Chapter 83 - 81: Should Go Buy a Lottery Ticket

Chapter 83: Chapter 81: Should Go Buy a Lottery Ticket

"You saw the killer?"

At Shen Yanzhou’s single question, Su Miaoyi’s expression faltered for a moment.

"The deceased was in that residential complex. Did the killer murder them somewhere else? Kill them elsewhere, then move the body to the complex? That doesn’t make sense, does it?" Shen Yanzhou voiced his doubts. "So how did you see the killer? If you saw them, why did the city bureau officers arrive first, and you came after them?"

Su Miaoyi pocketed her phone and looked at him, changing the subject. "Actually, I think you’d make a good criminal detective. Ever considered it?"

"So how did you see the killer?" Shen Yanzhou ignored her question, wanting only his answer.

Her attempt to change the subject having failed, Su Miaoyi gazed at the vast white snowscape ahead, thought for a moment, and prepared to start spouting nonsense. "Mr. Shen, have you ever heard of a strange illness?"

"What kind of illness?" Shen Yanzhou asked with a serious expression.

"It’s one where you can only speak a certain number of words a day. If you exceed that limit, you fall unconscious and don’t wake up until the count resets at midnight," Su Miaoyi said with utmost seriousness. "I can’t speak anymore starting now. Otherwise, I’ll just snap and pass out right here."

After speaking, she pressed her lips together and fell silent.

Shen Yanzhou tilted his head and glanced at her.

’And here I was, listening so seriously.’

’Only to be fed a load of nonsense.’

He glanced at her again.

Su Miaoyi kept her lips pressed together, waving her hands to indicate she couldn’t speak.

Shen Yanzhou drove slowly. A few seconds later, he was so speechless he laughed. "And you get to set this word limit yourself, don’t you?"

Su Miaoyi waved her hands and shook her head, remaining silent.

After a moment, Shen Yanzhou sighed softly. "I won’t ask anymore, alright?"

"Mr. Shen, you’re a miracle worker! You’ve cured my rare disease in an instant," Su Miaoyi said. "After the New Year, I must send you a commemorative banner."

"Oh, thank you so much," Shen Yanzhou said with a laugh.

Su Miaoyi laughed along with him.

...

「At the city bureau.」

The police car drove directly into the courtyard behind the city bureau.

Shen Yanzhou parked his car to the side of the main entrance.

Just as Su Miaoyi got out, she saw a black car pull up to the entrance, followed by two other vehicles.

After seeing the license plate, she froze on the spot.

Shen Yanzhou got out as well and glanced at the plate. "Looks like someone from upstairs is here to supervise."

Su Miaoyi didn’t say anything.

Soon, a crowd of people emerged from the bureau’s entrance.

She immediately spotted the man in the lead.

He looked to be in his fifties and was wearing a police uniform.

His posture was ramrod straight, his expression severe.

The hair at his temples was noticeably gray.

He strode forward with purpose.

People beside him were speaking to him about something.

Su Miaoyi’s gaze remained fixed on him.

Shen Yanzhou watched for a moment before looking away.

After all, he often saw the man—his aunt’s husband—whenever he visited the Qin Family home.

The man in question being Minister Qin.

He turned his head to look at Su Miaoyi.

He noticed her eyes were red.

Following her line of sight, Shen Yanzhou looked back at her, paused, and then took a step closer.

Catching his approach in her peripheral vision, Su Miaoyi snapped back to reality and raised a hand to her eye. "Ouch—my eye hurts."

Shen Yanzhou’s expression faltered as well. He looked at her. "What’s wrong?"

"The wind is too strong. It’s making my eyes hurt." Su Miaoyi looked up and blinked a few times.

Shen Yanzhou said nothing.

Waiting until the cars at the entrance had driven away, Su Miaoyi looked at him. "I’m heading in. Drive safe on your way back."

"Mm."

Su Miaoyi walked toward the bureau, but her eyes couldn’t help but drift back to the direction the vehicles had gone.

She didn’t know why, but her heart ached.

It ached so much she felt like crying, but no tears would come.

...

Once inside the city bureau, Su Miaoyi went straight to the autopsy room.

Yan Cheng and his assistant were performing a surface examination of the body.

Su Miaoyi stood beside Yan Cheng, observing.

Yan Cheng extracted some blood from underneath the young woman’s fingernails.

Afterwards, Su Miaoyi went to take another look at the body that had been found on the stairs.

When she had examined the body in the stairwell of the complex, she hadn’t seen any visions from the wound on her neck.

She thought she wouldn’t see anything at all. But while inspecting the wound now, she was suddenly pulled into a vision.

She was standing on a staircase.

The lights in the building were voice-activated and dim, barely illuminating the stairs.

She watched the stairs, descending carefully, one hand on the railing, taking one step at a time.

As she neared the sixth floor, the door to the landing was suddenly pushed open.

She saw a person wearing a ski mask and carrying a bag step out.

Their attire was so bizarre, they were clearly up to no good.

It startled her, and she called out, "Who’s there?!"

Her voice wasn’t too loud, but not too quiet either.

At the sound of her voice, the man in the ski mask was also startled.

At that moment, she looked down the stairs, intending to shout for help.

But just as she let out a sound, the man in the ski mask rushed forward, covered her mouth, and threw her to the ground.

With her mouth covered, she struggled, trying to pull off the man’s mask. She managed to lift a corner of it.

But it was at that exact moment that the man pulled out a knife and slit her throat.

Blood sprayed out. It flooded her throat, and in the instant she began to choke, all the strength drained from her body. She went completely limp.

The man in the ski mask immediately fled.

Su Miaoyi suddenly staggered back several steps, nearly falling.

Fortunately, Yan Cheng had noticed her suddenly go still and her eyes glaze over, so he was prepared and grabbed her arm just in time.

He could feel that in the moment he caught her, her legs had gone weak and limp; she had no strength at all.

But after he steadied her, she quickly recovered.

Su Miaoyi also grabbed his arm to steady herself, then bent over and started coughing.

Seeing how hard she was coughing, Yan Cheng patted her on the back.

Once she had recovered a bit, the first thing Su Miaoyi said was, "I should go buy a lottery ticket."

Yan Cheng didn’t understand what she meant.

Su Miaoyi looked at Yan Cheng and whispered, "Blood flowed into the trachea. I just experienced pulmonary asphyxiation firsthand."

In Jiangcheng, when she saw the vision of Shao Dong’s throat being cut, it hadn’t been this awful.

For one, she had only felt something slice across her throat and was pulled out of the vision before she could even react.

For another, Shao Dong had died of blood loss.

But this time, she had truly, viscerally experienced it—the sensation of choking on her own blood was unbearable.

Hearing her words, Yan Cheng looked toward the body.

The cause of death from a cut throat can vary.

One is cerebral hypoxia due to excessive blood loss.

A second is when the trachea and carotid artery are both severed. This causes a massive external hemorrhage, and the rapid blood loss leads to a sharp drop in blood pressure, resulting in death from hemorrhagic shock, often complicated by cardiogenic shock.

Then there’s pulmonary asphyxiation, just as Su Miaoyi described: blood flows into the trachea, causing the victim to essentially drown.

However, the probability of this last scenario is very low.

But despite the low probability, Su Miaoyi had just experienced it.

That’s why she said she should buy a lottery ticket.

Yan Cheng looked at her again.

’Her knowledge is truly solid. She belongs at the forensic center.’