437: 8.37 Who Killed Her?

8.37 Who Killed Her?

Diana, their quietest and most mysterious teammate, was dead.0

Lu Yizhou was the one who entered the room first and he immediately started to look around. There was no chaos, no ruckus, everything was where they were supposed to be. The window was still tightly shut and the door lock was still intact, so no sign of anyone breaking in. Just in case, he also checked the bathroom. The floor was still damp and smelled of soap that he could sniff from Ailín's body, meaning that the man had just taken a bath before he realized that something was amiss with his roommates and ran out to find them.

Not finding anything noteworthy, Lu Yizhou's gaze finally landed on the figure on the bed. 

In one glance, Diana looked as though she was still sleeping on her side with her back facing the door. The blanket was pulled over her shoulders and her hair was splayed all over the pillow. Yet there was a terrifying stillness draped over her figure. No longer was there any rise and down motion that showed that she was still breathing. 

"She has been like that ever since I returned to the room last night," Ailín said with a frustrated look beside him. When Lu Yizhou looked closer, his fists were slightly shaking. "I thought she was already asleep so I moved carefully so as to not disturb her. In the morning, I woke up and she was still in that position. I went to refresh myself and she was still like that. I called her and she did not answer so I…" 

He suddenly trailed off and Lu Yizhou urged, "You what?"

Ailín let out a wry chuckle and shook his head lightly. "Goodness, it's too early for something like this. I need some wine." Once again he took out a flask of liquor out of nowhere, tilted his head and chugged it down. Ailín's stock of liquor was endless, Lu Yizhou suspected that it filled his entire storage. He let out a burp and wiped his mouth. By then, his face was already a bit flushed. "I touched her shoulder and in an instant, I knew something was off. You… You should go and see her face."

Ji Yan and Olivia, like two frightened children, hovered around the door anxiously. 

"How…" Olivia was sickly pale as she exclaimed, "This is just the first day! It's not possible for someone to die! If the game exceeds five days, then the first day will definitely be a safe period. It's a default rule!"

"W–What's wrong with her face?" Ji Yan asked, flustered but Ailín merely shook his head as an answer, unwilling — or unable to form any string of words.

Lu Yizhou nodded and told the others, "Stay there."

He was an assassin, he had seen more dead people than everyone else combined. However, his heart still gave a little lurch when he rounded the bed and caught a glimpse of Diana's face. She had taken her glasses off before she went to bed and Lu Yizhou did not expect that he would see her face for the first time like this, in this kind of situation, when all signs of life had left her body.

Diana's face was contorted in fear. Her brows twisted, lips parting as if she was going to scream yet before she could do so, death had claimed her first. Even in her last moment, the terror and dread was clearly reflected in those blue irises of hers. It was… alarming, to say the least. She looked like she had seen something horrifying, yet before she could alert her roommate and call for help… that thing had killed her.

'Daddy…' Ozzie shivered and snuggled closer to his neck. 'How scary meow… Who could have killed her? Could it be the ghost mannequin which has disappeared from our room?'

Lu Yizhou's face was grave. Yes, that was a very huge possibility. The ghost mannequin had vanished without a trace and in exchange, one of the players died. Was it only a coincidence or not…? 

Lu Yizhou reached out to grab onto the blanket covering her body, but before he could fling it away, Ailín hollered, "What are you doing?!"

"Estimating her time of death," Lu Yizhou replied succinctly.

"You–!" Ailín stomped forward to grab his wrist. His eyes were even more bloodshot than before, it was as if the thin capillaries would burst at any moment to let the blood flow out. "Can you really do that?!" He hissed, agitated. "If you can't, then you will only be messing with the crime scene!"

"Messing with the crime scene?" The corner of Lu Yizhou's lips tilted into an amused smile. "Do you think you can call the police here to investigate? Or… are you a police officer?"

Bingo. Lu Yizhou could see the answer in the way Ailín's pupils dilated in shock. He took a step back and his hold on Lu Yizhou automatically loosened. "How… How do you know that?"

"I am just guessing but thanks to you, I know the answer now." Lu Yizhou shook him off and proceded to fling the blanket off. 

Diana's entire body was stiff, especially her fists. They were clenched into a ball so tight that the blood had stopped flowing there first and in exchange, turning her entire arm into purple. It really reminded Lu Yizhou… of the discoloration he had seen on Luca Knox's arm. 

Lu Yizhou frowned. There were no visible wounds on her body that could kill. [Can you find out the cause of her death, 666?]

[666: Oh, give 666 a minute, Host!]

Judging from how stiff she was, Lu Yizhou estimated that she had been dead for more than three hours. 

Lu Yizhou tried to form a timeline in his mind. Last night, everyone gathered in his room around 7.30 pm, and then Diana returned to her room around 8 pm because she claimed that she was not feeling well, when everyone was still busy dealing with the ghost mannequin. They dispersed a little past 8.20 pm and after that Lu Yizhou fell asleep for around 45 minutes. When he went out to investigate at 9.30 pm, he couldn't sense anything off and Ozzie had claimed that she had heard Ailín snoring, so Ailín must have been asleep that time.

Lu Yizhou returned his gaze to the shocked Ailín. "Was she still breathing when you returned to the room after our gathering?" 

"I…" Ailín shook his head again and again. "I am not sure. I didn't check on her at all because I thought she was just sleeping…" He buried his face into his palms and mumbled, remorseful. "I should have noticed something sooner. This is my fault."

There were two possibilities here. First, Diana was already dead when Ailín returned to the room. Second, Diana was dead after Ailín had fallen asleep. 

The first possibility did not leave much timeline for a murder to take place, because whoever had killed Diana must have done it between 8 pm (the time when Diana returned to the room) and 8.20 pm (when Ailín returned). Twenty minutes was plenty of time to kill someone, for certain, but how could they have estimated the time when Diana would be alone? There were too many external factors at play here. What if Ailín were to return to his room sooner? What if the whole group had caught up to Diana because they were worried for her health? If Lu Yizhou was the killer, he wouldn't take the chance because it was too risky.

That left the second chance. Diana was killed, presumably, after Ailín had returned to the room and fallen asleep. If that was so, then the time estimation of her death would be between nine pm to three am. 

After nine pm, Lu Yizhou could vouch that the suspicious party — Baines, Master and Madam Knox — were busy dealing with the two women. Lu Yizhou had returned past midnight and coincidentally bumped into Baines right as they finished. He couldn't be sure whether the accident had happened past midnight, but was it possible for the game to take three lives on the very first day? Lu Yizhou was kinda dubious about that and his doubt was supported by Olivia's claim. If the first day was indeed a safe period, no wonder that everyone was so relaxed.

'Who was staying guard between 12 am to three am last night?' He asked Ozzie and 666.

'Me, it's me meow!' Ozzie remarked. 'I might have dozed off a little bit in the middle, but I am sure I would wake up if there were some suspicious movements! So far, the night has been very peaceful meow~'

[666: Ozzie is right, Host! 666 did not detect anything either!]

Lu Yizhou nodded. Ozzie wouldn't be a rare familiar for nothing and as for 666, well let's say that Lu Yizhou took its words at face value — [Host, is 666 that untrustworthy?! QAQ] — then he could cross out the possibility that it had happened past midnight. So that left between nine pm to twelve am. 

[666: Host, the main cause of her death is a heart attack but there is a strange chemical on her body… Look at the area behind her left ear! It looks like… a small injection bruise!]

Hmm, Lu Yizhou narrowed his eyes. He pretended to check Diana's arm by bending down. Hidden by the curtain of his hair, he discreetly stole a glance behind the corpse's ear. 666 was right, there was a small bluish dot there, just like the one he had seen on Ella's arm the previous night. 

Diana had been poisoned!

Would a ghost kill someone by poison? No, it sounded like something that could only be done by humans. He suddenly recalled the words Ellie had whispered to him last night in the bathroom — "Be careful of those around you." 

Lu Yizhou's heart suddenly sank as a possibility came up in his mind. If the one who had killed Diana was indeed a fellow player then it would be someone whom nobody would ever suspect, one that could have the perfect time and opportunity to kill her without being obstructed and that could only be the one who had stayed with her the longest, the one who was currently blaming himself for Diana's death…

…Ailín.

pqdm.com