"At 11:00 in the evening before the signing ceremony began, Target 1 entered the elevator and sprayed the paint with the combustion aid added into it."

Xu Xiaodong walked into the elevator and gestured with the spray bottle in his hand. On the night of the 24th, the police were recreating the entire crime scene. If they wanted to sort everything out clearly, it wasn’t enough to just talk about it verbally. They had to feel as though they were there.

In addition to the police officers involved in the case, Chen Shi also brought along Tao Yueyue. She said she wanted to go and have a look since they were just recreating the scene tonight. Therefore, Chen Shi brought her along.

"Soon after, Target 2 entered the elevator and installed an igniter under the emergency button."

Lin Qiupu recited the case and Xu Xiaodong cooperated to repeat it.

After the igniter was identified, it was found to be made of two plastic sheets sandwiching traces of mercuric acid and yellow phosphorus. It would cause fire with just a light pressure, igniting the paint on the wall. It had to be said that the person who planned the crime was really creative.

"Uncle Chen, would it be easier to kill people with some knowledge of chemistry?" Tao Yueyue asked quietly.

"Not necessarily. Some dangerous goods are difficult to obtain and the forensic police are experts." Chen Shi said.

Peng Sijue, who was with them, glanced back at the two of them. Chen Shi said, "We’re just discussing the case. By the way, can the source of the igniter be investigated?"

"It's difficult. These things are indeed the chemical products in the bang snaps[1] that children usually play with. After purification, the murderer can make it as long as they have some knowledge of chemistry."

Tao Yueyue said, "Why not use them to kill people directly?"

Peng Sijue explained, "That would require a lot of it and yellow phosphorus burns very quickly. It also has to be mixed with sawdust and gunpowder. If you buy so many bang snaps, you’ll definitely cause suspicion."

Tao Yueyue nodded and Lin Qiupu furrowed his brows. "Can't you guys talk about something else? How can you teach children this kind of thing?"

Chen Shi said, “The child in my household loves these things."

Lin Qiupu shook his head. "The failure of education! Let’s go. Go upstairs!"

When everyone went to the third floor, Lin Qiupu continued, "It was also around 9:00 the night before the signing ceremony. Target 3 came here, removed the cover of the main control board, and connected a serial port to override the elevator control program with a laptop. He probably used a cell phone as the remote control."

Lin Dongxue asked, "As long as you dial a number with your mobile phone, the elevator would fall down?"

"We speculate that this is the case, but the tool was recovered afterwards and the elevator program was covered up, leaving behind next to no traces."

Staring at the main control board, Chen Shi thought of Sun Zhen. When he was young, he wrote a virus that tampered with an elevator program. However, Zhou Tiannan himself was also a master of programming and this level shouldn’t be a challenge for him.

Chen Shi said, "This is a crucial part of the entire murder. What is the name of Target 3?"

Lin Qiupu glanced at the records and replied, "Cheng Liwei, an ordinary office worker. He’s only a salesman and knows nothing about programming. The black-hat man taught him how to do it... However, this guy was once suspected of killing his wife, but was released because of insufficient evidence."

"Sure enough, he is a person who has received 'benefits', so he was assigned a heavy responsibility." Chen Shi nodded.

Tao Yueyue asked, "Why not just directly use the elevator to drop the victim to death?"

Chen Shi explained, "Elevators have hardware and software insurance. These are independent. Most elevators have buffer devices installed at the top and bottom. If you want to use the elevator to kill people, unless someone cuts the cable from the top, it’s almost impossible. The cable is also thicker than your wrist."

Peng Sijue said, "The elevator door is more dangerous than the elevator itself. Some people have been beheaded by elevator doors."

Lin Qiupu said, "I have to add one more person: Target 4. Before the first three people slipped in to do these things, Target 4 drove a car and drove it into a car parked outside. There was a small dispute with the owners, which led to the security guard having his attention drawn away.

Chen Shi asked, "How long did that last?"

"According to the security guard, the two of them quarreled for a long time, and then they called the traffic police. It looked to be about twenty minutes in duration.”

Lin Dongxue said, "The four security guards didn't even notice someone had come in. How thick are they?”

Chen Shi said, "Target 4 is a beautiful woman. She was dressed extremely sexyily and maturely that night. Where do you think the security guards would have looked?"

"Haii, men!" Lin Dongxue sighed.

The group of people went to the room where the deceased lived, located on the 16th floor. Lin Qiupu pushed the door open and the lights weren’t on. From the window, the brightly lit night view below could be seen. Lin Qiupu said, "The deceased stayed here the night before the signing ceremony. At 7:00 in the morning before the signing ceremony, Target 5, dressed as a cleaner, entered here, spraying poison on the collar of the deceased's shirt. To be safe, they sprayed all the shirts in the closet."

Peng Sijue added, "The poison was mixed in with the cologne that the deceased usually wears, so he wasn’t aware of it.”

Lin Dongxue asked, "Why didn't they poison the water dispenser directly?"

Peng Sijue said, "Killing with poison isn’t easy. If the dose wasn’t enough, he’d be easy to rescue. If the dose was too much, it would smell unless the food itself was very smelly and could cover it up. However, the deceased only ate congee, bread, and juice in the morning and these aren’t easy to poison."

Chen Shi said, "This is the plan of the murderer behind the scenes. Besides the poisoning success rate being low, this would mean that the poisoner himself becomes the murderer. Their expected effect is that even if we arrest all the suspects, we wouldn’t be able to do anything."

The murder was like an unprecedented grand performance. Chen Shi thought that Zhou Tiannan seemed to be deliberately showing off his skills and showing his omnipotence.

He wouldn’t be satisfied with a simple way of killing.

Lin Qiupu said, "This Target 5 is also one of the people we’re placing focus on monitoring. They’re the owner of a small company and were prosecuted for commercial crimes. However, the key witness, their accountant, mysteriously disappeared and they were acquitted... Old Chen, it’s as you’ve said. Target 5 is also a person who has received 'benefits’."

"It seems that there’s a feeling of training an army for a thousand years to use them for an hour[2] here." Chen Shi sighed.

"Let's go to the scene!" Lin Qiupu said.

Everyone went downstairs and the site had already been cleaned. Lin Qiupu turned around in the empty hall. "On the day of the signing ceremony, there were six people who appeared here. Their assigned tasks were to create chaos. Someone was responsible for poisoning the food. Someone was responsible for attracting bodyguards with a suspicious object. Someone was responsible for calling to lie about a bomb in the building. Lastly, someone was responsible for turning off the surveillance."

Peng Sijue explained, "The poison in that reporter wouldn’t have been fatal. In fact, it’s just a glycerine formula. That is, a glycerine enema, which can cause acute stomach cramps when ingested."

"That’s a bit disgusting!" Xu Xiaodong said.

Chen Shi looked around. "I still feel that the chaos created on the spot is a bit trivial. If I was the mastermind, I’d at least set a fire."

Lin Qiupu said, "Fire is definitely the worst way to go about it. First, it’s not easy to control, and secondly, the deceased may not enter the elevator... It’s common sense to not enter an elevator in the event of a fire."

Peng Sijue added, "If the fire spread, the paint in the elevator may be ignited in advance, so the murderer's plan would be a bust."

Lin Dongxue raised a question. "What if someone occupied the elevator at that time, or shared the elevator with the deceased?"

"On this point, the surveillance footage showed that after the chaos at the scene, the deceased was escorted into the elevator by the bodyguards immediately and pushed out a person who was going to take the elevator. The bodyguard said that this was the order they received from the captain sent via walkie talkie."

Chen Shi pondered, "The deceased is like a wounded bird. Generally speaking, when there’s chaos at the scene, as the host, he should stand up immediately to maintain order. Instead, his choice was to leave quickly. Qu Jing’an had been working in the business for so many years. This etiquette cannot be ignored... The bodyguards on the spot were temporarily tripled, as if he had long predicted that something bad would happen..."

Lin Dongxue concluded for him. "You mean, the deceased received a murder notice prior?!"

1. https://www.easyatm.com.tw/img/e/f4e/nBnauM3XycDN5YTO5ATOwEjN4QTM4QzMxITM0QTNwAzMwIzLwkzLwYzLt92YucmbvRWdo5Cd0FmLzE2LvoDc0RHa.jpg

2. It means that extensive preparation eventually pays off.