S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 6 Chapter 137

Special Files – Collector 22 – Props

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SCI and the SWAT team met at the entrance of Wistseria Manor. From the drone footage taken in advance, it looked as though some kind of supernatural incident had taken place inside this infamous "haunted house".

After a moment of silence, everyone turned at once to the only "medical support" present at the scene.

"What is that?" Everyone asked Gongsun.

Gongsun was adjusting his glasses and examining the footage carefully. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Judging from the images, it looks like some kind of vine plant."

"Are there plants that can attack people?" Zhan Zhao asked, several carnivorous plant descriptions from various novels flashing through his mind.

Gongsun calmly shook his head. "There aren't any plants like that on this planet."

Zhan Zhao blinked, even more excited. "On this planet..."

Bai Yutang told him not to let his imagination run wild. Could it be some sort of mechanism, or someone inside using props to fake it?

Xiaofei and Wen Xiaorou both nodded in agreement – Now that makes sense!

"Let's go in and have a look." Bai Yutang asked Zhan Zhao, Gongsun, and the family members to wait at the door, and the rest of the SCI team entered with the SWAT officers.

Bai Chi and the SWAT team's technicians released three drones inside.

With more drones added, their shooting range expanded. One hovered directly at the highest point, capturing a panoramic view of the entire estate, but it didn't reveal any vine-like objects capable of moving.

However, the giant wisteria blocked the view quite heavily. Whatever was hidden beneath the wisteria tree was completely out of sight.

Zhan Zhao asked Gongsun, "No one should be tending this wisteria, right? How is it growing so well?"

Gongsun spread his hands, he was an anthropologist, not a botanist.

Everyone then turned to Bai Ye, who was better with plants.

Uncle Ye could only spread his hands as well.

Since Bai Ye wasn't a police officer, Bai Yutang hadn't let him go inside... In fact, Bai Yutang was also worried about Zhan Zhao and the others outside, and keeping Uncle Ye there made him feel more at ease. After all, among those who had gone in were himself, Xiaofei, and Wen Xiaorou, the three great experts of the bureau. If something happened even with them present, then there really must be a monster in there.

Pushing open the iron gate at the entrance of the manor, the group split into three teams and went in.

The SWAT team was well equipped, and because the ground might contain collapses or mechanisms, they sent two robotic dogs ahead to scout the way.

These dogs were the SWAT team's newest equipment. Bai Yutang looked at the titanium-alloy dogs and thought they were both attractive and practical, SCI could use a few as well.

Although the manor had been abandoned, for some unknown reason, the wisteria had grown superbly, as though carefully tended by someone. Its colours were especially striking, the vines were dark, and the petals shifted from white to violet in a vivid gradient.

Hu Zi asked Ma Han as they walked, "Xiao Ma Ge, have you ever watched Colour Out of Space?"

Ma Han kept an eye on the vine fragments scattered across the ground as he walked. "Colour of what?"

As he spoke, he bent down and reached out to pick up a twig. The twig was very thin, about the length of a chopstick, and both ends had been cut cleanly...

Ma Han showed it to Zhao Hu.

Hu Zi glanced at it but didn't reach out to take it. "Xiao Ma Ge, if this were Colour Out of Space, you'd mutate after touching it!"

Ma Han was speechless and very nearly shoved the twig down the back of Hu Zi's collar.

Wen Xiaorou also noticed the branches scattered by her feet. They didn't look naturally shed. Judging by the cuts, they had been snipped with scissors. Some were already dried, while others were still quite fresh. Clearly, someone had been pruning them continuously.

The robotic dog ran ahead and stopped before a building.

On the ground lay a small, damaged drone.

Xiaofei picked up the machine and examined it. He found that the entire structure had been bent, some components had fallen off, the body was cracked, and there were scratch marks.

Although these detection drones were light and compact, bending one to this extent by hand would be extremely difficult.

Beside the drone was a cavern. A SWAT officer took out an inspection camera and carefully inserted it into the opening...

Below, the cavern was pitch black. Wen Xiaorou lit a flare and dropped it in...

As the red glow lit up the depths, everyone watched the interior through the camera lens.

The cave was roughly two metres high, and below it was a space resembling an underground parking lot. The concrete floor was empty within the visible range.

Just as everyone was considering their next move, suddenly...

A black, vine-like thing entered the frame and snatched the flare away... In an instant, the view went dark again.

"What was that just now?" Xiaofei asked Bai Yutang if he had seen it clearly.

Bai Yutang nodded. "Black, something like a wisteria vine... but it seemed quite soft, not like wood."

Behind them, Zhao Hu was nudging Ma Han – Xiao Ma Ge! Cthulhu!

Ma Han froze, looked at Zhao Hu, and said, "Cave Number 2?"

Zhao Hu nodded energetically.

"What's Cave Number 2?" Wen Xiaorou and Xiaofei both asked.

"It's a movie, the title is literally Cave Number 2. It's about alien life invading Earth in plant form, and it has an almost identical shot to this!"

"What shot?" Bai Yutang asked them to be specific.

"What I mean is, a meteorite crashes to Earth, smashes through the ground, and lands in the basement of a family's house. A few days later, their relatives come by, find the people missing, and report them as disappeared to the police... When the police arrive, two officers step on a hole in the ground and fall straight through. In the basement, there's a large pool of black water, and in the water, there's a huge black plant. The family who lived there are hanging from the tree, already absorbed by it. The officers try to climb out, but suddenly a black branch grows out of the pool, wraps around them, and drags them underwater! The shot was filmed from above, and they also dropped a flare down... The officer at the top watched the officers below being pulled away, then the flare was dragged away too!"

Hu Zi declared – It's exactly the same scene!

Everyone stared at Zhao Hu, then Xiaofei nodded, raised his hand to put on the night-vision goggles, and leapt down. Wen Xiaorou and the other team members followed behind.

The SCI members didn't have night-vision goggles, so they grabbed two flashlights and followed them down.

Bai Chi operated a drone to follow them down, leaving one hovering above, while the remaining SWAT officers and the two robotic dogs kept watch at the entrance of the cave.

Once in the basement, there really was a pool ahead, and in the middle of the pool stood a tree, with two people hanging from it.

The two people were wearing patrol uniforms, wrapped in vines, suspended from the branches. Whether they were alive or dead was unclear.

Everyone observed carefully and noticed their chests rising and falling, so they were alive...

Xiaofei and the others began considering how to get across to rescue them when a splash suddenly came from the water.

Everyone immediately became fully alert, staring at the water's surface.

Perhaps because the basement was colder, the atmosphere seemed almost frozen. The surface of the water looked like a black mirror, and something beneath was slowly stirring. It definitely wasn't caused by wind.

If some kind of animal was hiding in the water, the pool didn't look deep, yet no eyes were visible...

With flashlight beams cutting through the darkness, if there had been a crocodile or a python-like creature in the water, its eyes should have reflected some light.

Even stranger, the SWAT team had professional night-vision goggles, and yet there was no sign of any living creature in the water. In other words... the tree vine stirring in the pool was either mechanically controlled, or this plant had genuinely become sentient.

Even with all Bai Yutang's experience and knowledge, he had never encountered something like this.

After thinking for a moment, Bai Yutang asked Xiaofei whether they had any climbing rope.

Xiaofei indeed had climbing rope in his gear, and the lock featured a metal hook that could be opened.

Bai Yutang gestured toward the vine – Try entangling it?

Xiaofei took out the rope launcher. He aimed for a moment at the faintly visible black vine in the water, and the vine suddenly stopped moving.

"There's light." Ma Han spoke abruptly.

With this somewhat Ultraman-like announcement, everyone noticed that near the tree roots, just above the water's surface, there was a tiny point of light... It had been cleverly hidden within the surface reflections. As long as the water rippled, it was impossible to see, but when the surface suddenly stilled, it became visible...

Everyone concluded that there had to be some kind of machinery underneath.

Judging from the size of the pool and the length the mechanism would need to extend, controlling such a large mechanical arm would require a sizable device, and it would need a power supply.

The quickest way to deal with an electrically powered mechanism was – cut the electricity!

Bai Yutang shone his flashlight around and discovered a box on the wall near the water, in the area closest to the mechanical arm, something that looked very much like a breaker box.

Borrowing a baton from the SWAT team, Bai Yutang signalled for the others to cover him, then headed toward the box.

The others kept their eyes fixed on that vine, thinking through what they'd do if it suddenly attacked Bai Yutang. Should they fire a burst at it, or trap it with the rope?

Bai Yutang walked along the wall to the breaker box. He lifted the lid with the baton, and inside, there really was a power switch.

Hooking the baton around the switch, he flicked it upward... In an instant, a click sounded...

The basement suddenly lit up, and the water in the pool began draining away, forming a small whirlpool near the tree roots. Clearly, there was a drain there.

The sudden brightness made everyone pause to adjust.

After seeing the situation ahead, everyone frowned.

In the centre of the empty basement, it wasn't a real tree at all, but a fake mechanical tree, looking exactly like a movie prop.

After inspecting it closely, Ma Han and Zhao Hu were startled. "This... couldn't really be one of those movie props, could it?"

"It's almost identical to the one in that old movie we watched!"

The SWAT team approached the mechanical tree. After confirming there was no danger, they helped the two bound officers down.

The two weren't dead, but were in an abnormal state of unconsciousness, with no external injuries found in the initial assessment.

Xiaofei instructed the team to send them to the hospital for emergency treatment.

Because the basement had been pitch black, Zhan Zhao and the others upstairs hadn't been able to see anything clearly through the monitors earlier.

Now that the lights were on, they could finally see. Gongsun nodded as well. "It really is the scene from Cave Number 2."

Zhan Zhao asked Gongsun with some doubt, "You've seen it too?"

"It's a very, very old film." Gongsun jerked his chin toward Bai Jintang. "The twins recently bought an old film studio that went bankrupt. That company had always made low-budget B-movies, most of them are seventy or eighty years old, and aside from the original masters, they're basically impossible to find now. The other day, I picked out a stack of masters to watch in the Bai Group's screening room. Huzi and Ma Han are dating big stars, going out isn't convenient, so they're always watching films with us."

Zhan Zhao asked, "So is this tree one of the props from that film?"

"Looks like it." Gongsun nodded. "There was a similar scene in the movie. The police fall into a cave, get grabbed by vines, and end up hanging from the tree. But in the film, the tree is an alien lifeform that absorbs people. It's one of those early Cthulhu-style films, and the special effects were actually quite good. Back then, special effects were all physical, mechanical props..."

Zhan Zhao asked Bai Jintang, "Big Brother, when you bought the company, didn't you buy this tree as well?"

Bai Jintang said he had only bought the studio and the film rights. These mechanical pieces should have been commissioned from someone else, and once filming was done, they were probably difficult to store, so they were likely sold to some collector.

Zhan Zhao rubbed his chin. "Making a tree like this can't be cheap, right? No one's even heard of that film, selling the props probably earns more than selling the movie. No wonder the company went bankrupt..."

Everyone quietly looked at Zhan Zhao – Why do you sound like a snarky film critic?

"So what about the vine that attacked the drone?" Zhan Zhao couldn't believe the underground vine would come up to attack a drone, the level of operation required would be too high.

"And could a film prop really manage something as precise as snatching away a flare?"

"A mechanical vine couldn't possibly knock people unconscious and tie them to the tree, right?"

After a brief exchange, everyone reached one conclusion – Someone was here.

At that moment, one of the SWAT officers inspecting the basement wall discovered a gap where air was leaking through.

Everyone gathered around the wall and felt around, and they actually found a door... Except the door had no keyhole and no handle, and was clearly a bolt-locked door, with the bolt set on the opposite side...

A few SWAT officers hefted a battering ram and struck the door several times, until the door burst open with a loud boom...

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Happy New Years!

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: November 26, 2025 by Angel

Edited: November 27, 2025 by Angel