S.C.I. (Volume II) - Case 6: Chapter 11

The Innocent Killer 11 - body

Bai Yutang's words startled Zhan Zhao. Raising his face to look at him, he unsurprisingly saw Bai Yutang's reddened eye rims... A strange, dull ache bloomed in his heart, yet it still carried a trace of sweetness. To be honest, when he first discovered Zhan Zhao was scared to this extent, Bai Yutang had been quite happy, because this meant the cat valued him. But right now, he was filled with regret.

"You... you know where the body is?" Zhan Zhao asked again. "How do you know? Was it the inspiration you just got?"

Bai Yutang smiled faintly and said, "Cat, just now outside, with Luo dragging one arm and Pang Ji dragging the other, I felt like I was about to be split in two!"

Hearing this, Zhan Zhao's gaze flickered. It felt as though he had thought of something, yet remained unsure, and he looked at Bai Yutang in a daze.

Bai Yutang smiled slightly. "When I realized that point just now, I had a flash of insight like this, and then I raised my head... and I saw that thing!" As he spoke, Bai Yutang walked behind Zhan Zhao, gently tilting Zhan Zhao's chin to the side. "Look, what is that?"

Directly opposite the International Hotel was another six-star hotel of the exact same scale—Century Hotel. Back when they were constructed, a bridge was originally supposed to be built between the two towers to connect them. Thus, the architectural styles of the two hotels were basically identical, with complementary shapes, making them feel like two halves of the same whole. Later on, due to technical reasons, that bridge was never built.

"...Half and half?" Zhan Zhao suddenly understood. The two of them exchanged a glance and spoke in unison—"Red wine and steak!"

Having said that, ignoring the SI members who were still standing around in a daze, they dashed downstairs. Luo, Ma Han, and the others looked at each other in dismay, knowing only that they had to hurry and follow.

Running out of the International Hotel, the two of them charged straight across the street toward the Century Hotel opposite them.

As they ran, Luo asked Ma Han, "What's wrong with Captain Bai and Dr. Zhan?"

Ma Han smiled at him and said, "They've definitely found some incredible clue!"

Entering the hotel, the two rushed straight to the front desk. The duty receptionist at the desk recognized Bai Yutang at a glance and said with a smile, "Young Master Bai, what brings you here?"

Zhan Zhao was startled and asked Bai Yutang, "Did your older brother buy this building too?"

Bai Yutang shrugged. "How would I know?"

The receptionist's face was plastered with a professional smile. "What do you two young masters need?"

"Help me check which rooms ordered room service consisting of red wine and steak tonight after four o'clock!" Bai Yutang said. "I'm investigating a case!"

"Oh... okay!" The receptionist hurriedly opened the computer to search, saying, "There are a total of six rooms whose orders included red wine and steak."

"Call the rooms one by one!" Bai Yutang said earnestly. "Find the one that doesn't answer the phone!"

"Uh..." The receptionist looked troubled. "It's pretty late right now... won't this disturb the guests' rest?"

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao exchanged glances. This receptionist was a pretty good choice; they should tell the eldest brother to give him a raise when they got back. Zhan Zhao smiled and said, "Just make up some excuse. Cooperating with the police to handle a case and catching bad guys is good for your hotel too, right?"

"That's right, that's right!" The receptionist hurriedly followed the phone numbers and began dialing them one by one.

Zhan Zhao watched his fingers press the phone numbers. The first three were all answered, with the receptionist offering a complimentary bedtime fruit service and asking if they needed anything. When he pressed the fourth phone number—1545—Zhan Zhao suddenly frowned, seeming to fall into deep thought.

The phone rang nearly ten times without anyone answering. Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged glances and asked the receptionist, "What is the name of the guest registered to check in?"

The receptionist checked the records and said, "Oh, her name is An Lingli."

"Her surname is An?" Bai Yutang was startled. "Is there an ID registration? How old is she?"

The receptionist pulled up the data, took a look, and said, "Nineteen years old. She checked in at four o'clock this afternoon, and her room number is 1407."

Bai Yutang nodded and said, "Find someone to help us open the door!"

"I'll go!" The receptionist found the room keycard and led Bai Yutang, Zhan Zhao, and the others into the elevator. Soon, the group arrived at the door of Room 07 on the fourteenth floor.

They knocked on the door, but still no one answered. Seeing Bai Yutang nod at him, the receptionist inserted the keycard into the door lock... The door was pushed open.

There was a very strong perfume scent inside the room, mixed with a hint of sweetness, making people feel quite uncomfortable.

As the receptionist inserted the keycard into the power switch by the door, the entire room lit up.

"Ah..." The receptionist let out a startled cry, because in the pitch-black, seemingly empty room, a woman was actually seated properly beside the table. She sat there quietly with her eyes wide open, staring at the group at the door.

"You scared me to death... Miss, why are you... Yaahhh..." The receptionist glanced closely again, and once he saw clearly, his entire body froze. For an ordinary person to maintain consciousness and only scream when subjected to such a fright was already quite remarkable!

The members of SI also gasped sharply. They saw that the young woman sitting in the chair had a complexion that was a greenish-white color impossible for a living person, her eyes wide open, staring blankly at the door. She was wearing a luxurious evening gown, with both hands placed on the table, unmoving.

However, if you looked closely, you would find a bright red bloody mark around her neck, the seam was uneven, and it was very obvious that this young girl's face should not have been matched with such a mature body. In addition, her magnificent dress and snow-white skin were covered in blood, and there was a large pool of blood on the floor as well. That head had been placed upon the torso, and this young girl was originally wearing the exact same gown as Pang Xiaoqin.

Bai Yutang looked for a long time before turning his head to say in a low voice to Ma Han, "Notify Gongsun to come over... Which of you has seen Uncle An's daughter?"

After a long silence, Zhao Hu slowly raised his hand, his voice a bit hoarse. "I... I've seen her."

"Is this her?" Bai Yutang asked.

After a moment of silence, Zhao Hu nodded, his eye rims red. "Chief, the heavens really have no eyes!"

Everyone felt desolate.

"There's also a piece of paper." Zhan Zhao slowly walked closer, carefully pulling a piece of paper out from between the corpse's hands and the table. Bringing it before his eyes, he slowly read aloud: "A generous gift delivered to An Youdao, thanking him for his care during this period." In the lower right corner of the paper, an expression of a tongue sticking out and smiling was also drawn... It looked indescribably eerie, and for the first time, Zhan Zhao felt that this cute expression could actually be so terrifying.

Not long after, Gongsun arrived in a flurry with the forensic team, and Uncle An rushed over inquiring anxiously. The moment he saw his daughter's corpse, he fainted on the spot.

Zhan Zhao gripped that piece of paper tightly, unwilling to take it out for the old man to see. To be honest, An Lingli, an innocent young girl in the prime of her life, meeting such an end was entirely because the bad guy wanted to exact revenge on her police officer father... If he let the old man know that his daughter lost her life in vain because of him, he might truly break down.

Everyone present shared a tacit understanding; not a single person brought up the matter of the message.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang could not bear to watch Uncle An's heartbreak any longer, so they walked out of the room together and called the responsible personnel to review the hotel's surveillance footage.

This surveillance footage had not been tampered with, and Zhan Zhao and the others saw the complete sequence of events.

A little past four in the afternoon, An Lingli dragged a suitcase and used a keycard to open the door to the room. Half an hour later, a person wearing an all-black hoodie suddenly walked into the frame. Judging from the proportion between him and the door, this person's height was around 175 centimeters.

This height was the most troublesome because the killer was wrapped up so tightly that it was very difficult to judge whether this was a slightly shorter man or a slightly taller woman.

They watched as he walked to the door of An Lingli's room, looked around left and right, and the moment he turned his face, everyone saw his face... This person's face wore a Doraemon mask. The Doraemon on the mask smiled cutely, with only two holes hollowed out for the eyes. Suddenly recalling the incomplete Doraemon puzzle from the first dismemberment case, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang for the first time felt that the originally supremely adorable Doraemon could actually have such a terrifying side as well.

That person reached out and pulled a strangely styled card from his pocket... It was a forged chip card. The card was inserted into the door lock, the room was unlocked, the person in black walked inside, and closed the door... Everything returned to tranquility.

Around five o'clock, the door opened, and that person in black brought out a large black leather suitcase and placed it by the door.

Not long after, a service worker walked over, picked up that leather suitcase, and turned to leave. The footage captured by the camera continued until that service worker sneaked away through the back door.

Afterward, everything returned to tranquility once more, until a little past 7 o'clock when Pang Xiaoqin ran to the door wearing an evening gown. Everyone became interested as they watched the door quickly open. Whoever was inside must have said something to her, because Pang Xiaoqin actually broke into a smile through her tears and happily entered the room.

About half an hour later, the door to the room was opened again. That person was still wearing a thoroughly bundled-up black hoodie, with a Doraemon mask on his face, except this time, he was dragging a large birthday cake box.

Zhan Zhao inexplicably felt wave after wave of nausea and shook his head, saying to Bai Yutang, "It seems the killer is an acquaintance of Pang Xiaoqin."

"No wonder, then," Bai Yutang smiled. "Pang Xiaoqin was already fierce enough to begin with; I didn't expect her friends to be even more formidable."

"Right now, besides investigating the identity of this person in black, we also need to check why An Lingli suddenly came to a place like this, and furthermore, what exact relationship he has with Pang Xiaoqin."

"Go call that service worker over," Bai Yutang instructed. Not long after, a trembling service worker walked over, nervously raising his head to look at Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao. "Is... is something... ah~~" Turning his head and catching sight of Pang Xiaoqin's corpse, the service worker let out a terrified scream.

Zhan Zhao asked him, "Did you come up here to collect the trash this afternoon?"

"Yes," the service worker nodded. "A guest called and instructed me to do it."

"Was the guest male or female?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"I couldn't tell," the service worker tilted his head. "It wasn't clear on the phone."

"When you threw away the trash, didn't you think it was heavy?" Bai Yutang asked. "You lifted it with one hand?"

"Not heavy at all!" the service worker explained. "He just said it was waste paper and things like that."

Bai Yutang frowned, even more puzzled, only to hear Zhan Zhao say, "The killer hypnotized him over the phone."

"Can you do that without looking into the other person's eyes?" Bai Yutang was startled.

"This person... is quite extraordinary!" Zhan Zhao muttered to himself.

Dismissing the service worker, Bai Yutang suddenly asked, "That's right, Cat, when you saw the receptionist pressing the phone numbers just now, did you already feel something was wrong?"

Zhan Zhao smiled slightly and sighed. "Indeed, nothing can be kept from you, this rat."

"What's wrong with the phone number?" Bai Yutang asked.

"The phone number is 1545." Zhan Zhao raised his eyes to look at Bai Yutang. "2, 15, 4, 5. What do these numbers represent in terms of the English alphabet?"

"2, 15, 4, 5..." Bai Yutang stroked his chin and calculated: "B, o, d, y... body?! A corpse..."