Chapter 47

Chapter 47

Back in the factory director’s office, everyone’s faces were shadowed with gloom.

The news of Pei Chuzhi’s elimination, delivered by the director, had already reached them.

When Xing Ye appeared at the office door, the other four fell silent. The air grew heavy, pierced only by the wind outside, whistling against the windowsill.

Dressed in black, solemn and expressionless, he sat down and let his gaze linger for a brief moment on the small rabbit backpack on the table before looking away as if nothing had happened.

“Zizi was killed by the killer?” Ding Yang, who knew him best, opened the conversation.

Xing Ye crossed his legs, sitting casually. “Mm.”

“Are you okay?” Ding Yang chose his words carefully, trying to lighten the mood with a joke. “It’s just a variety show. The killer had no choice. Don’t take it too seriously.”

Xing Ye looked at him slowly. “Why panic? Of course I know.”

He wasn’t petty and could play along, nor would he hold a grudge over a single recording. “It’s just for the show. Do you think I could actually find the killer and beat them up?”

Everyone: “……”

Your tone sounds exactly like you want to carve the killer into a thousand pieces!

Xing Ye lowered his brows, his fingers at his side gradually clenching into fists.

He knew better than anyone that this was only for show, and by professional instinct, he could predict that when this segment aired, countless CP fans would go wild with excitement.

The little girl really had limitless potential. In such a short time, she was no longer the awkward girl who had tried to tie his tie.

Annoying yet infuriating, she had effortlessly made him fall even deeper with just a single candy.

A faintly cold smile appeared in Xing Ye’s eyes.

He refused to recall how sweet the candy had been on his tongue and how bitter it made his heart.

Even knowing it was just a variety show, he felt a fleeting urge to lose control.

He blamed himself for not noticing the trap earlier and hated that he hadn’t noticed the subtle loopholes in the storyline before her.

After a moment of silence, Xing Ye spoke in a low voice. “Exchange clues?”

“Uh… yes, yes, yes, let’s start exchanging clues now.”

The director’s voice sounded hurriedly. He had been busy thinking about how to edit this episode in post-production. Pei Chuzhi volunteering to leave for Xing Ye’s sake would definitely be the biggest highlight of this season’s Who Is the Killer.

Ding Yang and Tong Yang had already revealed all their clues in the previous discussion round.

The remaining unrevealed clues, aside from Xing Ye, were only Xie Yiqian and Fu Xingying, who had already exchanged clues in the previous round.

The choice fell to Xing Ye.

He thought for a moment. “Let’s go with Teacher Xie.”

A flicker of surprise passed through Xie Yiqian’s eyes, but his tone remained calm. “Alright, let’s head to the corridor.”

Elsewhere in the lounge, Pei Chuzhi was alone, giving a backstage interview.

“Did I guess correctly? The killers really are the imitator and the serial killer?”

Her bright features were tinted with happiness. She curved her eyes and smiled at the camera. “Then my sacrifice was worthwhile.”

The production staff looked puzzled. “What if Xing Ye doesn’t follow your reasoning to solve the case?”

“He will,” Pei Chuzhi replied confidently. “I trust he can find the real killer.”

The producer flipped through the temporary outline. “Do you think he’s more likely to find the real killer? Otherwise, why not choose to survive yourself?”

Pei Chuzhi shook her head. “This is a mental competition show. It doesn’t matter whether I survive or he does. But…”

She turned her head toward the small screen showing Xing Ye standing in the corridor with one hand in his pocket, and playfully smiled. “The person who stays has more pressure, so let’s leave the hard work to him.”

The producer nodded knowingly, circling the point in the outline. When editing the behind-the-scenes footage, this could be used as a funny moment.

He had already planned to insert a picture of Xing Ye later, with question marks over his head and a subtitle: I thought you wanted to save me, but you actually want me to do the work?

Pei Chuzhi pressed her lips together, thinking that she was getting craftier; now she had learned to hide her true thoughts in front of the camera.

There was no intention of shifting the pressure onto Xing Ye—her instinct was pure: she couldn’t bear to see him eliminated in front of her.

If she were to put it even more selfishly, it was that she wanted to do something for Xing Ye, so that in the future, he might recall that someone had once risked everything to protect him.

All romances and variety shows were fake, but at least she had left him a bit of genuine emotion.

·

The second discussion round began.

Xing Ye had obviously been waiting for this moment. As soon as the director announced free discussion, he spoke directly: “I’ll start by explaining why Zizi was eliminated.”

From falling into the trap, to the gas being released, to Pei Chuzhi failing to answer, he summarized briefly, deliberately concealing the killer’s question and Pei Chuzhi’s last words before leaving.

Then he raised his eyes, scanning the others: “After I took the antidote, I escaped through the ventilation duct. So, during the evidence search, did any of you act separately?”

He trusted Pei Chuzhi’s judgment.

The imitator and the real serial killer didn’t know each other, so they couldn’t act together.

If someone could carry out that series of actions after they fell into the trap, that person must have had time to act alone.

“I was separated from Teacher Xie for a while,” Tong Yang timidly confessed. “We were in the first-floor monitoring room looking for footage—by the way, the monitors weren’t on—then he heard a sound outside and told me to lock the monitoring room door while he went out to check.”

Xie Yiqian didn’t deny her account. “I couldn’t tell which direction the sound came from, just that it was nearby on one of the floors. I thought about taking Tong Yang with me, but I worried it might be a trap set by the killer. The monitoring room door could be locked, so I let Tong Yang stay in a relatively safe place. Even if something happened, we wouldn’t both be harmed.”

“Did you find the source of the sound?” Xing Ye asked softly.

Xie Yiqian shook his head regretfully. “All the other rooms on the first floor were locked. I couldn’t get in or locate it. But soon after, I saw Ding Yang coming up from downstairs.”

“At that time, Fu Xingying and I were in the equipment control room on B2. I saw this on the ceiling beam,” Ding Yang said.

He awkwardly took a transparent sealed bag from his pocket. “There was some leftover powder, probably the poison. The killer must have thrown the packaging in the empty equipment control room.”

He scratched his head embarrassedly. “The beam was too high. Fu Xingying and I couldn’t reach it, so I looked for a ladder. B3 was full of unusable waste, so I started from B2 and went up. When I got to the first floor, I saw Teacher Xie. He helped once he heard about it. Finally, it took about ten minutes to find the ladder on the fourth floor.”

Tong Yang’s eyes widened as she realized a possibility. “But we don’t know where the ladder was placed. Maybe you and Teacher Xie went to B3 and closed the trap’s exit…”

She unconsciously hugged herself, as if frozen by the wind sneaking through the window crack.

“Now that you mention it,” Fu Xingying also grew suspicious, “it’s indeed possible you two acted together.”

Ding Yang was about to object when Xing Ye’s voice beat him to it.

“There is only one killer today.”

Xing Ye lifted his eyes and repeated Pei Chuzhi’s reasoning.

He never looked at anyone directly, staring instead at the window on the opposite wall, his voice low and even.

“This imitator wanted to find the serial killer from back then, so he didn’t kill me and Zizi outright. Instead, he eliminated those who weren’t the serial killer first.”

That was why the killer had asked: 【Did I do well?】

The imitator’s crude methods naturally couldn’t perfectly replicate the serial killer’s techniques.

Perhaps he wanted to provoke the real killer to appear, or perhaps, with a fan’s mindset, he wanted guidance from his idol. He deliberately exposed flaws just to meet the serial killer.

“So I believe the director’s statement that there are two killers doesn’t mean both would commit a crime today.”

Xing Ye curled his lips, his gaze sharp as he looked at someone across the room.

If the killer wanted to go to B3, he had to ensure he wouldn’t be seen along the way.

But the killer couldn’t control the movements of others, except for a partner accompanying him who needed to leave for a period for other reasons.

Tong Yang couldn’t do this; in the enclosed monitoring room, she couldn’t see where Xie Yiqian went, so she wouldn’t dare leave.

Ding Yang and Xie Yiqian acting together provided mutual alibis.

“Only you, Fu Xingying.”

Xing Ye tapped his fingers lightly on the table, his voice cold. “The three of them were all above the first floor. No one could see what you were doing on B2.”

Fu Xingying remained calm. “But why are you sure it’s me? Thinking the other way, Zizi’s elimination is also based solely on your testimony. Maybe you tricked her into the trap yourself?”

Xie Yiqian: “Wait a minute, you two are just speculating. Where’s the key evidence?”

He looked at Xing Ye, gesturing for patience. “Let me organize the current clues.”

“You and Zizi discovered the freezer. It’s highly likely that the serial killer stored the body in their own freezer before the factory closed. I find that very credible.”

“The two red crosses were drawn differently, proving that the killers from different periods are two separate people. I agree with that too.”

“But both you and Fu Xingying need to provide evidence so we can judge who the so-called imitator is.”

Fu Xingying smiled. “Actually, the answer is obvious. If Xing Ye determines that today’s killer acted alone, then that person can only be me.”

She lightly patted her thin shoulders and slender arms. “Because I’m a woman, I don’t have the strength to move Accountant Dong’s body from the fifth floor to the second floor.”

Her words, like a decisive hammer strike, caused the other three present to pause.

Ding Yang cleared his dry throat. “So… you’d even harm Zizi?” He looked at Xing Ye in shock.

Xing Ye glanced at him evenly.

His gaze didn’t linger on Ding Yang for long, drifting back a few inches carelessly.

“I’ve been thinking since earlier…”

He lifted his chin, signaling everyone to look outside. “The wind outside?”

Fu Xingying’s body tensed sharply.

The window frame’s lines reflected in Xing Ye’s dark pupils, making his sharply defined eyes even brighter.

Just as their thinking had been confined by the two killers, their evidence search had been limited by the factory’s interior space.

No one had thought to look at the factory’s outer wall.

If Xie Yiqian hadn’t mentioned hearing a sound on the first floor, Xing Ye himself would have had difficulty noticing it.

Xie Yiqian paused thoughtfully for a few seconds, then stood up and walked over, pushing open the window.

He leaned out, motion frozen.

Turning back, he stared at Fu Xingying. “On the outer wall of the finance office, there’s a set of pulleys.”

A set of pulleys, with ropes tied to pipes at the base of the first-floor wall, swaying in the wind and striking the pipes.

Using the mechanical advantage of the pulleys, it didn’t take much strength to lower a body with a rope from the fifth floor to the second-floor meeting room.

When the fifth-floor window opened, faint “clang” sounds were heard, ringing in everyone’s ears.

Tong Yang suddenly understood. “So the sound Teacher Xie heard on the first floor… was this.” She also stood and leaned to the window to look down. “If we go to the meeting room now, we should be able to find some traces by the window, right?”

Xing Ye looked at Fu Xingying. “You could claim complete ignorance of the pulley. Anyone could have used it to move the body from the fifth floor to the second. But I want to ask one more question.”

“Go ahead.”

“Who found the meeting room key in the finance office?” Xing Ye paused briefly. “Or rather, who led whom to find it?”

In the temporary lounge outside the factory, Pei Chuzhi, watching the live feed on the screen, had a gleam of joy in her eyes.

She tilted her face slightly and spoke in an exultant tone to the director off-camera. “See, I told you Xing Ye would notice this detail.”

“Mm-hmm, yes, yes.”

The director replied perfunctorily, then couldn’t resist saying, “Teacher Pei, can we focus on the deduction? You’ve been praising him for quite a while now. Take a short break.”

Pei Chuzhi: “…Oh.”

Author’s note: Thanks to all the little angels who cast Bawang votes or watered the “nutrition” from 2019-12-27 21:52:03 to 2019-12-28 20:37:46~

Thanks to the little angels who cast landmine votes: Little Fairy? 1.

Thanks to the little angels who watered the “nutrition”: Su Yao, it’s Tang Jin 10 bottles; Chang Yuan 6 bottles; Wanwan, Earphone, Gulu the Great 5 bottles; Taisis 2 bottles.

Thank you all so much for your support. I will continue to work hard!