S.C.I. MYSTERY CASES BOOK 1 English Translation

Chapter 10 The Numbers Killer - Clues

The next morning, an energised Zhan Zhao and a yawning Bai Yutang entered the police station together.

"By the way, why were you sleeping on the floor last night?" Zhan Zhao asked Bai Yutang in puzzlement.

Oh, the anger in Bai Yutang's heart...

As soon as they walked through the entrance, they ran into Zhang Long, Wang Chao and Ma Han who were carrying a mountain of documents.

"Head!" Zhang Long called out when he saw Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao.

"How is it?" The two of them took some of the load from them and they all headed for the elevator.

Zhang Long shook his head with a sigh, "There's a lot of information to go through. All the victims are different and we couldn't find anything noteworthy. So we brought all the files over to look through over the next two days."

"Wang Chao, did you find those documents at Wu Hao's place?" Zhan Zhao asked.

Wang Chao replied with a wry smile, "It's like we were cursed1. When we got there, we ran into some firefighters putting out a fire!"

"What?" Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exclaimed in shock at the same time, "Wu Hao's place caught on fire?"

"That's right, it took about half an hour to extinguish the fire. When we went in to take a look, all the papers were burned to crisps."

"You're saying that only the papers were burned?" Bai Yutang asked.

"After inspecting the scene, the experts from the Arson Department said that this fire was obviously done deliberately! With bookshelves, cabinets, and desks, all the places where papers are kept as the main targets," Wang Chao shrugged.

"After that, we searched the place one more time and we found some pieces of paper... paper ashes..." Wang Chao said while showing the paper box in his hand to Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, "This is a present for Jiang Ping."

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao looked at each other and laughed, "Well that's enough for Jiang Ping fiddle with and piece together all afternoon."

They exited the elevator and briskly walked into the S.C.I. office.

"Where's Zhao Hu?" Bai Yutang scanned the office but didn't find him anywhere, "Anything on the black Honda I asked him to look into?"

"We already found out that it's a stolen car," Jiang Ping who was engrossed in the computer in front of him looked up and said, "Just now, our colleagues from the Traffic Department called, so he went down to get the files..."

Then, the office doors opened and in came a gloomy-faced Gongsun.

One look at his complexion and Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang knew that he must have been up all night in the autopsy room.

"How is it?" Bai Yutang asked while handing Gongsun the coffee he didn't hadn't gotten the chance to drink.

Gongsun took the coffee and sneered, "The person who did it is a complete psycho!!" As he said that, Gongsun handed the thick stack of autopsy report to Bai Yutang.

"Guys!! It's time for a meeting," Bai Yutang called everyone to the meeting room.

Gongsun explained the cause of Wu Hao's death, "During the preliminary investigation at the prison yesterday, I found that he was poisoned. As his heart had stopped under abnormal conditions. However, I didn't find any poison in his stomach or bloodstream. But I did find something else."

Gongsun paused for a bit before saying, "Pethidine hydrochloride2."

...?...

Bai Yutang and crew were stupefied momentarily. What is that?

"Demerol3," Zhan Zhao suddenly frowned and looked at Gongsun, "Its function and effect on the human body is the same as Morphine. But its analgesic4 and anaesthetic effects are weaker and only about 1/10 and 1/8 of Morphine respectively. This is a heavily regulated anaesthetic drug."

Gongsun nodded his head.

"Drugs?" Bai Yutang glanced at Gongsun, "But Wu Hao has no history of drug abuse. Plus if the effects of Demerol are weaker, how did it kill him?"

Gongsun nodded and continued, "That's why I said this guy is a psycho." Then he pulled out another photo and placed it in front of everyone, "This is the victim's left chest. Look at the area nearthe heart!!"

Everyone gathered together to get a closer look, only to see that there's an extremely tiny red dot in the region right on top of the victim's heart.

"What's this?" Zhang Long asked, confused.

"A hole made by injection," Gongsun answered.

"Oh, I get it..." Bai Yutang looked to Zhan Zhao and said, "Cat, do you remember that lunatic number 2 said that the was holding a needle?"

Zhan Zhao nodded. Then, Bai Yutang asked Gongsun, "The murderer inserted the needle directly into Wu Hao's heart and injected the Demerol in there, right?"

Gongsun pushed up his glasses with his index finger and replied, "That's right! With just one needle, the person will die from heart failure within 5 minutes."

Exchanging looks, everyone saw that shock was plastered all over their faces.

Zhan Zhao picked up the photo and commented, "This man might actually be a doctor."

"I think so too," Gongsun concurred, "Even if he isn't a doctor, his occupation should be one that grants him access to such controlled anaesthetic. And based on the position and technique of injection, he must have been professionally trained."

At this moment, the door to the conference room opened and Zhao Hu hurried in.

"Head, the report is here," He said as he handed it to Bai Yutang.

Opening the document, Bai Yutang saw this was just a registration record for lost cars. After looking through it for a bit, his face suddenly turned grim.

"What's the matter? Is there something wrong with the car?" Seeing Bai Yutang's expression turn for the worse, Zhan Zhao asked hurriedly.

"There's nothing wrong with the car," Bai Yutang responded while shaking his head, "It's just that the location where it was taken from is a little odd."

...?...

"Odd? What's that supposed to mean?" Zhan Zhao looked at him with a puzzled expression on his face.

Bai Yutang turned to stare at Zhan Zhao's face intently and said, "It was stolen near the north gate of C University."

...!...

"Cat, if I recall, you go down to C University once a week to give lectures to the psychology students, don't you?"

"..."

Zhan Zhao nodded his head, "The building for the Psychology Department is directly facing the north gate..."

Bai Yutang closed the report, looking a little worried, "A car that was lost near where you teach, kept stalking you yesterday and even tried to run you over last night..."

Zhan Zhao smiled bitterly in resignation, "Seems like... it's really coming after me..."

Footnotes:
1. Written as '邪了门了'↩
2. A synthetic compound used as a painkilling drug, especially for women in labour (taken from google)↩
3. The brand name for pethidine, also known as meperidine (taken from Wikipedia)↩
4. Painkilling effect↩