Chapter 64

The living room remained as it was when everyone had left it. Several plates of snacks and six cups of now-cold coffee sat on the table. Jiang Xiao’s cup was almost empty, only a shallow layer remaining at the bottom, while Si Lin had only taken a few sips.

The others had also drunk varying amounts.

“Oh?” Lu Moxing said expressionlessly. “Why is it only the two of them who were poisoned? What about the others? Was the poison in the coffee?”

“Exactly,” Ji Yanli said. “We all ate outside, so that’s untestable. I checked the food and coffee on the table. Poison was placed in all of our cups.”

“We were all poisoned?” He Chen frowned slightly. “But we all went in together. Why did only Jiang Xiao react?”

“Because the dosage was different,” Ji Yanli said. “The poisoner was likely afraid of missing the target, yet also feared I would detect it, so they fairly poisoned everyone.”

“Since Jiang Xiao naturally enjoys drinking coffee, he ingested more poison than the rest. That’s why you only experienced mild symptoms, while Jiang Xiao’s reaction was the most severe.”

Jiang Xiao: “…”

“In other words, the primary target was Jiang Xiao,” He Chen said, before discovering a blind spot. “But the fact that Jiang Xiao likes coffee isn’t something everyone knows.”

“If I recall correctly, you were the one who brewed this coffee?” Lu Moxing directed this at Ji Yanli.

Jiang Xiao sensed something wrong and quickly said, “Wait, actually, I don’t particularly like coffee. I was just thirsty and drank a bit more.”

Everyone: “…”

“In that case, the poisoner might not have been targeting Jiang Xiao, but all of us.” He Chen was pensive. “They wanted to take us all out?”

“But he drank a lot too, why is he fine?” Si Mingyu suddenly found a blind spot, pointing at Lu Moxing’s cup. “He drank more than half.”

Everyone’s gaze returned to the coffee cups. Indeed, aside from Jiang Xiao, Lu Moxing had drunk the most, yet he showed no signs of poisoning whatsoever.

“Since everyone’s cup had poison, the killer would never risk dying themselves. So they likely took the antidote beforehand.” Si Mingyu, who had been silent a moment ago, now had surprisingly clear logic, his accusation pointing straight at Lu Moxing. “You must be the poisoner!”

Lu Moxing said expressionlessly, “If I were the poisoner, would I be stupid enough not to even pretend?”

“You really feel nothing?” Jiang Xiao sized up Lu Moxing, then suddenly asked, “Do you need Doctor Ji to mix you some medicine?”

“I don’t feel anything,” Lu Moxing looked at Jiang Xiao. “Are you worried about me?”

“Don’t flatter yourself, okay?” Si Mingyu said angrily. “If you died, we’d have to deal with the body. A complete waste of time!”

“Stop arguing,” Jiang Xiao was truly exasperated. He realized Lu Moxing was essentially a walking argument machine, capable of starting a fight with anyone, anywhere, which was quite something. He thought for a moment, then looked back at Ji Yanli and asked a crucial question. “So the others weren’t poisoned because they drank less?”

Ji Yanli, who had seemed deep in thought for a while, heard Jiang Xiao’s question and shook his head. “No. The triggering conditions of this poison are very strange, one might even say stringent. And that’s precisely why Boss Lu wasn’t poisoned.”

“What do you mean?” He Chen asked.

After hearing Ji Yanli’s words, Jiang Xiao almost instantly understood. He and Ji Yanli spoke simultaneously:

“—Roses.”

“Correct.” Ji Yanli nodded. “This poison is called ‘Rose Funeral’. It doesn’t activate upon ingestion. The toxicity is only triggered when both conditions are met: the person drinks the poison and then smells the scent of roses.”

“After being poisoned, one becomes dazed, dizzy, slow to react, and numb. The symptoms progress from mild to severe. By the time you realize it, the poison has already taken deep effect.”

Jiang Xiao, having already experienced the symptoms, nodded with lingering fear. “…Yes, that’s exactly right.”

“You seem very familiar with this poison,” Lu Moxing narrowed his eyes slightly, his words carrying a cold, judgmental tone. “And this kind of poison doesn’t seem like something just anyone would know about.” Saying this, he turned to Jiang Xiao. “Do you know it?”

Compared to common poisons like arsenic, cyanide, or other compounds, a poison called “Rose Funeral” sounded almost like a made-up name. And it required smelling roses to take effect—what kind of principle was that?

Jiang Xiao hesitantly said he “wasn’t very familiar with it,” while both Si Mingyu and He Chen said they didn’t know it.

Huh? Jiang Xiao was dumbfounded. The way Ji Yanli spoke about it so matter-of-factly, he’d assumed it was a common poison in this world! So it wasn’t!

“It’s normal not to know,” Ji Yanli said. “Because it’s my research product, still a prototype. The paper hasn’t even been published yet.”

Jiang Xiao’s mouth twitched. “…”

“Yours?” Lu Moxing said coldly. “Who casually carries poison around? Besides, you’ve just admitted the poisoner is you. Is there anything left to discuss?”

He Chen said, “Wait, this matter still has doubts…”

Lu Moxing’s gaze swept over He Chen like a sharp blade. “You’re defending him. Are you two in cahoots?”

“The most suspicious person right now should still be you, Boss Lu.” He Chen smiled gently, clearly not taking Lu Moxing’s accusation to heart. “Compared to whose poison it was, the fact that someone drank it and didn’t get poisoned is far more suspicious, isn’t it?”

The corner of Lu Moxing’s mouth curved into a smirk, but his eyes held no laughter. He said coldly, “By your logic, isn’t it obvious? At that time, you were all inside the room. I was standing at the doorway. I didn’t smell any flower scent, so naturally, I wasn’t poisoned.”

“But doesn’t that make it even more thought-provoking?” He Chen continued. “Si Mingyu called all of us, but Boss Lu was the last one downstairs. If you knew about the poison beforehand and wanted to avoid being poisoned, you’d choose to come down late. That’s also a possibility, isn’t it?”

“Right,” Si Mingyu looked at Lu Moxing with similar suspicion. “You said you had something to do and would come down later. What could be more important than someone dying? Could it be you were making excuses?”

“You didn’t mention anyone dying at that time,” Lu Moxing retorted. “So why are you changing your story now? Hmm?”

Each of these men argued with more reason than the last. Jiang Xiao listened carefully to their statements, silently pondering.

Right now, the focus of suspicion had fallen squarely on Lu Moxing. There were two suspicions: first, Lu Moxing took an antidote beforehand and was therefore unaffected; second, Lu Moxing hadn’t taken an antidote but chose to arrive late to avoid being poisoned.

But even if he was poisoned, it shouldn’t be a problem, right? After all, Ji Yanli had the antidote.

Jiang Xiao looked at Ji Yanli. “What do you think?”

Ji Yanli spread his hands. “I checked just now. Some of the poison is indeed missing.” He took out a small black bottle. Held up to the light, one could see a transparent, colorless liquid inside, now less than half full. A label was affixed to the bottle, which read:

Rose Funeral (Test Product)

Colorless, odorless, easily soluble liquid. No adverse reaction when consumed with other liquids. Store away from light.

Adverse symptoms: After ten minutes, upon smelling rose fragrance, symptoms such as dizziness, confusion, sluggishness, and numbness occur. In small doses, it can be used as an anesthetic. In large doses, it is life-threatening.

“I don’t know who sneaked into my room and took some of the medicine,” Ji Yanli said. “Last night was manageable, but today, all four of us left the cabin. Only He Chen and Si Mingyu stayed inside. Can you two provide alibis for each other?”

He Chen said helplessly, “We weren’t together every single moment, either.”

“Then the two of you should have the greatest suspicion.”

“Everyone’s luggage was in the utility room yesterday; someone could have tampered with it there,” Si Mingyu said. “During the time it was moved to your room, did anyone touch this bottle of poison?”

Ji Yanli pondered. “Indeed. I only opened the bottle just now and found some missing.”

“So anyone could have done it.”

“Anesthetic?” Jiang Xiao turned the black bottle over, reading the label.

“Yes,” Ji Yanli nodded. “It was intended as a research alternative to anesthetics. I didn’t expect someone to use it as a poison. And very unfortunately…”

“I only brought one dose of the antidote.”

“One dose?” Jiang Xiao frowned. “If multiple people were poisoned, the situation would be very bad…”

“Yes, because making the antidote is somewhat troublesome. And my intention was just to continue research, not to give it to anyone,” Ji Yanli said. “I never imagined someone would steal this bottle and put it in the water. If someone were truly poisoned, aside from the antidote, the only options would be gastric lavage or forced vomiting.”

“Why would you carry this thing around?” Lu Moxing asked again.

“For research,” Ji Yanli smiled helplessly. “Apart from seeing patients, a doctor needs to write papers in their spare time. Even on leave, one can’t slack off.”

…This world is way too realistic!

“Then the situation is quite clear now,” Si Mingyu said. “Because there was only one dose of antidote, you drank the poison and then arrived late to prevent yourself from being poisoned…”

“No.” Jiang Xiao interrupted Si Mingyu, shaking his head. “If you think that way, many problems arise.”

“First, he could have just taken the antidote. Why leave it behind?”

“Second, since the poison was in the coffee, and everyone is unfamiliar with each other’s preferences, he could have easily pretended not to like coffee to avoid being poisoned.”

Jiang Xiao’s logic was very clear. He spoke calmly and deliberately:

“Third, aside from Ji Yanli, no one else was with him brewing the coffee. How could anyone tamper with it?”

Lu Moxing seemed slightly surprised by Jiang Xiao’s words. He raised an eyebrow, then made an “Mm” sound, seemingly agreeing with Jiang Xiao’s rebuttals.

Si Mingyu was stumped by Jiang Xiao’s questions. He was speechless for a moment before glancing at Jiang Xiao and saying reluctantly, “Anyway, you just don’t want to believe Lu Moxing is the poisoner. You’re making excuses for him.”

“Indeed,” He Chen mused, asking suspiciously, “If the poisoner wanted to kill everyone, why not steal the antidote too? Did they forget in their haste?”

No one knew the answer to that question.

“The coffee clue is a dead end for now,” Ji Yanli said. “We need more evidence and details to deduce who the killer is.”

Jiang Xiao shook his head. “I might have a way to find out who the killer is.”

Ji Yanli was surprised. “How?”

“I can’t guarantee it will work,” Jiang Xiao said. “I’ll tell you later.”

Ji Yanli nodded. “The crucial question right now is: Are the person who poisoned the coffee and the person who used the dart mechanism to kill Si Lin the same person?”

“You got one thing wrong,” Si Mingyu said, his voice low and somber. “The person they wanted to kill wasn’t Si Lin.”

“What do you mean?” He Chen asked.

The others all detected something abnormal in Si Mingyu’s statement.

“Si Lin was the last one to enter the room, and the production team strictly mandated the order we entered,” Ji Yanli said. “If the killer was targeting him, controlling the timing would be very simple.” He added, “We also found a delay mechanism in the media room. Obviously, the killer used that device to control the timing.”

Delay mechanism.

Ji Yanli’s words confirmed Jiang Xiao’s suspicion. He felt that earlier dizziness wash over his mind again, but he absolutely could not give up now.

Had Si Lin guessed someone would try to kill him, which was why he suddenly decided to switch positions with him at that moment?

Jiang Xiao recalled the scene just before they entered the media room. Si Lin hadn’t explained his reason; he’d just shaken his head at him. Jiang Xiao had thought Si Lin had discovered something, but did Si Lin truly know that what awaited him was death?

Si Lin might have made thorough preparations, but he could never have anticipated the poison in the coffee. The dizziness caused by the combination of poison and roses had slowed his reactions, making him unable to dodge the poison dart that pierced his chest…

At that moment, did Si Lin regret switching positions with him?

The more Jiang Xiao thought about those recent events, the more he felt every one of Si Lin’s actions was full of implication. Perhaps he had long been prepared to face death, but didn’t tell him.

Because he knew Jiang Xiao would never let him go to his death.

Jiang Xiao’s throat felt blocked by some hard lump, an indescribable pain washing over him.

“Brother?” Si Mingyu’s worried voice brought him back to reality. “Are you dizzy again?”

“I’m fine,” Jiang Xiao exhaled deeply. Finding the killer was the most important thing now. He closed his eyes, reconstructing the dice roll results for the six of them. “The original order was: Ji Yanli, He Chen, Lu Moxing, me, Si Mingyu, and Si Lin. Si Lin should have been the last to enter the room, but there was a slip-up…”

“I should have gone in first, but Si Lin switched the order with me, so he entered first.” Jiang Xiao said in a low voice, “If Si Lin hadn’t switched with me, the person dead right now… should be me.”

It should have been Jiang Xiao, whose mortality rate had already reached fifty percent.

Not Si Lin, who should have been living safely and securely.