The police conducted a thorough search of Room 541. This apartment was likely the scene of the first crime.
There were no signs of forced entry on the door lock, and no suspicious traces were found inside. Only the victim's fingerprints were discovered in the apartment.
The deceased was Li Yan, 28 years old, unmarried, without a steady job, living alone, and 8 months pregnant.
Squeak~
A very soft sound of the door opening came from behind, and Mu Mian, who was sprawled on the table, immediately opened her eyes.
She wasn't sure how long she had been in this quiet interrogation room, but fortunately, she had managed to get a rare good sleep.
She decided to renovate her bedroom, modeling it after this interrogation room. Maybe then she could sleep this soundly every night.
The door was pushed open, and two people walked in.
The first person Mu Mian saw was the talkative young police officer from this morning. Behind him was a tall man wearing a black leather jacket, with sharp features and a fierce expression.
Mu Mian had seen his photo before; he was Fang Rui, the leader of the Special Crime Unit. Her eyes lit up slightly. This man had an excellent physique, with well-proportioned muscle lines, originally very suitable to be a human specimen.
Mu Mian stared at him intently, her burning gaze like a sharp scalpel. In her mind, she had already begun to dissect him, separating all the organs and muscles from his body—it would make a perfect skeleton.
Mu Mian liked bones. She had already collected many beautiful bones, but this was the first time she had seen such a perfect human skeleton.
What a pity, she thought, that this was a living person, and he would probably live for a very long time.
Zhang noticed that Mu Mian's previous dejection had disappeared and was a bit surprised.
Why had Mu Mian's empty eyes suddenly become so bright and focused? Zhang glanced at Fang Rui again, wondering if it was their boss's good looks that had captivated her.
Ignoring Mu Mian's intense gaze, Fang Rui pulled out a chair and sat opposite her, forcing Mu Mian to meet his eyes.
Although she had practiced for many years, Mu Mian still found it difficult to maintain eye contact with others.
"Hello."
Mu Mian forced herself to look into his eyes, thinking this would make her expression appear more sincere.
"May I ask if you'd be willing to donate your body to me after you die? I would take very good care of it..."
The air seemed to freeze for a moment.
Fang Rui's expression showed a hint of bewilderment, but he quickly adjusted back to his cold, expressionless mode.
If it weren't for the fact that this was an interrogation room and Zhang was sitting beside him, he would have very much liked to pick Mu Mian up and throw her out.
She looked so small, he could lift her with one hand.
"Miss Mu, please understand that this is an interrogation room. Be serious!" Zhang tapped the table, quickly interrupting Mu Mian's words, afraid she might say something even stranger.
Zhang cautiously glanced at Fang Rui, who remained composed.
As expected of their boss, having seen many things, his emotions were quite stable. There were quite a few girls who pursued Fang Rui, and many who desired his body, but this was the first time Zhang had seen someone coveting his corpse.
Mu Mian corrected Zhang, "I was asking very seriously."
"..."
"Then I'll answer you very seriously," Fang Rui refused, "I currently have no plans to donate my body."
"Alright." Mu Mian slowly shifted her gaze, landing on Zhang.
Zhang immediately glared at her fiercely, about to prevent Mu Mian from setting her sights on his body, when he heard Mu Mian say softly, "Weren't you going to take notes?"
So... had he been overthinking?
"Your name?" Zhang opened his notebook.
"Mu Mian."
"Age?"
"I'll be 25 in 106 days."
"No need to be so specific. How was your relationship with the deceased?"
"Not good."
Zhang's pen paused slightly, "Can you elaborate on that?"
"I don't understand her interpersonal relationships," Mu Mian thought for a moment, then frankly said, "Her relationships seemed very complicated, beyond my comprehension."
Zhang's eyes lit up: "For example?"
"She wasn't married, but she was pregnant. Her boyfriend was someone else's husband. Her child might not be her boyfriend's..."
Zhang was speechless. All these relationships could be summed up as "the deceased was having an affair." How was that complicated?
Zhang continued asking, "Did you see anyone enter your neighbor's house last night, or hear any unusual sounds from next door?"
"Not before I fell asleep."
Mu Mian lowered her head and stared at the table surface. This table had seen some years; its surface was peeling in places, looking pitted and uneven. She felt inexplicably irritated.
She emphasized, "I went to sleep at ten. I'm used to going to bed early."
"What about after you fell asleep?" Fang Rui suddenly interjected into their conversation.
Mu Mian looked up at him for a moment, then quickly averted her gaze, shrinking her head into her scarf like a quail.
Silence, a long silence.
Fang Rui asked, "Is this question difficult to answer?" His tone was calm, not at all aggressive.
Mu Mian's lips moved, and with an expression of "trying hard to conceal something, but not succeeding very well," she explained slowly:
"It's very difficult for people to notice outside sounds after they fall asleep. That's common sense."
"Just now you were sleeping deeply, but our soft door opening still woke you up. This proves that you're very sensitive to sound. You dislike noise, don't you?"
When she heard the word "noise," Mu Mian unconsciously nodded in agreement with his words. She really did hate noise.
"The soundproofing in your apartment complex isn't very good. Many residents reported hearing noises from the deceased's apartment last night."
Fang Rui's fingers lightly tapped the table, as if tapping on Mu Mian's psychological defenses. "So why didn't you, as the deceased's neighbor who is sensitive to sound, hear those noises last night?"
The soundproofing in that apartment complex was very poor. Even if the killer had been as quiet as possible while dissecting the victim in the room, it would have been impossible not to hear any sound at all.
Zhang and his team had interviewed the residents above and below the deceased's apartment. They all mentioned that around 2 AM last night, they had heard the sound of objects being dragged across the floor from Room 541. But because the deceased often made noise in the middle of the night and had a bad temper, they didn't go to complain.
Yet Mu Mian said she hadn't heard any sounds last night. It was obvious that Mu Mian might be lying.
"Miss Mu, what were you doing last night? Is there something you're uncomfortable talking about?"
Mu Mian's fingers traced the scratches on the table surface. She wanted to hide the scratches, but doing so only made them more apparent.
Just when Fang Rui thought Mu Mian wasn't going to speak, she suddenly looked at him and said, "I'm not the killer."
"I believe you."
Mu Mian smiled at him, "Thank you for your trust."
Zhang looked at their conversation in confusion, wondering if he had missed something. Why did he suddenly not understand what was going on?
"But how can you prove you're not the killer?"
Mu Mian quickly wiped the smile off her face. She didn't intend to speak anymore. She could prove it, but doing so would reveal her secret. So she decided to remain silent.
At this moment, a knock on the door interrupted their conversation.
The person knocking was Officer Chen, who was in charge of personnel. She looked at Zhang, "Captain Fang, sorry to interrupt you."
"Sister Chen, what's the matter?"
"The chief held a welcome party for the new colleague who joined today. The new forensic pathologist, Dr. Mu, said she was trapped here and asked me to rescue her. I don't quite understand what she meant; I think she might be lost. So I wanted to ask if you've seen her come by?"
"We don't have any Dr. Mu here."
"Strange, she said she was right here and asked me to come find her around 9 o'clock."
Fang Rui pointed at Mu Mian, who was sitting obediently across from them: "I think she's the Dr. Mu you're looking for."
Zhang stared at Mu Mian with wide eyes, "You're actually a forensic pathologist?" Wouldn't that make her professionally qualified to kill someone?
"I," Mu Mian raised her hand high, "I'm here."
Officer Chen frowned slightly. Didn't the chief just say he had recruited a top talent? How come it's a young girl? She couldn't still be in college, could she?
Fang Rui said, "Officer Chen, don't new employees need to undergo a physical examination? Why don't you take her for one first?"
"Alright." Officer Chen agreed casually, then thought, didn't she already have a physical before being hired? But this young girl did look a bit sickly, so it might be necessary to check her again.
Fang Rui insisted, "Take her now, please."
Officer Chen glanced at Mu Mian's dazed state and said, "Alright then, the hospital is just next door anyway."
Mu Mian's smile stiffened. She looked at Fang Rui very seriously, then casually averted her gaze.
After Mu Mian left, Zhang asked curiously, "Boss, why do you keep pressing that question? Maybe she was just really tired yesterday and slept deeply?"
Zhang felt that this question wasn't particularly helpful for solving the case.
"I just want to confirm my suspicions," Fang Rui replied, his gaze fixed on Mu Mian's retreating figure with an inscrutable expression.
Zhang furrowed his brow. Their boss rarely focused so intently on anyone—except for the most vicious criminals in prison.
So—
"Boss, you're not suspecting she has a split personality, are you?" Zhang had a sudden realization. He speculated, "Is it like this? After Mu Mian fell asleep yesterday, her other personality emerged and killed the victim. And her current personality has no memory of what happened last night.
No wonder she's so tired today. It's probably because she was exhausted from killing someone last night. Plus, she's a forensic expert, so she should be skilled at killing and dissecting."
Zhang felt his deduction was brilliant, logically sound, and entirely plausible. He felt he hadn't let down the police academy's careful training.
However, he saw Fang Rui looking at him with a puzzled expression.
Zhang began to lose confidence. "Boss, did I say something wrong?"
Fang Rui said, "Very imaginative." His tone shifted slightly, "Why don't you quit and become a novelist?"
Zhang: "..." That was certainly impossible. He had worked so hard to become a civil servant!
