#sci 谜案集

[i-read-in-five-languages]

this scene had me dying 🤣🤣🤣

bonus:

[juexia153]

acutally dont know if i should watch the live action for sci or not 😭😭😭 dangais usually disappoint me

[xinyuehui]

⸺ You said you're heading off to the US tomorrow. Why are you staying here? Hurry up and go home.

[lunarriviera]

today's my birthday! a few recent events in my life have been quite challenging and i'm struggling tonight. if you feel like it, reblog with something that makes you uncomplicatedly happy?

i'll start: today i watched the sun come up while drinking a vanilla latte across the street from NASA, staring at a retired space shuttle. later i had an amazing blueberry donut, and got to talk to my godfather and hear his wild stories. i had hurt my back, but it's better! and just now i reread my all-time favorite SCI Mystery fic.

the horrors persist, my friends, but so do we. i love you madly. LET'S HAVE A PARTY TOGETHER

[shijiujun]

Just a 2022 reminder to watch and read SCI Mystery 

[missfangirll]

@killerandhealerqueen

apparently Qi Ye cured my writer's block, so I have been working on your SCI fic 😁 which is now what, two years old? 🙈 anyway, have a teaser 😊

- - - - - -

The first thing he hears, probably what woke him, is the faint clanging of pots and dishes in the kitchen. The sun is peeking through the half-open curtains, painting warm streaks on the floor and the sheets. Zhan Yao smiles and turns his face deeper in the pillow, trying a few more minutes to bask in the sleepywarmcontent feeling of right, of being where he’s supposed to be.

His leisure is interrupted, however, by the bedroom door opening and a wet handtowel, thrown with a precision that comes with years of routine, landing on his face.

He groans and grumbles a few expletives in the general direction of the interloper. Bai Yutong snorts and turns, sauntering back to the kitchen now that his mission has been fulfilled.

A warm scent followed him from the kitchen, of congee and soy milk and, concession to Zhan Yao’s atrocious sleeping habits, black coffee. It smells like home, Zhan Yao thinks, deliriously happy, and smothers a smile into the pillow.

They go about their day as usual, nothing standing out. Zhan Yao is doing some paperwork in the office, during which the team is being their usually annoying selves (they have a bet going which Zhan Yao only half understands, something with Bai Chi and a cat?), when the phone rings. Bai Yutong answers it, then sighs almost inaudibly, then nods, calmly replying with “Yessir, we’ll take care of it.”

At Zhan Yao’s questioningly raised eyebrow he sighs.

“The smuggling department needs a hand,” he explains. “They are apparently understaffed and since we haven’t had an urgent case in a while, the boss lent us to them apparently.” He gestures vaguely. “Anyway, we are supposed to meet with the department head in an hour.”

The meeting point is unobtrusive enough, a few streets away from the harbour, not many people around, only a tall man in what looks like a landscape worker’s uniform, his eyes hiding behind thick glasses.

“My name is Tang Feng”, he introduces himself, “it’s generous of Sir Bao to send you, we are really short on people.”

Bai Yutong waves the thanks away. ‘“What are we doing here?”

“Well”, the other says slowly and scratches his neck awkwardly, a gesture Zhan Yao isn’t sure he is aware of. “You see that warehouse over there?” At Bai Yutong’s nod he continues. “It’s the, well, head quarter of a smuggling ring, nothing big, just three guys, a boat and a sister in law who works in customs.” He shrugs. “We were supposed to storm that compound earlier this week but two of my agents are on sick leave and the last one called me that morning to tell me he’d quit entirely to care for his sick mum.” He pinches the bridge of his nose. “So yeah, I am grateful you’re here. How are we doing this?”

They are doing it, in fact, Bai Yutong style, which means kicking in the door to the facility without so much as a warning, after casting a cursory glance through a window to confirm the suspects are in there.The men inside look utterly thrown off guard, one is holding a fishing hook (What are they even smuggling, Zy spares a thought), the other is half reclined on a sofa as if he was just about to stand up.

[project-paranoia]

Show recommendation

Title: S.C.I., SCI Mystery

Origin: China (youku)

Topics: crime solving, (b)romance, friendly rivalry, supernatural occurrences (in a way)

Length: 24 episodes

Summary (without spoilers): Bai Yutong works at the Hong Kong police department, when a series of seemingly supernatural incidents forces him to join forces with his childhood friend/rival/love interest Zhan Yao in the newly-founded S.C.I. – the Special Crimes Investigation unit. Zhan Yao is a professor of psychology, a genius with a severely lacking sense of self-preservation, while Bai Yutong is an accomplished police officer, a Sanda fighter and in general quite impulsive. The two of them – and their team, consisting of sniper Ma Han, hacker Jiang Ling and a few others – are trying to solve a series of crimes that seem supernatural at first (much to rationalist Zhan Yao’s dismay).

You will like this if you enjoyed: Guardian, Detective L, The Lost Tomb

Opinion: There are a lot of reasons to love this show, the first being the dynamics between the two main characters. Gao Hanyu and Ji Xiaobing are amazing with each other, and their relationship tests the limits of Chinese censorship ;) There are two more couples in the show, one of which I personally find rather annoying, but fortunately their scenes are skippable without losing any plot points ^^ The cases are quite interesting and almost never end as you expected, also each case arc has its own intro, which I find very cool. The script does have a few weak points, but all in all the plot is comprehensible and belieavable.

Pros: dynamics between the main couple characters, interesting cases, adorable minor characters

Cons: a bit stereotypical at times (it is a Chinese police show, with everything that entails), quite low budget (and it shows)

Conclusion: ★★★★☆

Where to watch:

youtube

/mj

[bahoreal]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: S.C.I.谜案集 | S.C.I. Mystery (TV) Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Bai Yutang/Zhan Zhao, Bai Yutong/Zhan Yao Characters: Bai Yutang, Zhan Zhao, Bai Yutong, Zhan Yao, Féng Jié, shang luo, Bai Qingtang Additional Tags: uses show names (bai yutong and zhan yao), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, basically they get motivated by jealousy and kiss Summary:

Bai Yutong is rarely angry at Zhan Yao. The only times he has been truly angry at Zhan Yao have been because Zhan Yao is putting himself in danger, or not letting Bai Yutong take care of him. They argue all the time, but their competition is light, it usually streaks heat and happiness through Bai Yutong’s stomach, it doesn’t cling to every one of his thoughts until he feels like he’s being driven wild, it doesn’t make him want to drink until he can’t see straight, it doesn’t make him want to crash down Zhan Yao’s door and shake him, it doesn’t make him want to finally finally take Zhan Yao by the shoulders and -

It’s different this time.

[sunriseverse]

was going to just do some designs for how their novel versions look in my head but uh. it got out of hand as you can see.

[weiology]

1-2-3 Abracadabra ~🌹✨ They really needed more screen time. And I was looking forward to more of their interactions with season 2, but who knows when that’ll ever happen now... Another chibi drawing using drawing reference from @/matcha0904! Thought it was super fitting since zhao zhen is a magician after all. Visit my twt (@/weiology) for the reference.

[indigostudies]

a very incomplete list of cdramas (plus a few chinese films) i've watched and my rating for hsk proficiencies for them below the cut!

i've watched some shows that aren't included on this list, but i didn't watch enough of them to get a good sense for the level of challenge they pose, so they're omitted from the list. i've also included links to the mydramalist pages, if you want to get a sense of the plot.

i had to remove the list format, since tumblr decided i had too many characters per block of text, so i apologise for that. a number of these can be watched on youtube with english fansubs, but if you can't find something, you can always dm me and i'll get you a link!

沙海/tomb of the sea: this fits into the extended daomu biji/grave robbers' chronicles/lost tomb franchise, but you don't have to have seen the other shows or read the books to watch it, and the pov character is an outsider who also doesn't understand what's going on 90% of the time. this show is contemporary, and you could probably start watching it at a fairly low hsk level because it doesn't have a ton of complicated technical or genre-specific terms. the subbing in english decent, since it came out a while ago, but there are some errors that crop up with names and nicknames. if you wanted to watch it without subtitles, i'd say you could probably get the gist of what's being said at around an hsk 4 or hsk 5 level. it has 52 episodes, each around 45 minutes long. (mdl link)

双镜/couple of mirrors: set in the republican era, so some of the terms used are a bit outdated in terms of colloquialism, and it also has a mystery/detective element to it, so that could pose a bit of a struggle. that said, the show isn't actually too challenging in terms of vocab—i would say you could watch it without english subtitles at an hsk 3 level with some struggle, and with a fair amount of ease at hsk 4. 12 episodes, at 46 minutes each. (mdl link)

云泽传/legend of yunze: wuxia/xianxia, which makes the amount of unfamiliar terms higher if you aren't used to the genre, but the episodes are all very short, and the plot itself isn't overly complicated, which makes it easy to sit down and watch in one go. on a level of difficulty, as long as you're familiar with wuxia/xianxia terms, you could probably watch this at an hsk 2 level without too much issue, and the subbing in english is very thorough. has multiple seasons, but the first season is 12 episodes, between 3-7 minutes each. (mdl link)

神探/detective l: this is a procedural detective show, and it's set in the 1930s republican shanghai, so there's a combination of more formal/outdated language and specialised detective/case-related phrases. the english subs are decent, though, and the actors all enunciate clearly, which helps if you need to look up words. i would say this would probably be a bit of a struggle below the hsk 5 level, but you'll pick up a lot of new, crime-related phrases. 24 episodes, 40 minutes each. (mdl link)

不良执念清除师/oh no! here comes trouble!: i'll be honest, this one was a struggle for me because of the taiwanese accent. i can understand what they're saying, it just sounds like the auditory equivalent of someone coming into my house and moving everything a few centimetres to the left. this is also a procedural show, but contemporary, so not quite as challenging in terms of vocab to detective l, in my opinion..........but it's also got a heavy supernatural element, which does come with specific vocab. the subbing is good, but if you're going to watch it, this one probably requires a higher hsk level to keep up—hsk 5, at a minimum, in my opinion. 12 episodes, 52 minutes each. (mdl link)

s.c.i谜案集/sci mystery/sci: another contemporary procedural mystery show, but from the mainland, so there's no elements of supernatural. surprisingly simple vocabulary; you could watch this at an hsk 2 level and get the gist, and an hsk 3 or hsk 4 level would let you watch it just fine. has fairly good english subs, and i believe they set the show in hk, which accounts for the higher than usual amount of english usage, up to and including in dialogue. the only bit that might make it challenging is the heavy lean into the psychology, but it's all largely explained directly, since most of the characters aren't familiar with the terms either. 24 episodes, 45 minutes each. (mdl link)

成化十四年/sleuth of the ming dynasty: ming dynasty (mid 1400s, under the chenghua emperor) setting, but a fairly colloquial vocabulary. there are some specialised titles used, but those are fairly self-evident by the way the show is shot, and easy enough to look up. the english subs are good, and i would put this at an hsk 4 level—but even at an hsk 3 level you probably won't struggle too badly. my hangup here was, again, one of the leads being played by an actor with a taiwanese accent, though it's not too heavy. 48 episodes, 45 minutes each. (mdl link)

老九门/the mystic nine: dmbj prequel, set in the tail end of the republican era (1939, if i remember correctly?). has a lot of tomb- and tomb-robbing specific vocabulary, alongside the more dated modes of speech, so i would put this up at an hsk 5 or hsk 6 level, but there's decent subs, so you could watch it at lower levels, it would just be a bit of a challenge. 48 episodes, 42 minutes each. (mdl link)

猎罪图鉴/under the skin: contemporary procedural show; there's a lot of emotion- and motive-specific words used, and the fact that it's a procedural makes it a bit more challenging, in my opinion. i would recommend that don't start with this show, just because of the fact that it's pretty easy to get lost if you don't grasp some of the vocabulary. i'd put it at an hsk 6 level, but that said, the subs are good and you can watch it at an hsk 5 level with some effort, i think. 20 episodes, 45 minutes each. (mdl link)

春风沉醉的夜晚/spring fever: honestly not as challenging in terms of vocabulary as a lot of things on this list, and fairly contemporary (set in the 2000s). i would say if you're at an hsk 4 level, you will probably do alright with it. 116 minutes in total. (mdl link)

关于我和鬼变成家人的那件事/marry my dead body: another case of struggling to acclimate to the taiwanese accent; otherwise, not too complicated in terms of vocab, though there are some spirit/marriage-specific terms used. overall, though, i'd put this at an hsk 4 level as well. 130 minutes in total. (mdl link)

陈情令/the untamed: heavy on the wuxia/xianxia elements, so unless you're familiar with that, you might struggle a lot to get through it. this is a lot of peoples' entry into cdramas, though, so it's not utterly inaccessible, and has decent english subs. i would put this around an hsk 5, if you want to watch it without subs, though you'll probably still have to pause and look up some words here and there even then. 50 episodes, 45 minutes each, making it the longest on this list. (mdl link)

山河令/word of honour: arguably the hardest on this list, i would say, because it's so plot-heavy. i, as a native speaker, struggle to follow along with this for extended amounts of time because there's a combination of 1. a lot happening, 2. a lot of wuxia terms, and 3. a lot of references to literature/art/etc. i would put this up at an hsk 7 level, honestly. that said, the subs for this are very good. 36 official episodes with a 37th mini-episode, 45 minutes each for the regular ones. (mdl link)

天官赐福/heaven official's blessing: one of the easier shows on this list; i would put this at an hsk 3 or hsk 4 level; there's some words you probably won't know, but while it does fall under xianxia, it doesn't go into that as much in terms of vocabulary as cql/the untamed does. i believe both seasons have both official subbing and official dubbing into english available, but that's not how i watched it, and i've only seen the first season, which is 11 episodes and about 20 minutes per episode. (mal link)

致命游戏/the spirealm: not particularly challenging in terms of actual vocab, but as of yet, only the first few episodes are subbed, since it came out literally this month, and the other subs are all auto-generated and.............very lacking. that said, it's a contemporary setting, and i would put this at an hsk 5 level, give or take; there are some references to folklore, but the characters research and explain or deduce the explanations of what is happening as it occurs, and you aren't left to struggle to figure it out yourself. 78 episodes, but each one is a bit under 20 minutes long, so it actually isn't that much content in total. (mdl link)

[rigelmejo]

For curiosity’s sake I ran some text exerpts through http://www.zhtoolkit.com/apps/wordlist/create-list.cgi to see how difficult they were ranked. I’m currently reading 夜半衣寒 and it’s difficulty rating is 1.85 (with higher numbers being easier such as 2.0+, and lower numbers being harder). Novels at or easier than my reading level are bolded, novels significantly easier than my reading level are italicized, authors I know to be significantly easier for most of their novels are have an asterisk *

The author’s other big pingxie fic 寒舍 by 夏灬安兰 is 1.974 (so ‘easier’ than the one I’m reading, and in general I’d say my ‘comfortable’ level is now probably 1.9+, so it’s within the comfortable range)

镇魂  chapter 84 is 1.811 (so a bit harder than what I’m reading)

*SCI谜案集第一部 is 1.922 (so I would say yes, ErYa would be a good author to try next for me)

夺梦 chapter 80 is 1.882 (so around zhenhun’s difficulty)

不死者 by 淮上 (same author as Poyun) chapter 60 is 1.710 (yikes is that hard! but their writing does read harder than priest’s, where priest’s hardest stuff seems to be about ~1.8)

 *撒野 by 巫哲 chapter 62 is 1.934 (around the level I’m reading right now)

人渣反派自救系统 by mxtx chapter 65 is 1.905 (so at my reading level! also this seems to track, as I’ve read bits of this novel before months ago and it was doable)

魔道祖师 by mxtx (for those curious) chapter 86 is 1.848 (so around as hard as what I’m reading, or zhenhun, harder than svsss)

天涯客 by priest chapter 64 is  1.952 (so in theory it should be one of the easier priest novels to read)

默读 by priest chapter 77 is 1.85 (not as hard as I expected, around the level I’m reading now)

大哥 by priest chapter 65 is 1.79 (yikes! so it being modern setting by NO means makes it priest’s easier written stuff lol, this is on the harder end for priest’s writing)

成化十四年 by 梦溪石 (an author y’all kept recommending me) chapter 108 is rated 1.814 (around zhenhun’s difficulty)

无双 also by  梦溪石 chapter 135 is rated 1.866 (so about modu’s difficulty, seems to be around priest’s writing difficulty, about the difficulty I’m reading right now so this may actually be possible)

将进酒 by  唐酒卿 which was also recommended, chapter 180 is 1.94 (i’m shocked, it’s within my reading level!)

DMBJ 1 七星鲁王 chapter 23 is 1.961 (and I know it’s within my reading level as I’m currently reading it)

Note for other readers: I have heard  巫哲 and 耳雅 novels tend to be at an easier reading level. I can confirm 撒野 is quite approachable for most beginners after they’ve read a couple easy novels, as are a lot of their other novels. The biggest challenge with  巫哲 ‘s writing for me is just the sheer length of each chapter. And 耳雅 has about the easiest reading level detective stories like SCI. I find the most difficult part of  耳雅 stories to be the large initial cast of characters, so I recommend keeping a list of names like I do, until you remember everyone’s name. 

[juexia153]

"Don't look at Fang Jing's beautiful persona now. What star agent, what popularity, she used to be a bitch!"

"Can you speak cleaner?" Bai Yutang frowned.

"Oh, okay." Zhang Hua hurriedly laughed,

???? ????? ?????? sorry but this translation is so weird

[xinyuehui]

New year, new SCI sets! 🐱🤝🐭🎉

[lunarriviera]

Big Dumb Hot Cop & Effete Possibly Sociopathic Genius Consultant: A Manifesto

So it has recently come to my attention that this, my archetypal pairing formulation, has broken containment, probably because I've been flinging these terms around like a deranged person wielding a blunt instrument. Therefore it behooves me to explain what the hell I mean by all these adjectives, and who are some classic and contemporary examples of the idiots under discussion—who are by the way extremely in love with one another whether they realize it or not. (Don't you say "bromance." Don't you dare SAY that word to me.) I will use blorbo from my shows to illustrate.

I first realized that I am in fact a Big Dumb Hot Cop whisperer thanks to Chinese police procedural 猎罪图鉴 | Under the Skin (2022). Right away, it's very important to note that Big Dumb Hot Cop is NOT in fact all that dumb. He's only less intelligent IN COMPARISON to his Effete Slightly Sociopathic Genius Consultant, who is, as already stated, a genius. Big Dumb Hot Cop is in fact ruthlessly good at his job. He's driven, he obsesses about cases, he can walk into a crime scene and pick up on the one thing everyone else has missed. There is no suspect he cannot intimidate upon investigation. And he's even better when he's working with (or against, depending on what stage they're at) the genius consultant. They need each other, whether they're fighting or collaborating. They can only clear cases together.

Here are, then, police captain Du Cheng and his genius consultant, sketch artist Shen Yi, eyeing each other significantly as some witness is, I think, lying his face off? Honestly I can't even remember what's happening because the important thing here is their nonverbal communication. This is crucial for this pairing. They can think circles around each other without saying a word. Love that for them.

Effete Possibly Sociopathic Genius Consultant has two levels of Possibly Sociopathic. Most maddeningly of all, he has secrets. Sometimes many secrets. So at first, Big Dumb Hot Cop is going to think he's the criminal, or in some way involved in the wrongdoing. The second level is that he'll find Genius Consultant just worryingly, disturbingly good at predicting criminal behavior. And he will continue to be suspicious of him for exactly one or at most two episodes, until he's then swept off his big dumb feet by the rapidity and correctness of Effete Genius's deductions. There's nothing Big Dumb Hot Cop loves more than solving cases. Well, maybe beer. He also loves beer. Once he sees that Effete Consultant is useful, he'll do a 180º and stop complaining to his chief of police, and instead start demanding that Effete Consultant be his forever. He'll start hanging out in his office. He'll literally drag him to crime scenes by the wrist.

(And did I mention Effete Consultant must be very pretty? Did I mention that? He is lovely. Long, thin fingers to steeple while he thinks. Delicate features. Haunted dark eyes. Never sleeps. Shocking self-neglect. You may see where I am going with this.)

Another important attribute of Big Dumb Hot Cop: he's big. Or anyway strong, or a gifted fighter. Let's face it, he has to be, because Genius Consultant is going to be reckless with his own personal safety to the point of stupidity (now who's dumb, huh?). For example, consider another Chinese procedural, S.C.I. 谜案集 | S.C.I. Mystery (2018). Captain Bai Yutong is sort of impossibly physically talented (former fighter pilot! national sandu champion! runs over moving cars and then shoots at them, like some kind of weird urban biathlon!) and, like all good Big Dumb Hot Cops, his entire life is thrown upside down because he now has to drop everything to protect his effete consultant, criminal psychologist Dr. Zhan Yao, who's so careless with himself that in any another drama he would probably be driving Bai Yutong to drink. Thanks to the danmei on which SCI Mystery is based, however, we can safely assume Bai Yutong is taking it out on Zhan Yao in blow jobs.

Note that Bai Yutong is the cook, even though he's the gong, and that he moves in with Zhao Yan to "protect" him from...something, I can't ever remember what, and then just sort of forgets to move out again. For the length of the entire series.

I would argue that 镇魂 | Guardian (2018) is a procedural, even if it also has ghosts, a talking cat, snake lady, eerie dark energy that gets flung around like paintball splatters, and a whole bunch of other supernatural stuff that was not approved of by Big Red (it's based on a danmei of the same title by Priest, a novel which has been pulled from circulation for censorship). Further confusing matters, Zhao Yunlan isn't particularly Big or Dumb, nor is he even really a Cop, technically; but I'm claiming him for this genre not least because of his Effete (drop-dead gorgeous) Possibly Sociopathic (Chief Zhao thinks he's a suspect for a good third of the story) and Definitely Genius, Later Gangpressed into being a Consultant, chock-full of secrets Professor Shen Wei.

Once they finally team up, though, they do this genre/pairing proud. Why, there's nothing they can't solve except how to stay alive. Look at them here enjoying some fine nonverbal communication: "Oh my god, you're just like me—you too will fling yourself directly into bodily harm in order to save a clueless civilian. Okay this could be inconvenient for both of us. Also wow for a genetics professor you're really fucking built, do you lift my bro." (Yes. Yes he does lift.)

A final example: the cruelly short-lived 光渊 | Justice in the Dark (2023), which like Guardian is based on a danmei by Priest, 默读 | Silent Reading. I got baited into watching the eight (8) existing episodes by seeing a cut of Captain Luo Wenzhou taking on like forty guys with a champagne bottle, a pair of curtains, an axe handle, and a birthday cake, like some kind of cultivator. He's so big and hot, and he's so very dumb. He's also a cop, and ACAB (which is sort of the plot of Silent Reading); and Fei Du is possibly using him for his own nefarious ends (cf. possibly sociopathic and secretive). But underneath all of Fei Du's "I am the abyss, fear me, rawr!" scary posturing, like a puffed-up kitten, he's just a very pretty tender-hearted effete genius, and you can watch Luo Wenzhou melting, and practically pinpoint the exact moment when his whole heart flies out of his eyes and he decides: Yeah, okay, that's it for me. That one. The annoying little traumatized fuerdai with some kind of a death wish that I do not understand. I'll be throwing myself in front of bullets for him and/or cooking him dinner for the foreseeable future, thanks.

Priest is gonna mess with this dynamic of gong/shou caregiving and safeguarding, because that's what she does; but the fundamental beats are still there. Look at these ninnyhammers, just this second figuring out they're actually kind people who belong to each other.

Here they are confronting a suspect together. (You will notice the large butcher knife wavering in the foreground.) Luo Wenzhou, highly trained, nonetheless cannot de-escalate the situation. It takes a pretty playboy in an arm sling to come wandering into the room, and then, using his superb personal knowledge of what it's like to be traumatized to the point of insanity, getting the suspect to disarm. I just love the way they look at each other, incredulous (Luo Wenzhou) and mock-fascinated (Fei Du). If I ever meet the person who directed this scene I'm going to need to kiss them on the mouth.

Once you accept the gospel of Big Dumb Hot Cop and Effete Possibly Sociopathic Genius Consultant into your media-based life, you'll find it has many applications, not all of which have to be procedurals. Consider: characters from the Daomu Biji franchise, possibly (Hei Xiazi is the biggest dumbest hottest not-a-cop I've ever met). Leverage, in a weird OT3 way. Assorted combinations of Avengers. Teen Wolf fic, absolutely. Various Stargate incarnations. Several other Priest danmei, not only procedurals. Definitely Mysterious Lotus Casebook. Et cetera. (You're on your own with MXTX, though.)

This has gotten long and there are still so many nuances and features and wrinkles and problems with the theory that should be ironed out, but it'll have to do for now. I'll simply close by saying: yes, there is also a classic example and you already know exactly who it is.

[dan-memes]