Jian Jing had to push back the timeline to between 13:50-14:10 for when the murder occurred.
That meant Chai Reporter first went out for a stroll, took some photos, came back to check in and take more photos, then went downstairs to kill the victim, returned, borrowed something from her, went back to his room, waited and waited, heard Huangmao knock on the door, took instant noodles, and waited until 15:30 to return the key.
But...why? This made no sense at all.
The longer the delay, the higher the chance the corpse would be discovered, and people would certainly be suspicious that the key was not found on the victim's body, questioning the credibility of the instant noodles story.
Also, she came out at 13:50, and while she might have slipped past the female server, what if she didn't?
Chai Reporter had already come out once, he should have seen the female server in the lobby. Going to the bathroom was a random event, she couldn't be sure if she would be seen or not.
No, this was all wrong.
She definitely did not kill the victim during the second time period.
Go back even further, the first time period?
If she had killed the victim before 13:40, then took the photos, she could have created the illusion that the victim was not yet dead.
Then why leave the instant noodles?
Besides, if she killed the victim before 13:40, returned with the key, she could have done anything she wanted, so why wait until 13:40 to go out again when she could have returned the key already?
Having the opportunity to return the key or not, yet deliberately waiting for hours before returning it, didn't make sense scientifically.
Pushing back and forth, it was all wrong.
Could it be she was terribly unlucky to have chosen the wrong person, and the real murderer was Huangmao?
But Huangmao being the murderer, there were still many doubts. Jian Jing folded her arms, a little unwilling to give up.
Could they have overlooked some crucial clues?
Could they have made wrong assumptions about certain things?
Why didn't Chai Reporter return the key earlier, could it be because...she only obtained the key during the second time period?
Which was between 14:15-15:20.
But after that, she did not go in the direction of the emergency exit or take the stairs down, nor was it possible for her to leave through other doors.
Therefore it was easy to conclude that she was likely only the person returning the key, not the murderer.
Jian Jing lowered her head to glance at today's notes, of the several guesses listed there, she had already eliminated possibilities 1 and 2 of there being a sole murderer, and now, if Huangmao could be eliminated, she could also eliminate 3 and 4.
The most improbable guess 5, could be right.
Multiple culprits, one poisoning a, one bludgeoning b, c covering up.
c was Chai Reporter, she did not provide any proof for the steamed bun head, she could only have been covering up for b.
Then who was b?
Theoretically, Huangmao, crew cut, and fracture man were all possible.
But Huangmao was very suspicious, she had provided a useless alibi.
Between crew cut and fracture man, the latter's suspicion was undoubtedly greater, after all they came together. But the instant noodles singled out crew cut, which was very clever misdirection if it was meant to provide an alibi.
Jian Jing thought for a moment, and reduced the suspicion level of crew cut.
He had a very obvious shortcoming, being away from the inn, he had no way of knowing what was happening inside.
Especially with no cell signal today, even with Chai Reporter helping him stake things out, there was no guarantee the plan could go smoothly.
If the victim hadn't eaten the steamed bun, if he was with other people, and crew cut came back to find no opportunity to act, what then?
Give up?
He had specifically looked for Chai Reporter to help cover for him, it would be too casual to just give up.
Fracture man's suspicion was higher.
Also, his actions fit very conveniently with the cover up results - he had left once in the afternoon already, and was almost above suspicion.
The timing was also very coincidental.
14:05, fracture man went to the bathroom, 14:10 Chai Reporter came over to borrow something from Jian Jing, and in the process blocked the view of the doorway. By the time she left at 14:15, the door across from fracture man was already closed.
When did he come back?
If he only came back at 14:15, 10 minutes would have been enough for him to leave via the emergency exit, kill someone, and return.
"Teacher Jian, you're still here?" Ji Feng sauntered back, carrying two bags of instant noodles, "Are you hungry, want to eat something before continuing?"
"Have the mind to eat, did you succeed?" Jian Jing asked.
"Eliminated a wrong choice." He knew what she cared about and didn't keep her guessing, revealing the answer, "Huangmao got lucky, in the time he spent in the bathroom he was able to finish reading a magazine, and could describe every story.
She was shocked, "Can that be done? How thick was the magazine?"
"Those supernatural magazines sold at roadside stands in the past, with female ghosts, zombies, etc." Ji Feng shrugged, "Some horror, some not suitable for minors. This kid remembers it all quite clearly, and also...cough, anyway, I verified it."
Jian Jing felt his cough was rather meaningful, and looked at him suspiciously, "Are you sure?"
"Sure, no cell signal, reading books is reasonable." He changed the subject, "Want instant noodles, I cooked them together."
She nodded, "Add egg, greens and ham."
Ji Feng: "Tsk!"
She said coldly: "With that attitude, be careful or I won't tell you about my latest findings."
He opened the instant noodle bags, casually said: "What findings? Chai Reporter is an accomplice?"
Jian Jing was shocked, immediately sitting up straight: "When did you know?"
"I didn't know, haven't thought it through yet, just intuition." He said, "It's not Huangmao, Chai Reporter must have been involved, but she did so many things it seemed unbelievable to suspect her."
"You guessed right." Jian Jing relayed her earlier analysis to him, "It doesn't make sense no matter how you look at it that she's the murderer."
Ji Feng listened as he cooked the noodles, and by the time she finished, the instant noodles were also done.
Crack an egg into the instant noodles, note, this is not cooking a poached egg, but lightly beating it and adding as egg drop soup, then add greens and ham, even the most ordinary instant noodles can become extremely tasty.
Jian Jing opened her chopstick case and took out the included chopsticks, aligning them and picking up a mouthful of noodles.
The aroma was extremely fragrant, immediately whetting her appetite, and her stomach rumbled loudly.
She immediately started eating, the just-cooked noodles went into her mouth, then...burnt her tongue, forcing her to spit them out and hastily drink some water.
Ji Feng almost laughed himself to death.
"What's so funny." She rolled her eyes, "Never burnt your tongue before?"
"I'm not laughing at you, it's not your fault the noodles were so hot." Ji Feng kept a straight face teasing her, "Definitely not because Teacher Jian is too delicate."
Jian Jing took a deep breath: "Am I too kind to you that you find me easy to bully?"
"When did I ever bully you?" He acted extremely shocked, firmly refusing to take the blame, "Don't slander me, that's a serious accusation, you're questioning my character."
Jian Jing decided to ignore him.
When this guy was hateful, he was truly hateful.
She lowered her head to eat the noodles, too hungry, and finished everything including the noodle soup. The hot salty soup entering her stomach quickly warmed up her body, truly comfortable.
"Not bad." Ji Feng said, "Teacher Jian eating gives great peace of mind, Yinyin only eats half a bowl saying she's controlling carbs, makes me want to punch her."
Jian Jing said coldly: "Domestic violence is against the law."
He: "I said 'want to'."
Can usually only give more pocket money, so she doesn't feel bad about buying snacks when hungry.
After some casual chat, the two quickly switched back to the main topic.
"If the murderer is Zhu Yong, he only had one opportunity, when he went to the bathroom at 14:05." Ji Feng said, "That little bit of time is only enough for him to kill someone, the other things must have been done by the reporter, including getting the victim out, disposing of the murder weapon, returning the key."
Jian Jing nodded: "Chai Reporter is in room 201, delivering a note to 204 would be easy, same with the instant noodles, avoiding the others. The problems are twofold: where did the murder weapon go, and what did she need the key for?"
"Hmm, something that required entering the room...note." Ji Feng said. "The victim did not have a note on him, so the murderer could only take the key to search his room."
This guess was reasonable.
Jian Jing thought briefly, then said: "The case is very clear now, the chicken was killed by them last night, we didn't ask about their actions last night, the zombie sighting was clearly a lie. Only the weapons and umbrella are still doubtful - did you check the plaster cast immobilizing the fracture?"
"Of course." He explained, "The cast had loosened somewhat, indicating the injury had been improving for a while already, I suspected his arm was likely almost healed, so checked specifically for damage or bloodstains."
She thought of another approach: "So, is the umbrella the murder weapon?"
"Because it was damaged by the impact of gravity when used for hitting, so the choice was made to destroy it?" Ji Feng pondered for a moment, then circled back to the original question, "Even if the umbrella could be disassembled, it makes no sense that I didn't find anything."
When faced with such difficult questions, Jian Jing's imagination was apparently richer: "Then think of the umbrella as a □□. With this in mind, the murder weapon disappeared. Is it possible that it wasn't hidden or destroyed, but rather something that could disappear? For example...ice?"
"It could only be molded ice. I checked all the containers, not a single plastic bottle was left behind, including in the victim's room." Ji Feng added.
Jian Jing said: "Two cans of different sizes nested together could make a hammer. Insert the umbrella handle into the hollow space, it might be just right - but was there a power outage last night?"
"It was fixed early this morning, plenty of time." Ji Feng perked up, "Let's go, we'll ask the owner."
The female server was sitting alone in the living room watching TV. Seeing them come in, she was exceptionally enthusiastic. She knew everything and told them: "Refrigerator? There are two in the home, one in the kitchen, one here."
"When was the last time you cleaned out the refrigerator?"
"This morning." The female server said, "My dad went into town, he would buy things to bring back, so I tidied up the refrigerator in advance."
"Was there anything more or less in the freezer?"
The female server shook her head.
"Are you sure?"
"Of course, there wasn't much to begin with, I looked very clearly."
"Then who went into the kitchen this morning?"
"Many people."
"After that did you open the freezer again?"
"When making lunch, I took out a piece of meat."
"No extra stuff?"
"No."
"Did Chai Reporter come to the kitchen?"
"She did."
"What did she do?"
"She took a can of Coke and asked if I could freeze it for her." The female server remembered clearly, "There was already frozen Coke in the fridge, so I just gave her a bottle directly. What's wrong?"
Jian Jing asked: "What time was that?"
"Nine, ten o'clock? Anyway it was before I started cooking."
The female server started cooking around 11:30. Since she didn't see any ice when she took the meat at lunch, even if it was secretly put in earlier when no one was looking, it couldn't have been preserved until the 2pm murder.
Still, Jian Jing was unwilling to give up: "What else did she do?"
"She ate two buns." The female server asked strangely, "What's the significance of this?"
Jian Jing said: "Nothing, just trying to get all the details. Did Zhu Yong, the guy with the fracture, go into the kitchen?"
Another head shake.
Jian Jing had no choice but to temporarily give up and urged her: "It's getting late, lock the door and sleep after we leave."
"Don't worry, I definitely won't wander around." The female server solemnly promised. People who had seen countless horror films would certainly not lightly court death.
Outside, the rain continued to drizzle.
Where exactly did the murder weapon go?
