Bai Ci’s frankness completely shattered the subtle tension in the interrogation room. An Shu’s pen hovered over her notebook, frozen.
She had rehearsed her questioning tactics so many times in her head—from casually asking about the details of the blind dates, to gradually raising suspicions about the deaths, and quietly observing Bai Ci's reactions.
Now, all of it had been rendered completely useless.
Was this really how it was supposed to go?
This wasn't how the Bureau of Investigation's game was supposed to be played!
Chen Quan raised his hand slightly, signaling An Shu to remain calm. His gaze then fell back on Bai Ci. “You’ve guessed correctly, Miss Bai. Since that's the case, let’s lay our cards on the table.”
“First, let’s make an assumption: the family curse you mentioned does indeed exist, and its effects are limited strictly to you.”
“Its sole purpose is to force the women of the Bai family to marry before the age of thirty, or else they will lose their lives.”
Bai Ci nodded gently, waiting for him to continue.
She knew that Chen Quan was an experienced investigator after all, and fooling him wouldn't be easy. Rather than racking her brain to fabricate a logical story, it was better to just go along with his train of thought.
Chen Quan continued, “But looking at the recent homicides, several of your blind date partners have died bizarrely one after another, and each case was ruled as an accident.”
“Miss Bai, do you really think all of this is just a coincidence?”
“When a coincidence happens too many times, it ceases to be a coincidence,” Bai Ci replied.
Chen Quan nodded and continued, “If these deaths aren't mere coincidences, then there must be something else about you that triggered all of this.”
“Perhaps it is another curse, or maybe... a blessing.”
“A blessing?” An Shu blurted out, her confusion showing on her face.
What kind of blessing kills people? she couldn't help but think.
But she quickly realized his point.
Bai Ci also caught onto Chen Quan's meaning. “Those deceased blind date partners... none of them were good people, were they?”
“If it weren't for these bizarre accidents, they might have continued to commit crimes, or even pestered me and brought me trouble.”
“From this perspective, their deaths actually spared me from being harassed by scumbags, which could be considered a form of indirect protection.”
“So, calling it a blessing isn't entirely wrong either.”
An Shu nodded repeatedly. Yes, that made perfect sense.
This Miss Bai Ci didn't seem as introverted and quiet as her file at the matchmaking agency suggested. On the contrary, her mind was incredibly sharp.
“Wait a minute, Miss Bai. How did you know that the people you went on blind dates with weren't good people?”
An Shu paused, her confusion deepening. Why did this woman's performance keep fluctuating between flawless and suspicious?
Just when An Shu was about to believe her, another doubt would crop up.
“You just said you didn't know their specific causes of death or their situations. How could you know none of them were good people? How did you find out?”
Bai Ci shrugged, a helpless smile playing on her lips.
“I actually don't know what bad things they did exactly. It's just that with a few of them, the feeling that something was off was incredibly obvious.”
“Especially the one named Wa Yeyao.”
She shook her head gently. “I can't explain this feeling in detail. It's a bit like a detective's intuition.”
“You should know, right? I used to be a detective.”
“Back then, I dealt with all kinds of people every day. Good people, bad people... having seen so much, I developed a vague ability to sense good and evil.”
“At first, I only felt something was off and didn't think much of of it. After all, who would have thought that during a normal blind date, not a single decent person would show up?”
“It wasn't until Captain Chen mentioned just now that my blind date partners died one after another, and hypothesized that whatever is on me could be a blessing, that I connected the dots.”
“It's not a particularly difficult deduction to make,” Bai Ci said naturally, as if explaining a simple logical sequence.
In reality, it was far from simple. She had only been an ordinary DM, not an actual detective with years of experience.
Without the clear information provided by the Rain's Message panel, she would have needed quite a while to figure it out through forward deduction.
But who could blame her when she already knew the answer?
Deducing the process backward from the result was always the fastest way.
An Shu nodded, indicating she understood and had no further questions.
She had met smart people before, after all.
Chen Quan pondered for a moment. Once Bai Ci finished her explanation, he spoke up, “Miss Bai, you're still wearing that ring. Has it caused any anomalies since then?”
His gaze drifted slightly downward, landing on Bai Ci's hands.
To be precise, it landed on the ring on her left middle finger.
“No anomalies have occurred,” Bai Ci said softly, her tone warming at the mention of the ring. “During the insect swarm incident, it was the thing that protected me.”
“I've been wearing it ever since. Since it can protect me, it shouldn't be a bad thing, right?”
Chen Quan shook his head. “Miss Bai, you must understand that just because an enchanted item is harmless to its owner—and can even protect them—it doesn't mean it's harmless to others.”
“During the insect swarm, both Miss Lin and I only received indirect protection because it was trying to protect you. That doesn't prove it's harmless to anyone else.”
Bai Ci had a feeling their train of thought was about to go off course.
But logically speaking, she couldn't deny it, so she would just have to let them take the scenic route.
Seeing Bai Ci fall into deep thought, Chen Quan didn't interrupt. He waited patiently until she looked up before continuing his questions.
“How did you get this ring in the first place? And what's going on with the one on your right hand? Which one is the real one?”
Bai Ci instinctively raised her right hand as well. Looking at the two identical rings, an embarrassed smile appeared on her face.
“It's hard to say which is real or fake. I actually found both of these rings at a street stall.”
“The stall owner said they were mass-produced. The design was simple and the price was cheap. I thought they looked nice, so on a whim, I bought the entire batch of over twenty rings.”
“At first, I didn't think they were anything special. I just threw them in a drawer and wore them occasionally.”
“It wasn't until the insect swarm incident that I discovered the strange power of the ring on my left hand.”
“After I got back, I dug out all the rings and tried them one by one. Even though they looked identical on the outside, I could vaguely sense that only the one on my left hand was special.”
“I wore two because I wanted the one on my right hand to absorb some of the energy from the left one.”
“Who knows, maybe it could become a special ring just like the one on my left. An extra layer of protection is always good.”
By the end of her explanation, she had lowered her head slightly.
Admitting such a greedy, almost childish idea in front of two investigators like Chen Quan and An Shu was bound to make her feel a bit self-conscious.
Seeing that Bai Ci's embarrassment didn't seem fake, An Shu believed her explanation.
Suddenly, as if realizing something, a grave expression crossed her face. “Miss Bai, do you know that a ring on the left middle finger usually indicates that someone is deeply in love, or already engaged?”
Rate on N.U.
