S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 5 Chapter 5

Witness of the Three Murderers 05 – Grim Reaper

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At around eight o'clock in the evening, the crowd returned to the SCI office.

Because they were still in a case-less state, everyone else had gone home from work, leaving Xiao Bai Chi and Luo Tian, who were working the night shift today.

Ma Xin's shift was staggered with Luo Tian so that one of the two could stay home to take care of Luo Yang, so it was Gongsun who was in the forensic lab today.

Of course, Bai Chi and Gongsun wouldn't be alone in the SCI office, both families had run in as well, along with Lisbon.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang came together and they brought Zhao Jue and Bai Ye with them, which was really out of everyone's expectation.

When Zhao Jue saw Bai Chi, he naturally wanted to mess with him. Zhao Zhen was also the target of being teased, and Bai Jintang seemed to be the same. Gongsun was carrying a cup of black tea, wearing slippers and holding a newspaper with his legs crossed, looking at Zhao Jue teasing a variety of "can't be offended" characters.

The elevator door opened just as everyone arrived.

Bao Zheng walked in, followed by Zhan Zhao's father, Zhan Qitian.

The SCI members hadn't seen Zhan Qitian for a long time, so they all greeted him. Compared to Bai Yunwen, Zhan Qitian was relatively more amiable, so the members weren't too formal.

Bai Ye didn't move, sitting on the sofa and drinking the tea Bai Chi poured for him, while Zhao Jue walked out and talked to Zhan Qitian.

After the two chatted for a while, Zhan Qitian came in and instructed Zhan Zhao, "Eat more, sleep more, exercise more, be less crazy, do less work, and have less late nights", and then left in a hurry.

Zhan Zhao felt his eyelids twitching ceaselessly – Who was crazy, who worked that much, and who stayed up all night?

Bao Zheng stayed behind and asked Zhan Zhao about Liu Jin's situation.

Zhan Zhao thought that the case was still very strange, so Bao Zheng agreed to turn the case over to SCI for investigation.

When Bao Zheng left, Zhan Zhao considered asking Gongsun about the botanical garden case back then.

At this time, he heard Bai Ye, who had finished his tea, ask Bai Yutang, "Where's your sword?"

Bai Yutang was a bit amused, "You really want to have a sword battle with me?"

Zhao Hu and Ma Han, who were ready to go home to accompany their girlfriends, hadn't even reached the door when their steps stopped and they glanced back in curiosity – Wanting a one-on-one match? Then they won't leave, they'll leave after watching.

Bai Jintang also looked over with some concern and asked Bai Yutang, "Swords?"

Bai Ye was also puzzled, "Don't you have a sword? Don't you practise with a sword? Didn't Yunwen teach you?"

Bai Yutang was curious as well, "My father can use a sword?"

Bai Ye nodded.

Bai Yutang subconsciously turned back to look at his older brother, which meant – Our dad knows how to use a sword?

Bai Jintang also seemed to be unable to laugh or cry – Doesn't he not even know how to peel an apple?

"Go get the sword first." Bai Ye said, standing up, seemingly wanting to go out with Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang was puzzled, "Now?"

"I'll take you somewhere." Bai Ye headed out the door.

Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao, signalling that he would go with Bai Ye.

Zhan Zhao nodded, but looked at Zhao Jue with slight disdain – What's with Bai Ye's speaking style? Simply giving orders, not even discussing it.

Zhao Jue had the same look of disdain, "That's why they say that no matter how handsome a man is, it's a waste if he doesn't have any affection at all."

When Bai Yutang left, Zhan Zhao asked Zhao Jue, "Why did Bai Ye ask him to use a sword?"

Zhao Jue found a sofa and sat down, hugging a pillow and crossing his legs, acting like a grandfather, "Who knows, family entertainment, don't pay attention to them."

Zhan Zhao was dissatisfied, "Don't talk nonsense, it's not like Yutang is Bai Ye's son."

Zhao Jue raised an eyebrow uncaringly and pulled away from the topic, "Don't you still have things to ask?"

Zhan Zhao thought about it, it's true, he should do serious things first, so he went to Gongsun's side and sat down, asking, "Gongsun, let me ask you something."

Gongsun put down the newspaper and pushed up his glasses, "Ask what?"

"Uh... the case of the botanical garden back then."

Gongsun froze, and then let out an "Oh".

Bai Jintang, who was earnestly reading a piece of information on the side, seemed to sense Gongsun's change in mood and raised his head to look towards him.

Gongsun reached for his cup of tea, and Bai Jintang asked, "What's wrong?"

Gongsun said, "It's about that thing from ten years ago that I told you about before."

Bai Jintang nodded in understanding, obviously understanding, and lowered his head to continue reading the information.

Everyone narrowed their eyes and glanced at each other – To think that he even told Big Brother Bai a secret that he didn't tell anyone in the past? Sure enough, they're a couple...

"Ahem." Zhan Zhao coughed, judging by his brother's demeanour, Gongsun should have already adjusted his mindset, right?

Gongsun thought for a moment and said to Bai Chi, "Chi Chi, go to my forensic room and grab a folder, it's on the third level of the cabinet, the only red plastic folder."

"Oh." Bai Chi ran to the forensic room and in no time brought a red plastic folder to Gongsun.

Gongsun handed the folder to Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao suspiciously took the folder and opened it... to see that there was only one piece of paper inside. The paper was very good handmade paper, rough and thick. On the paper was a pencil sketch of a tall man wearing a black cloak, holding a scythe-like thing in his hand, and the face seen in the slit of the cloak was still skeleton-like, making it very horrifying.

"What is this?" Zhan Zhao felt that the drawing was quite horrifying, "The Grim Reaper ah?"

Gongsun shrugged, "I just drew what I saw."

Everyone froze and stared at Gongsun.

Xiao Bai Chi took the folder and threw it back after taking a quick glance. He shrank to Zhao Zhen's side and looked at the crowd suspiciously – Isn't this the legendary Grim Reaper? Don't lie to me! I won't get to sleep tonight again!

At this time, it was dark outside the building. The rain had stopped but the wind was strong, weaving between the floors and whimpering.

Inside the SCI office, the crowd stared at the slightly hideous portrait of the Grim Reaper and simply felt a chill rise up their backs.

Zhao Jue hugged his pillow and carefully studied the drawing, "Oooh, the structure is quite reasonable? It's worthy of being something drawn by a forensic doctor."

Everyone looked at Gongsun, who nodded. It was indeed drawn by him, as a good forensic doctor and anthropologist, drawing people wasn't a difficult task for him.

"This drawing looks a bit old." Zhao Zhen said.

Gongsun nodded, "I drew it ten years ago."

"The forensic lab has moved so many times since then, but you've actually kept it hidden ah?" Zhan Zhao asked, it was obvious that Gongsun was still very concerned about this matter.

Gongsun sighed and told the crowd in detail, "Back then that case was originally quite ordinary, a murder faked as a suicide. The murderer's technique was brilliant and left no clues at all. As soon as I saw the crime scene, I was sure that this definitely wasn't the murderer's first offence, and the scene gave me a very evil feeling."

Everyone nodded.

There was something in this world called police intuition. Although Gongsun was a forensic doctor, he was also a police officer, and even though he was very young back then, he had helped the police department investigate many cases. Quite often, solving some complicated cases relied on the intuition and experience of the police. Where did this kind of thing come from? Certainly not out of thin air, but through the accumulation of experience and... paying attention to details!

All the members of SCI that were present could understand the sense of "evil" Gongsun was talking about. Some murderers leave a gruesome and bloody scene after committing a crime, so it can be inferred that the murderer is vicious. But there are also some murder scenes that are clean and without even a single drop of blood, but that give people a sense of evil, and this feeling is often what the murderer themselves want to convey.

"At that time, the forensics department was not as complete as it is now, and a lot of the work of investigating the scene was done by me." Gongsun said, "I was very concerned about that knot, so I got out of the tree to look around... It was during this search that I discovered that he was standing in the bushes of the botanical garden."

With that, Gongsun pointed to the drawing of the Grim Reaper.

Everyone's eyes widened.

"Could it be the murderer in disguise?" Zhao Zhen asked.

"My first thought at the time was the same." Gongsun said, "So when I saw him at a glance, I shouted at him, and my shout also attracted other police officers... But as a result, he disappeared in front of my eyes."

Everyone looked at each other in disbelief.

"Disappeared?" Zhao Jue was interested, "How did he disappear?"

"Just disappeared out of thin air, gone, no vaporisation, liquefaction, or any transformation... just gone!"

"Did the other police officers see it?" Zhan Zhao asked.

Gongsun shook his head, "That person had already disappeared by the time they arrived."

Zhao Hu and Ma Han, who had wanted to watch Bai Ye and Bai Yutang fight one-on-one, who failed to see the result and instead stayed to listen to the gossip, frowned.

Zhao Hu asked in a low voice, "I say, Dr. Gongsun, is it possible..."

As he spoke, Zhao Hu thought of adjectives.

Ma Han simply asked, "Hallucination?"

Zhao Hu clenched his fists and tapped the palm of his hand – Right right!

Gongsun stared at them both for a moment, then reached out and pointed at himself, asking, "Who am I?"

Ma Han touched his chin and Zhao Hu held his face, "The Great God!"

Gongsun nodded, "Have you seen me hallucinate?"

Both men shook their heads.

"I've never hallucinated in my life, was it just that one time?" Gongsun asked rhetorically.

The two men looked at each other – That's true.

Zhan Zhao also found it strange. There are reasons for hallucinations, and there was no reason for Gongsun to have such an inexplicable hallucination.

"What about after that?" Zhan Zhao asked, "Didn't you investigate?"

"I investigated!" Gongsun said, "I didn't find any clues that day. The place where that Grim Reaper stood was a muddy field, but there wasn't even a footprint."

Everyone frowned. Considering the technological environment of ten years ago, it should be unlikely to create the kind of three-dimensional projection that was used in that previous case, right?

Gongsun looked at the crowd even more seriously as he said, "And that Grim Reaper didn't give me the feeling that it was a human in disguise, or that there was something special about it... An eerie, evil feeling. I was frightened by a humanoid object for the first time in my life!"

The corners of everyone's mouths twitched... humanoid object...

Bai Jintang reached over and stroked Gongsun's head as a sign of comfort.

Zhan Zhao looked at the drawing again and frowned... Was it a serial killer who deliberately dressed up like that?

"I checked later." Gongsun's tone was slightly sweeping, "Do you guys know how many people report seeing the Grim Reaper at the scene of a murder in a year?"

The crowd blinked.

Gongsun bristled, "Hundreds if not thousands, I realised that there are so many comedians in this world."

The crowd silently rubbed their chins – Didn't you see it too?

Gongsun saw the crowd's expression and squared his shoulders, "The one I saw was real!"

Zhan Zhao considered for a moment, "Out of so many people, it's hard to guarantee that some of them are real, we might as well check it out."

Thus, Zhan Zhao asked Jiang Ping to pull up all the relevant cases regarding sightings of the Grim Reaper in the last thirty years, and prepared to start investigating.

......

After Bai Ye drove and took Bai Yutang to get his sword, he went to another place – Nine Mile Lane.

Nine Mile Lane was one of the most chaotic districts in S City, with a mix of snakes and dragons. Earlier, Lan Xi's small store selling bows and crossbows was located here, but he later moved to a safer place in the city centre after getting into a relationship with Chen Yu.

Bai Yutang asked Bai Ye in disbelief, "What are we doing here?"

"Looking for an acquaintance." Bai Ye stopped the car and walked with Bai Yutang into the dark alleys of Nine Mile Lane.

The sword that Bai Yutang had was the ancient sword that he had bought from the antique store he had gone to with Zhao Hu previously, the one that no one could pull out and only he had unsheathed. Like Bai Ye's sword, Bai Yutang used a long black cloth zipper bag to carry it.

The gloomy alleyway of Nine Mile Lane had the putrid odour of a sewer.

Bai Ye didn't seem to know the way too well and got a little dizzy after walking down a few lanes. Looking at the walls and then the streetlights, he frowned, "Has it been renovated?"

Bai Yutang looked at the shantytown-like clutter of renovated houses on both sides of the alley and asked, "Who exactly are you here to find?"

Just as he finished speaking, he saw three young men walking in front of them, dressed like gangsters. They raised their eyes to see Bai Yutang and Bai Ye, and were happy.

The one walking at the front was very tall. Smiling, he reached out his hand, "Ai? Give us some money to spend."

Bai Yutang frowned slightly, blackmailing him? Besides, what kind of era is it where there are still such punks?

Bai Ye, however, felt that this young man looked somewhat familiar.

"Ai, beat them both!" That young man wasn't very reliable, calling two of his juniors to come forward and beat them up.

Bai Yutang thought it was quite refreshing, kicking over two of them and stomping on the ground after flipping that big guy over. He felt that these people shouldn't be too old, so he asked, "How old?"

The big man screamed as he was stepped on by Bai Yutang, but he didn't ask for forgiveness, and he even acted bossy, "Do you know what kind of place this is? Dare to mess with me?"

The other few also followed suit, acting like little scoundrels.

Bai Ye suddenly squatted down, stared at the big man's face for a moment, then asked, "Is your surname Chao? Named Chao Xia, right? I'm looking for Chao Jiu."

The big man froze, and only then did he look at Bai Ye carefully, then screamed, "Ah! I recognise you!"

Bai Ye signalled for Bai Yutang to release him.

Bai Yutang withdrew his foot and the big man stood up, patting his butt, "Should have said you were looking for my grandfather, causing me to take a beating."

As he spoke, he looked at Bai Yutang, then asked Bai Ye, "Your son? Looks so much like you."

Bai Ye and Bai Yutang looked at each other, inexplicably a little embarrassed.

Bai Ye said to Chao Xia, "Lead the way, there's something I need to find your grandfather for."

"My grandfather has a guest, but you guys should recognise him." The young man told his two little followers to go first, and led the way for Bai Yutang and Bai Ye himself.

After turning down two more alleys, they saw a white car parked next to a narrow road, which was slightly arrogant in style. Bai Yutang felt that the car looked slightly familiar.

Chao Xia opened a small door in the wall and motioned for the two to enter.

Entering the door, they heard a voice coming from upstairs, "I said it was pouring rain when I left the house today, it turns out that I met the God of Plague."

Bai Yutang felt that the voice sounded familiar, and at the same time associated it with the car at the door. Somewhat helplessly, he raised his head, and sure enough, a dazzling head of long red hair and a floral shirt appeared on the balcony of the second floor. Eugene, who hadn't been seen for some time, leaned against the railing and waved his hand with the two, "Yo."

In Bai Yutang's memory, Eugene didn't seem to have called himself the God of Plague, so... is the God of Plague referring to Bai Ye?

‿︵‿︵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 5, 2024 by Angel

Edited: January 31, 2024 by Angel