Fang Rui showed the photos to Li Bin, "Among these people, who is acquainted with Liu Xiaonian?"
Li Bin examined them carefully, scrutinizing each photo before finally pulling out a few: "These people know Liu Xiaonian."
Fang Rui looked through the selected photos. One was of the manager of the escape room, three were of employees from that store, and one was of a passerby whose identity they hadn't yet determined.
"Do you know who this person is?" Fang Rui asked, pointing to the photo of the passerby.
"His name is Wang Yang. He used to run an escape room too. Xiaonian and I were regulars at his place. But his store went bankrupt a few months ago."
"What was the name of that store?" Fang Rui inquired.
"It was called 'Lost Island.' It was quite popular once. Xiaonian and I loved going there. Later, 'Poe's Cottage' became famous through a TV show and started a price war, drastically cutting prices. These underhanded tactics forced many escape rooms out of business." Li Bin frowned, "But it's strange, why would Wang Yang and Xiaonian go to that store?"
Fang Rui remembered the manager mentioning this store name that morning. Could Liu Xiaonian have sold his designs to this 'Lost Island' store?
"Why is it strange?" Fang Rui asked.
"Xiaonian, Wang Yang, and I are high-end escape room players. We usually wouldn't stoop to visiting that kind of place." Li Bin sneered, "I can understand Xiaonian going there, but why would Wang Yang go too? I don't get it. Their tastes have really gone downhill."
"What's wrong with that store?" Fang Rui probed.
"It's very low-brow. The charm of escape rooms should be in solving puzzles, not in horror. If you want a scary thrill, why not just go to a haunted house? That place has a lot of hype, with ads everywhere, but the experience is utter crap. The worst part is, it's driving out the good businesses. Several quality escape rooms have shut down because of it. That's how Wang Yang's store went under. Ugh, we won't be able to enjoy good escape rooms anymore."
"Do you know where Wang Yang lives now?"
"Not really sure," Li Bin pondered, then added, "But after he went bankrupt, he was drowning in debt and couldn't afford rent. He's been staying with his sister. She runs a shop nearby. I can take you there."
On the way to the shop, Fang Rui asked, "How did Liu Xiaonian know the manager of 'Poe's Cottage'?"
"Two weeks ago, we went to play there. We thought the experience was terrible and demanded a refund. They thought we were causing trouble, so the manager had his staff throw us out. We almost got into a fight."
Li Bin sighed, "They even hurt Xiaonian. We were going to call the police, but they refunded our money, so we didn't."
Li Bin suddenly had a thought, "Officer, do you think it's possible that those employees conspired to murder Xiaonian? Maybe they resented him for giving them a bad review, so they killed him?"
"Do you think a store would kill someone over one bad review?" Fang Rui said.
"Xiaonian's review was pretty harsh. He even hired internet trolls to badmouth the store online." Li Bin looked a bit embarrassed and explained, "But that place really deserved it."
Fang Rui thought Liu Xiaonian's hatred for that store seemed excessive, almost incomprehensible. He remembered the design sketches he'd seen at Liu Xiaonian's home. "Why did Liu Xiaonian hate that store so much? Was it because they plagiarized his designs?"
"Because the experience was terrible!" Li Bin looked surprised, "Plagiarize Xiaonian's designs? That's highly unlikely. Although Xiaonian was good at solving puzzles, I've seen his room designs before, and I have to say, they were extremely uncreative! No one would want to steal those designs."
Fang Rui found this odd. Where did those design sketches in Liu Xiaonian's house come from then?
Wang Yang's sister lived in an urban village where she ran a fried noodle shop.
When Li Bin brought them there, Wang Yang was lazily helping his sister wash vegetables while she nagged him: "Can't you wash vegetables more carefully? How can you not even do this small task properly? Don't look at me like that. You're not a boss anymore. I've helped pay off so many of your debts, can't I say a word or two to you?"
Wang Yang looked unkempt, with a scruffy beard and long, greasy, unkempt hair. He appeared completely dejected.
"Mr. Wang... I mean, Brother Wang," Li Bin quickly corrected himself as he greeted Wang Yang, "Could we borrow a moment of your time? These two police officers have some questions for you."
Wang Yang's sister immediately became flustered. She looked at Wang Yang, "You haven't done anything illegal, have you? If you've lost money in business, I can help pay it back, but if you've broken the law, don't expect me to bail you out. If you've done something bad, go turn yourself in right away! You hear me?"
"Sis, I haven't done anything," Wang Yang's expression was somewhat helpless.
Fang Rui explained on his behalf: "We're just here to gather some information. There's no need to worry."
"Oh, that's good, that's good!" Wang Yang's sister breathed a sigh of relief and enthusiastically invited them into the shop. "Officers, please come in and have a seat. Ask whatever you need to ask. Our Wang Yang will cooperate fully."
Wang Yang's sister was very hospitable, pouring hot tea for each of them.
Fang Rui asked, "Do you know Liu Xiaonian?"
"Yes, I do. He was a regular at our store and we got along well. We're friends, I suppose. We have a group chat where we often organize various escape room activities."
Li Bin looked at Wang Yang with a sad expression, "Brother Wang, Xiaonian is dead."
Wang Yang was shocked: "How did he die? That's impossible! How could he be dead? I saw him just a few days ago."
Fang Rui asked, "What were you doing on September 18th?"
"The 18th? That morning I was washing dishes at my sister's shop. I broke a plate and cut my hand on the broken pieces. In the afternoon, my sister told me to rest." Wang Yang lowered his voice, "I went to play an escape room in the afternoon. Please don't tell my sister. She doesn't allow me to play those anymore, and I promised her I wouldn't. If she finds out, she'll kill me."
Li Bin said, "Brother Wang, you shouldn't go to that kind of place anyway. What's the point of playing there?"
"But it's the only place nearby to play! And they had a half-price discount that Monday. The temptation was too great!" Wang Yang's tone was resigned, "I feel ashamed too, but I just couldn't resist the urge to play. I have to admit, that place has an intense immersive experience. It's quite thrilling."
"Brother Wang, we play escape rooms for the mental challenge, not for thrills!"
"What time did you go?" Fang Rui asked.
"I arrived there around 4 PM and played until evening before going home," Wang Yang answered.
His statement matched what the surveillance footage had captured.
"Liu Xiaonian also went to that store that day. Didn't you arrange to go together?"
"Xiaonian went too?" Wang Yang looked shocked, "That's impossible! Xiaonian said that place was garbage. How could he go there? Anyone else might go, but not him!"
Fang Rui looked at him, "You also thought that place was garbage, but you still went."
