S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 6 Chapter 141

Special Files – Collector 26 – White Marker

---

Their holiday had ended up like this, leaving the SCI members rather speechless. Can't people just have a couple of days off these days?

Old Wang from the forensic department arrived with a set of professional equipment that none of them had ever seen before.

Many officers at the police bureau had also been called in from their days off. They silently looked at the SCI members – Shouldn't you be at the holiday resort? Why are you in this ancient murder house?

Bai Yutang felt a bit embarrassed. If this carried on, they would be treated like a curse...

At that moment, the sound of dogs barking came from afar.

Zhan Zhao and the others all looked in that direction – Did the police dogs find a clue?

Bao Sir led everyone over. In the same area where they had just discovered the incinerator, three police dogs were barking furiously at a small path leading into the woods.

The dog handler held back a police dog that was desperately trying to charge into the forest, and said to Bao Sir, "That person went into the woods, he should've followed this path."

The scent the dogs had picked up belonged to Laughing Bird, meaning Laughing Bird had gone into the woods?

Bai Yutang suggested that he could take some people down to look for him.

Bao Sir seemed a bit uneasy and asked, "Is there a forest ranger or someone managing this area?"

After making a few calls, they learnt that this was a private forest, owned together with Wisteria House... In other words, since Wisteria House had been abandoned for thirty years, this forest had also been left untended for thirty years, with no one managing it at all.

Considering that a murder case had occurred in this forest in the past, and that Laughing Bird, who had run inside, was also suspected to be a serial killer, going in would be rather difficult.

But since they had found a lead, they still needed to investigate.

Bao Sir checked the time and instructed SCI and the SWAT team to take two police dogs in with them. They were not allowed to split up, had to maintain communication, and had to return immediately if the terrain became dangerous.

Bai Yutang took Zhao Hu and Ma Han with him. Xiaofei and Wen Xiaorou brought a few SWAT officers, and two dog handlers brought two police dogs.

Bai Ye came over and poked Bao Zheng, indicating he wanted to go too.

Bao Sir nodded.

Beside them, Han Li said she wanted to go with them as well.

Han Li was an expert in outdoor operations and had also done some research on this area...

Bao Sir instinctively glanced at Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao gave a small nod.

The mountain patrol team set off once they had gathered.

Everyone was equipped with cameras and positioning systems. Jiang Ping could monitor their movement from the command vehicle, as well as record the images along the way.

Bai Chi and Zhan Zhao watched the surveillance screen. The density of the forest was greater than they had expected, though the lighting was decent and it was not particularly eerie.

......

The mountain patrol team followed the two police dogs along the forest path. There were some footprints on the ground, clearly human shoeprints, which meant the path was not an animal trail but one trodden by people.

After walking a short distance, Bai Ye and Bai Yutang suddenly stopped at the same time and looked in the same direction.

Everyone else halted as well.

The dog handler held back the excited police dog that was trying to charge ahead, then turned to look at the group who had abruptly stopped.

"Don't you feel..." Wen Xiaorou asked Xiaofei.

Xiaofei nodded. "Didn't we already walk past this spot?"

The two dog handlers up front shook their heads. Impossible. Baby and Beibei have been tracking the scent straight forward the whole way, they haven't circled around.

Everyone looked at the two handlers – Such handsome German Shepherds, yet their names are Baby and Beibei... Why give them corgi names?

The dog handlers were offended – What's wrong with German Shepherds? Who isn't someone's baby? That is canine discrimination!

Everyone could only scratch their heads. Bai Ye and Bai Yutang pointed at a tree beside them and said, "It feels like this tree has appeared twice."

"The bark is fake." Han Li took out a climbing axe and struck the trunk. A brittle cracking sound followed as the "bark" split open, pieces falling away. They looked like dried cement and stone. Through the crack, they could see the original tree trunk inside.

"Is this some sort of shell?" Zhao Hu went up to touch it and found the outer layer was made from cement and metal mesh, crafted extremely cleverly.

"The place where we entered, the crossroads had an identical tree," Bai Ye pointed behind them.

"If we run into a few more of these trees, we might get lost on the way back," Hu Zi felt this design was rather malicious.

"Let's mark it," Ma Han suggested.

Han Li handed him a climbing axe as well, telling him to strike any similar-looking tree.

The group continued following the dogs. Halfway down the path, the two dogs suddenly sat down.

The dog handlers crouched and checked the surroundings.

"What does sitting mean?" Zhao Hu whispered to Ma Han. "Did they find a body?"

Ma Han spread his hands. Doesn't seem like it...

"There's blood." A dog handler signalled for Bai Yutang and the others to come look.

In a small patch of grass next to the spot where Beibei sat, there were traces of blood.

Bai Yutang aimed the camera equipment on his shoulder at that small patch of blood.

Inside the command vehicle, Gongsun pushed up his glasses. "Blood droplets..."

"It looks like quite a lot of blood... the wound seems large..." Gongsun felt something was odd. "Did it appear suddenly? Are there any other bloodstains nearby?"

Bai Yutang and the others searched the area around them.

"There!" Wen Xiaorou had sharp eyes and pointed to a bush in the forest.

Bai Yutang walked over and filmed it for Gongsun... At the same time, he noticed something in the grass. He found a branch, used it to nudge the object, and dragged out a bloodstained denim shirt. The fabric had also been torn...

Gongsun thought for a moment, then took out the charred bundle of fibres they had retrieved earlier from the incinerator.

"I need to go take a look!" Gongsun said, running outside.

Ma Xin grabbed the camera and followed him.

Luo Tian and Qin Ou were searching the manor with the forensic team, so Big Brother Bai escorted Gongsun and Ma Xin into the woods.

Fortunately, the mountain patrol team had followed the path the entire way, so they met up fairly quickly.

Gongsun examined the blood. "It's quite fresh..."

"Captain Bai, there's blood here as well."

At this time, a dog handler pointed ahead on the path.

Bai Yutang took a couple of steps forward, and sure enough, there were more bloodstains on the ground.

This time, the blood formed a V-shaped split, there was blood both ahead and to the right, and in the bushes on the right was another bloodied shirt.

Ma Xin unfolded the bloodstained clothing.

After studying it for a while, Gongsun frowned deeply. "This isn't good..."

"What's wrong?" Everyone was a little nervous.

Gongsun pointed at the shirt Ma Xin was packing away. "That shirt was used to wrap a human head."

Everyone stared at him. Xiaofei instinctively asked, "Whose head?"

Gongsun spread his hands and pointed back toward the path they had come from. "Based on the trace analysis, it should be like this: someone used that shirt to carry a human head from the entrance all the way here. At this point, they suddenly took the shirt off, shoved it into the bushes, and continued forward carrying the head..."

As he spoke, Gongsun pointed along the path ahead.

The group continued forward, and indeed, the ground began to show a large number of blood droplets.

Zhao Hu asked Ma Han quietly, "What do you think... Was that head Laughing Bird's, or was the one carrying the head Laughing Bird?"

Ma Han pointed at the police dog that kept running ahead. "Why don't you ask them two?"

The further they walked, the more blood there was. At this point, even without the police dog leading the way, everyone could have followed the trail of blood droplets.

Along the way, they kept finding those similar tree trunks, each marked with a climbing pickaxe strike...

They walked on until the small path vanished, and ahead of them lay a gully...

The mountain gully wasn't deep, only about two or three metres down, with no water at the bottom. The ground surface was fairly even, and there were even two rows of tyre tracks.

"Can a vehicle drive in here?" Bai Yutang examined the terrain and tapped the camera.

Jiang Ping located the coordinates via positioning. The map didn't show any road there, so he sent two drones over to film...

The drones flew over the forest and indeed found a gully halfway through the woods... Inside the gully, the terrain was flat, and at the end of the track, it connected to a private farm. The farm looked well-built and didn't seem abandoned, but after the drones circled once, they didn't capture any people.

Zhan Zhao asked the patrol officers responsible for the surrounding area whether they knew who the farm belonged to.

The patrol officers weren't quite sure either. They only knew that the area was used for growing pasture grass, and vehicles occasionally went in and out to deliver grass to nearby farms.

"Have you ever seen any workers?"

The officers asked around among relevant people nearby and said they had seen a few workers, but had never spoken with them, so they didn't know the details.

Zhan Zhao began to feel a little suspicious. "Could the Wisteria House be a decoy...?"

Zhao Jue, who hadn't spoken before, suddenly seemed to have thought of something. He stood up and told Zhan Zhao to contact Bai Yutang.

Zhan Zhao tapped his earpiece.

By the edge of the gulley, Bai Yutang had just been about to jump down to have a look when his earpiece rang. He connected the call and heard Zhan Zhao say, "Zhao Jue says to find Uncle Ye."

Bai Yutang took off the earpiece and handed it to Bai Ye.

Bai Ye took the earpiece.

Inside the command vehicle, Zhan Zhao and Bai Chi looked at Zhao Jue curiously, wondering what he was going to say.

Zhao Jue stared at the gulley on the monitor and asked Bai Ye, "White marker?"

Bai Ye was slightly stunned, then frowned and began looking around. At last, he walked forward along the edge of the gulley.

Bai Yutang and the others followed him, puzzled.

After walking for a while, Bai Ye suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Bai Yutang followed his gaze and saw, on the opposite wall of the gulley, a circular mark sprayed in white paint.

The mark was rather peculiar. Inside the white circle, there was a hand making a V-like gesture, two fingers raised upright.

The symbol looked oddly humorous for no apparent reason.

Bai Ye told Bai Yutang to take a photo of the mark.

In fact, Zhan Zhao and the others had already seen it.

"Did you bring a gun?" Zhao Jue asked suddenly.

Bai Yutang looked around. They were on holiday, so none of them had brought any... then he looked at the SWAT team.

The SWAT officers had removed their heavy gear and were only carrying lighter equipment.

"Have them pull back," Zhao Jue said, slapping Bao Zheng beside him.

Bao Sir was also stunned by the mark, then immediately ordered everyone to retreat from the forest, quickly!

Bai Yutang and the others still didn't know what was going on, but since Bao Sir said to retreat, they did...

But Bai Ye didn't seem too keen on withdrawing. He leaned forward, wanting to look into the gulley.

Bai Yutang had only just put his earpiece back on when he heard Zhao Jue shouting, "Pull him back!"

Bai Yutang subconsciously grabbed Bai Ye's arm.

Bai Ye turned to look at him.

Bai Yutang pointed at his earpiece, meaning – Very fierce! He's yelling at you to come back!

But Bai Ye still seemed hesitant. Then Bai Yutang heard Zhao Jue swearing through the earpiece, so he quickly looked at his older brother.

Bai Jintang reached out and, together with Bai Yutang, one on each side, dragged Bai Ye back.

Xiaofei and the others didn't know what was happening, but could only follow along.

Han Li whispered to Wen Xiaorou, "The smell of blood."

"Hmm?" Wen Xiaorou didn't understand at first.

Han Li motioned towards the two police dogs.

Wen Xiaorou noticed it too. The two dogs seemed to be in a strange state, constantly trying to move towards the woods on either side. The handlers clearly sensed it as well and were pulling hard to restrain the increasingly unmanageable police dogs.

"Where is the blood?" Wen Xiaorou asked Han Li.

"It's everywhere," Han Li replied, glancing at Bai Ye, who was being dragged along by Bai Yutang and Bai Jintang. "He can probably smell it too."

Only when everyone had exited the forest did Zhao Jue finally put down the tablet and hand the earpiece back to Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Chi both asked him, "So... what is that place?"

Zhao Jue remained silent for a moment, then said to Zhan Zhao, "Keep an eye on Bai Ye."

Zhan Zhao didn't understand. He lowered his head, and only then realised Zhao Jue was speaking to the earpiece in his hand.

On the other end, Bai Yutang had also heard the words. He looked back at Bai Ye in confusion – He really didn't understand. What was wrong with that place?

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

Previous Chapter | TOC | Next Chapter

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 27, 2025 by Angel

Edited: December 4, 2025 by Angel