S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 6 Chapter 87

The Culinary Murderer 39 – Take Part in a Competition

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After Bai Ye and the new culinary duo had geared up, it was about time, so they rushed off to the food city for the rehearsal.

At the end of the day, the competition was still primarily aimed at promoting the food city, so each round of the contest was held on a different floor of the food city. There were a total of seven floors, and each one provided food and drink based on that floor's theme, where the competitors would face off.

The competition did not use an elimination system but rather a scoring system, with the final outcome determined by the total score, emphasising entertainment value.

Today's competition was held on the first floor.

The first floor was the fast food and drinks section, various convenient fast food items like sandwiches, wraps, burgers, buns, and the like, along with all sorts of beverages. In short... the food on this floor was suitable for breakfast or afternoon tea.

Bai Ye often made breakfast, so he based the competition menu on everyone's preferences...

Zhao Jue's tastes didn't seem to be of much reference value, and Issel and Eleven hadn't been particularly fussy about food in the past either, but were likely to become harder to please going forward.

After thinking it over, Bai Ye felt that Mia's preferences were the most reliable reference.

However, Mia liked most of the breakfasts Bai Ye made. Her absolute favourite was his chicken and egg sandwich, with chilli, of course.

As for drinks, Yutang seemed to love the lattes he made, so latte it was, latte with sandwiches.

Upon arriving at the food city, they found that, since today was the first day of the livestream, a huge crowd had turned up, and the entrance was packed with people.

All the participating teams and judges first gathered in the lounge to wait, and then followed the staff's instructions for the rehearsal.

After the rehearsal, there was a one-hour break before the official livestream began in the evening.

The rehearsal was held in the rehearsal room, while the livestream took place in the first-floor broadcast room, a transparent glass enclosure set right in the lobby of the first floor. During the livestream, customers at the food city could watch, though the area had basically already been taken over by Xu Lie and Guan Xiaoyue's fans.

Bai Ye took Issel and Eleven and followed a staff member into the elevator, listening along the way to a general explanation of the rules.

The three of them arrived at the lounge entrance.

When they pushed the door open and entered, quite a few people were already inside.

The lounge was spacious, with the dressing room and changing room next door.

The twins were explaining a few things to note later on, but not many people were listening, instead, they were all playing with Xiao Yumi in the stroller.

Chen Mi had to work overtime today, so Xu Lie brought Xiao Yumi along.

Guan Xiaoyue was crouched by the stroller, using a cat figurine to amuse the child.

It had been a while since Xiao Yumi's operation, and her body had recovered very well. She had already started learning to talk, and although most of it still sounded like indistinct babbling, there was one word she pronounced especially clearly, not "Daddy" or "Mommy", but "Dunbu".

It seemed the Dunbu had spent quite a lot of time playing with Xiao Yumi. As long as she saw anything with four furry legs, she would raise her little hand and point, shouting, "Dunbu!"

In the SCI office, Jiang Ping had switched on several of the surveillance screens on the wall, and all the equipment signals were being received normally. The monitors for each room, as well as the camera and recording gear worn by Bai Ye and the others, were all functioning properly, and the footage quality was decent.

Zhan Zhao caught sight of Xiao Yumi at once. "Aiya, she's grown a bit again in just a few days!"

Bai Yutang also thought Xu Lie looked rather the part of a stay-at-home dad.

Zhao Jue had joined in the fun as well, sitting by the sofa and flipping through a thick stack of documents from the economics crimes division.

"Where's Fang Beibei?" Bai Yutang glanced over the various surveillance screens and found that nearly everyone had arrived, except Fang Beibei.

"Being a diva?" The crowd watching the monitors had quickly switched into gossip mode.

Bai Yutang wondered whether she might actually pull out of the competition. After all, she had gone off the radar ever since that interview where she'd thrown Wen Xiaorou under the bus... Hopefully nothing had happened to her.

......

When Bai Ye entered the lounge with Issel and Eleven, they immediately drew everyone's attention.

Both the judges and contestants already knew that the previously-hired handsome chef had walked off the job, and the twins had said they'd replaced him with a new set of handsome men.

Everyone had been curious to see just how handsome they could be, and when they looked up, they were gobsmacked – Wow, three stunning men of completely different types had appeared!

Guan Xiaoyue kept poking Xu Lie, asking, "Isn't that Bai Yutang? Something's off... this one looks a bit more mature..."

Xu Lie kept making eye signals at Guan Xiaoyue. "What do you mean Bai Yutang? Call him Uncle Ye!"

Guan Xiaoyue asked curiously, "Don't tell me the Bai family doesn't have two brothers but three?"

Xu Lie told him to rinse his mouth before addressing them. Those three weren't people to be messed with, and he'd better keep the flirty remarks to a minimum unless he fancied a beating.

Seeing Xu Lie make a throat-slitting gesture, Guan Xiaoyue jumped in surprise and instinctively reached up to touch his own neck.

Everyone was watching with curiosity.

The twins gave the room a brief introduction and didn't waste many words. Instead, they glanced at their watches and tapped the table. "Where's Fang Beibei? Why isn't she here yet?"

Several members of the production team were still rather displeased with Fang Beibei and muttered from the side that she acted more like a diva than Xu Lie.

Xiao Yumi clearly recognised the three of them, especially Issel. Since Mia often played with her, the child started babbling excitedly as soon as she saw Issel.

Issel leaned over and poked her cheek, glancing sideways at Guan Xiaoyue, who was squatting nearby.

Issel spent about five seconds observing Guan Xiaoyue, then picked Xiao Yumi up and stepped back.

Eleven came over to play with the child and casually asked him – How was it?

Issel didn't say much, he simply replied – Scar on his head. Looks like a fatal wound, he survived against the odds.

......

Issel and Eleven had spoken the whole time without moving their lips. The ambient noise at the scene was quite loud, so naturally no one else there could hear them, but in the SCI office, the audio came through loud and clear thanks to the exceptionally high-performance recording equipment.

"A scar on the head?"

Bai Yutang asked Jiang Ping to pull up the footage from Issel's point of view, focusing on the top of Guan Xiaoyue's head.

Because Issel was known for his keen observational skills, Jiang Ping had prepared a special camera from his perspective, mounted on the frame of his glasses.

Issel already had a bold look, part Latin American, part mixed-race, and it was a bit too eye-catching. Wearing glasses helped tone it down slightly, making him appear more restrained, although for some reason, he still gave off a bit of a scumbag vibe...

While going through documents, Zhao Jue suddenly remembered something and asked Mia – By the way, how are things going with your parents lately?

Mia signed at Zhao Jue – Mom said Dad's only good for his looks and his figure, his head's empty.

Zhao Jue had thought they were finally making progress, they were clearly going out on dates in the evenings.

Mia continued signing – Mom said Dad was still good for showing off when they go out and he's pretty useful.

Zhao Jue covered his forehead – Kalin, as a mother, is seriously outrageous, spouting such nonsense in front of a child!

Mia continued discussing her parents' relationship with Zhao Jue – Mom said Dad's too perceptive, it's a bit troublesome, there's no secret in front of him.

Zhao Jue rolled his eyes – One minute she's saying his head's empty, the next she's saying he knows everything.

Jiang Ping, by scrubbing through the video, managed to capture a screenshot of the top of Guan Xiaoyue's head, just one or two frames lasting barely a fraction of a second.

Everyone squinted at the screen like they were playing spot the difference. Just a dark head, how could they deduce that there was a scar?

Jiang Ping had to rely on some technological help... and sure enough, the computer really did detect a scar... it was located towards the back of the crown. After scanning and rendering the image, it appeared to be a triangular-shaped wound.

Zhan Zhao brought over an image of what was suspected to be the head wound from Guan Xiaohong's corpse for comparison, and sure enough... it was somewhat similar.

......

At that moment, the rehearsal time had already arrived, but Fang Beibei still hadn't shown up.

The twins announced – No more waiting. Things would proceed as planned, and if she hasn't arrived by the halfway point of the rehearsal, it will be treated as forfeiting.

Everyone in the lounge moved to the rehearsal room.

As soon as everyone left, Da Ding took out an evidence bag he had prepared in advance, placed the bottle Guan Xiaoyue had just drunk from into it, and sent someone to deliver it to the SCI office.

Everyone in the office felt they had successfully completed the first step and soon, the moment of truth would come to see whether Guan Xiaoyue's surname was really Guan or Tan!

Just then, Jiang Ping suddenly received an immigration alert.

"Captain, Guan Mei has entered the country." Jiang Ping pulled up the flight details.

Bai Yutang told him to retrieve the airport surveillance footage to see if anyone had gone to meet Guan Mei.

Before long, Jiang Ping identified a section of surveillance footage.

Guan Mei, wearing a trench coat and looking bright and energetic, was wheeling her suitcase out. In the crowd of people waiting, a young girl ran up to meet her.

Guan Mei opened her arms joyfully and embraced the girl who had run into her, then they walked out hand in hand. Everything about them screamed mother and daughter.

Jiang Ping captured the girl's face, enlarged and clarified it, and then showed it to everyone.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged a glance, unsure of whether it was down to makeup or simply the changes that come with growing up. For a moment, neither of them could recognise her, so they asked Jiang Ping to find a photo of Tan Wen for comparison.

Back when Tan Wen went missing, the police had filed a case and kept records, including a photo of her from her middle school days.

The two photos were placed side by side, and after a system analysis, the result came back – no match.

"She's not Tan Wen?" Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were both surprised.

Jiang Ping also wasn't entirely sure. "It's still hard to say. If there's been plastic surgery or alterations to key facial features, the system might not be able to recognise her."

"What about Guan Xiaohong?" Zhan Zhao asked Jiang Ping.

Jiang Ping said that he couldn't find a photo of Guan Xiaohong, and the name was too common, there was only that skull reconstruction image.

Zhan Zhao asked him to run a comparison, and the result... still no match.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were both rather puzzled – Could it be another relative or friend?

"Huh?"

A new alert suddenly popped up at the bottom of Jiang Ping's screen, indicating a match had been found.  

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were curious – What else are you trying to match?

Jiang Ping opened the notification box. The computer had automatically picked someone from the airport surveillance footage, someone in the crowd.

As soon as everyone saw it, they recognised the person immediately – Ah! That uncle who rescued the dog!

Whenever Jiang Ping couldn't locate someone, he would usually set an automatic comparison search, which would notify him the moment a match was found.

And, just like that, it was pure coincidence, the uncle who had vanished after rescuing the dog had unexpectedly appeared in the crowd waiting for flights.

Bai Yutang told him to play the surveillance footage.

They saw the man concealed among the waiting passengers. After Guan Mei and the girl who came to meet her left, the uncle also walked away.

From other angles of the surveillance footage, it appeared that the uncle had been following the two of them.

"Hey, hey," Zhao Hu said suspiciously. "Is that uncle a good guy or a bad one?"

Bai Yutang also thought it looked a bit dangerous. If that uncle was up to no good, and they were both at the airport now, they'd probably already headed towards the parking lot...

Jiang Ping switched to the parking lot feed and prepared to contact the airport police.

However, judging by the parking lot footage, it hadn't just been the girl who came to pick up Guan Mei. There were several other men with her too, helping with the luggage and opening the car doors. Judging by the car and the overall setup, it seemed Guan Mei was now doing very well financially...

The uncle really was tailing them, but he didn't follow closely. Instead, he got into a silver-grey vehicle and followed their car as it left.

Jiang Ping got a shot of the licence plate and traced it to a rental car. The car rental company was based in K City, which explained why they couldn't find the man anywhere in S City before, he'd gone to the neighbouring city. The rental records were vague, with nothing more than a scrawled signature. Everyone stared at it for ages without being able to make out what it said. The company had logged the driver's licence information, but the licence belonged to a taxi driver in his twenties, which seemed completely unrelated to the uncle.

"Do we have a clear facial image of that uncle?" Bai Yutang asked him to check.

They did have a clearer image now, but still no matching result.

"I feel like..." Bai Chi leaned in and studied it for a moment. "this uncle looks a bit familiar."

Everyone turned to look at Bai Chi – Familiar? You've seen him before?

Bai Chi rubbed his chin. "Hmm..."

Zhan Zhao poked Bai Chi. "Chi Chi, you can't remember? Did you see him when you had heatstroke?"

The moment Bai Chi heard the word "heatstroke", his eyes lit up and he looked up at Zhan Zhao...

Zhan Zhao was stunned when he saw him looking at him – He remembered?

But just before Bai Chi could say anything, a sudden scream came from the break room next door.

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Well, it turns out posting Friday's chapter Sunday was a bit of an optimistic promise... oops. The wedding and travel took way more out of me than expected. That said, I will post Friday's two chapters as well as today's chapter now!

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: June 29, 2025 by Angel

Edited: October 6, 2025 by Soojin