Fang Rui and Zhang went to Liu Xiaonian's home to gather information.
Liu Xiaonian's parents were both middle school teachers - his mother taught Chinese language and his father taught physics. They lived in an old residential compound for teaching staff.
Seeing Fang Rui and Zhang at their door, Liu's father's expression was not very welcoming, while his mother anxiously asked, "Officers, my Xiaonian couldn't possibly have committed a crime. He's just been a bit listless lately, but he's a good boy. He couldn't have done anything wrong."
Zhang carefully said, "Auntie, Uncle, please prepare yourselves. Liu Xiaonian has passed away. We suspect he was murdered, so we're here to learn more about his situation."
"That good-for-nothing is dead?" Liu's father was stunned at first, then flew into a rage. "Good riddance! A waste of space like him, a parasite - it's better he's dead. Now we can finally be rid of him!"
"Old man, what are you saying? Xiaonian is dead and you're still cursing him. So what if he didn't have a job? Our pension was enough to support him. Why do you always have to scold him like this?" Liu's mother retorted.
"Hmph, it's all your fault. You spoiled him rotten. Go ahead and keep defending him."
"It's all my fault, is that what you want to hear? Fine, it's all my fault!" Liu's mother broke down sobbing. "My poor Xiaonian, how could you bear to leave your mother all alone?"
Liu's father looked at her. He wanted to get her some tissues, but in the end, he left the living room and went into the study, slamming the door shut behind him.
"Auntie, please try to stay calm," Zhang said, handing her some tissues and gently patting her back to comfort her.
"Officers, my husband just has a sharp tongue. He doesn't mean what he says. Please don't take offense," Liu's mother said as she gradually composed herself. Then she asked, "How did Xiaonian die?"
"He was found hanged in an escape room."
"Escape room... again with the escape rooms. Oh, my poor Xiaonian, how did you get so trapped that you couldn't escape?" Liu's mother wailed. "It's all my fault. I shouldn't have indulged him. I shouldn't have given him money."
"Auntie, what do you mean by that?" Zhang handed Liu's mother more tissues. "What's wrong with escape rooms?"
"Ah, those escape rooms ruined my Xiaonian. He used to be such a good student, got into a great university. In his senior year, escape rooms suddenly became popular, and he fell in love with them. After that, he was obsessed, even skipping classes. He's 24 now, won't look for a job, won't date, doesn't even talk to people. All he does is play escape rooms all day. He's completely wasted his life."
"Did he have conflicts with anyone?" Fang Rui asked.
"I don't think so. Xiaonian was introverted. He usually didn't get into conflicts with others." Liu's mother thought for a moment, then suddenly said, "There was one time Xiaonian came home with an injured lip, like someone had hit him. I asked him what happened, but he wouldn't tell me."
"When was this? Where had he gone out to?"
"I think it was September 5th. I remember because it was the day before my husband's birthday. He asked me for a few hundred yuan that day, definitely to play escape rooms again. He wasn't interested in anything else."
"Can we take a look at his room?"
"Of course. I'll show you the way."
Liu Xiaonian's room was very dark, with thick curtains blocking the windows. Without the lights on, it was almost impossible to see anything.
When the lights came on, Fang Rui saw an extremely tidy room, seemingly only in black and white. The bedsheets were white, while the wardrobe and curtains were black, covered with various strange symbols. It felt oppressive to be in such a room.
On Liu Xiaonian's desk was a row of books, many about code-breaking, including professional cryptography textbooks and some novels. In his drawer was a large stack of blueprints that looked like architectural designs.
Fang Rui picked up one of the blueprints to look at it. It seemed familiar, with a layout similar to the scene he had seen in the escape room. The date written in the corner was January 15th.
He looked at another one, which depicted the scene from the "Newlyweds' Collection Room," complete with annotations for various mechanisms and how to activate them. This one was dated February 21st.
"Zhang, when did that 'Edgar Allan Poe's Cottage' place open?" Fang Rui asked.
"It's a new place, opened around June, I think. It became an overnight sensation because it was chosen as a filming location for a variety show right after opening."
Fang Rui frowned. "Then why was Liu Xiaonian able to draw the layout of one of its scenes on February 21st?"
"Could Liu Xiaonian have been the designer of those rooms?" Zhang speculated. "Could it be that the people from that shop did it? They plagiarized Liu Xiaonian's designs and didn't want to pay, so they killed him to silence him?"
Fang Rui found a student ID in Liu Xiaonian's drawer, which showed that he had majored in Civil Engineering. This made it plausible that Liu Xiaonian could indeed draw architectural designs.
"Auntie, can we take these drawings with us?" Fang Rui asked Liu's mother. "We'll return them to you once the case is closed."
"Yes, take them," Liu's mother said. Then she asked, "Officers, what about my son's body? Can I bring him home?"
"I'm afraid that's not possible. We can only release the body for cremation after the case is closed," Zhang said carefully.
"Can I at least see him?"
"Of course. You can come with us in our car. We can take you there on our way back."
"Thank you, thank you so much!"
At that moment, the study door suddenly opened, and Liu's father came out. Fang Rui thought he seemed to have aged a bit.
Liu's father's expression was still stern as he said to Fang Rui, "I'll come too. My wife doesn't handle these things well. If she faints, it'll just cause more trouble for you."
Fang Rui took them back to the police station. Mu Mian had already completed the autopsy and sewn up the body, so she graciously allowed them to view it.
"My son! Mama won't scold you anymore, just open your eyes and look at Mama," Liu's mother cried, throwing herself onto Liu Xiaonian's body. "Whatever you want to do, Mama will support you. Don't leave Mama!"
Liu's father's expression was more restrained. He stood at the door of the autopsy room, looking at Liu Xiaonian's body from afar.
He regretted being so harsh on his son. He should have been more patient. Even if Xiaonian was useless, he was still his child.
Thinking this, he could no longer control his emotions and also embraced Liu Xiaonian's body, crying.
The autopsy results came out quickly. Mu Mian reported the findings at the next morning's meeting.
"The cause of death was hanging. Time of death was between 3 PM and 5 PM on September 18th. There were no signs of struggle on the body," Mu Mian paused, then continued, "We also detected sleeping pills in his system."
"Sleeping pills? Could the killer have drugged the victim first, then dressed him up like a prop corpse and hung him in the escape room?" Zhang speculated.
Everyone agreed that this was currently the most plausible theory.
Li reported his findings from reviewing the surveillance footage: "On September 18th at 3:11 PM, Liu Xiaonian entered the shop. At 3:14 PM, he entered the 'Escape from the Mental Hospital' room alone. After that, he wasn't seen on any cameras. It seems he never came out after going in."
Li had already edited the video to show only the footage with Liu Xiaonian. The surveillance showed Liu Xiaonian entering the shop with a black backpack, looking gloomy. Shortly after, he appeared at the entrance to the escape room, still carrying his bag and looking unhappy.
"I've extracted the faces of everyone who entered that room before and after this time frame," Li opened a folder containing image files. "There were about 47 people who entered that room."
"The fingerprint analysis results are also in. We found twelve sets of fingerprints, four belonging to the shop's employees, one to Liu Xiaonian. The other seven are unknown."
"Then this case seems straightforward," Zhang leaned back, confidently saying, "We just need to investigate these people, find out who knew Liu Xiaonian, who had conflicts with him, and that person is likely to be the killer!"
After hearing Zhang's deduction, Mu Mian nudged Fang Rui's arm. When Fang Rui looked at her, Mu Mian drew a square shape with her hand, then added several circles on top of it.
Seeing this, Fang Rui smiled helplessly.
Chen Xue caught a glimpse of Mu Mian's little gesture and said disapprovingly, "Mian Mian, you can't keep doing this, only sharing clues with Captain Fang. There are many other people sitting here too, you know?"
