Chapter 17 - Case 2-The deadly chocolate

Chapter 17

The vomit from the deceased now smelled like bitter almonds. Lu Siyu suddenly noticed the location of Dong Fang’s pillowcase, which still had some brown-black, semi-dry traces on it. There were several other pools of vomit, also having the appearance of dark brown pieces mixed in the vomit and blood, it was difficult to distinguish what it was.

Since the source of the poison and no other information had yet to been confirmed, all the evidence at the scene must be treated with utmost caution and care.

Lu Siyu took a cotton swab and picked up a bit of the lumpy brown object from the vomit. It was sticky and melted away at once. He looked at the texture and frowned slightly.

Lin Xiuran saw the change in his expression and asked him, “Did you find anything?”

Lu Siyu said: “In the vomit, there seems to be chocolate that has not been completely digested yet. Everyone had different dinners, but they all ate chocolate.”

Chocolate would be a good way to mask the bitter almond taste of the Cyanide vapor and to let the eater lower their guard. Those girls would not have thought that the last chocolate they ate, would take their young lives.

Lu Siyu searched through several trash bins and found a chocolate box in the one by the door. He handed it to Cheng Xiaobing, who was collecting the evidence.

Cheng Xiaobing was a typical foodie. He only took a small glance at the box before identifying it and said, “This is the lava chocolate that’s been recently popular online. It is a large chocolate ball, wrapped in a thick chocolate syrup. This kind of chocolate is particularly difficult to order. You need to wait in line for more than a week to be able to order it, and then get it shipped through a frozen transport chain, in order to ensure the chocolate shape remains intact.”

She turned her head and looked at a small refrigerator in the corner of the dormitory under the window, “It was probably stored there before.”

Lin Xiuran nodded and confirmed, “This could be the source of the poison. The specifics needs to be further confirmed by autopsy.”

Lu Siyu looked around and did not lower his guard.

Looking carefully, these chocolate strains covered the entire dormitory. Traces could be found on the paper towels, on the corner of the table…… The sweet candy of the past, now turned into a poison that took people’s lives.

After surveying the room, Lu Siyu walked to the door again and looked outside the 108 dormitory. On one side was a deep corridor, and on the other side there was a small door. He went over and tried to open it. However the door was locked and could only be opened from the inside. Since there was no key, and the lock was covered with rust, Lu Siyu could only turn back again.

The windows in the corridor were equipped with iron bars.

He looked through an open window in the direction of the dead end of the dormitory building, where vegetation was growing wildly because of the lack of proper passage through it. The school’s janitorial staff had apparently forgotten about this corner, which was filled with garbage that had fallen from the upper floors.

Lu Siyu was about to turn around and leave, but suddenly heard a cat cry out, coming from that direction. A trace of surprise appeared on his delicate face. This place, indeed, has become a paradise for stray cats.

The Crime Scene Investigation officer apparently also found this place and asked the person in charge of the school, “Can this door be opened?”

The person in charge was a bit embarrassed, “It is possible to open, but the key is still with the Housekeeping management. Outside of this, is a large platform, surrounded by a several meters high, tall fence. There is no way for anyone to enter and except for garbage, there is really nothing inside. We basically clean it once every six months.”

Lin Xiuran said: “We also work in accordance with the rules. It’s better to open this door and see for ourselves.”

The person in charge just made a phone call, and not long after, a forty-year-old housekeeper auntie had gone to get the key. When she walked past the door of dormitory 108, she had to stick to the wall and hide as far as she could. The woman inserted the key into the door and the broken door lock made a creak. She pulled the door open with both hands and a cold wind blew in from the outside.

The two Crime Scene investigation officers checked both inside and outside. Indeed, there was no sign of entry. The woman came to lock the door again, rambling off a sentence: “Last time I opened the door, there was a dead cat out there. Only because of the stinky smell, the deceased was discovered to be a black cat. This time the deceased are human, it’s really evil ah. Amitabha Buddha, Amitabha Buddha.”

The speaker had no hidden intentions and was just speaking randomly, but the listener could not help but be curious. Lu Siyu, on the side, raised his head and asked, “Are there many stray cats on this campus?”

The lady nodded her head: “Many. It’s not just many, but too many, and in the spring they make so much noise that people can’t sleep.”

“How did the cat die here?”

“Who would know about that? ……We don’t know. Maybe it was sick, maybe it was bitten by a dog.”

Lu Siyu thought about it and asked, “Is the dead cat’s body still there?”

The woman seemed to wonder why he was asking after a cat and said, “It’s been almost a month, and the body has been thrown away a long time ago.”

The person in charge of the campus on the side also said: “There are so many cats in this compound, it is really common for a few to die.”

No one would take a few dead cats seriously. He thought about it and added, “But it seems that a month ago, there was a time when quite a few died; and the sanitation workers who collected the garbage complained that there were many dead cats at that time.”

♛♛♛

At this time, climbing into the Audi, Song Wen found a set of clothes and a pair of leather shoes in the trunk, just as Lu Siyu said. He took the stuff out and sat in the more spacious back seat.

The windows in the back seat were tinted, and looking in from the outside one, can not see the inside; a perfect spot to change clothes.

Song Wen put on the spare pants that Lu Siyu brought and he finally understood what Lu Siyu meant when he told him to change his outfit all together. It was actually a full set of casual suits, the color was pure black and the material was sleek. Song Wen didn’t often wear formal wear and hadn’t tried this style much.

Although Lu Siyu looked a little thin, one did not expect that the size of his clothes and Song Wen’s was exactly the same. As the saying went, Buddha depended on gold plating while the people depended on clothes*.

(*T/N: 人靠衣装，佛靠金装 : People relied on clothes, Buddha relied on gold. It means that the brilliance of the Buddha depends on the gold coating, and the handsomeness of people depends on clothing. It is a metaphor for a person’s lack of character inside, and only depends on appearance.)

Song Wen, who had changed into a suit, looked into the rear-view mirror of the car, and was surprised at what he saw. The person in the mirror was handsome, elegant and had a touch of seriousness. The entire set of clothes fit him so well, that it looked like they were custom-made for him.

Song Wen did not dare to delay too long. He quickly put on his shoes and simply folded his clothes.

Just as he opened the car door, he saw Fu Linjiang locking the car and getting out. The two stared at each other for three seconds and Fu Linjiang, who seemed to have recognized Song Wen, took a step backwards and asked, “Captain Song! This is not your usual style. You……’re not getting ready to go on a date, are you?”

Song Wen looked at his outfit, which indeed led to misunderstandings. But still, he shot back without remorse, “Who do you think I am going to go on a date with, at the crime scene in the middle of the night?”

He hid the flowery pants and thought of a reasonable explanation, “My clothes were dirty and I borrowed Lu Siyu’s spare clothes to wear.”

In this field, various environments were complicated and soiled clothes were often the case. Fu Linjiang did not mention this matter understandingly, and asked: “What’s the situation at the scene?”

Speaking of this, Song Wen became serious again: “Quite tragic, old Lin and Lu Siyu are inside.”

As the two walked inside, Fu Linjiang sighed and said, “I didn’t expect this kind of thing to happen in South City at all. Every time there was a school-related case, it seems to attract attention.”

While talking, the two came to the door of the crime scene. The Forensic and Crime Scene Investigation teams had completed the basic survey at the time. Lin Xiuran was also ready to put the bodies into a black body bag with his two assistants. If the autopsy was carried out in good time, some of the results should be available in the morning.

Lin Xiuran and the two looked at Song Wen in his outfit, nodded in satisfaction and expressed in affirmation, “Captain Song, you should occasionally change the style.”

He continued, “The scene recording is almost done, and physical evidence has also been basically collected. We collected multiple traces of chocolate. Four cell phones were found. The password has not yet been cracked. We focused on surveying some tableware and cups, the water from the dispenser was also collected.”

Song Wen nodded and concluded the handover: “Leave a camera and an evidence bag for us. We will search again, and when we finish searching here, we will question the informant.”

After making arrangements, Lin Xiuran said, “I’ll take the corpse away for autopsy and withdraw first.”

Lu Siyu took the camera handed over by Cheng Xiaobing. Turning his head to look at Song Wen, his eyes moved up and down his body and he nodded in satisfaction. “Captain Song, this one looks quite good on you.”

After Lin Xiuran and another forensic doctor left with the physical evidence, the small dormitory suddenly became much more spacious and breathable. Song Wen walked to the window and opened it, the smell in the room suddenly dissipated a lot.

The corpses on the ground had been taken away, and what was left behind was a fixed line of tape, having been drawn according to the final shape of the corpse for reference.

Lu Siyu handed Song Wen a few forms and habitually licked his lips. “Just now when you went to change clothes, the school faculty came and said a few words of courtesy. They said that they will be fully cooperative and so on. They also sent the four student’s academic information.”

Song Wen took the form and looked through it. In addition to Dong Fang and Ma Aijing who are known to have already died, there were two other people on the form. One was called Guo Hua and the other one was called Lin Wanwan. Both were still in the process of being rescued.

Lu Siyu continued: “Guo Hua was the one who ran to the other dorm rooms to call for help and got attention, while Lin Wanwan was the least poisoned and basically remained awake when she was found. She was the one who called 120 first, so the police and ambulance came almost simultaneously.”

Song Wen looked at the four beds in the dormitory, as well as the tables and chairs, “So let’s match them up. Who owns this bed near the door?” The bed had blue sheets and some study material on the desk below it. There were various sticky notes stuck on it, the table was full of paper and pens, it was a bit messy.

“This one is Guo Hua’s, and the one living across from her is Lin Wanwan.” Lu Siyu picked up on the fact that Lin Wanwan’s bed sheet was plain beige, the desk was the tidiest, with the least amount of stuff and not many daily necessities. It was evident that she was a more organized girl.

To the inside, the one with pink sheets was Dong Fang’s. Before she was dead, Dong Fang was a standard rich girl. Her table had a laptop, some cosmetics, in addition to books, and the chair next to the bed was piled with clothes; the small refrigerator also looked like it was also hers.

The last bed was naturally Ma Aijing’s, with a desktop computer, a lot of melon seed shells in the trash can, and some snacks on the table. Then they opened the girls’ lockers according to their numbers and matched their identities one by one.

Song Wen said: “Most of the school poisoning cases and dormitory relationships are inseparable. You guys should carefully search this dormitory, see if you can find any useful clues.” Compared to private homes, the dormitory had information that is concentrated, hence more effective information can be obtained.

The three of them searched inside and outside the dormitory. When it was close to 3 a.m. Song Wen asked, “Lin Jiang, what did you find?”

Fu Linjiang said, “It’s just some regular stuff, books, clothes and household items, nothing special. Oh, yes, I found an apron from Lin Wanwan’s belongings. It was probably worn when she was working as a part-time worker, with two words written on it, Xin Xin. But I searched around the reviews and did not find a nearby restaurant called Xin Xin.”

Song Wen turned his head and asked Lu Siyu, “What about you? What did you find?”

Lu Siyu raised the record sheet in his hand: “It’s all written down on the survey form.”

Song Wen raised an eyebrow: “Say something that you can’t write down on the form.”

The things recorded on the survey form were more superficial. And the search field will often be based on the information seen and use reasoning to reach some conclusions. These conclusions could be inferred, but because it was inferred, it was not good to record them.

Lu Siyi thought for a moment, inclined his head and said: “Of these four people, Dong Fang was from the richest family, but she was careless and lazy. Her things are arranged more messily and her personal hygiene was also poor. Ma Aijing repeated a year. She is the most beautiful, likes to play games, likes to make friends, and recently played a very popular online game; as the level is quite high, she should have played everyday till lights out. Lin Wanwan is the most organized, she and her current father have different surnames, so he should be the stepfather; she has a brother at home and usually does not go home often. She basically stayed in the dormitory, even during the weekend. Guo Hua was the best at academics, her family situation is not very good. She won a scholarship and occasionally goes to work. She is the third best student in the college, and often has a nervous breakdown. She has to wear earplugs to sleep and often runs to the university hospital.”

Hearing these remarks, Fu Linjiang was dumbfounded. He too had searched a lot of the things, but apparently he was not able to link so many things together.

He was about to interject, but Song Wen seemed very dissatisfied and continued to ask Lu Siyu, “You don’t just see these, do you? You know I’m asking you more than that.”

Lu Siyu looked at Song Wen, who slightly tilted his head. Rubbing his lower lip with his right thumb, he looked back at him, with a pair of dark eyes that seemed to have insight on everything.

Just now, Lu Siyu’s movements of searching for everything were all captured in Song Wen’s eyes. According to the track and time of Lu Siyu’s searching, he could tell which clues he paid attention to.

Song Wen’s eyes seemed to be reproaching Lu Siyu. Since you saw it all, why didn’t you say so?

Especially after he warned him just last night!

♛♛♛

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Translating team shenanigans

/ Mochi translating gore, uneasy crime scenes/: ㅇㅅㅇ

/ Mochi translating that a cat died/: (⋋▂⋌)…. ୧༼ಠ益ಠ༽୨ …(ﾉಥ益ಥ）ﾉ ┻━┻