S.C.I. (Volume I) - Case 3: Chapter 4

The Magic Killer 04: Bloodline 

Ma Han's single word, "Coming," successfully captured everyone's attention and also gave Bai Chi, standing behind him, a start. Instinctively, Bai Chi grabbed a fistful of Ma Han's jacket, shrank behind him, and then curiously poked his head out to gaze outside, asking in a small voice, "Where?"

Ma Han pointed toward the direction of the construction site entrance. Following where he pointed, Bai Chi indeed saw a sneaky figure walking anxiously toward the construction site. It was a long-haired woman holding a white plastic bag in her hand.

"Boss, did you see that?" Ma Han picked up the walkie-talkie and asked Bai Yutang.

"Saw it!" Bai Yutang watched the woman's movements and said, "Everyone stay put for now and see what on earth she's trying to do!"

"Understood!" Everyone hid themselves in the shadows and watched intently.

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao silently and stealthily climbed down from their vehicle, and as soon as the woman entered the site, they trailed right behind her.

The woman crossed the pile of rubble, scrambled past a stack of concrete pipes, and reached the side of the magic array pattern. Kneeling down before the pattern drawn in fresh blood, which looked even more eerie under the night sky, she bowed her head.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang cautiously climbed up onto the concrete pipe, keeping a close eye on her actions.

They saw that she was a woman looking to be around thirty years old, not very young, perhaps due to wearing very plain and simple clothing. She knelt there like that, staring blankly at the pattern on the ground for a moment, and then pulled something out of the plastic bag beside her.

Just then, the crisp sound of a lighter's flint striking rang out, and a flame ignited... She lit a strip of paper in her hand. By the light of the fire, Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao saw that it was a slip of paper resembling a talisman, covered in bizarre symbols.

With his exceptionally keen eyesight, Bai Yutang was startled to see words like "evil spirit" written on that talisman~~~

Waving the burning slip of paper in her hand, the woman trembled as she repeatedly chanted under her breath, "Every debt has a debtor, every wrong has a perpetrator~~~ Jiali~~~ If you want revenge, go find the real culprit; stop harming the innocent..."

...Jiali??... Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged a swift glance. The final victim of that magic serial murder case was named Xu Jiali... Was there a connection here?

The woman kept rambling on and on, saying things like, "I still have a child, he's innocent, I've had a really hard time these past few years..." and so forth.

This "ritual" lasted for about twenty minutes. Afterward, the woman packed up her things, stood up, and prepared to leave.

Bai Yutang raised his walkie-talkie, just about to give the order to "make the arrest," when he heard Ma Han speak up in a low voice, "Boss, there's someone else!"

...What?... Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao were taken aback. Turning their heads to look back, they saw a figure in a black hoodie walking up to the entrance of the construction site in the distance. Peering inside, the figure suddenly caught sight of Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, spun around, and bolted.

Bai Yutang mentally cursed a bitter "Damn it," picked up the walkie-talkie, and said, "Move in!" He then leaped down from the concrete pipe and chased after the figure.

Zhan Zhao followed closely behind, while Wang Chao and Zhang Long had already rushed out to grab the startled woman.

The dark figure flashed and sprinted into an alley. After chasing for a few steps, Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao found they had completely lost track of the person...

With no other choice, they turned back. The woman had already been escorted into a vehicle by Wang Chao and the others.

"Let's wrap it up for tonight," Bai Yutang ordered with a frown, and the group headed back to the police station.

Inside the S.C.I. office.

Bai Yutang asked Zhan Zhao, "Cat, how should we interrogate this person?"

Zhan Zhao pondered for a moment. "Did you hear what she was saying earlier?"

"You mean about Xu Jiali?"

"Mmm." Zhan Zhao nodded. "This might really be connected to the case from back then... I think it's best we start our approach from there."

"How's her emotional state?" Bai Yutang asked Wang Chao.

"A bit anxious," Wang Chao replied.

Zhan Zhao mused for a moment and said, "She should already be married with a family, and there might even be a child at home."

Everyone nodded.

"That's right, that's definitely the impression," Bai Yutang said. "Judging by her age, the child shouldn't be very old."

"How about this," Zhan Zhao suggested. "Let's hold off on questioning her for now and make her wait. We have the legal right to detain her for forty-two hours, right?"

Bai Yutang nodded. "You mean, make her sweat and panic first?"

"Right!" Zhan Zhao nodded. "Though it's best if we can figure out her identity first, as well as her relationship with Xu Jiali. That way, we'll hold the initiative during the interrogation!"

Bai Yutang instructed Wang Chao to run a check on her identity first, while telling everyone else to head home and get some rest.

After everyone had dispersed, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang walked over to Jiang Ping's side to look at the materials regarding the magic diagrams he had organized today.

Zhan Zhao suddenly asked Bai Chi, who was nodding off from exhaustion beside them, "Aren't you going back?"

Bai Chi's face flushed slightly as he said, "I... I'm not tired."

Bai Yutang stared at him for a moment and asked with a smile, "Are you scared to go back alone?"

"N—no~~~" Bai Chi's voice grew smaller and smaller.

Zhan Zhao said with a smile, "How about we drop you off later?"

"...Okay..." Bai Chi nodded, his face turning even redder.

Rubbing his aching neck, Jiang Ping said, "Boss, these diagrams are too hard to track down. I've been searching all day, and I still can't find a complete set."

"Indeed, these diagrams are rather niche, and nobody quite knows what they mean," Zhan Zhao said, nodding. "Are there any experts who specialize in this sort of thing..."

"Specialize in what?" The door was pushed open, and Bao Zheng walked in.

"Chief Bao?" Bai Yutang looked completely surprised. "You haven't gone home yet?"

"Heh, I was waiting for you guys. I've arranged to meet a friend and wanted you all to meet him," Bao Zheng said.

"A friend?" Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao looked perplexed. "You want us to meet him?"

"You could say there's some mutual history, and besides... the case you've been busy with lately... he should be able to help."

...?...

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with doubt.

"Bai Chi, you come too," Bao Zheng suddenly added.

"Me?" Bai Chi was baffled and felt a bit nervous. This was the first time Chief Bao had ever spoken directly to him, after all~~~

"Let's go." Bao Zheng didn't say much more, ushering everyone along as they left.

Driving out, the four of them arrived at a villa area in the suburbs of S City, pulling to a stop in front of a small villa with rather eccentric architecture.

Bao Zheng pressed the doorbell.

The person who opened the door was a lean, elderly man. He warmly welcomed Bao Zheng and the others inside, saying with a smile, "You're late."

"Ah, had to wait for a few youngsters. Where is he?" Bao Zheng asked with a smile.

"The young master is in the studio." The old man led the group toward the back and up to the second floor.

The door to the second-floor room was ajar. As soon as the elderly man pushed the door open and Bao Zheng and the others stepped inside, they were dumbfounded by the sight before them: in a massive room surrounded by mirrors on all sides, piles of boxes and fabric scraps littered the floor, and clothes hung densely from metal racks along the walls. Most peculiar of all was that, right in the center of the room, lay a huge white lion. Judging by the way it raised its head to look at the newcomers and swished its head and tail, this was undoubtedly a living male white lion... It wasn't locked inside a cage; it was just lying there on the floor.

Leaning against the body of that lion was a person wearing a loose white button-down shirt and slim-fitting black trousers... He seemed to be asleep, lazily pillowing his head on the lion's soft belly.

The moment Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang laid eyes on that person, they almost cried out in shock, staring in disbelief at Bao Zheng: this person, although young, had a temperament and an aura emanating from his facial features that looked uncannily—like Zhao Jue!

"Chief Bao... is he?"

"Heh..." Bao Zheng smiled at the two of them and said, "He's Zhao Jue's only nephew."

...!...

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged glances. No wonder Bao Zheng had said this person had a connection to them.

At that moment, the old man had already stepped forward to gently shake the person's shoulder. "Young master, young master, Chief Bao is here."

"Mmm~~~" The man frowned slightly, gradually waking up. Opening his eyes, he looked blankly at the old man beside him.

Once he opened his eyes, those deep-set facial contours, more striking than an average person's, sent a wave of familiarity washing over Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao... To be honest, apart from the aura and feeling when he was asleep resembling Zhao Jue, his actual looks didn't really look like him... The reason they found him familiar was because—the person in front of them was none other than Zhao Zhen, whom they had bumped into on the airplane the other day.

It took Zhao Zhen a few seconds to fully wake up. Turning his head and spotting Bao Zheng, he immediately broke into a brilliant smile: "Uncle Bao."

He nimbly scrambled up from the floor and walked over to greet the group.

Bao Zheng introduced them. Although Zhao Zhen was friendly and easygoing, for some reason, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang could always catch glimpses of Zhao Jue's shadow in him, making things feel a bit awkward. When little Bai Chi was introduced, Zhao Zhen beamed even brighter, making Bai Chi deeply regret why he had agreed to tag along in the first place.

At that moment, the white lion suddenly stood up, stretched lazily, and padded toward the group.

It seemed rather curious, sniffing Zhan Zhao and then sniffing Bai Yutang. Being sniffed by a carnivorous beast of that size was not a pleasant sensation, and Zhao Zhen hurriedly reassured them, "Don't worry, it was raised alongside humans since it was a cub and won't hurt anyone."

"Really?" Zhan Zhao looked curiously at the giant feline, feeling a tiny spark of interest~~~

When the lion sniffed Bai Chi, it seemed to freeze for a second, sniffed him again, and then began rubbing its massive, furry head affectionately against Bai Chi's body.

Bai Chi stared at it for a moment, squatted down to take a closer look, and then suddenly threw his arms around it, crying out in pleasant surprise, "Lisbon?!~~~ Aren't you a cat? How did you grow up to be this big??"

The lion, called "Lisbon," let out a few pleased low rumbles, rubbing back and forth against Bai Chi's neck.

Everyone stared in astonishment at the human and the lion rubbing affectionately against each other.

Zhao Zhen's jaw dropped even wider. "Y... how do you know his name is Lisbon? Are you..."

Hugging the lion, Bai Chi turned his face around and glared fiercely at Zhao Zhen. "Liar!!"

...It took a long while before Zhao Zhen finally spoke, a look of sudden realization dawning on his face: "I... I remember who you are now…”