Chapter 145: The Retribution Comes to an End

Zhong Kui's pale fingertips pressed against the metal edge of the freezer, the cold seeping through her palm lines into her veins. As she straightened up, her ponytail traced a silver arc in the cold light: "The killer, just like the police, is trapped in a maze of their own thinking."

This sentence seemed like a thunderbolt splitting the chaos. Qi Fei slapped his forehead hard: "Right! It was already dusk when Huang Daqiu arrived at Jiangting Island. The light was dim, and he and Ying Shuigen share a sixty-percent resemblance in build and appearance. If the killer wasn't familiar with either of them... My god, did they kill the wrong person?!"

"What a dark joke." Zhong Kui paced toward the autopsy table, bypassing the ashen ankles of the corpse. "Most likely. This Ying Shuigen really has a charmed life—escaping a disaster at the hands of this person, only to be saved by me. I don't know what good deeds he did in his past life to earn such karma. Fate is truly unpredictable." As she spoke, she reached the side of Huang Daqiu's remains. "Who could have imagined that this controversial, high-profile figure would end up dying in such a bungled way?"

Just then, a series of vibrations echoed through the quiet forensic room. It was Qi Fei's phone.

Upon hearing the voice on the other end, Qi Fei's expression changed instantly.

"What? Ying Shuigen is dead?" He spoke so loudly that it felt like the stainless steel freezer doors nearby were vibrating along with him.

"It seems Ying Shuigen's luck has run out. The cinnabar on the Yama Register has finally circled his name," Zhong Kui said coldly after hearing the news.

Beside them, Xiao Tao, looking as if he were about to start work again, had already begun silently packing his toolbox: "Is the cause of death clear?"

Qi Fei put down the phone, looking incredulous: "Preliminary judgment is a venomous snake bite. Died of poisoning?"

"The Golden Snake Great Immortal was poisoned by a snake?" Zhong Kui said with a cryptic smile.

On the way to the hospital, Qi Fei could not hide his frustration: "After what happened with Zhu Ming'en, the security was clearly tight. Why did something go wrong? In a proper hospital, where would a snake even come from?!"

Zhong Kui, in the passenger seat, remained silent, staring blankly at the plane trees flashing past the window. The sunlight shattered into gold dust on her eyelashes, as if she hadn't heard a word. Since when had she returned to that inscrutable state? There was no telling what medicine she was hiding in her gourd.

Upon arriving at the hospital, Ying Shuigen's face was already covered with a white sheet.

Qi Fei lifted the cloth; Ying Shuigen's face had swollen into a purple-black mass, resembling a fermented bun. The venom spread upward along the cyan-purple venous lines, as if someone had used a brush dipped in ink to map out death on his skin. His mouth held a bizarre, smiling expression, and dried, bloody foam remained in his nostrils. On the side of his neck, two puncture marks—the holes left by fangs—had edges that were a pale, bruised white. The subcutaneous tissue had begun to undergo liquefactive necrosis, the two small holes gradually expanding into ulcerated purple spots.

One didn't need Xiao Tao to see that Ying Shuigen had been killed by a venomous snake.

The key question: was it an accident or murder?

The guard, Xiao Lu, looked even more self-reproachful: "I'm sorry, Brother Fei..." His voice began to choke up.

Qi Fei patted his shoulder: "What's done is done. Don't put too much pressure on yourself. Calm down. Tell me, what happened?"

Xiao Lu gathered his thoughts: "Ying Shuigen had been recovering well lately and could already get out of bed. We were afraid something might happen to him, so we kept a tight watch. Even when doctors and nurses went in, we checked them repeatedly. But this time, Ying Shuigen snuck out himself. Because our focus was on guarding against people coming to find him, we never expected he would sneak out on his own..."

Zhong Kui had already circled to Ying Shuigen's feet: "With his feet covered in mud, it seems he snuck out barefoot?"

Xiao Lu said regretfully: "He put a pillow under the quilt to pretend he was sleeping. While we were questioning the doctors, he climbed down the balcony's drainage pipe!"

"Stuffing a pillow in the bed to fake sleep, climbing down a drainpipe..." Zhong Kui squatted to examine the mud-stained soles of the corpse. "With such agile movements, why pretend to be severely injured?"

Xiao Lu handed over Ying Shuigen's phone: "We did notice recently that he was always clutching his phone, sending messages non-stop. Today, I saw him take several calls. Thinking back now, his state was indeed a bit off. He seemed anxious and uneasy. Sigh, I'm really so incompetent..."

"If he's determined to seek his own death, you can't stop him." Zhong Kui's way of comforting people was quite unique. As she spoke, she had already taken Xiao Lu's phone. "Modern phones without buttons are really inconvenient..." She was rarely stumped.

Qi Fei remembered that her understanding of phones was still stuck in the memories from before Zhong Xiaoyu's accident. He naturally took the phone and swiped a few times to pull up Ying Shuigen's messages. The calls during the day had been from someone noted as "Mr. Lin."

Qi Fei looked at the call duration—over ten minutes each time—and said, puzzled: "He's a mute; how could he talk to someone for so long?"

"A one-way instruction receiver, that's all." Zhong Kui pulled a crumpled piece of paper from the deceased's pocket. It contained rough notes hand-copied by Ying Shuigen, the ink for the two-hundred-million-yuan figure still wet. "Greed is the best bait."

Upon hearing this, Qi Fei reacted immediately: "Could it be that person from Nanling?" As he spoke, he dialed the number for Mr. Lin.

But the phone only returned the message: "Sorry, the number you have dialed is currently unavailable."

This further confirmed that something was wrong with this person.

"What on earth did he say to him to make him willing to risk climbing down from the building? And that snake..." Qi Fei felt his head buzzing.

"Ying Shuigen sent messages to Hongde Culture Company." Qi Fei continued to scroll through the phone and immediately noticed: "He wanted the company to prepare to receive a payment of 200 million?"

"No need to guess. I suspect the other party identified his greed and used money to lure him into a trap."

Dr. Li, wearing a white coat, pushed the door open, carrying a stiff silver-banded krait: "Found it in the flower bed. This snake's venom is fatal within three minutes..."

"Dr. Li, how are you so skilled at catching snakes?" A flash of suspicion crossed Qi Fei's eyes.

Dr. Li laughed: "My uncle is very good at catching snakes. I learned the technique when I was a child."

"Do you know the villagers of Jiangting Island?"

"My mother is from Jiangting Island."

"What a coincidence? Is your uncle Fu Bo?"

"Yes, that's what everyone in the village calls him." Dr. Li shook the snake in his hand as he spoke. "However, this type of snake is not native to Nancheng. Its appearance in our hospital is even more puzzling."

Qi Fei nodded: "This is a trap aimed at Ying Shuigen. Whoever set it, they are truly capable of manipulating the human heart!" As he said this, he couldn't help but glance at Zhong Kui. This subtle expression did not escape her eyes. She raised an eyebrow and said: "I have been with you the whole time. Besides, I don't even know how to use a phone." ===== CHAPTER 146 =====