S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 6 Chapter 110

The Culinary Murderer 62 – Mental Set

---

Zhan Zhao muttered to himself that he had fallen into a mental set and looked rather frustrated.

While driving, Bai Yutang asked, "What's a mental set?"

"It's just like that maze we went to before!" Zhan Zhao grumbled, saying he had been careless, mainly because there were too many distractions, and he made a fool of himself...

Listening to him buzzing on like a little bee, Bai Yutang finally said, "Then summarise it concisely, in words people can actually understand!"

Zhan Zhao glanced at him, then tilted his face up, as though he was organising his thoughts, "Simply put, Yu Hui and Shi Yanshuo have been in the same group from the very beginning! It's all a routine! Not only do they have ways of taking over other people's identities, they also have methods for slipping away once something happens, for getting rid of bad assets! Today's wedding is the final performance. Everything useful has already been transferred, and whatever was useless was to be discarded, even his own mother! Anyway, none of these people are really themselves! They are all replacements! There's no third-party avenger at all!"

Bai Yutang actually understood the first part, but when it came to Zhan Zhao's last statement, he seemed to disagree. "But, Cat... we analysed it last night, a third party exists..."

Zhan Zhao nodded, clearly understanding what Bai Yutang meant. "That's exactly what misled us! It isn't really a third-party avenger at all, just someone who happened to lend a hand in passing, and ended up making things worse with good intentions, leaving us completely confused instead!"

At that moment, Zhan Zhao's phone rang. It was Fei Mu calling.

After entering the estate, Fei Mu and Xiaofei had split up. Fei Mu went to check the ‘inventory' in the estate, while Xiaofei led a team to search for the girls being held captive.

Fei Mu rushed into the warehouse, spotting quite a few valuable items, and thought that they had it in the bag this time.

But as he approached a statue, he suddenly realised something was wrong.

"Fakes!" Fei Mu shouted from his side. "They're all fakes!"

Zhan Zhao was obviously not surprised at all. "Exactly, they are all fake!"

"It doesn't make sense!" Fei Mu refused to believe it. "I've been keeping an eye on him for three years, if he had been transferring assets, there's no way I wouldn't have noticed!"

"The problem is that everything he acquired from the very start is fake. The assets were never in his possession!" Zhan Zhao explained to Fei Mu. "From the beginning, the identity he and his mother had was only to rationalise the income of the restaurant, and once there was a risk of exposure, he was responsible for attracting attention, covering the safe evacuation of the entire system, abandoning all bad assets, cutting off the clues and then starting again!"

"Heh..." Fei Mu drew in a sharp breath. "So all this time I've been investigating a stand-in?"

"Er..." Zhan Zhao thought about how to put it without upsetting him. "Not exactly a stand-in... more like a lizard's tail."

On the other end, Fei Mu was so furious that he was about to smash his phone.

Beside him, Bai Chi, who had followed Fei Mu to check the situation, quickly rescued his phone. "Brother! Captain Xiao's team have broken through all the corridors. There were secret passages, but no people. They're searching the basement now."

Zhan Zhao frowned. "This is bad. They might be on the plane..."

"Plane?" Fei Mu leaned in to listen. "Shi Yanshuo is trying to run?"

"Didn't he head to the airport? Once the private plane takes off, he can parachute straight into international waters, ditch the plane in the sea, change location and identity, and start all over again. Three years later, he'd be another psychopath... and there'd be no evidence left at all!"

Fei Mu clenched his teeth so hard it seemed they might shatter – Unbearable!

After hanging up, Zhan Zhao also felt uneasy. "Hu Zi and the others should be close behind... Once they get on the plane, it's all over!"

"The remaining girls are probably on the plane. They planned everything very well. If things go south, they can still be used as hostages." Before Bai Yutang finished speaking, his phone rang.

It was Zhao Hu, sounding excited. "Chief! They didn't go to the airport!"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were both stunned. "Not the airport? Then where?"

"They left the highway and headed into deserted hills and forest..." Hu Zi followed the GPS, but the map didn't show that area at all.

Just then, Issel leaned forward from the back seat to look at the road and said, "There's a small private airfield ahead."

Both Zhao Hu and Ma Han were stunned. "Really?"

Issel asked Eleven, "Is it around here?"

Uncle Chopsticks studied the terrain and nodded. "It should be nearby."

"An airport near another airport?" On the other end of the line, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were still confused. They'd never heard of such a thing.

"Because it was built in secret." Both Eleven and Issel were amused by their reaction. "There are several hidden in S City, you can't tell from the outside. They're obviously built in advance for making a getaway."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were shocked – Such a thing exists? And there's more than one?

Ma Han spotted a car parked up ahead, it was the very one Shi Yanshuo and Yu Hui had fled in earlier. The car doors were open and the engine was still running, which showed that the pair had thrown all caution to the wind in their escape.

Ma Han and Zhao Hu jumped out of their vehicle, drew their guns, and ran towards a small hangar at the back.

Though the place was crude, there was a runway in front of the hangar, enough for a small plane to take off... Meanwhile, the hangar's main doors facing the runway were slowly opening.

Ma Han and Zhao Hu quickened their pace and slipped in through a small side door of the hangar.

Issel and Eleven got out of the car and also walked towards the hangar together.

Seeing Uncle Chopsticks moving at a leisurely pace, Issel couldn't help but ask him, "Is it okay to be so slow? Just the two of them... what if there are many bad guys inside?"

Eleven glanced at him and asked, "Do you have a gun?"

Issel shook his head.

Eleven spread his hands. "What can I do without a gun? We should've brought Bai Ye."

Issel looked at him, speechless – Your disciple just went in there, you're not worried?

Uncle Chopsticks tilted his head – Should I be worried...

As the two of them lingered at the entrance, suddenly there was a sharp bang of gunfire, followed by a loud clang.

They exchanged a glance and quickly dashed to the doorway to peer inside.

They saw Ma Han yanking Shi Yanshuo down from a spiral staircase, while beneath the plane, Yu Hui, carrying a backpack, was about to run forward, only for Zhao Hu to grab hold of her backpack.

Eleven assessed the situation and thought there didn't seem to be anyone else. Just those two... so they probably didn't need my help.

Issel, however, kept his eyes on Yu Hui and Zhao Hu, frowning slightly... Something isn't right, it feels weird.

......

Back at the estate, the SWAT team and the fire department had practically turned the place upside down, yet they still hadn't found the missing girls.

Xiaofei, frowning, walked over to the car to rejoin Fei Mu and Bai Chi.

Fei Mu crossed his arms, looking irritated. "I don't know if Captain Bai and the others will make it in time. Don't tell me those two are really going to get away!"

Xiaofei took the bottle of water Bai Chi handed him, drank a couple of mouthfuls, then put it down and clapped Fei Mu on the shoulder. "Relax, they won't get away."

......

Meanwhile, a "fierce battle" was unfolding in the hangar.

Ma Han quickly subdued Shi Yanshuo and pulled out a pair of handcuffs to secure him before looking up at Zhao Hu.

Zhao Hu had a hold of Yu Hui's backpack, and it looked as though she wouldn't be able to run, but he suddenly heard Issel shout, "Careful!"

Zhao Hu was quick-witted. When he and Ma Han rushed inside just now, Yu Hui and Shi Yanshuo had been on the spiral staircase heading into the cabin. Seeing that they were almost out of reach, Hu Zi had fired a shot at the plane's landing gear...

The small fixed-wing aircraft had only three struts. Hu Zi's shot had been cunningly placed, hitting the front gear, which collapsed, sending the plane's nose dipping downwards.

Shi Yanshuo had staggered on the spiral staircase, slipped a few steps, and been yanked down by Ma Han, who rushed forward.

Yu Hui had flipped herself down from the spiral staircase and lashed out with a kick at Zhao Hu.

Hu Zi had instinctively dodged, and Yu Hui had turned to run forward, but Zhao Hu had quickly grabbed her backpack.

Though he had caught her smoothly, a flicker of doubt crossed his mind... Why was she running towards the tail of the plane? Shouldn't she have gone for the doors at the front or the sides?

It was in that split-second of hesitation that he heard Issel's warning. Instinctively, he swerved aside...

Almost simultaneously, Yu Hui swung off her backpack, turned, and aimed a punch straight at Zhao Hu's chest.

Zhao Hu glimpsed something flashing before his eyes. What kind of setup is this?

A sharp claw lunged towards his chest. Fortunately, Zhao Hu reacted quickly, pulling back just enough to widen the gap. At the same, time he saw clearly – What the hell? Wolverine?!

Startled, Hu Zi realised that Yu Hui was wearing knuckle dusters: a silvery-white four-finger knuckle set, with four razor-sharp steel claws extending from the front, each at least ten centimetres long by the look of it.

Issel raised his brows. No wonder he felt something was wrong just now. Yu Hui wasn't running away, but turning her back to get her "weapon" and find an angle at the same time. She probably wanted to stab Zhao Hu and then take him hostage. He didn't know what this woman's identity was, but she seemed to have a lot of combat experience.

"Fu..." Hu Zi didn't even have time to curse before Yu Hui came at him a second time. This time her strike was truly vicious, aiming straight for his neck.

Ma Han, having already cuffed Shi Yanshuo, pulled out his gun, but he couldn't shoot because of the angle... Hu Zi was blocking her. Just as he was about to shout at him to duck, his peripheral vision caught a dark object hurtling toward him.

Issel and Eleven both turned their heads...

At the same moment, just as Yu Hui was about to succeed, there was a sudden sharp whoosh from the side. She jerked backwards, and something dark and round like a bowling ball flew between her and Zhao Hu, landing squarely on the tips of the claws of her knuckle duster.

A shrill scrape of metal rang out as Yu Hui felt a stab of pain shoot through her knuckles. She shook her hand violently... and the knuckle duster was sent flying, carried off by that "bowling ball."

Hu Zi had had a very close call, he had thrown himself back just in time, landing hard on his backside. Turning his head, he saw that the "black ball" that had just smashed the knuckle duster was not a bowling ball, but a helmet. By the look of it, it was one of SWAT's new pieces of equipment.

Yu Hui shook her hand and turned her head.

From behind Issel and Eleven, Wen Xiaorou stepped forward.

At the hangar entrance, a squad of SWAT officers filed in.

Issel stroked his chin. There was a car following earlier...

In fact, when Zhao Hu and the others had been chasing Shi Yanshuo's car, Wen Xiaorou had been in the vehicle trailing behind. 

She had originally been assigned to lead the team to the hospital, but when she caught sight of Shi Yanshuo and Yu Hui in their changed clothes... she had recognised Yu Hui's silhouette instantly. It wasn't the first time she had seen that silhouette, Yu Hui had already escaped her once before.

Realising this might be a diversion tactic, Wen Xiaorou had quickly alerted Xiaofei, then taken her team to tail the car.

The SWAT vehicle had been behind Zhao Hu and the others but ahead of Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao. Wen Xiaorou was a little worried about Zhao Hu and Ma Han, because she knew that Yu Hui was a very dangerous person!

Zhao Hu rubbed his neck – Holy crap, I nearly died.

Xiao Rou walked to his side and tilted her head at him.

Zhao Hu understood immediately. He dashed up onto the plane to have a look and immediately beckoned to the SWAT officers. The missing girls were in the cabin.

The SWAT team called for ambulances as they ran aboard to rescue them.

Yu Hui's carefully devised escape plan had been "smashed" by nothing more than a helmet. She looked at Wen Xiaorou, who had walked in front of her, and spat through gritted teeth, "Why is it you again?"

Wen Xiaorou raised her hand and pointed to the back of her neck. "Although the tattoo has become a scar... a fake is still a fake, it can never be real."

"Oh..." Issel and Eleven both perked up with interest. "Girl vs girl!"

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

Previous Chapter | TOC |

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: September 10, 2025 by Angel

Edited: November 12, 2025 by Angel