The Mystery of the Inner Demon

Chapter 207 Suffocation
"Officer, I swear, I really didn't steal the cleaning agent from the company. I even borrowed this 84 disinfectant from the cleaning lady who cleans the toilets!" Wang Jiefang explained as soon as she saw Qi Fei.

Qi Fei stared blankly at the cleaning lady in front of him, then pulled Zhong Kui aside: "You want me to mediate this now?"

Zhong Kui smirked and said mischievously, "Officer Qi, it seems you didn't study chemistry well. If you bring them over, you'll know why." As she spoke, she pointed to the busy testing personnel.

Sure enough, the inspector in his work clothes chatted with the woman and discovered the problem: "You're using bleach to clean bird droppings directly?" The inspector looked incredulous.

“Yes, that’s right!” Wang Jiefang replied matter-of-factly. “It’s not illegal, is it?”

"The main component of 84 disinfectant is sodium hypochlorite, which is not a big problem for daily use. However, bird droppings are a weakly acidic substance, and they will react with the disinfectant to release chlorine gas."

"Chlorine?!" Upon hearing this, Qi Fei blurted out, just like Xiao Hei upon receiving a command, "Isn't that the cause of Chen Hao's death?"

Zhong Kui walked to the center of the crowd: "Bird droppings aren't very acidic, and the chlorine gas they produce doesn't come out quickly, so most people, including Sister Wang, are fine. But there are always exceptions." She pointed to the glass walkway, "Chen Hao probably went to the bottom of the walkway to find that diamond. That place is a depression, and there's glass on top."

Several hours had passed since Sister Wang used disinfectant to clean the bird droppings. The chlorine gas produced by the reaction of the new bird droppings with the residual disinfectant had accumulated to a certain concentration near the ground.

He had exhausted a lot of energy chasing after Xiao Hei, and he should have been breathing heavily at that time. In addition, the anxiety of losing the diamond made him too focused on finding the diamond, ignoring the discomfort caused by inhaling chlorine gas, and he eventually collapsed there.

Su Jing's respiratory tract was damaged for a similar reason: she was left unconscious on the ground of the aviary, her face pressed against the ground, inhaling a significant amount of chlorine gas that had accumulated near the surface.

"Isn't this too much of a coincidence?" Qi Fei was skeptical.

"It's quite simple to determine whether this inference holds true. We can ask this lady to clean the bird pavilion at the same time and with the same disinfectant as usual today, and then have the testing personnel test the chlorine concentration under the pier during the time Chen Hao died." Zhong Kui smiled slightly, appearing very confident.

Late at night, the aviary at Nancheng Zoo was brightly lit, and everyone waited with different emotions for the test results of the chlorine concentration under the glass walkway.

"The test results are in—the chlorine concentration at the bottom of the pier reached 430 ppm," the testing personnel said, checking the data.

"What does this number mean?" Qi Fei asked.

"If you are exposed for more than one minute without any protection, it could be fatal."

Upon hearing this, everyone's eyes turned to Wang Jiefang, who was standing to the side.

Wang Jiefang, unaware of the seriousness of the situation, was fast asleep, leaning against the artificial hill...
-
Chen Yan stroked the worn-out suitcase with one hand, and raised the other hand to wipe the tears and snot from her face with her sleeve: "You all say my brother's death was an accident?"

“Yes, that night, he was so desperate to find the lost diamond that he crawled under the chlorine-filled pier…” Qi Fei said.

“Why was he so foolish? We never needed him to make a lot of money, we just wanted him to live, to be safe and sound…” Chen Yan said, sobbing, tears falling “plop, plop” onto Chen Hao’s tattered suitcase.

Qi Fei took Chen Yan to Nancheng Airport—the place where Chen Hao had once wandered and taken risks.

Chen Yan took Chen Hao's ashes and boarded a plane back to her hometown in the Northwest.

Standing in front of the terminal's enormous glass curtain wall, Qi Fei looked up at the planes streaking across the sky and let out a long sigh.

A hand gently landed on his back, stroking it tenderly. Zhong Kui's voice rang in his ear: "This is his life, you don't need to be so sentimental." "Kui..." Qi Fei rarely used such an intimate term, his tone dejected, "Do you think Chen Hao is a good person or a bad person? He was so hardworking and dedicated, but because of greed, he lost his life."

"No, he's just one of the majority of people in this world, an ordinary person, living a hard life, trying to prove himself, as if losing that breath would mean drowning."

Before he drowned in the chlorine gas, he must have been suffocating under the pressure of the expectation that he 'had to make something of himself.'" Zhong Kui said, handing Qi Fei a small box.

"Huh? What is this?"

"A gift to celebrate you solving another case."

Qi Fei opened the box, inside was a specimen of a myna bird. He was startled and asked in a panic, "Isn't this Xiao Hei?"

Zhong Kui deliberately put on a cold expression: "What do you think?"

Suddenly, the specimen in his hand began to speak: "Isn't this Little Black? What do you think?"

"Ha, it's a toy. I didn't know you had such a childish side." Qi Fei breathed a sigh of relief.

The toy myna bird was still persistently repeating Qi Fei's words.

……

Deep in the dense forest, sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting dazzling spots of light on Xihe's face.

The sunlight made his eyelashes glow gold, and as the strange, high-pitched "idiot" came from beside him, a hint of murderous intent flashed in his cold, unyielding eyes: "You stupid bird, shut up!"

"Shut up, shut up!" Little Black stopped on a branch surrounded by new green leaves, mimicking Xi He's words as if deliberately trying to annoy him.

Xi He grabbed the sharp knife beside him and pointed it at Xiao Hei: "If you keep making such a racket, believe me, I'll kill you!!"

Little Black fluttered its wings, surprisingly not afraid, but instead chirped and began to sing: "You are my little apple~"

The cold light on the dagger flashed with firelight, as Xi He's hand trembled slightly, and the ruthlessness on his face softened at this absurd scene.
-
At the police station, Wu Shanqiu, clutching her phone, excitedly ran towards the office, nearly bumping into Qi Fei.

"What are you doing, driving recklessly all morning?" Qi Fei blocked Wu Shanqiu with his hand, causing her to come to an abrupt stop.

Wu Shanqiu waved her phone and turned on speakerphone: "Brother Fei, Brother Fei! It's Liu Binjie calling. Xiao Hei has been found!"

"Oh? Where did you find it?"

On the other end of the phone, Liu Binjie's voice trembled, clearly excited: "To be precise, Xiao Hei came back on its own! I went to the bird house early this morning and saw Xiao Hei in its favorite hiding place..."

Before Liu Binjie could finish speaking, Xiao Hei's familiar voice came from the other end of the phone: "Idiot, so annoying, stay away from me!" The tone of his voice was exactly the same as Xi He's.