S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 5 Chapter 69

Misplaced of the Three Murderers 16 – Pharmacist

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There was a breakthrough in the case, and they found a key person who could connect almost all the clues – the psychiatrist, Mark Fan.

However, compared to this doctor, the whole SCI team was more interested in the strange "rat" theory that Zhan Zhao used for his reasoning.

On the way to the psychiatrist, the team members turned on the communication system in the cars, ready to listen to Zhan Zhao's explanation.

But just before Zhan Zhao opened his mouth, Bai Yutang's phone rang.

Captain Bai picked up the phone, and it was Bao Sir calling.

"How's the progress?" Zhan Zhao asked Bao Zheng on the phone.

The sound from Bao Sir's side sounded a bit noisy, and there was also the sound of a fire engine's siren.

"Sure enough, it blew up!" Bao Sir told Zhan Zhao in a slightly helpless manner, "Luckily, we made preparations early and there were no casualties."

"That's good." Zhan Zhao nodded, and Bai Yutang hung up the phone.

The crowd was even more confused. Xiao Bai Chi couldn't wait to ask, "What blew up?"

"The factory that Luo Tian and the others found when they followed that electrician." Bai Yutang replied.

"Wasn't the photo of that factory randomly found by Jiang Ping?"

Zhan Zhao nodded, "Yesterday, when that electrician snuck in and switched the bugs, he saw the 'progress of the investigation' that we posted on the whiteboard. At the same time that we were setting up a trap, they also came and set a trap for us, but in fact, they also fell into our trap."

After this series of awkward statements from Zhan Zhao, Bai Yutang gave the result, "Those who came to set the trap have been arrested, they are basically the same group of people as the ones who went after A'Mo before."

Everyone listening found it interesting. Witness, inheritor, misplaced person, going round and round, the result seemed to be back to the beginning.

"Why don't we talk about the rats?"

Bai Ye suggested.

Zhan Zhao didn't have a problem with it, anyway, the car still had to be driven for a while, so he used this time to tell the crowd about his theory.

"I've occasionally read a book on how to eliminate rats." Zhan Zhao had just opened his mouth, and the entire SCI couldn't help but curse internally – Was this something a normal person would read when they had nothing else to do?

"The adaptability of this group of rats to the planet is much higher than that of humans, and the various natural and man-made disasters are not enough to destroy this group. But different communities on the same planet are in competition. It is impossible for humans to let the rats overrun the planet, so for a long time, humans have thought of a large number of ways to eliminate the rat problem."

The crowd listened, confused as to why the topic changed from solving crimes to exterminating rats. Did it have anything to do with their case this time?

"Among the many methods used by humans to exterminate rats, the most practical and effective one is actually the method of exterminating rats with rats." Zhan Zhao cited an example, "The idea is to make a rat or a group of rats mutate so that they can attack or infest other larger groups of rats to achieve the effect of exterminating rats. Then think about it the other way round, similarly, if an animal wanted to exterminate humans, wouldn't it also use this method of exterminating humans with humans?"

Everyone nodded, it made some sense, but which animal would attempt to exterminate humans?

"In Earth's long history of biological evolution, most of the extinctions of populations were caused by natural disasters, while the competition between creatures can promote evolution. A creature that doesn't want to be eliminated can only keep evolving until humans appear. In other words, only humans can destroy humans... and Chen Yin's alumni, that Crazy Qian, is trying to realise the plan of destroying humans with humans through insects."

"What we found in the Amazon rainforest before, that mysterious pattern on the skin, combined with the insect's controllable movements, will be able to hypnotise a portion of the population without them realising it, thus allowing that portion of the population to be controlled." Zhan Zhao pointed at Zhang Rui who was looking depressed in the backseat, "He is a typical test subject, what really hypnotised him was that Lacewing Seven he kept."

Everyone rubbed their chins – So that's how it was.

"However, Crazy Qian fell ill and died before his 'ideal' could be realised, and it was someone who took advantage of this imperfect experiment of his and ended up delivering the bug to us." Zhan Zhao said, "To put it simply, this series of cases about witnesses, inheritors and the misplaced is actually an operation to exterminate people with people in the true sense of the phrase."

"No one has been exterminated." Zhao Hu shook his head.

"We weren't the targets to be exterminated, rather we were used to exterminate people." Zhan Zhao smiled, "In these few cases, a large number of people died, and a lot more were captured... Most of these are defective products from experiments. The original intention of that organisation of G and the others' was to create enhanced humans who don't age and have doubled physical and intellectual strength... However, almost all of the various experiments failed. In addition to creating a large number of defective products, they ultimately did not solve the problem of aging, and saw defeat in the face of time and the laws of nature."

Everyone nodded.

"We were used as a tool to eliminate a large number of experimental leftovers." Zhan Zhao spread his hands, "Someone took advantage of the lack of and need for each other amongst the witness, inheritors, and misplaced person for the purpose of drawing all of them out, using us, and wiping them out. We even wiped out G! G can be said to be the only hope left for that organisation. And that man, by using us to eliminate the competition, eliminating the cumbersome leftovers, ended up inheriting nothing more than the part he wanted. He even tried to set a trap for us halfway through, making several attempts to try and lure us, as well as Zhao Jue and Bai Ye, into the trap to physically eliminate or reduce our numbers, only to fail in all of them."

Everyone pondered while listening and asked Zhan Zhao, "That person behind the scenes, is that this psychiatrist Mark Fan?"

Zhan Zhao, however, waved his hand, "This doctor, is just the end point of what we can uncover. Everything will end with him."

"Why am I talking about rats?" Zhan Zhao explained, "In addition to exterminating rats with rats, rats also have many natural enemies! But instead of causing the destruction of the rats, the natural enemies will cause the optimisation of the rats... A large number of old, weak, sick and disabled rats are wiped out by the natural enemies, leaving behind rats that are even more 'excellent' and have a stronger ability to adapt. And that organisation's natural enemy is – us!"

"So our operation has instead promoted the optimisation of that organisation?" Zhao Hu felt a little irritated.

"It doesn't seem to be that simple." Zhan Zhao said, "As for how the subsequent development will go, we'll have to meet that doctor first."

"Will it be another trap?" Ma Han was worried.

The crowd also had concerns in this regard. If they went over now and there was an ambush just like that factory... it would be troublesome.

"It seems like it won't be..."

Bai Yutang, who was driving, suddenly slowed down and looked ahead.

The crowd also found that they had arrived near the psychology clinic operated by Mark Fan... There were several police cars parked in front of the clinic and a cordon had been drawn, with police officers coming in and out.

Bai Yutang pulled over and stopped the car, then walked over and showed his credentials.

The ones in charge of the case were Ai Hu and the others, who had just stepped out of the clinic and were still a little puzzled to see the entire SCI, "Captain Bai, why are you guys here?"

"Came to investigate a case, Mark Fan..."

Bai Yutang had just started, but Ai Hu spread his hands, "That doctor is dead."

"Dead?" The SCI crowd couldn't help but be disappointed.

Zhan Zhao asked, "How did he die?"

"Suicide." Ai Hu gestured to a nurse who was being questioned by the police at the clinic's entrance, "This nurse just went to help Mark buy coffee, and when she came back and opened the office door, she found the doctor lying on the couch, already dead."

Gongsun happened to tag along and went in to examine the body.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, as well as the rest of the SCI, followed them in.

It was a rather high-end-looking psychiatric clinic. The clinic itself was a very luxurious villa, and it could be said that Mark Fan was working from home.

His office was on the second floor of the villa.

As the crowd made their way upstairs, they noticed a large number of bookcases on the ground floor of the villa, with many empty folders stored in them.

The office on the second floor was where Mark Fan received his patients.

At this time, the heavy curtains in the room were half open and half closed, and the room was relatively dim.

A middle-aged man in a suit was lying on a double sofa... His collar was open, there were many bloody marks on his neck, and his features were distorted, it looked like he was in great pain when he died.

After Gongsun's preliminary postmortem examination, he frowned and picked up an empty pill bottle on the table, "Died of asphyxiation caused by an overdose."

Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue looked around the office, both of them feeling as if there was something wrong somewhere.

Bai Yutang, on the other hand, was a bit interested in a laptop on the dead man's desk, which was opened with its back facing the direction of the dead man.

Jiang Ping put on his gloves and clicked on the keyboard, finding that the machine was dormant and needed a password.

At this time, a young police officer rushed in and told Bai Yutang, "Captain Bai, we found something in the basement!"

"What was found?" Before Bai Yutang could say anything, Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue asked together.

"It's a little scary, why don't you guys go down and take a look."

The police officers led the SCI crowd to the basement.

At the entrance of the basement, there were a few officers who were holding handkerchiefs over their mouths and noses, and judging by the expressions on their faces, the situation in the basement shouldn't be too pleasant.

The villa's basement was very large and the lights were dim. The first thing you smelled after walking in was a pungent odour.

There were a large number of folders piled up in the basement, and there were several large iron barrels as tall as a person, which contained a large amount of paper ash as well as some papers that hadn't been burnt.

The most concerning thing was that on the side of the basement, there were four large freezers... the kind of freezer coffin usually used in funeral parlours to display corpses.

Gongsun was of course more interested in the freezer coffins and ran over to take a look, then waved to Zhan Zhao and the others.

The crowd all gathered over, only to see four corpses lying in the four freezer coffins. The deceased were all male, with greyish-yellow skin that looked withered, and they looked similar to the kind of ancient corpse of Loulan that is displayed in the museum.

"Ancient corpses?" Bai Yutang asked Gongsun with some uncertainty.

Gongsun carefully examined the corpses before shaking his head, "They're not ancient corpses! They're fresh ones, they all died of old age, too old, too old!"

Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue both frowned – This was the typical phenomenon of over-aging in test subjects.

At this time, Bai Ye stood still in front of the innermost freezer coffin. He looked at the corpses for a while, then raised his head, and looked back at Zhao Jue.

When Zhao Jue saw Bai Ye's gaze, he frowned slightly and walked over as well.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both curiously followed.

Inside that coffin, there was a pale corpse lying. The form of the corpse was just like a vampire that hadn't touched blood for hundreds of years, and both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang couldn't help but lament – It was surprising that it could be ugly to such an extent.

After standing for a long time, Zhao Jue started to look around, seemingly looking for something.

The SCI crowd was still puzzled when Zhao Hu ran over and asked, "What are you looking for, Master Zhao? I'll find it for you."

Zhao Jue nodded and pointed at the few corpses in the freezer coffins and said, "Go find an axe and a bucket of petrol and come here! Chop off the heads of all the corpses, throw the corpses into the tar barrels and set them on fire. After burning them, spread their ashes in two different directions using drones, drop half of them into the Mariana Trench, and half of them into a volcano! An active volcano!"

Zhao Hu's mouth was open as he directly ducked behind Ma Han, and everyone was looking at Zhan Zhao – Is this guy serious?

Bai Ye dragged Zhao Jue aside and told Bai Yutang, "Get Xiao Black, your dad and the others."

Bai Yutang told Bai Chi to make the call, while pointing at the four bodies in the freezer coffins and asked, "Who are these four?"

Bai Ye whispered, "King, all four patriarchs of the organisation."

After a moment of silence, there was an explosion in the basement.

The entire SCI looked at Bai Ye and Zhao Jue with horrified faces.

Even Gongsun was a little unable to accept it, "So we've been fumbling around for this half year with the inheritors and misplaced person, were we investigating out of boredom?"

"Is there anyone else behind the scenes?"

"Could it be that the corpses have been forged to engage in some kind of trick to get away?"

......

Zhao Jue listened to the crowd's rowdy discussion and didn't say anything. He frowned at the several freezer coffins and said to Zhan Zhao, "It seems that your assumption is not wrong."

Bai Yutang also looked at Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao stroked his chin for a while, as if he remembered something, then turned around and headed out of the basement.

The crowd had no choice but to follow him out.

Back in Mark Fan's office.

At this moment, Ma Xin and Xiatian from the forensic team had also arrived along with the people from the forensic department, and Gongsun brought the two young assistants to start processing the corpse.

Zhan Zhao walked over to that computer, put on his gloves, and in the computer's password entry field, entered the four letters, KING.

The computer was unlocked, and on the screen, there was a fullscreen window with a video player.

There was no one on the video screen, and behind the large white triangle icon of the play button, there was a background similar to the wall of a museum.

There were some weird frames hanging on this background wall. Inside the frames were huge weird insects, photos of specimens of some of the legendary alien creatures, various masks of smiling faces, fossilised cross-sections of dinosaur skulls, and some hand-drawn drawings of the evolution of humans and ancient creatures.

Zhan Zhao pressed the play button.

At that moment, a person was seen entering the screen, walking in front of that wall, standing up, and facing the crowd in front of the computer screen.

This was a man who appeared to be in his thirties, with curly brown hair, some lines around his eyes, a very slim figure, and a mole under the corner of his left eye. He was wearing a white shirt, a black jumper waistcoat, and a wrinkled tie.

The man looked a bit messy and dishevelled and had a bit of a sickly look to him, he didn't seem too healthy.

He stood in front of the wall of displays and coughed softly before beginning to speak, "Professor, it's been a long time."

Bai Ye frowned slightly and turned back to look at Zhao Jue.

Zhan Zhao and Gongsun both had PhDs, and everyone here who could be called a professor... looked at Zhao Jue.

"Who is he?"

Zhan Zhao asked Zhao Jue.

"I'm number 6-1-4-7, to be exact, the sixth generation, first batch, fourth stage, seventh test subject."

Judging from the circumstances of the video, it wasn't a live broadcast, but a pre-recorded video.

The 6-1-4-7 in the video looked calm, "Professor should remember me, my job in the organisation is..."

"Pharmacist."

Zhao Jue uttered these three syllables.

‿︵‿︵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 3, 2024 by Angel

Edited: June 6, 2024 by Angel