S.C.I. Mystery Vol. 1, Ch. 29

T/L Message: Just as a disclaimer, I don't know much Chinese. I know how it's structured and some Kanji (from learning Japanese), but this translation is largely through lots and lots and lots of research and rewording automatic translations. I think I did pretty well, though :)

Also, a number of the chapters in this section include excerpts from the poem "Divine Comedy." Let me tell you, the Italian-translated-to-Chinese-translated-to-English version is completely different. I didn't even realize they were excerpts at first. So I went and found the official English translation versions of the poem for those parts.

Killer Training Camp 01: Dinner

Of course, all content belong to the wonderful original author (Ya Ear) 耳雅

“BROKE the deep slumber in my brain a crash

Of heavy thunder, that I shook myself,

As one by main force rous'd. Risen upright,

My rested eyes I mov'd around, and search'd

With fixed ken to know what place it was,

Wherein I stood. For certain on the brink

I found me of the lamentable vale,

The dread abyss, that joins a thund'rous sound

Of plaints innumerable. Dark and deep,

And thick with clouds o'erspread, mine eye in vain

Explor'd its bottom, nor could aught discern”

———————— "Divine Comedy" the first floor of hell (1).


Suddenly, the man woke, crying and screaming, and opened his eyes. It was dim darkness, and that terrible voice had disappeared.

He took a breath and got up from the bed, feeling briefly dizzy.

He staggered to the floor-to-ceiling window and lifted its heavy curtains...blinded briefly by dazzling sunlight.

He opened the window and let in the fresh, cold air to dispel the moldy, turbid stench in the house.

Rubbing his painful forehead and turning around, he could see the dried blood on the pale walls. Under the sun, it was as brilliant as a flower... Sure enough, no matter how ugly things are, when they are lit by sunlight, they can become beautiful (2).

He brought a bottle of spirits with him to sit at the window, and stared at the sun blankly until it tilted west, the bright white light becoming orange, and the color gradually deepening ...

Turning his head again, he saw those spots in the bloody sun, and their luster from when they had been freshly spilled seemed to have been restored...rushing with a delicate and dripping beauty (3).

The dusk was getting darker, and the wine was bottoming out.

Di ～～～～

The computer's display flashed suddenly, and an email flew in.

The man stood up mechanically, walked to the computer, held out the mouse with a trembling hand, and clicked away.

There was just one line of words:

Time is up, wake up the demon! From now on, you are no longer you!



Zhan Zhao hurried out of the auditorium in S city, "It's over, I'm going to be late!!!"

He had just finished listening to a very important lecture by the world-renowned psychologist Dr. Wilson-Brown on "Dissociative Identity Disorder".

Dr. Wilson deserved to be the authority in this regard. The whole speech was wonderful, and Zhan Zhao, who listened with great interest, forgot an important event—tonight, he was going to attend the opening dinner of the Bai Family Group organized by Bai Jintang.

The dinner time was 7:00 pm, and it was already 6:30 pm. He hadn't even changed his clothes. "I am so dead~~ Older Brother Bai is going to be mad!!"

"Dr. Zhan!"

The anxious Zhan Zhao stopped, looked up, and saw that a young man in a smart suit was coming towards him from the side. He looked a bit cool, with a hawk nose, fine eyebrows, long eyes, a sharp chin, a very pale complexion, and a shrewdness in his savviness—he was unfamiliar to Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao was a little dazed, but the man laughed, "Is it really Dr. Zhan, Zhan Zhao? I have admired you for so long!" He politely reached out his hand: "My name is Pang Yu."

"Oh~ hello." Zhan Zhao reached out as well and shook his hand, thinking that the name seemed familiar, but that he certainly didn't know this person... He would ignore it!!!

Zhan Zhao wanted to leave quickly, but Pang Yu stopped him and said, "I heard your last lecture on 'the Causes of Multiple Personalities’, which was wonderful."

"I am flattered..." but Zhan Zhao was anxious in his heart. "I'm already dead, yet I’ve come across this guy who sticks to me like candy at a time like this..."

Zhan Zhao still wanted to leave, but Pang Yu said, "Are you here to listen to Dr. Wilson?"

Zhan Zhao said, "Of course, why else would I come here? This person has nothing useful to say!"

He really just wanted to say, "I'm in a hurry", when behind him came the sound of a car horn, and he turned back...

Zhan Zhao saw a gorgeous silver-gray sports car parked on the side of the road. Bai Yutang leaned his head out and shouted at him, "Cat!"

"Sorry, I'm in a hurry, I'll talk to you next time." Zhan Zhao hurriedly turned and rushed towards the car to avoid getting further entangled with Pang Yu,.

"What time is it? Big Brother is going to explode again!" Bai Yutang opened the door for him and handed him an indigo suit.

"I forgot the time, but why are you so late?" Zhan Zhao closed the door, took off his jacket, and put on the suit.

"Seeing that your clothes were still in the Bureau, I knew that you had forgotten." Bai Yutang reached out and straightened Zhan Zhao’s collar. "These clothes were really not designed for people."

Zhan Zhao looked at him sideways. Bai Yutang was wearing a white suit, a silver tie, and all in all looked like an outstanding son. The white horse couldn't be a white horse anymore (4)... the way this mouse was dressed didn't match his personality!!!

They hurriedly arrived at the most expensive five-star hotel in S City before 7:00 pm.

The front door was already full of high-end cars, the red carpet was spread for several miles, and reporters were surrounding it on both sides. It looked like the Avenue of Stars.

They got out of the car and wanted to choose a more remote and unobtrusive path.

"How did this happen?" Zhan Zhao frowned deeply, "What the hell is your brother's company doing?"

"Looks like a hotel." Bai Yutang scratched his head and looked around. "Where do we go in?"

"Yeah~~~~~~" There was a sudden riot in the crowd not far away, and a woman's sharp cry carried over.

Bai Yutang instinctively reached for his gun, turned his head, and saw a foreigner in a black suit with blond hair walking past on the Avenue of Stars.

"Who is that?" Bai Yutang whispered to Zhan Zhao beside him.

"Hmm ..." Zhan Zhao shook his head, looking at the screaming female creatures with some anxiety.

"Jon King, a popular Hollywood star." Two people spoke from behind them, with exactly the same voice and exactly the same pattern.

"Da Ding and Xiao Ding (5)?" Bai Yutang looked back and saw the twins standing behind them with a look of scorn on their faces.

"We expected that the two of you would be late!!!" The twins shrugged. "Let's go, Big Brother told us to pick you up!"

…………

They followed the twins, "Isn't my brother opening a hotel? Why have you invited some stars?" Bai Yutang was puzzled.

Da Ding and Xiao Ding turned back, disappointed in Bai Yutang (6), and sighed: "Hey~~ Bai's Group is mainly engaged in hotels, restaurants, entertainment, and film and television. Today there is a signing ceremony for the film and television company, and that Jon King is one of Bai's signed actors. "

"Oh~~" Bai Yutang nodded.

The twins looked at him, "The boss is also your brother, why don't you know anything about his career?"

"Is Older Brother a mafioso?" Zhan Zhao went forward and whispered to Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang quickly reached out and covered his mouth: "Dead Cat, do you want to kill me?!" Then he looked up nervously.

"Is that actor famous?" Zhan Zhao was curious and asked the twins. Why had he never heard of him?

The twins pressed the top floor button and squinted at the two of them: "Don't you watch TV or read magazines?"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang thought about it, looking at the sky...

The elevator door opened. Outside was the ultra-luxury banquet hall on the top floor of the hotel. They saw that the hall was already full of well-dressed celebrities. Although Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang did not know any of them, they could tell that they were celebrities... Their clothes were very flashy and showy.

The four people walked out of the elevator and attracted a lot of people's attention. The similarities in appearance of Bai Yutang and Bai Jintang caused a little commotion.

Feeling a bit uncomfortable from the stares, Bai Yutang turned his face away and asked the twins, "Where is my brother? Cat and I will greet him and then leave."

Zhan Zhao knew that Bai Yutang didn't like such annoying entertainment and communication and nodded. He had to finish a book tonight. He was so busy!

"You dare?!" Someone behind him said fiercely. Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao instinctively shrank, turned their heads, and saw that Bai Jintang had arrived next to them.

Tonight, Bai Jintang was wearing a gorgeous black suit. How elite!!! That expensiveness, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang sighed in their hearts, "See? This is the real King of Diamonds! Diamonds can't be diamonds anymore!!"

But this "Wang Laowu (7)" was also followed by a hot lady holding champagne in one hand. She was curiously looking at Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao.

"You two have to stay all the way until the end!" Bai Jintang stared at the two of them.

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao did not dare to disobey and nodded obediently.

"Which is your brother?" The beautiful girl suddenly asked.

"Both of them." Bai Jintang said softly, turning around and greeting the guests who came up to him, but he couldn't help glancing towards the corner of the hall.

Zhan Zhao looked at Bai Yutang and blinked, meaning: "What's wrong with your brother? He’s in a bad mood?"

Bai Yutang shook his head and looked at the twins in puzzlement.

Ding Zhaohui and Ding Zhaolan nodded to the place where Bai Jintang had looked just before and signaled for them to look there.

When they looked, they saw Gongsun. He was holding champagne in one hand, sitting elegantly on the sofa, and chatting with a well-dressed woman. He wore a melancholy face with a gentle smile.

"Why is Gongsun here?" Bai Yutang asked Zhan Zhao in surprise.

Zhan Zhao frowned and shook his head, "I definitely saw him tear up the invitation and throw it in the toilet."

Bai Yutang also nodded: "Yeah, and he said that he would not attend such a banquet hosted by an upstart..."

Da Ding and Xiao Ding sighed. Bai Jintang, who had his back to them, turned around, "He really said that?"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang closed their mouths consciously.

"Ah, Cat, would you like something to drink?"

"Okay... I feel a little thirsty, too."

……………… The two worked hard to shift the subject.

Bai Jintang turned back to the crowd in the middle of the hall.

Ding Zhaolan whispered, "Gongsun was sold out by Chief Bao."

"What do you mean?" Zhan and Bai were puzzled.

"Because the Boss gave the Bureau a complete set of the most advanced forensic testing equipment and an intelligent temperature control system. The condition was that the Bureau would send Gongsun to tonight’s dinner."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other and said, "Despicable! Despicable!!!"

"But!" Ding Zhaohui said mysteriously, "Gongsun went to talk to that lady very happily!"

"And!" Zhaolan added. "They seem to be old acquaintances that haven't seen each other in years."

The two looked at each other, shook their heads, and concluded: "Stealing chickens will not eclipse the rice (8)."

…………

"Her name is Fang Jing." The beauty next to them suddenly interrupted, "My agent said that she and the gentleman named Gongsun are old classmates."

"Oh~~~" Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked up at Bai Jintang sympathetically, and saw that he glanced in that direction again...

"This is the 23rd time he’s looked over there tonight." The beautiful girl turned away with a glass of wine.

Da Ding and Xiao Ding came up: "She's Chen Jiayi, and she is also an actress signed with our company. Isn’t she beautiful?!"

At this time, almost all of the guests of the banquet were present. Zhan Zhao was surprised to find that Dr. Wilson, who was giving the speech in the auditorium in the afternoon, was also among them. He was talking to the star Jon on the Avenue of Stars.

Wilson also noticed Zhan Zhao and immediately nodded enthusiastically.

Out of respect for his elders and academic authority, Zhan Zhao took the initiative to shake hands and say hello. Bai Yutang, who was unknown to the professor, also followed.

"Ah! Zhan, I'm so glad to see you!" Although Wilson was nearly sixty years old, he still maintained the American enthusiasm and energy. Obviously, he appreciated Zhan Zhao very much. He shook his hand vigorously and laughed lightly like a spring breeze.

Zhan Zhao was about to speak, but saw a red dot on Dr. Wilson's forehead...

...!...

"Watch out!" Bai Yutang, who was next to Zhan Zhao, pushed Wilson nearly as soon as the red dot appeared.

At the same time, a crimson hole appeared on the shoulder of a person behind Wilson, and red blood flowed out. The man screamed in pain and fell to the ground, clutching his shoulder.

"AAHHH~~~~" There was chaos in the banquet hall immediately, and the female guests were screaming in shock. The crowd pushed and shoved as they tried to escape.

Bai Yutang saw the ghostly red dot instantly climbing up onto Jon's forehead before standing still, but he was too far away from Jon ...

"Get down!" He saw Zhaohui rush out from the side and throw Jon to the ground.

There was a "snap" again, a black hole appeared on the carpet. A plume of smoke drifted out of it.

"Hide next to the wall!" Bai Yutang shouted, and pulled out his gun.

Just outside the balcony, in the dark night, a clear red dot flickered at the top of the opposite building. Visually, the distance should be more than 50 meters...

He raised the gun towards the red dot and held the muzzle at 45 degrees.

A shot sounded ... The crisp sound of the bullet hitting the glass came clearly. About a few seconds later, a black sniper rifle fell from the top of the building opposite to the ground. It bounced after landing, and broke into pieces...




Translation Notes:

(1) Poem by Dante Alighieri describing Heaven, Purgatory, and Hell

(2) When they are shrouded in sunlight they can grow holy wings.

(3) A combination of phrases meaning the galloping of a herd of horses or the crashing of waves and the vibrant and dripping beauty of a flower.

(4) Referencing a philosophical debate from 300 BCE about whether white horses are horses.

(5) Big Ding and Little Ding, referencing both the older and the younger of the twins.

(6)To hate iron (for not becoming steel): to feel resentful towards someone for failing to meet expectations and impatient to see improvement.

(7) AKA Desirable Bachelor

(8) To try to gain an advantage but only end up worse off

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