Chapter 234: Who is the Killer?

Everyone stood up one after another and looked at Jin Yuanxun.

"Who died?"

"One... one woman... she was killed like that!" Jin Yuanxun gasped, speaking breathlessly.

Upon hearing this, Qi Xia's face showed shock, and he knocked over the table and chairs as he rushed out the door.

Officer Li seemed to think of something and followed closely behind.

The remaining people from "Tian Tang Kou" trailed after them sporadically.

Qi Xia arrived at the classroom where he and the others were staying, his expression full of panic. The moment he pushed open the door, a pungent rusty smell hit him, mixed with the fresh stench from the playground, making everyone feel momentarily dizzy.

Yu Nian'an lay in a pool of blood, a sharp knife embedded in her chest.

"An!"

As Qi Xia moved to rush forward, Officer Li grabbed him.

"What are you doing...?" Qi Xia asked.

"This time... we really need to 'protect the scene'." Officer Li walked slowly around the edge of the classroom, examining the footprints on the ground, and said, "Don't you want to find the killer?"

Reminded by Officer Li, Qi Xia gradually calmed down.

This time, Yu Nian'an's death was different from Han Yimo's situation—it was clearly murder.

A crowd began to gather at the door, and Qi Xia's teammates also ran over.

Lin Geng glanced at Yu Nian'an lying in the blood and then turned to look at Qi Xia, feeling something was off.

Qi Xia... wasn't having a headache?

Officer Li led Zhao Yisheng forward to check Yu Nian'an's pulse. She had no vital signs, but her body was still warm, indicating she had died not long ago.

Officer Li squatted down and examined the ground. The footprints here were hard to trace, since ten people lived in the room.

But one thing was certain: the blood was only around Yu Nian'an's body, with no bloody footprints leading away.

This meant the killer had acted very quickly, leaving the scene before the blood could spread.

There was another possibility, though...

"The killer might have escaped through the window," Su Shan suddenly said.

Officer Li nodded and glanced at the young woman.

The two of them went to the window to check. The school's windows could only be locked from the inside, and all of them were locked now.

Officer Li and Su Shan then lifted Yu Nian'an's left and right hands, examining her nails and palms, and finally checked the fatal wound.

After a moment, both wore troubled expressions.

They stood up, as if each had something to say.

Officer Li looked at Su Shan and asked, "Are you a police officer?"

Su Shan nodded. "Yes, and you?"

Officer Li reached out and saluted. "Li Shangwu, captain of the first criminal investigation unit in Baring Zuoqi, Inner Mongolia."

Su Shan became serious and returned the salute respectfully. "Su Shan, technical forensics expert from the criminal investigation team in Changsha, Hunan."

The two nodded in understanding, which made the others feel a bit more at ease.

But the next second, Officer Li said seriously, "On the surface, it looks more like the victim committed suicide."

"What did you say...?" Qi Xia's expression froze.

"Officer Li is right," Su Shan nodded. "There's no sign of struggle on the victim, and the wound is directly to the heart and lungs—it's hard for a normal person not to struggle."

Su Shan bent down again and looked at the sharp knife in Yu Nian'an's chest.

"This is a fruit knife with only one side sharpened. But the sharpened edge is facing upward..." Su Shan demonstrated by holding her hands as if gripping a knife. "When a normal person holds a fruit knife, the blade should face downward. That's the easiest way to stab into someone's body."

Everyone saw that the situation matched what Su Shan described.

"To stab with the blade facing upward..."

Su Shan clasped her hands together, reenacting the scene.

She knelt on the ground, pretending to grip the knife, then flipped her hands and thrust toward her own heart.

"Only like this... would the blade face upward." She turned back and said.

Officer Li nodded and added, "There are no bloody footprints in the room, and the windows show no signs of being opened, so what Su Shan said..."

"Nonsense," Qi Xia snapped.

"What?"

"I said you two are talking nonsense." Qi Xia refused to believe their words and sat down coldly next to Yu Nian'an. "Where's Jin Yuanxun? Call him over."

A young man slowly emerged from the back of the crowd—it was Jin Yuanxun.

"Ge, I'm here..."

"Everyone was at the gathering—why were you the one who found the body?" Qi Xia demanded sternly.

"Chu Ge told me to patrol like that..." Jin Yuanxun replied. "Even though you were all at the gathering, I didn't go."

"Patrol...?" Qi Xia still looked skeptical.

"Ge, are you suspecting me?" Jin Yuanxun's tone turned serious. "How can you say that? Are you saying I killed her?"

Officer Li and Su Shan understood Qi Xia's thinking—in most murder cases, the first person to discover the body is often a suspect.

"Yu Nian'an was only wearing a white dress," Qi Xia said. "Jin Yuanxun, if it was suicide, where did this fruit knife come from?"

Hearing this, Lin Geng felt a shock. A phrase Qi Xia had said earlier at the gathering echoed in her mind—"I just went to deliver something to my wife."

"Damn it... how should I know?" Jin Yuanxun was furious. "I don't even know who she is—why would I kill her?"

At that moment, Chu Tianqiu slowly walked over from the back of the crowd. He scanned the room and frowned instantly.

"What's going on?" Chu Tianqiu asked Jin Yuanxun.

"Ge, I don't know—I found the body, but he's suspecting me." Jin Yuanxun said anxiously.

Chu Tianqiu didn't speak. Instead, he circled the room.

He glanced at the ground, the window, and Yu Nian'an's body, then said flatly, "It looks like suicide..."

As soon as he finished, he felt himself being taken down.

It wasn't Qi Xia or Qiao Jiajin who took him down, but the pale-faced young man.

In the next second, the pale-faced young man pinned Chu Tianqiu by the neck, holding a blood-stained dagger in his hand—clearly pulled from the body.

Qi Xia stood nearby, and it seemed the two had planned this. Chu Tianqiu realized he had been tricked.

"Where is Xu Liunian?" Qi Xia asked from the side.

"What?" Chu Tianqiu frowned. "Xu Liunian...?"

He quickly understood.

"The killer is Xu Liunian—bring her here, or we'll kill you," Qi Xia said.

Murmurs spread through the crowd.

The killer is Xu Liunian?

Chu Tianqiu looked uneasy and turned to shout toward the crowd, "Don't..."

Before he could finish, Xu Liunian hurried out and said, "Qi Xia, don't kill him! I'm here! I couldn't possibly be the killer..."

Chu Tianqiu's face darkened instantly. He knew Xu Liunian was still too naive.

How could anyone believe what someone like Qi Xia said?

Qi Xia smiled slightly. "Perfect."

He nodded at Chen Junnan, who suddenly raised his hand and thrust the dagger straight at Chu Tianqiu.

Qi Xia didn't care about Xu Liunian's whereabouts—he just wanted to confirm if the person in front of him was really Chu Tianqiu.

But to his surprise, at the critical moment, Jin Yuanxun suddenly grabbed Chen Junnan's wrist.

"What are you doing?" Jin Yuanxun asked Qi Xia quietly.

"Can't you see?" Qi Xia replied. "Getting revenge."

"You don't even know who killed her—how can you get revenge?" Jin Yuanxun retorted.

Qi Xia looked up at the young man in front of him.

During the last "Di Hu" game, when choosing team members, Xu Liunian had said, "It's a shame Jin Yuanxun isn't here," and settled for Li Xiangling instead.

Thinking about it now... was this young man's fighting ability even stronger than Li Xiangling's?

Chu Tianqiu, lying on the ground, thought for a moment and said, "Jin Yuanxun, disarm him."

Jin Yuanxun nodded and gripped Chen Junnan's arm with both hands, about to twist it with force, when suddenly someone hugged his shoulders.

"Handsome guy, hear me out first..."