Eyes that are the same as those of evil

Chapter 68 Strange Corpse 6
Acute asphyxiation gas poisoning refers to an event in which the deceased inhaled excessive amounts of toxic or non-toxic gases, leading to oxygen deficiency and asphyxiation. It mostly occurs in occupational diseases.

These gases are mainly divided into three categories. The first category is simple asphyxiating gases, including inert gases such as nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and nitrous oxide. They are non-toxic, but when they are present in large quantities in the air, they can reduce the oxygen content of the air that people breathe, leading to hypoxia and suffocation.

The second category is asphyxiating gases, including toxic gases such as carbon monoxide and nitric oxide, which reduce the ability of hemoglobin to bind oxygen, leading to tissue oxygenation problems.

The third category is cellular asphyxiating gases, including toxic gases such as hydrogen cyanide and hydrogen sulfide, which can affect the cells' use of oxygen, thus leading to hypoxia and asphyxiation.

“It must be the first type, a non-toxic and odorless gas that was expelled in no time, so it couldn’t be detected,” Old Li almost cried while holding the body. “Why didn’t I think of that at first? If I had thought of it when I first found the body, there would still have been a chance to extract the gas for analysis!”

Zheng Yan: "What do you mean? It can't be done now?"

"The gas's gone! Gone! His lungs are now only filled with normal gas, and there's no gas left in his breathing apparatus!"

Seeing his furrowed brows, Tan Jia comforted him, saying, "It's alright, even if he didn't run away, we might not be able to identify him."

"..." Zheng Yan rolled his eyes at her speechlessly, "Say something useful."

"If it's useful, let me think. To suffocate the deceased without anyone finding it strange, the space definitely wouldn't be completely filled with gas. There would have to be a special container, and bringing it into a birthday party would seem normal. Maybe it's dry ice? Or maybe it's some kind of festive gas that we don't understand, the kind that everyone tacitly agrees on..."

"I recall that there were no containers among the physical evidence at the scene that could hold gas."

Unable to come up with a solution, they returned to the trace evidence laboratory.

The forensic examination also found no gas containers. Several pairs of eyes scanned the evidence, finally settling on a pile of balloons.

"If we have to say what can hold gas, these are the only ones."

But the air in the balloons also needs to be pumped in with other tools. Did the deceased and his group bring pre-blown balloons into the hotel?

Zheng Yan felt something was wrong when he saw those balloons, so he immediately asked the technical team to review the surveillance footage and then have the trace evidence team examine the saliva on the balloons.

"If the deceased inhaled gas through a balloon, there must have been contact. If we can find the saliva of another person, we can find several people who know the truth."

The forensic pathologist sighed, "This is difficult to detect. There's very little DNA in saliva to begin with, and now it's all dried up. We can only do our best."

They are trying their best right now.

Stepping out of the laboratory, Zheng Yan stopped and looked out the window at the bright sunshine.

"This case is really quite difficult to handle."

Tan Jia looked up at the sky with him: "Hasn't the cause of death already been found? We've also found a clue. If we keep investigating, we'll eventually get some conclusions."

"But what about the motive? A trace amount of belladonna toxin combined with gas asphyxiation, which is difficult to detect, suggests that the murderer planned this so meticulously that it was definitely not a crime of passion. It must have been premeditated, a long-term lie in wait, and a deep hatred for the victim. But there was no such person in the victim's social circle. Among those thirteen people, those who had disputes or conflicts with the victim were not serious. Moreover, I felt a familiar sense of division."

In the previous serial murder case, the killer's treatment of Lin Zhiyue and the other victims appeared very contradictory.

"Simply suffocating from gas would suffocate, so why add belladonna toxin, which is easily detected?" he wondered.

Tan Jia looked at him in surprise: "Could it be that two people attacked at the same time again?"

"Perhaps... the other person was the deceased himself. He inhaled the gas voluntarily, similar to drug use. The murderer happened to know his habits, so he took advantage of this and added a trace amount of belladonna to make the drug more potent."

"Ah—then it's very difficult to determine whether the other party committed murder." Because there's no way to determine whether the murderer actually knew that the deceased had a habit of inhaling gases.

Zheng Yan nodded: "So I have to ask Zhong Xiaoyang and the others again." But before that, he went to the technical team first.

Tan Jia still has a phobia of checking surveillance footage. When she enters the technical team's office, she avoids looking at the computer screen, afraid that even a glance at the electronic light will cause her eyes to reflexively tear up.

"Did you find anything?"

Technical analysis: "The surveillance footage shows that the deceased and their companions did not bring balloons when they entered the hotel. However, the hotel staff said that the birthday decorations in the suite were prepared in advance by the deceased and a few others. They brought a bunch of bags with them, which may have contained inflatable items."

The group that accompanied the deceased to set up the venue beforehand consisted of one boy and three girls, all of whom were attending the party.

"Anything else? Did you find anything by checking their phones and social media accounts?"

“Nothing major was found,” another technician said, “but there is a small question. The deceased chose this hotel because the hotel also wanted to hire them for advertising, right? But I saw in the deceased’s private messages that a fan had specified the location for him. Before chatting, this fan had just tipped their couple’s account a lot of money.”

Huh? Another suspicious person has appeared?
Zheng Yan immediately perked up: "What fans? Let me see."

It turns out that when Zhong Xiaoyang and the deceased did a joint live stream, fans would tip and recommend places to visit next time. They would then stage some memorable scenes at those places, such as riding horses and hugging, or embracing by the lake.

However, they have recently had a conflict with the company behind them, and they haven't been very active in live streaming lately.

Unexpectedly, the deceased was still in contact with his fans privately and was still carrying out this "donation-wish fulfillment" business.

The hotel was recommended by a female fan named "Thousand-Mile Eyes," who was new to the group and had just given them a tip of 10,000 yuan, which was enough to qualify her to recommend a location.

The reason they recommended it was: this newly opened hotel has a balcony pool, which you'll definitely love. By the way, room 3801 has the best view, highly recommended!

The room number was specified directly.

"This person is suspicious. Let's check his information."

The technician said, "If the account is cancelled, we need to get the information from the operator. They will keep the information for several months. The prerequisite is that the other party registered with their real name."

Zheng Yan: "Then let's find the operator. Why did they cancel the account at this time? There must be something wrong."

However, that wasn't enough. He contacted the hotel manager and found that no one had entered suite 3801 before the deceased and their group checked in, and that the room had been thoroughly cleaned after the previous guests left.

Surveillance video confirms this.

Tan Jia: "So this fan really just recommended a room and did nothing else, yet the deceased died there?"

Obviously not right.

She thought for a moment and said, "If I were a fan of this, and I paid money to customize the loving scenes of couples that I wanted to see, and even specially selected a particular room... then I would definitely be able to see the scene in 3801, or there would be a camera filming 3801, and I would be able to get the video footage."

The technical team members all glanced at her, their eyes subtly shifting to the right.

Zheng Yan was already used to her catchphrase. He placed his hand on the head of the nearest technician to make him turn back: "Check the surveillance footage in other parts of the hotel to see if there are any cameras pointing at 3801, and check the entry and exit information of guests in other rooms."

After making the arrangements, he straightened up and stared at the computer screen, still sensing something was wrong. He turned to Tan Jia and said:
"Have you noticed? More and more suspicious people are emerging, but when you investigate them, every path they take turns leading to the wrong place."

(End of this chapter)