S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 5 Chapter 127

Screen Murderer 23 – Moth Orchids

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Just as one wave subsided, another arose. Upon returning to the office, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang heard that another incident had occurred. They were genuinely afraid of finding Chen Gui's body; that would be game over.

However, the news did not report the discovery of a body. Instead, someone had thrown eggs at the entrance of the Dong Group's building. Wang Meiyun also received threatening letters,  moreover, she's been facing severe online attacks.

Then, someone leaked news that Anna had previously committed murder and her ex-husband had also been murdered. All sorts of conspiracy theories emerged, and everyone couldn't stop gossiping about it.

Zhan Zhao looked at the shattered glass door at the entrance of the Dong Group's building in the news and clicked his tongue, "Where on earth is Chen Gui?"

"Boss."

At this moment, Jiang Ping turned around and beckoned to Zhan Zhao and the others.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang went over and saw Mia pointing at Jiang Ping's computer screen, gesturing.

On Jiang Ping's computer, there were two pictures. One was of a car with an advertisement for "Anxin Moving Company", and the other was a photo of Chen Gui.

Mia gestured and said – She's seen both the person and the car before!

Zhan Zhao hurriedly asked where she had seen them.

Mia communicated through sign language – That day, Uncle Bai Ye and Dad were laying a path in the yard and also set up a swing and benches. Those things were all delivered by this company, and the delivery person was this man!

"When did this happen?" Bai Yutang also asked.

"On the third of last month."

Mia has an exceptional memory, she definitely wouldn't be mistaken.

"Why do you remember him?" Zhan Zhao asked. "Is there anything special about this man?"

Mia pointed at Bai Yutang – He might have mistaken Uncle Bai Ye for you. He asked if he was a police officer and when Uncle asked him what he wanted, he said it was nothing, he had mistaken the person.

Mia also patted her chest – Mom told me to look after the family, especially Jue Jue and Uncle Bai Ye.

Zhan Zhao reached out to pat her head.

Jiang Ping teased her, "Didn't your mom say to look after your dad too?"

Mia sighed somewhat helplessly – Mom said Dad was silly. The last time they met, Mom even threw a kettle at him.

The crowd couldn't laugh or cry. When this couple argues, Issel probably feels his life is in danger...

After some thought, Zhan Zhao pointed at Chen Gui and asked Mia – If this man ran away because he was in danger, where do you think he might hide?"

Mia stroked her chin, furrowing her brow in concentration. Then she clapped her hands, seeming to have a sudden insight – A home he delivered furniture to!

Zhan Zhao also pondered for a moment, smiled slightly, and nodded in praise of Mia – Clever!

Mia continued her work with a smile.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang asked Jiang Ping to check which homes the moving company had recently delivered furniture to.

Why did they make such a guess? The reason was simple. Usually, when a new home has just been decorated and the furniture was moved in, the residents won't move in immediately. They'll wait at least two to three months, some even wait for over half a year. This is mainly to let the new furniture air out and let the formaldehyde and such dissipate.

Chen Gui worked at the moving company, so he should know some details about the residents and can easily make copies of keys. Now that he's homeless, it's too dangerous for him to wander outside. Staying in these newly decorated homes, which have no connection to him, might be safer.

Jiang Ping checked and found that the moving company was quite busy, moving several households every day, making it hard to pin down.

After some thought, Zhan Zhao asked Jiang Ping to check houses near the Dong Group building, preferably where the windows can directly overlook the Dong Group's entrance.

Jiang Ping found one, and when everyone saw the location of the apartment building, they felt – it looked familiar...

"Isn't this the neighbourhood where Chen Mi lives?" Zhan Zhao recognised the building and floor number, so he called Chen Yu to ask.

Chen Yu paused upon hearing the address, "Oh, that's next to my brother's place."

Jiang Ping found the invoice from the moving company, and the contact person's surname was "Lou".

Everyone simultaneously thought of Xu Lie's assistant – Lou Waigua.

Zhan Zhao asked Chen Yu, "Xu Lie moved in next to your brother's place?"

"Cough, cough," Chen Yu asked, "my brother found out?"

Zhan Zhao was puzzled, "Chen Mi doesn't know?"

"Xu Lie didn't move next to my brother," Chen Yu whispered, "he's bought all the houses around my brother's place!"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were astonished, "He's bought them all?"

"Mhmm," Chen Yu nodded, "but my brother doesn't know. Xu Lie probably hasn't moved in yet, he's been busy filming these days, he's likely always on set."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both shook their heads in disbelief – This big celebrity was really a curveball, couldn't he just be straightforward? What a hassle!

However, this did provide everyone with a clue.

Zhan Zhao called Chen Mi.

When the call connected, Zhan Zhao first asked Chen Mi, "Can you see the Dong Group's building from your windows?"

Chen Mi was at the office looking at blueprints. He paused upon hearing Zhan Zhao's question and then said, "Yes."

Zhan Zhao continued, "Have you heard any noises from upstairs, next door, or downstairs when you've been at home these past few nights?"

Putting down his pen, Chen Mi replied, "I think I heard footsteps from upstairs last night. It might be the people who recently moved in."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged glances – Travel far and wide looking for something, only to find it easily!

The two immediately rushed to the residential area where Chen Mi lived.

Smoothly going upstairs and arriving at the floor above Chen Mi's.

After a few rings with no answer, they pressed it a few more times, but there was still no response.

Just as they were wondering how to get in, the door suddenly opened.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were stunned by the person standing at the door.

It wasn't Chen Gui, but Xu Lie, in a robe, yawning.

Xu Lie seemed to have been woken up, tilting his head in confusion at Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang and asking, "What are you two doing here?"

Then the startled celebrity fully woke up, looking around left and right, "There aren't any weirdos lurking around again, are there?"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang felt disappointed, after all that, it turned out to be Xu Lie...

"Aren't you supposed to be on set?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"We finished filming, I stayed up all night to wrap it up and just got back..."

Before Xu Lie could finish his sentence, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged glances and suddenly pushed the door open.

"Eh?" Xu Lie looked at them puzzled, "What's going on?"

"You didn't stay here last night?" Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang asked.

"No." Xu Lie shook his head.

Zhan Zhao walked to the floor-to-ceiling window and looked outside... The view from this building was excellent, and you could see the entrance of the Dong Group.

Bai Yutang asked Xu Lie, "Do you have keys to the other two rooms?"

Xu Lie pointed to a glass bowl by the door where keys were placed.

"Yutang!" At that moment, Zhan Zhao suddenly called out.

Bai Yutang quickly ran to the window where Zhan Zhao was pointing downstairs.

They saw a man dressed in a black tracksuit running out of the building. As he ran, he glanced up at the building. Both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang frowned – Chen Gui.

"Damn." Bai Yutang immediately chased after him, somewhat regretting not bringing Ma Han and Zhao Hu along. If they had waited downstairs, it would have been better.

Bai Yutang didn't wait for the elevator, he just ran down the stairs.

While waiting for the elevator, Zhan Zhao asked Xu Lie to check if he had lost a piece of black clothing.

When Zhan Zhao got downstairs in the elevator, there was no one downstairs, and Bai Yutang was nowhere to be seen. Zhan Zhao ran to the entrance of the neighbourhood.

However, when he reached the entrance, all he found was Bai Yutang returning with a frown.

Bai Yutang shook his head.

Zhan Zhao felt regretful – They were just a step too late.

Bai Yutang called Jiang Ping to check the surveillance in the area.

The two returned upstairs. Upon entering, they saw Xu Lie grumbling and looking quite upset.

They asked him what was wrong.

Xu Lie pulled out a pink lady's jacket covered in mud from his wardrobe, saying that the black tracksuit he had hung in the room was missing!

Seeing him so frustrated, Zhan Zhao was puzzled, "Is that jacket really important?"

Xu Lie pouted at them.

The two exchanged glances and asked, "The tracksuit is Chen Mi's?"

Muttering to himself, Xu Lie explained that when he stayed at Chen Mi's place, Chen Mi gave him that tracksuit to wear at home.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at him sympathetically.

After a moment of heartbreak, Xu Lie remembered, "Whose jacket is this? What kind of pervert came into my house again? It's so unsafe nowadays! What if it's some pervert, has he planted bugs or cameras?!"

"Did you use Anxin Moving Company to move?" Bai Yutang asked.

Xu Lie scratched his head, "I don't know, Xiao Lou arranged it."

Bai Yutang picked up the old-fashioned keys, Chen Gui might have copied them during the move.

The two wanted to ask Xu Lie why he was still using such old-fashioned keys instead of electronic locks, but after thinking about it... this big star was probably traumatised by the "zombie" that broke into his house. Besides, his memory seemed only good enough for one password. Compared to that, old locks seemed safer.

"Chen Gui might have copied all the keys and is rotating between rooms." Zhan Zhao asked, "Do you think he saw us entering the neighbourhood and ran away?"

Bai Yutang also couldn't figure it out, "He mistook Bai Ye for me, which means he knows our identities... He's the victim and someone wants to kill him, shouldn't he be seeking our protection? Why is he avoiding us?"

Zhan Zhao nodded – He couldn't figure it out either.

"Chen Gui seems to have strong anti-surveillance skills." Bai Yutang felt this guy was quite something.

"Isn't he street-smart, is he afraid of the police?" Zhan Zhao asked, "Or maybe he has other motives?"

"Other motives?" Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao shared his speculation, "If those people killed Boss Wang because of the USB drive, why didn't they kill Xiao Liu at the same time? Why wait and then kill both Xiao Liu and Chen Gui? Xiao Liu's former colleague mentioned that Xiao Liu married Boss Wang because her family was in debt. Chen Gui's financial situation is also terrible. Could it be that they originally intended to extort money with the USB drive but ended up inviting disaster?"

Bai Yutang frowned, "So he's avoiding us and not calling the police even if someone wants to kill him? Is he still planning to use that USB drive for extortion?"

"It's possible..."

"Cough, cough."

As the two were earnestly analysing the case, Xu Lie coughed to get their attention.

Both turned to look at him.

Xu Lie spread his hands – What's going on?

Zhan Zhao stared at him and said, "You've encountered another pervert. We need to search these rooms, go stay with Chen Mi."

The big star, who originally looked as if he stepped on dog shit, suddenly brightened up, "Really?"

"Mhmm!" Zhan Zhao nodded.

With a delighted expression, Xu Lie ran off to call Chen Mi.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were both worried about Chen Gui. Could this kid's antics get him into trouble...

Just as they were pondering this, Zhan Zhao's phone rang.

Checking it, he saw it was the orchid shop owner's wife contacting him.

The shop owner's wife had sent him a voice message, saying that someone had called earlier asking if they had a golden-edged white moth orchid. She said they did, but it was sold. The caller then asked where it was sold to. Being cautious, the shop owner's wife asked him why he wanted to know, to which he replied that he really wanted it and wanted to buy it. When she asked when he had last seen it, he kept insisting and pressing her about where the orchid was sold. When she asked who he was, he hung up the phone.

The shop owner's wife found the caller suspicious. Zhan Zhao had told her to contact him immediately if she noticed anything unusual, so she informed Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao was momentarily stunned, then exclaimed, "Ah!" and immediately called the twins, "Golden-edged white moth orchid!"

"Huh?" The twins were confused, "What?"

"Among the batch of moth orchids you ordered from the orchid shop, was there a white one with gold edges?" Zhan Zhao was anxious.

"Yes, it's in Big Brother's office..."

Bai Yutang quickly called Bai Jintang.

"Hello?" At that moment, Bai Jintang was browsing information about various hotels in Iceland. Upon answering the phone and hearing both Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao shout, "Brother! Moth orchid!"

Bai Jintang was puzzled, "Is this some kind of code?"

"Look for a small USB drive in the pot of your gold-edged white moth orchid!" Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang had already left the building and were heading to the Bai Group.

Bai Jintang stood up, walked over to the moth orchid, felt around the pot, and upon hearing the sound of rustling plastic, he dug out a small plastic bag containing a USB drive.

"I found it..."

"We're on our way! Secure the USB drive! Don't look at its contents!" Zhan Zhao urged.

Bai Jintang looked at the USB drive with confusion.

Just then, a call came from the receptionist, "Mr. Bai, someone from the Dong Group is here, saying they want to see you."

‿︵‿︵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: April 22, 2024 by Angel

Edited: October 14, 2024 by Angel