S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 6 Chapter 30

The Card Murderer 30 – Rabbit

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After finishing their hotpot, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were ready to return to the SCI office. They weren't sure whether the team had finished their meal yet, or if they could begin the case analysis meeting.

But Zhao Jue didn't seem quite ready to let the two leave.

"Aiya, I'm so full, shouldn't we get some exercise?" Zhao Jue asked Mia.

Mia rubbed her stomach and nodded.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at Zhao Jue warily – What are you up to?

"Shall we go to the amusement park together?" Zhao Jue suggested.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang quickly tried to pay the bill and leave, but then they heard Zhao Jue's voice drawl from behind, "That rehabilitation centre, it's still there."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang stopped in their tracks and turned to look at Zhao Jue.

"It's been converted into a haunted house..." Zhao Jue rested his chin in his hand, attempting to entice them. "And the owner of that amusement park... knows about the rehabilitation centre."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both turned to look at him – Are you familiar with them?

Zhao Jue shook his head, indicating that he didn't know them.

Bai Yutang looked at him suspiciously – You're not acquainted, but they gave you discount coupons?

Zhao Jue pointed at Bai Ye – He knows them.

Both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang turned to look at Bai Ye.

Bai Ye gave a small nod. "I happened to save him in the past."

"So we can talk to him?" Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were both excited. "Let's go together now!"

Zhao Jue and Mia both threw their hands up – We're going to the amusement park!

"We're going to investigate a case, not to have fun!" Zhan Zhao corrected.

The tall one and the small one kept waving their arms – Pirate ship! Roller coaster! Carousel!

......

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were helpless. Shaking their heads, they led the other three to the amusement park.

As they stepped outside, Bai Ye looked at Zhao Jue from behind – You gave them those coupons so they could have a fun day out together. Why are you tagging along, being a third wheel?

Zhao Jue glanced at Bai Ye – I already said it's for official business, how could they be in the mood to enjoy the amusement park if the case hasn't been solved yet?

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang glanced back as they walked and saw Zhao Jue and Bai Ye glaring at each other. They were a bit puzzled – Were they arguing?

......

Just as Bai Yutang started the car, Zhan Zhao received a call from Luo Tian.

Luo Tian and Qin Ou had just dropped Lao Jia off at the SCI office, and Lao Jia had voluntarily confessed to something. As expected, the old man had deliberately "exposed" himself in order to be caught.

"Lao Jia used to be an orderly at the original hospital. On the day of the incident, he slipped out for a date, only to discover the mountain of corpses and sea of blood when he returned, so he ran... He fled to the ranger's cabin, initially intending to call for help, but found the ranger wasn't there. At that moment, a strange person appeared and told him to call the police. While he called the police, that person waited at the door and only left when the police arrived. So Lao Jia didn't manage to escape... but the police mistook him for the ranger, and he found that the original ranger, Old Jia, had never shown up, so he ended up being Old Jia for so many years."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were both baffled. "Why didn't he go home?"

"He said he had no home, he lived and ate at the hospital," Luo Tian also asked the same question. "All the medical staff at that hospital were actually unemployed people, not real orderlies. Many of them were homeless vagrants."

"What?!" Zhan Zhao found it unbelievable.

Bai Yutang also frowned. "Then what exactly was that hospital treating?"

"Since none of them had any professional knowledge, they didn't know either. Their daily tasks were just what the doctors assigned, playing music for the patients, keeping them company with cards and chess and whatever..."

"What kind of patients were they?"

From the back seat, Zhao Jue suddenly seemed interested. He leaned over the front seat, asking curiously.

"Uh..." said Luo Tian, "Apparently all the patients had bandages wrapped around their faces, so many people passing by thought it was a cosmetic surgery hospital."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang finally understood how that urban legend had become so distorted, the root cause was here.

"Bandages wrapped around their faces?"

Zhao Jue muttered to himself, "Erased identities? Were they training people?"

Zhan Zhao frowned as well. He felt that hospital was far from ordinary and definitely worth a deeper investigation.

Bai Yutang asked Luo Tian, "Who was the person who told him to call the police?"

Luo Tian said he couldn't find out, Lao Jia said he couldn't see the person's face clearly.

"Couldn't see clearly?"

Everyone frowned – It sounded like they had been together for quite a while, so why couldn't he see them?

......

When they arrived at the amusement park, surprisingly... it was quite busy, even though it just opened not long ago.

It was a large amusement park, complete with castles, parade floats, and all kinds of attractions, and it was crowded with people.

As soon as Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang stepped inside, they saw children running about everywhere and found it all a bit uncomfortable.

The two compared it to the eerie ruins from earlier – This place is so sunny and healing!

Mia was a child at heart, as soon as she entered the amusement park, she dragged Bai Ye around wanting to ride this and play that. Bai Ye, expressionless but very patient, went to buy her tickets...

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both nodded – Uncle Ye is really popular.

They both looked at Zhao Jue.

Turned out Zhao Jue wasn't much different from Mia, he grabbed the two of them, insisting they go on the big Ferris wheel.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both wanted to kick him, Why are you spinning around right after finishing hot pot? Aren't you afraid you'll throw up?!

"Let's find that acquaintance of Uncle Ye's first." Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang dragged Zhao Jue and Mia back and followed Bai Ye to look for the amusement park's owner.

"The owner's in the amusement park too?" Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang asked Bai Ye.

Bai Ye nodded and gestured towards a hotel inside the amusement park. "He lives in the hotel year-round."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were both intrigued – What kind of habit is that? Living inside an amusement park all year round, wouldn't it be noisy?

"He's afraid of silence. He feels most at ease in a noisy environment that lasts all night," Bai Ye explained as he led everyone to the hotel.

And to be fair, the hotel was quite luxurious, and creatively designed with seasonal themes: spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Since it was winter now, the owner was living in the winter-themed section.

Bai Ye went to the front desk and mentioned they were looking for the owner.

The receptionist made a quick phone call to confirm, then enthusiastically led them upstairs.

Zhan Zhao noticed that there were at least four surveillance cameras in the lift, one in each corner. He glanced at Bai Yutang – Is this a normal phenomenon?

Bai Yutang gave him a helpless look – You've only just noticed? The entire amusement park is covered with surveillance cameras, and there are twice as many security staff as in a regular amusement park.

Was it because there were lots of children around, so they took security more seriously?

Zhan Zhao felt it was good to be so responsible, but... was it really necessary to install four cameras in an elevator? Was it in case one broke?

They reached the top floor and stepped out of the elevator.

As they walked down the corridor, they noticed it was brightly lit... and full of surveillance cameras. It really was a sea of surveillance!

Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue both shook their heads – This person seems to be seriously insecure.

Bai Ye and the others reached the door. Before they could even knock, it opened, and a short, chubby old man rushed out from inside. "Ah! Xiao Ye's come to see me again?!"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were both slightly stunned – Xiao Ye?

Zhao Jue also glanced at the old man.

Bai Ye raised a hand to stop the overly enthusiastic old man who looked like he was about to go in for a hug and introduced him to the others. "This is Boss Tu."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both looked at him – Bald Boss? (Angel: The Tu from Boss Tu is 图, or tú, and bald is 秃, or tū.)

Instinctively, they glanced at his forehead – indeed, the hair was very sparse.

"Ai..." Boss Tu waved his hand dismissively. "Don't call me Boss!" Then he introduced himself, "My name is Tu Zi."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged a glance – Rabbit? (Angel: Another play on words, the tones for his name, 图梓, are Tú zǐ, while rabbit is Tú zǐ, 兔子.)

"Hehe, I do have a nickname, people call me Rabbit," Saying this, he gestured for everyone to come in and take a seat.

Walking into the room, it was the style of a suite, not particularly luxurious, but it had a cosy homey feel. The key point was... it was smaller than they had imagined.

Normally, the top floor of a hotel would be some kind of presidential suite, large and luxurious, so a place like this was rather unexpected.

Boss Tu warmly welcomed everyone to sit down and poured them tea. As he looked at Bai Yutang, he seemed to notice the resemblance to Bai Ye but couldn't quite tell, Is he Bai Ye's son? Or younger brother...?

"I want to ask you about something," Bai Ye began.

Tu Zi nodded, indicating he was happy to answer whatever he wanted to ask.

Before Zhan Zhao or Bai Yutang could say anything, Zhao Jue suddenly spoke up while holding his teacup. "We want to ask about the person who scared you like this."

With a loud crack, the teacup in Tu Zi's hand dropped and shattered on the floor.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Ye both frowned at Zhao Jue – This person, for some unknown reason, has started another argument, clearly trying to scare people by asking like that.

Boss Tu didn't even bother picking up the cup. Hands trembling, he pulled out his phone and asked the group, "Wh...what do you mean? That... that person's shown up again?!"

As he spoke, he called his secretary and instructed them to book a plane ticket immediately. He had to leave the country, the farther, the better. What was the soonest flight to Australia? Hurry up and prepare!

Zhan Zhao gave Zhao Jue a look – Happy now?

Zhao Jue calmly set down his teacup and looked the pudgy rabbit opposite him up and down.

Bai Ye looked over and told him not to mess about and not to cause trouble for the kids.

Zhao Jue shot him a sideways glance – Who's causing trouble?! It's just a question, isn't it? Let him speak, it's not that hard...

Zhao Jue was just about to continue asking when Mia suddenly reached out and covered his eyes.

Zhao Jue pried her hand away and looked back.

At some point, Mia had swapped the teddy bear in her arms for a big rabbit plush from the sofa.

When Zhao Jue saw Mia pouting at him, he stopped talking as well. His expression looked slightly better than before.

Mia swapped the rabbit back for her teddy bear and sat to one side, staring at Zhao Jue.

Bai Yutang glanced at Zhan Zhao – Was there a moment just now where the dark Zhao Jue came out? Or did I imagine it?

Zhan Zhao shook his head – You didn't, but the dark mode was stopped before it fully emerged. What we saw just now was just a sulking problem child.

Bai Yutang was a bit curious – Why is he sulking?

Zhan Zhao pointed to his mouth, indicating – Look at my lip movements, "jealousy"!

Zhan Zhao had only just finished mouthing the word when Zhao Jue reached out and gave him a push on the head.

Zhan Zhao rubbed the back of his head and looked back at Zhao Jue – Try causing trouble again? If you do, I'll tell him that even escaping to Australia isn't safe, and it would be best for Uncle Ye to stay and protect him for a few days!

Zhao Jue's eyes turned dangerous...

Bai Yutang stepped in at just the right moment and interrupted the stare-down between the two of them – You two, stop messing around. Can we finish the questions and leave quickly? We have a meeting in the afternoon!

Zhan Zhao stopped Boss Tu, who had already started packing his bags. "Don't panic, we're just investigating a case and wanted to ask you a few things."

"Ask what..." Boss Tu still looked a bit shaken, eyeing Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang with suspicion.

"Do you know who this is?" Zhan Zhao took a photo of the bandaged woman from the folder and showed it to Boss Tu.

Tu Zi stared at it for a moment, then suddenly let out a strangled "urgh", couldn't catch his breath, rolled his eyes back, and fainted.

Zhan Zhao was startled. Bai Yutang and Bai Ye quickly stepped forward to help.

Both Bai Ye and Bai Yutang turned back to glare at the other two speechlessly – Aren't you the psychology experts? Ever heard of easing someone in gradually?!

Zhan Zhao was startled, and Zhao Jue beside him complained, "Still saying I scared him... You're the one causing trouble, almost scared him to death."

Zhan Zhao looked at the photo in his hand, Is it really that terrifying?

"Isn't this just a witness?" Zhan Zhao asked Zhao Jue quietly. "Why would he be so frightened?"

"Exactly... either she's not a witness," Zhao Jue took the photo and looked it over carefully, "or... the witness herself is frightening?"

The two exchanged a look and studied the photo together – This doesn't make sense... could there have been something wrong with their earlier deduction?

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

“they saw children running about everywhere and found it all a bit uncomfortable.” 

Me too boys, me too...

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: April 22, 2025 by Angel

Edited: June 15, 2025 by Soojin