S.C.I. (Volume I) - Case 2: Chapter 13

The Killer Training Camp 13: Clues 

"Cat... Cat..."

Someone seemed to be calling him. Zhan Zhao frowned slightly, turning over to hide his head under the blanket, ignoring the voice.

"Cat~~~"

The soft, persistent calling continued. "Cat, wake up."

"Mmm~~~" Zhan Zhao bundled himself up in the blanket. "Darn mouse~~~" he mumbled groggily.

"If you don't get up, I'm going to kiss you."

A warm, moist sensation touched the back of his neck~~~ gradually moving upward until it engulfed his earlobe...

"Ah~~~" Zhan Zhao was wide awake. He covered his ears, his face flushing bright red as he sprang up from the sofa, glaring indignantly at the refreshingly cheerful, punchable mouse standing before him.

Bai Yutang leaned over and pecked him on the lips. "Good morning."

...!...

Zhan Zhao was so shocked he swiped a paw at Bai Yutang, gritting his teeth: "You crazy mouse, this is the office!!"

Bai Yutang smiled and shrugged: "What does it matter? The door is closed."

Zhan Zhao rubbed his slightly sore neck: "Why am I here?"

"You fell asleep last night. Gongsun was at your place, so I carried you over to mine."

"And you? I slept on your sofa, where did you sleep?" He took the coffee Bai Yutang handed him~~~ still so sleepy.

"I was here yesterday too. Two people on one sofa really is a squeeze," Bai Yutang said nonchalantly.

"Pfft~~~" Zhan Zhao spat his coffee all over the floor.

"Dead cat! You’re washing the carpet!!!"

"Smelly mouse! No wonder my whole body aches! It must be because I didn't sleep well last night!!"

"I let you sleep on my sofa and you're still being picky??"

"You should have slept on the floor!"

"I'd catch a cold!"

"Your species doesn't catch colds!"

"What species?"

"Have you ever heard of a bacterium catching a cold?"

"Demoted again?!"

"Hmph~~~ I want an egg pancake for breakfast! Go buy one!!"

"Dead cat! I must have owed you in my past life!"

"Add chili sauce!"

………………

Fifteen minutes later, Zhan Zhao sat in his office, happily sipping milk and gnawing on an egg pancake.

"Where’s Gongsun?" Seeing the empty sofa, Zhan Zhao asked Bai Yutang.

"Oh, he fell asleep after taking his medicine last night. Later, my brother came and picked him up."

"Gongsun was willing to go with him?" Zhan Zhao asked cautiously.

"He was groggy at the time, probably didn't have much consciousness, but he didn't resist anyway." Bai Yutang replied, sipping the remaining half-cup of coffee Zhan Zhao had left behind.

"Mm~~~" Zhan Zhao looked thoughtful as he ate, his eyes darting around.

"Dead cat, what are you thinking about?" Bai Yutang found it amusing.

"Mm~~~" Zhan Zhao thought for a moment, then summarized: "It’s very subtle~~~ very subtle."

"Boss~~~" The other team members arrived at the office one after another.

Xu Qing ran in and said: "I have important intelligence!"

"Tell everyone to gather in the conference room!" Bai Yutang said.

In the conference room:

"Jon Jin?" Everyone looked at Xu Qing, unable to believe it. "Are you sure it was Jon Jin who bought the gun?"

"That's right!" Xu Qing nodded. "The news came from Han Zhang, so it shouldn't be wrong."

"But... Qi Lei used the gun he was given to try and kill him?!" Wang Chao was confused.

"No, the person Qi Lei really wanted to kill was Professor Wilson," Zhan Zhao said. "The act of killing Jon was very likely just a smokescreen."

"Exactly, that way no one would suspect him." Bai Yutang pondered.

"Also, I checked Jon Jin’s background yesterday," Xu Qing continued. "He used to be a medical student at Columbia University. After graduation, he worked as a hospital anesthetist for two years, then suddenly switched careers to become an entertainer."

"Anesthetist?" Bai Yutang was startled. "So he is very familiar with the properties of toxic narcotics?"

"After an examination last night, Laura was indeed suffering from hallucinations caused by an overdose of medication." Zhang Long looked at the statement taken last night: "According to her, those drugs were sedatives she had been taking regularly, all prepared for her by Jon Jin."

"Ha! Evidence is airtight!" Zhan Zhao seemed to be gloating. "Can we bring that pervert back for a chat now??"

"Pervert?" The surrounding team members looked puzzled.

"Ahem~~~" Bai Yutang coughed twice. "Zhang Long, Wang Chao, you two go invite Jon Jin here. Tell him we need him to cooperate with the investigation."

"Boss, why not apply for an arrest warrant? It’s high enough level; the evidence is conclusive," Wang Chao proposed.

"No, it’s too early to arrest him now," Zhan Zhao said. "Besides, he’s a celebrity; it would attract excessive attention, which is unfavorable for our investigation."

"It’s not that, I just feel that if we ask him to cooperate with an investigation, he likely won't be willing to come," Zhang Long said, feeling troubled.

"Oh~~~" Zhan Zhao smiled and glanced at Bai Yutang, saying: "It doesn't matter, just tell him that Team Leader Bai is inviting him, and he’ll probably come trotting right along."

Zhang Long and Wang Chao walked away full of doubt. Bai Yutang glared at Zhan Zhao: "Cat! Such a strong scent of vinegar~"

"Is that so?" Zhan Zhao turned toward the door, looking back: "I'm going to take a nap first. I'll interrogate that blond pervert properly later!!"

Bai Yutang shook his head with a bitter smile. This cat was still holding a grudge............

"Boss..." Xu Qing on the side seemed to have something he wanted to say but hesitated.

"What’s wrong? Speak your mind." Bai Yutang sat on the conference table to look at him.

"That... you, your Big Brother’s two subordinates..."

"What about them?" Bai Yutang asked.

"Uh... Han Zhang told me that the source of the firearms this time was discovered by them, and their methods were a bit... not very mainstream."

"Heh..." Bai Yutang was amused by Xu Qing’s stuttering. He reached out and patted his shoulder: "Don't worry, they won't do anything out of line here."

Having said that, he stood up and left the office, thinking to himself, "Big Brother, oh Big Brother, please don't do anything reckless~~~"

Gongsun climbed out of bed, pushed off the heavy quilt, and took a breath. He had almost been crushed to death by the covers.

He felt quite refreshed. His head no longer hurt, and although he still felt a bit fatigued, it was nowhere near as uncomfortable as yesterday.

He climbed out of bed, swayed as he walked into the bathroom, and turned on the shower...

Wearing his bathrobe and wiping his dripping hair, Gongsun walked out into the living room. His stomach felt somewhat hungry; it seemed he hadn't eaten anything in a long time.

"Are you hungry?"

The sudden voice behind him startled Gongsun. He turned around to see Bai Jintang standing five or six steps away, watching him.

Gongsun didn't speak; he turned his face away and continued wiping his hair.

"I said I wouldn't come, but I was worried, so I came to check. Are you feeling better?" Bai Jintang didn't mind that Gongsun ignored him and continued to speak.

Gongsun still didn't speak, standing there blankly.

"I want to talk to you." Bai Jintang continued to try.

Gongsun walked to the door, opened it, and stood by the threshold.

Sighing lightly, Bai Jintang walked to the door helplessly. Before leaving, he whispered to Gongsun: "Breakfast is on the table. After you eat, remember to take your medicine and get some good rest." Then, he turned and left.

Gongsun closed the door and stood in front of the locked entrance for a while. Hearing the elevator open and close, he opened the door again. Bai Jintang was still standing there, looking slightly awkward. "...Dry, dry your hair."

Gongsun looked up at him.

Bai Jintang was a bit excited; fortunately, he was still willing to look at him.

"Uh... I'm going now." Reaching out to help him close the door, Bai Jintang walked into the elevator, looking back with lingering reluctance.

Gongsun stood there blankly for a moment, then went into the room to find a hairdryer, leaning against the sofa to blow-dry his hair. From afar, he saw the curtains in the Bai Corporation President’s office across the street being rolled up.

He hesitated, but in the end, he didn't pull the curtains in the living room closed.

Having dried his hair, Gongsun stood up and walked to the table. On the table sat a light, refreshing, and steaming hot Chinese-style breakfast.

He sat down, ate his breakfast quietly, sat on the sofa to read the paper for a while, then got up and obediently took his medicine.

He walked into the bedroom. The bedroom curtains were also open, but he didn't bother with them, instead climbing into bed, pulling up the covers, and going to sleep.

Far away, Bai Jintang stood by the window, watching fixedly. He forgot to move, letting the coffee in his hand slowly turn cold, his heart gradually softening. Gongsun, you are truly so gentle, so very gentle.

In the police interrogation room, Jon Jin sat with complete composure, having brought no lawyer.

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao walked into the room, eliciting a smile from Jon.

They sat down face-to-face.

"I didn't do anything yesterday," Jon said with an innocent face. "Is it necessary to arrest me?"

"We are inviting you to cooperate with an investigation. Or do you feel you've done something worthy of being arrested for?" Zhan Zhao asked.

Bai Yutang waved a little white flag in his heart. This is terrible. This cat went full firepower right out of the gate. This foreigner is definitely going to be cannon fodder today.

"Hehe~~~" Jon smiled at Zhan Zhao. "You have hostility toward me? This isn't the tone for asking someone to cooperate with an investigation."

Zhan Zhao smiled back: "Then let's skip the 'cooperating with the investigation' part. Your status can be switched directly to 'interrogation'."

"Oh?" Jon seemed interested. "I wonder what criteria I meet?"

Bai Yutang took a medicine bottle out of the evidence bag. "Is this the medicine you prepared for Ms. Laura?"

Jon glanced at it and nodded: "That’s right."

"Producing your own hallucinogenic drugs is against the law."

"It’s not illegal in our country," Jon said with a look of regret. "I am not very familiar with your country’s legal system..." Then, he winked significantly at Bai Yutang. "If you have time, you can instruct me."

Bai Yutang could feel the air pressure around Zhan Zhao drop even lower. He prayed for Jon in his heart: "May God have mercy on you!!"

"Did you once purchase a Barrett M82A1 sniper rifle?"

"I did," Jon answered readily.

"Are you admitting to the illegal possession of a firearm with that answer?" Bai Yutang looked at him.

Jon happily met his gaze: "Oh, it’s not illegal to own firearms in our country~~~ Besides, that gun is already lost. Still the same thing: if you're interested, you can teach me about your country's laws."

Bai Yutang frowned as he looked at the cheeky Jon in front of him; he really wanted to punch him. At this moment, Zhan Zhao beside him patted him, signaling: I’ll take it from here!!

Zhan Zhao placed the autopsy photos of Jia Zhengyan and the bottle of pills in front of Jon, and asked with a cold laugh: "I wonder if murder is considered against the law in your country?"

Looking at the photos of the corpse, Jon was somewhat dazed.

Zhan Zhao immediately followed up: "We now have complete evidence to indict you for involvement in a murder case. Do you want to call your lawyer?"

Jon’s expression turned ugly in an instant, but Zhan Zhao refused to give him a chance to ease up, pressing on: "Let me tell you one more piece of good news. This murder case is part of a serial killing spree... It seems your country has a wide variety of punishments for serial killers. What do you think you’ll get? Hanging? Or the electric chair??"

Looking somewhat dejected, Jon reached out to rub his face and slumped in his chair. Bai Yutang raised an eyebrow: "It seems you don't have time to study foreign law. Better study your own country’s laws carefully. With your situation, you’ll be sentenced to at least two hundred years even if you avoid the death penalty."

"Alright, alright~~~" Jon threw up his hands in a gesture of surrender: "You win. I’ll talk, I’ll talk."

Then, Jon took his wallet out of his pocket, opened it, and pointed to a photo for Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao to see.

The two leaned in and saw a young man in the photo with a brilliant, sunny smile.

The moment Zhan Zhao saw the photo, he understood why Jon was interested in Bai Yutang... Although the man in the photo was a foreigner with blond hair and blue eyes, his brow and facial features were quite similar to Bai Yutang’s.

"His name is Angel. He was the love of my life," Jon said, looking at the photo as if recalling the past. "When he was twenty, he had a car accident. His head was injured, and he often suffered hallucinations. He had been so cheerful, but he became depressed. I took him to the best psychologist in America at the time—Professor Wilson. I had hoped he could be cured, but I never expected, I never expected that after receiving treatment for a period of time, he would commit suicide." Jon seemed somewhat emotional. "We loved each other so much, yet he killed himself, leaving me alone. I was lonely and couldn't live or work normally. Later, I entered the entertainment industry; that environment of debauchery wouldn't leave me feeling lonely. And this job allowed me to meet many people. I crazily searched for someone similar to him, but the more I searched, the more I discovered his uniqueness... until that day at the banquet when I saw you."

Jon sighed and said: "You really are very similar to Angel, but you are much stronger than him... He was too fragile."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged a glance. "So you hate Professor Wilson?"

"Of course I hate him! He’s just a hypocritical charlatan who craves fame! He killed the person I loved most! Do you know? I found out later that the medication he gave Angel and the course of treatment he used were things that had never been tested. He was using the person I loved most as an experiment to prove those bullshit theories that would later bring him glory and prestige!"

Bai Yutang took out the Devil's Child card and asked: "What is this?"

Jon looked at the card, took a breath, and smiled: "That’s all I have to say. For anything else, I’ll wait for my lawyer to arrive."

After that, he remained silent.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang walked out of the interrogation room feeling quite disgruntled. Jon was in a similar state to Yang Feng; he didn't seem to avoid talking about his own crimes, but the moment the topic turned to that "Killer Training Camp," they both kept their mouths shut, as if they were protecting something... It was truly perplexing.

"Stop thinking about it. Your head is going to explode. Let's go, Cat, let's go to the cafeteria to eat something." Bai Yutang pulled Zhan Zhao along.

In the police cafeteria, as Bai Yutang ordered food, Zhan Zhao, holding his tray, saw Bai Chi playing rock-paper-scissors with a little kid not far away.

The kid looked familiar. Bai Yutang bought their food and, seeing Zhan Zhao staring forward, followed his gaze. "Oh~~~ isn't this Lu Fang’s son?"

"Ah!" Zhan Zhao remembered, too. It was little Lu Zhen from the last case.

Lu Zhen seemed to be losing constantly, his face filled with disbelief, while Bai Chi giggled.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang thought, rather uncharitably: "The mental age of these two seems about the same." They exchanged a glance; they had found a source of entertainment. The two brothers with mischievous smiles walked toward the two younger ones with their food.

"Ah! Uncle Zhan! Uncle Bai!" Lu Zhen greeted them affectionately.

The two sat at the table with them, and Bai Yutang asked: "What are you two playing?"

"Oh!" Lu Zhen said with an expression of worship. "He’s so amazing! He’s been winning the whole time!"

"That divine?" Bai Yutang asked curiously.

"Mm!" Lu Zhen nodded. "I lost a few times at the beginning, then he said he would never lose again, and it’s true!"

Zhan Zhao asked Bai Chi knowingly: "Is it your advanced mathematics again?"

Bai Chi smiled shyly.

Zhan Zhao picked up little Lu Zhen and whispered a few words into his ear. Lu Zhen asked curiously, "Really?"

"If you don't believe me, give it a try!" Zhan Zhao took a bite of his sandwich and said with a smile.

"Okay!" Lu Zhen rolled up his sleeves and said to Bai Chi: "Again!"

This time, little Lu Zhen kept his eyes fixed tightly on Bai Chi’s eyes, and he won every single round. Bai Yutang watched from the side and enjoyed it thoroughly. After little Bai Chi lost over twenty times in a row, he finally raised his hands in surrender: "I give up! I give up~~~"

Lu Zhen cheered and ran off. Bai Chi asked Zhan Zhao curiously, "Wh... why did this happen?"

Bai Yutang laughed from the side: "Don't engage in any form of gambling with this cat! The result will always be a loss!!"

Zhan Zhao rolled his eyes at him and said to Bai Chi: "Actually, it’s very simple. Everyone has some subconscious habits. I just observed that when you play scissors, your eyes unconsciously look to the lower right; when you play paper, you unconsciously blink; when you play rock, your pupils shift to the upper left."

"Hehe, it’s really just like that~~~" Bai Chi chewed his bread foolishly.

"Like? Like what?" Zhan Zhao asked amusedly.

"Like someone I ran into yesterday, who could see through people's hearts," Bai Chi said with a look of fascination.

"No way?" Bai Yutang was somewhat skeptical. "There’s more than one of these monsters?"

Zhan Zhao stepped hard on his foot. Bai Yutang almost choked on his sandwich, hitting his chest forcefully.

"Hmph!" Zhan Zhao handed him a glass of water and continued asking Bai Chi: "What did he see through?"

"That I didn't see." Bai Chi blinked and thought for a moment. "But he said something very interesting that I’ve been trying to figure out."

"Oh? What did he say?"

"He said, 'If one cannot become the Child of God, one has no choice but to become the Child of the Devil. Because they possess something that humans do not.'"

Clatter... A spoon fell from Zhan Zhao’s hand into his soup bowl.

Bai Yutang and Bai Chi looked up in confusion at Zhan Zhao, whose face was filled with bewilderment.

"Cat?" Bai Yutang patted Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao suddenly muttered to himself: "I understand, I understand!" Saying this, he stood up and rushed out.

"Cat?!" Bai Yutang dropped his sandwich and chased after him.

Little Bai Chi hesitated in confusion, then clutched his bread and followed.