S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 5 Chapter 132

Screen Murderer 28 – Viper

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While Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were still speculating whether Anna was involved in two or three murders, the result turned out to be unexpected – five!

Anna's character began to grow increasingly subtle.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang couldn't quite grasp why she was entangled in so many cases at such a young age.

Jiang Ping quickly skimmed through the details of the cases he had found, then frowned and clicked his tongue. "Is this case really related to Anna? Although the timing does seem a bit coincidental..."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both asked Jiang Ping to read out the news.

Anna used to attend an all-girls school.

At that time, Anna was sixteen years old, the same year she killed the maid at home.

Two months before Anna's incident, three girls from her school went missing, and a month later, they were found dead in the mountains.

At the time, the police concluded that the three girls probably died in a mountain accident.

However, this conclusion was not convincing because the mountain wasn't high or large, and even if they got lost on it, all three girls had communication devices with them and were perfectly capable of contacting the outside world. But they didn't use these devices, and when they died, they were sitting back-to-back under a tree, with peaceful expressions. As for the cause of death, it was even more bizarre, they froze to death.

Considering that the local average temperature was around twenty degrees Celsius, and even in the mountains, the coldest it would get was only ten degrees, it was impossible for them to die from freezing, a symptom usually seen only in extremely cold and high-altitude areas.

But the police couldn't find any other clues.

The deaths of these three girls became an urban legend in the area, especially at that girls' school.

It was said that these three girls had extremely bad behaviour, and their favourite prank was to lock other students in the freezer. As a result, they ended up getting what was coming to them.

The legend in the school was that while playing their prank, they locked the Grim Reaper, disguised as a student, in the freezer, and as a result, suffered the Grim Reaper's revenge.

Zhan Zhao asked Jiang Ping if he could find out which students they had bullied.

Jiang Ping found it a bit difficult and, after thinking for a moment, asked, "Should we ask Mia?"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang glanced at each other. Indeed, Kalin had recorded so much death information, Mia might have information about those three girls' deaths.

They looked at the clock on the wall. It was almost nine o'clock, would it be okay to call at this time? Had the child already gone to bed?

Zhan Zhao handed his phone to Bai Yutang and asked him to call Zhao Jue.

Bai Yutang was a little amused and asked Zhan Zhao, "Why don't you make the call?"

Zhan Zhao grumbled and told Bai Yutang to make the call.

So Bai Yutang used Zhan Zhao's phone to call Zhao Jue.

After two rings, the call was answered.

On the other end came Zhao Jue's voice, "Yo, little tiger."

Bai Yutang paused and glanced at the phone – It was indeed Zhan Zhao's phone... How did Zhao Jue know it was him calling?

Zhan Zhao looked around and muttered, "They must have installed surveillance around us!"

"Who installed surveillance?" Zhao Jue urged, "Hurry up and say what’s going on."

Bai Yutang thought for a moment, then asked him, "How's everything on your end? Is Anna settling in well over there? Does the police station need to arrange another place for her to stay?"

"Heh heh," Zhao Jue chuckled knowingly, then asked, "have you found anything?"

Bai Yutang briefed him on all the cases related to Anna that they had discovered so far.

"Hmm~" Zhao Jue seemed intrigued, "We still don't know how the nanny died, as for her ex-husband and the three classmates, could it be considered karma?"

Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao rolled his eyes heavenward – Zhao Jue's moral compass was always skewed.

"Be a bit more careful," Bai Yutang glanced at Zhan Zhao, then said to Zhao Jue on the phone, "Cat is quite worried about you..."

Before he could finish, Zhan Zhao lunged to grab the phone, protesting, "Stop making things up!"

There was silence from Zhao Jue's end for a moment, and then he spoke slowly, "Tell that useless lazy cat to take care of himself first."

Zhan Zhao gritted his teeth and glared at Bai Yutang – See!

Bai Yutang reached out to hold Zhan Zhao, who was ready to snatch the phone at any moment, while continuing to talk to Zhao Jue, "We just went out for dinner, and Dong Fei was killed."

"Who's Dong Fei?" Zhao Jue seemed a bit impatient.

"The murderer almost poisoned Cat."

Bai Yutang said this, and Zhan Zhao pointed at his own face to express – I'm angry! Stop talking nonsense!

Bai Yutang shrugged – Where did I talk nonsense? What I said was clearly the truth.

On the other end, Zhao Jue fell silent again. After a while, he asked, "Who poisoned him?"

"It might be a professional assassin." Bai Yutang said, "I'll send you a video clip later for Eleven to take a look at and help identify."

"Mhmm." Zhao Jue's tone suddenly turned a bit cold.

Bai Yutang glanced at Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao frowned as well – This guy had been acting strange lately.

"Right," Bai Yutang asked Zhao Jue, "is Mia asleep?"

"Not yet, she's watching TV."

Bai Yutang said, "Then I'll send some news over later, have Mia take a look to see if there are any clues."

"Oh." Zhao Jue replied curtly, devoid of much emotion.

"That's it then, you guys be careful." Bai Yutang instructed.

"Mhmm." Zhao Jue's end of the line hung up.

Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao while holding the phone.

Zhan Zhao rubbed his chin, looking at him. Both of them felt that Zhao Jue's tone was odd, and his mood seemed off.

For now, they couldn't worry too much. Bai Yutang handed the phone to Jiang Ping, asking him to send the footage from the restaurant's surveillance and the news about the three girls to Zhao Jue.

......

Meanwhile, at Zhao Jue's villa.

On the sofa, Mia and Eleven were watching TV together, discussing the unknown show as they watched.

Eleven commented that the male lead was a scoundrel and the female lead was so pitiful, to which Mia nodded in agreement, gesturing and condemning the male lead for his scoundrel ways, saying the girl didn't deserve it!

As they conversed, they felt a shadow looming behind them, and both turned around.

"Oh god..." Eleven jumped in fright, looking speechlessly at Zhao Jue standing in the darkness like a ghost, holding a phone. The light from the phone illuminated his face perfectly, startling Mia enough to drop her pillow.

Zhao Jue extended his hand, showing Eleven a video clip, and asked, "Do you recognise him?"

After watching for a moment, Eleven furrowed his brows slightly and asked, "Where was this recorded?"

Zhao Jue tilted his head – So you recognise him?

Eleven said, "I might not recognise him, but I might know who he is."

Then Eleven asked Zhao Jue, "Did someone die from poisoning?"

Zhao Jue nodded.

Eleven smiled faintly and said, "This person is called Viper."

Zhao Jue looked at Eleven with some disdain.

"I've heard a lot about him. He usually observes his targets for about a week, learns their habits, then designs a sophisticated trap or sets up a scheme before making his move." Eleven chuckled, saying, "He's the type who easily gets into trouble, boasting about his clever methods."

"How does he usually get into trouble?" Zhao Jue asked.

"I've heard of some instances where he miscalculated or his plans went awry, resulting in the deaths of unrelated people." Eleven said, "In simpler terms, he's the type with an IQ of 150 but thinks he has 180."

"How can anyone hire him?" Zhao Jue asked.

Eleven frowned at Zhao Jue.

After observing Zhao Jue's expressionless face for a moment, Eleven whistled softly and muttered, "Scary."

Zhao Jue squinted slightly.

Eleven grabbed a sticky note from the coffee table, wrote down a phone number, and handed it to Zhao Jue. "Contact this number..."

When Zhao Jue reached out to take the sticky note, Eleven's hand pulled back slightly, and he asked Zhao Jue, "Has this kid caused a lot of trouble?"

Zhao Jue remained expressionless, his hand still extended.

Eleven shook his head, then placed the sticky note in Zhao Jue's hand.

Zhao Jue tucked the sticky note into his pocket and then looked at Mia with the phone.

Mia was busy stroking a lop-eared rabbit.

Zhao Jue handed her the phone.

Mia took a look at it. It was the news clip.

Rubbing her chin, Mia tilted her head in thought, then suddenly clapped her hands, got up, and ran downstairs to the library.

There was a separate room downstairs for Mia to store all the information Kalin had collected, along with her large desk, various complex toys, and Kalin's dead-leaf butterfly tree.

Mia fetched a ladder, climbed up, searched the top shelf of a bookcase, and quickly found a folder.

Carrying the folder, she ran back and handed it to Zhao Jue.

Zhao Jue opened it and saw it contained clues related to the deaths of the three girls. He was about to send a message to Bai Yutang to come and get it.

At that moment, Eleven reached out, took the folder, and said, "Let me run this errand for you."

Zhao Jue glanced at Eleven.

Eleven smiled slightly and went to his room to fetch a beautifully packaged box. "My disciple is getting married, so I have to make some gestures."

With that, Eleven grabbed his car keys and sauntered off.

Mia followed him, gesturing a few words.

Eleven reached out and tousled her hair. "I’ll buy it for you on my way back."

Mia happily ran back to continue watching TV.

Zhao Jue turned back and headed to the study.

Upstairs, Bai Ye, leaning against the staircase, watched Zhao Jue's every move below with a slight frown.

......

In the SCI office, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang missed out on the delicious food, so they each made a bowl of instant noodles.

Zhan Zhao found Bai Yutang's instant noodles strangely delicious and asked if he had added something special. Why did these instant noodles taste so upscale?

Bai Yutang claimed it was a trade secret, and would be sold to instant noodle companies in the future.

As they were eating, a familiar voice came from the doorway, "Ai... Do all the Bai family's instant noodles taste the same? Indeed, butter and cheese powder with seafood instant noodles are a perfect match."

Zhan Zhao slurped a mouthful of noodles and glanced at Bai Yutang – So that's how it is.

Bai Yutang breathlessly set down his chopsticks and looked towards the doorway, where Eleven stood with a folder sitting atop a gift box in one hand, his other casually in his pocket, standing in the darkness of the doorway... a perfect match for the darkness.

Eleven strolled in, handing the folder to Zhan Zhao and holding the gift box, then looked around. "Where's Xiao Ma?"

"Off duty." Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao both looked at the gift box and asked, "Is it a wedding gift?"

Eleven smiled and handed it to Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, asking them to pass it on, "It's for Jiayi."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang took it and placed it on the table, then began to observe the box. It was square and didn't seem very large, what could be inside?

They both thought about going to the forensic lab later to use Gongsun's X-ray machine to take a look!

Bai Yutang opened the folder and saw that it contained information related to the three girls. He immediately perked up and started reading with Zhan Zhao.

The two of them read for a while, then heard a cough. They both looked up to see Eleven still standing there. They both looked at him with confusion – Did he have something else to say?

Eleven scratched his chin and said, "Oh... do you have pudding at the cafeteria? The coconut milk-flavoured kind?"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang squinted at him – Of course not.

Jiang Ping turned around and said, "I'll order takeout for you, is it for Mia?"

Eleven nodded, pulled out a chair and sat down, waiting for the takeout.

Bai Yutang continued reading the documents, while Zhan Zhao looked up, observed Eleven for a moment, and asked, "Do you have something to say?"

"Well..." Eleven rubbed his chin and said, "that’s... about Zhao Jue..."

Bai Yutang also looked up, and together with Zhan Zhao, they stared at Eleven, waiting for him to continue.

‿︵‿︵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 26, 2024 by Angel

Edited: October 23, 2024 by Angel