Chapter 39: Rebuilding the Scene

Water Wheel Bar Street, some individual merchants had already opened their doors very boldly. In the face of huge interest inducement, the bosses quickly overcame their psychological fears. These businesses that opened their doors indeed had booming business.

The main reason, however, was that a rumor had spread: the murderer had been secretly arrested!

Whether the message was true or false didn't really matter.

So sometimes, you had to admire humanity's psychological repair ability.

...

In the small alley leading to the public restroom, in the early morning hours.

Chen Tianyu led Liu Zichen, walking slowly. He made up an excuse to send Yi Ruo and Qian Ya to bed, but he and the other secretly slipped out.

Without personally going to the scene to inspect it, he was always uneasy. Even though the police had already inspected the scene, even though the traces had long since disappeared, even though the scene had been damaged by the gradually increasing number of tourists, he always felt like something was missing.

Following the police's inspection report, he quickly found the position where Xiao Sui lay dead. The ground was clean, with not a trace of blood. The small snowflakes had long melted, and the water stains had also dried up.

"Tianyu..." Liu Zichen tightened her down jacket, still feeling a chill.

Chen Tianyu didn't answer; he was gazing around, his eyes sharp like those of an eagle.

"What does 'Hell's Gate' mean?" He seemed to be speaking to himself.

He suddenly looked up at Liu Zichen and asked, "Zichen, have you heard of Hell's Gate?"

Liu Zichen was startled, shivering involuntarily all over: "I've seen it in TV shows... Why are you suddenly asking about this?"

Chen Tianyu smiled bitterly. "Yesterday, I chatted with the vice captain who was at the scene. He said that Xiao Sui's eyes looked as if they were staring straight at Hell's Gate. At the time, I just laughed it off, but now that I'm at the scene, I suddenly don't think it's that simple... There's only one public restroom here, and all around are bars. Where's the Hell's Gate?"

"Perhaps the vice captain was just speculating?" Liu Zichen said in a puzzled tone.

Chen Tianyu nodded thoughtfully. He gently stroked the ground with his hand. It was a hard cement road, not asphalt, and the surface was still quite smooth.

"You help me find a stick." Chen Tianyu suddenly said.

Liu Zichen 'oh'ed and didn't ask why. She looked around but found no clutter at all, not even a trash can.

When she told him the situation, Chen Tianyu understood. "The trash can was probably taken away by the police, they're rummaging through boxes and cabinets looking for treasures."

Liu Zichen couldn't help but smile. "They're quite hardworking."

"Rummaging through trash is their main job." Chen Tianyu joked.

"Then what now? Did we come too late..." Liu Zichen said helplessly.

Chen Tianyu thought for a moment, then suddenly his mind lit up and he made a decision.

He first knelt down, then his right hand in a fist-like gesture, chest out and head level ahead, gazing forward. Liu Zichen silently watched beside him, of course understanding that Tianyu was restoring the scene as it was then.

In his mind, Chen Tianyu recalled the content from the photos, constantly adjusting the direction he was kneeling until it matched Xiao Sui's kneeling posture exactly.

His eyes gleamed with cold light, his expression ferocious, as if he wanted to see the entrance of Hell's Gate!

Unfortunately, in front was still a bar, flashing with neon lights, so his eyes were a bit blurry. Thus he asked, "Zichen, go look for me, what is the name of the bar I'm currently facing?"

Liu Zichen followed his line of sight, walking forward about ten to twenty meters, even turning past the alley entrance, where the wall blocked Chen Tianyu's view. But soon she returned in a hurry.

"Nuoqing Bar!" Her tone carried a trace of excitement.

Chen Tianyu was puzzled. "Nuoqing Bar?"

"Look at your memory, Nuoqing Bar is the one we often go to before, now it's already resumed business!" Liu Zichen said helplessly.

Chen Tianyu smiled bitterly, "Cough, I forgot to note the bar's name, always feeling every bar looks exactly the same..."

Liu Zichen nodded in agreement. "The Nuoqing Bar sign is very small, and the lights don't flash, normal people wouldn't notice it, I only found out when I got there."

"Nuoqing? Nuoqing? One promise a thousand gold... affection deep as the sea..." Chen Tianyu murmured.

Liu Zichen nodded. "Probably that's the meaning."

Chen Tianyu suddenly had a realization: "So that's how it is!"

At the alley entrance, suddenly a black shadow flashed in. Chen Tianyu hurriedly stood up, his posture in the dead of night somewhat frightening, luckily Liu Zichen was elegant and beautiful, able to provide some cover.

The black shadow looked over hesitantly, then turned and entered the public restroom.

It seemed like just an urgent toilet visitor.

"What have you thought of?" Seeing nothing amiss, Liu Zichen quickly asked in a low voice.

Chen Tianyu lowered his voice. "Facts have repeatedly proven that there is actually no such thing as real coincidence in this world."

He immediately explained, "All coincidences have their inevitability. For example, this bar, we met Xiao Sui multiple times by chance. That's because he often appeared here, perhaps before we came, he was already a regular. Let's look at the bar name, don't you feel there's something wrong with it?"

Liu Zichen reacted swiftly, also having the same idea: "I understand, Nuoqing... This is Xiao Sui taking the opportunity to express his longing for Yi Ruo, along with his promise and deep affection? So, Xiao Sui really isn't a heartless man."

"Hmm, this is probably the subconscious acting up." Chen Tianyu said slowly. "Everyone always suddenly develops a dependence on certain locations, perhaps even they don't know why themselves. Xiao Sui was probably that case. He couldn't forget Yi Ruo, but was suffering from not being able to express his deep love, so he entrusted this bar to relieve his worries... Although currently this is just my speculation, it should be about eighty or ninety percent accurate."

Liu Zichen said doubtfully, "No, why didn't Xiao Sui just go to Lugu Lake to find Yi Ruo and reveal his true feelings? The distance isn't far..."

"I guess he definitely had some unspeakable difficulties." Chen Tianyu said helplessly.

Liu Zichen sighed softly, "He could even not want his own life, what unspeakable secret could there be?"

"Alas, doing this secretly committing suicide, Yi Ruo didn't even have the right to know. I think Yi Ruo is even more pitiful." From the perspective of a girl, what she said wasn't wrong.

Chen Tianyu shook his head. "We still can't assume the suicide pact. Do you remember? At that time, he pretended to be drunk, swapped the SD card with us. At least from this matter, he probably ran into some big trouble, otherwise he wouldn't have staged all this."

Liu Zichen's pretty face flushed slightly. "We checked before, the card has all kinds of messy videos. You can't think of him as too kind."

Chen Tianyu nodded. "Um, you said it has reason, any speculation without evidence is unscientific. Besides, the bar name matter currently doesn't really prove anything. I'll look for other clues..."

The two stopped talking. Chen Tianyu started carefully inspecting around again, but he wasn't looking for physical evidence anymore, instead randomly simulating several possible paths of Xiao Sui entering the alley, all without success.

Simulating the murderer's path to come and go was even more impossible!