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

The Non-Human Killer 04 - Tusi  

Quickly snapping back to their senses, Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao promptly led the members of S.C.I. rushing over to the municipal museum.

The first priority was to disperse the swarming media. The police officers pulled up police lines to secure and protect the scene.

The members of S.C.I. quickly walked into the lounge.

Looking at the scene in person, the terrifying aura of the corpse was slightly diminished. Perhaps influenced by the photographs, the feeling of seeing it through a lens made people instantly associate it with the eyes in those pictures. Zhan Zhao felt a faint sense of relief; if he had looked directly at the corpse instead of through a lens first, he might not have connected it to those photographs at all.

Gongsun put on his gloves and stepped forward to examine the body. Observing the corpse, he stated, "Male, around forty years old, no signs of poisoning..." He checked the pupils and declared, "Sudden death!"

"Similar to a medical condition?!" Bai Yutang asked.

"It looks..." Zhan Zhao hesitated for a moment. "...as if he was scared to death."

Gongsun nodded. "Right... it really does look like he was scared to death."

Bai Yutang turned and asked Morris, who was standing to one side, "You've been staying by his side all this time?!"

Morris shook his head. "He just said he felt a bit unwell, so I went to pour him a glass of water... When I came back, he had turned into this state."

"Does he have any medical conditions?" Zhan Zhao asked. "For instance, heart disease, high blood pressure, or something similar?"

"...I've collaborated with him for many years, and as far as I know, no." Morris shook his head.

"There's another question," Zhan Zhao said. "Mr. Tanaka has a series of photographs featuring eyes... Do you know about them?"

"Oh..." Morris nodded. "I know. It must be the series titled 'Fear,' right? Those are Tanaka's representative works."

"How did you guys manage to make the models display that kind of expression?!" Bai Yutang pressed further.

"Uh..." Morris hesitated, struggling for a moment before saying, "This belongs to our secrets..."

Zhan Zhao smiled slightly. "Don't you think Tanaka's expression in death looks very similar to the ones in those photos?"

Morris was startled and sighed. "It really is similar..."

"Then can you talk about it now?" Bai Yutang urged.

"Those people weren't models at all," Morris said softly. "Tanaka hired people to scare the subjects being photographed half to death first, and then took candid shots."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged glances, neither of them speaking further.

Right at that moment, a commotion broke out at the entrance as someone disregarded the police officers' blockades and barged in.

Everyone turned around to look and recognized him immediately—it was Shang Luo, who had just appeared on the television news earlier.

The young police officer blocking him cast an apologetic look at Bai Yutang. Bai Yutang nodded at him, and the officer stepped away.

With his hands buried in his trouser pockets, Shang Luo calmly scanned the surroundings. His gaze paused slightly when it landed on Zhan Zhao, then he offered a polite smile, retracted his gaze, and said to Bai Yutang, "This must be Captain Bai. I've heard so much about you. I am Shang Luo."

Bai Yutang smiled and reached out to shake his hand in return. "I know. I just saw you on the television news."

"Is that so..." Shang Luo nodded. "I've come to ask you all for a favor."

"A favor?" Bai Yutang turned back to exchange a glance with Zhan Zhao. "What kind of favor?"

"Until the mystery of the corpse box and the curse is sorted out, I will keep the real corpse box inside the museum," Shang Luo said, pointing toward the exhibition hall behind them. "I hope the police can assign people to protect it."

Bai Yutang smiled and nodded. "This is a crime scene; naturally, we will have people assigned to protect it."

"Also, I hope Captain Bai can solve the case as soon as possible. Many people are waiting for answers." With that, he smiled again and turned to leave.

"What did he come here for?" Zhan Zhao walked up to Bai Yutang's side. "Making no sense at all."

Bai Yutang frowned in thought for a long time. "Cat'er, did we offend him in any of our past cases?"

Zhan Zhao shrugged. "I don't think so..."

With the evidence collection complete and evening approaching, Bai Yutang dropped Zhan Zhao off at home and drove alone to a certain destination.

His car parked in front of a nightclub. Bai Yutang stepped out, turned into the alleyway, and entered the back door of the nightclub.

A young punk smoking a cigarette by the door was startled upon seeing him, then promptly helped him open a door behind him.

Behind the door was a long flight of steps bathed in dim lighting, leading straight down underground.

Bai Yutang stepped through the door, walked down the steps to the very bottom, and came to another door.

Reaching out, he knocked lightly twice on the door. A small partition window on the door opened, revealing a pair of eyes belonging to the person inside.

Seeing that it was Bai Yutang, the person closed the window, and a moment later, with a click, the door was unlocked.

The furnishings inside the room behind the door resembled a business office. Bai Yutang paused, an expression of disgust instantly flashing across his face. "Your taste is getting worse and worse."

The man smoking a cigarette seated behind the office desk raised his head and rolled his eyes at Bai Yutang with utter contempt. "This is called aesthetic taste!"

He was a man in his thirties with a very ordinary appearance, dressed remarkably like an office worker, except for a shallow scar beneath his eye that stretched almost entirely across his face.

"What is it? What major event requires you, Captain Bai, to personally visit my humble little temple?" The man extinguished his cigarette and asked casually.

"I want to check out the background of a man named Shang Luo." Bai Yutang cut straight to the point.

"This... is a bit difficult..." He furrowed his brows in troubled hesitation.

"He has triad roots." Bai Yutang pulled over a chair and sat down. "When it comes to underworld matters, asking you, Zhi Hua, shouldn't be wrong."

"Sigh." With a sigh, Zhi Hua nodded. "What, is this guy causing trouble for you? Or for your precious cat?!"

Bai Yutang was momentarily stunned as he watched Zhi Hua staring intently at the ring on his left hand.

"I just have no idea what he's up to, which is why I'm asking you." He spun that ring gently. "Do you know his origins?"

Zhi Hua said with a hint of mystery, "I can only say... this time it might be a big trouble."

"What do you mean?" Bai Yutang was puzzled.

"The problem isn't on your end." Zhi Hua gave a cough. "Shang Luo used to stay in Italy all along. He built his fortune on white powder and arms... Later, due to a power struggle, he offended a Mafia boss and got chased out."

"And then he came back home to open a security company?" Seeing Zhi Hua nod, Bai Yutang asked again, "Then what does that have to do with me?"

"Not with you." Zhi Hua shook his head. "I don't know the details; just ask your big brother, and you'll understand... I only know that Shang Luo being cleared out has a lot to do with your big brother."

"My big brother?!" Bai Yutang's brows furrowed even tighter before he asked a moment later, "When my brother was in Italy... what was he doing?!"

"Heh-heh-heh..." Zhi Hua laughed. "That's beyond my knowledge. You two are brothers; go ask him yourself... It's just that this Shang Luo has immense ambition. Recently, the underworld has been stirring restlessly, looking like a storm is about to break. I suspect he's the one stoking the fires as well... Sigh, I'm getting ready to head out and dodge the storm for a bit."

Bai Yutang stood up, said a brief "Thank you," and prepared to leave. Before stepping out the door, he heard Zhi Hua add a sentence from behind: "Watch yourself..."

Leaving the nightclub and getting into his car, he found that night had already fallen. Bai Yutang suddenly remembered that Zhan Zhao probably hadn't eaten yet at home—so he hurriedly bought a pizza and rushed back.

Opening the door and stepping inside, he suddenly caught a whiff of a strange burning smell, as if something was on fire.

"Cat'er... Cat..." Terrified out of his wits, Bai Yutang followed the scent straight to the kitchen and froze.

There was Zhan Zhao wearing an apron, holding a spatula in one hand and a bottle of soy sauce in the other, gazing intently at the sizzling frying pan on the gas stove while muttering something under his breath.

Seeing that he was uninjured, Bai Yutang breathed a sigh of relief, walked into the kitchen, and heard Zhan Zhao speaking directly to an egg in the pan: "Hurry up... come on!"

Suppressing his laughter, Bai Yutang stepped forward, wanting to say something, just as the pan—likely because the oil was too hot—began to pop and crackle furiously...

Zhan Zhao looked at the pan, seemingly sensing the time was right, raised his hand, and poured soy sauce straight into it...

"Wait!" Just as Bai Yutang's warning left his mouth, the soy sauce had already splashed into the pan—with a sharp hiss, a billow of blackish-yellow steam rose into the air...

Zhan Zhao immediately picked up the bowl of rice beside him and dumped it in, then began stirring frantically with the spatula...

"Good grief... Cat'er..." Bai Yutang quickly switched on the range hood, turned off the gas, and pushed open the window.

Zhan Zhao looked at him in bewilderment. "What?!"

"I should be asking you that!" Bai Yutang snatched the spatula from his hand. "What on earth are you doing, running a chemical experiment?"

Zhan Zhao looked mildly proud. "Cooking!"

Glancing back at that pile of black-and-yellow "matter" in the pan, Bai Yutang asked Zhan Zhao, "What were you originally planning to make?!"

"I originally wanted to make omurice... Then I decided to make fried rice."

Bai Yutang nodded, pointed at the contents of the pan, and asked again, "Then what is this?!"

"...Egg... fried rice," Zhan Zhao replied with somewhat lacking conviction.

Looking at the chaotic kitchen, the charred food, and then at the refined, immaculate Zhan Zhao standing before him, Bai Yutang rubbed his temples feeling somewhat helpless. "I must say, Cat'er, the meal you cooked... has a lot of masculine vigor."

Zhan Zhao glared at him. "Only the food?"

"The way you looked while cooking was also quite heroic," Bai Yutang said, leaning against the sink and bursting into hearty laughter, instantly sweeping away the gloom from earlier.

Zhan Zhao walked right up to him and vigorously ruffled his hair. "So is your mood a bit better now?!"

Bai Yutang was stunned, then reached out, lifted Zhan Zhao's chin, and pressed a kiss to the corner of his lips. "Cat'er, thanks..."

Leaving the kitchen, the two of them chatted while devouring pizza. Bai Yutang shared everything he had learned from Zhi Hua earlier with Zhan Zhao.

"Mhm," Zhan Zhao mused. "Little Bai, do you think Shang Luo's move isn't as simple as just taking the opportunity to stir up trouble?"

"The first case..." Bai Yutang fiddled with the coffee mug on the table. "The security personnel were from Shang Luo's company, and right after Carlos died, Shang Luo was the first to buy that corpse box..."

"That's right." Zhan Zhao pierced a small piece of pizza with a pair of chopsticks. "Shang Luo certainly gained a lot of benefits... But to say he committed murder and fabricated some curse purely for that bit of financial gain—it still feels a bit strange."

"This case is genuinely baffling." Bai Yutang handed a cup of hot milk to Zhan Zhao. "Cat'er, once we finish eating, let's head back to the police station. Gongsun's autopsy results should be out by now."

"Mhm," Zhan Zhao nodded, lifting the milk—and drank.

At 7:00 PM, the two returned to S.C.I., where Gongsun was already waiting in the office with the autopsy report. At that moment, he was leaning close to Jiang Ping, staring at the computer screen with an intensely solemn expression.

"What is it?" Bai Yutang walked closer. "Any discoveries?"

"Head," Jiang Ping looked up at the two of them. "Take a look—the internet is currently flooded with reports about the corpse box and Tusi culture. Some people have even established a so-called Tusi cult... worshiping that corpse box like a deity."

Zhan Zhao suddenly asked, "Roughly how many researchers of Tusi culture are there?"

"Hmm," Jiang Ping pulled up a webpage. "Records regarding the Tusi tribe are genuinely scarce... But there are two people online who are quite famous."

"Which two people?"

"One is the painter Mo Ning, and the other is the fortuneteller Akasha," Jiang Ping said as he searched up their profiles. "Mo Ning's masterpiece, Burning Fury, depicts the ancient Tusi civilization's punishment of death by fire—hanging the criminal up and burning them to death."

When everyone looked at that painting, they saw a twisted, struggling figure suspended from a rope, with blue flames licking upward from beneath. The strangest part was that the person hanging was clutching the other end of the rope themselves... their appearance utterly bizarre to the extreme.

"Why would he pull the rope himself?" Bai Yutang asked, puzzled.

"That's because in the customs of the Tusi people, being burned to death is the heaviest punishment, and the soul would suffer eternal torment in the fire. Therefore, they would rather hang themselves first..." Zhan Zhao explained, only to notice everyone staring at him with curious gazes.

"Cat'er, how do you know all this?" Bai Yutang asked, confused.

"..." Zhan Zhao opened his eyes wide and stared back at the group. "Why are you looking at me like that? I am a scholar, after all... Isn't it normal for me to know a bit more?"

"Ahem." Bai Yutang turned back and asked Jiang Ping, "What about the other one?"

"It's the one we were just looking at," Gongsun suddenly said. "Akasha's live video stream."

"Live streaming what?" Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao curiously crowded around.

"She claims she knows who the sinner is... told to her by the Tusi god." Jiang Ping shrugged and opened the live stream. "After all that commotion, the live broadcast van has already headed out to the location she pointed out."

"To look for what?" Zhan Zhao watched the live broadcast feed, which showed a small villa.

"Akasha said the sinner will receive the punishment of the Tusi god... He knows who the next sinner is..." Gongsun's words cut off mid-sentence as everyone watched the villa on screen engulfed in raging flames, with thick black smoke billowing upward.

"Ah!" the cameraman suddenly shrieked. "There seems to be something inside the room!" With that, the camera zoomed in.

Through the second-story window, fierce flames raged. Out of the open window, blue tongues of fire licked hungrily upward.

Amidst the raging fire, a person was suspended from a ceiling beam. A rope ran over the beam, and the other end was tightly clenched in their own hands—and that person was none other than the painter Mo Ning...

Everyone in front of the screen dropped their jaws as they watched this spectacle, utterly at a loss for words.

A moment later, everyone exchanged glances and spoke in unison: "That's supernatural..."