I See Murders Before They Happen

Chapter 181: Chapter 179: Killing Device

Su Miaoyi continued her examination.

She tapped all around the surrounding area.

It was wood.

The bottom... was lined with a mat, completely covered in blood.

Su Miaoyi meticulously inspected the mat, not missing a single detail.

Then she lifted it up to take it out.

Just as she was about to call for someone to take it, Zhuang Yanzheng walked in. ”Captain Zhuang, take this.”

Zhuang Yanzheng took the mat and placed it on the floor.

Su Miaoyi looked at the bloodstains on the bottom of the coffin and a small, rectangular opening.

She bent over to look for a moment, then got out to inspect the underside of the coffin.

The coffin was placed directly on the floor. The wood on the bottom wasn’t thick; it was quite thin.

It was a prop, after all.

That small opening in the coffin’s bottom must have been where the blade pierced through.

It also matched the position of the stab wound on Liu Namo.

The knife came up from the bottom.

’Is the floor underneath hollow?’

She knocked on it, and it seemed to make a somewhat hollow sound.

Zhuang Yanzheng looked inside the coffin, then stepped in to inspect it.

He shone his light into the rectangular opening. ”Looks like there’s a knife in here.”

”We need to move it and see what’s underneath,” Su Miaoyi said.

Zhuang Yanzheng remained squatting inside and knocked on the wooden bottom again. ”When I stepped in just now, something underneath made a sound.”

”A mechanism?” Su Miaoyi asked, then added, ”Or are you just too heavy and broke something?”

Zhuang Yanzheng looked up at her.

Su Miaoyi pressed her lips together.

Zhuang Yanzheng got out of the coffin. ”Move it.”

Several people came over, lifted the coffin, and moved it aside.

Beneath the coffin was a wooden floor, which also had a matching rectangular opening.

They pried open the floorboards.

When the floorboards were lifted, there was indeed a device underneath.

The hilt of a knife was firmly fixed to the device, very sturdy.

”What is this device?” Su Miaoyi observed. ”It’s huge.”

Zhuang Yanzheng examined the knife attached to it. ”It looks a lot like a Type 95 military knife.”

”But it’s much longer than a Type 95,” Su Miaoyi said.

Only a blade of this length could pierce through two layers of wood and a mat to reach a person’s heart.

Zhuang Yanzheng studied the device again. ”It’s remote-controlled.”

”A remote-controlled murder?” Su Miaoyi thought for a moment. ”This device must have a lot of force.”

”A hole was cut in the bottom of the coffin beforehand, so this knife could thrust up right through it,” Zhuang Yanzheng said.

”In that case, the props department is highly suspicious,” Su Miaoyi said. Then, she glanced around and lowered her voice. ”I just saw some images... or to be precise, I heard some sounds.”

Because the vision had been pitch black.

Zhuang Yanzheng looked at her.

”After Liu Namo lay down, he was talking to the woman lying next to him. Then, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his back,” Su Miaoyi explained. ”He struggled, calling for help, trying to get out. But as soon as he moved, the woman beside him started screaming.”

”The director and the others said they didn’t hear Liu Namo’s cries for help,” Zhuang Yanzheng said, having just gathered some information outside. ”The director said they followed the filming schedule and only opened the coffin after the scene was finished.”

”The woman lying in there with Liu Namo is named Xu Jinlan. As soon as the coffin was opened, she got out immediately. But Liu Namo didn’t move.”

”Then a staff member went to check and found him dead inside.”

”Didn’t they hear Xu Jinlan’s screams?” Su Miaoyi asked.

”They did. The director said that screaming is normal for a horror variety show, so he didn’t pay any mind,” Zhuang Yanzheng replied.

”So that means the coffin isn’t very soundproof. It’s just that Xu Jinlan’s screams drowned out Liu Namo’s cries for help,” Su Miaoyi said. ”Liu Namo’s voice was indeed weak at the time. That knife struck him right in the heart. He didn’t have the strength to shout, and he faded quickly.”

”Judging from this device, the blade must have retracted after stabbing him,” Su Miaoyi added.

Withdrawing the blade would have only hastened his death.

After speaking, Su Miaoyi fell silent for a moment. ”They weren’t wearing lapel mics while filming,” she stated.

Zhuang Yanzheng looked at her. ”I was just outside. I saw them wearing them.”

”Liu Namo wasn’t wearing one,” Su Miaoyi said. ”Was Xu Jinlan?”

Zhuang Yanzheng thought for a moment. ”No. I’ll go ask about it in a bit.”

Su Miaoyi nodded.

Zhuang Yanzheng turned his attention back to the device. ”Take the whole thing back to the lab for the tech department to analyze. And find the remote.”

”Okay,” Su Miaoyi agreed.

As they carefully removed the device, they found another layer of wood beneath it. Su Miaoyi took her tool and, while she was at it, pried the board open.

Suddenly, a paper effigy sprang out from inside.

The sudden movement startled Su Miaoyi.

She reacted instantly, jumping to her feet and backing away.

She nearly knocked over Lu Zhishen, who was right behind her. He had just finished looking at the device and was about to walk away.

The impact sent him staggering forward several steps. He grabbed onto a hanging red silk banner, barely managing to keep himself from falling flat on his face.

Su Miaoyi turned to look at him.

Lu Zhishen also turned to her, patting his chest. ”That explains it. A ghost couldn’t have hit me that hard.”

Su Miaoyi: ”...”

Lu Zhishen rubbed his lower back, which he’d nearly thrown out, and went to help at the front.

Su Miaoyi turned back to look at the paper effigy.

Zhuang Yanzheng took a remote control from the effigy’s hand.

The remote had been stuck to the effigy’s hand. After it was pulled off, some of the color from the effigy’s paper remained stuck to the remote’s buttons.

This was getting a bit bizarre.

Zhuang Yanzheng and Su Miaoyi exchanged a look.

Zhuang Yanzheng tested the device with the remote.

Su Miaoyi glanced again at the hole where the paper effigy had been.

The space was very small, so the effigy must have been folded to fit inside.

But thanks to the resilience of the bamboo strips inside it, the effigy had sprung out when she lifted the board, startling her.

Zhuang Yanzheng’s test confirmed it: this was indeed the remote for the device.

It was quite powerful, with enough force to easily pierce a person’s body.

’But how could they guarantee it would strike precisely in the back, right over the heart?’

’And with the remote hidden under the floor beneath the coffin, how was it operated?’

Su Miaoyi looked at the paper effigy, picking it up to examine it carefully. It was completely ordinary.

There were no mechanisms on it.

The space under the floor was also very small.

’Who operated it?’

”No fingerprints on the remote,” Zhuang Yanzheng said.

Su Miaoyi stared at the paper effigy. ”What century is this? Faking a murder by a paper effigy? Who are they trying to scare with this?”

Soon after, she would eat her words.

After they had more or less finished checking the room, Su Miaoyi decided to go out to the courtyard to ask more questions. As soon as she stepped out of the room, she overheard someone saying, ”I told him we should’ve made an offering before filming started, but he insisted it wasn’t necessary. See? Now something’s happened. We must have attracted something unclean.”

”This script is just cursed. It’s too malevolent, and the set dressing was done carelessly. First, Liu Namo dies—his role today was the family’s young master in the script. Does that mean Xu Jinlan is next?”

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