Chapter 227: Must Find the Murderer? No, He Had Different Thoughts…

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

Upon confirming that this case was indeed quite brain-racking, Su Xuan acted swiftly. He returned to the police station in a hurry, bringing with him all the relevant case materials for a thorough examination.

But that was not all. Simultaneously, Su Xuan watched several of the deceased’s previous live-stream recording videos with great attention.

As the primary investigator of this case, Zhou Qiang naturally joined Su Xuan in watching these videos. However, even after they finished viewing them, Zhou Qiang still couldn’t comprehend why Su Xuan was so interested in these recordings.

“Let’s go back further.”

“Are there any other videos?” Su Xuan spoke up.

Hearing the voice in his ear, Zhou Qiang furrowed his brow, wanting to say something but ultimately chose to fetch several earlier videos.

Su Xuan didn’t say much, he simply took the videos and watched them at three times the normal speed. It wasn’t until they had watched dozens of videos that Su Xuan selected a few and captured certain segments.

At this point, Zhou Qiang no longer questioned why Su Xuan was scrutinizing these recordings. He had already figured it out. Zhou Qiang’s experience in handling cases might not be as extensive as Su Xuan’s, but that didn’t mean he was a fool when it came to investigations.

“Wait…”

The deceased had this habit before eating instant noodles…”

“I never noticed it before.”

“How did you come up with this?”

Zhou Qiang looked at the video segments that Su Xuan had highlighted, turning to Su Xuan with astonishment.

As it turned out, the reason Su Xuan had watched so many videos was to find out what the deceased did before eating instant noodles. They hadn’t initially thought to investigate this aspect, which was why they were unaware. But now, they had discovered that the deceased would wash the fork before eating instant noodles.

When the deceased had been live-streaming, it had been a makeup tutorial. The camera was directly focused on him, and the scene of him preparing instant noodles had not been visible to anyone.

In the past, the police couldn’t have known about the deceased’s habit from his videos. But now, it was different. In the recordings of the deceased’s previous live streams, there were several instances where you could see the deceased’s habit before eating instant noodles. He had a habit of rinsing the fork under the faucet.

“This is just my guess,” Su Xuan said. “If it weren’t for this, I couldn’t think of any other reason why this instant noodles would have poison. But you’ve also mentioned before that the poison is inside the instant noodles, while the kettle and the mineral water bottle are clean.”

Su Xuan spoke in response to Zhou Qiang’s puzzled expression. It had started as a mere conjecture, but now, with real evidence, Su Xuan had reason to suspect the truth behind the deceased’s murder. However, even if they had the truth about the murder, it didn’t necessarily mean they knew who the killer was.

Su Xuan’s expression was grim, and he couldn’t help but think that the evidence had probably been destroyed.

“How could there be none?”

After finally finding a clue, Zhou Qiang wouldn’t allow something like this to happen. He immediately said, “Come on, let’s go and see!”

“And bring the items for testing!”

“No, if we can’t confirm the identity of the killer with this lead we’ve finally found…”

“That would be really troublesome!”

Zhou Qiang’s words rang in Su Xuan’s ears. Su Xuan looked at his suddenly excited partner and took a deep breath. He wasn’t trying to deceive his partner.

But finding the culprit from the lead he had discovered was impossible. Moreover…

“It’s gone.”

Su Xuan looked at the water storage cabinet filled with water and said, “There’s nothing here.”

Beside him, Zhou Qiang, who had been looking at the contents with him, also crouched down. Upon hearing Su Xuan’s words, he lowered his head in confusion.

“How could it be gone?”

“What are you thinking? Are you saying there’s no evidence here as you thought before?”

“Or…”

“Was your earlier guess wrong?”

If Zhou Qiang were to say, he didn’t believe Su Xuan could be wrong.

The facts proved that Su Xuan had not guessed wrong, there should have been something here before.

“But now it’s gone.”

“We can’t find any clues, and we can’t confirm the killer.”

Su Xuan’s words sounded like a joke to Zhou Qiang.

“That’s not acceptable!”

“How can we let the killer get away with it?”

“Su Xuan, you mentioned earlier that you suspected the poison came from the faucet…”

“Why don’t we take this and have it tested directly?”

“If we don’t have any leads, our case will become a cold case!”

This was something Zhou Qiang didn’t want to see.

Upon hearing this, Su Xuan glanced at Zhou Qiang and led him inside.

“Take a look here…”

Following Su Xuan’s words, Zhou Qiang looked around as he followed his movements.

“You told me before that this is a typical locked-room murder.”

“When the deceased died, he was alone at home, and no one had been in his house for several days before and after his death.”

“Furthermore, except for the instant noodles he ate, no one could find where the poison came from.”

“So, in my opinion, there’s one possibility.”

“The killer had poisoned the faucet.”

“It was only when the deceased came out to wash the fork for the instant noodles that he was exposed to the poison.”

“In this situation, the deceased was bound to die.”

Su Xuan’s words opened up a new line of thinking for Zhou Qiang. However, Zhou Qiang narrowed his eyes.

“So, it seems that the poison inside must have been placed by someone close to the deceased!”

“And his team members… are also highly suspicious.”

The deceased was a streamer who loved cosplaying as various anime characters. A streamer with such a large following couldn’t possibly operate alone. Even this house had been bought for him by his company’s people. Of course, it now belonged to the deceased himself.

“Yes, that’s what I mean.”

“The fact that the deceased liked to wash his fork when eating instant noodles was something only his team members knew.”

“Furthermore, I watched his earlier videos.”

“This habit developed after he acquired this house.”

“It can be deduced that the deceased gave himself a subconscious suggestion that this house was his own.”

Many people have such a psychological experience, especially someone like the deceased who came from a poor background. After acquiring their own house, they might have thoughts like, “I shouldn’t have such a nice house” or “Is this ’ really mine?” Under such thoughts, they would take actions to confirm that the house truly belongs to them.

The deceased’s action was his way of confirming his ownership of the house. In his earlier videos, you could see that he started streaming from a small rented place. Later, as he gained a team and more money, he moved into this house. However, the team also moved in with him, giving the impression that the house was more of a workplace for them. What the killer wanted was to ensure that the house truly belonged to him.

“So…”

Zhou Qiang’s voice was a bit hoarse.

“I must catch the killer!”

More precisely, he had to catch the killer now!

Oh?

Su Xuan glanced at him.

He had a different idea….