S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 5 Chapter 16

Witness of the Three Murderers 16 – Hunter

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The pair of feet that appeared behind the door aroused everyone's vigilance, but at this time, the door was almost closed against the wall. No matter who was hiding behind the door, they were too "flat", weren't they?

With the environment of the house, everyone thought, maybe the person hiding behind the door was not a human being.

Ma Han held his gun to the door, and Zhao Hu flashed to the side. When he looked behind the door, his expression was surprised, and then he put away his gun and walked over to pull the door open...

Bai Chi pulled the door on the other side open as well.

Once the two sides of the door closed, the crowd looked beside the door, and they all frowned – The word "weird" surfaced at the same time.

Behind the door, there was no one hiding, but rather there were two people nailed... To be exact, it was two dry corpses, one behind each door.

Gongsun went up to check, then turned back and said, "It's a real corpse!"

"Air-dried!" Zhan Zhao also went up to look, "Why is it so flat?"

"It has indeed gone through treatment!" Gongsun said, "Not only air-dried but also flattened."

The two dried corpses looked very old! The skin on the surface of the corpses appeared black, it wasn't known if they had been painted or handled in some way, but they felt like they had a smooth lustre.

Gongsun, after all, was an expert. He looked at them for a long time and frowned, "They look like ancient corpses!"

The crowd looked at each other in disbelief – Who hung two ancient corpses behind the door?

"Forget about the dead for now, look for the living." Bai Yutang reminded.

Everyone lifted their heads and looked at the several rooms upstairs.

Bai Yutang and the others split in two and searched for them one room at a time.

But several doors were opened, and not a single living person was found... And those rooms, just like the outer walls, were also covered with photographs, or rather, underworld portrait drawings. With the faces of the deceased one after the other, looking at them, one's hair stood up in a cold sweat.

Everyone searched all over this bizarre mansion but didn't find a living person... So how was the butterfly nailed up?

Zhan Zhao took a flashlight and shone it on the ground, walking and stomping his feet a few times. Eventually, there was an echoing sound from under the floor.

Zhan Zhao raised an eyebrow.

Luo Tian fumbled around on that part of the floor, and finally lifted a whole piece of the floor... under which was a tunnel.

Bai Yutang frowned, having a hunch that the person might have run away... Sure enough, they followed the tunnel and found their way out, arriving near a road in the distance. There was an abandoned sewer entrance here, and the manhole cover was open. After coming up, the surrounding area was still very secluded and overgrown.

Bai Yutang looked around and realised that he was inside an abandoned factory.

Ma Han shone his flashlight in all directions. The group searched, and finally Zhao Hu found a clear car tyre print at the intersection.

Bai Yutang frowned, "Ran away."

Bai Yutang called the people from the forensics department... Since someone had lived there, there were more or less some clues.

Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue, on the other hand, had taken a keen interest in the mansion and were observing it.

Ma Xin and Xiao Xiatian arrived with their toolboxes, and the two of them had glowing eyes as soon as soon as they saw the ancient corpses and the butterflies all over the walls.

At this moment, what caught Zhan Zhao's attention was Chen Xiaofei's actions.

He was looking carefully at the underworld portrait drawings, one by one... Finally, he found a drawing in a room on the second floor.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang saw him standing in front of the wall, stopping to look at a portrait drawing. In the drawing was a middle-aged man, probably around forty-five years old.

Judging by his looks, everyone had a feeling – The person in the drawing bore some resemblance to Chen Xiaofei.

Gongsun took one look and said, "The genetics are quite obvious, relatives?"

Everyone looked at Chen Xiaofei.

Chen Xiaofei was silent for a while before saying, "My grandfather."

"Grandfather?" Bai Chi was surprised.

Chen Xiaofei nodded.

Gongsun held the death mask that he wore and said, "Ten years ago you would have been in your teens, the one I saw wearing the mask wasn't you."

"That was my father." Chen Xiaofei shrugged.

Zhan Zhao was curious, "You inherited your father's legacy of pretending to be the Grim Reaper?"

"It's not illegal for a son to inherit his father's business!" Chen Xiaofei remained stubborn, "Our whole family are anime fans, is that not allowed?"

Zhan Zhao also took the mask and studied it, "Is there such an anime?"

"This is the Black Warrior which is not very well made! It's not the Grim Reaper!" Chen Xiaofei had a face of deathly denial.

Everyone looked at the sky.

Zhan Zhao looked at him and smiled faintly, "There's no point in you opposing us, so why don't we cooperate."

Chen Xiaofei narrowed his eyes at Zhan Zhao, seemingly judging whether he was trustworthy or not.

Bai Yutang looked at him, "Is your father still alive?"

Chen Xiaofei frowned and finally scowled, muttering, "Not anymore."

"What about your mum?" Zhan Zhao asked.

Chen Xiaofei frowned, "My mum is an ordinary housewife, don't bother her!"

Zhan Zhao nodded and asked him with a smile, "What? Your mum doesn't allow you to play spy?"

The corners of Chen Xiaofei's mouth straightened and he glared at Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao took the mask and gently shook it, "Either you cooperate with us, or we call our parents, take your pick."

Chen Xiaofei puffed his cheeks and held it for half a day, but finally deflated, "You guys are ruthless... But I have a condition!"

Bai Yutang nodded, signalling for him to speak.

Chen Xiaofei said, "If you guys can catch that guy, I want to personally crush him."

Bai Yutang raised his hand and slapped him on the back of the head, causing Chen Xiaofei to stumble "Do you think you're shooting an American TV show? Where did an ordinary college student like you get a gun!"

Chen Xiaofei flattened his mouth.

Zhan Zhao smiled slightly, "How about this, we'll make sure he gets what's coming to him?"

Chen Xiaofei looked at Zhan Zhao and nodded, "That's fine."

Leaving the people from the forensic department to collect evidence, the crowd returned to the command vehicle first.

Chen Xiaofei looked at the crowd and asked with some curiosity, "How did you all know I would appear?"

Bai Yutang told the general story about how Zhang Yu had seen him and how they had surmised his actions based on a large amount of data.

"Oh... that Grim Reaper ah, so you guys didn't even know who you were looking for?" Chen Xiaofei stroked his chin, "That's pretty impressive, I haven't been able to catch up with that butterfly after so many years of searching, and you guys have only been investigating for a few days, but you've actually found the den."

"What den are you talking about?" Zhan Zhao was curious, "That castle?"

"Mhmm!" Chen Xiaofei nodded, "This kind of fortress is collectively known as a den."

"How about starting with your father's generation first?" Bai Yutang was a little curious about the Grim Reaper Gongsun saw back then, Chen Xiaofei's father.

Chen Xiaofei sighed and said, "That picture just now, it was my grandfather's. My grandfather was murdered when my dad was sixteen. Of course, the police said it was just an accident, but my dad knew it wasn't! Before the body was cremated, he thoroughly investigated my grandpa's corpse and then found this."

Saying that, Chen Xiaofei pulled out a necklace that hung around his neck from inside his shirt. The pendant was a cylindrical copper sculpture that appeared to be able to be opened.

Chen Xiaofei opened that small copper cylinder, and it revealed that there was a black needle... an undead needle inside.

"How many years ago was your grandfather killed?" Bai Yutang asked.

"Twenty-seven or twenty-eight years ago." Chen Xiaofei replied.

Everyone looked at each other, "Then wouldn't the murderer be very old this year?"

Chen Xiaofei laughed, reaching out and pointing at the ancient castle, "Did you guys see the amount of pictures there? Is this a job that one person can do?"

The crowd frowned, "A gang?"

Chen Xiaofei thought for a moment, "Want me to say it..."

Without waiting for him to finish, Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue spoke in unison, "Family!"

Chen Xiaofei wrinkled his nose, "Don't hijack the sentence!"

Bai Yutang waved at him, which meant – Continue!

"A family committing crimes?" Gongsun was intrigued, "Your father started impersonating the Grim Reaper because he wanted to investigate your grandfather's death? Why did he have to impersonate the Grim Reaper?"

Chen Xiaofei held his chin and asked, "Have you guys heard of the hunting family?"

"The hunting understood in the usual sense seems to be different from what you're talking about." Zhao Hu felt weird when he thought about the wall full of photos, "Have all the members of this family been hunting for generations? Using modern means you can get information and data, how did they get it in the past?"

"Because of the large number of people and the wide range of coverage, the police, the media and people love to read newspapers..." Zhan Zhao said, "In the past, if someone passed away, the newspaper would publish an obituary. Sometimes tradition is more convenient than what's modern."

Chen Xiaofei blinked and looked at Zhan Zhao, "You're quite smart!"

"Not quite," Zhan Zhao corrected, "very!"

"Ha... I've met people like you before." Chen Xiaofei muttered to himself, "Actually, I originally didn't know what my dad was doing. After he passed away, that person came and gave me a key, and that's how I found my dad's secret."

"What person?" Zhao Jue asked.

"Well... a weirdo." Chen Xiaofei said, reaching out and patting his arm, "He has a fake arm..."

As soon as Chen Xiaofei finished speaking, he saw the crowd swiftly turn their heads, all staring at him.

"Wh... what?" Chen Xiaofei moved aside.

Zhao Jue stroked his chin and muttered to himself "Is this what drew him out?"

Zhan Zhao said to Chen Xiaofei, "Tell me the details of this matter from beginning to end."

Chen Xiaofei sighed and after organising his words, he said, "It's like this... Our family lives in the suburbs of S City, my parents are both farmers, but our family is still very rich."

Everyone nodded in understanding. Most of the farmers in the suburbs of S City had quite a lot of property, which they rented out or opened factories on, and there were numerous ways to make money, so their families were generally well-off.

"When I was a child, I always felt that I was quite ordinary. Other than knowing that my grandfather passed away before I was born, I really was no different from a child from an ordinary family." Chen Xiaofei said, "The only difference was that my dad was very good at roller skating. I grew up playing with him, so I was very strong at both roller skating and skateboarding, and I won the junior division of the extreme roller-skating tournament!"

The crowd was curious, "What level of champion?"

Chen Xiaofei raised an eyebrow, "Of course, it's the champion of the world extreme competition!"

The crowd was enlightened, no wonder it was so hard to catch him, it was as if his feet had been greased.

"But two years ago, my father passed away after a long period of illness." Chen Xiaofei said, "Now that I think about it, I actually should have noticed from a very young age that my dad had secrets!"

The crowd listened.

"When I was young, he would go out very late, and then he would often hide in the warehouse during the day. It looked like he was working as a carpenter, but he really sucked at wood carving!" Chen Xiaofei shook his head, "After he passed away, I went to clean up the warehouse, and found that the rooms in the warehouse had been remodelled and that there was an entrance to a basement. However, after going down the stairs, there was only an iron door, which was locked. I went through the boxes for a long time without finding a key... until one day, a person suddenly found me and gave me a key."

"When he gave you the key, did he say anything, or do any special actions?" Zhao Jue suddenly asked.

Chen Xiaofei thought for a moment, "Well... how can I say it, when he looked at me, I had a very strange feeling, just like him." Saying this, he pointed at Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao was stunned and wondered, "Almost like me? What feeling do I give you."

Chen Xiaofei thought about it and said, "It's just... when you look at me, it feels like you're looking at a husky..."

"Pfft..."

After Chen Xiaofei finished, Qin Ou was the first one who couldn't hold back and sprayed, and the crowd nodded heartily. Zhao Jue had been quite serious just now, but this time he was slumped over and pounding on the armrest.

Zhao Hu patted Chen Xiaofei's shoulder with deep understanding, "I understand how you feel!"

"Right!" Chen Xiaofei had found a confidant.

Zhan Zhao borrowed a mirror from Ma Xin to look at himself, then asked Bai Yutang, "Do you feel this way?"

Bai Yutang reached out to touch Zhan Zhao's head and shook his head, "No, ignore him."

The corner of Zhan Zhao's mouth twitched, "Why do you touch my head in the same way as stroking Lu Ban?"

"Ahem." Bai Yutang coughed gently and hooked a finger at Chen Xiaofei, "Continue."

Chen Xiaofei continued, "He told me that my father had a wish that he had yet to fulfil, and hoped that I could help him fulfil it. He left after saying that, and I never saw him again. When he gave me the key, I noticed that the hand he was holding the key with was a prosthetic hand, that prosthetic arm was super advanced! It gave it a bit of a cool feel. It wasn't one of those iron, really combative robotic hands, but one of those intelligent robotic hands you see in sci-fi films."

Everyone looked at Zhao Jue.

Zhao Jue smiled, "It's very attuned to his aesthetics."

"What happened after you got the key?" Bai Yutang asked.

"I opened that iron door." Chen Xiaofei said, "Inside there was all the information about the hunting family that my dad had collected over the years, as well as the diaries that he had written and so on. The one thing that I'm a bit better at than my dad is probably that I know more about modern technology, so I've spent the past two years using my time outside of school to investigate this family and I've got some clues... and then I was caught by you guys! My dad mentioned that hunting families all have dens, the locations of the dens are quite hidden, and inside the dens are their family trees. However, this is the first time I've seen one. It seems that my dad has found two other ones, but they're both abandoned."

"Is that information still in the basement?" Zhan Zhao was a little excited.

"Is it far?" Bai Yutang asked, "Let's drive there right now."

Chen Xiaofei waved his hand, "You guys don't look old, why are you so outdated?"

Everyone froze.

Chen Xiaofei fished a USB stick out of his pocket, "Of course in this era of paperless storage, I have scanned the documents and archived the video as a backup! Otherwise, what would happen if I lost them?"

The crowd was embarrassed... That's right.

Jiang Ping smiled and reached out to take the USB drive. Just when he inserted the USB flash drive into the computer, suddenly, there was a ping in the distance.

Bai Yutang looked up.

Ma Han said, "Gunshots!"

Everyone got out of the car.

The police officers outside were pointing in the direction of the distant road.

Bai Yutang led the men to run over to look.

Zhan Zhao frowned, "What's the situation?"

Zhao Jue smiled faintly, "Probably... the hunter has turned into the prey."

Zhan Zhao looked at Zhao Jue, "I remember that before we arrived, you were texting on the road, what were you doing this time?"

Zhao Jue shrugged, "I accidentally pressed group send by mistake again."

Zhan Zhao was speechless and grabbed his cell phone to take a look. He saw that the content of the text message Zhao Jue had sent out earlier was – "Clue about G", followed by the address of this ancient castle.

Zhan Zhao huffed, "Who did you send it to?"

Zhao Jue spread his hands, "I'm too old to remember!"

At this time, Zhan Zhao received a call from Bai Yutang, "Cat, call an ambulance over!"

Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue followed the ambulance to the highway and saw Bai Yutang and the others standing by the roadside, with a person lying on the ground.

Zhan Zhao walked over and saw that the person was wearing all black clothes. The style of clothes looked familiar, it was the same style as the black robe worn by the dry corpse that was hanging behind the door of the ancient castle just now, and his hair was very long, somewhat similar to a mane.

Chen Xiaofei was surprised, "You caught a living hunting family member!"

Zhao Jue smiled faintly and gave a middle finger to the distance.

Everyone looked into the distance.

Bai Yutang asked, "Who fired the shots?"

"There were about three people who fired." Ma Han was holding two bullets plucked from the ground, "The shots were fired almost simultaneously, but the closest one hit and then he collapsed. The other two shots flew wide. The targets of the shots were similar, they were all aimed at the position of the shoulder and collarbone. The other party was trying to leave them alive."

"Do you know who it is?" Zhan Zhao asked.

Ma Han said, "The one who fired the shot that hit should be Eleven."

Everyone was surprised and subconsciously looked around – Eleven was actually here!

"The other two are not simple either." Saying that, Ma Han held a particularly thick-looking bullet and said, "This is a homemade bullet. As far as I know, there's only one person in this world who can use this kind of bullet."

"Who?" Zhao Hu was curious.

"Zero." Ma Han replied.

Zhao Hu had obviously never heard of him, "Zero? 0? Who?"

"He should be in his sixties this year, right?" Bai Yutang asked.

Ma Han nodded.

"You know that too?" Zhan Zhao asked Bai Yutang curiously.

"Zero is 0, which stands for clearing, so he's not an assassin or a sniper, but a scavenger." Bai Yutang said, "His experience is complicated, let's talk about it when we have time."

Everyone rubbed their chins – Scavenger...

"What about the other bullet?" Bai Yutang asked Ma Han.

"I'm not sure if this kind of bullet belongs to that person, but I've seen it before." Ma Han said, "Remember that cello?"

"Cello?" asked Zhan Zhao, "The punk guy?"

"That means..." Gongsun asked, "are we now standing within range of three of the world's top snipers?"

Zhan Zhao nodded, but then waved his hand, "It doesn't matter."

"Are you sure?" The rest of the crowd asked.

Zhan Zhao pointed at Zhao Jue, "If the other party really wants to shoot, I reckon that he'll be the one to get shot first, we have time to counterattack!"

Everyone looked at Zhao Jue.

The corners of Zhao Jue's mouth were twitching, and at the same time, his cell phone was continuously buzzing, it seemed that he had received a lot of text messages.

Zhan Zhao took his cell phone, glanced at it, and saw various text messages in different languages. The content was almost the same, they were all asking him – Where is G? What kind of goods were shot just now?

Zhan Zhao opened his mouth.

Bai Yutang looked into the distance, "How many people were involved in this ambush?"

Zhao Jue put away his cell phone, "They all should have withdrawn by now."

At this time, the paramedics had already given the man who had been shot preliminary treatment for his wounds and lifted him onto a stretcher, and Zhao Hu put a few more pairs of handcuffs on him. Bai Yutang asked Luo Tian and Qin Ou to follow him to the hospital and deployed extra manpower to keep a close eye on him.

They waited for the people to leave.

Chen Xiaofei muttered, as if he couldn't believe it, "Surprisingly, he was actually caught... If only my father had reported the case earlier."

Zhan Zhao nodded, indicating that he agreed with his words.

The crowd headed back.

Bai Yutang suddenly asked Zhao Jue, "You and Eleven, and Cello and the others, shouldn't be considered friends, right?"

Zhao Jue smiled slightly.

"Why are they willing to help you?" Bai Yutang was puzzled, "It's not like you're any kind of honest person, but they believed you when you sent a text message... Why?"

Zhao Jue was pleased and said slowly, "The enemy of the enemy is a friend, they are all smart people."

"What do you mean?" Zhan Zhao was curious.

"Capturing G isn't considered a victory, he also needs to be eliminated." Zhao Jue smiled faintly, "There are several important elements needed to eliminate him. The most important one among them, do you know what it is?"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang glanced at each other, and they both looked at Zhao Jue and asked, "What is it?"

Zhao Jue pointed at himself and smiled faintly, "Me!"

‿︵‿︵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 13, 2024 by Angel

Edited: March 27, 2024 by Angel