S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 6 Chapter 75

The Culinary Murderer 27 – Undercover X3

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Guan Xiaoyue was actually Tan Wen's younger brother. This revelation left everyone present completely baffled.

Bai Yutang wrote down the names of everyone who had appeared so far on the whiteboard, only to discover a web of intersecting and misplaced connections, eventually forming a complete circle.

From what they had found up to now, there were people assuming false identities, some who had gone missing and couldn't be found, and others whose names matched but were entirely different individuals. Who exactly was who? None of it added up.

Bai Yutang stood in front of the whiteboard, scratching his head. Zhan Zhao and Bai Chi, both with brilliant minds, had crashed like overloaded computers. Just what kind of case was this?!

At that moment, Zhan Zhao suddenly remembered – Isn't Guan Xiaoyue Fei Mu's informant? Then surely Fei Mu would know the truth about his background?

Bai Yutang thought it was worth asking Fei Mu, so he called him down.

Fei Mu hurried downstairs, and the first thing Bai Yutang did was show him photos comparing Guan Xiaoyue as a child and as an adult. Then he told him that Guan Xiaoyue's true identity might be that he was Tan Wen's younger brother.

Fei Mu stood frozen as well. Another high-IQ elite in the bureau stalled for a few seconds, then asked, "Who's Tan Wen?"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were displeased – Didn't you read the materials we gave you?

Fei Mu, however, was quick to retort, asking them in return – Did you two read the data I gave you?

The three of them stared at each other for a moment, then all turned their faces away.

Xiaofei and Wen Xiaorou had almost forgotten why they were there.

"Actually, if we want to know what's going on, we just need to ask Teacher Guan," Wen Xiaorou said.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang agreed. If they were to approach Guan Xiaoyue recklessly now, they didn't know whether it would cause complications. But Guan Mei wouldn't be seen until the wedding on Saturday, and that would still be a few days' wait.

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao pulled Fei Mu aside and asked how he had come into contact with Guan Xiaoyue as an informant.

Fei Mu said it wasn't him who had found Guan Xiaoyue, Guan Xiaoyue had approached him. "That kid is extremely obsessed with Shi Yanshuo, the kind of hostile obsession where he was determined to bring him to justice."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged a glance. If Guan Xiaoyue was Tan Wen's brother, and the body in the suitcase was Tan Wen's, and the suitcase was tied to Shi Yanshuo's money-laundering case... could it be that Tan Wen's death really was connected to Shi Yanshuo? Had Guan Xiaoyue become an informant investigating Shi Yanshuo in order to avenge his sister?

The more the two thought about it, the more they realised there was more to it. Tan Wen's parents were dead too, leaving Guan Xiaoyue as the sole survivor of his family. That kind of hatred must have been immense...

"But..." Zhan Zhao said, "when I spoke to him on the phone just now, it didn't sound like he knew we were investigating this case. So the person who called us probably wasn't him, was it?"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both asked Fei Mu, "How are Guan Xiaoyue's combat skills? Could he kill someone?"

Fei Mu looked at the two of them with wide eyes – How should I know? The kid seems pretty sharp, and he probably does some exercise, but whether he could fight... no idea. You couldn't really tell just by looking...

"Hmm..." Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang felt like they had no idea where to start. Originally, this was a food competition hosted by their older brother, so the twins might have been able to make the connection. But based on what the twins had said earlier, Guan Xiaoyue didn't seem to be familiar with them...

"Huh?" Zhan Zhao asked Bai Yutang, "Isn't Guan Xiaoyue working with Shi Yanshuo, not cooperating with Brother? And he's not close to the twins either, right?"

Bai Yutang nodded.

"Then why would he agree to be a judge for this food competition?" Zhan Zhao asked Fei Mu.

Fei Mu said he didn't know either, apparently it was arranged through a friend...

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang thought it over, then decided to call the twins.

In the office, Xiaofei and Wen Xiaorou watched Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang darting around – Are they still going to deal with the Fang Beibei matter or not?

Wen Xiaorou had been on duty all night and was both hungry and exhausted. She just wanted to go home and sleep, so she waved her hand and said SCI could handle it. She didn't care anymore.

Xiaofei, however, was a bit uneasy. He grabbed Wen Xiaorou and said, "Fang Beibei seems to have a lot of enemies, what if she stirs up trouble and leads them straight to your place?"

Wen Xiaorou thought that wouldn't be so bad, it would be great if they came to her...

Xiaofei looked at Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao  – Are you going to take care of this or not?

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang also felt that it wasn't the right time to act alone.

One of them pointed to the break room, implying, Go sleep there for now, we'll deal with it after you wake up!

Wen Xiaorou wasn't happy, but Xiaofei gave her a push and sent her into the break room.

Bai Chi made her a bowl of instant noodles so she could have something to eat before sleeping.

Luckily, Lisbon was also in the break room, and even the king of beasts looked worn out.

Wen Xiaorou flopped down onto the sofa and joined Lisbon in catching up on sleep.

As they stepped out, Zhan Zhao suddenly said to Xiaofei, "Actually, putting up a banner is a good idea."

Xiaofei looked at Zhan Zhao. Hanging a banner outside the SWAT team office? That would definitely make the headlines!

Zhan Zhao winked at him. "Fang Beibei has ulterior motives. To deal with her, you need to use underhanded tricks, playing it too straight won't work."

Xiaofei thought for a moment and felt that Zhan Zhao seemed to be hinting at something. He didn't go home either, instead, he headed to the SWAT team's break room for a nap. He decided to wait until the afternoon, get some proper sleep, and then see if SCI could make any progress during that time.

......

Over on Bai Yutang's side, he managed to get through to the twins. As expected, they weren't familiar with Guan Xiaoyue, they said it was thanks to Xu Lie that they'd been able to invite him this time.

After asking around, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang discovered that the culinary genius behind the Instant Noodle Alien brand, along with those three jinxes Xu Lie, Lin Ruo, and Mingdi, was none other than Guan Xiaoyue.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both looked up at the sky – Why are those three idlers involved in everything?

Of the three, perhaps only Xu Lie could be considered somewhat reliable. After all, given his relationship with Chen Mi, and SCI's relatively frequent contact with him, plus the fact that he was one of the Bai Group's people, he ought to be trustworthy. Lin Ruo and Mingdi were indeed clever, but they hadn't known them for long enough to be certain they'd take their side. What if they were closer to Guan Xiaoyue?

Zhan Zhao considered asking Xu Lie to help investigate Guan Xiaoyue a little, but it didn't feel entirely dependable either. Even if Xu Lie genuinely wanted to help, he wasn't a professional. Who could say for sure whether Guan Xiaoyue was dangerous?

Xu Lie wasn't on his own these days either, besides Chen Mi, he was also raising Xiao Yumi. Being a stay-at-home dad came with heavy responsibilities... if anything went wrong, it would be a serious problem.

While the two of them were struggling, the twins were having a hard time too.

The twins grumbled endlessly, saying that their big brother's bad luck had started getting worse. This cooking competition hadn't even begun properly and it was already full of mishaps. There had been an incident a few days ago that still hadn't settled down, and now someone had suddenly withdrawn from the competition today.

"Who dropped out?" Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were both curious, they wondered if it was Fang Beibei?

"If only it were Fang Beibei. No, it was a handsome guy who dropped out, the one specialising in Western cuisine. We really had high hopes for him. But ever since Fang Beibei hired that bodyguard and made a scene, he's lost interest... There just happened to be some event overseas these past few days, so he just dropped out... Now we've got to find a replacement at the last minute!"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang thought that replacing someone shouldn't be too difficult. With so many people competing for just one spot, they could just pick another one.

"There aren't any that handsome!" The twins were practically jumping with frustration. "How many good-looking chefs are there, seriously? It's all about the ratings! The audience can't actually taste the food through the screen, so of course they rely on eye candy, good-looking guys and pretty girls to satisfy their cravings. Even if someone's capable enough to cook a whole banquet, if they're not good-looking, the ratings will drop!"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang clicked their tongues and were about to hang up.

The twins swore under their breath. "Is there no such thing as a good-looking guy who can cook any more..."

They even tried to coax Bai Yutang into joining. Bai Yutang immediately wanted to hang up, but Zhan Zhao stopped him.

Zhan Zhao weighed up the pros and cons with Bai Yutang. "Guan Xiaoyue clearly has no ties with the Bai Group, yet he's still willing to enter the competition, that means there's something about it that appeals to him! Tan Wen's case also involves Fang Beibei! She even said in last night's recording that she and Zhang Wei badmouthed her, which led her to go to that karst cave. If Guan Xiaoyue really is Tan Wen's younger brother, wouldn't he want to kill the two of them?!"

Bai Yutang thought it over and realised he was right... If he entered the cooking competition, he really would have a chance to get close to Guan Xiaoyue and gather firsthand information...

"Then..." Bai Yutang pointed at himself, as if to say – How about I take part?

Zhan Zhao asked, "Will Bao Sir scold us?"

Everyone nodded.

"And besides, everyone knows you're a police officer, wouldn't they all be on guard around you?" Zhan Zhao glanced around at the others.

The people in the office, every single one of them, had cooking skills that barely extended beyond instant noodles and scrambled eggs. No way they could enter the competition...

"We need someone who can cook, has professional skills, can gather information, and can enter the contest without raising any suspicion..." As Bai Yutang said this, he exchanged a glance with Zhan Zhao. Both their eyes lit up, and they said in unison, "Uncle Ye!"

On the other end of the line, the twins lit up. "Would Bai Ye really agree to participate? Wow! We've got a feeling the ratings would explode! And Uncle Ye can handle the pressure, he won't be fazed by Big Brother's bad luck... it'll balance things out!"

The twins launched into a flurry of praise and urged Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang to go and persuade Bai Ye to enter the competition.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang thought it was a great idea, the only issue was whether Bai Ye would agree to it.

The twins said, "The prize money's really high! And the pay's great too!"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang shook their heads in disdain – Uncle Ye wouldn't care about money...

The two decided to try an emotional appeal.

They called Bai Ye to ask if he would join the cooking competition...

Bai Ye didn't even finish listening before saying, "No."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang hurriedly explained the pros and cons, but when Bai Ye heard that he'd also have to gather intelligence and play undercover, he lost what little interest he had. He shook his head and said he wasn't doing it, no matter how cute the children were.

Just as he was about to hang up, Zhan Zhao suddenly said, "The prize money's really high!"

Bai Ye paused for a moment, then asked, "How high?"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged a glance, then looped in the twins for a three-way call.

The twins immediately rattled off the perks: "The total prize pool is five million! Plus, there's an appearance fee for every episode, a share of the TV broadcast profits, a cut from the adverts... You can also get sponsorships, and even be given a shop in the food city, which you can rent out later..."

Bai Ye seemed to do a quick calculation, then agreed readily. "Alright."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were speechless – So much for being your favourites! So we really can't compete with prize money...

The twins said participants could bring assistants and asked Bai Ye whom he'd bring.

Bai Ye likely had his phone on speaker, but before he could answer, a woman's voice chimed in, "Do the assistants get paid too?"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged another glance – it was Kalin.

The twins confirmed they did.

Kalin crooked her finger at Issel, who was sitting nearby eating ice cream with Mia. "Father of my child, go earn some money."

Issel's spoon fell from his hand. He stared at his wife, mouth agape.

Mia clenched her fists to cheer him on – Come on, Daddy! I want the new games console!

On the sofa, Zhao Jue, who was flipping through a magazine, asked, "How many assistants can you bring?"

Zhan Zhao replied, "Two."

Zhao Jue pointed at Eleven. "Bring this freeloader along too!"

Issel and Eleven both looked utterly baffled.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, however, were delighted – Issel's super radar, Eleven's a seasoned trickster. The two of them working undercover with Uncle Ye, how could those little brats possibly beat them? Nothing could go wrong!

On the other end, the twins were also thrilled – So many handsome men! Ratings! Ad revenue! Yay!

Only Bai Ye looked at Issel and Eleven with confusion. With those two as assistants... what could they possibly do? Blow up the kitchen?

‿︵‿︵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: June 1, 2025 by Angel

Edited: August 24, 2025 by Soojin