S.C.I. (Volume I) - Case 5: Chapter 24

The Doppelganger Killer 24 - The Trap

Stepping out of Chen Jie's residence, Zhan Zhao sank into deep contemplation the moment he settled into the passenger seat, wearing the expression of someone harboring a head full of secret thoughts.

"What is it, Cat? You look like you're plotting something mischievous." Bai Yutang started the ignition. "We've reaped quite a harvest this time around, so try to cheer up."

Zhan Zhao glanced at him, turned his head back, and murmured in a low voice, "Bai, actually, if we just questioned Jie-Jie, we'd immediately find out where Minus-1-11 is hiding."

Bai Yutang nodded. "Interrogating him will probably be an uphill battle, though. He's completely unhinged, and there's no telling whether what he says is true or false."

"There is a method to make him speak only the truth." Zhan Zhao cast another sideways glance at the man beside him.

Bai Yutang remained silent for a moment before letting out a sigh. "Cat, are you thinking of hypnotizing him?"

Zhan Zhao nodded, adding, "It's very simple. It'll only take a moment."

"No way." Bai Yutang shook his head. "You can't use hypnosis during an official interrogation—it won't hold up as evidence. Besides, if word gets out, you'll land yourself in trouble."

"We'll just ask him where Minus-1-11 is," Zhan Zhao muttered. "If you don't say anything, nobody else has to know."

Bai Yutang hesitated.

"Just ten minutes!" Zhan Zhao assured Bai Yutang. "In ten minutes, we'll know where Minus-1-11 is! This guy is far too dangerous; every extra day he's out there adds another layer of risk."

Bai Yutang let out a long sigh and looked at him helplessly. "Ten minutes only!"

"Yeah!" Zhan Zhao nodded with absolute confidence. "Leave it to me!"

Returning to the police station, Bai Yutang placed Jie-Jie inside the interrogation room and secured him in place. Because Zhan Zhao requested that no one watch, he had no choice but to wait outside the door.

Ten minutes had never felt so agonizingly long. Bai Yutang had played it safe by installing an alarm connected to Jie-Jie's restraint rig; the moment the device stirred even slightly, the alarm would trigger, allowing him to charge inside within three seconds.

Just as he was growing frantic with suspense, Wang Chao came sprinting over with a complexion as dark as iron. "Chief, something's happened!"

Bai Yutang felt his eyelid twitch violently. Why were so many things going wrong lately? "What is it?"

"Lan Chenglin has escaped!"

"...What?" Bai Yutang knitted his brows tightly, utter disbelief written across his face.

"Damn it!" Zhao Hu, standing nearby, kicked a nearby stool away in a fit of rage. "Taber slipped away when he was captured, and now Lan Chenglin has run off too. Are the guards watching these people eating nothing but vegetarian food?!"

Ma Han also looked deeply deflated. "I honestly don't understand what we're risking our lives to catch people for!"

"What are you all roaring about?" Bao Zheng's voice echoed from down the hall. As he walked up to the group, his naturally dark complexion seemed to darken by a few more shades. "All three prison guards on duty have died in the line of duty—isn't that enough proof that people are risking their lives?!"

Everyone fell silent, sighing one after another.

"Where's Zhan Zhao?" Bao Zheng swept his gaze over the group before his eyes landed squarely on Bai Yutang. "Why are so many of you hanging around outside the interrogation room?"

Bai Yutang was momentarily speechless, searching his mind for an excuse to brush it off, when he caught Bao Zheng narrowing his eyes. "Is he interrogating the suspect?"

"Uh..." Bai Yutang hesitated.

"You're the police officer, and he's a psychologist acting as a consulting advisor. How can he question a prisoner alone..." Right there, Bao Zheng abruptly cut himself off, fixing his stare on Bai Yutang's eyes. "Is he hypnotizing him?"

"No." Bai Yutang denied it without a second thought.

"...Fine!" Without dwelling on it further, Bao Zheng raised his hand to push the door open. Before his fingers even grazed the doorknob, the door swung inward from the inside. Zhan Zhao strode out eagerly, nearly colliding head-on with Bao Zheng.

"Oh... Chief Bao." Zhan Zhao showed not a shred of panic, greeting him with a bright smile.

"Did you hypnotize the suspect?" Bao Zheng asked point-blank.

"Nope." Zhan Zhao answered without missing a beat.

A wave of exasperation washed over Bao Zheng. "Then what were you doing in there all by yourself?"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang spoke in unison, "Having a heart-to-heart chat."

The other Special Investigation team members standing nearby couldn't help suppressing their laughter.

Bao Zheng took a deep breath and nodded. "Fine. What came out of this heart-to-heart?"

"A major breakthrough!" Zhan Zhao replied to Bao Zheng, though his eyes darted toward Bai Yutang. "According to the suspect's confession, Minus-1-11 is hiding out in a villa in the southern suburbs of the city, and Taber is with him as well."

"Chief Bao." Bai Yutang turned his gaze back to Bao Zheng. "I'm requesting backup from the assault team!"

Speechless, Bao Zheng nodded. "Alright, I'll go sign off on the authorization. We head out in ten minutes. Be careful out there, though—take thermal imagers and police dogs with you, and don't walk right into their trap!"

"Understood!" Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao watched together as Bao Zheng turned to leave, not forgetting to wave him off. "Take care on your way down, Chief."

Bao Zheng shook his head in sheer annoyance, though the expression turned away from the others revealed a genuine, fond smile.

The team immediately began preparations. Antagonizing opposition of this scale meant the enemy's firepower would likely be formidable, so everyone donned bulletproof vests and geared up completely.

Zhan Zhao reached out to grab a bulletproof vest as well, only for Bai Yutang to yank him by the arm and pull him aside. "You're not allowed to come!"

"On what grounds?" Zhan Zhao glared at him. "You promised to bring me along on field operations!"

Bai Yutang found himself in a difficult spot, but hardening his heart, he shook his head. "This isn't like past cases—it's an assault raid. You haven't received professional tactical training; going along like this is far too dangerous!"

Zhan Zhao clenched his teeth, wearing a look of deep displeasure. "I can take care of myself!"

Bai Yutang took a deep breath. "Cat, you'll distract me!"

"What..." Zhan Zhao was baffled.

"The moment I think about you potentially being in danger, I completely lose the ability to focus," Bai Yutang said calmly. "If my concentration slips, I might end up getting my brothers killed. But if anything were to happen to you, how could I possibly go on living?"

Zhan Zhao lowered his gaze in silence. This damn stubborn rat—he delivers grand philosophies like sweet-talk nowadays. When did he learn that trick?

"Be a good boy and stay safely right here waiting for me to come back!" Bai Yutang reached out to pinch Zhan Zhao's chin. "I'll cook for you when I get home, alright?"

"Chief, hurry up!" Ma Han poked his head out from a distance to call out. "Everyone's ready to roll!"

Bai Yutang nodded, gesturing for Ma Han and the others to get into the vehicle and wait for him.

"Watch your step out there," Zhan Zhao murmured softly. "Taber is an old hand in the underworld. Remember not to charge in blindly, and keep in mind this could still be a trap."

Bai Yutang nodded, leaned in to plant a quick kiss on Zhan Zhao's forehead, and turned to sprint down the stairs. Joining the rest of the team, he hopped into the vehicle and sped off toward their destination.

………………

Inside the empty office, only Jiang Ping and Zhan Zhao remained.

Noticing Zhan Zhao sitting on the sofa, hugging a pillow with a preoccupied expression, Jiang Ping stepped away from his computer and walked over. "I'm heading to the cafeteria to grab some drinks. Would Dr. Zhan like anything?"

Zhan Zhao shook his head.

Jiang Ping nodded and walked out.

Left all alone in the spacious office, Zhan Zhao idly spun the ring on his middle finger out of sheer boredom. He let out a soft sigh, checking his watch every five minutes. His exceptional cognitive processing speed compelled him to unconsciously calculate the vehicle's speed, elapsed time, current location, and remaining distance to the target, leaving his heart suspended anxiously in mid-air.

Passing by the doorway, Bao Zheng shook his head at the sight of Zhan Zhao's distracted, soul-deprived state. That expression looked all too familiar.

Walking back into his office, he saw Luoyang sitting blankly on the sofa, clutching a dainty smartphone of a very adorable design.

"That's a cute phone," Bao Zheng remarked as he walked over and sat down beside him.

"Uncle Wei gave it to me for my birthday," Luoyang replied with a bitter, wistful smile. "It's a pity that someone as wonderful as Uncle Wei still ended up dead."

Bao Zheng remained silent. Looking at the sorrow in the child's eyes—an emotion that had no business belonging to someone his age—he reached out to stroke his head and asked, "Do you like Uncle Zhan and Uncle Bai?"

"Yeah!" A smile quickly surfaced on Luoyang's face as he nodded vigorously, adding shyly, "Whenever I'm with Uncle Zhan, I feel warm all over, as if even the weather is getting better. As for Uncle Bai, being around him makes me feel completely safe, like nothing in this world is truly terrifying. So I love both of my uncles dearly."

"Your Uncle Zhan is right inside the office." Seeing the delight light up Yangyang's face, Bao Zheng added, "Go keep him company."

"Okay!" Yangyang stood up, politely said "Goodbye, Uncle Bao," and scampered off.

Bao Zheng froze for a moment, reached up to stroke his chin, and muttered to himself, "Uncle? Am I really that old..."

As Luoyang ran up to the entrance of the Special Investigation team's office and reached out to push the door open, the phone in his pocket suddenly rang. Luoyang paused in surprise; the only people who knew this mobile number were the uncles who used to look after him... Hesitating for a moment, Luoyang took a few steps back instead of entering the office, darting into the corner stairwell to pull out the phone. The caller ID displayed a single character: "Dong". Knowing this was Uncle Dong—who had always taken good care of him in the past—Luoyang answered the call.

"Yangyang?" A gentle-sounding middle-aged man's voice came through the receiver, though a faint tremor seemed mixed into his words.

"Uncle Dong," Luoyang replied. "How have you been lately?"

The other end fell silent for a moment. Someone seemed to be sniffing back tears before saying, "We're at the cemetery. Today is Brother Yong's funeral."

After a long pause, Luoyang uttered a soft "Oh," his eye rims turning red.

"Brother Yong cared for you so deeply when he was alive, treating you just like his own flesh and blood. Come pay your final respects to him." By the end of the sentence, the voice had choked up with sobs.

Luoyang fell silent once more. Taking a deep breath, he nodded. "Okay! I'll come right now." With that, he hung up the phone, turned around, and cautiously headed downstairs.

Once outside the police station, Luoyang knew that sneaking off like this would definitely incur the wrath of Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao. However, Wei Yong had genuinely treated him with kindness in the past; if he failed to even attend his funeral, he would be far too heartless. Lu Wen had told him since he was small that a person could lack many things in life, but they could never lack a conscience.

While he was lost in thought, a white Jinbei van pulled up from not far away, gliding silently to a halt right behind him. Before Luoyang could even react, the rear door slid open, and something pricked the side of his neck. A stabbing wave of pain instantly surged through his entire body, his vision faded into absolute darkness, and he lost consciousness...

Fifteen minutes had already ticked by. Checking his watch, Zhan Zhao figured Bai Yutang and the others should have arrived at the location by now. At that exact moment, his phone chimed with an incoming text message. Picking it up, he saw it was a text sent from Luoyang's phone.

Zhan Zhao opened it to find two lines of Pinyin. Since Yangyang didn't know how to write many Chinese characters, his text messages always relied on Pinyin. Decoding the spelling, Zhan Zhao read the message: Wuo qiu gongmu le, jintian shi Wei shushu de zangli. (I've gone to the cemetery; today is Uncle Wei's funeral.)

Jumping straight to his feet, Zhan Zhao's immediate reaction was to bolt downstairs. Seeing no sign of Luoyang left and right, he hurriedly flagged down a passing taxi while dialing Bai Yutang's phone number. But the line wouldn't go through, and it finally dawned on him that Bai Yutang's phone was undoubtedly powered off during a tactical assault.

A taxi pulled slowly to a curb in front of him. Zhan Zhao yanked the door open and climbed inside. Finding the situation deeply suspicious no matter how he turned it over in his mind, he blurted out "To the cemetery," and frantically tried calling Bao Zheng to have the operation called off. Before the call could even connect, he heard the driver let out a sudden, cold chuckle.

The sound of that laughter struck Zhan Zhao as eerily familiar. Raising his head, he watched as the driver turned around and flashed him a smile—it was Lan Chenglin!

Lan Chenglin clapped one hand over his own nose and mouth while raising a spray canister in the other hand and pressing the nozzle...

The pungent, overwhelming scent of the anesthetic stripped Zhan Zhao of his ability to resist in a split second. As his consciousness began to drift away, the very last thought that crossed his mind was—Bai Yutang's raid might be a trap... Thank goodness they brought thermal imagers and police dogs along...

Watching Zhan Zhao slump limply onto the back seat, Lan Chenglin started the vehicle and drove away with a deeply satisfied expression. He felt quite smug at the moment, convinced his move had been executed completely unnoticed, unaware that coincidences make the world go round...

Zhao Zhen had gone abroad for performances a short while ago and had just returned that very morning. Wanting to hand Bai Chi the gifts he'd brought back as quickly as possible, he had driven his large Jeep straight to the police station with Lisbon riding along.

Right as he arrived at the entrance, before he even had time to park, he caught sight of Zhan Zhao rushing out in a flurry of agitation, flagging down a taxi while making a phone call.

Finding it strange that Bai Yutang wasn't by Zhan Zhao's side, Zhao Zhen was about to walk over and ask when he noticed a taxi pull up right in front of Zhan Zhao from around the corner.

When it came to playing tricks and illusions, Zhao Zhen probably ranked near the very top worldwide. That car had clearly been waiting specifically for Zhan Zhao to emerge... Who on earth waits for passengers right outside the gates of a police station?

Keeping his guard up, Zhao Zhen inched his vehicle forward. Thanks to his extraordinary visual acuity—pushing close to 3.0—he caught a clear glimpse of what transpired inside the taxi, instantly realizing the gravity of the situation.

Trailing unhurriedly behind the taxi, Zhao Zhen dialed Bai Yutang's mobile number, but just like Bai Chi's, it went straight to voicemail with no one answering.

After a brief moment of thought, Zhao Zhen dialed Bao Zheng's number instead...

………………

Bai Yutang and the team drove for roughly twenty minutes before reaching the perimeter of the villa in the southern suburbs, stepping out of their vehicles to prepare for the breach. At that moment, the secure phone on the command vehicle started ringing. Bai Yutang frowned; that was a tactical hotline whose number only Bao Zheng possessed. For it to ring right now meant the operation had changed.

Answering the call, he was hit by a barrage from Bao Zheng before he could even speak: "Abort the operation!"

Bai Yutang paused, stunned. "Abort?"

The team members gathered around him. Realizing whatever Bao Zheng was saying on the other end must be serious, they watched as the color drained entirely from Bai Yutang's face. Before anyone could process what was happening, he flung the phone away, sprinted toward his car like a bolt of lightning, fired up the engine, slammed his foot down hard on the accelerator, and vanished in a cloud of dust.

Everyone exchanged bewildered glances, completely in the dark about what had just transpired. Keeping a cool head, Ma Han picked up the secure handset. "Chief Bao? What happened..."

Ten seconds later, the entire team scrambled into their vehicles, flipped a U-turn, and sped off in a furious rush to chase after Bai Yutang's car. However, after driving a stretch down the road, they realized there wasn't even a trace of Bai Yutang's vehicle left in sight.