Chapter 98

December’s snow fell endlessly, with endless storms and the deep, dim sky weighing inexplicably on people’s hearts.

Dozens of rooms in Crescent Moon Manor were mostly engulfed by darkness, along with the corridors. If not for the thick red carpet, walking on the floor would only echo the sound of heels in the night, along with one’s own breathing.

The grandfather clock in the hall pointed to 1 p.m.

They wisely ended the morning’s topic, finished lunch, and some went back to their rooms for a nap. The remaining few followed the Pursuit Team around with great enthusiasm.

Fang Si Ting and Tang Shen split up and exchanged glances after checking both crime scenes.

While their curiosity and attention were focused on the two crime scenes, Xiao Fen quietly slipped away from the crowd and went up to the third floor.

【What is Brother Fen going to do?】

【Isn’t he afraid they’ll find evidence against him here?】

The phone message had just been sent when Xu Haokong’s door opened.

Xiao Fen walked in and closed the door behind him.

“I’m telling you, this script is definitely different. After Young Master Lu heard you were interested in starring, he decided to invest in the drama and told me he’s willing to pay any amount.” Xu Haokong grew more excited as he spoke, addressing both Xiao Fen and the audience in front of the camera. “My idea is to build an immortal hero landscape, and for the special effects team…”

The words stuck in his throat as his mouth was covered. Then, his foot was tripped, and the hands clamping his head and shoulders slammed him heavily to the ground.

His head spun with dizziness, and his back burned with pain.

As soon as the hand over his mouth loosened, before he could ask why, he saw Xiao Fen take out a tube of glue and stick his upper and lower lips together.

Luckily, he had prepared ahead and left the stuff with Ou Yu. Who knew Fang Si Ting would help him unpack on the first day, almost exposing it.

“Mmmph? Mmmph!”

“Click click.” His two arm joints dislocated from the shoulders.

“Don’t pry at your mouth, or you’ll ruin your looks.” Xiao Fen chuckled easily. “Director Xu’s face is bigger than the heavens, after all.”

As he spoke, he noticed the other man’s eyes staring blankly at his face. He laughed absurdly and slapped him across the face twice without hesitation.

Even now, those eyes weren’t behaving.

Xu Haokong’s cheeks flushed red, and he finally glared at him in fury.

“It’s almost done,” he reassured.

Xiao Fen grabbed one of his feet and dragged him like a dead thing into the bathroom.

“Mmmph! Mmmph!”

With his shoulder joints dislocated, his arms were completely useless, but the pain drilled into his bones. Being dragged along, bumping into the doorframe and uneven floor, his face wrinkled into purple folds from the pain, cold sweat pouring down nonstop.

Xu Haokong’s gaze wished a thousand cuts upon him.

Xiao Fen loved that look.

He leaned down and whispered something in Xu Haokong’s ear.

Xu Haokong’s pupils shrank abruptly. He “mmmed” from his mouth, signaling the camera to fly over. Only then did he realize they were in the bathroom.

The camera shut off automatically.

Then, under his puzzled and terrified gaze, Xiao Fen gripped his ankle, adjusted his hands, got a good hold, and smashed it viciously against the edge of the bathtub.

Xu Haokong’s entire body jerked and twisted violently, bounced up, then fell back to the ground, and passed out from the pain.

Xiao Fen reset his arm joints and began methodically setting up the scene.

————

Half an hour later, Fang Si Ting came down from the fourth floor first and arrived at the Tea Room on the second floor.

“The fourth floor was very clean, right?” Tang Shen said.

“The crime scene was like that, but later I found this near the iron door on the balcony side close to the cliff on the fourth floor.” Fang Si Ting pulled out a photo. A small section of carpet inside the iron door was darker—wet.

“Someone opened the iron door last night, getting the carpet wet from the snow, and it still hasn’t dried. It’s like bait. Wang Heng happened to notice the balcony door open in the middle of the night, which was suspicious, drawing him out onto the balcony where he was attacked. Even if he screamed, no one would hear.”

“After the attack, the killer carried him back and closed the door!” Tang Shen said. “So that fiber in his nasal cavity wasn’t from a towel—it’s likely from the killer’s clothes when Wang Heng was draped over his back!”

“Or a scarf or hat,” Fang Si Ting added.

“No, it wouldn’t be. I recognize this—it’s towel fabric, usually made of plain loop coils combined with looped coils with elongated sinker arcs. Besides towels, it’s used in hoodies, some jackets, pajamas, and loungewear.” Tang Shen was very professional in this area. Even without a detector, his eyes could identify it.

“Then why carry him so far?” Tang Shen was puzzled. “The balcony is thirty or forty meters from the crime scene, right?”

“Where Wang Heng fell was right by the heater vent. One, since he wasn’t really dead, it was cold out, so to keep the body warm. Two, when Wang Heng went out to the balcony, it was during the blizzard, so he got snow on him and was wet, but your earlier clue didn’t mention his clothes being wet.”

“So the drag marks were left on purpose, to make us think he was attacked in the middle of the corridor.” Tang Shen shook his head. But now that they knew where the fiber came from, the killer was easy to pinpoint.

“Now, let’s do a surprise inspection,” Fang Si Ting said.

Everyone present got excited, cheers echoing through the second-floor corridor.

“Wait a minute,” Matthew said. “Did Tang from the Pursuit Team find anything in the Tea Room? Let’s cover it all at once.”

Xiao Fen still hadn’t returned.

Ou Yu chimed in, “What if there’s something to search? We can do it together.”

Fang Si Ting also looked at Tang Shen.

Tang Shen said, “The cigarette butts are fake.”

“Mm.” With this more professional judgment, Fang Si Ting’s expression eased.

“What does that mean?” Lin Xiu asked, interested in this crime scene.

“Normal cigarette ash is either scattered or burned to a stub. Here, the ash is messily scattered on purpose,” Tang Shen explained to the guests.

“Isn’t that just a piece of gray ash?” Zhong Jinghuan pointed doubtfully at the spot.

“No, look.” Tang Shen stood by the tea table, holding a pen like a cigarette. “Based on the scene, the cigarette butts in the ashtray indicate the killer stood here within arm’s reach and stayed the longest. But with so many butts, all the ash on the ground is fragmented—no intact segments. Where are the intact ones? By the body, when the conflict should have been most intense, with the fewest butts and most scattered ash.”

“More importantly,” Fang Si Ting said, “the ash and butts are on the surface—no footprints on them, none embedded in floor cracks or carpet, no shoe prints on the ash.”

Tang Shen nodded admiringly. This evidence was even more convincing.

Brother Ka said discontentedly, “Inspector Fang, earlier you found only Madam Lu’s cigarette butts in the room, so everyone suspected her. But you knew from the start the ash was planted by the killer—why press her like that!”

Now things were awkward for them.

“Earlier, I just asked when she last went to the Tea Room and objectively stated the clues inside.”

“If I remember right, the one who interrupted Inspector Fang, started theorizing on his own about a woman and Assistant Yan meeting here and attacking him—that was you, Brother Ka, right?” Xiao Fen said with a grin, popping up from the back of the crowd at some point.

As the crowd’s attention suddenly turned to him, Brother Ka’s words caught in his throat. “I-I just said it offhand. Who knew the butts were fake? Why are you siding with the Pursuit Team!”

“I’m a victim, of course I’m on the same side as the Pursuit Team. Once all you criminals are caught, I win.” Xiao Fen stated matter-of-factly.

【Never seen such an arrogant victim.】

【Victim, please tone down your aura a bit—the criminals are gonna be scared to death.】

【Look at Inspector Fang’s face; he doesn’t seem too keen on protecting this victim.】

【That look that wants to stab someone can’t be hidden. Wonder when Fang Yama will discover Brother Fen’s true identity and openly bring this arrogant killer to justice hahaha.】

“Who’s the criminal!” Brother Ka snapped angrily.

“Why so guilty?” Xiao Fen exclaimed exaggeratedly. “Oh dear, I think I just discovered something huge.”

“Xiao Fen, why are you targeting me?” Brother Ka’s face darkened.

“Just kidding, don’t rush to deny it. The game is more fun if it lasts longer.” Xiao Fen laughed. “Don’t reveal you’re the criminal too soon, or I’ll be on guard against you.”

By now, Fang Si Ting had reached the door. Brother Ka thought he was coming for him and stepped back in fright.

The tall figure crouched down and just looked at the ash marks on the floor.

Besides the initial crime scene, everyone had been chaotic afterward, all wanting to play detective, carelessly entering and exiting the murder scene without order.

The doorway middle had only a bit of scattered ash and nothing else noticeable.

But the indoor ash was too scattered, scattered in a way that reminded him of one thing.

Hiding a tree in the forest.

“Thought of something?” Lin Xiu only cared about the case method. “New clue?”

“Yeah, come in.” Fang Si Ting gestured, then closed the door. At that point, Tang Shen had taken another cigarette from the cabinet.

Fang Si Ting closed the door, pressed the loose lock back into place, flipped up the carp copper tab, clamped the cigarette between the two doors, and let go. As the tab fell, the cigarette caught it just right.

The cigarette burned slowly, ash falling steadily. When it got short, without the cigarette’s support, the tab “clicked” down, lodging perfectly in the groove of the other door.

【My god, the method was this simple?】

【I was thinking all morning about how the sealed room formed. I figured the lock was pre-broken, but Fang Inspector was the one who rammed the door, and there was no outer lock, so I hit a dead end.】

【Figuring it out so quickly—brilliant.】

【I thought of a mechanism sealed room. As we all know, the almighty fishing line is so versatile, like a cure-all, but like Li Fei, I couldn’t figure out how to use it.】

The flaw in this method was that once the cigarette in the door burned out and fell, it would form a pile in the middle—who smokes that long right at the door?

But it was easy to fix: the moment people rushed in from outside, the light ash would scatter with the wind from their steps, and the butt would get kicked aside, blending with the other butts in the Tea Room.

Xiao Fen stood among the guests, watching it all. He looked at Fang Si Ting and nodded approvingly with a smile.