Chapter 103: Lin Xiu Got Stabbed

Ten minutes later, the two came downstairs. Tang Shen held an extra set of pajamas in his hand, along with an evidence bag containing that fiber.

“It’s indeed Miss Wang Xue,” he said. “We just compared the fingerprints on the fourth-floor balcony door lock, and they all matched. The process of the crime was exactly as Inspector Fang described.”

Wang Xue, as the murderer, stayed in a room on the fourth floor just like the victim and could not leave before the show ended.

“Being a criminal is such a huge pressure,” Zhong Jinghuan said. “Not only do you have to plan a murder, but you also have to avoid showing any flaws under the vice squad officers’ interrogation and face it all calmly.”

The others who had drawn the criminal card all felt the same.

“One can only say this person’s psychological quality was too poor,” Brother Ka said. “If it were me committing a crime, I wouldn’t be as stupid as her and admit it directly.”

After he said that, he realized he had spoken wrongly. Fortunately, Lin Xiu was not in the living room, or he certainly would have offended her.

But he still tried to patch it up. “But she’s so kind; she doesn’t seem like a murderer at all. She just said her impression was pretty vague.”

“Those are all excuses for not being able to bear the condemnation of one’s conscience,” Zhong Jinghuan said. “There’s nothing more to say now. The two cases were perfectly solved. Tomorrow, we’ll see if what Xue Chengge said is true or false, and whether we can solve Director Xu’s case.”

Several people got up one after another, preparing to return to their rooms.

“Have you seen Sister Lin Xiu?” Li Fei looked around but saw no one.

“She went out to the corridor with us to get some fresh air earlier,” Xiao Fen said. “But when Wang Xue and Deputy Team Leader Tang went downstairs, she didn’t follow them back in. She probably couldn’t handle the fact that her good friend was the murderer.”

“Wasn’t it already snowing outside? Why stay out there?” Li Fei opened the floor-to-ceiling window and walked out. She shook the person’s shoulder.

“Sis, we’re heading upstairs.”

Lin Xiu’s head drooped down, and she toppled from the chair.

“Ah—”

Li Fei and the hundreds of thousands of viewers in her live stream chat screamed.

Upon closer inspection, there was no blood, only a barely noticeable needle mark on her neck.

【Next time, can you give some warning? How is a variety show with no real deaths this scary?】

【You can tell from the first line you haven’t watched the first two episodes. This is nothing.】

【Brother Fen is probably still in the midst of ramping up the heat.】

【This case really wasn’t him; he was busy shoulder-to-shoulder with Fang Yama.】

【Not worthy of the CP I ship; they really know how to make sugar.】

【Look at this scene— so clean. You can tell it’s not Brother Fen’s handiwork.】

Not only Tang Shen and the others—even some viewers who didn’t squat in Xiao Fen’s live stream to watch the crime scenes knew his style by now.

Li Fei’s scream drew Fang Si Ting and several guests who hadn’t left yet. When they saw Lin Xiu collapsed unconscious on the chair, they were all shocked.

“How is that possible? When we all returned to the living room, she was perfectly fine and greeted us, saying she’d come in a bit later,” Jiang Xu said. He had gone out to get some air with her earlier.

“That moment, I happened to glance at the antique clock in the outer hall. It was 10:14 p.m.,” Song Hui said.

Tang Shen crouched down to check. “There are no signs of struggle. The murderer’s sneak attack was very successful.”

“There’s an empty teacup on the round table nearby,” he recalled. “I remember that right after you all came in—no more than two minutes later, when Wang Xue had just been taken upstairs to the confinement room—Lin Xiu called out from the living room for a cup of hot tea.”

“That’s the one,” Li Fei said. “I knew she was feeling down, so I took the tea from the servant and brought it to her myself. At that time, she just looked a bit sad. She told me that she and Sister Wang Xue shared a room but hadn’t noticed anything unusual about her. She never imagined that the person who wanted to stay with her because she was scared was her—and that the one who committed the crime on the first night was her too.”

“You’re all making a big fuss over nothing. It’s not a real dead person, and not a real murderer,” Zhong Jinghuan said.

“What do you know? Even losing a card game can make you feel sad—especially for someone with a strong competitive spirit,” Li Fei said.

“You didn’t slip her a needle while bringing her the tea, did you?” Zhong Jinghuan said. “Aren’t you the criminal?”

“I…” Her identity as the criminal had been exposed by this guy that morning when they checked the tea room, so there was no need to hide it. “I am indeed the criminal, but I didn’t stab Sister Lin Xiu.”

“If you’re the last one who saw Lin Xiu fully conscious, you’re very suspicious,” Tang Shen said.

“No, he wasn’t the last one,” Song Hui recalled. “After that, Wang Xue came to say goodbye and was then taken upstairs by Bai Zhu.”

Fang Si Ting went upstairs to question Wang Xue and came back down with her statement.

“Wang Xue was perfectly alive when she left and even spoke to her.”

Li Fei let out a long sigh of relief. “See? How could I stab someone right out in the open like that?”

The fans in the live stream chat chimed in agreement.

【Exactly, our Fei Fei wouldn’t have the brains for that.】

【For a moment, I couldn’t tell if you guys are real fans or fake ones.】

“I have no motive either,” Li Fei said. “Why would I stab a senior out of nowhere?”

Everyone knew that doing this would offend people. Even as criminals, when choosing targets, they usually prioritized outsiders or minor roles first.

She still had that much discernment.

“I remember this morning when Sister Lin Xiu just exposed that you snore in your sleep,” the Internet Famous Doctor joked. “Doesn’t that give you a reason to stab her?”

“If we’re talking motive, Big Brother Xue, who stayed in the upstairs room all night, has even more reason,” Li Fei said with a laugh. “He didn’t show his face all night, climbed down from the third floor, and silently stabbed Sis. Wouldn’t that be even more reasonable?”

“There are no footprints in the snow outside,” Fang Si Ting said, shutting down that line of speculation.

“Anyway, believe it or not, I didn’t stab Sis,” Li Fei said confidently. “If you have to bring up motive, Director Xu, Madam Lu, and Xue Chengge all had more reason to take her out early—to stop her loose mouth from spilling everything.”

The guests on site exchanged glances and fell into awkward silence again.

【What did Actress Lin say? How come I don’t know?】

【I just remember her rebutting Xue Chengge a couple times in the afternoon. Nothing else.】

【That’s what’s suspicious. Actress Lin is famous for her outrageous comments, but her combat power has tanked in this show.】

【She probably can’t afford to offend the Lu Family. If she messes up this super popular show, the Lu Family could totally destroy her.】

【Tsk, all about capital.】

【No wonder there’s such big gossip about Madam Lu cheating with her assistant, but she didn’t say a word, totally out of character.】

【Her “daring to speak” depends on the situation. She’s not stupid.】

【Suspect you’re cursing that bouncing little clown next to Li Fei.】

The “little clown” Zhong Jinghuan, fearless as a newborn calf, went straight to the point. “Are you saying that one of them knows those people’s secrets and, not wanting to be exposed like Madam Lu on the show, chose to stab Sister Lin Xiu?”

“I didn’t say that!” Li Fei yelled as if her tail had been stepped on. “Don’t slander me like that.”

“Then just admit it. You stabbed her.”

“It really wasn’t me.” Li Fei was so wrongly accused she was about to cry.

Tang Shen had just finished collecting fingerprints. He picked up the teacup and sniffed it, but it was pointless—even if there was a drug inside, it was colorless and odorless; no smell at all.

But his action inspired Jiang Xu, who had been silent nearby. He quietly slipped away from the crowd and headed upstairs.

“Wait, not long after Wang Xue said goodbye, didn’t you go outside too?” Lu Jin pointed at the stand-up comedian. “What did you go to the corridor for?”

“I just went to get some air,” the stand-up comedian said. He had no idea how the fire had turned to him. “If Young Master Lu was watching me, you’d know it was only about two minutes. At that time, Actress Lin was still perfectly fine, leaning back in her chair with her eyes closed to rest.”

“Which teacup did you drink from just now?” Fang Si Ting suddenly asked.

Since no one had left yet, the servants hadn’t cleared the cups.

Seeing him frozen, several guests came over and claimed their respective teacups from earlier.

Fang Si Ting put on gloves and picked up the saucer of the remaining cup of tea.

The stand-up comedian’s face paled, then suddenly flushed red. Ashamed and embarrassed, he said, “It… it’s mine.”

【Sigh, normal people can’t handle the psychological torment after stabbing someone. He confessed so quickly.】

【Ironclad evidence. No way to argue. What else can he do but confess?】

“I saw Wang Xue stab Wang Heng, so I wanted to stab Wang Xue’s partner too.”

He then explained the crime.

He used the excuse of getting some air and carried the teacup to Lin Xiu’s side. Originally, he planned to swap his drugged teacup with hers during conversation, but since she ignored him, he simply swapped them directly.

So, this teacup he had indoors bore both his and Lin Xiu’s fingerprints. A quick check would reveal it.

“You say she ignored you?” Fang Si Ting said.

“Yeah.” He gave a self-deprecating laugh. “She’s an actress; maybe she thought I’d ask for an autograph. I said, want one? I’ll sign one for free. She said no need—such good napkin paper, but a bit rough on the face.”

Some viewers and guests laughed.

“Right? How awkward is that,” the stand-up comedian said with a shrug and a smile.

“She had already been stabbed by then,” Peng Xiaoxiao said. “That’s why she ignored you.”

“How didn’t you notice?” Zhong Jinghuan said.

“Oh, so that’s it. First time meeting an actress— I was too excited to notice,” the stand-up comedian said with exaggerated expression. “At the time, I was thinking, when I become an actress, I’ll be even more arrogant than her.”

Once the laughter around died down, he continued. “Right? The men’s lane is too cutthroat; can’t get manly enough. No choice, have to compete in the women’s lane. She became an actress through acting skills; I’m through tech—and maybe change nationalities too.”

The viewers and guests burst into laughter.

“Thank you everyone.” The stand-up comedian bowed amid the cheers and applause.

“Don’t rush upstairs yet,” Peng Xiaoxiao said with a smile. “You put the drug in the teacup afterward; the needle mark on her neck was before. The real culprit is someone else.”

“Yeah, got too excited telling jokes and almost took the fall for the murderer.”

The atmosphere lightened up considerably.

“Go ask Wang Xue again,” Fang Si Ting said.

Peng Xiaoxiao nodded and went upstairs.

Lu Jin laughed. “Since criminals strike when people are alone, how about we all stick together starting tomorrow?”

“I think that’s a good idea,” someone agreed.

By the time Peng Xiaoxiao came back down, they had confirmed it was Wang Xue again.

The reason was that she and Lin Xiu were good partners, and being locked in the room alone was too lonely. She wanted Lin Xiu to keep her company.

When Lin Xiu woke up a few hours later and heard this reason, she found it ridiculous. The way she looked at Wang Xue carried something different.

What puzzled everyone was where her injectant had come from.

In any case, the first day passed amid this storm of blood and violence.

In the bedroom where Xu Haokong had stayed before, Jiang Xu checked the trash can. Several hours had passed, and a few dead ants had appeared around it. He roughly understood the case.