S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 5 Chapter 168

Special Files – Witches 15 – She

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Zhan Zhao suddenly mentioned that he had seen the missing "Shen Yan", which surprised everyone.

Everyone looked over.

"When?" Bai Yutang was the first to ask this question because if it had been within the last three years, it could directly prove that Shen Yan was still alive.

But Zhan Zhao's answer was, "Five or six years ago."

Everyone was somewhat disappointed.

"Shen Yan should have been a middle school student at that time, right?" Hou Yingqi was also quite curious, how had she crossed paths with Zhan Zhao?

Hou Yingqi found this matter quite frustrating. When she was doing her research report back then, she tried various ways to get a consultation with Zhan Zhao but could never make an appointment. How did Shen Yan, just a little girl at the time, manage such a feat?

"I had published a book about the impact of childhood trauma on a person..." Zhan Zhao said.

Bai Yutang thought for a moment and asked, "That book Eyes in the Closet?"

Zhan Zhao nodded. Naturally, Bai Yutang had read all of his books.

Bai Yutang said somewhat helplessly, "That book was also a childhood trauma for me."

Zhan Zhao glanced at him – You clearly fell asleep halfway through it! And how long ago was your childhood?!

Zhao Jue snapped his fingers, interrupting their sweet reminiscences and urging them to continue discussing the case.

"Oh, that book sold quite well because it was written in a more accessible way and in the form of a novel. It was even adapted into a film. Later, the publisher arranged a book signing for me." Zhan Zhao said. "Among the people who came for the signing, there was a girl I vaguely remember. She was wearing a mask, so I didn't see her full face. But she bought the book and didn't ask me to sign my name in it, instead, she asked me to sign her diary. While I was signing, she asked me a rather interesting question."

Everyone focused their attention, curious – could he really remember such a small event from so long ago? And, having said the girl was wearing a mask, was he sure it was Shen Yan?

Zhan Zhao used his incredibly strong memory to recall the situation at that time.

The girl had an outgoing personality and seemed quite excited.

At the time, she was holding a novel in one hand and handing over an open diary with the other, while asking, "Teacher, you wrote in your novel that many childhood traumas seem to have been forgotten by us, but in fact, they are still hidden deep in our brains and often suddenly reappear, affecting our lives. And in many cases, this reappearance happens in the form of dreams."

After signing, Zhan Zhao nodded, looked up at the girl, and thought she might have a question about that statement.

Sure enough, the girl stared at Zhan Zhao and asked, "Then... could these dreams be cyclical?"

Zhan Zhao was instantly intrigued by this question and asked, "Cyclical?"

The girl nodded, "Mhmm! Like, every year, at a specific time, having the same dream, and even sleepwalking..."

The girl wanted to continue, but there were too many people waiting in line for a signature, and the staff began urging them along.

Zhan Zhao immediately wrote his phone number in her diary, telling her to contact him later for a detailed free consultation.

Zhan Zhao remembered that the girl had happily put away her diary and ran off. He watched as she ran to a less crowded area by the stairs and took out her phone to make a call.

But the place was noisy, and Zhan Zhao couldn't hear what she was saying, only vaguely catching a sentence, "Let's set a time to go find..."

After that, his view was blocked by the next person in line for a signature.

After Zhan Zhao finished signing, he looked up again, but the girl was already gone.

After that, Zhan Zhao had been quite concerned about this matter because "cyclical dreams" were a rare case and worth studying if they truly existed.

However, a week passed, and the girl never called him.

After that, the matter remained unresolved.

After hearing Zhan Zhao's account, everyone felt it was rather incomplete. Hou Yingqi was curious and asked, "Are you sure the girl who asked for your signature was Shen Yan?"

Zhan Zhao turned the open diary around for everyone to see.

On the page, there was a clear tear mark, indicating a page had been ripped out forcefully. The remaining part of the torn page showed half a character written with a marker, but it was so crooked that it was hard to tell what it was.

Hou Yingqi, who had clearly studied the diary before, said, "This is the second-to-last page of the diary. I looked at it for a long time back then but couldn't figure out what the character was..."

Zhan Zhao took a note paper from the table and wrote his signature on it.

When he placed it next to the diary, the crooked character turned out to be half of the character "Zhan" in his signature, and the handwriting matched Zhan Zhao's exactly.

This was the only page that had been torn out of the diary. The next page, the last in the diary, had only three words written on it, "She is angry."

Zhao Jue reached out, took the diary from Zhan Zhao, and started flipping through it.

It was a very strange diary.

There were no specific years, only months and dates. The dates throughout the entire diary were during the summer months, repeating June and July over and over again...

And each entry typically began with, "She came, she left, she wanted to listen to this, she wanted to eat that..."

The entire diary was like a logbook, but the owner of this diary was not "me," but "she."

As Zhao Jue flipped through the diary, a rare expression of confusion appeared on his face. He lightly tapped the diary with his index finger and muttered to himself, "Could it be a woman..."

Bai Yutang glanced at Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao didn't mention anything about the seventh generation, instead, he asked Hou Yingqi, "Continue, what did the investigation uncover afterwards?"

Hou Yingqi had just felt a suffocating pressure out of nowhere and was almost out of breath. Thankfully, it eased a bit now, so she quickly continued, "Because of this small room in the basement, I came up with countless theories and started thinking in a terrifying direction. First, I brought in a professional team to conduct a luminol test on this small room, fortunately, we didn't find any bloodstains or anything messy, so we could eliminate the worst-case scenarios. Then, I interviewed the neighbours of the Shen family, asking if there were any children who often stayed at their house, like relatives' children who visited during the summer holidays and such. One of the neighbours' daughters was Shen Yan's classmate, and they got along quite well. The girl said that there might indeed be a relative of Shen Yan who often visited their house. Although she hadn't seen them specifically, Shen Yan attached great importance to this matter. Sometimes she would leave early or skip extracurricular activities, and even if they were halfway through watching a movie, she would receive a text message and immediately run home by herself. When asked, she would say that they had visitors at home... Additionally, occasionally, there would indeed be some unfamiliar vehicles parked in front of their house, but no one had ever seen who exactly the 'visitors' at her house were."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both frowned – So eerie? Would such important guests really stay in the basement?

"I investigated the social relationships of the Shen family. They seemed like a rather introverted family on the surface, but essentially, they were quite normal and didn't seem to have any major issues." Hou Yingqi continued, "At the time, there were some rumours suggesting that Shen Xin had borrowed a considerable amount of money due to issues with the operation of the cement factory, and many speculated that the family's troubles were related to debt collectors. Shen Xin did indeed have some debts, but I believe they were within a reasonable range and shouldn't have caused such catastrophic consequences. Another rumour was that Shen Yan had an unreliable boyfriend, and their elopement led to the tragedy of the entire family. However, this rumour was denied by Shen Yan's neighbours and her mother, as Shen Yan had never been in a relationship."

"Did Wang Hua know what kind of guests the Shen family received in the basement?" Bai Yutang asked.

Hou Yingqi replied, "Naturally, I asked Wang Hua as well, but she divorced Shen Xin long ago, and their youngest son with Lu Hui is already six years old. Wang Hua claimed she had no knowledge of such a basement, but..."

Hou Yingqi paused for a moment, "I suspect Wang Hua might be hiding something."

The others frowned – After all, she was Shen Yan's biological mother, so hiring a private investigator to find her daughter showed she cared. Why such a stark contrast between her actions then and now?

"I've ruled out many possibilities, but there's one more theory." Hou Yingqi glanced at everyone, lowering her voice and reaching into her bag to retrieve a bottle of pills. She popped one into her mouth and took a deep breath.

Zhao Jue casually took a look at her pill bottle, furrowing his brows slightly. It was a type of tranquilliser, which could help calm nerves... It was a common medication prescribed by doctors for patients with anxiety disorders to soothe their emotions.

Zhan Zhao also frowned – Had this matter caused some kind of mental distress for Hou Yingqi?

"There's one last theory left, suggesting that the mysterious guest entertained by the Shen family wasn't human." Hou Yingqi tried to steady her mind, regulating her breathing as she continued, "According to the Shen family's genealogy, this guest should be considered Shen Xin's great-grandmother, who was renowned in the village as a witch at the time."

Everyone silently stared at Hou Yingqi – Things were starting to take a strange turn...

"The great-grandmother was the mother of four children, the youngest daughter being six years old and said to be very lovely. However, on a summer day, the youngest daughter of the Shen family drowned in the river. It's said that several children in the village bullied her, claiming she was the daughter of a witch and throwing stones at her. She fell into the river and drowned as she lost her footing while trying to escape."

Zhan Zhao and the others all frowned. Though it might have been many years ago, hearing about such a thing still stirred unpleasant feelings.

"After the Shen family found the child, naturally, they were devastated. However, the great-grandmother's husband had passed away early, leaving her a widow with orphaned children. It wasn't easy to seek justice, and everyone in the village bullied them, so they had no one to turn to." Hou Yingqi sighed, "So, instead of burying the body of the youngest daughter, the great-grandmother used witchcraft on her."

Upon hearing this, everyone's expressions changed.

Zhao Hu and Ma Han shook their heads, clearly refusing to accept it.

Bai Ye and Bai Yutang remained as stoic as ever, with only a slight, barely noticeable furrow between their brows. However, for those with poker faces, even a slight change like this was quite apparent.

Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue widened their eyes, staring at Hou Yingqi, eager to know what kind of witchcraft was used and what happened to the body later.

The most comical reaction came from Eleven and Issel, both of them gaping with mouths open, each covering one of Mia's ears.

Mia was still gesturing – Witchcraft? Did they just mention witchcraft?!

Hou Yingqi took out a file from her bag and extracted a piece of A4 paper, a photocopy of an old newspaper article, probably retrieved from the archives of the library.

Hou Yingqi copied a particular page from the newspaper, the headline reading – "Six Youths in the Village Die Mysteriously."

Everyone frowned.

Hou Yingqi said, "These six children were reportedly the culprits who killed the youngest daughter of the Shen family back then. They all died, and what's more, the families who had bullied the widow and orphaned children of the Shen family also met tragic fates. All witnesses claimed to have seen a child who looked very much like the youngest daughter of the Shen family appearing behind these victims."

‿︵‿︵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: June 3, 2024 by Angel

Edited: December 18, 2024 by Soojin