S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 6 Chapter 121

Special Files – Collector 06 – Ticket

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With a sharp "turn around" from Zhao Jue, Bai Ye spun the wheel and made a U-turn, chasing after the two roaring fire engines, driving back the way they had come.

Before long, they were back on the forest road they had taken when leaving the hospital.

They had not driven far when they saw the fire engines stopped by the roadside ahead.

In front of the vehicles, temporary roadblock signs had been set up.

On the slope to one side, thick smoke was billowing out from the trees, which must have caught fire.

Sitting in the passenger seat, Zhao Jue watched the smoke rising from the hillside, his brows furrowing slightly, looking somewhat puzzled.

Bai Ye also found it strange... They had passed by only minutes earlier, and there had been no fire then. In this weather, in this environment, how could a fire suddenly break out for no reason?

Bai Ye pulled up in front of the barrier, and a firefighter walked over to tell them that a fire had been spotted ahead. The road could not be reopened until they had confirmed there was no risk of a mountain fire, and it might take some time.

Bai Ye rolled down the window.

It was dark at the moment, and the firefighter couldn't see him clearly at first. He froze for a second before calling out, "Captain Bai?"

Bai Ye didn't deny it, only asked, "What's going on?"

"It's suspected arson!" The firefighter said with clear displeasure. "We just got a fire call saying the green belt on the hillside by the road had caught fire. On our way here, we saw smoke rising from the woods."

Bai Ye glanced at Zhao Jue.

Zhao Jue remained seated without moving and simply asked, "When did you get the call?"

"About seven or eight minutes ago."

Hearing this, Zhao Jue made no further comment, lowered his head and went on gnawing at his bing.

The firefighter asked if Bai Ye wanted to go over, but seeing that Zhao Jue did not seem particularly concerned, Bai Ye shook his head and drove back.

As the car drove on, Bai Ye glanced into the rearview mirror at the forest behind them. The smoke was still rising high, but the fire had not spread. It might have had something to do with the frequent rains in the past few days, leaving the ground fairly damp.

Zhao Jue kept chewing his bing, muttering to himself

He couldn't clearly hear what was being said, but Bai Ye seemed to catch a sentence: "Last time we also ran into the fire department by chance..."

"It's been less than ten minutes since we left the hospital," Bai Ye remarked.

Zhao Jue hummed, glancing around for something to drink.

Bai Ye reached out and pointed at the drawer in front of the passenger seat.

Zhao Jue opened the drawer, and inside was a thermos cup.

Zhao Jue clicked his tongue, shooting Bai Ye a mischievous glance – Using a thermos, of all things! Such old man style...

Still muttering under his breath, he unscrewed the lid, sniffed it, and found it wasn't goji berry tea. What is this smell?

Zhao Jue lifted it and took a gulp. Blinking, he licked his lips and then took two more big gulps before asking Bai Ye, "What's this?"

"Some sort of matcha salted egg yolk coconut milk, I think. Zhan Zhao said it tasted delicious earlier." Bai Ye thought that whoever came up with such a combination of flavours was no ordinary person...

Zhao Jue, cheered up by this, said, "So that fire must have been set in the time after we drove past, right?"

"Either it was someone who came out of the hospital, set the fire and then went back after making the emergency call beforehand," Bai Ye thought aloud, "or it was someone in that car we saw earlier, also calling in the alarm first and then setting the fire... Either way, the fire definitely hadn't started before we passed. They reported it first and set it afterwards. But what was the point of doing it that way...?"

"Most likely it was deliberate." Zhao Jue, full and content, pulled out his phone and sent a message.

Before long, a reply came through.

Zhao Jue glanced at it, as though he had expected as much, and let out a mocking chuckle.

The car drove back into the city. Bai Ye asked Zhao Jue, "Where do you want to go?"

"To the university," Zhao Jue said, sending off another message.

......

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang had figured out why Issel was monitoring Xiaoxue.

Kalin had some concerns about Professor Wu Wen's experimental plan, and although Issel was not an expert in psychology, his instincts as a "radar" told him that there was something off about those conversations.

Zhan Zhao, however, as an expert, was confused about just who Professor Wu Wen was trying to train.

Although neither he nor Zhao Jue were particularly fond of Wu Wen's educational philosophy, Wu Wen was at least an expert, so there was no reason why he would fail to spot such an obvious problem... Could it be some form of adversity-based education?

Zhan Zhao scratched his head. Wu Wen was his senior, and since he was not currently teaching at X University, it didn't seem right to suddenly interfere with someone else's teaching plan.

"These students all seemed to be on the list for this summer camp assessment," Bai Yutang reminded Zhan Zhao.

Just the mention of the summer camp irritated Zhan Zhao.

Issel and Kalin had asked him to take the chance to observe things for them, and then, relieved of the burden, the couple had gone off on a carefree date.

......

Next to the food city, a new shopping centre had opened, specialising in outdoor sports equipment, selling everything from off-road vehicles to sun-protective clothing.

Bai Yutang dragged Zhan Zhao along to have a look and buy some camping and hiking essentials.

Zhan Zhao asked him if they sold cable cars.

Bai Yutang was at a loss and asked, "Cat, do you want to shop or go back to work on your manuscript?"

Zhan Zhao silently pointed in the direction of the mall – Anything is better than working on the manuscript...

Once inside, they realised the place was quite impressive.

Pointing at an off-road vehicle in the exhibition hall with tyres taller than a man, Zhan Zhao said, "Xiao Bai, let's buy this, you can drive it to catch criminals in future!"

Bai Yutang also found the vehicle rather interesting. Strictly speaking, it was more of a large tractor. He had indeed seen such competitions on television before, on bumpy dirt tracks full of steep slopes and muddy pits, these vehicles tumbled and flipped their way along, and the races were quite entertaining to watch.

The two of them were still looking at the vehicle when a voice sounded from behind, "You two, are you here to watch the race?"

The voice sounded familiar. Turning round, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang saw that it was Lin Ruo.

Lin Ruo was wearing a suit with something like a staff badge hanging from his chest, grinning at them.

Instinctively, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang glanced behind him, their looks asking – Are you alone?

Lin Ruo rolled his eyes. "I'm here for work!"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang found it even more suspicious – You? Work? On a weekend night!

"Tch." Lin Ruo gestured at an advertising board behind him.

They both looked up – Mountain Off-Road Vehicle Competition...

They turned back to look at the "monster" of a tractor behind them, puzzled. "This car can be driven up a mountain?"

"This one's just for display, the mountain races use motorbikes," Lin Ruo explained, adding that he had recently put together a racing team.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang stared at him speechlessly – You did this all by yourself?

Grinning, Lin Ruo said he had secured a few sponsors, and the venue was being provided by the Bai Group, up in the mountain near the amusement park.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged a silent glance, a wave of twin-induced "trouble brewing" washing over them. Wasn't one food competition noisy enough?

Lin Ruo said that Xu Lie had just filmed a movie about a racing driver, so this was the perfect opportunity for promotion! The film was adapted from Mingdi's novel, and they could promote it together. Qi Le's band had even sung the theme song...

As Lin Ruo went on and on with his spiel, Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao felt increasingly uneasy as more and more people seemed to be roped in... For the sake of world peace, can't this bunch of jinxes stop banding together on projects?

Lin Ruo was talking nonstop when his phone suddenly beeped.

Glancing down at it, he said a quick "bye" and bolted.

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao both shook their heads helplessly. It was obvious Lin Ruo had been covering for someone, keeping the two of them occupied so someone could slip away safely. Now that he had received the message saying the transfer was successful, he had made his escape.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang didn't press the matter and carried on browsing the shops.

The two bought a pile of things, clothes, shoes, hiking packs, as well as tools and insect-repellent gear.

Zhan Zhao took a fancy to a tent and said they should buy one to take back.

Bai Yutang asked if he meant to camp up in the mountains.

Zhan Zhao said no, he would set it up in the villa garden! After all, a tent was a tent, camping was the same no matter where you put it.

After putting their things in the car, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang wandered along the pedestrian street for a bit before heading home. By the time they got back, it was about ten o'clock at night.

When they returned to the villa, they found only Lisbon and the twins there.

Big Brother, Gongsun, Zhao Zhen and Bai Chi had all gone out for the night. The twins were playing video games, while the big and small cats were asleep on the sofa.

As Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang came in carrying their bags, several kittens trotted over to surround them curiously.

Zhan Zhao's phone had been buzzing the entire way back, and without even looking, he knew it was his editor urging him to write his manuscript.

Reluctantly sitting down on the sofa, he leaned against Lisbon, and opened his laptop... but after barely typing two lines, Zhan Zhao was already getting drowsy.

Catching sight of an unread email, Zhan Zhao clicked it open.

Zhan Zhao had several email accounts: one specifically for dealing with editors and publishers, one he used to use for receiving student assignments, and another for keeping in touch with former patients.

Because he was always trying to avoid his manuscript deadlines, Zhan Zhao didn't often open his email, and few acquaintances sent him messages any more, most people contacted him on WeChat.

Zhan Zhao lazily scrolled through the unread emails in his various accounts, most of which were advertisements and the like. He yawned, just about to close the inbox, when he suddenly noticed one email among the many "ads" that looked a little odd.

It seemed to be a promotional message, with two electronic tickets attached. On the tickets, there was a QR code, a photo, and a few words – Crime Cabin Experience Ticket.

The photo was rather dark, as though taken with a Polaroid... In the picture was a rag doll with a noose around its neck.

The doll itself had a distinctive style, tattered and worn, yet somehow delicate in detail.

Zhan Zhao stared at the ticket for a while, then glanced at the sender's email address.

There was nothing remarkable about it, just a string of numbers that looked randomly generated. Other than the two tickets, the email contained no words or images.

Zhan Zhao thought that it was quite likely a scam. Times had changed, and online scammers were now more common than those offline.

Choosing to ignore it, Zhan Zhao closed his laptop, went to the fridge for a yoghurt, and wandered out into the yard to watch Bai Yutang putting up a tent.

The twins were gaming, and when they heard the clatter of hammering pegs outside, they looked up briefly, then shook their heads and carried on playing.

By the time Zhan Zhao had finished his yoghurt, taken a shower, and come back downstairs, Bai Yutang had already set up the tent and was holding the bedding, giving him a knowing look.

Smiling, Zhan Zhao picked up two pillows and crawled into the tent with him.

Lisbon swished his tail, curious, and padded out to have a look.

Once Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang zipped themselves into the tent, they saw a lion's silhouette outside. Lisbon circled the tent, sniffing at it, occasionally swiping at the fabric with his big paws.

Sitting inside the tent, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang felt the atmosphere lift instantly – It's like we're really camping out on the African savannah!

‿︵‿︵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 27, 2025 by Angel

Edited: November 26, 2025 by Angel