S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 5 Chapter 155

Special Files – Witches 02 – The World Turned Upside Down

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At the edge of the cornfield, the filming of the movie had to be interrupted, and all the staff gathered under a sunshade on one side. Everyone was standing and watching, except for two people who were sitting, looking pale. One was Su Feifei, the other was Tony.

Since losing her necklace, Su Feifei had been in a somewhat depressive state, sitting there clutching the necklace without speaking.

Tony, on the other hand, had vomited several times in a row and was now somewhat weak, sitting under the parasol and sweating profusely.

Several police cars were parked by the cornfield, and yellow police tape had been set up.

In the cornfield where the body was found, Zhan Zhao was squatting by the body, turning his head to the side to look away, staring at the corpse in front of him.

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao had called the other SCI members to the cornfield as soon as they received the call.

Usually, if an ordinary criminal case was discovered, even if a body was found, SCI members would notify the criminal investigation team to handle it first. The fact that Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao were approached directly indicated that this body was somewhat "special".

Indeed, when they arrived at the cornfield and saw the "high-energy" body for the first time, both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were shocked.

In the cornfield, there was a circular area with a diameter of about one metre.

In the centre of this circle stood a bamboo pole, and the corn within the circle was tied to the pole, forming a "cone".

On this cone-shaped structure made of corn and bamboo, a male corpse was hanging upside down.

The corn was about two metres high, and he was tied near the middle, with a piece of wire wrapped around the man's ankle.

The adult man was hanging by his left foot, with his right foot bent toward the side, and the sole pressed against his thigh.

His body hung naturally, his waist and lower back touched the ground, his head tilted back, and his hands were on the ground, naturally extended over his head.

Both hands were placed palm up on the ground, and the right hand was next to his head. His left hand stretched forward, with half of it buried in the soil, and five fingers visible. A small mound of dirt had formed in the palm, with a dandelion inserted into the mound.

On his left wrist, there was a silver metal necklace, partially buried in the soil and partially exposed, with a silver metal tag hanging from it, engraved with a snake.

This was the necklace Tony had found earlier.

Upon closer examination of the body:

The deceased appeared to be between twenty-five and thirty-five years old, relatively young, with dark skin and a strong build, suggesting regular exercise or physical labour.

He had short hair and wore khaki cotton trousers and a beige cotton-linen shirt. The sleeves and trouser legs were rolled up, and he was barefoot.

His face, hands, and feet, all exposed skin, were covered with grey dirt resembling dried cement.

The body showed signs of decomposition, surrounded by a foul odour.

The most bizarre and frightening feature of the body was the eyes.

The pupils were contracted to tiny black dots, as small as sesame seeds, with almost entirely white eyeballs, causing a visceral discomfort.

However, this unusual pupil contraction indirectly suggested a cause of death.

"Organic phosphorus poisoning."

Gongsun, carrying a medical kit, approached from behind Zhan Zhao and observed while putting his gloves on.

When Bai Yutang and Zhao Hu returned after inspecting the second body, they found Zhan Zhao, Gongsun, Ma Xin and Xiatian all tilting their heads, examining the oddly positioned body from an inverted angle.

Bai Yutang reached out and snapped his fingers in front of Zhan Zhao's eyes.

Zhan Zhao raised his head and asked him, "Is the other one like this too?"

Bai Yutang nodded, "The posture is almost identical. That one is a woman, and she should have died earlier than this man, with a more severe degree of decomposition."

In fact, upon entering this cornfield, one could smell a strange odour, but since the surroundings were all farmland, the smell of fertiliser was common, so most people wouldn't pay much attention.

"Does the other one also show symptoms of phosphorus poisoning?" Gongsun asked.

Bai Yutang pointed to the eyes and nodded, indicating that the pupils of the other body were similar to this one.

Ma Xin and Xiatian took out their camera equipment. Xiatian followed Zhao Hu to the front, and they began photographing both bodies for evidence.

Zhan Zhao went to inspect the female corpse.

This woman appeared to be slightly older, around forty years old, with a thin figure and dark, rough skin. The condition of the deceased was similar to the previous male body, with the only difference being the reversal of the position of the hands and feet. While the previous one had the left foot hanging and the right foot curled up, this one had the left foot curled up and the right foot hanging. The hands were also in different positions. Additionally, there was a pile of dirt in the palm of the woman's right hand, with a dandelion inserted into it, which was already wilting.

There was also a silver necklace on the woman's right wrist.

The necklace on the wrist of the male corpse was not in pristine condition because it had been yanked on by Tony earlier.

However, no one had touched the necklace on this female body. The necklace on her wrist appeared naturally scattered outside the soil, and instead of a snake, the pendant featured a sun.

Both necklaces had a rough, handmade quality to them, and the patterns looked like they were simply chiselled onto pieces of silver.

Zhan Zhao gestured to Bai Yutang and made a somewhat "peculiar" request, "Xiao Bai!"

Bai Yutang looked at him.

Zhan Zhao asked, "Can you turn me upside down?"

Bai Yutang tilted his head, his expression seeming to ask, "Are you sure?"

Zhan Zhao sat down cooperatively and pointed to his feet, indicating, "Come on!"

Bai Yutang felt a bit helpless, but since Zhan Zhao asked, he bent down and grabbed Zhan Zhao's ankles, lifting him upside down.

Finally, Zhan Zhao was upside down, of course, mainly relying on external force.

Xiatian and Zhao Hu, who were responsible for taking photos, looked at Zhan Zhao curiously as he crossed his arms and observed the body suspended upside down, and were suddenly curious about his perspective.

Xiatian snapped a photo of Zhan Zhao with a click, thinking it could be titled—My Eccentric Colleague...

After watching for a while, Bai Yutang asked Zhan Zhao, "How do you feel?"

Zhan Zhao replied, "Dizzy."

Bai Yutang quickly called Zhao Hu to help.

Zhao Hu helped support Zhan Zhao's shoulders while Bai Yutang gently lowered him.

Zhan Zhao lay flat on the ground, and Bai Yutang told him to rest for a while before standing up again.

Zhan Zhao then signalled for the two of them to move him next to the corpse, so his perspective aligned with the head of the corpse.

Bai Yutang and Zhao Hu, one lifting his head and the other lifting his feet, moved Zhan Zhao next to the corpse, so that his head was facing the same direction as the corpse's head.

However, the head of the corpse wasn't actually lying flat facing the sky; it was tilted backwards, meaning the body was looking in the direction of the cornfield.

Zhan Zhao experienced the corpse's line of sight at the same angle and blinked.

Zhan Zhao, lying down, looked at Bai Yutang and asked, "Would an ordinary person be able to lift a body like this, upside down, and hang it over a meter high?"

Bai Yutang glanced at Zhao Hu.

Hu Zi rubbed his chin and said, "An adult male with considerable strength could probably do it because the tying point isn't particularly high, and the corn provides some inclined support, making it easier than hanging directly from a pole... If it were any higher, it might be more difficult."

Bai Yutang agreed with Zhao Hu.

"And?" Bai Yutang asked Zhan Zhao, "What did you see?"

Zhan Zhao thought for a moment and replied, "I saw a world turned upside down."

At that moment, they heard barking outside. Bai Yutang assumed that the police dog team had arrived so he reached down to pull Zhan Zhao up from the ground.

After dusting off the dirt and grass from Zhan Zhao's back, they walked out together.

The captain of the police dog team arrived with several search dogs.

Bai Yutang briefed him on the situation, and the dog handlers divided into several areas, each taking a dog into the cornfield.

Jiang Ping deployed several drones above the cornfield to assist in locating, while the dog handlers, holding tablets, systematically searched each area according to the designated zones.

Taking advantage of this moment, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang went to the sunshade where the crew members who had discovered the body first were gathered.

The two looked up and saw that Qi Le, Chen Yu, Jiayi and Xu Lie were all there, and they couldn't help but feel powerless; it was unclear which of them was the jinx, or if they all were.

Zhan Zhao asked how they discovered the body.

Lin Tian roughly recounted the events, with Jiayi and Xu Lie adding some details.

Zhan Zhao observed Tony and Su Feifei, noticing that both of their conditions had improved somewhat by now.

Su Feifei's manager had just briefed Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang on her situation. Su Feifei's mother passed away last year, and since then, Su Feifei has been suffering from depression. She had been actively cooperating with treatment and had improved, but sometimes she would still experience emotional breakdowns due to certain triggers.

Tony's manager also briefed Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang on his situation. Despite often playing villainous roles on screen, Tony was actually very timid. This incident had likely frightened him badly.

One accidentally dropped a necklace, and the other coincidentally found someone else's necklace...

Bai Yutang had some doubts about the location where Tony found the necklace because it was a bit away from the roadside where the body was found. Why would Tony go there to search?

After asking this question, Tony seemed hesitant.

Both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang observed his reaction.

Tony whispered, "I've had some ability in this area since I was a child!"

Everyone was stunned, and Bai Yutang frowned, asking, "What ability?"

"Just... being able to sense another world!" Tony said earnestly, "I felt as if there was some sort of spiritual energy calling me over there, so I crouched down and saw something shiny. There were also fluctuations in the spectrum of light in that area."

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao glanced at each other.

Tony continued to enlighten everyone, explaining that everyone's spectrum of light was different and that the dead had a peculiar spectrum...

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang glanced somewhat perplexedly at Xu Lie – Isn't this guy a bit foolish?

Xu Lie nodded – Indeed, he's a bit foolish.

Later, when they asked around, they realised that Tony had always been superstitious and believed in supernatural phenomena like crystal divination and the two realms of Yin and Yang.

Seeing Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looking helpless and a bit angry, Tony exclaimed, "You really shouldn't doubt it! I even know who the murderer is!"

‿︵‿︵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: May 27, 2024 by Angel

Edited: December 4, 2024 by Soojin