S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 6 Chapter 63

The Culinary Murderer 15 – Insider

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Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao had uncovered a whole bunch of "clues". Although they still hadn't made sense of them, they were also feeling a bit too full.

The two of them went downstairs for a look. The crowd at the noodle shop entrance had grown even larger, it was completely packed, and there was no way to squeeze in. With that many people, questioning anyone was out of the question.

What's more, after discovering that this Guan Xiaoyue might be connected to Shi Yanshuo, they both felt it would be wiser to tread carefully, better to avoid alerting the target by accident. According to what the twins had said, the most prudent approach would be to try their luck on the day of Shi Yanshuo's wedding.

Meanwhile, Jiang Ping had already dug up quite a number of clues on his side.

There were simply too many leads related to Shi Yanshuo. Jiang Ping was in the middle of his investigation when Fei Mu suddenly came clattering down the stairs. This time, he wasn't there to check on Mwah Mwah, instead, he leaned curiously against the door and asked, "You guys, looking into Sanshi huh?"

Jiang Ping froze for a second and asked Fei Mu in confusion – How did you know?

"If I didn't know, Shi Yanshuo himself would've found out by now!" Fei Mu waved a hand at Jiang Ping, signalling, "Cut the connection, now!"

Jiang Ping hesitated for a moment, then quickly erased the traces and asked Fei Mu in surprise, "Someone's tailing us?"

Fei Mu replied, "Shi Yanshuo has his own tech team, he claims it's to protect client data for the company, but in truth, they're there to do shady work and counter police investigations.

"He's got constant surveillance over there, the moment someone investigates him, he'll know and could start destroying evidence. Luckily, one of my informants spotted it this time, otherwise, things would've gotten tricky."

Jiang Ping and Bai Chi were both astonished – Does that mean you had an informant inside Sanshi?

"That's not the point!" Fei Mu glanced around. "Where's Captain Bai?"

"He's gone for noodles."

Just then, Zhao Hu and Ma Han returned, carrying several large takeaway bags with lunch.

Fei Mu stared at the packaging for a while, squinting as he rubbed his chin, then patted the approaching Mwah Mwah and headed back upstairs.

"What's up with Captain Fei?" Ma Han asked Jiang Ping, curious, as he took out some chew snacks he'd bought on the way for Mwah Mwah.

Xiao Bai Chi also said, "Should we give Mwah Mwah back to him?"

"Ai, it's probably not because of Mwah Mwah." Jiang Ping waved it off. "We nearly wrecked their whole operation just now."

"That serious?" Ma Han and Zhao Hu both asked what had happened.

Jiang Ping gave them a brief explanation.

Hu Zi pulled a face full of disgust. "That Shi guy's definitely dodgy, who else would set up an entire tech team?"

Jiang Ping felt the same. Even with his encrypted investigation, they'd still managed to detect it, which meant the other side's defence level was unusually high. It was suspicious.

......

Before long, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang also came back.

The forensic team finished the autopsy and were now eating noodles.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both curiously asked Gongsun about the autopsy report, and Gongsun replied that Ai Hu had just taken it.

As he spoke, Gongsun jerked his chin in the direction of the elevator – You two want to see it? Bring the case file over.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged a glance. Now that the thread involving Shi Yanshuo had emerged, they reckoned they were about seventy to eighty per cent sure, so they got the files from Jiang Ping and headed upstairs to see Bao Sir.

Bao Sir was reading over a file. When he saw them, he gestured behind them – Close the door.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang turned back and shut the door.

"Bao Sir..." Zhan Zhao handed the file over.

Bao Sir opened it and immediately saw Shi Yanshuo's name, frowning. "Shi Yanshuo?"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both nodded.

"What are you two planning to do?"

Zhan Zhao opened up the file from the criminal investigation team's case. "There's a connection!"

Bao Sir skimmed through the documents, then listened to Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang's analysis. He asked, "So what? Just because his mother bought that suitcase fifteen years ago, and there's that doll, you two think he's a suspect?"

"There are just too many coincidences!" Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang argued, it was worth looking into!

Bao Sir chuckled. "And if his mother says the suitcase was sold off fifteen years ago, or it got stolen, or she gave it away, what then? And that doll, anyone can buy one. Shi Yanshuo's just one of the noodle shop's investors, do either of you even know how many businesses he's invested in?"

Zhan Zhao was about to say something else, but Bao Sir gave them a sharp look. "The financial crimes team have had their eye on Shi Yanshuo for nearly three years. It's taken three years just to get a single informant in. You two are not to mess this up, if you blow the case, you're not cleaning the station toilets, you're cleaning Mwah Mwah's toilet!"

Zhan Zhao opened his mouth to protest, but Bai Yutang tugged lightly at his sleeve, signalling – Let it go, we'll think it through later.

"You two are that free?" Bao Sir handed the file he was holding to them. "Here, go investigate this, it fits your area of expertise."

"Fits our expertise?" Zhan Zhao took the file doubtfully.

Bai Yutang glanced at it too. It was an interview record from a witness. The witness appeared to have mental health issues, and an assessment was needed to determine the reliability of their testimony.

Zhan Zhao looked rather disdainful and handed the file back. "Shouldn't this be handled by a specialised forensic psychiatrist?"

Bao Sir gave a vaguely mysterious smile. "You two go have a chat with her, you're not exactly busy, are you?"

With that, he waved them off – Go on, off you go!

Having had their enthusiasm thoroughly dampened, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang left Bao Sir's office looking a little deflated. They hadn't even made it downstairs when they caught sight of a figure darting through the corridor.

They looked in the direction of the washroom and saw Fei Mu standing at the entrance, clicking his tongue at them while curling his finger, beckoning them over.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang gave him a baffled look – Isn't that his usual signal for summoning Mwah Mwah?

Fei Mu waved at the two of them, glancing around warily as he did so.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang walked over.

Fei Mu shoved each of them into the washroom, shut the door and locked it, then went round opening every cubicle to make sure no one else was inside... he carried out the whole process with practised ease.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang stared at him, puzzled – What on earth are you doing?

Fei Mu pulled out a rolled-up file from behind his back and handed it to them.

Neither Zhan Zhao nor Bai Yutang reached out to take it – Where did you pull that from?

Fei Mu glared at them – Just take it!

Zhan Zhao took it, only to find it was the dossier on Wang Zhen and Shi Yanshuo, the mother and son.

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao both pointed in the direction of Bao Sir's office – Bao Sir told us not to poke around.

Fei Mu waved them off and asked in a low voice, "Did you two go to the noodle shop just now? Did you make contact with Guan Xiaoyue?"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged a glance and shook their heads.

Fei Mu lowered his voice even more, it was barely audible, and whispered, "He's my informant!"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were taken aback, staring at Fei Mu. "You're saying Guan Xiaoyue is..."

"Shhh!" Fei Mu urged them to keep their voices down!

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang quickly shut up. They realised they'd been a bit careless, good thing they hadn't approached Guan Xiaoyue earlier.

"Why is he...?" Zhan Zhao asked, clearly curious.

"Ai, it's complicated, I promised I wouldn't tell anyone. On your wedding day..."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both raised their eyebrows at him.

"I mean, on the day you go to that wedding banquet, just help me observe Shi Yanshuo, see if he's getting suspicious of Guan Xiaoyue." Then Fei Mu added with emphasis, "Shi Yanshuo's not a simple man, and especially not that mother of his, don't take them lightly!"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both nodded. They hadn't expected so many people to be involved either, so they promised Fei Mu that they'd check in with him first before investigating anything further.

They also handed over the case file they'd just given to Bao Sir, as a kind of information exchange.

Fei Mu took the file, then lifted his wrist and pointed at his watch.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang didn't understand – What? You want to synchronise watches?

Fei Mu tapped the watch face. "The afternoon is over! Hurry up and give my Mwah Mwah back to me!"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang went downstairs and "released" Mwah Mwah, along with a bonus bag of biscuits.

Zhao Hu and Ma Han looked over at their team leader. Bai Yutang just shook his head.

Everyone guessed the lead hadn't gone through, which meant they were still idle.

Zhan Zhao sat on the sofa and began flipping through the witness interview report that Bao Sir had given him at lightning speed. At first, he turned the pages rapidly, but gradually he slowed down, his expression growing more focused.

By the time he'd finished reading, Zhan Zhao looked up at the clock on the wall. It was nearly five o'clock.

Bai Yutang had the address of the witness in hand. Bao Sir had told them to go and meet her, have a chat in person, so he looked at Zhan Zhao – Cat, shall we go now?

Zhan Zhao closed the file and nodded. As he turned back, he glanced around the office and asked, "Which of you watches the most horror movies?"

Everyone went quiet for a moment, then all pointed toward the forensics lab – Gongsun, of course! Who else?

Zhan Zhao thought for a bit, then went to the door of the forensics room and asked a question.

Gongsun grabbed his coat and dashed out, followed by Ma Xin, who was carrying an armful of snacks.

Ma Xin handed out the snacks to everyone. Zhan Zhao took a glance and saw that they were all sesame mochi from Fang Beibei's brand.

Ma Xin really loved that mochi before and had stockpiled quite a lot. Now she brought it all out to share. Cheating, school bullying, no matter how they try to whitewash it, it's useless. I won't eat anything made by that kind of person ever again!

Everyone didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Hu Zi asked her, "Why not just throw it all out?"

Ma Xin replied – The food's not guilty!

With that, she dumped the snacks and followed Gongsun and the others downstairs – she liked horror movies too!

After reading through the material, Zhan Zhao had more or less put Shi Yanshuo out of his mind, as this new case was far more interesting. Bao Sir had been absolutely right: a perfect match for their area of expertise!

The witness in question was a young woman aged twenty-one named Zhu Yi.

Zhu Yi worked at a café and sandwich shop near her home, making coffee and juice drinks. She worked day shifts on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and evening shifts on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The day shift ran from eight a.m. to three p.m., and the evening shift from three p.m. to eight p.m. She had Sundays off. Alongside her part-time job, Zhu Yi was also studying, something food-related, and she ran her own food channel, regularly uploading food vlogs wherever and whenever she could. For that purpose, she had also enrolled in a weekend course to learn video editing and such.

Zhan Zhao couldn't help thinking this girl was seriously overachieving. Her schedule was packed to the brim, and it seemed like the only time she didn't have to go out was when she was asleep.

Zhu Yi rented a place in the eastern district, where rents were relatively cheap. The area was full of older houses, most just two or three storeys high. The owners usually lived in the same house as their tenants, separating out a floor or a room to let.

Because she needed to film videos, Zhu Yi rented two rooms, one furnished simply, the other more like a storage room.

The house she rented was a two-storey building. The landlords, a couple in their fifties, lived downstairs on the ground floor. Zhu Yi rented the entire second floor, which had an exterior staircase leading directly upstairs, so they rarely crossed paths.

Zhu Yi had been living there for nearly a year, and according to her, she got along quite well with the landlord and his wife.

The incident had taken place the Saturday before last. That day, after finishing her evening shift, Zhu Yi had gone to the gym for an aerobics class before heading home.

Usually, on weekends, the couple downstairs would go to visit their daughter who lived in the city and wouldn't return until Monday morning, so Zhu Yi, out of habit, had taken out her keys to open the main gate.

Outside the small building was a courtyard, with a large iron gate and a smaller door beside it. The main gate was only opened when someone drove out, at other times, people used the small side door.

Zhu Yi took out her keys, but noticed... the small door wasn't locked, it was slightly ajar.

Zhu Yi found it a bit odd, but didn't think much of it. Perhaps the couple had been in a rush and forgotten to lock it.

She pushed the door open and went in, only to see that the lights on the ground floor were on, and from inside came a repeated thud, thud, thud. It sounded like someone was chopping meat in the kitchen.

Zhu Yi found it even stranger. It was nearly ten at night, who was chopping filling for dumplings at this hour? Or maybe buns? Were they planning to eat them in the morning?

Feeling both tired and sleepy, she simply went upstairs.

After getting back to her room and taking a shower, she could still hear the sound of chopping downstairs. But Zhu Yi was far too exhausted and soon fell asleep... She didn't know how long she had been asleep when, half-awake and dazed, she came round and realised she could still hear that thud, thud, thud downstairs. She thought to herself, What time is it? Why are they still chopping filling...?

Zhu Yi reached out, wanting to grab her phone from the bedside table to check the time.

But in her sleepy confusion, her hand knocked the phone off the table, and it fell to the floor with a dull thud.

At that moment, the sound from downstairs suddenly stopped.

Zhu Yi picked up her phone and glanced at the time, it was already two in the morning.

But now, the sounds from downstairs were gone.

Zhu Yi was relieved it had finally stopped. She turned over, preparing to go back to sleep, but strangely... her sleepiness slowly faded, and she became fully awake.

Lying in bed, the more Zhu Yi thought about it, the more wrong it seemed. It was bizarre, who chopped filling from ten in the evening all the way until two in the morning? And why was it so quiet downstairs now? Usually, if the uncle and aunt were home, there would be voices. And the landlady always went to bed before eleven. If Zhu Yi ever made any noise late at night, she'd even get complaints about it...

No matter how she looked at it, something didn't add up. After hesitating for a while, Zhu Yi picked up her phone and called the landlady's number.

Just as she hit the call button, a ringtone rang out from just outside her door.

The ringtone was shockingly loud and clear, it came from right outside her room. Immediately after, she heard a flurry of hurried footsteps, as if someone was rushing down the stairs in a panic, and that ringtone grew fainter and fainter...

‿︵‿︵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 21, 2025 by Angel

Edited: August 11, 2025 by Soojin