Chapter 74 Sorting Out the Thoughts

Taking advantage of the rare free time spent at the municipal bureau, Chen Tianyu felt it necessary to seize the moment and sort out the chaotic situation, otherwise, he would truly be left in a daze.

From the very beginning, his feeling was that nothing major had happened, just a small case.

Following the two sudden deaths, his perception changed completely—this was a premeditated case. Furthermore, the greatest variable in this premeditated case was not the intervention of Beiting; Beiting's involvement had done almost nothing to stall the murderer's footsteps and plans.

Right, why had he always firmly believed there was a murderer? He decided to think it over once more.

Would Xiao Su commit suicide? This was the first question.

From Yiruo's perspective, and judging by the last words Qianya received, one could say it was possible.

Yet, why had he and Zichen happened to cross paths with Xiao Su by chance? That young man certainly had something on his mind, but it was not heavy enough to drive him to suicide. How should he put it? Xiao Su did not seem despondent, and he was quite smart. He was probably in the middle of accomplishing what he considered a heroic and monumental task. This matter was definitely related to the USB drive Liu Zichen had received. Although no issues could be uncovered at present, the item was undoubtedly important and would definitely come in useful in the future.

Could it be that after handing over the USB drive, Xiao Su felt his mission was complete and thus chose a lovers' suicide?

That sounded rather absurd. Judging by Xiao Su's final message, entrusting the USB drive to the two of them simply meant he had no lingering concerns; he still had a multitude of things to do, and there was simply no sufficient reason to commit suicide at that juncture. Had Qianya not provided that suicide note in a timely manner, he might have had to waste a great deal of manpower just to verify this point. How fortunate!

Could it be that he encountered resistance, grew disheartened, and consequently chose to commit suicide?

That possibility existed, but where would the resistance come from? Could it be that he encountered resistance before even stepping out of Lijiang? One had to remember that Xiao Su's destination was the Soaring Dragon Film and Television Base; he would at least have to reach that place before one could speak of encountering resistance, wouldn't he? He calculated the time between Xiao Su's death and the receipt of that letter: no more than two or three days apart. The letter was mailed from within the province and could be received on the same day. What kind of plan could run into resistance within two or three days and then drive him back to Lijiang to commit a lovers' suicide? Traveling one day and returning the next—no matter how one thought about it, it made no sense at all.

What baffled him most was Xiao Su's attire. He had seen Xiao Su disguised as the Monkey King. While one could not say it was a spitting image, it had at least startled Liu Zichen, showing that he was somewhat professional. Would a professional person wear an ill-fitting tight headband and carry an uncommon golden cudgel to commit suicide?

Therefore, judged by scientific evidence, the possibility of Xiao Su's suicide was quite high;

Yet from Chen Tianyu's perspective, there were loopholes everywhere!

And then there was Hu Wenyi. Could Hu Wenyi possibly commit suicide?

Hu Wenyi was even less likely to commit suicide. What reason would he have to do so? Could it be that he knew his crimes were so grave that he could no longer bear to remain in this world? That was utter nonsense. Prior to his death, he was still toying with Xiaoli, still exploiting her to help him commit evil deeds. Committing suicide at such a time completely defied common sense.

Yet what baffled him deeply was that this time, Hu Wenyi's death did not create the illusion of suicide for the police; instead, it clumsily attempted to disguise itself as a suicide. Why on earth was that? Could the murderer be a different person? How could there be such a vast discrepancy in criminal skill?

The clue regarding Hu Wenyi had been provided by Guna, and later Li Yiteng verified the reliability of this lead through Qianya. It could be said that all roads led to the same destination, yet precisely at this moment, Hu Wenyi was murdered. Whose sources were so remarkably well-informed?

Yun Ji—Chen Tianyu thought of this person first, and he did not do so entirely without basis.

First of all, Yun Ji's movements were extremely covert, and Beiting had never truly investigated his background. Coming to Kunming this time, Chen Tianyu intended to get properly acquainted with this individual.

Secondly, just as Beiting was able to obtain clues from Guna, Yun Ji could do the same, and very likely got wind of the situation ahead of time. Originally, he could have simply asked Guna directly to clear things up, but at the time, he had indeed been negligent.

Because back then, he had not yet grown suspicious of Yun Ji. Besides, could Yun Ji's methods really be so clumsy?

What truly aroused Chen Tianyu's suspicion was Xiaoxue's involvement.

What kind of person was Xiaoxue? Even if it was merely a chance meeting, that encounter happened to take place on the precipice of life and death, which made it entirely different. Few people would conceal their true nature at death's door. Judging by Chen Tianyu's assessment, she was a self-pitying girl with an extremely fragile inner core. When injured, her choice was self-harm rather than revenge, and the notion of revenge was obviously a flash of anger born from surviving a near-death experience—an anger that could not possibly last.

He believed that when Xiaoxue saw Hu Wenyi produce a fake marriage certificate, her heart had softened. Since her heart had softened, how could she possibly go on to kill anyone? This created a contradiction. Yet why, the moment Xiaoxue met Hu Wenyi, did Hu Wenyi immediately vanish? What on earth had transpired during that interval? In the interrogation room, she was vague only when asked if anyone had given her instructions, and she had also concealed the period she spent living at Bihu Residential Compound. Both of these points clearly pointed to instigation by someone else.

As for the person capable of giving such instructions, the only one he knew was Yun Ji. According to the law of causality, such a deduction held true.

Xiaoxue was merely a pawn, and he could not help but suspect this might be a smoke screen deployed by Yun Ji.

However, whether Yun Ji's purpose in doing this was to commit murder or to mislead the police

remained unknown, including how he had come to know Xiaoxue in the first place—that too was still a mystery.

Yet one thing he could be certain of: most of the information he could grasp was equally accessible to Yun Ji, who perhaps even knew more than he did. This person was definitely not to be trifled with. Perhaps Yun Ji had been tailing him all along without him noticing in the least. As the founder of the "Serpentine Tracking Art," he knew this was entirely possible, but when had Yun Ji started tracking him? It certainly could not have been starting from Lugu Lake.

After calming down, a flash of inspiration suddenly struck his mind—Ah, Jade Dragon Snow Mountain!

That blurred silhouette after experiencing dizziness, that strange retreating figure hurrying away—thinking back on it now, it was precisely Yun Ji! As it turned out, what Yun Ji was tracking at the very beginning was not him, but Xiao Su. And Xiao Su must have sensed this; Xiao Su liked to frequent Jade Dragon Snow Mountain—that was a pilgrimage of love, rather than him tracking Chen Tianyu.

Things were finally strung together slightly. Indeed, every coincidence in this world had its inevitability.

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Just as he was racking his brains with various thoughts rushing in upon him, Xu Jingnan's call arrived unexpectedly, bringing a piece of news that left him both astonished and thrilled.

Xu Jingnan said anxiously, "My previous judgment might have been mistaken. Laboratory tests confirmed that the poison Hu Wenyi ingested did not come from the leftover red wine, so my earlier hypothesis cannot really stand."

Chen Tianyu quickly comforted him, saying, "A hypothesis is just a hypothesis; it's completely normal for it to differ from the facts. Uh, then where did the fatal poison come from?"

Xu Jingnan said with a sense of defeat, "It came from inside the sleeping pills' plastic bottle."

Chen Tianyu understood what he meant and said with a sudden realization, "You mean the bottle wasn't filled with sleeping pills, but rather another kind of drug potent enough to be fatal?"

"Yes, I truly didn't think of that at the time," Xu Jingnan appeared somewhat dejected.

Chen Tianyu hurriedly said, "Such a situation could never be deduced through reasoning alone, so you don't need to take it to heart. Otherwise, your forensic profession would have no reason to exist." He suddenly asked, "Oh, do the police think there's also the possibility of suicide in Hu Wenyi's case?"

"To be honest, it cannot be ruled out," Xu Jingnan replied hesitantly.

"Mmm, then that settles it," Chen Tianyu said out of the blue.

Xu Jingnan asked in surprise, "Brother Si, what do you mean?"

Chen Tianyu said calmly, "If the method is very crude, or if the murder was carried out quite carelessly, then it could not possibly be the same murderer! ... This is clearly another meticulously planned murder."

Xu Jingnan began to understand as well, though he still had doubts: "Brother Si, are you so certain that there must be a murderer behind these two cases?"

"Of course," Chen Tianyu said indifferently. "However, unlike you forensic experts, I cannot provide scientific evidence for every single matter. Besides, I am not a policeman either; I can only operate based on deduction."

"Ah, I see," Xu Jingnan thought for a moment. "Actually, there's one more thing."

"What is it?"

"He Xiaoxue has been taken back into custody." Due to insufficient evidence, Xiaoxue had previously only been placed under residential surveillance.

"Why?"

"Her fingerprints were found on the goblet."

Chen Tianyu was genuinely stunned for a moment. He truly had not anticipated this development. Could Xiaoxue have actually been at the scene at that time?

No, that wasn't right. There was no fatal poison inside the goblet, which meant there must still be a third possibility. As for what that might be, only intuition remained.

Scene after scene flashed through his mind once again. Everything, absolutely everything, deserved a much more rational explanation.