Ye Qi was very nervous before going on stage, afraid that he would mess up his performance. Unexpectedly, the final result was quite good. Hearing the enthusiastic applause and cheers from the audience, Ye Qi suppressed his excitement, jumped down from the high stool, held the guitar in one hand, and bowed deeply to the audience: "Thank you everyone, thank you!"
Seeing the boy's flushed cheeks, Xiao Lou suppressed a laugh and said, "Xiao Ye seems very excited. No matter what the outcome of this escape room experience is, he's certainly had a worthwhile trip, right?"
Yu Hanjiang nodded: "Yes, it indirectly fulfilled my dream."
Ye Qi prepared two songs: a rather melancholic guitar -accompanied version of "Birch Forest" and a more energetic "I Believe." Ye Qi was clearly getting more and more into the song, and by the second song, he put down his guitar and started singing and dancing, waving to the audience as if the entire stage had become his domain.
Shao Qingge chuckled softly: "He really had a lot of fun."
Xiao Lou said helplessly, "If nothing had gone wrong at this concert, Xiao Ye could have had a wonderful memory."
Yu Hanjiang said calmly, " Red Heart A wouldn't be so kind as to let Ye Qi come to the secret room just to hold a concert."
As he said, Guardian couldn't have been kind enough to let Ye Qi hold a concert in a locked room. They must have arranged this concert to let everyone find some clues. As for whether anyone will die at the scene, that's uncertain. It's possible that the people at today's concert are related to Lin Yiyan's murder case, such as the Xie Yuan and his wife Liang Ting connection, which they haven't had time to investigate yet.
Ye Qi finished his two songs quickly. He clearly had a great time as a singer today. He bowed to the audience to express his gratitude and then said earnestly, "It is an honor to participate in the concert of my seniors. I hope everyone will support 505 Girl Group and I wish my seniors' tour a complete success!"
The fans in the audience applauded enthusiastically, and some even went online to search for information about Ye Qi.
Ye Qi bowed again to express his gratitude before leaving the stage and returning backstage.
After the concert started, to ensure the safety of the stars, a special security company was responsible for clearing the backstage area. Apart from staff with work permits, star managers and assistants, no unauthorized personnel were allowed to enter.
The security is so tight not only because of concerns about haters threatening the singer's safety, but also to prevent paparazzi from sneaking backstage to take photos.
After Ye Qi stepped down, Manager Yun Lan immediately came forward, patted his arm with a big smile: "You sang well. I saw that the audience's reaction was also very good. After you finished singing the two songs, your Weibo followers increased by tens of thousands."
She took the phone and showed Ye Qi the tens of thousands of new Weibo followers.
Ye Qi doesn't care about the number of fans at all, since all of that is gone after leaving the escape room. He is very happy to be able to sing on stage as a singer today, and looks at Yun Lan and says, "Thank you, Sister Yun, for giving me this opportunity."
Yun Lan handed him a bottle of water: "Have some water."
Ye Qi was indeed a bit thirsty after singing two songs in a row. He took the Mineral Water that she handed him and gulped down half a bottle before returning to the dressing room with her. On the way, the two happened to run into the members of 505 Girl Group who had changed their outfits. Ye Qi carefully observed their expressions and found that the five girls were chatting and laughing, and there was nothing unusual about them.
Yun Lan left Ye Qi behind and turned to instruct them: "The second stage includes a group song, followed by individual performances. After this song, Yu Xin will stay on stage for a solo performance, and the rest of you should go backstage immediately to change your clothes. Understand?"
The five nodded in unison: "Understood, Sister Yun."
Yun Lan extended her hand: "Sing well, good luck."
The five of them happily put their hands together and shouted "Go for it!" before lining up to go on stage.
Their clothes and hair had all been changed. The stylist this time was pretty good; the look for each girl perfectly matched their personality. Ye Qi watched their figures disappear at the end of the corridor, scratching the back of his head in confusion. He thought: Could it be that something happened to the girl group? They seemed perfectly normal.
Yun Lan turned to look at him and said, "Alright, Xiao Ye, you've finished your task for today. Go back and rest."
Ye Qi nodded and turned back to the lounge.
In the long corridor, they happened to see a curly-haired woman at the corner. Yun Lan introduced her, "This is Teacher Liang's manager." Sister Chen, this is Ye Qi, a new employee in our company.
Sister Chen smiled and said, " Ye Qi, you sang well just now. I listened to both of your songs. You have great potential!"
Ye Qi was pleased with the compliment and politely said, "Thank you, Sister Chen."
Yun Lan asked, " Where is Teacher Liang?"
Sister Chen said, "Her headache has flared up again, and she's resting in the lounge."
The two didn't say anything more. Ye Qi said goodbye to them and returned home.
In the break room, I gossiped with the manager: " Does Teacher Liang have headaches?" The manager replied, "I heard it's migraines; she hasn't been feeling well since giving birth."
Ye Qi said "Oh," sat on the sofa, and took out his phone.
Yu Hanjiang sent a message in the group: "Xiao Ye, is there anything unusual?"
Ye Qi quickly replied, "The five members of the girl group just changed their outfits and are preparing for their second performance. Judging from their expressions, they should be fine."
Yu Hanjiang asked, " Where is Liang Ting?"
Ye Qi said, "I just saw her manager, who said that Teacher Liang was resting next door because she had a headache."
I had just sent this message when I suddenly heard a scream from next door: "Ah!"
Just then, the five members of the girl group came on stage, and the concert venue erupted in deafening screams and applause.
The screams from next door overlapped with the screams of the concert fans, almost making Ye Qi think he was hallucinating. But alert, he immediately stood up from the sofa and quickly went next door to check the situation.
He arrived at the door of the adjacent lounge—something was definitely wrong!
The manager stood in the doorway, eyes wide, covering her mouth, her face filled with horror. Ye Qi walked past her, followed her gaze, and froze on the spot.
Liang Ting, dressed in a pure black fishtail dress, lay on her side on the ground, her body curled up like a shrimp. A trace of blood clung to the corner of her mouth, and her hand was outstretched towards the door, as if calling for help. The woman's body was stiff; she was clearly lifeless.
Ye Qi sensed something was wrong and immediately messaged Xiao Lou and the others: " Liang Ting is in trouble!"
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang exchanged a glance and called Shao Qingge to quickly come backstage.
When the concert officially started at 8 p.m., security cleared the backstage area and blocked the entrances and exits to prevent paparazzi and anti-fans from sneaking in and causing trouble. Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou were both unfamiliar faces and did not have their work badges with them. When the security guards stopped them from passing, Yu Hanjiang simply took out his police ID and said, "Police."
The security guard froze. Shao Qingge raised an eyebrow and said, "Aren't you going to let us through?"
Several security guards immediately opened the door and let the three through. Yu Hanjiang, Xiao Lou, and Shao Qingge strode towards the backstage lounge area.
The stadium frequently hosts large-scale events and sometimes various cultural performances. The backstage rest area can accommodate thousands of people. At this time, the entire passageway is closed off, and only a few rooms are used for this concert.
Yu Hanjiang walked around while observing the layout of the backstage area.
The backstage area has a U-shaped layout, and the corridor connecting to the main stage is very spacious with no trace of surveillance cameras, presumably to protect the privacy of the celebrities.
The largest room on the left is the staff lounge. Walk around the corner to the front, and you'll find the 505 Girl Group's dressing room and changing room; diagonally opposite is a small dressing room of about 10 square meters, reserved for Ye Qi; Liang Ting, being a special guest, has a large, separate dressing room, where the crime scene is located.
Seeing Captain Yu and the others arrive, Ye Qi immediately rushed over anxiously, saying, " Teacher Liang, something happened..." He was heartbroken. Liang Ting was indeed a very good singer, and Ye Qi greatly respected this senior in the music industry. He had just spoken to her and asked for her autograph, but in the blink of an eye, she was dead?
Seeing Ye Qi's expression, Xiao Lou gently patted his shoulder to comfort him.
The manager stood frozen at the door, clearly speechless with shock at the scene before her. Hearing footsteps behind her, she finally snapped out of it and shakily pulled out her phone: "Call the police, quick!"
Yu Hanjiang said in a low voice, "No need, I am a policeman."
He took out his police ID and showed it to the Manager, while Xiao Lou also took out his Forensic Doctor certificate.
The manager looked at them in confusion: "This...did someone call the police? How come you arrived at the scene so quickly..."
Yu Hanjiang said, "It's nearby."
He winked at Xiao Lou, and the two of them went into the scene together, put on gloves, and started working.
Xiao Lou laid the bent body flat on the ground and began a simple autopsy. He quickly concluded: "The time of death was less than 10 minutes ago. There were no other injuries on the body. The cause of death should be poisoning. To determine the specific type of toxin, we need to take her body back for testing."
Yu Hanjiang nodded, frowning as he carefully examined the scene.
He looked up at the ceiling. To protect the actors' privacy, no surveillance cameras were installed in the dressing room, which was fatal and provided the killer with great convenience.
Yu Hanjiang quickly searched the house for clues.
On the vanity table were some lipsticks, foundation, eyeliner, and other similar items, along with a large handbag. Yu Hanjiang asked the Manager, "Are these the makeup artist's things, or did Liang Ting bring them herself?"
The manager walked over with a pale face and said, "She's used to bringing her own cosmetics when she goes out."
Yu Hanjiang nodded and packed all the cosmetics into his makeup bag, intending to take them back for testing later.
On the dressing table was a black thermos, which was empty, but there were traces of lipstick on the rim, indicating that Liang Ting had drunk from it; in addition, there was an opened bottle of Mineral Water, which Yu Hanjiang also took back.
There were no leftover snacks in the house, and no food wrappers in the trash can. There are only two possible methods the killer used to poison the food—
Poisoning cosmetics or drinking water.
Based on the circumstances of the incident, it is more likely that the water was poisoned. If the murderer poisoned her lipstick, she could have died on stage during her performance. Poisoning the water would have ensured that she died backstage—she would only have been drinking water backstage.
Liang
Ting went on stage at 9:00 PM to sing a song and returned backstage at 9:05 PM.
Immediately after, Ye Qi went on stage and sang two songs. Within the short span of ten minutes that Ye Qi was singing, Liang Ting died of poisoning. The murderer simply didn't have enough time to kill her within ten minutes, and the backstage area was crowded and chaotic, making it too risky to be discovered. Therefore, the murderer may have premeditated the act, poisoning her water beforehand and waiting for her to drink it and experience the effects of the poison.
Although the items on the dressing table were messy, the bottles and jars were all upright and not overturned; the deceased's dress was neat, and her hairstyle and makeup were not messy, proving that she had not had any physical conflict with anyone before her death.
Yu Hanjiang walked a few steps from his seat toward the location of the deceased's body, trying to reconstruct the events of the crime.
After Liang Ting drank the poisoned water, she took three steps and suddenly collapsed to the ground due to the poison. She tried to call for help towards the door, but the screams at the concert were deafening, and Ye Qi's singing attracted the attention of most of the backstage staff, so no one heard her cries for help.
Yu Hanjiang stroked his chin thoughtfully for a moment, then suddenly shouted sternly, "The murderer is definitely still at the scene! Seal off the area immediately, and no backstage staff are allowed to leave!"