S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 6 Chapter 53

The Culinary Murderer 05 – Classmate

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The kitchen became a hive of activity. Bai Yutang and Bai Ye actually looked quite the part as chefs, and Xiao Bai Chi was also helping out in a rather competent manner. In no time, the aroma of seafood rice filled the air.

Bai Chi came out and counted the number of people, then asked Zhan Zhao, "Is there really no one else coming for dinner?"

Zhan Zhao shook his head, picked up his phone and glanced at it, then asked curiously, "It's understandable that the others aren't coming, after all, they all have partners now, but why isn't Jiang Ping coming? Didn't Dr. Xiao He break up with him?"

Nearby, Mia suddenly raised her hand and gestured at Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao looked at her, puzzled. "What? An artificial intelligence girlfriend?"

Everyone turned to look as well.

Mia gestured two letters – AI.

Gongsun asked in slight confusion, "Jiang Ping's found an AI girlfriend?"

Mia corrected him – He built one for himself, it's still in the experimental programming stage.

"Is that reliable..." Bai Jintang was scrolling through news articles about the food city on his tablet. "Aren't there loads of scammers online?"

The twins both grumbled at him, "Big Brother, you're not even that old, but your thinking's ageing. An AI girlfriend means artificial intelligence, not some random internet pen pal."

Bai Jintang looked up at the two and asked, "What's the difference?"

"Of course there's a difference!"

"Aren't you still talking to a computer either way?"

"Uh..."

The twins looked at each other, tilted their heads – Something felt a bit off, but at the same time, it also didn't seem that wrong.

Mia was quite the gossip and gestured animatedly to tell Zhan Zhao about Jiang Ping and the AI.

Zhan Zhao looked completely baffled. "What? He's not just designing the programme, he's actually bought the equipment and is planning to make a bionic robot?"

Mia nodded vigorously, then drew the curvy outline of a voluptuous woman in the air, indicating that Jiang Ping liked that particular style.

Zhan Zhao held his forehead, wondering whether he should stop Jiang Ping. If this ended up becoming the trigger for a future war between humans and machines, that wouldn't be ideal... But then again, he figured there was no need to take action personally, who knew, maybe someone would come back from the apocalypse in a few days to stop him.

Zhao Jue, on the other hand, didn't think it was such a bad idea. He even asked, "That shut-in, while he's at it, building a robot girlfriend, could he make a housework robot too? One with eight arms, that sort of thing."

Zhan Zhao shot him a glare – A robot with eight arms isn't a robot, it's a robot octopus!

Thinking of a robot octopus, Zhan Zhao suddenly became interested. He wondered whether Jiang Ping could make a robotic cat...

Big Brother Bai thought the idea of making robotic companions was actually quite good. There were so many people in the world with social anxiety and so many recluses, the demand would be huge. He even told the twins to give Jiang Ping some extra funding, so that once it was done, they could mass-produce them.

The twins picked up pillows and threw them at him. "That sounds like the start of a horror movie! Don't go courting trouble!"

While the group were messing around, Bai Ye and Bai Yutang came out of the kitchen carrying dishes, calling everyone over to eat.

They had bought fresh seafood today. In addition to Bai Ye's signature seafood rice, there were also grilled seafood skewers. The group set up a table outside in the courtyard for an open-air meal and ate to their heart's content.

The result of the delicious food was that everyone ended up completely stuffed.

Bai Yutang thought that after this meal, they would need to run at least a marathon to burn it all off. But it was a rare day off, spending it at the gym would be such a waste. Then he glanced at Zhan Zhao. That cat definitely won't go to the gym. Still, overeating without digesting properly isn't good either...

"Do you want to go shopping?" Bai Yutang asked Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao thought it had indeed been ages since he'd gone shopping. And with the seasons changing, it might be time to pick up some new clothes. In fact, aside from clothes, it seemed there were quite a few other things he needed too.

The more Zhan Zhao thought about it, the more something felt off. How long had it been since he last spent money? He had earned so much, why wasn't he spending any of it?

Xiao Bai Chi and Zhao Zhen decided to go see a movie together.

Bai Ye had just bought a new electric car and planned to pick it up with Zhao Jue, while Issel and Eleven were heading to a firearms exhibition.

Mia planned to spend the entire afternoon gaming.

The one who had it the worst was Big Brother Bai. The twins heartlessly took out the schedule, he had a meeting at the Bai Group that afternoon.

Just as Big Brother Bai was looking utterly dejected, Gongsun came over holding the champagne he had bought and said he would accompany him to the office.

Big Brother Bai perked up instantly.

The twins shook their heads as they ran off. Who gets made to work overtime on the weekend and then gets force-fed a mouthful of dog food?

Everyone went their separate ways, off on their respective dates.

Bai Yutang originally planned to walk with Zhan Zhao, but when Zhan Zhao said he wanted to do some shopping, they decided to drive instead. They also realised it had been a while since they'd been home, so they planned to visit their parents after shopping.

They parked in the underground parking garage of the mall. Being the weekend, it was usually difficult to find a space.

But they were incredibly lucky, just as they entered the parking garage, a car pulled out, freeing up a spot.

Even better, right across from the parking space was the elevator up to the mall. Everything was going suspiciously smoothly.

Feeling relaxed, the two of them went up to the ground floor. As soon as they stepped out of the elevator, a "little train" drove past in front of them.

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao watched the mini train chug by, carrying a load of children. They realised that this floor seemed to be some kind of children's play area, or maybe it was hosting a parent-child event? In any case, all they could see were kids and toys.

Zhan Zhao became very interested in a pool-like area up ahead filled with little plastic balls and asked Bai Yutang, "Learning to swim in this kind of place seems safer than in water."

Bai Yutang helplessly led his water-deficient partner towards the elevator and went up to the second floor.

Just as they stepped out onto the second floor, another little train drove past right in front of them.

The two of them instinctively looked up at the floor directory sign above, beginning to wonder if they'd accidentally walked into a children's mall.

But the second floor was the clothing section, and Zhan Zhao noticed that the little train was the same one from the first floor earlier. He was a bit curious as to how it had made its way up here. Was there some kind of rollercoaster setup in the mall?

Zhan Zhao glanced down towards the area they hadn't explored earlier and saw a lot of "mushrooms", pointing them out to Bai Yutang.

It was a pet interaction zone, apparently an event organised by manufacturers selling cat trees and cat tents. Loads of people were gathered there playing with cats.

"The tent looks pretty good," Bai Yutang thought they could get one for Luban and the others to use in the courtyard.

The two were debating whether to order a tent first or go buy clothes, when suddenly someone behind them called out, "Zhan Zhao? Bai Yutang?"

The two turned around and saw a woman waving at them from a short distance away. She looked vaguely familiar.

She looked quite young, dressed in casual sportswear, with tanned skin, tall stature, a ponytail, and a bright, lively expression.

Both Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao felt she looked familiar. Zhan Zhao quickly ran a scan through his impressively vast mental database, and as she reached them, he came up with a name: "Yu Hui?"

The moment he heard the name, Bai Yutang remembered as well, she was a classmate of theirs from middle school.

"Ha, I spotted two handsome men from far off, and the closer I got, the more familiar you looked, turns out it really is you two!" Yu Hui greeted them cheerfully.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang remembered Yu Hui had been a sports ace, especially fond of water sports. Back in school, she often represented their school in swimming competitions.

Yu Hui asked what they were doing here and cast a wary glance around. "Catching bad guys?"

That made both of them laugh. They told her they were off duty today and just out shopping.

Yu Hui pointed to two little girls climbing a rock wall downstairs and said they were her twin nieces. She was helping her sister look after them and brought them out to play today.

Zhan Zhao noticed the wedding ring on her finger and asked if she'd got married.

Yu Hui looked slightly bashful and said she was engaged and they were getting married next week.

The two of them quickly congratulated her.

Yu Hui then asked if they wanted to come to the wedding, she'd invited lots of old classmates.

Both Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao nodded, and Yu Hui beamed. "In that case, I'll be sending you both an invitation!"

They exchanged numbers, and just then, the twin girls had reached the top of the climbing wall and were calling excitedly for their auntie to take their photo. Yu Hui quickly said goodbye to them and ran downstairs to snap pictures of her nieces.

Bai Yutang took a rough measure of the twin girls' agile movements and concluded they were definitely her biological nieces.

The two continued shopping, and Zhan Zhao suddenly said to Bai Yutang, "Big Brother will probably go to this wedding too."

Bai Yutang thought for a moment. " Big Brother knows Yu Hui as well?"

Zhan Zhao smiled. "I'm not sure if he knows her, but he definitely knows her husband."

Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao in surprise. "You know who her husband is?"

Zhan Zhao said that when Yu Hui had looked familiar earlier, he'd done a quick scan through his memories. Aside from recalling she was an old classmate, he also remembered seeing an article in a finance magazine a few days ago. It was about her husband, and there was a photo of the two of them together, he'd thought the fiancée looked familiar at the time.

"Her husband is someone Big Brother knows?" Bai Yutang was curious and asked Zhan Zhao who it was, and whether he knew him too.

"Big Brother definitely knows him. Whether they're close or not, I'm not sure, but Fei Mu probably knows him quite well," Zhan Zhao said, winking at Bai Yutang. "Her husband is Shi Yanshuo."

As soon as Zhan Zhao said it, Bai Yutang frowned. "Shi Yanshuo? The economic crimes division's top person of interest, codename 3stone?"

Zhan Zhao nodded. "That's him."

Bai Yutang was momentarily puzzled. "Shi Yanshuo and Big Brother indeed know each other, but Big Brother and the twins have both said he's not exactly a legitimate businessman. Fei Mu and the others have been investigating him for ages, money laundering, tax evasion, unfair competition... And Shi Yanshuo's always in the gossip columns too, all kinds of scandals... How did he end up with Yu Hui?"

In Bai Yutang's memory, Yu Hui wasn't from some particularly wealthy or powerful background, so it couldn't be a political match, it really was a strange pairing...

"The article I read that day went on at length about how Shi Yanshuo met his destined true love, how the prodigal finally changed his ways..." Zhan Zhao spotted a nice white jacket in the shop window and pulled Bai Yutang inside to try it on.

While Bai Yutang was trying on the jacket, Zhan Zhao went on, "Apparently, Shi Yanshuo's really into water sports, he heads out to sea every time he's on vacation."

Bai Yutang didn't quite know what to make of that and shook his head. "With that name of his, he really ought to stay away from water, he's definitely not suited to going out to sea."

Zhan Zhao was about to continue speaking, but paused at that comment and tilted his head to look at him.

Bai Yutang mouthed, "Sinks like a stone..." (Angel: Bai Yutang said "石沉大海", which means that if you throw a stone into the sea, it will sink and never be found again. It is a metaphor for never hearing from you again, or for not getting anything back from your investment. Shi Yanshuo's name,石岩硕, includes 石, which is translates to stone, and 岩, which is translates to rock.)

Zhan Zhao burst out laughing as the joke hit him right in the funny bone, and he couldn't stop laughing.

The two shop assistants nearby, who were holding clothes for them, covered their mouths as they watched the two of them laughing and trying on jackets – Was working retail always this much fun?!

"He doesn't just love going out to sea, he's also into scuba diving, and deep dives at that," Zhan Zhao continued. "He also likes diving alone."

Bai Yutang suddenly felt a bit sentimental. His older brother might have been the least reckless rich man he knew.

"Once, when Shi Yanshuo was diving in Panama, he went down over fifty metres. His air tank malfunctioned, and at that depth, he should have ditched all his gear and made an emergency ascent. But he said his limbs wouldn't obey him, and he was a bit hazy in the head..."

"Ammonia anaesthesia," Bai Yutang said, frowning.

Zhan Zhao nodded. "Mm-hmm. Just when he realised he might die down there, suddenly, a mermaid appeared."

Bai Yutang glanced at Zhan Zhao – Are you just switching genres now?

Zhan Zhao thought the white jacket was quite nice and decided to buy one.

Bai Yutang said he'd take two, one in white and one in blue.

One of the shop assistants beamed and ran off to fetch a blue one for Zhan Zhao to try on.

Zhan Zhao looked over at Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang raised an eyebrow – What's wrong with couple outfits?

"So then what happened?" Bai Yutang prompted him to go on.

"Oh, Shi Yanshuo said the mermaid unfastened his gear, then dragged him up to the surface. He passed out during the ascent, and when he came to, he was lying on a small boat, and a girl was giving him mouth-to-mouth."

Bai Yutang figured it out. "So the one who saved him was Yu Hui?"

Zhan Zhao nodded. "At the time, Yu Hui was working as a diving instructor. She'd been training for a freediving competition and happened to be practising in that very area. When she dove down and saw something was wrong, she risked her life to bring him back up."

Bai Yutang thought that was quite dangerous. Freediving meant no equipment, and Shi Yanshuo had got into trouble over fifty metres deep. For Yu Hui to reach him without gear, she must have used up an enormous amount of energy, and then she'd have had to haul an unconscious adult man to the surface. That required not only serious physical strength and professional skill, but also real courage.

"That counts as a life-saving debt," Bai Yutang felt that this kind of bond, pledging one's life in return, seemed fair enough. If it had been someone else, it would've made a touching love story, but Shi Yanshuo didn't exactly seem reliable. Whether or not he'd truly turned over a new leaf, his background was far from clean. Bai Yutang couldn't shake the feeling that marrying him was risky.

Zhan Zhao seemed to know what Bai Yutang was thinking and smiled. "We'll get to judge for ourselves at the wedding, see if he's really changed."

Bai Yutang thought that made sense.

Zhan Zhao tried on the blue one, and it fit perfectly too. The two of them took their packaged jackets and headed off to browse another shop.

‿︵‿︵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