S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 5 Chapter 134

Screen Murderer 30 – Excessive Retaliation

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Xiao Ding made a bunch of phone calls, but in the end, he couldn't find any connection between the teachers or students related to Anna, but he found a retired police officer who had some connection with her.

This detective, named Ivan, was the one who investigated the deaths of those three girls back then.

Coincidentally, Xiao Ding seemed to know this Ivan, and after a lengthy chat on the phone, they got onto the topic of Anna.

What surprised Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang the most was when Officer Ivan spoke about Anna while gritting his teeth, in his own words, this dreadful woman ruined his career.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang didn't quite understand the full meaning behind it, so Xiao Ding asked Ivan to clarify.

Officer Ivan explained that his first encounter with Anna was during the mysterious deaths of those three girls.

Because the girls' school had strict rules, they tended to party during holidays, getting a bit wild. Before the incident with the three girls, they had a costume party where they locked another girl, dressed as the Grim Reaper, in the school cafeteria's freezer.

Though the girl wasn't physically harmed and was soon rescued by another student, she suffered significant emotional trauma and eventually transferred schools.

Upon hearing this, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang finally understood why so many people believed that those three girls had offended the Grim Reaper and were thus punished. So, they really did lock up the "Grim Reaper".

"Was it Anna who disguised herself as the Grim Reaper?" Xiao Ding asked curiously.

But Ivan said it wasn't. Anna was the last one to release the "Grim Reaper", and the one who was locked up was Anna's best friend at school. However, after transferring schools, their friendship gradually faded...

"Is this Anna's motive then?" Everyone felt it was a bit far-fetched...

While those three girls might have been detestable and deserved punishment and education... was taking their lives too much as revenge?

Officer Ivan continued, "At that time, we initially suspected it was the bullied girl who did it, but she had already transferred schools, and after investigation, she was ruled out as a suspect. However, during the investigation, we found that Anna seemed to have the opportunity to commit the crime. Moreover, there was a hiker nearby who witnessed four girls entering the mountains together... But the hiker said that when he saw the four girls, they were far apart, so it couldn't be used as evidence."

However, Anna came under suspicion by Officer Ivan because of this incident, until the matter with her family's maid occurred.

When it came to the maid's incident at Anna's house, since the newspaper reports at the time were very ambiguous, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang didn't quite grasp the details of this murder case.

Speaking of this case, Officer Ivan obviously had some psychological shadows. He said, "I simply couldn't believe that a beautiful teenage girl could do such evil things!"

Everyone asked him for details about the case.

Officer Ivan explained that the maid was sawn into pieces by Anna using the same chainsaw the gardener used to trim the trees.

This sentence left everyone dumbfounded.

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao immediately started to wonder if there were any chainsaws or similar tools in Zhao Jue's villa...

"What was the reason?" Xiao Ding asked curiously.

"Because the maid accidentally injured Anna's puppy while mowing the lawn." Officer Ivan replied.

"Injured?" Bai Yutang asked, "Was the dog killed?"

"No! It was just a leg injury. The maid immediately took the puppy to the vet for treatment and stayed by its side all night. She was a very caring person!"

Everyone felt it was absurd – The pet wasn't even killed, just injured... and the maid clearly didn't intend any harm.

"Why go to such extremes..." Big Brother Bai couldn't understand.

"Was there a witness to the entire process of her using the chainsaw to kill the maid?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"Er, no. After her family reported it, we went to her house to investigate. The gardener at her house was the first to discover the crime scene. He said there was blood everywhere, Anna was holding a chainsaw, sitting in a pool of blood, and the maid's body was scattered around. The scene was too gruesome to look at directly."

Everyone imagined that scene, feeling a bit horrified.

"Although her family went to great lengths to clear her name, she was eventually hospitalised due to mental illness." Officer Ivan offered his opinion, "But I believe she didn't receive the punishment she deserved! Her entire process of committing the crime was meticulously planned, and she remained calm throughout. It clearly showed the psychological qualities of a psychopathic killer!"

Bai Yutang glanced at Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao, resting his chin on his hand, seemed to be pondering over this evaluation.

"I originally wanted to keep an eye on her, but later I was warned by higher-ups and forced into early retirement." Officer Ivan recounted, visibly annoyed. "But then I heard that Anna's husband also died. They hadn't been married for long... I investigated and found out that this case was also related to Anna! It's said that their marriage was a political one, Anna's family did their best to keep her safe, but viewed her as a disgrace to the family. So, they arranged for Anna to marry a man much older than her... Not long after they got married, it was rumoured that Anna's husband occasionally mentioned to someone that he wanted to hire an assassin to kill his wife."

Although the group had heard this from Zhao Zhen before, they hadn't expected that Anna's ex-husband had discussed it with someone else. It indicated premeditation rather than just a whim!

"Later, her husband was indeed killed by an assassin." Ivan sighed. "But there was still no evidence... This woman, Anna, is simply a revenge maniac. As soon as anyone shows even the slightest malice towards her or makes her unhappy in any way, they immediately face near-desperate retaliation!"

Everyone glanced at each other, then asked him, "Do you know about Anna's remarriage?"

"I've heard about it," Ivan said. "I've been keeping an eye on her affairs. It seems that after her ex-husband's death, her family completely lost patience and expectations for her, almost cutting off contact with her. The only one who still has some feelings for her is her aunt, who takes care of her children. Her aunt is quite influential, do you know who she is?"

Everyone found it amusing, wondering where he was going with this.

"Her aunt is related to the Leonard family, so I suspect the reason the police couldn't do anything about Anna is because the Leonard family intervened!" Ivan said, somewhat discontentedly.

After chatting with Officer Ivan for a while, the group got a general idea of Anna's situation.

After hanging up the phone, the twins were curious and asked Zhan Zhao, "What's wrong with her? Does she have some kind of excessive revenge syndrome?"

Zhan Zhao countered – Was there such a thing as moderate revenge?

"If she really has this tendency to excessively retaliate... wouldn't Wang Meiyun be in danger of being dismembered by her?" Zhao Zhen suddenly asked.

Everyone looked at him with curiosity.

Xiao Bai Chi had just taken a shower, he was towel-drying his hair as he walked over to Zhao Zhen and sat down beside him. "So, you've been following the case?" 

Zhao Zhen smiled faintly, taking the towel to help dry his hair – Of course, I have a strong sense of family!

"That makes sense." The twins agreed. "Wang Meiyun caused her child to lose his father. Isn’t that a crime worthy of being torn apart by five horses..."

Everyone couldn't help but shiver for Wang Meiyun.

But Zhan Zhao seemed to have a different perspective. He leaned against the armrest of the sofa, his chin in his hand, petting Luban's head, lost in thought.

Bai Yutang was wandering around the room searching for a charger for his electric shaver. Seeing Zhan Zhao still seated on the sofa, he went over to him and asked, "Cat."

"Hmm?" Zhan Zhao continued to daydream, responding absentmindedly.

Bai Yutang was about to speak when Zhan Zhao said, "The charger is on the power strip behind the TV."

Bai Yutang went to check and indeed found it there.

After charging his shaver, Bai Yutang approached Zhan Zhao and asked, "What's on your mind, Cat? Any thoughts?"

"I don't think Anna has that kind of illness." Zhan Zhao said to himself.

Bai Yutang chuckled. "I don't think so either. If it were an illness, then by now, considering her age, she would have killed far more than just a few people. It would have multiplied several times over."

"That’s right." Gongsun nodded as he brought a bag of cat treats to feed the kittens. "If accidentally injuring a pet's leg leads to being chopped up with a chainsaw, then wouldn't accidentally stepping on her foot result in getting a leg chopped off? How many people would she have to kill? Would she even have the time for it?"

"So, what's her deal then?" Bai Chi asked. "If it's not a mental illness, is she really a serial killer?"

"There's no evidence directly linking her to the murders." Bai Yutang said.

Zhan Zhao immediately sat up and asked Bai Yutang, "Xiao Bai, you think Anna is innocent?"

Everyone was taken aback and turned to look at him.

"I'm just looking at it from a police standpoint. Although many incidents have occurred around her, there's no direct evidence proving her involvement in the killings. Let's analyse the first case of the three murdered girls... They died from freezing. In other words, the forest wasn't the scene of the crime but the dumping ground, right?"

Everyone nodded.

"Physically, Anna doesn't seem very strong, and she's been pampered since childhood. Could she have moved the bodies of three same-aged peers to the forest herself? Frozen bodies are quite heavy! So, there are two possibilities left, either she's innocent, or she had an accomplice, and that accomplice must be an adult with a car."

"Then there's the matter of her killing the maid." Bai Yutang continued. "Again, a young lady, sixteen years old, dismembered an adult maid with a chainsaw. The entire process happened without the maid running, struggling, or resisting. By the time her family found out, it was all done... Is it believable, not to mention feasible?"

Everyone nodded, and Zhan Zhao added, "For it to be feasible, there must have been an accomplice."

"Then there's the final case about her ex-husband." Bai Yutang said with a more indifferent expression. "Just because her husband died, it doesn't mean she's guilty... It was a political marriage, she was forced to marry a much older man she didn't love and who didn't love her. In this marriage, Anna was also a victim. Yet her husband still went around telling people he wanted her gone. If her husband hadn't died, would she have been the one dead?"

Zhao Zhen also nodded. "Makes sense..."

"There’s another point." Bai Jintang added, "Since her aunt is related to Leonard, Leonard should have some understanding of her background. Why did he send Eugene along? Leonard wouldn't use Eugene solely as a bodyguard, there must be something else going on. Moreover, Eugene is very afraid of Zhao Jue and Bai Ye. In his eyes, these two are like the plague. So why did he settle Anna in Zhao Jue's villa?"

At this point, everyone looked at each other, as if they had a thought on the tip of their tongues.

Zhan Zhao smiled slightly. "I have a bold idea."

Everyone looked at him expectantly – Spill it!

"Could it be..." Zhan Zhao was about to speak when Bai Yutang's phone rang.

He picked it up and saw that it was from Bao Sir.

‿︵‿︵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 28, 2024 by Angel

Edited: October 25, 2024 by Angel