Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou locked themselves in the restroom and came out. Both of them looked calm. To avoid getting the smell of blood on them, Xiao Lou even got some air freshener from the flight attendant's office and sprayed it on each of them to get rid of the odor.
He opened the drawer and said to Yu Hanjiang, "The bathroom is locked. Zhou Quan is dead and couldn't have locked it himself. The murderer must have locked it from the outside with a key. When I left the office last night, the bathroom key was in the drawer with the key's teeth facing left, but when I took the key this morning, the teeth were facing right. Also, the hair I clipped to the office door is gone."
Xiao Lou made some arrangements in his office because he was worried that something might happen in carriage number 4.
The murderer was meticulous, putting the key back in its original place. However, she certainly didn't notice the strand of hair in the door crack in the dim light of the night, nor did she pay attention to the direction the key's teeth were facing. Most people only remember where they put their keys and don't specifically pay attention to whether the teeth are facing left or right.
Yu Hanjiang said, "The murderer went into your office to see if they left any clues?"
Xiao Lou carefully examined every corner of the office. His eyes lit up slightly, and he bent down to pick up a hair, saying, "A girl's long hair."
Yu Hanjiang looked at the long hair in front of him, gave Xiao Lou an appreciative look, and said, "It seems that our basic reasoning is correct. The murderer is a woman, and a long-haired, black-haired woman at that."
Many women experience hair loss. From a physiological perspective, losing dozens of hairs a day is a normal part of metabolism. If hair is accidentally left behind while moving around, the murderer certainly wouldn't notice it in the dark.
In the real world, Yu Hanjiang could easily have the hair sample tested for genetic information and immediately identify the suspect.
But now that the two are on the train, they can't identify the owner of the hair or detect the fingerprints on the key. They can only find out the real culprit by collecting other clues, analyzing and deducing.
Xiao Lou picked up a long strand of hair and said, " Mo Jiaran's hair only reaches her shoulders, and it's dark brown and permed, not this long black hair. If I remember correctly, Yue Xiaoquan's hair is long and straight black, and there are two girls with long hair in her group of girlfriends."
Yu Hanjiang nodded and said seriously, "We need to gather evidence as soon as possible. The deceased didn't have his phone with him, but there might be clues on his phone."
You can't throw large items into the toilet on a high-speed train, otherwise it will break. A cell phone can't be flushed down the toilet, so Zhou Quan's cell phone must still be on the train at this moment.
The two returned to row 8. Zhou Zheng and Mo Jiaran had already finished breakfast. Jing Weiguang, who had been sleeping soundly, also woke up groggily and was walking towards the washroom with his messy hair. Xiao Lou stopped him and smiled, "Dr. Jing, the restroom is broken and there's no water in the washroom. If you want to use the toilet or wash your face, you can go to carriage 6."
Jing Weiguang was finally fully awake. He rubbed his eyes and asked with some confusion, "Is the bathroom broken? It was working fine when I went to the toilet this morning."
Xiao Lou sensed that he knew something and immediately followed up by asking, "Dr. Jing got up in the early morning?"
Jing Weiguang nodded: "I had an upset stomach and got up at 3 a.m. When I went to the toilet, the right side was fine, but the left side showed that someone was there, so it should be fine too."
Yu Hanjiang followed up with, "How long did you stay in the restroom?"
Jing Weiguang said, "I had diarrhea and stayed in the toilet for about half an hour. I didn't come out until 3:30."
Yu Hanjiang asked, "Was anyone still in the restroom across the street at that time?"
Jing Weiguang said, "Yeah, I was wondering at the time if some guy had a worse stomach upset than me and hadn't come out yet."
His statement mentioned a crucial time point—3 a.m., when someone was in the toilet, which was locked from the inside. It's possible that the deceased and the murderer were in the toilet at that time, or that Zhou Quan was already dead.
Yu Hanjiang asked, "Did you hear any strange noises coming from the restroom on the left?"
Jing Weiguang recalled carefully and said, "When I went to the toilet, I heard a guy in the opposite stall making low noises, like 'uh-huh'. I thought he might be constipated, so I ignored him."
Yu Hanjiang asked, "Are you sure the other person is a man?"
Jing Weiguang nodded: "He kept groaning, his voice was low and deep, not like a woman's."
Yu Hanjiang asked, "After you came out of the restroom, was there any sound from across the street?"
Jing Weiguang said, "That's it. He must have pooped out successfully. The toilet across the street is very quiet."
Hearing him repeatedly mention constipation, the woman in the row in front of him, who was eating bread, turned around and glared at him. Jing Weiguang also realized he had been too blunt, chuckled awkwardly, and concluded, "Anyway, both restrooms were fine at the time."
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang exchanged a glance, both having reached their own conclusions.
At three o'clock, when Jing Weiguang went to the restroom, Zhou Quan was in the opposite restroom; he was clearly still alive. Hearing footsteps outside, Zhou Quan started trying to call for help, hence the strange noises he made—
Because Zhou Quan's mouth was covered with a towel, the sounds he made were not very clear. To Jing Weiguang, it sounded like he was constipated.
The murderer was slowly torturing Zhou Quan, but when he noticed someone coming into the restroom, fearing his actions would be exposed, he decisively killed Zhou Quan with a single stab. That's why it was so quiet across from Jing Weiguang when he came out of the restroom, because Zhou Quan was already dead.
If Jing
If Wei Guang had been more careful, or if Zhou Quan had been able to break free and shout for help, perhaps this murder could have been prevented.
Yu Hanjiang raised a crucial question: "When you went to the restroom, did you notice whether anyone else in the carriage was in their seats?"
Jing Weiguang shook his head: "I didn't notice. There are many empty seats in carriage 4. I don't know which seats are occupied and which are empty." Because a group of people got off at two major stops along the way, carriage 4 is now mostly empty.
He paused, then suddenly remembered something and pointed to the side, saying, "But I remember that of the two brothers in row 8, only one of them was sleeping, his head was tilted to the side of the seat, and the other one didn't seem to be there."
Zhou Quan was, of course, not there; he was suffering in the restroom across the street.
Yu Hanjiang carefully observed Jing Weiguang's expression and noticed that the doctor looked blank, not like he was lying. Meeting Yu Hanjiang's gaze, Jing Weiguang smiled awkwardly and said, "Um, you two, what's wrong? If you need help, just call me later. I need to go to the restroom, I really need to!"
He turned and ran towards car number 6, bumping into Yue Xiaoquan who was heading this way. Jing Weiguang was probably really in a hurry to relieve himself, and in his clumsiness, he accidentally bumped into Yue Xiaoquan, quickly apologizing with a flushed face: "Sorry..."
The girl calmly waved her hand and said, "It's nothing."
She wasn't wearing matching outfits today; instead, she wore a very pretty white dress, and her hair was loosely tied back—while the deceased Zhou Quan was still wearing that matching short-sleeved shirt when he died.
Yue Xiaoquan has a pure and innocent appearance, but she is too aloof and seems indifferent to everyone and everything.
She calmly walked to row 8 and sat in the empty seat left by Jing Weiguang. She looked at Zhou Zheng and asked, "Where's your brother? I texted him to come over for breakfast, but he hasn't replied."
Zhou Zheng looked puzzled: "I thought he was with you! I just called him, but his phone was off."
Mo Jiaran said, "Could it be that the power is out?"
Zhou Zheng nodded: "That's possible. My brother spent a long time reading novels on his phone before going to bed last night, and he probably used up all the battery."
Yue Xiaoquan gave a nonchalant "Oh," and said, "Then let's ignore him and I'll eat first." She took out milk and biscuits from her backpack and started eating her breakfast.
None of the three showed any unusual expression. Xiao Lou leaned close to Yu Hanjiang's ear and said, "Are you really unaware, or are you just a good actor?"
Yu Hanjiang raised an eyebrow: " Zhou Zheng seems genuinely unaware, but the two girls might be mistaken."
He stepped forward and patted Zhou Zheng on the shoulder: " Zhou Zheng, right? Please come with me for a moment."
Zhou Zheng looked puzzled: "What's wrong?"
Yu Hanjiang said coldly, "I know where your brother is."
Zhou Zheng quickly stood up and followed them. Yu Hanjiang led Zhou Zheng to the restroom, gave Xiao Lou a wink, and whispered in Xiao Lou's ear, "I'll search the trash cans. You take him into the restroom to see the crime scene, but don't let him shout too loudly."
Xiao Lou understood and nodded to reassure Captain Yu.
Taking advantage of the fact that no one was around, Xiao Lou used his key to open the bathroom door and led Zhou Zheng inside.
Zhou Zheng was initially puzzled, wondering why the flight attendant was taking him to the restroom. However, Xiao Lou immediately locked the restroom door after leading him inside and covered his mouth with her hand.
Zhou Zheng: "Ahhhhhh—"
He indeed broke down and screamed.
In the restroom, the person who died a gruesome death was none other than his brother. Zhou Zheng stared wide-eyed in disbelief.
The two brothers were fraternal twins and didn't look alike, but their wide-eyed expressions were somewhat similar. Xiao Lou covered his mouth while whispering in his ear, "Calm down, don't shout so loudly. We found your brother had been murdered when we opened the restroom, so we used the excuse that the restroom was broken to get the passengers away. We can't make a big deal out of this, understand?"
Zhou Zheng's eyes were filled with tears, and the hot tears fell uncontrollably, wetting Xiao Lou's hand. He kept crying, mumbling incoherently.
Xiao Lou said gently, "If you don't scream, I'll let you go."
Zhou Zheng nodded vigorously. Xiao Lou released him, and Zhou Zheng immediately knelt down in front of the corpse. He trembled all over, crying out in a hoarse voice, "Brother... how could this happen? Brother, wake up..."
He cried his heart out, and his tears seemed genuine.
Xiao Lou sighed softly, patted Zhou Zheng on the shoulder, and said, "We are also very sorry for your brother's death, but the dead cannot be brought back to life. We hope you can calm down as soon as possible and cooperate with us to find the murderer, which will also give your brother some closure."
Zhou Zheng wiped away his tears hastily, choking back sobs as he said, "I understand, I will definitely find the murderer! Which pervert could torture my brother like this, with so many wounds..." Zhou Zheng's gaze swept downwards, and he suddenly froze: "Where... was he cut?"
Xiao Lou nodded, his gaze sweeping over the trash can.
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Zhou Zheng followed the gaze to the trash can and saw the severed part thrown inside. Zhou Zheng's face turned pale, and he immediately covered his mouth and gagged—seeing his brother's penis cut off with his own eyes would probably leave him with lifelong psychological trauma. After this incident, Xiao Lou would suggest that he see a psychologist for treatment; otherwise, he might develop psychogenic erectile dysfunction.
There was a knock on the door, followed by Yu Hanjiang's deep voice: "It's me."
Xiao Lou looked at Zhou Zheng and instructed him, "I hope you can keep your brother's murder a secret for now. Don't reveal to Mo Jiaran and Yue Xiaoquan that your brother is dead. We need to investigate. Don't make a big fuss about it, understand?"
Zhou Zheng gave a dejected "hmm," then suddenly looked up and asked, "Wait, how come Ranran is also a suspect? Can't we tell her?"
Xiao Lou said, "She's not a suspect. We just need to investigate the clues. If she knows your brother is dead, she might panic and forget some key details, understand?"
Zhou Zheng paused for a moment, then nodded: "Understood."
Xiao Lou then opened the bathroom door and led Zhou Zheng out.
Yu Hanjiang, holding a phone covered in instant noodle soup in a plastic bag, looked at Zhou Zheng and asked, "Is this your brother's phone?"
Zhou Zheng took a closer look: "That's right, his phone is the same model as mine; we bought them at the same time. Where did you find it?"
Yu Hanjiang said, "The restaurant's trash can was boiled in a bowl of instant noodles."
Zhou Zheng: "..."
Yu Hanjiang said, "My phone was boiled in instant noodle soup for a long time. I wonder if it's waterproof?"
Zhou Zheng said, "This phone is waterproof, so it should still work. The gesture password is a U-shape, 147852."
Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou led Zhou Zheng to the flight attendant's office. They wiped the soup off his phone with tissues and found it was out of power when they tried to turn it on. Zhou Zheng quickly said, "I have a power bank and a data cable. I'll go get them right away."
Yu Hanjiang said, "Take your brother's backpack with you too."
Zhou Zheng nodded, turned around and left.
When they arrived at row 8, Mo Jiaran asked worriedly, "Where did you go with the flight attendant? Where's your brother?"
Zhou Zheng's expression changed, and he stammered, "My...my brother got into some trouble."
Yue Xiaoquan had already finished breakfast and was looking down at her phone when she heard this. She looked up and asked, "What happened to your brother?"
Xiao Lou, worried about Zhou Zheng, followed them and overheard their conversation. Xiao Lou smiled and said, "Miss Yue, don't worry, her brother is fine. We'll call you over to see him later."
Yue Xiaoquan nodded: "Oh."
Then she continued looking down at her phone—her boyfriend had been missing for so long, and his younger brother looked panicked, yet she seemed completely unconcerned. Was she just too cold-hearted, or did she and her boyfriend simply have a bad relationship to begin with?
Xiao Lou looked at Yue Xiaoquan with a puzzled expression.
The girl had a delicate profile and a calm gaze. On the surface, there was still no clue whatsoever. He had no choice but to have Zhou Zheng take the deceased's backpack and data cable and turn back to his office.
In the flight attendant's office, after charging the phone, I successfully unlocked it by entering the password.
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang's expressions changed simultaneously.
On the phone's home screen, there was a background image with a very strange style.
This was a black train, with thick black smoke billowing from the front. Through the windows, you could see many blank-faced people sitting in the carriages. Everyone's face was expressionless, and their skin was pale and bloodless, just like corpses.
The picture has a line of text written on it—
The train to hell.
This picture sent chills down the spines of all three people.
Zhou Zheng pointed at the picture with trembling hands and said, "The murderer must have changed it! Last night, I looked at my brother's phone. His wallpaper was a photo of him and Yue Xiaoquan, not this horrible picture!"
Even without him saying it, Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou knew that the phone had definitely been tampered with.
Not only was the desktop picture changed, but the text message history and call history were all cleared; the WeChat chat history and QQ chat history were also completely deleted, leaving a blank page, and even all the friends were deleted—this murderer was meticulous and left no evidence on the phone, so they had no way of knowing who the deceased talked to last night or who invited him to the bathroom.
Xiao Lou took the phone and looked at it carefully. There was a reading app inside. The murderer probably thought it wasn't important, so he didn't delete it.
Remembering Zhou Zheng saying that his brother had been reading novels for a long time last night, Xiao Lou asked, "Does your brother usually like reading novels?"
Zhou Zheng nodded: "He's a member of the online novel platform and often reads long novels."
Xiao Lou opened the reading app and clicked on the personal bookshelf—the bookshelf of the deceased Zhou Quan was full of long novels, each several million words long, such as "XX Immortal Cultivation Tale," "Urban XX Legend," "XX Legend," etc.
Zhou Quan created two categories on his bookshelf.
The bookshelf for "[Single Female Lead]" has only a few books, but the category for "[Harem Novel]" has hundreds of books. One of them, marked as "[Favorite]", is called "The Legend of the Emperor". He wrote a one-sentence review for this book: "A refreshing novel with beauties everywhere. He collected 30 girls."
Xiao Lou handed his phone to Yu Hanjiang and said, " Zhou Quan really likes reading harem/stud novels."
Yu Hanjiang doesn't read novels and had never heard of the term "harem novel." Hearing Xiao Lou's words, he curiously took the phone and asked, "Harem harem novel? Does that mean a man, like an ancient emperor, collects many concubines and marries many wives?"
Xiao Lou nodded, leaned close to Yu Hanjiang's ear and whispered, "He's read hundreds of harem novels, and he probably resonated with them psychologically, thinking that he could be like the protagonist in the novels, collecting many girls and marrying many wives... If that's the case, Zhou Quan's number of girlfriends is likely to exceed our imagination."
Yu Hanjiang gently rubbed Tai
Yangxue: "It seems he slept with a lot of girls, but he ran into a brick wall and got castrated by a powerful girl."
Xiao Lou: "..."
Such a shameful way of dying is beyond words.