Yu Hanjiang, being a former Criminal Police Officer, was used to seeing such brutal murders. He reacted swiftly, closing the restroom door to block the view of the surrounding passengers, and whispered to Xiao Lou, " Zhou Quan's death was too gruesome. We can't let this incident escalate. If the entire carriage panics, it will be even more detrimental to our investigation. Go tell the passengers that this restroom is broken and unusable, and ask them to use the restroom in another carriage to calm them down."
Xiao Lou nodded, turned around and went to the carriage, smiling as he said, "Dear passengers, I'm very sorry, both toilets in our carriage 4 are broken and temporarily unavailable. The washrooms are also without water. If you need to wash your face or use the restroom, please go to carriage 3 or carriage 6."
A chorus of complaints arose from the surrounding area—
"What's going on? How could the toilet be broken?"
"Huh? I just used the restroom on the right, and it was fine..."
"There was still water in my face when I washed it."
Xu Junkai's expression changed: "Damn it! I got up early this morning and queued for ages, only to find out the toilets are broken?! How long will it take to fix them?"
Xiao Lou said gently, "I suggest you go to car number 6; there are fewer people in the sleeper car."
Upon hearing this, those who had been queuing to use the restroom immediately rushed to carriage number 6, fearing they might wet their pants if they were too slow.
Xiao Lou's gaze quickly swept across the carriage—the group of girlfriends in row 15 were still asleep, as were the career woman who boarded midway last night and the two college students. Jing Weiguang in row 8 was sprawled out asleep by the window. At 7:30 in the morning, most passengers were still asleep, and this incident didn't attract much attention. He breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Just then, Zhou Quan's younger brother, Zhou Zheng, walked over from the direction of carriage number 3, carrying a thermos. As he passed the restroom, he glanced at it with a puzzled look and frowned, saying, "Why do I smell a strange, sour smell? Did someone bring some food that went bad?"
Yu Hanjiang went into the restroom on the left and locked the door. Zhou Zheng looked up and saw the red light indicating "Occupied" on the door, then turned and went back to his seat. He bumped into Xiao Lou near his seat and asked, "Attendant, there seems to be a strange smell over there in the restroom. Is it because it wasn't cleaned properly?"
Xiao Lou explained with a smile, "The restroom is broken, so it does smell a bit. We'll fix it as soon as possible."
"Is something wrong?" Zhou Zheng muttered to himself. "I was wondering why the bathroom door on the left was always closed."
Seeing him calmly sit down in seat 8A, take out bread and milk from his backpack and start eating breakfast, Xiao Lou walked over to him and asked softly, "By the way, where's your brother? I haven't seen him."
Zhou Zheng shook his head: "I don't know. My brother was gone when I woke up this morning. He probably went to bus number 6 to find his girlfriend."
Xiao Lou then asked, "I remember you were sitting by the aisle last night, how come you're sitting by the window now?"
Zhou Zheng said, "I like to sleep by the window, so last night after the lights were turned off, I switched with my brother. I sat inside, and he sat outside."
Xiao Lou nodded and asked with concern, "Did you sleep well last night? Did you wake up in the middle of the night?"
Zhou Zheng thought the flight attendant was just making a routine gesture of concern for the passenger, so he smiled and replied cooperatively, "I fell asleep at 11 p.m. last night, lying on the table. I didn't sleep very comfortably, sigh, my neck is so stiff." He stretched out his hand, rubbing his neck as he said, "But my sleep quality was pretty good, haha, I slept soundly until dawn."
Xiao Lou asked, "What about your brother? Did he wake up in the middle of the night?"
Zhou Zheng said, "I don't know. He wasn't in his seat when I got up at seven in the morning. I think he probably went to car number 6 to look for Yue Xiaoquan. I quickly washed my face while there were fewer people, and then went to car number 3 to get a cup of hot water."
Xiao Lou casually asked, " How is your brother's relationship with Yue Xiaoquan?"
"It's great. They've known each other for two years and travel together every holiday. My brother is really good at charming girls... Sigh, unlike me, I'm not good with words. I've never been able to win over my little princess, she's always arguing with me." He rubbed his temples, looking a bit annoyed, then suddenly realized something and looked up in confusion: "By the way, do you need something from my brother?"
"It's nothing." Xiao Lou smiled calmly and said, "You should eat first. I might need to ask you about some things later, so please cooperate."
"Oh." Zhou Zheng looked completely bewildered. After Xiao Lou left, he picked up a piece of bread and started eating it.
Xiao Lou thought, "You'd better eat quickly, otherwise, after seeing the horrific state of your brother's death, you probably won't be able to eat for days."
***
Carriage number 6.
There were fewer people in the sleeper car. Yue Xiaoquan and Mo Jiaran had just finished washing their faces when they suddenly saw a group of people coming to use the restroom. Mo Jiaran couldn't help but wonder, "Why are people from other cars coming to the restroom here?"
Yue Xiaoquan, with an indifferent expression, said, "It's probably because there are a lot of people queuing up."
Xu Junkai explained helplessly, "The restroom in car number 4 is broken and the water is cut off, so there's nothing we can do!"
Mo Jiaran frowned, turned around and went through the dining car to carriage number 4. He stopped at row 8 and looked at Zhou Zheng, saying, "Have you washed your face? I heard your carriage is without water?"
Zhou Zheng, beaming with concern, replied, "I've already washed it. I got up early this morning to wash it, and there was still water." He took out bread and milk from his bag and handed them to his girlfriend, saying, "Have breakfast. I bought you a sandwich especially for this."
Mo Jiaran nodded, sat down next to him, took the bread from his hand, and ate it without ceremony.
Zhou Zheng casually asked, "My brother lives with Yue Xiaoquan, right?"
Mo Jiaran paused in his bite of bread, raising an eyebrow in confusion: "No? Xiaoquan and I just washed our faces too."
Zhou Zheng was stunned: "Isn't he in carriage number 6?"
Mo Jiaran shook his head firmly: "Not here."
Zhou Zheng then realized something was wrong. He turned to look for the train attendant, only to find that she had gone into the restroom. Mo Jiaran said, "She probably went to another carriage to use the restroom too."
Zhou Zheng thought it made sense, so he stopped worrying about it.
Xiao Lou turned around and went to the bathroom, gently knocking on the door: " Captain Yu."
Yu Hanjiang opened the door and let him in.
The restroom on this high-speed train is very spacious, about two square meters. In addition to a flush toilet, there is a small sink. Green plants are hung on the walls, and air fresheners and perfumes are usually placed in the restroom. The environment is almost comparable to the restrooms of a high-end five-star hotel.
But at this moment, the bathroom was a mess. Zhou Quan was half-lying on the toilet, and there were a lot of dried bloodstains on the bathroom floor. The narrow space was filled with the smell of blood and the strange odor emanating from the corpse.
Yu Hanjiang pointed to Zhou Quan's chest and said, " Professor Xiao, take a look, isn't this stab wound to the chest the fatal one?"
Xiao Lou calmly put on a mask and gloves and carefully examined Zhou Quan's wounds.
Zhou Quan's death was gruesome. Xiao Lou counted the stab wounds as he spoke, "There were a total of 30 stab wounds on the deceased's body. Only the stab to the heart was very deep, and that was the fatal wound. Judging from its location, it should have pierced the left atrium." He reached out and gently examined the dried blood from the wound, saying, "The other stab wounds only cut into the muscle layer and did not sever any important blood vessels, so the bleeding was not significant. The deceased must have suffered torture by being stabbed before death, and the stab to the heart was the last thing to be done."
Yu Hanjiang stroked his chin, looked at the wounded Zhou Quan, and analyzed, "In other words, the murderer first tied him up, then patiently cut his body piece by piece, making him suffer the torment of pain. Only after he had suffered enough torture did the murderer stab him in the heart and end his life?"
"Yes." Xiao Lou pointed to several wounds on his abdomen and said, "These wounds all cut to the fascia layer, but did not pierce the abdominal cavity. If he had killed him with one stab first and then desecrated the corpse, there would have been no need to be so gentle. Moreover, all 29 stab wounds were on the surface of the body and did not touch the internal organs or major blood vessels. The murderer was not only patient and meticulous, but also had a certain understanding of human anatomy—the first 29 stabs avoided vital organs, and the last stab was decisive and clean."
"..." Yu Hanjiang frowned. He noticed that although the wounds were scattered, they were all about the same depth. As Xiao Lou had said, they were all on the surface of the body and had not reached the internal organs or major blood vessels. These wounds would only cause a lot of pain, but would not kill the person.
Only a single, swift, and precise stab to the heart killed Zhou Quan.
Xiao Lou then gently turned Zhou Quan's head with his gloved right hand and said, " Captain Yu, look, his cheeks are obviously swollen, and there are fingerprints on his face. The other party obviously slapped him."
Yu Hanjiang nodded: "It seems to be an inside job, which is why he was so surprised. Besides, men usually kick someone in the stomach or punch them in the face when they hit someone—slapping someone is more like something a woman would do."
Xiao Lou agreed: "He was cut there...it must have been a crime of passion, right?"
Yu Hanjiang said, "It must be that some woman was wronged by him, or knew about his infidelity, and killed him to vent her anger."
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Xiao Lou examined the body closely and said, " Captain Yu, could you do me a favor and turn him over?"
The two men turned the body over and found obvious ligature marks on the wrists and ankles.
Xiao Lou said, "The deceased's hands and feet were bound with a thin, flexible rope, and the binding time should have exceeded one hour. The marks on his body have turned blue, indicating that his hands and feet were bound very tightly, which seriously affected local blood circulation."
Yu Hanjiang said thoughtfully, "His hands and feet were tied, and a towel was stuffed in his mouth, so he couldn't struggle or call for help. The restroom was some distance from the carriage, and the sleeping passengers couldn't hear any noise from inside. He died in the middle of the night."
Xiao Lou asked doubtfully, "But if the murderer is a woman, how could Zhou Quan, a young man over 1.8 meters tall, be so easily subdued by a woman in the bathroom? Even if Zhou Quan was caught off guard and tied up, couldn't he have escaped by struggling?"
Yu Hanjiang squatted down, looking thoughtfully at some unidentified liquid on the ground.
Following Captain Yu's gaze, Xiao Lou looked down and noticed a pool of white liquid mixed in with the blood. His expression changed slightly: "What is this?"
They're all men; you can tell what that thing is just by looking at it.
Yu Hanjiang speculated, "What if a woman invited him to the restroom to play a bondage game?"
Xiao Lou paused, turning to look at the marks on the corpse's hands and feet where they had been tightly bound, and suddenly exclaimed in shock: " Captain Yu, are you saying he was tied up voluntarily? Because the other party suggested that he be with him in the bathroom..."
Yu Hanjiang's expression turned extremely serious: "That's right, some people just have this kind of peculiar fetish."
Xiao Lou nodded with a complicated expression: "I've heard that, psychologically speaking, this should be considered..."
"To a masochist."
Yu Hanjiang said in a low voice, "If Zhou Quan was first bound by his hands and feet under his own will, and then the other party took advantage of his weakest point to stuff a towel into his mouth so that he could not call for help, then tied him up tightly, cut his body with a knife, and slapped him... then all of this at the crime scene can be reasonably explained."
Xiao Lou recalled the scene described by Captain Yu and felt a chill run down his spine.
Captain Yu's speculation is reasonable. Otherwise, how could Zhou Quan, a young man who is 1.8 meters tall, be so subdued by a woman and then be brutally murdered? Even if he was drugged beforehand, he weighs more than 150 pounds. Dragging a 150-pound man from his seat to the restroom would be very difficult and would also attract the attention of those around him.
There is only one possibility— Zhou Quan went into the restroom voluntarily.
In the bathroom, if he struggles, even if two women attack him at the same time, they may not be able to completely subdue him, unless... he willingly lets them tie his hands and feet, losing the initiative, like prey that has jumped into a trap and can no longer break free.
Xiao Lou glanced at Zhou Quan's corpse, his brows furrowing slightly.
—He really brought this upon himself, he deserves it.
This Zhou Quan appears impeccably dressed, polite, well-mannered, and extremely "thoughtful" in his dealings with others; he's also very gentle and considerate towards his girlfriend. Who would have thought he'd have such a perverse sense of humor!
Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou exchanged a glance, their expressions both rather grim.
Xiao Lou thought about it carefully and said, "What we can confirm at the moment is that it was an inside job, and the person who killed him should have had a romantic entanglement with him. The murderer knows some human anatomy, his girlfriend is studying medicine, and Mo Jiaran is a nursing major."
Yu Hanjiang nodded: "The two girls who switched to carriage number 6 are highly suspicious."
After thinking about it carefully, Xiao Lou suddenly remembered a detail: "I remember that Mo Jiaran and Zhou Zheng had a public argument because they couldn't buy sleeper tickets, which alerted everyone in the carriage. When Zhou Quan was trying to mediate, he called Mo Jiaran ' Ranran '... Isn't it a bit too intimate for an older brother to call his younger brother's girlfriend like that?"
Yu Hanjiang frowned slightly: "Could it be that Zhou Quan and Mo Jiaran were having an affair? Did his girlfriend Yue Xiaoquan kill him to vent her anger after finding out about his infidelity?"
A brief silence fell over the restroom.
On the surface, it seems that way, but this reasoning is too simplistic and doesn't fit the style of Heart Room.
Xiao Lou said, "I just asked Zhou Zheng. He slept through the night without waking up once. When he woke up this morning and found his brother wasn't there, he thought his brother had gone to see his girlfriend. He seemed natural and calm, not like he was guilty. He might not know... or he might be faking it."
"Well, the heart room is full of pitfalls, we can't jump to conclusions too much." Yu Hanjiang paused and said, "Let's lock the restrooms first, cover up the smell of blood with air freshener, and then question the passengers in carriages 4 and 6 more carefully later."
"Okay." Xiao Lou nodded, turned around and glanced at Zhou Quan, whose eyes were wide open and who looked like he was dead, and his heart tightened slightly.
What kind of deep-seated hatred could drive the murderer to subject him to such cruel torture?
Author's Note: Don't be afraid, everyone, here's a hug:)
L