S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 5 Chapter 156

Special Files – Witches 03 – Crystal

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Tony suddenly claimed he knew who the murderer was. Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang didn't think he could provide any useful clues and assumed it would be something like angels or demons, given that he was quite a superstitious person.

But Tony opened his mouth and said, "It's someone named Chen Feng!"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang hadn't expected it to be a specific name.

"Who is Chen Feng?" Bai Yutang asked, looking around at the people present.

Most of the crowd around them looked puzzled, they clearly weren't from their line of work.

"Hmph." Tony seemed quite pleased with everyone's reactions and discussed with Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, "If you catch the murderer, you must say it was I who helped you catch him!"

Bai Yutang said, "If the murderer really is him, then it indeed would be your help that caught him. We could even give you an award."

Tony was delighted and asked his manager to bring his bag.

The manager brought over a sports backpack, and Tony rummaged through it, finding a notebook with a plastic cover.

Everyone was quite curious, Tony even carried a notebook with him?

It's usually common for girls to carry a personal planner, but it's rare for guys to do so. Of course, it's not impossible, to each their own.

However, when Tony opened the notebook, it wasn't a personal planner but a collection book for tickets. Tony might have a habit of collecting tickets or cards, as the book was filled with colourful cards and tickets.

After flipping through it, Tony pulled out one and handed it to Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang.

It turned out to be a promotional card for a shop. One side of the card read "Chen Feng Crystals", and the back had a drawing – a person hanging upside down over a pile of firewood. Although it was a simple hand-drawn sketch, the entire layout and the form of the body hanging upside down were exactly the same as the two corpses in the cornfield.

There was also an address at the bottom of the card, indicating a shop in a commercial pedestrian street in S City, along with a phone number.

Both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at Tony.

Tony said he had bought crystals from this shop, and the owner, named Chen Feng, was a crystal fortune-teller. The shop had many high-quality amethysts, and he had visited twice. Additionally, Chen Feng's fortune-telling was very accurate, especially in finding lost items. If something was lost and couldn't be found, people could go to him. He could also help with decision-making difficulties. Tony mentioned that he was hesitant about filming this movie, worrying about whether the transition would be successful, and Chen Feng had told him it was a good opportunity.

Zhan Zhao asked, "Did he mention this cornfield to you?"

Tony thought for a moment, "No, he didn't."

Xu Lie, who had been listening all along, suddenly asked a question that many present were curious about, "How do you use crystals for fortune-telling?"

Tony looked at everyone with an expression as if he were looking at "muggles" and shook his head.

Then, he took out a crystal pendant from his bag and demonstrated how to use the "field" to find answers through the crystal.

Before he finished explaining, a whistle sounded from the cornfield – the cadaver dog had found another body.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang approached the third body.

They had expected to find another hanging corpse but were stunned upon arrival.

There was a human head on the ground.

Ma Xin was taking photos of the body, which was buried in the cornfield, leaving only the head exposed.

Judging by the state of the deceased, it was a middle-aged man with a receding hairline, quite ordinary in appearance. His eyes were wide open, staring up at the sky, with everything below the neck buried in the soil.

As Ma Xin took photos, she said, "It feels different from the other two bodies over there."

Bai Yutang was somewhat speechless, "Are they treating this place like a graveyard..."

Everyone instinctively looked around. The two-metre-tall corn formed a natural barrier, it was indeed an excellent spot for dumping bodies.

As they walked out of the cornfield, Bai Chi approached with two older men.

One of them was the owner of the cornfield, and the other was the village head.

Both men wore straw hats and were covered in sweat, as it was the season for harvesting corn and they had been busy with farm work in the distance.

The village head had just heard that a body had been found in the cornfield and was quite frightened.

The owner of the field, surnamed Liu, was known as Uncle Liu. He was in his fifties, and he owned several nearby cornfields.

Uncle Liu was bewildered, saying that this cornfield was due to be harvested in the next few days. The film crew had rented the field from him for filming, so he left it until last to harvest. Nowadays, farming is mechanised, from planting to harvesting, so normally, no one would go into the fields.

Bai Yutang asked if he had installed any surveillance cameras.

Uncle Liu said there was one at the entrance, but none in the field. After all, no one comes to steal corn these days...

Zhan Zhao asked the village head and Uncle Liu to identify the bodies.

When they saw the hanging man and woman, both the village head and Uncle Liu were dumbfounded. Both old men were honest, simple farmers and had probably never seen such a scene in their lives. While struggling to keep from being sick, they waved their hands and said they had never seen these two people before.

Finally, they went to see the third body.

The village head said he didn't recognise the man, but Uncle Liu said he thought he had seen him before.

After thinking for a while, Uncle Liu clapped his hands, "Right! I saw him three days ago."

Bai Yutang asked him to be more specific.

Uncle Liu said that three days ago, he was harvesting corn in the opposite field. While they were resting at the entrance, a short, chubby, balding middle-aged man came to ask for directions. He asked Uncle Liu if there was a steel bridge nearby.

Uncle Liu told him there wasn't any steel bridge around.

The man then described it, saying it was a small stone bridge with steel railings on both sides.

Uncle Liu immediately knew which bridge he was talking about – it was a small bridge called Sanbo Bridge at the entrance of the village.

Bai Yutang and the others knew about this bridge as well. They had crossed it earlier when entering the village. Taking that bridge would provide a shortcut, but it was quite a distance from where they were now.

"Was the man driving or walking?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"He arrived by car, but he might not have been the driver. I saw him get back into the car on the right side, the driver's seat is on the left, isn't it?" Uncle Liu asked.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both nodded.

"After he got in, the car drove away." Uncle Liu said.

Bai Yutang asked if he remembered the license plate.

Uncle Liu said he didn't, but it was a black SUV, and the car was quite dirty, covered in mud spots.

Bai Yutang asked Jiang Ping to check the surveillance footage. However, after carefully reviewing the footage from that day, Jiang Ping didn't find the car.

Everyone asked Uncle Liu if he might have been mistaken.

Uncle Liu insisted he wasn't mistaken, as he was harvesting corn in the opposite field three days ago, and he had gone into the city and wasn't around for the past two days.

He took everyone to the entrance and pointed out where the car had parked.

The crowd immediately noticed that the car had parked just outside the surveillance camera's range.

Uncle Liu then had an epiphany, "No wonder he came all the way over to ask for directions. He was avoiding the surveillance, wasn't he?"

The village head added, "If the car was covered in mud spots, it might have taken the old road."

"The old road?" Bai Yutang asked.

The village head explained that there were two routes into and out of the village. One was a newly built road with green belts on both sides, along with surveillance cameras and speed detectors. The other was the original old road, a dirt road full of puddles during rainy days, and hardly anyone used it anymore. The area had been re-planned, and the old roads were soon to be demolished.

"What's near the old road?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"Mostly fish ponds," the village head replied. "There's also a cement factory."

As soon as they heard "cement factory", Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang thought of the dirt and ash on the faces of the two hanging corpses, which resembled cement dust.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang got into their car, taking Luo Tian and Qin Ou with them to the cement factory, with the village head in the car to show them the way.

The old road was a muddy path that was narrow and full of potholes.

Fish ponds flanked both sides of the road, and Zhan Zhao frequently felt as if the car was in danger of veering into one of them.

After a bumpy ride, they arrived in front of a rather dilapidated factory.

Everyone got out of the car. Zhan Zhao felt dizzy from the ride and took a moment to steady himself after stepping out.

He looked around.

Directly in front of the cement factory was a small bridge.

Zhan Zhao asked the village head, "Is that Sanbo Bridge?"

The village head shook his head and said that it was "Sibo Bridge."

Seeing the puzzled expressions, the village head explained, "Our village has a total of five such small bridges, all stone bridges: Yibo, Erbo, Sanbo, Sibo, and Wubo. Only Sanbo has metal railings. These five bridges were all built a long time ago and originally had stone railings. Later, there was a car accident on Sanbo and the railing was damaged, so they were replaced with steel ones."

Everyone nodded, understanding the situation.

There were no workers at the cement factory today, and the gate was locked. The village head said that the factory was run by the villagers and had been closed for a few days because everyone was busy with the harvest.

The village head had the key to the factory and opened the gate, leading Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang inside.

The factory floor was covered with dust and dirt. Luo Tian collected some samples in evidence bags to bring back to compare with the material found on the faces of the corpses.

After walking around the factory, they didn't find anything.

Leaving the cement factory, the crowd went back to the cornfield.

The police dog team had finished their work, confirming there were only three bodies and no others.

The film crew had a few scenes left to shoot. After negotiating, the village head led them to another cornfield across the road to continue filming, while the current site was temporarily sealed off.

Some people stayed behind to gather evidence, while Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, along with Ma Han and Zhao Hu, went to check out the crystal shop. They asked Xu Lie to take Jia Yi and the others back to Bai Jintang's villa after the shoot.

......

The car arrived at the commercial street, everyone got out and went on foot to find the crystal shop.

It was easy to find, located in a prominent spot near the entrance to the street.

This area was quite far from the police station, so Zhan Zhao and the others don't usually have the opportunity to come here.

The glass door of Chen Feng's crystal shop had an "open" sign hanging on the handle.

Pushing the door open, they were greeted by the scent of sandalwood.

The shop had a decor with a foreign flair, it was unclear whether it was Gypsy or Bohemian style, with lots of colours and tassels.

The shelves around the shop were filled with crystals. Some large clusters and geodes were sparkling under the lights, creating a dreamy effect.

A bell on the glass door handle chimed as the door opened.

A man emerged from behind a Fens Shui crystal-beaded curtain in a hallway facing the door.

He was a young man, tall and slender, quite good-looking. He was wearing a black shirt and trousers with a patchwork blanket draped over his shoulders. His hair was dyed purple and quite long, and he seemed groggy as if he had been woken up.

"Haah~" he yawned as he walked out and asked, "What do you want to buy?"

Zhan Zhao took out the card and asked, "Are you Chen Feng?"

The man nodded, "Mhmm."

He took the card and asked, "Who referred you?"

Bai Yutang showed him his credentials.

Chen Feng looked innocent, "If someone is accusing me of fraud, it's a misunderstanding."

Bai Yutang pulled up the photos of the hanging corpses on his phone and showed them to Chen Feng, asking, "Explain this."

"Uh..."

Chen Feng froze for three seconds as he stared at the photos on the phone, clearly waking up from his drowsiness.

Zhan Zhao observed his expression and smiled slightly, "You recognise the deceased, don't you?"

"Uh..."

Chen Feng stared at Zhan Zhao for another three seconds.

Zhan Zhao nodded, "They're your customers..."

"Uh..."

Zhan Zhao stroked his chin, "They recently had their fortunes told by you, right?"

At this point, Chen Feng opened his mouth but couldn't make a sound. He glanced around, sighed, and suddenly turned on his heel, bolting out the back.

‿︵‿︵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 28, 2024 by Angel

Edited: December 4, 2024 by Soojin