S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 5 Chapter 24

Witness of the Three Murderers 24 – Jungle

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Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang asked Lan Qi, who was experienced in travelling in the jungle, but they didn't expect him to have actually seen that mysterious family map.

"What I saw was an ancient painting, similar to a mural." Lan Qi said, "I lived in South America for some time. At that time, I met a scientific expedition team, they wanted to hire people familiar with the terrain to accompany the team to an ancient city site, but most of the locals refused, so an acquaintance introduced me to them."

"The locals were unwilling? Is it dangerous there?" Bai Yutang asked.

"Well, if the danger is from the jungle, certain tribes, or even drug dealers, then none of that is a problem, as long as there's money on the line, there will naturally be people who will work for you." Lan Qi shook his head, "There's only one thing that's taboo for the locals."

Zhan Zhao smiled slightly, "A legend or curse or something like that?"

Lan Qi nodded, "That area belongs to the forbidden zone. Mistakenly entering will invite calamity, so the locals don't dare to go in, plus it's deep in the jungle."

"Which jungle exactly?" Zhan Zhao was curious.

Lan Qi smiled faintly, "The Amazon."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang glanced at each other – How was this case going to be investigated? Could it be a jungle adventure?

"Actually, I have photo albums at home, I might be able to find them..." Before Lan Qi could finish his sentence, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang spoke in unison, "Then we'll have to bother you!"

So, before going to Chen Xiaofei's house, the crowd first stopped by Lan Qi's house.

Lan Qi and Hao Ling lived in a condominium in the city, living close to Lan Xi. After recovering, Hao Ling worked in the same hospital as Yang Fan. She happened to be at home today and made tea to greet the crowd.

Zhan Zhao entered and observed for a while, concluding that Lan Qi and his wife were very much in love and living happily.

Lan Qi found several photo albums and said, "These are the photos I took during my time in the Amazon back then."

Zhan Zhao, Bai Yutang and Lan Qi sat on the sofa to look at the photos.

Lan Xi and Chen Xiaofei sat at the table, and Hao Ling peeled fruit for them to eat.

Chen Xiaofei held his chin and tilted his head as he looked at Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, who were studying the case, and sighed.

Lan Xi asked him, "What's wrong?"

"I was just an ordinary college student yesterday, and today I suddenly became related to the king of thieves." Chen Xiaofei lamented.

On the side, Hao Ling put a plate of cut oranges in front of his eyes, "I used to be the same. I was originally just an ordinary dentist, and after I met the two of them, I suddenly turned into an amnesiac, my dad was regained and lost, and my husband was lost and regained."

Chen Xiaofei bit the orange and widened his eyes, "Oh... more miserable than me..."

Zhao Jue stood in the living room, looking at the decorative paintings on the wall. Lan Qi and Hao Ling were both people who liked travelling, so there were quite a few artworks from all over the world in the house.

Hao Ling had long admired Zhao Jue's great name and brought an orange over to him. When she saw that he seemed interested in a painting, she said, "This was painted for me by a little kid when I was in West Africa."

Zhao Jue looked at Hao Ling, "You've worked for Doctors Without Borders?"

Hao Ling nodded.

Zhao Jue pointed to the painting, "That little kid is called Canamon."

Hao Ling froze, surprised, "You know him?"

"He's a well-known painter now, I've seen him at an art exhibition." Zhao Jue said, "He's very fond of Asians, I heard it's because he had an infectious disease when he was a child and a beautiful female Asian doctor from Doctor Without Borders saved his life."

Hao Ling was delighted, she took her tablet and searched for "Canamon". Sure enough, he has become a famous artist and is enthusiastic about various charitable activities.

Looking at Hao Ling's pleased smile, then looking at Lan Qi, Zhao Jue muttered to himself, "Sometimes good people are rewarded..."

As he was talking to himself, he saw Zhan Zhao waving him over.

Zhao Jue walked over, only to see Zhan Zhao taking out a photo from a photo album and showing it to him.

It was a group photo taken in front of ancient ruins. There were a total of nine people in the picture, among them were Lan Qi and two guides with guns, while the remaining six people were presumably members of the expedition team, two females and four males. Zhao Jue's line of sight swiftly locked onto a young member of the expedition team.

"G!" Zhao Jue smiled slightly, with a face of – So that's how it is.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang glanced at each other. Surprisingly, it really was G.

"Do you recognise this person?" Zhan Zhao asked Lan Qi as he pointed at G.

Lan Qi said, "He's a member of the expedition team, and he's an assistant to Professor Heddington."

Saying that, Lan Qi pointed to a chubby, bearded old man standing next to G, "He was the initiator of this expedition and the main person in charge of this project."

In the photo album on Bai Yutang's side, he found what Lan Qi mentioned, that genealogy pattern, and pointed it out to Zhan Zhao and the others.

They saw that it was a mural, the age of which could not be verified, but it looked like there was a sinister air, and the surroundings seemed to be quite eerie.

Zhan Zhao asked, "It feels like the environment where the photo was taken was very gloomy, where was it taken?"

"In the tomb" Lan Qi said, "At first I thought it was just a cave, but then I saw the mummy, so it should be a tomb."

"A mummy?" Zhan Zhao was surprised, "Different from those dried corpses I just showed you?"

Lan Qi shook his head, "It's different. After we entered the cave with the expedition team, we found the tomb. There were quite a few mummies in the tomb, but their whole bodies were wrapped in cloths and silks, in a very elaborate manner, and they wore masks on their faces."

"What kind of masks?" Zhan Zhao pursued. Lan Qi didn't recognise the Grim Reaper mask just now, which meant that it was different.

"Well, some carved wooden masks, which looked strange... I didn't take photos of the mummies, I have a personal taboo of never taking photos of dead people." Lan Qi said, "Those people took all the photos, it's probably for this reason that they're all dead."

"All dead?" Bai Yutang was surprised.

Chen Xiaofei came over with an orange, "Oh! A legendary curse?"

Zhan Zhao was puzzled, "How did those people die?"

"I don't know too much about the specifics." Lan Qi pointed at a blonde woman in her forties among them, "She died in the jungle right then and there."

"Died in the jungle?" Bai Yutang frowned.

"It seemed like some sort of sudden seizure or some sort of acute infectious disease." Lan Qi said, "Her whole body was convulsing and there were many red spots on her body, and she suddenly died."

Zhan Zhao frowned slightly and looked at Zhao Jue.

Zhao Jue narrowed his eyes and stroked his chin, "Before she died, did she say anything she shouldn't have?"

Lan Qi was puzzled, "Shouldn't have said... I'm not an expert in this area..."

Zhan Zhao shook his head, "Just say what you feel, if she didn't die of an illness, then what behaviours do you think led to her death?"

Blue Chess looked at the crowd and said, "Hmm... she was a medical student, most of the people there were archaeologists or historians. When the mummy was found, some hieroglyphics were also found, and Dr. Heddington said that it might be the earliest research material on immortality conducted by humans, which is very precious. Yet she, as a scientist and a doctor, found immortality funny, and said that it turned out that there have been tricksters who have used immortality to fool people since the beginning of time."

The crowd frowned – That's it.

Chen Xiaofei shook his head, "Aiya! This is the standard kind of death-seeking behaviour found in horror films."

Bai Yutang looked at the photo, "What she said isn't wrong."

As a doctor as well, Hao Ling nodded.

"This young man," Lan Qi pointed at G and said, "he joked at the time, saying don't talk nonsense oh, be careful of retribution."

Zhao Jue's eyes narrowed some more.

"As a result, she died suddenly that night." Lan Qi said, pointing at the two guides again, "These two guides were already afraid of this place, and as soon as the woman died they both ran away. The remaining five people also had a disagreement. Among them were Dr. Heddington and the G you guys talked about, as well as this person!"

Saying that, Lan Qi pointed to an old foreigner in his thirties, who looked quite handsome, "This one is an American, his full name is not clear, but they all called him Mike. He is an explorer, very rich, and likes mysterious cultures. The three of them were in favour of staying. Another scholar who studied the local customs and culture and a zoologist insisted on leaving. As a result, I was in charge of escorting the two who wanted to leave out first, and the three of them stayed there to continue their research. After I sent the people away, I hired another guide and went back to look for them."

"Actually stayed behind to be alone with G?" Zhao Jue's mouth was laced with a smile, "Wouldn't that be a meal on a platter? Did you go back and find two more mummies?"

Lan Qi sighed, "After I sent those two away, I went back with a newly hired guide, but there was no one left at the ruins! All three of them were gone."

"Left without saying a word?" Zhan Zhao frowned.

"I thought it was strange too, but the luggage and research materials were all taken away, and it didn't look like they had suffered some sort of misfortune or were kidnapped." Lan Qi said, "I later asked around and never heard from these people again. But about half a year later, I saw the news of that American tycoon who died of a sudden heart attack, and later on, Professor Heddington and that two scholars who left first passed away... all of them died of illness."

"What about G?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"They all call him Glen, the one you guys call G." Lan Qi shrugged, "I genuinely didn't pay much attention to him, he looked like a rather ordinary assistant, very inconspicuous. I don't even have much of an impression of him... "

"Then did you have any impression of his left hand being fake?" Zhao Jue suddenly asked.

Lan Qi froze, "What?"

Hao Ling then leaned against Lan Qi with a cup and pointed to the photo, "It's obvious, look at him, he's only wearing a glove on his left hand."

Lan Qi picked up the photo, and the look in his eyes seemed to find it unbelievable, "Gloves?"

Chen Xiaofei was curious, "Can't you see it?"

"Indeed wearing gloves." Lan Xi nodded as well.

Lan Qi looked confused, "Why do I see it as an intact hand..."

Zhan Zhao suddenly laughed, looking back at Zhao Jue who was leaning against the side of the sofa and asking, "Is this what you mean when you say that good people are rewarded?"

Zhao Jue raised an eyebrow.

Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao, "Was Lan Qi hypnotised by G a long time ago?"

Zhan Zhao nodded while asking Lan Qi, "Do you have almost no memory of this Glen?"

Lan Qi nodded, "Yeah, now that I think about it, I only remember his name, and that he's very inconspicuous, the rest... is really fuzzy."

"All of you were already hypnotised by him when you followed him into the jungle." Zhan Zhao said, "This person is a pretty powerful expert, he set your deaths to occur at different times, you were supposed to die of illness as well, but..."

Lan Qi came to a realisation, "After I was injured by the explosion, Bobby sealed me off!"

"If not for that one accident, you should have died as well." Zhan Zhao nodded, "It's also considered a blessing in disguise."

Hao Ling subconsciously looked at Zhao Jue. Just now when he said "good people are rewarded", she thought he was talking about Canamon, but it turned out that he was talking about Lan Qi... Now that she thought about it, it really was a blessing in disguise!

"But his hints to you have not been completely lifted. When you see him, you still feel that he has all four limbs, and your memories of him are blurred... This is his plan B." Zhao Jue said, "Lest there be a fish that slips through the net like you. "

"It's obvious that G is very cautious." Bai Yutang was puzzled, "What's so special about that tomb? Why did he kill all those people who went to that place?"

"Do you think this tomb is still intact?" Zhan Zhao suddenly asked Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang's eyes widened as he looked at Zhan Zhao, "Cat? You're not thinking of taking a trip to South America, are you?"

"Going on a trip?" Chen Xiaofei immediately became energetic, "South America? Iguazu Falls and Blue Glacier?!"

Lan Qi shook his head, "No way..."

Zhan Zhao waved his hand, "No one needs to go, just bring the body over and take more photos."

Lan Qi and Lan Xi both wondered, "How are we going to get the corpse here?"

Zhan Zhao took his cell phone and waved it at the crowd, "Money makes the devil work."

......

In the Bai Group's office, Bai Jintang was holding his chin and pondering after receiving Zhan Zhao's call.

The twins slipped in and saw Bai Jintang in a meditative state, so they came up and asked, "Big Brother? What's troubling you? Too much money and don't know how to spend it?"

"Speaking of spending money..." Bai Jintang raised his head and handed his cell phone over to the twins.

The twins were a bit puzzled and accepted it. They saw that it was some jungle maps, as well as some ancient city walls and the like.

The twins cocked their heads at Bai Jintang, "What's this? Which piece of land do you have your eye on?"

Bai Jintang stroked his chin and sized up the twins for a moment, saying, "Perhaps, the two of you should go to the Amazon and bring the dried corpse back, Zhao and Yutang said that they need it to investigate the case."

The twins stared at Bai Jintang for a long time before jumping up and throwing the phone!

‿︵‿︵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 19, 2024 by Angel

Edited: April 9, 2024 by Angel