S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 5 Chapter 100

Countdown from the Murderer 30 – Sudden Call

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The members of SCI didn't bother to wake Zhao Jue this time, and Zhan Zhao didn't throw a pillow at him again.

Xiao Bai Chi covered Zhao Jue with a blanket.

In fact, Zhan Zhao and the others were also very tired. They hadn't slept well for the past two nights, and today they had been busy all day. By now, they had almost gone two nights without closing their eyes.

Bai Yutang felt that fighting fatigue like this wasn't the solution, especially considering that Qian Yu might be even harder to deal with than they imagined. So, he let everyone go and rest first, and they would resume investigating the case tomorrow.

......

Everyone went home separately.

After some calculation, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang realised that the progress of solving the case was faster than they had imagined. They had almost narrowed down the group of people related to Qian Yu. The only thing left to do was to find evidence of their involvement in the murders of Mark Fan and Li Feng.

Encountering situations where the culprit was identified before finding evidence wasn't uncommon, at least they had a direction now.

Dragging their exhausted bodies back to the villa, as soon as they entered, they saw a scene of "leisure" in the living room.

Big Brother Bai was petting a cat, while Lilia and Luban were leading a group of kittens, rubbing against Bai Jintang in various ways.

The twins had come up with a new game, wearing VR glasses and running around, though it was unclear what they were up to.

Zhao Zhen was still being lazy, lounging against Lisbon and dozing off... It's worth mentioning that, from their sleeping postures, you could still see some familial resemblance between him and Zhao Jue.

Bai Jintang noticed everyone shaking their heads. "Everyone has dark circles under their eyes!"

The crowd couldn't care less at that moment, they took a quick shower and fell asleep instantly.

Bai Jintang placed the kittens back on the sofa, arranging them one by one according to their size. Big Brother Bai nodded in satisfaction and asked about the preparations for the twin's film festival.

The twins replied that everything was ready and they were just waiting for the opening next month. As long as there were professional teams managing it, there shouldn't be any problems unless there were unforeseen circumstances.

Bai Jintang looked at them, "What kind of unforeseen circumstances?"

The twins grinned at him, "You know, the usual stuff that happens during events, like someone suddenly dropping dead, or a case popping up, or even a serial killer showing up out of nowhere..."

Big Brother Bai clicked his tongue and confidently waved his hand, indicating – it wouldn't happen this time.

The twins both looked at him – Where did this confidence come from?

Bai Jintang said, "We're just the organisers, I won't even attend the event..."

Before he could finish his sentence, the twins threw pillows at him.

"You're not escaping!"

"That's right! You have to give a speech!"

"And you're trying to pass it on to us again!"

Bai Jintang blocked the two pillows, indicating that by the time of the opening ceremony, SCI's case should be over and he would be going on vacation with Gongsun!

As they were talking, Xiao Ding's phone suddenly rang.

"Who's calling at this hour?" Xiao Ding took out his phone and glanced at it, seeming a bit puzzled.

Da Ding leaned over and asked, "What's up?"

Xiao Ding showed him the phone.

They saw that Xiao Ding had received a message from someone interested in collaborating with the Bai Group.

It was a fairly normal work-related contact, but the timing of the message was a bit strange, considering it was the middle of the night. Additionally, the sender of the message was somewhat unexpected.

The message came from the boss of Wang Meiyun's company.

Wang Meiyun's company used to be Jiang Nan's company as well, and the boss's surname is Dong.

For Boss Dong, Jiang Nan's move to the Bai Group was quite a heavy loss. Moreover, the Dong Group has been in the film and entertainment industry for many years, while the Bai Group entered relatively late. However, they managed to surpass others due to their good development.

Especially with Qi Le and Chen Yu's band, along with the two rising stars, Xu Lie and Jiayi, plus Jiang Nan's powerful influence, they suddenly gained momentum.

It's said that Boss Dong has bad-mouthed Bai Jintang behind his back, and he even made it clear that he would never collaborate with the Bai Group... When the Bai Group organised the film festival this time, nobody from his company agreed to participate.

"He wants to collaborate?" Da Ding found it quite surprising.

Xiao Ding smirked, "Is it because of Wang Meiyun?"

"It can't be." Da Ding found it unusual, "Wang Meiyun isn't that well-known, and Boss Dong isn't solely focused on the film industry. Is it necessary for him to humble himself over someone like Wang Meiyun? Isn't Boss Dong supposed to be quite proud?"

The twins looked at Bai Jintang when they finished speaking.

Bai Jintang yawned, indicating he wasn't interested and they should handle it.

Originally, the twins wanted to pretend to sleep and deal with it tomorrow, but Xiao Ding's phone suddenly rang, and the caller turned out to be Boss Dong.

The twins exchanged glances. Unable to resist their curiosity, Xiao Ding decided to answer the call.

After exchanging a few pleasantries on the phone, Boss Dong's tone became unusually "affectionate." He even mentioned wanting to visit in person, not tomorrow at the company, but right now at their residence.

Xiao Ding couldn't quite figure it out.

Covering the phone, Xiao Ding asked Da Ding, "Why is he so eager to come over at this hour? Is he planning to throw eggs at us?"

Da Ding, hearing the urgency in Boss Dong's tone, speculated, "Is he coming to borrow money?"

Xiao Ding looked disgusted, "Seriously? With all his industries, can't he just go to the bank if he needs money?"

"Er..."

Xiao Ding was originally thinking of suggesting that they meet at the company tomorrow, but then Boss Dong suddenly asked if it was true that Bai Jintang's brother was investigating Wang Meiyun's case, and that he might have some clues to provide.

The twins were seasoned players in the game, they could squeeze oil out of anything. Upon hearing this, they immediately understood... Perhaps Boss Dong wasn't coming to seek cooperation but to seek help!

Xiao Ding agreed on behalf of Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao, and Boss Dong said he would come right away.

After hanging up the phone, the twins rushed upstairs to disturb Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao, who had just fallen asleep.

Initially, the two were almost beaten by Bai Yutang when he was woken up, but upon hearing that Wang Meiyun's boss was coming to provide clues, he got up.

Letting Zhan Zhao rest a while longer, Bai Yutang simply got up and went to the kitchen to prepare some late-night snacks while waiting for Boss Dong to arrive.

After preparing the snacks, Bai Yutang checked the time and figured it was about time, so he woke Zhan Zhao up.

The two of them ate while waiting.

But after finishing their late-night snacks, Boss Dong still hadn't arrived.

Zhan Zhao asked the twins, "Did he say he was coming directly?"

Xiao Ding nodded, "He said he was at their office, and their company isn't far from here... Could something have delayed him?"

Da Ding checked the time and felt something was off, so he asked Xiao Ding to call and see if they got the address wrong.

Xiao Ding called back, but it rang for a while without anyone picking up.

The twins exchanged a glance, then looked at Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang called Jiang Ping and woke him up, giving him the number Boss Dong had called Xiao Ding from and asking him to check its location.

Jiang Ping checked and reported back an address.

The twins frowned, "Huh? Isn't that still at their company?"

Just like the Bai Group, the Dong Group also had their own building.

Everyone glanced at each other and checked the phone's location. Boss Dong hadn't left the office building. Did he forget his phone there? Otherwise, why wasn't he answering calls?

Based on some sort of police intuition, Bai Yutang faintly felt that something might be wrong.

"What exactly did he say?" Zhan Zhao asked the twins.

Xiao Ding's official phones were all equipped with recording functions.

After listening to the recording, Zhan Zhao frowned, "This doesn't seem right. He doesn't only sound anxious, but afraid!"

"Afraid?" The twins were surprised.

Bai Yutang felt they couldn't wait any longer. He grabbed his jacket and car keys, gesturing to Zhan Zhao, "Let's go check it out."

Just as they were leaving, a car pulled in.

But it wasn't the "late" Boss Dong who got out of the car, it was Zhao Jue and Bai Ye.

Yawning and still half asleep, Zhao Jue complained as he got out of the car, saying that Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang didn't wake him up and he ended up sleeping on the couch after work. When he woke up, he thought he had crossed into another dimension.

Zhan Zhao and the others couldn't comprehend Zhao Jue's peculiar thoughts.

Seeing Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao about to leave, Bai Ye couldn't understand. "Didn't you just come back? Why are you going out again?"

Bai Yutang mentioned it was an emergency.

Bai Ye gestured towards his car and asked where they were headed, offering to drive them there.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang thought it was a good idea, so they got into Bai Ye's car.

Zhao Jue wasn't interested and waved his hand, heading back to sleep. Xiao Ding was curious, so he followed along.

As Xiao Ding mentioned, the Dong Group's building wasn't far from where they lived, or more precisely, it wasn't far from the Bai Group's building. The two buildings were only separated by a street and were visible to each other.

Xiao Ding joked that Boss Dong must have installed a telescope in his office to monitor them every day.

They got out of the car.

At this point, it was close to three in the morning.

On Zhan Zhao's tablet, Zhang Ping had sent him the location of Boss Dong's phone signal, which confirmed that he was still in the office building.

Zhan Zhao and the others entered the building.

At this hour, there naturally weren't any employees working in the building, but there were a few security guards on duty.

One of the security guards approached them and asked what was going on.

Bai Yutang showed his identification and asked if their boss was in the building.

The security guard said he wasn't sure and called the offices upstairs.

But no one answered.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged a glance, feeling increasingly uneasy.

They asked the security guard to take them to the CEO's office, and the guards seemed a bit flustered as they led them upstairs.

However, on the top floor, the CEO's office was dark and the door was locked.

Xiao Ding called again, but there was no ringing inside the office.

Everyone was puzzled.

Zhan Zhao checked his tablet, "He's still inside this building, hasn't moved at all."

The security guard thought for a moment and said, "We can check if the boss's car is still here. He always drives himself, so if he's not in, he must have driven away."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang followed the security guard directly to the underground parking garage.

Arriving at the garage, the security guard pointed to a red sports car not far away and said, "The car's still here..."

"Shh..."

Bai Yutang suddenly gestured for silence...

Xiao Ding dialled the phone again, and everyone quieted down. They heard the sound of vibration coming from somewhere in the parking garage.

Following the sound, they arrived at Boss Dong's car.

On the other side of the car, a cell phone lay face down on the ground.

Bai Yutang put on the evidence gloves from his pocket, picked up the phone, and saw Xiao Ding's missed calls on the screen.

Everyone stood around the car, looking left and right... If the phone was here, where was Boss Dong?

The parking garage was well-lit and there weren't many cars at this hour.

Bai Ye, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly pointed ahead not far away.

They saw a leather shoe lying on the ground near the exit.

Bai Yutang frowned and muttered, "This isn't good," then ran over.

The spot where the shoe had fallen was right in front of the slope leading to the exit of the underground parking garage.

The slope was a curved one, and as Bai Yutang followed the curve upwards, he turned to face the direction of the exit and saw a person lying on the slope ahead.

Bai Yutang hurried over and squatted down to check.

Zhan Zhao and the others also caught up.

The person lying on the slope had one foot bare, while the other foot was wearing a shoe. From his posture, it seemed he had been chased and was trying to escape towards the exit but was caught here.

Xiao Ding ran over to Bai Yutang and frowned.

The person on the ground was already dead, his eyes wide open, neck twisted.

Xiao Ding nodded to Bai Yutang, confirming that it was indeed Boss Dong.

The security guards were also shocked.

Zhan Zhao called Gongsun, who had to be awakened despite not having had enough sleep. But given that there was now a homicide, the forensic team needed to be called in.

Bai Yutang pointed to the surveillance camera above the slope.

The security guard nodded. The parking garage was under full surveillance without any blind spots.

Bai Yutang and the others followed the security guard to watch the surveillance footage.

The footage showed the entire process of Boss Dong being killed.

In fact, Boss Dong had just finished a phone call and quickly ran to the garage, preparing to drive out. 

But just as he reached the side of the car and was about to open the door, a masked figure dressed all in black suddenly emerged from behind a pillar on one side. 

The person appeared to be an adult male judging from their height and physique, and likely quite young.

Boss Dong was so frightened that he turned and ran. Running towards the ramp leading out of the garage was actually a very good decision, because outside was open space.

But unfortunately, he was caught by the murderer when he reached the slope.

After kicking him down, the murderer used both hands to lift and turn his chin upwards in a very professional and swift manner.

After killing him, the person in black walked straight out of the ramp, taking out a phone while walking.

That's how Boss Dong died.

Zhan Zhao found it somewhat tricky – Troubles just keep coming one after another. What did Boss Dong know? Why was he killed at this particular moment?

Bai Yutang kept replaying the video of the person in black leaving.

"What's wrong, Yutang?" Zhan Zhao asked.

Bai Yutang pointed at the person in black and said, "I feel like the way he walks is a bit like Sun Xi."

Bai Yutang asked Zhan Zhao to find the video on the tablet of Sun Xi walking into the alley and dropping the delivery box after he bumped into them.

Sun Xi's movements entering the alley were similar to the angle of the video when he walked out of the parking garage after killing Boss Dong.

"Indeed, the actions of using the phone are almost identical." Bai Ye also thought it should be the same person.

"Why does he show up every time?" Zhan Zhao was somewhat puzzled.

Bai Yutang nodded, "If he's following Qian Yu's orders, all of Qian Yu's people are now detained at the police station and couldn't answer the phone, so who was he calling both times?"

‿︵‿︵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 30, 2024 by Angel

Edited: August 22, 2024 by Angel