The Novelist Forced to Become Famous

Chapter 168

"Tell me more specifically." Jian Jing said impassively.

Crew cut sighed and slowly said, "Let me put it this way, Brother Chang's death had something to do with Jia Yue. That day we were also hiking, and there was a very steep place where Brother Chang told us not to go. But Jia Yue was a bit arrogant, and wanted to show off on purpose. He deliberately went there to jump around. Who would have thought he slipped and almost fell down."

"It was really dangerous that time. Fortunately, Brother Chang caught him." Huangmao said gloomily, "But Brother Chang also exhausted his strength because of this. After pulling him up, his foot slipped and he fell down. By the time we went down to rescue him, he had already... passed away."

Jian Jing and Ji Feng exchanged glances.

She asked, "What about Zhou Chang's family? Do you know them?"

"Brother Chang's parents were very sad, but they didn't blame Jia Yue, saying it was an accident." Crew cut couldn't help speaking up for them, "They are all very nice people."

"Was he an only child? Does he have any older brothers or sisters?"

They both shook their heads: "Brother Chang was the only child. We always said that after this happened, his parents wouldn't know what to do. We should go see them every year."

Jian Jing nodded slightly, indicating she had nothing more to ask.

Ji Feng caught her meaning and moved on to the next doubt: "Jia Yue is already dead. I have a question I hope you can answer truthfully."

He looked very serious, with a piercing gaze that made the two boys involuntarily nervous.

"The day before yesterday at dusk," Ji Feng enunciated word for word, "what you hit with the car, was it a person?"

The two boys were horrified and broke out in a cold sweat. Their muscles tensed involuntarily, revealing obvious defensive postures.

But their defenses were worthless in front of the two people opposite them.

Under the overwhelming aura, Huangmao was the first to crack. He stammered, "I, I was in the back seat and didn't see clearly. I don't know."

Ji Feng knew he shouldn't let the two share the pressure, so he stared at crew cut and pressed him, "What about you? Were you also sitting in the back seat and didn't see clearly?"

The tone was sarcastic and mocking.

Crew cut straightened his back, but soon slumped again, avoiding Ji Feng's gaze. "I, I can't be sure. Anyway we hit something. The road was narrow so we couldn't stop the car. The light was also bad. After we got back to the camp, we realized the front of the car was dented."

After a pause, he awkwardly defended himself, "I never said it was a zombie. It could have been an animal from the mountain, otherwise how could there be claw marks like that?"

"So in other words, you didn't get out of the car to check, and drove away directly, right?" Ji Feng couldn't confirm it was a car accident yet, so he deliberately used neutral terms to avoid arousing the suspects' antipathy.

Crew cut hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

"Okay, that's enough." Ji Feng surreptitiously laid the trap, "Once the signal is restored, I will have someone investigate. If you remember anything, you can come to me anytime to chat."

With that, the interrogation of them ended.

Since everyone else had been questioned twice, it would be unreasonable to spare the Fracture Man. His room was across from Jian Jing and Ji Feng. To go in and out he had to pass their line of sight. The whole afternoon, he only went out once around 2pm for a few minutes before coming back. His motive and opportunity to commit the crime were very small.

Therefore, the purpose of this inquiry was mainly to find out if he had seen or heard anything.

The Fracture Man seemed to have an honest and wooden personality. He answered whatever he was asked: "Around 1:30, I saw the reporter wandering around in the back.

"Was she alone at the time?"

He nodded: "It was pouring rain and no one else was around."

"Did you see anyone else?"

"Later there was another person loitering around the warehouse area." The Fracture Man recalled, "It should have been one of those four students."

Ji Feng raised his eyebrows: "Why do you say that? You didn't see his face clearly?"

"No." The Fracture Man said apologetically, "I just glanced at him briefly, didn't look carefully. I just remember a black umbrella with orange edges, the same as those students had."

The students from the same club not only had similar equipment, but their umbrellas were exactly the same, with the abbreviation of their club name on them.

"What time was that?"

The Fracture Man was very sorry to shake his head: "I don't remember. It was just a glimpse, I didn't pay attention."

This was also human nature.

Unable to obtain more clues, they could only excuse themselves for the time being and go back to the room to comb through the case.

"The biggest suspects now are the four companions of the deceased." Ji Feng went straight to the point. "Second are the waiters."

The heavy rain that collapsed the road and stranded everyone could be considered a coincidence. The coincidentally encountered Chai Reporter and Zhu Fracture Man had no motive to kill an unfamiliar passerby they had just met.

But the companions were the most suspicious and had the best opportunity to take action. All four currently had motives, including the high ponytail with the injured foot who was unable to walk.

The waiter's motive was not big, but it was there.

The biggest gimmick of this inn was "zombies". Considering its remote location and lack of visitors, artificially creating a zombie murder case to attract outside attention and gain fame and money was not impossible.

Jian Jing said, "I'm more concerned about the victim's cause of death. If he was already poisoned, the murderer would not have needed to hit him so many times. Was this to vent anger, or to cover up the poisoning?"

"Were the head injuries inflicted before or after death?" he asked.

She replied, "The signs of poisoning on the corpse were not obvious. I'm inclined to think the head injuries were the fatal ones. So it's also possible the murderer first poisoned the victim to take away his ability to resist, then dealt the heavy blows, making it look like the work of a physically strong male to mislead us."

"The poisoning and the blows could have been done by different people." Ji Feng said. "Multiple offenders."

Jian Jing immediately thought of the classic Orient Express murder case, and guessed: "Were all four companions informed? To avenge the innocent Zhou Chang? But in that case, the two boys don't have very good alibis."

He smiled and said, "It's just a line of thinking. I don't want to pin the murderer on one person, because everyone's time is not exactly ample - to poison, to kill, to handle the scene - the task is arduous."

Jian Jing said, "Then let's go over the timeline."

She made a list according to her habit.

12:20 Victim went downstairs to eat, last seen by everyone.

12:40 Huangmao and crew cut left, victim returned to Room 204

13:05 Bun Girl delivered red dates cakes to him

13:40 (Gao MaWei witnessed) Chai Reporter went to take pictures at the scene, photos as proof

13:50 Chai Reporter returned to room

14:05 Fracture Man came out to go to the toilet, (Jian and Ji witnessed)

14:10 Chai Reporter came to borrow sanitary items from Jian Jing

14:20 Huangmao and crew cut separated

14:30 Rain stopped (Chai Reporter's video as proof)

14:35 Huangmao came back very loudly, banging on doors asking for food

15:20 Huangmao said he saw instant noodles (did not see victim)

15:30 Huangmao and Chai Reporter ran into each other in the kitchen

Victim's estimated time of death: 13:00-15:00

Ji Feng couldn't help saying, "Professor Jian, your naming style is a bit special. Can't remember people's names?"

"I like it this way." She said. "Stop wasting time. Don't you feel like Chai Reporter and Huangmao were very busy?"

He nodded: "The reporter took quite a few photos, but just barely within reasonable range. Huangmao's actions seem a bit too deliberate."

Jian Jing said, "I feel the same way. He knocked on the door very loudly, perhaps intentionally creating a memory cue to let us know he was back, and it looked like he went to the bathroom, but didn't necessarily actually go in."

The bathroom and emergency exit were in the same direction. From Room 205 they could only see someone go that way, but couldn't confirm if they went into the bathroom or left later.

In any case, with 40 minutes of diarrhea, there was a lot of room for maneuvering.

"The instant noodles he mentioned also seem to be misleading about the time of the victim's death," she said, cupping her chin in thought. "Making us think the victim was still alive after 2:35pm—but what would be the point of that?"

Ji Feng agreed, "Doesn't make sense."

To mislead about the time of death, he should have come up with an excuse to ask for things after going to the bathroom (killing the victim). At the same time, he could have prepared instant noodles himself and claimed they were sent by the victim.

Doing it this way now makes no sense at all.

"So the victim may have died before 2:35pm," Jian Jing muttered to herself. "Is he covering for someone else? Could it be Bun Girl?"

Huangmao was willing to cover up for the murderer, so it must be someone he knows well. Gao MaWei was unlikely with her injured foot, and Crew Cut was with him the whole time, with no opportunity to commit murder before 2:20pm, so there was no need to go to such lengths.

The only suspicious one was Bun Girl.

She had brought food to the victim, and could have poisoned it. If the victim was already dead before Huangmao came back, it would make sense for him to cover for her.

But Gao MaWei said she never left her room.

Would all three of them conspire together? That might be a little too bold.

Twirling her pen, she asked Ji Feng, "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking Teacher Jian really has the flair of a writer for reasoning like this." He said.

Jian Jing raised an eyebrow. "Are you mocking me? Saying I'm just making up stories?"

"No, I'm complimenting you," Ji Feng sat down, leaning on the chair back and absently tapping it. "The murderer hit the victim's head repeatedly, went so far as to kill a chicken, just to blame it on a zombie, right?"

She nodded.

"That's what's so strange," he said slowly. "I don't think Xu Bin, that is, Huangmao, would approve of this approach."

Jian Jing paused. "He feels guilty."

"Right," he said. "The students aren't stupid. They either know or suspect that they ran into someone that day. But still trying to divert everyone's attention to a zombie, when he clearly knows there's a problem, that takes some real audacity."

"Two possibilities. One is they don't know, like the two girls, purely going along with the plan. The other is retaliation, using the zombie story he made up as a cover for killing him, which has more dramatic irony. " Jian Jing said. "It's just that if the motive was related to Zhou Chang's death, it wouldn't have enough ritual significance."

"We really should look more into that car accident," Ji Feng sighed, rather dejected.

The police's ability to solve cases is based on advanced forensic technology, huge databases of social information, resources on call anytime—being in a snowed-in mountain villa like this, without even basic personal information, really makes one uncomfortable.

He said, "Forget it, I'll go look for the murder weapon again, that's crucial. What about you?"

"I'm going to write the essay question." She said coldly.

Ji Feng laughed. "I told you I was complimenting you, how come you don't believe me?"

Jian Jing completely ignored him and monopolized the room's table and chairs, burying her head in writing and drawing—he shook his head and left, closing the door behind him. She organized her thoughts and listed out a few directions—

Motive: create a sensation, Zhou Chang's death, car accident(?)

Method: poisoning, blunt force

Scapegoat (scheme): zombie (horror legend? revenge? sensational news?)

Single murderer or multiple?

Questions: Where did the umbrella go? Why can't the murder weapon be found?