When A Snail Falls In Love

Chapter 27

Zi Xiao looked at her with a pained heart, he hesitated to speak, and was thus unable to say anything.

Xu Xu nodded: "I understand, we will try our best."

Zi Xiao finally could help but reach out to pull her into his embrace. Aware of her stiff body, he quickly took in a deep breath to suck in her scent then immediately let go of her: "Thank you, Xu Xu."

According to Xu Xu's intuition, there were many questionable details about this case. Returning to the living room, Ji Bai, with his hands behind his back, was standing in front of the body. He glanced up to look at her, and calmly said: "Let's go look at the scene."

Xu Xu followed him.

During the whole process, Ji Bai was very stern. He no longer had a slight smile on his face as usual, but his expression was sharp, like the blade of a knife. He purposely waited for Xu Xu before starting, he was letting her learn by following him to observe the scene.

First, his eyes stopped on Ye Zi Xi's body. He thought for a moment and spoke up: "I'll speak, you'll write it down."

"Yes."

"There is evidence that a fight happened in the living room. The blow resulting in death was a stab on the chest. This could be the reason why the victim sent an SMS, because the wound on her chest was making it difficult to breathe, and thus unable to speak.." Ji Bai was as calm as water, Xu Xu wrote quickly.

There were a lot of rooms in this villa. However, there was only 1 bedroom because the others are study rooms, leisure rooms, or just vacant. Ji Bai stands at the door of the bedroom. The room was clean and decorated elegantly, there wasn't anything unusual.

Ji Bai's eyes stopped at the rows of wardrobes in the closet. He was about to go in, when a petite figure suddenly passed by him, walking up to the closet and opened it a step before him. She stands with her back towards him while holding her chin with one hand, and carefully observed. This petite figure was blocking his view as if it was only natural. His mind which was as tense as a guitar's string suddenly relaxed.

He raised his hand to grab her collar, pulling her aside.

Xu Xu immediately looked at him, displeased: "What?"

"Stand behind me." Ji Bai plainly ordered.

"Why?" Xu Xu strongly frowned.

Ji Bai faintly glanced at her: "How many times have you been to a murder scene?"

"This is my first time."

"So?"

Xu Xu: "....."

Ji Bai disregarded Xu Xu and continued to observe.
Xu Xu couldn't help but speak up in a slightly impatient tone: "The problem is that you are too tall and blocking the view. When you speak, I can't see anything and note....."

"Stand beside me." Without turning his head, he interrupted her words.
Xu Xu immediately stepped forward to stand next to him in front of the closet.

Ji Bai was focused in observing, however after a moment, he suddenly felt a cold, soft touch on his hand tickling him, and which thus immediately distracted him.

Ji Bai glanced down to see Xu Xu's pale, petite face looking straight ahead at the closet. What just touched him was her fingers.
If it were some other woman, Ji Bai would quietly move away. But Xu Xu was still carrying a serious attitude, Ji bai knew she wasn't concerned or minded it.

A moment later, Ji Bai suddenly felt Xu Xu move. He glanced at her, and she realized that their hands were touching. Xu Xu frowned, putting her hand into her pocket, and moved slightly away from him.
There were 3 wardrobes inside the closet. The first one had about twenty pieces of clothing, and the two others had about 10 pieces; hang on both sides*. There was also a shoe rack with shoes for various seasons and of different materials.

After they had finished going around the entire villa, Xu Xu and Ji Bai went back to the living room. Other than this room, all the others were neat and clean. At this time, Mr. Wu and several other policemen had arrived, surrounding Ye Zi Xi's body and photographing her. This made Xu Xu's chest tighten with discomfort, and so she quickly turned to observe other things in the living room. The black sofa was made out of real leather and there was nothing unusual about it. There were several pieces of calligraphy with a strong and free style hanging on the wall. On the kitchen's countertop, there was a bowl of salad and a bowl of sashimi. That stinky odor that Xu Xu smelled when she walked in was from this rotten sashimi. Opening the refrigerator, Xu Xu found a lot of ingredients. It could be understood/inferred that this murder happened very suddenly. Before that, Ye Zi Xi was preparing supper.
After a moment, Ji Bai told everyone to gather.

According to forensic reports on the preliminary autopsy result, the time of death was predicted to be between 22:00 to 5:00 this morning. This was consistent with the time the SMS was sent to Ye Zi Xiao.
Another person reported: "From the preliminary autopsy, there aren't any fingerprints or footprints, suggesting that someone had cleaned up the scene. While the villa has the most advanced security system, all of it has been destroyed. We did not get anything from the surveillance videos. This area is very secluded, there are temporarily no witnesses."

This means that from the preliminary investigation, there wasn't any valuable evidence found at the scene. Everyone turned silent. This wasn't' an easy case. The killer was knowledgeable, he cleaned up the crime scene thus making the criminal investigation difficult. Perhaps, the criminal was highly intelligent and imitated Yang Yu's case?

Yang Yu- man from the last case aka blade/knife case from the park. I'll update the name in that chapter.

"Boss, what do you think?" Someone asked.

Ji Bai did not reply immediately but turned to Xu Xu: "Tell me your analysis." After Ji Bai said so, everyone turned to look at Xu Xu.
Compared to when Xu Xu first entered the police station, Xu Xu had matured a lot, nodding: "I believe that the murderer has a relationship with Ye Zi Xi, perhaps even a very intimate relationship. I suggest that we begin with investigating everyone around her."
"Why?" A policeman asked with curiosity.

Xu Xu replied: "There are two behaviors that suggest this. First off, it is from her action. Her SMS is to "save her" and not "call the police". This is unreasonable. Certainly, the local police will definitely be able to come help her faster than Ye Zi Xiao, who is further away, and in addition, would be able to save her in time. Ye Zi Xi has a strong mind and is a quick thinker. Even facing death, I believe she can make a good decision, unless she didn't want to inform the police because the killer is someone she knows. Secondly, it is from the killer's behavior. The killer did not just stab the victim, but placed several knives into the victim's body. This unnecessary abuse is due to some kind of marking or ritual of the killer.
When the witness found the dead body, there was a coat placed neatly on top of the victim's body. This behavior is likely one of the two emotions: guilt or sympathy. How could a psycho killer have that kind of sentiment toward the victim?"

Everyone quietly listened. Ji Bai looks at Xu Xu, his eyes carrying a faint smile. Mr. Wu is the first one to speak up: "I do not agree.This case leaves too much doubt. Ji Bai, what do you think?"

Ji Bai nodded: "I agree with Xu Xu's analysis. I would like to add two points to her analysis:
"Firstly, it's possible that there are two killers. One directs and the other follows.
Secondly, Ye Zi Xi had an affair with a man. This villa is their meeting place. We have to find out the identity of that man as soon as possible."