Card Room

Chapter 544 - Wrong Reasoning

“The person who got our hair is most likely Zhang Hengyu.”

Xiao Lou’s conclusion made Tang Ci frown with surprise. He wasn’t very clear about the details of the case from Xiao Lou and Liu Qiao’s description. He already knew there were two people who died in this murder case. The first was Ning Xue, a student of the conservatory of music who drowned. The other was Zhang Hengyu, a student of forensic medicine. The relationship between the two people was a couple relationship.

Now Xiao Lou actually suspected the deceased?

Tang Ci wondered, “You mean, the victim who died at the medical university… Zhang Hengyu?”

Xiao Lou didn’t look like he was joking. He nodded and said seriously, “First of all, the hair of Liu Qiao and I appeared in the specimen room. This allowed the police to lock onto us as suspects through a DNA test. Then the person who planted the stolen hair must be able to approach both of us at the same time, take our hair sample and place it at the crime scene.”

“Before yesterday, Liu Qiao and I didn’t know each other in this world at all.”

“Liu Qiao’s Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine isn’t in the same building as the Department of Forensic Medicine. The dormitories of the girls in that department are also far from the offices of the teachers. The area where Liu Qiao usually moves has almost no intersection with the places where I usually go to.”

“It wasn’t until yesterday afternoon that Liu Qiao came to the forensic department to listen to my class and sat in my classroom. This was the first time that Liu Qiao and I had intersected in this world. It is the best choice if the hunters want to frame both of us at the same time.”

Listening to Xiao Lou’s careful analysis, Tang Ci also gradually felt that Professor Xiao’s statement was very reasonable.

Assuming that the hunters came to this world in advance and replaced the identity of a certain person. They planned to let Xiao Lou and Liu Qiao be arrested by planting false ‘evidence’. Then they had to find a suitable opportunity to get close to Liu Qiao and Xiao Lou.

It was impossible for the keeper to directly give the hunters Xiao Lou and Liu Qiao’s hair. If they wanted this type of evidence, they could only take it themselves. It was as Xiao Lou said. Yesterday afternoon, Liu Qiao suddenly came to listen to Xiao Lou’s lesson. This was the perfect opportunity.

Zhang Hengyu sat next to Liu Qiao yesterday afternoon. How could it be so coincidental?

Xiao Lou continued, “Liu Qiao has long hair and she simply ties it back in a ponytail. It is easy for a person sitting next to her to take away one of her hairs when she isn’t paying attention. During the break time, Zhang Hengyu just happened to ask questions. It is easy to take my hair on the podium. He is the only person who has approached me and Liu Qiao at the same time.”

“Suppose your reasoning is correct and the strands of hair were taken by Zhang Hengyu. However, Zhang Hengyu was killed in the laboratory building and his body parts made into specimens. He can’t dismember himself while framing you. Is the murderer someone else? Is it possible that there was infighting among the hunters and Zhang Hengyu was killed by his companions?”

The victim being the murderer at the same time was naturally impossible.

Xiao Lou thought about it for a moment before suddenly wondering, “What if Zhang Hengyu was an innocent passerby and he was instructed by others?”

Tang Ci was startled. “Do you mean that Zhang Hengyu was used by the hunters?”

Xiao Lou carefully recalled the details of the incident. “We should sort out the timeline. I have the feeling that something is wrong.”

Tang Ci took out a pen and paper. “Yes, I will do as Professor Xiao says.”

Xiao Lou sorted out his thoughts. “Yesterday at 2:30 p.m., Liu Qiao came to the classroom to find me. For the next two hours, we were in the classroom. After the class, around 4:30, Liu Qiao went to the office to discuss going to the conservatory of music to find Ye Qi. We went to the conservatory of music together and found out that Ye Qi would participate in the competition finals in the evening.”

“I had a casual dinner with Liu Qiao before following the audience to watch the competition at 7:30. Ye Qi came on stage to sing and his performance ended at around 8:50. Liu Qiao and I went backstage to find Ye Qi and took a photo with Ye Qi at 8:55.”

“Then at 9 o’clock, the mobile number beginning with 136 called Ning Xue and the two of them talked for five minutes. At around 9:10, Liu Qiao and I walked out of the gymnasium. Then we heard a scream by the lake. We found the body by the lake and I asked Xu Mingyue to call the police. The police arrived at the crime scene at around 9:30. They recovered the body and confirmed that Ning Xue’s death was within one hour.”

Xiao Lou spoke up to here before suddenly stopping… what was wrong?

His intuition told him that the timing was simply too perfect, as if the murderer had arranged the script in advance so that he and Liu Qiao performed the scenes in the script on after another. Wouldn’t things go wrong if there was a flaw in one of these links?

How did the murderer know that he and Liu Qiao would definitely come out of the gymnasium at 9 o’clock? If they had come out 30 minutes later or 30 minutes earlier, wouldn’t there be someone to provide them with an alibi?

Tang Ci also found that there was something wrong at this time.

He looked at the key time points listed in the book and frowned. “Could it be that the murderer was monitoring your movements at every moment? So when he saw you were ready to walk out of the gymnasium, he immediately called Ning Xue to the lake and pushed her in? However, if Ning Xue was even a few minutes slower to come, the murderer’s plan would’ve gone wrong.”

The time was too tight.

Calling at 9 o’clock and killing Ning Xue. At 9:10, Xiao Lou and Liu Qiao appeared by the lake. The murderer reserved only a short 10 minutes to kill and this was too risky. There just had to be one unexpected situation. For example, Xiao Lou and Liu Qiao came out early or Ning Xue met acquaintances on the way to the lake and exchanged a few words with them. This sophisticated trap could easily be flawed.

Xiao Lou and Tang Ci glanced at each other and fell into contemplation.

Then Tang Ci thought of a key point. “Professor Xiao, do ordinary people have a habit of coming to the scene in advance to make preparations when doing important things?”

Long distance travel, interviews, meetings with leaders etc. Every time people faced important things, they would reserve enough time to arrive at the scene in advance. What if there was a traffic jam on the road? What if they encountered an accident when arriving at the scene. What if they were delayed?

No one would set such a short time frame, let alone for something like killing and framing.

A thought flashed in Xiao Lou’s mind. He raised his head and replied, “You’re right. The murderer must’ve arrived at the scene early and Ning Xue’s time of death isn’t 9 o’clock.”

Tang Ci’s eyes were calm as he followed Xiao Lou’s thoughts. “There was a problem with the phone call at 9 o’clock last night?”

Xiao Lou nodded. “It was faked by the murderer. The phone rang but the person who answered the phone wasn’t Ning Xue at all.”

A’s number called B’s number and they talked for five minutes. There was a call log on the phone. However, could they be sure that the call must’ve been made by A and received by B?

There was no video evidence and no one knew whose hands the phone was in.

Tang Ci nodded. “It seems that at 9 o’clock, Ning Xue’s phone had already fallen into the hands of the murderer. They used your number to make a call while answering Ning Xue’s phone. This faked a five minute call record between Professor Xiao and Ning Xue.”

Xiao Lou had a serious expression. “At that time, Ning Xue was actually dead and her body was in the lake. The murderer killed Ning Xue far earlier than the time when Liu Qiao and I went backstage to find Ye Qi.”

Tang Ci simulated the scene in his mind. “The murderer should’ve been lurking in the shadows. They threw Ning Xue into the lake at around 8:30 and then waited for you and Liu Qiao to appear. They should know very well that you would come to the conservatory of music to find Ye Qi and also know the program arrangement of the final singers. On the schedule, Ye Qi would sing around 8:50 so they calculated the time. Then when you went backstage to find Ye Qi and prepared to leave the gymnasium, they took out the phone with your phone card and made a call to Ning Xue.”

Tang Ci paused. “Professor Xiao, carefully think back. Did you see anything special backstage at the time?”

At Tang Ci’s reminder, something flashed in Xiao Lou’s mind. Xiao Lou and Liu Qiao meet someone when walking backstage. There was a person wearing a volunteer uniform and a mask. They crouched in a corner to set out the balloons backstage. Only the back of the person could be seen. Xiao Lou thought they were a staff member of the event and hadn’t cared.

Now thinking about it carefully, the balloons on the stage had already been arranged and the extra balloons backstage weren’t used. The event wasn’t over. Wasn’t it too early to sort out the balloons at the time?

Xiao Lou took a deep breath. “Last night when Liu Qiao and I walked out of the backstage area, we saw a staff member dressed in a volunteer uniform and wearing a mask. They were in a corner and sorting out balloons. I didn’t see this person’s face. Most likely, they had been paying attention to our movements. After Liu Qiao and I went out, they created the illusion that I was talking to the deceased.”

In other words, from the time when Xiao Lou and Liu Qiao walked out of the backstage dressing room and looked for an exit in the maze-like labyrinth, the passerby ‘staff member’ who was hiding in the corner and had a weak sense of existence actually took out a phone and called Ning Xue with the number starting with 136. This created the illusion that Xiao Lou talked to Ning Xue for five minutes.

At this time, Ning Xue was actually already dead.

Xiao Lou and Liu Qiao walked out of the gymnasium and heard screams by the lake. They walked over and found the body. This was followed by a police investigation.

Then this person returned to the medical university and somehow used an excuse to find Zhang Hengyu. They got the hair samples of Xiao Lou and Liu Qiao collected by Zhang Hengyu and took Zhang Hengyu to be killed. Then they put Xiao Lou and Liu Qiao’s hairs at the scene of the crime.

Of course, it was possible that the hunters had more than two people joining forces to commit the crime and there was another person who killed Zhang Hengyu.

In any case, the staff member backstage at that time was quite suspicious. They could accurately grasp the path and timing of Xiao Lou and Liu Qiao’s movements and create a gap in the timeline as evidence for the police.

Tang Ci said, “Professor Xiao, I will investigate the person you mentioned as soon as possible. The murderer who killed Ning Xue is probably them. By the way, Xiao Liu was a bit suspicious of Xu Mingyue. She thinks that the timing of Xu Mingyue’s appearance is too coincidental. What do you think?”

Xu Mingyue appeared at the lake and screamed to attract the attention of Xiao Lou and Liu Qiao. This was indeed too much of a coincidence.

Xiao Lou thought about Xu Mingyue’s performance at the time and made a guess. “She shouldn’t be the murderer. At that time, she was really scared and her whole body was trembling. Her actions were normal. If she was the murderer, she wouldn’t be stupid enough to call Ning Xue once and leave evidence of the call record. In addition, she rode a bicycle on the way to the library but the tire of the bicycle burst be the lake, causing her to stop.”

Tang Ci was stunned. “A burst tire?”

“There were nails by the lake that should’ve been left by the murderer. Xu Mingyue is likely someone the murderer deliberately lured over to be the eyewitness that found the body and to then lure me and Liu Qiao.”

Tang Ci lowered his head and recorded all the information. “I understand. The next focus of the investigation will be on the staff member who appeared backstage at the conservatory of music. The other is the murderer who had a good relationship with Zhang Hengyu and led him to the laboratory building. We just need to find these two people, or one person, and we can clear the suspicions of the two of you.”

Xiao Lou looked at Tang Ci and said softly, “I can’t leave for the time being. If I escape from my cell, the police can issue a wanted order and even shoot me. It will be hard but you and Liu Qiao should find out the truth as soon as possible.”

Tang Ci nodded. “Rest assured. I will leave first. You must be careful here.”

Liu Qiao’s transformation card had a time limit and he couldn’t stay too long.

Xiao Lou got up and left with him. Among the former teammates of Brother Jiu, Tang Ci was the most logical one. Xiao Lou believed that with Tang Ci’s help, the truth would soon come out.