Chapter 22: Deduction

First is the secretary, "Rita"—

The autopsy report shows the victim died around 1:00 AM.

She entered the coffee shop at 1:00; although the method is unknown, she certainly has the suspicion of committing the act in terms of timing, and furthermore, she was nearly molested by the victim previously, leading to intense conflict between the two, which increases the suspicion!

Next, is "Ye Wen Yuan"—

She had an affair with the victim and was threatened with a video, giving her a motive. Added to the fact that her home address is close to the victim's, making it easy to successfully commit the crime, her suspicion is likewise not light!

Finally, is the company technician, "Vaer"—

He is actually the least suspicious. He belongs to a high-income group, did not suffer sexual harassment like the previous two women, and there is no evidence to suggest he knew his secret girlfriend (Ye Wen Yuan) was having an affair with the victim before the incident.

His motive for the crime is unclear.

"..." Ding Mo took a breath and rubbed his temples.

But what gave him the biggest headache was not these things.

It was that in this record, all three had clear alibis!

It was simply a standard "locked-room murder"!

What should be done about this?

Of course, there is another possibility: it is not a locked-room murder, but a true "supernatural event"!

"Typewriters" exist, so why couldn't "supernatural events" exist too?

Thinking of this, Ding Mo couldn't help but look up at Chu Chenfeng, who was staring at the paper opposite him:

"Senior, is the information stated in this record all true? Is it possible that it contains false misdirection?"

Upon hearing this, Chu Chenfeng shook his head and denied it.

"That's good..." Ding Mo breathed a sigh of relief.

If there were still misdirection in the record, it would be troublesome.

With the current level of complexity, Ding Mo could still solve it given some time.

He was just about to open his mouth to explain his line of reasoning when suddenly,

A strange "beep-beep" sound came from the box.

Ding Mo turned his head in surprise and fished a Stopwatch out of the box.

"What is this?" He looked at the countdown on it and suddenly had an ominous premonition.

Sure enough,

"This is a Timer," Chu Chenfeng replied:

"After the countdown reaches zero, if the game has not been completed, it counts as a failure."

"What!?" Ding Mo was startled, then looked closely at the Stopwatch:

The time on it should have been nearly 10 minutes, but now, nearly two minutes had already passed!

A drop of cold sweat rolled down Ding Mo's forehead.

This time is way too short!

"Senior!" Ding Mo then said hurriedly: "Do you have a line of reasoning yet?"

"Don't be impatient; deduction requires peeling back the layers, thinking slowly..."

Chu Chenfeng was actually not in the least bit hurried; he drew on the paper for a while longer.

After another moment, he said:

"First, tell me your thoughts. Who do you think is the murderer? Or was it a group crime?

"Let me explain first: this game does not consider the possibility of supernatural events."

Ding Mo breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this, nodded, and then said solemnly:

"The police have already intervened in the investigation; I think we can rule out the possibility of a group crime first.

"And as for an individual crime, I think it might be 'Ye Wen Yuan'! That female employee!

"If the information in the record is all true, then this is a genuine locked-room murder. That is to say, there must be a 'mechanism' set up in advance at the scene!"

As a mystery enthusiast, Ding Mo had a basic understanding of this.

"And this point is easiest to achieve for Ye Wen Yuan, whose home address is closest to the victim's.

"Furthermore, the chat logs show that sexual acts had occurred between the two; Ye Wen Yuan had likely been to the victim's home more than once.

"She must be very familiar with that place!

"She is the one who set up the mechanism at the scene!"

Upon hearing this, Chu Chenfeng nodded and said:

"If you are truly certain, use the pen to write the murderer's name on the back of the victim's photo.

"Remember, you only have one chance to write it!"

Placing the victim's photo in front of him, Ding Mo flipped it to the back and picked up the pen.

But he hesitated.

Because, although this deduction was reasonable, he had no evidence! Without knowing the method of the crime, he dared not confirm it!

"If I write it and it's wrong, what happens?"

Hearing this, Chu Chenfeng smiled faintly and said:

"If it's wrong, one of us—you or me—will die."

"!?" Ding Mo was stunned: "I might die too!?"

"I said that one of the people participating in the game will die." Chu Chenfeng looked at him.

"..."

Ding Mo gritted his teeth, but could only blame himself for participating in the game without listening clearly.

However, what Chu Chenfeng said—that he had never failed before—combined with his completely calm expression, made Ding Mo feel much more composed as well.

"Then let's hurry and continue!" Ding Mo said, then buried his head back into looking at the records and photos.

In the photos, besides pictures of the individuals, there were also many photos of the scene, especially the table where the deceased was slumped over.

Seeing this, Chu Chenfeng said:

"We must deduce the appropriate method to confirm the killer. We must avoid failing the game.

"If Ye Wen Yuan is the killer, how did she commit the murder?

"Or, as you said, how did she stage the scene?"

The deceased died from a gunshot, so how could Ye Wen Yuan have staged the scene to achieve this? Ding Mo could not figure it out no matter how hard he thought, and could only keep scanning that table with his eyes.

How was it done?

The secret must be on this table! Because the handgun was also lying on it!

But how could the items on this table, including the mobile phone, computer, printer, and pen holder, possibly use a handgun?

Could they grow hands? No... Ding Mo shook his head, rejecting this absurd conjecture.

Rather than believing they could grow hands, it would be better to believe the deceased committed suicide with the handgun.

However, judging by the death posture of the deceased at the scene, suicide was basically ruled out.

Yet all sorts of signs indicated that during that time, there was absolutely no one else in the room besides the deceased!

Ding Mo grabbed his head fiercely, feeling his brain itch a little.

This scene was almost as if there were an invisible "transparent person" who had shot and killed the deceased with a gun!

"I, on the other hand, think,"

Chu Chenfeng suddenly said at this moment, "the killer is Vaer."

The killer is Vaer?

"Why?" Ding Mo asked.

"On the night of the incident, he was the last one to leave the deceased's home," Chu Chenfeng said, lifting the paper to display it.

It was filled with various deductions and analyses, as well as a timeline of events.

"At 23:05, Rita left; at 23:10, Ye Wen Yuan left; and Vaer didn't leave until after 23:14, meeting up with Ye Wen Yuan outside the house."

Chu Chenfeng pointed at the paper and said:

"After Ye Wen Yuan left, he had a gap of nearly 4 minutes to be alone; what did he do during this period?

"I suspect he was staging the scene!"

He was... staging the scene?

Hearing this, Ding Mo frowned:

"For such a precise locked-room murder, could the scene be staged in just 4 minutes? I highly doubt it!

"Moreover, his motive for murder is unclear!

"Most importantly, how was the murder method achieved? Where is the evidence?"

Without evidence, no one could be certain.

Because the price of choosing wrong was his or Chu Chenfeng's life!

"... That is true, I haven't found any strong evidence either," Chu Chenfeng let out a breath.

After denying each other, the two fell into a silence.

And at this moment, the time,

had already less than half remaining!