Chapter 34

Chapter 34

The three of them had already returned to the deceased’s bedroom.

“Let’s check the body first,” Jian Fan said, cutting the conversation short.

Mu Xin didn’t press further.

They were close to the truth, but a few doubts remained, and they needed more clues to resolve them.

Both Qin Nan and Jian Fan were meticulous people. They had already examined the corpse once, and a second inspection yielded no new discoveries. However, Jian Fan reached out and pulled the dagger straight out of the victim’s chest.

Then, he stripped the deceased’s clothes off once more.

The Players weren’t forensic doctors, after all. It was impossible for them to tell from the subtleties of a wound whether it was a single fatal blow or if the blade had been thrust in twice. Fortunately, the game world wasn’t that sadistic; after Jian Fan pulled out the dagger, the wound on the victim’s chest clearly showed the overlapping marks of two separate stabs.

The Eldest Miss had pulled the dagger out at the time, so the killer must have reinserted it into the victim’s chest. The cause of death they had been puzzled by earlier finally seemed to have an explanation.

The killer had only performed the final finishing touches after the Eldest Miss left.

He had used the same dagger the Eldest Young Lady had used to stab the victim to inflict further damage, which was the final blow that led to the victim’s death. Afterward, he began to arrange the crime scene and performed the cleaning on the lower half of the body.

This was another confusing point.

“Perhaps he wanted to frame someone,” Qin Nan said, finally getting a chance to showcase his deductive reasoning as an Old Player of Murder Mystery Games.

Both Mu Xin and Jian Fan looked at him.

“Because of a certain Player’s inaction, we lost a very important chain of clues. Although the Second Miss couldn’t be the killer, her existence must be relevant to the murder. Furthermore, because she was directly erased by the world, she shouldn’t have died within the Script. Imagine if her death hadn’t been triggered by a Player’s comments violating the Death Setting-wouldn’t she have become our primary suspect? The killer did this to shift the blame onto the Second Miss. As for why he chose her specifically, only the killer and the Second Miss would likely know,” Qin Nan analyzed.

Jian Fan stood up. “We still need more convincing evidence.”

“Let’s wait for Qin Weiyi’s side. They might find something,” Qin Nan said after a moment’s thought.

***

Qin Weiyi and his group had already entered the Vault.

They used the key they had found in the Second Master’s room.

Zheng Jueming spared no effort in sowing seeds of suspicion. “How could the deceased have given the Vault key to the Second Master? There’s clearly something wrong here.”

Qin Weiyi glanced at Zheng Jueming and said, “Everyone here has something wrong with them.”

Standing nearby, Lu Jing also gave Zheng Jueming a cold look.

Zheng Jueming choked on his words, then rolled his eyes. “Believe it or not, it’s up to you. If we don’t find the killer, we’re all finished.” With that, Zheng Jueming walked further inside.

Qin Weiyi gave Lu Jing a look.

Lu Jing understood immediately and followed him, while Lin Junruo naturally chose to stay close to Zheng Jueming.

Qin Weiyi was also suspicious of Zheng Jueming.

On the night the murder occurred, Zheng Jueming had chosen to stay in his own courtyard. While this avoided the possibility of him being the killer, he also lost out on clues. During the second time loop, Qin Weiyi had learned some details about his own character, which were also related to the murder case.

He had returned to the moment he had a falling out with the Second Young Master.

He was good friends with the brother of the Second Young Master’s sweetheart. He had been furious at the Second Young Master’s sudden transformation into a scoundrel. From his initial disbelief to the end, he had finally delivered the letter severing their relationship into the girl’s hands.
The young lady truly loved the Second Young Master, which was why she had fallen so ill. Her family had tried to force her into marriage, but she refused, even resorting to threats of suicide, until they eventually cast her out. It was through the Nephew Young Master that she had first met the Second Young Master; consequently, the Nephew Young Master felt responsible for her plight. He had been secretly supporting her, and after she fell gravely ill, he spared no expense, using precious medicinal ingredients to keep her alive.

However, he was merely a distant nephew, and his resources were limited.

The pawn ticket was real; he truly had taken items to exchange for money. But those items weren’t stolen; they had been sent to him by the Second Young Master.

Despite his dislike for the Second Young Master, the Nephew Young Master wanted the young lady to live even more, so he had accepted the gifts.

Those items did indeed belong to the Second Young Master, but the deceased had mistakenly believed the Nephew Young Master had stolen them.

None of this was the main point. What Qin Weiyi saw so far were just basic character relationships; he hadn’t yet reached the choices he needed to make.

Even with the precious medicine, the young lady’s life was only hanging by a thread, with no signs of recovery. It was then that the Nephew Young Master heard rumors of a Taoist priest who could cure any illness-someone capable of snatching a soul back from the King of Hell.

The choice Qin Weiyi had to make was whether to believe the rumors and seek out the Taoist, or to continue spending money on a Doctor to treat the young lady.

Qin Weiyi chose the former.

The Taoist had no way to cure the young lady, but Qin Weiyi heard an incredible possibility from him: “There is indeed a way to save someone. It can save not only her but even the dead. However, the sacrifice is immense. It requires the heart’s blood of the one performing the ritual, as well as the blood of a female descendant. Why am I even telling you this? It’s essentially trading several lives for one.”

The Taoist left after saying his piece.

Following that, what Qin Weiyi saw was in text form.

The Nephew Young Master had agonized over the situation before finally informing the Second Young Master that the young lady was dying, mentioning the Taoist’s words during their conversation. The Nephew Young Master spoke without ulterior motives, but the Second Young Master’s face suddenly turned deathly pale.

His strange reaction immediately aroused the Nephew Young Master’s suspicions. Although the Second Young Master said nothing explicitly, the Nephew Young Master began a secret investigation.

Qin Weiyi didn’t know if the Nephew Young Master had discovered anything, but he suspected he had. On the surface, this script seemed like a melodramatic family drama, but in reality, the Resurrection Technique mentioned by the Taoist was likely the most important element.

Qin Weiyi made a bold guess.

The deceased wanted to resurrect someone, and the Second Young Master had realized it. That was why the Second Young Master had deliberately broken up with his lover and remained unmarried. His own character had likely discovered some clues and eventually learned the truth. Out of guilt over the young lady’s death and disgust for the deceased’s actions, he would have a motive to kill the deceased and arrange the crime scene to look like a Taiji Diagram.

The Taiji Diagram was related to the Resurrection Technique.

Every one of them could potentially be the killer who staged the scene, so there had to be a thread connecting each of them to the true plot hidden behind the melodrama.

So, as an Accountant, how would Zheng Jueming be linked to all of this?

The killer had been narrowed down, but as for the specific details, Qin Weiyi still hadn’t reached a solid conclusion.