S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 6 Chapter 145

Special Files – Collector 30 – Disguised Collection

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Zhan Zhao said they would investigate from two angles: one was the line involving the system bug, and the other was Laughing Bird.

Jiang Ping analysed the situation and concluded there were two possible points of interference. One was that personnel from the technical development department could tamper with the algorithm. That method was simple to carry out, but extremely easy to expose.

As soon as anyone conducted even a quick investigation, they would discover that no similar modifications had appeared on the timeline, so the people from the technical department could be ruled out.

The second route was to tamper with the data at its source. This method was more complicated, but the technical difficulty was low, and it was not easily detected.

Because the police bureau's database was closed to the outside, the data entry system belonged to the data collection department.

The bureau still had a reference room. Although most materials were now digital, there were still paper archives and backups. The database had, in fact, not been established for very long, and much of it remained converted from the old paper files, which required a large amount of manpower to sort and input. If someone tampered with the data during the input stage, it would not be easily noticed, even though the efficiency was low...

Although this work was covert and had a low threshold, the workload was considerable, requiring a relatively long period working on the internal network.

Therefore, it was highly likely that the person responsible was a member of the database staff, or someone who frequently entered and exited the archive room, someone who could remain there for long periods, using and modifying the database material without arousing suspicion.

"In other words, it is very likely a clerical employee of the police bureau?" Bai Yutang asked.

Jiang Ping made a rough estimation. "There are quite a few possible candidates, the investigation will take some time."

Bai Yutang nodded and instructed Bai Chi to assist Jiang Ping in conducting the investigation discreetly, so as not to alert the culprit.

Jiang Ping and Bai Chi both nodded and went off to discuss their strategy.

What remained was to investigate Laughing Bird.

But at the moment, Laughing Bird had vanished without a trace, neither dead nor alive, and the head turned out to be fake.

Bai Yutang thought that judging from the way the collection operated, the kid had most likely been captured... and turned into one of their so-called collections.

Zhan Zhao asked Jiang Ping to investigate Laughing Bird's past movements and whether he had ever been here before.

Jiang Ping checked Laughing Bird's cell phone signal activity and discovered that over the past month, he had travelled back and forth to this Wisteria Manor multiple times in the middle of the night.

"That's not right..." Bai Yutang felt it was strange. "Didn't his two colleagues say he was terrified of this place and refused to come no matter what?"

Zhan Zhao had just been about to speak when the phone suddenly rang. It was Ma Xin calling.

Zhan Zhao put it on speaker, and Ma Xin immediately shouted from the other end, "It's fake! Laughing Bird's head is fake!"

Zhan Zhao smiled slightly.

In the valley, a large number of vehicles from the forensic department and the crime lab were coming and going, transporting all the collections back for examination.

Gongsun had stared at Laughing Bird's head inside the glass jar for a long time. Although a dead person's head soaked in formalin would swell and become distorted, Gongsun still felt that no matter how he looked at it, this head was different from Laughing Bird. Similar... but not the same person.

When one stared at a severed head for too long, there was the uncanny valley effect. The longer one looked, the more inhuman it appeared, so Gongsun had become a bit muddled.

But Laughing Bird had a very distinctive feature, he had lettering on his teeth.

Gongsun asked Ma Xin to find a photo of Laughing Bird laughing broadly. The two of them suited up in full protective gear, processed the formalin solution inside the forensic vehicle, and removed the head.

They opened the mouth of the supposed Laughing Bird's head, and one glance was enough for Gongsun to see the problem.

After getting out of the vehicle, Ma Xin called Zhan Zhao and the others, telling them that Laughing Bird's head was fake.

This matched exactly with the AI's deduction.

"How did you tell?" Zhan Zhao asked.

Gongsun said, "The teeth are different. Teeth have natural contours, raised and recessed areas. When lettering is tattooed onto the teeth, it deforms along with the surface irregularities. It's not like skin. As long as skin doesn't have moles or scars, its surface is smooth, so tattoos don't distort easily. But tattoos on teeth deform very noticeably."

Bai Yutang glanced at Zhan Zhao. "So Laughing Bird... did he deliberately tattoo letters on his own teeth?"

Zhan Zhao gave a small smile. "Mmhmm, tattooing letters on his teeth was actually a form of self-protection, equivalent to giving himself a few anti-counterfeiting logos."

"So this kid being so high-profile and so unlikeable, that was all a self-preservation strategy?" Bai Yutang suddenly felt that it made sense. Despite being suspected of murder, the kid hadn't kept his head down, instead, he'd constantly drawn attention to himself...

"If Laughing Bird had known for a long time that someone wanted to 'collect' him, what would be the best way for him to protect himself?"

Bai Yutang thought it over. "Let us catch the collector?"

Zhan Zhao nodded. "Don't you think the clues in this case are extremely contradictory? The collector made so many fake heads, he was obviously trying to preserve his 'collections' in secret. And usually, people from that sort of organisation wouldn't dare show off in front of Uncle Ye, would they? Isn't that just asking for death?"

Bai Yutang nodded.

"But the things under Wisteria Manor, although they exposed Laughing Bird's crimes, they were also guiding us step by step, until we were led to the warehouse where we found the dead Three Flowers... Think about it, if you were the collector, would you make a fake head of Laughing Bird? That would definitely become a breakthrough point! Even if the AI didn't have a bug, as long as Gongsun examined it even slightly, he would have realised it was fake."

Bai Yutang suddenly had a bold thought. "Cat, what if everything was done by Laughing Bird..."

Zhan Zhao smiled, clearly that was his own deduction. "Who do you think killed Three Flowers?"

Bai Yutang frowned. "Laughing Bird?"

"Who sent us the tickets? And who was involved in the whole thing last night?"

The more Bai Yutang thought about it, the more sense it made. "It was all staged by Laughing Bird himself?"

"Most collectors don't have a strong desire to share," Zhan Zhao said. "Even if they do want to share, it's only with like-minded enthusiasts, not with 'muggles'. Three Flowers is probably hidden very well. If the collector truly wanted to cause trouble for Uncle Ye, he wouldn't have waited until now, right? Laughing Bird himself is the perfect scapegoat for this case. He seems to be working for the collector all along, whether making videos or exploring haunted houses. Once the collector's activities are exposed, everything can be pinned on Laughing Bird. These so-called collections aren't really collections at all, they are props, just like the items hidden beneath Wisteria Manor. When needed, the collector can take out a portion, stage a scene, frame Laughing Bird, and muddle the case. And the reason the other side can control him is probably because they hold evidence that he's killed his ex-girlfriend..."

As he spoke, Zhan Zhao asked the AI, "Got you, check whether there are any job postings online recruiting body doubles for Laughing Bird."

Before long, the AI found an advertisement on the recruitment platform for a stand-in for Laughing Bird, though the advertisement had been taken down a month earlier, indicating the person had already been hired.

The more Bai Yutang thought about it, the more wrong it felt. He quietly asked Zhan Zhao, "Laughing Bird... found someone who could act as his stand-in, spent time having him tattoo his teeth, disguised him to look very similar to himself, then killed him and put him in the bottle? All just to fabricate this scene, and then make us follow these clues to catch the collector behind the scenes?"

"The catalyst for all of this might have been Three Flowers..." Zhan Zhao's mind started turning and then would not stop. "Think about it, Three Flowers looked as though he wasn't in good health, and Gongsun said he might have been frightened to death. Who could frighten a member of the organisation to death?"

Bai Yutang didn't even have to think. "Zhao Jue and Bai Ye?"

Zhan Zhao nodded. "He was frightened to death very calmly, not with a contorted expression. The expression of someone who died from seeing a natural enemy is definitely different from that of someone who died from seeing a ghost. Besides, would Three Flowers be the sort to be afraid of ghosts? Of course Uncle Ye is scarier than any ghost!"

Bai Yutang was amused by Zhan Zhao, but on the other hand, he felt that he had figured it out. "So Uncle Ye and Zhao Jue ran away..."

Zhan Zhao curled his lips. "This shows that the two of them realised this case wasn't aimed at them at all..."

"Let me sort this out." Bai Yutang put Zhan Zhao's clues in order. "That white label Three Flowers was previously responsible for, after leaving the organisation, a few fellow enthusiasts gathered together and started collecting serial killers. While collecting, they also found a scapegoat and stored up some props for themselves. If they were ever discovered, they would pin everything on Laughing Bird to slip away cleanly. And Laughing Bird didn't want to sit and wait for death, so he set his sights on us... He used all kinds of methods to lure us here, guiding us step by step to discover the white label. Then he disguised himself as one of white label's victims and directly presented one of white label's warehouses to us. And those things in the Wisteria Manor, including the person we just chased, were probably all Laughing Bird... or his accomplices? As long as we destroy white label and catch everyone, Laughing Bird will be freed... but he has killed people too..."

Zhan Zhao wagged a finger. "There's no evidence... He can say his girlfriend was killed by the person impersonating him. After all, the one impersonating him is also a piece in the collection. A collection has both genuine and fake items, who's to say there isn't a real serial killer impersonating him? As long as he can't be caught committing the crime red-handed, it will be very hard to convict him."

The more Bai Yutang thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.

"This plan definitely wasn't made long in advance, but put together in the short term. Has anything special happened recently?" Zhan Zhao asked Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang thought for a moment. "Uncle Ye entered the cooking competition?"

Zhan Zhao nodded. "If Laughing Bird had had contact with Three Flowers, then the TV would be showing advertisements and trailers for the cooking competition right now. Three Flowers might have been old and had heart disease. One day, he saw Bai Ye appear on TV, got so scared that he nearly dropped dead, and Laughing Bird just happened to notice. Added to that, he already knew a bit about SCI... The off-road race and the special barbecue episode of the cooking competition had been promoted for a while, and Professor Wu Wen's high-profile psychology course would have been easy to look up... Wouldn't all of this link together? He had so much filming equipment for exploring haunted houses, and he was always pretending to be supernatural. Setting the scene for Three Flowers, rigging up a projection of Uncle Ye in the warehouse to frighten a man with heart disease to death, it's feasible!"

The more Bai Yutang thought about it, the more it made sense. "That makes sense... So next, we don't need to do anything, and Laughing Bird will deliver the clues straight to us?"

Seeing that Bai Yutang had understood, Zhan Zhao smiled and nodded. "As long as the collector isn't eradicated completely, Laughing Bird won't be safe. So if it is really the way we deduced, he will definitely give us the next clue. These clues, including everything we've encountered previously, are all guiding us towards catching the collector."

The moment he finished speaking, Zhan Zhao's phone suddenly chimed, notifying him of an email.

When he saw the email, Zhan Zhao smiled. At the same time, Wu Wen sent a message: "Dr Zhan, I've received another ticket!"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang smiled at each other – There it is!

‿︵‿︵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: December 3, 2025 by Angel

Edited: December 4, 2025 by Angel