S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 6 Chapter 99

The Culinary Murderer 51 – Trauma

---

After Bai Yutang intercepted Guan Xiaoyue and Qian Lin, he only mentioned Tan Wen's name, and the two of them stopped resisting, obediently cooperating and agreeing to go to the police station.

Although Bai Yutang had a lot of questions, for now, he had to check on Shi Yanshuo's situation first, so he told the two brothers to wait in the car with Bai Ye.

Somehow, the news of Shi Yanshuo's kidnapping had spread, and a large number of media had gathered outside the factory.

Bai Ye, Guan Xiaoyue, and Qian Lin all hid inside the car to avoid being photographed.

Wen Xiaorou followed them in as well.

The four of them sat in the same car, the atmosphere awkward and a bit tense.

Bai Ye asked Wen Xiaorou with a hint of curiosity, "How did you learn to catch snakes?"

Wen Xiaorou smiled proudly, saying that an uncle had taught her when she was a child.

Wen Xiaorou explained that when she was in school, she went on a fall outing with some classmates to catch tadpoles by a stream. Suddenly, they came across a snake. Her classmates were so frightened they burst into tears, while she grabbed a branch, preparing to drive the snake away. Just then, a passing uncle stopped her, saying that the snake was venomous and dangerous. Wrapping his hand in his coat, the uncle pulled out a knife and, using exactly the same technique Wen Xiaorou had used earlier to catch the snakes, helped them catch it.

The sight of the snake being killed had scared all the children away. The uncle felt rather apologetic, he picked up his bag and was about to leave, but Wen Xiaorou grabbed him and asked him to teach her how to deal with venomous snakes, and that was how she learned.

As Bai Ye chatted with Wen Xiaorou, he also kept an eye on the rearview mirror, where Guan Xiaoyue and Qian Lin were sitting together in the back seat.

Ever since hearing Bai Yutang say the name "Tan Wen", Guan Xiaoyue had kept a stony expression. Qian Lin sat beside him, quietly watching his face, seemingly a little worried.

Wen Xiaorou was also watching the two of them in the rearview mirror.

"Do you still recognise me?" Wen Xiaorou turned around and asked Guan Xiaoyue.

Guan Xiaoyue looked at her, his expression softening slightly. "Mhmm."

Qian Lin looked curiously between the two of them.

After a moment's silence, Guan Xiaoyue asked, "How are Uncle and Auntie? I heard Auntie was injured?"

Wen Xiaorou nodded. "So that time really wasn't a coincidence..."

Guan Xiaoyue leaned on the back of the seat and asked in a low voice, "How many people were rescued?"

"Three," Wen Xiaorou replied.

Qian Lin and Guan Xiaoyue exchanged a glance. "There should be five."

Bai Ye frowned. "You mean there are still two?"

Both of them nodded.

Wen Xiaorou immediately informed Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang, who was standing at the factory entrance with Xiaofei, read the message and felt uneasy. Two more? Were they dead, or being kept as bargaining chips?

By now, the fire department had arrived at the garage and sealed it off to search for snakes.

Xiaofei led his team to search the garage thoroughly on Bai Yutang's behalf, to see if there were still any people who had not been rescued.

In the SCI office, Zhan Zhao was on the phone with Hao Ling. The three girls they had just sent over were no longer in life-threatening danger thanks to the serum, but none of them had regained consciousness yet.

Hao Ling was quite angry, asking, "Were these girls abused by someone? Their bodies are covered with external injuries, and each of them has old head wounds!"

"Old head wounds?" Zhan Zhao asked. "Are they serious?"

Hao Ling said they were quite serious and that she was preparing to conduct further examinations.

After finishing the call with Hao Ling, Zhao Hu also called Zhan Zhao, saying that he and Ma Han were still at the hospital, and that the three girls were said to be likely to wake up. They didn't know whether they should question them, and the doctor said that they were not sure what their mental state was like, and that it would be best to have a professional present.

In fact, Zhan Zhao also wanted to go and see them, because he should be able to get information about the perpetrator directly from these three. As long as the three of them woke up and identified Shi Yanshuo as the one who kidnapped them, they could go and arrest him on the spot. However, Bai Yutang just sent him a message saying that there might be two more victims who had not been rescued, and that Guan Xiaoyue and Qian Lin would also be brought back for questioning. Zhan Zhao found himself unable to leave, and he couldn't just wait at the hospital...

After thinking it over, Zhan Zhao glanced at Zhao Jue.

Zhao Jue tilted his head back, pretending not to see him.

Zhan Zhao gave Mia a meaningful look. 

Mia understood at once, wrapping her arm around Zhao Jue's and swaying it back and forth.

Zhao Jue clicked his tongue, shooting Zhan Zhao a sidelong glance.

Zhan Zhao smiled at him.

Zhao Jue got up and went to the hospital with Mia.

......

Zhan Zhao was still waiting in the office when Jiang Ping turned on a livestream. As expected, many media outlets were reporting on the news of Shi Yanshuo's kidnapping.

"The media coverage is pretty scattered," Jiang Ping said after browsing a slew of news reports, livestreams, and forum discussions. "The netizens are actually quite sharp... Quite a few people noticed earlier that Shi Yanshuo had gone to the Bai Group's livestream. I wonder if it was intentional, but Big Brother Bai broadcast the scene of him seeing Fang Beibei there, and then, coincidentally, he was kidnapped on his way back. A lot of people are guessing whether there's some connection between him and Fang Beibei."

"Someone also leaked the fact that the kidnappers only asked for a ransom of two hundred and fifty yuan," Jiang Ping found it amusing, "The online comments are pretty funny."

"Has anyone mentioned that the garage was sealed off?" Zhan Zhao asked Jiang Ping.

Jiang Ping did a quick search and said, "A few locals mentioned that the garage was sealed off by the fire department, they suspected there might have been a fire... I guess they saw the firefighters first, so they didn't connect it to anything else."

Zhan Zhao nodded and rubbed his chin in thought.

Just then, Bai Jintang arrived, pushing Xiao Yumi's stroller as he came in to hand over the shift to Chen Yu.

Chen Yu and Zhu Yi both came over to play with the baby, and Gongsun arrived as well. He had been busy all day and hadn't eaten yet.

Bai Jintang had brought him takeout of the signature savoury cake from Qian Lin's shop.

Everyone's tense nerves were temporarily distracted by the cake. Xiao Bai Chi had long heard about this internet-famous cake and said it was very hard to order, especially the one topped with macarons.

Gongsun called Ma Xin and Xia Tian to come out and have something to eat so they could rest a bit before getting back to work.

Ma Xin and Xiatian rushed out, phones in hand, to take a photo with the cake first. Zhan Zhao was a bit puzzled. "This cake has macarons on top, but it's savoury?"

"This macaron is super famous! It's won awards!"

Bai Jintang said, "It was sent over by Qian Lin after the livestream ended. He sent three, one for me, one for the twins, and one for Issel. The twins and Issel took theirs home, Issel said he wanted to eat it with his wife and daughter."

Everyone was a little curious – What about the twins? Will they eat theirs alone?

Bai Jintang shrugged – They're single, so eating more is no big deal. After all, they have nothing better to do.

Zhan Zhao popped a macaron into his mouth, chewed, and his eyes lit up – Oh!

"As expected, it's amazing!" Ma Xin took out a knife to cut the cake, "Let's see the legendary golden ratio of salty and sweet..."

Before Ma Xin could finish speaking, Bai Chi suddenly let out an "Ah!"

Everyone looked up at Bai Chi.

He was holding a half-bitten macaron, staring at it in shock.

"What's wrong?" Zhan Zhao poked the frozen Bai Chi.

At that moment, Zhu Yi murmured, "It looks like..."

Bai Chi looked up and asked Zhu Yi, "Does it look very similar?"

Zhu Yi nodded. "That's right! Exactly the same!"

Zhan Zhao thought for a moment and asked, "You mean that Zhang's Pastries you said you had when you were little?"

Bai Chi nodded vigorously. "That's the one! The taste is exactly the same!"

Zhu Yi nodded too, holding the macaron up to her nose and sniffing it over and over. Ma Xin cut her a slice of cake, and she held it close to smell as well, then muttered to herself, "It's not quite the same... The macaron tastes the same, but this sweetness is different..."

Zhu Yi seemed to be trying to remember something. She patted her head, then suddenly frowned. "Hiss..."

Seeing her hand loosen, Bai Chi quickly caught the cake plate, while Ma Xin supported her. "What's wrong?"

"My head hurts..." Zhu Yi's expression looked a little pained as she held her head and said it hurt, like a drill was boring into it...

Zhan Zhao immediately stepped in front of her and diverted her attention. "Look over here!"

As he spoke, Zhan Zhao pointed towards the cake for Jiang Ping.

Jiang Ping quickly moved the cake away.

Bai Jintang and Gongsun also carried the cake further away.

Zhan Zhao held out his finger for Zhu Yi to look at, then asked her questions such as her own name, what kind of coffee she liked, and other questions she could answer quickly... After a period of redirected attention, Zhu Yi tilted her head and reached out to touch it. She felt strange. Her head had been splitting just now, so how could it have suddenly gotten better?

Zhan Zhao stood there thinking for a while, then told Zhu Yi to sit down and motioned to Gongsun.

Gongsun ran over.

Zhan Zhao pointed to the scar on Zhu Yi's head and asked Gongsun, "Is it in the same place as the head injury on that skeleton and the wound on Guan Xiaoyue's head?"

Gongsun brought over the photos for comparison. After looking at them for a while, he nodded. "That's right! The positions are the same, even the shape of the wound is the same..."

A flicker of relief crossed Zhan Zhao's face. "Good thing we didn't hypnotise her..."

After saying this, Zhan Zhao picked up his phone and sent a message to Zhao Jue.

......

By now, Zhao Jue had arrived at the hospital with Mia. Zhao Hu led them to the ward door.

After reading Zhan Zhao's message, Zhao Jue walked straight into the ward.

Inside the ward, Hao Ling was looking at a test report, frowning, and occasionally glancing at the patient's head as though puzzled.

"Are they all injured in the same place?" Zhao Jue asked.

Hao Ling looked up at Zhao Jue. "So it really isn't a coincidence..."

Zhao Jue suddenly smiled faintly and muttered to himself, "If only your father were still alive..."

Hao Ling blinked, then suddenly let out an "Ah" and said, "Maybe his notes will be useful."

Zhao Jue nodded, looking unsurprised.

Hao Ling instantly understood that Zhao Jue's remark just now was to remind her. Her father indeed left behind a lot of information, and some of it was about how head trauma affects brain function and memory. Because it was too crazy, Hao Ling didn't study it in detail, but it might really be useful.

Hao Ling called Lan Qi and asked him to bring over a red document folder from the study.

Zhao Jue also made a phone call. Both he and Zhan Zhao were psychologists and knew little about neurosurgery. At this point, neither Gongsun nor Hao Ling was of much use either, they needed to find an expert who was almost as crazy as Bobby.

......

"You don't remember anything?"

At the factory, Wen Xiaorou sat inside the car, asking Guan Xiaoyue about what had actually happened back then. But Guan Xiaoyue's answer was entirely unexpected – he had no memory of the days when the incident occurred.

Helplessly, Guan Xiaoyue pointed to the top of his head. "There's a hole in my head, I was lucky enough to survive, but I can't remember anything I should remember. And I can't think too much, sometimes I feel like I'm about to remember something, and my head will explode with pain!"

"What about you?" Bai Ye asked Qian Lin.

Qian Lin feigned ignorance. "Me? I don't know anything! My Chinese isn't very good!"

Guan Xiaoyue glanced at him, and Qian Lin winked at him.

Bai Ye didn't press further, he lowered his head to look at his tablet and continued to prepare the recipe for his next competition.

Wen Xiaorou leaned against the car window, lost in thought. At that moment, medical staff from the factory came out supporting Shi Yanshuo, whose body had undergone a preliminary examination.

Outside, the media had already climbed up ladders. The moment they saw him emerge, they fired off a barrage of flashing lights.

Then Wen Xiaorou saw a tall woman run past her, rushing over to embrace Shi Yanshuo.

Another round of flashing lights followed, along with the rapid clicking of camera shutters.

Amid this noisy commotion, Wen Xiaorou frowned, staring at the woman for a long while before finally asking, "Is that Yu Hui?"

Bai Ye looked up, and Guan Xiaoyue and Qian Lin in the back seat also glanced out.

"Mhmm." Guan Xiaoyue nodded. "That's Shi Yanshuo's fiancée. She's quite a nice person, but unfortunately, she's blind and has set her sights on Shi Yanshuo."

Looking at Yu Hui, who was supporting Shi Yanshuo as they walked out together, Wen Xiaorou frowned. "Is that really her?"

Seeing her doubtful expression, Bai Ye asked, "Isn't it?"

Wen Xiaorou stared blankly for a moment, then shook her head. "It's not."

"But Yutang and Zhan Zhao both said she's their old classmate." Bai Ye put down his tablet and looked out the car window, but could only see Yu Hui's back.

Wen Xiaorou thought for a moment, then suddenly asked Bai Ye, "Uncle, have you heard of 'Siren's Wing'?"

Bai Ye was obviously a little surprised to hear these words. He looked up at her, then frowned and thought, "So... that scar wasn't caused by a CD, nor was it an accident, but a surgical scar..."

‿︵‿︵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: August 2, 2025 by Angel

Edited: October 24, 2025 by Angel