S.C.I. (Volume I) - Case 4: Chapter 11

The Non-Human Killer 11 - Multiple Killers 

"Clues?" Bai Yutang said as he climbed onto the bed, helped Zhan Zhao sit up, and picked up a bath towel to dry the latter's hair. "Let's hear it."

"Mn..." Zhan Zhao thought for a moment and said, "Let's analyze this starting from the first case. Carlos's death... at first it felt unbelievable, but now Qu Yanming and Lü Yan are both implicated..."

"Right." Bai Yutang nodded. "If the two of them teamed up, killing Carlos and staging it as a locked-room incident would have been a piece of cake."

"Next, let's talk about Tanaka, Möring, the first author to die—Xiao Lu, plus the one who didn't die—Akasha, Fu Yishan, and Luo Peng..." Zhan Zhao asked Bai Yutang, "Is there any common thread between them?!"

"A common thread..." Bai Yutang's hair-drying motions gradually slowed down. "They're all connected to the Tusi civilization... No, we still don't know if Luo Peng is involved..." He shook his head. "Mousie, I really don't have much of a clue. Plus, we now have to add Morris, who almost lost his life today."

"Morris is the key!" Zhan Zhao turned back to say, but before he could fully turn around, he clutched his lower back and collapsed. Bai Yutang chuckled as he caught him, murmuring softly in his ear, "What's wrong? Sore lower back?"

Zhan Zhao shot him a fierce glare, then continued, "All of these people share a common thread, but Morris does not."

"How so?" Bai Yutang turned serious.

"When Carlos died, Lü Yan and Qu Yanming were present; when Tanaka died, Morris was present; when Möring died, her two students were present; when Xiao Lu died, although the specific circumstances aren't clear, reports mentioned a close friend of hers; when Akasha died, a regular customer named Zhou Lü was there; Fu Yishan had bodyguards around him... plus a very close secretary; Luo Peng was beaten to death by two subordinates of many years..." Zhan Zhao finished and looked at Bai Yutang. "What do you think is the common thread?"

Bai Yutang's eyes widened as he set the bath towel down beside him. "That's right, Mousie!", he said, reaching up to scratch his head a couple of times in excitement. "Every single victim had someone extremely close to them present. Carlos, Tanaka, Möring, including Fu Yishan—the plots to murder them were all very clever, but if they followed the same methods as Qu Yanming and Lü Yan, designed by someone close to them, it would have been very easy to pull off. As for the ones who killed Akasha and Luo Peng, they didn't set up elaborate traps; they just went straight up crazy..." At this point, he glanced at Zhan Zhao. "That is... if they really went crazy~~"

"Smart!" Zhan Zhao nodded in approval. "If the situations with Zhou Lü and those two police officers are the same as Qu Yanming and Lü Yan—meaning they didn't go crazy at all—then these cases become simple!"

"And then I discovered a very interesting cycle!" Zhan Zhao said. "Think about it, which case was it when the 'crazy people' started killing?"

"Akasha..." Bai Yutang suddenly realized. "I understand. Akasha was a variable. Because we stopped Fu Yishan from being killed, the killer had no choice and made a temporary decision to go kill Akasha. We ran into them... so they fumed up a fake madness!"

"Then what do you think of Luo Peng's case?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"It's like making up for a missed ticket!" Bai Yutang laughed. "That way, Akasha's case gained credibility, and we wouldn't suspect that Zhou Lü was faking her insanity."

"And then there's Morris's case..."

"Also making up for a missed ticket!" Before Zhan Zhao could finish, Bai Yutang cut in. "That way, Qu Yanming's actions also gained credibility... And in the end, the only ones who actually sacrificed themselves were Qu Yanming and Lü Yan!"

"As long as the two of them refuse to crack and we prove they have mental issues, everyone else is safe!" Zhan Zhao propped his chin up with his hand. "This time, it's very likely there are multiple killers—all of the people connected! We originally thought there were only one or two killers. True, all the cases are linked, but the methods are completely different!"

"For such a large-scale group crime, sacrificing Qu Yanming and Lü Yan was most likely done to protect a much larger secret..." Bai Yutang's expression grew increasingly grim. "Mousie, you saw those box corpses in Tanaka's studio too... It might be related to that!"

"Tomorrow morning, we'll go interrogate those two police officers and find a breakthrough point through them!" Zhan Zhao said. "Those two are definitely faking their insanity!"

"Why are you so certain?" Bai Yutang was somewhat puzzled. "Mousie, their behavior was genuinely manic."

"They were certainly manic!" Zhan Zhao nodded. "However, truly manic people wouldn't be rational enough to immediately reload their guns after firing six rounds..."

"Ah~~" Bai Yutang had an epiphany. "That's right. If they were really crazy, they at least should have kept pulling the trigger on empty chambers a few more times..."

"And..." Zhan Zhao smiled slightly. "Remember the two shots Chief Bao fired?"

Bai Yutang recalled the moment and shook his head with a smile. "That old fox... The positions where he hit their shoulders were very clever—not on the joints. If they had truly gone crazy, that minor injury definitely wouldn't have made them obediently drop their guns and collapse to the ground!"

"Mn~~" Zhan Zhao nodded. "Their timing was mastered brilliantly. If they hadn't dropped their weapons at that exact moment, they definitely would have been put down for good!"

"Huuu~~~" Bai Yutang let out a long breath. "No wonder the old man gave us a week to solve the case—he already knew where the breakthrough was... Mousie..." Here, Bai Yutang paused, lowering his head to press a gentle kiss to Zhan Zhao's forehead. "Mousie, you really are brilliant... It seems like every time we reach a dead end, you always find a way to lead us out of it."

Zhan Zhao turned his head slightly and rubbed it twice against Bai Yutang's shoulder. "Little Bai, this case might require us to ask someone for help."

"..." Bai Yutang fell silent for a moment before saying knowingly, "Zhao Zhen... right?"

Zhan Zhao closed his eyes, comfortably rolled over to sink deeper into the duvet, and whispered, "Little Bai, you're the truly amazing one... talented in both literary and martial arts..."

Seeing that just a second ago he was full of drive while discussing the case, only to fall asleep the next second...

Bai Yutang shook his head helplessly, pulled the blanket up over him, and just as he reached to turn off the lamp, he heard Zhan Zhao—already slipping into a half-sleep—suddenly murmur in a drowsy daze, "So infuriating! Talented in both literary and martial arts... You dead rat!!"

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Inside the S.C.I. office, Mahan was on duty, sipping coffee while sitting in Zhan Zhao's office and reading the materials on the Tusi civilization that Bai Chi had tracked down. The door suddenly rapped twice, and when he looked up, he saw Zhao Hu standing there holding a pillow.

"L... Little Ma-ge..."

"Pfft... cough cough..." Choked by Zhao Hu's address, Mahan spat out a mouthful of coffee.

"Didn't you say you were sleepy?" Mahan looked at him with an expression of disgust. "Go on to bed, big brother."

"I want to sleep here..." Zhao Hu shuffled over to the sofa, hugging his pillow. "You do your work, don't mind me."

"Huzi?" Mahan frowned at him. "Are you sick?"

"No?" Zhao Hu shook his head. "I never catch colds."

"Then why are you running over in the middle of the night to gross me out?!" Mahan slanted his eyes at him. "Isn't the lounge sofa more comfortable? There's even a bed there—why aren't you sleeping in there instead of coming out here to squeeze onto a tiny couch?!"

Zhao Hu sat up, looking utterly dejected. "That room... is not meant for humans!"

"..." Mahan only then remembered and laughed. "I get it... You don't want to stay in the same room as that statue of the Eagle King, do you?!"

"And..." Zhao Hu said with a pale face. "Next door is the forensics lab!!"

"Isn't Gongsun there?" Mahan held back his laughter. "With him around, what are you afraid of? Who in this police station wards off evil better than Gongsun?? He's a ghost-fearer himself!!"

"He's the one I'm afraid of!" Zhao Hu shivered. "I'm afraid he'll get too absorbed in studying the box corpses... and use me as an experiment in the middle of the night, turning me into a box corpse too!!"

Shaking his head, Mahan ignored him and went back to reading his book, only to hear Zhao Hu suddenly say, "Hey... am I seeing things?"

"What?" Hearing that Zhao Hu's voice seemed a bit shaky, Mahan looked over in confusion.

Trembling, Zhao Hu raised a finger and pointed toward the lounge doors. "That... that Eagle King statue couldn't be seen from this angle just a moment ago... Why can I see it now?"

Hearing this, Mahan looked up toward the lounge and saw that the Eagle King statue, which had originally been tucked away in the corner... was standing right by the doorway at some point...

"..." Mahan made a calm-down gesture toward Zhao Hu, signaling him to keep talking. Zhao Hu caught the drift, and the two of them continued chatting, but their eyes both drifted toward the statue.

A moment later, an incredible thing happened—the statue was slowly moving toward the doorway... or rather... hopping...

Both Mahan and Zhao Hu drew in sharp breaths, their hands simultaneously pressing against the guns at their waists. Zhao Hu asked in a low voice, "Bro... what on earth is that thing? Why is it moving?"

Mahan pondered for a moment and replied, "There's only one explanation... It's alive!"

"What??" Zhao Hu felt a bit dizzy. "You damn well have time to scare me right now??"

Mahan glared at him. "I mean, the thing itself is dead, but whatever is inside it might be alive!"

"Inside?" Zhao Hu froze abruptly, then looked again at the shape of the statue: humanoid, slightly oversized... If it was hollow, a person could fit inside it just right...

The two of them drew their guns and were just about to charge forward when the main door of the S.C.I. office was pushed open. Walking in were Bai Chi, Zhang Long, and Wang Chao, who had just returned from searching Luo Peng's house.

Bai Chi was walking in front and threw the door open abruptly, catching sight of the statue jumping out from the doorway of the lounge right at that second...

………………………………

Bai Chi and the statue stared at each other for three full seconds.

"Yaahhhhhhhhyyyyyyyy~~~~~~~"

That piercing shriek practically squeezed out an entire year's worth of screams from Bai Chi in one go.

Zhang Long and Wang Chao outside the door, along with Zhao Hu and Mahan inside the office, were startled so badly by the cry that they all jumped up; Gongsun kicked open the door of the forensics lab and rushed out; and the duty personnel across the entire police station who had already been startled earlier that afternoon had their souls practically scared right out of their bodies.

"What are you howling for?!" Gongsun kicked open the S.C.I. door and saw the people inside the office in a bizarre standoff with the statue.

After staring blankly for a long while, Mahan suddenly pointed at the statue and said, "Just now... it seemed like it screamed too..."

Gongsun shouted at the statue, "Come out!"

No movement.

The group quieted down, and then they heard muffled "woof-woof" or weeping sounds coming from inside the statue, resembling both a wild beast howling and a person crying...

Bai Chi's complexion turned a shade paler.

Gongsun stared at the statue for a moment before stepping forward. After groping around the statue's eye sockets for a moment, he pressed down. With a crisp "snap," a vertical crack appeared down the middle of the statue.

Mahan and Zhang Long each grabbed one side and pulled the statue apart along the seam. With a loud crash... the hollow statue split open to both sides like a giant clam shell—standing inside was a person whose hands were bound and mouth sealed with duct tape, and whose face looked terribly familiar...

Gongsun recognized him at a glance. It was none other than the other security guard who had been guarding the box corpses alongside Qu Yanming that day—Feng Jie.