The Novelist Forced to Become Famous

Chapter 262: Face to face

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A new day begins with the crew searching for the bronze head.

This is a difficult and large project. The yacht has hundreds of rooms with different functional areas, and all are decorated with the same material, so it is impossible to use a detector.

Tina suspended services in the cinema, bar, sauna, swimming pool and other areas, and assigned more than 20 staff members to search one by one starting from the fifth floor.

The result was nothing.

Jian Jing suspected that Kidd had sneaked into the group of guests.

The smoke used that night was a professional tool that took effect quickly, spread quickly, and had almost no side effects. The ship's doctor examined the four bodyguards and found no drug residue.

This could not have been taken from anywhere on the ship.

The thief came prepared, and might even have been eyeing the bronze head for a long time.

But there was one thing she couldn't figure out: after the bronze head was stolen, the ship would definitely be checked carefully after docking, and the passengers' luggage would definitely not have failed security checks, so how could this large bronze statue have been hidden

If Jian Jing wanted to steal, she would make a good imitation, and then throw the real thing into the sea, and then fish it out when the waters calmed down. She would target the buyer, strike when the collection was being transferred, and then flee immediately after the goods were stolen.

Look at Kidd. In a place like the ocean, he shouldn't be so bold without a hang glider.

Why would the thief do this

Unfortunately, his goal was not the bronze head.

Yes... Seller.

The person who was most worried about the theft of the bronze head was the seller. This made sense since the thief was not after the bronze head and did not care whether he could take it away.

But why look for sellers

Hatred? But it had been more than a hundred years since the bronze head was stolen, and it had passed through who knows how many hands it had been in. There was no point in killing the seller, unless that person was extremely radical.

Moreover, she had not come across such a person in the past few days.

Strange, so strange.

Jian Jing felt as if she had strayed into a trap. Everyone had their own agenda, but she was the only one who looked completely confused.

An entire morning was wasted. During dinner time, guests gathered in the living room one after another to inquire about the results of the search.

Tina apologized to inform everyone that she couldn't find him.

Shen Hou couldn't hold back his temper and yelled, "You didn't find it? This is such a precious thing, and you're done with it just because you said you didn't find it?"

The dog is restless.

The Ox, Tiger and Dragon all look solemn.

People born in the years of Sheep, Horse, Rooster and Snake are still calm.

Haizhu was suspicious and aggressive: "As long as this statue of Dayi has not sunk into the sea, how can it be found? Could it be that you and your friends colluded to embezzle it?"

Tina reacted violently and protested angrily: "There is absolutely no such thing!"

"Then why can't we find it?" Haizhu said irritably, "An auction, a dead person and lost things, what the hell is going on?"

He threw away the knife and fork in his hand and pointed the finger at Jian Jing: "Aren't you investigating? Have you found anything? I see you can't do it, why don't you go to the shore earlier and call the police."

"Ahem." After being called, Jian Jing couldn't play dead anymore, so she cleared her throat and said, "Okay, let's take this opportunity to have a confrontation."

She said, "First, there was the death of Rat. Two bodyguards testified that at 9pm, Rat had told them to get some water bottles, which were the water bottles at the crime scene. The weapon that killed him was a water bottle knife. So according to my observation, there are five suspects in total: Tiger, Snake, Dragon, Dog, and Pig."

Jian Jing finished reporting the list and said, "I want to ask, when you saw the deceased, was he still alive?"

Yinhu said: "When I left, he was still alive."

She: "Is there a plate on the table?"

Yin Hu frowned and thought for a long time, then said, "I didn't notice it, I guess not."

Snake: "When 9:30 passed, the Rat was still alive."

Yinhu's expression relaxed: "That's right, it wasn't you who killed Mr. Rat."

Jian Jing said politely, "You left once more at 22:10, so you cannot be ruled out as a suspect. What about you, Mr. Chen Long?"

Chen Long hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said, "I went there at 9:50. He was still alive at that time."

Jian Jing nodded, and the suspicion of the Snake was reduced. She asked the Dog again: "Have you seen the deceased after 22:00?"

"Of course not." The dog answered firmly, "I just went to the bathroom."

Jian Jing looked at Yin Hu again: "What about you?"

Yinhu: "Bathroom."

"Excuse me, is it big or small?"

Yinhu: "I have a stomachache."

"Where's Mr. Haizhu?"

"Bathroom." replied the Pig.

"Big or small?"

"Pee please! I am so annoyed."

"Ok, but the Tiger's time is 22:10-22:20, and the Pig's time is 22:15-22:25." Jian Jing stood up and stood between the two of them, blocking their communication. "Since you two are in the bathroom, did you meet each other? One, two, three, please answer!"

"Yes."

"did not see it."

The exact opposite answer.

Jian Jing looked at the two of them with satisfaction: "Mr. Yinhu?"

Yin Hu said calmly: "I heard someone outside, but I'm not sure if it's him."

The pig also said: "I was peeing and didn't pay attention to the toilet."

"Tiger will be back in the lobby in 20 minutes, so let's just assume it's half a minute. Flush the toilet, put on your pants, wash your hands, Mr. Tiger, you are a very clean person, right? Three minutes?" Jian Jing spoke faster, "Pig, get this straight, you left in 15 minutes, so you must have gone to the toilet in 16 minutes, right? You two didn't touch me?"

She pressed him aggressively: "One of you didn't see clearly, and the other didn't see clearly, are you kidding me? Tell me, where were you?"

Everyone's eyes were focused on the two of them.

The Pig of Hai is a bit like a dead pig that is not afraid of boiling water. It spreads its hands and refuses to do anything.

On the contrary, Yin Hu couldn't bear it and was silent for a while, then said: "I didn't lie, I just concealed some things to avoid trouble."

Jian Jing: "It will be troublesome if you don't say it."

He sighed and admitted, "I went to the auction room and wanted to modify my offer. I really want collection No. 2. In... I have prepared a very beautiful courtyard. If you can buy your bronze statue, I can recreate the wonder of the hydraulic clock in the courtyard. For this, I am willing to pay a high price."

"So when you went to the auction room, was the deceased still alive?" Jian Jing asked.

Tiger said, "I didn't know. The door was locked. I called for a while, but Mr. Rat didn't respond. I thought he was rejecting my request, so I had to leave."

"Are you saying that I killed him?" Chen Long sneered, "It's inexplicable."

Yin Hu said calmly: "I didn't say that. I just told you the truth about what I saw."

Jian Jing nodded and asked Hai Zhu, "Did you really not go?"

This is when the benefits of being shameless came into play. Haizhu Gai felt no pressure at all: "I went over to take a look, and the door was closed. I called twice, but there was no response, so I had to come back."

"But only ten minutes later, you rushed over and knocked on the door angrily. Did you know that the person was dead?" Jian Jing dug a hole.

Haizhu was stunned for a moment, and denied it firmly: "Of course not! I was just waiting anxiously. He didn't come out for a long time, and I was anxious to know the result."

Jian Jing said: "Okay, now think carefully, everyone stayed at the door for a few minutes."

Yin Hu thought for a while and said, "I knocked three times, three times each time, with an interval of about 10-20 seconds. I think it would not have taken more than two minutes." He paused and emphasized, "I didn't lie. I did go to the bathroom after I left."

Haizhu said: "It's about the same. I called twice and there was no response, so I came back. What's the point of asking this?"

"It takes two minutes to walk from the lobby to the auction room at a slow pace, and 30 seconds is enough if you jog." Jian Jing explained, "I just want to solve a mystery - why did the murderer create a secret room."

Snake seemed to understand something: "You mean, maybe when someone went there, the murderer was in the room and didn't leave? That's why they had to create a secret room to cover up the time?"

"Yes." Jian Jing gave an example, "Assuming that Haizhu arrived at 22:16 and left at 22:19, then the murderer could have returned to the hall around 20 minutes. It just so happened that both of them rushed there in a hurry, and there were three people in and out. Even if it was a small possibility, it was indeed possible."

Tiger asked thoughtfully: "Do you suspect me to be the murderer, or..." He looked at Dog, his eyes full of doubt.

The Dog retorted angrily: "Why are you looking at me? I don't have any suspicion."

"Please be patient. We are just discussing the method of committing the crime." Jian Jing looked innocent and didn't seem to suspect anyone. She calmly changed the subject and said, "Now let's talk about the stolen collection No. 2."

She thought for a moment, "According to the current situation, all crew members have alibis, unless they are colluding with each other. But Miss Tina said that the staff either have different resumes or were recruited from different places by the deceased, so it is difficult for them to collude."

Snake coughed hard a few times and said hoarsely: "So, the thief is also among us?"

"It's very likely." Jian Jing said, "Did you hear any unusual noises around 2 a.m. last night?"

Everyone looked at each other and shook their heads.

Only Sishe pondered for a while, then slowly said: "I was coughing so hard that I couldn't sleep. I vaguely heard the sound of a door opening and closing."

Jian Jing was surprised: "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure." He said, "Although it was very faint, I did hear it. If I'm not mistaken, it should be the people around you."

The cabins are arranged according to codes, roughly as follows:

Ox..Rabbit..Stairs..Snake..Sheep..Stairs..Rooster..Pig

Tiger..Dragon..Stairs..Horse..Monkey..Stairs..Dog..Empty room

The Snake can hear the slightest noise, which proves that it is either the Sheep or the Horse.

"Did you hear any other noises?" Jian Jing asked.

He thought about it and said, "After a while, there seemed to be footsteps, but I couldn't hear them clearly. Then the staff came to call me."

Wei Yang said, "No, I slept well. By the way, I opened the sleep monitoring software. Do you want to see it?"

As she spoke, she opened the app on her phone and showed him the records. The sleep time started at twelve o'clock and ended at two and twenty minutes later.

Wu Ma couldn't sit still any longer: "You don't mean me, do you? I'm not interested in the bronze head."

“I just heard you… cough cough cough…” Sishe started to cough heart-wrenchingly for a long time.

Jian Jing handed over a glass of lemonade: "Huanhuan, do you want to ask the doctor to prescribe some medicine for you?"

Sishe shook his head, drank a sip of water, and said slowly: "I remember now. At first I only heard the door closing, but didn't hear footsteps. Then the footsteps came after a long time... cough cough, it's a bit weird."

"Didn't you hear footsteps? Did you go into someone's room?" The Rooster was silent, but always found something when it opened its mouth. "Did anyone lose anything else?"

Wei Yangmao was horrified: "Did he break into your room to steal something? However, your things have been deposited in the safe, so nothing should be missing."

Jian Jing pondered for a moment and said, "I suggest that everyone go back and check. The expensive items are stored in our safe. The thief hasn't been caught yet, so there's no guarantee that he won't steal again."

Everyone thought it was a pity and left one after another.

However, it's a little late.

Shortly after the meeting, Chen Long, who had always refused to cooperate with the investigation, came to the door and said that his jade carving was lost.

Jian Jing: "Do you remember that your things are stored in the safe?"

He nodded, looking anxious: "You must find out who stole my things."

"When did you put the things there?"

"Yesterday evening."