S.C.I. (Volume I) - Case 4: Chapter 10
The Non-Human Killer 10 - Playing God and Playing Ghost
The moment the two of them heard Bao Zheng's menacing, thunderous declaration of "Get in here!", a chill crept up the back of their necks.
Zhan Zhao shot a meaningful look at Bai Yutang—what should they do? The boss was furious.
Bai Yutang arched an eyebrow and made a comical face—people had lost their minds right inside the police station, so of course he was angry. They were just going to have to be his punching bags.
Stepping into the office, Bao Zheng tossed his suit jacket onto the sofa, lit a cigarette, and began glaring at them.
With their eyes fixed on their noses and their noses fixed on their hearts, Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao stood there obediently.
"Does this matter have anything to do with the case you're currently investigating?!" Bao Zheng exhaled a cloud of smoke.
"Uh... it seems..." Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao.
"The style... is very similar..." Zhan Zhao chimed in. "It still needs to be investigated..."
Bao Zheng pressed his cigarette out against the ashtray, moving as if he were trying to crush some detestable creature to death.
At his gesture, Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao swallowed hard—he was about to blow a fuse~~~
Bao Zheng took a deep breath, just as he was about to speak, Bai Yutang's phone suddenly rang. Pulling it out to check, he saw it was Ma Han...
Zhan Zhao hastily said, "Xiao Bai! It must be Ma Han and the others with a major breakthrough!!"
"Right!" Bai Yutang felt as if a heavy burden had been lifted. He pulled the door open and said to Bao Zheng, "Bureau Chief, we'll head out first. Official business comes first!"
With that, the two of them bolted out the door in a flash. Seeing them vanish in an instant, Bao Zheng threw away all regard for his image, reared back, and roared at the doorway: "You two better crack this case within a week! Otherwise, you're both going to go scrub toilets!!!"
"Phew..." Running out the door, Bai Yutang answered the call on the fly and said, "Good thing we ran fast... Ma Han, what is it?"
"Chief! You need to bring people over right away, we found—"
Before he could even finish his sentence, a shrill, piercing scream echoed from the other end of the line...
Immediately followed by a burst of static, sounding much like electromagnetic interference, and Ma Han's voice could no longer be heard at all.
"Hello?! Ma Han! Hello!!" Bai Yutang shouted twice, but only busy signals came through the phone.
"What's wrong?" Zhan Zhao stood nearby, having heard the scream straight through the phone. Although the pitch was distorted, it sounded remarkably like Morris's voice.
"Something definitely happened!" Bai Yutang dialed Jiang Ping's number. "Jiang Ping, track the satellite GPS on Ma Han's vehicle and check their location."
Jiang Ping performed a rapid search, quickly pinpointed the coordinates, and relayed the address to Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao, who were already climbing into their car.
"Call the others and tell them to head over there! Ma Han and the others might be in trouble!" Hanging up the phone, Bai Yutang slammed his foot on the gas, driving Zhan Zhao toward the location Jiang Ping had given them.
It wasn't just Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao; Ma Han and Zhao Hu had also been thoroughly startled by that blood-curdling scream from Morris.
When they snapped back to their senses, the phone call was already cut off. Ma Han simply hung up the phone; Bai Yutang was bound to come looking for them anyway, but the problem was...
He glanced back at Morris. "What's wrong with you?"
Pointing at something on the floor, Morris stammered, "That scared me to death... How... how could this be here..."
Zhao Hu frowned and exchanged a meaningful glance with Ma Han—something felt off!
Without a word, Ma Han led Zhao Hu's gaze toward the terrified Morris standing beside them—this kid was hiding something.
What on earth was on the ground to scare Morris like this... In fact, it wasn't just Morris; Zhao Hu and Ma Han were also given a profound shock...
Behind a cluster of furniture, hidden away by wooden planks, three box-corpses were lined up side by side.
They had neat, square shapes, with twisted, dislocated limbs and joints, and grotesque expressions. What was even more exaggerated was that these corpses were clearly fresh, having been crafted not long ago. The surfaces of the bodies seemed to be coated with some sort of glossy agent resembling clear varnish... They were extremely bright, exceptionally smooth, and completely free of decay.
Zhao Hu reached up to touch the back of his neck. "Damn it, that's creepy!"
Both of them immediately recalled the talk about using box-corpses as decorations and furniture...
Right at that moment, with a sudden snap, all the lights shut off completely.
The sky outside had already grown dark. While it wasn't pitch black yet, this room had no windows aside from the main entrance and relied entirely on artificial lighting. The space plunged into murkiness in an instant.
"Ah~~~" Morris grabbed onto Zhao Hu in a panic, pointing toward the front entrance.
Following the direction of his finger, Zhao Hu and Ma Han both widened their eyes in shock, only to see a figure standing rigidly at the doorway... No, to be precise, it wasn't a person at all.
Looking closer, it was a humanoid statue—the Eagle King!
Both Zhao Hu and Ma Han were battle-hardened veterans and certainly not men easily frightened, but abruptly seeing that Eagle King materialize at the doorway still sent cold chills racing up their spines.
Drawing the weapons they had just put away moments ago, Ma Han shouted toward the entrance, "Who goes there?!"
The two of them advanced cautiously toward the doorway. Just then, a booming crash echoed—the front door slammed shut by itself.
The room plunged into absolute darkness in a flash. Morris shrieked in terror, prompting Zhao Hu to scowl and bark at him, "Shut up!"
Morris choked off his cries. Suddenly, a burst of laughter erupted in the room—a hoarse, hollow laugh echoing through the gloom in a way that made one's skin crawl.
As the laughter died down, that voice spoke up: "Punishment... All of you are going to die..."
"Ya-ah~~~" Morris shrieked once more. They saw a ferocious-looking white ghost shadow materialize on the wall, bearing facial features identical to the Eagle King. Its mouth stretched wide open as it bellowed, "You are all going to die..."
Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao stepped out of their car and sprinted to the front of the villa, only to find the main entrance tightly shut. Just as they were wondering what was going on, two gunshots rang out from inside...
Startled, the two of them drew their own weapons and rammed the front door open...
Standing inside the room were Ma Han and Zhao Hu with their guns drawn, alongside Morris, who was sitting paralyzed on the floor in a daze.
"What happened?" Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao walked in.
"Someone's playing god and playing ghost!" Ma Han said as he pressed the wall switch to turn on the lights, illuminating the room instantly.
Zhao Hu pointed upward toward the ceiling.
Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao looked up and saw two objects positioned in the left and right corners of the ceiling: one resembled a loudspeaker, while the other looked like the focusing lens of a slide projector or media projector.
Both devices had been pierced through; Ma Han and Zhao Hu had each fired a shot to disable them.
Zhan Zhao glanced back and scanned the exterior surroundings. The area all around was wide open... with no suitable spots for anyone to conceal themselves.
Bai Yutang motioned upstairs... Both Ma Han and Zhao Hu nodded—slide projectors and loudspeakers required someone to operate them... meaning that person was still inside the house.
Right at that moment, a commotion sounded from upstairs. Bai Yutang and Zhao Hu bolted toward the upper floor without hesitation, while Zhan Zhao grabbed the arm of Ma Han, who was about to follow. "Outside!"
Ma Han understood immediately. Zhan Zhao was worried someone might jump out of a window to escape and wanted him to guard the perimeter.
The two of them turned and rushed outside, only to find that the front facade of the villa had no windows. Exchanging a glance, they hurried around to the rear of the building.
The back featured a simple garden with a swimming pool in the center.
The moment they rounded the corner, a second-floor window flew open, and a figure leaped down through the air. Landing with a slightly unsteady footing, the person pitched forward... As they stumbled, a muffled grunt escaped their lips. Zhan Zhao and Ma Han heard it clearly—it was a woman...
"Catch her!" Bai Yutang shouted from upstairs, snapping Ma Han and Zhan Zhao back to attention.
Just as they wanted to step forward, the figure suddenly scrambled up, pulled out a handgun, and aimed it straight at Zhan Zhao...
Simultaneously with the gunshot, Ma Han lunged forward and shoved Zhan Zhao out of the line of fire. Up from above, Zhao Hu also dove down, tackling the person to disarm them...
"Cat'er!" Bai Yutang cried out in alarm. Although Zhan Zhao was unhurt thanks to Ma Han's tackle, he happened to tumble awkwardly right into the swimming pool.
Ma Han was about to climb down to rescue him when with a resounding splash, Bai Yutang vaulted off the balcony overhead and plunged straight into the water.
The moment Zhan Zhao broke the surface of the water, he was scooped up and pulled into an embrace by Bai Yutang.
"Why did you jump down too..." Zhan Zhao wiped the water from his eyes.
Holding him tight, Bai Yutang hoisted him clear of the surface, lifting him high up.
"What are you doing..." Zhan Zhao felt a bit self-conscious, seeing that both Ma Han and Zhao Hu were watching from the bank.
Supporting Zhan Zhao with one arm, Bai Yutang reached his other hand up toward the bank, grasping Ma Han's extended hand. Sensing that Zhan Zhao seemed to be struggling, Bai Yutang gave a low warning: "Don't move, your arm can't get wet!"
Hearing those words, Zhan Zhao froze abruptly... He had almost completely forgotten about the injury on his arm, yet Bai Yutang remembered it so clearly.
Obediently letting Bai Yutang haul him ashore, he saw that Zhao Hu had already slapped handcuffs on the suspect. It was indeed a woman, and one both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang recognized—Carlos's personal female secretary, Lü Yan.
Before long, the rest of the S.C.I. team rushed over as well. The moment Gongsun caught sight of those three mummified corpses, his jaw dropped in shock: "Weren't those techniques for crafting box-corpses supposed to have been lost to history?"
The team brought the box-corpses and the sudden Eagle King statue back to the police headquarters, while Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao went home—drenched to the skin—to shower and change.
After finishing his shower, Zhan Zhao was still mulling over the case. "Xiao Bai, Lü Yan must have been lying in wait to assassinate Morris earlier."
Bai Yutang nodded. "Most likely. If Ma Han and the others hadn't tagged along, Morris might not have been shot to death, but he easily could have been scared to death."
"Her situation is quite similar to Qu Yanming's," Zhan Zhao noted. "Meticulously prepared, and she even knew how to flee."
"Mm," Bai Yutang agreed. "And she hasn't uttered a single word since getting caught."
"Why would she bother playing god and playing ghost?" Zhan Zhao puzzled. "Today's culprits fall into two camps: those with clear minds like Qu Yanming and Lü Yan, and those who are unhinged like Zhou Lu... Plus those two police officers, who genuinely feel connected to this case somehow."
"Though it's still unclear what ties Luo Peng had to this case." Bai Yutang carefully inspected the gauze-wrapped injury on Zhan Zhao's arm, breathing a sigh of relief to find it unharmed.
"Did you have anyone look into Luo Peng?" Zhan Zhao asked.
"I sent Bai Chi along with Wang Chao and Zhang Long. Since Luo Peng was his former superior, Bai Chi being there should help smooth things out," Bai Yutang replied.
"...I think I'm starting to get a clue about this case," Zhan Zhao muttered to himself.
"Oh?" Bai Yutang looked at him. "What clue?"