S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 5 Chapter 51

Inheritor of the Three Murderers 20 – The Cunning Cage

---

Gongsun ran and gave the crowd shocking news – All of the attackers were inheritors.

For a moment, the existence of inheritors, which was defined as a "precious species", instantly became "cheap".

However, while everyone was expressing their shock, there was one person who was quite calm – Zhan Zhao.

Bai Yutang took the report Gongsun handed to him, and after taking a look at it, he turned back to Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao was calm and relaxed at this moment, giving off the feeling that everything was expected.

Bai Yutang was a little puzzled and was just about to ask for clarification, but Zhan Zhao patted him and said, "Why don't we go to that machinery factory first? Let's talk about it on the way."

Everyone nodded.

Before going out, Zhan Zhao stopped Luo Tian and Qin Ou, who wanted to follow, and waved at the two of them.

The two looked at each other and went over.

Zhan Zhao secretly whispered a few words to them.

Luo Tian and Qin Ou glanced at each other, seemingly a little confused.

Bai Yutang looked over, and Zhan Zhao didn't say much else before signalling for the two of them to hurry up.

Luo Tian and Qin Ou then quickly walked out the door together, apparently, Zhan Zhao had something for the two of them to do separately.

Putting aside the fact that the two of them were going to carry out some kind of covert operation, Zhao Hu, Ma Han and Xiao Bai Chi still followed Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang in their cars and drove on the road together, rushing to the Lan Shan Machinery factory.

To better discuss the case, the communication devices in the several cars were all connected, and Jiang Ping and Gongsun, who were sitting in the SCI office, both wore headphones and started a dialogue with everyone in the cars.

Bai Yutang drove the car out of the police station, and the first thing he said to Zhan Zhao was, "There are a lot of questions I want to ask."

Zhan Zhao nodded in understanding, "What do you want to ask?"

"The issue of the inheritors and this attack." Bai Yutang was too lazy to ask one by one, so he simply generalised and let Zhan Zhao say it all at once.

"What do you guys think, what is the purpose of this attack?" Zhan Zhao asked, "To rescue G?"

Bai Yutang shook his head, "This doesn't look like a rescue operation, if it was, then the commander who planned this operation is too unreliable."

Zhan Zhao nodded, and the people on the other few ends of the communication equipment voiced their opinions as well.

Zhao Hu, who was in the same car as Ma Han and was following behind Bai Yutang's car, was clearly also baffled by this attack, "There are many ways to rescue people, I've never seen two teams of people directly rushing the police station. Half of the police officers in the building are armed, and the structure of the building is complex. The headquarters of the SWAT team is also in the vicinity, and it only takes three to five minutes for the police to be dispatched. To get a helicopter... I thought they were filming a movie."

Ma Xin also felt that it was against common sense, "It would be better to get someone to pretend to be a cleaner or something to sneak in and administer a poison to deal with G."

"I just asked Eleven," Ma Han said, "it's also strange that this operation leaked beforehand, that's why the assassins were prepared in advance."

"An operation of this magnitude leaked in advance?" Jiang Ping started typing away on the keyboard while muttering to himself, "There is no reason... although the sources are different, the killers can get ready and wait for them to come, how long in advance was that leaked?"

Gongsun, who was holding a teacup and drinking tea on the side, also nodded, "It feels a bit deliberate!"

"These people didn't look like they came to assassinate or rescue, rather it looked like they were carrying dynamite charges to blow up a bunker." Zhan Zhao slowly chimed in.

Bai Yutang thought about it and frowned, "Suicidal?"

"So it's a terrorist attack?" Zhao Hu felt even more unconvinced, "What's the point?"

The crowd waited for Zhan Zhao to answer.

Zhan Zhao finished listening to the opinions expressed by the crowd, but instead of going down that road, he changed the topic and asked, "Do you guys think that there's any difference between the inheritors?"

The crowd all thought about it, and Bai Chi said, "The difference is pretty big, with a feeling that good and bad are mixed."

"Right." Zhao Hu nodded his head as well, "A'Mo and the rest of them were kinda godly, and the last inheritor we caught was even more powerful! It feels like he's more powerful than all the other inheritors, but the ones that came to attack are ordinary. It feels like the entire group has been pulled down a notch, and it's not mysterious at all anymore!"

Everyone nodded.

Zhan Zhao smiled faintly, "All of them are inheritors, there are excellent ones, there are ordinary ones, and then there are those that aren't excellent. This situation reminds me of 'Gresham's law'."

Zhao Hu blinked, "What sham?"

Gongsun held his cup and took a sip, "Hu Zi, you usually read books, Gresham's law is very common, you've heard of the expression 'bad money drives out good', right?"

"Oh..." Zhao Hu nodded, "I've heard of this, I always hear about it from some experts when they analyse the economy, trade and so on."

Ma Han also didn't quite understand. This term was an economic phenomenon, what was the relationship with this similar terrorist attack?

"The so-called bad money drives out good, to put it simply, there are two situations. In the case of minted coins, let's take gold and silver as an example. Trying to have two currencies in circulation at the same time is impossible. People would hoard the more valuable gold and circulate a large amount of the less valuable silver. Over time, the gold would cease to be money and silver would become the only currency. And when you switch to modern banknotes, it's even more plain and easy to understand, you have two pieces of money in your wallet, one new and one old, and when you spend money, you'll spend the old one first."

The crowd mulled over this statement of Zhan Zhao's, and it seemed like something was calling out to them.

"However, with the development of the times, the form of money changed, and in addition to hard currency, soft currency arose in the world. The currency that circulates in the virtual world is the opposite of the real world, the more valuable it is, the more it will be circulated, creating a kind of 'anti-Gresham law'."

Everyone frowned and pondered it again – What did this have to do with the case?

"Once before, I mistakenly entered a forum populated by economists, mixing in and listening to a lesson on bad and good currencies in a haphazard manner. Because it wasn't in my major, I didn't understand much of it, but there was one theory that made sense to me when I heard it." Zhan Zhao continued unhurriedly, "One economist summed it up like this, bad money drives out good money, which is equivalent to 'bad' dominating and driving out 'good'... It may seem like an incorrect route, but it's a relatively gentle and regular process. Bad money drives out good money, which only leads to a higher and more stable value for the good money. And in turn, good money expels bad money... This seemingly 'good' expelling 'bad' is more in line with the principle of 'reason'. The result of the expulsion of the bad by the goodwill not make the bad more solid, but will make the bad disappear completely."

When Zhan Zhao said this, Bai Yutang instantly comprehended his meaning and asked, "Cat, do you mean that the high-quality inheritors are 'destroying' the low-quality inheritors?"

Zhan Zhao nodded at him, "That's what I think."

"So are inheritors divided into various classes?" Bai Chi asked, "These assassins sent to attack the police station, their purpose was actually not G at all, but rather to die?"

"No wonder those Ice Cream Factory killers are foolishly looking for death one by one... Dare I say they're all self-destructing!" Zhao Hu felt that this method was quite detrimental but also quite practical, "To put it bluntly, it's the same as making wine, a batch of wine involves several hundred tanks, one or two tanks of good wine is left behind, and the rest of them are all destroyed."

"Keep the good varieties to destroy the bad varieties, isn't this a fascist theory?" Bai Chi frowned, "So the inheritors are Nazis?"

"It does mean something like that, but there are some subtle differences, they are different in nature." Zhan Zhao has always been a person who pays attention to details. Seeing that the discussion had delved into the details and that everyone's thoughts were following along, he crossed his legs and slowly continued, "To destroy a certain group of people, there has to be some kind of reason. To sum it up in a simpler way, it can be from a proactive or a passive position, or even some kind of instinct."

"Mhmm."

The forensic team in the SCI office heard the theory and it resonated quite a bit.

"Just like mice in the lab, the strong ones will bite the weak ones to death, this is out of instinct, right?" Ma Xin asked.

"In the lab dish, one virus devours another, out of proactivity!" Xiatian continued, "This belongs to evolution and development."

After the two finished, Jiang Ping curiously asked, "Then what is the passive scenario?"

"Er..." Just as the scholars were thinking theoretically, Bai Yutang spoke up, "Not controlled or threatened."

Zhan Zhao lightly snapped his fingers, "Correct~"

"There is a causal relationship between not being controlled and being threatened." Zhan Zhao analysed, "From what I've heard from previous enquiries and from Ice Cream Factory's style of doing things, inferior inheritors and superior inheritors are an existence akin to bad money and good money. And here again, good and bad are contrary to reality. The so-called good inheritors are suffering from disabilities. The so-called bad inheritors, on the other hand, do not suffer from disabilities. Disabled inheritors have special talents, but are not aggressive. Inferior inheritors, who have no special talents, are extremely aggressive and even uncontrollable... They are like gear two and gear three..."

"Then first gear... is that last inheritor?" Bai Yutang asked.

"That one is indeed powerful, both with special talents and aggressiveness, and is somehow also considered uncontrollable... and A'Mo can't see him!" Jiang Ping summarised to himself as he tapped on the keyboard.

Zhan Zhao coughed softly as he finished saying, "A'Mo can't see him," and said, "This is a trait that doesn't appear in all inheritors, only he has it!"

"But the problem is," Bai Yutang was puzzled, "the ones he wants to kill are the excellent and non-threatening inheritors."

"Right, and who killed those defective ones?" Bai Chi asked.

Zhan Zhao didn't say anything, as if he was thinking of something, and after a moment of silence, he smiled faintly.

The crowd waited for him to explain in more detail.

Zhan Zhao sighed somewhat helplessly, "As a result of everything evolving to compete for the earth, humans are the only rulers."

Everyone was puzzled, so they could only wait for Bai Yutang's "translation".

Bai Yutang also followed the silence for a while, before finally asking Zhan Zhao, "Do you mean... that apart from that last inheritor, all the others can be destroyed?"

"Isn't that last one close to being destroyed as well?" Zhan Zhao raised his eyebrows.

Bai Yutang nodded, "There is an even more perfect inheritor!"

Zhan Zhao smiled, opened his mouth, and let out a syllable, "I."

Gongsun was curious, "Is it your theory that G wants to find N through I, and N wants to find I again?"

"I stands for the most perfect inheritor?" Ma Han asked.

"What would you do if you were I?" Zhan Zhao asked rhetorically.

"Run away." Bai Chi replied.

"How would you escape?" Zhan Zhao then asked.

No one said anything. Gongsun took another sip of tea and said, "Kill all the leftovers, and he'll be safe forever! Even if he gets caught, it doesn't matter!"

The corner of Zhao Hu's mouth twitched, and he felt speechless, "This is a case of forcing a rare species and artificially creating an extinction situation?"

Everyone felt that the situation wasn't too good after they came to the conclusion, and Bai Yutang, who was driving the car and paying attention to the road outside, also opened his mouth and said, "Not good."

"What's wrong?" Zhan Zhao asked.

Ma Han said, "So many fire trucks."

Zhao Hu looked into the distance, "Looks like quite a big fire, look at that smoke over there."

The two SCI vehicles turned the corner of the intersection ahead and spotted traffic police diverting traffic and barriers blocking the road to the Lan Shan Machinery factory.

A thick smoke rolled in the distance, there was obviously a fire, and everyone had a not-so-good feeling about it.

Rolling down the window, Bai Yutang took out his ID and asked the traffic police, "Where is the fire?"

The traffic police told Bai Yutang that several factories in a row suddenly caught fire ahead, it might be some kind of combustible leakage. It was impossible to tell if there were chemicals burning or not and the situation was unknown, so the people who evacuated were prohibited from leaving, and the fire brigade was putting out the fire.

Bai Yutang frowned and looked at Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao poked his head over to discuss with that traffic cop, "Why don't you let us go and talk to the fire brigade? We have some information here that might be able to help."

The traffic cop nodded and gave Bai Yutang and the others directions.

In fact, there was no need to point, the eye-catching fire trucks were right in front of them.

As the car drove forward, Zhan Zhao's phone rang, it was Luo Tian calling.

After Zhan Zhao picked up the phone, he asked, "Have you picked up the person? Alright, rush to the airport immediately."

Hanging up the phone, Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao with questions in his eyes.

Zhan Zhao smiled faintly at him, signalling to him – Hold your horses and wait patiently.

In the SCI office, Jiang Ping pulled up the surveillance near the factory, and Ma Xin switched on the TV to watch the news.

The breaking news was indeed broadcasting a live account of the fires on the outskirts of S City.

Xiatian found some videos filmed by passersby during the night, "It doesn't seem to be an explosion, this fire started somewhat inexplicably, why is it spreading so fast?"

"There's not much wind today either." Ma Xin looked at the aerial footage of the fire on the news, and took out the street map of the machinery factory that Jiang Ping had taken with a satellite earlier to compare, "It's over! The entire machinery factory is all burnt down, burnt very cleanly, right down the middle. Even a few of the surrounding factory buildings have been affected, and it's not clear if there are any casualties."

"The machinery factory doesn't have that much combustible material, right?" Gongsun frowned, "The surrounding several factories are also not chemical factories. This fire looks like it was ignited after pouring gasoline inside."

"It must have been arson. The bodies were destroyed, and now there's nothing left." Jiang Ping shook his head and felt that it was a shame.

While talking, Jiang Ping's phone rang, "Hello? Luo Tian ah... Oh, okay."

After Jiang Ping hung up the phone, he seemed a bit puzzled, but he still called Bao Zheng.

Gongsun listened to what Jiang Ping told Bao Zheng, which was to ask him to send someone to Yue Hai's house to have him taken into custody.

"You're going to arrest Yue Hai?" Gongsun asked, "Zhan Zhao was being secretive just now, did he ask Luo Tian and Qin Ou to go and arrest Yue Hai first?"

"That's not true, Luo Tian and the others rushed to the airport." Jiang Ping replied.

"Dr. Zhan's is prescient!" Ma Xin clapped her hands, "If Yue Hai is really I, then this fire must have something to do with him. This is the rhythm of burning down the lair and preparing to go far away."

"But we've always been monitoring, Yue Hai didn't leave his house." Jiang Ping scratched his head, "And Luo Tian and Qin Ou didn't go to the airport alone, they also brought someone with them."

"Who?" The three members of the forensic team asked in unison.

Jiang Ping uttered a name that no one had anticipated in any way. The person that Zhan Zhao had Luo Tian and Qin Ou bring to the airport was none other than the earliest witness who suffered from a strange one-half deficiency syndrome – Liu Jin.

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

Previous Chapter | TOC | Next Chapter

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: February 13, 2024 by Angel

Edited: May 16, 2024 by Angel