Chapter 186 - 177.2

A pindrop…

The stand-off persisted. 

Seven individuals were unmoving, inside this quiet lounge room were a dead body was next to them. Though there was a frequent distinct noise emitted from the flipped pages of the strawberry haired youth. Wasn't this situation so mind-thrilling enough?

The dead man with wide black-strikened eyes was staring directly to the silver haired young man. His dull and lifeless eyes brought chills to Chun but he noticed the strange-shaped mouth of the victim. It was pursed tightly and it was bloated.

Chun pushed away the dazed shivering curly haired young man, it could be said that they were both close that when the door suddenly slammed shut. Lemon immediately ran to where he was. He treated this youth so kindly the moment he arrived on this hotel for his break as the latter was the one who initiated their friendship. 

He frowned when he wanted to remember how did they met? It seemed like he forgot about it. The silver haired young man shrugged those irrelevant thoughts away while he focused to the current event.

Chun wore the gloves that he just took off and neared the dead body. He heard a terrified squeal behind him but he continued to remove the substance that was the victim had been biting on until his last breath.

It could be another clue.

The breath of a dead body was like a person who never undergone the toothbrush since his birth. 

He pursed his lips while holding his breath, not to inhale too much 'poison'. The silver haired young man was able to retrieve a piece of rolled-up paper while he slowly unfurled it.

Wiping it with other gloved hand in order to see what was written on it. The paper was smooth in texture and a bit shiny when the fluorescent light shone on it. 

"It is silk paper," Feng Zi was like a noiseless ninja suddenly appearing beside Chun without the other noticing.

"Silk paper?"

"It's a very expensive paper, only the nobles can use it." He adjusted it his glasses while an 'I'm also a noble' expression was written on his face.

"So you have used this kind of paper too?" Chun played along with the latter's intention. With chin raised and his lofty attitude showed, his scholarly vibe complemented his upbringing. Feng Zi hummed in confirmation.

Chun didn't bother with the antagonistic air between the two youths while he read the written text on the silk paper.

'Find the key before he gets you.'

Even the expressionless long haired woman was interested in the contents of the silk paper. "Key?"

"So we need to find the key? And who was the 'he' here?" Chun said to the other. It seemed that only the two of them was interested on solving this case so he only directed his question to the girl.

But he didn't think that the taciturn Berry who was occupied on his book, stood up from his chair as he put back the book in the shelf. 

Somehow the silver haired young man saw an imagery of a shelf of liquors and wines overlapping the bookshelf while a man was expertly mixing drinks and served it into ċȯċktails on the bar counter. Then the vague scene flashed and disappeared as if it was just an illusion.

"We have no liquors here in the lounge room, how come this person had a wine glass in here?" He simply said while examining the wine glass on the carpetted floor.

A gloved hands stole it from his hand and the strawberry haired youth appeared to be also inspecting it. He sniffed it a bit and immediately frowned from the unexpected scent that came from it. He wasn't fond of alcoholic drinks.

"This is a fifty-year old red wine. Smells sweet and fruity but there's something off with that odd strong sour-like smell…" Berry trailed off. He was in deep thought. The way this day had started to the strawberry haired young man was quite unusual and strange as if the moment he woke up, there was something wrong. Even his instincts were warning him, alarmed bells in his mind kept on ringing.

'What was it? What was it?'

This was the question that kept running in his mind. The moment he stepped out from his room and bumped or more specifically, Lollipop bumped on him. He sensed that he forgot something. 

Until he was asked to call the police as one of the guy living on this same floor saw a dead body on their lounge room. He just calmed himself through flipping the pages of the book, he didn't even read it.

"What are you thinking?" Chun asked the silent youth. He was curious to what clue that he had caught on.

"I …" perhaps sleep at the wrong side of the bed. Berry brushed off that dumb hunch while he said, succinctly, "Flipped this carpet."

"Wait…before you do this detective play of yours, can you even proved what you said earlier? Can you even smell a taste of a wine?" The tone of Notalie was full of suspicion. She wasn't interested in their detective play but she noticed that this guy was acting suspiciously calm in this gruesome scene. He even read a book after calling the police though it didn't go through.

'Did he even called the police?' Notalie frowned while there was an accusation in her eyes.

Before she could accused him due to her overthinking, Berry replied with a nonchalant tone, "Dropped that idea." He then turned to the silver haired young man to continue where they had left off. 

Eliza voluntarily flipped the carpet and they saw written words in capital letters. 

'BEFORE THAT, LET'S PLAY. WHO COULD BE THE KILLER? NO… WE DON'T NEED THE KILLER. LET'S JUST PUT IT SIMPLY, HOW DID THE VICTIM DIE?'

"W-what? We're going to solve this in order to go out?" Lemon said with frightened voice. He retained a bit of calmness, though it couldn't be denied that he was still stimulated. He was the second person to see that dead body.

And who was the first person to discover the body?

Chun somehow looked at the direction of the hiding girl on her older sister. "What? What are you staring at my younger sister?" Notalie exclaimed.

"Your younger sister saw the body. Did she noticed anything?" Instead Chun asking. Berry was the one who initiated the question.

The hot-tempered woman raised her brows and puffed in the air with hateful voice, "How can she notice anything if she was meek silent and too scared to say something when she hugged me with shivering body?"

Berry didn't press on while he examined the writings on the floor. It was in red font but it wasn't blood. Just a red marker. "Can you lend me the silk paper?"

The silver haired young immediately passed to him the paper which Berry compared. From the strokes and the way it was written, the grasped of the author seemed to be careless while he admitted that they were the same handwriting.

"How did he die though?" Feng Zi said with curiosity and tried to look at the dead man. Although, he didn't try to get closer to it. The smell was so nauseating and hours had already passed, then this corpse was exuding a very bad odor.

If he could get out then he was a second out from this room. He couldn't believe that these three was truly playing detective and not even minding the smell of the disgusting thing.

"What do you think?" the strawberry haired young man directed his inquiry to Chun and Eliza while he continued to inspect some of the traces that he found.

The long black haired woman didn't answer while she maintained her expressionless face. Chun somehow thought that this girl was the only one who was not out of character in this bunch of people. 

"I am not good with this stuff but I have bits of guesses."

"Let's hear it out then."

"He didn't die by blood loss due to a stab wound and I think that stabbing someone with this broken glass chess piece is a bit off…"

The strawberry haired young man nodded while he looked at Chun with an expression of asking him to continue. 

"And while I took that silk paper from his mouth, I noticed that his tongue is black and his teeth are purplish. Is that somehow cause of poisoning?"

Hearing that, Berry quirked the corner of his lips and a faint smile emerged. The cover of this case seemed to be simple but it wasn't.

Chun didn't focus to the intent of the latter's smile as he found it weird for the other to smile. That strained smile was off-putting his character…. and the silver haired young man noticed that he was thinking something unimportant, again.