S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 5 Chapter 229

The Intelligent Killer 34 – Abnormal

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Bai Yutang drove to the residential area where Jiang Ping had tracked down Chen Youfu. Just as they arrived, they saw a bus stopping at the platform ahead, with a few passengers leaving.

Qin Ou pointed at a middle-aged man wearing a black hoodie and carrying a shoulder bag and asked, "Is that him?"

Luo Tian also thought that this was the man they had seen in the video earlier.

Bai Yutang glanced at Bai Ye.

Bai Ye was holding a tablet with a photo of Chen Youfu, comparing it with the person walking into the residential area ahead, seeming a bit uncertain.

Bai Yutang didn't worry too much and parked the car at the entrance of the residential area.

The group got out of the car and walked in together.

The residential area was not large, but it had a lot of greenery and many winding paths.

They could see Chen Youfu walking not far ahead. Luo Tian and Qin Ou looked at Bai Yutang – Should we go up and stop him?

Bai Yutang had considered all possibilities on his way here, especially since Chen Youfu had exaggerated the situation, so he was prepared for the possibility of assassins being ambushed along the way... However, looking at this very ordinary residential area, the atmosphere felt off.

Nodding to Luo Tian and Qin Ou, Bai Yutang watched as the two sped up and moved towards the flower bed on the side, chasing after Chen Youfu.

Beside Bai Yutang, Bai Ye was looking around... He was searching for surveillance cameras.

Logically, if the legendary AI were monitoring the customer service representative full-time, the area should be filled with cameras... But after a thorough search, there weren't many, it was about the same as a regular residential area.

Bai Yutang frowned, somewhat uncertain if they had found the right person.

Seeing Bai Yutang looking at him continuously, Bai Ye couldn't help but smile and asked, "What is it?"

Bai Yutang pointed at Chen Youfu ahead, "Is it him?"

Bai Ye shook his head, "Not sure."

Bai Yutang didn't quite believe it – You've clearly eaten at least twenty years more salt than me, and you can't tell? Aren't you supposed to be the strongest?

Bai Ye laughed – I eat light.

Bai Yutang looked up at the sky – You have a sense of humour that doesn't match our Bai family.

At this moment, Luo Tian and Qin Ou had almost caught up with Chen Youfu. Just as they ran out of the flower bed, a car suddenly came out of nowhere.

Luo Tian pulled Qin Ou aside, while Bai Yutang and Bai Ye also watched the sudden appearance of the car.

But after the car appeared, it headed towards the entrance of the residential area, and since Luo Tian and Qin Ou had randomly chosen their route to chase Chen Youfu... it shouldn't have been an ambush, right?

But after the car passed, Luo Tian and Qin Ou couldn't find Chen Youfu.

Ahead were two turns, one side open and the other obscured by trees, with an apartment building nearby. In such a short time, Chen Youfu had disappeared, he either took the tree-lined path or entered that building.

Bai Yutang remembered the address Jiang Ping had given, and it didn't seem to be that building...

But when they reached the front, there was no sign of him on the tree-lined path either.

As they were wondering where he had gone, Bai Ye suddenly signalled to everyone, "Shh."

Bai Yutang stood still, and Luo Tian and Qin Ou also listened closely. Was there a sound?

Bai Ye and Bai Yutang suddenly looked towards the apartment building in front of them, exchanged a glance, and quickly rushed to the entrance, entering the stairwell and running to the basement.

Luo Tian and Qin Ou, although not sure what was happening, quickly followed.

Pushing open the security door and running downstairs, they heard unusual noises...

......

In the Bai Group's grand theatre, the sudden turn of events left everyone a bit bewildered.

However, after examining the environmental factors, Zhan Zhao provided an answer, "the number of people," which left everyone around puzzled...

Of course, this did not include Zhao Jue.

Zhan Zhao glanced at Zhao Jue's expression, guessing that he had noticed the problem as soon as he entered but chose not to say anything!

While these two were playing their game, the others were still in the dark.

Zhao Hu poked Zhan Zhao on the shoulder as if asking – Where is the murderer?

Zhan Zhao hooked his finger at him and Zhao Hu leaned in.

Ma Han felt a little puzzled – Zhan Zhao's gesture to call Zhao Hu was increasingly resembling Zhao Jue's.

Zhan Zhao whispered a few words to Zhao Hu, who blinked and glanced at Issel and Eleven.

He then nodded, "Makes sense..."

Zhan Zhao gestured towards the door.

Zhao Hu then pulled Ma Han and left.

Zhan Zhao signalled the curious others, "Continue rehearsing."

Xu Lie frowned as he looked at him – Really? It's over just like that? What about the ghost?

Zhan Zhao nodded at him.

Xu Lie seemed like he wanted to say something, but someone pulled him back.

Turning around, Xu Lie saw it was Chen Mi.

With Xu Lie's temperament, he wouldn't listen to anyone, but at critical moments, Chen Mi's words worked.

Chen Mi was relatively calm. Since Zhan Zhao asked them to continue rehearsing, there must be a reason.

Xu Lie, calming down within three seconds, said nothing further and followed Chen Mi down the steps, returning to the stage to continue the rehearsal.

Their agents and assistants looked at Chen Mi as if he were a lifesaver, and the twins breathed a sigh of relief.

After removing the USB drive from the control room and restoring the system to normal, the stage's set returned to normal, and the ghostly figure of the woman in red vanished.

Zhao Zhen sat on the edge of the stage, talking to Bai Jintang, who stood nearby.

Lisbon crouched next to Bai Jintang, seemingly tired, yawning and shaking its mane.

Zhao Zhen occasionally glanced at Lisbon and then looked at the control room behind, seemingly contemplating something.

Big Brother Bai casually checked the time and reminded Zhao Zhen, "Don't make it too obvious; it wouldn't be good to be discovered."

Zhao Zhen smiled slightly and bent down to extend his hand, prompting Lisbon to immediately nudge its big head forward.

As he petted its ears, Zhao Zhen shook his head, "Sure enough, they're all old foxes."

......

At the entrance, just after sending the sound engineer onto the ambulance, Ma Han and Zhao Hu handcuffed the two paramedics as soon as they got out.

Opening the ambulance door... the sound engineer, who should have been lying unconscious and barely alive, was actually sitting up, wiping the blood off his head with a towel. When he looked up and saw Zhao Hu smiling at him from the doorway, his face instantly turned pale.

"I knew it wasn't a serious injury," Zhao Hu said as he got into the ambulance, sitting next to the sound engineer and tilting his head to look at the "bloody mess" at the back of his head.

Just now, Zhan Zhao had told him that there was something off with both the paramedics and the sound engineer. The sound engineer's injuries were fake, and the paramedics were impostors.

The reasoning was simple: to stage an attack without alerting Issel and Eleven, fooling Zhao Zhen on stage, and evading the fox-like twins, not to mention Lisbon, whose hearing and sense of smell were far superior to humans, was impossible. So, the only possibility left was that the culprit had been in the control room all along and never left... Thus, the assailant and the victim were the same person, and the sound engineer's injuries were fake.

Gongsun had also exchanged a glance with Zhan Zhao just now – They both noticed something off about the injured person, but the paramedics were in a hurry to take the person away, indicating they were fake too.

Outside the theatre, the sound engineer caught red-handed, begged for mercy, saying he wasn't a bad person but was threatened into it.

Zhao Hu glanced at Ma Han by the car door.

Ma Han pressed an earpiece while looking at him. "Boss and the others aren't answering."

Zhao Hu frowned – He wondered what was happening with the customer service team... If they had arranged a diversion, there should have been an ambush on that side.

......

Meanwhile, Bai Yutang and Bai Ye were leading Luo Tian and Qin Ou down the stairs of the apartment building.

As soon as they entered the basement, they heard whimpering.

The first basement level of the apartment building was a storage area. The corridor was narrow and intricate, with a series of metal doors leading to each family's storage room. 

Because it was underground, there was an echo, and the complex corridor structure made it difficult to determine the direction of the sound.

However, it was clear that the noise was the sound of someone struggling and gasping for breath, indicating that Chen Youfu was in a critical situation.

As they descended the stairs, they faced two paths. Bai Yutang and Bai Ye both looked at the ground... There were noticeable drag marks on the left path.

The four quickly ran down the left corridor.

As they advanced, the sounds became clearer, but the lights grew dimmer.

It was unclear if the property management was negligent, but in the long corridor, some lights were working while others were not.

The area where the sounds were coming from was completely dark, and by this point, the sounds had grown faint.

Luo Tian and Qin Ou stopped, while Bai Yutang and Bai Ye ran into the dark corner.

Almost simultaneously, a person was pushed out of the darkness, clutching his neck and gasping for air, with a belt-like object slipping off his shoulder.

Seeing that it was Chen Youfu, Luo Tian and Qin Ou moved to support him.

But he suddenly shoved them away, scrambling and rolling towards the exit as if panicked.

"Hey!"

Luo Tian and Qin Ou, confused, quickly chased after him.

Behind them, Bai Yutang also emerged, with Bai Ye dragging an unconscious man out of the darkness.

"Why is he running?!" Bai Yutang was puzzled.

When they rushed into the dark corridor just now, they saw a man strangling Chen Youfu with a belt. Chen Youfu had been clutching at the belt with both hands, kicking desperately.

Bai Yutang guessed that the car they saw earlier had indeed coordinated with this attacker. When the car blocked their view for a moment, the man seized Chen Youfu from behind and dragged him into the dark basement.

But the problem was, Bai Yutang and Bai Ye had already saved him, and Chen Youfu had just been on a video call with them, so he should have recognised them... Why was he running?

Frowning, Bai Yutang chased after him, while Bai Ye, dragging the unconscious assailant, also followed... But Bai Ye moved slowly, stopping halfway down the long corridor.

Turning his face, he glanced at a closed storage room door. Bai Ye seemed to count the time, shook his head, and then walked a few more steps, stopping at another door, and staring at it.

Bai Yutang, reaching the staircase, noticed Bai Ye hadn't caught up and glanced back...

In the dim corridor light, Bai Ye, holding a person in one hand, reached out with the other as if to open one of the storage room doors.

But his hand stopped mid-air as a vibration echoed through the corridor.

Bai Ye expressionlessly took out his phone and answered.

It was unclear what was said on the other end, but Bai Ye said nothing, hung up, and looked up.

Bai Yutang stood at the staircase, watching Bai Ye stare at the door, feeling momentarily distracted...

Everyone who saw the two of them for the first time thought they looked very much alike.

Even Bai Yutang himself thought they looked so much alike that sometimes when walking past a large glass window, he would mistake each other's reflection.

However... in the dark corridor, the look in Bai Ye's eyes as he stared at the door made Bai Yutang instantly recall something Zhao Jue had said before: "What's the difference between a little tiger and a big tiger? When you see a little tiger, you only find it cute; when you see a big tiger, your fear doesn't come from perception, but from instinct."

At that moment, Bai Yutang understood why Zhao Jue always called him a little tiger...

After glancing at the door, Bai Ye turned his head and saw Bai Yutang standing against the light at the staircase, staring at him.

Seemingly losing interest in the door, Bai Ye dragged the unconscious person forward and asked Bai Yutang, "Aren't you going after him?"

Bai Yutang snapped out of his thoughts, feeling inexplicably embarrassed and a little unconvinced, then turned and ran upstairs to chase after the fleeing Chen Youfu.

Watching Bai Yutang run up the stairs into the light, Bai Ye smiled slightly, pretending not to notice the security camera in the dark corner.

‿︵‿︵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: August 14, 2024 by Angel

Edited: December 30, 2024 by Soojin