S.C.I. (Volume I) - Case 3: Chapter 1

The Magic Killer 01: The Imitation 

In the first-class cabin of an international flight from New York to S City at 5:50 in the morning.

After nearly eleven hours of a long, exhausting flight, the passengers on board all looked quite tired.

Bai Yutang, who was always more active than quiet, felt as though every bone in his body had turned to mush. He turned his head to look at Zhan Zhao beside him and saw him deeply engrossed in tapping away on his laptop, writing his manuscript. On the other side of the aisle, Bai Chi was slumped over his seat, fast asleep.

"Cat~~" Bai Yutang finally decided to go ahead and disturb Zhan Zhao.

"Shh~~~" Zhan Zhao ignored him and continued typing.

Their trip to New York this time was to provide assistance on the Wilson case, and they had obtained a wealth of information. Zhan Zhao had engaged in some discussions regarding this case with the local criminal psychologists, gaining many invaluable insights that he needed to organize properly.

Seeing that the cat was paying him no mind, Bai Yutang had no choice but to stand up, stretch lazily, and pace back and forth up and down the aisle.

Just then, a flight attendant walked over in a flustered manner. She approached Bai Yutang and asked, "Sir, are you a police officer?"

"That's right." Sensing the flight attendant's emotional instability, Bai Yutang asked, "What's wrong?"

Zhan Zhao, on the other side, also shifted his attention away from his laptop and looked up at the two of them.

"Well, the status of three passengers in the economy cabin is very strange," the flight attendant said.

"Strange? In what way?" Zhan Zhao asked, perplexed.

At that moment, Bai Chi, who had been slumped over, also woke up. He crawled up in a daze and stared blankly at everyone.

"I saw them swallow a few pills, and then they started acting rather abnormal," the flight attendant said. "The plane is going to land in less than an hour, but they are looking worse and worse. Could you please go take a look?"

"No problem," Bai Yutang nodded. "By the way, how did you know I was a police officer?"

"Oh, the passenger in the front row told me." With that, the flight attendant pointed forward, and they saw a man sitting in the front-row seat leaning over the back of his chair, waving and greeting them.

...?...

Bai Yutang was certain he did not know this person. He turned his face to look at Zhan Zhao, who shook his head back at him, indicating that he didn't know him either.

The man looked to be about the same age as Bai Yutang and the others, wearing a stylish black leather jacket. He had an outstanding appearance, with a high bridge of nose supporting a pair of yellow-tinted glasses, neat short hair, and eye sockets and facial contours much deeper than those of an Asian. He must have been of mixed descent... Although they didn't know him, he... felt rather familiar.

"No need to look so surprised." The man pushed up his glasses with his middle finger and smiled brilliantly. "I know everything."

"Zhen! Stop fooling around." A middle-aged man who looked quite steady stood up from the seat beside him, gave him a tug, and then apologized to Bai Yutang, saying, "I'm sorry, he's a rather eccentric fellow."

"No," Bai Yutang interrupted him. "I'd very much like to know the reason."

"Heh heh." The one called Zhen maintained his brilliant smile. "Every category of person has a different aura. I can see it because I possess magical power."

..................

"Um... could you go take a look first?" The flight attendant interrupted them, urging Bai Yutang.

"Let's go," Bai Yutang raised an eyebrow at Zhan Zhao somewhat doubtfully—Are you coming?

Zhan Zhao also raised an eyebrow back at him—Not interested! He lowered his head and continued typing.

Bai Yutang followed the flight attendant toward the economy cabin. A now-awake Bai Chi quickly followed along as well. When passing by that man, the man looked at Bai Chi in puzzlement and asked, "You're a police officer too??" His tone was full of astonishment.

Oddly enough, the usually gentle and docile Bai Chi turned his head, glared at him, and said rather fiercely, "I don't talk to magicians. Magicians are all liars." With that, he quickened his pace, following Bai Yutang out of the first-class cabin.

The man stood stunned for a good while, then turned his head to ask Zhan Zhao, who wore an equally amazed expression, "How did he know I'm a magician?"

Zhan Zhao held back a laugh and shrugged. "Perhaps he can see your aura too..."

"Pfft~~" The middle-aged man sitting beside the man couldn't help laughing out loud either.

Zhan Zhao lowered his head, understanding dawning in his heart... He finally remembered why he felt the man looked familiar. He had seen his posters on the street, and there had been related reports in magazines. This person was called Zhao Zhen, hailed as the greatest magician of the contemporary era. Everyone called him the "Wizard" because his magic performances often left people bewildered, making it feel as though he truly possessed magical power. Furthermore, he himself quite liked showing off and always claimed he understood magic. He was wearing tinted glasses and didn't look quite like he did on the posters, which was why Zhan Zhao hadn't recognized him at first. Besides, even if he did look similar, someone like Bai Yutang, who never paid attention to entertainment, probably wouldn't have recognized him anyway. Zhan Zhao only remembered him entirely because his memory was simply too exceptional.

Just then, a commotion erupted from the economy cabin, and immediately afterward, two men holding small knives suddenly rushed over, one right after the other. Their eyes were bloodshot and their breathing was rapid; they had clearly ingested some kind of hallucinogenic drug, and evidently in no small quantity.

Right on their heels, Bai Yutang chased after them.

He grabbed the one running in the rear by the collar and pressed down hard on his shoulder. With a crisp click, that man shrieked and slumped limply to the floor. The one running in the front paused for a split second, and Zhao Zhen, who happened to be standing right beside him, suddenly used a movement almost identical to Bai Yutang's to dislocate his shoulder. He then looked up and smiled at Bai Yutang. "Learning on the spot and selling it right away—was my form standard enough?"

Bai Chi brought the other person that Bai Yutang had dropped over from the economy cabin as well, and the captain arranged for the three of them to sit in the first-class lounge.

"What's going on?" Zhan Zhao walked over to Bai Yutang's side, feeling rather curious.

"These kids took too many drugs, took out knives to hold a passenger hostage, and wanted the pilot to fly the plane to Afghanistan." Bai Yutang amusedly had the flight attendant force some tea down the three men's throats. Coupled with the pain of their dislocated joints, the three seemed to have regained a sliver of their sanity, their expressions turning somewhat dejected.

This commotion had frightened several passengers, and a little girl started crying with soft, broken wails, inconsolable no matter how she was comforted.

Zhao Zhen walked over, stroked her hair, and said, "Hey, little beauty, do you like flowers?"

The little girl looked up at him through her sobs, her eyes filled with puzzlement.

"What is this?" Zhao Zhen said, reaching behind her ear and pulling out a red rose.

"Eh?" The little girl's face was full of wonder, and she unconsciously stopped crying.

"Mmm!" Zhao Zhen sat down beside her and asked, "What kind of animal do you like?"

"Dolphins!" the little girl said excitedly.

"Haha." Zhao Zhen laughed. "That one's too big. If I conjured it out, it wouldn't fit in the airplane, so..." Saying this, he gave a gentle wave of his hand, reached out in front of the little girl, and slowly opened it.

There, right in the palm of his hand, was an exquisite little plastic dolphin.

The little girl immediately broke into smiles through her tears, and the surrounding passengers began to applaud. Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao also watched with amusement.

Zhao Zhen seemed to greatly enjoy this feeling of being the center of attention. He stood up to acknowledge the surrounding passengers, but when his gaze shifted toward Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang's direction, he froze... M.

They saw Bai Chi standing behind them, glaring at him with a face full of anger, muttering under his breath: "Liar!"

Both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang turned around in confusion to look at Bai Chi, while Zhao Zhen wore an even more bewildered expression as he quietly asked his manager, Qin Bi, who was beside him: "Did I ever offend him before?"

Qin Bi shook his head. "No recollection of it."

Bai Chi stomped over angrily and sat down in his seat. Zhao Zhen walked up to him and asked curiously, "Why did you call me a liar?"

Bai Chi glanced at him sideways with displeasure and said, "As long as your movement is faster than one-twenty-fifth of a second, coupled with proper misdirection, the naked eye can hardly catch your moves." With that, ignoring the awkward-looking Zhao Zhen, he turned his face away and didn't forget to tack on: "Magicians are all liars."

"Attention passengers, S City Airport will be arriving shortly, and the plane is about to prepare for landing. Please return to your seats..." The flight attendant's lovely voice rang out right on cue, easing the awkward atmosphere. Zhao Zhen hurried back to his seat, sat down, and fastened his seatbelt, while his brain desperately tried to recall: Did I offend this person in the past?? Why don't I remember? Short stature, baby face, big eyes... No way! I've truly never seen him before... Until the plane touched down, he was still racking his brain trying to think—to no avail!!!!

Bai Chi followed Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang to collect their luggage and get off the plane when Zhao Zhen suddenly threw a question at him: "What's your name?"

Giving him a cold stare, Bai Chi hoisted his luggage and quickly walked away—completely ignoring him.

"This guy definitely holds a grudge against me!" Zhao Zhen concluded once again~~~~

Once off the plane, Bai Yutang's cell phone rang. The call was from Wang Chao.

"Hello! Boss, have you guys arrived?" The background noise coming through the phone was somewhat chaotic, mixed with the sound of police sirens.

"What's wrong?" He had a bad premonition.

"It's a big deal. You'd better come straight to New Star Kindergarten," Wang Chao said. "It's hard to explain over the phone."

"Got it." Hanging up the phone, Bai Yutang shook his head at Zhan Zhao and Bai Chi, saying, "There's another case. Let's head to the scene first."

They drove toward New Star Kindergarten.

Both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were very familiar with this kindergarten; it was the same one where a hostage incident had occurred not long ago. The last time had been thrilling enough, and they had no idea what kind of trouble had cropped up this time.

Looking at the chaotic scene at the entrance, Bai Yutang sighed. "Shouldn't this kindergarten find a geomancy master to take a look?"

Wang Chao had already run out to brief them on the case: "The students who came to class this morning found their teacher dead inside the classroom."

Zhan Zhao frowned. "Dead in the classroom? Why would a straightforward murder be handed over to the S.C.I.?"

Wang Chao gave a wry smile. "This whole thing sounds bizarre! In any case, you'll understand once you go inside and look at the scene."

The group quickly reached the second-floor classroom. This was a senior kindergarten classroom. There was no class number on the door, only a moon-shaped colored plaque; every grade in this kindergarten had three classes, distinguished by stars, moons, and suns.

Walking through the classroom door, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang froze in their tracks. They saw that the desks and chairs in the middle of the classroom had been moved away, exposing an empty space. The victim was a young female, a very pretty kindergarten teacher. Her carotid artery had been slit, and she lay quietly in the center of the classroom. The most eerie part was that on the floor beneath her, a strange circular pattern was drawn in blood, looking remarkably like the kind of magic array popular in ancient Europe... This kind of scene was far too familiar.

Catching his breath, Zhan Zhao muttered, "The Magic Murder Case..."

Wang Chao nodded. "The guys from the Major Crimes Unit were all baffled the moment they saw this and notified us right away."

"Bizarre!" Bai Yutang's expression was equally grim.

Anyone in police work knew that the Magic Murder Case was one of S City's top ten unsolved cases. That mysterious killer murdered without selection and left behind a bizarre magic array pattern beneath the corpse at the crime scene every single time he struck. He had killed no less than thirty people within the span of a year... It was just that this killer had stopped committing crimes ten years ago, and the magic murderer seemed to have vanished into thin air. They never expected that ten years later, an identical case would occur once more.

Gongsun walked over, pulling off his gloves. He had already performed a preliminary autopsy.

"How is it?" Bai Yutang hurried forward and asked.

"The victim's name is Zhang Zhenzhen, twenty-three years old. The preliminary cause of death is determined to be excessive blood loss caused by a severed carotid artery. The time of death should be between ten and eleven o'clock last night."

"What about that magic array?" Zhan Zhao asked somewhat urgently.

"It was drawn using the victim's blood, using a tool like a calligraphy brush..." Gongsun paused here, looked at Bai Yutang, and said, "It's almost identical to that case from ten years ago."

Bai Yutang rubbed his brow in distress. "In other words, this isn't just some bored idiot imitating someone else's past crime?"

Gongsun shrugged. "That's outside my jurisdiction; I'm only responsible for the autopsy."

Zhan Zhao walked up beside the corpse, lowered his head to look, and circled around the body. Afterward, he climbed onto a desk to look down from a commanding height...

"Cat, what's wrong?" Bai Yutang asked.

Standing on the desk, Zhan Zhao shook his head and said, "It wasn't done by that person."

"Oh?" Bai Yutang and the others crowded over. "How do you figure?"

"I've studied that case for a long time." Zhan Zhao took the hand Bai Yutang extended to help him jump down from the desk and said, "Every time that killer finished murdering someone, he would stand at a high vantage point to look at the victim's appearance, as if he were admiring a work of art. That process probably gave him more criminal enjoyment than actually killing the victim. Therefore, at every crime scene of his, there was bound to be a raised object appearing four or five steps directly above the victim's head, just like this..." With that, Zhan Zhao picked up a chair, walked over to a spot five steps away directly facing the victim's head, set the stool down, let Bai Yutang stand on it, and asked him, "What do you see?"

Bai Yutang looked down at the corpse from above and said, "The entire body and pattern are within my field of view." Having said that, he climbed down and beckoned to the forensics officer, telling them, "Take a few photos from that angle as well."

Wang Chao rubbed his head and said, "Looks like an copycat crime then. Better leave it to the Major Crimes Unit."

Bai Chi squatted on the ground, carefully examining the pattern, and said, "He's going to kill again." Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang nodded as well.

Seeing that Wang Chao was still somewhat doubtful, Zhan Zhao asked him, "If you killed someone and wanted to pin the blame on a serial killer, would you choose to imitate someone who hasn't committed a crime in ten years?"

Everyone fell silent.

Bai Yutang sighed and said, "An copycat serial killer, huh..."

"Rather than calling it imitation, it feels more like some other reason," Zhan Zhao said. "Copycat serial killers generally possess a certain borderline and antisocial personality disorder. They lack basic emotions like pity and moral values, but their cognitive faculties are far more developed. They idolize the person they are imitating and enjoy the thrill of becoming their idol during the process of imitation, which is why they pay extreme attention to details! It's just that..."

"It's just that this person's imitation was rushed," Bai Yutang picked up the thought. "There's no sense of enjoyment at all; they simply learned the steps mechanically."

"What does that tell us?" A Major Crimes Unit officer on the side couldn't help asking out of curiosity.

"It indicates that the killer himself has a certain connection to this real magic murderer... though it probably isn't a relationship of knowing or understanding each other." Zhan Zhao lightly tapped his chin. "To be more precise, I feel he might be related to the magic murderer's murder cases."

Bai Yutang thought for a moment and said to Wang Chao, "We're taking this case. Have the people in the department gather all previous materials regarding the magic murder cases, investigate all the victims, and give me a list of their family members and close friends."

"Yes, boss!" Wang Chao immediately accepted the order and left.

Bai Chi finally stood up, turned to look at Zhan Zhao, and said, "This is a medieval magic array. It looks like the pattern of an eye."

"It really does look quite a bit like an eye." Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao looked at it closely.

"What does an eye represent?" Bai Yutang asked.

"I'm not very familiar with that," Bai Chi shook his head.

Zhan Zhao smiled, patted Bai Chi's head, and said, "Bai Chi, go to the municipal library later and borrow all the books about magic!"

"Okay." Bai Chi turned around, preparing to leave, when he suddenly thought of something, turned back, and asked in a low voice, "Does Harry Potter count?"

.........Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged glances and simultaneously pointed at the door: "Go!"

"O—okay~~" Bai Chi scurried off in a hurry.

Walking out of the teaching building, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang saw a dozen or so children gathered in the small playground not far away, all of them looking shaken. Collecting evidence from such young children was difficult; six- or seven-year-olds mostly couldn't tell fantasy from reality apart. However, both of them were pleasantly surprised to see a familiar figure... little Lu Zhen.

Lu Zhen was comforting a crying female classmate, occasionally raising his head to glance in their direction. Bai Yutang beckoned to him, and Lu Zhen nodded, turning to say a few words to the girl beside him. The girl nodded, and Lu Zhen pulled her along as they walked up to Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang.

"Uncle Bai, Uncle Zhan, her name is Sun Qian. This morning it was her who first discovered the body," Lu Zhen said, looking up. "I asked her just now, and she doesn't know what happened either. She pushed the door open and saw Teacher Zhang lying on the floor, covered in blood, and then she got scared and cried. Later on, the rest of us arrived, and I called teachers from other classes so they could call the police."

Following that, Lu Zhen provided some detailed information regarding Zhang Zhenzhen, though there weren't any particularly special gains.

After finishing their questioning, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang decided to head back to the S.C.I. first.

"Cat, you haven't slept at all since last night," Bai Yutang said while driving.

"I'm not tired." Zhan Zhao leaned against the seat, looking out the car window. "Where are you going? The police station isn't in this direction."

"We're going home to take a shower first, and you'd better sleep for a few hours," Bai Yutang said as the car had already driven up to the front of their dormitory building.

"No, everyone has things to do... Mph..." Zhan Zhao was somewhat anxious, but his words were cut short by a kiss from Bai Yutang.

"Cat, you just need to keep a clear head, understand?" Bai Yutang lightly tapped Zhan Zhao's chin.

Blushing as he pushed him away, Zhan Zhao got out of the car angrily and headed upstairs, while Bai Yutang shouted from behind: "Cat, help me carry my luggage!!"

As he walked, Zhan Zhao fumed at himself. What's wrong with me lately? That mouse can just say whatever he wants, and my face will flush and my heart will race~~~ It's infuriating!!