S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 6 Chapter 128

Special Files – Collector 13 – "Maidudu"

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Professor Wu Wen explained his predicament to Zhan Zhao in detail.

It was rather amusing. When he had first received the electronic tickets, Zhan Zhao had been a little anxious.

But after hearing how things had unfolded, he was no longer that worried – It's just being targeted by a pervert, what's the big deal!

Bai Yutang also felt that it would be easier to deal with the case if there was a target, and this case seemed to have something to do with the suicide case of that year.

Wu Wen's main concern at the moment was safety, he had installed plenty of surveillance cameras inside the cabin.

Bai Yutang brought his laptop and connected it to the surveillance system in the neighbouring cabin.

After a brief check, it appeared there were practically no blind spots in the whole place, and the entrance and the windows were also under surveillance.

Bai Yutang even went to the car to grab a pair of walkie-talkies for Wu Wen.

In fact, there was only a small path between the two holiday cabins. If anything happened, they wouldn't even need to open the windows, they could just call out and be heard.

Since Bai Yutang had promised to ensure the safety of the neighbouring cabin, Wu Wen felt reassured... After all, almost the entire SCI team was staying next door, surely no one would be foolish enough to come looking for trouble, and the so-called pervert would be walking straight into a trap. Moreover...

Wu Wen glanced at Zhao Jue nearby and thought that with Zhao Jue around, it was like having double insurance.

Zhao Jue's expression remained blank. Perhaps he was tired, as he yawned.

At that moment, there was a commotion at the door.

The four woodcutters and the twins had returned. Bai Ye asked Xu Lie and Lan Qi to dig a pit to set up a barbecue rack.

Big Brother Bai entered the house and casually handed the two babies to Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang took Xiao Yumi, while Zhan Zhao clapped his hands at Jiajia. "Jiajiabao!"

Jiajia was delighted to see Zhan Zhao, she threw herself into his arms and cried out, "Jiajiameow!"

Big Brother Bai looked at Zhan Zhao in confusion – Jiajiabao, Jiajiameow, are you two siblings?

Zhan Zhao set Jiajia on his lap, and the two began chattering away in their own language.

After washing his hands, Big Brother Bai returned, intending to sit by the door with Gongsun for a bit, but something caught his attention.

Thinking for a moment, Bai Jintang pointed at Bai Yutang in front of Jiajia.

Bai Yutang looked at his older brother in confusion.

Jiajia called Bai Yutang "Bayita", which sounded remarkably like "Bajichang", and they were indeed brothers.

Bai Jintang poked Zhan Zhao, who was chatting happily with the baby, and asked, "Can you understand what she's saying?"

Zhan Zhao, holding the baby in his arms, nodded confidently, declaring himself a level-ten speaker of baby language!

"Then what does 'Maidudu' mean?" Big Brother Bai was still rather curious.

Zhan Zhao didn't seem to find it difficult and replied, "It probably means mannequin."

"Mannequin?" Bai Jintang looked at Gongsun.

Gongsun stroked his chin, equally curious. "She can grasp such difficult words?"

"Jiajia's very smart! As long as she's been taught something, she can recognise it." As Zhan Zhao spoke, he searched for an image on his tablet. "But baby language can have some variation, it's divided into the realistic language system and the imaginative language system. The realistic language system covers what she's seen or heard before, while the imaginative language system is more complex. Also, the environment where she learns a word matters; some words she may remember as a whole, while others as fragments."

Bai Jintang and Gongsun both frowned at Zhan Zhao – Your cat linguistics is even harder to understand than your baby linguistics.

Zhan Zhao picked out a photo online of a supermodel walking down a runway and showed it to Jiajia.

Jiajia pointed at the image and said, "Yayiyiyi."

Gongsun and Bai Jintang looked at Zhan Zhao in puzzlement – Isn't it supposed to be maidudu? What on earth was yayiyiyi?

Zhan Zhao smiled. "That's Aunt Jiayi. Jiayi might've worn a similar outfit before."

Then he found a photo of a male model and showed it to the baby.

The baby stared at it for a while and said, "Dingda."

This time, even Bai Yutang was intrigued. "Dingda?"

"It should be the tie." Zhan Zhao continued to flip through the photos and found a picture of a plastic mannequin. When he clicked on it, it turned out to be a GIF. The plastic mannequin was walking, which looked a bit eerie.

Just as Zhan Zhao was about to change the image, Jiajia clapped her little hands and pointed at the mannequin. "Maidudu."

"Oh..." Bai Jintang thought that made sense. They had indeed seen two discarded plastic mannequins earlier in the forest.

Still, Big Brother Bai felt slightly puzzled. Why hadn't Jiajia said anything when they saw them in the forest, but mentioned it only afterwards?

"Does she have to actually see something before she says the word? Or will she see it and not say anything, and then suddenly remember it a while later and say something?" Big Brother Bai asked with genuine interest.

Gongsun hugged a cushion on the sofa, glancing between the baby and Bai Jintang, blinking curiously.

That question actually stumped Zhan Zhao. "That's really hard to say. Jiajia's very bright, but she doesn't necessarily understand the link between the words she says and the real objects. For example, if we put Jiayi's outfit on a plastic mannequin, would she call it yayiyiyi or maidudu? Or if we put a tie on the mannequin, would she say dingda or maidudu? This all needs to be tested..."

Before Zhan Zhao could finish his sentence, Big Brother Bai picked up his phone and called the twins.

The twins, who were eating barbecue at the door, each came running in holding a skewer of pickled pepper beef.

Bai Jintang gestured to them. "Go and find a few plastic mannequins."

The twins squinted at Bai Jintang for a long moment before asking, "Do you want male or female ones?"

Bai Jintang looked at Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang still weren't entirely sure what was going on.

However, Gongsun thought it was perfect, they could use the opportunity to recreate the crime scene, so he said, "Both male and female. Get a few more while you're at it."

The twins went out, phones in hand, to "order the goods."

Gongsun asked the twins to order a few sets of matching outfits as well, then took Wu Wen's phone and sent them the reference images.

Hearing this, Big Brother Bai asked, "What outfits?"

Gongsun pulled up the surveillance photo that had appeared when Wu Wen scanned the QR code for the electronic ticket and showed it to Bai Jintang.

Bai Jintang had overheard Zhao Jue and Wu Wen talking at the door earlier, but hadn't paid it much attention.

When he saw the photo, Big Brother Bai was stunned.

Bai Jintang stared at it for a while, then poked Bai Yutang and pointed outside, signalling him to call in Zhao Zhen and the others who had gone to chop wood.

Bai Yutang ran out to fetch them.

At that moment, Zhao Zhen and Xu Lie were happily playing outside, the two young masters had rediscovered the childhood joy of playing with mud.

Bai Ye had built a very primitive barbecue pit, having dug a hole in the ground, and was directing the pair as they used firewood to light the charcoal.

When Bai Yutang saw their faces covered in soot and their bright white teeth showing as they grinned up at him, he couldn't help but be a little speechless. He gestured for them to come over.

The two ran into the room, and Bai Jintang showed them the photo.

Zhao Zhen and Xu Lie froze when they saw it.

They exchanged a glance and asked each other,

"Are those the two mannequins we saw in the woods just now?"

"The clothes look kind of similar..."

Instinctively, they both looked around for Lan Qi.

Lan Qi had gone next door earlier to fetch toys for Jiajia and was now walking in, carrying two large bags.

After setting the bags down, Lan Qi noticed Zhao Zhen beckoning to him and ran over... One glance at the photo on the phone and he too was dumbfounded.

Lan Qi took the phone, looked more carefully, and nodded. "They're identical! Aren't those the two damaged mannequins from earlier?"

"They were damaged?" asked Zhan Zhao.

As he took the phone, Jiajia also saw the photo and pointed at it, saying, "Maidudu."

Zhan Zhao looked at Jiajia, then back at the four stunned adults behind him – So Jiajia had seen those mannequins in the woods, and that was what she'd been talking about the whole time?

"Er..."

The wood-chopping squad was now confused. Are we even talking about the same thing? Doesn't that photo show two corpses? Those mannequins looked so tattered...

"Let's just do this," Bai Jintang stood up. "Go pick them up?"

Bai Yutang was intrigued as well and followed along.

Zhao Zhen remembered the way and led the group.

Zhan Zhao handed both babies to Zhao Jue and helped Gongsun assemble a small playpen for them to crawl in, placing the toys inside as well.

Zhao Jue, holding a baby in each arm, glanced at Wu Wen beside him.

Wu Wen's eyes darted about, as if something had just occurred to him.

Zhao Jue said, "If you've thought of something, say it."

Wu Wen immediately said, "Didn't this residential area have that ghost story before? Could it be... those plastic mannequins dressed in clothes?"

Zhao Jue didn't answer, but he frowned, lost in thought.

Once Zhan Zhao and Gongsun had finished setting up the playpen, they spread out a soft mat and placed Jiajia inside.

Jiajia sat on the mat playing with her toys, while Zhan Zhao and Gongsun put Xiao Yumi into the cradle to lull her to sleep...

After a while, the twins' "order" was delivered. A few boxes of plastic mannequins and several sets of matching clothes were placed at the door, but Bai Yutang and the others still hadn't returned.

"So long?"

Both Zhan Zhao and Gongsun were starting to get worried. They ran to the door just in time to see the group finally coming back.

However, their hands were empty, no mannequins.

"It's really strange."

When they entered the cabin, Zhao Zhen and the others looked puzzled. They said they'd found the exact place, but the two plastic mannequins were missing.

Zhan Zhao looked over at Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang spread his hands. Indeed, we didn't find them.

Big Brother Bai frowned. They'd just gone in, spent quite some effort searching, and not only were the mannequins gone, but the maze itself had vanished too... It was just an ordinary forest now, easy to enter and easy to leave.

Xu Lie, who'd been reading a sci-fi script lately, suggested they might have entered a parallel universe. Maybe I'm not even me anymore!

Zhan Zhao could only keep staring at Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang looked a little exasperated, he hadn't gone along to chop wood earlier and had no idea what had happened. The wood-chopping squad was acting strangely.

Gongsun brought out two of the plastic mannequins and dressed them in the same outfits as those on the "corpses" in the photo.

The twins were nothing if not efficient. When they said they'd find identical clothes, they truly meant identical, without a single mismatch.

Once the mannequins were fully dressed, Gongsun prepared to go next door to set up the crime scene.

However, before he could leave, Bai Jintang stopped him.

Big Brother Bai carried the two mannequins into the cabin and placed them beside the sofa.

He called out to Jiajia, who was playing with her toys.

Jiajia looked up, blinked her big eyes, and called out, "Bajichang."

Big Brother Bai pointed to the two mannequins.

But Jiajia showed no reaction.

Everyone turned to look at Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao was crouched nearby, observing Jiajia. He and Bai Yutang hadn't gone into the forest earlier, and both felt as if they were missing something.

Lan Qi kept pointing at the mannequins, but Jiajia still didn't react at all.

In the end, everyone turned to Lan Qi – Is the child hungry?

Lan Qi was equally helpless.

Zhan Zhao's competitive and inquisitive spirit had both been piqued by the baby. He picked up the tablet, found a photo of a shop window mannequin, and showed it to Jiajia.

Jiajia still didn't react.

He then found the GIF of the plastic mannequin that she had recognised earlier and showed it to her again for confirmation.

And sure enough, she immediately pointed and said, "Maidudu."

At that moment, everyone at the scene fell silent. Lan Qi felt a chill rush up the back of his neck, instinctively tightened his arms around his daughter, and lifted his gaze towards Bai Jintang and Zhao Zhen.

Xu Lie looked utterly baffled and even turned to Bai Yutang to ask, "What does that mean?"

"It means," Zhan Zhao said darkly, "that the plastic mannequin isn't maidudu, the moving plastic mannequin is maidudu."

The four members of the wood-cutting team looked at each other in confusion. They remembered that the two plastic mannequins had just gone missing... Could it be that when Jiajia had called out maidudu towards their backs earlier, she had actually seen those two broken mannequins running away?

Seeing that the pupils of the four had begun to shake, Gongsun raised a hand. "Wait a minute!"

Everyone turned to him.

Gongsun took Wu Wen's phone and showed the baby the photograph.

Jiajia looked at the picture of the two "corpses" and said, "Maimudu."

Gongsun immediately turned back to the group, waving the phone. "See? These two can't move!"

The group stared speechlessly at the cheerful Gongsun – This is even more terrifying, okay!?

Bai Yutang finally understood what was going on. His older brother actually had a sharp instinct for these things, which was why he'd been paying such close attention to the word "maidudu" all along.

Bai Yutang nudged Zhan Zhao with his elbow and looked at him – You're the baby language expert, so what exactly does "maidudu" mean?

"Er..." Zhan Zhao was also stunned at this moment. Jiajia had called the two corpses in the photo "maidudu" twice, yet neither the fake mannequin nor the real body in the image could move. So why hadn't Jiajia recognised the other immobile mannequins, only the moving one?

"It's not a general term, it's a specific one."

At that moment, Zhao Jue spoke up.

Everyone turned to look at him.

As soon as Bai Jintang heard that, he immediately understood –Just like those two trees in the forest earlier, they looked identical, but one was bengbengba and the other was bengbengdu.

"Maidudu, just like yayiyiyi and Bajichang, doesn't refer to all plastic mannequins, it refers to a specific one." Zhao Jue explained, motioning towards the phone with his mouth. "In other words, the maidudu Jiajia keeps talking about should be the same plastic mannequin each time."

‿︵‿︵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: November 4, 2025 by Angel

Edited: November 26, 2025 by Angel