S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 5 Chapter 207

The Intelligent Killer 12 – Debate

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"Xu Lie has returned to S University."

Before Xu Lie even arrived at the school, this news had already spread on social media.

As expected, many people were unaware that Xu Lie had excelled academically during his time at university. Naturally, S University wouldn't miss such a good publicity opportunity, and the campus network started circulating Xu Lie's drawings from back then, along with videos of him participating in various activities during his school years.

By the time the twins drove to S University, they found a large crowd already waiting.

Fortunately, Xu Lie was in Big Brother Bai's car, which diverted the crowd as soon as it entered the campus.

SCI's cars arrived almost simultaneously, taking advantage of the chaos to sneak into the school.

Luckily, it was raining today, and with the end of the term approaching, most students were busy preparing for exams or working on papers. However, a lot of people still came out to watch... and most of them were girls.

As soon as Xu Lie got out of the car, the crowd was in an uproar.

Chen Mi also came along and looked seriously into the crowd... On a rainy day, most people carried umbrellas, but there weren't many red umbrellas.

The twins also wanted to see if anyone was wearing a red dress, but since the temperature had dropped significantly, quite a few people were in red down jackets, but no one was in dresses.

Xu Lie waved to the crowd before following the staff into the office building.

Most of the crowd dispersed, but some media were waiting in the lobby of the office building, along with some students, who gathered downstairs under their umbrellas.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang also arrived, leisurely walking through the campus with umbrellas. Zhao Jue refused to hold an umbrella and sheltered under Bai Ye's umbrella while tapping away on his phone, communicating with someone.

Zhan Zhao was quite familiar with S University and led Bai Yutang around the crowd to enter from the back of the office building.

Bai Yutang and Bai Ye scanned the onlookers but found nothing unusual—at least no one in a red dress or umbrella.

Inside the office building, the principal, Bai Jintang, and Xu Lie exchanged pleasantries. To make Xu Lie feel more at home, the teachers present were all people he knew, including a few former classmates.

Xu Lie noticed that Four Eyes was not there and asked a classmate, "Where's Four Eyes? I heard he stayed at the university to teach?"

Several classmates confirmed he was still at the university.

"We contacted him when we heard you were coming."

"Yeah, he said he would come."

"Why isn't he here yet? Let's call him."

Someone called Four Eyes, but the phone rang for a long time without being answered.

Seeing the good atmosphere, the principal suggested, "Maybe he has a class. Shall we visit the laboratory building? There are many interviews to be done later, so let's bring the reporters along too..."

Everyone continued with the planned itinerary. Xu Lie nodded but remained a bit concerned.

Chen Mi looked at the twins.

Xiao Ding had already messaged Zhan Zhao, informing him that Four Eyes hadn't shown up and that his phone couldn't be reached.

"Could he be in class?" Bai Yutang asked.

Zhan Zhao thought it was possible since this was a typical class time.

At this moment, Zhao Hu and Ma Han arrived. They had entered the campus through another gate. Hu Zi mentioned that they were scouting the university for Luo Yang and Xiao Yi.

Ma Han sighed, thinking it was too early to scout universities for kids who hadn't even finished primary school...

After meeting up, they discussed where to find Four Eyes.

S University was vast with multiple campuses, making it quite challenging to locate someone.

Four Eye's real name was Sun Jian, so Zhan Zhao called Jiang Ping for assistance. Jiang Ping checked S University's timetable and found that the department of mechanical engineering indeed had a teacher named Sun Jian, but he had no classes at that time.

Jiang Ping sent Sun Jian's dormitory address to Zhan Zhao, and everyone headed to the dormitory to find him.

There were two types of dormitories for university teachers: off-campus residences similar to residential communities where many married teachers lived with their families, which could also be bought, and on-campus dormitories mostly occupied by single teachers for convenience, which were older and similar to student dormitories but consisted of single rooms.

Sun Jian lived on campus. He was the same age as Xu Lie, still young, and unmarried.

Jiang Ping found his resume, which showed that Sun Jian had excelled in his studies, won numerous awards, and was a very successful teacher, making him a promising young man.

Zhao Hu also reviewed the resume of Fatty who had passed away unexpectedly. He had also performed well academically, established his own construction company after graduation, completed numerous projects, and was successful in his career.

In addition to the well-off A'Gui, Hu Zi was puzzled and asked Ma Han, "Why did they all target Xu Lie during their school days? It can't be jealousy since they were all quite well off themselves. Why did they bother?"

Ma Han shrugged, saying it was a matter of psychology.

Zhao Hu then looked at Zhao Jue and Zhan Zhao.

Zhao Jue said, "To be precise, it wasn't the three of them targeting Xu Lie, rather, it was A'Gui who disliked Xu Lie, and the other two, Fatty and Four Eyes, disliked both A'Gui and Xu Lie."

Zhao Hu looked at Zhao Jue – So could you analyse this for me, why exactly?

Zhan Zhao said, "If it weren't for the female ghost in red providing the contract, they might have made peace together until graduation, and even become good friends later."

Zhao Hu looked sceptical, "Only Xu Lie would consider them as friends, the three of them clearly didn't."

"It's not impossible," Ma Han thought there might be other possibilities.

Zhan Zhao said, "Their malice towards Xu Lie might have been momentary. For example, they didn't solve an analytical problem but rather answered a multiple-choice question."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Jue let out a scoff.

Zhan Zhao turned to look at him, "Do you have an objection?"

Zhao Jue spread his hands, indicating he didn't, but his expression was somewhat disdainful.

Zhao Hu and Ma Han looked at Zhan Zhao, urging him to analyse further.

Zhan Zhao said, "It's like a diary."

Zhao Hu rubbed his chin, "A diary? Who in their right mind writes a diary?"

Ma Han nodded.

Zhan Zhao shook his head helplessly, "Someone might write down all their evil thoughts in a diary. Some people even vent their malice towards their closest friends or relatives in their diary, but once written, it's usually over, people typically won't act on this malice. People can't accumulate malice for too long without venting it. If it's suppressed for a long time, it might reach a critical point and eventually explode. Hence, having healthy outlets for venting is important. A diary is a good outlet, as is talking to someone. Any method of venting negative emotions that doesn't harm others is responsible, both to yourself and others. However, the contract provided by the so-called female ghost is like a superpower wielder asking you to choose whether you want the hate you vented in your diary to come true. In real life, realising this hate would require immense effort and come with great costs. After considering the difficulty and cost, many would choose to abandon their malicious plans. But if someone can lower the difficulty and cost of doing evil, then the choice between good and evil might be as casual as deciding what to have for lunch, based on one's mood."

Zhao Hu and Ma Han both nodded. Everyone understood the reasoning, but it still didn't explain the unfounded hatred towards Xu Lie...

Zhao Jue's lips twitched again as he scoffed once more.

Zhan Zhao turned to look at him – Do you have something to say?

Zhao Jue said, "People are hypocritical. Essentially, they were jealous. A'Gui was jealous of Xu Lie's popularity with women, while Four Eyes and Fatty were jealous of both A'Gui and Xu Lie. Besides women, it could have been about looks, financial status, or other factors. Whether it was Four Eyes, Fatty, or A'Gui, they all secretly hoped that Xu Lie, who was better than them, would suffer. But doing it themselves was too much effort and involved risks. If the female ghost could handle it, why not? Essentially, they were both malicious and cowardly!"

Zhao Hu and Ma Han nodded – Oh... they were indeed both malicious and cowardly.

Zhan Zhao looked at Zhao Jue.

Zhao Jue then smiled, "Are trying to say the female ghost provided an option, tempting them to magnify their malice, so the female ghost was the evil one, and the two idiots were victims even as they committed evil?"

"Indeed," Zhan Zhao said, "Humans are emotional beings, and many can't resist temptation. This is about exploiting human weaknesses to induce crime."

"Humans are also complex. If those two idiots harming A'Gui was due to temptation, why did they still want to harm Xu Lie after seeing Agui's fate? The first time was induced, but was the second time also induced?"

"So, it's a matter of the cost of committing the crime."

"Those two were just pure villains."

"And what about A'Gui?"

"He brought it on himself."

"His crime didn't warrant death!"

"If you believe malice can be stopped, you'll only be disappointed in the end."

"As a psychology expert, all you can say is that the victims were also malicious and cowardly?!"

"Victims, my foot!"

"Why are you being unreasonable!"

Bai Yutang and Bai Ye silently stepped aside.

Zhao Hu and Ma Han moved under their umbrellas and asked in a low voice, "Are those two arguing?"

Bai Yutang and Bai Ye both shook their heads, "It's more of an... academic discussion?"

Zhao Hu and Ma Han raised their eyebrows, "That intense? It looks like two cats fighting..."

"Should we stop them?" Zhao Hu glanced around. Passers-by were curiously watching Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue, the two handsome men arguing intensely.

Bai Yutang and Bai Ye looked at Zhao Hu – You go! Weren't you the one who started this?

Zhao Hu hid behind Ma Han – No way! It looks dangerous!

Ma Han asked, "So what exactly are they arguing about?"

Bai Ye glanced at Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang thought for a moment, "It's... whether to punish people or save them... or something like that, right?"

As Bai Yutang spoke, he looked at Bai Ye.

Bai Ye smiled and exchanged a glance with Bai Yutang. Clearly, they had experience summarising the debates of these two theoretical monsters over the years.

Ma Han looked at Zhao Hu – Look at you, couldn't you ask something better?

Zhao Hu scratched his head – What did I ask?

Bai Yutang suddenly became very interested and asked Bai Ye, "What do you think?"

"Hmm?" Bai Ye looked at Bai Yutang.

"Punish or save?" Bai Yutang asked.

Bai Ye smiled, "It's an unanswerable choice."

Bai Yutang waited for Bai Ye's answer.

Bai Ye said, "For some people, you'll regret not saving them when you punish them. For others, you'll regret not punishing them directly when you save them."

"Oh..." Ma Han and Zhao Hu clapped. Uncle Ye clearly had years of summarising experience too!

"You guys."

At this moment, a voice came from behind.

Bai Ye and Bai Yutang turned around and saw Eleven and Issel also approaching, walking right behind them.

The four of them turned back, and immediately, the atmosphere around them seemed a bit off.

There weren't many people on the road, as it was class time, and this area had few students.

However, people were now running past them, and the crowd was making some subtle noises, carrying a sense of unease.

Eleven, without an umbrella, nodded ahead, "If you guys just look up..."

Bai Yutang and the others raised their umbrellas and looked ahead... In front of them, Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue had stopped arguing and were also looking ahead.

They saw a large crowd gathered in front of the teachers' dormitory, covering their mouths and looking up.

Hanging outside a second-floor window of the dormitory was a person... a young man wearing a sweater, with a pair of glasses askew on his face, his eyes wide open, and a rope around his neck, hanging from the second-floor window. Judging by his deformed neck and wide-open eyes, the man was already dead.

"Fuck!" Zhao Hu suddenly shouted, pointing ahead...

But he wasn't pointing at the corpse hanging outside the dormitory. Instead, he was pointing at a red figure standing in the window on the second floor.

‿︵‿︵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 17, 2024 by Angel

Edited: December 30, 2024 by Soojin