Cracking Chapter

  "I'm really sorry, it's so late and I've brought everyone here." Sanqi scratched his head and continued: "Because now I want to present the entire case from start to finish to everyone."

  Everyone looked at Sanqi together, wondering what kind of reasoning he could come up with.

  "There are four suspicious points in this case: the locked room, the murder weapon, the time and the motive. The deceased was a recluse who rarely went out and had very few social interactions. There were seven people with motives to kill the deceased, namely the deceased's brother Cheng Wenxi, the deceased's housekeeper Lin Shu, director Mu Yufeng, actor Qian Cao Zhenai, Wu Chengyue, Bo Ben and myself."

  "Ah?" When Sanqi said he was also a suspect, everyone couldn't help but be shocked.

  "Alright, let's rule things out one by one. First of all, I have a solid alibi. This person next to me is my witness. Tongtong, didn't I stay in the house watching TV after I got back?"

  "Yes, because some people are very lazy." Tengteng also took the opportunity to elaborate.

  "Cough! There's no need to say more. If the police don't believe this fool, they can go investigate the neighbors nearby. Someone among them should be able to vouch for me." Sanqi took advantage of this small "speaking right" and immediately retorted back. "Next are Cheng Wenhui and Lin Shu, these two were the first discoverers after hearing the deceased's cry for help, so they also have alibis. I went to Mr. Bopeng's house, Director Mu Yufeng arrived at 8:47, just like Mr. Bopeng, neither of them has an alibi."

  "Wait a minute, I have an alibi. That TV detective drama. I can tell you the plot..." Boben argued strongly.

  "Don't you know what 'alibi' means?" Sanqi said coldly, leaving Boben speechless. "Although I just checked with the telecommunications company and found that you made a long-distance call to Japan at 8:37. However, the crime occurred at 9:30, which means that neither of us has an alibi, Miss Chigusa Marino. Moreover, some cigarette butts were found near Miss Zhirong's house, which have been identified as yours, Mr. Wu Chengyue. Furthermore, someone witnessed you waiting for someone there at 9:30. Therefore, the murderer is one of the four people: Director Mu Yufeng, actor Chigusa Marino, Wu Chengyue, and Boben!" Sanqi stopped here, looking into everyone's eyes.

  "Hahaha……" Sanqi seemed to have encountered the most laughable thing in his life, and tears of laughter flowed down. "Sorry sorry, it seems I'm not quite suitable for acting. I'm dying from laughter. Mr. Cheng, did my words just now make you very happy?" Everyone's gaze turned to Cheng Wenxi.

  "Mr. Tian, what does this mean?" Cheng Wenxi was very calm and didn't look tense at all.

  "I mentioned earlier that there are 4 suspicious points. The first is the murder weapon, I've had a question since you told me about Miss Zhi Ling's death attire. If the deceased was hanged to death, a situation would occur, does everyone know what it is?" San Qi saw that everyone was silent, so he walked behind Tong Tong, took out a rope and put it around his neck, then slightly tightened it.

  "Die, three seven! What are you doing!" Tongtong desperately pulled the rope around his neck outward with his hands.

  "Halt! Don't move!" Sanqi finally let go "Understood?"

  "I see! You're referring to the 'Yoshikawa Line', right? I've seen it before in a Japanese detective novel." Ou Yang Xuan suddenly came to his senses.

  "What is Yoshikawa Line?" Tongtong still didn't understand.

  "When someone's neck is being strangled, no matter who it is, they will pull the strap or rope outward with their hands like you did. At this time, the victim's fingernails will generally scratch the skin on their neck, and the resulting mark is called 'Kijikawa line'. However, everyone despises me, I learned from my family's 'Little Conan', haha." Sanqi obviously doesn't think it's shameful, but rather glorious. "Why would there be blood at the corner of the deceased's mouth? I've seen the autopsy report, and the deceased was hit on the back of the head with a blunt object, which means that the deceased was hanged after being knocked unconscious and unable to resist. The second question is 'time'. Exactly when did the deceased die? Mr. Wenxi and Mr. Boben should both be very clear about this. It was around 8:30, just after Lin Sao left."

  "What evidence do you have? Don't forget, that was a miserable cry from inside the house." Cheng Wenxi finally couldn't bear it anymore.

  "Alright, since you only want to turn around elegantly and aren't afraid of crashing into the wall magnificently, I'll satisfy you! The evidence is Lin's testimony. Lin, I remember you said that you saw a dark brown blood stain on Miss Zhi Ling's mouth corner, and felt a chill, right?"

  "That's right."

  That's why Mr. Wenxi had to wait for an extra hour.

  "Delaying the time of death." Ouyang Xuan muttered to himself, propping up his chin: "Generally speaking, the time of death is determined through two methods. One is autopsy; the other is witness testimony. The meditation room has air conditioning, and if the temperature drops, it will slow down the stiffening of the corpse, causing our misjudgment. If we add to that the witness's statement 'I heard the deceased's voice at 9:30', then the time of death would be extended by an hour. This way, there is an alibi. The dark brown color of the blood on the corner of the deceased's mouth indicates that the blood has dried, meaning the murder occurred before 9:30."

  "Ding dong~ Ah, I'm right! Once the time is locked down, Director Mu, Qian Cao, Lin Shu, and Wu Xiansheng's suspicions are gone." Saying that San Qi looked at Bopeng "If I'm not mistaken, Mr. Bopeng has also been here, right?"

  "No, nothing." Bo Ben's demeanor at this time was even less calm than Cheng Wenxi, who had been directly pointed out by Sanqi.

  "Isn't it? Lin Sao, is the foreigner you mentioned him?"

  "Looking at the back view...... it seems like." Lin Sao didn't bite her tongue.

  "Ah, I knew it would be like this, so I had a second plan prepared." He took out a small wooden piece from his pocket. "Mr. Bohemian, doesn't your family have a sandalwood box with a chain inside? If I'm not mistaken, this piece of wood is from that very box. Want to know where it was found?" Sanqi smiled at him.

  Bopeng's forehead had already beaded with cold sweat "Where?"

  "At the scene of the crime! If we take that box for examination now, there will definitely be a blood reaction. And it's the victim Miss Zhi Ling's blood."

  "Thud!" Boben knelt down on the ground "I didn't want to kill her. I was careless..."

  "Idiot! Everyone said the deceased was hanged to death, did you hang him?" Seeing Boben's pale face, Sanqi couldn't help but laugh.

  "Right, right. It wasn't me who killed him. Hehe." Boben seemed to come back to life again.

  "Attempted murder is also punishable by law, and if you're not careful, you'll become an accomplice to murder." Ouyang Xuan said coldly, "The law will never let off any criminal."

  "Let's continue with the third doubt. Where did the sealed room come from, huh? Ah, when it comes to this point, I have to admire Mr. Wenxi. You're not a good detective, but you're a terrible killer. After seeing Miss Zhiling get knocked out, you harbored murderous intentions. Just like Captain Ouyang said earlier, you saw Lin Shu enter the door and then pretended to arrive, but in fact, you arrived even earlier than Mr. Boren. At 9:30, you asked Lin Shu to call Miss Zhiling. At that time, the phone would play a 'scream'."

  "Did he set that scream and cry for help as his ringtone?" Ouyang Xuan's reaction was also quick.

  "This is impossible. Lin Sao, didn't you get through on that phone call?" Cheng Wenxi asked with a sly smile.

  "It's like that, they're busy on the other end." Lin Sao confirmed this statement.

  "Good idea! I also figured this out later. Inside Pandora's box were... two mobile phones, that's the answer. Actually, it's very simple to operate. First, set your phone to scream and rescue sounds, you're filming a detective drama, these sound effects are essential. Then, put your phone in the deceased's hand, while telling Lin Auntie to make a call, you also use Miss Zhi Ling's phone to dial your own phone. This will create an 'unanswered' scream. Because your and Miss Zhi Ling's phones are the same, they won't be discovered or exposed. When you and Lin Auntie arrive at the meditation room, you can use an axe to chop open the wooden door instead of breaking it in, this is also to avoid people discovering that the handbag lock was locked later. You first use the key to lock the door, after chopping it open, you send Lin Auntie away, and within these few dozen seconds, you do four things: 1. Swap back the phones. 2. Put back the key. 3. Lock the handbag lock. 4. Open the window. This way, a sealed room that can only be opened from the inside is formed."

  "You're talking nonsense! I had no reason to kill my sister, you have no evidence!" Cheng Wenxi was now hysterical.

  "This is the fourth doubt - motive." Sanqi said calmly: "Mr. Bohan had the idea of killing Miss Zhirong because he had a handle in her hand. Am I right?"

  Bo Ben's smile faltered "What evidence do I have?"

  "Zi once said: Don't take my tolerance of you as a capital for your shamelessness!" Sanqi sighed and said to him, "You're not even a German at all, because you can't even understand the most basic German. You thought I was speaking French. So I'm sure you're a thorough Chinese. It's just that your father is a foreigner, and your mother... according to my speculation, is a... hostess."

  "Ah! ~~ Don't say it! I don't want to hear!" Boben had already fallen into madness.

  "You were threatened by Miss Chih-ling and had no choice but to obey her and help her ruin the relationship between Miss Chika and Mr. Wen-hsi."

  "So what I saw last time was......" Wu Chengyue also understood.

  "That's right, it was Mr. Bopeng himself who wasn't wrong, only the two of them weren't a couple. As for that day, Mr. Bopeng went to Miss Zhi Ling's house. Should be because of 'that sentence'?"

  "What's going on?" Ou Yang Xuan asked San Qi.

  "This Mu Dao should know."

  "Me?"

  "Did you forget? What did she say about you that day?"

  "Scrambled eggs, scrambled eggs. Aren't you afraid that your wife will turn into a 'chicken' if she eats it?" The words echoed in everyone's ears.

  "I get it! This is a case of 'the speaker means nothing, but the listener takes it to heart'. It seems that Boben has just decided to go and kill someone." Mu Yufeng seemed to understand.

  "It's not entirely accurate to say that. Mr. Bohan should have gone to ask Miss Zhiling to let him off, but later the two of them might have had a falling out, and in a fit of anger, Mr. Bohan knocked Miss Zhiling unconscious. But neither of them expected that their conversation would be overheard by Mr. Wenxi. When he heard that the reason he couldn't get along with Miss Qiancao was because his own sister was obstructing him, he began to hatch this plan."

  After saying this, Sanqi paused for a moment, and there was a long silence.

  "Miss Zhiling didn't hate Miss Qiancao because she hated Japanese people. On the contrary, it was because she hated Miss Qiancao that she transferred her anger to all of Japan. The reason she hated Miss Qiancao was... jealousy. It was a kind of anger towards the person she loved for liking another woman."

  "What? Is Miss Zhi Ling's boyfriend...?" Ouyang Xuan almost didn't dare believe his ears.

  Sanqi nodded slowly "Yes. This person is Cheng Wenhui. Director Mu, I remember you said that Miss Zhirong told Mr. Wenhui 'I will leave everything to you', right? I think the meaning here is not just referring to property, but also... herself."

  "Nonsense! You... you have no evidence! I'll sue you for slander!" Cheng Wenxi's eyes turned red.

  "It's useless." Sanqi said heavily: "Miss Zhiling was already three months pregnant when she died. Just do a DNA test and everything will be clear."

  Cheng Wenxi collapsed to the ground, her eyes dull and her mouth muttering "Impossible, pregnancy, impossible..."

  "Just like you said in the play, 'No matter how well a crime is planned, it's never the criminal who gets to laugh last, because there's only one truth!'"