S.C.I. (Volume I) - Case 3: Chapter 19

The Magic Killer 19 - Prelude  

Driving back to the police station from the cemetery, Bai Yutang asked Zhan Zhao with a hint of perplexity, “Cat, do you think we should tell Chief Bao about Zhao Jue?”

Zhan Zhao pondered for a moment. “You tell me, do you think Chief Bao might already know about him even earlier than we do?”

“...” Bai Yutang frowned. “What on earth are these old timers plotting? It makes no sense.”

“Hmm~~~” Zhan Zhao leaned against the car window. “Let's leave it be for now. Once this case is wrapped up, we can find some time to ask them.”

“Oh, right~~~” Bai Yutang said abruptly. “Why don't you just go ask your old man?”

“Huh?!” Zhan Zhao was startled, looking somewhat uncomfortable. “Why would I ask him?”

“Last time Chief Bao took us to see Zhao Jue, judging by the tone of his voice, Zhao Jue probably knows your dad too,” Bai Yutang chuckled. “Besides, your dad is way easier to talk to than my old man!”

“How is he easy to talk to?!” Zhan Zhao winced. “He's so stern, and I've never even had a casual chat with him. Marching up to him out of nowhere to ask—how weird would that be?!”

“At worst, he just won't talk to you; it's not like he'd beat you up. My old man is all action and no talk~~~ But speaking of which...” Bai Yutang glanced at Zhan Zhao. “Ever since we were kids, I always felt your dad treated you exceptionally harshly~~~”

Zhan Zhao dazed out. “If he were willing to beat me up, that would at least be something. Growing up, it was sheer apathy; he didn't even spare me an extra glance.”

“Don't be silly, he's just a strict person,” Bai Yutang comforted him, seeing the faint, muted expression on Zhan Zhao's face. Whenever the topic of his father came up, he would grow dejected~~~ Though, to be fair, little Zhan Zhao had been utterly adorable, and while all the adults doted on him fiercely, his own biological father seemed completely indifferent. Bai Yutang sometimes secretly wondered if Zhan Zhao was even his biological son, though the two looked so identical that you couldn't help but believe it...

“Alright, I've been numb to it for ages,” Zhan Zhao waved a hand. “Let's drop it. We'd better focus on figuring out how to crack this case first.”

Bai Yutang nodded. “I had Zhang Long and Wang Chao interrogate Kong Cheng and Wei Yong earlier; we'll probably have the results as soon as we get back... What I'm more concerned about is why anyone would target Bai Chi in the first place!”

“That is indeed bizarre!” Zhan Zhao agreed. “Bai Chi has zero connection to this case, and judging by the attacker's actions~~~ it looked very much like the work of the magic killer.” As he spoke, he gestured a cutting motion across his own neck. “Right here.”

“Cat...” Bai Yutang fell silent for a moment before saying, “Zhao Zhen's martial arts skills are quite impressive.”

“Huh?” Zhan Zhao didn't quite follow why Bai Yutang suddenly shifted topics to bring up Zhao Zhen. “What do you mean?”

“I noticed it back on the airplane,” Bai Yutang said to himself. “Absolute master-level skills.”

“What are you trying to imply?” Zhan Zhao asked, fixing his gaze on Bai Yutang.

“The truth is, that day he had plenty of ways to save Bai Chi without getting hurt himself, and moreover~~~ he could have captured the person who attacked Bai Chi.”

“You're saying...” Zhan Zhao frowned slightly. “Zhao Zhen deliberately let that person go?”

Bai Yutang smiled. “I can't say for sure, but by getting injured, he had a foolproof excuse for failing to catch the culprit~~~”

“Zhao Zhen knows that person...” Zhan Zhao thought for a moment. “And that person is likely very important to him.”

“Indeed,” Bai Yutang nodded. “Those hands of his are worth a fortune... And~~~ I suspect Bai Chi was targeted precisely because of Zhao Zhen.”

“Hmm~~~” Zhan Zhao smiled with an enigmatic, inscrutable expression. “Personally, I feel that rather than the culprit being important to Zhao Zhen, it's Bai Chi who holds that weight.”

“How so?” Bai Yutang asked out of curiosity.

“Think about it. If Bai Chi was attacked because of Zhao Zhen, and Zhao Zhen's actions seemed to convey a message...” Zhan Zhao speculated on Zhao Zhen's mindset: I know who you are, and I can let bygones be bygones, but you cannot harm this person. Harming him is equivalent to harming me.

“A fascinating perspective~~~” Bai Yutang nodded. “From another angle, it actually makes a lot of sense... Which means the key to everything lies with Bai Chi?”

“Precisely. The little guy must have discovered something without even realizing it himself,” Zhan Zhao rubbed his chin. “The key to unlocking this case... rests entirely with him.”

Upon returning to the police station, before they even stepped into their office, they bumped into Zhang Long and Wang Chao coming out of the interrogation rooms.

“How did it go?” Bai Yutang asked.

“Sigh~~~” Wang Chao heaved a heavy sigh. “As for these two fellows, it's hard to tell whether they deserve to be hated or pitied.”

“What do you mean?” Zhan Zhao asked.

Walking and talking together, Zhang Long and Wang Chao briefly summarized the interrogation results to Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao.

Both suspects had been remarkably cooperative, answering almost every question put to them.

When Kong Cheng was thirteen years old, the neighbors next door adopted a nine-year-old girl named Xu Jiali~~~ That was how the two of them first met, growing up together as childhood sweethearts. However, four years later, Xu Jiali died under mysterious circumstances.

Over the following decade, Kong Cheng remained utterly consumed by the tragedy. He continuously scavenged information regarding magic array diagrams, hoping that one day he could exact revenge for Xu Jiali—perhaps by some twist of fate, Kong Cheng serendipitously became a lawyer for the Shen Corporation and even earned Shen Qian's heavy trust. That was until the day Kong Cheng inadvertently overheard an argument between Shen Qian and Shen Ling, finally uncovering the chilling truth of what had happened back then.

Having spent years studying magic array diagrams, Kong Cheng suddenly hit upon the idea of utilizing them to avenge Xu Jiali.

First, he lured Zhang Zhenzhen out under the pretext of "knowing the truth about what happened back then" and murdered her inside the classroom. Afterward, he set his sights on Kong Liping, trailing her all the way to a classroom where his first attempt was thwarted by a security guard—the very incident people whispered was haunted. The second time, he followed her to a construction site, which was the exact site where they had lost the suspect's trail.

Hearing this, both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang chuckled. “So that's where he ran into Wei Yong, isn't it?”

“Ha~~~” Wang Chao and Zhang Long exchanged glances. “Unbelievable~~~ How on earth did the two of you figure that out?!”

Bai Yutang smiled without answering. “You two go on.”

Wang Chao and Zhang Long continued their report.

Kong Cheng had been running blindly in a panic when someone suddenly hauled him into a concealed alleyway, navigating a labyrinth of turns to shake off his pursuers.

The person who saved him was Wei Yong. Wei Yong had previously seen news reports revealing that Zhang Zhenzhen's murder wasn't the work of the real magic killer, but he quickly realized that the killer who murdered Sun Qian was the genuine culprit—the very man who had ruined his life! Fueled by that realization, his conviction to catch the mastermind was reignited.

After both men shared their pasts, Wei Yong also learned the true facts of the past case through Kong Cheng! Back then, it was precisely because of this final case that he had been stripped of his badge, while the magic killer had mysteriously vanished without a trace afterward. Consequently, Wei Yong decided to take part in Kong Cheng's frantic revenge plot—he believed they were creeping step by step closer to the real magic killer, and that the individuals being murdered were simply guilty baits deserving of their fate~~~ That was why he had gone after Li Xu.

“However, Dr. Zhan,” Zhang Long interjected abruptly, “I can't shake the feeling that the mental states of both Wei Yong and Kong Cheng are a bit off!”

“Totally, totally!” Wang Chao chimed in, nodding. “I keep feeling like all the participants in this case—Kong Cheng, Wei Yong, Li Xu, even that Shen Qian... they all act a bit unhinged and not entirely normal.”

“Heh~~~” Zhan Zhao smiled. “Do you guys know what Radixpedisdiaboli is?”

“What's that?” Wang Chao and Zhang Long exchanged blank stares and shook their heads.

“The devil's foot... root,” Bai Yutang said. “It's mentioned in Sherlock Holmes.”

“Spot on!” Zhan Zhao nodded. “In ancient European languages, Radixpedisdiaboli translates to 'root of the devil's foot.' It's a type of poison that releases toxic gases when burned, directly attacking the nervous system of anyone who inhales it—the more you inhale and the longer you're exposed, the deadlier it gets. Mild exposure leads to madness, severe exposure results in death, and worst of all, the victims die in agonizingly horrific states.”

“I remember in The Adventure of the Devil's Foot, one of the stories in His Last Bow, there's a detailed introduction to this poison,” Bai Yutang recalled. “The person who possessed the poison introduced it to his sweetheart's brother, leading the brother to steal it and inadvertently kill his own sister. Later on, to avenge his beloved, that man used the same poison to execute the true culprit.” Pausing for a second, Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao. “Still, I don't see what this story has to do with our current case!”

Zhan Zhao considered this. “To put it precisely, this magic array diagram is the Radixpedisdiaboli of this case. It's the weapon and the tool, but that doesn't change the underlying fact that it is intensely, lethally toxic.”

“You mean this diagram is a double-edged sword that harms others while also destroying the user?” Bai Yutang asked.

“Do you remember when Zhao Zhen introduced this pattern to us, mentioning that it originated from an ancient tribal curse?” Zhan Zhao said. “I asked Gongsun to tally the number of wounds on Kong Liping's body the other day, and I discovered every single one was a multiple of thirteen.”

“The pattern in her house was also based on multiples of thirteen,” Bai Yutang noted. “That diagram drives people into a frenzy!”

“Exactly~~~” Zhan Zhao sighed, shaking his head. “Ancient civilizations all possess their own unique mysteries and incomprehensible depths. Taboos... are not things one should tamper with lightly. This might also serve as an indirect explanation for why the real magic killer murdered so many people—perhaps he himself is merely another victim of the curse... Just like Kong Cheng and Wei Yong, who became so deeply obsessed with this rune that they dragged themselves into an abyss with no way out...”

Bai Yutang fell into deep thought. “So that's why Wei Yong acted so recklessly back then, trying to correct the flawed magic array diagram~~~ He was far too fixated on the symbol, and perhaps by that point, he was already suffering from its effects. Uncle Wen and the others probably noticed his abnormal behavior and expelled him from the police force because of it...”

Zhan Zhao patted his shoulder. “When you questioned Uncle Wen, he was all evasive and stuttering; his very first instinct back then might have been that Wei Yong was the one behind the case, after all~~~”

Shrugging his shoulders, Bai Yutang felt as though a heavy boulder had finally been lifted from his chest. “So that's how it is~~~ The devil's foot... what a fitting name.”

Returning to the S.C.I. office, Bai Yutang set about organizing his reports. Most of the case had now been solved; all that remained was to cast the net and capture the true magic killer, and the crucial missing piece depended on whether Zhan Zhao could extract the answer from Bai Chi.

What was little Bai Chi up to right now? He was currently inside Zhan Zhao's office, playing with Kong Liping's baby.

Ever since little Bai Chi laid eyes on the infant this morning, everyone had been astonished to discover how instantly and perfectly the two of them hit it off~~~

After the baby was brought into the office, everyone outside could hear an adult and an infant giggling non-stop. Puzzled, the team wondered if Bai Chi was actually a prodigy capable of conversing with babies.

Zhan Zhao walked into the office, shut the door, and began entertaining the child alongside Bai Chi while casually chatting away... Shortly after, the people outside heard the baby alternate between crying and laughing in rapid succession~~~

Over half an hour later, Zhan Zhao emerged looking radiant and refreshed, while the baby inside wailed uncontrollably~~~ Little Bai Chi was frantically rocking and soothing the infant while yelling from within, “Big Brother, you are strictly forbidden from coming near the baby ever again!”

Bai Yutang removed the cotton plugs from his ears and asked Zhan Zhao, “Cat, are you conducting an interrogation or committing child abuse?!”

Zhan Zhao grinned cheekily. “Xiao Bai, little babies are soft, squishy, and can't even talk back—they're so much fun~~~”

“Ahem~~~” Bai Yutang didn't know whether to laugh or cry. “Never mind the baby; how did the questioning go? Judging by how pleased with yourself you look, you must have made a breakthrough, right?”

“Heh-heh~~~” Zhan Zhao looked quite proud. “Right now, what's playing is merely the prelude~~~ What we need to do is bring this chaotic symphony to its climax before the final curtain falls.” He raised an eyebrow at the bewildered Bai Yutang. “Get ready to cast the net and haul in the big fish, Captain Bai~~~”