S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 6 Chapter 138

Special Files – Collector 23 – Demon Tree

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After the basement door was forced open, a passage appeared ahead. Metal panels had been laid all around, making it look like the corridor of some kind of post-apocalyptic bunker.

Bai Yutang felt a little confused, but there was another door further down the passage. That door was not closed, merely resting ajar.

He walked over and opened the door, and the small drone that had come down with them earlier flew inside first.

Outside the manor, Zhan Zhao and the others were watching the monitor, observing what lay behind the door through the drone's footage...

The space ahead was not small. Rows upon rows of shelves had been arranged there, somewhat resembling the storage area of a supermarket, except that what was stored on the shelves were not goods, but... many strange and peculiar things.

One shelf held numerous bottles and jars filled with liquid, in which were immersed specimens that looked as though they were not from Earth.

Zhao Hu, who had clearly watched too many films, recognised it at a glance. "Ai, isn't this just like that horror film scene? The one about a biochemical lab hidden under the desert, full of genetically modified mutant creatures..."

Ma Han didn't remember having seen that film, but there were many strangely styled fake snakes on the shelf ahead. There had once been a disaster film similar to Anaconda, in which a man-eating serpent had a white X-shaped pattern on its face, it should have been that snake.

As they continued forward, the shelves were lined with all sorts of bizarre film props.

Bai Chi, the little human-shaped computer, identified even more via the video feed. They were almost all props from old films, mostly horror, disaster, or monster films.

"Is this some kind of studio?" Bai Chi felt puzzled. Why had everything been gathered here?

Zhan Zhao, however, had a different view. "The way these are arranged is more like an exhibition. This kind of collection is similar to collecting figurines, not items stored for work. Things needed for work should be packed in boxes with labels for easy reference and to save space. This sort of display is more convenient for viewing and appreciating... And there aren't any dust covers. A lot of dust has settled on them, giving a sense of age, and a kind of... authenticity."

"Mhmm." Gongsun also agreed. "It's like displaying your own secrets... You want to hide them, but you can't help but admire and show them off."

Zhan Zhao felt somewhat curious. "Were these collected by the original owner of the manor?"

"Not necessarily." Gongsun felt that although these collectables were rather old, the display cases were very new, they didn't look like something from three or four decades ago.

......

At the same time, Bai Yutang and the others split into three groups and walked through the aisles between the display cabinets, but they didn't find any suspicious individuals.

The drone stopped in front of an iron spiral staircase at the far end of the storeroom. The flare that had just been carried off by the vine had been placed on the ground.

Bai Yutang looked up. There was no passage entrance above the spiral staircase. The drone flew up first, it was just another corridor, with a door ahead that was resting ajar.

After everyone went up, they pushed the door open.

The moment they entered and looked up, everyone was startled... but after taking a closer look, they all frowned.

Although the space ahead also belonged to the basement, it was bright because there was a glass roof above. It was close to noon at the moment, and it was very bright outside... Sunlight filtered through the glass panes, dropping square patches of light across the basement floor.

In the centre of the basement was a very large swimming pool. There was no water in the pool, and a protective net was suspended above it.

A ring of human-shaped statues had been placed around the pool.

Each statue was roughly the height of a person, but the workmanship was rather crude, looking like foam sculptures sprayed with paint, and still had the strong visual style of film props.

But these statues were not meant to display the human form, or anything of that kind... Every statue depicted two people, and each showed one person murdering the other.

"What is this?" Zhao Hu and Ma Han found the whole scene far too eerie, though one particular statue looked quite familiar.

It was an old man whose face looked as though it were melting, attacking another old man with a hammer.

"Isn't that the very famous serial murder case from Chengnan Park?" Ma Han recognised it.

......

Watching the feed outside, Bai Chi also remembered that case. "It was a case from more than twenty years ago, wasn't it? The killer ambushed elderly people doing morning exercises in the park's bushes. His motive was bizarre, he claimed he was borrowing their remaining lifespan."

Zhan Zhao remembered the case too, it was a classic example often cited in criminal psychology. The murderer had severe delusions. He believed that if he killed an elderly person, he would become a bit younger. The melted-face appearance came from the murderer's own statement, he said that after he killed someone, he felt his aged face melt away and be replaced by a younger one.

The statue next to it showed a man and a woman stabbing each other. The man wore a suit, and the woman was still in her wedding dress, looking as though they were in the middle of their wedding.

Zhan Zhao remembered that this was another well-known case. On the day of their wedding, the couple had pulled out knives and stabbed each other in front of several hundred friends and relatives. At the time, the major news outlets had used the headline "Blood Wedding" to describe the case.

And the most astonishing part was that the reason behind the couple's mutual killing was still unknown. According to friends and relatives, both of them had gentle temperaments. They usually had no conflicts and did not even argue, yet on the day of their wedding, they behaved as though they had been possessed.

This case also happened many years ago, and at the time, it had spawned several urban legends. The most famous saying was that the marital home the couple had bought had a problem, that it was a haunted house of some kind. Others claimed the couple had offended someone and been cursed.

Zhan Zhao was more inclined to believe that, for some reason, such as accidentally ingesting medication, poisoning from a chemical reagent, or something similar, the two had experienced hallucinations, which had then led to the murder.

Xiaofei and Wen Xiaorou took their team and walked around the four walls of the basement once, and they discovered a problem... There was no door in this space! Apart from the spiral staircase connecting this basement to the other side, there was no other way to enter or leave.

The glass skylight above was the floor of the first level, and one panel was broken. That should have been the spot Little Dolphin had mentioned earlier, where Laughing Bird fell during the livestream. So the ghost-stricken expression he had at the time... had he been frightened by these statues?

"Head!"

Bai Yutang was just looking at the skylight, wondering how the person who had taken the flare had managed to leave, when Zhao Hu suddenly called out to him. "Laughing Bird!"

Everyone looked over, thinking they had found the missing Laughing Bird. However...

Zhao Hu was indeed pointing at Laughing Bird, but not the real person, a statue.

Among the many "crime" statues, one depicted Laughing Bird strangling a young woman with a shoelace.

Laughing Bird wore a manic expression, mouth opened wide, with the characters "ha ha ha" painted across his teeth.

He gripped the shoelace tightly with both hands, pulling it taut around the woman's neck, one knee braced against her back.

The woman's face was contorted in extreme pain.

Bai Yutang frowned – All the statues here have been made based on real cases. Laughing Bird has no criminal record, so what is this supposed to be?

The drone controlled by Bai Chi had followed Bai Yutang closely and also captured footage of the statue.

Zhan Zhao and Gongsun both turned back to let Little Dolphin and the team cameraman have a look.

"That... isn't that Liu Lin?" Little Dolphin stared wide-eyed.

After examining it carefully, the cameraman also looked horrified. "That's right, it's Liu Lin... Could it be..."

Seeing the two of them hesitate, Zhan Zhao asked, "What's going on? Who is this woman?"

Little Dolphin said, "Liu Lin was Old Cheng's ex-girlfriend, the two of them started dating ages ago. When Old Cheng had been so poor he could barely afford to eat, he'd relied entirely on Liu Lin to support him. But after he became famous, he started looking down on her. He flirted around all over the place, and after he got to know a few wealthy women, he wanted to dump Liu Lin. But Liu Lin dumped him first, saying she'd run off with some tall, rich, and handsome guy. She even sent him a message cursing him out horribly before blocking him. At the time, we even laughed at him and said he'd deserved it..."

"Did you ever see Liu Lin again after that?" Zhan Zhao asked.

Little Dolphin and the cameraman both thought for a moment, then shook their heads. "Actually, no, we completely lost contact after that..."

"Do you know her family?" Bai Chi found it odd, if someone that age really had gone missing, surely her family would have reported it.

Little Dolphin thought about it, then frowned. "I heard her parents divorced a long time ago. Both of them started new families, and neither side wanted her. After she became an adult, she lived on her own and barely had any contact with her family."

Zhan Zhao called Jiang Ping and asked him to check the missing persons records for anyone named Liu Lin. It turned out that she had never been reported missing.

In the basement, Bai Yutang could hear Zhan Zhao and the others discussing through his earpiece. He stared at the statue for a moment, "So that's how it is. The reason Laughing Bird was scared out of his wits during that livestream wasn't because he'd seen a ghost, it was because he'd seen a ghost-like version of himself."

Zhao Hu and Ma Han both nodded. If it were true, the girl was too pitiful.

"There's no way up," Wen Xiaorou confirmed at last. "Unless there's some sort of advanced hidden door we haven't managed to find..."

Fortunately, the glass roof wasn't far from the ground, and it wasn't difficult to climb up.

The SWAT team quickly set up a spiral ladder so they could climb to the first floor.

The drones monitoring the entire manor had not detected anyone leaving, so was that person still somewhere in the residence? Or had they escaped through some other concealed route? It was impossible to know for now.

From the dim basement, they climbed up into the first-floor hall. The glass flooring, having aged for years, looked somewhat unsafe.

Everyone exited the villa first. Bai Yutang looked at the vast manor, there could be many more tunnels and basements underground. The SWAT team's equipment was too heavy, they were suited for assault, not for large-scale searches. With insufficient manpower at the moment, they still needed to request reinforcements. But they had not found an actual body, only some strange statues. If they made a huge fuss requesting support for this, Bao Sir might scold them...

Bai Yutang walked out of the manor and was ready to discuss things with Zhan Zhao.

The surveillance drones had been overlooking the entire estate. Unless someone escaped through a tunnel, anything that moved within the monitored area would be detected.

Zhan Zhao was asking Little Dolphin and the cameraman, "Based on what you know about Laughing Bird, if he had killed someone, where would he hide the body?"

Both Zhan Zhao and Gongsun leaned towards burial rather than disposal. Dumping a body would easily lead to discovery. His girlfriend had been missing for quite a while, and the corpse had never been found, so it was more likely that he had buried it or hidden it somewhere.

Of course, they couldn't simply conclude that Laughing Bird had killed her, an investigation was still necessary. The problem is... where is Laughing Bird?

Little Dolphin and the cameraman both said that Laughing Bird had visited many "haunted houses," many of which were in remote mountains and forests. If he really wanted to hide a body... well, there were certainly plenty of places!

"But..." Little Dolphin still found it unbelievable. "That coward, a murderer?"

The cameraman also thought it was hard to believe.

Having removed their heavy gear, the SWAT officers followed Bai Yutang back inside for another rough search, but there was no one in the manor.

At this point, the robot dogs were no longer useful, they needed real police dogs. Bai Yutang was about to call Lu Fang and ask the K9 unit to assist with the search.

Just then, Bai Ye, who had been standing off to the side with his hands behind his back, admiring the wisteria, suddenly said, "Why... are these flowers so bright?"

Bai Jintang also nodded. If not for how eerie the house felt, he would have bought the place just for this wisteria.

"Have you ever read a novel called The Demon Tree?" Zhao Jue asked as he began walking deeper into the manor.

Everyone instinctively followed him, puzzled, This time it isn't a film but a novel?

As he walked, Zhao Jue summarised the novel. "When the protagonist was born, his father planted a tree on their family manor. When the protagonist grew up, his parents died in a car accident, and he lived alone in the manor. The tree was his best friend, but the tree began to wither, and it was on the verge of dying... One day, the owner of the neighbouring farm came to him, wanting to buy his land. After investigating, the protagonist discovered that the car accident had been staged by the neighbour, who wanted to seize their land. The protagonist pretended to agree to sell, lured the neighbour into his home, and killed him under the dying tree. That night, he rested at home, planning to turn himself in at the police station the next day. But the next morning, he found that the corpse had vanished. The soil near the roots had turned dark, and fresh grass had sprouted. When he looked up... the dying tree had revived and grown new shoots. From then on, the protagonist began seeking out people who had done wicked deeds, luring them to the farm and killing them as nourishment for the tree... Gradually, the tree grew larger and more vibrant, until it had almost covered the entire farm..."

Listening to the story, they all arrived at the small garden in the very centre of the manor.

In this little garden, there was only a large stretch of grass and, in the centre, a wisteria.

The wisteria's trunk sprawled across the ground like tentacles, some parts exposed above the soil.

The grass was lush, the soil was moist, and the earth was unusually black...

Bai Yutang suddenly asked, "Can you smell anything?"

Everyone sniffed. Around them was the pleasant scent of soil and grass mixed with the delicate fragrance of wisteria. But within that fragrance, there seemed to be a hint of something foul...

Wen Xiaorou noticed a fire hydrant in the corner of the wall, probably used for watering the flowers, but when she looked closely, she felt something was off.

Xiaorou nudged Xiaofei beside her and pointed at the hydrant.

Xiaofei noticed it as well. There were no water stains on the concrete beneath the hydrant... Places with water outlets, such as taps or hydrants, usually had marks left by water, and even if they hadn't been used for a long while, there would still have been dried traces...

Thinking about this, Xiaofei reached out and turned the valve on the hydrant.

Who would have thought that after turning it twice, no water came out, yet there was a sharp click.

The hydrant suddenly jolted upwards, lifting one side of the concrete slab beneath it. Underneath was actually the entrance to a basement.

As soon as Xiaofei pulled the hydrant upwards, the concrete slab connected to its base was lifted with it, widening the gap. Then, the moment Xiaofei let go, the people next to him covered their mouths and noses and ran away.... A wave of stench surged up from below.

‿︵‿︵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 26, 2025 by Angel

Edited: November 27, 2025 by Angel