Case Files Chapter 78: Fright Aboard the Cruise Ship (12)

Translated by Vivian of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Addis

 

“Store the body somewhere. Is there anyplace with a low temperature?” said Wen JingHan.

“…There’s an empty freezer…” The head chef said with difficulty.

“Move the freezer to someplace that won’t bother anyone and put the body inside. Mr. Fang, seeing as things have developed like this, I think you should consider ending the cruise early,” Wen JingHan said to Fang Sen, who hadn’t completely recovered yet.

Guan Jin’s heart clenched. Ending the cruise early?! No, if they did so, then he would have even less time. What should he do?

Lu YunYang squeezed his hand gently and looked at him comfortingly, as if to say, I’ll think of something.

“Huh? What’s that in his pocket?” Qin Se was checking his body when she discovered a piece of paper in his shirt pocket. She picked it up, glanced over it, and her expression instantly changed drastically.

“What is it?” Lu YunChi quickly took the paper, read it, and handed it to Fang Sen. “This seems to be a little troublesome.”

Fang Sen took the paper, and on it was a messy scrawl: I only target those people that should die. If you end the cruise early, then I can only send everyone with them.

Fang Sen took a sharp breath and gave the paper to Wen JingHan and the others. “What do we do now? Officers, you’re experienced in this.”

“I think that this killer’s methods are strange and reckless, so in case they really get angry and destroy the ship or something, it’s best if we don’t irritate them.” Guan Jin was inwardly cheering; the heavens were helping him, and he merely went along with the flow. “Moreover, if we go back now, it’ll still take several days, so we won’t be able to stop the killer from continuing to act.”

Wen JingHan looked at Guan Jin thoughtfully. “I agree. We can’t wager the lives of everyone on this ship.”

“But what if the killer continues to kill people…” Fang Sen said uncertainly.

“Everyone needs to be on their guard and do their best to be with at least one other person at all times. We need to report this to avoid trouble when we arrive in Hawaii,” said Wen JingHan.

“Let’s check on the security now. When we’re done, it’s best if the women can adjust their rooms so two people can stay in one. If the men aren’t sure they can protect themselves, it’s best if they also do the same. I won’t force it, but there’s a ruthless killer on board, so I hope everyone will put their safety as top priority.”

*****

After a night of inspections, everyone was exhausted and headed to their rooms at around midnight.

Lu YunYang was holding a pillow as he “broke in” from the door in the wall.

“What do you want?” Guan Jin had been in the middle of changing, so he froze awkwardly, his hands on his clothes.

“I was worried you would be scared, so I’m requesting that we stay together,” Lu YunYang said shamelessly.

“Me, scared? Ha, you’re so thoughtful. I should be scared, now that you’re here.” Guan Jin abruptly wrapped his clothes tighter around himself and looked at Lu YunYang warily, hoping to be able to see through him.

“It’s not like it’s the first time we’re sleeping in the same bed.” Lu YunYang put down his pillow in a practiced motion. “I won’t do anything, and before you put that person in your heart in the corner, I won’t touch you, no matter what.”

Guan Jin was speechless.

“Go to sleep, I’ll sleep on the outer edge. If you’re cold, you can hug me.”

“It’s too hot, stay far away from me.”

They turned off the light, their soft breathing the only thing left in the dark.

After a while, Lu YunYang suddenly rolled over and asked, “Have you ever… done it with that person before?”

Guan Jin was muddled. “Done what?”

“You know, made it to home base,” Lu YunYang said euphemistically.

 Guan Jin’s brain crashed, and then he began to search through his idiom dictionary. Home base seemed to mean… Dammit, now I’m wide awake.

“Hey, don’t be so perverted, how can you even ask this?” Guan Jin rolled his eyes.

“Have you?” Lu YunYang paranoia relapsed, and he wasn’t going to give up before getting an answer.

“I haven’t, goddammit!” He wasn’t an alien, doing it with himself was too difficult.

Even though it was dark, Guan Jin suddenly sensed that Lu YunYang was on cloud nine. Just then, he shouldn’t have admitted it so quickly. How unwise! Unfortunately, it was too late to regret it.

“Good night, Little Jin.” Lu YunYang inched closer and lightly brushed Guan Jin’s lips before rolling over and sleeping peacefully.

Guan Jin’s mouth twitched. Although he hadn’t done it with himself before, he had done it with others countless times, though it just hadn’t been with this body. However, he didn’t say this out loud. Lu YunYang looked gentle, but his inner dominance wasn’t less than that Duke, it was just that he showed it in different ways. Perhaps it would be troublesome if he was irritated, and Guan Jin didn’t want to be on the receiving end of that. He decided to just let Lu YunYang have his moment for now.

*****

In the morning, during breakfast, there weren’t many people in the dining hall, since people either hadn’t gotten up yet or were eating in their room. Lu YunYang and Guan Jin also stayed in their room.

“Yesterday’s events really are going to complicate things,” Lu YunYang said as he drank coffee.

Guan Jin bit into a sandwich. “Do you have any idea who it was?”

“The key is the method. If we can know how the killer tied Dong Chong up there, perhaps we can make a breakthrough.” Lu YunYang thought for a moment.

“Hey, you’re a psychology consultant, investigating murders is the police’s work.”

“Psychology? This was done in a typical revenge mentality. The method of killing was very strange but not bloody, so I think that there was a special meaning to it. They’re purposely spreading panic, and this also targeted other certain people, a type of psychological torture.”

“Are you talking about Fang Lin and Tian QingLin, who were acting weird yesterday?”

“They weren’t panicking normally. Instead, it was more like hysteria, as if the grim reaper was chasing them.” Lu YunYang put down his cup.

“It would be very hard to get them to talk right now.”

“Mn, they didn’t actively seek protection, which shows that perhaps they’d rather die than expose their secret. They need further prodding.”

Guan Jin wiped his mouth. “But the murderer’s next targets are probably them.”

“Don’t worry about this. I believe that Fang Sen is a smart person, and he’ll be able to tell that there’s something off with his sister and will ask Wen JingHan for help.”

Guan Jin put his empty plate into the tray and picked it up, about to put it on the dining cart outside so the server could take it back.

“Wait,” said Lu YunYang.

Guan Jin stopped, perplexed.

Lu YunYang stood up and walked over, reached under the tray, and tore off a piece of cardstock.

“This…” Guan Jin frowned slightly.

There was a Chinese sentence scribbled on the other side of it: What happened last night has nothing to do with your goal, you don’t need to waste time on it.

“Is this a friendly reminder?” Guan Jin was taken aback.

“Although you can’t find your allies, your allies are very dutiful.” Lu YunYang waved the cardstock. “This begs the question, how did they stick the card there? We ordered breakfast this morning, so the tray should’ve been picked randomly by a waiter.”

“They didn’t send it to the wrong person, did they?” Guan Jin mulled over it for a moment. “Let’s find the waiter to question him.”

“No need, he wouldn’t have left behind any clues. I’m more curious about how this person is so sure it has nothing to do with you. Could it be that he or she already knows the target’s identity or knows the inside story about yesterday’s murder?”

Guan Jin put the tray on the cart, closed the door, and sat on the sofa, starting to silently think back to all of the clues from before.

Lu YunYang stood to the side and watched him for a while before walking over and pulling him up, saying, “Although your mind is very sharp, it’s not a computer. Let’s make a drawing so it’ll be clearer.”

“A drawing?”

“Sometimes, using tools is useful. We’ll make a mind map, just like the ones you and the others often draw on the whiteboard when cracking cases,” said Lu YunYang as he took off a large painting from the wall. He flipped it over and put it on the table. “The backside of this will work well.”

“…Fang Sen won’t make you pay him back for this, will he?”

“Unless he goes bankrupt.”

After writing and drawing for a while, Guan Jin examined their “masterpiece” that wasn’t that pretty. He felt that his thinking was indeed a lot clearer, but there was still some distance between him and the answer.

“You said that someone told you something about Spider before?” asked Lu YunYang.

Guan Jin nodded and repeated it.

“Most spiders feed by spinning silk and forming webs, quietly waiting for their prey to come? This wasn’t copied off of a science textbook, was it?”

“That’s almost exactly what Tony said.”

Lu YunYang didn’t seem to be very happy; having the same idea as Tony made him feel like he had been downgraded.

“Is this talking about the method Spider uses to kill people? Set a trap and wait for the person to step into it?” Lu YunYang shook his head. “How would they know Hermes would even approach his trap? Spider also needs to search for clues here as to who Hermes is.”

Guan Jin shrugged. “Which is why I don’t get what this is supposed to mean.”

When Guan Jin and Lu YunYang left the room to get some fresh air, they saw that Wen JingHan was standing on the deck, spaced out and staring at the metal shelf.

“Detective, are you thinking about the case again?” chaffed Lu YunYang.

“Guan Jin seems to be my subordinate, but he’s being hogged by you all day.” Wen JingHan looked at Guan Jin purposely.

Guan Jin blinked. “Aren’t we on the open sea? Why do you still care so much?”

“Go back and review the lawbook. Criminal acts on ships in our country are considered to be crimes within the country, so we have the right to investigate these cases.”

“But the country that the ship docks at also has judicial power,” said Lu YunYang.

“If we don’t say anything, who would know?”

“Then did you think of anything yet?” Guan Jin interrupted this professional discussion that was becoming more and more complicated.

“I was thinking about how that dummy from before was, on one hand, to spread fright, and on the other hand, it might also be an experiment. The common point between these two times is very clear. No one saw anything on the shelf before, but in the short span of around ten minutes or even less, the body appeared on it. How could they have done this? And who did it?”

“Jiang LingXuan discovered it the first time, and the second time, she had also appeared near the scene of the crime,” said Guan Jin.

“The problem is that there was too little time. Moreover, she’s a woman, so it’s very hard to imagine that she would be strong enough to hoist the dead man up and tie him on the shelf.”

“What if she had an accomplice?”

“Do you suspect Wang XuTong?” Lu YunYang shook his head. “Although the Wang family isn’t involved in any crimes, not everyone in the Wang family is a good person. If Wang XuTong wanted to get rid of someone, he could easily make them disappear. Why would he choose to do so in this place, cause so much panic, do it himself, and even turn himself into one of the suspects?”

“But what if it was Jiang LingXuan who committed the murder and he was only protecting her?” Guan Jin continued to ask.

“That’s certainly a possibility. However, throwing the corpse into the sea would’ve been their safest bet, and we might not have been able to find anything. Doing it like this would only slowly expose them. Just like the many cases we’ve solved before, the more cumbersome things the killer does, the more clues there are,” said Wen JingHan.

“Did you find the scene of the murder?” asked Guan Jin.

“Mn, it was in the room next to Dong Chong’s. There is water in the bathtub and on the ground. We even found a strand of hair that looks like Dong Chong’s, but unfortunately, we can’t verify anything.”

“He was drowned in the bathtub? There are so many ways to kill someone, why would they choose this?”

“If it was an act of revenge, then it must be a repetition of that technique. For example, if Dong Chong killed someone before, then the person taking revenge would most likely choose to use the same method. An eye for an eye,” said Wen JingHan.

Guan Jin looked down. That was true, the thing he wanted most right now was to shoot Hermes and the assassin that had killed him in the heads.

*****

Wen JingHan returned to his room and walked straight to the study. He leaned against the doorframe and asked, “Say, exactly why did you choose to come here?”

“It has nothing to do with you, and I don’t want to drag you into it,” the Duke said indifferently as he looked at him.

“This is the classic ‘there are no three hundred taels of silver buried here’ ¹. If it didn’t have anything to do with me, then you wouldn’t have cared enough to say so, and anything that I can be dragged into means that it has to have something to do with me,” pointed out Wen JingHan.

The Duke was still impassive, but he stood up and walked to Wen JingHan, lightly stroking his hair. “It would be nice if you were a little dumber.”

Wen JingHan rolled his eyes. “It would be even better if you could be smarter.”

*****

Someone was staying in the shadows of a room, and said in a low voice to their phone, “Morpheus, how are your investigations going?”

“It’s as you expected. However, Hephaestus isn’t experienced in this type of thing, so he only dares to observe from a distance.”

“We don’t need Hephaestus to do anything, someone will do it for us.”

“Then are you going to go meet that person yourself? Will it be dangerous?”

“Dangerous? No businessman would reject the shelter of Hermes. I am their god after all.”

“Please be careful.”

“Relax, just do your thing.” After hanging up, that hand lightly stroked their caduceus pendant for a while.

 

 

The author has something to say:

Morpheus: Son of Hynpos, the god of sleep, one of dream gods, shapes and forms dreams.

 

Hephaestus: God of fire. Son of Zeus and Hera.