S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 6 Chapter 149

Special Files – Collector 34 – The Trivial Point

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After Zhan Zhao sorted out the clues from various sources, he more or less clarified the outline of the case. At present, it was a situation where, apart from them, everyone involved was a villain.

First of all, there was the "werewolf" that all parties were searching for.

The werewolf was highly likely to be a serial killer hidden among the psychology students taking part in this assessment at X University.

And there were two groups of hunters who wanted to "collect" this werewolf.

One group was "white label", the predecessor of the organisation. Because it had long since been abolished, no one knew how it had developed after breaking away from the organisation.

But "Three Flowers", one of the more representative figures among them, and Uncle Ye's enemy, was already dead.

The other group was the mysterious independent collector who had filmed the entire process of the "Yellow Raincoat Killer" committing the crime.

He had appeared at serial killers' crime scenes, unnoticed by all, filming the entire process from a third-person perspective and collecting those videos.

According to Zhan Zhao's deduction, this independent collector was the one who had sent them the electronic tickets and coerced Professor Wu Wen into bringing his students here for the assessment.

Through the tickets and Laughing Bird, he had exposed white label's collection hall to SCI, seemingly intending to use SCI to eliminate the collection hall, which served as his competitor.

The collection hall, meanwhile, had lured a large number of serial killers whose crimes had been filmed by the collector, intending to use those dangerous individuals to eliminate the collector.

After sorting out this situation, it was actually not that complicated, but the absurd part was that... the werewolf, the hunters, the killers... all these villains possibly had no idea who was who.

The two hunters wanted to find the werewolf. If they knew who the werewolf was, then why search? Wouldn't they simply collect him?

As for the collection hall and the collector, if they knew each other's identities, then why use SCI and the killers to "kill with a borrowed knife"? Wouldn't they just act directly?

And as for the serial killers looking for the collector, if they knew who the collector was, why bother searching? Wouldn't they simply kill him and steal the videos?

Therefore, Zhan Zhao felt that the various forces had dragged them into this mess, they even dragged Professor Wu Wen and the psychology department at X University into it, perhaps because they wanted to use their "professional" abilities to find the targets they themselves wanted.

As Zhan Zhao lay on Bai Yutang's back, he felt that he was at a loss for no reason.

Should we look for it or not? For the sake of solving the case, of course we have to search! But if we find the target, it means we have fallen into someone's trap. If we don't find him, it would seem as though SCI is incompetent... No matter how he thought about it, he felt they were being used. Annoying!

Bai Yutang, meanwhile, was observing those students and the two teaching assistants along the way.

With Zhan Zhao's earlier deductions in mind, Bai Yutang naturally focused on the two teaching assistants.

But at the moment, the teaching assistants were chatting and laughing with the excited students as they walked up the mountain, looking utterly "normal".

With their many years of experience in handling cases, Zhao Hu and Ma Han also couldn't see which of the two teaching assistants could possibly be a killer worth two major collecting factions fighting to the death over.

Bai Yutang also felt that the two were far too ordinary. Although he wasn't as sharp as Issel, he still possessed a keen sense for danger. There was no reason such a formidable killer could be right in front of him and he wouldn't feel a thing.

At this time, Zhan Zhao also did not have any reaction.

Bai Yutang looked up at him a few times, guessing he was in a thinking phase.

What was Zhan Zhao thinking about at this moment? Since repeatedly reviewing the "main plotline" yielded no breakthrough, he decided to change his approach and start with the "scraps".

These so-called scraps currently consisted of two things that Zhan Zhao found "puzzling".

First was the series of haunting incidents related to "maidudu".

In Zhan Zhao's opinion, this part was a bit inexplicable.

That mannequin-shaped "female ghost" didn't just exist as a rumour in the holiday resort, she had very much appeared right in front of them.

She had shown up at the cabin entrance, and those who had witnessed her at the time included Gongsun, Big Brother Bai, himself, Yutang, and Zhao Jue.

Moments later, the female ghost frightened Zhao Hu and Ma Han as they passed by, and even crouched inside the garbage bin at the cabin entrance.

Then she pulled off a diversion and eventually ran to the window outside the cabin where the psychology students of X University were staying.

She acted conspicuously the whole way and had been seen by many people. Although she had terrified Hu Zi and a male student who was showering, what was the actual purpose of her appearance?

If maidudu hadn't appeared, then based solely on the tickets and the resort legends, one would only associate the situation with that suicide case from years ago.

But after maidudu showed up, the association leaned far more towards the hit drama The Collection of Sin.

The screenwriter of that drama had portrayed criminal cases from a suspicious criminal's perspective and had died in a bizarre fashion.

That "female ghost" must have had an accomplice to escape, and she must also have possessed favourable timing, location, and conditions... meaning she had certain "convenience and advantages" within the resort.

The second "scrap" was Laughing Bird.

This kid had appeared out of thin air and vanished just as mysteriously, like an NPC in a murder-mystery game. He felt exactly like a plot device.

But thinking carefully, there was still a connection between Laughing Bird and maidudu, or rather, a similarity between Laughing Bird and the deceased screenwriter.

Both of them had used "cases" to make money.

Laughing Bird profited from the haunted house, and the screenwriter profited from criminal cases.

And in the end, both had "disappeared".

It was almost certain that Laughing Bird had pulled off a cicada-shedding-its-shell escape, so... what about that screenwriter?

After walking for a while, Bai Yutang felt an itch on his neck. He looked up and saw Zhan Zhao's elbow rubbing against his neck, probably because he was reaching up to touch his chin.

This was Zhan Zhao's subconscious gesture whenever he had a sudden flash of inspiration. Bai Yutang guessed the cat had thought of a clue.

Indeed, Zhan Zhao had "figured it out". He now understood why maidudu had worked so "enthusiastically" to appear before them playing ghost... The key lay with the screenwriter of The Collection of Sin! The very same screenwriter who had been "struck by lightning" in broad daylight, and had even caused the cremator to "explode" during cremation.

He had also "gone offline and deactivated his account", but was he really dead?

Why had he been able to write from so many criminals' perspectives? Either he had experienced it himself, or he had retold someone else's experience.

Zhan Zhao was more inclined to believe that he had personally experienced it, because, similar to Laughing Bird, only if he himself had killed and faced the risk of being caught would he rack his brains to pull off such an escape. If he had merely been a mouthpiece for someone else, then he would simply wait to be silenced.

Laughing Bird's escape had not been perfect, whereas for that screenwriter, if not for the sudden appearance of maidudu, they wouldn't even have considered him.

Therefore...

Zhan Zhao arrived at a bold deduction, the collector might be that screenwriter.

Of course, that screenwriter's main identity had already been wiped out, and he was surely operating under a small account now.

Earlier, Zhan Zhao had asked Jiang Ping to investigate the drama in detail... but things had progressed so rapidly, and clues had appeared one after another, that he truly hadn't looked closely at the information related to the drama.

Bai Yutang felt Zhan Zhao place both hands on his head as he typed on his phone.

Zhao Jue had been watching the two of them for a while, filled with disdain – You two really are in cahoots, aren't you? How much longer do you intend to carry on like this?

But Zhan Zhao's attention was entirely focused on the information Jiang Ping had sent him.

However, the section concerning the screenwriter contained only a pen name. The introduction was extremely brief, there was no information about other works, and no credentials. The only useful line was something like: "An amateur writer; profession: doctor."

"Doctor?" Zhan Zhao rubbed his chin. What kind of doctor? Could he be a psychologist?

Zhan Zhao glanced at the psychology students ahead, then thought of himself, and felt it made sense! Most of the people who were so free that they could write novels and scripts were psychologists.

Can we find any other clues?

Zhan Zhao noticed the smart wristband he was still wearing, and inspiration hit him. He opened the AI interface, entered all the information about the screenwriter from the files, and then asked – Got You, can you find a photo of this screenwriter or more detailed information?

"Got You" immediately began to operate.

After a brief period of processing, an image actually popped up.

But it wasn't a photo of a person, instead, it was a screenshot of a forum user's profile page.

Zhan Zhao was quite familiar with this forum. It was a gathering place for suspense enthusiasts. They often discussed SCI's cases, various urban legends, and some "ancient" unsolved mysteries.

After analysing and searching, the AI deduced that the screenwriter of The Collection of Sin was this highly active forum user named "Observing in Secret".

For a moment, Zhan Zhao doubted his own reasoning.

Have we wronged this screenwriter? Maybe all his inspiration comes from the various stories and crime analyses in the forum. He may be some kind of crime enthusiast with a unique talent...

But the account was still active. In theory, the screenwriter was already dead, so the account shouldn't still be posting... Yet the most recent activity from this account was yesterday, discussing the case of Laughing Bird's disappearance.

Although the police hadn't issued detailed updates, news travelled quickly in the livestream circle. Rumours circulating said Laughing Bird had disappeared, some even claimed he was dead.

And the final comment made by "Observing in Secret" in that discussion was – Anyone who's watched Laughing Bird's streams would know, this guy has definitely killed someone.

Zhan Zhao tilted his head again – Something about this feels off... Is it possible that the AI made a mistake? After all, "Got you" is sometimes artificial intelligence and sometimes artificial idiocy... its performance isn't always stable.

After a brief moment of doubt, Zhan Zhao found himself drawn to the user's avatar.

The earlier screenshot had low resolution, the avatar was just a tiny circle, impossible to make out.

But as he clicked through the account and finally saw the clear image, he realised it was a building that looked rather familiar.

It was the medical building of ward three at T Hospital.

That white medical building was one of T Hospital's landmark structures. Several patient deaths related to Wu Wen's psychology course, including Xiaoxue, had all occurred in that ward.

Most importantly, this building was located deep inside T Hospital. Entering required passing through three layers of security checks, ordinary staff badges weren't enough. One had to be a professional with high-level clearance, a doctor with a high security rating.

Zhan Zhao zoomed in on the photo carefully and discovered a detail.

T Hospital's buildings had been refurbished in recent years, with a large number of cameras added, but none were present in this photo.

"Hiss..." Zhan Zhao wasn't entirely sure, so he beckoned to Zhao Jue.

Zhao Jue moved closer to him and lifted his head to look at him.

Zhan Zhao showed him the photo on his phone and asked, "Do you know which period of T Hospital this photo is from?"

Zhao Jue was slightly taken aback and stared intently at the image on the screen.

Bai Yutang kept glancing back over his shoulder – What are they talking about?

After looking for a long moment, Zhao Jue suddenly froze in his tracks. He stood there with a frown, as though struck by something.

Bai Yutang also stopped walking and turned with Zhan Zhao to look at him.

Ma Han and Zhao Hu also looked at Zhao Jue in confusion.

At this time, Zhao Jue suddenly raised a hand and knocked himself on the head. "Aiya... it couldn't be..."

They rarely saw Master Jue in this condition, he looked like a robot vacuum that had been knocked over by Luban himself. Suddenly, Zhao Jue lifted his gaze. "No wonder she was so obedient. She really went to die when she was told to die..."

Hearing Zhao Jue's words, Zhan Zhao froze as well, and immediately seemed to realise something. He began rummaging through the laptop bag Bai Yutang was carrying for him.

Zhan Zhao hadn't brought his laptop up the mountain, but he did have his tablet and the current case files inside, all stored in the laptop bag that Bai Yutang was carrying for him.

He pulled out a kraft envelope, took out the documents, and he and Zhao Jue each grabbed a copy and began flipping through the pages rapidly.

Bai Yutang watched the two of them, speechless – Are you two performing a pantomime? Could you switch the volume on?

Almost simultaneously, both of them stopped flipping, each pointing at a section on their respective pages. They brought the documents together to compare them and spoke in unison, "It's him!"

"Found him?" Bai Yutang asked. "Who did you find?"

Zhan Zhao hopped down from his back and shook the envelope. "The collector!"

‿︵‿︵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 12, 2025 by Angel

Edited: January 13, 2025 by Angel