Chapter 50

Chapter 50 4. The Game-05

“Hmm, actually the method is quite simple to explain.”

Liu Yi hesitated for a moment, then with an expression that said, “You insisted on hearing this”, continued:

“You know that the way to estimate time of death by stomach contents is to judge by the level of digestion, right? So, you just need to replicate a real digestive environment.”

He thought for a moment: “Let me give an example… say, us.”

Liu Yi’s fingers gestured between the two of them:

“Suppose I had killed you before dinner, and I wanted to make it look like you died after dinner. All I would need to do is take the contents already digested in my stomach for a couple of hours, vomit them out, insert a gastric tube into you, and then inject the chyme using a syringe.”

Even though Qi Shanyu had prepared himself mentally, hearing such an answer suddenly made his face pale. His fingers twitched as he barely controlled the urge to cover his mouth. By now, he was fully convinced that Liu Yi truly had no sense of cleanliness at all.

“Detective Liu, I think… this idea of yours seems a bit dangerous…”

Qi Shanyu said flatly, “Should I thank you for not actually doing anything to me?”

Liu Yi laughed heartily, a carefree laugh that seemed impossible to stop for a while.

Finally, after he calmed down a bit, he wiped his moist eyes, then playfully brushed his wet fingertips across Qi Shanyu’s cheek.

“Relax, Brother Liu cares for you. How could I ever bring myself to harm you?”

&&& &&& &&&

Perhaps because the movie’s plot was so full of holes, every scene revealed a flaw, Liu Yi eventually stopped taking it seriously.

He hadn’t slept well the night before, and the film was too boring. As he watched, his eyelids grew heavy, and his upper body leaning on Qi Shanyu’s pillow gradually slid lower, until he was fully lying on the bed.

Qi Shanyu didn’t hear him speak for a long while. When he looked back, he found Liu Yi curled up on his narrow single bed, snoring softly.

He glanced at the wall clock—ten minutes to nine!

Qi Shanyu felt a mix of amusement and exasperation.

Just earlier, Liu Yi had mocked his milk-scented body wash as something only kids would use. Now, looking at his own student-like sleeping habits and the ability to sleep instantly, he wasn’t exactly mature either.

However, seeing the shadow under Liu Yi’s eyes and recalling the midnight text from last night, Qi Shanyu guessed that this person sleeping in his bed probably hadn’t had a proper night’s sleep in a long time.

With that thought, he didn’t have the heart to wake him.

He shook out the blanket, gently covered Liu Yi, turned off the computer, switched off the main light, and took a quilt to sleep on the sofa for the night.

……

That night, Liu Yi slept especially soundly.

He lay in a warm bed, faintly enveloped in a sweet, unfamiliar milk scent, with an indescribable sense of comfort that allowed him to sleep through the night without dreams.

However, nearly two hours before dawn, both Liu Yi’s and Qi Shanyu’s phones rang in near-perfect synchrony, a deadly chain of calls.

From this, they knew without thinking—they had another incident.

“Looks like we’re on the same case again.”

Because Liu Yi had slept early and deeply, he was fully rested, looking energetic and showing no signs of fatigue from being woken up.

“Good thing I’m at your place tonight. Let’s go—ride with me.”

A few hours ago, Xinhai City had just experienced heavy rain.

Qi Shanyu and Liu Yi hadn’t noticed much before leaving, but outside, compared to yesterday, the temperature had dropped noticeably, about six or seven degrees.

Liu Yi was still wearing the casual suit with a wool vest from yesterday. With the temperature drop, it felt a bit chilly. He rubbed his hands, walking toward his car, his breath forming white mist, slightly regretting not borrowing a thicker coat from Qi Shanyu before heading out.

Fortunately, their destination wasn’t far—about five kilometers to a village in the city.

When they arrived, the scene was already cordoned off by beat cops.

Liu Yi’s graduate student, Jiang Xiaoyuan, had arrived slightly earlier and was waiting at the road entrance, craning his neck to look. Seeing his boss get out of the car with Qi Shanyu, his smile froze, eyes wide, staring for a long time, clearly puzzled how these two ended up together at this hour.

But curiosity aside, Jiang Xiaoyuan was smart enough not to ask anything inappropriate, instead running up to Liu Yi and pointing at the fluorescent yellow tape: “Boss, the scene is over there.”

“Mm.”

Liu Yi nodded, put on his white coat, tied up his long hair, and asked, “What’s the situation?”

Jiang Xiaoyuan responded quickly: “About forty minutes ago, around 4:30 a.m., 110 received a call reporting two bodies found in the greenery of Tengluo Community…”

Preliminary police investigation indicated the victims were a male and a female. The male was in his late thirties to around forty, and the female about twenty. Both died from stab wounds.

The first discoverers were a middle-aged couple living nearby, running a small restaurant across the street from the scene.

Since they sold breakfast, they left early every day. Today, while passing the greenery, the wife tripped on something. Looking down, she saw a woman’s feet emerging from the hedges.

The couple was terrified, quickly moving the branches aside, discovering the woman lying on the grass, covered in blood. A few steps away, a man leaned against a small-leaf banyan tree, also covered in blood, already dead.

The couple immediately called the police. Officers arrived to find both victims covered in blood and lifeless, transferring the case to the homicide unit.

“Over there.”

Jiang Xiaoyuan led them across the tape, gesturing ahead.

Liu Yi followed his gaze: a woman’s feet protruded from sparse hedges, left foot straight, right foot turned outward, both bare, stained with blood and mud.

A few steps closer, the hedge revealed a grass lawn, poorly maintained, patchy and yellowed.

The female victim lay on the grass, early twenties, eyes half-open, one hand stretched forward, the other on her chest, pupils fixed and dilated—dead for some time.

She wore a loose nightgown reaching the knees and mud-stained pajama pants. Her clothes were mostly intact but slashed in several places, blood soaking the gown and grass beneath.

“Judging by her attire, she likely left home directly.”

Liu Yi directed Jiang Xiaoyuan to photograph the scene while telling Qi Shanyu: “In this weather, lightly dressed, she couldn’t have gone far. Her home is probably nearby.”

“Got it.”

Qi Shanyu instructed his team to canvass the area for anyone who might recognize her.

“The female victim has multiple sharp-force injuries, suggesting a knife-like weapon. No obvious signs of sexual assault yet.”

Liu Yi pointed to a tear on her nightgown over the left chest and surrounding blood pool: “The fatal wound is likely here, a stab to the heart.”

He added: “The rest will need a thorough examination back at the lab.”

Outdoors, with no cover and no female officers, Liu Yi couldn’t fully examine her respectfully at the scene.

After examining the woman, Liu Yi and Jiang Xiaoyuan checked the man under the tree.

“The weapon… must be this, right?”

Jiang Xiaoyuan gasped upon seeing a twenty-centimeter bloodied chef’s knife beside the male victim.

The male, in his late thirties, thin, wearing a dirty jacket, had sunken cheeks emphasizing his cheekbones. He leaned against the banyan tree, a horizontal neck wound cutting the trachea—the blood foam indicating death from airway blockage.

“This victim was a drug addict.”

Liu Yi rolled up his left sleeve, revealing dense needle marks and scratch scars.

He studied the bloody knife, then looked toward the female victim, thinking, and slowly said:

“Looks like… the killer died by suicide after the murder.”

Author’s note: Third update, done!