S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 6 Chapter 113

New Year Special – Food Competition 1

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The police station was in a cheerful mood these days, partly because the New Year was approaching and they were preparing for the holidays, and partly because a major case had been solved.

After Yu Hui and Shi Yanshuo were arrested, their families and all the people behind them were taken into custody as well.

This had been a large-scale transnational criminal syndicate. Not only had the suspects been caught, but a massive haul of smuggled artworks had been seized, along with rare "seafood."

Because of the case's bizarre nature and chilling implications, it generated a great deal of attention.

Lu Fang held several press conferences, while the internet was flooded with popular science articles, wild ideas, and conspiracy theories. The general conclusion, apart from the fact that SCI really could stumble across any kind of case, was simply that it was terrifying. When thought about carefully, this sort of thing might just as easily happen to anyone.

After all, who knows if somewhere in the world, a villain who looks exactly like you is lurking, coveting your identity...

However, unlike the other departments that were ready to close the case, SCI still had a suspected serial killer at large.

From the office downstairs came the constant whoosh-whoosh of chair wheels rolling above, and they knew that Zhan Zhao must be "working his magic" on his swivel chair again.

Inside the SCI office, Bai Yutang stood by the window with a cup of coffee in hand, speaking on the phone. Zhan Zhao clung to the back of his chair, sliding about and spinning in circles.

Bai Yutang hung up with a frown and turned back to give Zhan Zhao a nod.

Zhan Zhao tilted his head back to look at the ceiling and sighed.

So, what was going on with the two of them?

Hadn't they already discovered that Wang Yong had escaped? Because the discovery had been made in time, a wanted notice had been issued almost immediately after he fled, and all major airports and stations had been alerted.

But Wang Yong seemed to have vanished into thin air. Two days had passed, and not a trace of him had surfaced.

In this day and age, it's not easy for a living person to simply disappear. After all, surveillance cameras were nearly everywhere now, and facial recognition systems were highly advanced.

The address registered to Wang Yong turned out to be fake. The residential complex had seven buildings in total, but he had supposedly lived in Building 8.

Other details were scarce. Even Jiang Ping felt that this guy was quite capable, he had seemed so unremarkable, yet turned out to be a real expert.

At this point, the only way to catch him was to start with his acquaintances.

The security guards who had worked with him were basically just small fry. It was said that Wang Yong had only had occasional contact with Shi Yanshuo's family in private.

Although he had worked at the police station before, he had moved long ago. All relevant information had been cut off, and even his relatives, who could have been contacted, had either moved away or passed away.

The police had issued a widely publicised wanted notice with a large reward, and the case was all over the internet, yet after two days, no witnesses had come forward.

With SCI's years of experience catching criminals, they reckoned this guy must have some hidden hideout and was very likely holed up somewhere.

Shi Yanshuo's mother, Wang Zhen, died from her injuries after being rushed to the hospital.

That meant that, at present, the only person who might know Wang Yong's whereabouts was Shi Yanshuo.

Zhan Zhao suspected that perhaps Fang Beibei also knew. After all, she acted rather arrogant, as though she held some kind of immunity card.

Yesterday, Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao had indeed questioned the two of them. They had been surprisingly forthcoming, admitting that they did know where Wang Yong was, but insisted on setting conditions.

Both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang had been rather displeased. Those two had committed countless heinous crimes, what right did they have to bargain? Moreover, neither of them truly believed that the pair possessed any real information.

Shi Yanshuo was an old fox. In order to save his own skin, he had been rather cooperative. On the one hand, he had shifted all the blame onto Yu Hui and Wang Yong, on the other, he had offered a lead, one of Wang Yong's hideouts.

It was said that Wang Yong was extremely cunning. He had three hideouts, and no one knew exactly which one he was currently in.

Shi Yanshuo first provided one of the addresses, an abandoned warehouse.

But by the time SCI arrived, the fire department was already putting out the flames. The whole warehouse had been reduced to charcoal.

The firefighters said that it was an unlucky day, as this was the second abandoned building to have burned down.

Both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang asked, "This fire, it was deliberate, right?"

Several experienced firefighters nodded. They said that without an accelerant, there was no way it could have burned like this, and it did not look like children playing nearby had accidentally set it alight. It looked as though someone had deliberately poured accelerant inside and out before setting it on fire.

Linking this with the clue from Shi Yanshuo about the "three" hideouts, it was almost certain that Wang Yong had set the fire to destroy evidence.

Zhan Zhao considered this a small breakthrough. Wang Yong moving around outside carried risks. If he was willing to take the risk just to burn down a hideout, it meant there had been evidence there, something detrimental to him, but also not easy to remove.

Once the fire was extinguished, the forensics team arrived.

Given the scale of the fire, the forensics team told Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao to go back and wait for updates.

However, early this morning, the forensic team had been called in.

Just now, Bai Yutang had received a call from Gongsun, saying that some bone fragments had been found on the site that had not burned to ash. The preliminary judgement was that they were human remains, but collecting evidence would be very difficult.

After returning yesterday, Zhan Zhao had speculated that Wang Yong might have hidden the remains of his past victims there. The girl in the yellow rain poncho who had gone missing still hadn't been found, and no one knew just how many people Wang Yong had killed.

At that moment, Zhao Hu, Ma Han, Luo Tian, and Qin Ou all returned, shaking their heads as they entered.

The four of them had just gone to check road surveillance and the airports and stations for clues, but had found nothing anywhere.

"Where could this guy be hiding..." Zhan Zhao kept spinning on his chair, racking his brain for ideas.

Just then, the elevator doors opened, and Wen Xiaorou strolled in, swaying a little, with a husky and a Samoyed following behind her.

Everyone recognised the husky, it was Wen Xiaorou's dog, Rou Meimei. The Samoyed looked somewhat familiar too.

As soon as Wen Xiaorou entered, she introduced it, saying, "This is Zhu Yeye."

Everyone stared at her – Grandpa Pig? It's rather plump...

Wen Xiaorou clicked her tongue. "It's Zhu Yi's dog. We went to play at Mia's place together yesterday, and Yeye kept following Zhu Yi around. By the way, is Mia running a dog farm or something? Why are there so many dogs?"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were both at a loss as to whether to laugh or cry. Uncle Ye's place had clearly been tricked into becoming a dog shelter...

"Since Zhu Yi still needs to stay at the safe house, having a dog to keep her company isn't a bad thing..." Wen Xiaorou said, then asked Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, "Has Wang Yong been caught yet?"

Both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang shook their heads.

Wen Xiaorou looked a little troubled. "So how long does Zhu Yi have to stay in the safe house..."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang sighed again. Although Zhu Yi had only been a fake victim of Wang Yong forged by Shi Yanshuo, after analysing Wang Yong's behaviour, both of them felt there was a strong chance this guy would likely seek revenge. Moreover, he probably wouldn't dare to target the strong, he would only go after the weak. Zhu Yi was the easiest target.

The girl had little combat ability. Lately, Wen Xiaorou and Su Hai had been protecting her, but still, accidents were always possible. To return to a normal life, the best way was to catch that man.

Zhan Zhao beckoned to the two dogs.

They trotted over to him, and he reached out both hands to pet their heads.

Bai Chi asked Wen Xiaorou if she wanted bubble tea, but Wen Xiaorou patted her stomach and said she was full of coffee.

As she spoke, she pointed downstairs at the dessert shop. She said Guan Xiaohong and Tan Wen had accompanied Zhu Yi to an interview there. Apparently, Zhu Yi had not made coffee for so long that she was itching to show off her skills, so she had been showing off tricks. The three of them had each drunk three cups, and she reckoned she would not feel sleepy even on tonight's night shift.

Hearing this, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both thought the coffee sounded good and asked whether the shop delivered.

So Wen Xiaorou sent Zhu Yi a message. Xiao Bai Chi suddenly felt a sense of crisis, thinking his bubble tea empire was under threat.

Bai Yutang glanced out of the window again and saw Su Hai and Zhao Jue standing at the entrance of the dessert shop, talking about something.

The little dog named Pupu, the one Su Hai had rescued, was there as well. Inside the shop, there seemed to be several other dogs, along with a familiar fluffy white figure.

"Isn't that one..." Bai Yutang tugged at Zhan Zhao's sleeve.

Zhan Zhao glanced once and immediately gave an "Eh!" of disgust. "What's that lecherous alpaca doing here?!"

The others also came to have a look, only to see a crowd of girls gathered at the dessert shop, petting an alpaca.

That alpaca was the one Zhao Jue had just bought a few days ago.

Previously, when Wen Xiaorou's parents had been taken by Xiaofei's parents to live in the countryside, there had been alpacas on Xiaofei's family farm, and Wen Xiaorou's mother had taken photos and sent them to her.

A bunch of the girls had been giggling over the photos when Zhao Jue happened to see them. The moment he laid eyes on the young alpaca, he had fallen for it, so he asked if it could be bought.

Zhao Jue negotiated the price and messaged Bai Ye, and Uncle Ye had personally driven a truck to bring the alpaca back.

The alpaca had only arrived yesterday. Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang had gone to ask Issel for help in finding someone, so they took the opportunity to have a look.

There was one white and one yellow alpaca.

Zhan Zhao had thought they looked rather cute, so he had gone to give one a pat, but the white one had promptly spat all over him...

The yellow alpaca had a good temperament, but the white one, for some reason, only liked girls and was not very friendly towards men... Still, when it saw Bai Ye or Bai Yutang, it would shrink back timidly, preferring instead to bully Zhan Zhao and Xiao Bai Chi.

Wen Xiaorou had suggested an idea to Zhao Jue. Since there are so many animals now, why not make use of all the cats, dogs, and alpacas? Very fashionable!

Zhan Zhao said he was going to report that alpaca to the health department for spitting everywhere!

Bai Yutang gave a rather speechless look at the grudge-holding cat beside him.

"Oh, right." Zhan Zhao suddenly remembered and poked Bai Yutang. "Didn't Issel say he'd help find clues? Has he called?"

Bai Yutang shook his head, and to be sure he hadn't missed anything, even checked his phone.

"He hasn't come?" Zhan Zhao rose on tiptoe and peered down at the shop below.

At that moment, Ma Xin and Xiatian came running up with two bags of coffee. "Delivery's here!"

Gongsun, who had gotten up early to rush to the scene, also came out of the elevator yawning, with a cup of coffee in his hand.

As they were handing out the coffee, Zhan Zhao asked Ma Xin, "Is Issel in the dessert shop?"

Ma Xin and Xiatian both shook their heads.

Bai Yutang waved his phone as well – No one is answering.

"Ah!" Ma Xin waved her hands. "The two of them should be in the second round of the cooking competition today, they're probably in the studio now."

Over the past couple of days, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang had been so busy searching for Wang Yong that they had forgotten about it.

"The cooking competition is still going on?" Zhan Zhao thought to himself, Those people really aren't afraid of dying. Last time Fang Beibei poisoned someone on the spot and nearly caused a fatality, Big Brother even livestreamed the arrest of the culprit, and yet there are still people willing to eat?

Ma Xin and Xiatian both shook their heads vigorously. "Wow, do neither of you ever go online? It's a hit, a massive hit! The ratings champion! The scale has expanded and the prize money has doubled, doubled, and doubled again!"

Zhao Hu and the others were busy working out how much "doubled, doubled, and doubled again" actually came to...

Zhan Zhao also thought that Uncle Ye might as well forget about buying a yacht and buy a cruise ship instead...

"It's so popular that investors are flooding in, so now both the hardware and software have been upgraded, and big celebrities are queueing up to appear on the show!" Wen Xiaorou had apparently also watched the trailer yesterday. "Today's competition is on the second floor. They have to make seafood fried rice, seafood soup, seafood noodles, seafood snacks and seafood desserts."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both felt that the twins were stressing "seafood" just to ride the wave of popularity... but then again, what on earth was a seafood dessert?

"Are those two new chefs going to be all right?" Zhan Zhao was a little worried about Uncle Chopsticks and Issel. The first round had been about knife skills, and somehow the two of them had muddled through. But now that the show was such a hit, the contestants were all professional chefs, while the two of them had only been able to tell spring onions, chives, and garlic apart for less than a week... Only a few days ago, they were still learning how to gut fish.

"What time's the livestream?" Gongsun asked.

"It starts at two this afternoon." Jiang Ping said the Bai Group's food city was so crowded that the parking lot was full, and they had to rent the one next door.

Zhan Zhao took out his phone and searched, discovering that even though the competition wasn't until two o'clock, a swarm of internet influencers had already gone over to camp out for livestreaming, and there were huge crowds gathering.

"Business is that good..." Bai Yutang had originally planned to take Zhan Zhao to the food city for dinner that evening, but at this rate, they wouldn't even be able to get a table.

Jiang Ping turned on the television, and right at that moment, the news was broadcasting a segment on how well the food city was doing. The room where Big Brother Bai streamed had become a must-visit spot for internet influencers, and apparently, the Bai Group's glassware was completely sold out.

Just as they were watching the news, Xiao Bai Chi suddenly snatched the remote from Jiang Ping's hand and pressed the pause button.

Everyone looked at him, puzzled – What is it?

Bai Chi narrowed his eyes, staring at the television screen above for a while. Then he took out the little infrared pointer from his keychain, the kind used to play with cats, and pointed it at the screen.

Everyone looked up.

On the television screen, amidst the crowd in the news footage, a red dot appeared, fixed on a man in a baseball cap, who was walking into the food city in a long queue.

Everyone's eyes widened at once – Wang Yong?!

"Damn it, we've been searching for him all over the place, and he's gone off to join the fun at the food city?" Zhao Hu thought this really was a case of hiding in plain sight.

"What's he doing at Big Brother's food city?" Bai Yutang had a bad feeling.

"With that many people inside the food city, if this guy suddenly loses it..."

The more they thought about it, the worse it seemed.

Bai Yutang immediately signalled – Hurry! Everyone, head to the food city!

‿︵‿︵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: September 13, 2025 by Angel

Edited: November 17, 2025 by Angel