S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 5 Chapter 3

Witness of the Three Murderers 03 – Zen

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Bai Ye put on his seatbelt and looked at Zhao Jue, who was sitting on the passenger seat and had taken a napkin out to start folding something, "Aren't you still not finished with the matter at hand? You're going to find them now?"

"Uh-huh." Zhao Jue grunted and continued folding the napkin in his hand.

Bai Ye sighed and started the car. Turning his face, he saw that Zhao Jue had folded the napkin in his hand into a pinwheel.

Bai Ye frowned slightly and looked at Zhao Jue with some surprise.

Zhao Jue laid the napkin folded into a paper pinwheel on his knee, and the corner of his mouth lifted into a smile. Lifting his face again, a slightly evil smile appeared on his face, and with both eyebrows raised gently, Zhao Jue looked at Bai Ye, "Did you bring your sword?"

Hearing this, Bai Ye was silent for a moment before asking rhetorically, "Aren't you my sword?"

Zhao Jue looked at him, then asked in a teasing tone, "Your mouth has become sweet, has there been a genetic mutation? Didn't you say you're stable?"

Bai Ye shook his head helplessly, turned on the windshield wipers, and drove to the neighbourhood on the waterfront.

"Seatbelt on." Bai Ye reminded Zhao Jue.

Zhao Jue flicked his hand towards the window and drew his seatbelt, "It seems like your state is always shifting between fearing my death and hoping for my death, aren't you tired of being so schizophrenic?"

Bai Ye sighed, "You're a little heavy on the murderous spirit today."

"I'm in a good mood." Zhao Jue closed the window.

The car sped away, and the soft napkin floated out with the wind, landing in a dirty pool of water, and was soon crushed into mud by the wheels that raced past.

......

The doorbell rang at Liu Jin's home.

Liu Jin wanted to go and open the door, but Zhan Zhao waved his hand, indicating – he could do it for him.

Liu Jin then sat still.

Zhan Zhao pressed the electronic lock of the downstairs door.

He waited until the sound of footsteps ringing from the doorway got closer and closer, and the person coming seemed to have finally stopped at the front door. The moment the doorbell rang, Zhan Zhao opened the door.

The person at the door was obviously startled by the door suddenly being opened, and froze in place. His hand was still pressed on the doorbell, and he looked dumbfoundedly at Zhan Zhao who appeared at the door.

At this time, Zhan Zhao was surveying the person – The person was in his fifties, half of his hair was grey, he was dressed appropriately and was very elegant, and his appearance was good, with Chinese and correct facial features.

Judging by the distribution of wrinkles on his face – he doesn't like to smile or frown, and he is an academic research fanatic.

Judging by the skin condition and skin colour – he doesn't like to bask in the sun but also doesn't pay attention to maintenance, and he is someone who doesn't care about his appearance.

Judging by the thickness and style of the glasses – he is a person who has the habit of reading all year round and pays close attention to details.

Judging by the casually tousled hairstyle and slightly wrinkled shirt – he's not married or divorced, has no pets, and is alone.

Judging by the slight dark circles under his eyes and the slightly red whites of his eyes – he went to bed late last night or is used to staying up late.

Judging by the style of the jacket and the looseness of the pants – he looks a little younger than he should be for his actual age.

Judging by the details of the fingers and nails – he's lived a rich, pampered life and is a control freak who is very paranoid about certain aspects of his life.

Judging by the expression on his face – he recognises him and is shocked at his appearance.

Judging by the shape of the cell phone in his pants pocket and the state of the money clip in his jacket pocket – he earns a decent income, is not old-fashioned and does not reject new technology, and often has the opportunity to interact with young people.

Judging by the overall shape of his body and the state of his shoes – he has a strict family upbringing, has developed good habits since childhood, and loves sports.

So in the end, Zhan Zhao came to a conclusion – he is a psychology professor at a university, has no bad hobbies, and... is a brain-damaged fan!

"Are you... are you Dr. Zhan?" The person at the doorway got excited after waking up, "I... I am Song Tianjie, a psychology professor at E University. I went to your psychology lectures and I admire you so much! I didn't expect to see you here!"

Zhan Zhao raised his eyebrows – the deduction matched. The only possible intersection between him and himself was through a certain lecture. He himself had very few public speeches or lectures, and he didn't participate in many academic exchanges, apart from the classes he had given at X University in the past, and he sifted through them briefly.

Zhan Zhao raised his eyebrows, "The annual international psychology conference two years ago?"

Song Tianjie opened his mouth wide, "Uh... yes, you actually remembered it."

Bai Yutang and the others silently drank tea – Zhan Zhao probably even remembered what the nurse who delivered his mom's baby looked like...

Song Tianjie was obviously still in a state of great nervousness and confusion as well as excitement from meeting his idol for the first time. After entering the door, he looked blankly at Liu Jin sitting in front of the coffee table, and when he saw Bai Yutang and the others, he realised, "Oh... if you have something to do, I'll come back another day. "

"No need, sit down and let's talk together." Bai Yutang gestured for him to sit down.

Song Tianjie walked over to Liu Jin's side and sat down, looking at Bai Yutang and then at Zhan Zhao, asking, "Has SCI intervened in Old Liu's case yet?"

Zhan Zhao walked over to the sofa and sat down, "You know we're from SCI?"

Song Tianjie nodded, seeming to be quite embarrassed, "I've bought every one of your books, and I'll read some of your cases that are circulating on the internet."

Bai Yutang was quite relaxed at this point, he wasn't here to interrogate a criminal, he was just here to look at the situation. Zhao Hu and Ma Han were even more confused, but Zhan Zhao was quite excited.

"Did you come up with that pinwheel formation?" Zhan Zhao asked with great interest.

Song Tianjie looked back at the pinwheels on the balcony, "Actually, I didn't come up with it, someone taught me."

Zhan Zhao's eyes lit up, "Who taught you?"

"Uh, someone I met in a zen room." Song Tianjie replied.

Zhan Zhao was slightly stunned, "A zen room?"

"Oh, I would often go to a zen room to sit in meditation, chatting with people I don't know about my heart and relieving my bad emotions." Song Tianjie replied, "Old Liu has been a friend of mine for many years, many doctors are unable to help him with his one-half deficiency, and the side effects of medication have caused him to reject treatment. When I was in the zen room one day, I talked to a young man about it, and he drew me a diagram." Saying this, he reached out and pointed in the direction of the balcony, "I made this set of windmills according to the drawing he designed, and as a result, Old Liu's condition really got better. It's simply amazing."

Zhan Zhao was slightly stunned and asked, "You're saying that the person who taught you this method is very young?"

"Mhmm! He's probably only in his thirties, a tall and thin young man, wearing all black, with black hair." Song Tianjie sighed, "What a fearsome young man."

"Where is the zen room where you met him?" Zhan Zhao asked with great interest.

Song Tianjie wrote down the address for Zhan Zhao.

"But he doesn't seem to go there very often, and I haven't seen him since." Song Tianjie said, "To be honest, I actually inquired about his name, but unfortunately the zen rooms are all under a member confidentiality system, no one knows each other's names, and the owner refuses to disclose it as well."

Zhan Zhao nodded and asked, "Does he have any other characteristics besides the ones you described?"

"Uh..." Song Tianjie thought for a moment and suddenly said, "Right, his eye colour isn't quite the same as most Asians, but his facial features are indeed Asian."

"What colour are his eyes?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"It's like the kind of grey-blue colour that is very common in Europeans, the kind that has mixed colours." Song Tianjie gestured, "At first I thought it was the type of contacts that young people often wear nowadays, but looking closely it is indeed a natural colour."

"Oh..." Zhan Zhao nodded.

After that, Zhan Zhao and Liu Jin chatted again, and Liu Jin described all three witnessed murder cases in detail, which were similar to the cases Bai Yutang and the others usually heard about.

During this entire process, Zhan Zhao didn't say a word, he leaned on the sofa and quietly listened.

He waited for Liu Jin to finish telling everything.

Zhan Zhao looked at Song Tianjie beside him again and asked, "Have you heard all of this before?"

Song Tianjie nodded.

Liu Jin said, "Tianjie and I are old friends and would often talk, and he analysed it for me."

"Mhmm." Zhan Zhao nodded and stood up, looking at his cell phone... to discover that an hour had already passed.

Thus, Zhan Zhao raised an eyebrow at Bai Yutang, which meant – Let's go back.

Bai Yutang nodded, stood up, and asked Zhan Zhao as he headed out, "Aren't you waiting for Zhao Jue?"

"Didn't he say he'd be here soon." Zhan Zhao was also a bit puzzled, "He's still not here?"

The crowd left Liu Jin's home and descended the stairs, only to see a white sports car parked in front of the building.

They saw the window lowered, and the person in the car looked at the crowd.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang glanced at each other – It was Bai Ye.

Walking over to the car window, Zhan Zhao looked sideways, and sure enough, Zhao Jue was sitting in the passenger seat. His black hair seemed to have grown a bit longer, but his face was clean, and he was yawning, "So slow."

Zhan Zhao looked back at the pinwheels upstairs, "You're not going up?"

"Knockoffs, making me excited for nothing." Zhao Jue scowled.

Seeing his lack of excitement, Zhan Zhao suddenly asked, "Do you recognise an Asian man with grey-blue eyes?"

Zhao Jue froze slightly and raised his head to look at Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao took out the address that Song Tianjie had written for him and looked at it, that zen room should be near the waterfront, so he shook the paper, "Go meditate before you go back."

After saying that, he took out his cell phone and asked Jiang Ping to help him find the address of the zen room to navigate.

Zhao Jue hurriedly scurried out of the car and followed Zhan Zhao.

Zhao Hu and Ma Han exchanged glances and followed.

When Bai Yutang turned around, he saw Bai Ye sigh and gesture for him to get in the car.

Bai Yutang got into the car and guided Bai Ye to park next to his own car, then the two of them got out and walked towards the waterfront as well.

The two walked side by side. By now, the rain had long since stopped, the wind was a bit lighter, and there were a few more people on the road than there had been just a few moments ago.

Quite a few passersby would glance at Bai Ye and Bai Yutang as they walked by, and it was as if the passersby's eyes were sighing – Genetics are truly magnificent! Look at how much these two brothers look alike!

Zhao Hu first looked ahead at Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue walking side by side. The two of them were chatting with each other about something, and then they started grabbing their cell phones, the communication was slightly childish.

Then he turned back to look at Bai Ye and Bai Yutang... The two big handsome men all in white kept a distance of about a foot or so, with one hand in their pockets and taking long strides, their proud height and body proportions appearing to be like winter melons to the passersby around them. It's just that they had cold expressions, and they weren't interacting with each other.

The corners of Zhao Hu's mouth twitched, then he turned to look at Ma Han, who was also silent with his hands in his pockets beside him, and sighed.

Ma Han was originally looking at the villa area on the distant hillside. Hearing Zhao Hu sigh, he looked at him, "What is it?"

Zhao Hu signalled for him to look ahead.

Ma Han raised his eyes and saw that Zhan Zhao was snapping pictures with his cell phone, and Zhao Jue was whispering in a fragmented voice, "It's bad!"

Zhao Hu motioned for him to turn back.

Ma Han looked back. He saw Bai Ye and Bai Yutang not far away...

Ma Han asked Zhao Hu in confusion, "What's wrong?"

Zhao Hu whispered, "Getting along mode ah."

Ma Han was puzzled.

Right at this moment, he saw that Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue in front of them both stopped and tilted their faces up to look at a small black building on a shopping street to the side.

Zhao Hu and Ma Han also walked behind them, and tilted their faces up to take a look. They both raised an eyebrow, this store is cool ah, there is just one word on the sign at the entrance – Zen!

Zhao Jue crossed his arms and asked Zhan Zhao, "Is this the new style of temple decoration?"

Zhan Zhao looked at him breathlessly, "This is the zen room."

Zhao Jue stroked his chin, "Wow... young people nowadays play with this kind of thing ah?"

Zhan Zhao looked at the sky – An elderly person who is out of touch with the times.

At this time, Bai Yutang and Bai Ye also walked to the door.

Bai Ye took a look and asked Bai Yutang, "Zen... What is this place?"

Bai Yutang looked at it and replied, "A temple, I think."

Bai Ye nodded, "Oh..."

......

The corner of Zhan Zhao's mouth twitched, and on the side, Zhao Jue squinted at him – Three against one!

This zen room was basically a square with a glass structure, with circles and circles of black iron on all sides, decorated in a very modern way. But inside there seemed to be a bit of a rustic Chinese atmosphere... All in all, it looked quite upscale.

The main door was glass. Zhao Hu walked to the door, and the door opened automatically via a sensor.

Inside the door was the lobby. The decoration was even more rustic, it was entirely Chinese home furnishings and looked like a tea room.

There was an attendant wearing black clothes, a young boy, who probably didn't expect anyone to come in such bad weather. He raised his head to look out and saw six people walk in, all of them tall and handsome.

The attendant froze for a long time before asking, "Uh... we have a membership program here, were you guys referred by someone?"

Bai Yutang, Bai Ye and Ma Han, the three silence fanatics continued to model in the back, posing and not speaking. Zhao Jue and Zhan Zhao looked around, sizing up the attendant in the meantime.

Zhao Hu had to go up and take charge of dealing with the attendant, "Mr. Song referred us."

"Oh!" The attendant immediately understood, "Teacher Song ah, are you guys his students?"

Zhao Hu was helpless, "Yes, taking his psychology class. He insisted that we come to sit in meditation."

The attendant smiled and nodded, asking, "Do you guys want to join the club, or do you want to..."

Just before he finished speaking, he saw Zhao Jue walk up from the side and stand in front of the counter.

The attendant looked at him dumbly.

Zhao Hu also looked at him. Master Zhao obviously had little patience, signalling to Zhao Hu – Move aside brat!

Zhao Hu silently hid behind Ma Han, practising his usual "don't mess with Zhao Jue" policy.

Zhao Jue reached out and hooked his finger at the young boy, "Do you have surveillance here?"

"Uh... there is." The boy looked foolishly into Zhao Jue's eyes.

Zhao Jue's left eyebrow was slightly raised, and he raised his hand to gently pat the young boy's shoulder, "I want to see your surveillance, as well as, the roster of all the members."

"Oh..." The boy foolishly took out the roster and showed it to Zhao Jue.

Zhao Jue flipped through it and raised an eyebrow, "Only the last name without the first name ah?"

"Member names and information are confidential..." the boy answered honestly, "the information is in the computer in the boss's office, and no one is allowed to see it."

Zhao Jue smiled and asked, "Is your computer connected to the Internet?"

The attendant nodded.

Bai Yutang frowned at Zhan Zhao – What's the condition of that boy?

Zhan Zhao shrugged – Controlled by Zhao Jue.

Zhao Jue fished a USB flash drive out of his pocket and inserted it into the USB port of the computer on the service desk, then took out his phone, "Tech nerd! Hack this computer for me."

In the SCI office, Jiang Ping tapped away at his keyboard with a donut in his mouth, and after about a minute, he said to the phone on his desk, "Hacked it, you can directly access the other party's mainframe to check the information with Dr. Zhan's tablet."

Satisfied, Zhao Jue took Zhan Zhao's tablet and checked the information.

Zhao Hu's mouth was wide open as he looked at the attendant in front of him who was still dumbfounded, while the others watched from behind as Zhao Jue's entire crime was committed within two minutes.

Bai Yutang held his forehead.

Zhan Zhao took the phone and asked Jiang Ping, "You actually worked for him!"

Jiang Ping froze for a long time and innocently replied, "He... used your phone."

Zhan Zhao was stunned. He looked down and saw that the phone was exactly the same as the one he had taken out of his pants pocket, and realised that Zhao Jue had just used the argument to steal his phone.

Breathlessly snatching the phone, Zhan Zhao turned back and saw Bai Yutang looking aside, the corners of his mouth subtly picking up in an arc on his expressionless face. For a person with facial paralysis, this was already a rather obvious gloating expression.

Zhan Zhao became angry.

"There is no such person." After browsing through all the information, Zhao Jue set the tablet aside and looked at the boy for a moment, then suddenly smiled.

Just as Zhao Jue smiled, the boy suddenly mechanically opened the drawer... and he was seen taking a gun out of the drawer and lifting his hand... towards Zhao Jue.

On the side, Zhao Hu was startled and was about to pull Zhao Jue, but Zhao Jue did not hide, he just stood in place and laughed.

At the moment when the boy was about to pull the trigger, a snap was heard.

The boy froze, then looked at his hand in confusion.

Everyone turned around, only to see Zhan Zhao, who had been standing next to Zhao Jue, stretching his hand out and snapping his fingers in front of the boy's eyes.

"Woahhh!" The boy suddenly dropped his gun and sat on the ground, looking blankly around and at the crowd in front of him.

Ma Han and Zhao Hu went to check on the attendant.

Zhan Zhao asked Zhao Jue, "Is it a big fish this time?"

Zhao Jue smiled even more happily, his eyebrows raised in a nice arc as he nodded happily, "Oh, yes!"

Behind him, Bai Yutang looked at Bai Ye.

Bai Ye suddenly asked, "Do you usually play with swords?"

Bai Yutang froze, then shook his head, "But I have a good sword."

Bai Ye nodded, "In that case, come out sometime and we'll spar."

Bai Yutang sighed – Not having a case is weirder than having a case, this direction... is not considered fabulous.

‿︵‿︵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 2, 2024 by Angel

Edited: January 31, 2024 by Angel