S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 5 Chapter 14

Witness of the Three Murderers 14 – Track the Butterfly

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Zhao Zhen said, "That Grim Reaper is outside the window," and everyone's spirits were lifted.

Bai Yutang picked up the walkie-talkie and said to the SCI members who were lying in ambush at various intersections, "Get ready to catch the Grim Reaper, he's wearing roller skates, so be smart!"

Ma Han fetched a suitcase from the backseat of the car, got out and leapt onto the roof of the Jeep. On the roof, he opened the case and took out an anaesthetic gun.

Zhao Hu sat on the hood of the car and tilted his face to look at it, "Xiao Ma Ge, you look like you're hunting tigers at the zoo."

Ma Han raised an eyebrow, "It's indeed borrowed from the zoo."

"Huh?" Zhao Hu's mouth opened wide.

Ma Han raised his gun and aimed it at the gate of the Wu residence, slowly saying, "Fooled you."

......

Luo Tian also got out of his car. Qin Ou had just run to the convenience store across the street and was now running back with two containers of vegetable oil.

Luo Tian couldn't laugh or cry, "Luckily you thought of this."

Qin Ou chuckled twice, put down the vegetable oil and pulled out two boxes of pins from his pocket.

Luo Tian opened his mouth – Too ruthless!

Bai Yutang also got out of the surveillance car.

Zhan Zhao stared at the surveillance screen, and at this moment, a black figure could be seen at the window from the cameras placed in the room.

Bai Chi was a little nervous but heard a tap-tap sound from beside him.

Bai Chi turned his face in confusion, only to see Zhao Jue sending a text message.

Bai Chi was curious, "Who are you texting at this time?"

"I'm telling Bai Ye to come catch the Grim Reaper." Zhao Jue smirked.

Zhan Zhao was staring intently at the surveillance screen at this time, but he still glanced at Zhao Jue out of the corner of his eyes. He always felt that the smile at the corner of his mouth was not as simple as just watching the fun.

Zhao Zhen reached out and gently pressed his headset, lowering his voice to say, "I might be able to catch him."

"Be careful," Bai Yutang stepped out of the car and headed over to the Wu family's front door while reminding Zhao Zhen, "there's a chance he has a weapon on him."

"It doesn't matter, I have props too." Zhao Zhen smiled faintly.

Bai Yutang was puzzled – Props?

The rest of the crowd who were waiting for news glanced at each other – It was understandable that Zhao Zhen probably had no shortage of things hidden on his body.

At this time, Gongsun, who was also in the Wu family's mourning hall, and Zhang Yu had already spotted the Grim Reaper – Sure enough, he had come!

When Gongsun saw Zhang Yu looking at him, he gently shook his head, signalling for him to stay put and pretend he didn't see him.

Zhao Zhen pretended to make a phone call and walked over to where the doorway was.

Just as he walked to the doorway, approaching the window and almost face to face with that Grim Reaper outside the window, Zhao Zhen raised his eyes... Coincidentally, the Grim Reaper also looked over, and their eyes met.

Zhao Zhen clearly saw the face hidden under the hood of the cloak in the darkness of the shadows. Sure enough, it was almost the same as Gongsun's drawing, only with the face of a skeleton. But Zhao Zhen had expert eyes, he was a professional, and he could see at a glance that it was just a mask.

Zhao Zhen then smiled...

The moment the Grim Reaper looked up, what he saw was Zhao Zhen's smile.

Almost at the same time, the Grim Reaper dashed outside... because Zhao Zhen had already raised his hand.

That Grim Reaper moved extremely fast, but unfortunately, Zhao Zhen was even faster. He threw something out of his hand, and with a loud snap, it hit the Grim Reaper's mask.

Gongsun and Zhang Yu saw this, it seemed to be a big white lump of something, which felt soft and floppy...

At this time, the Grim Reaper turned around and "flew" outside, so fast that it was unreal.

Zhao Zhen rushed to the door and saw a mask on the ground. He smiled and chased him out.

Gongsun and Zhang Yu ran to the door and picked up the mask.

"Well done!" Zhan Zhao and Jiang Ping were in front of the monitoring screen and saw Zhao Zhen hit the Grim Reaper's face with something. The thing was a big soft lump that smeared across where his eyes were, which presumably affected his vision so the Grim Reaper had to throw the mask away.

Gongsun picked up the mask and raised an eyebrow – A mask means there is DNA information, let's see where you run!

Jiang Ping also raised an eyebrow. Not wearing a mask means that his face is directly exposed to the camera lens. If you have the guts, don't get caught on film! Otherwise, with DNA and a face, it'll be hard for you to fly even if you have wings!

When Zhao Zhen chased him to the entrance, he saw that the other party had turned a corner and was already out of the door... But just before he reached the first intersection, he saw a black shadow jumping out from the side with a whoosh.

Zhao Hu had long been squatting on the hood of the car, and when Ma Han said, "Jump!”, Hu Zi jumped out.

As his name suggests, Hu Zi pounced on the other party like a hungry tiger pounced on food. Needless to say, the Grim Reaper reacted quite quickly and leaned back, not letting Zhao Hu punch his face, but his cloak was still grabbed by Zhao Hu.

The cloak was ripped off by Zhao Hu with a sharp sound.

With a bang, Zhao Hu landed on the ground, and Zhao Zhen jumped out from behind him. Although the other party was very fast on the roller skates, he just lost his balance avoiding Zhao Hu's move, and his direction changed... Zhao Zhen seems to have anticipated this and pulled on his sleeve.

However, the force of the pull was slightly weak. The other party fought to break free, and then stumbled to the middle of the road.

Just as he reached the middle of the road, he heard a pop and a dart filled with anaesthetic was stuck in his shoulder.

Zhao Hu and Zhao Zhen were delighted – The shot hit!

But Ma Han frowned. That anaesthetic gun was similar to the one used to shoot tigers and elephants. The other party's reaction to being pierced in the shoulder was not right, and there was not much pain on his face. He remembered that the other party was wearing roller skates, so he might have knee pads and shoulder pads too!

Sure enough, that Grim Reaper scurried down the road and into the alley across the street, and the tranquilliser dart in his shoulder was swatted away.

Zhao Hu went to pick it up, and sure enough, there was no blood.

Ma Han looked around. The suburbs here were all bungalows, with nothing tall, so he had to come down. Zhao Hu got into the car and the two of them drove after him into the alley across the street.

Zhao Zhen took a detour and ran forward.

The Grim Reaper scampered out of the alley, and his feet suddenly slipped...

"Waah!"

Luo Tian and Qin Ou, who had just splashed a container of vegetable oil on the ground, heard the scream. This scream – was male!

Qin Ou's container of oil was empty. The Grim Reaper looked like Bugs Bunny who stepped on the soap in the cartoon, his arms and legs scrambled for a good while, and when he looked up... he met the eyes of Luo Tian, who had run up to him.

The Grim Reaper was stunned before realising that his mask was missing and rushed to cover his face, but it was already too late. Luo Tian used the bright streetlights to get a clear view, and he was surprised. The man in front of him was a gentle-looking young man, and he looked about the same as an ordinary college student.

But after being surprised, Luo Tian wouldn't let him go and grabbed him by the shoulder.

The Grim Reaper bowed, and the shoulder pads on his shoulders were yanked off by Luo Tian. He bent over, slipped under Luo Tian's armpit, and continued to run forward while slipping and sliding.

Luo Tian glanced at the shoulder pads in his hand and turned back, that Grim Reaper looked unexpectedly short.

At this time, he heard the beep, beep, beep of a horn behind him, and when he turned around, Zhao Hu's Jeep charged over.

Luo Tian hurriedly dodged.

Zhao Hu's car rushed out of the alley and chased after the Grim Reaper.

Qin Ou, who had grabbed a box of pins, stomped his feet. There was no chance to spread the pins, otherwise, Zhao Hu's car would have a flat tyre.

The Grim Reaper rushed across the road and fled along the main road. But before he rushed into the intersection, a Jeep suddenly rushed out horizontally to block his way. He could not brake fast enough and slammed headlong into the door of the car.

Zhang Long opened the door of the car... The Grim Reaper braked suddenly and turned sharply, and was beaten by the door. After stumbling, he leaned against the hood of the car and kicked...

The crowd heard two snaps as the roller skates fell to the ground.

It turns out that this pair of roller skates were independent, buckling into ordinary shoes.

Once the skates fell, the kid raised his hand to the hood of the car...

They saw that he was carrying a small crossbow in his sleeve. The crossbow shot out a steel wire as thin as a thread which wrapped around the street lamp, and he used the strength of the force to swing, arriving at the roof on the opposite side of the street. However, just when he wanted to run, he lifted his eyes... and saw a person in white clothes waiting there.

Bai Yutang had long since climbed up to the roof.

Bai Yutang held a pair of handcuffs between two fingers and shook them at him.

The Grim Reaper looked back and forth. The lower level had been surrounded by the SCI crowd, and there was Bai Yutang in front of him on the roof. Looking to the other side... he saw that Zhao Zhen had also climbed up.

The "Grim Reaper" turned around in place, then suddenly raised his hand and pointed the gun in his hand at Bai Yutang.

The SCI crowd was startled, but before the gun was properly aimed at Bai Yutang, a pair of handcuffs had already flown over and smashed him squarely in the face.

"Wu!" That Grim Reaper bowed in pain and rolled down from the roof with a lurch.

Zhao Hu and Qin Ou stepped forward to catch him so that he wouldn't fall to his death.

Luo Tian picked up the pistol that fell to the side and looked at it, helpless, "Plastic."

Zhao Hu lifted the other person's collar and hauled him up, yanking his face-covering hand away to take a look. He saw that it was a young man, who, by visual estimate, was in his early twenties and short in stature, about one metre six or so, a small one. Bai Yutang was quite merciful, he probably saw that the pistol was fake. The handcuffs hit him above the bridge of his nose, it hurt quite a bit but the bridge of his nose was not broken and his eyes were not injured.

At this time, from the other end of the walkie-talkie, Zhan Zhao asked Bai Yutang, "Did you catch him?"

"Caught." Bai Yutang brought the person back to the surveillance car, threw the little "Grim Reaper" onto the sofa, and made him sit next to Zhao Jue.

Jiang Ping said, "Head, the butterfly flew quite far."

Bai Yutang nodded, "Chase!"

The surveillance car followed the flashing red dot on the navigation system to chase after that butterfly.

Ma Han and the others also got into their cars and followed the surveillance car, but all of them had the intercoms on because they knew that Zhan Zhao would be asking about that death myth in their car.

The crowd was very curious. Gongsun had seen this Grim Reaper ten years ago, but the one in front of them looked so young. Could it be that he was as immortal as Zhao Jue and the rest of them? That's not right, up until now there have been beautiful uncles, they haven't seen anyone who stays in their twenties like this.

Bai Chi took an ice pack and handed it to him. The Grim Reaper took it, pressed it to the bridge of his nose and bared his teeth in pain.

Zhao Jue held his chin with one hand, crossed his legs and leaned on the armrest of the sofa, looking at this small young man beside him with great interest.

The mask, along with the torn cloak and shoulder pads, were laid out on the table.

Gongsun picked up the mask, and the large pile of chewing gum-like stuff on it couldn't be removed.

Zhao Zhen reached out and manipulated it somehow, and that big lump of white was completely torn off, leaving no residue at all.

Gongsun picked up the mask to take a look, and frowned slightly – He originally also suspected that if the age was not right, would this Grim Reaper be a fake? But the moment he saw the mask, Gongsun was sure that this was the face of the Grim Reaper he had seen back then! That eerie feeling, and the overall sense of evil that this mask gave people... the person who made this mask was not only an artist but also a forensic scientist. The sense of evil in this mask, which resembles dried-up muscle tissue covering a skull-like construction, comes from its accuracy! It's the realness that makes it scary!

That mask also successfully aroused Zhao Jue's interest.

Zhao Jue reached out, took the mask from Gongsun's hands, and placed it in front of his eyes for a closer look.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang watched the change in Zhao Jue's expression for a while and couldn't catch any key points, but Zhao Jue's eyes did have a different look of deep meaning at this time, which was very intriguing.

Bai Yutang poured a cup of water and gave it to that exhausted Grim Reaper, asking, "What's your name?"

That Grim Reaper held his cup but didn't say anything.

Zhan Zhao thought for a moment, then took out his cell phone and took a picture of his face before handing the phone to Jiang Ping and saying, "Compare it to the major schools in S City..."

When Zhan Zhao said this, he saw that the Grim Reaper obliviously looked at the sky, obviously disdainful, which meant – There are so many photos from major universities, you can't compare them for shit.

However, Zhan Zhao then came back with another sentence, "Students who have participated in a South American summer camp."

As soon as Zhan Zhao finished speaking, the student's eyes widened and he looked up at him, clearly in disbelief.

"My name is Chen Xiaofei."

However, just as everyone was waiting for Jiang Ping to compare the search results, Zhao Jue on the side was holding a student ID card and looking at it, "The name isn't imposing at all."

The Grim Reaper hurriedly put down his cup to touch his body while looking at Zhao Jue with dissatisfaction – How dare he steal from me!

Bai Yutang took that student ID and looked at it.

Zhao Jue raised an eyebrow at Zhan Zhao, rather provocatively, and Zhan Zhao narrowed his eyes.

"Twenty-one years old this year, a student at K University, Law Department..." Bai Yutang put down his student ID and looked at him in disbelief, "Chen Xiaofei, why are you pretending to be the Grim Reaper?"

The student gave Bai Yutang a blank look, "It's not illegal to spy!"

The crowd found it funny, his words were still quite tough.

Just as Bai Yutang was about to continue asking him, he heard Jiang Ping say, "Head, the butterfly has stopped!"

Along with Jiang Ping's words, the surveillance car also slowly came to a stop. When he looked at the surveillance screen again, the red dot that represented the tracker on the butterfly and the blue dot where the car was positioned almost overlapped... indicating that the butterfly was nearby.

Bai Yutang opened the curtains and looked out the car window. He saw that they were on a highway with mountains and forests on either side, not too dense but very secluded.

There wasn't even a streetlight on either side of the dark road. Looking ahead through the moonlight, he saw that in the barren fields not far from the highway, there was a small hill, and on the hill stood a dilapidated villa all by itself.

Zhan Zhao stroked his chin, "Hmm... a good place for a horror movie!"

Ma Han and the others' cars were also parked nearby, and all of them looked at the deserted and lonely mansion in the distance, feeling eerie.

Zhao Hu grasped the steering wheel and rubbed against it, "Holy crap! The one living here is either a chainsaw murderer or the owner of the Human Skin Inn. Exploring a haunted mansion in the middle of the night, it's too thrilling to be a police officer these days!"

‿︵‿︵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 22, 2024 by Angel