S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 6 Chapter 11

The Card Murderer 11 – Coincidence

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Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked helplessly at the rather dense Gao Min.

Gao Min glanced back at Mingdi, who was choosing a sandwich at the counter, and whispered to Bai Yutang, "Captain Bai! Isn't he an important suspect? There's definitely something off about him, hurry up and arrest him!"

Zhan Zhao reminded her, "His alibi is more solid than yours."

Gao Min thought for a moment. "Twins?"

Zhan Zhao looked at the sky.

Bai Yutang was starting to feel hungry too. He got up and asked Zhan Zhao what he wanted to eat.

Zhan Zhao said he'd have sandwiches, one with egg and ham.

Bai Yutang went to buy them.

Mingdi had just finished his purchase and brushed past Bai Yutang.

Carrying a tray with both hands, Mingdi nodded in greeting as they passed each other... Bai Yutang glanced down and noticed a band-aid stuck to the webbing between Mingdi's right thumb and index finger.

When Bai Yutang reached the counter, he picked out a few sandwiches.

The cafeteria auntie placed the sandwiches and drinks on his tray, then took something out of a drawer beside the counter and handed it to him.

Bai Yutang took it and saw that it was a band-aid. He looked at the auntie in confusion.

The auntie shook her head helplessly and pointed at his right hand.

Bai Yutang looked down and realised there was a fine line of blood on the webbing between his thumb and index finger. It didn't even hurt. He wiped it with a napkin and saw that it was a very thin cut.

Bai Yutang thought back, it was probably from the experiment earlier, when he used the back of the blade to hook the hammer, the blade must have accidentally nicked him.

Putting the band-aid on, Bai Yutang frowned slightly – It seemed to be in the exact same place as the one on Mingdi's hand... Coincidence?

Returning to his seat with the tray, Bai Yutang handed the sandwich to Zhan Zhao.

Across from them, Mingdi unwrapped a sandwich for Gao Min and handed it to her.

Gao Min continued eating her wontons, ignoring him.

Mingdi set the sandwich down beside her and unwrapped one for himself.

"They're the same."

Just then, as he started eating his sandwich, Zhan Zhao suddenly spoke.

Everyone looked up at him.

Zhan Zhao pointed at the band-aid on Mingdi's hand, then at the one on Bai Yutang's hand... The band-aids weren't the same, but they were stuck in exactly the same place.

Mingdi already had a band-aid on his hand when he entered the hospital earlier, whereas Bai Yutang didn't have one on his hand until he arrived at the cafeteria. Zhan Zhao had already taken note of this detail.

Bai Yutang had gone to buy a sandwich, and when he returned, there was a band-aid on his hand.

Zhan Zhao recalled that earlier, there had been a very thin red line on the webbing between Yutang's thumb and index finger, likely a fine cut.

This injury must have been freshly made.

Bai Yutang went to the crime scene and got injured there... Considering the photos of the corpses that Bai Yutang sent him, and the fact that Bai Yutang seemed to care about the injury on Ming Di's hand after returning, it all adds up.

After pondering for a moment, Zhan Zhao asked Mingdi, "How did you get hurt?"

Mingdi, eating his sandwich, glanced at his hand. "I don't know. I noticed there was blood on my hand at the reception this afternoon, and then I noticed the cut."

Gao Min, munching on her sandwich, found it increasingly suspicious – How could your hand be injured for no reason? You were careless while doing something bad, right? That's why they say the law's net is vast and tight. There must be a trace of your blood at the crime scene, so hurry up and turn yourself in!

Mingdi continued eating while watching Gao Min, when Zhan Zhao suddenly asked him, "Do you have a favourite animal?"

Without thinking, Mingdi blurted out, "Hedgehogs!"

Zhan Zhao then asked Gao Min, "What about you?"

Gao Min rolled her eyes. "Porcupines."

"Cough, cough..." Both Mingdi and Bai Yutang choked at the same time, pounding their chests.

The band-aid on Mingdi's hand was rather unusual, it was a cartoon-style one, and the character on it looked oddly familiar.

Bai Yutang suddenly recalled the amusement park set in the envelope that Uncle Ye had given him earlier, there was a card inside featuring the same design, it looked quite similar.

Zhan Zhao had, of course, noticed this too, so he asked Mingdi, "Did a kid stick it on for you?"

Mingdi glanced at it, smiled, and nodded. "Xiao Youzi did."

"Xiao Youzi?"

Curious, Zhan Zhao turned to Gao Min, who explained, "Lao Chen's daughter. We dressed her up as a pomelo for her birthday... so everyone calls her Xiao Youzi."

Gao Min even took out her phone to find a picture to show Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao noticed that Gao Min's phone case was indeed unique, the panda on it wasn't just face down, it was a full 3D design.

Zhan Zhao reached out and poked her phone.

Gao Min told him to poke the panda's bottom, it was soft and great for stress relief.

Zhan Zhao poked it twice and found the texture quite nice. Curious, he asked, "Doesn't that make it impossible to lay flat?"

"The panda acts as a stand. When I put it down, I place it upside down." As she spoke, Gao Min found the photo and handed it to Zhan Zhao.

Both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang leaned in to have a look. The photo showed a chubby little baby dressed in a full-body pomelo costume, with only a round little face peeking out. The baby looked as if they were about to cry, brows furrowed and lips quivering, utterly adorable.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both nodded in agreement – Adorable!

The child's eyes and eyebrows bore some resemblance to Lao Chen, with the same broad forehead and a rather high hairline.

Since the child was still using cartoon plasters, Zhan Zhao figured they must be quite young. He asked Gao Min, "How old are they now?"

"They'll be four next month," Gao Min replied.

"Did Lao Chen marry quite late?" Zhan Zhao inquired.

Unexpectedly, both Gao Min and Mingdi paused slightly and didn't respond immediately.

Bai Yutang subtly sensed a shift in the atmosphere.

Gao Min glanced around before asking Mingdi, "Where's Lao Chen?"

"He went home earlier," Mingdi answered.

Gao Min nodded, then lowered her voice to explain to Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, "Lao Chen's in his second marriage. He had a wife and a daughter, but they both passed away in a car accident."

Bai Yutang immediately understood why the mood had changed so abruptly...

However, Zhan Zhao had never had a good eye for nuances. Munching on his sandwich, he went on, "What kind of car accident?"

Mingdi glanced at Zhan Zhao and thought, Is he a bit slow? What's there to ask about?

Gao Min, being familiar with Zhan Zhao, knew that whenever he asked a question, it was definitely important, so she explained in detail, "When his wife was picking up their daughter from school, they were crossing the road when a drunk driver ran a red light and hit them. Just like that, both mother and daughter were gone."

"Was the culprit caught?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"They fled the scene but were arrested three days later," Gao Min got angry when talking about this matter. "The whole case was particularly suspicious."

Mingdi, sitting beside her, nodded in agreement.

"Suspicious?" Bai Yutang asked. "Did they catch the wrong person? Or was it not an accident?"

Gao Min muttered, "It's hard to say."

"Hard to say?" Bai Yutang was puzzled.

Mingdi said, "The car involved that hit them was a luxury sports car, but the guy they caught was a broke ex-con who had only just been released from prison. And that car? He paid for it in full just a month before the accident."

Bai Yutang frowned – Why did this setup sound so familiar? A luxury car beyond the buyer's financial means, fully paid off within a month. One was bought only to run someone over, the other was used for a murder and dismemberment. Both cases involved two victims.

"You suspect someone took the fall?"

"The problem is that we can't find anything," Mingdi said irritably. "I found the whole thing suspicious, so I even hired a private investigator to look into it. That private investigator couldn't find anything either and kept recommending crystal fortune-telling. In the end, I threatened to call the police on him, and that's when some real charlatan showed up and saved him."

Bai Yutang found this even more familiar – Some small-time crook peddling crystals and a charlatan.

"Was there also a very cute black cat?" Zhan Zhao asked.

Mingdi froze. "You know Zhima Hu too?" (Angel: Zhima Hu, 芝麻糊, means "black sesame paste," and is often used as a nickname for a black cat.)

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged a helpless look, it was Bao Sir's informant, the slippery little crystal salesman, Chen Feng. As for the so-called charlatan, no doubt it was Chen Feng's childhood friend, classmate, and roommate, the real charlatan, Zhang Yu.

"That charlatan actually seemed to have some skills, he said there really might be something off about the case. He could narrow down a timeframe and told me to look into that suspect's school years." The more Mingdi spoke, the darker his expression became. "The frustrating part is that the guy didn't even make it to court back then, he committed suicide out of guilt and left a letter saying he couldn't face the victim's family, claiming he was atoning for his sins by dying."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang had no recollection of this case, which meant it must have been at least five or six years old.

"When did this happen?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"Ten years ago," Gao Min answered. "I was still in university at the time, I only heard about it later from the editor-in-chief."

"How old were you back then?" Zhan Zhao asked Mingdi.

Mingdi shrugged. "Still in high school, I think."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang thought for a moment. Had Chen Feng already started running scams that early? Zhima Hu is that old? He still looked like a kitten!

Zhan Zhao did some quick mental calculations and gave Mingdi a meaningful look – So you're younger than me?

"Ahem." Mingdi coughed and waved a hand at Zhan Zhao. "I didn't hire the charlatan to investigate back when the case first happened, it was earlier this year."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were both momentarily stunned.

Bai Yutang glanced at Zhan Zhao – This kid's words are so incoherent.

Zhan Zhao, however, found it understandable – Judging by his novels, Mingdi isn't particularly strong in logic, but he is certainly skilled at romance.

Bai Yutang looked at Mingdi and Gao Min again, wondering... Could this really work? They didn't seem like they belonged in the same universe.

"It's been so long," Gao Min muttered. "If you're going to investigate, be careful not to upset Lao Chen."

Mingdi chuckled and glanced at Gao Min. "I heard you've been making trips to the police archive occasionally. You've been helping Lao Chen investigate, haven't you?"

Gao Min shot him a glare – Who's talking to you, you suspect?!

Zhan Zhao, however, was a little surprised. Thinking back, he had first met Gao Min in the police archive. Aside from being an editor, Gao Min also had a journalist's licence and ran a crime investigation column, so she frequently visited the police department's archive room. She would occasionally consult him on certain issues. Now that he connected the dots... it turned out she had been secretly investigating this case all along?

"I didn't know about that incident with Old Chen, I only heard about it from Yuancheng." Mingdi said, "Since Lao Chen has a happy family now, I thought he'd moved on. But one day, I saw an entire cabinet of files in his office, all about one person, the suspect who committed suicide. Later, I was out drinking with a friend who mentioned a rather reliable charlatan, so I took down the address and went looking for him. That's when I first ran into Chen Feng, who introduced himself as a private investigator... Then I met the charlatan, Zhang Yu."

"Did you find anything?" Zhan Zhao asked curiously.

Mingdi shook his head. "I've hired a few more investigators, but none of them have found any clues."

Gao Min continued grumbling beside him, "If it were that easy, we'd have solved it ages ago."

Mingdi smiled and asked if she wanted a drink.

Just then, Bai Yutang spoke up, "Do you want us to help investigate?"

As soon as Bai Yutang said that, Gao Min and Mingdi both snapped their heads up at the same time – Seriously?!

Seeing how their expressions were perfectly in sync, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang realised maybe their styles weren't so different after all...

Bai Yutang nodded.

Zhan Zhao took out his phone and sent a message to Mia.

Since both the suspect and Lao Chen's wife and daughter were deceased, searching for information on the deceased through Karlin's death archive might be the fastest route.

Sure enough, not long after he sent the message, Mia replied, saying she had found some information.

‿︵‿︵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: March 14, 2025 by Angel

Edited: May 11, 2025 by Soojin