S.C.I. Mystery Files Case 1 Chapter 24

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The Numbers Killer - Chapter 24 Interrogation

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The door to the cremation room opened and Bai Jintang walked out while carrying Gongsun. Gongsun was covered in Bai Jintang's suit and his face was covered by his hair.

"Is he okay?" Zhan Zhao asked anxiously.

"He's fine. He's just overdosed with anaesthetic," Bai Jintang replied while looking at Chen Jing at the back, "He's over there."

Seeing Chen Jing knackered figure, Bai Yutang immediately glared at the twin, "You two tortured him?"

"That's slander! You don't have any evidence!" the twins replied simultaneously.

Bai Yutang stepped forward and felt Chen Jing, only to realised that all his joints had been dislocated. He scowled at them, "How can the two of you be so unrestrained even within the country?"

The twins gave Bai Yutang the side-eye and responded, still speaking simultaneously, "Do you have any proof? He tripped over himself!" 

"These damn twins..." Bai Yutang muttered as he rolled his sleeves, all ready to beat them up.

Zhan Zhao hurriedly stops him, "Forget it, let's get Gongsun to the hospital first."

"Oh, Xiao Zhan, it's been a long time!" the twin's expressionless face immediately broke into a smile as they reached to hug Zhan Zhao by the shoulders from either side. 

"Zhaolan, Zhaohui, you two came back as well?" 

"Un! After so long, Xiao Zhan got cuter..."

Bai Yutang quickly reached out to pull Zhan Zhao behind him and gave the twins a dirty look, "Stay away from him, you perverts! Go the hell back to Italy!!" 

The twins shook their head triumphantly, "We're not going back anymore."

"Harh?!"

This time, not only Bai Yutang, Zhan Zhao was surprised as well.

"Oh, I also came back for this," Bai Jintang suddenly interjected, "I'm moving my business back into the country."

......

Zhan Zhao pulled Bai Yutang to the side and whispered, "Isn't it illegal to sell arms in the country? Or could he be setting up a mafia?"

Bai Yutang scratched his head, "That..."

"Yutang..."

They turned around to see that Bai Jintang had somehow appeared behind them.

"You told Xiao Zhao that I'm an arms dealer? And what's that about the mafia?"

"Urk... That..." Bai Yutang started looking around for an escape, but the path was blocked off by the twins. 

"Even though I usually dote on you..." the look in Bai Jintang's eyes became increasingly dangerous, "It turns out that I was just a villain to you all this while..."

"Ah!" Zhan Zhao abruptly exclaimed from the side, "Gongsun seems to be in pain!"

...!...

Bai Jintang quickly looked down at Gongsun in his arms and saw that the anaesthesia seemed to be wearing off, as he moved around a little. 

"We better send him to the hospital quicky! The effects of an overdose of anaesthesia can be serious!" as he said that, Zhan Zhao hastily tugged Bai Yutang and escaped, "Let's go investigate Chen Jing..."

After successfully being rescued, Bai Yutang got into the car and pulled Zhan Zhao into a hug while saying, "Kitty! You're the best! Come on, give me a kiss!"

"Yah!" Zhan Zhao angrily flashed his claws and smacked Bai Yutang away with his paws, "Damn Mouse! I'm never helping you again!!"

Bai Jintang watched the duo that successfully escaped thoughtfully. Meanwhile, the twins came up to him from the side and asked, "Boss¹, how long are you planning on carrying Gongsun?"

......

Chen Jing definitely suffered a lot this time. As expected of Ding Zhaolan and Ding Zhaohui, who were former mercenaries, the joints were beautifully dislocated without doing too much damage to the body. It just hurt a lot. 

Walking into the interrogation room, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were greeted with a Chen Jing that looked like a puppet with its strings cut, slouching against the chair. 

Bai Yutang took a seat in front of him and threw the files on the table, "Chen Jing, were the cases falsified by you?"

Chen Jing kept his position, making no reaction to Bai Yutang's question. 
Bai Yutang frowned at the sight, he really couldn't stand the sight of people looking like they wanted to die. He turned to Zhan Zhao and gave him a look that meant: "You do it."

Zhan Zhao agreed. After watching Chen Jing for awhile, Zhan Zhao spoke up slowly, "You used too much anaesthetic on Gongsun."

Chen Jing twitched a little. 

"He might be hospitalised for a while," Zhan Zhao added, "His left hand was also broken."
(lilies: probably the wrist he sprained?)

Chen Jing lifted his head and croaked out a question, "D-Does he hate me?"

Zhan Zhao nodded, "You wanted to burn with him in the cremation room, didn't you?" 

Chen Jing nodded in response, "I... I just wanted to be with him..."

"Was that why you gave him so much anaesthetic? You didn't want him to suffer from the pain of burning, did you?"

"Un..." Chen Jing nodded again.


"But Gongsun doesn't know that," Zhan Zhao continued, "He doesn't know how much you've done for him."

Chen Jing shook his head and muttered, "He never cared..."

"That's wrong!" seeing the hope in Chen Jing's eyes, Zhan Zhao continued, "It's not that he doesn't care, it's just that you never told him."

"I..." Chen Jing faltered.

Zhan Zhao continued speaking, "You should know that there's nothing wrong with you liking him. What's wrong is the way you went about showing it. Tell us everything and I will help to pass your message to Gongsun."

Chen Jing stared blankly at Zhan Zhao seated before him, "If I confessed everything, will he forgive me?"

Bai Yutang, who had been listening quietly, suddenly felt sympathy for Chen Jing and asked, "Do you want to see him again?"
(lilies: :< I feel kinda bad for him too)

"What?" Chen Jing whipped his head up in surprise, "I can still see him?"

Bai Yutang shook his head, "If you tell us the truth, he might forgive you and visit you."

"I'll talk, I'll talk..." Chen Jing nodded hastily, "Ask me anything and I'll answer you."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged a look before the latter took out a pen and paper, and began recording.

"How long have you known Gongsun?"
"8... 8 years."

You were from the same school as Gongsun?" Zhan Zhao questioned while flipping through Chen Jing's files, "But you're 2 cohorts above him?"

"Yes..." Chen Jing affirmed, "The first time I met him was at a school party."

"You've crushed on him for a long time?" Bai Yutang asked.

"From the moment I met him."
"How long have you been spying on him?"
"A-A year."

Zhan Zhao noted that and followed up with: "Same with the flowers and calls?"

"Yes."
"Why did you only start doing it this past year?"
"T-To face my feelings head-on."

Bai Yutang knitted his brows at Zhan Zhao, "To face his feelings?"

After some thought, Zhan Zhao questioned, "Did you decided that for yourself, or did someone suggest it to you?"

"It's... an advice my doctor gave."

"Doctor?" Bai Yutang's interest instantly piqued, "What doctor?"

Chen Jing answered with a sigh, "Before, I would be satisfied from simply watching him from afar. But as time went on, I thought of him more and more. And that feeling, whenever he speaks to other people, smiles at them... I-I felt the urge to murder those people. I started thinking, if only he belonged solely to me. At times, even I realised that I was not normal..." 

Glancing at Zhan Zhao, who was listening attentively beside him, Bai Yutang laughed bitterly inside. He could understand Chen Jing's feelings. 

"You thought that something was off about yourself so you went to see a doctor?" Zhan Zhao prompted.

"Un, I thought that if things continued to progress in this way, it may come to a point of no return. Hence, I sought help from a psychiatrist," Chen Jing added, "The psychiatrist advised me to face my feelings."
(lilies: lol everything still spiralled out of control in the end...)

"He suggested for you spy on Gongsun and send him flowers?" Bai Yutang was appalled, "Where's that psychiatrist from? And what's his name?"

Chen Jing shook his head, "Since I could technically be considered as a government official, and as you know, my occupation is rather sensitive. Plus, I didn't want to create any inconveniences for Gongsun, so I sought a private clinic."

"Which means you went to a clinic without an operating licence?" Zhan Zhao noted.

Chen Jing nodded, "It wasn't actually a clinic, just a small room. But the psychiatrist was really good. I would feel a lot better after every session with him."

"What's the psychiatrist's name?" Bai Yutang asked.

"I... I don't know. He asked me to just refer to him as 'Doctor'. He also told me not to worry, that he's a well-known psychology professor in the country. Because he works for the government, he shouldn't be moonlighting. Hence why he had to conceal his identity."  
(lilies: this is where I say, 'Doctor who?' hehe)

"How does that doctor look like?"
"Hmm... He's old and bespectacled. He looks like a well-educated man." 

Bai Yutang took out 2 photos from the file, namely photos of Professor Xu and Dr. Zhang, "Is he among the people here?"

Chen Jing took a closer look at Professor Xu's photo and said, "I think this is him."

"Think?"
"The room was dimly light so I never got a good look at him. It should be him though... but I have seen this person," Chen Jing said while pointing at Dr. Zhang's photo. 

"Where did you see him?" Zhan Zhao asked, a little surprised. 

"I saw him at the entrance when I left the 'clinic'."

Bai Yutang continued with another question, "Why did you fabricate this serial number case?"

Chen Jing hesitated a bit, "I followed the doctor's advice and started peeping on Gongsun, sending him flowers. In the beginning, I felt really happy and contented, but slowly..."

"You started feeling dissatisfied again?" Bai Yutang commented.

"Yes," Chen Jing nodded, "The doctor said that there was nothing wrong with my feelings. Perhaps there's a way to make Gongsun accept me."

"And that solution was to fabricate a case?"

"Since Gongsun is usually indifferent to everyone around him and seems to only take interest in his job. So I thought of going in from his work," Chen Jing continued, "Sure enough, when Gongsun heard about the case, he got really interested and wanted to meet me... It was the first time he talked to me so much."

"Why kill Wu Hao?"

Chen Jing got a little flustered, "I didn't think Gongsun would really hand the case to you and you guys would open an investigation for it... I was afraid that of everything coming to light... And if I killed Wu Hao, then this would really become a serial case."

"Who told you about the numbers?"
"The... the doctor did."

Bai Yutang found it absurd, "Didn't you find it strange? Like how did he know about the numbers?"

Chen Jing paused for a bit before saying, "He said that those were all failed experiments."

......

"How did you get into the prison?"
"The doctor brought me in. He said that he's the official psychiatrist and had direct access to the prison's infirmary."

Bai Yutang looked to Zhan Zhao and remarked, "No wonder none of the guards realised." 

Zhan Zhao nodded his head, "Professor Xu is indeed the official prison psychologist... and his qualifications are really high."

"Yeah, seeing that he's someone that could prove that Zhao Jue's insanity 20 years ago," Bai Yutang replied.

Zhan Zhao pondered, "Could he be running some kind of experiment?"

"That's highly possible, seeing that something about experimental subjects was mentioned just now." 

Bai Yutang got up and handed a pen and paper to Chen Jing, saying, "Write down the address of the clinic."

Zhan Zhao stood up as well and asked, "You're going to arrest him?"

Bai Yutang shook his head, "No, there isn't sufficient evidence. And this fella is a professional, the way he works should be watertight."

"That's right!" Zhan Zhao concurred, "As long as he can prove that Chen Jing is mentally ill, he can shirk off all the blame."

Bai Yutang picked up the note with the address and exited the interrogation room.  

"Where are you going?" Zhan Zhao quickly followed behind him. 

"Erhm... I suddenly remembered that I had something up, Kitty..." 

"You're going to investigate that clinic all by yourself, aren't you?" Zhan Zhao tugged at him and declared, "I'm coming with you." 

Bai Yutang responded reluctantly, "It's too dangerous. What if something happens? Just be good and wait here."

Zhan Zhao rolled his eyes at him, "We made an agreement——you have to bring me outfield with you!"

"It's dangerous!"
"You're the one who said I shouldn't take a single step away from you, yet now you want to leave me here and move out on your own."
"This is for your sake! Why are you being unreasonable?"

"Alright!" Zhan Zhao nodded, "I'm going to have a talk with Commissioner Bao!"

"Talk to him about what?" Bai Yutang hurriedly stopped Zhan Zhao.

"I'm going to tell him that you're moving without authorisation!"

"Hey, don't... alright, alright, I give in, ok?"

"Hehe," pleased with himself, Zhan Zhao followed the downcast Bai Yutang out the police station.

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1. Written as '大哥' can also head the boss/head of an... illegal organisation^↩

omg please stop nodding >.< what alternatives are there to nodded zzzzz
AND SHAKING HEADS AAAAAAH
Also, I think I'm using outfield incorrectly lol!

Please feedback to me in the comments below if you find any typos or terrible grammar, etc that you think I should change. Or maybe you think my interpretation is completely off lol Help me help you have a better reading experience ahahah what a tongue twister XD
Thank yous!! (˶‾᷄ ⁻̫ ‾᷅˵)

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peace lilies~