S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 5 Chapter 98

Countdown from the Murderer 28 – Consequentialism

---

Just as Zhan Zhao ran to Jiang Ping and the surveillance car, the headset was connected and Bai Yutang's voice came through.

Zhan Zhao let out a long sigh of relief and asked him how he was doing, and whether he was hurt.

Bai Yutang said no.

Earlier, Bai Yutang chased Doctor Brian downstairs.

The doctor scrambled into the underground laboratory and immediately pulled down the main switch.

After the switch tripped, the bright lights in the lab went out, leaving only the dim emergency lights.

Bai Yutang chased him to the fork in the road, when he suddenly glimpsed a huge black shadow rushing out of the darkness...

Thanks to the fact that Bai Yutang had already adapted to the shadows caused by this kind of light, he dodged and stepped out of the way.

However, Bai Yutang moved a little too violently, and his headset fell off.

The big guy shielded Brian and ran, while Bai Yutang didn't have time to pick up his headset before chasing after them.

The big guy was massive but slow to react. Bai Yutang leapt off the wall, kicked away the punch swung by the big guy, and then swiftly delivered a throat lock.

Bai Yutang's blow was stable and accurate. The big man instantly rolled his eyes and lost consciousness.

Bai Yutang didn't stop. He turned the corner and grabbed Brian, who was leaning against the wall and panting.

Just as he grabbed him, another big man rushed out from the shadows.

Bai Yutang dragged Brian back a step, giving him space to hook the man's ankle.

The big guy stumbled, and Bai Yutang launched a kick straight to his face. The big guy was kicked out and collided with the person who had been standing there just a moment ago.

Bai Yutang's speed in subduing the two patients and grabbing Brian was extremely fast.

These two big men were indeed "monsters" for ordinary people, but for Bai Yutang, they weren't even a piece of cake, they were practically destroyed instantly.

Zhan Zhao got out of the car and waited at the entrance. He first saw the two giants being pushed out, which startled him – They were so tall!

The men were escorted into the police car. Due to their overly tall stature, they almost couldn't fit in the police car, and they attracted quite a few onlookers.

Bai Yutang and the others walked towards Zhan Zhao, with Zhao Hu and Ma Han leading two captured doctors behind them, one with curly hair, Brian, and the other, Doctor Liu.

The police department had another big outing today, and had arrested a bunch of people.

SCI brought back the two doctors and Manager Zhu, while the others were temporarily taken into custody.

Qian Yu was also brought in and temporarily placed in the lounge. He was quite emotionally stable, and was obviously less nervous after leaving that hospital.

Zhan Zhao set up an easel for him in the lounge and asked him to draw.

Qian Yu took the brush and painted a succulent bonsai that was set up on the table for decoration.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang of course focused on interrogating the two research project leaders first.

However, after seeing Qian Yu's paintings, Zhan Zhao roughly understood why Bai Yutang had previously inquired about Qian Yu's painting activities with Zhou Ping.

It was because they discovered that Qian Yu was Flower Vine J!

Qian Yu created a large number of paintings, many of which were just sketches. However, all the works circulating in the market, including all those attributed to Flower Vine J that SCI had found, should have originated from his creations.

From this perspective, half of the previous speculations about Flower Vine J were correct. Indeed, Flower Vine J was a fictional painter, and all the mystery surrounding him was artificially created.

A bunch of people were captured, but was the one who killed Mark Fan in this group?

Su Li escaped from the amnesia team, and Sun Xi left this team, therefore, the first person to be interrogated would naturally be Doctor Liu, who tried to burn the documents.

The forensic department managed to salvage the majority of the data. Old Wang was quite angry, asking who had kicked over the tar barrel, as all the ashes had blown away.

Ma Han and Zhao Hu both said it was the captain who kicked it over. Besides, if it hadn't been kicked over, all the other valuable data would have been burnt!

Old Wang said that if they were to preserve all the ashes perfectly...

Before he could finish his sentence, Zhao Hu stepped forward and asked, "Could we restore it by drawing an alchemy array?"

As a result, he was driven out of the forensic department by Old Wang.

From the information found so far, it was mostly research reports, recording illegal experiments conducted on these patients.

But upon a cursory review, this research centre appeared to be using investments from pharmaceutical companies for research purposes, while also making money through Qian Yu's paintings...

"Is there something wrong?" Bai Chi, after quickly reviewing the research reports and financial statements, became even more perplexed. "The pharmaceutical investments amount to hundreds of millions, while the total earnings from Qian Yu's paintings combined don't even reach hundreds of thousands... What's the point?"

"We'll have to ask these guys in charge what the plan is."

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao interrogated Doctor Liu first.

Initially, Doctor Liu seemed fearless, but then Bai Yutang threw the photos of Su Li killing Li Feng in front of him and stated that all of this resulted from their experiments. Not reporting such dangerous patients missing led to such a serious crime, and his charges wouldn't be lighter than Su Li's.

Doctor Liu immediately became timid, confessing the experimental contents of recent years. Regarding Su Li and Sun Xi, Doctor Liu also seemed very troubled.

He said Sun Xi was originally quite ordinary, just a nurse, but became increasingly strange over time and ultimately assisted Su Li in escaping.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang finally heard a decent clue today – Sun Xi assisted Su Li? Does that mean he intentionally delayed them by colliding with them on the hill that day, and was it Su Li he contacted by phone?

But Doctor Liu was unaware of this. Originally, their main research subject was Qian Yu.

Zhan Zhao felt puzzled. Qian Yu merely suffered from delusions. What exactly did these people hope to gain from him?

The conclusion drawn from the questioning left the SCI team unsure whether to laugh or cry.

These researchers were so engrossed in Qian Yu's paintings, which they believed had some miraculous 'hypnotic' power, that they couldn't break free from them. They considered Qian Yu's hypnotic ability to be extraordinary.

Zhan Zhao felt like mocking them, "You've invested so much money just for this little bit of hypnotism? Are you that idle? You might as well spend a few bucks to buy a copy of the book I wrote. The hardcover comes with illustrations!"

After asking for half a day, all the discussion revolved around Qian Yu, with no progress except for the topic of hypnosis.

Bai Yutang asked Doctor Liu about matters related to Mark Fan, only to find out that Doctor Liu knew Mark Fan was helping by providing samples and taking kickbacks.

Zhan Zhao was somewhat speechless. How could Mark Fan stoop so low? He was an important member of the organisation, yet he ended up taking kickbacks from mental hospitals? Could it be that he was earning money to pay the electricity bill for those few old dry corpses in the cellar?

Bai Yutang sensed that Zhan Zhao's resentment was growing stronger.

He had no choice but to change people, taking Doctor Liu away and replacing him with Doctor Brian.

The result was even more confusing; this foreigner thought that Qian Yu belonged to the category of human special abilities! Zhan Zhao was speechless. Hadn't these people ever seen hypnosis?

After the interrogation, the case had no leads, but Zhan Zhao noticed a pattern.

He couldn't help but comment, "I understand now. Nowadays, investors can't understand anything too professional, so instead, they can't get any money. These amateurs just made a couple of paintings, and the simplest suggestions fooled those rich people."

The entire SCI team worked through the night, interrogating the criminals non-stop. By dawn, they hadn't found any clues related to Mark Fan's murder. Even those who knew about Su Li and Sun Xi were scarce.

The team couldn't help but feel disappointed, but Zhan Zhao found it unreasonable – If it was just like this, why would Wang Meiyun be crazily obsessed with Flower Vine J and even want to infiltrate the mental hospital?

Zhan Zhao muttered to himself, and Bai Yutang, listening to his soliloquy, suddenly paused and turned to say, "Cat!"

"Hmm?" Zhan Zhao looked at him.

Bai Yutang said, "Su Li has memory problems, he can't correct Wang Meiyun."

Zhan Zhao blinked.

"We have no evidence to prove that Wang Meiyun hired someone to commit murder, but we can prove that Qian Yu was framed," Bai Yutang said. "If we can't find other evidence, both Wang Meiyun and Qian Yu will be released, and we'll end up only arresting Su Li, who has memory issues!"

Zhan Zhao also paused, then exclaimed, "We've been manipulated!"

"All of this is to save Qian Yu!" Zhan Zhao said, shaking his head. "No, wait... Wang Meiyun should be under someone's command!"

"Could it be Qian Yu who's commanding her?!" Bai Yutang asked Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao stood up abruptly, "Those researchers were studying Qian Yu, but Qian Yu's paintings were actually sending signals to the outside world, he was trying to save himself! Whether it's Wang Meiyun or Su Li, they're all pawns controlled by his paintings!"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, based on the current results, deduced that the true mastermind behind the scenes might be Qian Yu.

"Is he pretending?" Bai Yutang asked Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao frowned, "If he was pretending, then things would be even more complicated. Why did he fall for it at that time?"

Bai Yutang nodded. According to what Manager Zhu and the others said, they targeted Qian Yu and cunningly locked him up in the research centre. But Qian Yu ended up using the case fabricated by Wang Meiyun and Su Li to successfully escape. Since he managed to escape, why would he have been deceived into going in the first place... or was it that he deliberately wanted to enter that research centre?

"It seems interconnected here, not just Wang Meiyun, Su Li and Sun Xi, even Qian Fu and Zhou Ping unknowingly got involved and played an assisting role... They might all be in cahoots." Zhan Zhao said, glancing outside.

At this moment, the people in the monitoring room, who had been listening to the entire conversation, were even more shocked.

Ma Han and Zhao Hu also realised that if they were to trace it back based on the results, it seemed like they had been investigating to help Qian Yu escape conviction, and Wang Meiyun wouldn't be charged either!

As they pondered, they looked around.

Gongsun asked, "Where's Zhao Jue?"

The group went to the lounge and saw Zhao Jue lying on the couch, embracing a pillow and sleeping soundly, covered by Bai Ye's coat.

Bai Ye was also there, sitting on the opposite couch and flipping through a travel magazine. He glanced up when he heard the commotion but didn't pay much attention to the SCI team, continuing to read his magazine.

Ma Han nudged Zhao Hu.

Zhao Hu was puzzled – What?

Ma Han gestured to him – Should we wake Zhao Jue up and ask him?

Zhao Hu's eyes widened – Do you want me to die? Haven't you seen that the manager and the nurse are still in a "human stick" state? (Angel: He is referring to an ancient form of death penalty by amputating all of a person's limbs and leaving them to die by bleeding.)

Ma Han urged him, "You don't get mad when your Samoyed wakes you up at home!"

Zhao Hu scoffed, "That's Le Le's dog! Besides, Coconut is a Pomeranian, not a Samoyed! You don't know anything!"

Bai Chi was curious, "Hu Zi, do you have a dog?"

Zhao Hu explained that it was Qi Le who owned a Pomeranian whose full name was Coconut Pudding, nicknamed Coconut.

Ma Han complained to Bai Chi in a low voice, "That dog is so noisy."

Gongsun was puzzled – Why were they talking about dogs? Weren't they supposed to discuss Zhao Jue's matter?

"Ahem."

At this moment, Bai Ye coughed and looked at the people gathered at the door chatting.

Zhao Hu and the others timidly pointed to Zhao Jue, as if asking – Would he get mad if we woke him up?

Bai Ye reached for the pillow beside him and threw it at Zhao Jue.

"Ow..."

Zhao Jue was hit and groggily lifted his head.

About three seconds later, Zhao Jue woke up. Realising that it was Bai Ye who had thrown the pillow at him, he immediately grabbed a pillow to retaliate.

Bai Ye tilted his head slightly to dodge the incoming pillow and pointed towards the door, saying, "Your Samoyed is looking for you."

Zhao Jue tilted his head – Samoyed?

Zhao Hu corrected, "It's Husky!"

Ma Han kicked him – You admitted it!

"What is it?" Zhao Jue, looking a bit grumpy, leaned against the couch and yawned.

"It seems like we've been manipulated," Zhao Hu said.

Zhao Jue chuckled twice, rolled over, and continued to lie down. "It's you guys who've been manipulated, not us... Ow."

Before he could finish his sentence, he was hit by another pillow.

At the door, after throwing the pillow, Zhan Zhao beckoned him with a finger. "Get up and get to work!"

‿︵‿︵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 29, 2024 by Angel

Edited: August 22, 2024 by Angel