S.C.I. Mystery Vol. 1, Ch. 64

Magic Murderer 19: Overture

Driving back to the police station from the cemetery, Bai Yutang asked Zhan Zhao a little inexplicably, "Kitty, about Zhao Jue's thing, do you want to tell Chief Bao?"

Zhan Zhao thought for a while, "What do you think, did Chief Bao know about it before we did?"

"..." Bai Yutang frowned. "Wat do these old guys have up their sleeves? I can’t make heads or tails of it."

"Nn~~" Zhan Zhao leaned against the car window. "For now, let's ignore it for a while. When the case is closed, we can ask them."

"Right~~" Bai Yutang said suddenly, "Why don’t you ask your dad?"

"Hah?" Zhan Zhao was alarmed and somewhat uncomfortable. "Why should I ask him?"

"When Chief Bao took us to see Zhao Jue last time, judging by to his tone, Zhao Jue should also know your dad." Bai Yutang laughed, "Besides, your dad is easier to speak to than my old man!"

"How is it easy to talk to him?" Zhan Zhao grimaced, "He is so serious. I haven't had a chat with him since the holidays, and I suddenly come and ask? How strange would that be?!"

"At most, he wouldn’t talk. He wouldn’t hit you, would he? My old man uses his fist instead of his mouth~~ But then again..." Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao, "I think your dad seems to have been especially harsh to you ever since you were a kid~~"

Zhan Zhao was lost in thought, "It would be nice if he was willing to beat me. Since my childhood, he’s been completely indifferent. He doesn’t even look at me."

"Don't be stupid, he's just more serious." Bai Yutang saw Zhan Zhao’s face dim and he comforted him quickly. Every time he talked about his dad's problems, he would become sullen and unhappy~~ That is to say, when he was a child, Zhan Zhao was so adorable that all the adults loved him dearly. However, his real father never seemed to care about him at all. Bai Yutang always thought that Zhan Zhao may not be his father's biological son, but they looked so very much alike~~ You couldn’t possibly believe that...

"All right, I don’t feel it anymore." Zhan Zhao waved his hand. "Don't mention it. Let's find a way to break this case first."

Bai Yutang nodded, "I just asked the Zhang Long and Wang Chao to interrogate Kong Cheng and Wei Yong. We’ll probably know the result when we get back... I am more concerned about why Bai Chi was attacked?"

"That was a bit weird!" Zhan Zhao nodded. "Bai Chi has nothing to do with this case and looking at the behavior of the perpetrator~~ It's very much like the Magic Murderer." As he spoke, he gestured to his neck. "Chopping here."

"Kitty..." Bai Yutang was silent for a while, then said, "Zhao Zhen's fighting skill is very good."

"Ah?" Zhan Zhao didn't quite understand why Bai Yutang suddenly changed the subject to Zhao Zhen, "What do you mean?"

"I noticed it on the plane that one time." Bai Yutang said to himself, "Absolute mastery."

"What do you want to say?" Zhan Zhao asked and looked at Bai Yutang.

"In fact, that day, he had many ways to save Bai Chi without being injured, and~~ he could have caught the person who attacked Bai Chi."

"You mean..." Zhan Zhao frowned slightly, "Zhao Zhen deliberately let that person go?"

Bai Yutang smiled, "I'm not sure, but if he got injured, there would be a good excuse for not catching that person~~"

"Zhao Zhen knows that person..." Zhan Zhao thought for a while, "And that person should still be important to him."

"Indeed." Bai Yutang nodded. "His hands are very valuable... and~~ I think the reason Bai Chi was attacked was also probably because of Zhao Zhen."

"Nn~~" Zhan Zhao smiled inexplicably, "I think that what is important to Zhao Zhen is not so much that person, but Bai Chi."

"Why do you think that?" Bai Yutang was curious.

"Yes, if you think that if Bai Chi was attacked because of Zhao Zhen, and Zhao Zhen's actions seemed to convey a message..." Zhan Zhao speculated about Zhao Zhen's psychology, "I know who you are, and I can’t compare to you, but if you hurt this person, hurting him is tantamount to hurting me.”

"Very interesting idea~~" Bai Yutang nodded, "If you look at it from another angle, it really makes sense... That is to say, the key to everything is Bai Chi?"

"Yes. The little guy must have discovered something without knowing it." Zhan Zhao touched his chin. "The key to unlocking this case... is on him."

The two returned to the police station but did not enter the office. They met Zhang Long and Wang Chao outside the interrogation room.

"How is it?" Bai Yutang asked.

"Ah~~" Wang Chao sighed. "These two boys. I don't know whether they should be hated or pitied."

"Why do you say that?" Zhan Zhao asked.

The four people walked and talked. Zhang Long and Wang Chao briefed Bai Yutang on the results of the interrogation.

The two were very cooperative and almost always answered the questions.

When Kong Cheng was thirteen, the neighbor next door adopted a nine-year-old little girl, Xu Jiali~~The two met at that time, and they grew up together. However, four years later, Xu Jiali strangely died.

In the next ten years, Kong Cheng had always been obsessing over the matter. He constantly kept collecting information about the magic array, hoping that one day he could avenge Xu Jiali—perhaps it was by God’s will that Kong Cheng coincidentally became a lawyer for the Shen Group and was furthermore placed in an important position by Shen Qian~~ Until one day, Kong Cheng inadvertently overheard a quarrel between Shen Qian and Shen Ling. Only then did he understand the truth behind that year.

After years of studying the magic arrays, Kong Cheng suddenly came up with the idea of ​​using a magic array to avenge Xu Jiali.

He first deceived Zhang Zhenzhen under the pretext of "knowing the truth of that year" and killed her in the classroom. Afterwards, he watched Kong Liping. He followed her to the classroom. The first attempt, he was disturbed by the guard, the one who had said that it was haunted that day. For second attempt, he again followed her to the construction site. He was the very same man that they had lost that day.

When Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang heard this, they both smiled, "He met Wei Yong there, right?"

"Ha~~" Wang Chao and Zhang Long glanced at each other, "God~~ How can you both know?!"

Bai Yutang laughed and said nothing, "You two continue."

Wang Chao and Zhao Long then continued their report.

Kong Cheng had fled in a panic, and at that moment, somebody dragged him into a hidden alley. He immediately turned around and lost the people chasing him.

The one who had saved him was Wei Yong. Wei Yong had read the report earlier and knew that Zhang Zhenzhen's case was not the real magic murderer. However, he soon found out that it was the real murderer who killed Sun Qian—the man who destroyed his life! So, he reignited his determination to capture him.

Both of them talked about their own stories. Through Kong Chen, Wei Yong also learned the truth about that year! At the time, it was because of that last case that he was dismissed, and that the magic murderer mysteriously disappeared. So, Wei Yong planned to participate in Kong Cheng’s crazy revenge plan—he felt that they were approaching the real magic murderer step by step. The people that he killed were only bait and deserving of their sinful fate~~ So, he went to kill Li Xu.

"However, Dr. Zhan." Zhang Long said suddenly, "I keep feeling as though Wei Yong and Kong Cheng's mental states seem to be somewhat off!"

"En!" Wang Chao also nodded, "I always feel as though the participants in this case, Kong Cheng, Wei Yong, Li Xu, and even including Shen Qian... They all chatter on about God. It’s not normal."

"He~" Zhan Zhao smiled, "Do you know about the preparation of Radix pedis diaboli?"

"What?" Wang Chao and Zhang Long looked at each other and shook their heads.

"The Devil's Foot..." Bai Yutang said, "It’s in Sherlock Holmes."

"Yes!" Zhan Zhao nodded. "In the Latin language spoken by ancient European countries, Radix pedis diaboli means 'root of the devil’s foot'. It is a poison that releases toxic gases through combustion and affects the nerves of the people who inhale it—the more it’s inhaled, and the longer it’s inhaled, the more dangerous it is. When it’s mild, one goes crazy. When it’s severe, one will die, and it is a terrible death."

"I remember the introduction of this poison in the "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot" in "Sherlock Holmes: His Last Bow." Bai Yutang recalled, "The owner of the poison introduced it to his sweetheart's brother. So that brother stole the poison and killed his sister. Later, in order to avenge his sweetheart, the owner poisoned the real murderer with it." After a pause, Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao, "but I don't understand what this story has to do with this case?!"

Zhan Zhao thought about it for a while, "To be precise, the magic array is the Radix pedis diaboli in this case. It is a lethal weapon. It is just a tool, but that cannot change the fact that it is highly toxic."

"You mean, the array is like a double-edged sword. Hurt others and hurt yourself?" Bai Yutang asked.

"Do you remember when Zhao Zhen introduced this array to us, saying it originated from an ancient tribe’s curse?" Zhan Zhao said, "I asked Gongsun to help me count the number of wounds on Kong Liping that day and found that it was a multiple of 13 every time."

"The arrays in her house are an exact multiple of 13." Bai Yutang said, "That picture will make people berserk!"

"Yes~~" Zhan Zhao shook his head and sighed, "An ancient civilization has its own mysteries and unfathomable things. Taboos~~ They aren’t easy to get close to, and they could also perhaps be disguised. This could be why the real Magic Murderer killed so many people. Perhaps he is also the victim of the curse~~ Just like Kong Cheng and Wei Yong, he paid too much attention to the spell, and he was trapped in it..."

Bai Yutang bowed his head and pondered, "So, Wei Yong would have had the impulse to correct the wrong magic array (1)~~ Because he was too obsessed with the pattern, maybe he was already suffering at that point. Uncle Wen and the others may have already discovered his anomaly before expelling him from the police force~~"

Zhan Zhao patted him on the shoulder, "When you went to ask questions, Uncle Wen kept hemming and hawing. Perhaps his first reaction at the time was that this case may have been done by Wei Yong, though he couldn’t say for sure~~"

Shrugging, Bai Yutang seemed to have taken a load off his mind, "So it turns out~~ the Devil's foot~~ It's really appropriate."

Back at the S.C.I.'s office, Bai Yutang sorted out the report. This time, the case had already been mostly solved. Next, they just had to wait for the net to close around the real Magic Murderer. The key was to see whether Zhan Zhao could find the solution from Bai Chi.

What was Xiao Bai Chi doing at that moment? He was in Zhan Zhao’s office, teasing Kong Liping's baby.

Since Xiao Bai Chi had seen the baby that morning, everyone was surprised to find that the two were really getting along swimingly~~~

After bringing the baby into the office, everyone could hear one big and one small person laughing all the time. The crowd outside the door was curious, could it be that the genius Bai Chi was able to talk to the baby??

Zhan Zhao walked into the office and closed the door. He teased the child with Bai Chi, chatting casually while doing so... Then, the crowd outside the door listened as the baby started crying for a while, then laughing for a while~~

After more than half an hour, Zhan Zhao came out with his face glowing. Inside, the baby was crying incessantly~~ Xiao Bai Chi hugged the child and yelled, "Brother, you will not be allowed to come close to the baby in the future!"

Bai Yutang removed the cotton stuffed in his ears and asked Zhan Zhao, "Kitty, were you asking questions or abusing children?"

Zhan Zhao smiled, "Xiao Bai, children are so soft and lie on their stomachs, and they can't talk, it's so interesting~~"

"Hem hem~~" Bai Yutang didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, "Don’t talk about the baby. How did it go? You’re so pleased, have you gained something?"

"Heng heng~~" Zhan Zhao was somewhat smug, "Now it's the prelude~~ An what we’re going to do is finish this crazy piece of music before the climax.” Bai Yutang’s face remained puzzled as he spoke, and Zhan Zhao raised his eyebrows at him. "Get ready to pull in the net and catch the big fish, Captain Bai~~"





Translation notes:

(1) Referring to why Wei Yong got fired for damaging the crime scene. I guess he changed the array.




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