S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 6 Chapter 160

The Wisteria Murderer 04 – One Person's Testimony

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Zhan Zhao flipped through the case records in the folder. These were not police records, but rather a handwritten account of the case.

Zhao Mingxi, relying on memory and deduction, had reconstructed the course of events.

This case was indeed quite peculiar.

After leaving the dormitory that day, Qiu Yizi had arranged to meet the landlord to view an apartment.

Qiu Yizi had found the property through a real estate agency. At the time, she had noted down the phone number, but instead of going through the agency, she had contacted the landlord privately.

The landlord was a middle-aged man. Qiu Yizi had told him she was a student at S University looking to rent an apartment, and asked whether they could sign a private contract without involving the agency, so that she could save on the agency fee.

This practice was somewhat against the rules, but it wasn't uncommon in those days. Considering that the prospective tenant was a female student, that S University was a prestigious institution, and that upon meeting her, he found her petite and well-behaved in appearance, the landlord had lowered his guard and taken her to view the apartment.

Unexpectedly, while inspecting the bathroom, Qiu Yizi had taken advantage of the moment when the landlord's back was turned and plunged a knife into his lower back. After he had fallen into the bathtub, she had stabbed him again, this time directly in the neck.

The above account was the forensic pathologist's deduction of the incident based on the stab wounds on the landlord's body.

It's hard to imagine that a girl who looks so normal and even somewhat delicate would do something like this...

Zhan Zhao imagined it from his own perspective and found it unbelievable. It had taken him nearly an hour of struggling just to kill a badly injured eel. How had a young woman managed to kill a person so easily? Could someone without training or experience really have carried out such a method?

After killing the landlord, Qiu Yizi had called her boyfriend and asked Jin Wei to come to the apartment she had rented, and Jin Wei went.

Since Jin Wei was already dead, and Qiu Yizi never explained what had happened, nobody knew what had actually taken place during that period.

Jin Wei had been a tall sports student. According to reports, he had been quite popular at school, changed girlfriends frequently, and rarely discussed personal matters with his roommates.

Qiu Yizi's roommates hadn't interacted much with Jin Wei either. They only knew that he had a bad temper and that, although Qiu Yizi wanted to break up with him, Jin Wei had refused.

As for how the two of them had actually got along, nobody around them knew. Or rather, neither Qiu Yizi nor Jin Wei had been the type to share private matters with the people around them. Alternatively, perhaps they just didn't have many friends.

After receiving the phone call, Zhao Mingxi made two fatal mistakes. First, she didn't call for backup, thinking it was merely a dispute between a young couple and that she could handle it alone. Second, she had already assumed Qiu Yizi was the victim and Jin Wei was the aggressor. As a police officer, she had gone there to protect Qiu Yizi and prevent Jin Wei from harming her.

In this world, many professions require emotions to drive them. Being a doctor is about saving lives and healing the wounded, so doctors must be compassionate. Being a teacher is about educating and nurturing, so teachers must be caring toward children. Being a police officer means punishing evil and promoting good, police officers must have a sense of justice and a desire to protect.

But in fact, emotions play a greater role outside of work, and when it comes to actual work, the most important thing is professional skills. Too much emotion is unnecessary, and it can even have a counterproductive effect. Many excellent doctors come across as somewhat cold. Many excellent teachers are very strict and even unapproachable. And many good police officers are sensitive and suspicious, and they won't easily trust anyone.

When Zhao Mingxi rushed into the apartment building Qiu Yizi had told her about, ran upstairs, discovered the apartment door unlocked, and heard the sound of running water and cries for help coming from inside, she charged forward without hesitation and pushed open the bathroom door... What she found inside were the corpses of two adult men and a floor covered in blood.

At the same moment, a knife was plunged into her back.

She turned around and saw Qiu Yizi, covered in blood. The girl was shorter than her, and there was a layer of fog on Zhao Mingxi's glasses,  so she couldn't see her expression at that moment.

Qiu Yizi stabbed Zhao Mingxi many times before calling the police.

This was how she described the case afterwards...

Because she was threatened by her boyfriend Jin Wei after proposing a breakup, she rented a place to stay temporarily.

Little did she know, Jin Wei had been following her. When she was viewing the apartment with the landlord, he burst in, stabbed the landlord to death, and then held her captive for two days.

Later, a female police officer came to the door. Jin Wei tricked her into the house and stabbed her several times when she wasn't paying attention. While he was dealing with the female officer's body, she picked up the knife and stabbed Jin Wei.

Qiu Yizhi said she was so scared at the time that she didn't even know how many times she stabbed her boyfriend. Anyway, after Jin Wei fell, she ran out screaming for help.

The security guard downstairs also confirmed that several residents ran out saying there was a girl covered in blood in the complex, shouting for help, and the security guard quickly called the police.

Because there were two deaths and one serious injury, and the seriously injured person was a police officer, the case was immediately handed over to the criminal investigators in charge of major cases at the time for investigation.

The person who took over the case at the time was none other than Bao Sir.

After listening to Qiu Yizi's report, Bao Sir immediately ordered the officers to detain her as a suspect and prepare for further interrogation.

Bao Sir's reasoning was simple. In such situations, if the boyfriend has already killed one person and is about to kill a police officer, then during their struggle, Qiu Yizi should have run out to seek help, or bravely gone to assist. If she were timid, she might have fainted from fright. Any of those reactions would have been normal.

When the boyfriend was fighting with the police officer, she didn't run away. The boyfriend killed the police officer and she stabbed the boyfriend to death. This doesn't make any sense. With that kind of fighting ability, why didn't she stab the boyfriend when dealing with the landlord's body? 

The entire testimony seems fabricated. Besides, how did Zhao Mingxi find that rental apartment? Why did she go alone? Two people died on the scene, one person is in critical condition, while Qiu Yizi is the only one completely unharmed. Her sole testimony is not credible! 

Bao Sir immediately ordered the forensic department to conduct an autopsy, and the results showed that the landlord had been dead for two days, while Jin Wei had been dead for less than one day. In other words... either Qiu Yizi had been telling the truth, or Jin Wei had died shortly before Zhao Mingxi arrived.

That's what made the case so bizarre. Jin Wei and Qiu Yizi had disappeared at roughly the same time, while the landlord had died the day before. Had the two of them really spent the following two days living alongside a corpse?

Fortunately, Zhao Mingxi was quite resilient and soon regained consciousness, revealing the truth.

But strangely, Qiu Yizi ran away and disappeared from the bureau's interrogation room.

The case hadn't happened that long ago, and at the time, there had already been surveillance cameras throughout much of the bureau.

According to the footage, she had a chip-enabled ID card in her hand. At that time, most doors required a card to enter and exit. During the lunch break, she used her card to leave the interrogation room, but instead of leaving the police station, she ran into the archive room, used her card to enter the archive room, and took away a box of evidence.

When they reached this point, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both sucked in a sharp breath – Is this girl a spy or something? What kind of operation was that?"

But the records ended there. Both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were curious, asking, "What evidence did she take?"

Zhao Mingxi smiled faintly and shook her head. "After my operation was successful, Bao Sir only told me some of the case details in broad terms. His main purpose was also to sound me out and see whether I had been involved."

"At the time, I was no longer part of the investigation team, so classified information couldn't be disclosed to me. Afterwards, I spent six months recovering from my injuries. On top of that, I was subjected to a lengthy investigation, because that chip-enabled ID card was mine."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged a glance – So, was Qiu Yizi killing for the sake of killing, or was killing just a means to get into the police bureau to steal information?

Zhao Mingxi sighed. "I really did make a basic mistake and was disciplined for it. Although my body recovered, I was left with lasting complications, making it unsuitable for me to do dangerous work any more. I also felt that perhaps I wasn't really cut out to be a criminal investigator, so I transferred to a civil position... Apart from occasionally recalling certain details, I don't know anything related to that case. Later, people from the task force came to ask me about some details as well. It seemed to involve something quite significant, with the police force's best investigators all assigned to the case. As for the outcome, the case files were classified, you need the highest level of clearance to access them, so I didn't inquire further."

Both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang nodded. It seemed that if they wanted to know more about the case, they would have to ask Bao Sir...

"Oh, right," Zhan Zhao asked Zhao Mingxi, "Wisteria."

Zhao Mingxi looked puzzled. "Wisteria?"

"Do you remember whether Qiu Yizi had any connection to wisteria?" Zhan Zhao asked.

Zhao Mingxi thought for a moment. "She did mention that she liked purple things, and she often took her camera out to photograph wisteria flowers... When she left the dormitory, she took her camera with her, so if she was detained, her personal belongings might have been collected as evidence."

Both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang asked, "Do you think the box of evidence she stole might have contained her own personal belongings?"

"I'm not really sure, but the files in the archive room should all be old records. Her case was still under investigation at the time, so it wouldn't have been transferred to the archives that quickly. Even if there was a camera, it should have been in the evidence room or the forensic department." After saying that, Zhao Mingxi muttered again, "Then again, what Bao Sir told me might not necessarily have been true. I don't actually know what she took, I never saw the surveillance footage myself..."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both nodded and thanked Zhao Mingxi. They also felt somewhat guilty, as it wasn't exactly a pleasant memory. Turning up out of the blue to ask about them felt a bit like reopening old wounds. Had they known, they would have brought more food with them.

Zhao Mingxi gave them her phone number, and after saying their goodbyes, the group headed downstairs.

When they reached the ground floor, they ran into Old Xu, who was noisily slurping on a milk tea.

The moment he saw them, he grinned. "Oh my, who was such a good kid and brought me something to eat?"

Wen Xiaorou raised her hand – Me!

Zhan Zhao raised his hand as well – Me!

Old Xu chuckled happily. Having finished his nap, he picked up the half-eaten Swiss roll and headed out with the four of them towards the machinery warehouse.

Wen Xiaorou and the others returned to work, while Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang said their goodbyes and headed back to the police bureau next door.

After walking a little further, Bai Yutang glanced back at the small building. That feeling that someone was secretly watching them had returned... Was Zhao Mingxi watching them? Or was someone else inside the building observing them?

Zhan Zhao asked Bai Yutang, "After hearing the whole case, what do you think?"

Bai Yutang didn't quite know how to describe it. "It's a bit unbelievable. What do you think?"

"Without a statement from Qiu Yizi, from beginning to end, there was only Zhao Mingxi's testimony," Zhan Zhao said to himself. "According to Bao Sir's rules, a single testimony isn't admissible."

"What interests me more is that if Qiu Yizi really did all of that, then she doesn't seem like an ordinary student." Bai Yutang felt that even someone from a certain profession might not have been able to remain so calm, escape from a police interrogation room so effortlessly, and make off with a whole box of evidence.

"Shall we ask Eleven?" Zhan Zhao had Bai Yutang photograph the wanted poster and send it to Uncle Chopsticks, asking whether he recognised the girl and whether she belonged to a certain profession.

The new chef duo had just returned from the food court with Bai Ye. They had settled on the general style for the renovation and were now discussing the finer details with Mia.

A picture arrived on the phone. Eleven narrowed his eyes and studied it for a while. "Who is this...?"

Issel also took a look and said he did not recognise her. "Weren't they investigating the wisteria? How did it turn into a missing-person search?"

Just then, Mia, who was leaning over the back of the sofa behind them, suddenly poked the two men and gestured.

As Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang reached the entrance of the dessert shop and were about to call out to Zhao Jue, their phones vibrated. They picked them up and saw a reply from Uncle Chopsticks – Mia says this girl is already dead, and in the death records, her name isn't Qiu Yizi.

‿︵‿︵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: June 16, 2026 by Angel

Edited: June 17, 2026 by Angel