S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 5 Chapter 204

The Intelligent Killer 09 – School

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It was a good case, but as they investigated, it turned out to be haunted, leaving Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang feeling conflicted.

SCI had investigated many cases and disliked anything involving ghosts and spirits. Both of them believed that superstition and high technology were not mutually exclusive. Nowadays, many criminals used high-tech means to create superstitions... With the help of computers, the supernatural had become easier to fabricate.

Bai Yutang walked over to Zhan Zhao and looked at the umbrella on the window.

As the water vapour disappeared, the umbrella vanished too.

Zhan Zhao breathed on the glass again... The umbrella reappeared, and he took a photo of it with his phone.

It was hard to tell whether it was a coincidence or not... Today had been overcast, and now the sky was even darker, with faint thunder rumbling in the distance.

Soon, raindrops began to patter on the window... It started raining outside.

A short while later, the sky turned completely dark, with flashes of lightning and claps of thunder.

Inside, He Ke and the agent were nervously watching the sudden change in the weather outside, feeling that it was somewhat eerie.

Zhan Zhao suddenly asked Bai Yutang, "Do you think... if I close my eyes and imagine a woman in red with an umbrella, she will appear?"

Bai Yutang thought – Might as well give it a try.

After saying that, Zhan Zhao closed his eyes.

About three seconds later, Zhan Zhao opened his eyes.

Coincidentally, a flash of lightning streaked across the sky, followed by a clap of thunder.

Zhan Zhao looked out the window.

Lin Tian lived on the sixth floor, which wasn't too high, so they had a clear view of the scene below.

Outside was a residential area, and since it had started raining suddenly, many people weren't carrying umbrellas. Some wore hats, and some held up their bags as they ran quickly to avoid the rain.

However, there was no woman in a red dress with a red umbrella among them.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang turned back to look at He Ke and the agent.

One was intently flipping through a magazine, and the other was pressing his temples with his eyes closed – looking as though they were afraid of seeing something they shouldn't.

Bai Yutang sighed and looked at Zhan Zhao – Cat, what should we do next?

Zhan Zhao was still quite excited, "It's haunted! Shall we call in a shaman?"

Bai Yutang nodded, "Let's check the surveillance footage first, okay? If we still find nothing after watching the footage, we can ask the IT guy. If the IT guy can't find anything wrong, then we'll consult a shaman!"

Zhan Zhao shook his head with a smile. Had the investigation come to this? It's too much!

After that, the two went to the property management office to ask for the surveillance footage.

......

Meanwhile, in the Bai Group building.

Bai Jintang put down the phone. He had wanted to invite Gongsun for a meal, but Gongsun said he had to conduct an autopsy and might have to work overtime.

Big Brother Bai felt a bit disappointed. He happened to have a free afternoon and thought he might as well bring some food to SCI.

Just as he was thinking of asking Da Ding and Xiao Ding to order takeout, the door opened, and Da Ding ran in, "Brother, are you free?"

Bai Jintang nodded – Yes.

"Do you want to visit the university?" Da Ding asked.

Bai Jintang was a bit puzzled, "Visit the university?"

Da Ding took out his phone, "Didn't we donate a lot of medical equipment to the medical department of S University? The school has contacted us several times, wanting to express their gratitude and Xu Lie's alma mater for better recruitment next year."

Bai Jintang was still a bit puzzled and asked, "Was Xu Lie a graduate of S University?"

Da Ding nodded while sending messages to contacts, "He graduated from the mechanical engineering department of S University."

"Isn't S University hard to get into?" Bai Jintang looked puzzled, "I thought he was a fool?"

Da Ding seriously thought about it, "Hmm... to be precise, he's a fool who's good at studying!"

"I always thought he was a professional Muay Thai fighter..." Bai Jintang found it amazing.

"He is a professional Muay Thai fighter, but it doesn't hinder him in any way." Da Ding said, "But we've talked to him several times about returning to his alma mater for some publicity, and he's always dodged it."

"He's probably just busy," Bai Jintang asked, "Wasn't he occupied with filming a movie recently?"

"He's busy with nothing!" Da Ding pouted, "Apart from that period when he was filming, he's been pestering Chen Mi most of the time, and he's been idle lately, at the hospital every day to visit the child."

"Is he still at the hospital?" Bai Jintang thought for a moment. Indeed... Xu Lie had rarely mentioned his university days.

"He studied mechanical engineering, did he complete his degree?" Bai Jintang asked.

"Mhmm," Da Ding nodded, "He did quite well... But his agent said that he never participates in any alumni activities, he has never attended a single school event, nor does he mention S University."

Bai Jintang found it strange and asked, "Could it be that he had some unhappy experiences at school? Did he get into any trouble?"

Da Ding frowned and shook his head repeatedly, "No, not only did nothing bad happen, but Xu Lie also saved someone at school."

Bai Jintang asked Da Ding to explain in detail.

At this moment, Xiao Ding arrived. As soon as he entered, he told Da Ding, "I've contacted the school, but Xu Lie is still unwilling to go."

"Again?" Da Ding was speechless.

Bai Jintang nudged him, indicating – Finish what you were saying.

Da Ding asked Xiao Ding to explain to Bai Jintang and then walked out with his phone, determined to make Xu Lie go today.

Xiao Ding and Bai Jintang stared at each other. Xiao Ding tilted his head and asked, "What should I explain?"

Bai Jintang asked about Xu Lie saving someone at school...

"Oh!" Xiao Ding became excited to share the gossip, "One of Xu Lie's roommates was studying in the library with him. The guy had just been dumped or cheated on by his girlfriend and, in a moment of despair, suddenly stood up and rushed to the window, opening it to jump out. Xu Lie was sitting by the window and grabbed the guy's leg, pulling him back."

Bai Jintang frowned, that's how it is...

"It was rumoured that the scene was chaotic at the time, and the commotion scared all the nearby students. Teachers came as well," Xiao Ding continued. "But the guy refused to give up, insisting on jumping out of the window, saying that there wasn't enough time, that time was running out."

"What time was running out... did his suicide have a deadline?" Bai Jintang was puzzled.

"Who knows? I only heard this from the teachers. They said the guy was acting crazy, determined to jump out of that window. Xu Lie pulled him back twice and eventually dragged him out of the classroom by his collar. The guy was screaming that it was too late... Eventually, some doctors and nurses from the school hospital came and took him away, suspecting he had mental issues."

Bai Jintang had never heard of such a dramatic way of attempting suicide.

"So what happened next? How is the guy now?"

"I asked about it. The guy was hospitalised, and it turned out he indeed had mental problems," Xiao Ding said.

Bai Jintang was speechless, "Why hasn't such a wonderful story been published? There have been so many magazine interviews, and they are all about things like his Muay Thai and dog training..."

"What can we do if he won't talk about it!" Xiao Ding was also dissatisfied. "What's so strange about him not telling the reporters or us? He hasn't even told Chen Mi! The other day, when I mentioned Xu Lie graduated from S University, Chen Mi had the same expression as you!"

Bai Jintang was surprised, "He didn't even tell Chen Mi?"

Xiao Ding squinted and nodded – See! There must be a secret!

Bai Jintang thought for a moment and then motioned to Xiao Ding – Go! Let's go to the hospital and bring him to the school.

Xiao Ding cheerfully went to find Da Ding.

Da Ding had just hung up the phone and was looking troubled as he picked his ear and shook his head, "He still refuses to go, pretending to have a bad signal."

With nothing else to do, Bai Jintang took the twins to the hospital to find Xu Lie.

......

In the property management building of the residential area where Lin Tian lived, Bai Yutang went to the surveillance room to watch the footage.

He asked the agent when he saw the woman in red.

The agent scratched his head and thought for a long time before saying it was last month, or maybe the month before... was it the beginning or the end of the month?

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were also a bit helpless.

Fortunately, the property management of this community was quite reliable and said they had recordings from the last six months. Bai Yutang agreed to take the footage and returned to the SCI office with the hard drive.

......

When they returned to the SCI office, the team that had been collecting evidence at Lin Tian's villa also arrived. Zhao Hu and Ma Han had just gotten back and were drinking water.

Lin Tian's entire villa had been sealed off, and all the hard drives and machines had been brought back. Just the hard drive cabinets filled two containers. Gongsun brought back the refrigerator and Che Dongming's body, and it was currently thawing it in the forensic room.

Bai Yutang handed the hard drive to Jiang Ping and asked him to find footage from one to two months ago, on a rainy day, showing Lin Tian and a woman in red in the underground garage.

Zhan Zhao, on the other hand, asked the others, "Has anyone heard of the ghost story about the woman in red?"

Everyone looked over.

"What ghost story?" Zhao Hu, a fan of supernatural tales, looked intrigued.

Zhan Zhao explained the story about drawing an umbrella on the window on a rainy day.

Everyone subconsciously glanced at the gloomy, rainy weather outside and looked puzzled – Was this another new game?

Zhan Zhao was puzzled, "Haven't you heard of it? It seems like I've heard it, although  the version I heard was not particularly complete, but it feels familiar."

Everyone scratched their heads.

At this moment, Ma Xin came in to get her milk tea and noticed the strange atmosphere in the office. She asked, "What are you all doing?"

Zhan Zhao asked her, "Have you heard of the legend of the woman in red?"

"The woman in red? Which version?" Ma Xin asked.

Everyone was even more confused, "Are there many versions?"

"Just the one about drawing an umbrella," Zhan Zhao said.

"Oh!" Ma Xin immediately understood, "The one about drawing an umbrella and making a deal, right?"

Everyone nodded.

"These are all campus ghost stories!" Ma Xin said, "Every university usually has a few ghost stories of its own, and they get mixed and passed around. Each class has heard them, but the versions might not be the same!"

"Does the version change over time?" Zhan Zhao was curious, "Not based on the campus?"

Ma Xin waved her hand, "These things spread by word of mouth, especially now with communication and social media being so developed, the location doesn't matter much. The only thing that changes is the content reflecting the era! For example, making a contract used to involve a fax machine, but now it's done via email... because many people in this generation don't even know what a fax machine is."

Everyone thought about it and agreed it made sense.

"Found it."

At this moment, Jiang Ping called everyone over.

Everyone hurried over and stood behind him to watch the surveillance footage.

In the video, sure enough, Lin Tian and a woman entered the elevator together. The woman always stayed a step behind Lin Tian, standing straight with her head slightly lowered, her long hair covering most of her face. After entering the elevator, the woman continued to stand with her back to the elevator door. Jiang Ping switched the video to the interior of the elevator... Lin Tian stood inside, looking up at the changing floor numbers. The woman remained with her head down, back to the elevator door, and back to Lin Tian.

Everyone felt something was off...

The elevator door opened on the sixth floor, and Lin Tian walked out with one hand in his pocket. The woman, however, did not follow and remained standing with her back to the elevator door...

Everyone instantly felt chills.

Zhao Hu couldn't help but ask, "What, did Lin Tian see her?"

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao frowned – Although they seemed to be together, there was no interaction or communication, and the woman was too eerie.

At this moment, the elevator door closed again, and suddenly, the woman raised her head and glanced in the direction of the camera.

The entire SCI team instinctively leaned back slightly... because the woman's eyes, looking over, glowed white like an animal's in the dark...

Instantly, the monitor turned to static.

A few seconds later, the footage resumed, but the elevator was empty, and the floor number had changed from six back to one.

The room was silent after watching the footage until someone suddenly shouted, "Ahhh!"

Everyone was startled and turned around to see Zhao Jue and Bai Ye standing at the door.

Bai Ye, thinking everyone must be hungry after a busy day, had gone downstairs to buy food and was standing at the door with two large bags, with Zhao Jue hanging on his arm.

While shaking Bai Ye, Zhao Jue shouted, "There's a ghost! Haha!"

Bai Ye looked at Zhao Jue helplessly – why are you laughing if there's a ghost?

‿︵‿︵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 14, 2024 by Angel

Edited: December 30, 2024 by Soojin