S.C.I. (Volume II) - Case 6: Chapter 14

The Innocent Killer 14 - Calculated Assault

"The call was made from inside the police station." Jiang Ping's single sentence hit like a cannonball dropped into a lit furnace—it blew the roof off! All the SI members stood up, exchanging glances and looking at each other in blank, speechless dismay.

"It... it was done by someone on the inside?" Bai Chi's question woke everyone from their state of shock. Bai Yutang immediately gave orders: "Jiang Ping, retrieve all internal surveillance footage of the police station, especially from places that don't get much foot traffic. The killer couldn't possibly use a voice changer in a crowded place!"

"Understood!" Jiang Ping hurriedly connected to the main control room to extract the video footage.

"Everyone else scatter, go out in pairs of two and search for anyone suspicious!" Bai Yutang instructed.

The others quickly acknowledged the order and headed out. Suddenly, Zhan Zhao called out: "Luo, you and Bai Chi stay behind! Keep an eye on SI!"

Everyone looked at Zhan Zhao in astonishment.

"Cat, are you worried about drawing the tiger away from the mountain?" Bai Yutang asked.

"I'm not sure..." Zhan Zhao shook his head. "I just have a general feeling of unease." As he spoke, he reached out to press the call recording button, wanting to listen to the previous conversation one more time. The others dispersed, scattering across the police station to investigate.

Zhan Zhao turned on the call recording and listened to the playback, frowning slightly. At that moment, someone walked into the doorway: "Captain Bai, here is some evidence for your SI!"

"Evidence?" Bai Yutang was puzzled. "What evidence?"

"I don't know," that police officer said. "Someone from the forensics department just asked me to bring it over." As he spoke, he handed the item across.

Bai Yutang took it, looking left and right. The desk was covered in documents, so he simply placed the box onto a swivel chair and opened the lid... Inside were several bundles of tightly bound explosives, and the time display on the electronic clock on top read—06, 05...

"Dangerous!" Luo lashed out with a fierce kick directly at the swivel chair. If an ordinary person kicked an ordinary swivel chair, it would spin a few times at most and slide a short distance, but Luo possessed supernatural strength. With this single kick, he sent the chair flying far away, crashing straight toward the window of the SI office that faced outward. The swivel chair smashed violently into the glass, the fierce impact shattering the glass pane, and the chair plummeted vertically down, but the box itself, due to momentum, flew a long way out into the air. At the same instant, with a deafening boom, the ground shook.

A wave of heat rushed forward, shattering the entire row of outward-facing glass windows. Glass shards flew everywhere. Bai Yutang used one arm to shield Zhan Zhao and the other to yank Gongsun, who was still standing dazed nearby, diving together behind a desk. Luo also shielded Bai Chi and took cover, while Jiang Ping had already scrambled underneath a table. In an instant, the emergency evacuation alarm blared throughout the entire police station, car alarms screamed wildly downstairs, and chaotic footsteps filled the corridors. Not long after, Bao Zheng rushed in headfirst, his face paler than ever before, roaring, "What happened?!" He looked left and right, alarmed, "Where is everyone else?"

No sooner had his voice fallen than heavy footsteps thundered from behind. The SI members who had just left to investigate suspicious figures all came running back at full sprint. The very first thing they shouted upon entering the door was: "Chief, are you all okay?!"

Bai Yutang looked the few of them over. Aside from a patch on Luo's arm being nicked by flying glass shards, none of the others had a single scratch.

Bao Zheng counted heads and discovered not a single person was missing, and everyone was bouncing around alive. Letting out a long breath, his legs turned weak, and he found a chair to sit on while panting heavily.

Bai Yutang reached out to help both Zhan Zhao and Gongsun up. Bai Chi and Luo also got to their feet. Bai Yutang patted Luo on the shoulder with one hand. "Brother, you've saved me twice now. You're truly a lucky star!"

Luo's action just now had been entirely driven by instinct, and thinking about it now, he still felt a lingering fear. Hearing Bai Yutang talk about a life-saving grace, Luo laughed, "If it weren't for you guys being kind-hearted back then, where would the me of today be? I guess good deeds get rewarded."

Everyone laughed as well. After the false alarm, their primary reaction was—we're so lucky, our lives are truly bulletproof!

"Jiang Ping, why are you sitting on the floor and not getting up?" Zhao Hu looked at Jiang Ping in confusion.

"Nonsense... absolute nonsense!" Jiang Ping rolled his eyes. "Can... can I even stand up?!"

Looking again, everyone saw Jiang Ping's legs trembling slightly, and couldn't help finding it amusing.

"Luo... Luo!" Jiang Ping reached out both hands to grasp Luo's hands tightly. "Good brother, thank you for your miraculous kick. On behalf of my entire family—wife, children, and old folks—I thank you." With that, he reached out to grab Zhan Zhao: "Doctor... God, you're a divine being, your sixth sense is even more formidable than whatever... On behalf of my family—wife, children, and old folks—I thank you as well!" Finished with that, he went to pull Bai Yutang: "And you, Cap... Captain, you actually had the foresight to place the explosives on such a miraculous tool as a swivel chair. That's practically animalistic instinct!"

Bai Yutang didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Jiang Ping had been frightened out of his wits and was babbling incoherently. Bai Yutang grabbed the back of his collar to haul him to his feet. "Sit down and take a breather."

"What on earth is going on here?" Bao Zheng, who had remained silent for a long time, suddenly furrowed his brows and asked angrily, "How could someone bypass layer after layer of security to smuggle such a large package of explosives in?!"

Everyone looked at Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao, as if asking—should we tell Bureau Chief Bao about the internal mole?

Right at that moment, the telephone bell suddenly rang out again. The SI members instinctively tightened their expressions, while Bao Zheng felt puzzled and looked at Bai Yutang.

Zhan Zhao walked up, pressed the speakerphone button on the phone, and said, "Hello?"

The other end of the line fell silent for a moment before someone let out an exhale. Then, that same familiar metallic voice sounded: "You really are fine."

Zhan Zhao frowned. "Did you send the bomb?"

"No, no, no!" the person laughed. "You guys should thank me, right? Otherwise, with so many people in the office... Heh heh." With that, the call hung up.

Everyone fell silent. Bao Zheng's face turned ashen as he demanded, "What is going on?"

Bai Yutang recounted everything that had happened to Bao Zheng, showed him yesterday's flowers and Zhan Zhao's letter, and played the audio recording from just moments ago.

Bao Zheng fell silent for a long time before turning back to look at the police officer standing pale and dumbfounded outside the door room: "Who gave you this evidence?"

"Uh..." It took the officer a long while to snap out of it, stammering, "A... a forensics... girl."

"A girl?!" The others were all startled.

Gongsun frowned and picked up the phone to call the head of the forensics department: "Hello, Team Leader Chen, have everyone from forensics come to SI right now."

Before long, a clueless Team Leader Chen trotted over with a team of forensics personnel in white lab coats, saying, "Captain Bai, the flowers you guys sent over just now haven't finished testing yet..." Before he could finish, he was stunned by the devastation before his eyes. Several forensics staff members looked at each other in dismay—could it be that a gunfight had spilled all the way into the police station? That couldn't be right, this was the tenth-plus floor.

Bai Yutang remained silent, asking instead: "Is this everyone?"

"Ah, yes!" Seeing Bai Yutang's grim expression and noticing Bao Zheng's presence, Team Leader Chen realized the situation might be quite serious, so he answered earnestly, "My forensics department has a total of so many people."

Bao Zheng looked at that police officer and asked, "Take a look, which one was it?"

The officer carefully identified them one by one, and after a long while, shook his head: "None of them..."

Everyone frowned. Team Leader Chen was completely baffled and asked with confusion, "What is this about?"

Bao Zheng asked, "Did you have anyone deliver evidence to SI just now?"

Team Leader Chen shook his head: "No."

Gongsun also said, "There shouldn't be. Most of the forensics evidence is handed directly to me, and I bring it to SI myself."

Team Leader Chen was even more bewildered. When Bao Zheng later filled him in on the situation, Team Leader Chen exploded: "What?! Which bastard is trying to frame my forensics department?"

Bai Yutang sighed softly. This matter was still lacking a clear lead. He turned his head to ask Zhan Zhao for his thoughts, only to see Zhan Zhao's eyes fixed intently ahead... Bai Yutang followed his gaze and discovered he was staring at a young man standing in the very last row among the forensics team members.

That young man looked to be a little over twenty, of medium build, with a buzz cut. For some reason, he kept his head lowered, clutching the hem of his own clothes, looking somewhat nervous.

Bai Yutang watched for a moment, then turned to look at Zhan Zhao, their eyes meeting.

Bai Yutang raised an eyebrow—Cat, what is it? Is that kid a problem?

Zhan Zhao narrowed his eyes—Don't you think his reaction is different from everyone else's?

Bai Yutang wore a curious look—How so?

Zhan Zhao gestured with his eyes toward the others—Look at everyone else. Their reaction is anger, dissatisfaction, and the grievance of being wronged. Look at him! It's clearly nervousness and fear!

Bai Yutang understood—Indeed.

Bao Zheng looked at that police officer and instructed Zhao Hu, "Take him to do a composite sketch!"

Zhao Hu nodded and led the man away.

"Nothing more for you lot." Bao Zheng said to Team Leader Chen, "Go back and do whatever you were doing; don't mention today's events to outsiders. I'll thoroughly investigate whatever comes next!"

"Got it." Team Leader Chen nodded and departed with his team members.

Bai Yutang exchanged a glance with Zhang Long and Dynasty at the door. The two immediately understood and walked over.

Zhang Long asked, "Chief, are we supposed to follow that buzz-cut forensics guy?"

"Go ahead!" Bai Yutang raised an eyebrow. "Kid's got good wits."

"I saw you and Dr. Zhan watching him just now." Zhang Long smiled, and together with Dynasty, slipped out of the office.

Once everyone had left, Bao Zheng turned back to look at the group and said, "All of you, watch yourselves carefully. Do not spread word about the internal mole within the police station; I'll arrange for someone to look into it!"

"Then... can't we investigate it ourselves?" Zhan Zhao asked.

Bao Zheng smiled helplessly and shook his head: "Alright, alright, just all of you stay careful!" With that, he left angrily. Stepping out of SI and heading to his own office, Bao Zheng took out his mobile phone.

"Hello? Qi, it's me, those two little ghosts have been targeted... Mhm, alright, I know."

Inside the SI office, shattered glass littered the floor and documents were scattered everywhere. Bai Yutang shook his head and said, "Have someone come clean this up."

Gongsun pulled over a chair, sat down, and said, "If the killer is inside the police station, and with people coming and going all the time while blind spots and lack of surveillance exist... places like this really aren't that many!"

"There is one place." Zhan Zhao said suddenly, "I just heard... airflow sounds in his phone call."

"Airflow?" Everyone stared, speaking in unison—"The rooftop!"

Hurrying swiftly to the rooftop, Bai Yutang ordered everyone to spread out and search. Suddenly, they heard Bai Chi cry out: "Ah!"

Everyone rushed over in a hurry and saw Bai Chi standing behind a rooftop partition, in a wind-sheltered terrace alcove. Right there on the ground before him lay a corpse. This person had his throat slit by a knife, and even stranger, his outer jacket had been stripped off.

"It should be a police officer!" Gongsun squatted down to inspect his condition. "He's a patrol officer. The marks on his forehead are caused by wearing a police cap year-round... and his police-issued watch is from a uniform batch."

Everyone fell silent.

Zhang Long and Dynasty split into two paths, keeping a close, unobtrusive eye on the buzz-cut forensics worker. They watched as he didn't return to the forensics department with the main group, but instead claimed he needed to use the restroom, slipping alone into the locker room.

"Hey!" He checked left and right to confirm no one was around, then picked up his phone anxiously. "How could you do something like this?!"

The person on the other end of the line must have replied something, because his emotions began to agitate: "You approached me just to get me to bring you inside, and then send a bomb to SI?!... Hello? Hello?"

The other party had evidently hung up the phone. The buzz-cut stood there in a daze, sitting down onto a chair with a swirling mix of emotions, when suddenly someone patted him on the shoulder.

"Ah!" He let out a startled shriek, turned around, and saw it was Zhang Long. His face instantly turned deathly pale.

"Heh..." Dynasty sneered. "Kid, come back with us and explain things clearly!" With that, he hauled the person away by the collar.