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

The Magic Killer 03: The "Ghost" 

December 12th, morning, 8:30 AM, S.C.I. Office at the Police Department

Everyone in the conference room wore a grim expression. The bloody crime scene photos on the table stimulated everyone's nerves.

Gongsun was the last to enter, holding Sun Qian's autopsy report with a gloomy look on his face.

"How is it?" Once he sat down, Bai Yutang asked somewhat eagerly. At this moment, everyone was extremely concerned about one point: whether what Zhan Zhao said was true—that the perpetrator of yesterday's crime and the one today were two different people!

Gongsun rubbed the bridge of his nose and said, "Two different people."

Although everyone trusted Zhan Zhao's judgment a hundred percent, they still harbored a tiny sliver of hope, praying that the ending wouldn't be so terrible. However, the forensic pathologist's conclusion was ironclad evidence.

"Zhang Zhenzhen's wound incision went from the lower-left to the upper-right direction, meaning the killer was right-handed." Gongsun gently gestured in the air and continued, "Sun Qian's wound extended from the lower-right to the upper-left, which means the killer was left-handed. Furthermore, the depths of the two knife wounds were also different."

"Does that mean the two people had different strengths?" Bai Yutang asked.

"That's right!" Gongsun nodded. "Zhang Zhenzhen's wound was relatively shallow, whereas Sun Qian's wound was very deep."

"What does that indicate?" Wang Chao said. "That the killers had different physiques?"

Gongsun shook his head and said, "Actually, there are many factors that cause wound depths to vary. Besides, Sun Qian was a child, much easier to subdue than Zhang Zhenzhen..." He paused for a moment. "However, I personally lean toward Xiaozhao's view: the first one is a novice, and the second one is a veteran."

"Why is that?" Zhao Hu asked, puzzled. "They haven't committed crimes in all these years, only to suddenly reappear, and the victim they killed is even a child?"

Bai Yutang pondered for a long moment and said, "The information we have on hand right now is too scarce. Everyone split up to gather clues. Wang Chao and Zhang Long, go scout around the school and see if there are any witnesses. Ma Han, you go check out that construction site. Zhao Hu and Xu Qing, go visit the victim's family members and investigate their social relations. Gongsun, pull out all the autopsy reports from the previous cases and compare them. Cat and Bai Chi, find all the old cases this afternoon. Jiang Ping, go find information regarding the magic arrays. I'll go ask the officers previously in charge of these cases about the situation. We'll split up our operations today and reconvene tomorrow morning. Understood?"

"Understood." After receiving their orders, everyone dispersed.

Jiang Ping hammered away furiously at his keyboard; Gongsun rushed off to the archives room; Zhan Zhao and Bai Chi plunged headfirst into an ocean of books and newspapers, beginning to browse through the text at a speed that looked down upon all living things~~~

Bai Yutang looked left and right, discovered there was nothing for him to do, and strolled downstairs.

The first floor of the police department was where ordinary cases were handled: civil disputes, brawling hoodlums, drugged minors, petty theft...

"Uncle Wen." Bai Yutang walked into the chaotic office and patted an old man who was busy taking an interrogation statement.

"Oh! Little Bai!" The old man addressed as Uncle Wen hurried to his feet. "How did a busy man like you end up coming down here?"

"Are you busy?" Bai Yutang asked with a smile.

"Not busy, not busy. No matter how busy you are, you have to drop it for you, don't you?" Uncle Wen cheerfully found another police officer to continue his work and beckoned Bai Yutang to sit in the inner office.

"What's wrong? Is there something you need this old man's help with?" Uncle Wen asked while pouring tea.

"Oh~~~ I want to ask, who was the one investigating that magic serial murder case ten years ago..."

Just as Bai Yutang's voice trailed off, a loud crash echoed as Uncle Wen's cup slipped entirely from his hand, spilling hot water all over the floor.

"What's wrong, Uncle Wen?" Bai Yutang hurriedly stepped forward to take the electric kettle from his hand and helped him sit down. He saw that Uncle Wen's face was pale and his hands were trembling slightly.

"Sigh... I'm fine. How shameful, I'm getting too old to handle shocks." Uncle Wen collected himself, and his complexion improved a good deal. "It's all things from over a decade ago."

"Uncle Wen, why did you have such a big reaction?" Bai Yutang probed cautiously.

"Heh..." Uncle Wen pointed at him with a smile. "You and your old man are cut from the same cloth—both crafty foxes!"

Bai Yutang chuckled quietly, saying nothing as he waited for Uncle Wen to continue.

"That cop's surname was Wei, named Wei Yong... He investigated that serial killer for several years. His fiancée was also killed by that killer, and after that, he went crazy tracking and investigating day and night. But, that killer vanished into thin air ten years ago. Because Wei Yong's behavior became somewhat extreme... he ultimately left the police force," Uncle Wen said. "This case lasted quite a long time. The other officers either got reassigned midway or, like me, didn't pay it much mind. In short, the only one who chased after it relentlessly from start to finish was this Wei Yong."

"Then where is he now?" Bai Yutang asked.

"..." Uncle Wen fell silent for a moment before saying, "I don't know the specifics. I only know he opened a detective agency of his own and is still investigating."

"I see..." Bai Yutang nodded in understanding and was just about to say something else when a commotion broke out outside the door.

Uncle Wen stood up and walked out.

Inside the spacious office, several police officers were forcing a punk with a bloody head and a steady stream of curses to sit down in a chair. On the other side was a screaming young woman dressed in casual denim. She seemed drunk and was shouting abuse at the man, while two younger girls beside her struggled to hold her back. Bai Yutang recognized these two girls; they were Qi Le and Chen Yu.

"What are you doing?!!" Uncle Wen bellowed, and both sides finally quieted down.

"This bitch got drunk and started hitting people randomly!" The punk covered his head and said, "I was just walking properly down the street when she rushed out and smashed my head with a wine bottle! I'm going to sue her for assault!"

"Be honest!" An officer on the side shoved him back down into his seat. "She's not going to attack you for no reason if you didn't provoke her!!"

"Officer, didn't you see she was drunk..." The punk turned back to yell, but abruptly caught sight of Bai Yutang standing to one side. He immediately clamped his mouth shut, gave a cough, and sat up straight and proper.

Qi Le also spotted Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang raised an eyebrow at her and asked, "Didn't you turn over a new leaf? Why are you still running around with this crowd?"

"I'm not!" Qi Le hurriedly defended herself, then muttered under her breath, "Who's out running with a bad crowd at the crack of dawn? She's a roommate from our shared apartment who didn't come back last night, so we went to the bar street to look for her."

Chen Yu beside her nodded vigorously. "That's right! We were afraid she'd get taken advantage of, so we followed her to the police station."

Bai Yutang nodded and looked at the punk. "How are you holding up?"

"N—no problem..." The punk forced a ingratiating smile. "It's all my fault for not watching where I was walking... Heh heh."

Qi Le and Chen Yu wore looks of astonishment, but the other officers understood completely. Street punks wouldn't even dare offend Big Brother Bai, let alone these minor underlings.

The punk stood up, ready to leave. "Nothing's wrong, big sisters, it was just a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding... I'm off."

"Hold on." Bai Yutang called him back. Seeing the punk turn pale, he smiled. "What are you afraid of?" With that, he handed him a few bills. "Take this back to treat your injuries."

"Oh~~~ Thank you..." The punk grabbed the money and bolted like lightning.

Qi Le wore an awkward expression and whispered, "I'll pay you back."

Bai Yutang turned back and saw that Uncle Wen and the others were already busy with other matters, sensing keenly that Uncle Wen seemed reluctant to talk much about the events of back then.

At that moment, the woman being supported by Qi Le and Chen Yu suddenly stared at Bai Yutang and chuckled stupidly, drunkenly pointing an accusing finger at him as she slurred, "Heh... good... good man..."

"Li Xu, stop acting up!" Fearing that Bai Yutang would get angry, Qi Le hurriedly pulled her back, but Li Xu shook her off, continued pointing at Bai Yutang, and said, "A scourge! You can tell at a glance he's a scourge... Haha... Murderers must pay with their lives! Look! Retribution has come, hasn't it... It's all because of you!"

Bai Yutang frowned slightly. Qi Le hurriedly shielded Li Xu, turning back to say to Bai Yutang, "Please don't mind her, she's drunk..."

In fact, what caught Bai Yutang's attention was Li Xu's line about murderers paying with their lives. After a moment of thought, he said to Qi Le, "Help her to the entrance, I'll drive you back."

"Ah? No need..." Before Qi Le could finish her sentence, Bai Yutang had already turned around to go get his car.

After driving for about fifteen minutes, they arrived at the apartment Qi Le and her roommates rented. Along the way, Bai Yutang chatted casually with the two of them. Qi Le was relatively introverted, but Chen Yu was quite talkative. Bai Yutang roughly figured out that the heavily intoxicated woman was named Li Xu. She worked as a stage designer, frequently got drunk, was very easy to get along with when sober, but turned into a wild drunk like this when intoxicated, spouting nonsense about good men being scourges—likely because she had been dumped ruthlessly in the past...

Upon arriving at the destination, Bai Yutang stopped Qi Le, who had turned to help Li Xu up the stairs. "Your phone."

Qi Le didn't quite understand, but still placed her phone into Bai Yutang's outstretched hand.

Rapidly punching in a number, Bai Yutang handed the phone back to Qi Le. "Call me if anything comes up."

Stunned for a second, Qi Le nodded, turned to leave, but then turned back. "I... I've stopped taking those pills."

Bai Yutang smiled, nodded, and drove away.

Watching the car drive out of view, Chen Yu nudged Qi Le in amazement. "Gosh, does he have a crush on you?"

"..." Qi Le shot her a sideways glance. "What wild fantasies are running through your head?"

"Then why was he so nice to you?" Chen Yu asked while supporting Li Xu inside.

Naturally, Qi Le understood in her heart. Bai Yutang must have felt a certain degree of responsibility for her current helpless state because she had killed Qi Leizhi... He truly was a good person.

"He has a beloved darling," Qi Le couldn't possibly clarify things to Chen Yu, so she could only brush it off with an excuse.

"A beloved darling? What does she look like? I'm so curious what kind of woman he would fall for~~~" Chen Yu asked with great interest.

"Stop being such a busybody." Qi Le pulled out her keys to open the door.

"Tell me about it, is she pretty?" Chen Yu pursued curiously.

Qi Le helped haul her inside, sighed helplessly, and said, "...Pretty is an understatement..."

She closed the door.

At the corner of the hallway outside, a lurking figure poked out the upper half of their body, eyes glaring with malice at the door that had just closed.

Bai Yutang drove back to the police station. He made a call to Xu Qing, instructing him to run a background check on both Wei Yong and Li Xu.

Years of investigative experience and innate intuition made Bai Yutang vaguely sense a hint of strangeness.

The S.C.I. office was piled high with a spectacular mountain of documents. Zhan Zhao and Bai Chi sat amidst the document stacks, browsing through them and exchanging remarks every now and then.

Gongsun walked into the office carrying several files. Seeing the state of the two, he shook his head and sighed~~~

"Where's Little Bai?" he asked Jiang Ping, who was typing away with his head down.

"The captain said he went downstairs. Not sure why he hasn't come back yet," Jiang Ping replied without lifting his head, then pointed at the screen and asked Gongsun, "Isn't this pattern the same as the one under Zhang Zhenzhen's corpse?"

Gongsun leaned over. "It is!" He opened the files to look at the photos. "Identical!" What was this?

"I found this on a foreign witchcraft enthusiast website." Jiang Ping boxed a paragraph of commentary for Gongsun to see. "The eye pattern is called 'Atkin' in incantations. It represents that past evil deeds did not escape the Grim Reaper's eyes, and everything has come to a time of reckoning. This is heaven's punishment."

"What about the one under Sun Qian's corpse?" Gongsun pulled out another photo for Jiang Ping to compare.

Right at that moment, Lu Fang knocked on the door and walked in. "Little Bai..."

Jiang Ping looked up and called out, "The boss went out, he'll be back shortly."

"Er..." Lu Fang looked somewhat troubled before hearing someone behind him say, "It's fine, I can go inside and wait."

Gongsun felt the voice sounded somewhat familiar. Raising his head to look, he was surprised to see Shen Qian walking in.

"Hi, Gongsun, we meet again." Shen Qian greeted him with practiced familiarity.

Gongsun looked at Lu Fang with some puzzlement, and Lu Fang explained, "Oh, Mr. Shen is the owner of the construction site where the second body was found. He came to cooperate with the police investigation."

Gongsun and Jiang Ping exchanged glances, and Jiang Ping smiled. "What a truly enthusiastic citizen."

Shen Qian smiled, shrugged, and said to Gongsun, "Actually, I just wanted to see where you work."

Gongsun turned to Jiang Ping and said, "Call me when Little Bai gets back. I have important matters to discuss with him."

"Ok." Jiang Ping nodded.

Gongsun turned and left with his files, and Shen Qian quickly took a step to follow. "Do you mind letting me tour the forensics lab?"

"I do." Gongsun turned his head and said with a cold sneer, "When I work, I only like staying with corpses."

With that, he left.

Shen Qian stood in place looking somewhat awkward, while Jiang Ping hurriedly lowered his head to suppress a smile and keep typing.

At that moment, Bai Yutang pushed the door open.

"Boss! Gongsun said he has something important to discuss with you," Jiang Ping hurriedly announced.

"Tell him to come over, I made some discoveries too," Bai Yutang said as he walked toward Zhan Zhao's office, pausing slightly when he spotted Shen Qian standing there like a pillar.

"Oh, hello, I am..." Shen Qian started to speak, but Jiang Ping chimed in on his behalf, "That construction site belongs to him."

Bai Yutang nodded and asked Shen Qian, "Is there something you need?"

"I came to see if there's anything I can cooperate with," Shen Qian said.

Bai Yutang glanced at him. "Not at the moment. If there is, we'll contact you. Thanks for your cooperation."

At this point, Gongsun had already received Jiang Ping's call and walked back in, while Wang Chao and Zhang Long also rushed back in a flurry, shouting as soon as they crossed the threshold, "Boss! We've got a lead!"

"Let's talk inside." With that, Bai Yutang dropped Shen Qian and entered the conference room along with the others.

Catching a glimpse of Shen Qian looking somewhat sheepish as he departed outside the door, Bai Yutang asked Jiang Ping, "What's the meaning of this?"

Jiang Ping shrugged, poked his chin toward Gongsun, and whispered, "His intentions go far beyond the wine."

Bai Yutang nodded in understanding. Looking at the files piled everywhere in the room, he asked Zhan Zhao, "Cat, how's it going?"

Zhan Zhao and little Bai Chi raised their heads together. "Just about done."

Y

"What's the situation?" Bai Yutang first asked the excited Wang Chao and Zhang Long.

The two exchanged glances, and Wang Chao spoke up, "Boss, we asked around the neighborhood near the school, and didn't find anything. However, the school security guard said... the school was haunted last night!"

"Huh??" Hearing this, everyone stopped what they were doing and looked up at the two of them in astonishment.

"Haunted?!" Bai Chi let out a soft exclamation of fright, leaning closer to Zhan Zhao's side.

"That's right!" Zhang Long said. "The school security guard went out for a round around ten last night and said he saw a greenish ghost fire inside the classroom where the dead person was, along with the silhouette of a long-haired woman swaying in front of the window. He got so scared he ran away."

Everyone wore looks of doubt and suspicion. Zhan Zhao looked with amusement at Bai Chi, who was gripping the hem of his clothes tightly. "Are you scared?"

"Mmm!!" Bai Chi nodded earnestly, prompting soft chuckles from everyone. He flushed red as he looked at them. "You... aren't you guys scared?"

Zhang Long squatted down and patted his head. "You're a police officer, why do you believe in these things?"

"Then, what's going on?" Bai Chi asked in a low voice.

"Did you notice that the classroom windows are green?" Gongsun asked Bai Chi.

"Mmm." Bai Chi nodded.

"That means someone burned something inside," Bai Yutang said. "A long-haired woman... if the security guard wasn't seeing things."

"She ran over there to burn things..." Bai Chi looked at Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao nodded. "If not the killer, then an insider."

Bai Yutang nodded and said, "Everyone seize the time to rest up. Tonight, we're going to stake out the construction site for the whole night to see if we can catch a big fish!"

"Gongsun, what did you discover?" Bai Yutang asked.

"These are the previous autopsy reports," Gongsun said, pulling them out. "Only the last victim was a child; all the others were adults."

Zhan Zhao picked up a newspaper placed nearby and said, "Right, her name was Xu Jiali, a thirteen-year-old girl."

Bai Yutang looked at the autopsy report and the newspaper, asking, "Is there a problem?"

"The other victims were all killed outright by having their carotid arteries slashed with a knife. Only she had trauma to the back of her head, caused by a blunt instrument strike," Gongsun said.

Bai Yutang frowned in puzzlement. "This... what does that indicate?"

"The killer's modus operandi changed," Zhan Zhao said. "It can't be explained through behavioral analysis!"

"How so?" The others looked at Zhan Zhao uncomprehendingly.

Zhan Zhao explained, "This killer's magic array patterns all carry a certain meaning and are drawn with extreme detail. He's a perfectionist, and the lines of every single one of his patterns start from the neck wound and spiral outward around the body, making the entire diagram quite complete! However, if there was bleeding from other places, it would ruin the completeness of the diagram, which is something a person of his type can absolutely never tolerate."

"Then what does that mean?" Bai Yutang frowned. "That case wasn't done by him?"

Zhan Zhao nodded. "That's one possibility. Another possibility is that some sort of mishap occurred while he was committing the crime."

"Perhaps this mishap is what caused him to stop committing crimes for the next ten years?!" Bai Yutang chimed in.

"Right!" Zhan Zhao nodded approvingly.

"Ok! Everyone get ready, we move out tonight!" Bai Yutang said as he walked over to help tidy up the newspapers.

Bai Chi suddenly said to Zhan Zhao, as if having made up his mind, "We're catching ghosts tonight, I want to go too!"

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

Everyone burst out laughing, and Zhan Zhao rubbed his head. "I told you it's not a ghost!"

In the evening, the S.C.I. crew eagerly went out to catch "ghosts." Gongsun naturally had no interest in it. He walked downstairs, where Bai Jingtang had just called to say he was coming to pick him up for dinner and told him to wait at the entrance of the police department.

However, the car pulling up in front of Gongsun was a white BMW.

"Got time to grace me with your company for dinner?" Shen Qian appeared once more, sitting inside the car and pushing the door open.

Gongsun looked at him somewhat helplessly. At that moment, Bai Jingtang's black Mercedes-Benz had already pulled up right behind Shen Qian's BMW. The car door opened, and Bai Jingtang stepped out, walking over to Gongsun's side. "Waiting long?"

"Just came down." Gongsun smiled slightly.

"What a coincidence, President Bai." Shen Qian got out of the car and stood in front of Bai Jingtang. Gongsun reaffirmed that these two were incomparable; Bai Jingtang's presence was unquestionably stronger than Shen Qian's. Angering Bai Jingtang was just asking for trouble, even if his purpose remained unknown...

"Let's go." Gongsun tugged on Bai Jingtang and left with him. Shen Qian smiled, climbed back into his car, and let out an icy, chilling laugh. "The brothers are cut from the same cloth—annoyingly capable, though they both have pretty good taste."

He drove away.

The S.C.I. members lay in ambush in the cold wind around the perimeter of the construction site.

It was already ten o'clock at night, and there was still no movement. Ma Han, Zhang Long, and the most timid Bai Chi stood guard at the highest point of the construction site's building, gazing downward; Zhao Hu and Wang Chao concealed themselves in the rear of the site.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang sat inside the car, staring at the entrance of the construction site.

"Cat, cold?" Bai Yutang asked.

"Mmm~~~" Zhan Zhao shook his head.

"Christmas is in a few days," Bai Yutang suddenly said. "Want to go spend it in the mountains?"

"The mountains?" Zhan Zhao asked, perplexed.

Bai Yutang pulled out a set of keys and dangled them. "Zhaohui gave them to me, saying my older brother recently built a cluster of hot spring resort cabins halfway up the mountain... Do you want to come with me to spend Christmas?"

Zhan Zhao froze slightly, his face flushing a bit as he nodded.

Bai Yutang grew somewhat nervous and confirmed it once more. "Um, are you really willing to go with me? Just the two of us, y'know... overnight."

Zhan Zhao's face turned even redder. He turned his head away, uttered a soft "mm," and nodded again.

Right at that moment, the walkie-talkie chimed. Bai Yutang hurriedly pressed the receive button and heard Ma Han report, "Boss, they're here!”