Chapter 45
Chapter 45
After witnessing such a horrifying scene, the six people in the corridor all felt a chill run down their spines.
Of course, Old Qiao couldn’t really commit suicide on a variety show. When he jumped down, the wires tied to him were very obvious. By the time everyone rushed to the railing, they saw the staff below securely catching Old Qiao.
Time was tight. Old Qiao quickly untied his safety harness, lay on the ground, and let the crew smear fake blood on his head.
“…”
The artists struggled to find words to describe such a terrifying yet ridiculous scene.
In the end, the oldest, Xie Yiqian, spoke with difficulty: “Let’s go downstairs and take a look.”
Old Qiao had fallen to the platform on the B2 level.
When everyone arrived via the stairs, the NPC who had been cleaning the waste on B3 hurried over as well.
According to his account, shortly after Pei Chuzhi and Xing Ye left, he heard a loud noise from the ceiling downstairs and thought something had fallen. But when he came up, it turned out to be the new factory manager lying there.
Other NPCs from different floors also came upon hearing the commotion, frightened by the scene.
After questioning them carefully, they learned that these NPCs had only recently been hired by Old Qiao. The ones Pei Chuzhi had met earlier were security guards, while the two upstairs were workers checking equipment.
“Accountant Dong is dead too?” One NPC feigned weakness in the legs: “I knew this factory was unlucky. It hasn’t even started operations yet, and strange things are happening.”
Pei Chuzhi quickly asked, “Why do you say that?”
The NPCs looked at each other, and finally, a representative explained the background: “A couple of years ago, a relative of mine opened a factory nearby. He didn’t want to spend money to handle waste, so he had people dump it here. According to them, when they were about to leave, they heard noises from the recycling area downstairs.”
Pei Chuzhi, who had just come from the recycling area, got goosebumps all over. She rubbed her arms and instinctively leaned toward Xing Ye, asking, “Then what happened?”
“Then they came down out of curiosity, and when they reached the stairwell, they saw a human shadow cast on the wall by the light.”
It was Xing Ye answering. His expression was calm, as if he didn’t take this horror story seriously: “It’s an urban legend everyone in X County has heard of.”
Pei Chuzhi immediately understood. Since Xing Ye’s character was a local, he would definitely be familiar with the legend the NPCs knew.
Xie Yiqian pondered for a moment, then asked softly: “Did Old Qiao and Accountant Dong have any special relationship?”
The NPC replied: “They’ve known each other since they were young. That’s all we know.”
After providing all the required information, the NPCs shivered and fled in panic, clearly leaving the visiting investment team to handle things themselves.
“Not even helping to call the police? You people of X County are really impolite.”
Ding Yang complained and walked over to Old Qiao: “Come on, friends, let’s start collecting evidence.”
Old Qiao jumped down in front of everyone; the cause of death was obvious.
Fortunately, the production team was considerate. Aside from making him look covered in blood, they didn’t add any extra scary effects.
Everyone searched around Old Qiao and only found the few keys he had previously used—nothing else.
Tong Yang stood a little farther from the body: “What did Old Qiao mean before he ‘died’?”
She frowned, puffed her small cheeks, and guessed: “Would a normal person say such strange things after seeing an employee die—and then get scared into ‘suicide’?”
Fu Xingying stood and looked upstairs: “I think we still need to check on Accountant Dong.”
Returning to the meeting room, considering Accountant Dong’s NPC was a middle-aged woman, the evidence-gathering task was naturally assigned to the three female artists.
They carefully inspected her and found that, aside from the foam at the corners of her mouth, Accountant Dong had no other injuries.
“Most likely poisoned,”
Pei Chuzhi took out the phone from Accountant Dong’s pocket and found a chat record: “Ah, something’s up.”
Everyone gathered around.
Pei Chuzhi showed them the chat between Accountant Dong and Old Qiao.
Old Qiao: 【I bought the factory for less than a third of the market price. All the scheming these past two years paid off—no one dared come near the factory.】
Accountant Dong: 【I’m still a little worried. That person hasn’t been caught yet. What if, after the factory starts, he…】
Old Qiao: 【All these years, that person may already be dead. Don’t think too much—fortune favors the bold!】
Tong Yang blinked her big eyes, completely puzzled: “So the shadow the NPC mentioned was just Old Qiao scaring people on purpose? But what about that person they mentioned—did something actually happen at this factory before it shut down?”
Pei Chuzhi lifted her eyes and looked at Xing Ye, whose brow was tightly furrowed.
For now, she only knew Xing Ye was a “local,” and any old news about X County could only be learned from him.
Yet Xing Ye wasn’t looking at her.
His gaze passed over her figure and landed further back: “What’s that?”
Pei Chuzhi turned and noticed a thumb-sized red cross in the corner beneath the filing cabinet. She reached out and wiped it; the cross had been drawn with a pen and smudged slightly with a light touch.
Normally, no one would idle away their time to draw a cross in such a hidden spot.
It seemed more like a mark intentionally left for someone to see.
It was very likely that Old Qiao saw this mark and got so frightened that it caused his staged “suicide.”
Pei Chuzhi looked at the ink on her fingertip. Could the person mentioned in the chat between Accountant Dong and Old Qiao be connected to this red cross?
Seeing that there were no other clues from Accountant Dong, Ding Yang raised the keyring in his hand: “I remember the factory manager’s office is right next to the finance room. Shall we go check it out?”
In Who is the Murderer, each round of evidence gathering is limited, and everyone wants to collect as many clues as possible in the shortest time.
So once Ding Yang suggested it, everyone reluctantly left the meeting room and headed to the fifth floor.
The factory manager’s office on the fifth floor was locked.
Ding Yang got lucky—the second key he tried worked.
Pei Chuzhi stood outside, glancing at it, but she was more interested in the finance room just a wall away. She quietly tugged on Xing Ye’s sleeve and asked in a low voice: “Shall we go next door? I want to find out where Accountant Dong was poisoned.”
Xing Ye gave a soft laugh: “Coincidentally, I’m more concerned about that too.”
They pushed open the slightly ajar door of the finance room and saw the interior in disarray. The desk, filing cabinets, and sofa all showed signs of being moved.
Clearly, this was the work of Ding Yang and Fu Xingying when they came up to find the keys.
Various reports were stacked messily on the desk. Even the pen holder had been turned upside down, with a few gel pens and stamps scattered around it.
Pei Chuzhi had a sudden thought. She picked up one of the red gel pens and drew a couple of strokes on her finger.
“Look at this,” she called Xing Ye over, holding her palm open. “The color is exactly the same as the cross in the filing cabinet.”
Xing Ye lowered his eyes, his gaze lingering on her delicate fingertips for a few seconds before subtly looking away.
He lowered his voice: “Are you suggesting the pen the murderer used came from the finance room?”
“Very likely. But the question is, when did the murderer strike?”
Pei Chuzhi looked around and suddenly noticed something unusual in the finance room.
Almost simultaneously, Xing Ye turned his head toward the neatly placed standing water dispenser in the corner.
They exchanged a knowing glance.
Xing Ye stepped forward and moved the dispenser aside. A crushed paper cup fell out.
The rim of the cup still bore a faint lipstick mark.
“Did Accountant Dong wear lipstick?” he asked softly.
“Yes,” Pei Chuzhi bent down, gently shaking the water dispenser. She noticed a small amount of indistinct powder floating in the water.
They had found the cause of Accountant Dong’s death.
At the same time, several exclamations came from the factory manager’s office next door.
Ding Yang rushed over holding a laptop: “We found out who Old Qiao and Accountant Dong were talking about!”
He placed the laptop on the desk and opened the browser history: “Old Qiao viewed this news article.”
Pei Chuzhi looked at the screen and saw that the news report was from five years ago.
【News Report: Recently, another young woman’s body was discovered in X County. Investigation shows the deceased was an employee at X County Innovative Machine Tool Factory. The cause of death is the same as the other five bodies found this year. Police speculate that a serial killer is operating frequently in X County and remind all citizens to remain vigilant.】
Below the news, the last image of the deceased alive appeared—clearly taken outside the very factory they were in now.
Pei Chuzhi took a deep breath and said, “So what they were discussing… actually refers to the last place the victim was seen alive being this factory. Are they afraid the serial killer also lives nearby?”
She paused for a few seconds, then turned straight to look at Xing Ye standing behind her.
He was a native of X County.
Xing Ye’s eyes were dark and unreadable against the light.
At that critical moment, the director’s voice echoed through the factory: “Evidence collection time is over. We’ll now begin the clue-exchange segment.”
“You two should exchange clues with each other,” Ding Yang, aware of the situation, said, stepping out: “I’ll go find the others—won’t bother you.”
Xing Ye didn’t answer. His dark eyes remained fixed on Pei Chuzhi: “Zhi Zhi, if you suspect me, you can team up with someone else from now on.”
The calm tone made Pei Chuzhi bite her lip.
In that moment, she had indeed considered the possibility that Xing Ye was one of the murderers.
If she were just a normal participant, then considering the possibility of the killer striking again, it would be safest to stay as far away from the suspect as possible.
But she had a little selfish thought.
Even if Xing Ye were the killer, so what?
She could just like the first episode’s Xing Ye—decisive, without hesitation—surrender victory for him.
Pei Chuzhi shook her head, a sly smile curving her lips: “Do you want to win?”
Xing Ye ignored the question: “I want to survive as long as possible.”
At least so that when you’re in danger, I can protect you.
“Then I plan to stick with you from now on,” Pei Chuzhi said as she passed him, closing the finance room door, and winked: “After all, we’re boyfriend and girlfriend. Only death can separate us.”
Ding Yang, still outside, muttered: “…”
Xing Ye toyed with the paper cup prop in his hand and after a moment, smiled silently.
“Then consider it agreed,” he said.
Having made up her mind, Pei Chuzhi relaxed: “My clue is ‘the help you received did not come from another’s goodwill,’ though it seems more related to my own situation and doesn’t really help with the case.”
Xing Ye didn’t seem to mind that her clue sounded less useful. He just nodded: “My clue may be very helpful to the case.”
“What is it?” she asked, curious.
Xing Ye spoke slowly: “For every extra body, a red cross appears.”
Pei Chuzhi’s breath caught. Her fingers that had touched the cross in the filing cabinet also felt a chill.
She recalled scenes often described in detective stories: to determine if several cases were committed by the same person, the usual methods were:
Whether the victims had similar traits, whether the methods of the crimes were consistent, and…
Whether the serial killer left the same unique mark at the crime scene.
She curled her fingers slightly, her voice trembling at the end: “So Old Qiao wasn’t wrong before he died.”
Xing Ye’s voice was deep: “Yes. The serial killer has returned.”
Author’s Note: Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or watered me with nutrients from 2019-12-25 21:02:21 to 2019-12-26 20:31:29~
Thanks to those who voted for mines: Mansahua Bianhua 1;
Thanks to those who watered with nutrients: Hehehe 10 bottles; Qing Xiao 1 bottle;
Thank you all very much for your support. I will continue to work hard!