S.C.I. (Volume I) - Case 4: Chapter 20

The Non-Human Killer 20 - Overt Threads and Covert Threads  

Gongsun took the skin tissue provided by Zhan Zhao to conduct composition analysis, while attempting to trace the manufacturing channels through the tech team's analysis.

The rest of the SCI members split up to escort the various thugs who had broken into the police station into the interrogation rooms.

After sitting on the sofa frowning in thought for a moment, Zhan Zhao turned to Bai Yutang and said, "Xiao Bai, we need to get Lu Fang over here. I need him to do me a favor, and besides that, you'd better contact..."

"Contact Han Zhang, right?" Bai Yutang chimed in with a smile before Zhan Zhao could finish.

"Smart." Zhan Zhao patted him on the shoulder.

It wasn't long before Lu Fang hurried over.

Zhan Zhao asked him to get in touch with major media magazines to see if Shang Luo had any scheduled interviews or TV appearances for the following day, with the theme centering around his collected Tusi civilization artifacts.

Though a bit bewildered, Lu Fang still made phone calls to the major newspaper offices and television stations one by one. The answer he received back was—there actually were.

"Xiao Zhan, how on earth did you know?" Lu Fang asked in amazement. "Shang Luo contacted several TV stations and newspapers in S City yesterday to do a special program on the Tusi civilization to promote his collection, though he just called to cancel it a moment ago."

Zhan Zhao nodded. "Then there's no doubt about it."

"Cat." Bai Yutang also jogged over. "Word just came in from Han Zhang that there's a major underground transaction happening soon, with Shang Luo as the seller. The merchandise consists entirely of mummified corpses. It was originally scheduled for half a month from now, but for some reason, the date was suddenly moved up to tomorrow, though the location hasn't been confirmed yet."

"Looks like Shang Luo is panicking!" Zhan Zhao sneered. "He originally planned to play along with our game, but he never expected to fail in his attempt to trap us, losing his investment instead."

"Xiao Zhan, spell it out." Bao Zheng, who had remained silent the entire time, couldn't help cutting in.

"Actually, Shang Luo anticipated all along that we would seize the opportunity to probe him, so he wanted to use the occasion to lure Yutang and the others out, then dispatch people to sneak into the SCI and steal the trunk corpses. He never expected that Big Brother would happen to drop by so coincidentally, resulting in them getting caught red-handed."

Bai Yutang nodded. "Before leaving, the cat deliberately told Shang Luo that we captured those thugs alive. That threw him into a panic, and knowing he couldn't keep up the charade for long, he decided to unload the goods on his hands as fast as possible and prepare to flee."

"What about the media?" Lu Fang interjected. "I don't understand how that connects!"

"Doesn't everyone feel this operation went a bit too smoothly?" Zhan Zhao countered. "Given Shang Luo's situation, he should be extremely reluctant to have the police visit his home, yet he took the initiative to invite me. From that point alone, it's clear that going there benefited me."

"I get it!" Little Bai Chi, who had been listening intently from the side, suddenly chimed in. "Shang Luo deliberately put on a ghostly charade to heighten the mysterious aura of the Tusi civilization. When he had the media booked for a show tomorrow, he could use this incident as concrete evidence. Once he staged that little trick and claimed that Dr. Zhan from the SCI was also an eyewitness to the event, it would undoubtedly carry far more hype value and be much more believable."

"That certainly fits Shang Luo's high-stakes gambler personality." Bai Yutang sneered. "Setting up a scam from the very beginning to leverage the police appearance and build up his reputation—if Big Brother hadn't shown up today and he'd pulled it off, it really would have been killing two birds with one stone."

"That's what they call human calculations falling short of destiny." Zhan Zhao arched an eyebrow. "Man may plan a thousand ways, but heaven's will is hard to defy."

Just as they were speaking, Zhao Hu came barrelling in, shouting frantically, "Boss, this is bad! Those little punks are about to be beaten to death by your big brother, and Ma Han and I can't pull him off!"

Bai Yutang was startled. "What is he flying into such a rage for?"

"Those blind idiots said Shang Luo instructed them not only to steal the trunk corpses back, but also to abduct Gongsun along the way."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged a knowing glance—no wonder~~~

Bai Yutang beckoned to Zhao Zhen, who was lounging on the sofa with his legs crossed to watch the show. "Let's go... I'm not enough on my own."

Zhao Zhen gladly stood up and accompanied Bai Yutang to "break up the fight."

By the time Zhan Zhao led Gongsun to the doorway of the interrogation room, he saw Bai Yutang and Zhao Zhen each gripping one of Bai Jintang's arms, dragging him backward out the door.

Zhan Zhao stepped forward, peered inside, and frowned—the thugs had been beaten until their faces were swollen like pig heads, yet Bai Jintang still wasn't appeased and was struggling violently to break free~~ Zhao Zhen used all his strength to hold him back while shouting at Bai Yutang, "Good grief, his strength is even greater than Lisbon's."

Gongsun strode forward in two or three steps and landed a kick straight onto Bai Jintang's shin. "What kind of madness are you pulling?!"

Upon turning and catching sight of Gongsun, Bai Jintang's expression softened slightly, and Ma Han hurriedly closed the door to the interrogation room.

Bai Yutang and Zhao Zhen also breathed sighs of relief and let go of his arms.

Straightening his clothes, Bai Jintang turned around as if to leave. Gongsun stepped sideways to block his path. "Where do you think you're going?"

"..." Bai Jintang arched an eyebrow. "I'm going to take care of Shang Luo..."

"Take care of your head!" Gongsun glared at him, reached out to grab Bai Jintang's tie, and dragged the man straight into the forensic laboratory.

Bai Yutang let out a breath and asked Zhao Hu, "How did Big Brother end up inside the interrogation room?"

Zhao Hu looked sheepish. "We figured having him in there would scare those thugs into answering whatever we asked. We didn't expect them to answer everything alright, but the moment they uttered that single sentence, they got beaten so badly they couldn't say another word."

Bai Yutang frowned. "Wang Chao and the others are still interrogating the rest, right?"

"We questioned them for ages and couldn't get anything out of them," Ma Han said with a hint of discouragement. "They're all hardened, slippery veterans, which is why I came up with this idea. Boss, it's my fault, punish me if you want, it has nothing to do with Huzi."

"Forget it..." Bai Yutang waved a hand. "Take them to get medical treatment first..."

"Hold on ~~~~" Zhan Zhao abruptly interrupted. "Don't let them go to waste."

Everyone looked at him in bewilderment. "What do you mean, go to waste?"

Zhan Zhao stared at the two thugs whose faces were swollen larger than a pig's head, walked up to Ma Han and Zhao Hu, and whispered a few instructions.

The two men nodded, holding back their laughter.

Inside another interrogation room, Wang Chao and Zhang Long were nursing massive headaches. The two injured fellows before them were seasoned repeat offenders who yielded nothing after a prolonged session of questioning—the textbook definition of a dead pig unfazed by boiling water.

Right then, the door was abruptly pushed open. Ma Han and Zhao Hu escorted in two individuals who could barely walk, took a look at the pair inside, and asked Wang Chao and Zhang Long, "You two still aren't done? Hand them over to us, we're taking these two to the hospital."

Wang Chao and Zhang Long dropped their jaws in shock, but the most terrified ones were the two thugs themselves. Seeing the "tragic" state of their comrades, they thought to themselves, Good grief, no wonder people say the SCI is not to be trifled with—they really beat people to the brink of death ~~~~

Following that, the two men obediently confessed, spilling everything they were supposed to—and everything they weren't.

Zhan Zhao went in to pitch a few questions of his own, and upon finishing, stepped outside to find Bao Zheng giving Bai Yutang a severe tongue-lashing down the corridor, while Ma Han and Zhao Hu stood nearby looking helpless and anxious.

"What's wrong?" Zhan Zhao asked the two of them with a puzzled look.

"The boss is taking the fall for us, claiming he's the one who told us to bring Bai Jintang into the interrogation room, and that Bai Jintang only lost control because he was provoked ~~~~" Zhao Hu asked Zhan Zhao, "What do we do?"

Zhan Zhao turned his head and saw Bai Yutang standing with his back facing him, waving a hand behind his back—Emergency rescue needed in the jianghu ~~~~

With a helpless shake of his head, Zhan Zhao whispered a few words to Zhao Hu and Ma Han, and the two nodded before slipping away.

Bao Zheng was in the middle of a furious lecture, never expecting all the SCI members to materialize before his eyes at once, chattering away with, "It was my idea ~~~~"

Bao Zheng's face turned livid. He swept his gaze across the crowd and roared, "What is this? A mutiny?"

Then he glared at Bai Yutang. "You're covering for your brother, and your subordinates are covering for you? You're all police officers—are you deliberately breaking the law?"

Everyone fell silent.

At that moment, Zhao Zhen strolled past with his hands in his pockets and casually chimed in, "You know, nothing went wrong tonight, so we should probably thank Bai Jintang ~~~~"

Bao Zheng froze.

Zhan Zhao looked up at the ceiling and muttered to himself, "That's right, no wonder people say cops cross the river and smash the bridge right behind them ~~~~"

Unable to come up with a retort, Bao Zheng finally let out a sigh, shot Bai Yutang one fierce glare, and said, "You've still got three days left in the week. If you can crack the case, fine; if you can't..."

"We'll pull toilet cleaning duty together ~~~~" everyone chorused in unison. "We understand."

Bao Zheng kept his mouth open for a long moment before finally shutting it. With a shake of his head, he turned and walked away, looking thoroughly exasperated ~~~~

The group breathed a sigh of relief. Bai Yutang pointed toward the conference room and commanded, "Everyone go sort out the materials on hand. We'll hold a meeting as soon as Gongsun's forensic report comes out. We're cracking this case within three days!"

Watching everyone happily disperse to attend to their respective tasks, Zhan Zhao glanced at Bai Yutang. "It's really something to see Captain Bai playing favorites for once."

Bai Jintang's lips curled into a smile as he stepped closer. "This instance is entirely justifiable ~~~~ If those bastards had tried to grab you instead, I would have beaten them until even their own mothers wouldn't recognize them!"

Zhan Zhao reached out to grab his trench coat collar. "You brothers are both hopeless romantics, aren't you ~~~~ Let's go, meeting time!"

Laughing heartily, Bai Yutang allowed himself to be dragged along.

Half an hour later, Gongsun's analysis report was completed, and everyone gathered inside the conference room.

"How is it?" Zhan Zhao asked Gongsun with a hint of eagerness. "The composition on the surface of the mummified corpses versus the trunk corpses."

Gongsun nodded. "Identical."

Excitement washed over everyone's faces.

"There's something else I want you to see." With that, Gongsun produced a few photographs and laid them out before the group. "These are the reconstructed facial features of the trunk corpses... Do they look familiar?"

Zhan Zhao stared at one of them for a moment, then pulled out the set of fear-themed photographs taken by Tanaka that they had found at Carlos's house earlier to make a comparison.

Everyone was stunned—although their eyes were closed, it was undeniably the exact same face!

Bai Yutang furrowed his brow and said, "These fresh mummified corpses were Tanaka's models?"

Gongsun nodded. "Digital traces of digitalis were detected in all of these bodies."

"Looks like Tanaka wasn't just playing simple pranks on them." Zhao Hu sneered as he looked at the photos. "He first drugged those models with digitalis, then terrified them to trigger heart attacks, scaring them to death, before photographing their extreme expressions of terror right before death."

Ma Han also shook his head. "And they call him a photography genius—he's just a total pervert."

"The general process should be roughly that." Gongsun nodded in agreement.

"Huh?" Bai Chi let out a soft exclamation, pointing at a photo to ask Gongsun, "Why does the color of the corpses seem to have changed?"

Zhan Zhao also asked, "That's right, the colors of those trunk corpses look somewhat more yellowish and darker than when they were first brought in."

Gongsun nodded. "That's because the hard shell coating the exterior of the corpses contains mercury. Slow oxidation causes the corpses to darken, and after generally sitting for a few months, they end up looking identical in color to real trunk corpses and mummies, complete with waxification, making the fake indistinguishable from the real."

"These ones must be defective stock," Bai Yutang remarked. "Since Tanaka's photos have been seen by quite a few people, it was inevitable we'd discover them."

Everyone nodded—they were likely meant to be burned along with Tanaka's studio.

"Can we trace the manufacturing or storage location?" Zhan Zhao asked Gongsun. "After all, transporting items like trunk corpses is quite troublesome. Shang Luo is very likely conducting his transactions directly at the place where they're stashed."

Gongsun smiled and said, "We caught a lucky break. I managed to find some pansy pollen."

"Pansies are decorative flowers you can find everywhere..." Zhang Long frowned. "The streets are full of them ~~~~"

"Though not so much near abandoned vehicle scrapyards..." Zhan Zhao noted.

"Smart!" Gongsun smiled. "The folding of these trunk corpses is accomplished entirely through mechanical force. The only thing capable of pressing bodies into perfectly square shapes is the compactor at a scrap metal recycling plant."

"I've already checked the city planning map." Jiang Ping, who had rushed back from home, produced a map marked with circled locations. "There are a total of four abandoned car recycling stations in S City, all located in the suburbs. Station K happens to sit right adjacent to the highway, and half a year ago, the municipal construction team built a large flower bed right there—planted entirely with pansies."

"That must be the place." Bai Yutang nodded, asking, "Who owns this scrapyard?"

Jiang Ping smiled. "You hit the nail right on the head, Boss—it belongs to Carlos."

Everyone exchanged a startled look.

"So that's how it is..." Zhan Zhao let out a dry laugh. "Looks like aside from handling the collection and promotion, Carlos was also responsible for disposing of the bodies... Put that way, he really did fall victim to his own murderous methods."

"The evidence proving that Shang Luo and his associates conspired to fabricate trunk corpses, commit murder for wealth, and run a fraud ring is ironclad." Wang Chao looked at Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang with a hint of puzzlement. "However, all those homicide cases... and that legendary Tusi... I still don't get it, no matter how much I think about it."

The others nodded as well.

Bai Yutang arched an eyebrow at Zhan Zhao. "Cat, do you already have it all figured out?"

Zhan Zhao smiled and nodded. "Shang Luo and his cohorts only committed these crimes, nothing more and nothing less ~~~~ They've been following the overt thread."

"The overt thread?" Everyone pondered the phrase.

"You mean there's a covert thread?" Gongsun stroked his chin. "Someone else is doing the killing—it's not just Shang Luo's gang engaging in dog-eat-dog crime?!"

Zhan Zhao nodded. "Let's pull out the overt thread first; the covert thread is already right at our fingertips ~~~~" With that, he glanced at Bai Yutang and added, "Don't forget, we still have a trap laid out right over there."

Bai Yutang nodded, put down the materials in his hand, and announced to the group, "Contact the other support units. We're setting up an ambush at the scrapyard tonight. The entire SCI is deploying—we're going to pull on Shang Luo's overt thread and sweep them all up in one fell swoop!!"