【What did I just hear?! Ex-boyfriend?!】
【I noticed something off between them earlier. Lu Jin has been indulging Xiao Fen’s unreasonable antics all along. I didn’t expect they had dated before.】
【How about I give you my dog’s cornea? You look so pitiful, eyes like that and still clinging to your owner, licking desperately. Was that indulging?! Clearly, he’s the one being unreasonable.】
【I’ve stumbled into a whole field of melons. There’s no way I can eat them all.】
【You two, can you go to the drawing room with the others? I don’t even know which side’s melon to eat anymore.】
【Hehe, two devices successfully resolved the issue.】
【Thanks, friend. I’ll go open another one right now.】
【No wonder Madam Lu hates Xiao Fen so much. Her son is supposed to marry a rich, beautiful princess. As for the old Xiao Fen? Dull personality, unlikable, terrible at his job—total flower vase. Finally gets a chance at fame, then throws a tantrum, hypes scandals, has a gambling addiction, owes a pile of high-interest loans.】
【Last time, fans dug up his background—poor mountain village, family full of cripples and heart patients, a bunch of sickly poor ghosts. What did Lu Jin see in him? Targeted poverty alleviation? Or an ATM for his gambling sprees?】
【My god, the full set of vices.】
【Seeing it this way, it’s Xiao Fen’s fault. Even though he’s changed now, he still nitpicks over old grudges, stabbing at Lu Jin whenever they’re alone.】
【With his skills, I bet he only got into a big entertainment group like the Lu Family because Lu Jin pulled strings from their past relationship.】
These words drew a barrage of curses from Xiao Fen’s die-hard fans. Now, his fans’ combat power was incredibly strong, directly silencing those snide commenters.
Over here, amid their reckless angry curses, Fang Si Ting precisely caught the words “Xiao Fen” and spoke in a deep voice: “What does your business have to do with Xiao Fen?”
“No relation.” Xu Haokong said with a sour face.
The Lu Family couple had really screwed him over. Hadn’t they said the cameras were off? Why were they still on!
“Mu Qiu, you speak.”
Mu Qiu had wilted by now, slumping on the ground. He shook his head: “I don’t know anything. I was just caught up in the moment and blurted out lines. I haven’t even seen the script for later.”
Anyway, he was sticking to the claim that it was all for the variety show’s plot.
Fang Si Ting said: “A murder has occurred here now. Everyone in the mansion is a suspect. I need to investigate your real lives—that is, the privacy involving all of you and the deceased Ma Xingwen. Who agrees, who objects?”
“Why bother investigating? This case was definitely Xiao Fen.” Xu Haokong said.
“Of course, that includes the connection between Xiao Fen and Ma Xingwen.” Fang Si Ting cut off the others as they tried to speak. “Even if it was suicide, that last phone call is highly suspicious. We must know who called and what they threatened Ma Xingwen with.”
“What’s the point of that?”
“Sure.” Brother Ka, who had just woken up after being pricked with a needle last night, was the first to raise his hand. “I agree. Xiao Fen’s already fled in guilt. Who else could it be? Let the Live Stream Chat audience see what kind of person he is.”
Ou Yu raised his hand second, Matthew third, Song Hui fourth. Then Lin Xiu, the Internet Famous Doctor, Zhong Jinghuan, the two stand-up comedians, Jiang Xu… all raised their hands one after another.
Li Fei hesitated, then raised her hand too.
“You wouldn’t have anything to do with Reporter Ma’s death, would you?” Peng Xiaoxiao said.
Xu Haokong and Xue Chengge exchanged a silent glance, sharing some information. Once settled, they both raised their hands.
“We don’t know him.”
“Assistant Yan, why haven’t you raised your hand?”
“I refuse.” Yan Feng said. “Don’t try to morally coerce me. I don’t buy it. I have nothing to do with him. Don’t even think about investigating me.”
“Fine. Everyone except Yan Feng agrees. Xu An, start the investigation.” Fang Si Ting said.
Two minutes later, Butler Zhuo wheeled over a mobile screen. Xu An projected his computer screen onto the big screen so everyone could see clearly.
“Last time, Xue Chengge came to me afterward, saying he’d complain after the show, accusing me of hiding what I found to slander him. This time, everything I uncover—not just for the Live Stream Chat audience, but for all you guests too.”
A flash of malice crossed Xue Chengge’s sullen face.
Soon, Xu An pulled up Ma Xingwen’s morning call records via the signal base station, along with his contact with another number.
“Whose phone number is this?”
Xu An hit enter, and the info appeared.
“Yan Feng, Assistant. It’s yours.”
【Oh wow, so that’s what ‘no relation’ means.】
【How come it’s not Xiao Fen’s?】
【Told you it wasn’t him who killed.】
【Did Yan Feng use some hypnosis trick over the phone to make Ma Xingwen jump in a daze?】
【You read too many novels.】
“Assistant Yan, care to explain what you said to Ma Xingwen in that morning call?”
Yan Feng said: “I urged him to come down for breakfast. Got a problem?”
“Big problem.” Peng Xiaoxiao said. “Urging someone to eat breakfast that turns into jumping off a building, saying ‘Don’t push me’? Were you urging breakfast or urging death?”
“You’re supposed to be investigating Xiao Fen and Ma Xingwen’s relationship. Why latch onto my assistant?!” Qin Shuhui argued. “It was just one call. Hung up after urging him to eat. Plenty could happen in those ten-plus seconds before you burst into the room.”
“No, Madam Lu. When we entered, we heard the grandfather clock downstairs chime exactly nine. The call ended at nine minutes and thirty seconds. When he fell, the call was still connected.” Tang Shen said.
Qin Shuhui fell silent.
“Yes, it was my call.” Yan Feng admitted directly, his face full of regret. “I made that call, said some harsh words. Didn’t expect it to stimulate him into doing something stupid in the heat of the moment.”
“What words can kill?” Matthew asked curiously.
“Just some ordinary stuff.”
“You have major suspicion now. If you don’t talk, we’ll have to dig up your entire past.” Fang Si Ting said.
Xu An’s hand rested on the keyboard, watching him quietly.
Yan Feng swallowed, his voice strained: “I… I just cursed him out a bit. Last night, he said he’d expose those things today. I…”
“Expose what things?”
“I… uh…”
As he hemmed and hawed, Xu An had already pulled up a chat log.
“You hacked my phone?!” Yan Feng said.
“Better look at the content.”
It showed Yan Feng last night arranging for Ma Xingwen to go to Madam Lu’s room, and reminding him to destroy the camera before leaving.
【So Ma Xingwen deliberately wrecked the camera. Clearly plotting something.】
【Plotted himself right into death.】
Next were Yan Feng’s chats with Xu Haokong and Xue Chengge after their stabbings, all about meeting Qin Shuhui.
【Doesn’t look like they ‘don’t know him’ or ‘aren’t close.’ No small talk with strangers—just straight to the point.】
【What the hell are they discussing privately?】
“Madam Lu, I recall you’ve been saying from the start that Xiao Fen did this, right?” Fang Si Ting said. “What’s your grudge with him? Why frame him like this?”
“I…”
“Investigate.” Fang Si Ting’s word rang out forcefully.
“Investigate Brother Xiao Fen?” Xu An was a bit rattled, not daring to defy him now, but: “You had me do it last time. The info matched what was said during the warm-up activity.”
“Pull every deleted record. Check Xu Haokong and the others’ computers. I want to see what they’ve hidden.” Fang Si Ting stated outright.
“Why make a big fuss? It’s just a suicide pact.” Xu Haokong hurriedly dissuaded. “No need.”
“That’s beyond what a third-floor drop could do to the skull.” Fang Si Ting had wanted to wait for the coroner to confirm, as he was always cautious, but now he had to say it. “Clearly a heavy blow from a blunt object first, then a full head-first fall from at least the fourth floor. Ma Xingwen couldn’t have been on the third floor at the time.”
He had suspected it wasn’t suicide all along. Qin Shuhui and Lu Chengze’s hearts leaped to their throats.
“But how could we hear his voice from his room?”
“Sound is muffled through a door. Put a noise-canceling phone in the room beforehand, keep it on call. Ma Xingwen goes up to the fourth-floor guest room balcony directly above his bedroom, speaks to us remotely. After finishing, he’s bludgeoned to death, then flipped off the balcony by the killer. Since the last call was to Assistant Yan, you were the one standing beside Ma Xingwen then. You had the ability to lock the third-floor room from inside, then leave via the balcony.”
“That’s all speculation.”
“Have you ever heard someone scream ‘Ah!’ in shock before jumping to suicide?”
The guests fell silent.
That was clearly a reaction to being attacked.
If no one was in his third-floor bedroom, but he died right below it, it was very likely the fourth floor.
Attacked there, then pushed down.
“But if the killer was on the fourth-floor balcony with Ma Xingwen the whole time, how did he know when we’d go to his room?” the Internet Famous Doctor said.
“So he had an accomplice.” Fang Si Ting said. “Mr. Hu, your thoughts?”
“I-I didn’t!” Hu Juan, already fidgety, shot to his feet when named.
“Captain Bai, search him.” Fang Si Ting said.
Hu Juan tried to dodge, but Bai Zhu grabbed him effortlessly. They quickly found a phone on him—Yan Feng’s. They had seen it just days ago.
“To create the illusion Ma Xingwen was in the third-floor room, you needed his phone. But it wasn’t at the scene, so I figured one of the guests who rushed in took it.”
At this point, Hu Juan couldn’t deny it. He panicked completely and knelt at Qin Shuhui’s feet.
