S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 6 Chapter 37

The Card Murderer 37 – Drawn Cards

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Zhang Yu recounted an experience from a "ritual" many years ago, when Wang Qiu and a mysterious figure whose identity remained unknown had made him perform a bizarre spirit-summoning ceremony for their classmate Fang Jie, who had committed suicide out of guilt.

Zhan Zhao and the others all stared at Zhang Yu, this so-called charlatan – the problem was, could he really do it?

Zhang Yu spread his hands – Of course not!

Zhao Hu, hugging the back of his chair, cheerfully asked him, "So how did you bluff your way through it?"

Zhang Yu laughed. "At the time, I just thought the two of them seemed a bit strange, like they might have got themselves involved in some cult or something."

Everyone nodded – It did sound a bit like that.

"In our line of work, we sometimes come across dangerous individuals. After all, when matters of life and death are involved, people can easily become deluded." Zhang Yu explained, "So whenever I encounter a request that seems abnormal, I usually find a way to bluff my way through. Of course, sometimes when something feels too suspicious, it might actually involve a crime."

Everyone looked at him. "Involve a crime... Has a murderer ever asked you to perform a ritual?"

"There really was one," Zhang Yu nodded. "Those two lads gave me a very strange feeling, so while I was bluffing them, I was also testing them a bit, trying to figure out what exactly they were after."

As Zhang Yu spoke, he asked if anyone had a deck of playing cards.

Bai Chi opened a drawer and took out a pack of cards that Zhao Zhen usually used for practice, handing them over to Zhang Yu.

Zhang Yu seemed quite adept at handling the cards, too. He skillfully spread them out, glanced over them, then gave them a sweep... and all the cards turned face down.

"Have you all memorised the cards?" Zhang Yu asked.

Bai Chi and Zhan Zhao both nodded, while Hu Zi pursed his lips – That's easy.

"So you used card memorisation to trick them?" Bai Yutang asked.

"Something like that," Zhang Yu said. "First, I wanted to gather as much information as possible, so I made them provide more clues by asking about details connected to the deceased. Otherwise, it would be 'impossible to make contact with the dead'."

Everyone agreed it was a pretty good tactic.

"And then?"

"And then the two of them each pulled out a roll of gauze and wrapped it around their heads," Zhang Yu said, still with a vivid memory of the scene, a little helpless and amused. "It felt like communicating with two mummies in the middle of the night, it was quite unsettling."

Everyone pictured the scene for a moment, it really was a bit frightening...

Zhang Yu arranged the playing cards on the table into the shape of a skull, then pointed across the table, signalling – Could two people come over and help demonstrate?

Zhao Hu dragged Ma Han over to sit opposite him. To help set the scene, Hu Zi even grabbed a roll of tissue and roughly wrapped it around his own head, then handed the tissue to Ma Han.

Ma Han disdainfully tossed the tissue aside.

Zhang Yu continued with the demonstration. "After that, I asked the two of them if they had any key information for summoning the deceased, for example, some words related to his death."

Zhan Zhao stroked his chin as he watched Zhang Yu, feeling as though a new avenue had opened up. So interrogation could be done like this too? I definitely have to try it sometime!

"What words did they give you?" Bai Yutang was also rather interested.

"They drew me a symbol that looked a bit like the Chinese character '工', but also somewhat like the letter 'H'." Zhang Yu said, "And then there was the 'car accident'."

Recently, both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang had been a little sensitive to the words "car accident", and now they frowned – Is it just a coincidence?

"Although I'm a charlatan, there are still certain rules in this trade," Zhang Yu said. "Respect for the dead is paramount. Even though once a person dies it's all dust to dust and ashes to ashes, you still have to find out how they died. Some people are destined to be reborn in the Pure Land, and others in the eighteenth level of hell. The rituals are different depending on the case."

It was the first time the others had heard this, and Hu Zi was curious, "Really? You get to decide where they go?"

Zhang Yu was amused. "Of course it's not up to us, but there are some rules passed down from our ancestors that we have to follow."

"What kind of rules?" Everyone couldn't help asking.

Zhang Yu smiled mysteriously and shook his head – he couldn't say.

Bai Yutang urged him to continue with the story about the spirit-summoning ritual back then.

"I'd looked into it beforehand. The deceased had committed suicide, and before he died, he'd run over and killed a mother and her daughter," Zhang Yu shook his head disapprovingly. "Also... I've got quite a few acquaintances down at the morgue..."

Everyone looked at him with admiration – While other people's connections developed horizontally, yours developed vertically...

"I heard from a friend who handled the body that his death was actually quite suspicious. Both the police and the prison authorities felt there was something wrong, but they couldn't find any leads," Zhang Yu clicked his tongue, "and then those two classmates of his pulled this stunt, it made the whole thing even more suspicious!"

Everyone agreed.

"When I was arranging the cards into the shape of a skull, I paid attention to their expressions, and noticed that both of them were particularly focused on one card," Zhang Yu said, deliberately creating suspense. "Guess which one it was?"

The others glanced at Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue, all thinking it was difficult. How were they supposed to guess?

In the end, Zhao Jue and Zhan Zhao asked in unison, "Seven?"

Everyone looked at the two of them.

Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue exchanged a glance, then asked again, "Seven of diamonds?"

Zhang Yu was rather puzzled too, and looked at the two of them. "You two are even more like charlatans than I am! How did you guess it?"

Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue explained – When you were sorting the cards just now, you were unconsciously staring at the Seven of diamonds.

Zhang Yu understood. "Oh... I used roughly the same method to judge it too. It turns out that a person's subconscious really isn't something they can control."

Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue both nodded.

"Seven of diamonds?" Bai Yutang reached out and accurately drew the seven of diamonds from the skull-shaped arrangement.

Zhang Yu squinted at him – With the way SCI is full of charlatans, have you ever thought about taking on a sideline business reading fortunes?

"You had them draw that card?" Bai Yutang asked.

Zhang Yu gave a mischievous smile. "Of course not, I hadn't figured out the situation yet, that's when it was time for the crucial step!"

"Crucial step?" Everyone widened their eyes and stared at him, even Zhao Jue was interested. "What crucial step?"

"Bluffing, of course!" Zhang Yu laughed. "Putting on an act of summoning ghosts is all about scaring people. If you don't frighten them, what's the point of a ghost making an appearance?"

Zhan Zhao continued to marvel – What a new approach! My whole perspective has shifted! Next time we renovate the interrogation rooms, we have to make one into a haunted house!

"After all, my ancestors were once quite well-off. Whether or not I inherited anything else, putting on a bit of a show to fool a couple of outsiders is well within my capabilities," Zhang Yu then described how he had pretended to successfully summon a spirit in order to scare the two of them... First, he had to act as though the ghost was unwilling to speak, claiming it carried a heavy grievance.

When Zhang Yu mentioned that Fang Jie harboured "grievances", both Wang Qiu and the mysterious man showed no signs of doubt. Clearly, such an emotion made sense.

Zhang Yu reckoned that his approach to scaring them had been on the right track.

"You two, did you ever do anything to wrong him?" Zhang Yu had asked the pair, putting on a deliberately difficult and tricky demeanour.

The two of them did not show any signs of weakness, they merely frowned and hesitated, seemingly finding it difficult to explain clearly.

"He volunteered to make the sacrifice, we didn't force him to do it," Zhang Yu told the SCI crowd. "After struggling for a long time, that's what they eventually said."

"Sacrifice?!" Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged a glance.

Zhao Hu, still holding the tissue pressed to his head, looked puzzled. "Do they mean he sacrificed himself by committing suicide, or that the whole thing, him killing someone and then committing suicide, costing three lives in total, was the sacrifice?"

Ma Han pointed at Zhao Hu, then looked at Zhang Yu, indicating – Good question.

Zhang Yu also pointed at Zhao Hu. "That's exactly what I thought at the time, so I went on scaring the pair, saying their friend had been entangled by two shadows."

"How did they react?"

"They suddenly began to look a little sceptical of me," Zhang Yu said with some regret, shaking his head. "I was too young then, too impatient. I should have said he was entangled by a bandage, or by a single shadow..."

Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue both nodded in agreement, also showing some regret. Saying "two" made it too pointed when trying to bluff someone. Everything needed to be made vague, everything needed to be left ambiguous.

"The two of them exchanged a glance, and the atmosphere instantly grew rather delicate," Zhang Yu said helplessly. "I realised I had messed up. But then again, it wasn't impossible to salvage the situation, I could still reverse it and steer it back."

"How did you save it?"

"The seven of diamonds," said Zhang Yu. "I decided to gamble on it, so I frowned and said, 'The two shadows overlapped, it looks like a seven...'"

Zhan Zhao thought it over and felt that it wasn't a bad recovery. Fortunately, he had said "two shadows" earlier, not "two human figures".

"Sure enough, when they heard 'seven', they started to half-believe me again, I managed to salvage a bit of it," Zhang Yu said, patting his chest. "After all, I had received professional training... That's when it was time for the second move!"

Everyone found themselves drawn in by this charlatan's tale and asked, "There's a second move?"

"Of course, ghost hunting always involves a series of moves," Zhang Yu continued. "The first move is to bluff your opponent. If that doesn't work, you move on to the second... bluff yourself."

Zhao Hu didn't quite understand. "You mean scare yourself?"

"Ah!" Zhang Yu nodded. "This is called setting the atmosphere! Atmosphere is very important! A horror film without its soundtrack loses at least half its impact, a stand-up show without the audience's laughter instantly becomes far less amusing..."

"How do you scare yourself?" Bai Chi, being an honest and straightforward kid, found it hard to imagine how this would work.

"It's very subtle!" Zhang Yu began demonstrating to everyone.

"First of all, you mustn't overact, you have to restrain yourself! A master exorcist must not show fear, right? So no matter what the master sees, he must hold it in, especially when he sees something indescribable..."

Zhao Hu and Ma Han watched as Zhang Yu suddenly lifted his head and looked behind them, his micro-expressions perfectly calibrated.

Both of them instinctively turned to glance behind them, only to find nothing there, then turned back.

The moment they turned back, they happened to catch Zhang Yu looking at them, and for a brief instant, their eyes met.

Zhang Yu's micro-expression made it seem as though he had seen something extremely terrifying behind them, but he couldn't say anything and he had to pretend he hadn't seen it, forcing himself to endure it. And yet it was as though he had learned some terrible secret from that thing, and his gaze at the two of them had subtly changed, with a hint of suspicion, a hint of realisation, and a hint of fear...

Everyone clapped – The Oscars owe him a statue, his acting is spot-on!

Bai Yutang asked, "Did it work on the pair of them?"

Zhang Yu pointed at him. "It did!"

"The way they looked at me at the time was rather complicated," Zhang Yu stroked his chin. "So I decided it was time to unleash the big move!"

Everyone looked at this 'charlatan spirit medium' in a mixture of amusement and exasperation, he really had an endless supply of little tricks.

"I suddenly reached out and pressed down on one of the cards..." Zhang Yu said. "Earlier, when they were shocked, they had both instinctively glanced at that card. That showed that the seven of diamonds was actually the card they most hoped to see, while the other card was the one they least wanted to appear."

"I then pretended that my hand moved uncontrollably and drew that card."

"Which card?" Zhao Hu asked.

"Guess?" Zhang Yu held his hand suspended in mid-air, looking at Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue.

Zhan Zhao reached out, drew a card for him, and placed it on the table. "The five of hearts."

‿︵‿︵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 28, 2025 by Angel

Edited: June 25, 2025 by Soojin