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墨書 Inktalez
In the city, there was an incident.
Zhao Lang knew he would definitely encounter Shui Yu here. Because there was a corpse.
At the entrance of the building, several tense police officers and patrolmen stood behind a warning tape, while Shui Yu casually leaned against the high edge of a flower bed at the foot of the building.
Her long legs, wrapped in denim jeans, swayed slightly, with one foot in front and the other behind, touching the ground alternately. The rhinestones on her deer skin boots sparkled with a dazzling light in the faint morning glow. The combination of jeans and long boots was a favorite among many fashion-forward girls, but among those Zhao Lang had seen, only Shui Yu could wear it with such alluring charm and feminine grace.
Zhao Lang smiled slightly but then furrowed his brow. "You have a keen sense of smell! Got an insider tip?"
Shui Yu tapped the ash off her tonic water cup with her left hand, pressed her thin lips together, and smiled sweetly. "Don't want to see me?"
As usual, Zhao Lang found himself at a loss for words in response to her teasing and provocative double entendre, and he could only avert his gaze for a moment. Facing Shui Yu, the chief reporter for Green City Express's social news department, Zhao Lang, the deputy captain of the Green City Criminal Police Team, always felt as if he were unable to unleash his full strength.
The crime scene was located in the deceased's residence on the third floor. The deceased was named Li Yuecheng, 38 years old, a superstar in Green City's entertainment industry who dominated film, television, and music. No wonder no other media outlets were present; the officers downstairs were on high alert.
From the outside, it appeared to be an ordinary upscale apartment building, but once inside, it revealed a different world. Li Yuecheng's residence was a three-story duplex villa, each floor approximately 90 square meters with its own sky garden and balcony. The three levels were arranged as guest rooms and entertainment rooms, a study and workspace, and a bedroom with an independent viewing room. Li Yuecheng's body was found on the bed in the bedroom.
"No wonder this seemingly ordinary neighborhood is filled with luxury cars," Shui Yu gently picked up a magazine that had been discarded on the floor, her slender fingers already adorned with thin plastic gloves. The strange black silver ring on her right ring finger left only a faint impression. Just as Zhao Lang was about to speak, Shui Yu shrugged. "They've already taken photos, and besides, it's a good five meters away from here."
Li Yuecheng's body lay half-naked face down on the edge of the bed, an empty wine glass with clear fingerprints rolling onto the carpet below, distorting its pattern into strange shapes. An opened bottle of Louis XIII sat among a pile of clutter on the bedside table, next to which lay crumpled foil paper smeared with some powdery substance.
The forensic expert removed his gloves with a serious expression but his eyes betrayed a hint of relief. He nodded at Zhao Lang. "Cyanide. Preliminary assessment indicates that the deceased died from cyanide poisoning; the powder on the foil paper is likely residue from it. There are no other external injuries on the body—not even any signs of struggle or mosquito bites."
"Suicide?" Shui Yu asked with interest, casually tossing the magazine back to its original spot.
The forensic expert carefully phrased his response, "It appears to be cyanide poisoning..."
"Doesn't rule out the possibility of homicide?" Shui Yu smirked, curling his lip in mockery.
Zhao Lang furrowed his brow as he scrutinized every corner of the bedroom. When he finally stopped, an old detective who had been following him said, "Captain Zhao, we heard him cursing when we broke in, but by the time we reached the third-floor bedroom, he was already dead. Judging by the warmth of the body at that time, he had indeed just died. He was alone in the entire room."
"Broke in?" Zhao Lang asked, slightly surprised. "So it wasn't that someone called the police after discovering his body; we broke in? This means that if it was homicide, there exists a..."
"A locked room," Shui Yu's eyes lit up instantly. For an entertainment reporter, the sensational news of Li Yuecheng's death might be enough to send them into a frenzy, but for Shui Yu, Li Yuecheng was no different from any other murder victim.
The old detective explained the reason for their forced entry: "Captain Zhao, you just returned from your business trip and may not know this yet. In fact, we discovered a direct connection between Li Yuecheng and another murder case; or rather, Li Yuecheng is a suspect in that case. We attempted to contact him, and when we were unsuccessful and suspected he might have fled, we obtained a search warrant and found ourselves here... Oh, Zhang Da was at the scene of that murder case. Also, the victim in that case was Li Yuecheng's assistant named Ken, whose real name is Xu Haitao." Zhang Da is Captain Zhang of the Green City Criminal Police Team and Zhao Lang's direct superior.
At that moment, a detective rushed in with an excited expression and handed Zhao Lang a thick Kraft paper bag. "Captain Zhao, look! It seems to be Li Yuecheng's diary and suicide note found in the second-floor archive."
Inside the Kraft paper bag was a thick stack of A4 printed sheets filled with text in size five font. Another piece of paper had been sealed in an evidence bag; it bore a few hastily written lines in ink that had become rare in the computer age: "Life or death both carry their own sorrows; you and I bear different marks. If you choose not to live, then I can only accompany you in death."
Zhao Lang handed the paper to the detective for handwriting verification while he himself read through the stack of typed pages with a grave expression. Meanwhile, Shui Yu, filled with curiosity, distanced himself to the nearby sky garden beside the bedroom, lighting a cigarette and quietly observing Zhao Lang with bright eyes.
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