S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 6 Chapter 155

Special Files – Collector 40 – Shelling and Then Shelling Again

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The progress of the case had been almost "one step at a time". It was discovered that Tian Ming, who had used a fake death to shed his skin like a cicada, was now living under the alias Jin Ming and was currently being held in the T Zone of a special hospital, undergoing detention and treatment.

But this sudden "solving of the case" had plunged Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang into a sense of "unreality".

Whether it was some kind of police instinct or the experience they had accumulated over years of handling cases, the two of them both felt that there was something slightly "off" about how this conclusion had been reached!

Put simply, even without all the previous "clues" and investigations, as long as they talked to Han Li about Tian Ming, she would have been able to provide information that led to Jin Ming's capture. It was like spending a huge sum of money to buy a sculpture, only to discover it was 3D-printed; there was a jarring sense of disparity that left Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang feeling somewhat "empty."

The two of them felt that there was something complicated about it. Is it possible that Tian Ming deliberately appeared in front of Han Li and allowed her to recognise him, thereby providing everyone with his alias and location?

Could this have been yet another layer of shedding his skin like a cicada?

Tian Ming used a fake Tian Ming to take his place, and this Jin Ming might well have been another layer of shell after Tian Ming's escape.

The real Tian Ming should already have changed his identity and his appearance, completely becoming another person altogether, and the only one who might know that identity was Jin Ming... but Jin Ming is now in extreme danger. A large number of assassins, as well as a collecting organisation, are searching for him. Once they found him and silenced him, Tian Ming would truly "disappear" for good.

On the other hand, if SCI went to capture Jin Ming now and put him under protection, Tian Ming would also disappear. Jin Ming is like a "signal".

What's more, when Jin Ming was caught, he was the leader of a cult. Who knew what his relationship with Tian Ming really was? Perhaps he was a devout believer, willingly prepared to die for Tian Ming!

Getting into T Hospital was no simple matter either, there would be numerous expert evaluations and medical monitoring... In other words, this Jin Ming himself is a psychopath.

Zhan Zhao scratched his head – This situation is tricky! A complete deadlock! Jin Ming can't be found by others, but searching for him ourselves is also not an option. Waiting carries risks, yet taking action might lead to losing everything.

Bai Yutang watched as Zhan Zhao was almost tearing his hair out over there, and told him to take it easy for now, Fang Beibei might be a breakthrough point.

Zhan Zhao looked at Bai Yutang – How is this supposed to be a breakthrough, Fang Beibei is only in contact with Jin Ming.

Bai Yutang shook his head. "Not necessarily..."

Zhan Zhao looked at him. Based on his understanding of Bai Yutang, it seemed he had made some discovery.

Bai Yutang asked, "Do you still remember how Fang Beibei suddenly went to the SWAT team earlier to look for Wen Xiaorou?"

Zhan Zhao blinked – Wasn't that phone call arranged by the school security staff?

Bai Yutang nodded. "But there's one point that's a bit special. When Luo Tian went to pick up Wen Xiaorou's mother, didn't he discover a car in their neighbourhood that seemed to be monitoring their home? That car belonged to Fang Beibei."

Zhan Zhao nodded.

"So far, we don't know who was actually driving the car to carry out the surveillance." Bai Yutang had previously reviewed the complete investigation questionnaire. Shi Yanshuo, Fang Beibei, the school security guard... none of the involved parties mentioned driving a car to monitor Wen Xiaorou's family.

Zhan Zhao raised his head and rubbed his chin. "Big Brother previously speculated that Fang Beibei deliberately dragged her suitcase over to look for Wen Xiaorou in order to create the illusion that she had left something at Wen Xiaorou's place... And why did she want to kill Guan Xiaohong? Was she acting on Shi Yanshuo's instructions? But Shi Yanshuo didn't have anything in his hands that could control her, she's not like Wang Yong."

"Exactly, why did she kill Guan Xiaohong? That's also a point of doubt." Bai Yutang clearly harboured some doubts about certain details from the previous case. "Guan Xiaoyue had been acting as an informant for the economic crimes division to investigate Shi Yanshuo, but it seems his approach went off track. Could it be that he uncovered something else?"

Zhan Zhao took out his phone and called Guan Xiaoyue.

Guan Xiaoyue, being unemployed at the time, was watching motor racing with Lin Ruo.

When Zhan Zhao asked what he had found while investigating Shi Yanshuo, Guan Xiaoyue said he hadn't uncovered any particularly useful leads.

Zhan Zhao then asked whether there had been any clues unrelated to the previous case, the kind that had made him feel uneasy or seemed a bit off.

Guan Xiaoyue thought for a moment and said that there really was one thing. Shi Yanshuo had been discreetly investigating a female plastic surgeon and had gathered a great deal of information about her and her clinic. At the time, Guan Xiaoyue had simply assumed that Shi Yanshuo wanted cosmetic surgery himself, possibly to facilitate an escape... but since he hadn't actually undergone any procedures, he hadn't paid it much attention.

Zhan Zhao immediately asked him for the name of the plastic surgeon and details about the clinic.

Guan Xiaoyue said that the female doctor was called Xu Wei, a relatively unknown plastic surgeon with a small clinic located in a rather out-of-the-way area of S City.

"That place is quite close to the T Zone," Zhan Zhao thought for a moment about the location. "A plastic surgeon..."

Bai Yutang nodded. "Tian Ming definitely had work done... could it be related to that doctor?"

Zhan Zhao asked Guan Xiaoyue whether he had ever been to that clinic.

Guan Xiaoyue said that he hadn't gone himself, but had looked into the clinic while hiring a private investigator to probe Shi Yanshuo.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang asked together, "Which private detective agency?"

Guan Xiaoyue got annoyed the moment he mentioned it. "That detective ran off! Pocketed the money and didn't do the job, I was planning to report him!"

As soon as Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang heard that, they knew things were bad. That detective was very likely already dead, and this investigation might have been what alerted Tian Ming and prompted him to use a decoy to escape!

Bai Yutang immediately instructed officers to go to the clinic to find the doctor, but by the time nearby officers arrived, they discovered that the clinic had already moved away.

Because the clinic had been in such a remote location, there was no one around to ask where it had relocated to.

After Jiang Ping received the information about Dr Xu Wei that Zhan Zhao had provided, the investigation results also came back. "This appears to have been an illegal clinic."

Holding his phone, Zhan Zhao thought back and quickly searched up a few pieces of information. "When I was reading news related to Fang Beibei before, I saw a piece of gossip where someone used photos from her school days to say she'd had plastic surgery. She herself said she hadn't, and no records of her having surgery could be found... But Ma Xin examined her, didn't she? She said Fang Beibei had had minor adjustments!"

Bai Yutang nodded. Ma Xin is a master at spotting alterations, she could tell at a glance whether someone had had work done or not, with a one-hundred-per-cent accuracy rate.

"What are Xu Wei's height and weight?" Bai Yutang asked.

Zhan Zhao couldn't find any records either, so he had to ask Guan Xiaoyue again.

Guan Xiaoyue said that she looked quite petite, and that her height was no more than one metre sixty.

"Could she fit into a suitcase?" Zhan Zhao asked a question that sounded rather unsettling.

Guan Xiaoyue thought about it for a moment. "Probably. That lady looked like she was only around a hundred pounds."

Zhan Zhao poked Bai Yutang. "Fang Beibei created the illusion that she'd left something at Wen Xiaorou's place, what kind of thing would require dragging a suitcase along? Wouldn't a backpack have been enough? It had to be something big..."

"The other party was monitoring Wen Xiaorou but didn't take any action because what they were actually looking for was a person... so tailing her was enough." Bai Yutang also felt this line of reasoning made sense. "Fang Beibei took such a huge risk to hide a living person. She might not have killed Guan Xiaohong under anyone's orders at all, it was to protect that plastic surgeon, so she killed Guan Xiaohong to silence him."

"What exactly is Xu Wei to her? Going to such lengths, it can't just be to protect the secret that she'd had plastic surgery, could it?" Zhan Zhao picked up his phone and sent a long voice message to Wen Xiaorou and Han Li.

At that moment, both of them had already arrived at the SCI office. Gongsun and Ma Xin happened to be coming out of the forensic room and took the two women to the lounge to have some tea.

Over on Lu Fang's side, arrangements were being made for Fang Beibei's interrogation.

Everyone gathered together and listened to the voice message Zhan Zhao had sent.

Ma Xin curled her lips. "I told you she'd had work done!"

Gongsun asked Zhan Zhao whether he had a photo of that doctor.

Zhan Zhao contacted Guan Xiaoyue, who indeed had a candid photo that the detective had previously sent him.

Gongsun compared the photo of Xu Wei with Fang Beibei's photo and asked Ma Xin, "What do you think?"

Ma Xin put on her glasses and examined them carefully, then widened her eyes. "They share genetic traits! Relatives?"

Gongsun nodded. Judging by their ages, Xu Wei was very likely Fang Beibei's biological mother, or an aunt, or a cousin... in any case, a close relative.

"In the previous case, someone stole another person's identity and impersonated them... Although the identity switch happened during childhood, some features simply can't be changed, like moles, birthmarks, and scars... People can't look that similar naturally, you always need a plastic surgeon to assist. But among the people we caught back then, there was no such person." Gongsun still had some doubts about the last case. Adding a plastic surgeon to the picture finally made it feel complete.

Bai Yutang felt that Xu Wei probably knew quite a few secrets. She ran an illegal clinic specifically to perform plastic surgery for criminals. Once a case broke, she would be the first to be silenced, and at the same time, the police would come looking for her... so she would have to find a way to hide.

"To protect herself, she must have left some evidence. Perhaps she has records of what each person looked like before and after their surgery with her!"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang straightened out the key points of the case. It didn't matter whether there were big fish or small fish involved! Finding that plastic surgeon was the real key!

Over on Zhao Jue's side, he had already finished the exam and was feeling irritated. When he turned around, he discovered that Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang had already run off.

Zhao Jue ran to the edge of the mountain and looked down, the two of them were running faster than rabbits...

Just as he was wondering what on earth those two were running for, Zhao Jue's phone buzzed. He picked it up to see a message from Bai Ye, asking how the case was progressing and saying that he had already caught a lot of people on his end.

Zhao Jue was at a loss for words. The kids threw a tantrum and ran away!

......

At the police station, Wen Xiaorou, Xiaofei, and Han Li were together in the room next to the interrogation room, observing Fang Beibei through the one-way glass.

Fang Beibei sat there idly, staring into space, and it didn't seem like she was feeling any tension of being a prisoner.

Han Li tilted her head and studied her for a while.

Seeing Fang Beibei's state, Wen Xiaorou and Xiaofei weren't sure whether it was appropriate to let Han Li take part in the interrogation. The coffee cocktails Zhu Yi had earlier were quite strong, and she still looked a little tipsy.

"Doesn't seem like it."

Han Li suddenly said.

"Doesn't seem like what?" Wen Xiaorou and Xiaofei both asked curiously.

"Her." Han Li gestured towards Fang Beibei inside the interrogation room. "She doesn't look like a murderer."

Wen Xiaorou and Xiaofei both laughed – People can put on an act, you can't tell that sort of thing just by looking.

"But she doesn't look flustered at all, she seems very calm," Xiaofei said curiously. "Where could you hide a living person to make absolutely sure they'd never be discovered?"

‿︵‿︵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: February 12, 2025 by Angel

Edited: February 13, 2026 by Angel