S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 5 Chapter 142

Screen Murderer 38 – Substitute

---

The entire SCI team was in a state of fatigue, yet Bao Sir still had them watching TV.

Watching TV at this time couldn't be a good sign. Everyone was both sleepy and tired, and they were just stimulated by Zhan Zhao's brilliant idea.

Back in the office, Bao Sir turned on the TV news.

The entire SCI team silently prayed that there wouldn’t be another case that cropped up again, don’t those people ever sleep?

Fortunately, the news being broadcast was about the Dong Group employees protesting collectively. This time, all the top brass at the Dong Group were wiped out, leaving only Wang Meiyun alive.

Most Dong Group employees refused to accept Wang Meiyun as their boss, believing she was behind everything.

The TV station interviewed many Dong Group employees, and they all had complaints against the police, feeling that SCI was protecting Wang Meiyun. Previously, her affair with Qian Fu involved a murder case, and although she was arrested, she was released. Now, the situation was getting worse, and more and more people were dying. Who knew what would happen next?

The internet was buzzing too. From Dong Fei to the four executives, everyone who posed a threat to Wang Meiyun's "succession" had died. Was there any justice left?

The SCI members were also at a loss. Honestly, they wanted more than anyone to take down Wang Meiyun and her gang once and for all, but they had no evidence!

Bao Sir remarked that the media attention was too high, and urged them to solve the case quickly. At the same time, he observed the mood of the team... and found that they were all in a rather exhausted state.

"Tsk." Bao Sir furrowed his brow and asked Zhan Zhao, "How long has it been since you all slept properly?"

Zhan Zhao tilted his head back. No matter how good his memory was, he still felt that he needed to think about this matter carefully.

Bao Sir shook his head. "This won't do. Go back and rest today, you can continue the investigation tomorrow."

Everyone looked at Bao Zheng – Didn't he say that he wanted to solve the case quickly?

Bao Zheng said, "The problem now is that every time they present a case, we solve it. It's been happening repeatedly, from the murder of Jin He, to the case at the flower and bird market, to Dong Fei's poisoning, and last night's case. We solve one as soon as it comes up, but what's the result?"

All eyes were on Bao Sir.

"You've been working non-stop. If these small-scale cases keep occurring, are you going to work yourselves to death?"

Zhan Zhao gently rubbed his chin, thinking indeed – This was turning into a war of attrition.

"In the future, regarding Wang Meiyun's cases, I'll assign a criminal police team to work with you. If you find any issues, involve other departments in the investigation, and take turns resting! If you're exhausted, who's going to catch the big fish?" Bao Sir said. "I'll bring in support from other teams later, you all go home and rest immediately!"

Everyone glanced at each other, realising they were indeed too tired. They grabbed their car keys, took their family members, and went home to rest.

......

In the Bai family's villa, Big Brother Bai and Zhao Zhen came downstairs yawning and bumped into Zhan Zhao, Bai Yutang, Gongsun and Bai Chi who had just returned.

Bai Big Brother sighed, "Finally back..."

Zhao Zhen had watched a game last night and had just woken up. The twins were still lying on the sofa, snoring.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang waved their hands and went upstairs to shower and sleep.

Gongsun and Bai Chi also didn't bother with their family members and went to their respective rooms to rest.

......

They slept until the afternoon.

Bai Yutang, who rarely slept until he woke up naturally, opened his eyes and saw Zhan Zhao stretching beside him, having just woken up too.

The little lion popped out from the covers and rubbed against Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao comfortably felt the silky smoothness of the sheets under the covers and felt that the bed was really good! He wished he could stay in bed forever!

Bai Yutang heard footsteps in the hallway and guessed that Gongsun and the others were also awake. From downstairs, Xiao Ding's voice came, "Do you want to eat?"

Zhan Zhao, who aspired to stay in bed forever, heard his stomach growl.

Bai Yutang also felt a bit hungry. They exchanged a glance, and one of them got up, invigorated, to brush their teeth and wash their face...

After going downstairs, Bai Yutang was curious about what there was to eat and who was cooking, but the twins ordered takeout.

While unpacking the takeout, Bai Yutang asked Gongsun if there were any silver needles they could poke the box with and see.

Everyone looked at Bai Yutang speechlessly.

Gongsun explained to him that the poison that would cause an oxidising reaction with the silver needles was just one of many types of poison! Many poisons wouldn't react with silver at all.

Bai Yutang decided to go and boil water for instant noodles but was stopped by everyone.

The twins grabbed chopsticks and offered to help with testing for poison, but Bai Yutang expressed his disgust – He wasn't too keen on eating what they had tried.

The twins threw their chopsticks at Bai Yutang, saying, "How did you become less cute as you grew up?!"

In the end, Bai Yutang, who overcame the psychological barrier with the help of Zhan Zhao, watched Zhan Zhao eat a spoonful of fried rice.

The group noisily finished their meal. Everyone, still young at heart, restored their energy instantly with a good rest and delicious food.

After finishing their meal, the twins cut some fruit.

Everyone gathered to eat fruit. Zhao Zhen had been thinking about Anna's ex-husband ever since he talked to Zhan Zhao on the phone earlier.

Bai Chi gave the crowd a detailed account of their speculation about the competition between the monitors and guardians around Anna.

Upon hearing this, the twins both stroked their chins thoughtfully.

Zhan Zhao asked them, "Did you think of something?"

The twins said, "Could this be related to online betting?"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged a glance and looked at the twins. "Do you think these competitions involve betting?"

"It's similar to betting on sports, isn't it? Two teams compete, one as the monitors and the other as the guardians. The specific target is like a ball, where it's made or what pattern is on it doesn't matter. The key is who wins and who loses, right?" The twins explained. "And, Anna might not be the only victim."

The casual remark from the twins struck a chord with Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang.

They exchanged another glance – If Anna hadn't been acquitted with the help of her family in the maid murder case, she might have been convicted. Would Anna then be discarded like a deflated football and replaced immediately? Moreover, why were all these cases somehow connected to Anna, with her always being the suspect... whether as a monitor or a guardian, their goal was competition, and once something went wrong, Anna was the perfect scapegoat...

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang felt it was worth checking if there was anyone involved in several "revenge" incidents...

But having thought of this lead, they didn't approach Jiang Ping for investigation. They decided not to disturb him for rest today and would discuss it further tomorrow at the SCI office.

"If Dong Yuan was the monitor," Gongsun suddenly felt reverse thinking might work too, "then if he didn’t die for so many years, does that mean he often won against the guardians?"

Everyone frowned – But Dong Yuan himself felt quite weak and useless. When Sun Xi killed him, he had basically no ability to resist... How did he manage that?

"Could be."

Bai Jintang interjected.

Everyone looked at the older brother.

Big Brother Bai said, "We don't know where the Dong Group's money comes from."

The twins nodded, "That’s right! The Dong Group's performance isn't that good, and most of the movies they produce barely make any profit. We've always wondered where the Dong Group gets so much money from. It feels like they've been losing money all along, losing money with every movie they make!"

"Based on how the competition works, whether as monitors or guardians... they must have teams, right? It feels like it's not something one person could do." Bai Yutang said. "After Wang Meiyun replaces Dong Yuan, if she wins and then sends her team of guardians to chase after the guardians of the previous monitor, wouldn't she not only take over the Dong Group but also take Dong Yuan's place as a monitor and participate in future competitions?"

Everyone thought about it and felt that there was such a possibility.

"If Dong Yuan also has a team, could it be Dong Fei and those deceased company executives?" Gongsun asked.

Zhan Zhao also remembered Dong Fei carrying the USB drive with the sixteen-digit invitation code.

"Then why do Zhang Yong and the others have invitation codes too? And they didn't carry USB drives, they were just tattooed on them?" Zhan Zhao couldn't figure it out.

"Just cannon fodder, perhaps." The twins said casually. "It feels like the difference between high-level players and low-level players."

"Maybe this is a large-scale underground game." Zhan Zhao continued brainstorming. "Players who can participate need to receive invitations, then randomly select their prey, conduct long-term surveillance, and start a competition. If caught, they use their prey as scapegoats and walk away in one piece. There might be a large number of online spectators participating in betting, betting on whether the guardians or the monitors will win... Maybe Jin He’s New World game from before was just a cover, and in this game, there's an 'entrance' to the real competition between monitors and guardians, which requires an invitation code to enter... and it must be the kind of invitation code carried on a USB drive?"

None of the people present were particularly good at games. The twins only played soccer and the like. The only three geeks, Zhan Zhao, Gongsun and Bai Chi, were scholarly types. No one knew what level games and the internet had reached now.

"Speaking of which..." Zhan Zhao decided to put aside the matter of the game for now; they could ask Jiang Ping about it tomorrow. He wanted to discuss something else first. "Wang Meiyun seems very eager to take over Dong Yuan's position as a monitor, that is to say, Qian Yu wants to enter the game? Why would Qian Yu want to get in? For money or for playing the game?"

Everyone frowned, feeling that Qian Yu probably wasn't simply after money. With his abilities, there were plenty of ways to make money, why would he be so fixated on the game?

"Could it have something to do with his paintings?" Bai Yutang asked.

Zhan Zhao looked at him. "Paintings..."

"Do you remember, at the beginning, the movie with Wang Meiyun and Tang Xing directed by Jin He?" Bai Yutang reminded everyone. "Qian Yu seems to have some ambition. Could the insertion of these scenes into the movie be just a test, while his real goal..."

"... Is to insert them into the game?" Zhan Zhao asked.

Bai Chi felt this was somewhat plausible. "If there really is a large-scale betting organisation, and many members are watching the two teams around Anna fight, it would definitely be broadcast through live-streaming over the internet. The guys we caught earlier wearing VR headsets could be a good gaming mode. If Qian Yu participates in the game and Wang Meiyun's team becomes the monitors, then Qian Yu could easily introduce his paintings into the game."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both frowned, feeling this idea was a bit dangerous...

"He’s using movies to experiment with the effects of those paintings?" Bai Yutang also found this quite chilling. "After testing, he implants them during the game and then uses the game... to control the players participating!"

"So far, those who have participated in this game are all people with certain abilities." Zhan Zhao analysed. "Participants are either wealthy or have special abilities... only those who have been carefully selected receive invitation letters."

"And these are the people Qian Yu wants to control." Bai Yutang increasingly found this plausible. "Originally, he only had Wang Meiyun, Zhou Ping and their group, but if he replaces them with the group of players participating in the game..."

"Oh," the twins smirked. "The legendary 'make a bet and if you win, the bicycle will turn into a motorcycle'!"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other and felt that perhaps because they had slept and their spirits were refreshed... the case was beginning to make sense!

‿︵‿︵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: May 7, 2024 by Angel

Edited: November 4, 2024 by Angel