S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 6 Chapter 93

The Culinary Murderer 45 – Filter

---

The two ex-girlfriends described the fear and torment they had suffered during their brief relationships with Shi Yanshuo.

One could hardly blame them for not going to the police. Firstly, they had no evidence whatsoever. Most of Shi Yanshuo's abuse had not been verbal but was instead based on intimidation and psychological torment, which made it extremely difficult to prove. On top of that, the locations where the crimes occurred and the people present at the time had all been from Shi Yanshuo's side, there was no one who would testify on their behalf.

Not to mention that Shi Yanshuo was rich and powerful, and they had genuinely been frightened. They felt that just managing to leave him alive, without being further entangled, was like escaping from the jaws of a man-eating monster, to survive was already a stroke of luck. Both women chose to avoid any further contact with Shi Yanshuo as much as possible, so they changed jobs and even altered their styling completely. The two beauties had half a mind to eat themselves fat, hoping that if Shi Yanshuo ever saw them again, he wouldn't recognise them.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang hadn't spoken to them with the expectation of using their testimony to bring down Shi Yanshuo, but rather to try to uncover more criminal evidence through details from their personal experiences.

With just a few comments from Xiao Ai and Nana, Zhan Zhao already caught hold of quite a few leads.

Not to mention the tunnel and the dripping water sounds, both of which were clear identifying features.

Zhan Zhao asked the two curiously, "Did you know what kind of type Shi Yanshuo liked... Was it something you found out after breaking up, or did you know while you were dating him?"

Surprisingly, both said it had been during the relationship. He would interfere with how they dressed and insisted they maintain a certain style, a certain appearance, in short, it was perverted! It put them off relationships for life.

"Can you tell me more about the tunnel and dripping water sounds?" Zhan Zhao asked.

The two of them thought for a moment and said that Shi Yanshuo was very strange, he seemed to be fond of those dark, narrow tunnel-like spaces. When he was at home, he would often walk up and down the corridors for no reason. Their house was filled with such corridors, like a labyrinth, and he didn't like installing lights, so whether day or night, the corridors were always frightening. He and his mother both loved suddenly appearing at one end of a corridor.

It seemed their house had a special room designed like that, or perhaps even a cellar.

Sometimes the two of them would fall asleep and then wake up to find themselves in a dark tunnel, screaming and terrified, panicking until they fainted... By the time they came round again, they would be back in a normal room, so they couldn't even tell whether it had all been a dream. It wasn't until they saw the scratches and bruises on their bodies from trying to escape that they were certain it hadn't been a dream.

Bai Yutang and Fei Mu both looked at Zhan Zhao curiously – What kind of psychological state is this?

Zhan Zhao shrugged – This isn't a psychological state, it's psychopathic...

Zhan Zhao asked the two women how long they had been in relationships with Shi Yanshuo. Neither had dated him for long, around two to three months, and the time they had actually lived together had only been about a week. Xiao Ai had broken up with him in a hurry after just one terrifying experience, while Nana had gone through it about three times.

"His behaviour escalated gradually, each time was scarier than the last." Nana glanced at the three of them opposite and lowered her voice. "Have you found something out about Shi Yanshuo?"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang sensed that she had something to say, so they asked, "Do you know something about his crimes?"

"I suspect that Shi Yanshuo... has killed someone." As Nana said this, both Xiao Ai and Chen Yu looked up at her, though their expressions were different.

Chen Yu looked utterly shocked, while Xiao Ai nodded at Nana, clearly sharing the same suspicion.

Zhan Zhao asked her to explain in more detail.

"Shi Yanshuo used to ask me loads of questions about my family, things like how often I phoned home, how frequently I visited, whether I had a good relationship with my family, how many children there were at home, whether I was doted on..."

"He asked all that at the start of the relationship?" Fei Mu seemed to think that there was something wrong.

Despite being a doctor of psychology, Zhan Zhao actually didn't know much about this particular area, mainly because of his limited experience. He and Bai Yutang had grown up together as childhood sweethearts, so they knew everything about one another. He honestly didn't know how most couples went about learning such things regarding each other's families.

"What's wrong with asking that?" Zhan Zhao asked sincerely.

Before Nana or Xiao Ai could answer, Chen Yu was already shaking her head. "Who asks like that... That sort of thing's usually something you find out bit by bit. Asking it all upfront is really suspicious, it's like asking if you went missing, would your family come looking for you..."

Chen Yu only meant it as an offhand comment, but Xiao Ai and Nana immediately nodded in agreement, as if to say – Exactly! That's what he was trying to find out!

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both frowned, getting the sense that this was something dangerous...

"We're not just similar in appearance, we've also got a few things in common," Nana continued. "We're not locals, most of us are from far away, and our personalities tend to be more introverted, so we don't have many friends here. What's more, quite a few of us don't have close relationships with our families, some don't even go home once a year."

Zhan Zhao thought for a moment and asked, "Were there any whose parents had passed away, those who had basically no family at all?"

Xiao Ai and Nana both glanced at Zhan Zhao, clearly recognising that he had touched on something crucial.

"We knew a girl, called Lele, her parents died young and she was brought up by her grandmother. After her grandmother passed away from an illness, she was left all alone, introverted and without many friends. Shi Yanshuo dated her too... said they broke up after just a few days, but she disappeared afterwards."

"Disappeared?" Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged a look. Bai Yutang took out some photos and asked the two of them to identify which one was Lele.

The two looked through them and shook their heads, saying she wasn't in any of the photos.

"Do you know her full name?" Fei Mu asked.

"I think her surname was Dong, either Dong Lele or Dong Xiaole, she's a stylist."

Fei Mu thought for a moment... As one of the police department's three human computers, he swiftly located a set of flight records from the files. "Her name is Dong Xinle, Shi Yanshuo once travelled abroad with her. They flew out and returned together, but after that she was never seen with him again..."

As he said this, Fei Mu pulled out a few more flight records. "This wasn't the only time Shi Yanshuo did this. There were other trips where he brought a girl along, but after that, there was no further sign of them... At first we thought it was some kind of work arrangement, or even a type of escort situation... but we never investigated that angle."

"Is this girl missing?" Zhan Zhao took a picture of the flight information and sent it to Jiang Ping, asking him to check it.

Not long after, Jiang Ping rushed over and said that although she wasn't listed in the missing persons registry, all of her activity, credit card spending, utility bills and so on, had stopped six months ago. She likely disappeared six months ago.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang realised something was very wrong. A person with no trace of daily life at all... that usually meant they had come to harm. Linking this to what Nana had described, Shi Yanshuo's method of 'screening' girlfriends, could it be that this boy's frequent partner-swapping was all a smokescreen? That in truth, he was picking out girls with no support network or concerned relatives, and continuing his crimes in secret?

This couldn't be tolerated.

Zhan Zhao handed all the flight information Fei Mu had compiled over to Jiang Ping, asking him to check if there were any other cases similar to Dong Xinle's.

The more they investigated, the more terrifying the case became. Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao were beginning to feel restless. The two of them dealt with criminal cases, which was different from Fei Mu's work in financial investigations. If Fei Mu was slow, at worst, money was lost, but if they were slow, a life could be lost. If Shi Yanshuo really had been selecting his victims, then Dong Xinle was certainly not the only one. And had he actually killed these girls? If so, where were the bodies? Buried at home? Or was it possible that they weren't dead at all? Just being kept prisoner somewhere?

Naturally, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were more inclined to believe the latter. As long as they weren't dead, there was still hope of rescuing them.

Bai Yutang felt that their upcoming trip to the wedding would be about more than investigating antiques and cultural relics, they'd need to properly look for clues. But would he really be hiding people, or even corpses, at his own home?

Zhan Zhao asked Nana and Xiao Ai, "Are there any off-limits areas or taboos in Shi Yanshuo's house?"

The two thought about it and said his home was very large. Several places were said to be storage areas or under renovation and were off-limits, and they were all kept locked.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang scratched their heads. Not only was the house huge, but Shi Yanshuo also owned a lot of properties and businesses. If he were hiding people anywhere, it would be difficult to find them.

The two of them turned to Fei Mu – You've been tracking him for so long, did you ever notice anything strange?

Fei Mu thought for a moment and frowned. "It's possible..."

"What do you mean, possible?" Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both stared at him.

"Because of his business dealings, Shi Yanshuo rents a lot of warehouses and does a lot of cargo transfers and the like. He changes locations quite frequently and is extremely secretive, keeps everything tightly under wraps. During our investigations, we suspected he might be moving stolen goods or smuggled items, but now that we're looking at it more closely... what if this guy has been transporting bodies or live people..."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both stared at him wide-eyed – If you put it like that, could Shi Yanshuo be a human trafficker?

Fei Mu stared right back at the two of them – How would I know anything about that, I deal with numbers, you two are the ones who deal with psychopaths, aren't you...

The nature of the case shifted once again. Fei Mu still had a few details he wanted to clarify with Xiao Ai and Nana. He brought out a pile of photos, mostly of artworks and similar items, and asked the two of them to look through and identify if they had seen any of them in the Shi household.

This task would take some time, so Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang left Fei Mu to it while the two of them stepped out.

Once they stepped out of the break room, the two began discussing what to do next. It really was a case of not knowing until you looked. If those cases from back then were connected to Shi Yanshuo, then not only had he not stopped over the years, but had actually escalated his actions. Besides, there was Shi Yanshuo, his mother, and Yu Hui, which one of those three was the real psychopath?

Bai Yutang was a little concerned. "I already thought it was strange that Shi Yanshuo would marry Yu Hui. Fei Mu said the same, not only did his mother not stop it, she actually supported it... and Yu Hui just happens to have that long scar on her neck..."

Zhan Zhao asked, "Do you think Shi Yanshuo deliberately sought out Big Brother, trying to shift the blame for his own condition onto Yu Hui, and that the real reason he's marrying her is to make her his scapegoat?"

Bai Yutang asked in return, "Is that even feasible?"

Zhan Zhao thought for a moment and also asked, "Is it?"

The two of them stood there outside the office in a daze. Meanwhile, bursts of laughter were coming from inside.

They both turned to look, What's so funny?

Inside the office, Jiang Ping had projected the livestream of the cooking competition onto the big screen, and everyone was doubled over with laughter.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were utterly baffled. Isn't this just a cooking show? What's so funny about people cooking?

The two of them walked into the office and looked up at the screen, only to see that there were two livestream feeds: one showing a panoramic view, and the other focused specifically on Bai Ye's team. And judging by the number of viewers, Bai Ye's team was currently leading by a wide margin.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both scratched their heads, thinking, Is he really that popular? Uncle Ye has never even entered one of these before... Is it true that everyone loves a handsome guy?

Beside them, Chen Jiayi and Qi Le were both trying to hold back laughter as they waved their hands, clearly saying – It's not that, it's just too funny!

Below the livestream screen was the comment section, where the messages were flooding in non-stop.

"Wow, Uncle Radar's knife work is insane!"

"He cut the tomato slices into the shape of a rainbow!"

"Uncle Chopsticks is an egg-frying immortal!"

"That's a perfect circle! A perfectly round fried egg!"

"My years of OCD have been cured!"

......

In the livestream, Bai Ye was calmly pouring coffee from his little kettle, looking at his two assistants slicing and frying at lightning speed, and even feeling a little sentimental – You two really were born for the wrong trade, weren't you? You should've just become chefs ages ago!

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

Previous Chapter | TOC | Next Chapter

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 14, 2025 by Angel

Edited: October 13, 2025 by Angel