S.C.I. Mystery Files Case 2 Chapter 43

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Killer Training Camp - Chapter 44 A Breakthrough

TW: for potential trigger words

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Ma Han stared fixedly at the computer screen, and soon, a second email came, the content was identical to the one just now.

He hurriedly opened the first email Zhan Zhao gave him and it only had three words on it: “Who are you?”

Although he didn’t quite understand it, Ma Han still did as he was told; he retyped the words and sent it.

Then, after nearly an hour of silence, the third email finally came, still with the same content.

It was about 12 AM when the fifth email came in. Ma Han speedily opened Zhan Zhao’s second email which read, “Clear away the trash that shouldn't exist.” It was the last line from the other party’s emails. He did the same thing—typed it out and sent it.

After that, he received many more emails but Ma Han didn’t reply to a single one. Instead, he sat in front of his computer and stared at the clock at the bottom right corner of his screen.

Although Zhan Zhao told him that he could rest after the second email, Ma Han stayed quietly seated in place until the sky gradually brightened—it was 5.30 AM.

Ma Han opened the third email and saw the words "The devil is awake."

Send.

Two minutes later, the other party replied with a picture and a profile attached, titled “Prey”.

When he opened the image, it was a picture of a middle-aged man.

Ma Han picked up his phone and made a call.

On this night, Ma Han wasn’t the only one who didn’t sleep a wink, Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao were the same, each lying on one half of the bed with their eyes wide all the way until the sun came up.

Bai Yutang was slightly impressed with himself. Way to go Bai Yutang, you managed to endure it despite being in this situation, you might as well change your surname from Bai to Liu^[1]～～

Zhan Zhao, on the other hand, heaved a small sigh of relief. Luckily this White Mouse has quite the self-restraint, otherwise, if he insisted on going at it last night, he probably wouldn’t be able to run away～～ I was wrong about you Xiao Bai, I had thought you were a ruffian but you’re unexpectedly quite the gentleman…

“Kitty～～ When will you let me do it?” Bai Yutang suddenly blurted out that question.

“Huuhk!” Zhan Zhao picked up a pillow and smashed it at him. “Don’t say those words!!”

(lilies: this is my take on a gasping sound)

Bai Yutang spoke sulkily, his voice muffled by the pillow, “What does it matter? It’s only a matter of time.”

～～Ignored～～

Bai Yutang removed the pillow, sat up, and looked at Zhan Zhao. “Kitty, are you really serious about this?”

At his words, Zhan Zhao sat up as well, glaring at him. “What did you say, you damn Mouse?” Followed by a soft mutter under his breath, “If it wasn’t because I’m serious, who would let you kiss me?!”

Bai Yutang was about to lose it. “Kitty, do you know that I get the impulse every time I see you? Don’t you get that feeling when you see me?”

Zhan Zhao glared at him; his cheeks flushed red. “Can you not say it so as-a-matter-of-factly?!”

Bai Yutang stared at Zhan Zhao for a long while before suddenly reaching out to unbutton his pyjamas.

“What are you doing?” Zhan Zhao panicked, retreating to the edge of the bed with a pillow.

“Is it because you haven’t seen it before?” Bai Yutang asked in all seriousness, “I’ll take it all off for you to have a look and think again whether or not you feel the urg— Ah～～”

Zhan Zhao kicked him off the bed before he could finish his words. “You damn Mouse! Exhibitionist!” Zhan Zhao grabbed the first pillow in his reach and hurled it at the latter. “Is your brain made out of tofu?? Just what kind of nonsense do you keep inside all day long～～～”

(lilies: I was deliberating between flasher and exhibitionist lmaoo)

Bai Yutang lay on the floor with his shirt wide open while he rubbed his hair. “Kitty～～ Just how much longer do I have to wait??”

Zhan Zhao huffed and angrily hugged the blanket while still on the bed, but his eyes couldn’t help but slip downwards, glancing towards the scene before him… Hmm～～ this Mouse has an eight-pack～～

(lilies: kitty, i can hear your saliva dripping)

Dididdidididi～～～～～ The phone rang at just the right time. Bai Yutang sat up immediately and shared a glance with Zhan Zhao before picking up the phone—as expected, it was Ma Han.

“Capt! We have progress, he just sent me a prey.” Ma Han said excitedly.

“Prey?” Both Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao got a shock.

“I’ll forward a copy to you.”

Zhan Zhao had already swiftly opened the email and Bai Yutang came over too to have a look. When they clicked open the picture, both of them were taken aback. The middle-aged man in the photo… that’s the person they previously met at M University, Qi Le’s manager, Zhang Hua.

The two of them frowned at the sight of Zhang Hua’s picture. On one hand, it was because yet another unrelated person had become the target. On the other hand, this Zhang Hua was a staff of the Bai Group, there was once again some relation to Bai Jintang.

“Hello? Capt? Ma Han didn’t get a reply from their side, so he prompted them, “Do I need to reply?”

Zhan Zhao came back to his senses and answered, “Nope!”

“Then, what do I do next?”

“Ma Han, do you remember the second state I told you about the other day?” Zhan Zhao asked.

“Yes! It's the one that’s between normal and abnormal, and leans more towards vicious, right?” Ma Han recalled.

“That’s right!” Zhan Zhao exclaimed, slightly impressed by Ma Han; as expected of an outstanding sniper, the quality of his psyche was definitely not on the same level as your average joe. “Just maintain that state when you go to the club and the other party will likely contact you. When that time comes, you’ll have to adapt to whatever comes your way, but just remember, it’ll be fine as long as you maintain that state.”

“Understood!” And with that Ma Han hung up the phone.

Bai Yutang immediately called Jiang Ping and got him to search up information regarding Zhang Hua.

“What’s next?” Zhan Zhao asked.

“Zhang Hua fits into the role of that central circle of our deduction yesterday.” Bai Yutang muttered, “He knows Qi Le, and now, we just need to prove that he has a connection with Jia Zheng Yan and Pang Yu.”

Zhan Zhao nodded. “I want to go to Jia Zhengyan's house to investigate.”

Bai Yutang chuckled at his words, “Kitty, we thought of the same thing.”

When the two of them turned around and met each other’s eyes, they were both slightly stunned. Only now did they realised that they were huddled so close to each other to read the email～～they were virtually shoulder to shoulder.

Zhan Zhao looked at Bai Yutang, a hint of apology in his eyes… “I… I’m still not ready…”

Bai Yutang stared at him quietly before shaking his head with a smile. “It’s okay, Kitty, I can wait.” Then, he reached out to gently pinch Zhan Zhao’s ears, watching them slowly turn red. “You don’t have to force yourself; we can just take it slow. I won’t do anything rash, so don’t worry.”

Zhan Zhao’s heart melted at those words, feeling a lump in his throat. He leaned in and planted a chaste kiss on Bai Yutang’s lips before running away to wash his face and brush his teeth, his face red as a tomato.

Bai Yutang went into the kitchen to make porridge, his state of mind still rather groggy. When he saw himself reflected off the glossy, mirror-like surface of the tiles, he sighed～～ Bai Yutang, oh, Bai Yutang, you deserve to get blue balls, who asked you to be a complete fool for love!!

And as he fried up some eggs, he humped to himself, “From now on, only tofu and no veggies～～～”

(lilies: lowkey getting a “can see cannot touch” vibe from this last line lol)

…

With his hands in the pockets of his snow-white trench coat, Gongsun took a leisurely stroll along the morning streets. He’s been stuck at home these past two days: eating and sleeping, sleeping and eating^[2]. His fever has long gone down and his body didn’t hurt anymore but unfortunately, Bai Yutang begged him to take three days off from work (otherwise, a certain Mouse would likely be turned into a corpse by his own brother).

With nothing better to do, he could only come out shopping. Luckily, the weather was not bad today, it’s just that… glancing at the Bai Jintang, who he had just so “coincidentally” bumped into for the eighth time in half an hour, Gongsun was utterly speechless at his actions…

This time, despite however thick Bai Jintang’s skin^[3] was, even he was starting to feel a little embarrassed, so he decided to just follow behind Gongsun, accompanying him on his walk.

And fifty metres behind them, the twins, who were dressed in trench coats with a pair of sunglasses on their face, were covertly followed closely behind.

“How’s the situation?” Da Ding asked.

“It’s wrong! The atmosphere is completely wrong!” Xiao Ding said while shaking his head.

“Something definitely happened during the two days we both went out for work!!” The twins had a look of suspicion on their face.

“Did you notice the little red dots on Gongsun’s neck?”

“Of course I did; I even found anti-inflammatory and fever medication on his table.”

“Could it be～～～” The two Dings shared a look, both their eyes shining with envy^[4].

“Boss must’ve gotten his way forcefully!!”

“Damn it! To do it when we’re away!!”

“Gongsun ignored big brother because of that too, right?” Da Ding said meaningfully while rubbing his chin.

“Tch～～” Xiao Ding was upset. “Geez, what’s with Boss? When did he become so wishy-washy? If he’s unwilling the first time, then just do it a second time! If the second time doesn’t work then do it a third! Just XXOO then OOXX then XOXO and OXOX. I don’t believe that this won’t be able to take Gongsun dow—Ah!”

Da Ding “sent him off” with a headbutt. “You damn brat, where did you learn those things?? Of course this kind of thing requires the two parties involved to be mutually in love!! What’s up with all that assaulting here, assaulting there^[5], are you a sadist??”

“Ah! Gongsun's gone into the underground station and Boss followed him in!”

“Speaking of which, has Boss ever taken the underground?”

“Nope～～ He probably doesn’t even have small change…”

“Gongsun…” Bai Jintang was getting a little anxious behind him. How does one buy a train ticket? His Gongsun is about to enter without him.

Gongsun ignored him and briskly walked forward～～～I knew you’ve never taken a train.

Left with no other way, Bai Jintang shouted behind him, “Aren’t you going to come out?!”

Da Ding and Xiao Ding rushed forward like they were walking on eggshells and got out the change to buy a ticket for their boss… Once Bai Jintang got his ticket, he turned on his heel and chased after Gongsun.

Quite unfortunately, they happened to run into the morning rush hour so the subway was packed full of people like canned sardines.

However, Gongsun’s misfortune was someone else’s luck! Bai Jintang caught up to Gongsun at the last moment and squeezed onto the subway with him. To his surprise, the subway was the world’s most humane means of transport～～～～

In order to protect his dearest^[6] from being squished by the crowd, Bai Jintang pulled Gongsun to the windows of the carriage where the doors were. He stretched out and supported his hands on either side of Gongsun, securely enveloping the latter within his arms.

For Gongsun who thought he was being clever but his little plan ended up backfiring on him, he could only turn his back to Bai Jintang and face the carriage window. It’s just that he could still feel that person’s warm breaths on his ear; that familiar heat and embrace couldn’t help but jolt his memories of that unpleasant night… Somehow, he suddenly felt a little cold and his shoulders started trembling slightly beyond his control…

(lilies: it’s literally so cliché lmaoo)

Bai Jintang sensed Gongsun’s fear as he did his best to endure it, and backed away slightly, saying in a low voice, “Gongsun… I’m sorry.”

Gongsun was slightly taken aback—this was the second time Bai Jintang had apologised to him but it was the first time he said the word “sorry”.

Just then, the twins—god knows when they managed to squeeze their way onto the train—saw the opportunity and took it. They suddenly shoved Bai Jintang from behind.

And Bai Jintang’s body very cooperatively fell on top of Gongsun…

“Ah～” Gongsun got such a scare his entire body froze and a small, startled cry instinctively slipped out from his lips 

(lilies: damn you bai jintang for making my beloved psycho this way)

Bai Jintang reached out to embrace Gongsun who had unconsciously started shaking again. He held the latter tightly, whispering in his ear, “Don’t be scared, I won’t ever do it again; I don’t dare to ever do it again. Don’t be scared.”

Slowly, Gongsun regained his composure and turned his head to scowl at Bai Jintang. The latter immediately meekly let go of him and stepped back. ～～～But on his face, was a smile that only grew wider… Gongsun’s back to glaring at him～～～

(lilies: boi awakened the masochist in him)

The twins bit their handkerchiefs in the distance—that was the first time they had seen the almighty, devil of a boss, who was used to bullying people, be so thoroughly defeated. They only had two words for it—so satisfying!!

All morning, Bai Jintang followed Gongsun around, walking and walking through the shopping streets of S City.

It seemed that Gongsun was just wandering around without any real purpose nor anything he wanted to buy. He just went from shop to shop, looking here and there, seemingly in a good mood.

As they walked, Bai Jintang’s eyes were drawn to a small crystal cat and mouse sitting side by side in a row of animals, displayed in the window of a nearby shop selling crafts—isn’t this Yutang and Xiao Zhao?

“Gongsun! Hold on!” Bai Jintang called out and pointed to the shop window, “Look, doesn’t this remind you of someone?”

Gongsun tried to keep a hardened expression but was ultimately amused by the sight—this little cat and mouse, one with its teeth bared and the other with its tail perked up～～～they’re exactly the same!!

“Give me a minute,  I'll go and buy it.” Bai Jintang quickly went into the shop, paid for the items, and when he came out, he was dumbfounded by the scene before him.

He saw Gongsun standing at the intersection, saying something to a man he hadn't seen before. Then, that man suddenly reached out, seemingly to tap Gongsun on the shoulder…

Before Bai Jintang’s mind even processed what was happening, he had already rushed over, grabbed the man by the collar and pushed him against the streetlamp.

“Ah～～～ W-What are you doing!” That man cried out in shock.

“Bai Jintang!” Gongsun yelled in anger when his mind reacted, “Have you gone mad?!”

“He tried to touch you!” Bai Jintang responded in turn, feeling all justified.

“I-I was just… asking for directions!” That man said with a stutter.

“…!…” Bai Jintang froze momentarily, a little uncertain.

“Let go now!” Gongsun stepped in and pried Bai Jintang off. He hurriedly apologised to the man while that passer-by seemed to have gotten the scare of his life, scampering away as if he feared for his life.

Meanwhile,  Bai Jintang stood there, somewhat dejectedly. When Gongsun turned back around to look at him, he said with a frown, “Are you some violent child? Can’t you settle things peacefully?”

“I…” Bai Jintang replied in a small voice, “I thought he wanted to touch you.”

Gongsun was at a loss for words and sighed, “If you still want to see me then fix this bad habit!” After saying that, he turned on his heel and left.

Bai Jintang stood rooted to the ground… What did Gongsun just say? He said if I still want to see him…Which means to say…

“Wait!” He quickly ran up to Gongsun’s side. “I’ll change! I’ll change! But I can’t control myself sometimes, can you stay with me to stop me at any time?”

…

The twins following behind them continued biting on their hankies. Was that still their wild, wolf-like boss? Wasn’t this basically a big dog wagging his tail? Gongsun… Respect! …This is virtually a modern-day record of husband taming!!

On the train back, Bai Jintang was still thoroughly enjoying the crowdedness of the carriage as he securely shielded Gongsun from the throng of people.

Bai Jintang leaned in to the other’s ear and said slowly in a low voice, “Gongsun, forgive me alright… I’ll change!”

Gongsun didn’t say anything and just stood in place. But he did not dodge even when Bai Jintang gradually inched closer.

Flat 206 in the tenth block of Rainbow City in S City was Jia Zhengyan’s home. As a single, all he left behind was a modestly furnished home and a house full of books.

Upon entering the house, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang began to rummage through the shelves and drawers, their target—a photo album and diary.

(lilies: i’d say “going through the shelves and drawers” is more figurative and they’re more like turning the house inside out?)

Zhan Zhao took to scouring through the book titles on the shelf while Bai Yutang turned on the computer.

“Seems like this teacher is quite an honest, decent man, huh,” Bai Yutang said while checking through the files on the computer.

“Yeah. He also reads a lot of books and they’re mainly related to educational psychology. He’s also meticulous in the teaching notes he makes; feels like he really cares for his students.” 

As Zhan Zhao continued flipping through the items, he dug out a photo album that looked a few decades old. When he looked through the album, he remarked, “They’re his high school graduation photos.”

As he went through it page by page, one image caught his attention—it was a black and white photo of a female high school student. The girl in the photo looked a bit familiar… but who?

Then, he picked up the photo and carefully examined it.

At that moment, a crisp sound of metal clanking could be heard; it sounded like chains…

Bai Yutang was startled and rushed to the door, but the door wouldn't budge no matter how hard he tried. At that moment, he instinctively knew someone had locked the door from outside.

“Yutang… Wha…” Zhan Zhao approached the other party but was pulled to the side by Bai Yutang who whipped around.

Then, they saw a large amount of liquid gushed in from the slit of the door. The pungent smell of gasoline filled the air… The two men instantly lost all colour in their faces and Bai Yutang abruptly noticed that something was wrong with the layout of Jia Zhengyan’s home… Why were there gas cans placed in the doorway?

“Kitty, Go!” They rushed to the windows, only to find that the windows were blocked by window bars^[7]. By this time, the fire had already entered the room, following the trail of gasoline through the slit of the door.

Bai Yutang pulled out his gun and fired at the four bolts holding the fixture in place. Then, he jumped onto the ledge and sent the burglar-proof fixture flying with a kick “Cat! Get up here!”

Zhan Zhao grabbed Bai Yutang’s hand and climbed onto the windowsill.

In recently developed residential areas, the second floor was of equivalent height to three storeys because of the car park at the bottom, so where they were standing was nearly ten metres from the ground.

Bai Yutang took the lead and climbed down to the window bars of the unit below them before reaching out his hand. “Cat, come!”

Zhan Zhao was slightly hesitant. Bai Yutang hooked one leg on the bars and stretched out both arms. “Come on, Kitty!”

Taking a step off the ledge, Zhan Zhao jumped onto the window bars as well. Bai Yutang grabbed him into his arms and said, “Jump!”

“Ah?” Zhan Zhao was stunned.

“Jump!”

Before he could react, Bai Yutang had already grabbed him and jumped. This floor was only five-six metres from the ground, but just before they hit the ground, Bai Yutang threw Zhan Zhao upwards and softened his fall with a roll before catching Zhan Zhao again and quickly hid at the base of a wall.

Boom! With an explosive sound, Flat 206 blew up; the gust of hot air sent the windows and large amounts of papers and books flying out the flat. This alarmed the residents in the area who all ran out.

“Did you get hurt anywhere?” The first thing Bai Yutang did was check on Zhan Zhao who was in his arms. The latter shook his head, his complexion a little pale.

Bai Yutang suddenly started chuckling out of nowhere, “Do you still remember the times when we climbed trees as kids?”

Zhan Zhao glared at his words.

“You’d always go up but then don’t dare to come down and made me bring you down every time,” Bai Yutang continued, “And now too. Oh Kitty, what would you do without me?”

Zhan Zhao gave that happy Mouse a massive eye roll of the century. This White Mouse has been saying some smooth lines recently～～

The two men walked to the car in a slightly haggard state. They managed to save themselves at least… but the person who set the fire was genuinely out for their lives.

Bai Yutang opened the car door as he said, “This also proves that we are very close to solving the mystery. It's just a pity that we didn’t manage to find any useful clues from Jia Zhengyan’s house”

“Well, not necessarily.” Zhan Zhao reached into his pocket and took out a black and white picture for Bai Yutang to see. “This is the only one I managed to bring out with me. Doesn’t this look familiar?”

Bai took the photo to scrutinise it, and after a while, he mumbled, “Where have I seen this person before?”

Zhan Zhao said with a laugh, “At first, I couldn’t recall either but just now, I had a light bulb moment and it came back to me. Do you remember the woman Gongsun was talking to at the banquet your brother organised?”

“Oh～～” Bai Yutang had a moment of revelation. “It’s that female manager. What is she called again…”

“Fang Jing!” Zhan Zhao answered, “She’s a manager like Zhang Hua!”

“That is to say…” Bai Yutang smiled in understanding. “There’s something up^[8] with this!!”

“That’s right! There’s something.” Zhan Zhao thought for a moment and said, “Aren’t you annoyed that we’ve been led by the nose in this case until now?”

“Ke～～ What are you up to, Kitty?”

“Hehe～～” Zhan Zhao smiled slyly. “This time, it’s our turn to toy with them and return the favour to this Killer Training Camp!”

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1. Referring to an ancient chinese politician called 柳下惠 (Liu Xiahui). When used as a slang, it's generally used to say that someone has great self-control. The famous story that this refers to is when Liu Xiahui asked a woman to sit on his lap as he wrapped her in his coat for an entire night out of concern that she might freeze to death. Throughout the night, he didn't do anything that would be considered an outrage of modesty and was since known as a true gentleman who remained steadfast even with a woman in his arms.^↩

2. You gets it right hahah, is just saying that he's going through the cycle of waking up --> eating --> sleeping (repeat)^↩

3. Thick-skinned in chinese has the meaning of being shameless as well^↩

4. Written as "满眼放绿光" which is basically something like this but with green light. I was contemplating if I should use "green-eyed monster" instead to keep the green part^↩

5. Written as "J来J去" and I think the J refers to 奸(jiān) from 强奸 which means r*pe^↩

6. Technically, it's "宝贝" which can be translated to "baby" but that word gives me fking goosebumps so no^↩

7. It's not very clear what type of burglar-proof feature this is but I think it's something like this based on what I've seen on videos by some chinese creators ^↩

8. Written as "有戏" I went to check how the other translator translated this. It's "there's a chance/hope" something along those lines. It's not wrong, but I think there might be some wordplay sort of thing happening here where it's like "something is at play" or honestly it could just be them saying "we have a plausible lead here"^↩

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~