S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 6 Chapter 56

The Culinary Murderer 08 – Various Omens

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In a certain cinema in S City, Zhao Zhen and Bai Chi were watching a recently released horror movie with excellent reviews.

As a matter of fact, Zhao Zhen was a major celebrity, and appearing in public made him more likely to be recognised. If he wanted to watch a film, the Bai Group owned a cinema and could easily book a private screening.

But Zhao Zhen was rebellious through and through, the more you told him not to do something, the more determined he became to do it. How thrilling was that?

The great magician swaggered in with a face mask on and boldly booked a pair of couple's seats with Bai Chi. The two of them nestled into the sofa on the upper floor to watch the horror movie together.

Zhao Zhen was absolutely delighted. Xiao Bai Chi was so jumpy watching the horror movie, wriggling in his arms like a live fish, it was endlessly amusing.

Zhao Zhen's attention wasn't on the movie at all. Xiao Bai Chi, however, was completely absorbed...

Bai Chi had been watching horror movies since he was young, not because he liked them, but to build courage. He'd always been timid as a child, so he had been training himself all along. After joining SCI, he worked even harder at it, and since he often watched television with Gongsun and the twins, it was practically impossible not to toughen up.

Still, watching was one thing, being scared was another. Everyone had something that frightened them, and for Bai Chi, it was horror movies set in dark, enclosed spaces like caves and tunnels. Once you entered such a place, you had to choose which way to go, and there was always some unknown danger lurking either ahead or behind. That state of confusion and constant fear made Bai Chi feel extremely anxious. Sometimes, when he had nightmares, he dreamt of being trapped in some dark cave, surrounded by danger on all sides, with no idea which way to go.

Because of this, Bai Chi even consulted Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao's professional opinion was that most fears stemmed from past experiences, particularly childhood ones, often referred to as "childhood shadows". Bai Chi's fear of tunnels and caves, as well as his anxiety about losing his sense of direction, might have originated from something he experienced as a child, but Bai Chi didn't recall ever getting lost in a cave or going through any tunnel. With his memory, there was no way he could have forgotten something he'd actually been through.

Zhan Zhao felt that Bai Chi's psychological shadow wasn't especially severe, so it was unlikely to have been an experience of extreme fear, one traumatic enough to cause his brain to block the memory as a form of self-protection. It was more likely to have been something indirect, like a story he'd heard, or a novel or movie he'd seen.

Bai Chi still hadn't figured out what the root of his issue was, but just then, a scene appeared in the movie: the female lead was dashing madly through a dark cave when she suddenly missed a step and plunged into its depths.

At that moment, Bai Chi tilted his head, suddenly feeling that the scene was oddly familiar, as if he'd dreamt about it before...

This sort of situation wasn't uncommon, it often happened in daily life, where something you were experiencing felt like it had happened before, or like you'd dreamt it... Zhan Zhao had analysed this sort of phenomenon too, and said it usually fell under the category of memory misalignment.

Xiao Bai Chi stared blankly at the screen – had he remembered it wrong?

Just as he was thinking that, Zhao Zhen reached out and gently touched his head.

......

Meanwhile, speaking of caves, there was also a driver who was currently telling Bai Ye a story in the car.

The driver had spent quite a while setting the scene, and the outcome really was a bit unexpected: a teacher had gone to a student's address, only to find that the listed residence was actually a grave.

Bai Ye glanced questioningly at Zhao Jue – Is this really not some made-up ghost story?

Zhao Jue spread his hands – It's true, that teacher even taught maths to both of the kids.

The driver continued, "The teacher was scared out of her wits, but when she looked more closely at the writing on the tombstone, she realised it wasn't a tombstone at all, it was a signpost. Turned out the family used to run a small restaurant there. After they moved away due to roadworks, they wrote their new address on the stone to let their old customers know. The only thing was, the sign wasn't made very well, and there was a mound of dirt beneath it. At a glance, it really did look like a grave."

Bai Ye looked at Zhao Jue somewhat speechlessly, and Zhao Jue pointed at him, struggling to hold back his laughter – Hahaha!

"The teacher followed the address on the stone, found the small restaurant, and also found the missing girl's parents. Their home phone hadn't been working because of the move, the landline had been disconnected, and the signal was poor. But after asking, it turned out the girl hadn't gone home, which made the teacher anxious." The driver went on to say that she called the police straight away, then informed the school. The teachers and the girl's parents went up the mountain together to look for her.

Bai Ye felt something was off. "Didn't one of the classmates say they saw the girl leave the mountain?"

"Quite a few people really did see her, and the police questioned those students, none of them seemed to be lying. And it wasn't just students from her class who saw her, there were students from other classes too, but they all said the same thing... that she was wearing a rain poncho when she walked down the mountain." The driver continued. "But the kids also said it wasn't raining at the time. They just saw the girl walking down the mountain in a rain poncho, with the hood down... but no one actually saw her at the bus stop. There's only one path down the mountain, and it's not steep or difficult to walk. Everyone searched it top to bottom, twice, but there was no sign of the girl. In the end, an older police officer who knew the area well said there was a natural cave nearby, just off the mountain path. It was a karst cave, with underground water, lots of twists and turns, and completely undeveloped, not a tourist site. Occasionally, some particularly brave types would go in to explore. So the police called in the fire department, and some searched the mountain while others investigated the cave. In the end, they didn't find the girl, but they did find a yellow rain poncho inside the cave."

Bai Ye frowned. "Was the cave deep? Was there underground water? Could she have slipped and fallen?"

The driver shook his head. "No one knows for sure. The police even brought in professional divers and an exploration team to search, but they never found a body. And then... strange things started happening."

Bai Ye was surprised – There's more to this story?

"From then on, the drivers on bus route 48 would often see a girl in a yellow rain poncho standing at the bus stop on rainy nights. When they pulled up and opened the door, the girl would get on with her head down and not scan a card or pay. But when the driver looked back, there'd be no one there. Scared a few of them out of their wits. No one dared to take the night shift after that, and even if they were on that route, they refused to stop at that bus stop... Also, several of the teachers bore some responsibility. Later investigations found that there had been disagreements among them. The homeroom teacher insisted they find the girl before returning to the school, or at least make sure she answered the phone so they could confirm where she was. But the vice principal leading the group didn't have a good impression of the girl. He thought she was always late or leaving early, and it wasn't the first time, so he decided they should just go back. The vice principal didn't face any disciplinary action, but a week after the incident, he died mysteriously on school grounds."

"How did he die?" Bai Ye asked curiously.

"He fell into the school pool and drowned."

Bai Ye was puzzled. How deep could a middle school swimming pool possibly be? Could it be that the teacher couldn't swim?

"Creepy, isn't it?" The driver clicked his tongue and shook his head. "The creepiest part is that it happened on a rainy night, in the middle of the night, and no one knows why that vice principal went to the school. Then the security guards in the school's gatehouse said that night, they seemed to see a yellow figure near the pool... like a student wearing a rain poncho. They chased after it with flashlights, and that's when they found the vice principal's body in the swimming pool."

As the driver finished his story, they happened to be arriving near Zhao Jue's home. He wrapped it up, saying, "When the news broke, it caused quite a stir. Loads of people went off cave exploring, which was really dangerous. So later, the mountain road was dismantled, the bus stop abandoned, and route 48 was rerouted. Just like that, a decade or so has passed... ai."

Bai Ye and Zhao Jue got out of the car and said goodbye to the driver.

As they walked into the house, Bai Ye asked Zhao Jue, "That girl, was she about the same age as Zhao and Yutang?"

"Same year group, different class," Zhao Jue replied. "Back then, Kitten and the little tiger were in the first group to take the school bus back, so they missed it. What a pity, if they'd been the last ones down the mountain, they might have discovered something."

"And what do you think?" Bai Ye asked Zhao Jue.

Zhao Jue spread his hands. "Based on the news alone, there's too little information to say."

The two of them returned home. As they stepped inside, they saw Mia playing a video game, clearly in full battle mode.

On the living room sofa, Kalin and Anna were watching television. Coincidentally, the news report was covering that afternoon's incident with the girl who jumped off a building.

As soon as Zhao Jue came through the door, he was surrounded by dogs. There were too many dogs in the house already, and now there were also Kalin's Great Danes, who were sprawled across the living room like bears.

Bai Ye went to the fridge to grab a bottle of water. He did a quick calculation, his seafood market delivery should be arriving soon.

Just as he walked over to the sofa and took a sip of water, the news anchor reported that Guan Xiaohong, the girl who had jumped, had only suffered minor injuries after being taken to the hospital, but had died unexpectedly of a heart attack while under observation.

Bai Ye and Zhao Jue both looked up, staring at the TV screen in confusion – Is it really that outrageous?

......

Inside the Bai Group building.

Bai Jintang was sitting at his desk reading through some documents. After glancing at a few pages, he looked up at the person opposite him.

Across from him, Gongsun had placed a large cardboard box on the coffee table. The box was half-filled with soil, and inside it, the little chinchilla he had rescued, Gongsun Baiqi, was rolling around in the dirt, giving itself a bath.

Originally, Qiqi had been kept in Gongsun's room at Bai Jintang's villa, but there were simply too many feline predators at home. Gongsun felt it was too dangerous for a chinchilla, so he brought it to live in Bai Jintang's office instead.

Big Brother Bai had long since got used to this "mouse". It was quite well-behaved and never caused a fuss. Most of the time, it stayed completely still, round and chubby. Watching it bathe was rather amusing, it would roll endlessly in the dirt.

Gongsun was holding a glass of champagne in one hand and a book in the other, sipping while watching the chinchilla bathe, occasionally flipping through a few pages of the book.

Bai Jintang finished reading the documents and came over to sit on the sofa. Gongsun asked if he wanted some champagne, and Bai Jintang simply pulled him into his lap and drank from the glass in Gongsun's hand.

Just then, the twins pushed the door open and walked in.

The two men and the chinchilla on the sofa all looked up at them.

Xiao Ding pointed at Bai Jintang and shouted angrily, "No drinking during work hours!"

Da Ding glanced at his brother with a helpless expression – Is drinking really the main issue here?

Xiao Ding tossed an envelope at Bai Jintang.

Gongsun picked it up and had a look, it was a wedding invitation.

Bai Jintang read the names and looked rather surprised. "Shi Yanshuo's really getting married?"

Gongsun also knew Shi Yanshuo, not through Bai Jintang, but because Ma Xin was always reading gossip in the forensics lab and sharing the juiciest bits with him and Xiatian.

Gongsun remembered that Shi Yanshuo always had an ambiguous thing going on with a mixed-race model. Ma Xin had even joked that the pair were both incorrigible flirts, made for each other. But the bride's name on the invitation was Yu Hui... it didn't sound like that model at all.

"The wedding's next Saturday," Xiao Ding said, then asked Big Brother Bai, "How much are we giving?"

Big Brother Bai raised an indifferent eyebrow – Whatever.

"Oh, and," Da Ding added, "Shi Yanshuo said his wife's a fan of Qi Le, he asked if the band could perform a congratulatory song at the wedding."

Bai Jintang looked up at the twins – You want me to attend your wedding banquet and you're asking Qi Le to sing? Why not ask Xu Lie to be the master of ceremonies while you're at it?

The twins wore matching expressions of disdain – Old Shi has no taboos...

Gongsun, holding the freshly bathed Xiao Baiqi, poked its belly – He's ruthless!

‿︵‿︵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 14, 2025 by Angel

Edited: August 1, 2025 by Angel