S.C.I. (Volume II) - Case 6: Chapter 8

The Innocent Killer 08 - Catch Me

Bai Jingtang's sudden appearance instantly deflated the fierce, overbearing aura of the woman who had been acting so aggressive moments before. Her previously domineering and ruthless expression instantly morphed into one of grievance and vulnerability, and she even cooed the name "Jingtang" in a winding, fragile, and powerless tone that made Gongsun shudder with disgust. Turning around to find Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao wearing identical looks of curious amusement, Gongsun shook his head, took a sip from his glass, and turned back to continue watching the show.

Bai Jingtang frowned slightly, staring down at the woman.

"I'm sorry, Jingtang," the woman hastily reached out, wanting to wipe away the wine stain on his chest.

Bai Jingtang slowly stepped back, turned his gaze to the twins beside him, and dropped a remark that completely shattered everyone's expectations: "Who is she? She looks somewhat familiar."

The spectators, who had initially expected to witness a chaotic, messy triangular drama of a high-society romance betrayal, all deflated in disappointment. Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao exchanged glances and curled their lips simultaneously—bah, what a letdown!

However, the person whose expression turned the ugliest was undoubtedly the woman standing frozen in place, her hand still suspended mid-air, unsure whether to retract it or leave it there.

Right at this awkward juncture, a voice chuckled from behind them, "Boss Bai really has a short memory for faces."

The crowd turned around to see two people leisurely walking up. One was a well-dressed, slightly plump elderly man, while the other was a young man in his late twenties.

When Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao saw the old man, they both froze in surprise—wasn't this Pang Ji? But what baffled the two of them was that only a short half-year had passed since their last encounter with Pang Ji, so how had this old man aged so drastically? His entire head of hair was stark white, and his face was piled deep with wrinkles; far from looking like a man in his sixties, he looked practically eighty.

When Bai Jingtang turned around and saw Pang Ji, he was likewise a bit puzzled. Big Ding hurriedly stepped up and muttered into his ear, "Boss, your memory is truly terrible. She is Pang Ji's daughter, Pang Xiaoqin. You've met before."

Bai Jingtang blinked, gazing dazedly at Big Ding. "Is that so?"

The surrounding onlookers felt even more deflated. As it turned out, this was entirely a case of unrequited, self-delusional infatuation on Pang Xiaoqin's part.

Bai Yutang grabbed the Ding brother beside him and demanded, "Then why did she claim she counts as half a host here?"

Little Ding curled his lip. "This international hotel was acquired by the boss from old man Pang. The Bai family holds fifty-one percent of the shares, the Pang family has forty percent, and Yan Li owns five percent."

"Oh~~" Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged glances—it really was a case of unrequited self-delusion after all.

In truth, Bai Jingtang still hadn't remembered her. He was simply harboring lingering resentment over Pang Xiaoqin splashing water on Gongsun just a moment ago. Frowning at Pang Xiaoqin, who still wore a nervous look behind him, he asked coldly, "What were you doing just now?"

"I..." Pang Xiaoqin started to argue, but Bai Jingtang couldn't be bothered to entertain her. Turning his gaze to the twins, he commanded, "Throw her out!"

Everyone else was utterly startled, and the face of Pang Ji standing behind them flushed alternately red and white.

"Boss Bai certainly speaks with a grand tone," the young man behind Pang Ji stepped forward, glaring at Bai Jingtang. "Tonight's banquet should be organized by President Yan. If anyone is going to throw someone out, it should be President Yan."

"Ahem..." Just as his voice trailed off, a soft cough sounded from nearby, and Yan Li—having noticed the commotion here—walked over, with Fang Wo still standing faithfully by her side.

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao's gazes were instantly recaptured by Fang Wo, and they quietly waited to see how the situation would unfold.

"Then I apologize, but I must ask Miss Pang to leave first," Yan Li said with a smile.

T

Pang Ji frowned, his face dark as he looked at Yan Li. "President Yan... this is somewhat lacking in basic courtesy."

Yan Li smiled. "Although I am the host, the master of the house is the Bai family, and frankly, this young lady's behavior was indeed quite inappropriate... Therefore, either we ask this young lady to leave first, or we must ask Old Man Pang to leave along with her."

The young man behind Pang Ji wore an unkind expression and sneered, "President Yan is being rather heartless."

Meanwhile, Bai Jingtang had long since lost interest in watching the drama here. He reached out to wrap an arm around Gongsun's shoulders, snatched the wine glass from his hand to take a sip, and began walking away, muttering, "I'm exhausted."

Gongsun looked up, noticing a hint of fatigue in his expression, and asked, "Did you just get off a plane?"

"Mm." Bai Jingtang tilted his head back to finish the rest of the champagne, requested another glass from a passing waiter, leaned in close to Gongsun's ear, and murmured, "Did you miss me?"

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao both shuddered and shared a look—Big Brother is truly something else, openly flirting in broad daylight under everyone's noses.

"My sister was invited here by President Yan, yet now she's being forced to leave," the young man behind Pang Ji sneered. "This isn't quite right, is it?"

Yan Li gave a bitter, helpless smile and lowered her voice to say to Pang Ji, "Old Pang, know when to quit while you're ahead. You have no idea who you're offending. Just having her leave is already giving you plenty of face. Besides, let's be honest—it's a good thing that drink didn't land, otherwise I'm afraid you'd be collecting your daughter's corpse tonight."

Pang Ji's expression shifted through several shades of color. He cast a helpless glance at Pang Xiaoqin, gave her a nod, and watched as her eyes reddened. Glaring viciously at Bai Jingtang and Gongsun nearby, she spun around, covered her face, and ran off.

"Dad, I'm going to go check on my sister," the young man behind Pang Ji handed his champagne glass to a waiter and hurried off in pursuit of Pang Xiaoqin.

"I need to use the restroom," Fang Wo smiled at the group, lowered his head to plant a gentlemanly kiss on Yan Li's cheek, and left after murmuring, "I'll be right back."

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao exchanged glances—the good show was over.

Yan Li smiled apologetically at the surrounding guests, who were sensible enough to resume their conversations and laughter as if nothing had just happened.

"Hey!" Bai Yutang nudged Little Ding and asked, "Why is that Pang fellow so terrified of Big Brother?"

Little Ding rolled his eyes at Bai Yutang. "I swear, you guys are impossible. Big Brother did all this entirely for your sakes!"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged bewildered glances, asking, "How so?"

"Did both of you forget about Pang Yu's case?" Little Ding lowered his voice. "Pang Yu was Pang Ji's favorite son. Big Brother was worried he'd harbor a grudge and seek revenge on you two, so he targeted Pang Ji's business at every turn over this past year. Right now, eighty percent of the Pang family's assets have been acquired by Big Brother. Don't let their outward appearance of glamour fool you; the Pang family is nothing more than an empty shell now, completely incapable of making a comeback."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang listened in astonishment, never imagining that Bai Jingtang would go to such thorough lengths for their sake. Shifting their gaze, they spotted Bai Jingtang and Gongsun chatting animatedly nearby; whatever Gongsun had just said caused Bai Jingtang's eyes to curve into a smile.

Zhan Zhao suddenly gave Bai Yutang a gentle tap and nudged his chin in a certain direction. Following his line of sight, Bai Yutang saw Bai Yunwen standing not far away, frowning deeply as he watched Bai Jingtang from afar.

"The old man is unhappy." Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao exchanged a look, took a couple of steps forward, and casually blocked Bai Yunwen's line of sight toward Bai Jingtang under the guise of an accidental movement.

"Brats!" Bai Yunwen muttered a low curse. Zhan Qi reached out to pat his shoulder and said, "Forget it, as long as they're alive and kicking, isn't that enough? As long as they're happy. I'm heading out, are you coming or not?"

"Fine." Bai Yunwen nodded and headed toward the exit, tossing back the parting remark, "The more I look at them, the angrier I get!"

Zhan Qi chuckled, shaking his head as he walked out with him.

Seeing the two elders depart, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both let out a sigh of relief and smiled at each other. Sweeping their gazes around the room once more, they decided to check if there was any other excitement to join in on. They spotted Bai Chi and Zhao Zhen standing near a table not far away. Zhao Zhen was holding a plate of food, while Bai Chi looked up at him, the two of them chatting about something. At that moment, three young men dressed in black suits suddenly closed in around them.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged glances, deciding to head over in that direction, only to notice the twins were also heading the same way. Their eyes met—they all sensed there was a good show to watch over there.

Bai Chi had fetched some food for Zhao Zhen. Although Zhao Zhen claimed to be starving, he had only taken a couple of bites before setting the plate down to chat with Bai Chi, who couldn't shake the feeling that Zhao Zhen seemed out of sorts tonight. Could something have happened?

Just as he was looking for an opportunity to ask what was wrong, a voice piped up from beside them, "Well, if it isn't Zhao?!"

Bai Chi turned his head and saw three foreigners approaching! The leader was a man in his thirties with blonde hair tied into a braid and faint stubble; he was quite good-looking, though whether due to the angle or not, Bai Chi felt his nose looked slightly crooked and rather eccentric—he was the one who had spoken. The second one looked somewhat Asian, with a build midway between European and Asian, carrying a cold expression and a rather strange look as well. The third person appeared to be a teenager in his early teens with short blonde hair, flawless snow-white skin, big blue eyes, a slightly upturned nose, and a short stature, making him look just like a blonde porcelain doll. Bai Chi couldn't help feeling startled—was this a boy or a girl? But the moment he spoke, Bai Chi could tell from his neutral-to-low voice that he was a boy. Unlike the expressionless demeanor of the other two, he looked extremely excited, chattering eagerly to Zhao Zhen, "Ah, are you really Zhao Zhen?! You look even more handsome in person than on TV! My name is Matthew, I'm your fan... ah, wait, no, you're my fan!"

Zhao Zhen seemed to recognize the first blonde with the crooked nose, but didn't know the other two. Maintaining his lethargic expression, he gave the man a slight nod as a greeting.

Bai Chi watched the group curiously and asked Zhao Zhen, "Are these your friends?"

The first blonde with the crooked nose smiled and nodded at Bai Chi. "Hello, my name is Stuart, and this is Rick." With that, he reached out his hand, as if intending to shake Bai Chi's hand.

Naturally, Bai Chi politely shook his hand in return, but the moment their hands met, something felt off—the other person's hand was freezing cold! How could a living person's hand possibly be this cold? But right after that, the man let out a miserable shriek of "Ah," staggered backward, and squatted down while clutching his arm in agony.

Startled, Bai Chi could still feel the lingering icy sensation on his hand, yet the other person had already retreated several paces away. Looking closely, he let out a shocked gasp of "Ah"—clutched firmly in his own hand was a severed human hand!

"Hahaha..." Stuart, who had appeared to be in agonizing pain just a moment ago, suddenly burst into roaring laughter. The two men beside him laughed as well, and Matthew, looking like a porcelain doll, stomped his feet with glee as he pointed at Bai Chi and said, "You're so dopey, you actually got scared by that! So slow-witted."

Looking again, Bai Chi realized Stuart's actual hand was tucked neatly inside his own sleeve, and looking down at what he was holding, he saw it was merely a prop hand...

Bai Chi wanted to throw the prop hand away, but found that it seemed to be stuck to his palm and wouldn't shake off. Starting to panic, he heard Zhao Zhen say from beside him, "Don't move." Bai Chi instantly stopped shaking his hand and looked pitifully at Zhao Zhen.

Zhao Zhen reached out and gently snapped the prop hand off Bai Chi's palm, and it immediately came away. Bai Chi curiously checked his own palm—there wasn't a trace of adhesive on it.

"How is that possible?" Bai Chi looked up at Zhao Zhen.

Zhao Zhen raised an eyebrow. "He's a magician too."

"We're all here to attend this Magic Week," Matthew chimed in cheerfully to Bai Chi. "Seeing how close you were with Zhao, we thought you were an expert too. Turns out you're just an amateur."

"Hey..." The twins, who had been watching from the sidelines, couldn't help stepping forward. Slinging an arm around Bai Chi, they told the three of them, "Amateur or not, anyone would get startled by that! What kind of prank is that?!"

Stuart smiled dismissively. "He's just too faint-hearted."

Seeing that the twins were standing up for him, and fearing things might escalate—after all, the host of the venue was Elder Brother Bai, and the organizer was Zhao Zhen's business partner, so causing a scene wouldn't do—Bai Chi hurriedly tried to smooth things over. Smiling at the twins, he said, "It's fine, I'm just a bit timid myself. It was actually quite interesting."

"Hah..." Matthew chuckled, looking at Bai Chi. "You really have no spine at all."

Bai Chi felt somewhat awkward, while the twins' eyes narrowed into slits. They thought to themselves—you've got some nerve, daring to bully a member of the Bai family?

"Take your hand back." Zhao Zhen, who had remained silent on the side, suddenly flicked his wrist and tossed the prop hand straight toward Matthew. Matthew instinctively reached out to catch it, but felt something slippery and soft in his hand. Furthermore, why did that arm seem to be moving? Looking down—

"Ah!" Matthew shrieked in absolute terror as the arm in his hand, the exact moment it made contact with his skin, transformed into a meter-long snake... and a live patterned python at that. The snake was extremely agile, slithering up Matthew's arm in a flash to coil around his neck. It reared its triangular head, opened its mouth right toward Matthew, and flicked its forked tongue.

Matthew was so terrified he didn't even dare to breathe, let alone move. Right at that moment, someone started clapping. Turning around, they saw Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao waving their hands together in admiration, praising, "Impressive!"

Matthew's face, already pale to begin with, was now as white as a sheet, his eyes fixed in horror on the snake right in front of him, frozen in absolute stillness.

Stuart and Rick standing beside him were also at a loss. Finally, Stuart helplessly muttered to Zhao Zhen, "Zhao, it was just a joke, don't take it so seriously. He's just a kid, he doesn't know any better."

Zhao Zhen shot Matthew a cold stare. Matthew recovered his wits quickly and hastily stammered to Bai Chi, "I'm sorry..."

Bai Chi was now even more bewildered. What on earth had Zhao Zhen just done? Did he seriously carry a live python around on his person? But he was only wearing a single layer of clothing—where on earth could he have hidden a snake?

After Matthew's apology, Zhao Zhen lazily snapped his fingers. With a soft "pop," the snake wrapped around Matthew's neck vanished in a sudden flash of fire, burning away into nothingness.

Everyone was left dumbfounded. Matthew stared in wide-eyed disbelief; if not for the faint scent of scorched air lingering in the vicinity, he would have thought Zhao Zhen had hypnotized him into experiencing hallucinations.

Zhao Zhen set down his plate, tugged gently on Bai Chi's sleeve, and uttered a single word: "Sleepy."

Bai Chi was still trying to process the situation, blinking dazedly as he looked around. Spotting two sofas tucked against the window in the corner behind them, he pulled Zhao Zhen out of the crowd.

As soon as they reached the sofa, Zhao Zhen quietly drifted off to sleep. Bai Chi took off his suit jacket to cover him, and noticing how deeply asleep he seemed, his worry only intensified, prompting him to simply sit right beside him to keep watch.

"Zhao Zhen... really seems a bit off," Zhan Zhao murmured with a slight frown, looking at Bai Yutang. "Why do I get the feeling he's utterly exhausted?"

Bai Yutang nodded in agreement, though his gaze remained fixed on the three foreigners. Matthew, having recovered from his shock with a flushed face, was whispering to his two companions, "Just now... what was the mechanism behind that?"

T

Stuart and Rick exchanged glances, shook their heads in resignation, and consoled him, "You'll get used to it."

Just as Zhan Zhao and and Bai Yutang were worrying over Zhao Zhen's condition, an excited voice suddenly rang out from behind: "You... are you really Dr. Zhan?!"

Zhan Zhao turned around to find a sixteen- or seventeen-year-old girl with a cute doll face, black bobbed hair, and a white dress. She was hugging a book to her chest—it was Zhan Zhao's newly published book—and her face was flushed with excitement.

"Are you Dr. Zhan?" Seeing that Zhan Zhao didn't respond, the girl asked again.

"Mm..." Zhan Zhao nodded hesitatingly.

"Please sign it for me!" The girl grew even more excited. "I'm a loyal reader of yours." Perhaps carried away by her excitement, her voice was quite loud, drawing the attention of several people nearby.

"Uh..." Zhan Zhao felt a bit awkward. At that moment, someone walked over briskly from a distance, saying with a hint of sternness, "Jiajia, why are you being so impolite?!"

The person who approached Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang was none other than Yan Li. Reaching out to stroke the head of the cute girl named Jiajia, she apologized to Zhan Zhao, "Dr. Zhan, I'm so sorry, this child has always been a huge fan of your books."

Zhan Zhao smiled gently, taking the book and pen handed over by Jiajia to sign her copy, while Jiajia looked on with eyes full of wish-fulfilled excitement.

"Your handwriting is so pretty!" Jiajia hugged the book to her chest, looking at it with sheer adoration. At that moment, the surrounding lights dimmed, and a spotlight cut through the gloom, precisely illuminating a blissful-looking Yan Li and a smiling Fang Wo. A waiter wheeled a massive engagement cake out from beyond the doors.

"Ah, it's starting!" Jiajia hurriedly hugged her book, bid a hasty goodbye to Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, and ran over to Yan Li's side.

"Distinguished guests!" A cultured, well-spoken emcee walked up beside Yan Li and Fang Wo. "Tonight's cocktail party is held to honor the various elites of S City's police force! However, before our appreciation banquet officially begins, we must first extend our blessings to a newly engaged couple..." With that, he gestured toward Yan Li and Fang Wo standing beside him, "Let us congratulate President Yan Li and Mr. Fang Wo on their engagement."

The guests immediately burst into applause, and warm music filled the room. Fang Wo and Yan Li jointly took hold of the cake knife handed over by Jiajia and walked toward the gorgeous engagement cake.

As Bai Yutang clapped along, he muttered quietly to Zhan Zhao, "Cat, isn't Fang Wo younger than Yan Li by at least a decade?"

Zhan Zhao nodded. "Must be. Somehow, he doesn't look quite as happy as Yan Li does, though."

"This brat," Bai Yutang sneered. "Who knows what background he's really from, but he's definitely no ordinary character."

Zhan Zhao smiled. "Well, at least he's showing his face now, which makes it easier for us to keep tabs on him, doesn't it?"

Even as the two chatted, a shriek suddenly pierced through the crowd. Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao raised their heads to see everyone staring forward in horror. Turning their gaze as well, they saw Fang Wo and Yan Li's hands—holding the cake knife—frozen mid-air. The cake knife had already been plunged into the center of the nearly waist-high cake, except... from the cut made by the blade, bright red liquid was slowly seeping out...

Bai Yutang frowned and shouted to the side, "Turn on the lights!"

The waiter hurried to flip the switches. The moment the lights blazed back on, the crowd gasped in even greater shock. From the slit in the cake, red liquid continued to ooze out ceaselessly, and by now, nearly half of the cake had been stained crimson.

Bao Zheng, standing at the very front, furrowed his brow, stepped forward, took the knife from the couple's hands, and scraped away the side of the cake...

With a soft thud, a bloody human hand fell out from the opening in the cake.

"Ahhhh..." Panic instantly erupted through the crowd.

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao exchanged glances and hurried forward. Bao Zheng scraped away more of the cake, revealing a pile of severed corpses parts packed inside. Right in the dead center was an upper torso, its back turned toward the crowd. It was a woman's back; the backless dress looked horribly familiar, and carved across the snow-white skin with a blade were a few letters—ahe.

Bai Yutang reached out, working alongside Bao Zheng to scrape away the lower layers of the cake, only to reveal a clump of hair... curly hair paired with that evening gown. A terrible premonition welled up in everyone's hearts. Sure enough, once the cake was entirely torn away, a woman's head was exposed at the front, her eyes blown wide open in terror, sending the crowd spiraling into renewed chaos.

Then, a heart-wrenching scream pierced the air: "Xiaoqin!"