Translator-Rhapsodite
Editor- Koneko, Proofreader- Spring Flower
While talking, the four took the elevator to the top floor, crossed the police line, and entered the bathroom where the body was found.
All of the lights in the bathroom were switched on. A police officer raised his hand and pointed to the last stall.
There was indeed a body inside.
It was of a young man in his early twenties.
He remained sitting on the toilet with a tie around his neck, the other end of the tie was connected to a water pipe that was hanging higher above.
He was a graduate student from the affiliated History Research Institute of Feng Xingcheng University, known as Lan Fang.
Lan Fang was wearing a typical nondescript summer sportswear and a pair of black-framed glasses on his face.
He was completely dressed as an ordinary college student and had the type of persona that would not attract anyone’s attention when walking by.
He was sitting crookedly on the toilet, with his back against the wall. He was leaning forwards, his tie around his neck, and the weight of his head being completely supported by the thin tie that had closed off his airways and blood supply to the brain. This consequently resulted in the asphyxiation.
Even a person without any medical knowledge could tell from a glance that this person was dead.
Generally speaking, it was not technically impossible for a person to hang themselves while sitting, but it would be quite a difficult scene to conduct alone.
The process of hanging oneself is a very painful one. During suicide, losing consciousness is not a quick process, due to the lack of oxygen, the individual would have an instinctive desire to survive.
However, Lan Fang’s eyes were open.
His face showed a terrifying purple color due to the suffocation and his bulging eyeballs were covered with dense needle-like bleeding spots. The expression on his face did not show any pain, but was rather calm as if he was relaxed sitting on the toilet while reading an essay.
“Preliminary judgement, Lan Fang has been dead for almost ten hours.” Qing Zhu turned to Bei Quan and retold the information that he received from the police.
“That is to say, he died around four or five o’clock in the afternoon.”
Bei Quan approached the body and carefully studied it for a while.
“This expression doesn’t look right, does it?” Bei Quan questioned, as he put on his black gloves and gently lifted the chin of the deceased, clearly revealing the young man’s face.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“P uefrr ktfc Ojc Mjcu vlfv, Ct Vbcu’r rbei tjv jigfjvs ifoa tlr ybvs. Ojc Mjcu kjr pera jc fwqas rtfii, rb tf vlvc’a offi jcs qjlc jcv tlr fzqgfrrlbc gfwjlcfv mjiw.”
Hlcu Ite jugffv klat Dfl Hejc’r uefrr.
“Vb, ktfc Ojc Mjcu mbwwlaafv relmlvf, atf qfgrbc cfza ab tlw kjr wbra ilxfis ab yf qbrrfrrfv.” Dfl Hejc ogbkcfv. “Pa rtbeivc’a yf vloolmeia ab olcv atlr qfgrbc ja atf rmtbbi, gluta?”
After all, the university campus was heavily monitored, especially at the teaching building.
Now that there had been a death, it was natural for the police to use surveillance footage. It was just a matter of the time difference to find out who had entered the teaching building during this incident.
Bei Quan paused.
“Unless…”
“Hmm.”
Miss A’Liu who stood beside him, replied softly with her gentle and ethereal voice: “Indeed, it is ‘unless’.”
For general crimes, surveillance can be an effective tool, but for people like Bei Quan, this is not always the case.
When he conducts something shady, he covers nearby cameras with magical techniques.
Although he was not familiar with the “senior brother” Ah Song and did not know how capable the other party was, he was only dealing with a few surveillance cameras, which was probably a small skill that could even be called a ‘technique’.
As expected, Qing Zhu told Bei Quan and Wei Fuyuan that the police found all the CCTV cameras that could capture the entrance and inside of the building were broken.
The night shift security guard confidently said that he checked the CCTV cameras during his shift and everything was normal. However, now the recordings were all blank, with nothing being able to be seen.
“How long were they out?”
Bei Quan asked.
Miss A’Liu replied, “From 10:15 am to 4:35 pm, more than six hours.”
She thought for a moment and added, “It was probably when Lan Fang entered the teaching building.”
“Anyone can enter this teaching building without swiping a card, not just teachers or students.”
Six hours is more than enough time for something to happen.
Even if the forensic doctor could be more precise about the time of death, it was not easy to quickly identify the suspect without having concrete CCTV footage.
Bei Quan stopped talking and just stared at the corpse, frowning in thought, as if he was thinking about something deeply.
“What about it?”
Qing Zhu crossed his arms and asked, “Do you have any ideas?”
Bei Quan returned to the scene of the crime to see if there was anything they hadn’t thought of.
He didn’t answer immediately.
He opened his black suitcase and took out a compass before slowly walking around the bathroom while holding it, all to the surprise and suspicion of the police.
“I can’t summon the unknown victim’s spirit here.”
Ah Song is smart, knowing to strike here.
Generally speaking, the three souls and seven souls of the person who had been taken away from the body were equivalent to just dying.
A freshly deceased person, especially someone who died suddenly, may not have had time to walk the path of the underworld yet, and their souls would still be wandering in the world.
During this time, the success rate of summoning spirits is higher.
But, this method cannot be implemented at Feng Xingcheng University.
The reason was simple, because the aura was too chaotic.
As a student of Feng Xingcheng University, Wei Fuyuan was very puzzled and couldn’t help but ask, “Why is the aura of our school so chaotic?”
“Have you heard of many urban legends at your school?”
Bei Quan was always patient with his lover and explained things carefully.
“For example, your school is built on a graveyard, so occasionally people will see a white figure or hear a woman crying.”
Wei Fuyuan raised an eyebrow, “But, isn’t that just a superstitious creation or legend that every university has?”
After all, for famous schools nowadays, if they didn’t have one or two widely known ghost stories, they wouldn’t have the good grace to call themselves universities that were part of projects 985 and 211.
For Feng Xingcheng University, it was not just a legend.
Bei Quan explained, “A part of your university’s land used to be a mass grave. During construction, many unclaimed graves were not relocated and were directly buried into the foundation.”
He shrugged, “So, if I try to summon spirits here, who knows what I’ll end up summoning.”
If Bei Quan knew who was the next person to be taken over, then he could target and invoke the souls of specific dead people.
But, now that they know nothing about the identity of the victim and the other party died in a mass grave, If Bei Quan hastily summoned his soul, the error rate would be too high – so high that this attempt would have had no meaning at all.
Qing Zhu still didn’t give up, “Is there really no other way?”
Bei Quan shook his head helplessly.
If he found the body soon after death, he could still light Ah Song’s natal post and use the smoke to track the other person’s location.
It was a pity that Lan Fang had been dead for ten hours now, let alone in a radius of three kilometers. Too much time had passed, enough for the murderer to span the entire Hua Kingdom.
Qing Zhu had no choice but to temporarily give up the idea of getting any more clues from Bei Quan.
After carefully examining the scene, A’Liu informed the police to close the case as a suicide.
They also copied the remaining undamaged surveillance footage to bring back to the “Special Seven” for analysis.
Qing Zhu took Bei Quan and Wei Fuyuan back to Sāntúchuān and agreed to share any information they found about Ah Song.
After the series of events, it was already past 5 in the morning. Jiang Nan’an opened the door while wearing his slippers.
“Good timing,” he said. “I thought this week’s [Thriller Night Talk] would have to be suspended!”
Xiao Jiang exaggeratedly yawned.
“Not possible,” Bei Quan smiled at Jiang Nan’an.
“The show must go on. I’m still hoping that some angry ghost will give me some news about Ah Song.”
Jiang Nan’an didn’t know who ‘Ah Song’ was, and was about to ask when Bei Quan took Wei Fuyuan by the hand and led him upstairs.
“Let’s talk about it after we get some sleep.”
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The author has something to say: “The next chapter will open a new instance! Finally, we’re going to fight the boss!~”
