The Scheming Ex-Husband's Courtship-Chapter 682 - 590: Murder in the Secret Room

Leng Shaoqing forcefully rammed the door several times but couldn’t break it open. Such customized doors are naturally not of shoddy construction.

At this moment, Qin Yong had hurried over with a spare key in hand. After finding the key to this room, he tried to unlock the door, only to find it had been deadbolted from the inside; even with the key, it was no use.

"It’s deadbolted," Qin Yong said. "How about trying the windows?"

"If the windows are also locked, it would just be a waste of time. It’s probably too late to call a locksmith now, given that this is a suburban area; it would take them at least two hours to get here," Leng Shaoqing asked, "Do we have something like a sledgehammer?"

"Yes, I’ll get one," Feng Guang, along with a waiter, ran to the storage room and soon returned with a sledgehammer.

Feng Guang said, "Step back, everyone. Don’t get hurt."

Everyone was a mix of shock, fear, and concern. Hearing his words, they quickly stepped back several paces.

Feng Guang swung the hammer with great force towards the position of the door lock. One strike, two strikes, three strikes... After more than a dozen, the lock was finally smashed off, and Leng Shaoqing rushed in first ahead of everyone else.

Nan Zhan blocked the others outside, instructing Feng Guang, "Get Jian Chuan and Nan Yu up here, and have everyone else wait outside the door, so as not to disturb the scene."

Feng Guang asked, "The scene?"

Nan Zhan said, "Just a hunch."

Feng Guang quickly nodded and went downstairs.

"Here," a pair of white gloves and a plastic bag for shoes were handed to Nan Zhan, who turned around to see Jian Si.

"Thanks."

Jian Si asked, "Do you need me?"

"Not for now, just take care of the guests outside."

"Okay."

Apart from Nan Zhan and Leng Shaoqing, everyone else anxiously stood outside the door waiting.

Qin Yong stood at the staircase, keeping those curious onlookers at bay.

This room was located at the innermost part of the mansion, backed by mountains, and contained a large bed and an independent washroom.

The room was draped with heavy curtains, barely letting any light in.

Nan Zhan turned on the light, and a body appeared shockingly in front of them.

She lay on the floor in front of the vanity, dressed in an expensive evening gown.

Leng Shaoqing was taken aback: "Han Feiyi."

As he was about to step forward to lift her, Jian Chuan, who had just arrived, suddenly said, "Leng Shao, don’t touch."

Leng Shaoqing hastily stopped and looked at him, baffled.

Jian Chuan said, "There’s a smell of bitter almonds in the air. Preliminary conclusion is cyanide poisoning; there could still be residue of the poison on her body."

"How do you know?" Leng Shaoqing asked, puzzled.

Nan Zhan put on the gloves and said to Leng Shaoqing: "Shaoqing, go outside and wait, and also inform her parents."

"Oh." Although he wouldn’t be saddened by Han Feiyi’s death since he felt nothing for her, she had come with him, and he bore some responsibility.

A person in good spirits, what could make her so desperate, to just commit suicide, and additionally, in someone else’s house?

As Leng Shaoqing walked out, he thought it strange—the corpse... why did it look unusual? But he couldn’t figure out exactly what was off.

Leng Shaoqing reached the doorway, when he suddenly heard Nan Zhan’s grave voice: "Tell her parents that Han Feiyi was murdered, and also call the police."

Murder?

At that moment, Nan Yu also hurried over. They had work during the day and didn’t attend the lunch gathering, only driving over in the evening.

Qin Yong had already found several pairs of white gloves, and he put on a pair, crouching down in front of the body.

"The deceased, female, cause of death, cyanide poisoning. The face and limbs are cool to the touch, livor mortis and rigor mortis are just starting to appear; death likely occurred half an hour to an hour ago."

Nan Yu had thoroughly searched the room: "All windows were locked from the inside, and the door was deadbolted from the inside as well. It looks much like a suicide, but..."

Nan Zhan abruptly said, "The position of death."

Nan Yu nodded: "Indeed."

"Where would a person normally choose to commit suicide in a room like this?"

Nan Yu said, "The bed."

"And yet the deceased is lying next to the vanity. There’s even a twisted open lipstick on the vanity. Was the deceased committing suicide by swallowing poison while applying lipstick? Additionally, two things were not found at the scene: first, the container with cyanide; second, the deceased’s cellphone."

"After sending the message, where did her cellphone go? Was it thrown away by her, or taken by the murderer?"

People outside the door were whispering to each other, having heard it was murder, everyone was startled.

Jian Si said to Qin Yong with a serious face: "Housekeeper Qin, please take someone to guard the main entrance. Don’t let anyone leave. If this was murder, the killer is likely among us. Let’s wait for the police to arrive before making any decisions."

"Yes, ma’am."

"Also, do not spread the word, to avoid causing panic. Those who don’t know should continue to dine at the banquet, and those of us who are aware, please stay on the second floor."

"Okay, I’ll arrange it right away."

Qin Yong took people to guard the door, while Jian Si stayed to calm everyone down.

Han Feiyi had a wide circle of acquaintances, so more than twenty people who received text messages came up, crowding the corridor nearly to capacity.

"Please go to the rooms on the second floor to rest and wait. We can’t leave before the police arrive."

Someone said loudly: "That won’t work, I have to go back tonight, I don’t have time to waste here."

Jian Si looked at him seriously: "You can leave if you want, but you’ll be the prime suspect."

The previously silent Mu Shuoqian suddenly spoke in a cold tone: "Whoever wants to leave now would be crossing me, Mu Shuoqian."

Upon hearing this, the slightly agitated crowd immediately fell silent, with no one daring to make a noise.

Jian Si couldn’t help but glance at him gratefully, while he responded with a faint gaze and a nod in her direction.

Jian Si inwardly praised him, thinking that Mu Shuoqian had such a presence. He didn’t need to say much; just a single sentence was enough to stabilize the situation.

After Mu Shuoqian spoke, he took Gu Qili to a side lounge, while the others also gradually dispersed.

Members of the six major families stayed in one room, while the others were scattered across the remaining four rooms.

Nan Zhan, who had been crouching beside the body, suddenly pointed at the deceased’s right hand and said, "There’s a wound here."

Jian Chuan picked up the deceased’s hand for a closer look, and indeed, there were two small wounds on the pads between the middle and index fingers. The wounds were not deep and hard to notice.

Jian Chuan said: "There’s no almond smell in the deceased’s mouth, which means the poison wasn’t ingested. It’s very likely that the poison entered through these two wounds."

Nan Yu also squatted down to examine the two wounds closely.

If the poison wasn’t ingested, it further suggests that this wasn’t a suicide. No one would go to the trouble of cutting their hands and sprinkling poison on them instead of just swallowing the toxin in a suicide attempt.

Cyanide is highly toxic, and whether through contact with a wound or ingestion, it can end a person’s life in a mere minute or two and requires an extremely limited dose.

Such a discovery, while encouraging, seemed to plunge them into an even more complex mystery.

What exactly did the killer do to make the victim willingly poison herself to death in this locked room? Why injure her hand instead of making her ingest it? Moreover, there were no signs of struggle on the victim, nor any indications of a fight at the scene.

"I need to take the body back to determine whether the deceased had taken any sleep-inducing drugs before death," Jian Chuan suggested, meaning the killer might have drugged the victim with a sleeping pill before acting.

Nan Zhan shook his head: "Impossible, the deceased was sitting right in front of this vanity before the onset of the poison. Look at her lipstick; it’s applied very evenly, which obviously means the poisoning happened after she did her lipstick. Cyanide acts within just a couple of minutes; she must have been conscious at that time."

Jian Chuan frowned: "That’s strange. In a sealed room, the victim was conscious and applying lipstick at the time of poisoning. How did the killer sprinkle the poison on her wound and then leave without a trace? Could it still be a suicide?"

Nan Yu had an epiphany: "Could it be the lipstick? The killer could’ve smeared the cyanide powder onto the metal tube of the lipstick, and when the victim picked it up, the toxin would seep into her body through the wounds."

Jian Chuan also said: "Right, the lipstick. I’ll check it right now."

The case seemed to be moving forward again, but Nan Zhan knitted his brows and stared blankly at the body, thinking.

That doesn’t make sense. If the killer wanted to stage a suicide, why would they leave behind evidence with the poison on it? And how could they have known that the victim would definitely pick up the lipstick to touch up her makeup? If she didn’t touch up, she wouldn’t have come into contact with the poison, right? And how were the wounds on the killer’s hand caused?

Most importantly, since the killer had sent out texts from the victim’s phone, why did they take the victim’s phone with them?

That’s when Jian Chuan suddenly said in disappointment: "There is no cyanide on the lipstick, nor on any other item in this handbag that belonged to the victim. The poison wasn’t smeared on these."

Indeed, the poison wasn’t on the lipstick.

"What else is in the handbag?"

"Just cosmetics."

The content of this handbag didn’t seem to hold any value.

Nan Yu picked up a small incense burner from the vanity: "What’s this?"

"It’s an incense burner. I’ve checked it already, there’s no cyanide on it."

Suddenly, Nan Zhan stood up hastily and strode towards the door.

The others, somewhat surprised, watched him, thinking he might have found a clue, but saw that he headed straight towards Jian Si standing at the door.

Jian Si knew she was not very proficient with these investigatory clues and could only take care of their aftermath tasks.

"Hey, why have you come out?" Jian Si was checking the guest list with Qin Yong, trying to ensure no one had left the scene when she saw Nan Zhan coming out, blinking perplexedly.

Once he arrived at the scene of the incident, he was highly focused, almost solely on the case, but today...