S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 5 Chapter 206

The Intelligent Killer 11 – Truth

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Xu Lie talked about his experiences during university.

Bai Jintang and Chen Mi listened all the way through, and the situation was indeed very strange... But given everyone's understanding of Xu Lie, not to mention playing tricks, even if it were a real ghost, it wouldn't scare him enough to make him never dare return to school. So what exactly was Xu Lie avoiding?

"So what was the truth?" The twins rarely asked so seriously.

Xu Lie smiled, "After A'Gui was sent to the mental hospital, things gradually calmed down. Shortly after, I caught a cold and took a leave of absence from classes. Before Four Eyes and Fatty went out, they turned the dormitory heater on for me so I could sleep well. At that time, I was lying in bed staring out the window... Then, because of the heat from the heater, a layer of fog formed on the window... and an umbrella appeared."

Bai Jintang and Chen Mi looked at each other, both feeling something was off.

"At that time, I looked at that umbrella and thought, it must have been drawn by those girls to scare A'Gui... But then I thought, that's not right, we're on the second floor, how could they draw an umbrella outside?" Xu Lie shook his head. "At that moment, I got up and reached out to wipe the window... and the umbrella disappeared with the moisture."

Chen Mi frowned, "The umbrella was drawn inside the window?"

Xu Lie nodded, "Girls can't enter the boys' dormitory, and our room was the innermost one on the floor. If a girl came over, she would have to pass by several boys' dormitory doors. If that really happened, the whole school will know about it the next morning."

"So you suspected that Four Eyes or Fatty drew the umbrella?" Bai Jintang asked him.

"I also thought about it, maybe it was A'Gui himself... but sometimes, when you fear something, it comes... I unconsciously started to observe those two." Xu Lie frowned and said, "Later, I found out that one of A'Gui's ex-girlfriends was a girl Four Eyes had a crush on since high school."

"So it was Four Eyes?" Xiao Ding asked.

"But Four Eyes is left-handed." Xu Lie said, "The hook of the umbrella handle on the window was curved to the left, which is the direction right-handed people would naturally draw..."

The twins both made a gesture with their hands and felt comfortable either way, but if they used their right hand to draw, they would also hook to the left.

"I couldn't figure it out, so I came up with a plan." Xu Lie said, "At that time, my current agent was pestering me, and I was ignoring him. I called him and said I could sign with his agency, acting and singing were not a problem, but he had to do me a favour."

Everyone sensed that the main event was coming.

"I checked the weather forecast, and it said it would rain at night three days later. I asked my agent if he could get me a red-clothed female ghost with an umbrella on the rainy night three days later, who could be seen through my dormitory window."

The twins shook their heads – It's not easy being an agent...

"As a result, he really managed it. First, he found an actress, did her makeup, and filmed a video. Then he found a friend who specialised in stage lighting design and pulled together a team. They rented a room opposite our dormitory and set it up for three days. That night, after lights out, the female ghost 'appeared'."

Recalling that night, Xu Lie didn't forget to praise the stage lighting crew, they were really impressive!

"The appearance of the female ghost timed perfectly with the lightning, even I was startled. But Fatty and Four Eyes didn't react at all. At that time, I felt something was wrong because, based on what I knew about them, Fatty was the most cowardly and would definitely scream. Four Eyes was also a loudmouth, so there was no reason they wouldn't react at all..."

Xu Lie was puzzled but couldn't ask, so he pretended to sleep.

At the same time, according to Xu Lie's instructions, his agent sent an email to both Fatty and Four Eyes, with one sentence – It's time to fulfil the contract.

After a while, Xu Lie's agent sent him two screenshots of the email replies.

Everyone was curious, "Two screenshots?"

"Mhmm." Xu Lie was silent for a while and then said, "Both replied with almost the same content, 'The contract is only half fulfilled, Xu Lie is still here, he hasn't been driven out of school.'"

Everyone was stunned.

When they understood what it meant, the twins couldn't help themselves.

"Wow!"

"Does that mean those two made a contract with the female ghost together?"

"Not only to torment A'Gui but also to get rid of you?"

"What's wrong with them, what grudge do they have?"

Chen Mi also frowned, seeming a bit angry, and asked him, "What happened afterwards?"

Xu Lie looked at him, "Afterwards?"

"Yes!" Chen Mi nodded, "What happened to those two?"

Xu Lie thought for a moment, "Uh... I ran off with my agent, and before long, I became famous..."

The twins were furious, "You didn't deal with those two bastards? Since when has Xu Lie been so easy to bully!"

"Not exactly." Xu Lie waved his hand and continued, "Later, I went to see A'Gui again... At that time, his mental state had improved a bit, and he was much better. I saw he was in good spirits and hesitated about whether to tell him everything, thinking I should ask the doctor's opinion first... But who would have thought A'Gui would speak first, saying he wanted to ask me something."

The twins were curious, "Did he already know?"

Xu Lie seemed reluctant to speak, puffing up his cheeks before finally letting out a breath and saying, "He asked if I had found out."

Everyone stared at Xu Lie – Really? They could seek revenge together!

"He told me he was sorry." Xu Lie slumped in his chair, stretching out his long legs and looking dejected, "He said at first, he thought it would be fun to write that agreement, and he didn't expect it to be taken seriously."

Everyone felt something was off. What's going on? Did A'Gui also sign the contract?

Xu Lie said, "I also found it strange at the time, so I asked him 'Why did you do it?'"

Bai Jintang and Chen Mi nodded, this was the best way to get him to continue talking.

"Ai..." Xu Lie looked like Dunbu when he was down, his tone full of grievance. "He said this because he found me annoying from the start. He also said many girls approached him not to date him but to ask about me."

"Oh?" The twins rubbed their chins, this new direction of development...

Xu Lie glanced at Chen Mi.

Chen Mi seemed to understand, raising an eyebrow slightly and reaching out to scratch Xu Lie's chin.

The twins tilted their heads – Isn't this a basic move to tease a cat or dog...

Xu Lie immediately perked up, scratching his head before continuing, "A'Gui told me the whole truth. In the beginning, he learned about a website from a girl that claimed one could make a contract with the red umbrella woman to get rid of someone they didn't like, but it required a price. A'Gui tried it out and jokingly wrote his request, which was to make me unlucky, hoping to get me expelled from school."

The twins frowned – Damn, what a nutcase!

"After sending the email, he quickly received a reply stating that the contract was unsuccessful because he had already been signed into a contract and was under a death curse." Xu Lie seemed to find it amusing, "And then, coincidentally, his ex-girlfriend started messing with him... so he believed it. He continued to send emails asking for more information and received a response that the only way to lift the curse was to survive a suicide attempt within a specified time. Looking back now, the library wasn't high, and there were several low buildings and canopies below, so jumping probably wouldn't have killed him..."

Everyone held their heads – It turned out they were all scumbags...

"After that, I stopped caring about them, feeling it was pointless. It was a shame I considered them brothers at first." Xu Lie shrugged, "I moved out of the dormitory and applied for off-campus living. It just so happened that at that time, my competition results were good, and the school agreed to let me commute for training convenience. Later, my agent arranged some gigs for me, so I was busy with work and studies, and now, here I am."

The twins pouted, "Those three little bastards got off easy."

Big Brother Bai thought for a moment, "Not necessarily."

Chen Mi nodded, "Their contracts mostly aimed to get you out of school... You did leave, not staying with them anymore."

Big Brother Bai clearly had the same thought, "So, the ghost fulfilled their contracts, and now it's time for them to pay their debts..."

Xu Lie frowned and asked, "So, A'Gui's allergy... was that because of the contract too?"

"Maybe the ghost asked him to do something he didn't complete?" Bai Jintang was curious, "What about Four Eyes and Fatty? Do you know how they're doing now?"

Xu Lie replied, "A few years ago, I ran into a screenwriter who was a former classmate of mine. During our chat, I learned that Four Eyes stayed at the school to become a teacher, and Fatty went into engineering... but I didn't delve into the details."

"That's easy." Xiao Ding pulled out his phone to call Jiang Ping for assistance.

Jiang Ping was overwhelmed with checking hundreds of car dashcam records.

Zhan Zhao answered the phone and asked the twins what they needed.

The twins wanted to ask Jiang Ping to help investigate some gossip.

Zhan Zhao replied they were too busy, trying to catch a ghost!

Xiao Ding froze and asked, "Catching a ghost? A ghost dressed in red with an umbrella?"

Now it was Zhan Zhao's turn to freeze, "How do you know?"

After both sides exchanged information, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other – What a coincidence!

Jiang Ping immediately checked the situation of Xu Lie's former classmates and found that two out of the three were already dead. Besides A'Gui, who died from a peanut allergy after being discharged, the once-fat Fatty (no longer fat in the photo) died in an accident at a construction site, crushed by a falling I-beam. The only one left was Four-Eyes, who was still teaching at the school...

Zhan Zhao enthusiastically said, "Are you going to S University? I taught there, let's go together!"

The twins looked at Xu Lie.

Xu Lie wrapped his arms around the chair with an annoyed look on his face – Tsk.

Zhan Zhao ignored this and arranged to meet the twins at the school gate.

Zhao Jue mentioned he had contacts at S University and decided to join, dragging Bai Ye along to hitch a ride with Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang.

......

The car left the police station amidst lightning, thunder, and heavy rain.

"This weather..." Zhan Zhao watched the rain cascade down the car window like a waterfall, "The atmosphere is perfect."

"Atmosphere?" Bai Yutang asked, driving slowly due to the bad weather and the increased traffic.

Zhao Jue understood exactly what Zhan Zhao meant by "atmosphere".

"Two of the three are already gone. With today's weather, the ghost in red might come for Four Eyes' life... Coincidentally, today is another day of calamity gathering."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang silently thought – Right, with Brother and Xu Lie both attending...

"And that ghost seems to love making a scene." Zhan Zhao considered calling for more backup.

Bai Yutang suggested, "Call Zhao Zhen! And that other psychic."

Zhan Zhao nodded, "Also, bring Uncle Chopsticks and Issel, we can't catch a ghost without them!"

"Speaking of catching ghosts..." Zhao Jue suddenly remembered, "The ghost in red is quite famous, maybe Hou Yingqi has investigated it?"

"Ah!" Zhan Zhao remembered, "She did a show investigating campus horror stories."

Zhao Jue decided to invite her too.

Thus, on that rainy afternoon, the summoned SCI ghost-catching task force began converging on S University from all directions.

‿︵‿︵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 16, 2024 by Angel

Edited: December 30, 2024 by Soojin