SCI 谜案集 [English Translation] Case 1: Number Killer
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Number Killer 28 Obsession
The call is indeed from Zhang Boyi, the message is simple. Zhan Zhao is to meet him alone at an abandoned cargo ship at City S harbour tomorrow morning 9am. The hull number is TX512. Zhang Boyi wants Zhan Zhao to bring all the classified documents relating to Zhao Jue’s old cases to exchange for Zhao Jue. He warned Zhan Zhao that if he came with police, Zhao Jue is dead, and all of the hundreds of the staffs from the research center will become killing machines.
The next day morning 9am, Zhan Zhao arrived at the harbour as agreed, alone.
Walking alongside of the harbour, he was able to find the TX512 cargo ship in a secluded spot.
Zhan Zhao boards the ship and climbs down into the cabin.
The ship has been abandoned for some time, the aged cabin is spacious, filled with straws and old cloth covers… The smell of something rotten mixing with the petrol smell of the engine is particularly harsh on the nose.
In the middle of the cabin, Zhan Zhao spots a white figure squatting down. He seems to be drawing something on the ground with a stick, the complex-looking silencer on his neck reveals his identity – It’s Zhao Jue.
Zhao Jue looks up and spots Zhan Zhao, he grins at him and continues his drawing.
Zhan Zhao walks towards him. Zhao Jue maintains his squatting posture, but raises his stick to point behind Zhan Zhao’s back. Zhan Zhao turns around sharply just in time to see Zhang Boyi standing about three feets away, looking slightly embarrassed now. In his outstretched arm, is a wet handkerchief.
Dropping the handkerchief furiously, Zhang Boyi gives Zhao Jue a harsh glare.
Zhan Zhao frowns at him, “I would advise you to turn youself in.”
“Shut up, I’m not going to jail! Did you bring the item?” Zhang Boyi holds out his hand in expectation.
Zhan Zhao hands over the bag of files he was holding.
Zhang Boyi accepts the bag and opens it in a hurry to check the files.
“What do you need these files for?” Zhan Zhao asks suddenly.
Zhang Boyi stops and gives Zhan Zhao a suspicious look.
Zhan Zhao smiles, “Do you know why everyone gets hit by apples once in a while, but only Newton discovered the law of gravity?”
Zhang Boyi’s face starts to turn white.
Zhan Zhao stares into his eyes and mouths two words slowly, “Natural~ talent~!”
Behind Zhan Zhao, something is making noises. Turning around, he sees Zhao Jue thumping the ground with his fist and laughing hysterically. Although he couldn’t make any sound, but from the way his expression is all twisted up and his vigorously shaking shoulder, one could easily tell how pleased he is.
Zhang Boyi glowers furiously, “What are you trying to say?”
Zhan Zhao points at Zhao Jue and gives his most innocent smile, “To put it simply, he and I are genius, but professor and you are idiots.”
“You!” Zhang Boyi is so mad that his whole body is shaking in rage.
“Professor Xu is an idiot, because what Zhao Jue and I can learn in two days, he needed 20 years to master!” Zhan Zhao continues, “You are an idiot, because a psychological suggestion was placed on you, and you didn’t even know.”
Zhao Jue has laughed so hard that he is rolling around on the ground. Zhang Boyi says with a darkened expression, “How…how did you know I was psychologically suggested? ”
Zhan Zhao smiles, “I took a look at the sketches, and…I think, the reason why you want these files is to find a way to undo the suggestion?”
Seeing Zhang Boyi’s lack of responses, Zhan Zhao adds on, “How about you ask me.”
“You know?! How would you know?”
Zhan Zhao shrugs, “Because I am a genius.”
…Zhao Jue has started to breathe heavily, it sounded like he had hurt himself laughing.
Zhang Boyi tosses the files onto the ground, “You take me as a fool, isn’t it? In your eyes, I am just like that senile Xu Yanqin, isn’t that right? Let me tell you! I am not like him!”
Agitated all of a sudden, Zhang Boyi pulls out a sharp fruit knife out of his pocket and closes in on Zhan Zhao, “I am not like him! I…”
“You are different from him.” A voice says behind him before Zhang Boyi could finish his sentence. Bai Yutang has made his way behind him.
Zhang Boyi whips his head around, but Bai Yutang has already managed to land a kick on him. Zhang Boyi flies out on impact and lands beside to Zhao Jue.
“That black Honda is yours, isn’t it?” Bai Yutang walks up to Zhan Zhao and sneers at the coughing Zhang Boyi. “You were following Zhan Zhao, but the person you were trying to hit, is me, right?”
Zhang Boyi looks startled, “How…how did you know?”
Bai Yutang grins, “You really aren’t a particularly bright one. You have followed Zhan Zhao all these times. If you wanted to kill him, you would have done it ages ago, why wait till when I was around to do it?” He looks down at the handkerchief on the ground, “You wanted to kidnapped him?”
Zhan Zhao looks a little startled as well at this point.
Bai Yutang reaches out to smooth down Zhan Zhao’s hair and smiles, “Do you want to know how I figured it out?”
Zhan Zhao looks at him and Bai Yutang smiles softly, “That day at the university, when I was kissing him, the way you were staring at me…It was with such hatred. Can you imagine, the look of pure hatred!”
Zhang Boyi laughs suddenly, “Indeed…I hate you…and him!” He points at Zhan Zhao, “So perfect that seems too pure for anyone to touch…just like…just like…” A confused look flashes in his eyes.
Zhan Zhao frowns slightly, noticing the strangeness.
Bai Yutang interrupts Zhang Boyi who has started to sound a little insane, “You and that Xu, are just someone else’s puppet as well.”
At this point, Zhang Boyi glares at Zhao Jue with loathing, “It’s all that old thing’s fault! He believed in all those theories on psychological suggestion, and talked about building his own empire all day. With his mediocre ability, going around to suggest those mentally ill people, coming up with all those God…Priest…Heh…Ridiculous!”
Zhan Zhao is growing more and more unease, he calms his breathing down and says, “You two weren’t manipulated by Zhao Jue.”
“What?” Zhang Boyi looks up at Zhan Zhao in confusion.
“You were used by the person behind all this.” Bai Yutang shakes his head in resignation and calls out towards the black curtain hanging by the end of the cabin, “You, come out!”
Zhang Boyi looks confused, he looks back the black curtain and then back at Bai Yutang.
Bai Yutang digs at his ear, “I will still say this, we call you stupid, but you really aren’t very bright. How did you know that Zhao Jue’s file is confidential?”
…!...
Zhang Boyi looks stunned for a second, before his face changed to shocked, “Could…it be…”
“Haha…haha!” They hear an aged laughter. A crooked figure steps out of the darkness.
The man walks towards Zhao Jue and presses his gun against Zhao Jue’s temple. He tells Bai Yutang, “You are indeed your father’s son, unnaturally sharp…and you.” He points at Zhan Zhao briefly before turning his gun back to Zhao Jue, “You and him when he was younger are really alike, too smart for your own good!”
“Sun Qingxue, Sir Sun…” Bai Yutang tells him with a smirk, “You have been planning this for twenty years, that is some serious obsession!”
Sun Qingxue laughs, “Slowly. Let’s talk about something else first, how did you know it was me?”
Bai Yutang looks at Zhan Zhao, “You first? Or me?”
Zhan Zhao gestures at him, “You first.”
Bai Yutang nods, he turns around to look at Sun Qingxue, “You made a mistake in Chen Jing’s case!”
“Oh? Sun Qingxue considers, “Where?”
Bai Yutang continues, “The person who suggested Chen Jing to harm Gongsun, and the person who has been treating patients in that private clinic, is not professor Xu at all. It was you. But of course, you killed professor Xu, so that he can take the blame for you.”
Sun Qingxue nods in agreement, “That is correct, but how did you know?”
“Living habits!” Bai Yutang says, “Professor Xu is someone with sufficient financial means, severely clean freak, highly traditional, and someone with heart diseases. He would never visit that sort of places which are dirty and filled with prostitutes and drug addicts. I went to the bar opposite to ask around, the bartender’s room window is directly aligned with yours. The doctor she described, fits your profile more.”
“My profile?” Sun Qingxue looks startled momentarily.
“Yes. You bowed your head all the time, dressed like professor Xu and always kept the room in dim lighting, so everyone thinks you are professor Xue. Except the person who has been watching you from above. Her description of you, is closer to the reality. She said someone with broad shoulder who hunches his back, not someone slim…That is the biggest difference between you and professor Xue.”
“Good…Very good.” Sun Qingxue agrees in approval, “But this can only serve as a basis for a speculation.”
“Of course this is not the only thing.” Bai Yutang continues, “So I thought, how many old men are involved in Zhao Jue’s case. That person needs to have full access to Zhao Jue or his files, to be able to mimic his crimes. Then I remembered you.”
Bai Yutang pauses, “Do you remember that time when you treated Cat and I to noodles?”
Sun Qingxue stops, “Noodles?”
Bai Yutang continues, “I was thinking then, why would someone who is not particular about his clothes and food, have so many bowls in the place he works?”
Sun Qingxue widens his eyes.
Bai Yutang continues, “Luckily, I managed to find many bowls in the clinic as well--- so I am guessing, this is some kind of habit that stayed with you since a long time ago?”
….
“Haha…” Hearing Bai Yutang’s words, Sun Qingxue laughs hysterically, “Good! Very good… This is really something, just based on a few bowls…”
Bai Yutang continues, “All of this, gives me reason of doubt towards you. And what Cat found, is the evidence to the suspicion.”
Sun Qingxue looks over at Zhan Zhao in interest, “Oh? What did you find?”
Zhan Zhao reaches out to make a ‘Hush’ gesture at Sun Qingxue.
Sun Qingxue looks shocked.
Zhan Zhao says, “Though you had Zhao Jue’s files, and has some understanding of psychology in general. But at the end of the day, you are nothing but a terrible copycat.”
“What?”
Zhan Zhao smiles, “After Chen Jing killed Wu Hao, he did this gesture at Qin Jiaqi on purpose, to attract everyone’s suspicion onto Zhao Jue. I read Zhao Jue’s file, he mad e this gesture in all of his crimes. To those who didn’t know better, this is nothing but a signature gesture or a habit. But in fact, this gesture is the way Zhao Jue gives out his command. Those who were psychologically suggested by him, would do what his command dictates when they see this gesture. That was how Bai Jintang figured out about Zhao Jue.”
Sun Qingxue has lost his pleased look, replaced instead by a sinister one, “I see…Indeed, Xu Yanqin and Zhang Boyi would have no idea about this. Only someone who has access to those confidential files, like me, would know.”
“And lastly, when Zhang Boyi calls to ask for exchange of confidential information for Zhan Jue, this proves that you are the actual puppet master in the dark.” Zhan Zhao says.
Bai Yutang agrees, “That day, you probably called Zhang Boyi to your clinic, to tell him about the confidential files, just so that Chen Jing can spot him near the clinic. That way you would be able to push all the blames onto Zhang Boyi and Xu Yanqin.”
“HAHA~~HAHAHA…” Sun Qingxue laughs out loud, “That is … the perfect deduction…haha…”
Bai Yutang frowns at Sun Qingxue who looks like he has gone crazy, “Why did you hurt all those people? Gongsun holds no grudge with you!”
“Because I hate people like you!” Sun Qingxue shrieks suddenly, “I despise you!” Your father, Bao Zheng, and you!” He points at Zhan Zhao, “Goddamn genius! Always so perfect! Like angels, like the whole world is just an extra in your own damn show!”
Sun Qingxue screeches aggressively. Zhan Zhao notices Zhao Jue’s slight smile, the feeling of unease deepens.
“Especially you!” Sun Qingxue pushes Zhao Jue and points his gun at him, “You… Yunwen and Bao Zheng spoilt you, treated you like an angel, and I am just the guy who files the documents. But I had to suffer through being with brilliant people like you, and my sole purpose was to cook noodles for you!... Do you remember how you mocked at me? You said I had no talents, you said I couldn’t study psychology… you said I will never become an angel… damnit, you goddamn angels…”
Sun Qingxue is getting more agitated, Zhan Zhao flinches suddenly and yells, “No!”
Zhao Jue’s smile widens.
Zhang Boyi charges at Sun Qingxue with the knife in his hand…blood splatters.
Sun Qingxue presses his hand against his bleeding neck, and collapses onto the ground. Lying in the pool of blood, he stops breathing as his eyes stay fixed on the cackling Zhao Jue.
“Put down the knife!” Bai Yutang commands, but Zhang Boyi has already slit his own throat without a pause.
Looking down at the two dead bodies in the pool of blood, Bai Yutang couldn’t quite react at all. Zhan Zhao smiles weakly, “Calla Lily…”
“What?” Bai Yutang looks back at Zhan Zhao in confusion.
Zhan Zhao takes a deep breath, and looks at Zhao Jue, “The flower language of Calla Lily is purity, eternal…it brings people’s mind to white wings…”
Bai Yutang winces, “The command is ‘Angel’?!”
Zhan Zhao nods, “Indeed, Zhang Boyi sees the Calla Lily often, and in his life, because of professor’s research, he was in touch with the word ‘Angel’ frequently…The ones who has been suggested, would never speak out the command himself, even fears the command subconsciously…Which is why he couldn’t speak out the word ‘Angel’ twice!”
Bai Yutang watches Zhao Jue, “He did this? All of this is part of his plan?”
Zhan Zhao has a complicated look on his face, he says to Zhao Jue slowly, “The way you changed your strokes in the drawings, to make them look more and more urgent, so that Zhang Boyi will react more strongly to commands with an urgency… Zhang Boyi was extremely agitated just now, the command that was uttered was almost urgent sounding… Zhao Jue, you are indeed a genius, it seems the final winner is still you…”
Zhao Jue tilts his head to look at Zhan Zhao with a smile, his eyes filled with fondness. He reaches into Sun Qingxue’s pocket, and fetches a shabby looking lighter…
…!
Bai Yutang recoils, he can smell the foul air in the cabin, and looking towards the curtain behind Zhao Jue, it is full of fuel cylinders…
“Cat!”
No time for anything else, Bai Yutang grabs Zhan Zhao and rushes out of the cabin.
Zhao Jue flicks on the lighter and drops it onto the ground – fire explodes instantly.
Zhan Zhao lets himself be pulled out of the cabin, but his eyes are still on Zhao Jue. Zhao Jue smiles slightly at him, and makes a gesture.
“Shhh”
The explosion sounded like the world was falling apart.
Bai Yutang leaps out of the ship into the water shielding Zhan Zhao, the water current forming from the explosion carries the two of them away.
After what seems like a century, Zhan Zhao feels his body stops moving, he couldn’t remember anything in the confusion, all he knew was to hold onto the hand beside him and never let go.
Bai Yutang climbs onto a small boat, and pulls Zhan Zhao up with great effort.
The moment they are both onboard, Bai Yutang collapses, becoming motionless.
“Xiao Bai?” Alarmed at Bai Yutang’s state, Zhan Zhao pushes him, but receives no reaction from Bai Yutang at all.
“Yutang… Yutang, don’t do this….” He pushes harder, but there is still no response.
Zhan Zhao places his trembling finger under Bai Yutang’s nose…nothing…
“No…No Yutang… Hey…” His mind going blank, Zhan Zhao stares at the motionless Bai Yutang in fright. All those memories rushes to him in that moment. His mind is filled with memories of Bai Yutang, who snatches things from him when they were younger, who argues with him, who steals his pajama…Bai Yutang laughing…kissing him…”
Warm fingers brushes against his face. The person who has supposedly lost his breath, is watching him with guilt, “Cat, stop crying, I was messing with you…”
“…” Zhan Zhao looks dumbfounded for a second, realising belatedly that his eyes are filled with tears, and Bai Yutang is wiping away his tears…
“You…You! Bastard! Stupid rat! You…”
What comes next didn’t even make it out Zhan Zhao’s mouth, because Bai Yutang has climbed onto of him and started kissing him aggressively.
“Cat… You are not getting rid of me so easily!” Wiping away Zhan Zhao’s tears, Bai Yutang gazes at the man under him intensely.
Zhan Zhao gazes back into his eyes and opens his mouth, “Yutang…”
“Hm?”
A direct punch.
“Ah!”
“You stupid rat!”
“Stupid cat”
“You are not allowed near me for the rest of your life!”
“Nah”
“Do not touch me!”
“Let me kiss you!”
“Stupid rat! Hm…”
……
Half an hour later, Bai Jintang found the two of them pressed against each other, drenched and shivering in coldness, but still arguing in the small boat.
Bai Yutang retrieves a black box from his pocket and tosses it back at Ding Zhaohui, “It’s indeed useful!”
“What is it?” Zhan Zhao asks in confusion.
“GPS tracker.”
Bai Jintang sighs, “Without this, I really wouldn’t been able to find you two.”
The twins grin, “For rainy days! Always good to be prepared!!”
The sirens soon quieten and the harbour returns to silence. A photograph floats on the calm sea against the currents, the four young men in the photo, are smiling so brightly…
Night falls, onboard a fishing boat, the fisherman hands a blanket to a weakened man, “Are you alright?”
“Y…yes…” His voice hoarse.
“Here, have some warm water.”
“Thank…Thank you…”
“Oh right, what’s your name?”
Those slim fingers presses against the lips to make a single sound, “Shhh”
[End of Case 1]