S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 6 Chapter 72

The Culinary Murderer 24 – A Very Poor Lie Which Reveals the Truth

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"Waaahhhhhh...!"

Two blood-curdling screams echoed through the pitch-black corridor of the teaching building.

That's right, two screams.

Bai Yutang and the twins turned around, puzzled, staring at the two men standing at the doorway with flashlights in hand, screaming their heads off. The beams of their flashlights were darting wildly around the entrance to the washroom, and with the earth-shattering shrieks, even the dogs in the distance had started barking.

"What are you doing?" Da Ding, who was closest, wasn't frightened, but his ears were buzzing from the sheer volume. These two really had quite the lungs.

Old Wang had just finished shouting, and his face had turned deathly pale. Now he could clearly see the person standing behind him, it was his partner, the security guard on patrol, Xiao Li.

Xiao Li also looked pale from fright, clutching his chest and gasping for breath.

Old Wang patted his own shoulder and realised the hand from before must have been Xiao Li's. He was so angry he almost swore. "What are you doing, creeping around like that?!"

Xiao Li looked wronged. "What do you mean creeping around? I came to look for my phone."

Bai Yutang picked up the phone that had been left on the edge of the sink.

Xiao Li nodded and said it was his.

Bai Yutang let out a breath of relief, at least no one had died. When he saw the phone earlier, he'd even considered pushing open the cubicle door to check whether the guard had dropped dead in there.

Old Wang frowned at Xiao Li. "What... exactly happened?"

Xiao Li said it was nothing much. He had just been patrolling this floor and had suddenly needed the washroom. Since it was pitch black and he was worried the phone might fall into the toilet, he'd left it on the sink. After finishing and washing his hands, he forgot the phone, went downstairs with his flashlight, and only remembered it once he'd reached the lower floor. When he got to the second floor, he heard the phone ringing and figured someone might be looking for him, so he ran back up. Then he saw Old Wang standing at the door and patted him.

"I thought you were calling me and I hadn't picked up, so you came to find me... How was I supposed to know you'd start screaming like that? Anyone would've been scared!" Xiao Li looked rather aggrieved.

Having had the fright of their lives, both security guards now patted their chests.

Bai Yutang asked Xiao Li, "You've just patrolled this floor?"

Xiao Li nodded.

Old Wang asked, "Then didn't you see the light on in the middle cubicle?"

"Light on?" Xiao Li looked confused. "That's impossible, I just passed by and it wasn't on..."

As he spoke, he took a few steps forward and saw that one of the rooms ahead was indeed lit up. "Eh?"

"How strange..." Xiao Li walked towards the lit classroom. "Just now it was definitely off... Damn!"

When he saw the figure in the raincoat inside, he jumped in fright. Fortunately, he was walking from front to back, and on closer inspection, realised it was just a raincoat draped over a pile of books.

"Who did this?! Must be those troublemakers again!" Xiao Li said angrily.

Bai Yutang asked the two of them, "What troublemakers? Students from the school?"

Old Wang sighed.

Xiao Li gestured toward the residential section of the campus behind them. "Most of the students are day students, but there's a small number who board. A few of them are especially mischievous, they often sneak out at night to play games all night at internet cafés. Old Wang and I have caught them several times, so now they hold a grudge against us. Sometimes they sneak in here just to cause trouble!"

Old Wang shook his head and added, "Those few students really are out of hand. I even saw them extorting a classmate once. If they're already this bad at that age, I dread to think what they'll turn into as adults."

The twins, ever gossipy, asked, "Don't their families care? Just call their parents, drag them home and give them a good beating. Once isn't enough? Then twice."

Old Wang shook his head again. "Not all parents are willing to discipline their kids, some don't care at all. If the parents are badly behaved themselves, how can they educate their children? If the beam at the top is crooked, the ones below won't be straight either."

"Can we have a look at the surveillance footage?" Bai Yutang asked. "If it really was the students messing around, the cameras should've caught it, right?"

Old Wang and Xiao Li both agreed and took the three of them to the monitoring room.

......

In the reception room of the SWAT building.

Fang Beibei completely threw off Wen Xiaorou, and at the same time, Fang Beibei was utterly thrown off by Wen Xiaorou.

These two clearly didn't belong to the same world, their lines of thought were completely different.

Fang Beibei said that Zhang Wei had been killed by a ghost.

Wen Xiaorou's first reaction was to ask, "Male ghost or female ghost?"

The two of them just stared blankly at each other for a few seconds, and then Fang Beibei, looking rather anxious, said, "I'm being serious!"

Wen Xiaorou was rather speechless – Well, I wasn't joking either, was I? What, do ghosts not have genders now?

"Which ghost killed him, then?" Wen Xiaorou asked.

"Tan Wen."

The moment Fang Beibei said the name, Wen Xiaorou turned to look at her.

There had been progress in Tan Wen's case, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang had already informed Wen Xiaorou about it. Although they hadn't gone into much detail, they did mention that a set of suspected remains had been found, and both had asked whether she could help track down any family members to provide a DNA sample.

Wen Xiaorou had been trying to contact old classmates ever since, hoping to find out what had happened to Tan Wen's parents, but no one seemed to know anything.

She'd been pondering the matter for quite some time. The timing of it all seemed far too coincidental, how could everything be happening in these few days?

And now today, Fang Beibei came out and claimed that Zhang Wei had been killed by Tan Wen's ghost. All of Wen Xiaorou's internal alarms went off at once. She thought to herself – Could this be what they call a self-destruct confession? Like waving a massive red flag while pretending there's nothing there. If it were really a vengeful ghost out for revenge, surely it would go after those who wronged it. Why would it come after the two of you for no reason?

"Did you and Zhang Wei kill her?" Wen Xiaorou once again completely threw Fang Beibei off.

After staring blankly for a moment, Fang Beibei shook her head and waved her hands. "No! No, it's not like that at all!"

Wen Xiaorou tilted her head. "Then what are you so afraid of? And if it wasn't the two of you, why would her ghost kill Zhang Wei?"

Fang Beibei looked helpless, raising a hand to tap her own mouth. "It's all because of this mouth of mine, I said bad things about her..."

"What about Zhang Wei?"

"He said bad things about her too..."

"That's it?" Wen Xiaorou was curious. "Nothing else?"

Fang Beibei shook her head, saying that there was nothing more.

"She'd kill the two of you just for saying bad things about her?" Wen Xiaorou shook her head. "That's a bit much, isn't it..."

"It's because we said bad things about her that she went to the cave!" Fang Beibei clasped her hands tightly, her fingers turning white from the pressure. "We mocked her for being a coward, so she went down the mountain to that cave alone!"

Wen Xiaorou looked at Fang Beibei and asked, "You're being serious?"

Fang Beibei nodded.

Wen Xiaorou was silent for a while, then suddenly asked, "Why didn't you say anything at the time?"

Fang Beibei froze.

"When the teacher realised she was missing, every class was asked whether anyone knew where she'd gone. Why didn't you say anything then?" Wen Xiaorou's expression was serious. "If you'd spoken up as soon as she went down the mountain, they wouldn't have had to wait so long to find the cave. If they'd found it sooner, Tan Wen might have been saved!"

Fang Beibei opened her mouth. "I... I didn't expect that..."

Wen Xiaorou frowned. "Forgive me for being blunt..."

Fang Beibei looked at her.

"If that ghost really came after you... well, you'd deserve it."

Fang Beibei stared at Wen Xiaorou in shock. "Aren't you a police officer?"

Wen Xiaorou nodded. "That's right, which is exactly why ghosts aren't my department... Besides, if you go and turn yourself in now, considering you were underage at the time and that so much time has passed, there won't be enough evidence to prosecute you anyway. So even if there's a trial, the law can't really punish you. Honestly, a vengeful ghost claiming your life sounds like the most fitting ending, you both had it coming. Or, maybe go and have a word with Tan Wen's ghost. Drop to your knees, admit your mistake, or publicly confess what you did back then and apologise, see if she's willing to let you off."

"You..." Fang Beibei was rendered speechless by Wen Xiaorou's words. "How can you just sit back and do nothing!"

Wen Xiaorou looked rather innocent. "Didn't I just give you a suggestion?"

Fang Beibei was furious and nodded sharply. "Fine, I get it. You've hated me since we were kids! You're just dying for me to drop dead, aren't you?!"

Wen Xiaorou looked at Fang Beibei, puzzled. This one really has a warped sense of self. How has it gone from her harming others to her being the victim? She really is skilled at playing the wronged party. Perhaps that ghost has been wrongly accused after all...

Fang Beibei grabbed her suitcase and stormed off. "I'm going to write my will right now, if anything happens to me, it's all because you stood by and did nothing! I'll make sure your name is dragged through the mud!"

Wen Xiaorou reached into her pocket and pulled out a voice recorder, giving it a little shake – Who exactly is going to lose their reputation?

Fang Beibei's eyes widened. "You..."

Wen Xiaorou smiled. "If you become a ghost, be sure to come find me."

Fang Beibei stamped her foot, grabbed her suitcase, and stormed out.

Wen Xiaorou strolled out with her hands in her pockets, only to find Captain Xiaofei leaning against the wall by the door. He looked at her helplessly. Wen Xiaorou grinned and took out her phone. She'd prepared both ways, one recording on the voice recorder and another on her phone. She sent the phone recording straight to Zhan Zhao.

Xiaofei did look a bit worried as he watched Fang Beibei storm out. He asked, "What if something really does happen?"

Wen Xiaorou smiled. "Don't worry, she won't die."

Xiaofei didn't understand.

"I don't believe for a second she's that frightened just because she said a few nasty things," Wen Xiaorou watched Fang Beibei walk out of the main gate. "If there really is a vengeful ghost out for revenge, then her retribution should've been dying alongside Zhang Wei. The fact that Zhang Wei died first and she's still alive only proves she's even worse than him."

Xiaofei still didn't quite get it.

Wen Xiaorou shrugged. "The tastiest bit is always saved for the last bite. As for her fate, it just depends on who moves faster, the vengeful ghost or SCI."

With that, Wen Xiaorou stretched and yawned. "I'm starving..."

Xiaofei asked her, "Fancy a late-night snack? The cafeteria's got steamed buns tonight."

"Sounds good!" Wen Xiaorou beamed and slung an arm over his shoulder, dragging him off for a bite to eat in a manly manner.

......

At Big Brother Bai's villa, Zhan Zhao was already listening to the recording.

Wen Xiaorou probably hadn't expected that Zhan Zhao wouldn't be asleep in the middle of the night but would instead be helping Bai Chi interpret a dream.

Bai Chi couldn't make any sense of it either. The cats in the room were all drowsy by now. Lisbon was swinging his big head and flicking his tail at Zhao Zhen, demanding – Turn off the lights and go to sleep, human! I'm the nocturnal one here, remember?!

When Zhan Zhao played the recording, it caught both Bai Chi and Zhao Zhen's attention.

Zhao Zhen was thoroughly entertained when he heard the part where Wen Xiaorou verbally tore into Fang Beibei. When Bai Chi was younger, he'd been bullied by classmates because of his unusually high IQ and slightly odd personality, so he always got especially worked up over things like this.

Zhan Zhao stroked his chin thoughtfully, feeling it was interesting. Wen Xiaorou might come across as careless and brash, but she was actually sharp, she had a knack for asking seemingly off-topic questions that always hit the mark. It was clear Fang Beibei knew the inside story of Tan Wen's case, which meant Zhang Wei's death hadn't been an accident either, had it? What kind of trick had been used? The person who caused his death, Guan Xiaohong, had also died in the hospital later, could she have been involved in the Tan Wen case too?

‿︵‿︵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 30, 2025 by Angel

Edited: August 28, 2025 by Soojin