Chapter 3
Chapter 3
A real corpse had been found on the set of the escape room show, leaving the production team completely stunned.
“The set was built by an outsourced company. Hundreds of people come in and out of this place every day. Someone definitely took advantage of that access to sneak in!”
Because the show was being livestreamed, footage of the female corpse found in the cabinet spread across the internet instantly.
The viewers watching the stream were dumbfounded too.
[We thought it was a prop and were even praising how realistic it looked. Turns out it’s an actual body.]
[Help, this is literally a death livestream!]
[It’s too dangerous. Get my idol out of there now. If something happens, who’s taking responsibility?]
When the director saw the stream’s popularity skyrocketing, he secretly turned the cameras back on.
“Wait, there’s a letter here.”
Wearing gloves, I pulled an envelope from beside the cut edge of the woman’s severed head. Written on it were the words:
[You incompetent trash-this is a gift thirteen years overdue.]
I analyzed the scene. “There’s no large amount of blood spatter inside the cabinet, so this wasn’t the primary crime scene. The killer deliberately moved the victim here to deliver a provocation through the show itself. This killer enjoys being the center of attention.”
Fang Ningsheng’s voice was tight and strained. “Then… is he the real murderer behind the family massacre thirteen years ago?”
“We can’t rule out the possibility of a copycat, either.”
I took a deep breath and looked at the group, each wearing a different expression.
“Nobody move around carelessly. The killer may still be hiding here.”
That set off an uproar.
Veteran singer Zhang Ze couldn’t stand the sight of blood and fainted on the spot. Song Minwen, the hot young idol, was the first to completely lose it, shouting at the top of his lungs:
“I don’t care! I’m leaving! I’m not staying in this shithole another second!”
“Do you even know who my dad is? If you don’t let me go, every one of you is finished!”
I blocked his path. Before the police arrived, no one was allowed to leave.
On the way to escort them back to the lounge, I took the chance to cut the power.
The scene plunged into darkness. The moment Song Minwen stepped into the restroom, I attacked him from behind.
I didn’t give him any chance to react or turn around before slamming him to the ground.
Holding a dagger, I rasped out:
“If you want to live, answer my questions honestly. Otherwise, you’re the one who’s going to die.”
What I’d said about the killer still being here had just been a bluff to scare them.
The police would be arriving soon. No matter how stupid the killer was, he wouldn’t still be hanging around.
But Song Minwen thought he’d run into a murderer and was scared witless.
“Three years ago, in a private room at Ruyi Club, what exactly happened to Xu Qian?”
Under my harsh questioning, Song Minwen shook all over.
“The people at that gathering that night were all big names in the industry. I was completely wasted. I saw that girl playing the piano, Qianqian, and thought she was pretty, so I followed her out to ask for her number. But in the hallway, I-I saw her arguing with Zhang Ze.”
Zhang Ze? That veteran singer?
“Zhang Ze said something about getting a lawyer and telling her to go ahead and sue or whatever. I only heard a few lines, but I could more or less guess that Zhang Ze had gotten Xu Qian’s friend pregnant, and she’d come to demand an explanation. I didn’t want to get involved in something that awkward, so I went back to the private room.”
A wave of revulsion rose in me.
“Then why didn’t you mention any of this when you gave your statement back then?”
“Zhang Ze is a shareholder in the company, and his wife is the daughter of a high-ranking official. He’s got deep roots. If I said something like that, how was anyone supposed to survive in this industry? Besides, with guts like his, he’s even cautious when he’s cheating. There’s no way he could kill someone.” He was so frightened he started crying. “I’m telling the truth. Someone can vouch for me!”
“Who?”
“Fang Ningsheng! He went to the restroom that time and was in there for at least seven or eight minutes. The place where they were arguing was right next to the men’s room. He definitely would’ve heard it!”
My heart jolted. Seven or eight minutes!
Back then, Fang Ningsheng had never mentioned that in his testimony.
He had a severe cleanliness obsession. Other than in his nanny van or at a hotel, he would never use public restrooms. At the time, the restroom ventilation fan at the club had happened to be broken, and there had been an obvious nasty smell.
Would he really have stayed in there for more than seven minutes?
“Forget everything that just happened, and don’t say a word about it to anyone. Otherwise, I have plenty of ways to deal with you.”
I left the restroom, and a few minutes later, the power came back on.
Once the police arrived, they immediately cordoned off the area.
The victim was named Xu Fangfang, forty-three years old, the owner of a hair salon. She had died seven or eight days earlier, and there were no signs of sexual assault.
Lab testing showed that the tape used to bind the victim’s hands and feet came from the same roll as the tape found at the murder scene thirteen years ago.
The one who killed her was the murderer from thirteen years ago!