"You’re finally here, officers. I am Gu’s manager’s secret technique, my na is Chen Yinghan."
A tall and beautiful woman approached from the side.
She wore a professional OL white blouse paired with a hip-hugging skirt and black stockings, combined with her curvaceous figure, even Luo Fei, whose heart was as steady as a rock, stole a glance before averting his gaze.
Not looking, can you still call yourself a man?
"Officers, is there anything we can help with?"
Luo Fei waved his hand.
"No rush, let’s first examine the cri scene."
He and Zhao Donglai then walked over to the elevator.
Zhang Wei and his team seized the opportunity to surround the other party, earnestly inquiring about the company’s situation, under the guise of searching for relevant clues and usable information, but their faces were all smiles.
Standing outside the elevator, Luo Fei first opened the elevator, then wedged the door with his foot, and looked inside.
The body had not yet been taken away by the forensic team, only a preliminary judgnt and examination had been conducted.
At the sight of the death pose, Luo Fei fell silent.
Zhao Donglai was full of confusion.
"Sothing’s not right, very not right."
"There’s sothing wrong with this hook lock around his neck, Luo Fei, look."
Following the direction of the finger, Luo Fei cast his eyes upwards, and saw that at the partition above, there was a vent, from which a hook lock had descended and was currently looped around the man’s neck.
It looked like a slipknot, but was tied extrely tight.
The other end of the rope had already passed through the vent, and the other side should be on top of the elevator partition.
"If soone were committing suicide, it’s absolutely impossible to arrange the scene to such an extent beforehand."
"Indeed."
Luo Fei nodded.
"This is a ticulously arranged murder scene, one that’s almost impossible to set up."
"How so?"
Zhao Donglai asked, confused.
"First, if soone enters the elevator, and there are people inside, then it cannot be completed smoothly. Look at his clothes and posture, which haven’t changed significantly, suggesting a one-hit kill or incredibly fast hanging!"
"Secondly, if strangled and then disguised as hanging, the perpetrator must et two conditions: being taller, stronger, and mightier than Gu Xiaochuan, and finding a way to hoist him up. For that, climbing onto the elevator partition is necessary, making the operation very tricky."
Listening to Luo Fei’s explanation, Zhao Donglai nodded earnestly.
Indeed, according to Luo Fei’s deductions, setting up such a scene would be challenging.
"Could it be that soone hung him with a rope from the partition above?"
"Creating this bizarre situation."
Luo Fei turned around and stepped into the elevator, looked up, and then around, but ultimately shook his head.
"It’s a bit difficult."
"Look, his death position is facing the elevator entrance; aning he must have been attacked the mont he turned after entering the elevator. In such a case, the action must be swift, or Gu Xiaochuan might struggle or flee."
"And one more thing!"
Luo Fei knelt partially on the ground and pointed around.
"Look, there are no footprints here, no traces of anyone entering, and according to further searches, no one was in the general manager’s office upstairs, so who activated the elevator and sent him to the first floor for the journalists to witness the grisly scene?"
Zhao Donglai suddenly felt his brain had lted.
Various indicators were all negated, even his initial assumptions shot down at this mont.
Now was truly the most troubleso ti, absolutely no direction for solving the case.
"Luo Fei, do you really think it’s not suicide? Or maybe he arranged it himself?"
Zhao Donglai wanted to say more but was directly interrupted by Luo Fei.
"Captain Zhao, I know you’re very worried now, and have no reasonable speculations of your own, but absolutely can’t lean towards suicide, because this is a murder!"
Upon hearing the assertive statent, Zhao Donglai was even more perplexed; determinants for suicide or murder hadn’t been found yet, why was Luo Fei so certain?
While he pondered the questions, Luo Fei was already standing by the corpse.
The two were very close, the scene quite harrowing.
Luo Fei, as though appreciating a work of art, observed with ticulous scrutiny the eyes wide open, dead but restless, of Gu Xiaochuan.
Suddenly, he clicked his tongue, seeming like he’d found so clue.
"Luo Fei, give your reasoning?"
"Why are you so sure it was murder?"
Zhao Donglai voiced his confusion.
"Captain Zhao, look."
Luo Fei guided him to the body, pointing at the strangulation marks on the neck.
"After asphyxiation, the lung cavity contracts, then goes slack; the terror from not being able to breathe makes the eye sockets sink deep, pupils dilate, but these are only facades."
"But Captain Zhao, carefully look at the neck, those are scratch marks, along with several fingerprints pinned beneath the chin."
Zhao Donglai was still confused.
"What does this an?"
By now Zhang Wei and the others had arrived, including Chen Yinghan standing by, watching the two circle the corpse.
"What’s the leader doing?"
"Not sure, seems like surveying the scene!"
"What’s Captain Zhao doing?"
"Not sure, seems like cooperating with the leader in surveying the scene."
"Isn’t that obvious? Two people together, what else can they do? A duo dance? I’m asking what they’re examining closely; I’ve watched for a long ti and didn’t notice anything special."
Zhang Wei stared wide-eyed, finding no clue.
Luo Fei focused on Gu Xiaochuan’s chin and began explaining to Zhao Donglai.
"If soone truly chooses suicide, even if they regret during the act, they’d struggle intensely and grab the neck rope with their hands, exhibiting fear in death."
"True."
Zhao Donglai affird.
"What’s more?"
"If that were the case, they would just constantly pull at the neck rope, but look at the scratches on the chin and behind the earlobe, and even faint nail marks on the cheeks, so..."
He stopped speaking.
Waiting for Zhao Donglai to vocalize it, so he could grasp why it couldn’t possibly be suicide.
"So in their panic, they began clawing randomly, yanking, and trying to locate the rope’s precise spot, because never did he imagine he’d be hard by soone, chaotic struggles amidst panic are the ssiest."
"Exactly."
Luo Fei shared a confirming glance with him, effectively overturning the suicide theory.
"I think we should go upstairs and check."
"Have forensics take the body for further autopsy, see if there are any hidden clues, and when retrieving it, don’t remove the rope lock, let it hang there, we’ll check the top floor."
"Alright."
Then Zhao Donglai arranged for other officers to retrieve the body, readying to go upstairs with Luo Fei, not forgetting to call along Chen Yinghan.
The three stood inside the elevator, the empty hanging rope overhead, Luo Fei scrutinizing the marks on it, discernibly handled from outside.
Moreover, never entering the elevator!
This was the first puzzle!
They were dealing with a killer from outside the space.
Killing soone inside the elevator from outside, positioning the body correctly, and then activating the elevator to send it back to the first floor.
This ticulously executed act was not easy, requiring intricately planned calculations from a keen mind.
Soon they reached the top floor, and as Luo Fei opened the door, he scanned around; no place for hiding.
The top floor environnt was simple, two corridors spanned across, not far was the general manager’s office, across from it a conference room.
And within the conference room was the balcony stairwell access, leading to the rooftop of the office building.
"Let’s first check the office of your General Manager."
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