Chapter 288: Poison Unleashed

I met Wang Xin’s gaze, and he stared right back at me. I could read the anger in his eyes, like he was deeply dissatisfied with what I’d just said. He locked eyes with me for a long moment before he suddenly slammed the box of chess pieces down onto the board.

Yang Licheng jumped at the sound. He shot me a worried glance but said nothing. Clearly, he planned to stay here for the next few days and now wasn’t the time to pick sides. Awkward, he quickly reached for the incense burner and distracted himself by fiddling with it.

Wang Xin stayed slouched on the sofa, not bothering to get up. He demanded, “So you’re saying those migrant workers who killed the dog were right, and what I did was wrong? And that one of those ten-thousand-yuan dogs should have been sold to us? Do you people have no compassion at all?”

I smiled and let his words hang in the air. Instead, I said, “You’ve thought about a lot. But have you considered the migrant workers at all?”

“Consider them?” Wang Xin laughed. “You investigators are all alike. As far as I see it, I have every right to ask you two to leave now, don’t I? This is my house. You’ve asked your questions, haven’t you? So, please. Leave. Now.”

I let out another laugh and replied, “Fair enough. We’ve finished our questions. Stay safe.”

Wang Xin grinned. “Don’t bother worrying about me, then. If that’s all, please see yourselves out.”

I shrugged and turned to go.

But right then, the sound of chess pieces hitting the floor snapped through the room. We all looked over, just in time to see Yang Licheng half-collapsed, one knee on the ground, gripping the edge of the coffee table. The chessboard had flipped over with a clatter.

Wang Xin rushed over to help, his voice full of concern: “What happened, Yang? No need to get this worked up—it’s just about two kids. I’ve eaten more salt than you’ve eaten rice, you know? Both of you should learn from that. Take it as a little life lesson from someone who’s been around the block.”

I frowned. It was clear Yang Licheng wasn’t just upset. He hadn’t meant to overturn the board. Wang Xin helped him up, asking, “What’s wrong, Yang? What’s going on?”

Yang Licheng slumped onto the sofa, gasping, “I don’t know, I… my body… I feel weird.”

Watching him like that, a chill ran down my spine. All I could think of was Wang Yikai, who’d just died this very morning. Was Yang Licheng about to drop dead right in front of us too?

That thought jolted me into action. “Call 120! Now!”

The bodyguard hurried over, already dialing for emergency services.

By the time help was on the way, Yang Licheng could barely open his eyes. Suddenly, he started violently vomiting. The stench was foul, like rotting dough left to ferment for centuries. His whole body went slack, like he was a puppet with the strings cut, no bones left inside him.

“My head…” Yang Licheng’s voice shook as he pressed his fingers to his temples. “I’m so dizzy.”

Without warning, he threw up again.

That was when several bodyguards came running in, drawn by the commotion.

Wang Xin looked terrified. He tried desperately to lift Yang Licheng but he just slumped, dead weight. Wang Xin barely managed to pull him upright before suddenly collapsing himself. Saliva dribbled uncontrollably from his lips as he swayed, struggling to stand but clearly too weak.

All of this happened in seconds, leaving both me and Zhao Mingkun frozen in shock. The killer was terrifyingly clever; I couldn’t understand how they kept pulling off these murders. How was it done?

Several muscular bodyguards rushed over and sat both men onto the sofa. One of them splashed tea on their faces, but they both drifted in and out, barely conscious.

“Water…” croaked Yang Licheng. “I need water. Please, give me some water.”

“Me too, I want some,” Wang Xin managed to add.

Zhao Mingkun and I watched from the side, baffled. The killer couldn’t have gotten in, and we’d been with these two the whole time. Yet both started showing signs of poisoning—vomiting, dizziness, confusion. How could the killer have poisoned them right under our noses?

What could have caused both of them to be poisoned?

Tea? The chessboard? Or maybe the incense burner?

The thought struck me. My eyes widened. I hurried over to check the incense burner, which was still releasing wisps of white smoke. If both of them had come in contact with anything, it had to be this incense burner. Most people’s burners released blue smoke, but this one gave off an eerie chalk-white color.

Covering my nose with my arm, I bent down to inspect the overturned burner. Its contents had spilled out—a pile of white crystal-like ash that looked nothing like regular incense. I had no idea what it was, but it definitely wasn’t normal.

Wang Xin always liked to put on airs, using fancy things he barely understood. Clearly, he had no clue what this incense even was, but set it burning all the same. I was pretty sure this stuff was the reason they’d both been poisoned.

I wanted to ask Wang Xin where he’d found that incense burner, but now he lay back on the sofa, retching while the bodyguards wiped at his face in disgust. But even through that, one look at Wang Xin told me he was slipping—his mind was unfocused, and he looked ready to faint any second.

A glance at Yang Licheng showed the same story. The sight made me frown. “Get them downstairs,” I said quickly. “Whatever was in that incense burner is poisonous. Anyone breathing the smoke long enough will be poisoned too. Don’t stay here—move them, now!”

The bodyguards didn’t hesitate. Realizing there was danger, they each grabbed one of the men and hauled them out the door.

I put on a pair of gloves and tore off a bit of tissue, holding my breath as I scooped up some of the white crystals from the incense burner. Then I quickly followed everyone downstairs.

At the stairwell I looked back. The white smoke still curled up lazily, but I had no idea what the substance was, nor did I dare put it out with water. Still, as neither I, Zhao Mingkun, nor the bodyguards showed any symptoms, it seemed you had to be very close to get poisoned.

With the second floor being so spacious, there was little chance the fumes would spread to the first floor, making it relatively safe below. Once the crystals finished burning, there probably wouldn’t be any hazard left.

Both of them had already been carried downstairs, but from their current state, it looked like they were barely breathing.

With someone poisoned by something they eat, you can pump their stomach and get the toxin out fast.

But these two had inhaled the poison. How were we supposed to get the fumes out of their lungs?

We had plenty of people here, but none of us were doctors—no one knew first aid for this kind of poisoning. It wasn’t like we could try mouth-to-mouth; plus, who could be sure there wasn’t poison in their vomit? If anyone got a whiff of it, they might get poisoned too.

“You called for an ambulance already?” I asked.

“I did!” a bodyguard answered. “But we’re out in the sticks—ambulance will take at least ten minutes, even if traffic’s clear in Dongxing City. Should we take them to a nearby clinic instead? That’s got to be better than waiting here and watching them die.”

I nodded. “You know the area best—get them to a clinic fast. And one of you, go back upstairs and collect some powder from the incense burner. Hold your breath and be careful, don’t touch it with your bare hands. If we get that, maybe we can find out what it is.”

“Got it!” The bodyguards didn’t waste a second, moving immediately.

They lifted the two onto a car, while Zhao Mingkun and I jumped on the motorbike and followed close behind.

As I rode, I frowned, unable to figure out how the killer kept succeeding with every murder. The incense burner had been brought upstairs by Wang Xin himself, but the poison inside had to be the killer’s doing. Yet how could the killer know for sure that Wang Xin would use it? How did they know these thirteen people so intimately?

Just who was this killer, so familiar with every last detail about them?

Each killing method was stranger than the last—the murderer had never even appeared at the scene, yet the victims kept dying. If it wasn’t the work of a ghost, I couldn’t imagine how they managed it. Seven of the thirteen were already dead. The two in the car now might not make it either. The last three must be in the process of leaving Dongxing City by now.

As for Liang Mei, she’d vanished without a trace.

Could any of these people truly escape the killer’s grasp? And with just Zhao Mingkun and I, could we really manage to catch them? The end of the case was closing in, but if we didn’t find a real breakthrough, we might never catch the murderer. Worse, we might lose our only chance to learn the truth about what happened seven years ago.

I closed my eyes. The truth felt so close I could almost reach out and touch it, but something still separated us—a thin veil I just couldn’t pull away. Until we broke through that barrier, the real face of the truth would stay out of sight.