The Novelist Forced to Become Famous

Chapter 10

Jian Jing walked around the crime scene, looking for clues.

The sinks outside were neither clean nor dirty, with a few strands of hair scattered on the counter, and the faucets were old-fashioned. Inside the basin were two drops of dried lip gloss.

She recognized the color - it should be Tang Yu Ran's, proving that she did touch up her makeup here.

Just beyond was the interior of the restroom. Behind the door was a mop and bucket.

She picked it up and looked - there were traces of red blood water remaining under the mop head. Drawing nearer, the pungent odor overwhelmed everything else.

She went to check the third stall.

Tang Yu Ran's death scene was covered in blood, an extremely horrifying sight that could startle many laymen.

But Jian Jing had acquired some basic forensic knowledge, and to her, the bloodstains in the stall were full of scientific impossibilities.

First, Tang Yu Ran had multiple wounds on her chest with copious bleeding, but there was no murder weapon. Judging by the wounds, she was likely stabbed by a sharp object.

If this was the primary crime scene, when the assailant pulled out the weapon, there should be a large amount of high-velocity blood spatter from the pressure on her body.

These blood droplets are generally less than 4 mm in diameter, irregularly round in shape. There should also be tiny blood spatter nearby.

But while there was a lot of blood in the stall, the bloodstains on the door and partitions had long trailing tails.

These were typical cast-off bloodstains, occurring when a bloodied weapon is swung or a bleeding limb is flailed.

Did Tang Yu Ran bleed profusely while dancing in the bathroom?

Additionally, most of the blood was smeared bloodstains, a series of gruesome bloody handprints.

Tang Yu Ran did have blood on her hands, but imagine if you were severely injured in a bathroom - your instinct to survive would make you open the door and call for help, not leave handprints all over.

Most importantly, there was no blood on the door latch.

What was most unbelievable was that time had passed, yet the blood at the scene had not coagulated at all.

Blood coagulates very quickly. The fact that it had not coagulated after so long meant either Tang Yu Ran had leukemia, or that this "blood" was not real blood.

Jian Jing drew nearer and sniffed - the smell of blood was too faint indeed.

Even slaughtering a chicken gave off more odor than this.

This was not blood, it must be props. She knew that sometimes anticoagulated pig or sheep blood was used to film bleeding scenes and could stay fresh with additives.

Tang Yu Ran had fake blood on her hands - matching the handprints in the stall.

Jian Jing deduced that Tang Yu Ran had staged this deceptively real scene for some reason, maybe as a prank. But in the end it became a cover for her death.

However, amidst the fake blood, there were a few drops that had dried - real blood.

These droplets were about 5 mm in diameter, typical passive dripped blood, very round and somewhat uneven.

In static dripped blood, the unevenness is uniform. In moving dripped blood, it is not.

Based on the unevenness, the direction of motion could be deduced. These blood drops had shorter protrusions near the door and longer ones further inside - proof of someone walking in and dripping blood.

No matter if left by the killer or Tang Yu Ran, it indicated one thing.

This was not the primary crime scene.

The killer murdered Tang Yu Ran, then moved her body to this staged scene. They used tricks to close the stall door, making it look like the scene of the crime.

Before leaving, they wiped away other blood traces, but neglected the real blood left in the stall.

Jian Jing exited the bathroom, carefully examining the walls on both sides. Finally, on the edge of the stairs down, she found another drop of blood.

The female bathroom was right above the male bathroom - could it be... She turned into the men's room.

Nothing there.

That made sense. It would be very odd for Tang Yu Ran to end up dead in the men's bathroom with no reason. And the bathroom could be entered by anyone at any time - the killer wouldn't choose to murder here, unless the fourth floor bathroom was out of order.

But she had just checked, and found nothing wrong there.

It was more likely the initial crime scene was outdoors.

She had to go back and re-examine Tang Yu Ran's corpse.

Jian Jing returned upstairs and put on disposable gloves to check the body again. It seemed somewhat rigid now, but lacking forensic pathology knowledge, she could not determine time of death, only make guesses based on other traces.

Tang Yu Ran's hair and clothes were not damp, so it was highly likely she had died before the rain, and was brought back inside by the killer. There were traces of mud on her shoe soles and clothing hems, while the ground around the teaching building was concrete - she could have only picked it up in the small garden out back.

Did she meet someone there?

Wait.

Jian Jing was shocked to find faint bloodstains on the disposable gloves.

She checked again and found a more obscured wound at the back of Tang Yu Ran's head, with clotted blood, and some flecks of dirt in her hair. This was the fatal blow - were the other knife wounds inflicted post-mortem?

Without the knowledge, there was no way to determine.

Jian Jing felt utterly lost. She could only return to the classroom for now.

As soon as she entered, Zuo Xin immediately tattled, "Wang Cameraman left for a bit, look at this footage." Before Jian Jing could react, she fast forwarded to 22:35. The screen showed the view of the teaching building.

"Look here." Zuo Xin was also a mystery buff, with keen observations. "There's his shadow in the bottom left, but at 36 minutes, the shadow disappears and doesn't show up again in the next few minutes."

Wang Cameraman argued, "I can't stand somewhere else? The mosquitoes were going to eat me alive there!"

Jian Jing neither agreed nor disagreed, only asking, "Did you catch when it started raining?"

"Yes, at 23:02," Zuo Xin replied.

Jian Jing swiftly calculated in her mind - good, no one was off the suspect list yet.

She stroked her chin and said to Wang Cameraman, "Sorry, but could you take off your shoes for me to see?"

"Why should I show them to you?" Wang Cameraman reacted strongly.

Even Hu Director realized something was off and said sternly, "What are you being so defensive for, Old Wang?"

"She suspects you too, and you'd react the same way," Wang Cameraman said coldly.

Jian Jing was considering how to persuade him when footsteps sounded outside and Luo Male Lead and Deng Props returned. Without even entering, they heard the argument and asked, "What are you guys doing?"

"Did you find any clues?" Jian Jing asked.

Deng Props placed a rhinestone butterfly wing piece on the table. "Found this in the little garden out back, it's from Tang Yu Ran's earring."

Jian Jing had just checked the body and confirmed one wing was missing from her butterfly earrings. "Tang Yu Ran went to the garden out back. Who asked to meet her there?"

Hu and Zuo Xin looked at Wang Cameraman in unison and said, "Take off your shoes?"

Wang Cameraman's face was ashen.

But he knew that refusing now would only increase suspicion. If he provoked everyone's anger, they might hold him down and yank his shoes off.

After weighing pros and cons, Wang Cameraman chose to take his shoes off. "How does this prove anything?"

There was mud on the soles.

"Yes, I went to the garden, isn't that necessary to scout locations?" He put his shoes back on, still arguing his case.

Deng Props lowered his eyes in thought for a moment before suddenly saying, "When I went to wash my hands and use the bathroom earlier, I saw Tang Yu Ran head out back. You didn't see her?"

"What time was this?" Jian Jing asked.

"The paint was hard to wash off, I was there a good ten minutes. After I finished, I went to the bathroom. The window inside just happened to face the corner of the building, so I saw Tang Yu Ran head that way," Deng Props explained. "That's why I had Luo come check out back with me just now."

Luo Male Lead nodded, corroborating Deng Props' account.

Hu Director analyzed, "Around 22:20, and you were the next one to leave, Old Wang. Did you meet with Tang Yu Ran?"

"So what if I did?" Unexpectedly, Wang Cameraman admitted it. Impatiently, he said, "We had something to discuss and met in the garden to chat for a minute. I set up the camera and went over.

Jian Jing raised an eyebrow. "How long did you talk?"

"Two, three minutes. It was a simple matter," Wang Cameraman said. "She must have gone back and gotten followed to the bathroom afterward. I'm not involved."

Jian Jing looked pensive. "So when you called Hu down..."

"We were already done talking. I passed the garden and saw a nice tree, so I called him down for that," Wang Cameraman's account was coherent and consistent. "Old Hu, I was under that tree when you came down right?"

Hu Director nodded.

Zuo Xin said, "You parted ways after right?"

Hu Director nodded again reluctantly.

Zuo Xin made a "see" gesture, tone flat, "That doesn't prove anything."

Jian Jing thought differently. She felt that Wang the cameraman admitting to meeting Xiao Huayuan actually reduced his suspicion - although he had previously concealed his meeting with Tang, considering Tang's death, this kind of evasive mentality could be understood - but if the first crime scene was the garden, Wang the cameraman's admission would greatly increase suspicion.

He could have easily said the mud was from somewhere else, like sometime before coming here today. There was no need to take the risk and admit it.

Therefore, looking at it this way, his testimony seems more credible - around 10:40 pm, Tang Yu Ran was still alive. Next, President Hu, Zuo Xin, Luo the male lead, and Deng the props guy left one after another. Who would have been most likely to be the murderer?