Fang Rui and his team immediately rushed to the rental apartment where Liu Yaying had attempted suicide.
The apartment was in an urban village, with very poor conditions. It was an illegally converted room, containing a small kitchen, bathroom, and balcony all crammed into one space. Each area was extremely tiny, with very poor lighting.
Given Liu Yaying's current income, she shouldn't have been living in such a place.
"She rented this place a couple of days ago," Zhang said. "When she first graduated, she lived here with Su Momo for a while. After she became famous, she moved out, but Su Momo lived here for over three years."
Liu Yaying had attempted suicide in the bathroom. There was a paper cutter on the floor, with bright red blood slowly flowing across the yellowed white tiles, eventually draining into the floor drain.
Mu Mian examined the suicide scene and found nothing unusual. She collected blood samples from the floor, intending to compare them with Su Momo's.
Fang Rui discovered a stack of money and a bank card on the desk, with a suicide note underneath.
The handwriting was messy, with many tear stains visible:
[I don't know who will find this note, but please hand it over to the police when you do. The cash on the table is your reward for helping. I committed suicide. My life was too painful. I caused the death of my best friend Su Momo. I'm guilty. I killed her, and I should pay for her life with mine.
I have nothing left. There's 100,000 yuan in this bank account. The PIN is the last six digits of Momo's ID number. Please ask the police to donate this money to charity in Su Momo's name, to accumulate some good karma for her. She was such a good person; she deserves good things in return.
Don't notify my family to claim my body. Even if you do, they won't come for me. After I'm cremated, my ashes can be thrown anywhere, even in a trash can. I don't care. A rotten person like me deserves to go to hell and die a miserable death.]
After reading it, Zhang exclaimed, "Boss, Liu Yaying says Su Momo is dead. How does she know for sure? Does she know where Su Momo's body is?"
"I think she might have seen the news and assumed Su Momo died from slitting her wrists. Liu Yaying probably feels that Su Momo committed suicide because her affair with Liang Guangyu was exposed, which pushed Su Momo over the edge," Fang Rui analyzed.
Fang Rui increasingly felt that Su Momo might not be dead.
So what exactly was she trying to do?
And could she have an accomplice?
Fang Rui thought of Qi Fang. Zhang had previously suspected her because of the bubble tea incident, but surveillance footage near the tea shop showed her buying tea after 4 PM, and the cake shop's cameras also showed her buying a cake there just before 4 PM.
Although Fang Rui suspected Qi Fang was behind the cursed doll incident, he had no evidence.
Fang Rui found Liu Yaying's phone on the desk.
Li cracked her phone's lock screen password.
Fang Rui went through her phone and found she didn't seem to have many friends. Her contacts list was short, and there were only brief conversations in her chat history. Judging from the timestamps, she probably hadn't cleared her chat history.
A contact labeled "Bugu's New Owner Miss Zhang" caught Fang Rui's attention.
Miss Zhang's profile picture was a selfie of a young woman. Her last message to Liu Yaying read: Liar! You promised to give me the puppy, but then you took it back. You big liar!
Liu Yaying had replied: What's wrong? I didn't take Bugu back!
The other party had already deleted Liu Yaying, and a red exclamation mark appeared in the chat box.
Fang Rui scrolled back through their chat history.
The gist of their conversation was that Liu Yaying planned to give the spotted dog to Miss Zhang, explaining that the dog's owner was allergic to dog hair. Miss Zhang expressed her love for the puppy and promised to take good care of it. They reached an agreement, and Liu Yaying gave the puppy to Miss Zhang.
They continued to stay in touch, mostly discussing how to care for the dog. Miss Zhang often sent photos of the dog to Liu Yaying.
The day before the scary doll was found in Su Momo's room, Miss Zhang accused Liu Yaying of taking the puppy back.
After reading the chat logs, Li analyzed, "Could it be that Qi Fang took the dog back, killed it, and then made the cursed doll to frame Liu Yaying?"
"It's possible."
In the chat history, Miss Zhang had mentioned her home address. Liu Yaying had personally delivered the puppy and its belongings to her home.
Fang Rui and Zhang found the place, a middle-class residential complex. After learning of their purpose, Miss Zhang said, "A young woman came to take the dog back. She looked fierce and said she was the dog's owner. She knew the dog's name and all its information. I had no choice but to return the dog."
"Did the woman have any distinguishing features?"
"Features? Her appearance was quite ordinary... she had some freckles on her face," the girl recalled. "She was wearing a gray down jacket at the time, nothing special."
"Was it her?" Fang Rui showed her a photo of Qi Fang.
"Yes, that's her! She was so fierce at the time, saying how could I steal someone else's beloved dog. My goodness, I was so wronged. It was Miss Liu who told me the dog's owner was allergic to dog hair and couldn't keep it, so she gave it to me. But then she scolded me."
"Alright, thank you for your cooperation!"
After leaving Miss Zhang's home, Zhang analyzed, "It seems Qi Fang is highly suspicious. She stole the dog, made the cursed doll, and pushed Liu Yaying out. Now Liu Yaying has attempted suicide – could Qi Fang be behind this too? Maybe Liu Yaying found out something, so Qi Fang had to silence her."
"If she were the culprit, shouldn't she have waited until Liu Yaying was dead before leaving?" Fang Rui countered. "And she would have taken Liu Yaying's phone with her."
"That's true!"
Good news came from the hospital: after several hours of emergency treatment, Liu Yaying was out of danger, but she was still in a deep coma and unable to assist with the police investigation.
Fang Rui decided to adjust the direction of the investigation.
They had previously assumed that Su Momo was seriously injured and kidnapped, so when reviewing surveillance footage, they focused on people carrying heavy objects.
But if Su Momo wasn't injured and could move freely, she could easily evade detection by changing clothes and disguising herself as an extra or backup dancer. The camera at the exit only captured people's backs, not their faces.
"Zhang, go to the TV station and investigate if any costumes for extras or dancers went missing on the day of the incident. Find out what style of clothes were lost."
"Got it."
The police had opened a case to investigate Liang Guangyu's involvement in prostitution. With relevant evidence in hand, they had detained him.
#LiangGuangyuEarnsSilverHandcuffs# once again topped the trending list.
Liang Guangyu's reputation was thoroughly ruined.
