S.C.I. (Volume I) - Case 1: Chapter 21

The Digital Killer 21: Zhao Jue 

When Bao Zheng stopped the car, both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were awed by the sight before them. It was hard to believe this was still within S City; it felt as though they had been transported to another country.

The drive had taken nearly three hours to bring the trio to their destination—a desolate ravine housing a complex of stark, pure white buildings. The towering electric fences surrounding the perimeter and the occasional armed soldier marching past on patrol signaled that this was absolutely no ordinary place.

"Well? Any thoughts?" Bao Zheng looked with amusement at the two clearly stunned young men beside him.

"It feels..." Bai Yutang raised an eyebrow, "...like Guantanamo."

"...What exactly is this place?" Zhan Zhao asked Bao Zheng.

Bao Zheng lit a cigarette. "The Special Pathological Phenomena Research Center."

Bai Yutang laughed. "Sounds very official. Is this considered a medical facility, a military-government institution, or a prison?"

Bao Zheng shot him a glance. "Locked inside here are the most brilliant madmen in this country."

"Is the person you want us to meet also in here?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"His name is Zhao Jue," Bao Zheng said flatly, stubbing out his cigarette. "Let's go inside."

Bai Yutang turned to Zhan Zhao out of curiosity. "I'm surprised you didn't know a place like this existed! Aren't you supposed to be the expert?"

Zhan Zhao walked forward quietly. "They wrote to me once, hoping I would join them."

"Oh?" Bai Yutang was surprised. "Then why didn't you go?"

Zhan Zhao let out a cold laugh. "Psychology studies human beings."

"Aren't the ones locked up in here human beings?"

...After a brief silence, Zhan Zhao spoke in a somber tone. "They are research material..."

Bao Zheng was clearly a frequent visitor. The staff members in the research center, dressed in white lab coats, would greet him from time to time as they passed.

The three of them kept walking. Past the main hall lay a corridor so long it seemed to have no end. Iron doors opened and shut one after another, as if the entities secured inside were ferocious monsters rather than human beings. The white powdered walls and tiled floors felt starkly bright yet bleak, carrying an icy chill that was almost ghostly.

Finally, Bao Zheng stopped before a heavy iron door. He pressed his finger against the fingerprint scanner, and the door unlocked with a sharp click.

Pushing the iron door open, the first thing that caught their eyes was a massive glass curtain wall in the center of the room. Behind the glass stood black metal bars—a prison cell!

The furnishings inside the bars were very simple and immaculately clean. The surrounding walls were snow-white, and the sunlight streaming in through the transom windows high up on the wall, combined with the reflective property of the glass, cast mottled patterns of light and shadow across the entire room. A row of green plants was arranged along the corner, interspersed with occasional white buds—calla lilies.

In the center of the cell sat a red chair, upon which a man sat perfectly upright. His back was turned to the glass curtain wall as he focused intently on the calla lilies on the floor, holding a pencil and paper, seriously drawing something. A few sheets of paper were scattered across the floor, bearing pencil sketches of the calla lilies... lifelike and exquisite.

The man's silhouette from behind was exceptionally thin. He wore simple white clothes, his black hair fell in loose strands, and a complex metal collar around his neck stood out in a jarring, eye-catching manner...

"An acoustic suppressor?" Bai Yutang frowned. This type of metal acoustic suppressor was specifically designed for prisoners. Its structure was highly intricate, and once put on, it required a metal cutter to be removed. Wearing it, no matter how loudly you screamed, you could not make a single sound...

"Why put that on him?" Zhan Zhao looked at Bao Zheng with a hint of anger. The person in the cell looked so cold, lonely, and frail. To have spent twenty years like this... how cruel.

Bao Zheng remained silent for a moment before saying, "He used his voice to kill those people. Unable to speak, he poses absolutely no danger." With that, he opened a glass door on the curtain wall and led the two of them into the internal observation room situated between the curtain wall and the cage.

Evidently, the glass curtain wall was soundproof. The sudden sound of entry disturbed the man who was focusing on his drawing. The man turned his head back, looking at the three people who had entered.

He was a very fair-skinned man with gentle features and a faint air of elegance. Perhaps due to the year-round lack of sunlight, his deathly pale complexion made him look incredibly young, completely lacking the appearance of someone in their forties.

His gaze swept over each person who entered. His face was entirely devoid of expression, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking, and his eyes were like a pool of stagnant water, completely without ripples.

Seeing Bao Zheng, his gaze swept right past with no reaction.

Seeing Bai Yutang, who had walked in next, he tilted his head slightly, as if he were contemplating something.

Finally, he saw Zhan Zhao. As if he had discovered something fresh and fascinating, his eyes remained locked onto Zhan Zhao, following his every movement.

"Zhao Jue, I brought the kids to see you," Bao Zheng spoke. "Yunwen and Qitian's children."

Zhao Jue set down the paper and pencil in his hands and walked over. He approached the cell door, his eyes still fixed tightly on Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao stared back at him, feeling a very strange sensation. He felt that Zhao Jue's actions, and especially his expression, did not seem like those of a sick man, but rather someone who was mad—the kind of madness where one has completely lost self-awareness...

By this time, Zhao Jue had reached the front of the cell door. He tremulously stretched out his hand, appearing as though he wanted to touch Zhan Zhao's face...

Slap!

The very instant Zhao Jue's hand was about to contact Zhan Zhao's cheek, Bai Yutang raised his hand and slapped it away.

With a sharp clink, a tiny yet sharp penknife clattered onto the floor. A thin line of blood appeared on the finger Zhao Jue had reached out.

"Who said he poses no danger?" Bai Yutang stared coldly at Zhao Jue, pulling Zhan Zhao back a step.

Looking down at his own dripping finger, Zhao Jue looked up at Bai Yutang, his expression holding a hint of mild reproach.

Turning around, he walked back to the chair in the center of the room, sat down, and began to carefully lick his wound.

"Why did he shoot my older brother?" Bai Yutang asked Bao Zheng beside him.

"..." Bao Zheng fell silent for a brief moment. "To silence a witness."

"What do you mean?" Bai Yutang was puzzled.

"The first person to discover that he was the killer was your big brother!!"

...!...

"It's just..." Bao Zheng added, "your big brother couldn't remember anything afterward."

Zhao Jue picked up his paper and pencil again, resuming his sketching.

"Let's go." Bao Zheng turned around, calling for the two to leave.

Bai Yutang watched Zhao Jue's every movement and suddenly felt a wave of disgust. He turned and walked out with quick strides.

Zhan Zhao walked at the very back, his eyes never leaving Zhao Jue's actions—the drawings, the penknife... Just as he was about to step out, he saw Zhao Jue turn back toward him, offer a subtle smile, and raise a single finger to his lips in a "shh" gesture...

Once the three of them stepped out of the observation room, Zhan Zhao pulled Bao Zheng back. "I want to see Zhao Jue's pathological report."

Bao Zheng nodded. "You can, but it would be best if the focus of your investigation shifts away from Zhao Jue."

………………

Both Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao fell silent. Given Zhao Jue's current situation, it was fundamentally impossible for him to go out and plant psychological hints or assign numbers to victims. So, was this recent numerical case a pure coincidence, or a copycat crime?

The clues that had finally begun to emerge had once again become convoluted and blurry.

………………

Inside the pathological research room, Zhan Zhao carefully examined Zhao Jue's pathological report.

Bai Yutang sat to the side, his head lowered in deep thought.

Out in the corridor, Bao Zheng was smoking one cigarette after another.

After a long while, Zhan Zhao suddenly let out a soft, surprised "Oh?"

"Did you find something?" Bai Yutang immediately leaned in close.

Zhan Zhao pointed to a string of names for him to see. "This is the list of experts who certified back then that Zhao Jue suffered from an uncontrollable mental disorder."

The very first name displayed prominently was "Xu Yanqin."

"Xu Yanqin?" Bai Yutang was startled. "The same Professor Xu?"

Zhan Zhao nodded. "Without this expert certification, Zhao Jue would have absolutely been sentenced to death!"

"Cat!" A flash of excitement gleamed in Bai Yutang's eyes. "The cases are connected!"

Zhan Zhao was entirely familiar with this look on Bai Yutang's face; he got like this every time a breakthrough appeared. Looking back at Bao Zheng outside the door, Zhan Zhao pulled Bai Yutang closer and said in a low whisper, "That Zhao Jue isn't mad! He's faking it."

"How do you know?" Bai Yutang's eyes widened as he lowered his voice.

"Those drawings!" Zhan Zhao explained softly. "His behavior is acting, and he does it incredibly well. However, those scattered drawings were drawn during different periods. The ones at the bottom were drawn first, and the ones on top were drawn later. The further up you go, the more chaotic the pencil strokes become."

Bai Yutang thought about it. "Are you saying he's planning something, and recently, he's becoming more and more impatient?"

"Or rather, more and more excited," Zhan Zhao said, lowering his head with a slight look of conflict.

"What's wrong? Cat, do you have an idea?" Bai Yutang asked, "You don't want Chief Bao to know about this?"

Zhan Zhao hesitated. "I feel that Zhao Jue is remarkably dangerous. I'm afraid he has a grand plan for all of this, and if Chief Bao gets dragged into it..."

Bai Yutang patted his shoulder gently. "I was thinking the exact same thing. We'll handle it ourselves! What do you want to do next?"

Biting his lip, Zhan Zhao seemed to make up his mind and said, "I want... I want your brother to meet Zhao Jue."

"..." Bai Yutang froze. "You mean..."

"His actions and expressions are too limited right now. I need more details to judge his intentions."

Bai Yutang nodded. "And my brother is the perfect candidate to give him a sudden psychological trigger!"

Zhan Zhao agreed. "Your brother doesn't seem to object to remembering that past event... I want to hypnotize him."

Bai Yutang was just about to agree when he suddenly slapped his thigh hard and shouted, "Oh no!"

The two had been whispering right into each other's ears, so Bai Yutang's sudden roar not only startled Zhan Zhao, but it also gave Bao Zheng outside the door such a fright that he nearly swallowed his cigarette.

"What are you yelling for?!" Bao Zheng stormed inside furiously.

Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao with a miserable expression. "Cat, what time is it now?"

Zhan Zhao checked his watch. "Eight-thirty."

Bai Yutang began banging his head against the wall. "I'm dead! I forgot my brother at the S.C.I. office again..."

Zhan Zhao and Bao Zheng fell silent simultaneously. A moment later, both raised their hands and patted Bai Yutang on the shoulder. "Get ready to take a second beating..."

On the 17th floor of the police station, right outside the S.C.I. office door.

Bai Jintang sat on a suitcase with a grim, ash-pale face, watching the team members hastily clocking out one after another. It didn't even look like they were leaving work; it looked like an absolute stampede to escape.

"You brat! I'm going to skin you alive later!!" Bai Jintang muttered to himself, his eyes locked onto the tightly shut elevator doors.

The door to the forensics room opened, and Gongsun walked out dressed in casual clothes. Swinging his car keys, he walked toward the elevator, casting a glance at Bai Jintang out of the corner of his eye as if he were looking at a dead rat...

"Hey!" Bai Jintang suddenly called out to stop him. "Let me stay at your place tonight."

"Huh??" An expression of pure shock washed over Gongsun's face.

Bai Jintang pointed to his luggage as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "Homeless!"

"Heh, and why exactly should I take you in?" Gongsun stood by the elevator doors, crossing his arms with an amused look as he watched him.

"Humanitarianism!!" Bai Jintang answered as if it were an unalterable truth.

"You can go stay at a hotel." Gongsun pressed the down button for the elevator.

"That costs money!" Expressing this with total justification, he picked up his luggage and followed.

"What makes you think I would take you in?" Gongsun held the elevator door, blocking him from entering.

Bai Jintang pointed to his own mouth, and then pointed to Gongsun's cheek. "Our deep relationship!"

Seeing murder flash in Gongsun's eyes, Bai Jintang hurriedly added another sentence. "I have a bottle of 1986 Bordeaux red wine in my suitcase."

…………………………

After considering it for a moment, Gongsun let go of the door.

Bai Jintang entered the elevator filled with joy, entirely failing to notice that Gongsun's other hand was slipped into his pocket.

Fingering a gleaming, razor-sharp scalpel, Gongsun thought to himself, "Once I get him somewhere secluded—I'll destroy the evidence and eliminate the body!!”