Card Room

Chapter 25 - Bloody Maple Leaf 06

The correct way to use the invisibility cloak was for the two people to stagger the time to try and get more information.

Yu Hanjiang wore the cloak and followed behind the police officers.

The police first went to the monitoring centre to see the surveillance. Unfortunately, the surveillance videos of Class 3 were bad. Ying Xiaoya’s incident had happened between 11:30 – 11:45. The cameras at this time only saw Ying Xiaoya walk from the Chongwen Building through the air corridor to the Hangzhi Building next door.

Her figure flashed around the corner of the Hangzhi Building and her subsequent actions weren’t captured at all

The police officer frowned. “How long have the school’s surveillance cameras been broken?”

The principal awkwardly explained, “They were broken last year. The cameras were supposed to be changed but the city didn’t give us the funds…”

The policeman’s face was ugly. The surveillance was useless and he had to go to the office next door to quickly investigate the Class 3 students. Yu Hui, Xie Xinghe and the other students were arranged interview times.

The policeman asked Yu Hui, “Where were you between 11:30 – 11:45?”

“Playing basketball. Our entire class was on the basketball court.”

“What is your relationship with Ying Xiaoya. Did you see where she went?”

Yu Hui frowned. “What happened to Xiaoya? Why wasn’t she here when we were called?”

“You answer my question first.”

Yu Hui raised his eyebrows. “If you don’t tell me where she is then how can I answer?”

This person was obviously in his rebellious period and wasn’t afraid of the police. It could be seen that he was really worried about Ying Xiaoya.

The two police officers looked at each other before the female police officer spoke softly, “She jumped off the building… she is dead.”

Yu Hui understood the meaning of the other person. His entire face started to twitch and he stood up, turning around to rush outside. “Where is Xiaoya? I’m going to see her!”

The policewoman hurriedly pulled the emotional teenager. “You calm down first!”

Yu Hui was forced to return to his seat. He sat there for a long time before covering his face with both hands, his shoulders constantly shaking.

The female police officer patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t be too agitated. We also want to find out Ying Xiaoya’s cause of death as soon as possible. Yu Hui, I hope you can cooperate.”

The leader of the police officers got to the point. “According to the teacher, you and Ying Xiaoya are in love and you often give her chocolates?”

Yu Hui’s senses returned. His eyes were red and he stood up like a wounded beast, growing loudly, “What love? She is my cousin! Her parents are in the field and she is temporarily staying at my house! Isn’t the teacher too nervous? He sees a boy and girl walking class and thinks it is love? Fuck! I see her as a sister! I was supposed to take care of her!”

The police officers were yelled at by him and Yu Hanjiang was very surprised by this answer.

Still, thinking about it carefully, he called himself &#k2018;brother’ when giving Ying Xiaoya his gift. It turned out to be this meaning. Everything was a misunderstanding.

Then was the love letter sent by Xie Xinghe? Or was there another connection to this case?

Yu Hanjiang frowned and thought about it while listening to the questioning.

The policeman continued, “Has your sister been acting unusual lately?”

Yu Hui calmly thought about it and replied as he sat back in his side. “She suddenly acted weird last week. I asked her what happened and she refused to say. She was always distracted in class and on the way home, she almost tripped several times.”

The police handed him the love letter. “Do you know how sent this?”

Yu Hui frowned. “I don’t know. My sister is so beautiful that she often has love letters stuffed in his bag. If I knew who it was then I would fight them! Those flies are really annoying and also put food in his bag. I threw them all away!”

Yu Hui was clearly hit hard and could go on a rampage at any time.

The policeman spoke briefly and took out the evidence found in the classroom. “Do these chocolates belong to you?”

Yu Hui nodded. “It’s mine. We both love eating this and I often carry it with me.”

Then the police handed over the suicide note. “Is this Ying Xiaoya’s handwriting?”’

Yu Hui stared with red eyes. “Impossible! She isn’t so fragile that she would commit suicide because of bad grades! This suicide note isn’t written by her? Why would she commit suicide? My parents said they would go back to celebrate her birthday with her tonight… no…”

He was emotional and kept repeating ’no.’ The police had to let him go back temporarily.

Yu Hui turned and walked away.

The next person to be arranged was the class monitor Xie Xinghe.

After hearing about Ying Xiaoya’s death, the boy’s hands trembled and his face was pale.

Then no matter what the police asked, he would coldly reply, “I don’t know.”

The policeman took out a book and said, “This is the book ‘Count of Monte Cristo’ which was found in your bag.”

Xie Xinghe’s back slightly stiffened and his voice was cold. “Do I need to explain a famous book in my bag? I love reading. Apart from the Count of Monte Cristo, I’ve also read Les Miserables, War and Peace, Wuthering Heights… I have basically read all the world masterpieces.”

The police couldn’t guess anything about the famous book and had to let him go back first.

Xie Xinghe and Yu Hui both had a sufficient alibi. Everyone had seen them playing on the basketball court and neither of them had a motive for killing. The others weren’t familiar with Ying Xiaoya and couldn’t provide useful information.

The end time of Yu Hanjiang’s invisibility cloak was coming. He decisively turned towards the maple forest to meet Xiao Lou.

***

Outside the maple forest.

Xiao Lou pretended to be a teacher as he sat on a wooden seat and carefully organized the current clues.

He was a young man and his serious expression made him seem more handsome than usual. He attracted the curiosity of many passing students but he was calm and immovable.

Hearing the familiar students, Xiao Lou raised his head and hurriedly asked, “Yu… Teacher, did you find anything?”

Yu Hanjiang sat own, glanced at the students not far away and lowered his voice. “The police went to the classroom of Class 3 to collect evidence and found the chocolates, love letter, paper cranes and Count of Monte Carlo book that we collected before. The evidence is the same. In addition, a suicide note was found on Ying Xiaoya’s desk, apologizing to her parents and teachers. She lost confidence in life and wants to end her life at the age of 18. The handwriting is in line with Ying Xiaoya’s handwriting.”

Yu Hanjiang paused before continuing, “The roof of the building only contains Ying Xiaoya’s footprints. I couldn’t find any abnormalities from the place where she jumped from the building. All the clues seem to point to suicide.”

Just then, a prompt appeared at the same time on their floating boxes.

[The inference result of the 3 of Hearts room—did Ying Xiaoya commit suicide? Yes/No. Note: A misjudgment will result in a failure of the challenge.]

Xiao Lou didn’t hesitate to press ‘No’ and looked at Yu Hanjiang. “It isn’t suicide.”

Yu Hanjiang nodded and ignored the suspension box. “What did you find?”

Xiao Lou took a deep breath and organized his wording. “The preliminary judgment of the forensic doctor is a skull fracture and cerebral hemorrhage caused by the fall but I discovered something wrong. When a normal person dies, the pupils will dilate. However, Ying Xiaoya’s pupils shrank abnormally. Narrow pupils are a special symptom that must be paid attention to in forensic toxicological identification. It only occurs when carbamates or organophosphorus poisoning.

Yu Hanjiang was shocked. “Poisoning?”

Xiao Lou nodded with certainty. “Yes, carbamates and organic phosphates are common ingredients of pesticides and are easy to buy. These two poisons will cause the pupils to shrink and the muscle fibres to vibrate abnormally. It is likely that Ying Xiaoya was poisoned.”

Yu Hanjiang really wanted to give Xiao Lou a thumbs up.

It was said that Professor Xiao studied toxicology appraisal at the postgraduate level and was very familiar with the symptoms of poisoning. Therefore, Xiao Lou was able to capture the abnormalities of the body.

Ying Xiaoya had been poisoned before falling and it obviously wasn’t suicide.

This was a well-planned murder.

In fact, Yu Hanjiang sensed something the moment that Ying Xiaoya fell from the building. This wasn’t suicide.

If it was a simple suicide then it wasn’t necessary for the 3 of Hearts room to let them come in and investigate. This was obviously a deliberate clue, especially the suicide note left by the deceased on the table.

If it wasn’t suicide then who was the murderer?

Yu Hanjiang turned over the suspects in his mind before saying, “During the police interrogation, there was a useful message. Yu Hui and Ying Xiaoya weren’t a couple. They were cousins. Ying Xiaoya is currently staying at Yu Hui’s house.”

Xiao Lou suddenly realized. “No wonder… I remember that Yu Hui said it was a gift that Brother bought for you. I thought that Yu Hui called himself that because he was older than her. It turns out they really are brother and sister.”

Xiao Lou paused before continuing. “The police interrogated Yi Ru and she confessed that the paper cranes are a birthday gift for Ying Xiaoya. I just went to the snack bar to inquire and she really went to buy two packs of potato chips. There is no proof of absence.”

Yu Hanjiang muttered, “Then excluding the possibility of suicide, Yi Ru, Yu Hui and Xie Xinghe aren’t murderers.”

Their reasoning was once again in trouble.

At present, there were too few students with known names. If these three students weren’t murderers then the murderers were either students of other classes and the two people hadn’t seen them yet, or new characters would continue to appear.

The killer could also be a teacher…

Xiao Lou asked, “Are there any clues about the printed love letter and the Count of Monte Cristo.

Yu Hanjiang replied, “Yu Hui said his sister looks good and often receives love letters. The source of the love letter is still undetermined. As for the Count of Monte Cristo, I observed that Xie Xinghe’s expression wasn’t right when the police mentioned it. What do you think?”

Xiao Lou was thoughtful. “The theme of the book is revenge. The hero of the story was framed by two vile villains and sent to prison. The protagonist suffered a lot in prison but fortunately met an old master. The other person taught him all types of knowledge, letting him know the enemy who framed himself and telling him the location of a treasure. After the death of the old master, the protagonist escaped from prison, found the treasure and became a rich man. He became known as the Count of Monte Cristo and after careful planning, he successfully returned and got revenge.”

“Revenge…” Yu Hanjiang frowned. “Should Ying Xiaoya’s death be for a vendetta?”

“The book was in Xie Xinghe’s bag and perhaps he has a relationship with the theme of ‘revenge’?” Xiao Lou held his temples. He felt like his head was about to explode. “There is also the curse. We have no clue about this keyword.”

“There aren’t enough clues and this case can’t be solved in a day.” Yu Hanjiang was calm. “If I guess correctly, the police will come again tomorrow.”

“Do you mean they’ll grasp the evidence of the poisoning and return to the school to investigate again?”

Yu Hanjiang nodded. “You are a forensic doctor and noticed the poisoning instantly. However, most challengers aren’t forensic doctors and won’t notice the abnormal shrinking of the pupils after death. Thus, the secret room will definitely tell the challengers in other ways that Ying Xiaoya was poisoned.”

“It makes sense.” Xiao Lou immediately understood. “If this clue isn’t told then the challenger’s reasoning would really be in trouble. I am a forensic doctor and can determine the truth of Ying Xiaoya’s death in advance. Other challengers are likely to know the truth when the police come back to school tomorrow.”

Yu Hanjiang glanced at him with eyes full of praise. “Thanks to you, we obtained evidence of the poisoning in advance. This is our advantage and should be used.”

Xiao Lou was startled. “Group Leader Yu, do you mean to search the school for the poison in advance?”

Yu Hanjiang just stood up. “The murderer shouldn’t have time to deal with the evidence of the poisoning or the difficulty of this secret room is too high. We will wait for it to become dark. Once the students and teachers leave, we will collect clues. In addition, there would be something involving the broken street lights. We should watch it tonight.”

Xiao Lou also stood up and nodded. “Yes, you are an expert in searching and I will listen to your arrangements.”

Yu Hanjiang had solved many criminal cases. The presence of a forensic doctor meant things were twice as efficient. In addition, Xiao Lou trusted him and was willing to listen to his arrangements. This was even rarer.

Meeting Xiao Lou’s clear eyes, Yu Hanjiang suddenly thought that it was a blessing to meet Xiao Lou as a partner in this Card World.

It didn’t matter who the murderer was.

They would definitely pick out this person at the fastest possible speed!