The Genius Female Forensic Pathologist, The Psychological Anatomist - Chapter 61: Ghost House Mystery: Design Plagiarism

Chapter 61

After being caught by Chen Xue, Mu Mian guiltily looked at the ceiling, avoiding their accusing gazes.

Zhang chimed in, “That’s right, what is it that we can’t hear? Or does Forensic Specialist Mu think we won’t understand?”

“Zhang, are you sure you want to hear?” Fang Rui looked at Zhang helplessly, “I think it’s better if you don’t know.”

“Of course I do! Tell me, tell me.” Zhang found it strange that the boss singled him out. He suddenly had an ominous feeling.

“Mu Mian told me that your deduction just now was like a net.”

Zhang’s face lit up, “Is she praising my deduction for being rigorous and tightly knit?”

Fang Rui continued, “Full of holes.”

Zhang looked at Mu Mian with a hurt expression, “Forensic Specialist Mu, you’ve wounded me!”

“It wouldn’t have hurt if you hadn’t asked,” Mu Mian also looked aggrieved, “You insisted on knowing.”

“I feel so bad… Well, help me patch up the holes then.” Zhang was used to it by now; his deductions always seemed to miss the correct answer.

Why was this happening? He wasn’t that stupid, and he had quite an imagination.

Mu Mian reminded him, “There are many other possibilities. For example, the killer could be a psychopath randomly selecting victims, which would make it impossible to identify the killer through personal connections…”

After the meeting, Fang Rui decided to revisit the shop. He had some questions for the Shop Manager.

When Mu Mian found out, she excitedly expressed her desire to go there to look for clues as well.

“Forensic Specialist Mu, hasn’t the cause of death been determined? What other clues are you looking for?” Zhang looked at Mu Mian’s excited face, feeling that things weren’t so simple.

Mu Mian didn’t answer this question, instead turning to Fang Rui, “Fang Rui, drive faster.”

Once they arrived at the shop, Mu Mian said to Fang Rui and Zhang, “Fang Rui, you guys go take statements. I’ll go to the escape room first to look for clues. Take your time asking questions. I’ll wait for you in the room.”

The Shop Manager said worriedly, “But without me guiding you, it might take you half a day to solve the puzzles. You’d better wait for me to take you…”

Before he could finish, Mu Mian had already cheerfully walked away.

“It’s fine, she’ll probably be faster on her own than if you were guiding her,” Fang Rui said with a smile.

“…” The Shop Manager was a bit speechless, but remembering Mu Mian’s speed in decoding, he thought Fang Rui might have a point.

This young lady was very clever.

“Boss, won’t Forensic Specialist Mu be scared all alone? That place is terrifying!” Zhang exclaimed.

“Are you sure she’d be afraid?” Fang Rui and the Shop Manager looked at Zhang simultaneously, and Zhang suddenly felt his concern might be unnecessary.

Fang Rui turned to the Shop Manager and asked, “Do you know Liu Xiaonian?”

“Who’s Liu Xiaonian? I don’t know him. We receive dozens of players every day in our shop. With such a large customer flow, how could I possibly remember every player’s name?”

Fang Rui interrupted him, “I only asked about the name. If you don’t know him, how did you know he was once a player in your shop?”

The Shop Manager’s expression changed. He explained, “Oh, I instinctively assumed you were asking about a player. My mistake, I spoke too quickly. I really don’t know any Liu Xiaonian.”

Fang Rui handed him Liu Xiaonian’s photo, “Are you sure you don’t know him?”

“I don’t know him.”

“Didn’t you beat him up? How could you not know him?” Fang Rui asked. Actually, he wasn’t sure if Liu Xiaonian’s injuries were from them, so he was just bluffing the Shop Manager.

Unexpectedly, the Shop Manager instantly broke into a cold sweat. He confessed, “Officer Fang, I lied earlier. I do know him. He caused trouble in our shop before, and our staff beat him up and kicked him out. I was nervous earlier, so I lied.”

After discovering the body, the Shop Manager immediately had the staff check the surveillance videos. Through the entrance and exit footage, they identified the deceased as Liu Xiaonian. Because of their previous conflict, the Shop Manager was worried the police would suspect them, so he lied.

“Why did he cause trouble?”

“Well… um…” The Shop Manager hesitated, but seeing Fang Rui staring at him, he finally admitted, “He thought our escape room design was garbage, that the experience was like shit. He was very dissatisfied, so he caused trouble.”

“Is that the only reason?”

“It is. I’m not lying this time.”

Fang Rui felt that this Shop Manager was full of lies. He took out Liu Xiaonian’s design sketches and handed them to the Shop Manager, “Your shop opened in June, so why did Liu Xiaonian draw these design sketches for your escape room in January?”

After looking at the sketches, the Shop Manager still tried to argue, “Well… escape rooms all follow similar patterns. It’s normal for designs to overlap!”

Fang Rui pulled out one sketch, “This one shows a mechanism that’s identical to the scene setup in your ‘Bride and Groom Collection Room’, with the same mechanism design and even the same way to trigger it. You call this a design overlap? Isn’t this direct copying?”

Seeing that he couldn’t hide it anymore, the Shop Manager wiped the sweat from his forehead and confessed, “Some elements of our escape room were copied from competitors. The ‘Bride and Groom Collection Room’ was plagiarized from another design, but definitely not from Liu Xiaonian’s. I’m not lying about this. We beat him up last time because he was cursing loudly in our shop, affecting our reputation.”

Fearing that Fang Rui wouldn’t believe him, the Shop Manager added, “That shop was called ‘Lost Island’, and it’s already closed down. Last month, their boss sued us, we paid a large sum in compensation, and then got their authorization. If you don’t believe me, you can check the court judgment online, it’s been made public.”

“If he thought your shop’s experience was so bad, why did he come to play again this time?”

The Shop Manager looked exasperated, “We don’t know either! We had already blacklisted him, but that day he was received by a new employee who didn’t recognize him, so he was let in. We’re just unlucky to encounter such a situation.”

So how did Liu Xiaonian have those design sketches? And what was his connection to the shop called “Lost Island”?

Fang Rui decided to go to the escape room to find Mu Mian first.

Zhang initially refused to go, but he had no choice but to succumb to Fang Rui’s pressure. Perhaps because he had been through it once before, Zhang found it less terrifying this time.

Zhang touched the decorations on the wall, feeling they had a nice texture, but noticed Fang Rui observing him.

“Chen Xue isn’t here, and your courage seems to have grown. Weren’t you scared to death yesterday?”

Zhang’s face reddened, “Boss…”

“You’re quite clever, kid.” Fang Rui looked at Zhang with newfound respect, surprised at Zhang’s little tricks when it came to romance.

“…”

Under the Shop Manager’s guidance, they quickly arrived at the hidden level.

Zhang saw Mu Mian standing in front of the skeleton Bride, touching it here and there, looking extremely happy.

“Forensic Specialist Mu, why are you standing here? Can’t you get into the escape room?”

Zhang’s sudden voice startled Mu Mian. She quickly concealed her burning gaze and explained, “You finished taking statements so quickly?”

Fang Rui looked at the resin skeleton, strongly suspecting that Mu Mian had fallen in love with the skeleton Bride, just like she had inexplicably fallen in love with his corpse.

Mu Mian pressed the Bride’s chest and said to the Shop Manager, “The mechanism is in the chest. You don’t actually need to hug it to trigger the mechanism.”

Hearing this, the Shop Manager’s face became somewhat unnatural.