Live Action Murder Mystery

Chapter 88.1

(Was the case solved just like this?)

The skies gradually shifted to evening colours.

The three road lamps in the courtyard were all lit up.

After Gu Liang returned to the inn with the four ladies, the four ladies were discussing heatedly, especially Li Xiao Yu whose volume was incredibly loud.

When Yang Ye heard them, he immediately went to the courtyard downstairs.

Soon after, the group of players gathered in the courtyard to look through the evidence that they brought from the vagrant’s thatched hut.

Yang Ye crouched down, picking up the gun that Gu Liang brought.

Gu Liang called out to him: “Is your leg alright?”

“It’s fine, it’s a superficial injury.” As Yang Ye held the gun, he unloaded the bullets and said, “This is a single-shot sniper rifle, the sort that can only fire one bullet at a time.”

“But it doesn’t look very professional. What is its shooting distance?” Gu Liang asked.

“We’ll know once we try it.”

Yang Ye loaded the bullets and chambered the round before he pointed the gun towards the inn’s main entrance. Then, he peered into the scope and immediately pulled the trigger.

The bullet burst out and streaked through the air with a loud bang, hitting the garland hanging on top of the courtyard’s main entrance and brought the garland flying as well.

Yang Ye remarked, “While it’s true that it’s not a professional sniper rifle, its shooting distance should be above 800 metres.”

Once he spoke to this point, Yang Ye unloaded the bullets again. There was only one bullet remaining.

He raised the bullet to scrutinise it carefully. There were strange veined patterns on the bullet, like some kind of talisman.

Furthermore, this bullet was slightly lighter than most bullets.

Having thought of something, Yang Ye tried to hop towards the bathroom on one foot.

Gu Liang called him to a stop: “What do you want? I’ll get it.”

Yang Ye replied: “Bring some water over.”

Gu Liang promptly brought over a basin of water.

Squatting down, Yang Ye threw the bullet inside the water and used his fingernails to scratch the bullet head lightly.

The pigment on the bullet slowly faded, revealing its original colour— Unexpectedly, it was the colour of wood.

Much of the bullet was wooden in colour, and only a part of the tail end was metal.

And the wood looked very similar to the wooden shavings that Gu Liang had plundered from the vagrant’s thatched hut.

Gu Liang could not help but ask: “Were the bullets made by him? Can bullets be made out of wood?”

Yang Ye gazed at Gu Liang, asking: “What did you see there exactly?”

In response, Gu Liang described the entire scene to Yang Ye, from the vagrant’s state of death to the gun’s positioning.

After a moment of contemplation, Yang Ye said: “Typically, bullets are mainly made out of lead or copper, and if they’re pursuing a higher penetration power, a bullet with a steel core will be used. This sort of wood, however, essentially has no penetration power. Based on my estimates, if this pierces through glass and then hits the body, they might not die instantaneously.”

“And if it hit the body directly?” Gu Liang asked.

Yang Ye: “With this rifle, hitting someone won’t be an issue.”

Picking up the bullet, Yang Ye went a step further by offering an explanation to everyone: “A bullet is generally composed of four parts: the bullet, metallic casing, propellant, and primer. When the bullet is fired, the primer will ignite the gunpowder, generating high pressure which will force the projectile out of the gun barrel. And as all of you can see, this bullet is not made out of wood completely, since the bottom is metal, probably for sake of insulation.

“Therein lies a problem: the bullet head of the bullet is a combination of wood and metal, which requires extremely high-end technology to make. His gun being able to shoot over 800 metres makes it professional enough. Hence, this person undoubtedly has the capability to make the bullets. But why was he so adamant about making bullets out of wood?”

Li Xiao Yu managed to piece the paper fragments together as he voiced his question, and she responded: “There’s a letter here, hey!”

With an excited tone of voice, Li Xiao Yu recited the letter: “Old Qian, I finally managed to make the bullets you wanted. It is made out of the wood that you sent. How about it, it is amazing right?

“However, while I have already conceived of a way to increase the density and strength of the wood, it cannot compare to iron and steel when all is said and done. Therefore, the penetrating power of the bullet has its limits: it has no issues piercing a person, but if it is obstructed by other solids, the power of the bullet will be reduced — From a Researcher who loves military research and development.”

Previously, Waitress Jing mentioned that the vagrant was called Vagrant Qian.

Thus, the “Old Qian” mentioned in the letter should be referring to the vagrant.

After listening to Li Xiao Yu’s words, Yang Ye looked at Gu Liang. “While I didn’t have the time to search through all of our rooms carefully, I did look through it briefly, there were no bullet holes in the windows. This implies that if someone really shot Proprietress Ling from the vagrant’s thatched hut, it must be in Rooms 301 to 304, and that room window must be open as well.”

Gu Liang thought about it. He rummaged through the plastic bags before he asked Li Xiao Yu: “Did you find anything outside the thatched hut?”

“Oh right, I found something, it looks very important.” Li Xiao Yu took out a Taoist robe that was tattered and torn. “I don’t know if it belongs to the vagrant though. Is he a Taoist?”

No one answered in that instance.

After some time, Recluse Wang, Waitress Jing, and Girlfriend Jia all stood up, having agreed to look through the guest rooms together.

Li Xiao Yu blinked at Gu Liang and Yang Ye before she followed them. “Hey, bring me along.”

* * *

After the ladies had left in succession.

Gu Liang asked Yang Ye: “Okay, you can voice your thoughts now.”

Yang Ye said: “There are ghosts in this story, no? Relatively speaking, the wood used to kill ghosts is peach wood. Moreover, the Taoist robe clue should be pointing towards the fact that— perhaps the vagrant is a genuine Taoist. If so, we can explain why he’s making the bullets out of peach wood.”

Gu Liang mulled over his words with furrowed brows, saying: “Vagrant Qian asked that military researcher to make these bullets for the sake of killing ghosts. In actuality, this type of bullet is also capable of killing humans. Therefore, even if Proprietress Ling was a human, she can be killed as well.

“From what we can currently perceive from the case, it was the vagrant who killed Proprietress Ling before he killed himself. But that can’t be the truth, absolutely not. Or else, we wouldn’t need to solve the case and we just need to vote for Vagrant Qian.

“I’m more inclined to believe that someone killed the vagrant, and then killed Proprietress Ling.”

Gu Liang gave a pause before he continued: “But this bullet is made out of wood so its penetrative power isn’t that strong, and you stated that there weren’t any bullet holes in the windows, and in addition to how you can only take aim at the Rooms 301 to 304 from the thatched hut…

“I can’t conceive of any possibility where Proprietress Ling would enter these guest rooms, push open the window, and become an open target. Unless—”

Yang Ye interjected Gu Liang: “Unless there are two murderers. For example, I stood on the first floor and made you open the window so I could show you something, and the person on the opposite bank shot you to death. Or maybe, I asked you to come to a certain room to discuss something, and then I looked for a reason to open the window. In any case, there should be two murderers: one to lure Proprietress Ling into opening the window, and another to pull the trigger. These two must have premeditated this murder beforehand.”

Yang Ye continued to say, “I know that I’m not the murderer. You were fishing, so you can be eliminated as well. If we’re talking about Tourist Jia, the mountain that we went to in the morning is quite far. I pushed him off the precipice, and logically speaking, he should be dead. However, he didn’t die, but he must have been unconscious for half a day at least since he was heavily wounded and he only managed to climb back up at 5 in the evening. Consequently, we can eliminate him too.

“The murderer has to be within the remaining people then. Li Xiao Yu, Recluse Wang, Waitress Jing, Chef Huang, and Girlfriend Jia, all of them bear the possibility.”

Gu Liang was thinking in his heart— Was it possible that Ming Yue wasn’t lying to him?

He said that he was one of the murderers, and he did not know who the other murderer was.

If that was the case, then perhaps the truth was as such— the other real murderer killed the vagrant, and was prepared to kill Proprietress Ling. Through some unknown method, they made Ming Yue ask Proprietress Ling to go into a certain room at a certain time, and made her open the window which led to her being killed.

From their current circumstances, the only person who could have gone to the thatched hut was Waitress Jing alone.

Was the case solved like this? Was the murderer Ming Yue and Waitress Jing?

“Either way, the ladies just now are all worthy of suspicion, which is why I didn’t continue talking in front of them just now. Additionally, there’s still one more detail I’d like to tell you first.”

Yang Ye stared at Gu Liang, “Did you notice that there wasn’t any mosquito-repellent incense in Proprietress Ling’s room?”

It was humid within the mountains and there was a lot of mosquitos.

Gu Liang still remembered that on the day he just arrived, he had barely taken two steps when his neck was bitten numerous times. Fortunately, there was hydrosol and ointment to prevent mosquitos, which allowed the entire mosquito biting situation to turn for the better for Gu Liang in the past two days.

Moreover, whenever he returned to his room at night, Gu Liang would definitely keep his door and windows tightly sealed if the lights were turned on, and he would only open the windows to ventilate the room in the morning at most.

Gu Liang asked Yang Ye. “Did you see any objects that repelled mosquitos when you were inside Proprietress Ling’s room?”

“There’s none,” said Yang Ye.

“Right, I thought of a detail too. When I went to her room the night before yesterday, she was bathing…”

Before Gu Liang could finish speaking, Yang Ye grabbed his wrist.

“—Liang Liang?”

“Be serious.” Gu Liang patted his shoulder, “When she was taking a bath, her door was left unlocked. If we’re speaking logically, people who are aware of social etiquette will always knock on the door first before entering a room. But how could she possibly guarantee that all the guests would be respectful? What if there were hoodlums like the vagrant?

“The fact that she left her door unlocked is very strange. Furthermore, now that I’m thinking back about it, the windows in her room were also unlatched.

“Even wjhen the room door and windows are left unlocked, it doesn’t disperse much heat, which was why her room was absurdly stuffy when she was bathing. I found the heat unbearable after staying there for a short period of time and yet she didn’t seem to be affected at all.”

Yang Ye mused, “Not afraid of the heat, not afraid of being bitten by mosquitoes… Is it possible that she’s not actually human, but a ghost?”

A thought struck Gu Liang. He supported Yang Ye’s arm, “Come, follow me.”

Yang Ye grinned, draping his arm over Gu Liang’s shoulder as he hopped on one foot to go to the stilted building where the dining room was located.

Gu Liang brought Yang Ye to the kitchen.

“What are we doing here? Yang Ye asked.

“If Proprietress Ling truly is a ghost, then I have a brain hole.”

Gu Liang replied, “Rhinoceros horns can illuminate the netherworld pavilion, and allow ghosts to appear… I think I know why she constantly keeps her door and windows unlocked. Because she needs the rhinoceros horn incense to seep into her room to maintain her human form consistently and entirely.

“Last night, I noticed that a fire was constantly burning under the kitchen stove, but realistically speaking, no one was eating at that time. Proprietress Ling also mentioned that the chef wouldn’t be cooking after dinner time.

“Now that I’m thinking about it, perhaps it wasn’t a fire that was burning under the kitchen stove, but rhinoceros horn incense?”

As he was saying that, Gu Liang and Yang Ye entered the kitchen.

No matter what time it was, the fire under the kitchen stove kept burning.

Once they reached the back of the kitchen range, they realised that not only were there heaps of rice straw serving as fuel, there was a large quantity of square-shaped and brick-like objects at the side.

“What would these be?” Gu Liang picked up one of the bricks. It gave the tactile impression of soap.

Upon seeing that, Yang Ye immediately took out the descriptive explanation for “Man-Made Rhinoceros Horn Incense” that he previously found and showed it to Gu Liang.

After reading it, Gu Liang picked up the soap-like object and sniffed it. “When we were in the dining hall last night and Proprietress Ling brought over some rhinoceros horn incense for us to see it. When she was sitting down at the table, I caught a whiff of the fragrance. The rhinoceros horn was probably grinded down into a powder before aromatics were added to form that incense. But this brick of rhinoceros horn incense doesn’t have any scent.”

Yang Ye said: “This could be Proprietress Ling’s camouflage. She was genuinely burning rhinoceros horn incense, but it’s man-made rhinoceros horn incense, without colour or scent. Whereas the one she was burning in the incense burner was just a small trick, and it possessed the natural scent of rhinoceros horn incense.

“With that established, no one would think that— she was actually a ghost that had been shown by the rhinoceros horn.

“If that is truly the case, I can understand why she was burning the rhinoceros horn incense in the kitchen. Everyone will assume that food is being made, and they wouldn’t think towards the angle where rhinoceros horn incense was being burnt. That was actually a smokescreen.”

Gu Liang frowned, “But if those are the circumstances, there are two issues.

“Firstly, she has her own room and it’s enough if she finds another pretext to light the incense, and it’s even plausible for her to say that she was carrying the incense around to repel the mosquitoes. Her room is still a distance away from the kitchen. Her current set-up is too wasteful. Is there a need to do that?

“Secondly, Chef Huang should be aware of this because he’s helping her burn the rhinoceros horn incense. For the same reason, is Waitress Jing also aware—”

Just as Gu Liang voiced those two questions, he had already arrived at the answer: “Chef Huang and Waitress Jing are ghosts as well.”

After recalling the details of last night, Gu Liang’s tone became even more certain. “In fact, it’s highly likely. When I opened the windows at 11 o’ clock last night, I happened to see Chef Huang returning to his room. Now that I’m thinking back about his actions, he had closed the door gently, as if he didn’t shut it properly. The rooms belonging to him, the waitress, and the proprietress, their doors and windows are always unlocked because they need a sufficient amount of incense to seep into their room. Their behaviour is already an ingrained habit. Hence, when the proprietress was showering, she was also accustomed to not locking her door shut.”

Yang Ye said: “That’s highly possible. The inn is surrounded by a lot of trees, and in addition to the fact that it was constructed according to the topography of the mountain, this place can actually become an airtight environment. With a large quantity of rhinoceros horn incense burning ceaselessly under the large stove in the kitchen, it can cover the entire inn and allow the ghosts here to fully manifest and maintain their human forms.

“If they need to ensure that the incense is constantly burning, they need to have enough fuel. This is why they have so much rice straw here. Mn, it can be explained.”

Having thought of something, Gu Liang went out of the kitchen, “Now, I need to look for Waitress Jing to have a proper chat.”