S.C.I. (Volume I) - Case 5: Chapter 18

The Doppelganger Killer 18 - Brothers

Facing yet another bizarre bearded man outside the car, Bai Yutang stood his ground and confronted him. Meanwhile, Zhan Zhao in the car was left utterly perplexed by the stranger's nonsensical address of "older brother." Judging by the man's gaze fixed upon Yangyang, it was clearly impossible for him to be Yangyang's younger brother.

Zhan Zhao carefully observed the bearded man and noticed a certain childlike quality on his features. He didn't seem like someone of that age at all—was the man intellectually impaired? No... it was more like a severe mental disturbance.

Bai Yutang inched a bit closer and asked him, "Which one of us is your older brother?"

At that moment, Zhan Zhao stepped back slightly, increasing the distance between himself and Luo Yang. True to form, the bearded man's finger pointed with absolute precision straight at Luo Yang. This time, even Bai Yutang understood completely.

"What is your name?" Zhan Zhao opened the car door, stepped outside, and looked straight at the bearded man.

The bearded man tilted his head to look at him. Noticing that Zhan Zhao was wearing a brick-red sweater, he frowned slightly and remarked, "Why aren't you wearing white? You look so good in white, really good."

Bai Yutang glanced at Zhan Zhao—what on earth was wrong with this guy?

Zhan Zhao shook his head, looking at the bearded man as he asked, "What did you want to find your older brother for?"

The bearded man tilted his head in thought and replied, "Brother... Brother, I've done a lot of things recently that will make you happy!"

"What things?" Zhan Zhao asked him.

Yet the bearded man acted as though he hadn't heard, continuing to address Luo Yang, "Brother... are you still refusing to talk to me?"

Bai Yutang exchanged a meaningful look with Zhan Zhao. Hesitating for a moment, Zhan Zhao leaned into the car and whispered to a wide-eyed Luo Yang, "Yangyang... can you..."

"I've seen him before!" Luo Yang blurted out suddenly.

Zhan Zhao paused. "But you said you hadn't seen any other bearded men."

"He always stands at the mouth of the alley at night watching me, or stays by the window without ever coming inside," Luo Yang seemed somewhat confused as well. "I always thought it was Uncle Big Beard, but... the feeling is different."

Zhan Zhao nodded and instructed Luo Yang, "Help me ask him some questions!"

Luo Yang nodded obediently. Zhan Zhao reached out and pressed the button for the convertible top—the Spyker C8's distinctive roof slowly retracted, allowing Yangyang to poke his head out from behind the seat back and gaze up at the bearded man.

The bearded man seemed captivated by the unusual vehicle, staring at it with curiosity as he shuffled a few steps closer.

Zhan Zhao noticed that his attention span was extremely scattered. The man hovered somewhere between a psychological disorder and an intellectual disability... or perhaps both.

"Ask him what his name is and what he wants with you," Zhan Zhao whispered to Luo Yang.

"Um..." Luo Yang nodded, turning his head back to look at the bearded man. "Little brother?"

"Bro... Brother, you're not mad at me anymore?" Joy lit up the bearded man's face as he took a step forward. "I'll never go soft on those people ever again, and I won't make you mad in the future!"

Both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were completely lost in the dark. What on earth was this man talking about?

"Little brother... why did you change your name?" Luo Yang employed a tactic that left both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang utterly astonished. "Didn't you say before that you didn't like your original name?"

"I... I didn't," the bearded man seemed somewhat perplexed. "Jiejie didn't change his name. He's still called Jiejie."

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao exchanged glances. This child Luo Yang was far too street-smart; he was practically blindingly brilliant.

Luo Yang turned his head to look at Zhan Zhao, silently checking whether this line of questioning was acceptable.

Zhan Zhao nodded approvingly, signaling him to keep going.

"Why did you come looking for me?" Luo Yang asked. "Aren't you very busy? Busy doing things that make me happy."

Bai Yutang raised an eyebrow at Zhan Zhao, whistling silently—this kid had a bright future ahead of him.

Zhan Zhao couldn't tell whether he should be pleased or worried. Luo Yang was far too precocious, vastly exceeding the psychological maturity expected of a seven-year-old child. This wasn't a normal phenomenon; what had driven his brain to develop at such an accelerated pace? It wasn't a matter of sheer intelligence, but rather a profound issue of premature maturity.

"Right, right!" The bearded man who called himself Jiejie nodded frantically. "I'm super busy doing very important work. Once I finish it, I'll be able to rescue you back."

Luo Yang looked somewhat baffled, glancing at Zhan Zhao as if asking what he should do next.

Zhan Zhao smiled faintly and murmured, "Probe for his details—his associates and what he's been doing."

Luo Yang nodded and said to the bearded man, "You... make sure you don't get tricked by bad people."

"Hehe... won't happen." The bearded man shook his head with a smug smile. "It's actually the other way around... they can't trick me."

"You have to be careful. That person... I heard he's really bad!" Luo Yang kept his words vague. To his pleasant surprise, Zhan Zhao realized that Luo Yang possessed a remarkably sharp sense of insight and was actively applying the techniques he had learned from Zhan Zhao's books.

"You mean that Tabor guy?" The bearded man shook his head. "I know he's a bad guy... Hehe, they think they can fool me, but their scent is all the same anyway."

Hearing him drop the name "Tabor," Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao were startled—he was actually connected to Tabor!

"Then tell me, what has he been making you do?" Luo Yang pressed on. "I want to see if he really didn't trick you."

"No, no, can't do that!" The bearded man waved his hands frantically and pointed at Bai Yutang. "He's a cop! I can't talk about those things... hehe."

Bai Yutang didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and looked at Zhan Zhao—is this kid actually brilliant, or just plain foolish?

Zhan Zhao was similarly caught between amusement and frustration. The bearded man was severely ill, suffering from a profound state of mental confusion or psychological substitution. While his basic survival instincts and general concept of right and wrong remained intact, a specific portion of his memory was selectively scrambled—namely, anything concerning Luo Yang, or more accurately, concerning his "older brother."

Luo Yang thought for a moment and said to the bearded man, "By the way, Jiejie, I saw someone who looked an awful lot like you the other day."

The bearded man froze instantly, his expression morphing into one of stark terror as he glanced left and right. "Where is he? Where is he?"

"Why are you so scared of him?" Luo Yang asked with innocent perplexity. "What did he do to you?"

"No... he wants to kill you... no!" The bearded man shook his head violently. "He's pitch black, the darkest one, so scary..." As he spoke, he slowly backed away, muttering, "I have to go... I have to go." With that, he spun around and bolted.

There was no way Bai Yutang was going to let him escape. He drew his weapon, raised it, and barked, "Stop right there."

The bearded man slowly turned back to look at the gun in Bai Yutang's hand, pondering it for a long moment before offering, "This... this is what Brother uses to beat up bad guys... I'm not a bad guy, am I... no."

Bai Yutang frowned and asked coldly, "Which part of the body does your brother usually hit?"

The bearded man stared at Bai Yutang for a moment before slowly raising a hand to point at his own forehead.

Reaching behind his waist to pull out a pair of handcuffs, Bai Yutang gestured with them toward the bearded man. "Cuff yourself!"

The bearded man shook his head. "No..."

"I despise people who play dumb and pretend to be crazy," Bai Yutang sneered. "Cut the act. If you're truly out of your mind, why are you hiding a gun inside your trouser leg?"

The bearded man stared blankly at Bai Yutang with a goofy look. "Trouser leg... trouser leg..." As he spoke, he bent down and drew a vintage .38 revolver straight out from his pant leg.

Lifting the gun up, he asked Bai Yutang, "You mean this one?"

Bai Yutang quickly realized the weapon was fake, but... he immediately spotted the catch, and even Zhan Zhao was struck dumb: the item in the bearded man's hand was an utterly dilapidated toy revolver—the exact match to the one the Shadow Assassin had nailed to the wall!

Looking at the smiling, eerily mysterious bearded man before him, Bai Yutang holstered his firearm, took a step forward, and commanded, "Come back to the police station with me!"

The bearded man shook his head. "No way! I'm a bad guy!" With that, he spun around and sprinted away.

Bai Yutang stepped forward and lunged out to grab his arm. The unexpected happened: the bearded man executed a violent twist of his arm, and Bai Yutang felt as though the limb he had grasped wasn't a human arm at all, but a slippery, writhing snake—ice-cold yet unnaturally flexible. Boneless?!

Taking advantage of Bai Yutang's momentary lapse in focus, the bearded man broke away and accelerated into a run at a terrifying speed. Bai Yutang pulled his gun and fired a warning shot directly into the ground ahead of him.

The massive gunshot and the thin wisps of smoke rising from the pavement startled the bearded man so badly he hopped into the air, covering his ears as he whined, "I hate that!"

Bai Yutang raised his sights and aimed right at him. "I'm not playing games with you. Come back quietly, or the next shot goes into your leg."

The bearded man thought for a moment, made a funny face at Bai Yutang, and said, "No!" With that, he turned and resumed running.

Bai Yutang frowned. This guy was bizarre and unpredictable, and it was impossible to guess what his next move would be. He hadn't committed any overtly dangerous acts yet; although he was a suspect, shooting him to cause serious injury was out of the question. Adjusting the angle of his aim slightly, Bai Yutang fired a shot toward the man's lower leg. The bullet grazed the outer side of the bearded man's thigh, instantly carving a long scratch that welled up with blood. Strangely enough, the bearded man didn't seem to notice at all, continuing his escape with the exact same posture—completely devoid of pain.

The realization suddenly hit Bai Yutang like a thunderclap: the pain perception issue—this man had absolute analgesia!

However, letting a suspect slip through his fingers was not Bai Yutang's style. Taking aim once more, right before the bearded man lunged out of the parking garage exit, Bai Yutang fired a round straight into his leg. The bearded man let out a cry of "Ouch!" and crashed heavily to the ground.

Bai Yutang sprinted forward, only to watch in disbelief as the bearded man pushed himself back up and continued toward the exit. Watching from a distance, Zhan Zhao stared in absolute shock: the bearded man's pain nerves weren't merely deadened; he had suffered a total, catastrophic loss of pain perception.

Right at that moment, the screech of tires echoed at the entrance. A black car screeched to a halt right outside the door, and the bearded man scrambled frantically inside. The vehicle spun around in a sharp arc and sped away into the night.

Reaching the exit, Bai Yutang could only stare at the license-plate-less rear of the car disappearing into the distance. He holstered his gun in frustration—he should have just shot him in the leg right from the start...

Back down in the parking garage, both Zhan Zhao and Luo Yang had already stepped out of the vehicle.

"Are you alright?" Zhan Zhao hurried over to check on Bai Yutang, genuinely terrified that someone might have popped out with a machine gun and sprayed the area when that car pulled up.

"I'm fine... It's just a pity we let him slip away," Bai Yutang said with palpable frustration. "We finally managed to get our hands on that lead."

"Don't rush!" Zhan Zhao smiled faintly. "We've already learned quite a bit."

Bai Yutang looked at him in confusion. "Cat, what else did you figure out?"

Zhan Zhao blinked. "You winged him, so he won't be pulling any stunts for a while. It's too late tonight anyway—let's sleep on it and pick it up tomorrow." With that, he grabbed Bai Yutang's hand while using his other hand to lead Yangyang toward the elevators.

Unlocking the front door, Yangyang stepped inside Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang's home.

Upon first hearing about Bai Yutang, Yangyang had pictured his home as something ultra-cool and high-tech, complete with metal tables and glass walls. When he thought of Zhan Zhao, he imagined a cozy, elegant sanctuary with frosted lamps and white sofas. But after learning that the two men lived together, Yangyang had fallen into complete confusion, having no idea what a shared home between them would actually look like.

Stepping inside and taking a look around, Yangyang was utterly dumbfounded.

Before him in the living room sat a massive zebra-print sofa, a fluffy rug on the floor, a fuzzy cactus potted on the coffee table, and Doraemon wall decals lining the wall—a thoroughly adorable living room!

Noticing the look of amazement on Luo Yang's face, Bai Yutang explained with a helpless shrug, "The living room was decorated by Bai Chi, and the sofa was a gift from Zhao Zhen."

Luo Yang nodded. That certainly explained it.

Zhan Zhao headed to the guest bedroom to grab a pair of slippers for Yangyang. Curious, Luo Yang followed him into the guest room and froze once more.

The guest room featured stark white walls, a pitch-black bed, overhead streamlined lighting fixtures the likes of which he had never seen before, and a single cabinet—leaving the space entirely minimalist. His jaw dropped; the stylistic contrast with the living room was staggering.

Zhan Zhao patted his head. "This was decorated by Big Brother."

After slipping into his slippers, Luo Yang wandered off to inspect the kitchen... and predictably froze for a second time.

His first impression of the kitchen was that it resembled a hospital—icy and cold. Although spotless, it was an absolute world of stainless steel.

Before Bai Yutang could even speak, Luo Yang blurted out, "Was that the forensic doctor uncle?"

Bai Yutang chuckled wryly and nodded.

After touring the bathroom, Luo Yang stared in astonishment at the various fixtures inside—such a massive bathtub, completely fully equipped, and thankfully styled a bit less bizarrely.

Zhan Zhao smiled. "This was designed by Bai." He leaned in closer to whisper, "He's a bit of a clean freak!"

Luo Yang nodded and let Zhan Zhao lead him into the study. The decor mirrored Zhan Zhao's office, save for the even more staggering volume of books lining the shelves. Luo Yang stood before the bookcase, looking up and down with deep fascination.

Zhan Zhao asked with a hint of curiosity, "Yangyang, did your dad read you these books of mine?"

Luo Yang nodded. "Mhm. Dad said you're a genius."

Zhan Zhao felt a secret jolt of astonishment. His books weren't exactly written for light recreational reading, yet Luo Wen had actually managed to teach a seven-year-old child how to apply their concepts... that was truly extraordinary.

"Is there one more room? Is that the bedroom?" Luo Yang asked with rising curiosity.

Zhan Zhao looked a bit awkward and nodded.

"I want to see!" Luo Yang dashed over to open the door, leaving Zhan Zhao to massage his forehead... This was going to be mortifying; the bedroom had been decorated by the twins.

Pushing open the bedroom door, Luo Yang dropped his jaw, rendered completely speechless. The room was furnished with absolute luxury, dominated by a blown-up, oversized photo of the two babies kissing right above the headboard. In the center of the room sat an absurdly, outrageously large bed—complete with a canopy frame. Yangyang had never seen a bed like that in his entire life; he walked over, stared at it, and reached out to press his hand against the mattress—it was so soft!

"What's this?" Yangyang picked up a pretty little box resting by the pillow and asked Zhan Zhao.

"Yikes!" Flushing bright red, Zhan Zhao lunged forward, snatched it out of his hand, and tossed it into the trash can as if it were a cockroach, thinking to himself, That damn rat, leaving this kind of stuff lying around everywhere!

Luo Yang blinked and tilted his head. "What was that?"

Zhan Zhao breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness Luo Wen hadn't taught him about that.

That night, Zhan Zhao sat with his laptop in the living room churning out his book manuscript, while Luo Yang stuck close to Bai Yutang, having him teach him basic self-defense holds.

Watching the large man and the small boy having the time of their lives, Zhan Zhao felt a sudden wave of serenity wash over him, inspiring a surging tide of literary creativity!