S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 5 Chapter 181

Special Files – Witches 28 – Similar Games

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Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang arrived at S University to investigate the murder case at the artificial lake.

While driving to the university, Zhan Zhao felt this might be a complicated case.

But after reading a series of "posts" and finding a witness who had been attacked, both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang smiled.

After giving a few instructions to Zhao Hu and Ma Han, they followed Luo Tian to the campus hospital.

S University's medical department was quite renowned, with its own affiliated hospital, and the doctors at the campus hospital were highly skilled.

When Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang entered the ward, they saw a young man with his head wrapped in bandages lying on the bed. Next to him sat a bespectacled female doctor, looking down at a report.

"Doctor Xu."

Zhan Zhao seemed to know the doctor.

Doctor Xu looked up and smiled immediately upon seeing Zhan Zhao, "Xiao Zhan!"

Zhan Zhao greeted her and introduced Bai Yutang to her.

This female doctor was named Xu Ye, a colleague of Hao Ling and Gongsun. She was an orthopaedic doctor at the affiliated hospital of S University and happened to be on duty at the campus hospital today.

The student lying in the bed was the poster, Wang Zhengyu.

Zhan Zhao asked Doctor Xu about his injuries.

Doctor Xu said he hadn't sustained any serious injuries, just a mild concussion and some skin abrasions, but nothing major.

Zhan Zhao asked if it was possible to determine what kind of blunt object had caused the injury.

Doctor Xu suggested it might have been something flat like a brick. Fortunately, it was flat; if it had been edged or narrower, the injuries could have been much worse.

Bai Yutang asked if Wang Zhengyu could talk, and Wang Zhengyu nodded. He seemed to be fully conscious.

Seeing that the police needed to ask questions, Doctor Xu stood up and left the ward.

As soon as she stepped out, she saw Luo Tian waving at her from the end of the corridor.

Dr Xu walked over, and Luo Tian whispered a few words to her, to which she nodded.

......

Inside the ward, there were only Zhan Zhao, Bai Yutang and Wang Zhengyu, who was lying on the hospital bed.

Bai Yutang asked Wang Zhengyu to describe the events he witnessed this morning and the attack he just experienced. Zhan Zhao pulled a chair over to the bedside, sat down, and silently stared at Wang Zhengyu.

Wang Zhengyu thought for a moment and then recounted the incident in detail:

He had been pulling an all-nighter in the lab to finish a paper. At around five in the morning, just as dawn was breaking, he completed the paper and stood up to stretch his aching back. As he walked to the window, he saw someone passing by outside.

Wang Zhengyu recognised the person as Chen Yan, and about three or four steps behind him was a girl wearing a black hoodie and jeans.

Wang Zhengyu knew Chen Yan and was aware of his flirtatious nature. He wondered if Chen Yan had spent the night out with this girl and was sneaking back to campus in the morning. But the girl was exceptionally beautiful and definitely not a student at their university. Out of curiosity and a bit of nosiness, Wang Zhengyu took out his phone and snapped a photo of the two... The girl seemed to sense something, suddenly glancing in his direction, which scared Wang Zhengyu into hiding behind the wall.

After that, Wang Zhengyu went to have breakfast and then took a nap.

It wasn't until the evening, when he heard about the murder by the artificial lake, and the police identified the body as Chen Yan, that he realised he might have seen the murderer.

Wang Zhengyu wasn't entirely sure, so he posted about it on the campus network, asking if anyone else had seen something.

While he was at the scene by the artificial lake, posting online, he looked up and saw the girl from that morning standing in the crowd opposite him.

As Wang Zhengyu stared at her, the girl suddenly noticed him and looked back at him.

Wang Zhengyu said that although she was beautiful, her gaze was terrifying, making him feel uneasy, so he quickly ran away.

He intended to return to his dormitory to discuss it with his roommates, but he had barely taken a few steps when he was hit on the head and fell. He saw someone running away from him, then he lost consciousness. When he woke up, he was lying in the campus hospital.

Bai Yutang asked him to describe the girl's appearance in detail.

Wang Zhengyu gave a rough description and finally said she looked a bit like a certain singer.

Bai Yutang pulled up a photo of the singer and showed it to him. Wang Zhengyu nodded, saying she looked somewhat similar but was thinner and had a more intense gaze.

Bai Yutang nodded and glanced at Zhan Zhao.

Throughout the inquiry, Zhan Zhao had remained silent, staring intently at Wang Zhengyu, making him feel somewhat uneasy, and he looked back at Zhan Zhao several times.

After Bai Yutang finished questioning, Zhan Zhao stood up, and the two of them walked out together. Zhan Zhao mentioned that the food at the S University cafeteria was reportedly quite good and suggested they go have a meal.

Bai Yutang invited the other officers to join them for dinner as well.

Soon, everyone had left...

It was around eight in the evening.

The sky was completely dark, and Wang Zhengyu lay alone in his hospital bed, feeling that the entire campus hospital was eerily silent and deserted.

Just then, footsteps echoed down the corridor.

Feeling nervous, Wang Zhengyu looked towards the door of the ward.

The footsteps stopped abruptly at the door.

Silence fell again.

Wang Zhengyu stared fixedly at the door, and suddenly, someone appeared in the doorway.

"Waaah…" Wang Zhengyu cried out, only to realise it was Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao was holding a phone, looking down at it, and seemed startled by Wang Zhengyu's cry.

The two stared at each other, Wang Zhengyu gasping heavily.

"I forgot to ask you something earlier." Zhan Zhao walked into the room with the phone. "Do you know Zhao Li?"

"Who?" Wang Zhengyu asked.

"The last person Chen Yan contacted before he died was this girl, asking her to do some dare involving a grave in the suburbs... Do you know anything about that?" Zhan Zhao inquired.

"Uh..." Wang Zhengyu shook his head awkwardly, "I'm not really sure..."

"She said you drank together at her birthday party. Do you remember that?" Zhan Zhao continued, showing him a photo of Zhao Li.

Wang Zhengyu frowned and thought for a moment, then seemed to recall something, "Oh... I think I've seen her, but I don't know her well, just met her while drinking."

Zhan Zhao nodded, swiped on his phone, and showed him the next picture.

It was a screenshot from the surveillance footage of the leapfrog man chasing Zhao Li at the tunnel entrance, clearly showing the man's face.

"What about this person?" Zhan Zhao asked.

Wang Zhengyu's eyes widened as he stared at the screen, his mouth agape in shock, "This is..."

"We suspect Chen Yan is involved with this wanted criminal. Zhao Li nearly got killed following his instructions for that dare." Zhan Zhao explained, enlarging the leapfrog man's face on the phone screen, and asked Wang Zhengyu, "Have you ever seen this person with Chen Yan?"

Wang Zhengyu stared at the face on the screen, seemingly terrified, "The... serial killer? Re... really?"

"Exactly," Zhan Zhao nodded. "This person has killed several people already, but we haven't caught him yet. However, he hasn't appeared for a long time, so it's strange that he's suddenly come out again."

At that moment, Zhan Zhao's phone rang.

He put away his phone and said to Wang Zhengyu, "Contact us if you remember anything."

As he spoke, he handed Wang Zhengyu a card with a phone number on it and then turned and left.

By the time Wang Zhengyu snapped out of his shock and looked up, Zhan Zhao had already disappeared.

Looking at the empty ward, Wang Zhengyu felt a bit nervous and called out, "Police! Police!"

But after calling out for a long time, no one responded.

"Nurse? Doctor!" he shouted a few more times, still with no response.

"Tsk," Wang Zhengyu muttered to himself as he tried to get out of bed. "Where has everyone... ah ah!"

As he turned his head, he suddenly saw a figure in a black hoodie standing outside the room's dark window.

Terrified, Wang Zhengyu threw off the blanket and fell out of bed, scrambling and crawling towards the door.

When he reached the corridor, the only light was from the lobby at the entrance, opposite the main door.

Just as he was about to run out, the main door opened, and a man in a black hoodie walked in.

The man reached the entrance of the corridor, his head slightly lowered, the hood casting a shadow over most of his face. Only his mouth was visible... and it suddenly twisted into a grin.

Then, in a bizarre posture, the man leapt towards Wang Zhengyu like a humanoid frog.

Wang Zhengyu was so scared he couldn't make a sound. He hurriedly ran back to the ward, slammed the door shut, and locked it tightly.

However, the old door lock didn't seem very secure. Soon, he heard footsteps behind the door, followed by silence.

With trembling hands, Wang Zhengyu took out the card Zhan Zhao had given him, grabbed his backpack from the foot of the bed, and fumbled around until he found a cell phone in a side pocket. He turned it on. As the phone finally powered up, he quickly dialled... just then, there was a loud bang on the door, as if something had slammed into it with great force. Wang Zhengyu trembled all over, and his phone fell to the ground.

At that moment, the call connected, and Zhan Zhao's voice came through, "Hello?"

"Help! Help!" Wang Zhengyu shouted. "The Leapfrog Killer is here to kill me..."

"Huh?" Zhan Zhao seemed to be eating something. Bai Yutang's voice came through, "Who is it?"

"That boy from earlier, he says the Leapfrog Killer is after him."

Bai Yutang laughed, "Must've been knocked silly."

"It's true!" Wang Zhengyu shouted loudly. "He's here to kill me! He's at the door, you need to come quickly!"

Zhan Zhao was a bit speechless, "The Leapfrog Killer only kills women..."

"He really wants to kill me, come and save me quickly!" Wang Zhengyu's voice was hoarse from shouting. Just then, there was a click sound as the lock on the door was broken with a powerful push.

Wang Zhengyu sat at the door, trying to hold it shut, but he could feel a strong force gradually pushing the door open.

"Help! It was me! I was the one who killed Chen Yan!" Wang Zhengyu shouted into the phone. "I was set up! Come quickly..."

Wang Zhengyu screamed desperately. Meanwhile, the door behind him was being pushed open.

He screamed and hid behind the bed, shouting at the black-clad figure entering the room, "It wasn't me, I didn't set you up, I was tricked..."

The black-clad figure didn't move further into the room, just stared at him for a moment before reaching up and pulling off the hood, shaking his head as he looked at the terrified Wang Zhengyu.

Wang Zhengyu finally recognised him. The man in black wasn't the Leapfrog Killer but one of the police officers who had questioned him earlier, called... Luo Tian?

At the same time, Luo Tian stepped aside.

Zhan Zhao poked his head in, holding a cell phone in one hand and a half-eaten ice cream cone in the other, grinning as he waved his phone.

Wang Zhengyu was stunned for a long time before collapsing onto the bed, his phone falling to the ground. Behind Zhan Zhao, Bai Yutang walked in, looking disdainful.

"You tricked me?" Wang Zhengyu finally understood, furious. "This is entrapment! I was frightened and spoke nonsense! I'll sue you..."

Zhan Zhao continued eating his ice cream, while Bai Yutang walked into the room, picked up the still-connected phone, and asked, "So, did the attacker return your phone?"

Wang Zhengyu opened his mouth, "I... I have two phones, this one is a spare."

"So, did you use the spare to post and delete messages?" Zhan Zhao asked with a smile.

Wang Zhengyu was full of resentment. As a top student at S University, he prided himself on his intelligence but hadn't expected to be tricked and fall into a trap so easily.

"Right," Zhan Zhao pulled up a picture on his phone. It was the sketch of the "intern" that Zhao Jue had drawn based on Fang Dong's lies, the Leapfrog Killer in disguise. He asked Wang Zhengyu, "Is this the guy who was working with you?"

Wang Zhengyu stared at the picture, his mouth agape, "This..."

Zhan Zhao showed him a screenshot of the Leapfrog Killer again, "Didn't you notice? It's the same person!"

Wang Zhengyu was stunned, then gasped as he realised the truth. He sat there, dazed for a long time before suddenly laughing maniacally, pounding on the hospital bed in a breakdown similar to Fang Dongshun after being hit by Zhao Jue.

Bai Yutang shook his head and asked Zhan Zhao, "Another smartass who thought they could commit the perfect crime?"

Zhan Zhao found it amusing and nodded, "This must be the Leapfrog Killer's new game."

Luo Tian helped Wang Zhengyu up and put handcuffs on him.

Wang Zhengyu, still in shock, looked up at Luo Tian as he was pulled up, then glanced at the window behind him.

As Luo Tian started to lead him away, Wang Zhengyu suddenly asked, "Was it you who scared me at the window earlier?"

Luo Tian paused slightly.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, who were about to leave the room, stopped and turned back, "The window?"

They exchanged a look and then checked the window. They had been at the hospital entrance and in the lobby the whole time, never outside...

"The height seems off," Wang Zhengyu said, looking at Luo Tian, thinking he was taller than the person outside the window earlier. And... the window was far from the door. He had only taken a few seconds from the bed to the corridor. Even if someone could teleport, they couldn't have gone from the window to the door that quickly.

Moreover, Luo Tian didn't give off the same terrifying vibe as the person outside the window.

"It was him! It's different!" Wang Zhengyu became agitated, pointing towards the window, shouting, "It was him just now! The one standing outside the window really was him! He's really here to kill me!"

‿︵‿︵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 18, 2024 by Angel

Edited: December 19, 2024 by Soojin