S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 5 Chapter 52

Inheritor of the Three Murderers 21 – The Perfect Inheritor

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Bai Yutang parked the car at the place where the fire engines were gathered outside the fire scene.

The fire brigade captain in charge of directing this fire was called Ding Yue. Captain Ding seemed to have just come out of the fire scene, and his body was smoking.

The fire was clearly under control, there was no danger of an explosion, and there were only sporadic spots of fire left that were being doused individually.

Ding Yue turned around and saw Bai Yutang coming, so he waved, looking furious, "Captain Bai! This is arson at this point! It's definitely man-made arson!"

"Any casualties?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"For the time being, we haven't found any. It looks like no one has been working in this factory for a long time, and the main door was locked." Ding Yue had a dissatisfied expression, "The fire area is very large, and the accelerant composition is obvious! The starting point of the fire is very scattered, it's simply a typical pouring of petrol and then lighting the fire!"

"How long has it been burning?" Zhao Hu asked.

"About an hour."

Bai Yutang called for Jiang Ping to pay attention to the surveillance near the factory in the last few hours to see if any clues to the arson had been captured.

Zhan Zhao poked Bai Yutang, as if to ask for the phone.

Bai Yutang gave him the phone.

Zhan Zhao then asked Jiang Ping, "Jiang Ping, did you say before that you have a small drone in each of our vehicles?"

"Yes!" Jiang Ping hurriedly said, "It's in the trunk of the car."

Zhan Zhao went to open the trunk of the car and found a small iron box. Opening it, he saw that there was a palm-sized black box inside, which was hollowed out, with propellers inside and cameras at the head and tail.

Zhao Hu came over to look, "This one is advanced."

Zhan Zhao smiled faintly, took the box and walked into the factory with the crowd.

Zhan Zhao asked Jiang Ping as he walked, "How does this thing work?"

"There's a switch," Jiang Ping said, "just turn it on and spread your hands, I can control it for you on my side. What do you want to film?"

"Keep an eye on the nearby alleys." Zhan Zhao said, "Is there anyone paying special attention to us?"

"Okay, I'll have the machine fly high and keep an eye on them."

After Zhan Zhao pressed the switch on the drone, the aircraft hovered in mid-air and then began to climb.

Zhan Zhao tilted his face up to look at it. The aircraft was properly flying quite high, and coupled with the special reflective coating, it couldn't be detected if one wasn't paying attention.

"Awesome." Zhao Hu also followed and teased Jiang Ping, "The whole thing is invisible!"

Bai Yutang asked Zhan Zhao, "Cat, do you think that arsonist is still around?"

Zhan Zhao thought for a moment, "There are definitely people watching nearby, but it's hard to say if they're the arsonists or not."

As he was walking inside, he saw a firefighter hurriedly run back and said to Ding Yue, "Captain, there are some unusual findings."

Ding Yue wondered, "What's unusual?"

"There are dead people."

Ding Yue's eyebrows rose, "Didn't you say there were no dead or injured?"

That young team member waved his hand bluntly, "We found a cold storage-like place underneath the factory, there are many corpses in there, all wrapped in cling film."

Ding Yue reached out and pointed at Bai Yutang with a disgusted expression, which meant – Tell him about it.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang naturally heard it and busily asked, "Where is it?"

The young team member took the SCI crowd to look.

Ding Yue reported to the bureau, saying that this fire was weird and there was a criminal case, so they had to hastily bring the responsible person under control.

After the police station received the news, Bao Zheng arranged for the police officers who were watching Yue Hai's house to immediately bring Yue Hai back to the police station for investigation.

From the SCI office, Jiang Ping told Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao about the news of bringing Yue Hai under control, while manoeuvring the drone and circling above the factory.

"The news vehicle has come as well." Jiang Ping saw the TV station's live broadcast car, "It came in quite fast."

Ma Xin turned on the television and the crowd watched the news together.

The news was not only showing the news of the factory fire but surprisingly, there was also the news of Yue Hai being taken to the police car.

"Is the news this well-informed?" Gongsun felt that it was a bit abnormal.

"It's a bit peculiar, it feels as if they knew beforehand that Yue Hai was going to get in trouble." Xiatian pulled up the news on the internet and showed Gongsun, "Look at how evil this is written."

Gongsun took the tablet to read the news. He saw that what was written was that Yue Hai was suffering from severe PTSD because of his physical disability, and in order to treat himself, he built a lab in the factory to do human experiments. In the end, when the experiment failed, he killed the experimental subjects and set them on fire in preparation for eliminating the evidence.

"Oooh," Ma Xin also couldn't help but admire, "suddenly changing from a successful businessman into a perverted killer... what a flip!"

"This is clearly pre-written!" Jiang Ping said, "This press release was sent out almost immediately after the fire, and now it's getting a lot of attention."

"I originally thought that Yue Hai would definitely have something to do with this case," Xiatian was curious, "but why does this rhythm feel like someone is trying to frame him?"

......

Inside the machinery factory, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang followed the firefighters to a warehouse that had been burnt until it turned black. The warehouse was stocked with some machinery that had also been burnt black, and an iron door on the ground was open.

Bai Yutang grabbed a flashlight and took the lead, Zhao Hu followed and jumped down.

Zhan Zhao stood on the top and looked down, only to feel the cold air underneath. It was probably a freezer... Why would someone build a freezer here?

Not a moment later, they saw Zhao Hu come up first, muttering as he came up, "I'm leaving! It's too perverted!"

Behind him, Bai Yutang also came up and asked Ma Han to call Gongsun to bring the forensic team over.

"What's the situation down there?" Zhan Zhao was curious.

Bai Yutang took his cell phone and showed it to him, he had taken a video from down there for Zhan Zhao.

Ma Han also came over to look and saw that on the cell phone screen, there was a freezer underground, with layers and layers of iron shelves covered in corpses wrapped in plastic. With a rough count of more than a dozen corpses, the scene was similar to the filming of a horror film.

"I'm definitely going to have nightmares!" Zhao Hu had a disgruntled look on his face, "What kind of person is so perverted, storing so many corpses here."

Zhan Zhao, on the other hand, frowned. He raised his head to look around, and asked the several firefighters beside him who were frightened, "When you guys came in, was the door to this basement closed?"

Several firefighters nodded.

"Then... if the fire were to burn all day and all night, would it burn the bodies in the basement?"

Several firefighters shook their heads, "The accelerant wasn't poured in and this iron door is so thick, it definitely wouldn't burn these corpses."

Zhan Zhao looked at Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang also felt it was very unreasonable. So what was the purpose of this fire? If it was to destroy evidence, they should have lit these corpses on fire first to burn them cleanly.

"Yue Hai has been arrested." Ma Han held up his cell phone to show Zhan Zhao a few news articles that Jiang Ping had sent over.

"It's a bit deliberate." Zhao Hu also felt that he couldn't understand it.

"Hehe." Zhan Zhao finished reading the news, but let out a laugh, "Everything is developing according to logic, it's going quite smoothly."

Everyone looked at each other and was puzzled when Bai Yutang's phone rang.

Bai Yutang answered it. It was Luo Tian and the others looking for Zhan Zhao, so he handed the phone over.

Zhan Zhao picked it up and asked, "Has the person been caught?"

"Caught, Dr Zhan..." After a moment of silence, Luo Tian added, "It's a bit weird, we didn't catch the wrong person, right?"

"Bring him back to the police station, I'll be responsible for any problems." Zhan Zhao hung up the phone and waved at Bai Yutang, "We're going back."

Bai Yutang had wanted to wait here for the people from the forensic team to come and move the corpses outside, he didn't expect Zhan Zhao to want to go back so soon.

"Going back now?" Everyone followed Zhan Zhao outside.

"Mhmm." Zhan Zhao had a hidden excitement in his eyes, "The good show has begun."

"Dr. Zhan."

At this time, Jiang Ping also contacted Zhan Zhao, "The drone has captured a group of suspicious people and cars, it seems like someone is keeping an eye on the situation."

Zhan Zhao nodded, "Has Yue Hai been escorted back yet?"

"He should be brought over soon." Jiang Ping waved his hand at Gongsun and the others who had packed up their workboxes and were ready to go to the scene, but he heard Zhan Zhao say, "Have the forensic team stay, there are fun things for them to do."

Jiang Ping rushed out to stop the forensic team that was about to enter the elevator.

......

Bai Yutang sped back to the police station. Zhao Hu and Ma Han were confused and asked Zhan Zhao, "What kind of development is this?"

"The development of a trickster." Zhan Zhao rubbed his hands together while texting Zhao Jue and telling him to hurry back to the SCI office.

Zhao Jue seemed to be busy and sent a text back asking him, "Go back and see what?"

"The perfect inheritor." Zhan Zhao replied.

Not long after, Zhao Jue sent a "vomit" emoji, "Perfect my arse, it's just a monster. You guys have fun by yourselves, I'm busy with serious things here!"

Zhan Zhao put away the phone and narrowed his eyes, "Busy with what… Mysterious."

When Bai Yutang and the others rushed back to the SCI office, they saw that Bao Zheng was already there.

In the SCI office, in addition to the forensic team, there was also Yue Hai, who was sitting in a wheelchair and leaning against his handcuffs.

Yue Hai now looked depressed, unshaven and a little downcast.

Zhan Zhao asked Gongsun, "Have you taken the biological information?"

Gongsun was puzzled, "Could it be that he's a fake?"

"He's not a fake, the fingerprints and DNA all confirm that it's Yue Hai himself." Bao Zheng handed a document to Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao flipped through it with great interest, while surveying the wheelchair-bound Yue Hai from time to time, as if he was looking at some cherished animal.

Bai Yutang and the others all watched Zhan Zhao's actions with some confusion.

At this time, the elevator door opened, and they saw Luo Tian and the others coming back with a person in tow.

Bai Yutang and the others looked at the person brought back by Luo Tian. That person's age and figure were close to Yue Hai's, and his face was also somewhat similar, but he was not in a wheelchair.

Following the crowd in, was Liu Jin.

This "witness" who first appeared in the case was staring vigilantly at the person with the suitcase in front.

Entering the office, Luo Tian gave a passport to Zhan Zhao.

The passport belonged to the person they brought back to the office, and his name was Lin Hai.

Zhao Hu stroked his chin and looked around, looking at Lin Hai and then at Yue Hai, feeling that the two were somewhat similar...

Lin Hai looked quite angry, "You have no right to arrest me! I missed my flight, I'm going to sue you!"

Behind Lin Hai, Liu Jin frowned and stared at him.

Zhan Zhao smiled slightly and waved his hand at him, "Take it easy, you know why you were brought back by us."

Lin Hai was about to open his mouth, but Zhan Zhao turned his face and asked Liu Jin, "Who is this person?"

"Yue Hai!" Liu Jin had a serious look on his face, "He's the one who killed people!"

Lin Hai turned back to look at Liu Jin, "What are you babbling about? When did I ever kill anyone?"

"Take his biological information and compare it to Yue Hai." Zhan Zhao said while pointing at Yue Hai in the wheelchair again and asked Liu Jin, "What about him?"

Liu Jin looked over towards Yue Hai, his face seemed a little confused, and then he looked back at Lin Hai, "Twins?"

Everyone looked at each other.

Zhao Hu rubbed his chin – They're a bit similar, but it's not so much that they couldn't tell the difference and think they're twins, right? The difference is still quite obvious ah.

Ma Xin grabbed a cotton swab to extract Lin Hai's DNA. Lin Hai was clearly not afraid at all and was quite cooperative.

Seeing his actions, Zhan Zhao smiled faintly.

Lin Hai walked over to the sofa and sat down, crossing his legs with a serious expression, "I will definitely sue you guys! You have no right to arrest me! I'm a legal citizen!"

Bao Zheng looked at Zhan Zhao in bewilderment.

Zhan Zhao walked over to Lin Hai and sat down opposite him, observing his every move and not speaking, just staring at him.

Bai Yutang was also confused, but seeing Jiang Ping waving at him from the side, he walked over first.

Jiang Ping clicked on a set of images taken aerially by the drone just now to show him.

Bai Yutang frowned. There was a suspicious-looking unlicensed black car parked in an alleyway by the machinery factory. A person wearing a hoodie and a mask came out of the car, climbed onto the roof, and looked in through the fence of the machinery factory.

Bai Yutang turned back... Coincidentally, from the sofa that Lin Hai was sitting on, he could just see the screen of the computer.

At this time, Lin Hai was frowning and looking at the video, and there seemed to be some anxiety between his brows.

Zhan Zhao was sitting right across from him, smiling and observing the change in his expression.

Lin Hai came back to his senses and hurriedly coughed.

At this time, Ma Xin trotted back. She entered the office and hesitantly gave the examination report to Gongsun first.

Gongsun glanced at it before handing it to Zhan Zhao, saying as he did so, "Lin Hai and Yue Hai's fingerprints and DNA are different, there is no blood relationship."

Zhan Zhao didn't have a surprised expression on his face, but smiled and looked up at Lin Hai.

Gongsun and Bao Zheng glanced at each other. Bao Zheng knew that the situation was not good, this was equivalent to dragging a legal citizen off the plane without evidence and bringing him back to the police station. If the other party really wanted to sue, it would be enough for Zhan Zhao to drink a pot. (Angel: Drink a pot, 喝一壶, is a proverb. The online saying has the meaning of a lesson being learnt, so it could be interpreted as "it would be enough for Zhan Zhao to learn his lesson". However, this proverb not only describes a lesson learned but also emphasises that the person involved is very uncomfortable and cannot maintain his previous strength in a short period. It takes time for people to digest a pot of wine, so this meaning is used as an extension.)

However, out of everyone's expectations, Lin Hai didn't show any complacency or arrogance, instead, he seemed to be in a hurry and stood up, picking up his suitcase, "I can go now!"

The crowd could see that he was walking a bit hastily, as if he was fleeing for his life.

Zhan Zhao said to him as he was walking out the door, "Are you sure you want to go? If you walk out of this door, no one will be able to protect you, you are now a lonely commander worthy of the name."

Lin Hai stood still, seeming to come to a realisation, and glared back at Zhan Zhao, "So you purposely brought me here?"

Zhan Zhao smiled and waved his hand at him, "You deserve to die, so think about it clearly."

Lin Hai gritted his teeth and dragged the suitcase into the elevator.

Zhan Zhao said to Bai Yutang, "Yutang, keep an eye on him, someone wants to kill him."

Bai Yutang took Ma Han and Zhao Hu downstairs in another elevator.

Bao Zheng walked over and asked Zhan Zhao, "What exactly is the situation?"

"It's just an experiment." Saying this, Zhan Zhao shouted in the direction of the lounge, "You can come out now."

The crowd turned around and saw A'Mo walk out of the lounge.

Zhan Zhao asked him, "Could you see anyone?"

A'Mo shook his head, "No."

"You can't see Lin Hai?" Gongsun asked.

A'Mo nodded.

Zhan Zhao smiled slightly.

Bao Zheng grimaced, "What's going on? Speak plainly and don't play games!"

"To put it simply and bluntly, he's..." Zhan Zhao pointed to Yue Hai in the wheelchair, "a substitute."

Gongsun opened his mouth wide.

Zhan Zhao gestured outside again, "That Lin Hai just now, is the real Yue Hai."

The rest of the people in the office had their mouths wide open.

"What's going on?" Xiao Bai Chi couldn't figure it out, "Replacing the original with a fake?"

"But... but biological information can't be faked!" Gongsun shook his head vigorously.

"That's right! Yue Hai used to be a soldier, his fingerprints and some of his biological information were left behind more than ten years ago." Ma Xin also shook her head, "How could... And Lin Hai, they checked and there is indeed such a person. Two completely different people just look like each other..."

"So," Zhan Zhao smiled faintly, "that's a perfect, inheritor."

‿︵‿︵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: February 15, 2024 by Angel

Edited: May 16, 2024 by Angel