Ren Yifei froze like a stone; a gust of wind would have scattered him. The viewers watching the live stream were laughing so hard they could barely maintain their composure. "Chasing the killer back to myself? Seriously?"
There must be something we've overlooked.
Giving up is out of the question; it seems we can only continue pushing backward.
"Assuming the person next to you is not the murderer, he slept here yesterday, right next to you. Given that he slit his throat and cleaned up the blood yesterday, it's impossible that the person next to him wouldn't have reacted at all. If he didn't react, then he was either drugged or an accomplice."
Ren Yifei decided to break free from the identity of 'I am the deceased's boyfriend'.
"I think I'll go back to being a detective. It's too awkward. I've made up my mind that acting is really not for me. I'm not cut out for the entertainment industry."
He gave a sour, jealous look, which made the viewers watching the live stream burst into laughter once again.
Then Ren Yifei coughed twice and straightened his collar: "Now, I am the detective hired by the deceased's boyfriend at great expense, and I am here only to clear his name. Actually, I didn't want to come, but he offered too much."
After saying that, he shook his head and sighed again.
The viewers watching the live stream were laughing so hard they were almost in tears, and he even added his own dramatic moments.
With this bit of banter, the original atmosphere of horror and suspense was greatly diminished.
If someone were to pay attention to these dozen or so live streams simultaneously, they would find that Ren Yifei's live stream was the most lively and attracted the most ordinary people.
Ren Yifei has never given up on recruiting people for himself; he's a man aiming for a 100 million yuan prize.
Of course, he was just trying to lighten the mood; he wouldn't get carried away with the jokes. The most important thing right now was still solving the case.
There were many clues on the body, but he wasn't a professional forensic doctor. It was already difficult enough for him to find so many clues. If he wanted to find more, he would probably have to read a couple more books on forensic medicine.
"Let's continue the scenario simulation. I am the murderer now. I just killed someone, one stab to the head, clean and swift, like cutting off my own inflamed appendix." He used a very strange analogy, and the audience laughed, but he didn't laugh and continued speaking.
"Have you noticed that in many movies and TV shows, after a murder, the killer will cover the victim's eyes or face? This is not something the editors made up; it actually happens."
"Generally speaking, there are two prerequisites for this situation to occur: the murderer and the victim knew each other, and the murderer felt remorse. Killing doesn't preclude him from feeling remorse." Ren Yifei bent down and picked up the silk pillowcase on the ground, which had a bloodstain on it.
He reached out, pinched one side with his right fingers, and gently placed it on the deceased's face.
Then he turned the pillowcase over to show the audience the other side, and sure enough, there were specks of blood on it.
"The murderer did the same thing; he covered the victim's face with a pillowcase. But because the left side was hanging to the ground, the entire pillowcase slipped off due to gravity."
"It could mean one thing: the murderer and the victim knew each other. Maybe the victim's name was even in the victim's contact number."
Ren Yifei tossed aside the pillowcase in his hand, his voice low and somber, and the atmosphere suddenly became tense.
"The pleasure of killing is only momentary, and afterwards there is no relief or liberation. At this moment, he noticed that he was covered in blood, and he needed to get rid of it."
Ren Yifei lowered his head, searching for traces of blood in the cracks in the floor: "There are traces of blood in these places, but they have been wiped away, leaving only a little bit in the cracks."
As he said this, he looked up and said, "Actually, wiping away the blood is useless. Using a special drug, luminol reagent, you can find traces of blood on the floor. This is something that's been shown to death in movies and TV shows. Since the murderer was prepared to kill, he wouldn't have overlooked this."
"Then why was he wiping the floor and cleaning up the spilled blood? I'm also a little curious, how did the killer know where the mop was? Did the killer know this house very well?"
Ren Yifei guided the audience to think as they followed the remaining bloodstains to the bathroom. He found traces of blood that hadn't been cleaned up in time, indicating that the murderer had come here the day before to remove the bloodstains.
He found a trace of blood in the sink, under the faucet, in a rather hidden spot.
There were none in the rain shower pool.
"The murderer chose to wash his face and hands here." Ren Yifei turned around to look at the light switch and found a mark on it. It must have been pressed through gloves, but there were no fingerprints.
"He was very familiar with this house." Ren Yifei looked at the fingerprint. "There were no bloodstains left on the wall from touching it, so the murderer clearly knew where the light switch was."
He continued his search; the clues in the bathroom were crucial.
However, there was no more blood on the ground, which made it seem as if the murderer went to the bathroom, washed his hands and face, and cleaned up all the blood on his body.
"I suspect that the killer was wearing something like a disposable raincoat when he committed the crime. So he could have left by simply disposing of the raincoat and washing his hands and face."
Ren Yifei came out of the bathroom and walked out of the room.
Compared to the horror inside the bedroom, the outside was peaceful and serene, with no bloodstains or signs of a struggle. There was even a clean cup draining in the small cupboard, giving it a very homey feel.
Looking at the lonely blue cup, Ren Yifei seemed to be thinking of something. He turned around, opened the refrigerator, and found a half-empty can of pasteurized milk in the freezer. The production date was the day before yesterday, and the shelf life was seven days.
"Hello, Officer Liu?" Ren Yifei took out his phone and dialed the number of the officer who had left earlier. "I found something. Can you help me test it to see if there were sleeping pills or sedatives added to the milk?"
Officer Liu on the other end of the phone refused firmly: "Your suspicions haven't been cleared yet, I can't help you."
Ren Yifei: "...Okay."
After hanging up the phone, he shrugged: "I have no tools, no people. Even a skilled cook can't make a meal without rice."
"Are you wondering why I suspect there's something wrong with the milk? The reason is actually quite simple."
He first showed the audience the cupboard: "This is a small cupboard for draining water after washing dishes, but this kitchen has a built-in UV sterilization cupboard. Look here, bowls, chopsticks, and spoons are all neatly arranged. So why is this cup left out?"
"Because this cup is used after a meal. Some people have the habit of drinking a little milk, water, honey or something similar before bed. So I opened the refrigerator to take a look, and inside, besides fruits, vegetables, and salad dressing, there was only a large 2L carton of milk, which was almost empty."
Ren Yifei added, "Although it's possible to drink warm water, it's much more inconspicuous to add medicine to milk. Besides, this can of milk is almost empty, and it was already opened when I drank it yesterday, making it ideal for administering the medicine."
"In addition," Ren Yifei opened the refrigerator, "what do you see? Vegetables and fruits, and low-calorie salad dressing."
Then he opened the freezer, which contained packaged chicken breasts and slices of frozen beef.
That's not all. Ren Yifei also bent down and dragged a weighing scale out from under the refrigerator. The scale was spotless, clearly indicating that it was used frequently.
"I have reason to believe that the deceased was on a diet or maintaining her weight, and it is unlikely that she drank water or milk at night. Drinking water would cause facial swelling, and drinking milk would cause weight gain. The murderer was also aware of this, which is why he chose to drug the deceased's boyfriend and make him fall asleep and die."
Aside from lacking crucial evidence, his speculation was quite reasonable and convincing to the audience.
"Of course, a guess is just a guess. To turn it into valid reasoning, you need to provide evidence. For example, this can of milk residue. As long as it can be proven that there is something wrong with it, my guess is valid reasoning."
He made that call again: "Hello, Officer Liu, could you help me buy a white mouse?"
Officer Liu said with particular helplessness, "I told you I can't help you."
"I didn't ask you for assistance, I just wanted you to help me buy a lab mouse. Just pretend you're a deliveryman and I'll place the order. If you don't want to, you can send me a delivery driver who can take orders."
"If we're not in a gaming environment, it's perfectly reasonable for me to order takeout and pay extra to have someone buy a lab mouse for me. It's entirely feasible."
"Where are you going to buy the lab mice? Can you just buy lab mice anywhere?" Officer Liu raised his voice.
"Buying hamsters is fine too. I don't care about the price, they're all hamsters, so the effect should be about the same."
There was a long silence on the other end of the phone before someone gritted their teeth and said, "I'm sending you a white mouse. This is the last time. The delivery guy is off work."
Ren Yifei reached out and scratched his ear, seemingly oblivious to the reluctance in his words, and then asked with a smile, "Could you also bring a box of char siu rice?"
"You're feeding this to the white rats?"
"No," Ren Yifei rubbed his stomach, "I'm hungry."
"...No! If you make any more requests, there won't be any more white mice."
"Okay, I won't mention it, hurry up." After saying that, Ren Yifei hung up the phone immediately without waiting for a response, looking like a scumbag who uses and discards people.
Sure enough, a person dressed in a food delivery uniform arrived shortly afterward, brought him a white mouse, and asked him to sign the order.
At the same time, all the other contestants received a notification that they had one chance to summon a food delivery rider and ask them to bring back an item that is common and easy to find in the market.
None of the players understood, except for a few who realized: "Someone probably discovered a loophole in the game and got us some benefits."
"Achoo!" Ren Yifei rubbed his nose and continued heating the milk. He couldn't possibly drink something ice-cold to fall asleep so late at night; the milk definitely needed to be heated—these were all details.
The heated milk was cooled in cold water and then poured into the mouse's food bowl.
The white mouse squeaked twice, and only after Ren Yifei hid behind the sofa did it come over and start drinking milk.
It drank most of the milk, and Ren Yifei hid behind the sofa to keep track of the time.
Five minutes passed, and the mouse remained motionless.
Ten minutes later, the white mouse lay down in the far corner.
Fifteen minutes later, the mouse closed its eyes and began to sleep.
"Clang, clang." Ren Yifei jumped out and banged on the metal plate, startling the white mouse awake. But it only stayed awake for two seconds before drifting back to sleep.
"Okay," he said to the live-streaming fly, "it fell asleep, and even after I woke it up, it still couldn't resist the sleepiness, which shows that there was indeed something poisoned in the milk."
"The killer poured drugs into the milk and was certain the victim's boyfriend had drunk it before sneaking into the master bedroom... This back-and-forth is too conspicuous. If I were the killer, what would I do?"
Ren Yifei's gaze swept around the house before settling on the door to the guest room.
"Perhaps this secret room wasn't a secret room in the first place," he murmured as he walked toward the guest room.
The audience was affected by his expression and voice, and they even became a little nervous, unable to help but tighten their grip on the things at hand: Had he discovered something?
"The deceased and her boyfriend came back. They ate dinner, chatted, watched TV, or did other things, thinking they were enjoying a warm and romantic time together. But...did they ever consider that there might be someone hiding in this house?"
The audience's hearts jumped, their eyes following Ren Yifei as he walked toward the guest room, one hand gripping the doorknob: No way.
"That person was hiding in a dark corner, watching their tender interaction. His gloomy eyes were filled with venom; he finally made up his mind to kill one and frame the other." Ren Yifei suddenly flung open the door, "Ah!"
"Ah—" The audience in front of the screen screamed in fright, knocked over their milk tea cups, soaked their keyboards, and covered their eyes with one hand.
However, there was no further sound. They secretly opened one eye and saw the mischievous boy on the screen with a smug smile, his voice leaping like musical notes: "Scared you? Just kidding."
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