S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 6 Chapter 44

The Card Murderer 44 – Summoning A Demon

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Zhao Hu and Ma Han went to the police station, picked up Zhao Jue, and together they rushed to the Pei family's villa.

Zhao Jue just listened to Bao Sir talk about Pei Wen being kidnapped by the "mirror". On top of that, he'd already seen some things earlier, and Zhan Zhao had also sent a long string of messages, describing how Bai Ye had caught an assassin and then gone after the kidnapped Gao Min, and so on.

With all that information pieced together, Zhao Jue had formed a rough theory. He smiled and shook his head.

Ma Han and Zhao Hu glanced at Zhao Jue in the rearview mirror and both asked him what he was thinking.

Zhao Jue opened the snack box on the back seat and started eating chips as he replied casually, "What else could it be? Twins."

......

"Twins?"

Bai Yutang was driving when he heard Zhan Zhao talk about his deduction.

"Pei Wen has a twin sister?" Mingdi was surprised as well.

Zhan Zhao nodded. "First of all, the two of them look exactly the same, the only difference is that one has a tattoo on her hand and the other doesn't."

......

"We've been investigating for so long and no one in the Pei family ever mentioned Pei Wen having a twin. There's nothing about it in the records either..." Zhao Hu took out a tablet and flipped through the files.

"They're a rich family." Zhao Jue crunched on his crisps. "How could they not have some secrets?"

......

"Then, was the one who drove to the hospital Pei Wen or her twin?" Bai Yutang was puzzled. "And the whole thing about being kidnapped by a mirror..."

Zhan Zhao smiled. "The two sisters are probably in on it together, they cooperated to escape."

......

"Pei Wen worked with her twin sister?" Zhao Hu twisted his upper body around, curious to ask Master Zhao in the back.

"Didn't Mingdi say they were always appearing and disappearing mysteriously? There's no way they aren't working together." Zhao Jue shook his head. He seemed to find the chips a bit too salty and started rummaging through the box for a drink.

"Pei Wen just called Mingdi over a hundred times. She's a fangirl, isn't she? She probably wanted to explain why the sisters were sneaking around his place dressed like ghosts." After digging for a while, Zhao Jue finally fished out a bottle of probiotic drink and squinted at the expiry date.

......

"Then Pei Wen drove to the hospital, was she going to find Gao Min?" Bai Yutang was even more confused, Why didn't she explain to Mingdi directly?

"Mingdi likes Gao Min. She probably knew that, so Gao Min would definitely be able to talk to Mingdi," Zhan Zhao said while glancing at Mingdi in the rearview mirror.

Mingdi frowned, somewhat puzzled. "If they really are twins, then what was the point of pretending to be the bandaged woman and going to my house?"

"Two purposes." Zhan Zhao held up two fingers. "First, to shoot a video."

"Shoot a video?" Mingdi rubbed his forehead. "You mean that haunted house video?"

"Mm-hmm. The idea was to make a fuss about the bandaged woman," Zhan Zhao explained, raising the second finger. "And the second reason..."

......

"To look for something."

Zhao Hu and Ma Han were both curious. "Look for what?"

"Didn't the kitten suspect that Liu Jing had developed an alternate personality due to the brain tumour, and that she sent out her notebook?" Zhao Jue reminded them.

"That's right." Hu Zi nodded. "It's never been found."

"Liu Jing's other personality seemed quite shrewd." Zhao Jue opened his drink and took a sip, immediately pulling a face of agony. He frowned, screwed the lid back on while shaking his head and asked Zhao Hu, "If you were Liu Jing and you'd uncovered something big, some critical evidence, who would you send it to?"

"Hmm..." Zhao Hu rubbed his chin. "If it were me, I'd send it to Xiao Ma Ge."

Beside him, Ma Han nodded in quiet acknowledgement.

Zhao Jue nodded as well. "That's probably what everyone would think. Everyone assumes you'd send the notebook to Xiao Ma Ge."

Zhao Hu understood what Zhao Jue meant. "That makes it more likely someone would intercept it along the way. I'd need to find someone less obvious, but who could still be helpful."

Ma Han asked, "So Liu Jing sent the notebook to Mingdi?"

"At least that's what Pei Wen's twin sister thought. That's why she went to Mingdi's place, even moved the sofa, she was probably trying to see if the notebook was hidden there." Zhao Jue still looked displeased with the taste in his mouth and pulled a face of disgust as he went on, "But then why kidnap Gao Min and Pei Wen?"

Ma Han and Zhao Hu caught on immediately. "To threaten or trade... So there are two groups of people after the notebook?"

......

"Notebook?" Mingdi looked at Zhan Zhao, who had turned to glance at him. "I haven't received any notebook."

"Liu Jing didn't send it to you?" Bai Yutang actually considered the possibility before. If Liu Jing were to send a notebook, Mingdi would be a good candidate... And now, it seemed there was no better choice. But it appeared Mingdi hadn't received anything.

"Could it be somewhere like your mailbox?" Zhan Zhao urged Mingdi to think carefully.

Mingdi thought for a while, then suddenly frowned. "Could it be..."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both thought it sounded promising – Did you remember?

"Liu Jing's been doing design work for me for a while, right? When I published a book before, she helped choose a type of paper, I really liked the texture of it, so I asked her to order some for me to use as manuscript paper," Mingdi recalled. "Once the paper was ready, Liu Jing called to say she'd send it to my home. But I happened to be away from S City at the time, so I gave her Lin Ruo's address instead. He lives in the same residential complex, so I asked Lin Ruo to collect it on my behalf."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both froze, then spoke in unison, "She wouldn't send it to Lin Ruo, would she?"

"Could be..." Mingdi picked up his phone and called Lin Ruo.

Lin Ruo had been up all night gaming and was still fast asleep. Half-awake, he answered, "Hello..."

"A'Ruo, have you received any parcels for me lately?" Mingdi asked.

Lin Ruo mumbled vaguely, "Mmm, yeah, one came just yesterday."

Mingdi's eyes widened. "Where did you put it?"

Startled by the sudden shout over the phone, Lin Ruo was jolted half-awake. Yawning, he sat up. "Huh? Where did I put it... In the living room, I think."

Lin Ruo got out of bed and went to the living room, picking up the parcel he'd casually left on the coffee table the day before. "What is this? Looks like a book."

Zhan Zhao waved his phone at Mingdi, miming the action of taking a photo.

"It's probably a notebook," Mingdi said quickly into the phone. "A'Ruo, open the parcel right now, take out the notebook, and photograph every single page, send them all to my phone."

"Oh... alright," Lin Ruo still felt puzzled, but he still did as he was told.

Once the package was opened, there was indeed a black notebook inside.

Lin Ruo flipped it open and began photographing each page one by one as he read... By the time he was done, he was covered in goosebumps. "Oh my god, what is this?!"

"Hurry up and send them over," Mingdi was getting anxious too.

Lin Ruo sent all the photos over.

Mingdi immediately forwarded a copy to Zhan Zhao.

"Brother, what on earth is this? Writing material for horror stories?" Lin Ruo's voice trembled with fright.

Mingdi asked, "You feeling awake now?"

Lin Ruo stared up at the ceiling. "I'm going to have nightmares!"

Zhan Zhao was already browsing through the images. After flipping through them swiftly, he instantly understood the situation and forwarded a copy to Zhao Jue.

"Tell Lin Ruo to keep the notebook safe," Zhan Zhao instructed Mingdi.

Mingdi nodded. "A'Ruo, keep the notebook somewhere safe, then you can go back to sleep."

"Hah?!" Lin Ruo was almost anxious on the other end. "How can I sleep now?! You need to stay with me so I can sleep peacefully!"

As he spoke, he gave the notebook a little shake, and suddenly, a photograph slipped out.

"What's this?" Lin Ruo crouched down to pick it up, and when he saw it, he shrieked and flung it half a metre away, scrambling onto the sofa and hugging a cushion. "Oh my god!"

Mingdi could hear the commotion on the other side. "What happened?"

A moment later, Lin Ruo, trembling, climbed off the sofa, picked up the photo, snapped a picture of the photograph, and sent it to Mingdi.

Mingdi frowned when he saw the picture and forwarded it to Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao opened the photo. At that moment, a message from Zhao Jue came through: "I know who the real culprit is."

Zhan Zhao immediately replied: "I also know who it is."

Looking at the photo, Zhan Zhao said to Bai Yutang, "We overlooked some important details."

......

At the hospital, Mia was sitting on the windowsill, cuddling her teddy bear and playing a game, when she received a message.

Mia clicked on the message, glanced at the content, thought for a moment, then tapped away on her phone and quickly sent out several messages, before lowering her head and continuing her game.

Beside Mia, Eleven was dozing off while hugging her stuffed rabbit, and on the hospital bed, Tu Zi was still fast asleep.

......

At that moment, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang's car had just come off the motorway and was nearing the camping area.

Zhan Zhao immediately spotted Bai Ye's car parked on the side of the road.

"That's Min Min's car," Mingdi pointed to a familiar vehicle in the open-air parking lot.

Everyone got out of the car, and Bai Yutang checked the red dot on the tracker showing Bai Ye's location.

At that moment, Bai Ye was still on the move. It seemed he was heading towards the ruins, but not the ruins near the hospital, he was going in the other direction.

"Is he heading towards the ruins of the Pei family's old house?" Zhan Zhao asked.

Bai Yutang nodded and called the SWAT team.

SWAT team captain Xiao Fei had already received notice from Bao Sir that SCI might need armed support, so he asked Bai Yutang, "How many men do you need?"

"Bring everyone you can," Bai Yutang's words startled Xiao Fei.

"Who are you arresting?"

"We've found a drug den," said Bai Yutang.

Xiao Fei's eyes widened. "There's such a powerful gang in S City?"

Bai Yutang thought it was feasible. "Bring the dogs too."

"Where should we meet up?" Xiao Fei asked. "At the campground?"

"Split into two teams, you bring one team up to the campground, then send another to the Pei family's villa."

Xiao Fei was a little confused. "Villa?"

"Contact Ma Han and Zhao Hu for the exact address," Bai Yutang glanced at Zhan Zhao to check if the plan sounded good.

Zhan Zhao nodded and leaned in to add, "When the time comes, follow Zhao Jue's instructions."

......

Once the call ended, Mingdi grew anxious. "Min Min's not in danger, is she?"

Just then, Bai Yutang noticed that the red dot showing Bai Ye's location had started to move back in the opposite direction.

"Has he got her out?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"Maybe..." Bai Yutang didn't finish his sentence, as his phone started ringing. It was Luo Tian.

Bai Yutang answered, and Luo Tian said urgently, "Captain, Zhou Li's disappeared."

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao exchanged a glance.

"We just got to the campground. After we got out of the car, she said she was going to the washroom and then she vanished..."

"Was it the washroom at the rented villa in the campground?" Before Luo Tian could finish, Zhan Zhao asked.

"Yes!" Both Luo Tian and Qin Ou answered from the other end of the line.

"Don't look for her for now, come up to the intersection near the café," Zhan Zhao said with a teasing tone. "Zhou Li's probably off summoning a demon. She'll show up soon."

‿︵‿︵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: May 3, 2025 by Angel

Edited: July 1, 2025 by Soojin