Eyes that are the same as those of evil

Chapter 123 The Suitcase Corpse Disposal Case 4
While continuing to review the hotel's external surveillance footage, Zheng Yan and his team began investigating every member of the film crew, and every room.

They really did stay up late filming last night, but the filming ended after 1 a.m., so those on set cannot be ruled out as suspects for now.

Everyone split into two groups and gathered in the director's and assistant director's rooms. Tan Jia stepped into the first room and was immediately dazzled by the handsome men and beautiful women all around.

The men are all like Lin Zhiyue, and the women are all stunning beauties.

As expected of a star, she looks stunning. Even without jewelry, she shines. Changing her simple clothes and pants for a gown, this is like an Oscar VIP lounge.

She slowly made her way through the crowd, took a quick look around, and then walked up to Tan Ming, who was leading someone who looked like the female lead to ask him questions in a corner of the reception room.

The female lead is named Zhong Jiuyin, a beautiful woman with delicate features and a slightly lazy demeanor.

When asked where she went after filming last night, she replied, "I went to my room to remove my makeup and go to sleep."

"Can anyone prove it?"

These celebrities all wore hats and masks when they came in and out, and kept their heads down in the middle of the night, so it was not necessarily possible to tell them apart on the surveillance footage.

Zhong Jiuyin replied, "Yes, the male lead can prove it."

She pointed to a handsome man in the crowd.

Tan Jia's expression was strange: "The male lead is proving that you were sleeping all night?"

Is this right?
“Yes.” The other person’s gaze shifted from Tan Ming’s wooden expression, which seemed to say, “I’m a trained person who won’t show any surprise no matter how many secrets or gossips I hear,” to hers, lingering around her green wolf tail.

She then said, "The male lead is my husband."

"..." You should have said so earlier. I thought you were a couple on set, playing around so openly.

Tan Ming asked several more questions, such as what her relationship with the deceased was like, and whether she knew who the deceased had conflicts with. Finally, he took out a photo and asked her, "Have you seen this suitcase before?"

Zhong Jiuyin turned her gaze away from the wolf tail and shook her head, saying, "I've never seen it, and I don't have it either."

Tan Jia sensed that this person was somewhat interested in her. He stared at her for about ten seconds, then raised his chin and asked her, "Do you know who that man is? He seems very impatient."

Different emotions usually indicate a problem.

Zhong Jiuyin glanced at the person she was pointing to, then turned back and said, "It's normal for him to be impatient. We're filming his story with his wife, and now that this accident has happened, he probably feels that his perfect love has been ruined, and he'll be in a bad mood until his wife comes to pick him up."

"Wow." What an obsessive-compulsive supervisor.

After questioning the female lead, there's still a long list of people to ask.

Tan Jia listened to several reports but found no suspicious individuals. He then planned to observe the forensic examination and search of the room.

As she reached the door, she bumped into the screenwriter, who had arrived late and was said to have just woken up.

She casually said "excuse me" and stepped into the corridor, but out of the corner of her eye she noticed the other person turning to look at her. She raised an eyebrow and looked back, and the person even smiled at her.

Strange, is she acting very differently today?

Did Lin Zhiyue feed her rice dumplings with sugar that hadn't melted on her lips yet? Or did she wake up in the middle of the night and have dark circles under her eyes? Or did her hair stick up?

She went to the hotel bathroom, found a mirror, and carefully examined herself. There was absolutely nothing wrong with her.

As he was leaving, Xiao Chen came excitedly to find Zheng Yan, saying that he had found the suspect.

With so many people, we were prepared not to get any clues until the afternoon, but we got results in less than an hour.

The suspect, Shi Ming, was the actor who lost the bid for the second male lead role to the deceased and was instead assigned to play the third male lead.

“He had very few scenes to film yesterday, and he finished work and went back to the hotel around 10 p.m. According to him, he stayed in the hotel and didn’t go out after he got back, and his agent can vouch for that. But when we asked a production assistant, the assistant said that he saw him leave the room last night, around 11 p.m..”

Although there are security cameras in the hotel, there are plenty of ways to avoid them, such as taking the stairs or using the back door. Shi Ming didn't appear on the surveillance footage, but unfortunately, he was seen by someone. And that's not all.

“I asked Shih Ming if he had gone out last night, and he changed his story and said that he did go out for a late-night snack. He didn’t say anything earlier because he thought that having a late-night snack was nothing to do with the murder case, and that saying it would definitely get him into trouble. Besides, his agent was also there to testify this time.”

Tan Jia: "So you really went out for a late-night snack?"

"When asked where he ate, he couldn't tell him."

He stammered and avoided eye contact; he seemed highly suspicious.

Zheng Yan was about to suggest bringing the person out for further questioning when his phone suddenly rang.

Forensic pathologist Lao Li called to report the latest autopsy results.

"The deceased died between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. As for the cause of death, although there were signs of drowning, the amount of water inhaled was relatively small. The real cause of death was the massive bleeding from those wounds. He was probably on the verge of death when the body was disposed of, still breathing faintly, and then he inhaled river water, which made him die even faster."

"The murder weapon used by the murderer was a relatively small knife, which was a bit dull and rusty. It had a serrated edge on one side, and there were oval-shaped impact marks on the handle at the three places where the knife was stabbed. It is speculated that it was a folding knife or a fruit knife. The murderer stabbed the knife hard in one go and then pulled it out. There must have been bloodstains at the scene."

"One more thing, based on the angle of the wound, it can be inferred that the murderer was shorter than the victim, probably between 1.65 and 1.75 meters tall."

Zheng Yan glanced at the suspect, Shi Ming, walked up to him, and asked, "How tall are you?"

Shi Mingzheng was anxious and agitated, and subconsciously answered, "1.82 meters."

Looking at the sharp eyes of the police officers, he consciously changed his answer: "1.8 meters... 1.77 meters".

"Why didn't you report on the 1.9-meter-tall flying hero? Where were you last night?"

Shi Ming's eyes darted away again: "Let's go eat supper..."

"You and Tang Tianyu had a conflict before. Shortly after he left the hotel, you also left. Then he was stabbed several times and his body was dumped in the river. That time coincided with the time you returned from having a late-night snack. Are you sure you went for a late-night snack and didn't go to kill someone!?"

The raised volume of the last few words made Shi Ming tremble. He quickly protested, "It wasn't me! I didn't kill anyone!"

The agent was so anxious he was about to jump up and down, trying to explain: "It's normal for fans to fight over resources and roles. Just because fans are arguing doesn't mean the artists' relationship is really that bad. At most, they're just upset, nothing more. He wouldn't kill someone for a role!"

Shi Ming could only nod: "Yes, yes, I would never kill someone."

"So what exactly did you do last night? If you don't tell the truth, you're going to the police station."

Going to the police station in the gossipy entertainment industry is practically the same as going to jail immediately.

He started stammering again, hesitating for a long time before finally gritting his teeth and whispering, "I'll tell the crew what I said, just don't tell them."

"explain."

"I went to a hotel on Yulin Street last night..." His embarrassment and evasiveness became even more obvious.

"With whom? Who can prove it?"

"With...with the fans, my assistant can testify that he drove me there and then drove me back."

Tan Jia and the others all showed the same look of disgust.

Zheng Yan was not surprised. He carefully questioned him about the route he took, the car he used, and the hotel he stayed at. Finally, he confirmed that it was indeed not him.

But if it wasn't someone from the film crew, who else could it be? Who would hate the deceased so much that they would kill and dispose of the body?
Characters appearing in this case—

Screenwriter Qiuqiu: Wishing everyone a happy and healthy Dragon Boat Festival!
Jiuyin: May Baoshun, who is about to take the college entrance examination, pass smoothly and achieve high score!
Lin Lu (on behalf of her brother and husband): Have a great holiday, everyone!

When Qiuqiuzi got back, she posted a few exclamation marks in the group chat: "Newcomer here, friends! This time it's a cool girl with a wolf tail!"
(I'll expand this into a full-day record when I have time.)
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(End of this chapter)