Chapter 234: Who Is the Killer?

Everyone stood up and turned to look at Jin Yuanxun.

“Who died?”

“A… a woman…” Jin Yuanxun gasped. “She was killed like that!”

Upon hearing this, Qi Xia’s expression twisted in shock. He knocked over tables and chairs and bolted out the door.

Officer Li seemed to have realized something as well and quickly followed.

The remaining members of “Paradise” trailed behind in scattered groups.

Qi Xia, his face filled with panic, rushed to the classroom where they all lived. The moment he pushed open the door, the pungent scent of iron filled his nostrils, mingling with the fresh stench of decay from the playground, making his head spin.

Yu Nian’an lay in a pool of blood, a sharp knife embedded in her heart.

“An!”

Qi Xia was about to rush forward when Officer Li grabbed his arm.

“What are you doing…?” Qi Xia demanded.

“This time… we really need to ‘preserve the scene,'” Officer Li said, slowly walking along the edges of the classroom, examining the footprints on the floor. “Don’t you want to find the killer?”

Only after Officer Li’s reminder did Qi Xia gradually calm down.

This time, Yu Nian’an’s death was different from Han Yimo’s earlier situation—this was clearly murder.

A crowd gradually gathered at the door, and Qi Xia’s teammates arrived as well.

Lin Qin glanced at Yu Nian’an lying in the blood, then turned to look at Qi Xia, feeling something was off.

Qi Xia… wasn’t having a headache?

Officer Li and Dr. Zhao stepped forward to check Yu Nian’an’s pulse. She had no vital signs left, but her body was still warm, indicating she had died recently.

Officer Li crouched down to examine the floor. The footprints were hard to decipher—after all, ten people lived in this room.

But one thing was certain: the blood was only around Yu Nian’an’s body, with no bloody footprints leading away.

This suggested the killer had acted swiftly, leaving before the blood could spread.

But there was another possibility…

“The killer might have escaped through the window,” Su Shan suddenly spoke up.

Officer Li nodded and looked up at the girl.

The two of them moved to inspect the window simultaneously. The school windows could only be locked from the inside, and all of them were currently locked.

Officer Li and Su Shan then examined Yu Nian’an’s left and right hands, checking her nails and palms, before finally inspecting the fatal wound.

After a moment, both of them frowned in frustration.

They stood up, each seeming to have something to say.

Officer Li looked at Su Shan and asked, “Are you a police officer?”

Su Shan nodded. “Yes, you too?”

Officer Li saluted. “Li Shangwu, Captain of the First Criminal Investigation Unit, Balin Left Banner, Inner Mongolia.”

Su Shan straightened up and returned the salute formally. “Su Shan, Technical Officer, Criminal Investigation Division, Changsha, Hunan.”

The two nodded in silent understanding, bringing a sense of reassurance to the others.

But the next moment, Officer Li said gravely, “At first glance, it appears more likely that the victim committed suicide.”

“What…?” Qi Xia’s expression froze.

“Captain Li is right,” Su Shan agreed. “There are no signs of struggle on the victim, and the wound is directly to the heart and lungs. Normally, people would struggle.”

She looked down at the knife in Yu Nian’an’s chest.

“This is a fruit knife, single-edged, but the blade is facing upward…” Su Shan mimicked gripping the knife. “Normally, people hold fruit knives with the blade facing downward—that’s how you stab someone effectively.”

Everyone realized Su Shan was right.

“For the blade to face upward when piercing the heart and lungs…”

Su Shan knelt and reenacted the motion.

She gripped an imaginary knife, flipped her hands, and plunged it into her own chest.

“Only this way… would the blade face upward,” she explained, turning back.

Officer Li nodded and added, “There are no bloody footprints in the room, nor signs of the window being opened, so what Su Shan said…”

“Bullshit,” Qi Xia snapped coldly.

“What?”

“I said you two are spouting bullshit.” Qi Xia refused to believe them, his face dark as he sat beside Yu Nian’an. “Where’s Jin Yuanxun? Bring him here.”

A young man slowly stepped forward from the crowd—Jin Yuanxun.

“Bro, I’m here…”

“Everyone was at the gathering. Why were you the one who found the body?” Qi Xia demanded sharply.

“Brother Chu told me to patrol…” Jin Yuanxun replied. “Even though you were all at the gathering, I didn’t go.”

“Patrol…?” Qi Xia’s expression remained skeptical.

“Bro, are you suspecting me?” Jin Yuanxun’s tone hardened. “Are you saying I killed her?”

Officer Li and Su Shan understood Qi Xia’s suspicion—in most homicide cases, the first person to discover the body is often a prime suspect.

“Yu Nian’an was only wearing a white dress,” Qi Xia said. “Jin Yuanxun, if this was suicide, where did the fruit knife come from?”

Hearing this, Lin Qin’s heart skipped a beat—a phrase Qi Xia had said earlier at the gathering suddenly echoed in her mind: *I just went to give my wife something.*

“Damn it… how should I know?” Jin Yuanxun was furious. “I don’t even know who she is. Why would I kill her?”

At that moment, Chu Tianqiu slowly walked forward from the crowd. He scanned the room and immediately frowned.

“What happened?” Chu Tianqiu asked Jin Yuanxun.

“Bro, I don’t know. I found the body, but now he’s accusing me,” Jin Yuanxun said anxiously.

Chu Tianqiu didn’t reply. Instead, he circled the room, inspecting the floor, the window, and Yu Nian’an’s body before saying calmly, “It looks like suicide…”

The moment he spoke, he was suddenly tackled to the ground.

The one who took him down wasn’t Qi Xia or Qiao Jiajin—it was the pale-faced young man.

In the next second, the pale-faced young man pinned Chu Tianqiu down and pressed a bloodstained dagger to his throat—clearly taken from the corpse.

Qi Xia stood beside the pale-faced young man, indicating they had planned this in advance. Chu Tianqiu realized he had walked into a trap.

“Where’s Xu Liunian?” Qi Xia asked coldly.

“What?” Chu Tianqiu frowned. “Xu Liunian…?”

He suddenly understood.

“Xu Liunian is the killer. Bring her here, or we’ll kill you,” Qi Xia said.

Whispers spread through the crowd.

Xu Liunian was the killer?

Chu Tianqiu’s expression darkened, and he turned to the crowd. “Don’t—”

Before he could finish, Xu Liunian quickly stepped forward. “Qi Xia, don’t kill him! I’m here! There’s no way I’m the killer…”

Chu Tianqiu’s face fell—he knew Xu Liunian was too naive.

Did she really think she could trust Qi Xia’s words?

Qi Xia smiled faintly. “Perfect.”

He gave Chen Junnan a nod, and Chen Junnan suddenly raised his dagger, aiming to plunge it into Chu Tianqiu.

Qi Xia didn’t care about Xu Liunian’s whereabouts—he just wanted to confirm whether the man before him was really Chu Tianqiu.

But to his surprise, at the critical moment, Jin Yuanxun grabbed Chen Junnan’s wrist.

“What are you doing?” Jin Yuanxun asked Qi Xia in a low voice.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Qi Xia said. “Revenge.”

“You don’t even know who killed her. What revenge?” Jin Yuanxun snapped.

Qi Xia studied the young man before him.

During their last game with “Earth Tiger,” Xu Liunian had once said, *Too bad Jin Yuanxun isn’t here*, and settled for Li Xiangling instead.

Did that mean this young man was stronger than Li Xiangling?

Chu Tianqiu, still pinned to the ground, thought for a moment and said, “Jin Yuanxun, disarm him.”

Jin Yuanxun nodded and gripped Chen Junnan’s arm, about to twist it, when suddenly someone wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

“Hey, handsome, listen to me first…”