Chapter 106: Hu Juan’s Confession

“What was Xue Chengge doing bringing this glue to the show?”

“Maybe to stick some daily items or something?”

“Does he live that frugally?”

Tang Shen had no idea what it was for either, but he extracted fingerprints from it first anyway.

Fang Si Ting seemed to think of something and randomly pointed at Zhong Jinghuan.

“Take off your clothes.”

“That’s so direct.”

“You can skip it if you want. Then the shower water will just drench you later.”

“Scene simulation for staging a body, right? I’m familiar with this.”

Zhong Jinghuan quickly stripped down to just his underwear. “How do I lie there?”

Fang Si Ting had him sit in the corner of the bathroom. Since he was taller than Xu Haokong, there was no need for anything else to prop up his body. He stretched out his legs with his soles against the doorframe.

Fang Si Ting took out the glue and applied it to the soles of his feet—just a dab the size of a bean near the ankles. It didn’t take long before Zhong Jinghuan’s feet were firmly stuck to the doorframe.

He grabbed a new bar of soap from the cabinet and placed it by his feet, turned on the showerhead, walked out of the bathroom, and pulled the door shut.

Because his soles were glued to the doorframe, as the door was pushed shut, his feet stretched straight out. In the end, his entire leg lay flat, wedged between the doorframe and the wall along with his body.

It matched the scene they had seen initially.

Less than a minute later, the cold water from the shower ran out and turned warm, mixing with the soapy water as it flowed over his soles.

Zhong Jinghuan wiggled his feet and slowly felt them loosen.

As the hot water rushed longer, his soles finally detached completely from the doorframe. When he lifted his foot, there was only a thin layer left—like a bit of dead skin from his sole after prolonged soaking.

“That’s amazing!” Zhong Jinghuan exclaimed in surprise. “Something so simple—how did I not think of it!”

The guests around him let out gasps of admiration.

“What about the lock on the door?” Li Fei asked next. “Since Xue Chengge created the bathroom locked room, he must have entered at some point. How come the door wouldn’t open?”

“This morning, when I used Deputy Team Leader Tang’s key to open my own bedroom door, a possibility suddenly hit me.” Fang Si Ting pulled out the key to his bedroom door. “All the guest room keys in the mansion are the same style. So, the killer might have left a different key on the table for me to see after committing the crime, while taking the real one out with them.

“At Assistant Yan’s crime scene, I was the only one who entered at first. But when Xu Haokong was in trouble, everyone rushed into the room in a panic. That created a huge loophole: the killer rushed in with the crowd and immediately swapped the fake key on the table for the one to Xu Haokong’s room. Then they joined us in the bathroom to ‘rescue’ him. With Director Xu lying by the door, we couldn’t get to work right away. The delay gave the killer enough time to swap the keys and blend in with the group.”

【Just like what Brother Fen did. Fang Yama’s brain turns fast—he saw the glue and immediately recalled how Brother Fen set it up.】 People focused on the show cases didn’t care about celebrity gossip at all. They just found the back-and-forth annoying.

【Brother Fen set it up like that too? Damn, I stayed up all night thinking about it, still insomniac, no clue at all. Turns out it was this simple.】

【Right? Yesterday during the simulation in Xue Chengge’s room, I saw the glue in so many live streams, but no one noticed anything off. If Fang Yama had come earlier, I wouldn’t have lost sleep either.】

【I didn’t even notice the guest room keys were the same style. I’ve been following since the show started. Even without watching, you should’ve known—the interior decor and furnishings are all the same style. No reason the keys would be different.】

【The simplest solutions are the hardest to spot.】

【One sets up the crime scene, the other cracks it. Alright, nothing left for us. We’re all airheads—couldn’t find a single clue or idea.】

【Couldn’t even figure out the trick.】

【Xue Chengge lived in this room for a night. Didn’t he notice the extra thing in his cabinet?】

【He did. Picked it up, looked at it, tossed it aside. Thought it was something from the mansion owner.】

【He’s even more of an airhead than us.】

Amid the lively cheers in the live stream chat, Tang Shen found Xue Chengge’s fingerprints on the 502 glue bottle, nailing him for good.

But no fingerprints turned up on the key.

Everyone could see it was a frame job. Poisoned pastries, needle mark on Xu Haokong’s neck, crime tools in Xue Chengge’s closet—it looked like double insurance, as if afraid no one would peg him as Xu Haokong’s killer.

“Yan Feng’s case cracked, Xu Haokong’s case cracked. Now it’s Xue Chengge’s turn.” Zhong Jinghuan stretched lazily.

【Hey, hey, what’s with that sense of accomplishment? You didn’t solve the case.】

【Acting like all your running around earned big merits.】

The internet roasted Zhong Jinghuan, but his Weibo followers kept climbing.

【Who knifed Backdoor Bro? Obvious once you rule out the others. Who’s left?】

【Brother Ka.】

【Drama queen’s as reliable as ever.】

【Reported. I see it now—you’re all water army, all new accounts in the live stream. Must be rivals stirring shit.】

【Previous episodes had people calling him arrogant, but few said it, no one believed. Called it rumors. But I remember clear: he got blacklisted and shelved for diva behavior on set. That’s why he ended up shaking milk tea. Then he secretly hired paparazzi for far-shot photos online to play victim for sympathy and comeback.】

【Talk about marketing.】 Some passersby bought it.

【Busted in days. The photographer dropped the real hammer. No washing that off.】

【Huh? He pulled that before?】 Even new fans wavered.

【More than pulled—irredeemable! But look, all his negative press vanished online. Fame’s perks wipe the slate clean.】

【Got a recording from his friend. Character’s trash—playboy, foul mouth, foul body. Upload and it’d get banned.】

【You’ve been cursing since morning, same scripts over and over. Any originality?】

【Figured it out ages ago. No negative pics, audio, or video of him uploads. Even Lu Family backs him—practically royalty. Not even Lu Family’s direct crown prince gets that.】

【Exposed lol. That’s old news. Brother Fen’s ‘diva’ screenshots trended all day. Too busy shilling to check? Hilarious.】

【Couldn’t upload shit before. Now suddenly tons—feels like Lu Family’s behind it?】

【Impossible. Why sabotage their own star? Brother Fen’s blowing up—time to promote, not bury.】

With hordes of water army piling in, Weibo turned into a toxic mess all day. Every slander against Xiao Fen came with ‘evidence.’ Fans got cursed to tears, black fans stirred chaos. Good and bad spread like wildfire. Over two-thirds of the top thirty trends involved him. Even non-live stream viewers hard to miss “Xiao Fen.”

From Brother Xuecheng’s knifing in the morning to night, black fans, passersby, and fans clashed in a melee. Weibo and overseas Brain Book crashed multiple times.

But this was just the beginning.

Fans later joked about it as “Civil Strife.”

Part of it was rivals ganging up on Xiao Fen’s dominance. Part was real internal beef—publicly, he was Lu Family staff; privately, Lu Family business.

————

After dinner, Tang Shen called Bai Zhu and Peng Xiaoxiao to work overtime piecing together the shredded paper scraps.

Fang Si Ting took photos and reentered the gym.

He still couldn’t figure it out. Xiao Fen did it, but how while being with them the whole time?

Two days, minus Wang Heng and Lin Xiu’s cases—the other three were his work.

Flashy, discussion-baiting, eye-grabbing, nerve-tingling.

Not some blood butterfly. That was his true crime style.

So, how?

The simplest methods were hardest to spot.

No locked room this time. Xue Chengge had only the papers, photos, spilled wine cup stain, and a running fascia gun nearby.

Nothing else.

Fang Si Ting opened the window again, inspected every inch. No props or mechanisms.

“Inspector Fang, I have something…”

Before he finished, the lounge door slammed shut.

Hu Juan watched Fang Si Ting approach with bright eyes, tensing up and forgetting what he meant to say.

Fang Si Ting opened the lounge door, closed the side door to the gym, then opened it again. The lounge door slammed shut hard.

No one there!

It was the wind!

He should’ve noticed the room’s layout!

The room was narrow and long. With doors and windows open, it formed a wind tunnel. Strong winds kept interior pressure low. But suddenly opening the side door broke the tunnel, pressure surged, slamming the main door!

So simple!

Fang Si Ting crouched by the door at Tang Shen’s height, peering from the side door toward the lounge entrance. The bar counter and drinks blocked the view—no clear sight of anyone leaving as the door shut.

The killer just turned on the fascia gun. Under high vibration, it wobbled in tiny arcs. Block it briefly with the wine cup to delay the fall. Anyone next door hearing the gun and cup hit the floor would open the connecting door. They’d catch the lounge door slamming and assume the killer fled through it.

Excitement flashed in Fang Si Ting’s eyes. Then he realized: Brother Ka was in danger.

Yan Feng knifed, evidence on Xu Haokong.

Xu Haokong knifed, evidence on Xue Chengge.

Now Xue Chengge knifed—Brother Ka had no alibi. Only suspect left.

Xiao Fen’s next target: Brother Ka.

Brother Ka showed up dressed neat that morning because Xiao Fen lured him away somehow, pinning all suspicion on him.

A method Brother Ka couldn’t speak of.

He hurried out, phoned Tang Shen’s group to find Brother Ka fast.

“Inspector Fang!”

He remembered: Hu Juan had come to him.

“Something?”

Hu Juan mustered courage. “Inspector Fang, you’ve all been fooled by Xiao Fen.”

Fang Si Ting’s expression cooled.

Seeing the seriousness, Hu Juan nearly backed out. But Madam Lu’s promise steeled him. “Xiao Fen’s a total gambling addict!”

Once started, the rest spilled easier.

“Everything he said on stream about his first casino trip? Lies!

“I roomed with him three years in high school, sat next to him too. He got hooked on online gambling back then. Started with five or ten bucks, made dozens of times over in a month or two. Bragged he’d never seen ‘tens of thousands’ in his life.”

“Then he borrowed from us for a ‘big score.’ Kept hitting us up. At first, borrow ten, pay fifteen—we were game. Then he stopped paying. Said family poor, no food money. We pitied him, lent spare cash. Truth? Spent a buck on buns for two meals to not starve, dumped the rest into gambling.”

“We tried advising him, scolding him, even thought about contacting his parents and teachers, but we were afraid his family couldn’t handle the blow, and his reputation as a good student would be ruined overnight. Because he had confessed to me that he had already taken out online loans, and with the interest compounding, it had ballooned to over fifty thousand. You know, we were just high school students back then. When I heard that number, my legs went weak. But his eyes lit up, and he said that as long as he won one more round, he could pay back everything he’d lost before and live a good life.”

Hu Juan’s words grew increasingly hurried and earnest.

“After so many years without seeing him, I never expected him to become a celebrity and join a show, packaging himself as a casino newbie—maybe that’s not entirely wrong; it was his first time at an offline table. But in reality, he had nearly ten years of gambling experience!”

【Holy crap, what kind of scum is my idol?!】

【No wonder he wins every time, moving through the casino like a pro. Turns out he’s a veteran.】

【Calm down, everyone. What if there’s a twist?】

【They’re high school classmates, right? Best bros and friends—Xiao Fen certified it himself! This isn’t some random fan spreading rumors; it’s his best brother nailing him! How could it be fake?】

【Wahhh, I don’t believe it. He must be making it all up. If Xiao Fen’s a gambling ghost, then what is this guy? Also a gambling ghost! Can you trust a gambler’s word?】

【I’m not taking sides. Just quietly eating melon here.】

【You’ve been cursing all day—are you tired? How many keyboards have you worn out?】

【Damn it, he’s embarrassed us on foreign soil. Had to air it out on this live stream platform!】

【I finally stanned a celebrity, and he seemed so inspirational before.】

【I don’t believe it. I’d die before believing Brother Fen is that kind of person!】

【I went from mom fan of Fen Treasure to little bro fan of Brother Fen. I still believe he’s that shy, honest big boy.】

【Exactly. Two years ago, fans were too few, I was isolated and scared, didn’t speak up for him. Now with over a hundred million fans, I dare to vouch for him—he’s not that kind of guy!】

【Keep being stubborn, you fans. Arrogant attitude, rotten private life, chronic online gambler—that’s your idol.】

【I could tell his character was trash ages ago. Now his image has finally collapsed.】

“Inspector Fang, he’s just a compulsive liar and gambler who would do anything for money.”

A gleam of excitement flashed in Hu Juan’s eyes, though he feigned a worried expression.

“You know, he’s been smart since he was little, excelled at studies, shockingly high IQ, a master at disguise.”

“Back in high school, he tricked me all the time, so I kept covering for him and became his accomplice.

“Now, I can’t watch him sink any lower.”

“Every single case these past two days was his doing. Sure, they were all fake, but even your professional pursuit team couldn’t see through it. He’s actually a well-packaged potential social criminal.”

“I’m really afraid that one day, when he runs out of money for online gambling and loses his mind, he’ll do something to harm society.”

After Hu Juan finished his long-winded speech, out of breath, he finally noticed that Fang Si Ting hadn’t made a sound for a while.

He was watching him silently, without a trace of emotion.

“I-Inspector Fang…” Hu Juan’s body trembled in fear. “Is there… a problem?”

“The problem is huge.” Fang Si Ting’s tone remained impeccably serious, even harshly cold.

“Why are you pinning your own high school experiences on Xiao Fen’s head?”

Hu Juan’s face drained of color.

【What?!】

【Hahaha, the slap in the face came so fast. Take it, all of you.】

【So many idiots in this world. We just got slapped before, and now as soon as someone shows a hint, you rush to offer the other cheek. So cheap.】

【This time, no matter what you say, I’m believing Fen Treasure alone.】

【Does that mean whatever Inspector Fang says is definitely true?】

【Keep being dead ducks with hard mouths.】

“Archives like that are hard for ordinary people to access, but we flipped through them casually and found records of you entering the pursuit bureau repeatedly since high school due to gambling.”

“You even went to jail for it.”

“During your detention, it was Xiao Fen who bailed you out. That’s brotherhood, right? Pretty righteous.”

“You’re saying this about him in front of billions of viewers. Is that fair to him?”

Hu Juan’s face twisted as if he were about to cry.

“I-I didn’t mean to…”

Fang Si Ting ignored him and turned to leave.

What was the point of arguing with a clown like this?

【Hu Juan’s not just a habitual liar—he’s ungrateful too! Pisses me off. Send him trending to debut!】

【I checked—Inspector Fang is telling the truth! What kind of wretch brother is this?!】

【You can tell by his face he’s no good.】

【Poor Fen Treasure. How badly must he have been bullied before?】

【What about that Wu Hao? Is he connected too? What’s up with him lately?】

【He’s in the big house, jail buddies with that Wang Family couple and Big Sister Li’s brother—four of them.】

【Didn’t they do live sales?】

【Yeah, made some money, quit gambling, got cocky, and started running a casino. Who else would go down big time?】

【Why care about trash like that? Fen Treasure’s diva antics and rotten private life rumors probably have hidden truths too.】

【Very possible. I have connections—I’ll ask the crew staff from back then.】

【Can’t whitewash it. Xiao Fen admitted it himself.】

【Basic audio principles, please learn them, OK?】

【I’ll analyze it right now. Definitely edited.】

“Xiao Fen owes high-interest loans!”

This successfully halted Fang Si Ting’s steps once more.

The live stream chat fell silent for a few seconds.

“You investigated me, so you must know about Brother Zhu. Xiao Fen owes Brother Zhu three million in high-interest loans. With interest compounding, it’s probably close to ten million now. If Brother Zhu hadn’t been caught, if he hadn’t joined this variety show and was still some no-name celebrity, do you think he could pay that back?!”

A vicious gleam flashed in Hu Juan’s despairing eyes as he gloated, “He deliberately went to that casino to settle the debt!”

“Brother Zhu, that local snake, is extremely cunning. His place evaded raids for years. Vice squad officers knew what he was doing but never had solid evidence to nail him, so we regulars felt safe going there.”

“But Xiao Fen used the live stream’s attention. Bounty hunters tracking him followed his trail. Those waiting outside the neighborhood got wind of Brother Zhu’s crimes and escape route. In their anger, they tipped off the vice squad officers with the crime group’s escape intel for free. That’s how Brother Zhu got nabbed.”

“Inspector Fang, you—and everyone watching—were all used by him!”