S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 6 Chapter 148

Special Files – Collector 33 – Werewolf, Hunter, Killer

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At this moment, there were activities taking place in three locations in the mountains of the resort area.

At the resort on the mountain, because the bus was absent, the teachers and students from the psychology department at X University prepared to hike up the mountain to complete the "assessment." Accompanying the kids were Zhan Zhao, Bai Yutang, Zhao Jue, Ma Han and Zhao Hu.

At the mid-mountain area, the barbecue special of the cooking competition programme was being broadcast live.

Aside from a large number of staff members, there were several groups of contestants, including Bai Ye, Issel and Eleven. There were also guests Qi Le and her band, Jiang Nan and Chen Jiayi, as well as some "family members," Mia and Kalin, and Bao Sir, who had rushed over to accompany Jiang Nan.

At the foot of the mountain, the off-road vehicle race invested in by the Bai Group was also preparing to take place.

In addition to the competing teams, there were Big Brother Bai, the twins, Zhao Zhen and Bai Chi, Xu Lie, Lin Ruo, and some family members, such as Chen Mi, Lan Xi, Lan Qi, Hao Ling, as well as Jiajia and Xiao Yumi, and Jiang Ping, who served as technical support.

First, let's talk about the "assessment group" heading towards the mountaintop.

Zhan Zhao didn't let Bai Yutang "carry" him up... At least not for the time being!

Fortunately, the mountain path was not steep, and the weather was pleasant. The students walked and chatted along the way, not moving fast.

Ma Han and Zhao Hu had been called by Bai Yutang. In order not to alert the enemy, Zhan Zhao had only sent them a simple text message, saying that among the people going up the mountain together, there might be a serial killer, and to pay special attention to the two teaching assistants.

Ma Han and Zhao Hu spent the entire trip keeping an eye on the two assistants.

One teaching assistant was surnamed Qi, and the other Gong. Both were male, and both were current psychology graduate students at X University.

Zhao Jue walked at the back with his hands in his pockets, with Professor Wu Wen beside him, watching his expression.

Wu Wen's health was actually fine, he didn't pant while walking the mountain path, but whether because he was nervous or not, he kept sweating, wiping as he went.

Zhan Zhao rubbed his chin along the way, watching the students' faces.

Bai Yutang walked while sending messages to the SCI group, giving an introduction of the current situation.

......

On the mid-mountain section, the Bai Group's livestream team, because of Big Brother Bai's god-level move of catching a criminal live previously, had already become "renowned across the land," and, together with the Bai Group brand, had become a popular online celebrity.

Even before today's barbecue special began, the livestream room was already full of viewers.

All the contestants had prepared ingredients, and the guests had all come on empty stomachs, ready to eat and drink to their hearts' content.

Issel and Eleven were setting up the barbecue grill, while Bai Ye held his small grinder, slowly grinding barbecue seasoning.

Most of today's barbecue guests were women, knowledgeable about food of all kinds, and put forward several demands for the competing teams.

Mia was holding her phone, reading the messages Bai Yutang had sent to the group, occasionally gesturing something to her mother, Kalin.

Bao Sir could naturally see the messages as well, and he frowned – Two collectors fighting over the same prey? The more this case is investigated, the stranger it becomes. Truly, in a big forest, you can find all kinds of birds.

Although it was not the peak wildfire season, since the barbecue was still held on the mountain, caution came first. The twins had chosen a location where the vegetation was less dense and where one could see the panoramic view of S City in the distance.

At the same time, many staff members had been hired, along with some firefighters. There were a great number of people on site.

After looking at her phone for a while, Mia received a small snack that Chen Jiayi fed to her. She held it, eating while enjoying the scenery, and when she looked up, she saw Bai Ye making a hand gesture at her.

Although Mia was puzzled, she still picked up her phone and, according to Bai Ye's request, filmed everyone she could see on site, then sent all the videos to her father's phone.

......

Down the mountain, the level of liveliness and scale of personnel were nothing like those on the mountain.

The off-road race was divided into a main arena and secondary arenas.

The secondary arenas were wooded off-road races that would be held later. Their starting and ending points were in the large main arena at the foot of the mountain, where there were also several thousand spectators who had bought tickets to watch the competition.

At this time, large off-road vehicles were doing a warm-up show. Several professional drivers were driving off-road vehicles with giant wheels, circling around the bumpy field, and the atmosphere in the stands was enthusiastic.

Big Brother Bai had been forced by the twins to hold an opening ceremony speech in his hands, unwillingly beginning the event together with Xu Lie and Lin Ruo.

Zhao Zhen and Bai Chi were watching the show when Bai Chi received a message sent to him by Bai Yutang.

Bai Chi rubbed his chin and, together with Jiang Ping, began taking all kinds of photos with the camera, and also observing everything.

Zhao Zhen asked him, "What are you looking at?"

Bai Chi was not quite sure either, "Big Brother just told me to keep an eye out and see whether there was anyone suspicious."

Xiao Yumi was sleeping in Chen Mi's arms. Despite how noisy the scene was, the child was probably tired and slept soundly.

Jiajia, however, was full of energy, sitting in Hao Ling's arms, waving her little hands and babbling to her mother. Everything she said was in code, and no one around could understand it.

Once Bai Jintang mechanically finished reading the opening speech, Lin Ruo and Xu Lie raised the starter pistols. After the gunshot, the race began, and the off-road vehicles dashed toward the mountain terrain, while the spectators in the stands cheered.

Finally off work, Bai Jintang was preparing to return to the city to find his Gongsun, but he was grabbed by the twins, who said that they still needed him to present medals later.

Bai Jintang refused, saying that Xu Lie should do it. As a result, the twins cursed and complained, saying the Lord was doing an autopsy at the moment and had no time to deal with him. If he didn’t go and disturb him, the efficiency would be higher. Once the afternoon work is finished, is it not better to have dinner together at night?

Bai Jintang was dragged up to the stands. Xu Lie took Chen Mi to the mountain to watch the off-road race, and the brothers Lan Qi and Lan Xi were very interested and went together. The twins enthusiastically introduced the vehicles to them while also selling them on them.

Bai Jintang looked in confusion at Xiao Yumi, who had been stuffed into his arms, then looked at Jiajia sitting in Hao Ling's arms beside him.

Jiajia was delighted when she saw Bai Jintang. She waved to him and called out, "Bajichang!"

Bai Jintang nodded, thinking that after hearing it enough times, he could distinguish what the child was saying.

At that moment, Xiao Yumi suddenly woke up and pursed her lips.

Bai Jintang immediately reached into his bag, took out a folding stand, and placed the child on it to change her diaper.

Hao Ling stood to the side, amused – So skilled!

After changing Xiao Yumi's diaper, Bai Jintang even took out a milk bottle to feed the child – Practice makes perfect.

While Xiao Yumi was happily drinking milk with little slurping sounds, Jiajia suddenly clapped her hands and shouted, "Maidudu!"

Bai Jintang, who had been lowering his head to look at the bottle, suddenly raised his head and looked towards Jiajia beside him.

Jiajia gazed in a certain direction, clapping her little hands, "Maidudu!"

Bai Jintang looked in the direction the child was looking, and not far ahead was a vehicle maintenance area, where many staff members were wearing uniforms.

Bai Jintang asked Jiajia, "Maidudu?"

"Maidudu!" Jiajia pointed her little finger at that area.

Bai Jintang stared at those busy staff members, looking at them one by one, and in the end, his gaze locked onto a tall, thin female staff member.

The girl had long, black hair tied in a ponytail. She was wearing a red-and-black mechanic uniform, but upon closer inspection, it seemed she did not belong to any team. She only walked around wearing a work pass. Because there were so many people on site, no one noticed her.

"She looks a little familiar..."

At that moment, Bai Chi also noticed the girl.

Bai Jintang told Bai Chi to take a photo of the girl.

After Bai Chi took the photo, Bai Jintang showed the picture of the woman on the phone to Jiajia.

Jiajia looked at the photo and said, "Maidudu."

According to Zhan Zhao's previous analysis, what Jiajia called "maidudu" was a living, moving plastic mannequin.

This woman was indeed very tall and thin. From the back, she did seem somewhat like a model... Was she the same female ghost who had escaped during last night's haunting?

Bai Chi sent the photo to Zhan Zhao, saying that Jiajia had recognised "maidudu."

......

Up the mountain, Zhan Zhao was already lying on Bai Yutang's back.

Bai Yutang carried him upwards, with Zhan Zhao resting one hand on Bai Yutang's left shoulder to support his chin, and the other hand on Bai Yutang's right shoulder, holding his phone.

At this moment, he had not only received a photo from Bai Chi, but he had also received one from Mia.

The person in the photo was also someone wearing work clothes, but he was a staff member in the barbecue livestream group, seemingly responsible for transporting charcoal blocks, and he was male.

Mia said that the photo had been sent at Issel's request, and the accompanying message was, "Dad's radar scanned this person and he says this person is dangerous."

Zhan Zhao tilted his head and looked at it for a while, then showed the photo to Bai Yutang and asked, "Does he look like a dangerous person?"

While Bai Yutang was looking, another message from Mia arrived: "Dad's radar is sounding the alarm. He said several strange people have mixed in among the staff, all with a similar aura, a bloodthirsty aura."

Zhan Zhao scratched his chin and stared blankly for a moment. At that time, Zhao Jue walked up beside them, looked up at him, then looked at Bai Yutang carrying him, and shook his head speechlessly.

Zhan Zhao narrowed his eyes at him – What's wrong? Bai Ye has carried you on his back before!

Zhao Jue shot him a glare, glanced at his phone, and held up three fingers to him.

Zhan Zhao frowned slightly, nodded, and arched a brow as he looked at him, his eyes asking – What do you think?

Zhao Jue smiled faintly, shook his head, and raised one more finger, making four.

Zhan Zhao was stunned for a moment, rubbed his chin, and began to think.

In Zhan Zhao's earlier deduction, this time it was two collector groups fighting over prey: one was the video group and the other the props group, and as police officers, they had been lured over by the video group to deal with the props group. So apart from themselves, it should have been three parties fighting each other... But it always felt like something was missing.

What Zhao Jue meant was – It's not three sides, but four? Then who is the fourth side?

Zhan Zhao saw Zhao Jue motion towards his phone.

Zhan Zhao stared at his phone, then suddenly looked up – Of course! The video group used them as a borrowed knife to get rid of the props group. If the props group is hard to handle, wouldn't they seek outside help?

The video group, that collector who filmed a large number of killers committing their crimes, holds extensive evidence against the serial killers. As they had analysed before, he actually was not that afraid of the police. What truly posed a threat to him were the serial killers themselves.

So if the props group leaked the information to the serial killers, would those killers gather together to kill the one who filmed the videos?

Zhan Zhao looked at the phone again. The chubby MC at the arena, the dangerous characters at the barbecue site... All these sudden, unpredictable factors, could they be the serial killers who had come to reclaim their own evidence and silence the "witness" in the process?

Zhan Zhao felt that the current situation had turned into a game of Werewolf!

They were the police, the prey being fought over by both collectors was the werewolf, the two collector groups were the hunters, an unknown number of serial killers... and a bunch of bystanders...

Zhan Zhao typed a few words on his phone, werewolf ×1, hunters ×2, serial killers ×N, police ×1, and then handed it to Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang stared at that line of text for a moment, then sighed – This game is outrageous!

‿︵‿︵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 4, 2025 by Angel

Edited: January 13, 2025 by Angel