S.C.I. (Volume I) - Case 4: Chapter 19

The Non-Human Killer 19 - A Stunning Scam  

At 9:12 PM, inside the forensic laboratory right next to the SCI offices at police headquarters.

Gongsun stood alone in front of the autopsy table, in the midst of examining those trunk corpses hauled out from Tanaka's studio.

What he needed to do now was carefully peel away the hard outer shell coating the surface of the corpses used to set their form.

As he peeled, Gongsun analyzed the composition of this outer shell—it was hard in texture, yet very thin and transparent, radiating a crystal-like luster... What on earth could it be?

At that moment, someone knocked on the door.

"Come in." Gongsun gave a low reply.

Pushing the door open, Jiang Ping walked in. He glanced at the corpse on Gongsun's hands, swallowed hard, and said, "Gongsun, I'm heading off work. Aren't you leaving?"

Gongsun shook his head. "Mn... I want to finish up with these."

"Oh..." Jiang Ping turned to leave, then looked back. "Wang Chao and the others are all out, and the boss and his team probably won't be back until the middle of the night. Will you be okay with just yourself here?"

Finding it amusing, Gongsun asked Jiang Ping, "What could possibly happen?!"

"Uh..." Jiang Ping glanced at the corpse once more.

Gongsun shook his head and waved a hand at him. "It's not going to come back to life. Hurry up and get going."

Jiang Ping gave a rather sheepish wave and said bye before heading out. Reaching the elevator lobby, he hesitated for a moment, then walked back to his office to make a quick phone call. After speaking for a few brief moments, he hung up and finally left with peace of mind.

Gongsun resumed his examination of the trunk corpse. The more he worked, the stranger things felt. Frowning, he took off his gloves, pulled out the data from the previous Tusi trunk corpse autopsy to cross-reference the numbers, and instantly had his eyes widen in shock. Realizing what he had uncovered, a bone-chilling cold washed over him...

Right at that moment, Gongsun abruptly sensed someone standing right behind him. Before he could turn around, an arm wrapped tightly around his waist, pulling him in.

"Ah~" Even the Ghost-Fearing Fiend had his moments of being startled. Gongsun was still deeply immersed in his recent discovery when someone suddenly grabbed him, causing him to let out a soft gasp of shock.

A familiar, low chuckle sounded right beside his ear, followed immediately by a wave of warm, damp heat brushing against his earlobe and neck.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Gongsun turned his head to glare at the man. "Haven't you ever heard that startling people can scare them to death—mn~~"

Before he could finish turning his head, the man caught him square in the trap, pinching his chin as their lips met in a tender yet slightly domineering kiss.

After a long while, the man finally released the slightly breathless Gongsun, wearing a smile that was half-mocking as he asked, "So you have moments where you get scared, too. Truly adorable."

Gongsun shot a glare at the suddenly appearing Bai Jintang, shoved his arm away, and demanded, "Why are you here?"

"Jiang Ping called me," Bai Jintang replied casually.

"Why on earth would he call you?!" Gongsun was baffled.

"I asked him to. Whenever you're the only one left alone in the office, he's supposed to call me." Bai Jintang arched an eyebrow. "I'm here to keep you company..."

"I'm working!" Gongsun reached out to push away Bai Jintang, who was once again clinging to him. "Making a mountain out of a molehill!!"

Bai Jintang suddenly pulled him into his arms, reached out to quietly shut the door, and gestured for Gongsun to keep quiet.

Though somewhat perplexed, Gongsun could clearly read the solemn expression on Bai Jintang's face... What on earth was going on??

"Heh..." Bai Jintang suddenly let out a soft chuckle. "Looks like we really need to thank Jiang Ping properly this time."

By now, Gongsun also caught the faint rustling sounds coming from outside, as if someone was approaching with extreme caution—and there was more than one person... Feeling a spike of tension, he instinctively grabbed onto Bai Jintang's sleeve.

Noticing Gongsun pulling close to him out of pure instinct, the corners of Bai Jintang's mouth curled upward uncontrollably. He lowered his head and murmured, "That's right."

Gongsun had no idea what he meant by that and stared at him with wide eyes.

Bai Jintang leaned down to kiss him again, smiling, "Whenever you're scared or upset from now on, you can come right into my arms just like this."

A flush instantly spread across Gongsun's face, and just as he tried to pull away, Bai Jintang wrapped his arms tightly around his waist and asked, "Do you have a gun?"

Struggling to keep up with his erratic train of thought, Gongsun shook his head, earning a frown from Bai Jintang. "How come Yutang never gave you a gun?!"

"I'm administrative staff!" Gongsun gritted his teeth and glared at him. "If I had a gun, you'd be the very first person I'd blast to pieces!!"

Bai Jintang reached out, picked up a small, razor-sharp scalpel from the tool tray, and smiled. "How could you bear to?"

If not for the sounds outside drawing closer by the second, Gongsun really would have loved to use that knife first to gut this shameless, smiling bastard~~

Bai Jintang made Gongsun hide in the corner of the room, weaponized the scalpel in his hand, and walked toward the main door. Suddenly, Gongsun whispered, "Be careful..."

Startled for a second, Bai Jintang snapped back to reality, a hint of regret in his smile. "Those blind fools really don't know how to pick their timing... Otherwise, doing this right here in the autopsy room would've felt exhilarating..."

Gongsun felt his blood boil in exasperation, thinking to himself that this idiot deserved to drop dead! Even in a situation like this, he still had the bandwidth to think about stuff like that!

Bai Jintang unbuttoned his trench coat, held the scalpel in his right hand, and strolled toward the doorway with an air of composure before sliding sideways into a blind spot...

Watching him, Gongsun was astonished to discover just how practiced and fluid his knife-handling movements were. The faint smile playing at the corners of his lips, coupled with the look in his eyes... how should he describe it~~ Exhilarated, or perhaps more accurately—bloodthirsty and merciless...

The doorknob gave a slight twist. Bai Jintang slowly raised his right hand, his five fingers flexing to spin the scalpel around smoothly. At the same instant, the door slowly inched open, and an arm holding a gun reached half-way inside. With a sudden, ferocious kick, Bai Jintang slammed the heavy iron autopsy room door right into the intruder, eliciting a muffled grunt as the man got caught squarely by the blow.

Gongsun furrowed his brow; his professional medical knowledge told him the man had just snapped at least three ribs...

Bai Jintang's lips hooked into a smirk. With a swift flick of his wrist, he drove the scalpel straight down, burying the blade hilt-deep into the hollow just beneath the man's collarbone...

"Ng..." The man's eyes bulged wide, the excruciating wave of agony stealing away even his ability to scream.

Pulling the gun free from the man's now-slackened grip, Bai Jintang told Gongsun, "Don't come out." With that, he kicked the intruder flying out the door and slammed the forensics lab door shut behind him...

Gongsun heard a flurry of gunshots erupt outside the door... Yet amidst this heart-pounding gunfire, his heart remained remarkably, inexplicably calm~~ Strangely enough, he felt not a single shred of worry that Bai Jintang might get hurt. Instead, he found himself deeply captivated by the fierce, bordering-on-cruel sequence of actions Bai Jintang had just executed... Almost instinctively, he walked over and opened the door—he wanted to see!

Opening the door, he saw several men already sprawled across the floor in a jumbled heap. All of them had sustained injuries right below the collarbone, just missing the heart—leaving them fully conscious and wracked with blinding pain, yet stripped of any capacity to fight back.

By this time, Bai Jintang had already strolled over to the entrance of the SCI office. The very last remaining gunman stood near the elevator lobby, holding his gun with trembling hands as he looked at Bai Jintang as though staring straight at a ghost.

Right at that moment, the elevator let out a ding, and its doors slowly slid open.

Gongsun gave a start—who on earth was coming back at a time like this?!

The gunman reacted swiftly, rapidly raising his weapon to aim straight at the opening elevator doors, only for his face to drain of all color in absolute terror the second he caught sight of what was inside.

With a low, beastly growl echoing out, a massive white shadow bolted forth from the elevator, pounced directly onto the gunman, and pinned him flat to the ground while letting out another fierce roar right in his face...

The man's eyes rolled upward as he froze in sheer terror, instantly losing consciousness as the gun slipped from his limp fingers.

Lifting his gaze to look at the sudden white lion that had charged out, Bai Jintang arched an eyebrow and let out a whistle.

Lisbon, having burst out of the elevator, noticed someone standing nearby and turned its head to eye Bai Jintang.

Bai Jintang smiled faintly and raised his gun, aiming it right at the beast...

Lisbon glared at Bai Jintang with intense vigilance, taking a cautious step backward as if hesitating.

A voice chuckled from inside the elevator: "Lisbon, what are you doing, seeing a ghost or something? Scare yourself silly?"

Gongsun hurried over, grabbed Bai Jintang's arm, and said, "Don't shoot it, it's one of us."

Zhao Zhen frequently brought Lisbon over to the SCI office, making it familiar with everyone around, but it had never laid eyes on Bai Jintang before. Seeing Gongsun acting so familiar with him, the lion relaxed its guard, padding over to sit down obediently off to the side to lick its fur.

Zhao Zhen stepped out of the elevator with his hands shoved casually into his pockets, looking utterly relaxed. "What's going on here?" he asked, glancing Bai Jintang up and down.

"What brings you here?" Gongsun asked Zhao Zhen, perplexed.

"I wanted to come pick little Bai Chi up from work," Zhao Zhen shrugged. "And then I heard gunshots echoing in the elevator."

Just then, a chaotic clatter of footsteps echoed from the stairwell as the doors of the other elevator slid open. A grim-faced Bao Zheng stepped out, casting a look over the crowd before staring down at the men strewn across the floor—police headquarters was enduring its second gunfight of the day~~

Inside the surveillance car, Bai Yutang's phone suddenly rang. Picking it up, he froze in silence for a long stretch without uttering a word...

Seeing Bai Yutang hang up with a frown, gently tapping his chin as though caught in a state of utter disbelief, Bai Chi asked, "What happened?"

Without answering, Bai Yutang swiftly dialed Zhan Zhao's number.

...

Having finished the call, Zhan Zhao stood up from the sofa and told Shang Luo, "Something's come up at the police station, I have to head back. Thank you for tonight."

Shang Luo hurriedly stood up as well. "Leaving so soon? What happened at the station?"

Zhan Zhao gave Shang Luo a faint smile. "Mr. Shang would be wise to beef up your security personnel as well."

"Huh... I don't quite follow." Shang Luo wore a look of total bafflement.

"Recently, quite a few people have tried to steal the trunk corpses, even going so far as breaking into the police station to do it," Zhan Zhao smiled gently. "Fortunately, we captured them all alive."

As he spoke, Zhan Zhao watched the micro-expressions playing across Shang Luo's face.

Sure enough, Shang Luo's facial muscles stiffened involuntarily for a split second, though he quickly averted his gaze and reached out to guide Zhan Zhao toward the exit.

Rejecting Shang Luo's offer to drive him back to the police station, Zhan Zhao bid him farewell and walked out of the residential compound alone.

Bai Yutang's car was parked right outside the gates, while Bai Chi had already hopped into Ma Han's vehicle to head back to the station ahead of them.

Once Zhan Zhao buckled into the passenger seat, Bai Yutang filled him in on the details of how they had apprehended Qiu Yu moments earlier.

"Those people who went to the police station must be tied to Shang Luo," Zhan Zhao said, unbuckling the surveillance tie clip.

"Oh, that's right," Bai Yutang asked Zhan Zhao with a puzzled look. "Earlier, I only told you that armed intruders had broken into the SCI office. How did you know they were there to steal the trunk corpses?"

Zhan Zhao offered a slight smile. "We really hit the jackpot tonight. Not only did we catch Qiu Yu, but I also uncovered a massive secret."

Bai Yutang raised an eyebrow. "You sly cat, what did you discover this time?!"

Reaching into his pocket, Zhan Zhao pulled out a purplish-brown object wrapped inside a paper napkin. "Take this back to Gongsun, he'll give us the answers."

Bai Yutang stared at the object for a long moment before asking warily, "Why does this thing look sort of familiar?"

"It's from that mummified corpse," Zhan Zhao said nonchalantly. "Skin tissue..."

"You crazy cat!" Bai Yutang cried out in utter disgust. "You're going back to give yourself a full decontamination scrub. How could you dare put something like this in your pocket?! This jacket is getting thrown out! No, burned!"

Zhan Zhao glared at him, let out a couple of cheeky laughs, and suddenly reached out to grab the sleeve of Bai Yutang's white trench coat...

"You dead cat, that's so gross!" Bai Yutang watched in horror as his sleeve was accosted.

"Hmph, we share our blessings and our curses!" Zhan Zhao rubbed back and forth against his sleeve, clearly trying to leave a blackened paw print.

"Filthy cat!"

"Germ-phobic rat!"

............

Back at the SCI office, the first thing Bai Yutang saw upon walking through the door was Bao Zheng's pitch-black expression...

"You two had better give me some good news..." Bao Zheng stared at them with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Or else I'm making all of you pull cleaning duty on the toilets together~~"

Bai Yutang shivered instinctively, quickly casting a sidelong glance at Zhan Zhao—Mousie, I'm leaving this to you.

Zhan Zhao smiled faintly. "Chief Bao, the case we cracked this time is no small matter. You'd better get ready to accept an award~~"

Everyone present froze, staring at Zhan Zhao with wide eyes.

Handing the skin tissue wrapped in the napkin over to Gongsun, Zhan Zhao explained, "This was stripped from the mummified corpse in Shang Luo's collection."

Taking the item and inspecting it, Gongsun immediately pulled out two reports. "It matches what I found! This time, it really is a shocking revelation."

"What kind of riddles are you two speaking in?!" Bao Zheng frowned, glaring at the pair.

Opening the reports, Gongsun said, "The centuries-old trunk corpse and the millennia-old mummy—their epidermal composition and preservation technology are identical to the fresh trunk corpse found at Tanaka's place. They all stem from the exact same modern manufacturing technology."

Hearing this, everyone exchanged stunned looks.

"You mean... all these items were manufactured by modern people?" Bai Chi said in shock. "Then Tusi..."

Zhan Zhao gave a faint smile. "From the Tusi myths, the origin of the Tusi civilization, the Tusi books, paintings, and totems... every single last piece of it is an elaborate scam."

Bai Yutang shook his head in disbelief. "World-renowned writers, photographers, painters, collectors... they all banded together to fabricate a Tusi civilization, turning worthless rotten wood and corpses into priceless antiques."

"As long as the creators are all dead... the forged civilization effectively becomes real," Zhan Zhao concluded. "Using established technology, they can continuously churn out artifacts from the Tusi era—a historical scam of staggering proportions capable of generating endless wealth!"