S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 5 Chapter 4

Witness of the Three Murderers 04 – Ferocious Plant

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The emergency situation in the zen room was quickly resolved.

The boy at the front desk was in a dazed state when he saw the gun, completely unable to remember why he was here or why he was holding a gun. His state was close to that of waking up from a hangover and realising that there was someone he didn't know lying next to him, so his brain shut down and he was dumbfounded.

Bai Yutang examined the gun, and also wanted to laugh a little – It was a high-end fake gun that could only fire circular fake bullets, and it didn't have a single bullet in it, so it wasn't a dangerous item.

Bai Yutang asked the boy for information about the boss of the zen room, but he didn't remember anything, didn't know anything at all, and didn't look like he was faking it.

Zhao Hu and Ma Han searched the "boss's office" of the zen room and found a very interesting thing – The boss of the zen room was called Wei Lin, and he was no other than the young boy standing at the front desk.

All the licences for the zen room belong to Wei Lin, and even the identity documents used to rent the building were Wei Lin's. However, regarding this, Wei Lin was completely unaware, as if he had lost his memory. He shook his head vigorously, saying that he was just a part-time worker. But when asked specifically about how he applied for the job, he seemed a little confused.

Bai Yutang had Jiang Ping check Wei Lin's background. He was just an ordinary college graduate, his family was not in S City, and based on his financial situation, he should not be able to support this zen room.

Facing Wei Lin who was scratching his head and even felt that he had been abducted by aliens, Bai Yutang asked Zhan Zhao, "What's going on?"

Zhan Zhao explained to Bai Yutang, "The one we met this time is an expert. Wei Lin was hypnotised and then controlled by someone, becoming the substitute of the real owner of this zen room and doing everything as instructed. And the real owner stayed hidden behind the scenes, not interacting with anyone except Wei Lin. Once something happens, the clues will break here with Wei Lin, because regardless of whether Wei Lin's hypnosis is lifted or preserved, he doesn't have any memories of the person behind the curtain."

Bai Yutang frowned.

Zhao Hu was also surprised, "So powerful? Can't that be used to do a lot of bad things?"

Ma Han asked Zhan Zhao, "Can't it be restored?"

Zhan Zhao frowned slightly, it seemed a bit difficult.

Zhao Jue walked over and raised one hand to either side, placing them on Zhao Hu and Ma Han's shoulders, "Actually, it's not difficult technically, but there are times in this world when it's a situation where even if you have the ability, you will be unable to do anything about it."

Zhao Hu and Ma Han both looked at him – What did that mean?

Zhao Jue looked at the two, seemingly assessing their IQs, and then began to explain, "For example, if you want to open a safe you must first know the password, right? There are thousands of different passwords, and there is only one that is right. If there are no consequences for pressing the wrong password, then you might as well give it a try, but if it explodes if you press the wrong password, then it's not good... Just now, Zhan Kitten and I each tried the wrong password once, so it resulted in two consequences."

Zhao Hu and Ma Han were a bit puzzled – When did they try it?

Zhao Jue looked at the two again, then turned back to ask Zhan Zhao, "Which level of IQ do these two belong to in SCI?

The corners of Zhao Hu and Ma Han's mouths twitched.

Zhao Jue smirked, "How can such a stupid yet adorable person become a police officer? Doesn't it matter? The IQ is at the level of a cockroach."

Bai Ye pressed down on Zhao Jue's head with one hand before Zhao Hu and Ma Han could lose their tempers, then yanked him back by his collar to keep him from bothering anyone else.

Zhan Zhao explained to Zhao Hu and Ma Han, "Zhao Jue just hypnotised him again, which is equivalent to using the wrong password for the first time, which resulted in Wei Lin preparing to shoot him. Then I snapped my fingers at him, which was equivalent to entering the password for the second time and it was still wrong, resulting in his brain being emptied of all information. So it means that unless you know what the real password is, another attempt at another password could trigger something else, and in any case, the consequences are hard to predict."

Zhao Hu and Ma Han nodded – So that was it.

Bai Yutang asked Zhao Jue, "Do you have a suspect to offer?"

Zhao Jue nodded.

"Who is it?" Zhan Zhao rushed to ask. He had developed a keen interest in this person, and based on Zhao Jue's behaviour, it should be a big fish.

Zhao Jue stroked his chin and extended two fingers.

Zhan Zhao slightly froze before nodding, "I know you're stupid! I'm asking you for clues!"

Zhao Jue looked at him with blank eyes.

Bai Ye looked at Zhao Jue's fingers and asked with a frown, "Is it Glenn?"

Zhao Jue smiled faintly.

Bai Ye raised an eyebrow, "Surprisingly, he was discovered..."

"Who's Glenn?" Zhan Zhao's ears were sharp.

Zhao Jue frowned at Zhan Zhao, "Have you carefully read the information I gave you yet? Are you two dead kids living a desultory life everyday so you don't even do your homework properly!"

Zhan Zhao looked at the sky.

Bai Yutang gently stroked his chin – Seriously, when would a desultory life come? He also wanted to be similar to his older brother, living every day in a state of lust and not thinking about progress or whatever.

Seeing that Zhan Zhao asked, Zhao Jue still stretched out two fingers.

Zhan Zhao raised his hand, which meant – If you raise your two again, I'll smack you, do you believe it or not?

Zhao Jue sighed, "Number two."

Zhan Zhao froze, and Bai Yutang also looked at him.

Zhan Zhao was then startled, "Ah! The one labelled as G in your information is this Glenn?"

"G." Zhao Jue slowly opened his mouth, his finger gently tapping his chin as if he was recalling the letter over and over again, before he took a deep breath, "Little G."

Bai Yutang looked at the sky. It was almost evening at this point, and it would be nighttime by the time they drove back and got home... The weather was dark and gloomy, and the weather forecast said that it would rain heavily again in the evening.

So, the crowd went back to the SCI office first.

On the way back, Zhao Jue insisted on squeezing in Zhan Zhao's car. Zhao Hu and Ma Han, given the choice between squeezing in the back seat with Zhao Jue and sharing a car with Bai Ye, did not hesitate to choose to share a car with Bai Ye.

Zhan Zhao looked with disdain at Zhao Jue who was sitting in the backseat in a grand manner, rummaging through the snack bags in the car looking for chips to eat.

Bai Yutang drove back to the police station.

Zhan Zhao asked Zhao Jue, who was eating potato chips in the back seat, "That Glenn, is he the one who showed Song Tianjie how to make a pinwheel?"

"It sounds like it from the outside." Zhao Jue patted the chip crumbs on his hand and opened a bottle of water, "But this kid has one main characteristic."

"What characteristic?" Zhan Zhao was curious.

Zhao Jue patted his left hand, "He's missing half of his arm."

Zhan Zhao froze.

"A prosthetic hand was fitted." Zhao Jue crossed his legs and said as he drank water.

Zhan Zhao grew more and more curious, "Why is he missing an arm? From what Song Tianjie described, he seems to be very young. An immortal like you? "

Zhao Jue squinted at him, "I'm not immortal, I'm just doll-faced..."

Zhan Zhao looked at the sky.

"But Song Tianjie didn't describe him incorrectly either." Zhao Jue smiled slightly, "He's the same age as Jintang and he loves to pretend to be young, so he just appears young."

Zhan Zhao froze, and Bai Yutang subconsciously glanced at Zhao Jue in the rearview mirror, "So young?"

Zhao Jue moved forward and grabbed the back of Zhan Zhao's seat, grinning, "The so-called you can see your age at the age of three, he's been a psychopath since he was a child!"

Zhan Zhao frowned, "What do you mean?"

"Do you know how he lost his left hand?" Zhao Jue asked.

Zhan Zhao shook his head and thought to himself, why am I asking you if I know?

"Well, when he was about ten or so years old, he felt that his entire body was perfect, it was just his left hand that didn't look good, so he distilled his own anaesthetics from a plant, then took it upon himself to remove his left hand below the elbow and made a prosthetic limb that he thought was even more perfect." Zhao Jue shook his head as he tsked at the shocked Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, "He's a genius in everything apart from being a psychopath, he's simply a bug! If the two of you were created when God was in a good mood, then he must have been created to destroy the world when God was in an extremely bad mood."

Bai Yutang was a bit puzzled, "What's a bug?"

Zhao Jue blinked and looked at Bai Yutang, "Isn't that what young people say?"

Bai Yutang was even more confused.

Zhao Jue shook his head and looked at Bai Yutang, "How out of touch with the times is your life?"

Bai Yutang was speechless and continued driving.

Zhao Jue pursued and asked him, "Do you have WeChat?"

Bai Yutang shook his head.

"Weibo?"

Bai Yutang continued to shake his head.

"Don't you play with any social networks?"

Bai Yutang still shook his head.

"What about game accounts or something?"

Bai Yutang rolled his eyes towards the rearview mirror, and it was a very handsome eye roll nonetheless.

Zhao Jue opened his mouth wide and looked at Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao shrugged.

Zhao Jue tilted his head, "There's definitely a QQ account, right?"

Bai Yutang didn't say anything. Zhan Zhao shook his head on the side and helped him, telling Zhao Jue, "He has an email address that I requested for him but he never uses it, and the only way to contact him is to make a phone call. Also, there are risks in making harassing phone calls and sending spam text messages, he might take them seriously."

Zhao Jue was curious, "How can it be taken seriously?"

"One day there was a scammer who texted him saying that there was a package for him, telling him to go get it... as a result, he really went." Zhan Zhao said with a sympathetic face, "That scammer, the scammer's gang and the gang's gang are now squatting in jail to recover from their injuries. Every month, he pulls a list of harassing phone calls and gives it to Jiang Ping for him to check one by one... so he eventually made it onto the crooks' blacklist."

Zhao Jue's eyes widened as he looked at Bai Yutang, "Who exactly do you inherit this personality from?"

Bai Yutang glanced at him, "Continue talking about that Glenn."

Zhao Jue held his chin, "Little G hasn't appeared for a long time. If you find him, you'll be able to find the base."

"Little G ..." Zhan Zhao looked at Zhao Jue, "But it seems like the clues are severed now, right?"

"Properly severed! But nothing is absolute, the geese passing by leave a sound... Hiding after being discovered is more troublesome." Zhao Jue very proudly smiled, while clicking away on his cell phone.

"Why open a small zen room if you have such a powerful background?" Bai Yutang wondered, "He also cured Liu Jin's illness."

"I also think it doesn't feel the same as that G described in your information." Zhan Zhao chimed in, "When I read your information, I always imagined G to be a velociraptor."

Bai Yutang and Zhao Jue both froze – A velociraptor?

"Simple, crude and efficient." Zhan Zhao raised one eyebrow, "Ferocious by nature."

Zhao Jue was amused by the "velociraptor " and rolled around in the backseat, "Haha!"

After laughing for a while, Zhao Jue sat back down and reached out, gently poking Zhan Zhao's shoulder.

Zhan Zhao glanced at him.

Zhao Jue laughed badly, "Watch out for being taken out by him oh, you two..."

Zhan Zhao smiled slightly, "You haven't even finished us off, are you afraid of him?"

"Ya~" Zhao Jue's finger poked Zhan Zhao's shoulder, "Sweet mouth!"

Zhan Zhao slapped his fingers away, "How many times have you tried, it's useless to talk to you."

Zhao Jue smiled and retracted his finger, poking Bai Yutang again.

Bai Yutang looked in the rearview mirror while noticing a flash in the sky, it looked like it was going to rain heavily again.

The car happened to pass by the back entrance of the botanical gardens. Zhan Zhao subconsciously glanced at it, reminding himself, don't forget to ask Gongsun about the details of the case back then when he gets home.

While he was lost in thought, he heard Zhao Jue speaking, seemingly making small talk, "Have you ever wondered why the Bai bloodline is immune to hypnosis and suggestion?"

Zhan Zhao crossed his legs, this was indeed a question he often pondered, "In fact, there are only two people who are truly and completely immune. So far it's only Xiao Bai and Bai Ye. I haven't tried Uncle Bai, but neither Bai Chi nor Brother are immune."

Saying this, Zhan Zhao summarised, throwing out his usual theories, "Is it because the bloodline is close to that of a wild beast?"

Bai Yutang was helpless, he was right next to him, okay...

Zhao Jue gently shook his finger, "Instead of proximity to animals, how about proximity to plants, what do you think?"

"Plants?" It was the first time that Zhan Zhao had heard of this theory, his knuckles gently tapped his chin and he thought about the idea.

"In fact, the most cruel or ferocious in this world is not animals. The destructive power of flesh and blood is limited, the truly ferocious ones are plants." Zhao Jue said, "Hide your purpose, start laying out the root system first, and then spend a lot of time to ultimately reach your goal." Zhao Jue reached out and pulled out his cell phone, showing Zhan Zhao the background picture on his phone.

When Zhan Zhao took it, he saw that it was a picture of two entangled trees, one was thick but already dead, while the dead wood was surrounded by a kind of green vine, lush and permeated with a sense of vitality. It was not clear whether it was a result of the angle of the photo or the light, but Zhan Zhao felt that the vine seemed like an octopus, wrapping around the dead tree in a deadly manner, with the thin vines embedded in the torso of the dead tree like sharp claws. As Zhao Jue had said – ferocious! For the first time in his life, Zhan Zhao gave such an evaluation of a plant.

Zhan Zhao frowned and looked at Zhao Jue.

Zhao Jue said excitedly, "As long as one's nature is ferocious, whether it's a plant or an animal, it will definitely come out to hunt... If it hasn't moved for a long time, it's definitely not changing its nature, but it's in the middle of laying out a plan."

Zhan Zhao slightly raised an eyebrow, "Are you saying that G has been in hiding because he was laying out his plans, and it was an unexpected situation this time that broke his plans and exposed his whereabouts?"

"An unexpected situation?" Bai Yutang asked, "Why did he take the risk of telling Song Tianjie the method of the pinwheel to cure Liu Jin?"

"Smart people who do stupid things usually do it for just one reason." Zhao Jue asked Zhan Zhao, "What do you think?"

Zhan Zhao thought for a moment, "Interest?"

Zhao Jue smiled, "He must have found something very interesting, so he couldn't help himself."

"Meaning Liu Jin's case?" Zhan Zhao asked.

Zhao Jue waved his hand, "Who cares about Liu Jin or Liu Yin or whatever, as long as we follow this case, we should be able to find him."

"What are you going to do after you find G?" Zhan Zhao was curious.

Zhao Jue blinked and asked rhetorically, "What would you do if you captured a velociraptor?"

Zhan Zhao was confused.

Zhao Jue patted him on the head, "Of course I'd kill it to prevent future problems, should I raise it?"

Saying this, Zhao Jue prompted Zhan Zhao, "Send a text message to your father, saying that you have found G."

Zhan Zhao did as he was told, and as soon as the text message was sent out, he received a call from Zhan Qitian, simply telling Zhan Zhao – Bring Zhao Jue to the SCI office and meet him there!

Compared to the more relaxed atmosphere in Zhan Zhao's car, the atmosphere in Bai Ye's car was a little weird.

Zhao Hu and Ma Han sat in the backseat while Bai Ye drove, and the car was silent.

As Zhao Hu observed Bai Ye's habitual movements while driving, he felt that it was getting weirder and weirder – Bai Ye's every move of his hand and every step of his foot were all in striking alignment with Bai Yutang, and even stranger was the fact that they looked so much alike. If it weren't for the fact that Bai Ye was quite a bit older and that the two had different temperaments, Zhao Hu really would have thought he'd seen a ghost.

Zhao Hu looked at Ma Han who, unsurprisingly, was in the middle of resting his eyes with his eyes closed.

At this moment, Ma Han's cell phone suddenly rang.

Ma Han fished out his cell phone and saw that the number wasn't displayed. A little puzzled, he picked it up, "Hello?"

......

Two short laughs came from the other end of the phone, and a long-lost voice rang out, "Nice jacket, your girlfriend picked it out, right?"

Ma Han froze and jerked his head to look out of the car.

At the same time, there was the roar of a sports car's motor next to him.

He saw a black high-end sports car overtaking Bai Ye's car.

There was only one person in the car, waving his hand gently at Ma Han and the others.

Bai Ye was slightly surprised, "Eleven."

Zhao Hu's mouth opened wide and he tugged on Ma Han.

Ma Han held his phone and asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Tsk." Eleven was clearly not happy with Ma Han's greeting, "You should say, it's been a long time since I've seen you, I miss you very much or something."

Ma Han rolled his eyes.

Zhao Hu leaned over and pressed against his cell phone to listen to the gossip.

"I heard you guys found a big fish?" Eleven asked with a smile.

Ma Han frowned, "You seem to be a bit well-informed."

"Hehe." Eleven's tone was still laughing, "I'll find you again when I have time." Finished, hung up the phone, and the sports car flew away.

Zhao Hu grasped the passenger seat and said to Bai Ye, "Do you want to chase him?"

Bai Ye was a bit amused, "What for? I don't like his type."

The corners of Zhao Hu's mouth twitched, damn! Bai Ye has a sense of humour after all! Ma Han called Zhan Zhao.

In fact, Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao's car was right in front of Zhao Hu and the others, and Eleven even greeted Bai Yutang when he overtook them just now.

Bai Yutang's eyes were so good that he saw it immediately.

Zhao Jue also saw it and lamented, "G really has offended a lot of people haha."

Zhan Zhao was puzzled, "He also came for G?"

"Well... he shouldn't be the only one." Zhao Jue laughed.

Bai Yutang frowned, "What did you do?"

Zhao Jue shook his cell phone, "Actually, I was only going to send a text message to Xiao Black saying that I've found G and that he's in S City, but I didn't realise I'd clicked on a group oh."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang glanced at each other.

Zhan Zhao took Zhao Jue's cell phone to check his contact list, and then gawked at the various numbers, symbols and code names on Zhao Jue's contact list.

"Who are all these people?" Zhan Zhao asked.

Zhao Jue stroked his chin and uttered two words very pleasantly, "Bad people."

As he spoke, the sky flickered with a loud bang. The thunder seemed like it was going to split the sky, and what followed was a torrential downpour of rain.

‿︵‿︵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 3, 2024 by Angel

Edited: January 31, 2024 by Angel