S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 5 Chapter 179

Special Files – Witches 26 – Big Adventure

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Su Feifei's split personality was far more severe than Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue had anticipated. This extreme case excited the two scholars immensely.

However, just as their excitement was reaching its peak, an even more "exciting" piece of news arrived.

The "Leapfrog Killer" had resurfaced.

This serial killer, who had "disappeared" years ago, reappeared at this precise moment.

The shadow Zhao Zhen had seen near Shen Yan's home earlier was suspected to be him, inevitably leading everyone to speculate that this psychopath was related to the case involving Shen Yan's family years ago...

Bai Yutang hung up the phone and looked at the location Zhao Hu had sent him, then called Zhan Zhao and drove to the crime scene together.

Zhan Zhao was puzzled, "Did that Leapfrog guy come out to kill again?"

"He didn't succeed. A girl was attacked but was fortunately rescued by a passerby," Bai Yutang handed his phone to Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao looked at the location on the navigation system and frowned, "Isn't it in the area near Shen Yan's home?"

Bai Yutang shook his head. "It's quite far."

Zhan Zhao was a little unsure of the exact location, so he took out his tablet to check. He was then shocked. "Why is it so remote?"

"There's a large waste treatment plant over there, and an abandoned railway next to it. The incident should have happened near the tunnel..." Bai Yutang was puzzled. "Zhao Hu said the person attacked was a first-year female student from S University."

Zhan Zhao frowned, "Was she alone? Why would she go to such a remote place?"

Bai Yutang shook his head. He also found this odd.

While they were discussing, Bai Yutang's phone rang; it was Ma Xin calling.

Zhan Zhao answered, knowing she was likely calling to inform them of the DNA comparison results.

"How is it?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"Su Feifei and Xiao Yumi are not related by blood," Ma Xin said. "They are definitely not mother and daughter."

"Oh..." Zhan Zhao seemed slightly disappointed.

"Ai, how could they be!" Ma Xin exclaimed, criticising Zhan Zhao. "Just by looking at Su Feifei's figure, you can tell she hasn't had children. She has a youthful temperament!"

Zhan Zhao, intrigued, asked, "Are you familiar with her?"

"Mhmm, kind of, I've met her a few times," Ma Xin praised Su Feifei. "I also didn't expect her to be so brave!"

"What impression did you have of her before?" Zhan Zhao asked. "What do you mean by youthful?"

"She just has a youthful vibe!" Ma Xin said. "Her appearance is stunning, but her aura is very pure and innocent."

"When you met her those few times, did her aura remain consistent?" Zhan Zhao continued to ask.

"Hmm?" Ma Xin seemed puzzled by Zhan Zhao's question.

"Do you think she has any other qualities besides that one aura? Is there a sense of mystery about her?"

"Uh..." Ma Xin thought for a moment. "No, she seemed like a pretty simple girl."

"Simple, huh..." Zhan Zhao nodded thoughtfully.

After hanging up, Zhan Zhao held Bai Yutang's phone, waving it around as if contemplating something.

Bai Yutang didn't disturb him, instead focusing on driving and observing the surrounding road conditions.

The car drove out of S City's urban area and into the remote countryside.

The tunnel was easy to find, it was right next to the landfill, separated by a road.

Bai Yutang parked beside Zhao Hu's car. Getting out, he saw a large slope ahead. Going down the slope led to the tracks, and next to them was the tunnel.

By the tunnel, Bai Chi was talking to a girl.

The girl, wearing a hoodie and jeans, looked around twenty, with a petite figure. She was likely the victim of the attack.

Nearby sat a rather casually dressed uncle, who was chatting with Zhao Hu. Ma Han saw them approaching and nodded.

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao went down the slope.

Ma Han walked over to brief them on the incident.

The victim, Zhao Li, was a first-year student at S University. She had ventured into the wilderness alone because she lost a dare with friends. She was tasked with finding a grave on the deserted mountain behind the tunnel. There was supposed to be a large pine tree behind the grave, and she had to pick two pine cones and place them on the tombstone, then take a photo as proof. Zhao Li had indeed come alone. Just as she entered the tunnel, a man in a black hoodie suddenly jumped towards her like a frog, scaring her into screaming and running away.

The uncle nearby was a worker from the waste treatment plant. Because people often dumped garbage illegally, he regularly patrolled the area.

Hearing a woman's scream, he rushed over.

From the slope, he saw a man in black chasing a girl and shouted. The man in black ran away when he saw him. He then rescued Zhao Li and called the police.

After hearing the account, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang felt overwhelmed by the many elements of the case... unsure where to begin critiquing.

There were many unclear details, and Ma Han mentioned Zhao Li had been quite emotional earlier.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang nodded and went to speak with the uncle.

The uncle's surname was Wang. As Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang approached, Zhao Hu showed him two pictures on his phone: one of the portrait Zhao Jue drew to make Fang Dongshun collapse and the other of the leapfrog man drawn after consulting with Gui Jiali.

Uncle Wang pointed to the leapfrog man's picture, saying it looked familiar but he couldn't be sure. He then pointed towards a distant building.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked up.

Uncle Wang said, "You're in luck. Because people were illegally dumping construction waste here, they just installed a surveillance camera a few days ago."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang saw the camera mounted on a tall building at the landfill.

Zhao Hu and Ma Han went with Uncle Wang to retrieve the footage, while Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang approached Zhao Li.

Thanks to Bai Chi's earlier comfort, Zhao Li had calmed down.

Zhan Zhao was curious about who Zhao Li had been playing truth or dare with to get such a difficult task...

Zhao Li, also frustrated, explained that she had just turned twenty a few days ago and had invited some classmates for drinks. She and her roommates went to a park near the university to drink and chat, celebrating her birthday. The park was crowded, and they ended up hanging out with some senior students. After drinking some beer, they got a bit tipsy and started playing truth or dare...

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang silently nodded, understanding that "starting to act recklessly after drinking too much" was the idea...

Zhao Li also felt quite regretful. "Because I'm usually rather bold, I decided to show off that night... Then a senior brother gave me this difficult task."

Zhao Li took out her phone to show Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang.

On her phone were chat records between Zhao Li and that senior brother.

He had not only provided Zhao Li with a detailed address but also specific timing requirements and a hand-drawn map of the area near the tunnel.

Since the pine cone incident was somewhat related to the appearance of the leapfrog man near Shen Yan's home, Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao thought this case might be connected to the one at Shen Yan's home... But the two places were quite far apart. How could they be related?

The simplest way was to go and have a look at that cemetery.

Everyone decided to follow the map together to find the cemetery.

It wasn't hard to find; the pine tree was indeed very large, visible from a distance. They climbed a small hill and arrived under the pine tree. Sure enough, there was a tombstone under the tree.

Nowadays, people are usually cremated and placed in public cemeteries, so an old grave like this in the wild must be from a long time ago.

The grave looked like it hadn't been tended to for a long time. Bai Yutang instinctively reached out, brushed aside a large clump of wild grass covering the tombstone, and tried to read the inscription.

As soon as he saw the epitaph, instantly... the atmosphere turned eerie.

The paint on the tombstone had peeled off, leaving only the engraved characters, but two words were still clearly legible – Shen Yan.

In the bottom right corner, the inscription of who erected the monument read – Mother: Shen Jinmei.

Coincidentally, just as everyone made out the words, a cold breeze suddenly swept through the mountains.

At that moment, Zhao Li seemed completely unfazed, but Zhan Zhao, Bai Yutang and Bai Chi felt goosebumps rise all over their bodies, a chill spreading from their feet to their heads with the wind.

Zhan Zhao pointed at the tombstone and asked Bai Yutang, "Shen Jinmei?"

Xiao Bai Chi tugged at Zhan Zhao's arm, "Brother, didn't they say the body of Shen Jinmei's daughter was never found? Could she be buried here?"

Zhan Zhao quickly grasped Bai Chi's logic, "You think the young daughter of the Shen family back then was also named Shen Yan?"

Bai Yutang also breathed a sigh of relief. If it wasn't the current Shen Yan, then it wouldn't be so eerie.

Of course, it couldn't possibly be the grave of the current Shen Yan.

Zhan Zhao then suggested, "Why not just dig it up and take a look?"

"Digging up a grave requires the consent of the relatives..." Bai Yutang thought about it – There were no direct relatives left in the Shen family. Should they ask Su Feifei? Su Feifei theoretically wasn't a member of the Shen family either.

"Ai, this grave obviously hasn't been visited in decades." Zhan Zhao picked up the phone and called Gongsun, explaining the situation.

Gongsun immediately got excited, shouting, "Stay right there! I'm coming over right now!"

Zhan Zhao, holding the phone, looked at Bai Yutang – It turns out digging up a grave was something that made Gongsun so thrilled...

While waiting for Gongsun, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang asked Zhao Li about the senior brother who had given her the task.

Zhao Li recalled that he was a third-year student at their university, surnamed Chen, very handsome and popular among the girls.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang continued to nod – It made sense. If he weren't handsome and popular, Zhao Li wouldn't have actually come here on such a risky venture.

They both disapprovingly shook their heads at her – What kind of unscrupulous boy would make you do something so dangerous? No matter how handsome, it's not worth it!

Zhao Li scratched her head.

Zhan Zhao thought for a moment, then reached up to pluck a pine cone from the tree and placed it on the tombstone. He asked Zhao Li to take a photo and send it to that senior brother to see how he would respond.

Zhao Li took the photo and sent it over.

After waiting for a while, there was no response.

Zhan Zhao suggested that Zhao Li call him.

The phone rang for a long time, but no one answered.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both clicked their tongues, based on past experiences – they had a bad feeling about this.

Zhan Zhao asked Zhao Li to inquire with other classmates and obtained more specific information about the boy, whose real name was Chen Yan.

Bai Yutang called Luo Tian and Qin Ou, asking them to go to S University to find this boy.

After hanging up, Zhao Hu and Ma Han, who had gone to get the surveillance footage, returned.

They arrived at the tunnel entrance, puzzled that no one was there. They called, and Bai Chi came down to get them... Upon seeing Shen Yan's tombstone, Zhao Hu exclaimed, "Oh my god!" and started chanting "Amitabha" in fear.

The group descended from the mountain and waited by the roadside for Gongsun and the others, reviewing the surveillance footage in the meantime.

Ma Han said they didn't capture much, just a segment of the person exiting the tunnel.

Crucially, after the leapfrog man exited the tunnel, he looked up, possibly right when Uncle Wang shouted, and the camera captured his face directly.

Due to the distance, the image quality was blurry, but he looked very much like the Leapfrog man from the sketch.

"This guy..." Bai Yutang felt something was off. "It seems like he purposely looked up at the camera."

Ma Han and Zhao Hu nodded; they had the same feeling after watching it.

"This timing is quite unusual," Zhan Zhao also found it odd. "Uncle Wang said he checks this area at a fixed time recently, meaning that the likelihood of an attack at this time being discovered is high."

"And it's different from the leapfrog man's previous methods," Bai Yutang added. "He used to be very discreet and cunning. If it weren't for the survivors, no one would even know he existed. But this environment..."

Bai Yutang looked around. "If he killed someone here, it would be equal to doing it in broad daylight. Not only would he be discovered, but the scene would be difficult to manage."

The others nodded in agreement – It made sense!

As they were discussing, a line of cars approached from the front.

The convoy stopped, and as the doors opened, Gongsun and his forensic team arrived, followed by the identification team, equipped with specialised tools, ready to dig.

Bai Chi led the way.

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao intended to follow, but the phone rang.

Seeing that the call was from Luo Tian, Bai Yutang frowned, feeling that Zhao Li's handsome senior might be in trouble.

Sure enough, Luo Tian said, "Chen Yan is missing. We've searched the school thoroughly, he's not in his dormitory or classroom, missed classes this afternoon, and his roommates don't know where he is. The entire school is looking for him, but no one has seen him, and his phone is unreachable."

"What about his phone's location?" Bai Yutang asked.

"The last signal from his phone was near the artificial lake at the school," Luo Tian replied, waving to the approaching search and rescue team. "The worst-case scenario is that he's in the lake. We're starting to drain it to search."

Bai Yutang hung up and shook his head at Zhan Zhao.

Zhao Li came over, asking, "Is something wrong?"

Bai Yutang asked her how well she knew that senior.

Zhao Li shook her head, saying it was her first time meeting him that night while drinking. Bai Yutang told her to list everyone who was drinking that night and notified Luo Tian and Qin Ou to find these people and take them to the police station for detailed questioning.

Just as they finished arranging this, Ma Xin came rushing down the hill excitedly, "We found it! There really is something!"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang ran over, "What did you find?"

"A small coffin!" Ma Xin waved them over. "Come quickly, the coffin is really creepy!"

‿︵‿︵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 17, 2024 by Angel

Edited: December 19, 2024 by Soojin