S.C.I. (Volume I) - Case 5: Chapter 13

The Doppelganger Killer 13 - Mysterious Code

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao led Luo Yang into the police station, escorting a bloodied Yu Qingyan with them, instantly stirring up quite a commotion. Hearing the news, Lan Chenglin hurried over with a dark expression. He took one look at the battered and disheveled Yu Qingyan, then turned to sneer at Bai Yutang. "Captain Bai, isn't your method a bit too ruthless?"

Bai Yutang smiled and arched an eyebrow. "Don't misunderstand, I didn't hit him."

Looking deeply skeptical, Lan Chenglin cast another glance at Zhan Zhao and Bai Chi before his gaze fell upon Luo Yang standing beside Zhan Zhao, causing him to visibly freeze.

Luo Yang looked up and locked eyes with Lan Chenglin, his gaze hostile, as if looking at a sworn enemy. Zhan Zhao gently patted him on the shoulder.

"Captain, that kid is a lunatic." With his hands cuffed and unable to break free, Yu Qingyan cast a look filled with desperate appeal toward Lan Chenglin. Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao remained silent, as they had already spotted Bao Zheng and Ouyang Chun walking over at a brisk pace from not far away.

Bao Zheng looked between the two parties and asked in a cold voice, "What's going on here?"

Lan Chenglin opened his mouth to speak, but a glare from Bao Zheng made him swallow his words right back down. Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao exchanged glances without saying anything.

"You," Bao Zheng said, turning to the blood-soaked Yu Qingyan.

"I saw that this child looked a bit suspicious, so I wanted to go over and ask him a question. Who would've guessed he's a complete lunatic who'd start smashing people with a brick," Yu Qingyan claimed. "Later, when Captain Bai and the others arrived, they assumed I was trying to harm the kid and slapped these cuffs on me."

Bao Zheng frowned upon hearing that and turned to Zhan Zhao. "Is that what happened?"

Zhan Zhao shook his head, gave Luo Yang a pat, and said, "You tell us, what happened?"

Everyone's gaze shifted to Luo Yang.

Luo Yang looked up at Bao Zheng, the cold and severe expression on his face suddenly vanishing to reveal a hint of fear. He timidly shrank behind Zhan Zhao, grabbed a handful of Zhan Zhao's hem, and pointed straight at Yu Qingyan. "He wanted to kill me because I saw him go to the nightclub to find hostesses."

Quite a few curious police officers lingering around the scene broke into whispering among themselves upon hearing Luo Yang's words. An officer from the Anti-Gang Task Force going to look for hostesses?

"You're talking absolute nonsense!" Yu Qingyan's face turned green with rage. "When on earth did I ever go there?!"

Luo Yang cowered a bit further behind Zhan Zhao, looking even more terrified. "My parents died when I was little, and I wash dishes at the nightclub... I saw him go into a room with the hostesses there, and he even gave them money when he came out."

Gasping sounds rippled through the surrounding crowd, leaving Yu Qingyan with no way to defend himself as he shouted at Luo Yang, "Stop spitting venom and framing people!"

"What are you roaring for?" Bai Yutang glared at him. "Trying to scare a kid?"

Luo Yang peeked up cautiously at Bao Zheng and asked, "Is he going to come kill me later? I'm scared! He even pointed a gun at us earlier and fired it."

"What nonsense are you spouting?" Yu Qingyan raged. "I didn't fire a gun at all—"

"Then you did draw your gun, right?" Zhan Zhao cut him off before he could finish.

Yu Qingyan hesitated. The moment he tried to speak again, everyone around them already understood the truth, regarding him with an even heavier dose of contempt.

"Going so far as to silence witnesses with murder, and even trying to kill police officers into the bargain—that seems a bit hard to justify, doesn't it?" Zhan Zhao glanced at Lan Chenglin standing right behind Yu Qingyan. "Or do you have other dirt that this kid is holding over you?"

"I..." With no other options, Yu Qingyan turned to look at Lan Chenglin, only to see that Lan Chenglin's face had turned somewhat pale as well.

"Perhaps there's been a misunderstanding," Ouyang Chun chimed in from the side with a smile. "Captain Yu was probably just mistaken while meeting with an informant."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged glances and turned to look at Bao Zheng, noticing a rather troubled expression on his face.

"You want to let them off the hook because these two are pawns laid out for the cases you're investigating next? The truth is, you've already gathered the evidence of their crimes and just wanted to use them to follow the vine and dig up the bigger roots, right?" Bai Yutang looked straight at Ouyang Chun.

Ouyang Chun stared at Bai Yutang with wide eyes, while beside him, Lan Chenglin and Yu Qingyan wore expressions of utter shock.

Bao Zheng let out a sigh. He had known Bai Yutang wouldn't just let this go. Normally, turning a blind eye might have been doable, but now that it had landed right on his doorstep, given Bai Yutang's personality, he absolutely could not tolerate a single grain of sand in his eyes—he was identical to his old man. Resigned, Bao Zheng turned to Lan Chenglin and said, "Both of you are suspended starting now. This current case is being handed over to the SI unit."

Before Lan Chenglin could even get a word out, Bai Yutang told Bao Zheng, "Lan Chenglin and Yu Qingyan are suspected of conspiracy to commit murder with conclusive evidence. Furthermore, the two of them may be linked to the ongoing serial gang murders and the assassination of undercover police officer Luo Wen along with the destruction of evidence. The nature of their offenses is extremely severe, and I request their immediate arrest and detention."

Bao Zheng nodded. Several police officers stepped forward, slapped handcuffs on Lan Chenglin and Yu Qingyan, and escorted them away.

As Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao turned to leave, they heard Ouyang Chun say coldly to Bao Zheng, "I don't believe I can cooperate with police officers who are incapable of looking at the bigger picture."

Bai Yutang turned his head and sneered, "I also don't believe I can cooperate with police officers who are too good at looking at the bigger picture."

Seeing the two sides standing at daggers drawn, Zhan Zhao offered a faint smile. He pulled Luo Yang—who was still wearing a dazed expression—around in front of him and said to Ouyang Chun, "This is Luo Wen's son. Do me a favor and look him in the eyes while you explain what police justice is: does solving a case matter more, or does a human life?"

Ouyang Chun froze, momentarily at a loss for words.

It took a long while for Luo Yang to process what had happened. He looked back up at Zhan Zhao and asked, "My dad was a cop?"

Zhan Zhao nodded, gave his head a reassuring pat, and said, "Don't worry, your dad was an officer who even risked being an undercover agent to raise you—not the kind of cop who looks the other way at lawbreaking just to solve a case and preserve the 'bigger picture'." With that, he took Luo Yang by the hand and walked away.

Bai Yutang gave the ash-faced Ouyang Chun a smirk. "You know which floor the SI unit is on, right? Feel free to drop by whenever you want... Oh, and let's have a seminar for the entire police station later so we can properly learn from you International Interpol folks about what it means to see the bigger picture." Having said his piece, he patted a disgruntled Bai Chi on the shoulder and headed upstairs.

Once inside the elevator, Bai Chi was still grumbling with dissatisfaction. "How could they do that? An officer from the Anti-Gang Task Force actually went to a nightclub to look for hostesses..."

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao were caught between laughter and tears; this kid was simply too honest.

Zhan Zhao patted Luo Yang's head and said, "Lying is wrong, you know."

Luo Yang's face flushed slightly as he nodded. "I know."

Downstairs, the crowd of onlookers dispersed.

Bao Zheng looked at the battered-looking Ouyang Chun and said, "Well, it's not like the plan was totally ruined. Those two deserved to be locked up anyway."

Ouyang Chun nodded with a helpless sigh. "My greatest fear in life is dealing with anyone surnamed Bai."

Bao Zheng chuckled, gave him a reassuring pat, and said half-seriously, half-jokingly, "Just spend some time dealing with the one surnamed Zhan, and you'll find that the one surnamed Bai is actually a breeze to get along with." With his hands shoved deep into his pockets, he walked off.

Back in the SI office, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang brought Luo Yang inside while Zhao Hu and the others crowded around the doorway—was this the legendary miraculous seven-year-old kid who had beaten a towering Anti-Gang Task Force vice captain black and blue with his bare hands? After being chased off by a single bark from Bai Yutang, the group had no choice but to trap Bai Chi and demand every single detail of what had happened.

Shutting the office door, Zhan Zhao had Luo Yang sit down and poured him a cup of hot tea.

"You guys said my dad was a police officer just now?" Luo Yang asked, tilting his head up.

"That's right." Zhan Zhao nodded. At that moment, Jiang Ping—who had just returned from pulling files from the Anti-Gang Task Force—knocked on the door and handed a file over to Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao passed the document to Luo Yang, saying, "This is your father's file. He was an undercover cop."

Being only seven years old, Luo Yang couldn't quite make sense of it. He looked up and said, "I can't read this. Your business card was only useful for showing to taxi drivers."

Zhan Zhao smiled, took back the file, and said, "I'll read it to you." With that, he sat down next to Luo Yang and began reading through the biographical details regarding Luo Wen in the document.

Luo Yang listened quietly, finally nodding at the end. "I understand now."

"You knew Luo Wen wasn't your biological father, right?" Bai Yutang asked directly.

Luo Yang nodded. "Yeah, but I still want to get revenge for him."

"Then you need to help us," Zhan Zhao said. "We need your help to crack this case wide open."

Luo Yang nodded. "I know. That's why I came."

"Let's go back to what we hadn't finished asking." Bai Yutang dragged a chair over and sat down right in front of Luo Yang. "Big Beard—your dad had a friend he knew called Big Beard. Do you remember him?"

Luo Yang nodded. "I know him."

"What's his name? What does he do, and do you know where he lives?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"I just call him Uncle Big Beard, I don't know the rest. But he used to play with me all the time, and I know where his house is," Luo Yang answered obediently.

"Can you take us there?" Bai Yutang asked.

"Are you going to arrest him?" Luo Yang asked, looking somewhat nervous.

"Why would you ask that?" Zhan Zhao looked at him. "Do you think he did something bad that means we have to arrest him?"

Luo Yang looked at Zhan Zhao and said in a small voice, "He's a bit weird."

"Weird how?" Bai Yutang pressed. Just then, a knock sounded at the door. The door swung open, and Ouyang Chun walked in with an awkward expression. "Our people have all arrived to join the investigation. I want to listen in too."

Bai Yutang didn't say a word, merely nodding before turning his attention back to Luo Yang to wait for his answer.

Luo Yang looked at Ouyang Chun, then turned to Zhan Zhao and asked, "Is it okay for him to be here?"

Seeing Ouyang Chun's deeply depressed expression, both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang couldn't help smiling.

Ouyang Chun sighed, pulled over a stool to sit down, and said to Luo Yang, "Go ahead and talk, kid. I'm not a bad guy."

Luo Yang stared into his eyes for a moment, nodded, and told Bai Yutang, "He reminds me of you in some ways."

All three of them froze, not expecting Luo Yang to drop such a remark. Zhan Zhao glanced at Bai Yutang, then turned back to Luo Yang. "What do you mean by he reminds you of him? Do they look alike or something else?"

Luo Yang shook his head. "They don't look alike, but the feeling is very similar."

"What kind of feeling?" Bai Yutang frowned. "Give us an example so we understand."

Luo Yang tilted his head in thought, pointed at Zhan Zhao, and said, "Take him, for instance. If he acts fierce with me, I'm not scared. But..." Luo Yang then pointed at Bai Yutang. "You and Uncle Big Beard—even if you just glare at me, I feel scared."

Bai Yutang blinked, fell silent for a moment, and turned to Zhan Zhao. "Cat, translate this for me."

Ouyang Chun, standing nearby, chimed in, "I didn't get it either."

Caught between laughter and tears, Zhan Zhao said, "Have you ever heard of the concept of animal nature?"

"Animal nature?" The two adults and one child shook their heads simultaneously, staring straight at Zhan Zhao.

"The animal world can be roughly divided into two categories: enemies and conspecifics—members of the same kind," Zhan Zhao patiently explained to the three of them. "Humans actually retain primitive instinctive states in many aspects, such as nurturing offspring, foraging for food, and so on... That is animal nature."

The three of them nodded.

Zhan Zhao continued, "Generally speaking, herbivores are afraid of carnivores, which forms a predator-prey relationship. What is an animal's primary reaction when it sees an enemy?"

"Run!" Luo Yang answered first. Ouyang Chun and Bai Yutang exchanged glances and nodded.

"Right! Just run. That running is instinctual; they don't necessarily run because they consciously feel fear. For instance, mice run by instinct the moment they see a cat, and they only truly feel terror once they've actually been caught." Zhan Zhao looked at Bai Yutang. "Right?"

Ouyang Chun and Luo Yang both nodded in agreement, though Bai Yutang shook his head. "Some mice aren't afraid of cats, and some even eat cats."

Zhan Zhao glared at him, and Bai Yutang raised a hand in a gesture meaning—go on.

"However, among animals of the same species, this kind of instinct doesn't form. For example, when a smaller dog sees a larger dog, it establishes a difference in status and capability."

The three continued nodding.

"Usually, when a small dog messes with a big dog, the big dog won't actually harm it, but it will act fierce toward it. At that point, the small dog will mostly roll over and expose its belly to signal submission."

"That's how it is," Luo Yang nodded. "I've seen it."

Bai Yutang and Ouyang Chun exchanged another glance, noncommittal.

"In those moments, the small dog is also afraid. It consciously realizes it's scared first, and then reacts. But it doesn't need to flee... because what makes it cower is a member of its own kind whose capability is higher than its own, yet one that will never actually harm it. You could call this a sense of majesty forged through raw strength."

Finishing his explanation, Zhan Zhao looked at the three of them. "Understand?"

They stared at each other in blank dismay until Bai Yutang finally nodded. "Translated into plain Chinese, what you're saying is: if me and that Big Beard are big dogs, Luo Yang is a puppy... and if Lan Chenglin and Yu Qingyan are cats, Luo Yang is a mouse."

Zhan Zhao's expression shifted several times before he ultimately nodded. "You could put it that way."

Ouyang Chun looked at Bai Yutang with a hint of admiration. "Truly astonishing comprehension and articulation."

Bai Yutang smiled. "You're too kind, you get used to it."

Zhan Zhao massaged his temples.

"Oh... there's something else," Luo Yang continued. "He always mutters a string of numbers."

"Numbers?" The attention of all three men was immediately pulled back to Luo Yang. "What numbers?"

"Negative seventeen dash one," Luo Yang said, pausing slightly as he tried his best to imitate the tone Uncle Big Beard usually used when muttering to himself.

"Negative seventeen dash one..." The three repeated it several times, completely baffled.

"What is that? A code name, a cipher, a password?" Ouyang Chun turned to look at Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, only to find matching expressions of perplexity on both of their faces.

"We'll figure it out once we find the guy." Bai Yutang grabbed his jacket and told Luo Yang, "Take us to him!"

"He's not a bad guy," Luo Yang said, looking somewhat worriedly at Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang nodded, then suddenly asked, "Have you ever heard the name the Midnight Punisher?"

"Huh?" Luo Yang wore a blank look, clearly having never heard of it.

"Let's go." Zhan Zhao reached out to pull him along.

Looking somewhat reluctant, Luo Yang protested, "I can't take you there. He's my friend."

"Friend?" Bai Yutang chuckled. "Then if Luo Wen told you to go, would you go?"

Luo Yang nodded. "Of course, he's my dad."

Bai Yutang pulled the signed adoption certificate out of his pocket and handed it to Luo Yang. "Look at this! An adoption certificate. From now on, me and this cat are your old men. Who are you closer to—us, or Uncle Big Beard?"

Luo Yang's eyes widened. He looked at Zhan Zhao, who nodded. "The two of us are adopting you together. This was also Luo Wen's dying wish. Are you willing?"

Luo Yang lowered his head, his face actually turning red, before finally nodding. Taking Zhan Zhao's hand, he said, "I'll take you there, but you aren't allowed to hurt him!"