S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 5 Chapter 6

Witness of the Three Murderers 06 – Undead Needle

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SCI office.

The police squad downstairs sent up the bodies of the victims of the previous White Gull Park murders.

Lao Yang also came up, holding the information Gongsun requested about the two previous murders.

The so-called "previous" two murders were two other cases that Liu Jin claimed to have witnessed, which took place six years ago and three years ago respectively, both murders, both on his morning run. The one six years ago took place on the seashore, the body was found on a rocky beach and he had fallen to his death.

Liu Jin claimed at the time to have seen Yue Hai push the dead man down, who was a sixty-year-old morning jogger. And the case that happened three years ago was in the garden district, near a dumpster. The deceased was a female high school student who woke up early to go to school, seventeen years old, and was electrocuted to death.

Liu Jin said he happened to be returning from a long run and saw Yue Hai pressing the girl's heart with a stun gun for a long time, causing the girl's death.

Of course, these testimonies were later denied because of insufficient evidence. The key was that Liu Jin said that Yue Hai fled after killing... but Yue Hai's limp caused by PTSD was confirmed real by a number of medical experts, and it wasn't easy for him to run away, so none of the charges were substantiated, and it was Liu Jin who was asked to seek medical treatment a number of times. But after being admitted to the hospital for examination, he was sent home again because everything was normal.

Appearing in the forensic room, besides Gongsun, there was also a young man who moved the body onto the autopsy table with Gongsun, wearing a white coat and dust cover, giving Gongsun a hand.

This young man was Wang Xiatian, who had been a great help in the last case.

Wang Xiatian was an honour student in forensic science, he was very smart and had interned with Forensic Doctor Yang before. When SCI didn't have a case, Xiatian was busy downstairs with Lao Yang, but now that there was a case, Gongsun brought him up.

Gongsun pushed up his glasses and read the autopsy report Lao Yang had given him. Zhan Zhao and Ma Han went to the forensic room to wait for the results, and Zhao Jue also ran in to join in the fun.

"Knocked on the head?" Gongsun looks at the report.

Lao Yang nodded, "The back of her head has traces of being hit by a blunt object, a fatal injury."

Xiatian turned the body over to show Gongsun the back of the deceased's head.

Everyone frowned. It was quite a large bloody hole, certainly fatal.

The female victim was still young, in her thirties. According to her family, she was attacked in the park while she was on her morning run. The police did not discover any enemies. She was the most common type of housewife, there was nothing stolen from her, and her cell phone was in her pants pocket.

According to Liu Jin's eyewitness report, he said that when he saw the female victim standing in the park and doing chest expansion and stretching, Yue Hai suddenly ran behind her in a sneaky manner, then used a long metal walking stick or something like a golf club to hit the back of her head before fleeing.

Everyone glanced at each other.

Zhan Zhao opened Yue Hai's data, which had his medical report on it.

Lao Yang said, "It's no wonder they said Liu Jin was telling lies. With Yue Hai's physical condition it's simply impossible for him to manage a sneak attack on the deceased with a golf club before fleeing... He couldn't have run at all."

Gongsun read the two previous autopsy reports again and reached out to gently stroke his chin.

Both Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue stood opposite Gongsun, watching his actions. Ma Han leaned against the wall, still facially paralysed and silent, his eyes staring at the deceased woman on the autopsy table.

Zhao Hu leaned against the door frame and looked around to see what was going on.

Gongsun looked at the photo for a long time, then suddenly picked up the photo of the female high school student from before and compared it. Then he looked at the female victim on the autopsy table, and eventually squatted down and stared at the profile of the female victim.

Xiatian tilted his head and watched Gongsun's movements, and also squatted down across from him, looking in the same direction Gongsun was looking.

Everyone noticed that Gongsun was looking at the neck of the female victim on the autopsy table.

"Xiatian," Gongsun pointed at the deceased woman for Xiatian and said, "hold the back of the deceased's neck to look at it."

"Oh." Xiatian reached out and gently lifted the deceased woman's neck.

With this one action, the crowd froze.

"Huh?" Zhao Jue tilted his head to look, "Strange."

Lao Yang stroked his chin, "It's strange!"

Zhao Hu, who was standing in the doorway, picked at the door frame and asked, "Where is it strange?"

Ma Han turned his face to look at him, "This woman has an Adam's apple."

Zhao Hu moved over and squatted down to take a closer look, and saw that after Xiatian propped up the corpse's neck, it became even more obvious that there was a bulge on the front of the corpse's neck.

"A woman shouldn't have one, right?" Zhao Hu asked.

"In rare cases there might be a little one, but it won't be that obvious." Gongsun said.

"Transgender?" Zhao Jue asked.

"This high school girl has one too." Gongsun took a profile photo from the female high school student's autopsy report and pasted it on the glass chalkboard for the crowd to see.

Then he pasted the one of the deceased from six years ago. The deceased was an old man, and it was normal for him to have a bulge at the centre of his throat, but...

"It's easier for a person's Adam's apple to protrude when their head is tilted back, right?" Zhan Zhao said, "Why is it so noticeable when they are just lying down? And both women have it, would that be a bit too coincidental?"

Gongsun raised his hand to Xiatian.

Xiatian handed Gongsun the scalpel.

Gongsun reached out, groped around the neck of the deceased woman, and then used the sharp dissection blade to cut along the middle of the deceased's neck...

Gongsun then put down the blade, reached into the neck of the deceased and groped around for a while, before finally raising an eyebrow and pulling out... a needle that was roughly five centimetres long.

The crowd opened their mouths wide.

Forensic Doctor Yang also pushed up his glasses, "What is this thing?"

Gongsun put that needle on the white tray Xiatian was holding and pulled over the strong light, and the crowd came closer to take a look.

They saw that the needle was black, looked like it was cast with pig iron, and as thick as a nail. One end was very sharp, but the other end was round, and looking closely... the round end was carved with a skeleton, it was simple but evident. The needle was not too straight, and it felt like it was handmade.

Gongsun looked at the crowd.

Xiatian was surprised, "How did this get in there?"

Lao Yang also found it unbelievable, "But there's no wound on the victim's neck at all."

"It was stuffed in from the mouth." Gongsun suddenly said.

Everyone couldn't help but frown, it hurt to think about it.

"Was it stuffed in after death?" Zhan Zhao asked.

Gongsun stared at the needle for a long time before raising his head to look at the crowd, "This is probably an undead needle."

The crowd froze.

Zhao Jue was curious, "Undead needle?"

Gongsun took off his gloves, picked up the phone and dialled a number.

The crowd then heard that he was calling Song Jiajia and asking, "Do you know anyone who is well-versed in ancient funeral culture?"

Song Jiajia said that she knew someone who was, and after helping to make contact, said that they would come right away.

About half an hour later, a tall blond-haired man in his thirties appeared at the door of SCI's forensic room.

The crowd turned around to look.

This man was quite tall, with a dazzling head of blond hair, and wearing a black t-shirt and black leather pants. Bai Jintang, who had come out of the restroom, happened to walk up to the door of the forensic room and met him.

That blond hair raised his hand to Bai Jintang, "Yo."

Bai Jintang froze, puzzled, "Why are you here?"

Zhan Zhao curiously came out to look and asked, "You know each other?"

Bai Jintang seemed a little embarrassed and rubbed his nose.

Gongsun thought about it and hurriedly asked, "He's the godly man you said you requested to transfer, ah?"

Bai Jintang looked at the sky, then reached out and touched Gongsun's head, introducing him to blond hair, "This is my wife."

The crowd couldn't help but let out a "pfft". Unsurprisingly, Gongsun kicked his foot over, but Bai Jintang managed to avoid it, smiling in a slightly spoiled manner.

Blond hair squinted his eyes and read Gongsun's face, then gave Bai Jintang a thumbs up, "Quite a prosperous man!"

Satisfied, Bai Jintang was once again kicked by Gongsun's foot, and this time, he didn't even dodge, sweetly receiving a kick.

The crowd all silently twisted their faces – When exactly did this couple start to be so loving? So annoying!

Blond hair leaned against the doorway, drew a cigarette out and held it in his mouth, but saw the sign on the wall prohibiting smoking and had to return it, while teasing with Bai Jintang, "The twins said that you have been taken in, I still don't believe it, but it turns out that it is true ah. Madam has a great temperament..."

Before he finished his words, Gongsun sent an eye dagger flying over.

"Ahem." Zhan Zhao coughed at the right time. Although he also wanted to watch the fun, Bai Yutang was not there, so he was responsible for maintaining order.

Zhao Jue crossed his arms and asked Ma Han and Zhao Hu, "Are your lives usually this entertaining? The working atmosphere is so amusing."

Ma Han and Zhao Hu sighed – Disgraceful!

Gongsun looked at blond hair suspiciously, "Song Jiajia said that the person she introduced me to was the number one tycoon of the funeral industry, and said that you're the nnnnth generation of Zhang Tianshi's legacy."

The corner of blond hair's mouth twitched as he introduced himself, "My name is Zhang Yu."

Everyone tilted their heads in unison, "Octopus?"

Blond hair was speechless. He reached into his pocket, took out a pair of black-framed glasses and put them on. After putting on the glasses, he immediately had a strong air of civilised scum pouring out of him.

Zhan Zhao curiously asked Bai Jintang, "Do you guys know each other?"

Bai Jintang nodded, "I met him on the aeroplane when I first returned to S City, and at the time, I thought he was a godly man."

Blond hair reached out and pushed up his glasses, "The first time I saw him, I said 'Your Excellency, the God of Plague is possessed by the evil star, your business can do a lot of work and make a lot of money, but when you open your business, people will die and you will be in an extremely bad shape."

Everyone clapped after hearing this, "Godly accuracy!"

Zhang Yu nodded proudly.

"So you are a fortune teller?" Zhan Zhao asked.

Zhang Yu pulled a business card out of his pocket and handed it to Zhan Zhao, "I'm in the funeral business, specialising in arranging funerals for people. Song Jiajia didn't lie to you guys however, there are indeed quite a few ghost-catching legends in my ancestry, but they've long since been lost. I know a little bit about face reading, but most of it is just lying and reasoning."

The crowd nodded – Surprisingly, a real godly man had come out, and he was quite honest.

"What are you looking for me for?" Zhang Yu was curious, "Song Jiajia said you guys have something good to show me."

Gongsun signalled him to enter the forensic room.

Zhang Yu entered and frowned when he saw the corpse on the autopsy table, "How pitiful, dying so young."

After saying that, he clapped his hands together lightly and bowed slightly with his eyes closed.

The crowd looked at each other in dismay. When he did this action, it looked fairly consistent.

Gongsun showed him the needle.

Zhang Yu froze, then frowned as he pushed his eyes together, "Undead needle!"

......

Everyone raised an eyebrow – Really?

Zhan Zhao was curious, "What is the undead needle?"

Zhang Yu looked at the corpse on the autopsy table and muttered to himself, "This woman, has she done anything bad?" Everyone glanced at each other.

Zhan Zhao said to Zhao Hu, "Have Jiang Ping look into the affairs of those three dead people, the more detailed the better."

Zhao Hu nodded and went out.

Zhang Yu pointed at the undead needle and said, "The undead needle is used for revenge. To put it simply, the person who used it is the murderer who killed this woman. And the purpose is to avenge another person, and the other person... is in this undead needle."

"What does that mean?" Zhan Zhao was puzzled.

"The undead needle is made from the ashes of the deceased mixed with iron, a traditional craft and an ancient way of taking revenge." Zhang Yu explained, "To put it simply, A murdered B. In order to avenge B, C first made the undead needle by mixing B's ashes into molten iron. C kills A and stuffs the undead needle into A's neck. In this way, A will in turn be controlled by B in their next life, and for the rest of their life, B will be their opponent, like a fish bone stuck in their throat, but A can't do anything about it, and will ultimately die at B's hands."

Everyone's mouths opened wide as they listened.

"Does this kind of thing belong to feudal superstition?" Zhan Zhao couldn't help but ask.

Zhao Jue clapped his hands, "Wow! Young people nowadays live so spectacularly!"

"It's just a legend." Zhang Yu shrugged, "Of course it's not true, but the intent is obvious and it's quite vicious. For those who would be treated in such a way, A should have done sins that C considers unforgivable."

Gongsun pinched the iron needle with tweezers, "So... in order to find C, it's best to find B first, and that B, is in this undead needle?"

Everyone gazed at the iron needle in silence – A high level of difficulty!

......

In the small building in Nine Mile Lane.

Bai Yutang followed Bai Ye and that high school student Chao Xia up to the second floor.

Although the small building was inconspicuous, the interior decoration was a very high-end, simple Chinese style, and every piece of furniture was antique. The moment you walked in, you might have thought that you had entered an antique store.

Eugene, dressed in a floral shirt with red hair, was sitting at the table with a porcelain bowl and drinking tea in a particularly incongruous manner.

And the one who was drinking tea at the same table with Eugene was a thin old man wearing a long black shirt.

That old man looked like the kind of jianghu characters in the Republican dramas. He had a long shirt and short hair, a goatee and thin cheeks. He held a string of black Buddha beads in one hand, and his fingers slowly rubbed the beads out of habit. He had black pants, white socks and black shoes, and he lifted his eyes up and down as he looked at others, all of which had a bit of a Republican flavour to them.

Bai Yutang looked at Bai Ye.

Bai Ye introduced him, "Chao Jiu."

Bai Yutang nodded.

"Hehe..." Chao Jiu's gaze shifted from Bai Ye to Bai Yutang, sizing him up before returning to Bai Ye, "What day is it today, a rare guest."

The corner of Bai Yutang's mouth twitched – Was time and space disoriented? This way of talking, shooting a yakuza scene?

Bai Ye walked over and waved at Bai Yutang, taking a seat at the table.

Chao Xia, who had been acting like a hooligan just a moment ago, ran in and brought out two covered bowls of tea on a tea tray.

"What are you doing?" Chao Jiu asked Bai Ye, "Where's Zhao Jue, didn't he come with you? He didn't come to see my old man either, he loved him for nothing back then."

"I'm looking for you for something serious." Bai Ye said to Bai Yutang, "Take out the sword."

Bai Yutang was confused, but still placed the bag containing the sword on the table.

Bai Yutang made a casual movement, and Bai Ye shook his head helplessly.

Chao Jiu glanced at Bai Yutang and let out a "tsk", "Could it be an embroidered pillow?"

Eugene, who was eating peanuts, let out a "pfft" and touched Chao Jiu with his arm, squeezing his eyes at him, "Master, he uses a gun, never a sword."

The old man nodded, "Oh... a gun ah."

Bai Yutang didn't talk nonsense, he opened the zipper of the bag and took out the silver sword.

The silver sword was taken out and put on the table.

The crowd then saw Chao Jiu's eyes light up. Chao Xia had just come out while holding a teapot, and at a glance, he exclaimed, "Wow! So cool!"

Chao Jiu stroked his beard and looked up at Bai Yutang, "Your sword?"

Bai Yutang nodded.

The old man laughed and shook his head, "Decoration."

Bai Yutang took the sword and drew it out of its sheath.

The sharp blade shook the white paper lights in the room, with a bright spot of light flaring out.

Eugene frowned, "Good stuff, why is it a decoration?"

Bai Ye nodded.

Chao Jiu sipped his tea, "He won't be able to use it, what's the point of a good thing."

"If you teach him, he'll be able to." Bai Ye sipped his tea and spoke casually.

Bai Yutang looked at Bai Ye in surprise, which meant – No way?

Chao Jiu gave a dry laugh, "This kid doesn't have any hostility at all, he can't be taught."

"How do you know if you don't try." Bai Ye looked at Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang was speechless.

"Xiao Xia." Chao Jiu said to Chao Xia, "Open the warehouse."

Chao Xia happily ran off.

Bai Yutang looked at Bai Ye.

Bai Ye reached out and patted him, "Don't disgrace Yunwen."

Bai Yutang frowned.

Chao Jiu stood up and waved at Bai Yutang, "Take the sword and follow me."

Bai Yutang didn't move.

The old man laughed, "Afraid?"

Bai Yutang looked at him and asked in return, "Why should I learn from you?"

The old man froze and looked at Bai Ye.

Bai Ye shrugged.

"Are you very powerful?" Bai Yutang asked.

The old man stroked his beard.

"Only when you beat me will you be qualified to teach me." Bai Yutang picked up his sword and stood up, looking at Bai Ye, "You too."

Chao Jiu smiled and nodded, "Kind of interesting." Saying that, he headed for the stairs behind the screen, beckoning to Bai Yutang as he did so, "Then come and exchange a couple moves with this old man."

Bai Yutang followed, and Bai Ye also followed with his sword.

Eugene excitedly ran after them with a teacup in one hand and a plate of peanuts and rice in the other, "So interesting!"

‿︵‿︵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: February 7, 2024 by Angel