S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 6 Chapter 52

The Culinary Murderer 04 – A Video

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Bai Yutang and Bai Ye bought loads of stuff, and under Zhao Jue's "coercion", Bai Ye even bought a jellyfish tower over two metres tall, intending to put it in the living room as a lamp column.

The four of them returned home with their haul, and they'd sent a few boxes of surplus goods by courier, which would arrive home by the afternoon.

Bai Yutang drove them back. As they passed that residential compound, they happened to see a criminal investigation team vehicle.

As the car stopped briefly, Zhan Zhao handed the whale pendant he found at the lost and found to Hu Zi, saying it might have belonged to the deceased.

After explaining his deductions, Zhan Zhao followed Bai Yutang back and didn't go to the scene... He felt the case would probably be solved very soon.

Back at the villa, everyone who had been sleeping in late had woken up, and the "idlers" from next door at Zhao Jue's place had also come over to scrounge a meal.

Mia was holding the remote, leaning against Lisbon while watching TV.

The television was broadcasting the live opening ceremony of the food city, and the two shameless ones, Issel and Eleven, were even betting on whether a corpse would drop out halfway through the ribbon-cutting.

Bai Chi shook his head and chanted Amitabha, hoping it wouldn't happen!

Bai Ye and Bai Yutang carried several boxes of seafood into the kitchen, and Zhan Zhao told Bai Chi to send a group message to see if there were any single dogs without dates or dinner plans, and invite them over for seafood.

But everyone already had plans. Even the two long-time tough cases, Bao Sir and Jiang Ping, had arrangements.

Bai Chi counted on his fingers and realised it seemed like there weren't any single dogs left in SCI anymore...

Bai Ye and Bai Yutang got busy in the kitchen, and Bai Chi went to help. In the living room, the others continued watching the live broadcast.

Zhan Zhao grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, ran back to the sofa and sat down to watch the ribbon-cutting ceremony involving Big Brother.

Gongsun had also woken up. Dressed in pyjamas and slippers, he came down the stairs and saw Bai Jintang on TV, mechanically moving into position, clapping, holding the scissors...

Everyone on the sofa burst out laughing, Big Brother looked like he'd been possessed.

After the ribbon-cutting ended, the introduction of the food city began, with a series of adverts and teasers for upcoming competitions.

"So it ended safely?" Zhan Zhao asked.

Eleven, having lost the bet, reluctantly took the remote and changed the channel. "No murder this time, turns out Bai Jintang wasn't the jinx after all."

He flipped through a few channels and stopped at the news station. It was reporting a social news item about three drunk young men being caught abusing animals...

Everyone looked at the television with disgust – What kind of youths were these, getting drunk and abusing animals?

"Ah!" Bai Chi ran out of the kitchen. "Did they catch those three bad guys?"

Gongsun seemed to know about it as well. "Is it that viral video clip?"

"What video?" Zhan Zhao was curious. "They filmed themselves abusing animals? That shameless?"

"No," Issel took out his phone, casually opened a video platform and played the clip for Zhan Zhao. "This video's been going viral for the past couple of days, you seriously haven't seen it?"

Zhan Zhao took the phone and said he wasn't a phone person, he preferred paper books.

The video looked like it had been captured by surveillance. At the entrance of a narrow alley, a weather-beaten uncle with a backpack and dressed plainly was walking by the roadside.

He was holding a piece of paper in his hand, glancing at the house numbers along the alley, apparently looking for a specific address.

At that moment, a small white dog walked out from the alley. It looked like a stray, thin and scruffy.

As the dog passed the uncle, it paused, looked up at him, and even wagged its tail.

The uncle stopped as well, pulled out a bottle of mineral water and some biscuits from his pocket, and squatted down to feed the dog.

As the stray dog ate, the uncle reached out and patted its head. Though he looked rugged on the outside, his manner with the dog was surprisingly gentle.

Just then, three young men stumbled down the street, clearly drunk.

As they passed the uncle, one of them suddenly kicked him.

The uncle had been squatting down feeding the dog, and the kick knocked him sideways so that he sat down on the ground, looking up at the three young men.

They sneered and taunted the uncle, and one even threw a beer bottle at him.

The uncle raised a hand to block the bottle and stood up...

The three drunks looked up and realised that the uncle was actually quite tall.

But the uncle didn't seem to want trouble. He lowered his head and tried to avoid them.

Yet the three drunks wouldn't let it go. They kept pushing and shoving the uncle, clearly looking for trouble.

Zhan Zhao shook his head again and again, watching it was truly infuriating.

Then, one of the drunks suddenly lashed out and kicked the little white dog that had been hiding by the uncle's side, sending it flying.

Zhan Zhao froze at that moment, his mouth falling open – Bastard!

And almost at the same time, the uncle kicked the drunken man who had kicked the dog.

Zhan Zhao stayed frozen, still holding the phone.

Beside him, Zhao Jue was observing him, thinking this cat was far too amusing, getting so engrossed in a video.

Immediately after, the uncle who had seemed so mild-mannered just a moment ago suddenly appeared to be provoked. After kicking one of them away, he swung back with a punch, sending the second drunk spinning in place three times, with a nosebleed spraying out.

The third one raised a beer bottle, about to smash it over the uncle's head.

But perhaps due to shaky hands from the alcohol or blurred vision, he missed entirely and swung at empty air.

Zhan Zhao almost burst out laughing – Is this a joke?

Then the uncle turned to glance at that drunk...

Zhan Zhao suddenly reached out and pressed the pause button.

Zhan Zhao zoomed in a little on the video, focusing on the look in the uncle's eyes as he turned his head...

After looking for a while, Zhan Zhao stroked his chin – This uncle seemed rough and scruffy at first, gentle and kind when feeding the dog, submissive when facing the drunks, but the moment the little dog got kicked, it was as if he'd been instantly enraged... That expression in his eyes, it said something.

He hit play again. They saw the uncle grab the third drunk by the collar with one hand, lift him up and throw him straight onto the other two who had just been knocked down. The three rolled together into a heap. Now sober, they scrambled away in a panic.

The uncle didn't chase after them. He simply watched the three of them flee, then reached out and took off his jacket.

Zhan Zhao tilted his head, wondering why he was taking off his jacket.

They saw the uncle walk into the alley, wrap the little dog that had been kicked in his coat, and carry it away.

Zhan Zhao reached up and touched his chest, seeing the little dog get kicked had left him feeling stifled, but now, somehow, he felt strangely satisfied...

"Cool, right?" Bai Chi said the video had been filmed about a month ago and only started going viral recently. The whole internet was looking for this uncle now. As for those three drunks, they were basically socially dead. The little dog had been found too, it was reportedly taken to an animal hospital that same night, which happened to be the same animal centre where Uncle Ye and the others had adopted their dog last time.

Zhan Zhao asked Mia, "Don't tell me that dog ended up at your place too?"

Mia nodded with a grin and opened a photo to show Zhan Zhao. The little white dog had a bandage wrapped around its leg and was posing for a photo with Mia. It looked noticeably plumper now, with a much healthier appearance.

"Was it badly injured? Still not healed after a month?" Zhan Zhao examined the dog's leg.

Mia gestured to Zhan Zhao, explaining that while the dog had recovered, it had been left with a limp, so they wouldn't be putting it up for adoption, it would stay at their place. They'd even given it a name, Pupu, and it was incredibly well-behaved.

Zhan Zhao watched the video again and noticed something peculiar... When those three drunkards fled, they were all limping too, as if each of them had injured a leg.

Zhan Zhao nodded once more – This uncle is clearly no ordinary man.

"But no one's been able to find this uncle," said Bai Chi. "The whole internet's been searching in every possible way for days now, and there's not a single clue."

Zhan Zhao scrolled through related posts. Sure enough, there were plenty of videos and articles analysing the identity of this mysterious uncle.

From his clothing to his fighting skills, some even zoomed in on the piece of paper in his hand, trying to make out the exact address he was looking for. A few influencers had even gone to the alley to stake it out, but after more than half a month of effort, there was still not the slightest lead on the man.

The three captured drunkards had also provided sketches of the uncle, but the three portraits bore no resemblance to each other at all, they were absurdly distorted.

Zhan Zhao shook his head again. The level of distortion in those sketches probably matched how drunk the three of them had been at the time.

"Why are they so desperate to find him? To cooperate with the investigation?" Zhan Zhao was puzzled. "There's video footage of the whole thing. The uncle was just acting in self-defence, and those three drunkards have already been caught, surely that's enough?"

"Of course it's not the police looking for him, it's the influencers, they want to interview him and get clicks," Bai Chi headed back into the kitchen to help.

Mia nudged Zhan Zhao, indicating that she had some first-hand information.

Zhan Zhao was intrigued – First-hand information?

Issel said, "You know that guy at the animal centre who's always keen on persuading people to adopt dogs? Well, at the time he asked that uncle if he wanted to take the dog home, and the uncle said something rather odd."

"What did he say?"

"He said, 'Dogs are a bit dangerous, something like a bird or a butterfly would be safer.'"

After listening to Issel, Zhan Zhao thought for a moment, then a knowing expression appeared on his face. "Oh..."

Seeing his reaction, Issel and Mia, the father and daughter, got excited, high-fived, and then both reached out towards Eleven.

Uncle Chopsticks pulled a sour face as he took out some cash and handed it to the two of them, it seemed he'd lost another bet.

Zhan Zhao looked at the three of them, puzzled.

All three pointed at Zhao Jue... He'd had exactly the same reaction as Zhan Zhao after hearing what the veterinarian had said.

Zhan Zhao gave a dry chuckle.

Zhao Zhen, who was sitting on the sofa opposite, training a few kittens, clearly hadn't understood. "What does that even mean?"

"It means that someone close to him, either a family member or a dear friend, may have passed away recently," Zhan Zhao explained. "It's a common transference phenomenon. For someone who hasn't experienced grief, a passing animal is just an animal. But for someone who's just lost a loved one and suffered psychological trauma, that passing animal might be perceived as the soul of the deceased coming back to visit. If both parties can have very good interactions, it can be very helpful in healing emotional wounds, and the opposite is also true. When those three drunkards attacked the uncle, he was entirely unbothered, but the moment they turned on the little dog, he instantly lost control... The intensity of that outburst was essentially a stress response from secondary trauma."

"He found the area near the alley by following the address, which means waiting near that alley should have been enough to spot him. The fact that he didn't show up suggests he was deliberately avoiding being seen. Additionally, his appearance might be a disguise, suggesting that he doesn't want to attract attention. Therefore, the more publicly those influencers search for him, the less likely they are to find him. But the little dog did touch something in him. That comment he made when leaving the veterinary clinic, he probably wasn't speaking to the veterinarian, but to the dog. So if you really want to wait for him... you'll need to go somewhere with a lot of birds and butterflies."

"Somewhere with lots of birds and butterflies..." Zhao Zhen thought aloud. "A park, maybe?"

"Something like that," Zhan Zhao waved his hand. "But if he doesn't want to be found, that's his choice. Why must he be found?"

As they spoke, the twins' car pulled up outside, it looked like Big Brother was back.

Everyone quietly glanced at the time. Big Brother had probably put down his scissors and come straight home, he was, as expected, the most punctual when it came to clocking off.

The car came to a stop, and Bai Jintang got out, holding a bottle of wine. He looked to be in a particularly good mood.

The twins were each carrying big bags filled with goodies from the food city, and as they walked in, they announced cheerfully, "The grand opening went smoothly! No corpses!"

Everyone in the living room burst into applause – Congratulations!

In the kitchen, Bai Ye, Bai Yutang, and Xiao Bai Chi were all shaking their heads – Poor Big Brother, his standards had dropped so low that he considered a corpse-free opening day a success...

‿︵‿︵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 11, 2025 by Angel

Edited: July 24, 2025 by Soojin