Chapter 763: Locked Room Murder
The next afternoon, Chen Shi and Lin Dongxue went to see the class president organizing the reunion. When they requested to cancel the event, the president impatiently refused, saying, “This reunion has been planned for over two months. Many classmates are coming from out of town. You think I can just cancel it on your say-so? The others won’t agree. Can’t you police catch that crazy woman?”
“Four of your classmates have already been murdered. Isn’t that warning enough? I’m not asking you to cancel it outright, just postpone it until next month,” Lin Dongxue suggested.
“No way!” The president sneered. “We’re not afraid of her! The whole class bullied her back then. Do you think she can kill us all?”
“What’s the real reason for not canceling?” Chen Shi asked.
“No reason! We’re just not afraid of her!”
“I noticed you’ve been cozying up to a certain classmate who’s an executive at an upstream company. This reunion is just your way of sucking up to him, right?” Chen Shi remarked.
The class president became enraged. “That’s not true! This reunion is to reconnect with old friends. We graduated twenty years ago; it’s hard to get everyone together. Why do you have to be so cynical? You cops always think the worst of people!”
The president was as stubborn as a mule, and they couldn’t convince him otherwise. They left their contact information and departed.
Lin Dongxue said, “I’ll talk to Captain Lin. We should have officers at the reunion just in case.”
“Alright, I’ll go too,” Chen Shi agreed.
Chen Shi was torn. He both hoped and feared something would happen at the reunion. All their conclusions were based on historical evidence without direct proof that Han Meng was seeking revenge on her classmates. If another murder occurred…
Chen Shi’s phone buzzed in his pocket. It was Du Zilin’s phone, showing a notification of a large transfer of over four million yuan from one of his bank accounts. Normally, Chen Shi would dismiss such messages as scams, but Du Zilin was indeed wealthy. He called the bank to confirm, and they verified the transfer was real.
“Why would he transfer so much money? To whom?” Chen Shi wondered aloud.
“Contact him,” Lin Dongxue suggested.
“I have his phone. I’ll have to visit him.”
They went to Du Zilin’s secluded villa and pressed the intercom, but there was no response. They had a bad feeling. Chen Shi helped Lin Dongxue over the wall, then scaled it himself.
The front door was locked, so Chen Shi forced it open. A strong smell of blood hit them. Their nerves tightened as they moved down the hallway, finding Du Zilin lying in a pool of blood behind the iron gate, clutching the bars. The gate meant to protect him had become his barrier to escape.
Chen Shi slapped Du Zilin’s face, shouting his name. Du Zilin slowly opened his eyes and murmured, “It came…” before his head fell forward, lifeless.
Chen Shi checked for a pulse but found none. “Call Captain Peng,” he said, standing up.
By five o’clock, several police cars arrived. It took nearly half an hour to open the iron gate. Du Zilin had died from stab wounds, all on his back and shoulders. Judging by the angles, the attacker was behind him and at least six feet three inches tall.
The hallway was bricked up at one end. Neither the iron gate nor the front door showed signs of forced entry. The bedroom had a lot of blood, suggesting it was the primary crime scene. Only the victim’s footprints were in the blood.
“This is… a locked room murder!” Lin Dongxue exclaimed.
Chen Shi found a small bowl with a key inside on a shelf. “Does this key unlock the gate from outside?” he wondered.
They tried it but found that Du Zilin had welded iron plates over the lock from the outside. It was impossible to reach in and unlock it unless the person’s hand could bend like a tentacle.
“How did the killer get in?” Chen Shi inspected the ceiling. It and the walls were covered in fireproof cotton with no visible gaps.
He brought a stepladder from the hallway and checked each piece of cotton. One was loose. Lifting it revealed a hole.
“To the second floor!” Chen Shi said.
They went upstairs. All the windows were sealed except for a small skylight. The hole was directly under a loose floorboard. Lin Dongxue wondered, “Why leave a hole?”
“Maybe it was meant for installing a chandelier…” Chen Shi measured it. “It’s small. Could someone fit through?”
Technicians found fingerprints around the hole. After the forensic team finished, Captain Peng’s team left. Chen Shi stayed, looking for something, and pointed to a table. “There was a laptop here yesterday. The killer not only murdered him but also took his money. They had a clear motive.”
“You think the bank details were on the laptop?”
“Yes, the killer needed money.”
“Who do you think Du Zilin meant by ‘it’? Han Meng or one of the three people Xu Xiaodong is watching?”
“If Xiaodong hasn’t contacted me, they must not have left.”
Chen Shi called Xu Xiaodong but couldn’t get through. An uneasy feeling crept over him, and he and Lin Dongxue rushed to find him.
Outside the old house, Xu Xiaodong’s car was parked, but he was nowhere to be seen.
Inside the car were a half-finished drink and a half-eaten burger, along with his phone. Chen Shi asked an elderly shopkeeper nearby, who said the man in the car left about half an hour ago but didn’t know where he went.
They searched the area, arriving at a commercial street where most shops were closed for the night. They saw a group fighting—one against many. Lin Dongxue recognized Xu Xiaodong among them.
“Chen Shi, over here!” she called, running towards the fight, flashing her badge. “Police! Stop right now!”
The thugs scattered instantly. Xu Xiaodong, bruised but grinning, said, “Dongxue, did you see me? These thugs were bullying a girl, so I stepped in. It was awesome!”
“What are you doing here…” Lin Dongxue began, but Xu Xiaodong grabbed her hand. She pulled away, and Xu Xiaodong looked stunned. Seeing Chen Shi approaching, he exclaimed, “Chen, what are you doing in my dream?”
“Dream?” Chen Shi raised an eyebrow. “Pinch yourself. This is real life!”