Murder the Dream Guy

Tang Yuanchu’s embarrassment was referring to Sun Shangli’s occupation.

Or rather, what she did for a living.

As for what the police had investigated, Sun Shangli was quite well-known in her younger days, but gave up her career during her best years when she got married to her now ex-husband, Huo Shan.

After her divorce, she left the social circle of the wealthy, but she had gotten used to her extravagant ways while living as Mrs. Huo.

She did not go back to acting after her divorce, but as she got accustomed to her lavish lifestyle, it was hard for her to change.

In just a few years time, she spent all of her savings, and slowly, she was living beyond her means and even got addicted to drugs.

Later, she was reduced to such a state…

When someone engaged her service, she would perform an erotic dance for them.

Be it hot dance, naked dance, shameless dance, she would do it.

Of course, compared to the other dancers in the same industry, her experience as a celebrity made the wealthy felt that they would feel even more prestiged to have her dance for them. In view of that, the fees she charged was also a lot higher than others, and she also had the right to choose her customers.

In short, not just any wealthy man were able to invite her to come perform for them.

Xiang Wan’s eyebrows furrowed when she heard that. “So who’s the one who invited her?”

Tang Yuanchu said the name slowly, “Ye Lun.”

Oh, that male celebrity.

The celebrity who managed to get himself “detached” from the case.

He would be acting as the third male lead in the drama, “The Grey List”, written by Second Young Master Mu.

The case seemed very complicated.

Maybe it could just be a very simple case.

But if one were to think of it as being very complicated, it could be the case as well.

“We have analyzed the case and came up with a possible reason why Sun Shangli chose to jump. We thought that maybe she was caught in the act by the police that she felt ashamed, or maybe she did not know how to face her son, so she did that stupid act…”

Theoretically speaking, this seemed to be a logical explanation.

There seemed to be nothing worth a debate or controversy for the case.

Bai Muchuan pondered a moment before asking suddenly, “Did the team look into the deceased’s personal condition and situation?”

Sure enough, he was a clear-headed person.

“We found a message from her ex-husband in her mobile phone.” Tang Yuanchu nodded and thought for a while.

Bai Muchuan furrowed his eyebrows. “In other words, her ex-husband knew what she was doing for a living?”

Tang Yuanchu concurred by nodding his head. “There’s no smoke without fire.”

Sometimes, an angry word could be the final straw to what one could bear.

Xiang Wan felt as if a feeling of sadness swept over her.

“She might be thinking to leave a sum of money for her son so her son could forgive her?” Tang Yuanchu gave a sigh. “Anyway, I don’t get it, the beneficiary is her son, yet the ones who kicked up a storm are her parents and her brother? For the insurance company to conclude that this is an insurance fraud, it doesn’t really make sense…”

Bai Muchuan: “It makes sense.”

Xiang Wan: “You know, ‘profit’ sharing!”

“Uh?” Tang Yuanchu took a look at the two of them who held the same opinion. “But our investigation results showed that ever since Sun Shangli got chased out of the house by her ex-husband, Huo Shan, the Sun Family has been hating him to the core. Why would they conspire with him to harm their own daughter?”

They discussed and analyzed the situation, but were unable to arrive at a conclusion.

Judging from the circumstances, it was etched in stone that Sun Shangli’s death was an act of suicide.

They could not find major questionable points. There was no evidence of a possible homicide.

Huang He was being charged with serious malfeasance of duty that caused a death as a result. In fact, that was too heavy of an offence to bear. It was unlucky of him to have bump into this incident, and now, it would depend on what would be the court ruling for this case.

As for the dispute between the Sun Family and the insurance company… the insurance company would have to take up another lawsuit on it.

As for the police, they had done all that they could.

What else could they do for Huang He?

…

For a moment, nobody talked inside the room.

There seemed to be an obvious smell in the room during the moment of silence. Maybe it was the smell of alcohol that had not yet dissipated, or maybe it was the smell of the soul that the dead had left behind…

Xiang Wan was frightened by the sudden thought that barged into her brain and started to feel nervous again.

She was clearly standing in a brightly lit room, yet she felt the terror as if she was standing in a ghastly alley.

Even the air started to feel chilly.

She realized that writing novels had made her mind a bit too active unlike a normal person.

A novel plot suddenly appeared in her mind out of nowhere.

“She did not want to die. A mother with a child would not choose death easily. She had no choice, she was being compelled. Maybe… someone wanted her dead and deliberately directed the whole thing?”

“Hm?” Bai Muchuan glanced at her.

“I had searched for Sun Shangli’s past in the internet before. She was a promising actress when she started out. She had a good family background, and her parents are professors… Of course, this is also one of the reasons why this matter got blown out of proportion and Huang He got implicated in it.”

“Continue!” Bai Muchuan listened to her in a relaxed manner with his hands in his pockets.

“Sun Shangli was a straight-A student in her school days. She was well-educated, optimistic, and cheerful. Before she got divorced, she was confident and broad-minded. In short, she shouldn’t be the type of woman who would easily sink to such depths. And her so-called wealthy husband is actually an upstart who happened to dabble in real estate development during the good times. At that point in time, she had a wide range of suitors to choose from. She had no lack of suitors who were wealthier and more famous than her ex-husband.”

“So?” Bai Muchuan asked.

“So, she should have married because of love.”

Married because of love? Bai Muchuan furrowed his eyebrows.

Xiang Wan suddenly remarked while looking at him, “The eternal tragedy of women is that they lose themselves for men.”

Bai Muchuan wore a faint smile while Tang Yuanchu could not withhold his laughter. “Teacher Xiang, are web novelists as emotional like you?”

“This is not emotional, but logical reasoning,” pouted Xiang Wan, “if it’s not for love, why would a beautiful young woman with a great future ahead of her, be willing to give up her career to stay at home, rear kids, and cook for the family?”

Her gaze was so sharp that the two men chose not to say anything in response.

These were deep-rooted differences between men and women with regards to such matters.

Xiang Wan did not want to argue over this but continue to voice the injustice for Sun Shangli.

“Yet someone like her got kicked out of the house, lost the custody of her son, and were not even allowed to visit him. How pitiable…”

“Precisely because of that, she chose to commit suicide.” Tang Yuanchu spread out his hands. “Nothing wrong with it!”

“She came out of her marriage with a heavy heart. She could have gone back to acting so as to fight for custody of her son. She was still young at that time and totally had a chance to give another shot in her career. Yet she actually chose to become an erotic dancer and walk the path of no return? Don’t you think it’s really strange?”

Tang Yuanchu could not understand at all. “Is it very strange?”

“It’s really strange,” said Xiang Wan. “It doesn’t match her characterization.”

“…” Tang Yuanchu chuckled. “Teacher Xiang, this is not a novel.”

“There’s not much difference between reality and novels. A person’s actions could be determined by the character as well as the environment,” said Xiang Wan. “She must have been forced to commit suicide. There must be some unknown plot and reasons why she had to die. Naturally, the reason can’t be that shout of Huang He’s.”

“What do you think is the reason then?” Tang Yuanchu furrowed his brows.

He clearly disagreed with Xiang Wan’s analysis, as she was a layman after all in his eyes.

In his opinion, it was just a simple case of a suicide, why the talk of a conspiracy?

Xiang Wan rubbed her forehead and stopped talking.

She was unable to explain it. Even she herself could not tell where such feelings came from.

When she walked around this suite, she already felt a sense of nervousness where her hair stood on end, as if Sun Shangli was just standing there.

Sun Shangli looked a little weary but still as beautiful as always. She looked at them with sadness and resentment, dancing wildly to show her unwillingness to resign to her fate. She was so bitter that her pain would remain in the room forever…

That feeling felt similar to Er Niu.

Thinking of her, somehow it seemed to touch her heart.

“Bai Muchuan, do you believe me?”

She remembered that during the 720 case, she had asked the same question.

Now, she asked the same silly question again.

“I seemed to have a peculiar feeling toward this case, which is, I smelt conspiracy in here. I do not have evidence, it seems to come from my sixth sense? Or rather… my thoughts?”

Pffft! Tang Yuanchu stifled a laughter, which broke the stagnant atmosphere. “Why didn’t you say that it’s your psychic powers? Teacher Xiang, you’re too funny. It can be very scary to see you blabbering away in the middle of the night!”

Scary? Xiang Wan did not know what kind of expression she had on her face.

She pointed toward the window. “I felt that Sun Shangli is just over there. And she’s telling me that she didn’t want to die but was forced to her death…”

Tang Yuanchu’s shoulders shuddered. He looked at her then turned to look at the silent Bai Muchuan. He was clearly daunted by her words.

“Teacher Xiang, don’t crack this kind of jokes, please?! I’m a timid person!”

Xiang Wan stayed still and did not look at him. Her eyes were fixed on Bai Muchuan who was walking slowly toward her. Perhaps his reassuring smell had calmed her down for her tone now sounded more somber and not as ghastly as earlier.

“I’m serious. I really feel we should continue the investigations for this case. There are too many weird points that I even feel that this room doesn’t feel quite right. There’s a feeling, somehow, I feel very uncomfortable, very very uncomfortable…”

Tang Yuanchu facepalmed. “Teacher Xiang, are you possessed or something?…”

Without waiting for him to finish his words, Bai Muchuan interrupted. “I believe you.”

Tang Yuanchu: “… Captain Bai!?”

Bai Muchuan turned to him. “I’m here to investigate this case.”

Next, he scanned around the room. “Has the team done a thorough search in this room?”

“We did a search that very night,” Tang Yuanchu nodded, “but we didn’t find anything unusual?”

“That night, the organizer of the gathering is Ye Lun, yet he did not take drugs. The one who booked the room is Sun Shangli, yet she died here. This is your so-called nothing unusual?”

“But what can we derive from it?” Tang Yuanchu was bewildered.

Bai Muchuan looked at him sternly. “Why must Sun Shangli insist to book this particular room?”

“Yeah right! Why this room?”

“You’re asking me?” Bai Muchuan pulled a long face instantly and took a glance at Xiang Wan’s pale face. He thought of the words that she said earlier and commanded with a severe tone, “Let the forensics team come and do a thorough examination of this room!”

“Captain Bai, you mean now?” Tang Yuanchu felt his heart feeling bitter.

Bai Muchuan: “Now.”

After pausing for a while, he issued another command. “Deploy a police dog here as well!”

Gosh! He sure does his job vigorously and effectively , Tang Yuanchu thought.

It’s 1:30 a.m. in the morning and his luggage is still inside the car.

Captain Bai really is a workaholic!

But what’s scarier is he actually believed Xiang Wan’s words! Both of them are crazy…

What sixth sense? What the room doesn’t feel quite right? It’s totally bullsh*t!

Just not too long ago, I even met a nutcase who said that Sun Shangli died on the Hungry Ghost Festival, and a soul was not being vindicated or something.

Tang Yuanchu shook his head as he laughed bitterly, complying with Captain Bai’s request.

…

About half an hour later, another two detectives came from the Criminal Investigation Unit.

They brought a police dog along as well as two people from the forensics team.

It was Cheng Zheng and his assistant, Mei Xin.

Cheng Zheng was dumbstruck to see both Bai Muchuan and Xiang Wan. He stood at the entrance for a few seconds before coming into the room.

Bai Muchuan wore a cold face. “Who’s the one from the forensics team that was on duty that night?”

Mei Xin took a look at Cheng Zheng. “It’s me.”

Bai Muchuan asked, “Did you find out anything?”

Mei Xin wanted to reply but Cheng Zheng spoke before she could. “Captain Bai, aren’t you already transferred?”

He was questioning his authority on handling of the case.

Bai Muchuan sneered and took out the proof of his secondment to show Cheng Zheng. “If you need more details, you can look for Commissioner Wang tomorrow! Of course… that will depend on whether he would be willing to tell you about it.”

Cheng Zheng did not say anything in response.

When the two of them appeared together, there would be an unexplainable sense of pressure.

The atmosphere was electrifying.

A few seconds later, Bai Muchuan broke the silence and glared at Cheng Zheng. “Redo the autopsy tomorrow!”

Xiang Wan’s expression lit up at the mention of that.

Sure enough, Bai Muchuan held the same thought as her.

She had this thought since some time back. She kept thinking that there would be something on Sun Shangli’s corpse.

Nevertheless, Cheng Zheng threw cold water on him with an emotionless face.

“The body has been cremated.”

“?!” Xiang Wan looked at him, flabbergasted.

“When was that?” Bai Muchuan asked.

“Two days ago,” said Cheng Zheng, “after the completion of the autopsy, the family members of the deceased did not raise any objection, and they requested to take the body back for cremation. We have no reason to keep it.”