The Mystery of the Inner Demon

Chapter 145 The End of Blessings
Zhong Kui's pale fingertips pressed against the metal edge of the freezer, a chill seeping into her veins along the lines of her palms. As she straightened, her ponytail traced a silver arc in the cold light. "Murderers, like the police, are trapped in a labyrinth of their minds."

This sentence was like a thunderclap that split the chaos. Qi Fei slapped his forehead fiercely. "That's right! It was already dusk when Huang Daqiu arrived at Jiangting Island. The light was dim. He and Ying Shuigen are 60% similar in appearance and build. If the murderer is not familiar with either of them... Oh my god, did they kill the wrong person?!"

"What a dark humor." Zhong Kui walked towards the dissection table. "It's probably true. Ying Shuigen was incredibly lucky. He escaped this man's clutches and was saved by me again. I wonder what good deeds he did in his past life must have brought him such good fortune. Fate is truly unpredictable." She walked over to Huang Daqiu's body and circled his gray ankle. "Who could have imagined that this influential figure, both acclaimed and infamous, would end up dying in such a ridiculous way?"

At this moment, there were bursts of vibration sounds coming from the quiet forensic room. It was Qi Fei's cell phone.

When Qi Fei heard the voice on the other end of the phone, his expression changed immediately.

"What? Ying Shuigen is dead?" He spoke so loudly that the stainless steel refrigerator door next to him seemed to be vibrating.

"It seems that Ying Shuigen's luck has run out. The cinnabar in the King of Hell's Book has circled his name after all." Zhong Kui said coldly after hearing this.

Xiao Tao, standing by, looked like he was about to start working again and had already begun quietly packing up his toolbox. "Is the cause of death clear?"

Qi Fei put down his phone and said incredulously, "The preliminary diagnosis is that he was bitten by a venomous snake and died of poisoning?"

"The Golden Snake Immortal was killed by snake venom?" Zhong Kui said with a smile.
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Driving to the hospital, Qi Fei could hardly hide his frustration: "After Zhu Mingen's incident, the hospital was clearly heavily guarded, so why did something happen again? Where did a snake come from in such a good hospital?!"

Zhong Kui, sitting in the passenger seat, remained silent, lost in thought as she stared out the window at the flying parasol trees. The sunlight shattered into golden dust on her eyelashes, but she seemed oblivious. She didn't know when she'd started acting so calmly again, and she didn't know what she was up to.

When he arrived at the hospital, Ying Shuigen's face was covered with a white cloth.

Qi Fei lifted the cloth. Ying Shuigen's face had swollen to a purple-black hue, like a steamed bun. Venom spread upward along the purple veins, as if someone had used an ink-drenched brush to paint a map of death on his skin. A strange smile formed at the corners of his mouth, and dried bloody foam clung to his nostrils. On the side of his neck, two dot-like scars, the edges of the holes left by the fangs tinged with bluish-white. The subcutaneous tissue began to undergo a process of lytic necrosis, and the two small holes gradually expanded into ulcerated purple spots.

It didn't take Xiao Tao to see that Ying Shuigen was bitten to death by a poisonous snake.

The key question is, was it an accident or murder?

Guard Xiao Lu looked even more remorseful: "I'm sorry, Brother Fei..." His voice began to choke as he spoke.

Qi Fei patted his shoulder and said, "It has already happened. Don't be too stressed. Calm down and tell me what happened first."

Xiao Lu gathered his thoughts and said, "Ying Shuigen has recovered well recently and can now get out of bed and move around. We were worried that something might happen to him, so we kept a close watch on him. Even when doctors and nurses came in, we would check them repeatedly. But this time, Ying Shuigen slipped away on his own. Because we were mainly on guard against people who came looking for Ying Shuigen, we never expected him to slip away on his own..."

Zhong Kui had already circled to the foot of Yingshui River. "With his feet covered in mud, it looks like he ran away barefoot?"

Xiao Lu said in frustration, "He put his pillow under the quilt and pretended to be asleep. While we were questioning the doctor, he climbed down the balcony drain pipe!"

"He stuffed his pillow inside his quilt, pretending to be asleep, and then climbed up the stairs along the drainpipe..." Zhong Kui squatted down to examine the corpse's muddy feet. "With such a nimble body, why is he pretending to be seriously injured?"

Xiao Lu handed over Ying Shuigen's mobile phone: "We have indeed seen him holding his mobile phone and sending messages non-stop recently. Today I saw him answer a few calls. Now that I think about it, his state is indeed a little abnormal. He seems a little anxious and uneasy. Oh, I am really too bad..." "He really wants to commit suicide, and you can't stop him." Zhong Kui's way of comforting people is quite unique. She took Xiao Lu's mobile phone as she spoke, "It's really inconvenient to have no buttons on mobile phones nowadays..." She was rarely in a dilemma.

Qi Fei remembered that her understanding of mobile phones was still stuck in the memory before Zhong Xiaoyu got into trouble. She naturally took the phone, swiped a few times and found the message from Ying Shuigen. The call during the day was from a person with the note "Mr. Lin".

Qi Fei looked at the call duration, which was over ten minutes long, and said in confusion, "How can a mute like him talk to someone on the phone for such a long time?"

"It's just a one-way command receiver." Zhong Kui pulled out a crumpled piece of paper from the deceased's trouser pocket. On it was Ying Shuigen's rough handwritten notes. The ink on the 200 million yuan amount was still wet. "Greed is the best bait."

When Qi Fei heard this, he immediately reacted: "Could it be the person from Nanling?" As he said that, he dialed Mr. Lin's number.

But the only message on the other end was "Sorry, the number you dialed is not connected."

This further confirms that there is something wrong with this person.

"What did he say to him that made him willing to take the risk and climb down from the upstairs, and that snake..." Qi Fei just felt his head buzzing.

"Ying Shuigen sent a message to Hongde Culture Company." Qi Fei continued to look through his phone and immediately noticed, "He wants the company to prepare to receive 2 million yuan?"

"No need to guess. I think the other party has identified his greed for money and used money to lure him into a trap."

Doctor Li, wearing a white coat, pushed open the door, holding a stiff coral snake. "We found it in the flower bed. This kind of snake venom is fatal in three minutes..."

"Doctor Li, how come you are so skilled at catching snakes?" A hint of doubt flashed in Qi Fei's eyes.

Dr. Li smiled and said, "My uncle is very good at catching snakes. He learned the skills when he was a child."

"Do you know the villagers of Jiangting Island?"

"My mother is from Jiangting Island."

"What a coincidence? Could your uncle be Uncle Fu?"

"Yes, that's what everyone in the village calls him." Doctor Li said, shaking the snake in his hand. "However, this kind of snake is not native to Nancheng, so it's even more puzzling that it appeared in our hospital."

Qi Fei nodded: "This is a trap for Ying Shuigen. No matter who set it up, this person is really good at manipulating people's hearts!" When he said this, he couldn't help but glance at Zhong Kui. This subtle expression did not escape Zhong Kui's eyes. She raised an eyebrow and said, "I've been with you all the time. Besides, I don't know how to use a mobile phone."

(End of this chapter)