S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 5 Chapter 80

Countdown from the Murderer 10 – Change

---

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, followed by Li Linlin and Jiang Nan, went to Wang Meiyun's house to see those paintings.

Earlier, this incident was exposed by Zhou Ping and sparked a social media scandal that attracted a lot of attention.

However, the news was only limited to gossip and the police had not yet revealed any information about Wang Meiyun's suspected murder purchase. Nevertheless, some experienced journalists detected a hint of something strange and felt that there might be more to this incident than just that.

There was even a lot of discussion on the internet, saying that the reason why SCI showed up at the Four Seasons Hotel was to pursue the murder case. According to the usual practice, SCI chases after serial killers or dangerous people, but the police quickly evacuated the scene. Qian Fu later left alone, but Wang Meiyun never showed up, perhaps she was taken away by the police.

Many people are speculating that Wang Meiyun could have something to do with the murder case. A well-informed person found out that the guest killed in the hotel was a private detective, a famous detective who specialises in investigating cases of divorce and infidelity. Following this, before the wave subsided, another wave rose, and the public opinion boiled up again.

The morning wave of hot searches was netizens collectively eating melons, while the afternoon wave of hot searches was netizens working together as detectives.

Needless to say, amongst all the useless information, there were still some useful things once in a while.

Zhan Zhao sat in the car, flipping through the netizen discussions on social platforms and several large forum posts. Some of the things that Wang Meiyun's fans had said had caught Zhan Zhao's attention.

Some fans who had been following Wang Meiyun said that Wang Meiyun really didn't feel normal recently. The most obvious thing was that her taste had improved greatly recently, and she felt like she could suddenly style her clothes.

Zhan Zhao asked Li Linlin in the back seat, "Has Wang Meiyun ever been criticised for having questionable taste before?"

Li Linlin nodded and said, "Yes, as I said before, my cousin is quite lazy. She usually relies on a stylist to dress for events, which is reasonable. But when it comes to buying clothes, she only knows how to chase after famous brands, and she's not too good at matching. Unlike Chen Jiayi and the girls, who usually dress very well and have their own style... This sense of fashion is also dependent on talent, some people are born with the ability to style clothes, and some people have a good figure and buy more expensive clothes but don't look good in them. My cousin belongs to this category, so in the past, she was often criticised for being a fashion idiot, a roadside disaster, and so on. She was often angry about these things, but recently, such comments have become a lot less frequent."

Zhan Zhao was curious, "Where did this change happen?"

Li Linlin shook her head, stating that she couldn't say for sure. She had been busy with other things since she stopped working as an assistant and paid less attention to her cousin.

Zhan Zhao didn't know why he was somewhat mindful of this point, so he called Chen Jiayi to inquire.

Jiayi said that it might be because she has been more casual lately, there have been a few times that she has seen her with a plain face and basically no makeup.

Zhan Zhao didn't understand, "More casual?"

"It means that she used to take an hour or two to put on makeup and get dressed before going out, but now she only takes half an hour." Jiayi replied.

Zhan Zhao was curious, "How is it better to spend less time getting ready?"

"More makeup isn't always better. Layering on primer, foundation, and concealer one after the other is just a trick by makeup sellers. You must be restrained when applying makeup, if you're not a professional, the more you apply, the worse it usually looks!"

While saying this, Chen Jiayi asked Jiang Ping to search for some recent photos of Wang Meiyun to look at.

"Mhmm... not only is the makeup simpler, her taste in clothes has indeed improved as well." Chen Jiayi and Ma Xin gathered around Jiang Ping to study Wang Meiyun's recent outfits.

After comparing it with the previous ones, even Jiang Ping, who knew nothing about it, said, "Aiya, it feels like two different people altogether."

"That's right!" Ma Xin also nodded, "Was she suddenly enlightened?"

"It's strange!" Chen Jiayi said, "She suddenly knows how to match colours!"

"Match colours?" Zhan Zhao asked, "Couldn't she do it before?"

"There are some things that are innate, for example, some people naturally like bright colours, while others like dark colours." Chen Jiayi was quite knowledgeable in this aspect, "Even if you change stylists, it's usually hard to change your private preferences."

"In other words, Wang Meiyun has undergone a transformation from her living habits to her personal preferences, isn't that right?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"Right!"

Zhan Zhao asked Chen Jiayi to pick two relatively representative comparison photos and send them to him.

Not long after, the photos were sent to the tablet.

Zhan Zhao studied the photos and continued to go through the online discussions, quickly noticing another one. An anonymous person reported that Wang Meiyun might have been involved in some trouble, and that there were problems with her company. They also linked this incident to Fang Qing's from three years ago, saying that she hadn't emigrated at all, but that something had happened or something like that... Even Jiang Nan's sudden departure from that company to Bai Group had been brought up as an example.

Zhan Zhao asked Jiang Nan why she suddenly switched to the Bai Group.

Jiang Nan's answer was quite interesting, saying that the Bai Group is safe! That Emilia case made her suffer a lot, Bai Group is safer in all aspects, and in case something really goes wrong, it would be convenient to approach SCI.

"Then you were still in the same company as Fang Qing when she had her accident, right?" Zhan Zhao asked Jiang Nan, "Did you participate in that charity sale?"

Jiang Nan said she didn't participate, she was abroad at the time and asked her agent to go.

"However," Jiang Nan was still the more observant type, "before Fang Qing's accident, there was also a period of time where she was noticeably not quite right."

Zhan Zhao asked, "Did she also have an upgrade in taste? Or was it the same as Wang Meiyun, a change in personality?"

Jiang Nan asked Zhan Zhao with great interest, "Hey, aren't you an expert in this area? Answer a question for me first, can a person's sense of taste suddenly change?"

"Sense of taste?" Zhan Zhao was a bit surprised, "Can you be more specific?"

"I remember one thing. Fang Qing and I attended a company Christmas party together. At that time everyone was drinking eggnog, but Fang Qing said that she couldn't stand the taste of eggs the most, she felt that there was a fishy smell, so she was a person who never ate eggs."

Zhan Zhao was somewhat interested, "And then?"

"What happened next was shortly before her accident. We happened to be staying at the same hotel, and when we met at breakfast, I found her eating raw eggs, the kind of soft eggs that are cooked for just three or four minutes." Jiang Nan said, "I didn't ask many questions at the time, but I thought it was a bit strange, and this incident has always left a little impression on me."

"Could it be that she only casually said that she never eats eggs?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"No." Li Linlin also confirmed, "Sister Fang Qing indeed doesn't eat eggs!"

Bai Yutang, who was responsible for driving and listened silently the whole way, felt that things were indeed not simple. Would personalities, preferences, dressing styles and even eating habits suddenly change? Don't say that this is all because of a painting, that painting can't be too divine, right?

......

The location of Wang Meiyun's villa was quite remote, and with the relatively strict management of the neighbourhood, there were only a handful of reporters at the main entrance.

Li Linlin was familiar with the area and directed Bai Yutang on how to bypass the reporters, and they smoothly arrived in front of the villa.

Wang Meiyun's mother was already waiting in front of the house.

The crowd got out of the car and after a brief exchange of words, they entered the home.

Mother Wang looked rather haggard.

Because she had said on the phone earlier that she had something she wanted to say to the police, Zhan Zhao asked her what she wanted to say.

Mother Wang said, "Meiyun joined a very strange society before."

"A society?"

"Mhmm! It's a society that was established in the name of the painter of that painting, and one needs to have a painting by that painter to be eligible to become a member of the society. Meiyun has changed since she joined the society..." Mother Wang said that Wang Meiyun's social life has gone very wrong, and that all her friends have been cut off and she only interacts with some strange "society members". She has also seen a man with a strange smile come to the house.

"A man with a strange smile..." Zhan Zhao took out his cell phone, clicked on a photo of the killer they caught in the hotel, and asked Mother Wang, "Was it this man?"

"That's him!" Mother Wang nodded and said that Wang Meiyun called him 'The Messenger'.

"The Messenger?" Bai Yutang didn't understand, was this a person with the last name "messenger" and the first name "the" or was it just some kind of job title?

Zhan Zhao asked in detail about the society, but Mother Wang knew very little, and Li Linlin had never even heard of it.

After entering the house, Zhan Zhao naturally walked straight towards the painting hanging on the wall in the living room.

Bai Yutang also joined him, standing in front of the painting and tilting his face up to "admire" it.

He didn't know if it was because he had seen the picture before and had some mental preparation, or because of the light or something else... but Bai Yutang felt that the painting didn't seem as "weird" as it did when he first saw it.

Zhan Zhao seemed to have a feeling of "disappointment". He frowned and took two steps to either side, seemingly wanting to change the angle of examination.

After looking at it for a while, Zhan Zhao eventually pulled out his tablet, clicked out the photo that he had saved from Li Linlin's cell phone, and held it up to compare it to the painting on the wall.

Bai Yutang glanced at the tablet and couldn't help but frown – Why was there still that "uncomfortable" and "annoying" feeling when looking at it on the tablet?

Zhan Zhao looked at it for a long time, then shook his head and said to himself, "It's not right!"

"Not right?" Bai Yutang looked at him.

Jiang Nan and Li Linlin in the back were puzzled, but Wang Meiyun's mother didn't seem surprised.

"This isn't the original painting!" Zhan Zhao pointed to the painting on the wall and then to the photo on the tablet, "It's not the same as this one in the photo!"

Jiang Nan and Li Linlin glanced at each other and both looked at Wang Meiyun's mother.

Mother Wang muttered to herself, "Sure enough..."

"Sure enough?" Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both asked – What did it mean?

"I just opened the door and came in once." Mother Wang said, "At that time, I also felt that this painting seemed to be a little different from the usual, and..."

While speaking, Mother Wang pointed at the sofa in the living room, "I always felt that the position of the sofa wasn't quite right, as if it had been moved by someone."

Bai Yutang squatted down to take a closer look at the carpet. Indeed, the indentation left by the sofa on the carpet was skewed.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang glanced at each other – This meant that someone had come in and replaced the painting? Then why move the sofa?

Bai Yutang pushed the whole sofa out of the way and lifted the carpet underneath... He saw that on the wooden floor underneath the carpet, there was a built-in safe.

Li Linlin and Mother Wang were both surprised, it was obvious that the two of them didn't know when a safe had been installed under the sofa.

Judging by the size of this safe, it should be special, and it needs a password to open...

Zhan Zhao asked the two if they knew the password.

Li Linlin said that Wang Meiyun has always used the same password, but she doesn't know if it's right.

Zhan Zhao asked her to tell him.

Li Linlin gave them a six-digit password, which turned out to be incorrect.

Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao thought for a moment, added a zero after the six-digit password, and pressed it again, but it still wasn't correct.

Zhan Zhao then added two zeros, and the result was still incorrect.

Just as everyone was frowning, Zhan Zhao calmly added three zeros, resulting in a surprising string of electronic tones and the screen displaying – Unlock Success.

Jiang Nan was once again shocked. This time even Bai Yutang was a little puzzled, and he looked quizzically at Zhan Zhao – How did he know that she would keep adding zeros?

Zhan Zhao shrugged – Personality can change, taste can change, palate can also change, but there is one thing that will never change – IQ!

Bai Yutang shook his head, not bothering to pursue how Zhan Zhao deduced it, and yanked open the door of the safe.

This safe was very shallow, and there shouldn't be much that could be put into the interior space, it was probably used to store important documents or something like that... But after opening it, it was empty and there was nothing inside

Bai Yutang frowned – It seemed that there was indeed something, but it had been taken away.

Zhan Zhao tsked, stood up, and asked Mother Wang, "What other rooms has Wang Meiyun hung paintings in?"

Mother Wang showed him the way.

Zhan Zhao went to look around, including the bedroom, lounge and study... Wang Meiyun had three other "Flower Vine J" paintings.

However, after looking at them, Zhan Zhao sighed regretfully, "None of them should be genuine, they may be fake paintings, or they may have been switched."

Bai Yutang also felt that when these paintings were viewed together, they completely lacked the creepy and weird feeling of the original paintings that were photographed.

At this time, Bai Yutang's phone suddenly rang.

When he answered the phone, Jiang Ping's urgent voice came, "Chief! Something's wrong, turn on the TV!"

‿︵‿︵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: March 12, 2024 by Angel

Edited: June 27, 2024 by Angel