jiang Ping looked for another photo where the feet could be seen and processed it into high definition... In the end, the crowd could clearly see that his shoes were at least as tall as the palm of a hand.

“Height-increasing shoes?" Zhan Zhao was puzzled.

"Not height-increasing shoes, they're roller skates." Bai Yutang said, switching on his walkie-talkie to alert Bai Chi, "Tell Zhao Zhen that the Grim Reaper has arrived, tell him to watch out for the butterfly!"

However, before Bai Chi opened his mouth to alert him, Zhao Zhen had already discovered something different... In the corridor on the side of the entrance where he stood, there was a black butterfly that was flying over... In the night, that butterfly flew a little higher and disappeared into the darkness of the night. When it flew a little lower, its silhouette was revealed by the light cast by the window.

That butterfly flew to the window and stopped, then flew in through the window...

Zhao Zhen took two steps back and patted Gongsun, signalling for him to look.

Gongsun then saw a black butterfly... that was landing on the yellow cloth covering the body that had scriptures written all over it.

Zhang Yu also saw it. He stepped aside and used his body to help block the family's line of sight. Gongsun also stepped over to block... Finally, Zhao Zhen took out the piece of tape and walked near the body, staring at the butterfly and thinking about how to do it.

That butterfly was lying on the yellow cloth, motionless, but how he was going to put the tape on it was a problem. Perhaps it'll fly away as soon as he raises his hand. Should he throw it up there? Will it knock it out?

Gongsun was also a little curious about what Zhao Zhen was going to do. As he was wondering, he saw him suddenly reach out... and as he watched... Zhao Zhen grabbed the butterfly that was struggling, squatted down, and forcibly stuck the adhesive tape to its body.

Everyone watching was dumbfounded – Simple and rough ah! There was no beauty at all!

Xiao Bai Chi felt a little distressed for that butterfly and reminded Zhao Zhen, "Don't stick it on its stomach, it's going to smother it!"

Zhao Zhen's fingers were quite effective and the tape was stuck quite securely. After everything was completed, he let go... The butterfly fluttered its wings and flew away, not hurt at all.

Jiang Ping opened the tracking system and a flashing red dot appeared – indicating that the locator was installed successfully.

At this time, Zhao Zhen's voice came from the other end of the walkie-talkie, "Ai, that Grim Reaper is outside the door."

‿︵‿︵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 11, 2024 by Angel

Edited: March 18, 2024 by Angel