S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 5 Chapter 94

Countdown from the Murderer 24 – Amnesia

---

A killer with a memory disorder is already a headache, but this killer who doesn't remember anything remembers Zhao Jue.

After coming out of the interrogation room, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang found Zhao Jue and asked him what was going on.

Zhao Jue seems to be quite awkward. He asked Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang to wait for a while and asked Zhao Hu to go upstairs to find Bao Zheng.

Not long after, Bao Sir followed Zhao Hu over.

In the elevator, Zhao Hu had already told Bao Sir the general story.

Upon hearing about the painting with flowers and Zhao Jue, Bao Zheng seemed to know what was being referred to. After he got out of the elevator, he waved to Zhan Zhao and the others, gesturing for the group to go to the office to talk.

After entering the office, Bao Sir asked Jiang Ping to check the police department's archives, but what he was looking for wasn't a previous case, nor was it a stored exhibit, but an instructional video.

Zhan Zhao was a bit confused.

Bai Yutang didn't quite understand either – Instructional video?

"The behavioural analysis department needed to train some of the police officers in the early days, so they asked Zhao Jue to record some videos." Bao Zheng explained succinctly, "They were recorded on film at the time, but there was a problem with the camera during filming. The footage got stuck and was overexposed, but there was no problem with the sound, it was all recorded. We tried to get him to record it again, but he didn't want the hassle and said they could understand it anyway. It just so happens that funds were limited at the time, so we just let everyone watch it..."

Jiang Ping found the video according to the archive number Bao Zheng provided. The original film should have been unusable long ago, so this video must have been transcribed... Upon opening it, the image was stuck on Zhao Jue speaking, with fine lines and some marks visible, possibly water stains or mildew spots, forming the outline of a flower. The entire scene looked like a canvas with a flower painted on it, with Zhao Jue on this "canvas," his mouth open, frozen in position. The sound, however, was quite clear, as he lectured on some basic courses in behavioural analysis.

"Wait." Zhan Zhao asked Bao Zheng, "This is an internal document of the police station, right?"

Bao Sir thought for a moment and said, "It's not exactly very internal. A lot of research institutes, especially those specialising in psychology, have used it. Although the picture is very unclear, the content mentioned is said to be very practical or something..."

Bao Zheng didn't understand it very well either and gave a general description.

Zhan Zhao was puzzled, "Then why haven't I seen it?"

Zhao Jue chuckled happily.

Bao Zheng glanced at Zhan Zhao, "Aren't you an expert? You probably aren't interested in looking at anything with the word 'basic' in it, so you missed it."

Zhan Zhao looked back at Bai Yutang – Bao Sir has been targeting me a bit recently!

Bai Yutang touched his nose – Who told you to film him sleepwalking...

Zhan Zhao thought about it and was indeed at fault, but it was clear that everyone had a part in filming...

Bao Sir asked about the progress on Wang Meiyun's side, as the media attention was too high.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both looked aside.

Bao Zheng knew there was trouble, but didn't say anything and was ready to go back upstairs.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were surprised – He didn't get angry?

Zhao Hu whispered to Ma Han – There was no urging this time.

Bao Sir walked to the office door, looked back at the crowd, and chuckled twice, "How long can you delay? Aren't you supposed to solve the case within fourteen days?"

As he spoke, Bao Zheng looked at his watch and gave the crowd a provocative look, "If you can't solve it within fourteen days, it means you've lost."

After saying that, he slipped away.

The entire SCI staff looked at Zhan Zhao in dissatisfaction – Bao Sir is quite stingy!

Zhan Zhao nodded – That's right!

"Ahem."

Bai Yutang coughed, signalling for everyone to focus on investigating the case.

Zhan Zhao's attention also returned to the case and he turned back to ask Zhao Jue, "So why would Su Li have seen this video?"

"He must have seen more than just that, right?" Bai Yutang also wondered. "The key is that he still remembers!"

"There are many conditions that cause amnesia, and amnesia manifests itself in different ways. There are also studies that show that some amnesia patients will have memories of particularly familiar images." Zhan Zhao said, "For example, if he had a vivid memory of this video before he got amnesia, then he may still retain some of the memories he had before he got the condition, but he needs stimulation to remember it. Or if his amnesia wasn't caused by a trauma, but by human intervention, then someone could have edited his memories."

"So the key to everything is still in that mental hospital, right?" Bai Yutang asked.

Zhan Zhao nodded, "Aren't there a lot of research institutes on that side? There might be a research topic that specifically focuses on this aspect of memory."

Jiang Ping tapped away on his computer, searching for relevant clues.

"Hmm... there was indeed a project dedicated to the study of memory, but because of a lack of funds, the project has been terminated." Jiang Ping found a report, "But the content of the project was very vague, and the specific research done wasn't made clear."

As they were discussing, Luo Tian and Qin Ou came up, carrying the fingerprint investigation report from the forensic department.

"Captain," Luo Tian gave the report to Bai Yutang, "the same fingerprints were indeed lifted from the delivery box and the medicine bottle, and there's one more thing that's strange."

Bai Yutang read the contents of the report, "Wang Meiyun's fingerprints were found on the lid and inside the pill bottle?"

"Wang Meiyun?" Zhan Zhao was surprised.

"Inside?" Gongsun, who had just walked over from the forensic room, also heard it.

"They are present internally, what does that mean?" Zhao Hu asked, "Wang Meiyun has taken pills from this bottle?"

"Are there any on the pills?" Gongsun suddenly asked.

Luo Tian nodded, "Old Wang over at the forensic department said it was strange, saying that he was prepared to take them out one by one and examine them and let us know if there were any results."

"What about the bottle of medicine in Wang Meiyun's bag?" Bai Yutang suddenly asked, "Have the forensic department check if there are Mark Fan's fingerprints on it."

Luo Tian didn't make a phone call and instead went downstairs to drop it off himself, waiting for the results in the meantime.

"Yutang, do you suspect that the bottle of medicine in Mark Fan's possession was swapped with the one in Wang Meiyun's possession?" Zhan Zhao felt as if there was some mystery here, "If it was swapped, when was it swapped back?"

Zhao Hu asked, "So are there two bottles of medicine or three?"

Zhao Jue turned his face and looked Zhao Hu up and down, beginning to suspect that he was actually a Border Collie pretending to be a husky...

"If there are two bottles of medicine, then Sun Xi first stole Wang Meiyun's medicine, then bumped Mark Fan to switch with him, and then ran to put Mark Fan's medicine into Wang Meiyun's bag." Zhan Zhao analysed, "The difficulty of this operation feels immense. Especially since Wang Meiyun had been in the room with Qian Fu when we arrived at the hotel, so Sun Xi didn't have the chance to switch the medicine."

"If there are three bottles of medicine, that means that Mark Fan first swapped Wang Meiyun's, Sun Xi swapped Mark Fan's, and the bottle of medicine that Sun Xi swapped for Mark Fan was prepared by Wang Meiyun." Bai Yutang said.

When comparing the two sides, it was obvious that the second was more actionable and more reasonable.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang returned to the interrogation room.

Su Li's memory was stuck in this day's time. Other than remembering Zhao Jue, flowers and paintings, he didn't remember anything else.

Zhan Zhao wanted to study him properly, but time was running out now, so he could only send him back to the detention centre to be held until the investigation of the mental hospital was complete.

In the end, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang still had one person left on hand to interrogate, and that was that Guard Fang who had cooperated with Su Li to escape from custody to kill Wang Meiyun.

Although this person was the latest to show up, as an important person who provided Su Li with the opportunity to commit the crime, he should know more.

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao first looked at Guard Fang's profile together.

This person seems very ordinary from the information, and he has been working in the detention centre for quite some time, with no issues in any aspect... What's going on?

Not long after, Luo Tian brought Guard Fang in.

When Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were ready to ask questions, a dramatic scene happened. Guard Fang unexpectedly did not remember what happened yesterday at all. As Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were preparing to question him, a dramatic scene unfolded: Guard Fang completely forgot what had happened yesterday. In his memory, yesterday was just an ordinary workday, and he had no idea how he ended up being arrested after he woke up.

Bai Yutang put down the folder in his hand, a little speechless... After messing around for half a day, there was no one who could answer their questions properly.

Zhan Zhao could only identify whether Guard Fang was pretending to be stupid or telling the truth, but this authentication was quite troublesome, and the time required was not short.

In order to speed things up, Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue both started examining Guard Fang at the same time.

Bai Yutang leaned against the door of the interrogation room with a folder in hand, lost in thought.

Ma Xin, who was passing by, saw this and ran into the forensic room to get her cell phone and ran out again, "Captain, keep this pose, let me take a picture!"

Bai Yutang raised his head in confusion, just in time to be met with a click from Ma Xin.

Seeming satisfied after taking the photo, Ma Xin ran away humming a song.

Bai Yutang was still quite puzzled.

Zhao Hu came out of the washroom shaking his hand and saw it. He happily ran over and said, "Yang Yang and Xiao Yi recently enrolled in an art class, and Ma Xin has been collecting reference pictures for sketches for them everywhere."

Bai Yutang shook his head, "How many classes are those two kids enrolled in? Are they too busy?"

"Captain, you don't understand this, do you? The school has recently reduced its workload!" Hu Zi looked as if he was in a good mood, "But Xiao Yi seems to have a bit of a talent for drawing, maybe he's like Qin Ou."

Bai Yutang suddenly seemed to have thought of something and asked Zhao Hu, "Before, did Zhou Ping mention that Qian Yu was very talented in painting and has painted a lot of pictures?"

Zhao Hu nodded.

Bai Yutang thought about it again and went to the interrogation room to look for Zhou Ping.

In the interrogation room, the idle Zhou Ping was writing his manuscript. When he saw Bai Yutang come in, he asked, "Can I go back? "

Bai Yutang sat across from him and asked, "The nurse friend you mentioned before, did he ever mention Qian Yu's paintings?"

Zhou Ping recalled, "He mentioned them a few times, saying his paintings are very good, but the style is quite eerie. After looking at them for a while, they feel creepy.'"

"Then that friend of yours, has his personality changed in any way?"

Bai Yutang's out-of-the-blue question caught Zhou Ping off guard. After some thought, he said, "Um... I think there might be a slight change. I remember he used to be a bit more cheerful than he is now."

"Can you contact him?" Bai Yutang asked.

Zhou Ping asked Bai Yutang what he wanted to do.

Bai Yutang said, "Can he send over a few of Qian Yu's paintings?"

Zhou Ping contacted that friend of his, Liu Da.

After the call was connected, Zhou Ping mentioned Bai Yutang's request to him, but Liu Da's reply surprised him.

Liu Da said that he had been transferred and was now working in another hospital.

Zhou Ping was puzzled, "Are you being retaliated against?"

Liu Da said that the new job paid better than the original, the workload and pressure were lower, and he was quite happy.

Zhou Ping then spread his hands at Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang frowned.

Zhou Ping thought about it and asked if he had Qian Yu's paintings.

But on the other end of the phone, Liu Da seemed to freeze, then asked in return, "Who is Qian Yu?"

Zhou Ping was dumbfounded, "Er..."

Liu Da seemed to be quite busy, so he said that he would talk to him after work and then hung up the phone.

Bai Yutang was also puzzled and asked Zhou Ping, "Was he threatened?"

Zhou Ping, however, shook his head, "Er, I'm quite familiar with him, he's not that good at lying to people, it feels like he really doesn't remember, and..."

"And what?"

"Didn't I say that he doesn't feel as cheerful as before!" Zhou Ping pointed to his phone, "But on that call just now, it felt like he had returned to how he felt a few years ago."

......

When Bai Yutang came out of the interrogation room with one cheek puffed out, somewhat depressed, he bumped into Zhan Zhao, who came out of the interrogation room with the other cheek puffed out.

The two looked at each other, opened their mouths, and let out a sigh, releasing the tension in the air.

Bai Yutang asked Zhan Zhao, "How is it, Cat?"

Zhan Zhao let out an "ai" and pointed to his head, "He didn't lie, he really doesn't remember."

"Can it be restored?"

"It's difficult."

Bai Yutang muttered to himself, "Another amnesiac."

"Another?" Zhan Zhao looked at him, "Who else has lost their memory?"

Bai Yutang recounted what happened in the interrogation room just now.

Zhan Zhao was also a bit annoyed and pulled Bai Yutang, saying, "Anyway, we're done asking questions, let's go! Let's go meet that Qian Yu directly!"

‿︵‿︵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 26, 2024 by Angel

Edited: August 13, 2024 by Angel