S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 5 Chapter 61

Misplaced of the Three Murderers 08 – Horror Movie

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Bai Yutang drove the car and took Zhan Zhao to the special prison to visit Zhou Chen, the murderer of the case that Zhao Jue characterised as a "mysterious event" thirty years ago.

The special prison naturally wouldn't be built in the city. For the long journey, Bai Yutang was in charge of driving, and Zhan Zhao was using a tablet to chat with Jiang Ping.

Ma Han and Zhao Hu also drove their car and followed Bai Yutang's car, rushing to the special prison together.

The people remaining in the SCI office also had their own tasks. Bai Chi was flipping through a book, looking up the urban legends that Zhan Zhao had asked him to find.

Jiang Ping, on the other hand, was working on the keyboard, looking for clues about Zhou Chen's father, Zhou Anming, who had mysteriously disappeared.

After all, he had disappeared thirty years ago, and it was only known that Zhou Anming was a researcher in biological sciences, but the specifics of his research were unknown.

Jiang Ping wasn't sure if this person indeed had no achievements, or if the research data had been artificially destroyed.

He found some old photos, but they were all group photos, and the faces weren't clear.

Jiang Ping passed the information to Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao asked him to look into Zhou Anming's colleagues.

Jiang Ping found a few of his old colleagues and started to investigate their recent situations in detail, but the results were disturbing.

"All dead." Jiang Ping scratched his head, "Zhou Anming would be in his seventies if he were alive, and those colleagues of his were basically all in their seventies and eighties as well."

"Did they all die of natural causes?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"There are all sorts, there are those who died of illness, accidents, and suicides..." Jiang Ping shook his head, "It's not quite right, those colleagues of his all died before Zhou Anming disappeared."

"Then it's obviously not right." On the other end, Zhao Hu, who was also looking at his tablet, shook his head, "Not a single one that lived longer than him? What were they working on at the time?"

Jiang Ping shook his head, "This hasn't been identified yet."

"Are there any more acquaintances of his?" Zhan Zhao asked, "Students or something like that?"

"For the time being, I can't find anything. It feels like this family has broken all ties, Zhou Anming, Zhou Chen and Zhou Guang's acquaintances are all dead." Jiang Ping said, "I'll look for external help, I'll contact you again when I find out later."

Hanging up the phone, Jiang Ping got Mia to help with the investigation.

Zhou Anming's body had not been found, so there was no information about him at Karin's place, but she had information about Zhou Guang and those killed by Zhou Chen at her place.

Mia sent Jiang Ping photos of those who died, and Gongsun and Ma Xin took the photos and studied them.

"Why would a teenager be so ferocious and kill so many people?" Ma Xin was a bit unable to accept it.

"And the killing method was very efficient." Gongsun said, "It's purely for the purpose of killing, and the method is simple and rough."

"This situation is not a revenge killing, is it?" Bai Chi asked.

"It's as if there's no emotion, it's simply to kill these people." Gongsun arranged the photos neatly on the table and carefully compared them.

......

Also discussing this topic were Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang in the car.

Bai Yutang didn't understand why a child could kill so many people, and looking at Zhou Chen's previous record, it didn't feel like he fit the profile of a serial killer.

"Indeed, of the twins, Zhou Guang was a good student and Zhou Chen was naughty and mischievous, and there was no previous record of any violent behaviour."

"And it was Zhou Chen who started killing after he became Zhou Guang, right?" Bai Yutang asked.

"That's a horror film setting."

The intercom in the car was on, and in the car following behind, Ma Han and Zhao Hu could hear the discussion as well.

Hu Zi always wondered if this plot was a similar trope that he had seen before in some horror film.

"If it's a horror film, what's the plot?" Zhan Zhao suddenly asked Zhao Hu with great interest, giving him some free rein.

"Ahem." Zhao Hu cleared his throat, composed his thoughts, and began to have fun, "If it's a horror film, then the opening must be set in that reservoir. For example, in the middle of the night, an old man driving a small boat on the dark lake of the reservoir and fishing... At this time, it seems like something bumped into his boat, and just when he was nervously checking the surroundings, it suddenly got quiet. The old man was relieved and ready to continue fishing when suddenly, the boat capsized. The old man was yanked down into the dark depths of the water by something, and finally, given another distant view of the lake at night, he could vaguely see something in the water."

Ma Han and Bai Yutang, who were driving seriously, both shook their heads speechlessly.

Zhan Zhao, on the other hand, found it quite interesting and asked Zhao Hu to continue.

"You can show the title of the film at this point. Then the scene shifts to dawn, where a bunch of high school students go to the reservoir to swim, with the boys and girls acting foolishly. It's best to insert another clip here of the boys posing as water ghosts to scare the girls in the water, to scare the audience and create a bit of an atmosphere. That way when that group of teenagers really run into the water ghost the second time, they'll think it's someone playing a prank. This is called dramatic effect!"

Bai Yutang nodded, he truly has watched a lot of horror films.

"Then the protagonist of this film, one of the twins, Zhou Chen, makes his appearance. He is swimming when all of a sudden he feels someone underwater tugging on his leg. He struggles twice and is dragged under the surface. His twin brother, Zhou Guang, thinks his brother is playing a prank and tells him to stop, but when his brother really sinks and doesn't come up, he panics. Just as he begins to panic, Zhou Chen suddenly emerges at the surface of the water, but the one who comes out of the water is no longer Zhou Chen, but is the water ghost who has possessed him. When Zhou Guang sees that his brother is not dead, he is relieved and goes over to see if he is alright, but Zhou Chen suddenly presses him into the water and drowns him. While Zhou Chen was doing this, he was seen by a man who went swimming with him... Here, there can be only the man's voice, and when Zhou Chen hears the voice and turns back, he doesn't see the man, but he's sure that someone else saw him."

"So Zhou Chen later killed all his classmates to silence them?" Zhan Zhao was a bit surprised, "That's a good idea."

Being praised, Zhao Hu relaxed even more, "Then the police come and classify the case as an accidental death. Then Zhou Chen starts to kill people one after another, which can be supplemented with a bit of suspense, such as which one saw Zhou Chen kill someone, and why they didn't report it to the police or something like that, adding a bit of an emotional touch to the story, and a little bit of suspense... Wasn't Zhou Chen and Zhou Guang's dad engaged in biological experiments? At the end, there's a twist. That water ghost was made by Zhou Anming and proceeds to kill everyone, and Zhou Chen was treated as if he was severely mentally ill. And then at the end, there's a scene of him being put in jail. A close-up of a smile comes in, and it's an open ending. If it does well at the box office, maybe there can be a sequel."

Zhao Hu spoke with a flurry of words, while Zhan Zhao and the others listened. Although the plot was a bit cheesy, it was still considered a horror film with a common formula, and if it was made well, it might be quite good.

Bai Yutang said, "But there are two places that don't make sense."

"Which two?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"Why did those students react so strangely when the police questioned them?" Bai Yutang asked.

"Hmm..." Hu Zi drank water and thought about it, "Let's add to the story. These students knew that there were water ghosts in this reservoir, and intentionally lured the two brothers to sacrifice, so that they could add another level of suspense. This way, it makes sense that later on, the water ghosts would kill all of the students. It feels more reasonable than silencing them."

"What about the other one?" Zhan Zhao asked Bai Yutang.

"After Zhou Chen returned from the reservoir, since he was possessed by a water ghost, why did he say he was Zhou Guang, and why did his exam results all get better?"

"Hmm... this is really a bit tricky to explain..." Zhao Hu asked Ma Han, "Xiao Ma Ge, what do you think? "

Ma Han thought about it, "How about making it a little more sinister?"

"How sinister?" Zhan Zhao asked with great interest.

"Two days ago, Ma Xin watched a horror film and I had a peek. The film is called Us." Ma Han said, "It's about people living above ground having a counterpart clone living below ground. The gateway between above ground and below ground is a haunted house in an amusement park. A little girl goes underground by mistake and switches with the clone of herself that lives underground. When the little girl grew up, the clones came above ground and attacked their own bodies. I also watched a Japanese drama with Xin Xin before, I forgot the exact plot, but there was a part in it where a girl had a split personality and played the role of a pair of twins on her own, being the older sister during the day and the younger sister at night. It was only later that I realised that it was indeed a pair of twins originally, but when they were playing a game as children, one of them accidentally killed the other."

Zhao Hu narrowed his eyes at Ma Han, "Xiao Ma Ge, I can't see that you, with your thick eyebrows and big eyes, also indulge in dramas!"

Ma Han continued to help Zhao Hu add to his film's plot, "Zhou Guang and Zhou Chen are a pair of twins. Isn't Zhou Anming engaged in biological sciences? It's possible that he used to have a child named Zhou Guang, who then accidentally drowned in the reservoir or was killed and left in the reservoir, so Zhou Anming cloned a pair of twins, Zhou Guang and Zhou Chen. But the one in the reservoir is the real Zhou Guang. He possessed one clone and drowned the other, so he said he was Zhou Guang."

"Wow." Hu Zi clapped his hands, "This is quite a decent addition. All of a sudden the plot is quite complicated, and it also has some science fiction elements to it."

Zhan Zhao listened to Zhao Hu and Ma Han make up a film the entire time.

Bai Yutang also finished listening and asked Zhan Zhao, "But the premise of the water ghost is not valid, what is the connection between the film plot and the case?"

"There are a few interesting points." Zhan Zhao said, "The two concepts have one thing in common."

The three were curious, waiting for Zhan Zhao to give an answer.

"Both Hu Zi's original plot and Xiao Ma Ge's supplementary plot... have the idea that it wasn't Zhou Chen himself who committed the murder." Zhan Zhao listed them one by one, "Both take the matter of Zhou Guang drowning in the reservoir as the starting point of the whole thing. While Zhou Chen killing his classmates and even his mother was a process, the ultimate endpoint and the origin of everything was attributed to Zhou Anming. But Zhou Anming's disappearance was clearly not the last murder, in reality, the last person Zhou Chen killed was his mother."

Everyone nodded as they listened, right...

Hu Zi asked, "Is this a so-called mindset?"

"Mindset." Zhan Zhao muttered to himself, "A family where the child is a serial killer who killed his brother and mother and the father is missing, the father is the most suspicious. Everything is probably due to the father... Why do you think this is so?"

"Maybe it has something to do with Zhou Anming's occupation." Bai Yutang said, "Biological science research... In addition, his body was not found, and the manner of his death was very strange. Zhou Chen's method of killing his classmates and his mother were both very ferocious, but with his father, he pushed him into the sea... it sounds like it was made up."

Zhan Zhao asked, "Then what if Zhou Anming is not missing but is actually already dead?"

"That would be a completely different kind of plot." Zhao Hu replied, "It would change the style from Dead Silence and Silent Hill to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Hostel."

Bai Yutang frowned when he heard this, "Why do you all usually watch these kinds of films? Isn't seeing it at work enough?"

"I watched them all at Big Brother's villa." Zhao Hu frantically spat, "That villa of yours, there's animated films on the ground floor, horror films on the second, and if you go to the wrong room, there might still be an adult film, but other than that, there are no other kinds of films!"

Ma Han added, "There's also Animal Planet, Cat Planet and whatnot."

Bai Yutang sighed, while Zhan Zhao was amused.

After chatting about what was there and what wasn't for the whole journey, the cars drove through the gates of the special prison.

Bai Yutang stopped the car and asked Zhan Zhao, "So you chatted about films all the way, how is it related to this case?"

Zhan Zhao smiled slightly, "Horror films can actually cover all film genres, musicals and cartoons can all be filmed horrifyingly, it doesn't necessarily have to be a supernatural film."

Bai Yutang nodded, "Mhmm, speak Chinese."

Zhan Zhao squinted at him, "I'm speaking Chinese ah, it's not like there are any technical terms."

Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao locked eyes with him for a moment, and lost, "You said it before, Zhou Chen doesn't fit the profile of a serial killer."

Bai Yutang nodded.

"So this isn't a Texas Chainsaw Massacre-style film." Zhan Zhao shrugged, "The most crucial point is, after thirty years, where exactly is Zhou Anming? The film has no grand finale."

Bai Yutang thought for a moment and asked Zhan Zhao, "Cat, you know where Zhou Anming is don't you?"

Zhan Zhao hooked his finger at Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang moved over, and Zhan Zhao whispered in his ear, "I suspect that Zhou Anming is here!"

‿︵‿︵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 24, 2024 by Angel

Edited: May 30, 2024 by Angel