S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 5 Chapter 197

The Intelligent Killer 02 – Shopping Mall

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Humans had a tendency to amplify their fears, especially when it came to the unknown. The less they understood something and the harder it was to control, the more frightening it seemed.

For instance, one could often see elderly people handling smartphones with extreme caution, as if a single wrong tap could break the device.

When it came to newer technologies like artificial intelligence, it was similar to elderly people using smartphones. It appeared in life suddenly, and before one learned how to use it, it was already everywhere.

The entire SCI team felt as though AI could invade anywhere, could monitor anything, and a little AI face might pop up on any screen.

Jiang Ping waved at everyone, "Don’t be scared, it’s not that exaggerated."

"Actually, this kind of big data collection is indeed everywhere now!" Xiao Bai Chi chimed in, "As long as you search for something on your phone, all the major shopping apps will start pushing that kind of thing to you."

"That's nothing," Zhao Hu shook his head, "The other day, I was chatting with Le Le about wanting to eat cherries, and then when I opened my computer to watch a show, a popup ad for cherries appeared out of nowhere."

"Just the other day, I was teasing Luban with a ping pong ball, and I received an ad for buying a second-hand ping pong table."

“Ahem.” Bao Sir coughed, interrupting the group who had started discussing online shopping.

"These are actually two different things," Jiang Ping explained. "The current network threats mainly come from vulnerabilities. If you can plug the vulnerabilities, there won't be any problems. In other words, everyone is still on the same dimension; there hasn't been any dimensionality reduction attack. Although there's constant talk about human-machine conflict and coexistence, fundamentally, it's still a conflict between humans. Machines are just like any other tool. When it really comes to a human-machine war, vulnerabilities won't be able to be plugged. At that point, it won’t be about whether you can plug the vulnerabilities any more. Either machines will rule the world, or we’ll return to a wasteland and start human civilisation over again."

Bao Sir asked Jiang Ping, "The police network can't be infiltrated, right?"

"Of course not," Jiang Ping shook his head. "No matter how much a vacuum cleaner talks, it can't get on the table. It’s more practical to focus on catching the culprit behind the scenes, finding and destroying that machine quickly, and not letting it upgrade any further."

Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue were more interested in Su Feifei's case than anything else.

Bai Yutang continued to ask Tony, "Was Xiao Yumi brought here by you?"

Surprisingly, both Tony and Su Feifei shook their heads, saying they had no idea what was going on with the child.

"I heard about the congenital heart disease and followed Xu Lie to the hospital," Su Feifei said. "I was also worried it might be a new seventh generation."

"So when you rushed out to save the baby..."

"That was Shen Yan," Su Feifei explained. "She has been coming out occasionally recently but doesn't talk much."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang asked Tony and Su Feifei carefully again, finding out that the two actually knew very little.

Their connection to the case only began after the discovery of the corpse in the cornfield.

Tony knew SCI was very capable, so after discovering the corpse in the cornfield, he wanted to lead them to investigate Che Dongming.

Initially, the two only wanted to observe secretly, but while filming near the Shen family’s home, something unexpected happened. Shen Yan appeared and entered the Shen family’s basement in a strange way.

Tony was trying to cover for Su Feifei on one hand and brought up the Shen family's background from years ago on the other in order to get SCI to investigate the disappearance of Shen Xin and her family.

Afterwards, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang questioned Tony and Su Feifei separately, organising their timelines from birth to the present. There was so much information that it took them all afternoon and gave them a headache.

Back at the office, everyone else had left. Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were considering whether to work overtime.

Thinking about the pile of serial killers they had to interrogate, they both felt exhausted.

At that moment, the elevator door opened, and Zhao Jue and Bai Ye came in.

They were on their way home, noticed it was dinnertime, and decided to check on the case’s progress and maybe take the younger ones out to eat. Entering the SCI office, they found Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang sorrowfully sitting at the desk, flipping through records.

"You two still aren’t off duty?" Zhao Jue walked over and kicked Zhan Zhao's swivel chair.

Zhan Zhao looked up at him, his eyes a bit resentful.

Zhao Jue was startled, he hadn’t seen him for an afternoon, why had this kid lost weight?

Bai Ye asked, "Have you two eaten yet?"

Bai Yutang nudged at two half-eaten sandwiches on the table.

Zhan Zhao muttered that they still had to interrogate a bunch of perverts, so annoying and world-weary!

Zhao Jue looked up, "That AI erased the contents of the phone but left you with a bunch of serial killers, implying that all those people together aren’t worth a single phone. Is it worth it for you to work so hard? Do you understand the importance of work-life balance?"

Bai Ye added, "Let's go eat first, you can interrogate them tomorrow. Investigating that company won’t solve the case in just two or three days."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged glances, seemingly a bit hesitant, discussing, "Maybe we should finish questioning Lin Tian first..."

Zhao Jue got irritated, walked to the door with his phone, and dialled a number...

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang watched Zhao Jue at the door.

The call connected, and Zhao Jue shouted, "Bao Xiao Hei! You only know how to go on dates! You actually let these two kids work 996! Do you believe I won’t expose your dirty laundry?" (Angel: 996 is a work schedule practised illegally by many companies in China. It derives its name from its requirement that employees work from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm, 6 days per week.)

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were dumbfounded, blankly watching Zhao Jue shout at Bao Sir.

At that moment, both their phones chimed simultaneously. They looked down to see a message from Bao Sir – Get off work already, what are you standing around for?!

The two scratched their heads, stood up, and began to pack up to leave.

Zhao Jue and Bai Ye took them out for dinner. Bai Yutang suggested that since it was still early, they could buy groceries and cook at home.

Zhao Jue poked him on the forehead, "Do you only have a young master’s face? You're young, why would you cook at home? Don’t you know you should go out to eat?"

Bai Yutang rubbed his forehead and looked at Zhan Zhao, as if to say – I’ve noticed he’s been scolding us a lot recently!

Zhan Zhao nodded in agreement.

"Where should we eat?" they asked in unison.

Zhao Jue asked, "Do you two have any favourite restaurants?"

Both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang shook their heads.

Zhao Jue pointed to his trendy restaurant across from the police station, "How about some desserts? We have new dishes like crayfish cherry pie, rose butter hot milk tea..."

Zhan Zhao started nodding, but Bai Ye and Bai Yutang stopped in their tracks and took a step back, firmly shaking their head – No!

Zhao Jue and Zhan Zhao glanced at the dessert shop in the distance with slight disappointment. Maybe they would get some to-go after dinner...

"How about we check out the commercial street across the way?" Bai Yutang suggested.

Zhan Zhao nodded, and Zhao Jue and Bai Ye had no objections.

The four of them crossed the street and soon reached the busiest commercial street in S City.

It was the busiest time of day. Zhan Zhao took out his phone, trying to find well-reviewed restaurants nearby.

Bai Ye suddenly pointed to a tall building in the distance, "Over there."

Everyone looked in the direction he was pointing. Bai Ye was pointing at a tall office building.

"Xu Lie mentioned there’s a great hot pot place over there the other day," Bai Ye said.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at Bai Ye, feeling that when Uncle Ye pointed to the building and said "hot pot place", it felt particularly real. Before, they had always thought Uncle Ye seemed like someone who didn’t really exist in the real world.

When Zhao Jue heard "hot pot", he asked, "Is it Sichuan-style?"

Zhan Zhao immediately followed, "Spicy?"

Zhao Jue nodded repeatedly.

Bai Yutang and Bai Ye exchanged glances, "Then let’s get a half-spicy, half-plain pot."

Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue looked at them with disdain – Going for hot pot but not eating spicy, are you two here to lose face?

Bai Ye and Bai Yutang frowned – Just mildly spicy then, why must it be extremely spicy...

The four of them headed towards the building.

It happened to be a Friday, and people were out relaxing after a busy day.

The hot pot restaurant was on the twentieth floor. When they got up there, they found out there was a waitlist.

Stopping Zhao Jue from using hypnosis to change his number, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang pulled him downstairs. Bai Ye suggested they browse the mall first and asked if they had anything they wanted to buy.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at Bai Ye – How about a folding screen...

Bai Ye nodded, "Let’s go then."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang cheered, Bai Ye nodding in approval – They had a bit of vitality!

Zhao Jue looked at the sky, thinking this vitality wasn’t going to come cheap.

Bai Ye glanced at Zhao Jue, implying – Split it 50-50?

Zhao Jue turned his face away – No way!

Once out of the elevator, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang headed straight for the floor selling phones, with Zhao Jue and Bai Ye following behind.

Zhao Jue kept getting distracted by quirky products in the nearby shops. Seeing a hoverboard, he wanted to go in, but Bai Ye pulled him out; he saw a toy train set, and wanted to go in again, but Bai Ye pulled him out; he saw a talking teddy bear and still wanted to go in, only to be pulled out by Bai Ye once more.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang walked ahead, occasionally glancing back, feeling like Uncle Ye was leading a Husky around the mall.

The four of them entered the phone store.

It was dinner time, so while the restaurants were bustling, the digital store was relatively quiet.

A sales assistant quickly spotted the four strikingly handsome men and rushed over. Noticing their interest in foldable phones, she expertly began introducing the latest models.

Zhan Zhao chose a blue one, Bai Yutang a white one, and Zhao Jue casually picked up a silver one.

Bai Ye glanced at him.

Zhao Jue had a serious expression – I want one too!

Meanwhile, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at Bai Ye with grateful expressions – Thank you, Uncle Ye!

Bai Ye pointed at Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang to Zhao Jue – This is the right way to be pampered!

Zhao Jue gave Bai Ye a sideways glance – Get lost, so disgusting!

Bai Ye shook his head and told the sales assistant they would take all three.

Zhan Zhao curiously asked Bai Ye, "Aren't you getting one, Uncle Ye?"

Bai Ye waved the phone Zhan Zhao had bought for him earlier, indicating – I already have this.

Zhan Zhao smiled, glancing at Zhao Jue who was examining the new model – Didn't I just buy you one?

Zhao Jue opened and closed the foldable phone – A serious person needs two phones!

Talking about having two phones, Zhao Jue suddenly thought of a joke and said to Zhan Zhao, "One advantage of having multiple personalities is you can buy lots of phones justifiably."

Zhan Zhao followed up, "It's easy to find someone with multiple personalities; just look for someone carrying a bag full of phones..."

They both laughed childishly at their joke.

Bai Yutang quietly commented, "Or maybe they're just a phone thief..."

Bai Ye paid for the phones, and the sales assistant brought over the new devices, asking, “Would you like to participate in the raffle?”

Bai Yutang and Bai Ye glanced at the spinning wheel.

The wheel had various sections with prizes of different tiers, the top prize being a new hoverboard.

The rules were simple: spin the wheel and throw a dart. Whatever section the dart lands in, that's the prize you get. Each phone purchase earned one chance.

Zhao Jue pointed at the hoverboard and told Bai Ye to go for it.

Zhan Zhao was interested in the second prize, a mechanical keyboard, saying a good keyboard would help him avoid writer’s block, and he urged Bai Yutang to try.

Bai Yutang looked helplessly at Zhan Zhao – You have so many reasons for writer’s block, none of which involve the keyboard.

The sales assistant spun the wheel.

Bai Ye picked up the dart.

Unbeknownst to them, several customers had gathered in the store, along with the staff, watching Bai Ye's dart-throwing stance with covered mouths, thinking... Wow!

Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue reflected on their stance for throwing darts, shouldn't you squint and aim before throwing? Uncle Ye, with one hand in his pocket, slightly tilted his head, barely moved his arm, and flicked his wrist...

With a thwack, the spinning wheel stopped, and in the narrow first prize section, a dart stuck right in the middle.

"Wow!"

The store erupted in excitement, and the sales assistant clutched her chest.

Zhan Zhao pushed Bai Yutang forward.

Bai Yutang’s stance was almost the same as Bai Ye's, with only a slight difference in his head tilt, and with another thwack... a dart stuck in the middle of the second prize section. The store erupted in excitement again.

The sales assistant rushed around to pack up the prizes for them.

"There's one more chance."

Bai Yutang and Bai Ye looked at Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue, as if to say – Do you want to try?

Zhao Jue, hugging the hoverboard, signalled to Zhan Zhao – Kitten, try for the third prize voucher so we can use it at the hot pot place later!

Zhan Zhao took the dart, struck a pose, and threw...

With a thwack... the dart disappeared.

Everyone stared at the slowing wheel – Where did the dart go?

"Waah..."

An uncle nearby suddenly shouted. It turned out the dart had hit his wig... causing it to fly off, and exposing his shiny head.

The store manager panicked and scrambled to retrieve the wig and help the customer put it back on.

Bai Yutang suggested to the manager – These darts are too dangerous. Though customers with such a life-threatening level of poor aim are rare, you should consider switching to magnetic ones.

The manager was inspired and gave Zhan Zhao a packet of tissues, saying that there were consolation prizes for those who didn't win.

Zhao Jue covered his mouth, indicating to Zhan Zhao to carry the tissues and give them to those two who don’t eat spicy food later.

Zhan Zhao walked out of the store with the tissues – What a disgrace!

Bai Yutang looked at him – Isn’t that just your normal performance?

Just then, they received a text from the hot pot restaurant, alerting them that their table was ready.

The four of them, carrying their bags, headed towards the elevator.

As they walked, Bai Yutang heard footsteps behind them. He slightly turned his body... and a boy in a baseball cap came rushing past, almost bumping into him.

Fortunately, Bai Yutang moved quickly and got out of the way.

The boy stumbled forward, pressing his cap down as he ran.

Zhan Zhao turned back and saw four men in black suits running towards them, looking around as if searching for someone.

One of them pointed at the boy, who had reached the other end of the corridor, and the four men immediately started chasing after him.

‿︵‿︵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: July 9, 2024 by Angel

Edited: December 27, 2024 by Soojin