S.C.I. (Volume II) - Case 6: Chapter 26

The Innocent Killer 26 - The Innocent Murderer

"Did Uncle An have a son back then?" Bai Yutang asked Zhan Zhao.

"That's right," Zhan Zhao nodded. "Didn't you hear what the old man said just now?"

"Hmm..." Bai Yutang shook his head, waved a hand at Zhan Zhao, and sat down on a rock by the roadside. "Cat, give me a moment to digest this."

"You haven't even eaten anything, what is there to digest?" Zhan Zhao dropped a chillingly dry joke that unsurprisingly gave Bai Yutang a sudden shiver.

"What's that even supposed to mean?" Bai Yutang asked. "Did Uncle An have two kids? One boy and one girl? That doesn't make sense either—the old man wouldn't have gone without mentioning a son even once."

Zhan Zhao reached out to yank him up. "Let's go, back to the police station. I need to prepare for the fan meeting and dig up some more records."

Bai Yutang stood up and glanced at the golden-yellow rapeseed field nearby. "Cat, it's been ages since we went on a spring outing."

"Be a good boy. Once this case is wrapped up, I'll take you out to bask in the sun." Zhan Zhao tugged at Bai Yutang's sleeve, pulling him forward.

"Cat, you shouldn't walk too fast, your foot just healed!"

"Then carry me on your back."

"Fine, do you want a piggyback ride or a bridal carry?"

"Piggyback."

Bai Yutang walked ahead and bent down...

Thus, along the earthen path winding through the rapeseed fields, Bai Yutang carried Zhan Zhao on his back. Zhan Zhao used his jacket to shield himself from the sun, holding a tissue in one hand to gently wipe the sweat from Bai Yutang's brow.

After much effort, they finally returned to the police station well before lunchtime. Stepping into the office, they found Bai Chi busy with something at his desk while Zhao Zhen lay sprawled across the sofa, fast asleep.

Nearby, Luoyang was sitting on a low stool with a giant bench in front of him, piled high with summer vacation homework. Little Yang had been on summer vacation recently and spent his entire day lingering around the SI unit. When he wasn't doing summer vacation homework, he would run off to the shooting range to practice marksmanship, or pester whoever had free time to teach him a few tricks, or else hole up in the office reading books recommended by Zhan Zhao and keeping Jiang Ping company during watch duty. Sometimes he would even wander off to watch Gongsun perform autopsies. When the others finally noticed and rushed over to rescue him, they'd find Little Yang watching with rapt fascination, firing off a barrage of questions that even had Gongsun sighing in praise—this kid's future is bound to be limitless!

Looking at the others, they were all slumped listlessly over their desks, staring eagerly at the busy Bai Chi.

"Chichi, what are you making?" Zhan Zhao asked, noticing Bai Chi operating a blender filled with a cocoa-like mixture.

"Chichi is making iced coffee," Zhao Zhen mumbled, rolling over on the sofa to open his eyes. "We experimented with it a bit during practice earlier, and it totally won over my assistants."

"Iced coffee..." Zhan Zhao leaned in to look, watching as Bai Chi poured a milkshake whipped from coffee, milk, and ice cubes into a cup, then topped it off with a swirl of whipped cream.

Bai Yutang leaned over for a look. "If you add a spoonful of condensed milk after the whipped cream, it gets even smoother and tastier."

"Really?" Bai Chi blinked, and Dynasty bolted downstairs toward the cafeteria to hunt for condensed milk.

"Hey." Bai Yutang glanced at Zhao Zhen lounging on the sofa. "Are you holding up okay?"

"Hmm?" Zhao Zhen raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

Zhan Zhao also felt something was amiss. "Zhao Zhen, your complexion is awfully pale. Plus, you've lost an abnormal amount of weight."

Zhao Zhen rolled over and hugged a throw pillow. "It's fine, the performance is tomorrow anyway. Once it's over, I won't have to endure this kind of torture anymore."

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao exchanged a glance, then turned to look at Bai Chi, who shook his head with a worried expression. A lingering sense of anxiety hung over everyone regarding Zhao Zhen's performance tomorrow—what kind of magic trick could it possibly be?

The condensed milk was fetched in no time. Bai Chi drizzled a bit into each cup, stuck in the straws, and distributed them to everyone. Little Yang's cup contained just the milkshake without any coffee, and Bai Chi thoughtfully added two extra spoonfuls of condensed milk for him, leaving the little guy grinning from ear to ear. A gulp of icy-cold drink slid down their throats... and everyone let out a comfortable, collective sigh of relief... It was truly refreshing!

At that moment, Gongsun strolled in leisurely carrying a folder. Catching sight of the iced coffee, he lunged forward. After cadging a massive cup for himself, he turned to Bai Chi and said, "Throw in some watermelon to blend together, and maybe some walnuts. Delicious, nutritious, pretty colors with red and white alternating, and maybe add a dollop of wasabi..."

Everyone collectively pictured that visual and flavor profile—and dry-heached in unison.

"Oh right, the DNA comparison results for the hair you guys brought in and An Lingli came back—there is zero relation between the two!" Gongsun handed the file over to Zhao Hu and Ma Han.

"As expected." Zhan Zhao took the data, looked it over, and gave Zhao Hu and Ma Han an approving pat on the shoulder. "You guys are sharp enough!"

Zhao Hu and Ma Han's immediate reaction was to recall what Bai Yutang had once said: "A cat is always smiling as long as there's good food around."

CARRYING his coffee, Zhan Zhao bolted straight to the archive room to look up records. Bai Yutang followed closely behind, while the others resumed discussing Uncle An. Seeing that everyone was getting back to work, Zhao Zhen stood up and prepared to leave.

"You still have training tonight?" Bai Chi asked, following him with a worried look.

"No training tonight. I need to rest up properly for tomorrow's competition," Zhao Zhen said, gently patting Bai Chi's head. "Before every major performance, I like to find a quiet place to clear my mind. You don't need to tag along today."

"But..." Bai Chi remained concerned.

"Nobody ever tags along, you know," Zhao Zhen smiled playfully. "Only a lover gets to tag along. Are you planning to be my lover?"

Bai Chi stared at Zhao Zhen for a moment before replying, "Then... just be a little careful."

Zhao Zhen nodded, a trace of lingering reluctance flashing in his eyes. He turned to leave, but Bai Chi grabbed him by the arm and unfastened something from his own neck.

"What's this?" Zhao Zhen looked down as Bai Chi stood on tiptoe to slip a silvery-white necklace around his neck. The pendant was a delicate cross.

"My grandmother's heirloom," Bai Yutang—wait, Bai Chi said in a low voice. "It brings good luck and protection, it's really effective!"

Zhao Zhen raised an eyebrow. "You're giving me something this important?"

"Who's giving it to you?!" Bai Chi glared at him. "I'm lending it to you. You have to return it to me after your performance! You have to return it to me in person!"

Zhao Zhen smiled, tucked the necklace inside the collar of his t-shirt, leaned in close to Bai Chi, and said, "Chichi, how about giving me a lucky kiss?"

Bai Chi's face flushed crimson. "What are you talking about?"

Zhao Zhen said casually, "Just kiss me once, consider it a blessing for my safety."

Bai Chi thought about it, glanced left and right to make sure no one was looking, leaned forward in a flash to leave a quick muwah on his cheek, and then blurted out, "Be careful, I'm coming backstage to see you tomorrow!" before turning on his heel and running off.

Zhao Zhen gently touched the spot on his cheek where Bai Chi had just kissed him, smiled wryly, shook his head, and turned to leave.

Little Yang leaned against the windowsill holding his milkshake cup, shook his head, and asked Luo Yang, who was sitting nearby intently studying documents, "Dad, Zhao Zhen is so pathetic."

"Huh?" Luo raised his head, looking puzzled as he stared at Luoyang. "What did you just say?"

Luoyang stared at Luo speechlessly for a moment before suddenly announcing, "Dad, find me a stepmother. I want a female one!"

"Cough, cough..." Not just Luo, but everyone else in the room choked in unison.

...

Zhan Zhao flipped through records in the archive room for a while, prompting Bai Yutang to curiously lean in. "Cat, what are you looking at?"

Zhan Zhao, however, answered with a non-sequitur: "Bai, do you remember a pervert case from a long time ago?"

"Cat, there are tons of perverts these days, which one? And 'a long time ago'?" Bai Yutang raised an eyebrow, leaning over to inspect the files.

"There was this one case we investigated for a long time where the murderer turned out to be a woman. She simply staged the crime scene to look like a sexual assault so she'd have no alibi—wait, so she'd be cleared of suspicion," Zhan Zhao asked. "After she was caught, she claimed deep down she was actually a man. That case caused a huge uproar over gender identity issues back then."

"Oh..." Bai Yutang nodded. "That case was quite a while ago, about six or seven years back. Wasn't your very first academic paper written about that case? You even won an outstanding paper award for it, and it got published in a magazine..."

"That's right," Zhan Zhao nodded. "You still remember."

Bai Yutang stared at Zhan Zhao for a moment, frowning slightly. "Cat, don't tell me this matter is connected to that paper of yours!"

Zhan Zhao muttered softly under his breath, "I... remembered something."

Bai Yutang sighed, sitting down beside Zhan Zhao. "What am I going to do with you? How does every single case manage to tie back to you?"

"Let me finish," Zhan Zhao tapped him on the arm. "Around that time, right before I went abroad, didn't I publish a series of papers?"

"Mhm." Bai Yutang nodded.

"The core research of that particular article dealt with gender dysphoria. Some people are born male, yet feel as though Fate played a cruel joke on them because they believe they should have been women. Of course, there are also women who feel they were meant to be men."

"Mhm." Bai Yutang continued nodding.

"And my perspective was that this has nothing to do with a person's moral character; it's purely an accident of nature, something that can be faced head-on," Zhan Zhao said. "This era is already quite open-minded. A person can fully live as their true self without caring about other people's opinions. Even though they might face many difficulties right now, a few years down the line, with the advancement of science, they will certainly win greater respect and recognition from society."

"Heh..." Bai Yutang nodded. "A typical Cat-style answer—making people feel boundless hope and the beauty of humanity."

"Psh," Zhan Zhao glared at him. "Now that I think about it, back then, a young girl actually came to wait for me at the campus gates!"

"What?!" Bai Yutang's eyebrows shot up. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Where is your mind wandering? She was just a kid around thirteen or fourteen," Zhan Zhao rolled his eyes at Bai Yutang. "She was holding a copy of the magazine with my published article."

"Kids that young read those kinds of reports?" Bai Yutang asked.

"I was surprised too at the time. The girl only asked me one question," Zhan Zhao paused before continuing, "She asked, 'Is it true? People like that aren't actually guilty at heart, and they can keep living, and eventually win other people's approval?'"

Bai Yutang furrowed his brows slightly, falling silent for a moment before asking, "And then? What did you say?"

"I said—yes." Zhan Zhao replied.

"Just a single word?" Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao.

"Mhm." Zhan Zhao nodded. "She was just a child, with limited capacity for comprehension and memory. Besides, why else would she make a special trip to ask if not to hear that single word of affirmation?"

"Heh..." Bai Yutang shook his head, leaning back against the bookshelf. "Cat, are you realizing now that the girl was actually a boy?"

Zhan Zhao was slightly startled, then smiled. "Bai, you're brilliant! Care to guess how I figured it out?"

Bai Yutang said, "You saw those old photographs at the old man's place this morning, and one of the kids in them looked like a girl... No, strictly speaking, a boy dressed up as a girl."

Zhan Zhao nodded repeatedly. "Spot on! Looked at that way, the entire case falls into place!"

Bai Yutang's expression grew somewhat grave. "Cat, are you saying that the unidentified suspect who kept popping up throughout the entire case—that elusive man—is Uncle An's actual son? At the same time, he was the one wearing the mask at the hotel who killed Pang Xiaoqin and An Lingli, the one who sent you letters, and the one who called the office to tip us off? Is he the murderer? Or one of the murderers?"

Zhan Zhao smiled faintly. "Bai, you're half right."

"How so?" Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao, puzzled.

"He is indeed the murderer... However, he is an innocent murderer!" Zhan Zhao winked mysteriously at Bai Yutang, reaching out to pull him to his feet. "Come on, let's go gather the evidence and round up those toxic pests along the way!"

Dragged along toward the exit, Bai Yutang kept muttering under his breath, "An innocent murderer... Innocent..."

Arriving in front of the parking lot, Bai Yutang unlocked the car door before suddenly letting out an "Ah."

Zhan Zhao smiled as he looked at him. "What is it? Did it click?"

Bai Yutang nodded. "An innocent murderer, heh... Cat, you really are something else!"