Chapter 140: So, You Are the Murderer

Lotte stepped over the woman's corpse on the floor with a long stride and entered the restroom. Behind him, Lucy knelt down to comfort the woman, asking her what had happened.

Jian Qi glanced at the woman on the floor and realized she was completely distraught. Seeing that no valuable information could be obtained from her in the short term, he followed Lotte’s lead and entered the restroom directly across from her.

The lights in the restroom were off. The dim environment created an incredibly oppressive atmosphere. As his eyes adjusted to the gloom and he took in the scene, his pupils constricted sharply.

Inside the dimly lit restroom, directly opposite the door, was a sink. Above the sink hung a massive mirror, half the height of a person. What should have been a reflective surface was now shattered into pieces by a blood-soaked head. A man was kneeling before the sink, with half of his face embedded into the mirror frame. The sight was so gruesome that it made one’s skin crawl just looking at it.

While the others outside were stunned by the horrific scene, Lotte proceeded to examine the man.

"Is... is he still alive?" asked the reporter, Uman. Even though he had seen his share of major events, the scene before him still broke him out in a cold sweat.

Lotte did not answer immediately. Instead, he pulled a white glove from his pocket and reached toward the back of the man's head. Under the watchful eyes of everyone present, he extracted a sharp, twenty-centimeter shard of glass from the blood-slicked back of the man's skull.

"That's huge!" the female player from the couple blurted out.

Jian Qi looked at the pair, feeling that the tense, horrific atmosphere had instantly vanished. He curled his lip and asked, "Did the mirror shard cause the wound?"

Although the back of a human skull is not as hard as the forehead, it is not something one can pierce with just any object. He found it hard to imagine that a shard of mirror could remain intact after penetrating the skull.

After hearing Jian Qi’s question, Lotte looked closely at the glass in his hand and then re-examined the wound. He nodded.

"Yes, there are blunt force marks on the shard, and the wound dimensions match." He hesitated for a moment. "To cause this kind of wound with a mirror shard, there are two necessary conditions: first, the angle; second, strength at least twice that of an average adult."

As he spoke, he frowned and subconsciously glanced at the "Iron-Willed Man" who had entered the restroom last. On this train, he was the only one who might meet the second condition. However, the suspicion only flickered in his mind for an instant, as he did not know the full situation on the train or if there were others present.

"There's a case here," the middle-aged woman, Eileen, suddenly spoke up while Lotte was lost in thought.

Hearing this, Jian Qi immediately looked toward her. She was standing on the other side of the restroom, her face pale; the corpse was clearly affecting her. However, given her age, she remained relatively composed. At her feet, Jian Qi saw the case she had mentioned.

He immediately went over and picked it up. It wasn’t heavy. He shook it twice, and the sound of metal clinking together came from within. Jian Qi intended to open it to see what was inside, but his hand stopped when it reached the latch. It was risky; if there were a trap inside, he would be done for. After a moment of thought, he brought the case to Lotte and handed it over. "You're more professional at this."

Lotte had already wrapped the glass shard in cloth and removed his gloves. He took the case without hesitation and opened it. Inside were only four items: a small silver sword slightly longer than a palm, a silver revolver, a crucifix necklace, and a glass bottle the size of two thumbs containing an unidentified transparent liquid.

Lotte inspected each item and stated, "Everything is made of silver." He picked up the revolver, opened it, and found it was empty.

The "Emotionless One," who hadn't spoken since entering, walked directly to the corpse. After sizing it up, he reached into the man's pocket. Lotte wanted to stop him, but before he could speak, the man had already pulled his hand back.

"What is it?" The couple immediately crowded around, not minding the blood on his hands.

The Emotionless One opened his palm to reveal a blood-stained photograph and two teeth that looked like those of a canine. The woman in the photo was barely visible, her features obscured by the blood that had soaked into the paper. Seeing that the items were of no apparent use, he tossed them to the couple and walked toward the door.

"Where are you going?" the reporter, Uman, asked.

"To wash my hands." With that, he headed toward the opposite restroom.

"Let me see that photo and those teeth," Lotte said to the couple after finishing his inspection of the case. Bei Yu looked at Nan Yu, nodded, and handed the items over.

Jian Qi observed along with Lotte as he examined them. The two teeth belonged to some kind of canine creature—not a dog, and not a wolf, as they were too thin and straight. As for the woman in the photo... she was a B-cup. Jian Qi glanced outside at Lucy, who was still comforting the woman; she was also a B-cup.

Finding nothing unusual, Lotte returned the items to the couple and rose to inspect the rest of the restroom.

"Well, Lotte, any discoveries? Who is the killer?" the Iron-Willed Man asked.

Lotte shook his head. "Too little information. From current clues, the deceased was likely a believer. The teeth and photo were kept on his person, meaning they were very important to him."

"So he was going to see his lover, and the teeth were a couple's token?" Nan Yu Qingsuan interjected.

"...That is a possibility." Lotte looked at the couple with confusion, unable to understand how they could remain so optimistic in such a situation. He reframed his thoughts and continued, "There are no signs of a struggle. This indicates the killer struck with extreme speed and immense force." He pointed to the mirror. "Based on the evidence, the victim had just finished using the restroom and was about to wash his hands when he was grabbed from behind and slammed into the mirror. The killer's intent was clearly lethal. Seeing the victim still struggling, they decisively pulled a shard from the mirror and drove it into the back of his head."

Lotte pointed to the missing piece of the mirror; the gap was identical in size to the shard found in the man's skull.

"These clues narrow the range of suspects significantly."

"A strong man?" Uman summarized for Lotte.

All eyes immediately locked onto the Iron-Willed Man.

"So it was you! You killed him! And I was brought here by you, too!" Uman's voice was filled with unconcealable rage.