S.C.I. (Volume I) - Case 4: Chapter 1

The Non-Human Killer 01 - The Corpse in the Box  

Following the Christmas holiday, a series of snowfalls had blanketed the city. Once the skies finally cleared, temperatures suddenly rebounded, prompting pedestrians on the streets to shed their heavy winter gear and slip into much lighter spring attire.

On the second Sunday after the holidays, the weather was exceptionally bright and clear.

Standing in front of the long flight of stone steps leading up to the S-City Museum was a striking figure: a brick-red turtleneck sweater paired with black jeans. His slender, tall frame, fair complexion, and features far more delicate than those of the average man made him instantly stand out in the crowd.

Yet, as the men and women walked past him, their eyes held not just admiration, but a hint of pity. This was because on the middle finger of his left hand gleamed a silver ring. At that moment, holding two museum admission tickets, he was gazing into the distance as if waiting for someone.

Passersby couldn't help but wonder who could possibly be important enough to make a man like this wait with such evident anxiety.

However, if you stood close enough to him, you would hear this exceptionally handsome man fiercely grinding his teeth while muttering under his breath, "Stupid rat, you're late by two minutes and thirty-seven seconds... thirty-eight seconds... Damn rat! Forty seconds!"

Just as he counted to the forty-fifth second, a magnificent silver-white Spyker C8 sports car came speeding into view from the distance. With a sharp screech of brakes, the vehicle slid neatly into a parking space, leaving behind a trail of exhaust fumes that rivaled a jet engine.

The car door popped open instantly. The person in the driver's seat unbuckled his seatbelt, vaulted out of the car, slammed the door, and locked it in one fluid motion, then sprinted like mad toward the museum steps.

He wore a short white leather jacket and white jeans, his slightly long hair fluttering gently with his movements. With sharply defined facial features, he exuded a handsome, sunny aura. Yet, even as he ran, he kept muttering, "I'm dead... How is this cat not late today?"

Reaching the bottom of the steps with a hundred-meter sprint, he bent over with his hands braced on his knees, panting heavily. "Cat... Cat'er..."

Indeed, these two individuals were none other than Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang.

Ever since the case of the magical murderer had concluded, Zhan Zhao had been paying special attention to mysterious cultures related to curses. The day before, little Bai Chi had given them two tickets, mentioning that there was a private collection exhibition at the city museum focusing on ancient indigenous cultures. One of the participating photographers happened to be a friend of Zhao Zhen, which was how Zhao Zhen had managed to secure so many tickets.

And so, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang had agreed that today, after Zhan Zhao finished his class, they would meet promptly at ten-thirty in front of the museum entrance.

"You're three minutes late!" Zhan Zhao protested. Bai Yutang apologized profusely, "Bao Bureau held me up right before I left! I'm sorry, Cat'er!"

In fact, three minutes was the personal record for Bai Yutang being late to a date with Zhan Zhao. His previous record had been set three years ago at two minutes and seventeen seconds. This was because, most of the time, it was Bai Yutang waiting for Zhan Zhao. If Zhan Zhao was more than an hour late, Bai Yutang would simply drive over to pick him up. As the twins often put it—a cat cannot be spoiled; if you spoil it too much, it will climb right onto your head and act tyrannically!

Ever since Christmas, Bai Yutang's level of doting on the cat had clearly risen to a whole new tier. Consequently, the already spoiled individual grew even more lawless and uninhibited.

The two of them entered the museum along with the stream of visitors.

"Cat'er, is there really anything worth seeing here?" Bai Yutang inspected the promotional poster on the ticket. "African primitive tribes... Southeast Asian indigenous peoples..."

"These tickets are extremely hard to get." Zhan Zhao cast a look of utter lack of appreciation at him. "They're all extremely precious private collections."

"Would anyone actually spend a fortune to keep pieces of rotten wood like this in their house?" Bai Yutang handed his ticket to the ticket inspector at the entrance. Because his voice was a fraction too loud, it drew sideways glances from the people nearby. Zhan Zhao reached out and pinched him.

Right at that moment, someone at the adjacent ticket gate could be heard speaking, "You stare at dead bodies every day, haven't you seen enough yet?"

The voice sounded familiar. The two men turned their heads and saw Bai Jintang and Gongsun walking in through the other entrance. Naturally, the person who had just spoken was Bai Jintang, which similarly drew looks of disdain from the surrounding crowd.

"Big Brother? Gongsun." Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao greeted them, looking rather surprised. "What brings you two here?"

Bai Jintang shrugged, gesturing with his chin toward Gongsun beside him.

Gongsun glared at the two brothers and pointed to a strange box printed on the ticket. "Do you know what a corpse box is? The most mysterious funeral ritual in human history!"

Zhan Zhao nodded, saying with great interest, "That's right, I've heard of it too. It's a funeral custom of the indigenous 'Tusi' people. They fold the deceased up and place them inside a box smaller than half a human body."

"Mhm." Gongsun nodded. "They also coat the corpse with special medicines. After it's buried for a year, they dig it out, and the corpse retains a square shape while becoming exceptionally hard. The nobles of the Tusi tribe use these corpse boxes as furniture."

Bai Yutang and Bai Jintang followed behind, listening to the two refined individuals enthusiastically discussing corpses and furniture, and could only shake their heads helplessly.

Walking into the exhibition hall, they indeed saw a square "corpse" placed inside the glass display case right in the center. The corpse's joints were dislocated, and its limbs and even its head were severely twisted, its face frozen in an expression of extreme exaggeration and agony.

Bai Yutang stared at it for a long time before suddenly asking Gongsun, "Was he alive or dead before being put into the box?"

"He was completely alive," a voice from behind answered him.

Everyone turned around to see a blond-haired, blue-eyed man standing behind them. Hearing his fluent Chinese, it was truly hard to imagine he was a foreigner.

Suddenly, he took a few steps forward, stopped right in front of Zhan Zhao, and scrutinized him closely. "Would you let me take a picture? Your eyes are simply a work of art."

Bai Jintang watched as the knuckles of Bai Yutang's hand cracked ominously, and was just about to make a teasing remark when, unexpectedly, the foreigner sauntered over to Gongsun. "What a standard oriental beauty... Can you take off your glasses and let me have a look..."

Before he could finish his sentence, he was grabbed by the back collar and tossed aside by Bai Jintang.

As he rubbed his neck and scrambled up from the floor, wanting to protest, someone intervened, "Morris... These are the friends I mentioned to you."

The person speaking was none other than Zhao Zhen.

"Where is Bai Chi?" Zhan Zhao glanced past Zhao Zhen. Over the past few days, the injuries on Zhao Zhen's hand had not fully healed, so Bai Chi had been ordered to stay behind with him to "take care" of him.

"He said he was scared and didn't dare come," Zhao Zhen said helplessly.

"Oh, Zhen's friends!" The anger on Morris's face vanished, replaced by a smile. "Welcome, welcome." He then leaned closer to the group and whispered, "This one is just a fake. The real one is inside. There's an auction today, and it's going to be sold."

Bai Jintang frowned. "Who would want this kind of thing?" With that, he turned to look at Gongsun and saw a sparkling light in Gongsun's eyes as if he were saying, I want it so badly.

Bai Jintang immediately turned back and asked Morris, "How much?"

Morris paused slightly. "Uh... around three million or so..."

"Do you accept checks or cash?" Bai Jintang asked, and then made a phone call instructing the twins to bring money over to buy the corpse.

"Cough, cough..." Bai Yutang behind him almost choked on his own saliva.

Gongsun tugged on Bai Jintang's sleeve and asked, "Why are you buying it?"

Bai Jintang replied with a hint of doting indulgence, "Taking it back to decorate your morgue for you."

Zhan Zhao flashed a "V" sign at Bai Yutang and whispered, "We can take it back to scare Zhao Hu!"

...

Led by Morris, the group walked up to the special exhibition room located in the inner sanctum of the museum.

Standing at the entrance were two bodyguards.

Morris smiled at them. "Where is Boss Carlos? There's a buyer."

One of the bodyguards replied, "Mr. Carlos hasn't arrived yet. Please wait in the lounge for a moment; the other guests are in there as well."

Just as the group was about to head toward the lounge, one of the bodyguards suddenly cried out, "Captain!"

Halting their steps, everyone looked toward him as he removed his sunglasses and said to Bai Yutang, "Captain, it's me, Qu Yanming."

"Ah!" Bai Yutang seemed to remember him all at once, stepping forward and clapping the man on the shoulder. "It's you, kid."

Zhan Zhao curiously stepped closer. "You know each other?"

"Mhm," Bai Yutang introduced. "Qu Yanming, he was in my flight squadron back when I was in the military."

Qu Yanming seemed quite delighted. After exchanging a greeting with his companion, he said to the group, "I'll lead you there." With that, he took the lead and walked toward the lounge.

"Captain, are you guys looking to buy the corpse box?" Qu Yanming asked with a fair bit of curiosity.

"Mhm." Bai Yutang nodded. Seeing that a fair number of people seemed to be waiting inside the lounge in the distance, he asked curiously, "Are there a lot of people wanting to buy it?"

"Oh..." Qu Yanming smiled and shook his head. "They were all invited here to do appraisals." Lowering his voice, he introduced them to the group. "That young lady standing by the door making a phone call is Lu Yan. She's Mr. Carlos's secretary. She's been unable to reach him, so she's been making phone calls for a long time." He then motioned for everyone to look inside the lounge, where four people were seated.

"That middle-aged man is named Tanaka," Qu Yanming introduced. "He's a photographer."

"He's a colleague of mine," Morris suddenly chimed in. "We've recently been shooting a series of features on corpse boxes for a geographical magazine, which is why we were invited."

"That old lady," Qu Yanming continued, pointing to the one sitting on the sofa, "is a famous painter, Mo Ning, and the two girls beside her are her students."

"I've seen her paintings," Gongsun suddenly said. "She's the one who painted Burning Fury, right?"

While they were talking, the group had already arrived at the entrance of the lounge. After introducing everyone to Lu Yan, Qu Yanming took his leave.

"Ah... I'm truly sorry, Boss Carlos for some reason hasn't been answering his phone." Lu Yan looked rather apologetic as she ushered everyone inside to sit down.

"I've already been waiting for an hour." Tanaka glanced at the group, looking quite dissatisfied.

Lu Yan apologized repeatedly and dialed a few more calls, but still received no answer.

"Why don't we let us take a look at the corpse box first?" Morris suggested.

"I agree." Mo Ning nodded, speaking in a slightly aged voice, "If we look at it while we wait, it won't be so boring."

"Mhm... Alright then." Lu Yan nodded, leading the group toward the special exhibition room once more.

As they walked, she kept dialing phone calls continuously.

"Shh..." Bai Yutang suddenly motioned for everyone to keep quiet.

He strode quickly to the entrance of the special exhibition room. Under the astonished gazes of Qu Yanming and the other bodyguard, he pressed his ear against the door and said to the secretary, "Call him one more time."

Lu Yan nodded and dialed the number.

Bai Yutang listened for a moment, then turned to tell the group, "There's a phone ringing sound inside."

Qu Yanming and the other bodyguard were both startled. They had been standing guard right here the entire time and hadn't heard any phone ringing at all. "Mr. Carlos put the safe inside this morning and then left. We've been guarding this place the whole time, and no one has gone in!"

"Could he have left his cell phone inside?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"Let's go in and take a look." Lu Yan hurriedly produced her keys and unlocked the large doors.

The group entered the room, but there was not a soul inside.

The room had no windows and was completely sealed. On the table sat only a safe no larger than half a human body... The group searched around once, but didn't find any cell phone.

Aside from Zhan Zhao and the others, everyone else looked at Bai Yutang with a degree of suspicion.

"Dial the number again," Bai Yutang told Lu Yan.

Lu Yan dialed the phone. After a short while, everyone heard a faint cell phone ringtone...

The sound was muffled, as if coming from behind something thick and heavy, and was extremely faint. No wonder none of them had been able to hear it out in the hallway.

However, nobody had the mind to dwell on that right now, because—that cell phone sound was coming from inside the safe on the table.

Bai Jintang smiled. "Are you sure there wasn't a cell phone packed inside this corpse box?"

Everyone looked at one another, completely at a loss for words.

Gongsun glanced at Bai Yutang, walked over to the safe, reached out to tap it, pressed his ear against it to listen for a moment, and asked Lu Yan, "Can it be opened?"

Lu Yan nodded and took out the keys.

Bai Yutang took the keys, entered the password provided by Lu Yan, and unlocked the safe... With a click, everyone instinctively leaned forward, fixing their gaze on the box.

Slowly, Bai Yutang swung open the door of the safe. In an instant, an overpowering stench of blood assailed their noses. As the door opened wider, a large amount of blood poured out from within, revealing a twisted corpse inside—only, this was clearly no dried mummy, but a fresh, modern human corpse. From the twisted features of the corpse, it could still be discerned that the deceased was a white male in his forties.

"Ah—Mr. Carlos!" Lu Yan let out a shrill scream, and the other young women shrieked in terror as well.

Zhan Zhao pointed at the corpse's mouth and said, "There seems to be something inside."

Gongsun picked up the rubber gloves provided by the museum for appraisals from the table and put them on. He reached out, gently pried open the dead man's mouth, inserted his other hand inside, pinched an object in the victim's mouth, and pulled it outward.

With his actions, Morris and the others began to dry heave.

Gongsun exerted a slight bit of force and pulled a blood-soaked, compact cell phone out from the corpse's mouth. Flipping open the cover of the phone, a row of missed calls was displayed on the screen.

Gongsun looked back at Bai Yutang and the others, signaling for instructions on what to do.

Bai Yutang took out his phone to call the police.

Zhao Zhen suddenly said with a hint of admiration, "That... what method was used to place a person so completely into a sealed safe within a sealed room without a single person noticing, and without even a single drop of blood spilling out... If the person was still alive at the very end, then this magic trick is simply too creative..."

...

"There's another question," Bai Jintang, who had been silent all this time, suddenly asked. "Where did the real corpse box go?"

...

Hanging up the phone, Bai Yutang told the group, "Everyone, please head outside first. This is a crime scene..."

Before he could finish his sentence, someone at the doorway let out an eerie laugh. The sound was reminiscent of an old owl crying out, making one's hair stand on end.

Turning around, they saw that at some point, a shriveled old woman had appeared at the entrance. She had a large black veil draped over her head and wore a black cloak, giving her a thoroughly bizarre appearance.

Zhan Zhao suddenly asked Bai Yutang, "Little Bai, I think I've seen her somewhere before..."

"Akasha," Zhao Zhen told the two of them in a low voice. "You probably saw her on a paranormal show on TV. A psychic clairvoyant and fortuneteller."

"Divination?" Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao looked at Zhao Zhen simultaneously.

Blinking, Zhao Zhen smiled. "Basically a colleague of us magicians." Pausing for a moment, he concluded, "They're both frauds."

That grating laughter lingered for a long time before Akasha spoke in a raspy voice, slowly uttering, "This is... the curse of the corpse box... The one capable of doing something like this—is definitely not human!”