When the magic flower blooms

The reasoning about the case seems to have entered the closing part.

If the victim really died from inhaling a mixture of laughing gas and carbon monoxide, there should be at least one or more balloon skins left at the scene, but the police investigation found nothing.

This also means that the balloon skin is likely to be destroyed by the suspect who broke into the scene, or was secretly taken away and discarded.

Nearly two hours have passed since the police arrived at the scene, during which time all those who entered the scene were placed in a public rest area for questioning.There are also simple registrations for special cases such as returning to the room to pick up items and going to the toilet.

At the same time, the search personnel rummaged through all the trash cans on the entire floor, and there was no corner where objects might be hidden.

But the balloon skin that should have existed seems to have evaporated from the world, and it can't be found anywhere.

As the key suspect, the female colleague who lived next door to the deceased was searched by the policewoman, and nothing unusual was found.The surveillance video in the corridor even showed that after following the police officer in charge of the transcript out of the room where the crime took place, she stayed in the rest area at all and never went anywhere.

"Is the reasoning wrong? It's not about the balloon at all?"

The first person to waver was He Tiansi, anyway, he played the role of a curious melon eater throughout the whole process.

"impossible!"

Ming Ruoxing was extremely firm, "The balloon skin must exist, we must have missed some important clue!"

"It's better to try the elimination method."

Police Officer Lin was on Ming Ruoxing's side, "If the balloon skin does exist, firstly, a body search can prove that it is not on the suspect's body; secondly, the surveillance video can prove that it cannot be hidden or discarded elsewhere. Then there are only two possibilities left. First, there are accomplices. Second..."

"Secondly, the balloon skin is probably still at the scene of the crime, but it was invisible under our noses in some special way."

At the same time as he whispered these words, Ming Ruoxing had already started his long legs and walked back to the standard room behind the cordon.

"Not to mention that the balloon may be swallowed by the suspect directly, why not check if there is any accomplice?!" He Tiansi was puzzled.

"Maybe it's the cat's intuition." Officer Lin patted him on the shoulder and followed him first.

Back at the scene of the crime, the investigation work has been roughly completed.Surveillance personnel are packing the samples and tools separately, preparing to take them back to the studio.Ming Ruoxing ignored them, walked quickly to the bed, and scanned the corners of the room.

Every place visible to the naked eye has been carefully searched, and the demihumans serving as investigators have very sharp eyesight, and an object as obvious as the balloon skin cannot be missed.

So what if the shape of the balloon skin has been altered?

This thought illuminated Ming Ruoxing's mind like a flash of lightning, and he began to call out to Police Officer Lin again, asking him to check the female suspect's hair and see if the hair rope she used to tie her hair could unfold into broken balloons .

However, the result that disappointed him soon came back: the woman's head was just a very ordinary cowhide band.

what else?What else can a balloon made of rubber be transformed into? !

Ming Ruoxing has a very strong intuition - the current line of thinking is absolutely correct, but the key to unlocking the last puzzle is not in his grasp at the moment.

When he was distressed by this, He Tiansi, who followed him to the room like a follower, suddenly sneezed four or five times loudly.

Suddenly realizing that the man beside him is the focus of his concern, Ming Ruoxing quickly turned his head.

"what happened to you?"

"It's okay, okay." He Tiansi rubbed his nose, "Maybe he's just not used to the lemon smell in this room, it's too strong, and it hurts his nose."

Lemony... yes, that glass of lemonade poured on the carpet.Although the hotel rooms provide special glasses, coffee, and tea bags for guests, freshly squeezed lemonade is not included.So why was this glass of lemonade on the carpet, who brought it, and for what purpose?

Is it room service ordered to understand the wine?

No, I'm afraid it's not a hangover... He guessed the effect of this glass of lemonade!

Ming Ruoxing quickly walked to the bedside table, leaned over to touch the water stain that was not completely dry, and then sniffed his palm.

After nearly two hours, the carpet still has a relatively strong lemon smell.But it is not so much the sourness of the lemon pulp, it is more like the squeeze of the lemon peel, which is fragrant but bitter.An ordinary human being might not be able to drink such a rich juice.

"Give me six lemons."

Ming Ruoxing quickly raised his head and made a request to Officer Lin.

"Then I'll tell you where the balloon skin is."

According to his request, Officer Lin quickly asked the hotel to prepare the experimental items.Immediately afterwards, with He Tiansi's assistance, Ming Ruoxing peeled off the skins of all the lemons, and put some of the pulp into the juicer.

After 1 minute, the lemon mixture was poured into glasses.It looks just like regular lemon juice.

"Do you want to have a drink?"

Seeing He Tiansi's curious face, Ming Ruoxing raised his glass to him.

"I'm not a fool." He Tiansi shook his head repeatedly.

Ming Ruoxing spread out his palm to show everyone the balloon skin in his hand, and then threw it into the cup.

The silvery-white balloon skin quickly sank into the pale yellow turbid solution, and the calm water surface seemed to flutter twice, but that was all.

About 5 minutes later, Ming Ruoxing brought a coffee cup and transferred the liquid in the glass to it—a strange thing happened. Most of the balloon skins that were put in just now disappeared without a trace.

"The balloon skin is made of natural latex. It will swell and dissolve when it encounters the juice of the lemon peel. If the suspect adds other chemical reagents to the lemonade, the latex will dissolve faster and more obviously."

"He even thought of this step."

Surprise is nothing but surprise, but Officer Lin has already kept up with the rhythm of reasoning.

"The murderer must have been worried about the risk of carrying the balloon skin that the deceased had ingested, so he simply took the opportunity of taking the deceased back to the room last night and placed this glass of 'lemonade' on the bedside table. This morning, she pretended to rescue the deceased again. The deceased rushed into the scene, threw the balloon skin into the cup, waited until the balloon had completely melted, and then overturned the cup... The deceased had obvious characteristics of carbon monoxide poisoning. Lemon juice. Even if it is really tested, it has to fully consider the possibility that the sample has been contaminated and the chemical detected is the residue of carpet freshener or other stains.”

"Your reasoning is roughly correct."

Ming Ruoxing made some additional corrections, "However, I think the lemon juice should have been placed on the carpet in the hidden place outside the bedside table from the beginning, and the coaster should have been covered at the mouth of the cup to prevent volatile components from entering the air. In this way, the deceased can avoid being drunk by mistake, and the cup can be kicked over without attracting others' attention. After all, it was the appearance of He Tiansi and I that caused the commotion, and the bedside table was hit by someone, and the murderer is unpredictable This accidental event."

"Perhaps it wasn't quite a coincidence?"

Seeing that they were chatting enthusiastically, He Tiansi couldn't help interjecting again, "I remember that the reason why those people came to arrest us was because a woman suddenly yelled, yes, it was the woman next door, I remember very Clearly, she happened to be standing by the head of the bed at that time."

Police officer Lin also added: "According to the transcript, she made an appointment for the bar they went to last night; she was also the one who proposed to bring back the laughing balloons. There is also a more critical point. After most people left last night, The deceased had a call record with an unfamiliar mobile phone number, which may be related to the delivery of balloons."

Surveillance personnel immediately began sampling the lemon juice-soaked carpet.It is said that the follow-up will be in contact with the meteorological station, hoping to roughly guess the direction in which the balloon is drifting away based on factors such as the wind force and direction of the night, and dispatch drones to search.

More and more clues are starting to close, but the most direct and absolutely directional evidence is still missing.It seems that the next focus is to use all the results of reasoning and extremely limited physical evidence to pry open the suspect's psychological defense.

Seeing that Ming Ruoxing and Police Officer Lin seemed to have stopped discussing, He Tiansi lost his composure again.

"Did you forget one very important thing - where did the tape on the sliding door go?!"

He hurriedly reminded, "Since the murderer didn't even take out the balloon skin, where is the tape that wrapped the sliding door? Can't it be soaked in the cup too?"

"Don't worry, I have a clue about this."

Officer Lin pointed out a direction for the two of them, "Let's go, go to the lounge now."

In the lounge, all 22 people were asked to stand up, in groups of two, regardless of whether they had entered the scene or not, and carefully checked each other's clothing, hair, the surface of their belongings, and the soles of their feet.Once any abnormality is found, do not act without authorization, and report immediately by raising your hand.

People were puzzled, but immediately began to follow suit. After 2 minutes, there was a result - on the back of the apron around the waist of a cleaner, a small group of tape was found secretly glued on by someone who did not know when.

The inspectors carefully removed the adhesive tape and put it in an evidence bag. The adhesive surface will be analyzed for composition and compared with fingerprints. This is most likely the most important evidence in this case so far.

So far, several major doubts in this murder case have been explained, and police officer Lin ordered to close the team and take the suspect away for interrogation.

Before taking it away, he did not forget to thank Ming Ruoxing.

"After the case is closed, I should send you a pennant of enthusiastic citizens."

"You can handle the case without us, just don't think we are in the way." Ming Ruoxing was extra modest this time, "Remember to tell me about the follow-up of the case."

"Of course, I'll treat you to a drink next time."

-

The police gathered and left, and the crowd of onlookers gradually dispersed.The hotel staff came over to apologize to Ming Ruoxing, and interacted to help them change to a new room.

"what do you think?"

With a hint of showing off, Ming Ruoxing lightly poked He Tiansi beside him with his elbow.

"Huh? Well, I'm a little hungry."

He Tiansi still faithfully expressed his feelings.

"Are you a pig? After seeing that ugly corpse, you still have an appetite?"

"Hey, racism! What happened to the pig? Apologize to the pig!"

He Tiansi has learned and applied the knowledge Ming Ruoxing taught him, and even put on a smug face.

"Childish, vengeful, unserious, no, simply scoundrel."

Although there were not half a good word on his lips, Ming Ruoxing still hooked his fingers.

"Let's go, for the sake of your so-so performance just now, I will take you downstairs to eat now."

"Really? What to eat?"

"Buffet, you can eat whatever you catch, if you don't eat it, you'll fall down."

"Eat, of course!"

He Tiansi hastened to follow, while getting closer, and continued to murmur.

"By the way, you are actually really handsome. What did you do before? You know so much."

"I don't want to tell you." It could be heard that He Tiansi was not serious, and Ming Ruoxing didn't even bother to find an excuse.

He Tiansi really laughed at himself mockingly: "Anyway, you are so familiar with the police, and you can solve the case so quickly, you will definitely not be a bad person, so I can rest assured."

Ming Ruoxing seemed to be stung by the word "rest assured", so he slowed down a little and looked at him dissatisfied.

"Are you still worried that I will hurt you?"

"Of course not to worry about that."

He Tiansi smiled innocently,

"I'm thinking, if you are a bad person who treats me so well, I'm afraid I can't help but follow you all the way to the dark... What will I do then!"