S.C.I. (Volume I) - Case 5: Chapter 3

The Doppelganger Killer 03 - Coming and Going Like a Phantom

The moment the shadow appeared on the wall, everyone present involuntarily felt a chill creep down their spines. The scene was simply too bizarre. Although this grayish shadow lacked facial features and showed no expression, the feeling it conveyed was extraordinarily subtle, filled with a pervasive sense of malice everywhere. Much like the most terrifying monsters are not those with ferocious faces, but those with blank, featureless vises, because you never know what they are thinking. If you let your imagination run wild, the more you think, the scarier it gets.

Aside from the police officers, everyone else present was a desperate outlaw from the underworld. For them, fear was a rather distant concept. Yet right now, that eerie, long-absent sense of dread truly welled up in everyone's hearts.

The forensics officers took photographs, while Bai Yutang walked over to examine the shadow and reached out to pull back the curtain... The shadow was instantly swallowed by the light. However, in the eyes of everyone watching, a bizarre illusion occurred: the shadow didn't look like it was covered by the light, but rather as if it had actively ducked into the brightness and vanished without a trace.

After a long while, as everyone finally snapped out of it, Zhan Zhao turned around and asked Qin Meng, "Does this shadow hold any special meaning?"

Qin Meng shook her head. "No, I've never seen it before." With that, she turned back to ask her subordinates, who also shook their heads one after another, confirming they had never seen it either.

Zhan Zhao nodded and looked back at Bai Yutang, only to find him staring intently at the fake gun on the wall. "This is a fake gun!"

"That's right." Zhan Zhao flipped through the files and said, "The other murder cases also used fake guns."

Bai Yutang leaned in for a closer inspection and beckoned to a forensics officer. "Look here, there seems to be a fingerprint!"

………………

Following that, everyone split up to inspect the scene, questioning Qin Meng and several of her subordinates, but no useful clues were uncovered.

With no other choice, Bai Yutang could only lead the team to take their leave. Once outside the main gate, he assigned various squads to separate actions, tasking them with investigating the associates of the other cases to see if the victims shared any common enemies.

As the crowd dispersed, Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao also got into their car.

"What should we do now?" Zhan Zhao reached out and pulled the photograph from Bai Yutang's breast pocket. "Are we going to track down this shadow killer, or investigate the Midnight Punisher?"

When he finished asking, he received no reply. Instead, he saw Bai Yutang staring blankly out the car window with a frown, lost in thought as he gazed at Wu Qiang's villa. With a mischievous streak, Zhan Zhao leaned in close and blew a puff of air into Bai Yutang's ear.

Jolting awake, Bai Yutang whipped his head around, rubbing his ear with a smile. "Cat, why are you flirting with me in public?"

Giving him a sideways glance, Zhan Zhao also looked past the car window toward the spot Bai Yutang had been staring at, asking with curiosity, "What are you looking at?"

Bai Yutang pointed toward the second floor. "That window against the wall is the study window from earlier... It's at least ten meters above the ground, and there are no footholds or structures around it. It looks like it was specially designed to prevent anyone from climbing up..."

"Mm～～" Zhan Zhao nodded, then asked him with a puzzled look, "Is there a problem?"

"The bodyguards outside are packed like an iron fortress. To get into that room without being noticed, the only way is to climb up from there," Bai Yutang seemed somewhat perplexed. "I checked just now, and there are no tool marks or any signs of leverage."

"Are you saying the killer climbed up with bare hands?" Zhan Zhao widened his eyes in shock.

Bai Yutang nodded. "This isn't like scaling a regular wall where you can just leap over in a single bound. This requires lingering on a vertical wall for a sustained period, something the average person can hardly pull off."

"Let's go take a look at the crime scenes of the other victims," Zhan Zhao fastened his seatbelt and said. "At the very least, it proves that this killer might be gifted with extraordinary abilities. That in itself is a lead."

Bai Yutang nodded in agreement, started the engine, and asked Zhan Zhao, "Cat, what are your thoughts on that Midnight Punisher?"

Zhan Zhao studied the photograph for a long moment before shaking his head. "No clue... Why would someone send us this photo, and of all people, the exact guy you bumped into last night..."

As the two discussed the case, the car drove up to a certain intersection in the city center and came to a slow halt at a red light. Just then, another car pulled up alongside them. That vehicle seemed to have been traveling at an extreme speed before slamming hard on the brakes right before the crosswalk, terrifying several pedestrians. When Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang turned their heads to look at the vehicle, they were both slightly startled—parked right next to them was another Spyker C8, except while Bai Yutang's was silver-gray, that one was jet black.

The Spyker C8 was a limited edition that Bai Jintang had specially shipped from Italy for Bai Yutang. There was definitely only one such car in S City, so seeing another one right beside them filled the two of them with surprise. That car had its top down, and the person inside also seemed very interested in the identical vehicle beside him, tilting his head with great amusement as he looked them over.

The driver was a foreigner with an exaggerated head of long red hair, sunglasses, and an open-collared floral shirt, giving him a somewhat mismatched, eccentric look. He was also scrutinizing Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao inside the car. Soon, the green light turned on. The man raised an eyebrow at Bai Yutang with a smile and pointed ahead. Bai Yutang understood that he wanted to street race, but unfortunately, they were currently in a bustling downtown area—even if they were on an open road, he wouldn't have been in the mood. Ignoring him, Bai Yutang started the car and continued driving forward at a leisurely pace.

The man refused to give up. He drove his car forward to catch up, reached out to tap on Bai Yutang's window, and muttered something incomprehensible in a string of gibberish.

Zhan Zhao leaned close to Bai Yutang's ear. "He's speaking Italian. It means, 'Handsome, don't ignore me like that'." Once he finished translating, he also rattled off a couple of phrases in fluent Italian back at the foreigner outside the window.

The man nodded in satisfaction and drove ahead.

"Cat, what did you say to him?" Bai Yutang asked, puzzled.

Zhan Zhao smiled sweetly. "I told him it's too crowded here and I can't get away, and asked him to wait at the second turn ahead."

"The second turn ahead..." Bai Yutang smiled bitterly. "Cat, you're teasing people again. Parking isn't allowed there, and traffic cops patrol the area every day."

Sure enough, as their car drove past, they saw the foreigner's car parked on the side of the road, and he was currently hanging his head in dejection as he answered a traffic policeman's questions.

Seeing Bai Yutang's car drive by, he clearly recognized them. Before he even had time to raise his head and speak, he watched the two people inside the car simultaneously wave at him to signal—BYEBYE～～—before speeding away in a cloud of dust.

"That's right!" Zhan Zhao suddenly remembered something, grabbed Bai Yutang's arm, and said, "Bai, stop at the bank up ahead!"

"What are you going to the bank for?" Bai Yutang asked, confused.

"I've been busy all month and forgot to wire the money to the orphanage," Zhan Zhao said. "Just pull over up ahead! There's a bank right there."

"An orphanage?" Bai Yutang was even more baffled. "Where'd an orphanage come from?"

"Didn't my book sell a ton and make a lot of money last time?" Zhan Zhao said with a grin. "I asked you what to do with it, and you said instead of doing risk investments, I should go build an orphanage."

Bai Yutang was stunned for a moment. "And then you actually went and built one?"

"Mm～～" Zhan Zhao nodded. "Well, not built from scratch; there was one there already, I just helped renovate it. The work isn't even finished yet."

"Cat, you really are a good person..." Bai Yutang reached out to pat his head. "If all rich people were like you, world peace wouldn't just be a dream."

"That's right," Zhan Zhao nodded, answering with absolute confidence.

Parking the car at the entrance of the bank, the two of them stepped out. Bai Yutang noticed a white Jinbei van parked not far away, with a man inside smoking a cigarette and periodically glancing into the bank. A subtle ripple stirred in Bai Yutang's heart, but he kept his expression calm and followed Zhan Zhao into the bank.

There weren't many people inside the bank. A security guard carrying a baton paced back and forth. Zhan Zhao went to line up, while Bai Yutang surveyed the surroundings, his gaze lingering on the Jinbei van parked at the entrance just in time to see several figures in the back seat pulling black ski masks over their heads...

Sighing softly, Bai Yutang pulled out his badge, strode up to the counter, flashed it to a teller, and said, "Call the police, hit the fire alarm!"

At the very same time, a loud "boom" rang out from the front entrance as three men wearing black ski masks and holding guns rushed inside, while the teller had already triggered the silent alarm and the fire alarm...

Instantly, the deafening wail of the fire alarm filled the air. The three intruders were caught off guard and startled by the sudden noise.

Drawing his gun, Bai Yutang turned and fired two shots directly at the two lead robbers who were still standing there dazed.

Both robbers took hits to their weapon-wielding shoulders and collapsed to the floor, their guns dropping from their hands.

"Police! Drop your weapons!" Bai Yutang pointed his gun at the last remaining man.

That man was holding a firearm and hesitating when the front door swung open and someone stepped inside.

Both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were startled. The robber reacted swiftly, turning around to grab the incoming person as a hostage. To his surprise, the moment he spun around, his field of vision was filled with a floral-patterned shirt and a cascade of long red hair reaching down to the chest. He heard the newcomer speak in a bizarrely accented, weird Chinese: "Your gun-handling posture is truly hideous." With that, the man raised a hand to grab the robber's gun wrist and gave it a smooth, sudden twist～～

The robber let out a miserable scream as his handgun dropped to the floor. Clutching his deformed, wrenched wrist, he collapsed to the ground, unable to get back up.

The newcomer was none other than the foreign tourist whom Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang had played for a fool earlier. He dusted off his hands, looked up at Bai Yutang before him, and smiled, "Your gun-handling posture is quite handsome!"

At that moment, the wail of police sirens suddenly filled the air from all directions as police cars rushed to the scene. Realizing the situation had gone south, the man waiting inside the Jinbei van bolted from the vehicle and sprinted down a nearby alleyway.

Frowning, Bai Yutang gave chase.

"Yutang!" Zhan Zhao wanted to follow as well, but just as he reached the door, he was blocked by the floral-shirted foreigner: "Wait, wait, wait!"

Seeing that Bai Yutang had already chased the suspect into the alley, Zhan Zhao grew somewhat anxious and glared at the foreigner beside him. "What is it?"

"He's called Yutang, what's your name? You purposely played tricks on me earlier!" The foreigner's Chinese no longer carried that weird accent; it was crisp and standard.

Zhan Zhao glanced up at him and sneered, "Would you really not know my name?"

The man paused briefly, only for Zhan Zhao to continue, "You clearly know Chinese, yet you deliberately spoke in Italian—were you that certain I'd understand? I don't know if parking isn't allowed at that intersection, but even a fool wouldn't be stupid enough to park right in front of a traffic cop. You still dared to charge into a bank after hearing a fire alarm, you can crack jokes while staring down the barrel of a gun, and that wrist-breaking technique is exclusive to special forces... I don't care who you are or why you ran all the way here from Italy, just remember not to break the law while you're keeping us busy!" Without waiting for a response, Zhan Zhao brushed past him, rushed out of the bank, and hurried after Bai Yutang.

Watching Zhan Zhao sprint into the distance, the foreigner let out a long sigh. At that moment, the cell phone in his pocket began to ring.

"Yeah, it's Eugene, I arrived this morning." Pulling out his phone as he walked out of the bank and got back into his car, he chuckled, "I've met him. He's cute alright, but way too fierce... I know better than to mess with him."

Zhan Zhao chased deep into the narrow alleyway just as a sharp gunshot rang out from the far end, sending a wave of cold sweat over him.

"Yutang!" Panicking slightly, he ran toward the source of the gunshot. Rounding the corner, he saw Bai Yutang standing there while a man lay flat on the ground—it was the very same robber from earlier.

"Cat." Bai Yutang turned back to look at Zhan Zhao, his complexion somewhat pale.

"What happened..." Zhan Zhao ran up close and saw a bloody hole right between the eyebrows of the robber lying on the ground. He was already dead.

"This is..." Staring at the chillingly familiar sight, Zhan Zhao was momentarily lost for words.

"I was at most a step behind! I heard the gunshot the moment he turned the corner, and by the time I rounded it myself, his body had just hit the ground." Bai Yutang raised his face to scan the tightly enclosed high walls surrounding them. "Even if he could fly, I should have been able to spot him, yet I didn't even catch a glimpse of a shadow!"

Zhan Zhao froze, then asked Bai Yutang, "Bai, could that shadow just now..."

Simultaneously, the two of them thought of the high walls outside Wu Qiang's study—A shadow?!