S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 6 Chapter 90

The Culinary Murderer 42 – Reasons for Revenge

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Issel possessed an extraordinary ability to observe, his hearing, sight, and sense of smell were all far more acute than those of the average person. Over years of rigorous training, he had become like a natural radar, able to detect even the slightest trace of anything "unusual".

This ability had more or less become a kind of instinct.

Issel was like someone with an extreme allergy, any subtle change in his environment would make him feel uncomfortable. He would then begin to search, compelled to identify the "allergen", without which he would be restless and uneasy. This "ability" was extremely useful, even life-saving, in certain specialised jobs, but in everyday life, it was a kind of neurotic hypersensitivity, a suffocating nuisance.

Just now, in both the lounge and the rehearsal room, Issel had adapted quite well and hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary.

However, once Fang Beibei arrived, he began to sense a growing number of interferences, more and more anomalies started to appear, and Issel instinctively began to search for the source of the problem.

Both Bai Ye and Eleven were sharp and knew Issel well. His reaction indicated that something was off with Fang Beibei.

And to summarise Fang Beibei's issue, it was that she wanted others to believe someone was trying to kill her... So did the anomalies Issel had detected truly mean that someone was trying to kill her?

......

In the SCI office, Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao began to take the matter more seriously as well...

Initially, they had simply regarded the cooking competition as a means to gather intelligence and learn more about the two "suspects". They hadn't anticipated such a sudden twist.

Bai Yutang was rather concerned. "I wonder if this will affect Uncle Ye's performance in the competition..."

Zhao Jue, sitting nearby, seemed a little sour and muttered away under his breath. Out of the whole string of words, the only thing Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao caught was, "Affect my ass..."

The two of them turned to look at Zhao Jue.

Zhao Jue sighed and reminded them, "That Fang Beibei or whatever her name is, if she dies at the competition venue..."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged glances – Then no one would dare take part in any of Big Brother's competitions in the future.

"Then think about it the other way around," Zhao Jue said. When Mwah Mwah padded over, he pointed to the floor, signalling it to sit.

Mwah Mwah sat down obediently, well-trained.

Bai Chi asked Zhao Jue curiously, "The other way around?"

"Isn't the competition going to be livestreamed later?" Zhao Jue asked.

Everyone nodded.

"If someone's planning to kill Fang Beibei during the livestream..."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both frowned – This is troublesome...

"Weren't you both born right on time? You're not premature, so why the rush?" Zhao Jue muttered as he patted the sofa, motioning for Mwah Mwah to jump up.

"If she really gets killed during the livestream, then at most it's just another case added to Jintang's collection of urban-legend-level misfortunes," Zhao Jue looked up at Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang. "But think about it, if someone tries to kill her during the livestream and she doesn't die... then doesn't that mean you two will have to make sure she doesn't get killed in the future?"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were both stunned.

Wen Xiaorou let out an "Oh..." and nodded repeatedly.

Beside her, Ma Han and Zhao Hu exchanged a glance – This is indeed... a path they haven't considered.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang quickly caught on and asked Zhao Jue, "Are you saying that Fang Beibei might deliberately stage her own murder attempt during the livestream, just to draw attention and secure our protection?"

"Don't tell me..." Wen Xiaorou felt that, for Fang Beibei, this would be quite a clever move. "The cooking competition has a massive audience, millions, even tens of millions might be watching. If she were nearly killed in front of all those people, it would definitely blow up. With that much attention on the case, it would easily give the impression that Fang Beibei is the killer's next target, then it wouldn't just be about whether Big Brother Bai has bad luck, it would become a matter of the police failing in their duty. No matter what, the police would have to find ways to ensure Fang Beibei stays alive, and that would mean she's achieved her goal, she wouldn't even need to turn herself in and could make use of the police instead."

Zhao Jue smiled. "A master."

"Can we stop her?" Ma Han asked. "Get the twins to inspect the venue?"

"She didn't even bring an assistant. If she's tampered with anything, she must have done it herself," Zhao Jue shook his head. "And the plan's probably already underway..."

Sure enough, when Jiang Ping searched online, he found all sorts of related news and trending topics rising alongside the food competition's popularity. "First, an internal staff member leaked that Fang Beibei was acting like a diva, half an hour late to rehearsal, even Xu Lie had to wait for her. Then some bystander uploaded a photo of her car having hit a guardrail, and she was seen running wildly down the street with a bodyguard and a suitcase... Now everyone's discussing that Fang Beibei's car's brakes failed. The public's already speculating she's being targeted and might not make it out alive."

Fang Beibei had long been rumoured to be a homewrecker, and there had also been talk of her bullying classmates back in school. Recently, there had been a flood of news and media surrounding the topic of school bullying, numerous headlines and many related film and television productions... which had stirred up a sizeable crowd online eagerly waiting to watch the drama unfold. People were placing bets, saying Fang Beibei would be next for sure, that someone she'd bullied in the past was now back for revenge. The internet was abuzz with wild speculation. Incidents from the middle school Fang Beibei once attended were being brought up again, and the speed at which it was all spreading clearly indicated that someone had been preparing in advance, digging up old, unsolved mysteries from the school's past, including, of course, the case of Tan Wen's disappearance. Additionally, a list had begun circulating online, an official school record from back then, naming students who had a documented history of bullying others, as well as teachers who had turned a blind eye or failed to intervene. And whether deliberate or not, Guan Mei's name appeared on that list of teachers.

After reading the news articles Jiang Ping had pointed out, Zhao Hu suddenly took great interest and shuffled over to sit beside Zhao Jue, settling himself on his right-hand side.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang had initially planned to turn around and speak to Zhao Jue, but when they saw this scene, they were momentarily stunned.

At that moment, Zhao Jue was seated in the centre, with Mwah Mwah lying on his left and Hu Zi sitting upright on his right. One dog and one man both looked up at Zhao Jue with expressions full of... how to put it? Curiosity?

In short, it was a strangely "balanced" picture.

Hu Zi asked earnestly, "Master Jue, can I ask you something?"

As he stroked Mwah Mwah's head, Zhao Jue looked at Zhao Hu with a "kind" expression.

At last, everyone understood why the scene looked so harmonious... The Old English Sheepdog, after all, was a herding breed. And what kind of dog best complemented a sheepdog? Of course, it's a husky.

"Why do people bully others?" Zhao Hu asked quite a profound question.

Zhao Jue shook his head. "It's not just people who bully others, animals bully each other too, malice is part of nature."

"Then when you were at school, Master Jue, were you the one doing the bullying or the one being bullied?" As ever, Zhao Hu was both afraid of Zhao Jue and fascinated by him, and he was not afraid of death.

Zhao Jue tilted his head and thought for a moment, as if recalling the past. "When I was at school... I skipped grades the whole way through..."

Everyone had more or less expected that.

"If you kept skipping grades, wouldn't you have been younger and smaller than the other students?" Zhao Hu persisted. "Didn't anyone try to bully you?"

Zhao Jue gave Zhao Hu a knowing smile, and Hu Zi switched to another question. "You know those television dramas, where someone gets bullied as a kid, then grows up and takes revenge on all of their enemies one by one, does that ever really happen?"

Zhao Jue asked Zhao Hu, "For example, when you were still a student, suppose you were walking home alone and suddenly got jumped by a few thugs, beaten up and robbed, what would you do?"

Hu Zi replied that he wasn't that much of a weakling. If he couldn't win the fight, wouldn't he just run?

Zhao Jue waved a finger in front of his face, as if to say – Stick to the scenario, don't go adding your own twists.

Zhao Hu shook his head. "Then... call the police?"

Zhao Jue nodded. "You call the police, and the police go to arrest them. But it turns out the ones who robbed you are all underage, and at most, they get a lecture and are released the next day. Then what would you do?"

Hu Zi scratched his head.

"Would you start taking a different route home, hoping you never run into them again? Or would you gather a group of friends, go back and give them a good beating, only for them to round up another group to come after you a few days later, and the cycle goes on indefinitely? Or would you go home, start secretly training in martial arts, spend ten or twenty years watching their every move, and then one day take them out one by one?"

"Er..." Zhao Hu crossed his arms and gave it some thought. Indeed, that last one does sound a bit far-fetched. So it really only exists in novels or on television, then?

"Alright, now let's change the situation," Zhao Jue said, raising the stakes. "Let's say that on the day you were heading home, you weren't alone, you were with your best friend. The gang attacked the two of you, and your friend was beaten to death, and the law can't do anything to punish them." Zhao Jue asked, "What would you do then?"

Zhao Hu frowned. "There's no way I'd just let that go..."

"Then let's change it again," Zhao Jue continued. "That day, you were walking home with your mother, and she's the one who got killed... Or say, in future, you're married and have children, and it's your child who encounters this situation... Your son or daughter is beaten to death by bullies, and you're someone who has the means to take revenge. What would you do?"

Everyone put themselves in that position for a moment, and thought – Indeed... when it comes to revenge, it all depends on the depth of the hatred.

"Why does hatred last longer than love?" Zhao Jue analysed. "In fact, all emotions, whether love or hate, are forms of repetition and accumulation. Familial affection is built up over time, it's a form of love, and it works like addition. When family members keep doing the same things over and over, the affection between them grows stronger. But romantic love, though also a kind of love, works more like subtraction. When a married couple repeats the same things day after day, their affection slowly wears away with the repetition. That's why, in most long-term marriages, love eventually transforms into familial affection. Hatred works the same way. It can be additive or subtractive. Some hate fades with time, some will intensify the more it's dwelled upon, building up over time... For someone to hate so deeply that they go on to kill all their enemies one by one in the name of revenge, even if it's just the plot of a television drama, the screenwriter still has to give them a proper reason... What kind of wickedness would someone have had to commit to make it worth someone else spending a lifetime accumulating hatred just to take revenge?"

Everyone turned their heads to look at the image of Fang Beibei on the monitor. If she truly sensed danger, she could have turned to the police for help, but she didn't dare. She must have known that what she had done was enough to make someone hate her this deeply, and she also knew she was in danger, that was why she was doing everything she could to get protection, to use the police as a shield in order to stay alive.

......

The break soon came to an end. Everything was ready, and the livestream entered its final countdown.

The judges and the competing teams all entered the studio, ready to begin.

The food city was packed with people, and the atmosphere had grown lively.

Bai Jintang was watching the livestream on the large screen.

Today, Gongsun was busy all day and the twins were occupied with the broadcast. With nothing else to do and no way to go home, the twins told Big Brother Bai he had to head to the studio later for a tasting session.

Big Brother Bai had taken off his suit jacket and was lounging on the sofa, holding a document in one hand and his phone in the other, while the livestream played on the projector in front of him.

Big Brother Bai also noticed the news about Fang Beibei trending on his phone. He clicked his tongue and shook his head.

At this moment, three knocks sounded on the door of the lounge.

Bai Jintang didn't remember the twins saying anyone else would be coming...

"Who is it?" Bai Jintang called out.

From the other side came a voice that sounded unfamiliar, but one Bai Jintang could still recognise, "It's me."

‿︵‿︵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: July 1, 2025 by Angel

Edited: October 8, 2025 by Soojin