S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 5 Chapter 129

Screen Murderer 25 – Who is Who

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Just moments ago, everyone was worried about not finding that USB drive.

In the blink of an eye... three USB drives appeared, accompanied by an extra "Chen Gui".

Bai Yutang couldn't help but chuckle, "Three USB drives with an additional 'Chen Gui'? Did we stumble upon a wholesale deal?"

Zhan Zhao handed the USB drive that the forensic department found in Xu Lie's house that was suspected to be a fake Chen Gui to Jiang Ping.

Jiang Ping looked at the USB drive. This one wasn't empty, there was a small document inside.

Jiang Ping opened the document, which contained only a string of sixteen random digits.

Everyone stared at this completely irregular set of numbers for a long time, then collectively turned to Zhan Zhao – What does this mean?

Zhan Zhao spread his hands – No idea.

After a while, Issel rushed in, holding a thermos lunch box.

Upon entering, Issel handed the USB drive to Zhan Zhao, apparently sent over by Bai Ye.

But everyone was more interested in the lunch box in his hands.

Issel handed the lunch box to Mia.

Mia eagerly opened it, revealing stewed pork ribs cooked by Bai Ye.

As soon as the lunch box was opened, everyone's stomach started growling. Even Gongsun, Ma Xin and Xiatian from the adjacent forensic room were lured by the aroma.

The ribs were divided among everyone.

While eating ribs, Zhan Zhao glanced at Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang was also eating. Seeing Zhan Zhao looking at him, he raised an eyebrow – What are you looking at?

Zhan Zhao smirked – You lost!

Bai Yutang was amused by his teasing.

The others watched the two of them – Zhao Jue and Bai Ye, they are like a powered-up version of the two!

Feeling a bit annoyed, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang decided to eat more ribs!

Jiang Ping then opened the USB drive that errand boy Issel had delivered.

The USB drive was also empty, but it had been used before, the data inside was just deleted. Jiang Ping said he could recover it.

While Jiang Ping was recovering the data, the rest continued investigating the case.

Zhan Zhao received a complaint call from Chen Mi. From Chen Mi's end, there were bursts of barking dogs and Xu Lie's pleas for mercy, it seemed that Dunbu was once again "punishing" Xu Lie for Chen Mi.

Bai Yutang also felt that perhaps Xu Lie being unable to catch Chen Mi had some connection with Dunbu, who was guarding against him like a thief.

Meanwhile, Jiang Ping had recovered the data and was discussing something with Mia.

Zhan Zhao went over and found a bunch of files on the USB drive that he couldn't understand. He asked Jiang Ping what they were.

Jiang Ping was also surprised and said, "These are the raw data for the New World game we are developing."

Everyone was surprised. Bai Yutang asked if the game could be developed faster with this data.

Jiang Ping said the development speed could indeed be significantly increased.

Everyone nodded, there was finally some progress.

But after all this, the three USB drives, one empty, one with random numbers, and one with game data... none of them seemed like something Boss Wang, Xiao Liu or Chen Gui could understand... Could it be that none of them was the reason Boss Wang was killed?

Both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang frowned – Then what about the two Chen Gui?

"Right."

Speaking of the real and fake Chen Gui, Jiang Ping looked up and said, "Chen Gui doesn't have any brothers, he's an only child."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang felt discouraged – Could they just look alike?

Jiang Ping showed a photo of the other "Chen Gui" from Bai Ye's video screenshot and tried to find a match in the database.

Mia held the two photos of Chen Gui side by side, squinting and tilting her head while tapping her head with her fingers, probably realising she had mistaken someone.

After Jiang Ping finished the search, he didn't find any clues for the second "Chen Gui", indicating this person had no criminal record.

"No blood relation, yet so alike... Is it purely a coincidence?"

Without any clues, Zhan Zhao asked Zhao Hu, "Hu Zi, do you have any thoughts?"

Zhao Hu looked pleasantly surprised, "You're asking me?"

Zhan Zhao nodded and pointed at Zhao Hu, "From now on, you're in charge of robbery!"

Hu Zi blinked and tilted his head – Huh?

Zhan Zhao suddenly understood why Zhao Jue thought he was a husky, that little tilt of his head was quite clever.

Xiao Bai Chi explained to Zhao Hu the meaning of "robbery” in the game of Go. Simply put, it's a strategy when there are no moves left.

After thinking it over, Hu Zi found it quite useful and started brainstorming, "Hmm... two people who look so alike... Could they be body doubles?"

After Zhao Hu said this, everyone stared at him.

All the other SCI members raised their heads to look at Zhao Hu.

After a while, Zhan Zhao circled Zhao Hu, finding it inconceivable – What kind of wisdom was this?

Meanwhile, Jiang Ping's progress was also swift. He looked into the information from the film and television city.

There are always a large number of extras in the film and television city year-round, it's a place with hidden talents, who knows...

As a result, Jiang Ping really found the "who knows". From the information on many extras, he found someone who looked very much like Chen Gui.

After printing out the photo and comparing it, it matched the person in Bai Ye's screenshot.

Zhan Zhao showed the photo to Issel and Mia.

This time, Mia took her glasses out of her bag, looked carefully, and then nodded along with her father – They found the right person! No mistake!

Zhan Zhao looked at the person's information – Chen Fu.

"Even the names are similar!" Bai Chi thought it was too coincidental.

Jiang Ping checked further and said, "This kid should know Chen Gui."

Zhan Zhao leaned in to look.

Jiang Ping continued, "Based on their hometowns, Chen Gui and Chen Fu should be from the same place."

Jiang Ping found the phone number of the local police station in Chen Gui's hometown and got in touch with a local officer to understand the situation.

Chen Gui was a habitual offender, often involved in petty thefts and scams, so the local police were quite familiar with him.

A police officer who knew the situation well said, "Chen Gui and Chen Fu are both from Chenjia Village. These two lads do indeed look remarkably alike, locals often joke that they could be brothers. Both of them have gone to the city for work."

When asked about their relationship, the officer said, "They get along alright. Chen Gui tends to cause trouble more often, while Chen Fu is a bit smarter, he's good with computers but isn't exactly a saint. Both of them are tricky characters. Sometimes they even collaborate to deceive people because of their resemblance, it's easy for strangers to mix them up."

Upon hearing this, Zhan Zhao had a thought.

"Chen Fu works as an extra in the film and television city, while Chen Gui works for a moving company. They look so alike, and there have been cases of them teaming up to deceive people before. Could they be working together this time?" Zhan Zhao asked Jiang Ping to find the footage from the film and television city where Tang Xing was killed by Jin He, showing the two fake maintenance workers.

Jiang Ping retrieved the footage.

Upon watching it repeatedly, the crowd found that one of the men bore a resemblance to Chen Fu.

Everyone frowned – Could this Chen Fu also be involved in Tang Xing's murder?

Zhan Zhao asked Jiang Ping to check the footage from the time of Boss Wang's murder at the flower and bird market.

After a thorough search, Jiang Ping found that Chen Fu did indeed appear at the flower and bird market. Moreover, he was near Boss Wang's flower shop around the time of Boss Wang's murder, and... he had also visited the orchid shop next door to Boss Wang's place.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both frowned. Could it be... that the USB drive was secretly hidden by Chen Fu in the flowerpot, not by Chen Gui?

But the one Bai Ye saw at the flower and bird market wearing Liu's clothes was Chen Gui, Boss Liu's boyfriend was also Chen Gui, the fingerprints found in the warehouse matched those of Chen Gui, who was attacked with Boss Liu...  So why were Chen Gui's clothes found on Chen Fu?

And why was Chen Fu hiding at Xu Lie's house wearing Chen Gui's clothes?

Even Zhan Zhao, with his high IQ, felt completely baffled – What on earth were these two up to?

However, according to the local police officer, Chen Fu is smarter than Chen Gui and is proficient with computers. So, it would be more reasonable for Chen Fu to possess the contents of the USB drive than Chen Gui.

Moreover, if he was involved in Tang Xing's murder, it would mean he should be on Wang Meiyun's side, or rather, on Qian Yu's side... But isn't Chen Gui the one being pursued? Could it be that their initial investigations were in the wrong direction?

Everyone scratched their heads, feeling completely puzzled.

Ma Han asked Zhao Hu to say a few words.

Hu Zi said, "You can't treat me like some mythical beast you can summon at will."

Just when they were at a loss, the elevator door opened.

Everyone turned to see Lisbon strolling out of the elevator, followed by the lazy Zhao Zhen.

The man and the lion stepped out of the elevator and stood at the office door, yawning in unison. Lisbon even stretched lazily before casually entering and familiarly rubbing against Bai Chi.

Bai Chi patted the lion's big head and asked Zhao Zhen why he had come.

With a hint of a smile on his face, Zhao Zhen replied, "I came to save the day."

Everyone looked at him puzzled – Save the day?

Zhao Zhen explained, "Zhao Jue contacted me just now and sent me a photo."

While speaking, Zhao Zhen took out his phone and showed it to Zhan Zhao and the others.

The photo Zhao Jue sent to Zhao Zhen was of Anna.

But it wasn't a recent photo of Anna, it was from her student days.

Everyone from SCI was puzzled. Why would Zhao Jue send this photo to Zhao Zhen?

Zhao Zhen chuckled, "I knew her ex-husband."

Everyone was surprised.

"You mean her ex-husband who was murdered shortly after their wedding?"

Zhao Zhen nodded, "Mhmm."

Zhan Zhao pulled a chair from the desk and gestured at Zhao Zhen – Come! Sit down and talk!

Zhao Zhen ambled over and sat down, crossing his legs. "Her ex-husband was very wealthy, a magic enthusiast, and also a superfan of mine."

Xiao Bai Chi glanced at Zhao Zhen.

Everyone nodded – From past experiences, Zhao Zhen's super fans were often... hard to describe positively.

With a smile, Zhao Zhen continued, "During my tour days, he often came to support me and even became an investor in my tours. Since he was a major sponsor, I naturally had to show him respect. Before he passed away, he brought Anna to one of my performances. I was quite surprised at the time because there was quite an age gap between them. But Anna didn't love him."

Everyone was curious – Was it that obvious?

"Not only did Anna not love him, he didn't love her either." Zhao Zhen smiled. "You can tell by the look in someone's eyes if they're in love. So, at the time, I thought it might be a political alliance or a family arrangement. But later, before he was killed, he contacted me with a very strange question that I still remember."

Everyone looked at him, intrigued – What was the question?

"He asked me... if there was a way to make someone disappear without anyone knowing."

Everyone frowned – What?

"I asked him, 'Who do you want to disappear?'" Zhao Zhen smiled slightly. "He said, 'My wife.'"

‿︵‿︵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 23, 2024 by Angel

Edited: October 18, 2024 by Soojin