S.C.I. Mystery Vol. 1, Ch. 52

T/L Note: Sorry for being out of signal last weekend! As an apology, I've been working on some S.C.I. fan art which will likely be complete by next week. As promised, you will be getting two chapters this weekend--the next one will come out either tonight or tomorrow.

ADDITIONALLY: We all know things are rather crazy in China nowadays. Ya Ear hasn't posted a new chapter since early February, but it is usually 3-4 weeks between her posts, so we aren't too far overdue. I will let you know if anything happens.
Some of you may know about China's revamped censorship and site blocking as of 3/1. The sight S.C.I. is posted on, as far as I am aware, has not been blocked.
Anyways, we are about 450-or-so chapters behind anyways, so not much will change here, regardless.

Magic Murderer 7: Dense Fog (1)

By the time Bai Yutang had started his car and was about to take Zhan Zhao back to his apartment, it was almost three in the morning.

"Hehe~~" Zhan Zhao suddenly laughed, seemingly thinking of something interesting. This caused Bai Yutang beside him to laugh as well, "What's up, Kitty? Why are you so happy?"

Zhan Zhao turned to look at him, "I was thinking about what happened to Bai Chi and Zhao Yan when they were young."

"Oh~~~" Bai Yutang couldn't help laughing, "It's quite interesting. I can’t believe there is such a bad relationship."

"That Zhao Yan is worse than you when you were a kid!" Zhan Zhao smiled.

"Dammed Cat, when was I bad when I was a kid?!" Bai Yutang protested.

"You weren't you bad? Do you remember..." Zhan Zhao recalled with a smile, "That one time, you threw the two brothers from next door into the mound of dirt for the flower beds, poured water on them, and said that they should grow up quickly."

"Haha~~~" Bai Yutang also laughed, "Remember, remember, when you were eight years old... Those two brothers pulled out all the flowers you had planted. I taught them."

"The teacher who taught history in middle school..." Zhan Zhao said, "You glued him to the toilet seat!"

"Pff~~~~" Bai Yutang laughed even harder. "He was picked up with the toilet and sent to the hospital..."

Zhan Zhao smiled and covered his stomach, "He had a toilet on his ass... he couldn’t even put his pants on. He just walked out of the bathroom and everyone saw it..."

Bai Yutang nodded, "Who told him to wrongly accuse you of cheating and force you to stand as punishment... Getting a toilet glued to him was a cheap price for him to pay."

"Were you the one who released the mysterious homemade tear gas grenade in his office later?" Zhan Zhao asked. "It seems to still be an unsolved mystery of the school to this day."

"Hehe... I also locked his door. He jumped out of the window, and there was a smelly gutter below..." Bai Yutang was proud of himself. "After that, he never dared to look at you again, like you were the god of pestilence... Haha​​... "

"You still say you weren’t bad?" Zhan Zhao stared at him. "When you graduated, those teachers wanted to celebrate with firecrackers. They all said that the school was finally peaceful~~~"

"Who told them to provoke you?" Bai Yutang laughed and blurted out, "You are mine, and no one but me can touch you!"

………………

After saying that, he felt a little embarassed... Bai Yutang shook his head and smiled, "Now think about it: I was like a fly swatter when I was a kid. Whoever approached you, I would slap them hard!"

Zhan Zhao looked at the apartment building that was getting closer and closer and suddenly turned around. He said a little seriously, "Xiao Bai, let's not go back yet."

...? ...

Bai Yutang looked at him puzzledly, "Don't go back? It's nearly dawn; you’re not going to sleep?"

"Do you remember the beach we used to go to as kids?" Zhan Zhao said enthusiastically, "Shall we go there?"

"Now?" Bai Yutang asked, "It's far away!"

"I want to go..." Zhan Zhao said, "We often went when we were in school."

"Yeah, whenever you had something on your mind, you would go sit on the embankment. Go there and we would be able to find you." Bai Yutang said, "Do you really want to go?"

"Nn!" Zhan Zhao nodded.

Bai Yutang turned around and drove towards the beach in S city.

The beach there was not the sandy kind of beach, but the rocky kind. On one side was a huge dam that was surrounded with circular cement columns which were used to support it. People could walk up them. It was a nice place to admire the sea and watch the water slap against the reefs of the shoal.

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao parked on the side of the highway and stepped down from the dam. They climbed the stone pillars and headed for the shore.

Where the sky met the sea, there was already a tinge of bright color. The sea breeze, with its salty, wet taste, poured into their lungs with the cold air. It felt refreshing and quiet...

Bai Yutang gently embraced Zhan Zhao from behind and drew close to his ear. "Kitty, do you have something on your mind?"

"... You noticed it again ..." Zhan Zhao leaned back slightly, feeling the warmth of Bai Yutang's chest.

"Did I not say that you are an expert in researching people... but I am an expert in researching you?" He said, kissing Zhan Zhao's neck and hair, "Kitty, tell me. What are you upset about?"

"I... I can feel... a kind of evil..." Zhan Zhao leaned into Bai Yutang. "This time, the case is different from the previous ones... this murderer... gives me a very strange feeling—evil, vicious, unstable... "

Bai Yutang tightened his arms and pulled Zhan Zhao closer, saying, "You felt it from Sun Qian’s scene, didn't you?"

Zhan Zhao looked back at him, "Did you feel it, too?"

Shaking his head, Bai Yutang smiled and pinched Zhan Zhao’s chin, "I don't have the kind of power you have to feel the human heart... but I can feel the change in your mood... Kitty, when you are happy, sad, afraid... I can feel all your emotions. "

Zhan Zhao shook his head gently, "I think... there will be someone else who gets killed... maybe an innocent child like Sun Qian... but we have no clues..."

Bai Yutang bowed his head and kissed Zhan Zhao's non-stop opening and closing lips, gradually quieting him.

"Kitty, I have something I want to give you... Don’t laugh." Bai Yutang said softly, slowly unwrapping his arms and releasing Zhan Zhao.

"Something?" Zhan Zhao looked up at him puzzledly. "What kind of something?"

Bai Yutang reached into his jacket pocket and took out a white velvet box. He opened it, and it held two silver rings... the style was simple and elegant...

"You?" Zhan Zhao looked at him with a little surprise, then lowered his head and laughed.

"Don't laugh!" Bai Yutang had a rare blush on his face. "I also know that I was a bit silly. I happened to see them one day and bought them when I was in a good mood..."

Having said that, he took a ring out of the box and gave it to Zhan Zhao, "I... I also bought a chain... if you don't want to wear it on your hand, you can hang it..."

Before he finished speaking, Zhan Zhao had reached out to pick up the ring and asked, "Are they identical?"

"Nn, they’re the same." Bai Yutang nodded. Yet, Zhan Zhao picked up his left hand and put the ring on the middle finger. Then, he took out the other and put it on his own middle finger.

Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao's action with shock, "Kitty... the chain..."

Zhan Zhao picked up the chain and held it in his hand. He asked, "Did you think I would mind others knowing about us... so I wouldn’t want to wear this ring. Yet you wanted me to take it with me... even if it was hanging around my neck?"

Nodding, Bai Yutang stared at Zhan Zhao and saw him turn with a smile and swing his arm into the distance. The silver chain made a wonderful arc in the air and fell into the sea.

"Kitty... uh..." Bai Yutang watched the chain fly away and was surprised. Zhan Zhao reached out and cupped his face in his hands, moved in close, and kissed him...

The affectionate kiss ended, and Zhan Zhao smiled. He rubbed Bai Yutang's hair with a surprised look, and said, "Yutang, you are so cute..."

After a short, dazed moment, Bai Yutang smiled weakly, "Kitty, you’re teasing me..."

Reaching for Zhan Zhao, he hugged him, "Kitty, take your time, just like every time before... find clues, analyze it layer by layer, and investigate everything in great detail (2). Then we will be able to seize even the most fearsome of criminals!"

Zhan Zhao looked up at him.

There was a faint flash of light within Bai Yutang’s eyes, "Kitty, we are the central nervous system of the S.C.I.! Do you understand?"

"En." Zhan Zhao nodded. "We can't be messy... we have to be confident and calm."

"Yes..." Bai Yutang stared into Zhan Zhao's eyes. "Especially you, Kitty. You rely on all of us, but we also all rely on you... No evil can come near you... especially since this fly swatter is here."

Zhan Zhao smiled and nodded.

Bai Yutang pulled his arms together and held Zhan Zhao tighter, saying, "You must believe in yourself... no evil can defeat your justice, and I will always guard you."

Zhan Zhao embraced Bai Yutang's neck and felt the warmth, strength, and lively vitality he gave him... He nodded earnestly, "En!"

A few rays of sunlight leaped above the horizon ahead of the sun and landed on the Earth… The blue of the sea water in harmony with the red clouds of the rising sun cast a fantastical purple glow on the horizon... The border of daybreak seemed like a symphony of light. The mixed colors were like interweaving movements, difficult to distinguish~~ One can only feel a sense of sorrow or motion.

However, when the sun rises... the light and shadow will separate. Day and night, each with its own destination... unchanging since times immemorial.



After clearing their minds, the two returned home for a short rest, then returned to S.C.I. in an excellent state.

As soon as they entered the office, they heard a thunderous sound, and Xu Qing pointed to Wang Chao lying on the sofa in the lounge.

It seemed that Wang Chao had been busy all night. They didn't know what he had learned from following Kong Liping the night before.

Although extremely unwilling to do so, Bai Yutang woke him gently.

"Huh! ... Ah! Boss!" Noticing that Bai Yutang was standing in front of him, Wang Chao jumped up suddenly, "I have found something! A great discovery!"

He turned and looked around, seeing that everyone in the S.C.I. was looked at him with smiles, scratching their heads in bewilderment, "What?" He didn't realize that his hair was messy like a chicken nest, or that there was saliva on the corner of his mouth~~~

"Go wash your face, then after the meeting go home and sleep again." Bai Yutang ordered concisely.

"Ah... OK!" Wang Chao rushed out and came back within half a minute. "Boss, Kong Liping met someone last night."

"Who?"

"I walked with her to her doorstep last night. A black car was waiting downstairs. She went up to it and whispered a few words to the person in the car, then picked a little baby up out of the car."

"A baby?" Zhan Zhao wondered, "her son?"

Wang Chao nodded and said, "I think so."

"Who was in the car?" Bai Yutang asked.

"I saw them. They were a man, and he seemed familiar... I only remembered after I thought about it for half a day. He came to our office yesterday!"

...! ...

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao glanced at each other. Who came the day before—"Shen Qian?"

"Yes!" Wang Chao nodded. "It was him!"

Bai Yutang groaned for a long while, "It seems that he came to the S.C.I. yesterday for more than just Gongsun..."

Zhan Zhao nodded, "Gongsun may be just a gimmick. He has another purpose."

"And that Li Xu!" Xu Qing said, "I checked. She did take classes at that dance school when she was a kid.”

"... is she the same person?!" Bai Yutang asked.

"Should be." Xu Qing handed over the collected information, and the photos were indeed Li Xu.

......

"By the way, where’s Bai Chi?" Zhan Zhao asked suddenly.

"Oh~~" Jiang Ping said, "He was here with Zhao Yan early in the morning. Zhao Yan said he had a performance in a short while... the opening ceremony of the Entertainment City of the Shen Group."

"I secretly told Xiao Bai Chi about Shen Qian last night, and then he went with Zhao Yan to ask about the situation." Wang Chao added, "Zhao Yan seemed to be quite willing to take him with him. It's just that the little guy had a rather blank face today..."

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao only laughed bitterly. It would not be easy to forgive Zhao Yan for such a situation...

"He went alone?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"No, Ma Han followed." Xu Qing said.

Bai Yutang nodded, and after dispatching the crowd, he and Zhan Zhao left the police station. The two decided to go to Qi Le's apartment to find Li Xu.

As soon as the car drove out, Bai Yutang's phone got a text message.

The sender appeared to be unknown.

He opened it and saw the four words— "Help Qi Le."

Zhan Zhao frowned. "Yutang..."

"I understand!" Bai Yutang pulled on his seat belt and stepped on the throttle.





Translation Notes: 

(1) The title also connotates "completely misleading"

(2) “Pulling silk and removing cocoons” - the silk is drawn one thread at a time, and the cocoon is peeled layer by layer; describing the analysis of things being very detailed, and step by step.

T/L note cont: (Ɔ ˘⌣˘)♥(˘⌣˘ C)

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