S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 5 Chapter 177

Special Files – Witches 24 – Perfect Mark

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Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang brought Zhao Jue and the others to see Xiao Yumi, but as soon as they arrived at the hospital, a shocking scene unfolded.

Fortunately, the two girls reacted amazingly at the critical moment, and they managed to grab the child back from outside the building.

Yang Fan carried Xiao Yumi back to the ward, and the two nurses stood nervously at the door, watching everyone who passed by.

Su Feifei had many abrasions, but fortunately, they were not serious. Hearing the commotion, Hao Ling also rushed over to bandage Su Feifei's wounds.

Zhan Zhao, Zhao Jue and Mia seemed to be attracted by Su Feifei's actions and followed her.

Issel originally wanted to follow his daughter, but Bai Ye grabbed him by the collar and pulled him away.

Bai Yutang found an empty room, dragged the fake doctor in, and cuffed him to a chair.

The doorway was still chaotic. Bai Yutang saw Bai Ye pulling Issel into the adjacent ward and was somewhat puzzled.

Xu Lie and Chen Mi were completely out of the loop, especially Xu Lie, who was still shocked by the sudden situation – Why would someone want to murder a newborn? Was it a perversion of human nature or a collapse of morality?

Chen Mi crossed his arms, looking into the ward.

Yang Fan was holding a stethoscope, examining Xiao Yumi. The child gradually stopped crying, looking around curiously with wide eyes. At her age, she probably didn't know she had just brushed past death...

Bai Ye pulled Issel into the ward and gave Xiao Yumi a meaningful look.

Issel scratched his head and began circling the small hospital bed, seemingly observing the child.

Chen Mi and Xu Lie exchanged puzzled glances – What was going on?

Issel stared at Xiao Yumi for a while, then reached into the pocket of Yang Fan's white coat and pulled out a penlight.

Yang Fan looked at him, puzzled.

Issel turned on the penlight and carefully examined Xiao Yumi's wrists and ankles.

Babies are generally chubby, especially with rolls of fat on their arms and legs. Issel finally pressed a spot above Xiao Yumi's left ankle and shone the penlight on it, asking Bai Ye, who was peeking over, "Can you see it clearly?"

Bai Ye frowned slightly and saw a barely visible mark on the illuminated skin, which seemed to be a faint line. Upon closer inspection, he discovered that the line was actually a set of numbers.

Bai Ye took out his phone, photographed the numbers, and walked out with his phone in his hand.

Yang Fan also leaned in to look closely, shocked – What was this? Invisible ink? He tried rubbing it, but it wouldn't come off – Did someone tattoo the child? It looked more like a barcode. Damn, selling pork?!

Yang Fan gritted his teeth as Issel, having completed his human radar task, shoved the penlight back into his pocket.

At the door, Xu Lie and Chen Mi turned their heads, their eyes following Bai Ye.

Bai Ye walked to the door of the next room and held the phone in front of Zhao Jue.

Zhao Jue was with Zhan Zhao, tilting their heads as they observed Su Feifei, who was sitting there having her wounds bandaged by Hao Ling... Since her return, Su Feifei had seemed different.

Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue were both trying to determine – was this Su Feifei or Shen Yan?

As they were staring, a phone appeared in front of Zhao Jue.

Narrowing his eyes, Zhao Jue grabbed the phone and stared at it intently.

Zhan Zhao, curious, also leaned in.

Seeing the numbers clearly, Zhan Zhao was shocked, "Seventh generation..."

But he felt something was off – The series of numbers was the code for a test subject. Each generation of test subjects had its own code, containing a lot of information, including birth date, lab coordinates, experiment personnel, and other details. This series of numbers was long, but Zhan Zhao noticed that at the end of it, there was an unfamiliar symbol, a spiral that looked a bit like an @ sign. This symbol had never appeared in the parameters of previous test subjects.

Zhao Jue handed the phone back to Bai Ye, rubbing his chin with a frown. "No wonder..."

"No wonder what?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"No wonder they targeted the child," Zhao Jue clicked his tongue.

Zhan Zhao pulled the two towards the door and whispered, "So Xiao Yumi is a seventh-generation test subject?"

Zhao Jue and Bai Ye both frowned.

"And what does this symbol mean?" Zhan Zhao pressed.

Zhao Jue remained silent, but Bai Ye gave an answer. "Finished product."

Zhan Zhao tilted his head – Finished product?

"A seventh-generation finished product..." Zhao Jue frowned. "This symbol has never appeared on other test subjects."

"Other test subjects?" Zhan Zhao pondered the logic and asked curiously, "So this has happened before?"

Zhao Jue still didn't respond.

Suddenly, Bai Ye reached out and rolled up his sleeve, showing Zhan Zhao his wrist.

Zhan Zhao saw a light scar, similar to a burn mark, in the middle of Bai Ye's left forearm. It looked just like the symbol on Xiao Yumi, but Bai Ye didn't have the string of numbers, only the complete spiral symbol. It was larger, about the size of a coin, and very clear with intricate details. The pattern had a subtle, naturally chaotic feel yet also a meticulously designed artistic quality, with many lines and a complex structure.

Zhan Zhao had heard people say that Bai Ye was the first and only finished product, but it wasn't until today that he had a tangible sense that Uncle Ye was also an experimental subject.

Looking at Bai Ye, Zhan Zhao couldn't help but wonder, what was this organisation up to all these years? Hadn't they already "created" the perfect existence in Bai Ye? Why not just copy him directly instead of causing more trouble?

But then again... who created Bai Ye? Bai Ye and Zhao Jue were the same age. Judging by his interactions with the elders, calling Bao Sir "Bao Xiao Hei," they were all of the same age group.

Zhan Zhao's mind was in a whirl... How did he become a test subject? Was he born as one, or... modified along the way?

Zhan Zhao's thoughts spiralled out of control, filled with increasingly wild speculations that he couldn't convince himself with.

While Zhan Zhao was lost in thought, chaos erupted outside.

The window from which Xiao Yumi was thrown faced the hospital car park, where many reporters were camped.

As the saying goes, it is better to be lucky than to be early. The reporters, looking up, caught the dramatic scene on camera.

Meanwhile, a crowd of patients inside was filming Xu Lie, capturing the entire incident.

In an instant, the internet exploded.

Everyone was shocked by the videos.

Firstly, what kind of person was so deranged as to throw a baby from a high building? Secondly, Su Feifei... she jumped out to save the child, risking her life so bravely!

There were all sorts of discussions online.

SCI was present, was a serial killer in the hospital?

Xu Lie was considered a walking disaster, with trouble following him everywhere.

Additionally, reporters captured Mia going back up, and many people were curious about her identity.

Issel, having just acted as a radar, checked his phone to find his daughter had become an internet celebrity. He was instantly despondent, crouching down with his head in his hands, muttering to himself.

Xu Lie and Chen Mi heard him muttering, "It's over..."

As he muttered, his phone rang.

Bai Yutang happened to walk out of the room and saw Issel holding his phone, taking deep breaths as he stared at the screen.

Bai Yutang glanced at the caller ID – Soul Chaser.

Bai Yutang found it amusing – Was this truly a soul-chasing call?

Issel gathered his courage for a while before tremblingly answering the phone, "Goddess..."

There was a torrent of reprimands from the other end, likely from Kalin, scolding Issel for letting their daughter hang outside the building and get photographed by reporters...

Issel didn't dare to talk back, constantly admitting his mistakes.

Bai Yutang took out his phone and called Jiang Ping, asking him to find a way to delete the video of Mia or at least cover her face since she was a minor.

But Jiang Ping said someone else had already started deleting it, likely arranged by Kalin, and a refresh showed no more videos of Mia.

At that moment, the elevator doors opened, and the rest of SCI arrived. Bai Yutang instructed Zhao Hu and Ma Han to take the fake doctor to the police station and investigate his identity.

Bai Yutang had observed earlier that the person was likely a professional assassin, judging by his calm, professional, almost cold-blooded actions, he was definitely not an ordinary person.

Zhan Zhao also ran out from the adjacent room, pulling Zhao Hu and Ma Han aside to whisper a few instructions.

Zhao Hu and Ma Han exchanged a surprised glance – Zhan Zhao wanted them to go back and ask Ma Xin to compare Xiao Yumi and Su Feifei's DNA.

Bai Yutang also looked at Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao told Bai Yutang about the seventh-generation parameters on Xiao Yumi.

Bai Yutang frowned. If Xiao Yumi was a seventh-generation test subject, could her appearance be related to the previous series of cases involving the seventh generation?

Thinking of this, Bai Yutang glanced at the reporters outside the window and then at Xu Lie at the door of the ward.

"So, the person who gave the child to Xu Lie... might have wanted this outcome?" Bai Yutang asked.

Zhan Zhao rubbed his chin; this was a new line of thought.

"If it was for the child's safety, handing her to us or directly to Zhao Jue would have been much safer," Bai Yutang pointed to the people around them, busy with their phones and taking pictures of Xu Lie, as well as the reporters outside. "We couldn't understand why they specifically chose Xu Lie to raise the child. Could it be because the level of attention is completely different?"

Thinking along these lines, the two of them moved behind Bai Ye.

Bai Ye turned around, unsure of what they were up to.

Zhan Zhao reached out, grabbed Bai Ye's arm, and rolled up his sleeve to show Bai Yutang.

The two stared at the mark, not sure if it was a scar or a tattoo, for a while before taking out their phones and snapping a photo.

Bai Ye and Zhao Jue looked at the two youngsters, puzzled. Initially, they thought they were going to investigate the photo. Instead, both set the picture as their phone's wallpaper in unison.

Zhao Jue said that Zhan Zhao had no taste and tried to grab his phone. Zhan Zhao quickly dodged, "What are you doing? It looks so cool!"

Zhao Jue rolled up his sleeve to show Zhan Zhao a mole on his hand, saying it looked handsome and suitable for a wallpaper. Zhan Zhao, running away, exclaimed, "That's an eyesore! No way! Uncle Ye's is perfect and cool!"

Bai Yutang also seemed to think the design was cool, scrutinising it on his phone. Just then, Jiang Ping called, and Bai Yutang stepped aside to answer.

Bai Ye watched Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue bicker, and at Bai Yutang who was talking on the phone, then looked down at the "mark" on his forearm...

In the end, a mark was just a mark. What was once a sarcastic symbol of "perfection" had become truly perfect in the children's eyes. What once represented fear, ugliness, killing, and despair... was now a cool phone background...

Bai Ye stood there, lost in thought – time might really heal all wounds. And for what time couldn't heal... love and hope could.

Next to him, Mia, holding a little seal plushie, kept tugging at Issel, gesturing for him to look at Bai Ye – He was smiling!

‿︵‿︵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 12, 2024 by Angel

Edited: December 19, 2024 by Soojin