S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 6 Chapter 8

The Card Murderer 08 – Perfect Process

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Bai Yutang arrived at another campground – White Sand Campground.

The previous crime scene, the Sparrow Tunnel Campground, was a mountainous camping area, whereas White Sand Campground was a seaside site.

Seaside campgrounds were generally more popular in the summer, but during autumn and winter, the coastal winds could be strong and it was quite cold. As a result, this campground was currently closed.

However, in a large nature park not far from the shoreline, there were still some campers' tents and vehicles.

By the time Bai Yutang arrived, Zhao Hu and Ma Han had already gotten there.

A large RV was parked at the park's exit, cordoned off with long strips of police tape.

Just as Bai Yutang pulled up, the forensic team's vehicle also arrived.

Gongsun's forensic team was still over at the Sparrow Tunnel, so they had asked Lao Yang to come and have a look at this scene first.

Forensic Doctor Yang greeted Bai Yutang.

Zhao Hu ran over and waved at them.

"Have you found the driver?" Bai Yutang asked.

Zhao Hu's expression was slightly peculiar as he nodded.

Noting his expression, Bai Yutang asked, "Dead?"

"Dead, yes, but the situation is not quite as we imagined," Zhao Hu gestured for Bai Yutang to see for himself.

The RV was parked in a designated space at the park exit, with a noticeable scratch along its side, likely from colliding with the taxi earlier.

This type of RV had an open connection between the driver's cabin and the living quarters, with doors at both the front and rear allowing entry.

No one was inside, but the interior lights were on.

One of the side doors was ajar, and Ma Han was standing at the entrance.

As Bai Yutang approached, the first thing he saw was the bloodstains on the floor.

The side door of the RV was quite narrow, allowing only one person through at a time. Directly opposite was the bathroom door, with one path leading to the driver's cabin and the other to the living area. The field of view was limited, requiring someone to step inside and turn to see the rest of the vehicle.

Yet, just in the entrance alone, the floor was covered in blood, with splatters streaked across the walls.

Bai Yutang frowned.

Lao Yang put on his glasses and forensic gear as he spoke. "Gongsun told me earlier that this vehicle might be a crime scene. Looks like that's true. How many people died in here? Why does it look like a slaughterhouse."

Bai Yutang couldn't say for certain and told the forensic team and crime scene investigators to get in the vehicle first.

Since the space inside was too cramped, Bai Yutang didn't follow. Standing beside him, Ma Han gestured toward a small stool beneath the window.

Just now, neither he nor Zhao Hu had dared to enter the RV, fearing they might destroy the crime scene. There was a skylight on the top of the RV, so Ma Han had found a stool, climbed up, and looked inside. The view was surprisingly clear.

Bai Yutang also climbed up for a look, and the first thing he saw was a corpse seated on the sofa.

The deceased was a man, sitting on the sofa, his throat slit, with blood soaking his collar and the sofa. The scene was exceptionally gruesome.

A long knife had fallen beside the corpse's hand, and playing cards were scattered across the floor at his feet. On a small wooden table next to the sofa lay a bloody hammer.

Bai Yutang thought about it, could that be the weapon that caused Liu Jing's head injury?

The bed opposite the deceased was drenched in blood, the bedding completely soaked red.

Frowning, Bai Yutang stepped down from the stool, feeling as if he had just watched a low-budget blood splatter film.

"Is the deceased the missing taxi driver?" Bai Yutang asked.

Ma Han nodded and pulled up the driver's details on his tablet for Bai Yutang to see.

It was indeed the driver who had taken Liu Jing home, named Wang Qiu.

According to information from the taxi company, after dropping Liu Jing off, Wang Qiu had not taken any more orders. He had driven to a bridge in S City and stopped for a while at a rest area. After that, he had driven to an underground parking lot at a shopping centre near the magazine's office. Surveillance footage showed him getting out of the car, walking to a convenience store at the subway entrance, handing a cell phone to a store employee, saying a few words, and then leaving.

After briefly reviewing the route, Bai Yutang frowned. "So he was the one who took Liu Jing's phone to the convenience store? Not a passenger?"

Ma Han nodded. "I also checked his driving records. He picked Liu Jing up at seven, but around three in the afternoon, he had already driven near the Sparrow Tunnel without taking any passengers. The car remained parked there for a long time until he received the booking call from Zhang Yuancheng, at which point he drove over to pick up Liu Jing."

Zhao Hu received a call, then came over to Bai Yutang. "Boss, this RV is registered under Wang Qiu's name."

Bai Yutang frowned.

The three of them turned to look at the RV.

"This kind of RV isn't cheap, is it?" Bai Yutang recalled seeing one being used by a film crew when Xu Lie and his team were shooting a drama.

"Definitely not cheap, it's over two million." Zhao Hu had been quite resourceful, as soon as he found out Wang Qiu owned the RV, he had Jiang Ping investigate his financial situation. Wang Qiu had been a taxi driver for many years, lived alone in a residential complex in S City, and had a mortgage to pay every month. His financial situation wasn't dire, but he wasn't wealthy either. He had some savings, but not much... yet he had purchased this RV outright, without any loans.

This was rather unusual.

"If he hadn't bought a condo and instead spent the money on this RV to live in, I could understand that," Zhao Hu also didn't think it made any sense. "But he already took out a mortgage to buy a condo, then spent millions to buy an RV outright... Was it specifically bought for murder? And where did he even get the money to buy the RV? There's nothing in his tax records indicating any additional income."

"The vehicle looks new, he couldn't have been long since he bought it, right?" Bai Yutang asked.

"He just bought it last month," Hu Zi felt something was wrong no matter how he thought about it. "People have different interests, sure, but if he bought the RV, he should have taken good care of it. Look at the state of it, scratched up on the outside and practically painted with blood on the inside."

Bai Yutang frowned. "So you're saying Wang Qiu is the murderer in this case? He arrived early at the campground, killed Zhang Yuancheng, staged the scene, then injured Liu Jing, drove her home, went to the outskirts to overturn his own taxi using his newly purchased RV, and finally came to this campground to commit suicide?"

Ma Han and Zhao Hu both nodded – That was the general sequence of events... if you analysed everything on the surface.

Bai Yutang asked them. "What do you two think?"

Both Ma Han and Zhao Hu shook their heads – Something felt off, they felt like something was wrong.

Bai Yutang also felt something was wrong, particularly the part where he drove to the Sparrow Mountain Tunnel to pick up Liu Jing.

If Wang Qiu was the one who had injured Liu Jing, he would have had to rush to his taxi immediately to pick her up... And didn't Liu Jing recognise him?

The most crucial thing was that when he picked up Liu Jing, Zhang Yuancheng's phone had been left on the sofa. So had he messaged Lao Chen after picking Liu Jing up?

Is it really that accurate? And why was his conversation with Lao Chen deleted from Zhang Yuancheng's phone? None of the other messages or call logs had been erased, only that specific exchange. Why?

At that moment, Forensic Doctor Yang stepped out of the RV and spoke from the doorway. "There are likely two crime scenes inside. One is on the bed, that pool of blood wasn't caused by splatter. It's probably the same victim Gongsun is dealing with right now, the one who was disembowelled and beheaded."

Bai Yutang, Zhao Hu, and Ma Han all looked a little disgusted – How could forensic doctors say such horrific things with such casual, 37-degree mouths? (Angel: 37-degree mouth is a figurative expression used to describe a person who appears gentle in appearance or physiology (such as a body temperature of 37 degrees represents normal and comfortable), but speaks very cold, heartless or hurtful words.)

"The second crime scene is where the man died on the sofa," Forensic Doctor Yang raised a hand and ran his thumb across his throat in a slitting gesture. "Suicide."

"Are you sure it was suicide?" Bai Yutang asked.

Forensic Doctor Yang shook his head. "Not certain, but at first glance, it looks like suicide."

"Not certain?" Bai Yutang picked up on something in Forensic Doctor Yang's tone.

"It's just..." Lao Yang gave a helpless smile. "Over thirty years of crime scene experience, and my murder alarm is ringing, but the scene indeed looks like a suicide."

Bai Yutang and the others all looked at Lao Yang, waiting for him to elaborate.

Lao Yang explained, "This man committed suicide while sitting on the sofa... One stroke across the throat, and the blood sprayed directly onto the coffee table, the wall, and the bed opposite. From the uninterrupted pattern of blood spatter to the bloodstains on his clothes, the sofa, and his hands, the knife in his hand, and even the exact spot where the knife landed... everything lines up perfectly."

Hearing this, Bai Yutang frowned – There it was again, too reasonable! Everything was unusually reasonable, yet something felt off.

"That's exactly the problem," Lao Yang thought for a moment before giving an analogy. "Tell me, which of you can draw a perfect circle freehand?"

The three of them glanced at each other and felt that it was difficult.

"If you want to draw a perfect circle freehand, you need a lot of practice, and only after practising well can you draw a perfect circle in one smooth motion," Lao Yang explained. "It's the same for any action that requires precision. To put it bluntly, who's out there training themselves to slit their own throat?"

Zhao Hu shook his head, commenting that while the training itself wasn't difficult, it was a waste of time...

"Look at the deceased's wound, it's so complete and coherent. The knife feels really calculated, like the victim isn't even human. This slash was neither too light nor too heavy, just right. The blood sprayed perfectly, and even the position of the knife was spot on. The body didn't even tilt while sitting on the sofa."

All three of them frowned – If you put it that way... it did seem a little too normal.

Lao Yang teased the three of them, "Why don't you go inside and try slitting your own throat? Whoever manages to slice it like that, without any difference, I'll give them my entire life savings!"

The three of them shook their heads at Lao Yang – Not necessary, not necessary...

"Is it possible that the scene was staged?" Bai Yutang asked.

"That's the thing, it's nearly impossible!" Lao Yang said. "The victim committed suicide sitting down, he didn't slash his throat while standing and then collapse into a seated position, because the blood would have trickled down his clothes onto his pants instead of spraying onto them. The sofa is against the wall, and there's barely any space behind it... so it's impossible for someone to stand there, they could only have stood to the side or in front. But no matter which side they stood on, it would cause some disruption in the blood spatter pattern. And yet, the spray on the opposite wall is a perfect, continuous spatter streak. Not a single drop missing."

"Could it be a strange posture then?" Zhao Hu asked. "Like, maybe the murderer straddled the body, stood on the sofa, hung from the roof of the RV, or even used some kind of mechanism..."

Forensic Doctor Yang looked at Zhao Hu who was getting more and more outrageous. "Watch fewer cartoons."

Hu Zi pouted.

"You just said nearly impossible," Bai Yutang asked Forensic Doctor Yang. "In other words, there is still a certain possibility it wasn't a suicide?"

Lao Yang clicked his tongue. "Forensic medicine is still a branch of medicine, and in medicine, there's no such thing as a one-hundred-per cent certainty, we'll have to investigate. Don't disturb the scene, let Gongsun have a look first. A forensic doctor's first impression is crucial."

With that, the old man left first, ensuring the scene was preserved until Gongsun arrived to continue the examination. With the blood from both crime scenes mixing together, it was probably going to be a huge undertaking.

Bai Yutang stepped aside to call Zhan Zhao and ask about Liu Jing's condition.

At that moment, Zhan Zhao was at the entrance of the emergency room. Yang Fan had just come out and informed them that Liu Jing had a skull fracture and had suffered a severe blow to the head. Because she wasn't sent to the hospital in time, her condition was critical. The doctors were doing everything they could to save her, but they wanted the family to be prepared psychologically.

Auntie Liu and Gao Min were hugging each other in tears, while Lao Chen sat off to the side, sighing heavily.

Zhan Zhao, feeling a headache coming on, asked Bai Yutang about the situation on his end.

Bai Yutang gave him a brief rundown. "For now, the murderer seems to be the driver."

"I just watched the videos. The first two segments of surveillance were fine, but in the third, after the driver dropped Liu Jing off at her building, Lao Chen did indeed come to pick her up. After they left, the driver got out of the car and took something from the back seat... it looked like a phone." Zhan Zhao said. "The driver didn't make a call or try to contact the owner, he just got back into the driver's seat and drove away. During that time, he didn't pick up any other passengers, and when he left the complex, he didn't turn on his taxi's vacant light."

"That matches the evidence, he was the one who delivered the phone," Bai Yutang sighed. "A perfect crime process..."

Just as he spoke, an officer from the forensics team ran out, holding an evidence bag. "Captain Bai, we found a suicide note."

Bai Yutang took the bag, inside was a handwritten suicide note.

After skimming through the content of the suicide note, Bai Yutang nodded and told Zhan Zhao, "Now there is even a motive for the crime...."

"What's the motive?"

As Zhan Zhao asked, he looked up.

Just then, at the far end of the corridor, a tall and strikingly handsome mixed-race man had appeared, running towards them.

Lowering his voice, Zhan Zhao murmured to Bai Yutang on the other end of the phone, "The suspect with no suspicion has made an appearance."

‿︵‿︵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 12, 2025 by Angel

Edited: May 6, 2025 by Soojin