The puzzle of No. 21 was still unsolved, and now the question of No. 18 was added.
On that rainy afternoon, Jian Jing curled up on the lazyboy sofa, tugging at her dog's ears, stroking its fur, munching on chips and sipping cola.
Kang Mu Cheng visited her twice and saw her lost in thought. He didn't interrupt her, only brought her hot tea instead of the ice-cold cola, and a platter of fruits instead of the high-calorie, high-sodium bag of chips.
Jian Jing chuckled, "What are you doing?"
"Can't help you crack the case, so I can only provide some logistical support," he cut up the mango and gave half to the knight who was wagging its tail madly. "Any ideas yet?"
She said, "A little."
Kang Mu Cheng asked, "Care to share?"
"No, this isn't a novel. It wouldn't be interesting to spell everything out," afraid that he would be disappointed, Jian Jing added, "Besides, for a detective, the moment of identifying the murderer comes when confronting the culprit in person."
Kang Mu Cheng had to laugh, "You're so reasonable."
Jian Jing narrowed her eyes without answering.
The rain continued. After standing by the window for a while, Kang Mu Cheng turned around to look at her.
At this moment, Jian Jing the detective naturally exuded an aura different from Jian Jing the writer. There was a hint of sharpness, like a cat showing its claws.
Kang Mu Cheng found this unfamiliar yet familiar side of her intriguing.
Unfamiliar, of course, because he was more used to writer Jian Jing. But familiar...why did she look so familiar?
Noticing his gaze, Jian Jing touched her cheek, "Got chip crumbs on my face?"
"No." He said, "Just thought of something."
"What is it?"
Kang Mu Cheng just smiled without answering.
"So mysterious." She muttered.
His smile widened. It wasn't anything special, he just suddenly realized he had seen this Jian Jing a long time ago.
Back then, one Jian Jing was outside the book, the other was inside.
Have they switched places now?
The heroine of his book "Sleepwalking Girl" was an introverted girl who lost her parents early and lived with her grandmother who had a bad leg.
The latest chapter revealed the cause of her sleepwalking disorder.
Her parents died in a car crash. The car that caused the accident fled the scene. She kept going back to the crash site in her dreams, looking for the red sedan that sped away.
Gradually, her sleepwalking destinations expanded beyond home. She was led by some mysterious force to appear at real crime scenes, again and again.
"You have to finish the latest chapter before September," he urged her, "or you won't make the New Year's release next year."
Jian Jing lowered her head tugging the German Shepherd's ears, pretending not to hear.
"Solve the case quickly and get back to writing," he said.
"Looks like it's almost dinner time," Jian Jing changed the subject. "There's something I still need to do. Oh dear, gotta hurry."
Mumbling to herself, she dashed off swiftly.
At dinner tonight, everyone arrived on time.
The gathering was called by Fei Na. The grief over losing her father didn't defeat this strong girl. She wanted to bring everyone together to uncover the murderer's identity.
Dinner was a simple spaghetti, instant meal, done in less than half an hour. With the fruit platter, chicken nuggets and other items, it barely made a decent spread.
Except for the health-conscious Kang President, no one paid attention to the food.
Everyone seemed preoccupied.
Fei Na wolfed down a couple mouthfuls of spaghetti quickly to fuel up. Then she suddenly put down her fork and bluntly declared, "I think the person who killed my dad is here today."
Her words shattered the quiet at the dinner table.
All eyes turned to her, reactions varied.
Mrs. Lao looked mildly surprised then frowned slightly. Chen gave her a concerned look without a word. Cha Li's mouth pressed tight, face taut, very grave. Li Journalist was shocked, looked left and right, wanted to speak but hesitated.
Kang President sipped coconut juice thoughtfully. Kang Mu Cheng glanced at Jian Jing.
Jian Jing said decisively, "I agree."
She gave Fei Na outright support, which clearly took a huge load off Fei Na's shoulders.
But Mrs. Lao asked, "Who here has a motive to kill him? Me? For the inheritance?"
The last question carried a tinge of self mockery.
Fei Na said, "If for the inheritance, wouldn't I have motive too? But we all know Dad didn't have much money. He poured all he had into this place."
It was true that Professor Lao was a renowned animal conservation expert, but he was also a poor man. His funding came from grant applications and charity donations.
So Fei Na and Mrs. Lao, both privy to his financial circumstances, would have no reason to kill for inheritance.
As for insurance... "Even Bolly's insurance premium is higher than Dad's."
The astronomical premium also ruled that out.
"It seems you think it's me," Dr. Cha Li spoke up. "But your father died from a gunshot. I don't even know how to use a gun."
Mrs. Lao said, "I can attest to that."
Fei Na argued, "No, just because you haven't fired a gun in front of her doesn't mean you can't. Getting a gun isn't that hard. Chen said he learned to use guns when he was very young."
Guns are banned here, yet bans can't keep them away. With rampant crimes, people get guns for self-defense or work needs, so those proficient with guns are not rare.
Cha Li mocked, "Then why not suspect him? He's the best shot. And he's missing bullets, so why can't it be him?"
Fei Na was momentarily tongue-tied. She turned to Jian Jing pleadingly.
But instead of addressing their debate, Jian Jing asked, "Dr. Cha Li, do you have Bolly's test results?"
Cha Li said, "It has a fever, possibly an infection. Nothing else abnormal."
"Was it anesthetized?"
The doctor said coldly, "I'm not a vet. Didn't run those tests."
Jian Jing could only ask Fei Na, "Can you check if any anesthesia here is missing?"
Having first-aid training, Fei Na was in charge of the medical storeroom. At the question, she immediately said, "Let me go see right now."
Five minutes later she rushed back, face strange. "You're right. The anesthesia is short. Someone must have stolen it from here to drug Bolly. But why?"
As she asked, her voice involuntarily rose, shrill and grating.
Jian Jing stayed calm. "Let me analyze last night's situation: First, the issue with No.21 happened by chance, or could it have been manipulated?"
Chen said, "The encrypted GPS means chance occurrence."
Fei Na added, "Unless someone captured No.21 and removed its tracking collar, but it's so familiar with the jungle, rarely venturing into human inhabited areas. Ordinary people would have great difficulty finding it."
Jian Jing nodded, "So this was a random event. Then logically, where Professor Lao would be last night was also utterly unpredictable, right?"
Everyone looked at each other then nodded in succession.
"To kill Professor Lao, the murderer must first locate him." Jian Jing continued posing questions and asking, "I want to ask, is it easy to track someone in the jungle?"
Fei Na hesitated. "I don't know how to put it. It's not difficult in that people leave traces that hunters can follow based on footprints to deduce direction. Also there's ample cover to easily remain hidden. But..."
Jian Jing finished for her, "It means needing jungle experience and physical fitness to keep up with you.
"So we can rule out me, Kang President and Kang Mu Cheng," she deduced.
Mrs. Lao said, "I think Cha Li couldn't do it either. On a school trip last year his performance was just awful."
"Let's not rule out Dr. Cha Li yet, I'll explain why later," said Jian Jing. "Not only must the killer locate the professor, he must possess the murder weapon. Troublingly, we don't seem to have found the weapon so far."
She tallied, "Professor Lao is missing 1 bullet. Chen is missing 4 bullets. The rest of the guns are fully loaded."
Li Journalist finally found a chance to cut in, "That makes Chen the prime suspect."
"No. He has the key to the bullet safe. No one keeps close count there. If he's the killer why not take more bullets instead of using his own Type 56 rifle?" Jian Jing refuted.
Mrs. Lao said, "If that's the case, perhaps it really was someone else?"
Chen said, "Yesterday and today, I used drones to look around, there was no smoke. The food at the observation point was untouched either."
Jian Jing was slightly surprised, she didn't expect he had done so much work, then showed an appreciative look.
It had to be said, this was convincing evidence - if someone was hiding in the woods, they wouldn't be able not to eat, either stealing the reserve rations at the observation point, or making their own fire to hunt animals.
No smoke proved there was no fire.
The probability of someone being there greatly decreased because of this.
Fei Na also found it confusing because of this: "The bullets were deep inside the research lab. Last night, Cha Li, Xiang Cao, Chen and I went to get guns, none of us touched the safe, we only checked our own guns before leaving."
The other two nodded, confirming what she said was true.
Dr. Cha Li said sarcastically, "So where exactly did the murderer get the murder weapon from? Miss Jian, why don't you answer the question you brought up yourself."
"Of course I can answer, it's not difficult at all." Jian Jing put down her fork, satisfiedly drank some coconut juice, before slowly saying, "The key to this baffling case is that we got the conditions of the murderer wrong."
"What do you mean?" Kang President asked with interest, "Could it be the murderer didn't need a gun, and faked it to look like a shooting?"
"No," Jian Jing said, "I think the murderer acted on impulse, deciding to shoot Professor Lao, not that it was premeditated."
Everyone was surprised, not understanding.
She said, "Confirming my guess is Bolly. Think about it everyone, what kind of person would use a tranquilizer on Bolly, instead of just shooting it directly?"
"Someone familiar with it," Mrs. Lao said calmly, "Bolly is very clever, only someone familiar could get it to lower its guard and be shot by a tranquilizer."
Li Journalist said, "Uh, that would be you all..."
"But Mrs. Lao, Fei Na and Chen all have inconsistencies, what happened on the 21st was a chance occurrence, they couldn't have prepared beforehand, hid a gun somewhere, and timed it exactly for when Professor Lao would be at observation point 3. Even if it was an incredible coincidence, could they have also coincidentally found a tranquilizer?"
Jian Jing paused, then continued, "Also, Bolly was found near where they split up, some distance from point 3. If the murderer tranquilized Bolly first, wouldn't the professor retaliate immediately? Why did he only fire one shot over such a long distance?"
Fei Na nodded in agreement.
Kang President had already lost patience, directly saying, "Jian Jing, I don't want to guess anymore."
Of course she had to reveal the answer to satisfy the president. Jian Jing promptly decoded: "So the answer is very simple, the person who tranquilized Bolly was the one Bolly trusted the most, and would never be on guard against."
