S.C.I. (Volume I) - Case 3: Chapter 13

The Magic Killer 13 - Magic  

Leaving the pedestrian street, Bai Yutang quietly instructed Ma Han to have someone keep an eye on the gallery and watch for anyone coming and going. After Ma Han agreed, he first drove the bewildered Chen Jiayi back to the corporation, then went off to set up the surveillance.

Bai Yutang drove Zhan Zhao back to S.C.I., and the two remained silent along the way. Zhan Zhao was quiet, watching the scenery outside the window. After the car drove out of the bustling downtown area, Bai Yutang made a U-turn and headed up the mountain road.

“Where are you going?” Zhan Zhao noticed this wasn't the road back to the police station and asked Bai Yutang with some puzzlement.

“Familiarizing myself with the terrain,” Bai Yutang replied casually.

“What terrain?” Zhan Zhao was even more perplexed.

“The hot spring villa. Christmas is coming soon.”

“...” Zhan Zhao didn't react at first, but upon hearing the word "Christmas," his face turned red. He gritted his teeth: “White Mouse, what time is it, and you still have the mood to joke?!”

“Who's joking?!” Bai Yutang raised an eyebrow. “I'm counting down the days, there aren't many left!”

“Don't even dream about it until this case is over!” Zhan Zhao glared fiercely at him!

“Then we'll just have to work hard to wrap up the case before Christmas!” Bai Yutang blinked. “For our h-a-p-p-i-n-e-s-s—”

Zhan Zhao was left speechless, neither crying nor laughing. “Whitey, do you have some kind of idea?!”

Bai Yutang parked the car, and Zhan Zhao looked out the window, realizing they were in the mid-mountain area. Behind them lay a vast expanse of scattered, exquisite small villas, while in front was the night view of the entire city.

Getting out of the car, Bai Yutang leaned against the car door, looking at the city's night view where traffic flowed like weaving threads and lights flickered at the foot of the mountain. He smiled and said, “I don't have any particular idea, but I want to hear yours.”

Zhan Zhao walked up to him and smiled. “I do have an idea!”

“Cat, you seem very excited.” Bai Yutang turned his face to appraise Zhan Zhao. “Let's hear it.”

“Why do you think Zhao Jue chose to appear before us this time?”

Bai Yutang shook his head. “I can't guess.”

Zhan Zhao thought for a moment and said in a low voice, “As for his true purpose, I can't quite see through it either. However, regarding this case... I did get some hints.”

“What hints?”

“Games and toys!” Zhan Zhao said slowly.

“You're saying this case is Zhao Jue's game, and the people involved are toys?!” Bai Yutang pondered for a moment and asked.

“That's right~~ This long-sealed case is the game Zhao Jue discovered... And the people from the past and present who got involved in the case are the toys, including the victims, those in the know~~ and the murderer.”

“The murderer is also within his control?” Bai Yutang was slightly startled.

“That's right...” Zhan Zhao nodded. “Aside from Zhao Jue, no one could pull off Kong Liping's case.”

“Did he kill Kong Liping?”

“No~~” Zhan Zhao shook his head. “To be exact, Kong Liping killed herself.”

“How do you figure?”

“The way she treated herself was just like how the magic murderer deals with prey.” Zhan Zhao looked at Bai Yutang. “What does that make you think of?!”

“Why would she master such a method?” Bai Yutang followed Zhan Zhao's train of thought. “When I first arrived at the crime scene, I found it very strange. Kong Liping's method of death was completely that of someone killed by the magic murderer, yet she was the one who killed herself... In other words, she was the magic murderer?!”

Zhan Zhao nodded. “Yes, and no!”

“Cat, can you speak in normal Chinese?!” Bai Yutang frowned.

Zhan Zhao smiled; it had been a long time since Bai Yutang last asked him to speak normal Chinese. “To be precise, it should be that when she was killing herself, she turned into the magic murderer.”

...!.. Bai Yutang was momentarily at a loss for words.

Seeing the shock on his face, Zhan Zhao explained, “Think about it, take Chen Jiayi's example just now. Zhao Jue can implant another memory into her to mess up her original memories, so why couldn't he do that to Kong Liping?!”

After a long silence, Bai Yutang nodded. “I get it. Zhao Jue gave Kong Liping hypnotic suggestions, making her believe at a specific time that she was the magic murderer. And that specific time should be when she was sleeping.”

“Mn!” Zhan Zhao approvingly ruffled Bai Yutang's hair. “Smart. Then what else have you thought of?”

“Zhao Jue has been locked up in the research center for twenty years, and the magic murderer stopped committing crimes ten years ago. That means Zhao Jue himself isn't the magic murderer. So how does he know the magic murderer's memories?” Exchanging a glance with Zhan Zhao, Bai Yutang understood instantly: “Unless he knows the real magic murderer and read his memories.”

Zhan Zhao nodded with satisfaction. “Based on what we currently know, this case is a case within a case. There are at least two murderers: the real magic murderer, and the murderer who killed Xu Jiali.”

“That's right!” Bai Yutang agreed. “The magic murderer case back then was one chapter, and Xu Jiali's case is another chapter. The people who truly know the truth of back then are actually only Shen Ling, Kong Liping, and Zhang Zhenzhen. With Zhang Zhenzhen dead, setting aside that magic circle, the motive for the murder looks more like a simple silencing!”

“Now, Kong Liping is dead too,” Zhan Zhao continued. “Which means the only person left who knows the truth is Shen Ling.”

“If Shen Ling is fine...” Bai Yutang said, “then it proves that the case back then was done by her, or someone close to her.”

“Exactly right. Furthermore, we still have two other leads!” Zhan Zhao said. “One is Wei Yong's case, and the other is Sun Qian.”

“Wei Yong wanting to kill Li Xu... At first I thought maybe it had something to do with that fortune teller too, but...” Bai Yutang paused. “There wasn't much purpose to this, and it wasn't executed very cleanly either. It doesn't look like Zhao Jue's style.”

“Heh... clean~~” Zhan Zhao smiled. “They say the devil has no integrity and no principles; all he has is aesthetics~~ Indeed, such a lack of ‘aesthetic sense’ is definitely not Zhao Jue's style.”

“Then who could it be?!” Bai Yutang was puzzled.

“That's what I haven't quite figured out yet. But fortunately, we have Wei Yong in our hands now, so... the interrogation back at the station should yield a breakthrough... What I'm more concerned about is Sun Qian's case.” Zhan Zhao frowned, his expression growing solemn. “It feels like some kind of opening ritual.”

“You still think Sun Qian has nothing to do with this string of cases, and that it's the magic murderer from back then striking again?” Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao. “Do you think this is a part of Zhao Jue's game?”

Zhan Zhao shook his head. “Still the same thing, I feel it lacks aesthetic sense... I've read Zhao Jue's past files. The relevant victims, how should I put it... all somewhat deserved it, though the methods were a bit extreme, he never harmed young children.”

“He fired a gun right at my older brother's head, and my brother was just a kid back then!” Bai Yutang voiced some objections.

Zhan Zhao smiled slightly. “Back then, why didn't he run?”

...Bai Yutang was stunned by the question. Indeed, rumor had it that not only did Zhao Jue not run back then, but he even called someone, ran off to the records room to burn part of the case files, and was consequently captured... “Cat, could it be that what happened back then...”

Zhan Zhao shrugged. “That's just my guess. I just feel something is a bit fishy. You saw Zhao Jue's palms too; that kind of large-scale fingerprint burn-fusing isn't something completed recently.”

“Whew~~” Bai Yutang let out a long sigh. “Who knows what really happened back then? Whenever those old fogies talk about the past, they're always so mysterious.”

“Mn~~” Zhan Zhao acknowledged, lowering his head as if deep in thought.

“Cat, what did you think of?” Bai Yutang was familiar with this expression on Zhan Zhao; whenever he made a discovery, he mostly looked like this.

“There aren't many people who meet the criteria of the magic murderer.” Zhan Zhao mused.

“True.”

“We might be able to use a slightly more clumsy method.”

“...” Bai Yutang thought for a moment and nodded. “Cat, you mean listing out names, eliminating all impossibilities, and whoever is left is the real culprit?!”

“Mn!” Zhan Zhao nodded.

“Then we still need to have some sort of scope, right?” Bai Yutang rubbed his chin. “Give me a rough scope.”

“Those who experienced major changes within the last ten years—for example, going abroad, passing away due to illness... professionals who could come into contact with the magic diagrams... age range between 35 and 50... male, single.” Zhan Zhao slowly listed them off. “And finally... he knows Zhao Jue.”

“That is a bold guess.” Bai Yutang smiled as he opened the car door. “But since it's expert advice... we'll just have to follow orders.”

The two got into the car. Bai Yutang restarted the engine and suddenly said, “Oh right, Cat, I've taken care of all the Christmas preparations.”

“Preparations?” Zhan Zhao was slightly startled. “What preparations?!”

Bai Yutang pointed to a delicate little box beside his hand: “Look... fully prepared!”

Puzzlingly opening the box, Zhan Zhao took one look... and froze. Immediately, his face began to burn, and smoke was practically rising from the top of his head.

“Bai Yutang! You pervert!” Zhan Zhao flushed with anger and embarrassment, reaching out to grab the box with the intent of rolling down the car window and throwing it outside.

“Ah!” With quick eyes and swift hands, Bai Yutang snatched it back. “Cat, it took me so much effort to get the twins to help me prepare this!” He said, hiding it behind his back.

Zhan Zhao's face was so red it was practically an apple. He glared incredulously at Bai Yutang. “You... you told the twins?!”

“Yeah~~ My big brother said the preparatory work must be done thoroughly, and even taught me some basic knowledge...”

“Yikes!!!” Zhan Zhao reached out and clamped a hand over his mouth. “Shut up! Throw that stuff away!”

“Cat, my eldest brother said that the first time he and Gongsun did it was in a car,” Bai Yutang said while dodging.

“Shut up!” Zhan Zhao covered his mouth with both hands. “Neither of you brothers is a good person! You're a police officer, how can you have that kind of stuff in your car?!”

“Police officers are people too, aren't they? Who says cops aren't allowed to use pres—”

“Yikes!! Don't say it out loud!”

“Cat, why are you so shy? You won't even let me talk about it, how are we going to do it when the time comes?!”

“What on earth are you thinking in that brain of yours! Throw it away!”

“Not throwing it away~~ Oh right, Cat, I bought a lot of different styles~~ Don't you like the lemon flavor...”

“Ah~~ Bai Yutang! Damn mouse! I'm going to exterminate you on behalf of all mankind!”

“Cat, I'm driving here!”

“I don't care!”

“This is a mountainside, if we plunge off that's the end of us!”

“Better to just die!”

……………………

At the corporation, the grand finale of tonight's opening event was about to take place—Zhao Zhen's magic show.

The content of the performance was to magically produce a massive signboard right on the originally empty outer wall of the corporation in full view of everyone.

Spectators gathered one after another onto the elaborately decorated plaza outside the corporation. In the air, two helicopters were hovering.

Bai Chi was looking up and peering around in the crowd. He knew Zhao Zhen was inside a helicopter, and his performance tonight involved using two helicopters to drop a huge curtain to block off the corporation. Then, they would set fire to the curtain made of a special material, and a massive neon signboard nearly ten meters high would appear on the corporation's outer wall~~ exaggerated and flamboyant, the usual Zhao style.

Amidst the gasps of the crowd, Zhao Zhen leaped out from the helicopter and stood suspended in mid-air.

Bai Chi curled his lip—there definitely had to be steel wires hanging him up!!

Following that, Zhao Zhen pulled a slender white rope from his own hand, connected it to the brackets of the two helicopters, and after snapping his fingers, the rope unfolded into a colossal curtain that enclosed the entire entertainment complex.

Amidst the applause and praise of the crowd, Zhao Zhen descended slowly to the ground without any visible hooks or attachments on his body.

Shen Qian walked up to the podium in front of the venue with an immensely proud and triumphant air, announcing the official opening of the corporation today.

As his words fell, Zhao Zhen waved his hand lightly in the air, and that pure white curtain suddenly burst into flames, the blue fire racing rapidly to the top. On the originally empty outer wall of the corporation, a gigantic neon signboard shockingly materialized out of thin air. At the same time, salute cannons fired, and fireworks bloomed across the night sky...

However, the crowd instantly grew dead silent. People widened their eyes as if seeing some horrifying sight, and then—outbursts of terrified screams erupted.

Bai Chi stood frozen in place, staring fixedly at that massive neon signboard. Amidst the flashing of dazzling lights, right in the center blank space was an enormous magic circle diagram. Nailed to the center of the diagram was a woman, a knife stabbed directly through her throat, hanging there stiffly.

Then came Shen Qian's piercing, miserable scream—“Lingling…”