S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 5 Chapter 67

Misplaced of the Three Murderers 14 – Electrician

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In the SCI office.

Bai Chi sat on a swivel chair, his hands held the back of the chair and his chin rested on the back of his hands, as he stared intently at the ecological box on the table.

Inside the ecological box, the strange insect was slowly crawling.

Just now, I learnt from Zhao Jue that the name of this bug was "Lacewing Seven".

At this time, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang finished their meal at the restaurant downstairs and returned to the office.

Zhan Zhao walked to Bai Chi's side, reached out, and gently patted his head.

Only then did Bai Chi come back to his senses from his drifting state, reaching out to rub his head and looking up at Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao winked at him – Don't focus on it too much.

Bai Chi tilted his head and asked Zhan Zhao, "Brother, did you notice it too?"

Zhan Zhao smiled faintly and nodded at him, "So, don't focus on it too much."

As they were chatting, Zhao Hu and Ma Han, who had gone out for a while, returned.

Zhao Hu was holding a cardboard box in his hand, about the same size as the ecological box but slightly larger.

"Doctor, is this okay?" Zhao Hu asked Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao nodded and said it was just right.

Ma Han handed the plastic bag in his hand to Zhan Zhao, which was half full of fine sand. Just now, the two of them drove to the beach, and according to Zhan Zhao's request, they brought back a cardboard box and a bag of fine sand.

Zhan Zhao lifted the ecological box and asked the two to help carry the cardboard box and sand, and they went to the forensic room together.

"What are you going to do?" Bai Chi curiously followed.

"To do an experiment." Zhan Zhao smiled slightly mysteriously.

Zhao Hu and Ma Han subconsciously turned back to Bai Yutang.

However, Bai Yutang didn't seem interested in the insect and was having Jiang Ping search for some kind of information.

Zhao Hu and Ma Han pondered for a while, then handed over both the cardboard box and the sand to Bai Chi to do the experiment with Zhan Zhao and ran to ask Bai Yutang if he had any work for them.

Bai Yutang told them both to go back and rest, everything would wait until Zhao Jue came tomorrow.

......

Zhao Hu and Ma Han didn't ask too many questions and went back.

In the office, Jiang Ping was still tapping away on his computer. Bai Yutang seemed to be asking him to find a certain address through a satellite map.

"Captain, is it here?" Jiang Ping found an overhead photo of the factory and showed it to Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang asked Jiang Ping to print out the photo and then continue looking...

It wasn't until after seven in the evening that Zhan Zhao and Bai Chi came out of the forensic room.

Gongsun, who had accompanied them for a short evening of experiments, walked out and was captured by Brother Bai, who was waiting at the door of the office. Zhao Zhen was also waiting in the office, dozing off against Lisbon.

Bai Chi was excited and sat down on the edge of the sofa to shake Zhao Zhen, saying, "It's amazing!"

Zhao Zhen reached out and touched his head, and asked him if he had eaten.

Bai Chi just remembered that he had not eaten.

Zhao Zhen glanced at Bai Yutang on the side with slight dissatisfaction.

Bai Yutang smiled awkwardly yet politely and handed the stack of photos in his hand to Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao looked at them one by one before finally picking one out and placing it on the table while returning the others to Jiang Ping.

"Here?" Bai Yutang asked.

"Mhmm!" Zhan Zhao nodded.

"Then let's wait for tomorrow's action, everyone go back and rest today." Bai Yutang lightly clapped his hands, signalling – Off duty!

......

Not long after, the lights in the SCI office were switched off and the doors were locked, and everyone went home.

.....

At around ten in the evening, the lights on most of the floors of the police station building were turned off, and the guard in charge of security, Old Chen, took a flashlight and checked through the floors one by one. So far everything was normal.

When walking to SCI's floor, Old Chen suddenly stood still. He turned on his flashlight and shone it inside the glass door, seemingly looking for something.

......

In the surveillance room, the other two guards in charge of surveillance, Xiao Zhang and Xiao Wang, had just made coffee and were chatting about tonight's ball game. When they raised their heads, the two noticed the bizarre scene on the surveillance screen.

At the door of the dark SCI office, there was a blue flashlight that was slowly moving.

"Eh, what is Old Chen doing?"

"Did you see something?"

Xiao Zhang picked up the walkie-talkie, "Old Chen, is everything alright?"

However, "Old Chen" didn't respond at all. He was still shining his flashlight at the SCI office, seemingly looking for something.

"Ai, let's go up and take a look."

"Oh."

The two guards turned around and suddenly saw a person standing at the door...

......

Early the next morning.

Everyone came back to work.

Bai Chi, as always, bought two big bags of breakfast and hurriedly ran into the police station, where he met the guard Old Chen, who was yawning and walking out.

"Old Chen is off duty?"

"Eh, Xiao Bai ah, your SCI's floor is leaking."

"Ha?!" Bai Chi froze, "Why is it leaking?"

"The electricity was suddenly cut off last night. The water pipe next to the power distribution room on your floor burst and the water leaked into the power distribution room and short-circuited. Xiao Zhang and Xiao Wang just called a plumber to repair it, but it hasn't been repaired yet."

"The power was cut off all night?" Bai Chi frowned, "I wonder about the bodies in the forensic room..."

"Didn't you guys install a new system? As soon as the power goes out, the backup power supply will be activated. I guess the air conditioner is still turned on, when we opened the door to go in this morning, the forensic room was cool as a freezer.

Bai Chi froze for a moment, then suddenly cried out "Aiya!" He didn't care about the breakfast anymore, he dropped the bags and rushed upstairs.

"Aiya!" Old Chen helped him pick up two bags of breakfast and chased after him.

......

When Bai Chi ran to the door of the SCI office, he saw that the floor was indeed very wet, and two cleaning aunts were mopping the floor.

The door of the forensic room was open, Ma Han and the others were at the door, and Bai Yutang was in the office.

Xiao Bai Chi ran to the door of the medical examiner's office, and saw Ma Xin holding the ecological box with pouting lips and Xiatian shaking his head at the side, saying something like "What a pity".

Bai Chi ran in and saw that the bug in the ecological box was dead.

"Dead?" Bai Chi opened the lid, took a tweezer and poked it, and the insect had already stiffened.

"There are also bugs in this system," Gongsun was quite dissatisfied, "Why did the air conditioner come on when the power was cut off and rebooted?"

"The temperature was too low, and the bug froze to death." Ma Xin said, "I should have known to put it in the office yesterday, the backup power supply is only available in the forensic room."

At this time, in the power distribution room next door, two guards came out with an electrician.

Zhan Zhao, who had been leaning against the door watching the situation without saying anything, turned back and asked, "Fixed it?"

The two guards were Xiao Zhang and Xiao Wang who were in charge of the monitoring room. They both said that it was fixed and when the ground dried up, they would just flip the switch that was tripped.

Zhan Zhao asked the plumber, "How did the water pipe burst?"

The plumber said that the water pipe joint cracked, it may be a quality problem.

Ma Han asked the three guards, "Was there anything unusual last night?"

All three shook their heads and said no.

In the SCI office, Jiang Ping checked and didn't find anything unusual.

Zhan Zhao still seemed to feel a little suspicious, looking the three guards and the electrician up and down.

At this time, Gongsun, who was on the side, raised his hand and asked, "Since it's dead, does it belong to me?"

Zhan Zhao looked back at him.

"Can I dissect that bug?" Gongsun's face was beaming.

Ma Han and Zhao Hu had originally received the two bags of breakfast in Old Chen's hand and were looking for food, but when they heard this, they hurriedly ran to the office.

Zhan Zhao nodded, and Gongsun went in with his two little assistants to dissect the bug.

Handing the box over to Gongsun, Bai Chi walked out somewhat disappointed, seemingly feeling quite sad.

Zhan Zhao reached out and touched his head.

The three guards were ready to leave with that electrician, and when they reached the elevator door, Zhan Zhao suddenly called out to them.

"Hands."

Zhan Zhao said this to the electrician.

Everyone in the SCI office also looked outside. Bai Yutang held a cup of coffee as he walked to the door.

Zhan Zhao signalled to the electrician, wanting to take a look at his hands.

The electrician hesitated for a moment, then put down his toolbox and stretched his hands out for Zhan Zhao to see.

The electrician spread his hands and showed Zhan Zhao both sides.

Zhan Zhao stared at his hands and was looking at them when there was a ding sound and the elevator door next to him opened.

"Ha~ah..."

From the elevator, Zhao Jue yawned and walked out, he looked like he hadn't woken up from sleep and his hair was messy.

Behind Zhao Jue, there was Zhang Rui, who was withered, and Bai Ye, who was carrying a big bag.

When Zhao Jue came out of the elevator, he reached out and rubbed Zhan Zhao's hair.

Zhan Zhao hurriedly shook his head and retreated to the side to fix his hair.

"Ha~ah... coffee coffee coffee..." Zhao Jue slipped into the SCI office and pounced on Bai Chi at the door to ask for coffee.

Zhang Rui stood in front of the office and hesitated, but Bai Ye pushed him and they walked in together.

"Dr. Zhan?"

At this time, Old Chen called out to Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao turned around, and the few guards were pointing at the elevator, which meant – Is there anything else? If not, we're leaving.

"Oh." Zhan Zhao nodded, "You've worked hard, thank you."

"No need, no need." The few guards smiled as they got onto the elevator and went downstairs with the electrician.

Zhan Zhao watched as they entered the elevator, the door slowly closed and the numbers above the elevator began to go down.

In the office, Zhao Jue was holding a cup of coffee and was also looking up.

Bai Yutang happened to look up and see that both Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue were staring at the elevator doors and smiling.

Bai Yutang shook his head, put down the papers in his hand and walked over to the window, looking down.

Not long after, the electrician quickly walked out of the police station carrying a box, got into a taxi, and left.

Bai Yutang picked up the walkie-talkie placed by the window, "You can follow."

As the taxi left, a car followed behind. In the car were Luo Tian and Qin Ou.

......

Zhao Jue finished his breakfast and leaned back on the sofa to catch up on his sleep. Zhang Rui sat in the office, looking left and right, and finally had the guts to ask Zhan Zhao, "Where is my bug..."

Just as Zhan Zhao was about to reply, he saw Gongsun slipping in with his hands in his pockets.

Probably because he just did an autopsy, Gongsun's face was full of joy and satisfaction.

Entering the door and taking a cup of milk tea, Gongsun asked Zhan Zhao, "Is that bug still there? Don't make it a specimen, it can be hung in the forensic room as a decoration."

Before he finished speaking, Zhang Rui on the other side drew a breath of cold air.

Zhan Zhao was also somewhat helpless.

"My Lacewing Seven ah!" Zhang Rui cried and rushed to the forensic room.

Next door, Xiatian and Ma Xin were packing up their things. A small platform was set up on the autopsy table, and on the platform, a bug was covered by a folded napkin.

"Ah!"

Zhang Rui rushed in, flung himself down on the autopsy table and let out a loud cry, making Ma Xin and Xiatian jump.

From outside the forensic room, Gongsun and Zhan Zhao walked in and speechlessly looked at Zhang Rui, who was lying on the side of the autopsy table and crying out "Son".

Zhan Zhao walked over, reached out, and opened the napkin.

Zhang Rui, who was crying sadly, suddenly stopped, wiped his tears with his hand, fumbled for his glasses and put them on, and carefully stared at the insect lying on the small dissecting table. After a long time, Zhang Rui frowned and looked up at Zhan Zhao with some doubt, "This... is not my Lacewing Seven!"

Ma Xin and Xiatian looked at each other and put down what they were holding to come over to look, "Isn't it?"

"How can you tell?"

"That's right ah! It was clearly just a glance!"

"No!" Zhang Rui shook his head, seemingly more certain, "My Lacewing Seven is much better looking!"

Ma Xin and Xiatian both squatted down and stared at the bug – How could they tell if it was good-looking or not?

In the office next door, Bai Yutang received a call from Luo Tian.

"Captain, that taxi stopped in front of a factory and the electrician went in." Luo Tian said, "This factory seems to still be under construction, halted halfway through. The main door is locked, no one is nearby."

Bai Yutang told the two of them to release the drone.

Qin Ou opened the car window and released a small drone.

Jiang Ping, on his end, operated the drone and flew it over the factory building, and the computer displayed an overhead image of the factory.

Bai Yutang reached out, picked up the photo on the desk that Zhan Zhao had picked out yesterday and compared it... and found that it was the same place.

Bai Yutang chuckled, threw the photo back on the table, and said to Luo Tian, "Okay, come back."

"Okay."

Qin Ou retrieved the drone, and Luo Tian drove the car away from the factory and back to the SCI office.

......

Bai Yutang turned around and saw Bai Ye standing by the desk, looking at the photo.

After looking at it for a while, Bai Ye was a bit puzzled and asked Bai Yutang, "What does it mean?"

Bai Yutang shrugged, indicating that he wasn't sure either while walking to the side and flipping the whiteboard with various clues written on it over.

On the back of the whiteboard used to analyse the case, several patterns were drawn.

Bai Ye expressionlessly looked at it for a moment before looking at Bai Yutang again, still asking the same question – What does it mean?

Bai Yutang continued to shrug, "If another person looked at it..."

Before he finished speaking, Zhao Jue, who was dozing on the sofa, suddenly rolled over and came to say, "So that's how it is."

Bai Ye turned back to look at him.

Zhao Jue hauled on a blanket and covered his head before continuing to sleep.

Bai Ye frowned and asked Bai Yutang, "What's this all about?"

Bai Yutang thought for a moment and replied seriously, "Zhan Zhao explained it to me last night, and I fell asleep halfway through. If you want to hear it, I can repeat the first half for you."

Bai Ye narrowed his eyes slightly, staring at Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang recalled a little and opened his mouth to repeat the so-called "plan" that Zhan Zhao had told him last night, "There are roughly ten billion rats in the world, and the number of different breeds ranges from two to three thousand..."

Just after he started, Bai Ye waved his hand with a look of disgust, "Forget it..."

On the sofa, the blanket-covered Zhao Jue smothered a laugh that made his shoulders tremble.

From outside the office, Zhan Zhao walked back with his hands in his pockets. As he entered, he asked Bai Yutang, "How's it going?"

Bai Yutang pointed to the top-down picture of the factory on Jiang Ping's computer desktop.

Zhan Zhao glanced at it and nodded with a smile, "Good!"

‿︵‿︵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: March 1, 2024 by Angel

Edited: June 6, 2024 by Angel