S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 6 Chapter 95

The Culinary Murderer 47 – Additional Objectives

---

Bai Yutang asked Jiang Ping to replay the surveillance footage from earlier, and sure enough, Fang Beibei had looked up at the ceiling several times. Although she acted it out very well, it did seem as though she knew the light was going to fall.

"More or less what we suspected," Zhan Zhao glanced at Zhao Jue.

Zhao Jue was sharing chocolates with Mia. "But she was unlucky today. She probably won't succeed, might even give herself away."

Mia nodded as she chewed her chocolate, waved her hand, and indicated – A piece of cake! Just leave it to Daddy!

Bai Jintang was also reviewing the surveillance footage.

Big Brother Bai had Xiao Yumi in one arm. The child was quite mischievous, probably full now, and kept trying to climb up onto his shoulder.

With his other hand, Big Brother Bai held the mouse and replayed the footage on his laptop over and over. It was the clip of Shi Yanshuo from just now.

Shi Yanshuo had indeed looked upward just before the light fell, Did this kid know the light was going to fall as well?

Bai Jintang frowned. This live broadcast was being held in his food city, and now it had tens of millions of views. If something went wrong with the props during the stream and a light came crashing down, how would he continue doing business in the future?

Big Brother was getting a bit annoyed, Who is stirring up trouble? And on his turf, no less.

Fang Beibei had "dodged a bullet" on her end, but she didn't look the least bit pleased. She glanced over at Bai Ye's group, and her expression even seemed to suggest they were meddling too much.

Bai Ye and the others didn't pay any attention to her look, because Qian Lin's desserts were ready. Qian Lin was rather cheerful by nature, and after sending a portion to the judging panel, he brought some over for the three in Bai Ye's group as well, saying he wanted to try their coffee and sandwiches.

Bai Ye gave him the last of what was left.

Qian Lin specialised in cakes and desserts. Some people liked sweets in the morning, like Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue, while others absolutely refused anything sweet early in the day, such as Bai Yutang and Bai Ye.

Qian Lin had made macarons and black tea. His macarons were quite unique, they had a piece of cake sandwiched inside.

Macarons were already very sweet, and with cake added, the sweetness level was off the charts. However, the signature cake from Qian Lin's dessert shop was savoury, so the combination of sweet and salty balanced things out a bit.

Bai Ye took a bite and thought it wasn't bad. Issel and Eleven also nodded in approval, praising it as delicious. Issel felt he hadn't tasted that particular flavour before; it was quite novel, and he wanted to bring some back for his daughter.

Qian Lin handed the three of them his business card and the delivery number for his shop.

While the two groups were chatting amiably, the other teams gradually finished as well, a variety of breakfasts, both Chinese and Western.

Xu Lie was eating quite happily, but he also preferred savoury flavours and thought Uncle Ye's sandwiches were the best. Besides, as a big eater, it was important to stave off hunger. These macarons were only the size of coins, how could they fill him up? Couldn't they just make him a pancake?

Xu Lie grumbled internally, but outwardly, he had to follow the other judges' lead, gracefully sampling the various dainty treats.

Fang Beibei hadn't had much luck today and could only fall back on her best dish, mochi. She hurried to finish just before the time was up, and paired it with a drink, black goji berry tea.

A few colourful mochi served with a cup of blue tea actually looked quite presentable. Her assistant carried the tray over towards the judges.

The twins glanced down at the time and thought the timing was just right. But as they looked up, they saw Issel gesturing at them.

Xiao Ding tilted his head and saw Issel pointing at the plate of mochi in the assistant's hands, then making a throat-slitting gesture, clearly signalling – It's poisoned, poisoned.

Startled, Xiao Ding immediately signalled to the host to get Big Brother involved.

The host had no idea what was going on, but still rushed out to announce that Bai Jintang would also be coming in to taste the food...

Over in the adjoining lounge, Big Brother Bai was holding Xiao Yumi and observing her, suspecting the child might have wet herself. He pulled out the childcare manual, ready to study how to change a diaper.

Just as he was reading, he heard the livestream calling for him to come in. He stared wide-eyed at the baby – So sudden?

In the studio, Xiao Ding intercepted the two assistants carrying Fang Beibei's tea and snacks halfway, blocking the tray. Meanwhile, Da Ding stopped Fang Beibei herself just as she was about to take a bite of her own mochi.

At that moment, the livestream camera cut to the judging area, and Big Brother Bai entered, pushing the stroller.

Xu Lie sniffed the air, then suddenly leapt up, scooped up Xiao Yumi and dashed off – Aiya, she pooped!"

Bai Ye looked on at the chaotic studio speechlessly, while the staff scrambled around in a panic. The host, utterly lost, tried to smooth things over. Fortunately... nothing suspicious had been caught on camera.

In the SCI office, everyone watched the wide-angle view and felt completely baffled – What are these people doing?

The twins collected all of Fang Beibei's mochi. Luckily, they had been prepared. The crew had anticipated possible disruptions during the livestream and had backup food ready just in case.

By the time Big Brother and the others began eating, the mochi had already been swapped out, what they unwrapped were the backup ones.

Fang Beibei frowned as she looked at the twins. Xiao Ding pointed at her and instructed someone to send all the sealed food to the police station. If there really was poison...

The twins shot Fang Beibei a warning look – Young lady, just wait to be sued.

Fortunately, the footage of Xu Lie taking the baby to change the diaper had been caught on camera, and the livestream viewers' attention was completely diverted, no one noticed anything amiss.

Bai Jintang glanced back and saw that Shi Yanshuo had already left. Then he looked at the twins, who were grinding their teeth, and instantly understood what was going on – Fang Beibei had intended to create the illusion during the livestream that she was being targeted by someone, to make the audience believe someone was trying to kill her and her life was in danger. When the light hadn't successfully fallen earlier, she had actually gone so far as to poison the food?! Bai Jintang didn't particularly care whether she ended up poisoning herself, but this was his food city's business on the line... If someone were poisoned during the livestream, wouldn't that mean the food city could just shut down on the spot? He was dealing with a lunatic. If Issel hadn't happened to be there today, who knew how badly things might have gone, and who knew how much poison she had used, what if one of the judges had died?

......

"Oh? The livestream isn't going well?"

At that moment, Gongsun came in from the forensics room, where he'd been busy until now.

He had only come up for a break, and while passing by the forensics lab downstairs, had picked up a report. When he entered and saw everyone watching the livestream, he glanced at the screen... and, upon seeing Bai Jintang, immediately noticed his expression wasn't right.

"Big Brother looks very angry," Zhan Zhao asked Bai Yutang. "Did Fang Beibei just tamper with something? Poisoned the food to fake being targeted?"

Bai Yutang figured that was probably what had happened and frowned. "Absolutely crazy..."

The others also thought this move was far too extreme, fortunately Uncle Radar had come through.

The livestream continued with the judges reviewing and commenting on the various dishes. Overall, everyone had performed quite well. Since it was a points-based competition, the atmosphere wasn't too cutthroat. And for some reason, after Xu Lie had finished changing Xiao Yumi's diaper, the baby had become the centre of attention among the judges.

In private, Da Ding went to speak with Issel and asked how he'd realised the food had been tampered with.

Issel walked over to Fang Beibei's workbench and lifted one side of the table slightly. Beneath one of the table legs were two flattened, opened capsules.

Issel pointed to the throwing knives on the wall. "When everyone was watching the knives just now, she laced two pieces of mochi with the powder. One had more — that was meant for the judges, the green one — and the other had less — the one she was going to eat herself. She sprinkled it on like icing sugar."

The twins were momentarily stunned. The green mochi was probably intended for Guan Xiaoyue, she liked matcha-flavoured things...

"She only poisoned two of them?"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, who were monitoring the feed, both looked up. "Who was the green one originally for?"

......

Not long after, the Bai Group's people delivered the suspect mochi to the police station.

The pharmacology technician from the forensic department took it for testing, then nodded at Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, who had come to see the results – Amazing, aconitine!

"Is it all in one place?" Zhan Zhao asked.

The pharmacology technician pointed at the pink and green ones. "Only these two. The pink one contains a very small amount, probably not enough to be fatal, but the green one could kill a horse. No way a human would survive, not even with divine intervention."

Zhan Zhao stared at Bai Yutang, mouth agape. "Attempted murder?"

"Outrageous," Bai Yutang couldn't tolerate it. Fang Beibei was supposed to be a chef, and yet she had poisoned food.

"Go arrest her!" Bai Yutang grabbed Zhan Zhao, ready to head downstairs, but Zhan Zhao told him to wait, Let Big Brother handle things first.

"Big Brother?" Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao winked at him. "Didn't you see Big Brother's expression just now? Fang Beibei didn't just poison herself, nor did she target all the judges, she was targeting one specific person. There was only one green mochi, which suggests that among the tasters, there was someone known to like matcha. Remember when we went to that noodle shop? All the recommended desserts and ice cream flavours on the menu were matcha. I just checked Guan Xiaoyue's fan forum, his fans all know he's crazy about matcha."

Bai Yutang frowned. "Fang Beibei wanted to poison Guan Xiaoyue?"

"Even if we bring her in, she won't admit it. We were watching the livestream too, there's no footage of her actually adding the poison. She had two assistants next to her the whole time, she could easily push the blame onto someone else. Only Issel saw it happen, this would be a tough case to win in court."

"So we're just going to let it go?" Bai Yutang shook his head. "That can't be right."

"Who said we're letting it go? Even if we say so, would Big Brother let it go?" Zhan Zhao winked at Bai Yutang. "What I mean is, wait until Big Brother reports it, let the criminal investigation team make the arrest, we don't need to get involved. But before that... let Big Brother deal with her."

Bai Yutang felt that what Zhan Zhao said made sense. But how exactly is Big Brother going to deal with her? It would be best to get evidence of her poisoning, this is no small crime! It's attempted murder!

"Not only do we need the evidence, but we also need to get something out of her," Zhan Zhao felt like the case was starting to move forward. "Why did Fang Beibei want to kill Guan Xiaoyue, or rather, was she acting on her own, or did someone put her up to it...?"

Bai Yutang noticed the implication in Zhan Zhao's tone and thought for a moment. "Shi Yanshuo appeared in the livestream earlier too... even though he never showed up on camera."

Zhan Zhao nodded. "The timing of his appearance was already very suspicious."

The two of them returned to the office entrance. Just as the elevator doors opened, Eleven stepped out, he had finished with the livestream recording and was the first to come back. He was holding an evidence bag containing a cup, a bottle of mineral water, a fork, and a pair of chopsticks.

"They were all used by Guan Xiaoyue, the twins helped collect them."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang quickly took the bag and handed it over to Ma Xin to test for DNA and fingerprints, to compare with the biological information from the medal that had belonged to Tan Wen's younger brother. It was finally time to confirm Guan Xiaoyue's identity.

"You came back alone? Where are Issel and Uncle Ye?" Bai Yutang asked.

"Issel was left behind," Eleven said with a smile. "When I left, the twins were taking that crazy woman to see Bai Jintang."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged a glance – Big Brother, as expected...

"Bai Ye went off with Guan Xiaoyue and Qian Lin to get something to eat, saying they needed to look into cat food or something..."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both looked baffled – Cat food?

"Oh right," Eleven said. "Seems like they were going to visit some canning factory."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang's eyes lit up – Shi Yanshuo's canning factory?

Uncle Chopsticks shrugged – Probably.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang turned around in place, unsure what to do. Should we go to the Bai Group to watch Big Brother deal with Fang Beibei, or head to the canning factory? Uncle Ye has gone off on his own...

"Why didn't you go with them?" Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both asked Eleven.

Uncle Chopsticks replied with a serious expression, "I came back for extra lessons!"

The two tilted their heads. "Extra lessons?"

"Bai Ye will be cooking fish in the next round of the competition!" Eleven was bursting with professional ambition. "Issel and I divided up the tasks, I'm in charge of scaling and gutting the fish, he's in charge of filleting and deboning. We killed a fish this morning, but it didn't feel professional at all, not the slightest bit elegant... Do either of you know how to scale and gut a fish elegantly?"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang stood still for a moment, then raised their arms in unison, pointing at Gongsun, who had just walked out of the office.

Uncle Chopsticks stared at Gongsun, who was dressed in a white lab coat, gave him a once-over, then nodded. "Mhmm! The right field of expertise!"

With that, Uncle Chopsticks turned on his heel and entered the elevator.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang called after him in confusion, "Where are you going? Aren't you going to learn how to kill fish?"

Eleven pressed the elevator door close button. "Gotta catch a fish first before I can kill it."

As the elevator doors shut, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang stood there in a daze. Behind them, Gongsun couldn't help but mutter, "Good thing it's fish, if it were pigs or cows, what then?"

‿︵‿︵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 15, 2025 by Angel

Edited: October 17, 2025 by Angel