S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 6 Chapter 36

The Card Murderer 36 – Ritual

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It was truly beyond Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang's expectations that Zhou Li had actually been "thrown" at the gates of the police station.

Zhan Zhao even looked up at the sky. Had they installed some kind of covert surveillance equipment around here? Or was the murderer somehow clairvoyant and has extraordinary hearing? How else could they have known that they had discovered Lin Wei's identity, and released the hostage so precisely on time?

Bai Yutang thought that the priority now was to return to the police station first, there was no way they could postpone the case analysis meeting any longer, they had far too many clues on their hands.

The two of them turned to look at Zhao Jue and Bai Ye.

Bai Ye's sleeve was being tugged by Lao Tu, refusing to let him leave, while Zhao Jue was in no mood for anything, squinting as he glared at the two fingers Lao Tu was using to pinch Bai Ye's sleeve.

At that moment, a nurse happened to come in to change the dressing, so Zhao Jue asked the young girl whether she had a pair of scissors, a scalpel would do as well.

The young nurse's tray only contained some medicine bags, so she asked Zhao Jue what kind of scissors he needed and offered to fetch a pair for him.

Zhao Jue reached out and pointed at Lao Tu's hand.

The nurse glanced down and asked, "Do you want nail clippers?"

Zhao Jue shook his head, indicating that he wanted proper scissors.

"What are you going to cut?" The nurse was curious.

Zhao Jue pointed at Tu Zi's hand and Bai Ye's sleeve, "Cut off the fingers and the sleeve!"

Startled, Tu Zi immediately withdrew his hand.

Bai Ye glanced at Zhao Jue somewhat helplessly, as if saying – He was scared into this state by you lot.

Zhao Jue stiffened his neck in protest, What's that got to do with me? It was clearly that rookie cat...

He originally intended to point at Zhan Zhao behind him, but realised that there was no one there.

Zhao Jue was quite puzzled – Where did he go?

Bai Ye shook his head – He already ran off.

However, Bai Ye himself was also feeling rather tired from sitting for so long. Just as he was about to stand up and stretch his legs, Tu Zi grabbed his hand again.

Zhao Jue stared at Bai Ye's wrist – This hand is useless now! I'm going to chop it off at the shoulder!

Perhaps Zhao Jue's gaze was simply too terrifying, as Tu Zi began trembling in fear.

Bai Ye helplessly waved at him – Why don't you go back with Yutang and the others and attend the meeting?

Zhao Jue shot him a glance – What's this? Still want a world for just the two of you?

Bai Ye let out a long sigh.

Tu Zi tried his best not to make eye contact with Zhao Jue... Good lord, he was almost as terrifying as the bandaged woman!

......

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang had just got into the car and were fastening their seatbelts when the rear door was suddenly opened.

Both of them turned around to see Zhao Jue getting in with a dark expression.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both looked at him – You're coming too? This case had nothing to do with the organisation!

Zhao Jue threw a little tantrum, refusing to speak. He leaned back against the seat, one leg propped up, looking out at the scenery.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both pointed at him. "Seatbelt!"

Zhao Jue reached out to pull the seatbelt, but the harder he tugged, the more it refused to come out.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both shook their heads, watching as Zhao Jue wrestled with the seatbelt before finally managing to fasten it.

Bai Yutang started the engine and drove them back to the SCI office.

Zhan Zhao held his tablet, put on his earphones, and began looking through the information Jiang Ping had sent him.

Zhan Zhao first checked a few points he was most concerned about... starting with the photo of Pei Xiu, Fang Jie, and Wang Qiu together.

However, after technical analysis, it was confirmed that the photo had been doctored.

Fang Jie and Wang Qiu had originally taken a photo with another person, and that person's head had been replaced with Pei Xiu's... Since the alteration had been printed out afterwards, there was no way to restore the original image through technical means, unless they could find the original file.

"Why would someone bother to alter a photo?" Zhan Zhao was a little puzzled.

"We should have another eyewitness," Bai Yutang reminded him.

"You mean Zhang Yu?"

Bai Yutang nodded. "Didn't Zhang Yu mention before that at Fang Jie's funeral, two of his classmates asked him to perform a ritual?"

"But Zhang Yu said it was Pei Xiu."

Bai Yutang shook his head. "Zhang Yu said it was these two people after looking at the photo, he never actually met Pei Xiu himself."

Zhan Zhao thought it made sense. The photo showed three people; one had died, and the two childhood friends had asked Zhang Yu to conduct a ritual. When Zhang Yu saw the old photo, he might have naturally assumed it was those two.

"Let's bring him in for a proper look, and also show him a photo of Pei Xiu as an adult," Zhan Zhao called to Zhang Yu.

Zhang Yu naturally agreed to cooperate and said he would come to the police station shortly.

Meanwhile, Luo Tian and Bai Chi had returned from the post office. They hadn't found the package Liu Jing had supposedly sent, and it was unclear whether she had never sent it in the first place, or whether someone had got to it first.

Zhao Hu and Ma Han had gone to the university and found the drama club. They had retrieved all the videos that had been recorded when they went to the ruins to "test their courage", and were now going through the footage.

At first glance, nothing particularly unusual had been found. The handheld camera filming had left the footage a complete mess; with all the running around, the image shook so badly it was almost unwatchable. Xiao Bai Chi stared at it for half an hour and nearly threw up, he was still lying on the sofa now.

Zhan Zhao browsed through it roughly on his tablet, frowning. "Ai..."

"What's wrong?" Bai Yutang asked.

"Although there are a lot of clues, there are far fewer useful ones than I had expected. Instead, there are quite a lot of interference factors," Zhan Zhao said, frowning. "What exactly is the murderer trying to hide...?"

"Hide?" In the back seat, Zhao Jue seemed to take some interest. "Hide what?"

"Yes, what's being hidden..." Zhan Zhao muttered to himself. "In an ordinary murder case, the first thing one would hide would be the body... but in this case, it's almost as if the body was deliberately put on display."

"Then start thinking from the variables," Zhao Jue said, noticing a box on the seat beside him. He opened it, found it filled with snacks, and picked out his favourites.

"Variables?" Zhan Zhao turned around to look at him.

Zhao Jue took a bite of a chocolate bar and spoke as he chewed, "No matter how meticulous the plan, accidents always happen. It's like playing soccer, you come up with a strategy and a formation, but then five minutes into the match someone gets injured. You have to change the formation. Now, what's the point of the change? Is it just to make up for the missing player, or is it still to win the match? That's the real key. So what's the variable? Is it the player who got taken off? Of course not, it's the one who replaces him!"

Zhan Zhao thought for a moment. "So killing wasn't the actual objective?"

Zhao Jue shrugged – That's for you to figure out.

Zhan Zhao turned back around, still frowning – If the killing was just a means rather than the ultimate goal, then what were they really planning to do?

......

When they returned to the police station, they happened to see Zhang Yu's car pulling in.

Zhang Yu got out of the car and greeted Zhan Zhao and the others.

Everyone took the elevator upstairs together.

Zhan Zhao first showed Zhang Yu a photo of Pei Xiu and asked if he recognised him.

Zhang Yu stared at it for a while and shook his head.

Zhan Zhao then showed him the group photo.

Zhang Yu stroked his chin and looked at the group photo, then at the photo of Pei Xiu. "Is that the same person?"

"Was he one of the two people who asked you to perform the ritual at the time?"

"Er... it doesn't really look like him, but it does a bit," Zhang Yu seemed unsure.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang felt they could not really blame him, after all, it had been a long time ago. Still, Zhang Yu truly had not recognised Pei Xiu at first glance.

As Zhang Yu scratched his head while holding the photo, Zhao Jue crept up behind him with a sinister air. "It's not that hard to remember."

Zhang Yu was startled by him and quickly hid behind Bai Yutang, eyeing Zhao Jue warily. "Ah, a dangerous aura!"

Zhao Jue narrowed his eyes and stared at him, then even held out his palm for him to see.

Zhang Yu noticed a scar on his palm and rubbed his chin. "Oh... your lifeline isn't short."

Zhan Zhao was slightly taken aback. He pointed at Zhao Jue and asked Zhang Yu, "You don't recognise him?"

Zhang Yu blinked and looked at Zhao Jue. "Should I recognise him? He does seem a little familiar..."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged a glance, Zhang Yu had met Zhao Jue before, and he had even been the one who had said Zhao Jue had a short life. That was why Zhan Zhao had cut Zhao Jue's hand.

Zhao Jue also looked at the so-called charlatan with some confusion, clearly still bearing a grudge, but he had not expected this young man's memory to be so poor.

"You're not..." Zhan Zhao asked Zhang Yu rather disdainfully, "face-blind, are you?"

Zhang Yu waved a hand. "Ai, I'm not face-blind."

Zhan Zhao brought up a photo of Zhao Zhen on his phone and asked, "Do you recognise him?"

Zhang Yu glanced at the phone, then turned to point at Zhao Jue... but something felt off. He brought the phone closer to Zhao Jue's face to compare. "Kind of looks like him..."

With a ding, the elevator doors opened.

Zhan Zhao took back the phone and, shaking his head together with Bai Yutang, walked out.

Zhao Jue folded his arms and stared speechlessly at Zhang Yu – This charlatan might not be fully face-blind, but he was definitely halfway there!

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both felt rather deflated, at such a crucial moment, this guy was utterly unreliable... With that kind of ability to recognise faces, it would be a miracle if he could actually identify the ones who had come to him all those years ago.

In the office, everyone else was already there.

Gongsun and Ma Xin had gathered a pile of materials, and Ma Xin was busy checking through the data from the evidence analysis.

Just as Zhan Zhao had said, there were a lot of clues, but not many that were truly useful.

Zhou Li had been taken by a policewoman for a health check and would be brought over once it was confirmed she was all right.

Before the analysis meeting began, Bai Yutang first asked Zhang Yu what sort of ritual Wang Qiu and another person had asked him to perform after Fang Jie's funeral.

Zhang Yu waved his hand. "I told you, my reputation wasn't exactly the best at that time, they actually wanted me to perform a séance."

"A séance?"

The other members of SCI, who had been busy working, all perked up at this, even Zhao Jue turned to look – A séance?

"They wanted to ask Fang Jie's spirit a few questions," Zhang Yu explained.

"What sort of questions?" Zhao Hu asked curiously. "About the murderer?"

Ma Xin also asked, "Was it any use?"

Gongsun glanced at her – If it really is useful, then we should stop working and retire.!

However, Zhang Yu shook his head. "It wasn't about the murderer. They had me ask the deceased three questions, three very strange questions."

Everyone nodded at him – Go on! Say it all at once, don't hold back!

"The first question was, did something go wrong with the ritual that night?" Zhang Yu continued without pause, "The second question was, did the sacrifice escape?"

Everyone stared at him – Ritual, offering...

"And the final question," Zhang Yu said, "was, which card was ultimately drawn?"

The crowd exchanged looks. These three questions were far beyond anything they had imagined. What ritual, what offering, and what card drawing?

Zhan Zhao pulled up a picture on his tablet of the wall behind the bookshelf at Wang Qiu's house, covered with playing cards arranged into the shape of a skull, and showed it to Zhang Yu. "Do you know what this is?"

Zhang Yu glanced at it and nodded. "I've seen it before."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at him in disbelief – Are you sure? You couldn't even tell apart people who looked vaguely alike, surely all skulls looked pretty much the same!

Zhang Yu rolled his eyes. "That skull's easy to recognise, and it's made out of playing cards! Of course I remember it!"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both asked him, "So at the time..."

Zhang Yu nodded. "At that time, when they had me perform the séance, they spread a black cloth on the table, then arranged the playing cards into the shape of that skull, and after I contacted the spirit, I was supposed to draw one of the cards."

‿︵‿︵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: April 27, 2025 by Angel

Edited: June 25, 2025 by Soojin