The Novelist Forced to Become Famous

Chapter 23

Chapter 23

President Qin and Mrs. Qin did not have any intention to conceal anything. One said that her husband could not have knowingly committed the crime, while the other said that he must have been deliberately misled. They unanimously directed their spears at each other.

This turn of events was really beyond Jian Jing's expectations. She had thought that today's theme was Tomb Raider, but who would have thought there would be a locked room murder case.

In her heart, she suspected Mrs. Qin. The reason was simple. She was the designer of the villa and also the manager. She had the means to commit murder. And with President Qin's affair, the motive for murder was also very clear.

As for Guo Chief Editor, this was her first time at the villa. She had no way of knowing the security design based on reason. And she had no motive. With President Qin dead, her hope of being promoted officially was dashed, losing everything she had worked for.

But one can randomly eat food, not randomly speak words.

No matter how suspicious Jian Jing was, she could not point fingers without evidence. She could only watch the drama in silence.

Because it was too late, after giving simple statements, the police allowed them to temporarily leave. If needed, they would assist with the investigation again.

This proposal was precisely what they hoped for. No one wanted to go to the police station after being cold and tired. Everyone bid farewell and returned home separately.

Jian Jing arrived home at four in the morning. After taking a bath and drinking a cup of valerian root, she hastily went to sleep. She didn't wake up until after 1pm the next day.

Her phone had a text message from Kang Mu Cheng: [Are you up? My mom sent you food.]

She quickly replied: [I'm up, thanks.]

Kang Mu Cheng didn't reply back. He was probably busy.

Jian Jing didn't mind. She got up slowly, washed up, and took the food out of the thermal box by the door. It was chicken soup specially cooked by Kang Mu Cheng's housekeeper. She ate it in big mouthfuls, before she had the energy to review the system settlement.

[Mission Name: Escape from Yu Hui Villa (Completed)]

[Mission Description: Courage 30 points + 10 special contribution points (You made great contributions during the escape)]

[Note: Courage points can be used to draw cards (ordinary). Each costs 5 points; Contribution points can be used to draw cards (special). Each costs 10 points.]

"Achoo!" Jian Jing, who was drenched in the rain last night, sneezed. She decided to draw 2 ordinary cards first.

"Draw two ordinary cards."

[Drawing cards...]

[Draw complete]

[Name: Enhancement Card - Explosive Power (1 point)]

[Description: Enhance coordination between different muscles to increase explosive power]

[Note: A moment's performance will determine life or death]

[Name: Enhancement Card - Strength (1 point)]

[Description: Increase muscle dimensions to improve physical strength output]

[Note: In a narrow encounter, the one with the bigger fist wins]

Ah, they were enhancement cards as expected. It seemed like the system thought she should live well. The most important thing was not to gain more knowledge and skills, but to change from a weakling to an average level.

She looked at the character panel again, the descriptions had changed along with it.

Physique: 5 (The result of staying up late every day)

Strength: 5 (Don't arm wrestle with anyone)

Agility: 7 (You're a little more agile than ordinary people)

Explosive Power: 5 (At the juncture of life and death, you'll regret it)

Endurance: 5 (Your endurance is clearly not great)

That hit the spot.

Jian Jing couldn't help but ask: "Do I have to use the cards to strengthen myself? Can't I just train by myself?"

[System: Of course you can. It's precisely because the host's physical data is so poor that we enhanced it in a targeted manner.]

Her: "..." Why didn't you say so earlier.

Since she could train by herself, she would save her courage points when she could. Jian Jing immediately opened her phone to look for a nearby gym. She found a national chain brand and drove straight there.

The fitness industry in this world was also very developed. The nearest gym was only a 10 minute drive away.

The scale was also quite impressive. There were 3 floors, including outdoor tennis and badminton courts, a swimming pool, and private coaching classes of varying prices and sizes.

Jian Jing had money, so after trying a session, she happily signed up for one-on-one private coaching.

The private coach wasn't very handsome, but he was young and fit, pleasing to the eye just looking at him. After asking Jian Jing about her requirements, he congratulated her, "You don't need to eat a fat loss meal. For your diet, just pay attention to nutritional balance. The ratio of carbs, protein and fat is about 5:3:2. I'll give you some sample meal plans to follow."

He paused deliberately here to emphasize, "Your muscles will increase after working out, and your weight will also go up. I don't mean you'll look fat, but you definitely won't be your current figure. You have to be mentally prepared."

Jian Jing thought that between life and death all the time, what did maintaining her figure matter. There was nothing bad about her clothes not fitting a size S.

"I'm more concerned about health," she promised.

The private coach was obviously relieved. What he feared most was female students making a big fuss after working out, saying that more muscles didn't look good.

Of course, male students weren't much better. After lifting weights a few times they would ask when they could get abs. Working out for an hour, exercising for ten minutes, taking photos for twenty minutes, and chatting up people for thirty minutes. You can't get results from working out like that.

"Since you're clear on the results, that's good. I'll arrange the classes for you then," the private coach complained inwardly, while maintaining a polite smile on his face, "Also, I recommend you take a boxing class as well. You can learn some basic self-defense skills, very suitable for girls."

"Okay, I'll sign up." Jian Jing paid without any hesitation.

With this arrangement, her schedule was full enough. Classes on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Work out on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Plus the events she had to attend as a writer. She could foresee how fulfilling her life would be.

Even so, Jian Jing did not forget to follow up on President Qin's case.

She hinted about it to Kang Mu Cheng, asking about Guo Chief Editor's situation.

Kang Mu Cheng also seemed to have guessed something. He replied saying, "She's fine, it probably has nothing to do with her."

Jian Jing confided in him, "I feel like Mrs. Qin designed the murder."

"No evidence," Kang Mu Cheng said. "After all, it's President Qin's villa. As long as Mrs. Qin stubbornly insists that President Qin knew about it, it will be very difficult to convict her."

She immediately fell silent.

"Jingjing, solving cases is the police's job," Kang Mu Cheng's heart, which had settled down once again, tensed up. He advised, "Don't get involved."

Jian Jing retorted, "How is it getting involved? I don't plan on getting involved, it's just..."

Just what? She thought about it, probably dissatisfaction. Knowing that there might be something fishy about a collaborative murder case, yet keeping silent about it, inevitably made her feel a little like she was abetting evildoers.

But these words were hard to say out loud. She didn't want Kang Mu Cheng to worry about her on top of being busy with work. So she said, "Fine, it's unrelated to me anyway."

"That's right. I'm meeting with the screenwriter Xu. I'll talk to you later," Kang Mu Cheng seemed completely unaffected by the Yu Hui Villa incident. He continued to be immersed in his work as usual, "Hang up now."

"Bye th..."

Jian Jing hadn't even finished saying goodbye when she heard a "du" on the phone indicating that he had hung up.

She resignedly hung up the phone, but was still unhappy in her heart. Finishing the mission at the detective club where they caught Luo Jun felt so much better than this.

Jian Jing idly scrolled through her phone. After a long while, she finally steeled her resolve and opened WeChat to look for Ji Feng - they had added each other's contact after the last case.

She hesitated when she opened the chat page.

Would it be appropriate to bother the police for some small matters when they were so busy?

She wavered for a moment before sending him a red packet.

Ji Feng replied quite quickly: [Bribery??]

Jian Jing: [I have some questions to ask. This is a consultation fee.]

He swiftly accepted it: [Ask away. Won't answer anything confidential. Fees non-refundable.]

Jian Jing asked: [If someone uses a security system to cause another person's death, does this count as intentional murder?]

Ji Feng: [Of course it counts. Intentional murder is divided into direct intent and indirect intent. Knowing that the security system may lead to a person's death, yet allowing or inducing the result, also counts as intentional murder.]

Jian Jing asked again: [Then, if the deceased knew the security system had problems, but still died, does the other person who also knew count?]

Ji Feng: [If the deceased knew there was a problem, it becomes more complicated.]

He was probably curious and directly asked: [Research or encountered a case? Tell me the specifics.]

Jian Jing: [Are you very free?]

Ji Feng: [On duty for a month, finally got a day off today. What do you think, am I free or not?]

Jian Jing: [Free]

Ji Feng: [Wrong. I'm on the way to find a suspect.]

Jian Jing deeply sympathized with the police's workload, but she still had to ask. She briefly recounted to him the cause and effect of what happened at the villa.

Ji Feng immediately called her and said, "This case isn't easy to solve."

"Because there's no evidence?" she asked.

"Liu Bao Feng was the designer of the villa, she definitely has to take responsibility. But you said she deliberately murdered someone, there must be sufficient evidence. First is motive. You said she killed because her husband had an affair, is there anything that can prove this? If not, it will be very difficult to establish motive since you said they appeared loving in public."

Ji Feng was in an unknown location, there was a lot of noise in the phone call, very noisy: "Also, the premise of intentional murder is knowing it may lead to someone else's death. For other people, it would at least be negligent homicide. But the deceased was the owner of the villa. It's easy to prove he knew, difficult to prove he didn't know."

"Sigh." Jian Jing kept sighing as she listened. "Then what should be done?"

"Why do you feel Mrs. Qin is the murderer?" he asked.

"Intuition. Her leaving at that time was too coincidental. She just happened to be locked in the electrical room. And President Qin died while he was with Guo Chief Editor. It's too coincidental. I don't believe such coincidences exist." She paced around vexedly, "It's too much of a coincidence."

Ji Feng bluntly said, "That kind of coincidence is nothing. I've seen much bigger coincidences than you."

Jian Jing emphasized, "I knew they were having an affair as soon as I met them. Mrs. Qin is President Qin's wife. Could she not sense at all whether her husband was cheating or not? Even without evidence, she could feel whether her husband was having an affair or not."

"Feelings cannot be used as evidence," Ji Feng was worldly-wise and didn't think much of it. "You go reflect the situation with the affair to the police in charge. There's nothing else that can be done."

Jian Jing fell silent.

Ji Feng sighed, speaking sincerely: "Miss Jian, I really admire your sense of justice. But reality is not a novel, constrained by many complex factors. We just need to do what we can, then we can have a clear conscience."

"Is this the perfect crime?" Jian Jing asked.

"No," Ji Feng pondered for a moment, "If the murderer really is President Qin, then I can only say it's a very clever crime."

There is no such thing as a perfect crime in this world. The more perfect it is, the more flaws there are. But President Qin's plan was not perfect. She had already told everyone that she was the designer and admitted that her home used non-compliant devices. Her attitude was good and she was cooperative. It would be difficult to determine this as deliberate murder. In all likelihood, it was negligent homicide or an accident.

She also voluntarily reported the case and cooperated with the police. Even if she was convicted in the end, it would most likely be a suspended sentence.

Jian Jing was silent.

Ji Feng went on, "There are many cases where a security system has caused someone's death. They tend to be lightly sentenced. Because this is for protecting private property, you understand?"

"I understand," Jian Jing said involuntarily, "I really hope this is all my speculation and the truth is simple - just an accident."

"Hmm, actually there's still something you can do," Ji Feng said.

"What?"

"Catch the murderer in your novel," he suggested seriously. "What do you think, good idea right?"

Jian Jing: "..."

Although she knew he was talking nonsense, she was a little tempted. What a cheeky thing to say!

"Something came up, gotta go, talk next time," Just like Kang Mu Cheng, Ji Feng was decisive and acted swiftly. He said he had to go and just hung up, not giving Jian Jing any chance to say goodbye.

But this time, her mood was much more calm.

After contacting the police who left their number and reflecting on the ambiguous relationship between President Qin and Guo Chief Editor, she opened up her computer and created a new document.

A woman murdered her cheating husband but perfectly got away with it. Is she a good person or an evil person? Does her heart taste delicious or poisonous when eaten?

What motivated her to do this?

Did she hesitate or regret it?

At this moment, is she celebrating her success or shuddering at her sin?

As Jian Jing thought about this, she was unable to put pen to paper for a long time.