Card Room (Rebirth)

Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou were very calm when they emerged from the bathroom. In order to avoid the smell of blood on their bodies, Xiao Lou took an air freshener from the attendant’s office and sprayed it on their bodies to remove the smell.

He opened the drawer with Yu Hanjiang and said, “The toilet is locked. The dead Zhao Quan can’t lock the door himself so it must’ve been the murderer who locked it from the outside with the key. Last night when I left the office, the key to the bathroom had the teeth facing to the left. This morning, it was facing to the right. In addition, one of my hair clips at the office door is gone.”

Xiao Lou had made some arrangements in the office because he feared something would happen in the 4th carriage.

The murderer was very careful and put the key back in place. However, it was dark at night and she didn’t notice the hairclip in the dim lighting. Nor did she pay attention to the direction of the key’s teeth pattern. Generally, people only remembered where they put the key and didn’t pay special attention to whether the teeth pattern faced the left or the right.

Yu Hanjiang said, “The murderer entered your office. Did she leave a clue?”

Xiao Lou carefully examined every inch of the office. His eyes slightly lit up as he leaned over to pick up a hair. “A girl’s long hair.”

Yu Hanjiang looked at the long hair and then glanced at Xiao Lou with appreciation. “It seems our basic reasoning is right. The murderer is a woman and it is also a woman with long, black hair.”

Many women lost their hair. From a physiological point of view, it was normal to lose dozens of hair a day. They would carelessly leave their hair behind when moving. In the darkness, the murderer definitely wouldn’t pay attention to this.

If it was the real world, Yu Hanjiang could take the hair to do genetic identification and immediately lock onto the suspect. However, now the two people were on the train and the owner of the hair couldn’t be determined. They were unable to detect fingerprints on the key and could only collect other clues, analyzing and reasoning out the real murderer.

Xiao Lou picked up the long and thin hair. “Mo Jiaran’s hair is only to the shoulder and it is dark brown and curly. It isn’t long and straight black hair. If I remember correctly, Yue Xiaoquan’s hair is long and straight. There are also two girls with long and straight hair in the female group.”

Yu Hanjiang nodded solemnly. “We have to search for evidence as soon as possible. The victim’s phone isn’t on his body so it might contain a clue.”

Large things couldn’t be thrown into the toilet or else it would break. The mobile phone couldn’t be flushed down the toilet. Therefore, Zhao Quan’s phone must be on the train.

The two of them returned to the 8th carriage. Zhao Zheng and Mo Jiaran had finished breakfast. The sleeping Jing Weiguang also woke up in a daze, his hair like a bird’s nest as he went in the direction of the toilet. Xiao Lou stopped him and smiled. “Dr Jing, the toilet is broken and there is no water in the washroom. If you want to go to the toilet or wash your face, you can go to the 6th carriage.’”

Jing Weiguang finally sobered up completely. He rubbed his eyes and asked doubtfully, “The toilet is broken? It was fine when I went to the toilet in the early hours of the morning.”

Xiao Lou perceived that this person knew something and asked, “Dr Jing woke up in the morning?”

Jing Weiguang nodded. “My stomach hurt so I got up once at 3 in the morning. I went to the toilet and the one on the right was fine. There was also someone in the left toilet so it should’ve been fine as well.”

Yu Hanjiang followed suit by asking, “How long were you in the bathroom?”

“I had diarrhea so around half an hour? It was 3:30 when I got out of the toilet.”

“Was there anyone in the opposite bathroom at the time?”

Jing Weiguang replied, “Yes, I was wondering which boyfriend had a more serious stomach than me for him to not come out yet.”

His words mentioned a crucial time. At 3 o’clock, someone locked the toilet from the inside. It was likely that the deceased and the murderer were in the toilet at that time. It was also possible Zhao Quan was already dead.

Yu Hanjiang questioned, “Did you hear a strange noise coming from the bathroom on the left?”

Jing Weiguang carefully recalled it. “I walked over to the toilet and the opposite toilet seemed to have a brother with a low voice groaning. I thought he had constipation and ignored it.”

Yu Hanjiang wondered, “Are you sure the other side was a man?”

Jing Weiguang nodded. “It was a low voice and not like a woman.”

“When you came out of the toilet, there was no sound fro the opposite side?”

Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang glanced at each other, a conclusion in their hearts.

At 3 o’clock, Jing Weiguang went to the toilet while Zhao Quan was in the opposite toilet, still alive. Once he heard footsteps outside, Zhao Quan began to think of ways to call for help and made some strange sounds. Since Zhao Quan’s mouth was covered with a towel, the sound wasn’t clear. Jing Weiguang just thought it was the sound of constipation.

The murderer was originally slowly torturing Zhao Quan, only to find that someone came to the toilet. She was worried and used the knife to kill Zhao Quan. That’s why the opposite toilet was quiet when Jing Weiguang left. Zhao Quan was already dead.

If Jing Weiguang had been a bit more careful or Zhao Quan was able to break free of the bondage and shout for help, perhaps this murder could’ve been prevented.

Yu Hanjiang asked a key question. “When you went to the toilet, did you notice any people in the carriage who were out of place?”

Jing Weiguang shook his head. “No, I didn’t pay attention. The 4th carriage has many empty seats and I don’t know which ones have people and which were empty.” Most of the 4th carriage was now empty because people got off at the two stops in the middle.

He suddenly thought of something and pointed to the side. “However, I remember that there was only one brother in the 8th row. Only one person was sleeping and his head was leaning on the seat. The other person seemed to be absent.”

Zhao Quan definitely wasn’t there. He was suffering in the opposite toilet.

Yu Hanjiang carefully observed Jing Weiguang’s face and found that the doctor was dazed and didn’t seem to be lying. Jing Weiguang smiled awkwardly at Yu Hanjiang’s gaze and said, ‘Excuse, what happened? If you need help, wait a moment. I need to go to the toilet first. It is urgent!”

He turned and ran to the 6th carriage. On the way, he happened to meet Yue Xiaoquan who was coming over here. Jing Weiguang was probably in a hurry and accidentally bumped into Yue Xiaoquan. He apologized with a red face, “Sorry…”

The girl calmly waved her hand. “It’s fine.”

She wasn’t wearing a couple’s outfit today. She had changed into a nice white dress and her hair was loosely tied behind her head. Meanwhile, Zhao Quan died while wearing the couple shirt.

Yue Xiaoquan looked pure but was too cold. She seemed indifferent to people and things. She calmly walked to the 8th row and temporarily sat on the seat that was empty after Jing Weiguang left. She looked at Zhao Zheng and asked, “What about your brother? I texted him to come over for breakfast but he never replied.”

Zhao Zheng was puzzled. “I thought ht was with you! I just called him and his phone was turned off.”

Mo Jiaran suggested, “Perhaps it ran out of battery?”

Zhao Zheng nodded. “There is a possibility. Last night before going to bed, my brother held his phone and read a novel for a long time. He probably used his phone until there was no battery left.”

Yue Xiaoquan let out a faint sound. “Then I will eat first.” She took milk and biscuits from her backpack and ate her own breakfast.

The three people didn’t look abnormal and Xiao Lou whispered in Yu Hanjiang’s ear. “Do they really not know or is their acting too good?”

Yu Hanjiang raised an eyebrow. “Zhao Zheng seems to have no idea. I’m not sure about the two girls.”

He went forward and patted Zhao Zheng on the shoulder. “Zhao Zheng, right? Please come with me.”

Zhao Zheng was confused. “What’s wrong?”

Yu Hanjiang spoke coldly. “I know where your brother is.”

Zhao Zheng hurriedly stood to keep up with them. Yu Hanjiang took Zhao Zheng to the toilet and whispered to Xiao Lou, “I’ll search the trash cans. Take him to the toilet to see the scene of the crime but don’t let him shout too loudly.”

Xiao Lou nodded to reassure Group Leader Yu.

Once no one was around, Xiao Lou opened the toilet door with his key and took Zhao Zheng inside. Zhao Zheng originally had an expression of doubt because he didn’t know why the train attendant took him to the toilet. As a result, Xiao Lou locked the door behind them and reached for Zhao Zheng’s mouth.

“Ahhhhhh—”

He collapsed with a scream.

Zhao Zheng stared in disbelief at the dead man that was his brother. The brothers were fraternal twins and didn’t look alike, but their wide eyes were somewhat similar. Xiao Lou covered this person’s mouth while whispering, “Calm down, don’t shout so loudly. We opened the toilet and found your brother murdered, so we sent away the passengers using the excuse that the toilets were broken. We can’t make this a big deal, understood?”

Zhao Zheng’s eyes were full of tears and the hot tears he couldn’t control fell down onto the back of Xiao Lou’s hand. He cried nonstop and didn’t know what to say.

Xiao Lou told him, “If you don’t scream, I’ll let you go.”

Zhao Zheng nodded hard and Xiao Lou let him go. Zhao Zheng kneeled in front of the body, shaking wildly while crying in a hoarse voice, “Brother… how did this happen? Brother, you wake up…”

He cried his heart and lungs out. His tears didn’t seem to be false.

Xiao Lou sighed and patted Zhao Zheng’s shoulder. “We are also sorry about your brother’s death but a person can’t come back to life. I hope you can calm down as quickly as possible and work with us to find the murderer. This can also be considered as giving your brother an account.”

Zhao Zheng wiped his tears and choked out, “I understand, I will help you find the murderer! In the end, which pervert would abuse my brother so much? So many wounds…” Zhao Zheng’s eyes swept down and he suddenly choked. “It… was cut off?”

Xiao Lou nodded and glanced at the trash can.

Zhao Zheng looked at the trash can and saw the cut off body part thrown in the trash. He paled and covered his mouth to suppress the urge to vomit. After seeing his brother’s body part cut off, it was estimated that there was be a psychological shadow. After this incident, Xiao Lou would advise him to go to a psychologist for treatment.

Outside, there was a knock on the door, followed by Yu Hanjiang’s low voice. “It is me.”

Xiao Lou glanced at Zhao Zheng. “I hope you can keep your brother’s death a secret. Don’t reveal that your brother is dead to Mo Jiaran and Yue Xiaoquan. We need to investigate and this matter can’t blow up, do you know?”

Zhao Zheng looked lost and made a sound of agreement. Then he suddenly looked up. “Wait, how can Ranran be suspicious? Why can’t I tell her?”

“She isn’t a suspect. We just need to investigate the clues. If she knows that your brother is dead then she might panic and let some things slip. Do you understand?”

Zhao Zheng nodded. “Understood.”

Only then did Xiao Lou opened the toilet door and let Zhao Zheng out. Yu Hanjiang was holding a plastic bag that contained a mobile phone. He looked at Zhao Zheng and asked, “Is this your brother’s phone?”

Zhao Zheng took a closer look. “Yes, it is his phone. We have the same model since we bought it together. Where did you find it?”

Yu Hanjiang replied, “The restaurant’s trash can. It was inside a bowl of instant noodles.”

Zhou Zheng, “…”

Yu Hanjiang wondered, “The phone was left in a bowl of instant noodles for a long time. Is it waterproof?”

Zhao Zheng told him, “This phone is waterproof and you should still be able to use it. The gesture password is a U shape, 147852.”

Yu Hanjiang, Xiao Lou and Zhao Zheng headed to the attendant’s office. The wiped the phone clean with paper towels and turned it on, only to find there was no battery. Zhao Zheng spoke hurriedly, “I have a power bank and data cable. I’ll get it.”

Yu Hanjiang told him, “In addition, bring your brother’s backpack over.”

Zhao Zheng nodded and turned away. He came to the 8th row and Mo Jiaran was very worried. “Why did you go with the train attendants? Where is your brother?”

Zhao Zheng’s face changed as he stammered, “I, something happened to my brother.”

Yue Xiaoquan had finished her breakfast and was playing with her phone. She heard this and raised her head. “What’s wrong with your brother?”

Xiao Lou couldn’t trust Zhao Zheng and came over. He heard their words and smiled at them. “Miss Yue, don’t worry. His brother is okay and we’ll let you 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 brother was panicking, yet she didn’t mind. Was her character too cold or did she have a bad relationship with her boyfriend?

Xiao Lou glanced at Yue Xiaoquan with confusion. The girl’s side profile was pretty and her eyes were calm. No clues were found on the surface so he had Zhao Zheng take the deceased’s backpack and power line before going back to the office.

In the attendant’s office, the mobile phone was charged and smoothly turned on after the password was entered. Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang’s expressions changed at the same time.

They saw there was a very strange background on the desktop of the mobile phone. It was a black train where the front of the train was covered with thick black smoke. Through the window, you could see many numb-looking people sitting in the carriage. They were expressionless and their skin pale and bloodless, like they were dead.

The photo had a line on it:

Train to hell.

This picture made the three people feel cold.

Zhao Zheng pointed to the photo. “The murderer must’ve replaced it. Last night, I looked at my brother’s phone and the desktop was a photo of him with Yue Xiaoquan. It isn’t this terrible photo!”

Needless to say, Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou also knew that the phone had been tampered with.

It wasn’t just the desktop photo that had been replaced. They opened the SMS records, the call records, the WeChat records, the Q chat records and everything was deleted. Even the friends list was deleted. The murderer was thoughtful and left no evidence on the phone. They couldn’t determine who went to the toilet last night with the deceased just based on the phone.

Xiao Lou took a closer look at the phone. There was also a reading software on it. The murderer probably felt this wasn’t important and didn’t delete it.

He recalled Zhao Zheng saying that his brother had read a novel for a long time last night. Xiao Lou asked, “Your brother usually likes to read novels?”

Zhao Zheng nodded. “He is a member of the novel network and often reads those novels.”

Xiao Lou opened the book APP and entered the personal bookshelf. The dead Zhao Quan’s bookshelf contained long novels, some with millions of words. There was the XX fairy tail, XX urban legend, XX legend…

Zhao Quan had two categories on his bookshelf.

There were only a few books on the ‘Single Female Protagonist’ bookshelf but hundreds of books on the ‘Harem’ bookshelf. The one marked as a favourite was ‘Legend of the Emperor.’ His evaluation of it was: many beautiful women like clouds. Collected 30 sisters.

Xiao Lou handed the phone to Yu Hanjiang. “Zhao Quan likes to read this type of harem stallion text.”

Yu Hanjiang didn’t read novels and hadn’t heard about the ‘stallion culture’. He heard Xiao Lou’s words and looked at the phone, asking, “Harem stallion text? Does this mean like the ancient emperor who received many concubines and many wives?”

Xiao Lou nodded and leaned to Yu Hanjiang’s ear, lowering his voice. “He read hundreds of harem stallion novels and this probably resonated with him psychologically. He thought he could collect many females like the protagonist of these novels. If this is the case, Zhao Quan’s number of girlfriends probably exceeds our imagination.”

Yu Hanjiang gently kneaded his temple. “It seems that he slept with many girls and as a result, kicked over the iron plate. He was castrated by a fierce woman.”

Xiao Lou, “…”

This humiliating method of death simply couldn’t be evaluated in words.