S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 5 Chapter 183

Special Files – Witches 30 – False Identity

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Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang returned to the SCI office and headed straight to the forensic lab.

By this time, a crowd had gathered at the entrance of the forensic lab, all discussing the results of opening the coffin.

The coffin lid had been opened, and the contents inside had clearly puzzled everyone.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang entered the forensic lab, where Ma Xin and Xiatian were busy, one with a camera and the other with a notebook.

Gongsun, seeing the two arrive, motioned towards the coffin.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang immediately went over to take a look.

They had both imagined all sorts of horrifying scenes, such as the mummified remains of the missing Shen family member, some kind of witchcraft doll, or even a mummy...

But when they saw what was inside the coffin, they were stunned.

Inside the coffin were only four bones, tied together with a pink ribbon and adorned with a bow.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang frowned as they looked at the bizarre bow and then turned to Gongsun.

Gongsun, flipping through documents on a tablet, explained, "Previously, in the Shen family car accident case, four bodies were retrieved from the car at the bottom of the fish pond."

Bai Yutang nodded, "Each body was missing a bone. Could it be that..."

Gongsun nodded, "According to the records, Shen Xin was missing the fourth rib on the left side, Mother Shen was missing the right ulna, Lu Hui was missing the left fibula, and Shen Mingming was missing the sixth rib on the left side. The four bones in the coffin correspond to the same locations. We'll need further tests to confirm if they belong to the Shen family members."

Bai Yutang frowned deeply, "The Leapfrog Killer led us to this coffin. Does this mean the Shen family's disappearance is related to him?"

Gongsun shrugged – That wasn't his area of expertise, but it seemed likely.

Bai Yutang glanced at Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao nodded, "Considering the style of the Leapfrog Killer's recent cases, it's either directly or indirectly related."

The two left the forensic lab and went to interrogate Wang Zhengyu.

Luo Tian had just placed the heavily traumatised Wang Zhengyu in the interrogation room.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang first went to the adjacent observation room, looking through the one-way glass to see that Wang Zhengyu's emotions had somewhat stabilised.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang then entered the interrogation room.

Wang Zhengyu looked up at them, sighed, and lowered his head again. Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang shook their heads – It was just like Fang Dongshun, a promising future wasted for nothing.

First, Bai Yutang asked Wang Zhengyu to detail how he met the "intern", how they planned the case, and why he killed Chen Yan.

With nothing left to hide, Wang Zhengyu could only confess everything.

There wasn't any serious grudge between Wang Zhengyu and Chen Yan. Chen Yan was very popular among the girls at school, while Wang Zhengyu was among the least popular.

Wang Zhengyu originally had a girlfriend, but they later broke up. That girl had a crush on Chen Yan, but in fact, Chen Yan had never dated her.

Simply put, this relationship was similar to a boy whose girlfriend was a fan of a celebrity. After they broke up, the boy started hating the celebrity his ex-girlfriend liked.

The so-called 'love for a house extends even to the crow on the roof, hate for a house also extends to the crow on the roof'. This mentality is understandable. However, to say that breaking up with a girlfriend justifies killing the celebrity she likes is psychologically abnormal.

But in fact, such perverts might not be that rare. The reason celebrities are currently still safe is largely because they are hard to approach.

However, Chen Yan was someone Wang Zhengyu could approach.

Initially, Wang Zhengyu harboured ordinary malice, especially seeing Chen Yan flirting with everyone everywhere, which made him increasingly displeased.

Once, while drinking with a group of people, Wang Zhengyu met a boy from another school sitting next to him, who also seemed very dissatisfied with Chen Yan.

Thus, two "frustrated" men got to know each other.

The boy claimed to be Zhou Hao, Zhao Li's ex-boyfriend, in a situation similar to Wang Zhengyu's.

Two boys with similar experiences soon became friends. As they got closer, their relationship became more "solid".

Their conversations mostly revolved around badmouthing Chen Yan and their ex-girlfriends. Eventually, they started talking about "revenge".

They devised a "meticulous" plan to create a "perfect" murder case.

They acted separately: one disguised as the Leapfrog Killer to scare Zhao Li, and the other planned to kill Chen Yan on the deserted campus early in the morning.

As for the messages that lured Zhao Li near the tunnel, they were actually sent by Wang Zhengyu using Chen Yan's phone, which he threw into the artificial lake afterwards.

The posts about a girl following Chen Yan and then being attacked were also part of their plan to mislead the police investigation.

Posting was not part of their original plan; it was Wang Zhengyu's "genius" move, probably out of a guilty conscience.

In fact, if Wang Zhengyu hadn't stupidly posted to expose himself and even staged an attack, this case would have been hard to solve.

Because Chen Yan really had nothing much to do with these two people, he didn't steal Wang Zhengyu's girlfriend nor had he dated Zhao Li. That "Zhou Hao" wasn't Zhao Li's ex-boyfriend either. Essentially, Chen Yan was hit by a stranger with a brick by the lake, and crimes committed by strangers are the hardest to solve.

Zhan Zhao's method to break the overly confident Wang Zhengyu was quite simple: he just told him that the "Zhou Hao" he conspired with was the real Leapfrog Killer.

......

Analysing these two cases, the real targets of the Leapfrog Killer were actually Fang Dongshun and Wang Zhengyu, and the people they harmed were just "tools" for the Leapfrog Killer. Their deaths were more like "punishments" for Fang Dongshun and Wang Zhengyu. The Leapfrog Killer not only mentally destroyed them but also solidified their guilt, a multi-layered manipulation.

However, unlike Fang Dongshun, the Leapfrog Killer "observed" Wang Zhengyu at the campus hospital after the case.

What would have happened if SCI had not been at the hospital?

Could it be that the Leapfrog Killer was drawn there because Wang Zhengyu exposed himself by posting prematurely?

According to their previous plan, SCI wouldn't have caught Wang Zhengyu so quickly, which was different from the Fang Dongshun case. Did the Leapfrog Killer prepare other traps for Wang Zhengyu, or... was there some use in keeping him?

Zhan Zhao analysed that when the Leapfrog Killer disguised himself as the "intern", he had only a brief encounter with Fang Dongshun. But when he disguised himself as "Zhou Hao", he had a relatively long interaction with Wang Zhengyu, which suggested a different level of investment, likely aiming for a higher return.

Long-term interaction also left more clues, and Wang Zhengyu might know something related to the Leapfrog Killer's identity.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang asked Wang Zhengyu to describe in detail what kind of person this "Zhou Hao" was.

Wang Zhengyu said he really couldn't tell if it was a disguise, he just looked like an ordinary student.

"Did he take you anywhere? Did he talk about himself?" Zhan Zhao urged Wang Zhengyu to speak quickly, hoping to get useful information to catch the Leapfrog Killer, which could count as meritorious service for a lighter sentence.

Wang Zhengyu scratched his head and recounted every detail of their interactions.

In the end, apart from drinking and badmouthing Chen Yan and their ex-girlfriends, they didn't talk about much else.

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao looked up at the sky, thinking, "Are you really that petty? Talking behind people's backs every day, you might as well go and move some bricks at a construction site."

"How did you two end up talking about the Leapfrog Killer? Whose idea was it to frame the serial killer?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"It just came up... He said he was a psychology student at X University, helping his professor organise materials, and I accidentally saw the contents, which were about serial killers, specifically the Leapfrog Killer's profile."

"He said he was a psychology student at X University?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"Mhmm." Wang Zhengyu nodded.

"You never doubted his identity?" Bai Yutang was curious, "Why would X University participate in S University's activities?"

"Because his ex-girlfriend was at our university," Wang Zhengyu said, "and he used X University's folders, pen bags, and even had X University's textbooks..."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged a glance, and Zhan Zhao looked in the direction of the one-way mirror.

Outside, in the monitoring room, Bai Chi understood immediately. He ran next door to find Jiang Ping and asked him to check if there was a student named Zhou Hao in the psychology department at X University. As a result...

Jiang Ping found some information; there was indeed a student named "Zhou Hao", but the photo of this male student did not match the person disguised as the Leapfrog Killer.

Bai Chi picked up the phone and dialled X University.

After some inquiries, the school said that this student was on leave due to illness because he had undergone heart surgery and needed three months to recover.

Jiang Ping then found contact information for Zhou Hao's family. When Bai Chi called, the family said Zhou Hao had just had surgery half a month ago and was still in the hospital.

"What's going on?" Bai Chi sent a message to Zhan Zhao with the results and asked Jiang Ping, "Is this identity theft?"

Jiang Ping found the hospital information about Zhou Hao, "He is indeed hospitalised, and coincidentally, he's at the same hospital as Yang Fan and the others."

After seeing the message, Zhan Zhao called Zhao Jue to ask if they were still at the hospital.

Zhao Jue said he and Bai Ye were still at the hospital, but Mia and Issel had returned to the villa. Xu Lie, Chen Mi and Su Feifei were also at the hospital. Xiao Yumi had just finished surgery, and he and Bai Ye were preparing to take Su Feifei back to the villa. The twins were trying to persuade her to sign with the Bai Group.

Zhan Zhao briefly explained to Zhao Jue that the Leapfrog Killer might have stolen the identity of a student from X University who was currently hospitalised.

Bai Chi had already contacted the hospital, and Zhan Zhao wanted Zhao Jue to meet the real Zhou Hao. After all, stealing an identity wasn't easy, and Zhou Hao might have seen the Leapfrog Killer. Considering the Leapfrog Killer wanted to silence Wang Zhengyu, this might be a clue.

Zhao Jue hung up the phone, let out a "Hmph," and walked towards the elevator.

Bai Ye asked him, "Where are you going?"

Zhao Jue pointed at his phone, "The kitten is ordering me to do something. I'm going to see a patient. You go get the car, and we'll meet at the entrance."

Bai Ye nodded.

Xu Lie and Chen Mi were worried about Xiao Yumi and wanted to stay with her.

Bai Ye said that the security in the ward should be sufficient, so they should go eat first and then return.

Compared to Zhao Jue, Chen Mi and Xu Lie were not as afraid of Bai Ye. Since Bai Ye resembled Bai Yutang, with whom they were familiar, they felt a natural sense of friendliness. Moreover, Bai Ye seemed to have a good temper, although he wasn't very talkative.

Su Feifei, having become acquainted with Mia earlier, was delighted to hear she could stay at Zhao Jue's villa.

Her manager had already left to prepare materials for the contract discussion with the twins.

The group split up; Zhao Jue took the elevator to the first floor and headed to the adjacent cardio-pulmonary department to find Zhou Hao.

Bai Ye led Xu Lie, Chen Mi and Su Feifei to the basement to get the car.

Su Feifei, who had returned to her lively self, asked Xu Lie if there was a morgue in the hospital basement while they were taking the elevator down.

Xu Lie replied there might be, but it didn't matter. He had even seen a dry corpse before, which had entered his home and stolen his football.

Su Feifei said she had read that report and found the video of Captain Bai tearing up the dry corpse incredibly impressive.

Xu Lie, feeling proud, said he had seen a lot while working with SCI, so dealing with any supernatural occurrences was no big deal!

Chen Mi shook his head in disbelief.

Bai Ye had a good impression of Xu Lie, finding his personality somewhat similar to Zhao Hu's, both being energetic and straightforward.

By this time, it was very late. While the hospital parking spaces were usually insufficient during the day, they were mostly empty at night.

In the vast, dark parking lot, half was pitch black and half was lit... Chen Mi, Xu Lie and Su Feifei followed Bai Ye towards the parking space.

After walking a few steps, Bai Ye suddenly stopped. Almost simultaneously, Su Feifei also stopped and turned her head to look towards the completely dark side.

Xu Lie and Chen Mi stopped as well, confused by Bai Ye and Su Feifei's actions. They looked in the same direction.

The suddenly silent atmosphere felt eerie.

Bai Ye gestured to a spot a bit farther behind him, indicating for the three to stand there.

Xu Lie and Chen Mi pulled the suddenly stunned Su Feifei back, standing obediently in the spot Bai Ye had pointed out.

Xu Lie was worried about Bai Ye and wanted to help. He rolled up his sleeves and looked at Chen Mi as if to say – I can fight; I'm a Muay Thai champion!

Chen Mi, exasperated, pulled him back, as if to say – Stay put, how much help can a husky be in a fight?

Bai Ye took two steps forward and stopped, staring into the dark space ahead.

Meanwhile, Xu Lie and Chen Mi heard a strange sound coming from the darkness...

‿︵‿︵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 20, 2024 by Angel

Edited: December 20, 2024 by Soojin