Fang Rui and Captain Li had been following Su Momo on set for three days, and finally, the promotional video was finished, marking the end of their bodyguard duty.
Before leaving, Su Momo insisted on giving each of them a signed poster. They weren't interested in such things and were about to refuse, but Su Momo forced them to accept, threatening to complain to the Director if they didn't.
"Officers, I am a big star after all. You don't have to be so disrespectful," she said.
Fang Rui initially wanted to throw it away but felt it would be disrespectful. He decided to take it back, thinking he could use it to cover a patch of peeling paint on the wall in the forensics office, adding a touch of decoration.
Back at the station, Mu Mian approached Fang Rui and sniffed him carefully. "No smell of blood. But there's a faint scent of perfume. I've smelled this on Chen Xue's idol before. Fang Rui, is your case related to her?"
Fang Rui sniffed his own clothes but couldn't smell any perfume. He had no idea how Mu Mian could detect it. He figured it must have rubbed off on him from being on set for so long.
"Yes, you're right, but that case is over now. We caught the person who made the curse doll," Fang Rui said, handing the poster to Mu Mian. "Doesn't Chen Xue like Su Momo? Why don't you give her this autograph?"
"Your gift is too late. Chen Xue already has her autograph," Mu Mian said, taking the poster and glancing at it. She still thought the signature in her autopsy record book looked better.
"..." So, did Su Momo give out autographs to everyone she met?
"Fang Rui, you shouldn't keep secrets from me next time. See, I always find out in the end," Mu Mian said smugly. "Your ability to keep secrets is a bit lacking."
"The Director insisted I keep it confidential. I don't even know why it needed to be a secret," Fang Rui noticed Mu Mian's heavy dark circles and asked, "Mu Mian, there haven't been any cases lately. Why are you still staying up late? You're not lying awake thinking about corpses, are you?"
"That was a few days ago. I'm not thinking about corpses now. I've been studying the occult lately. I realized I lack common knowledge in that area and need to learn. I've read many books, but I can't understand their logic, so I've been losing sleep. You can't imagine how many strange black magic practices exist in this world, and how many people believe in them."
"Any results?" Fang Rui thought of the talisman paper. Mu Mian must have felt frustrated about not being able to decipher its secret, which sparked her interest in the subject.
"Of course. That talisman is a type of Thai black magic, usually used with fetal mummies. It absorbs the good luck of people around it through the fetus's yin energy, allowing the user to reach peak luck in a short time."
Fang Rui frowned, "You mean that doll isn't a curse doll, but instead brings good luck to its owner?"
"Yes. But the doll had extra needle holes and dog blood on it. Proper black magic practices don't include these things, nor do they embroider names on the dolls. It needs to be nourished with its owner's blood. After multiple tests, I detected human blood in the fabric of the doll's head. It must have been nourished for some time."
Fang Rui suddenly realized something. Could the person who made the doll and the one who placed it in the room be different people?
"So, we shouldn't call it a curse doll," Mu Mian corrected Fang Rui.
Mu Mian gave the poster Fang Rui had given her to Chen Xue.
"Mian Mian, this poster is a limited edition, very hard to buy, and it even has an autograph! How much did you spend on this? Mian Mian, I love you so much. I've decided to keep you company during overtime every day from now on."
"Don't forget, okay? I've already recorded it," Mu Mian took out her bone-shaped voice recorder. She decided to hide the truth so Chen Xue would voluntarily keep her company during overtime.
Just as Fang Rui was debating whether to reinvestigate the curse doll case, his phone rang.
"Captain Fang, we've received a report of a suspected homicide in a dressing room at Jiangzhou TV Station..."
Fang Rui and his team immediately rushed to the crime scene.
Jiangzhou TV Station was holding its first rehearsal for the New Year's Eve concert. The station had spent a fortune inviting a large number of popular stars and veteran artists to boost ratings and advertising revenue. The entrance of the TV station was crowded with fans of various celebrities, and Fang Rui's team had to struggle a bit to squeeze through.
The waiting area and various corridors were also packed with people.
To speed up the makeup process and avoid disturbing the artists, the TV station provided independent dressing rooms for high-profile celebrities.
The entire makeup area had no surveillance cameras. The outermost area was a public makeup room where extras crowded to apply their makeup. Further in, there were several rooms side by side, assigned as dressing rooms for higher-status artists. The dressing room where the incident occurred was the innermost one.
As soon as they entered the dressing room, they were hit by a strong smell of blood.
The scene was chaotic. The makeup table had been shifted, various cosmetics were scattered on the floor, and the clothes rack had fallen over, with expensive gowns on it stained with blood.
There was a large amount of blood in the room. Near the dressing table, there was a pool of blood on the floor, with darker edges and a lighter center. There were also small splatter patterns of blood on the floor and walls.
"Preliminary judgment suggests this is human blood," Mu Mian said, collecting blood samples from various parts of the blood pool, as well as from the splatter patterns on the walls and floor, planning to conduct DNA tests back at the lab.
Mu Mian searched for a long time but couldn't find a body. However, if all the blood on the floor belonged to one person, that person would be in grave danger.
"There's at least 500-600 milliliters of blood on the floor. We must find the injured person, or they'll likely be in critical condition," Chen Xue said.
"Boss, it's strange. If someone was injured, where could they have gone? If they're already dead, why did the killer remove the body? Wouldn't it be easy to get caught transporting a body in such a crowded place?" Zhang asked, puzzled.
Zhang had voiced everyone's confusion.
The person who reported the case was Zhang Dawei, the program's director. He described how he discovered the crime scene.
"Around 4 PM, I came to the dressing room to discuss program details with Su Momo. I knocked on the door for a long time and called Su Momo many times, but there was no answer. I called her assistant, who had gone out to buy her milk tea and didn't know the situation either.
I felt something was wrong and quickly tried to break down the door. It turned out the door wasn't locked, and I fell to the ground. My hand felt something wet, and when I looked closely, I saw a large bloodstain on the floor. So I immediately called the police."
Fang Rui asked, "Is this dressing room assigned to Su Momo?"
"Yes. This dressing room was specifically for her use."
Fang Rui remembered the curse doll, which was also covered in blood. Could the killer have left that doll as a murder announcement?
If the killer intended to commit murder, where had Su Momo's body gone?
Fang Rui turned to Zhang Dawei, "Has anyone been able to contact Su Momo?"
"No one can reach her. Her manager has called her many times, but the calls still don't go through. We fear she might be dead. We don't know where the killer might have hidden her body."
Just then, a phone rang in the room, playing a Japanese song. Fang Rui and his team followed the sound and found a phone under the leg of the makeup table.
The phone was vibrating, with the caller ID showing: "Heartless Manager Sister Sun."
"This Sister Sun is Su Momo's manager," Zhang Dawei said. "This should be Su Momo's phone. I remember her phone case was also red with the words 'Get Rich' written on it, very similar to this one."
