Chapter 157 Yan Lili

The suitcase was black.

Once opened, its contents were revealed to everyone standing around.

And when they saw what was inside...

Chen Mo finally understood why Xu Qingqing had hesitated to say that Wen Guodong was gay.

Because inside the suitcase was a photo of him kissing another man with thick body hair.

Combined with Wen Guodong's clean-cut appearance in the photo...

It wasn't hard to guess that he was the '0'.

And the man kissing him was the '1'.

These were common knowledge.

Below the photo were some items of intimate clothing.

The colors were all quite strange.

Pink and wine red.

Underwear in these colors should have appeared in a woman's suitcase.

"Looking at it this way, Wen Guodong really is gay."

Chen Mo said, rubbing his chin.

At the same time, he understood why Xu Qingqing had specifically brought out this suitcase.

She suspected that the killer had managed to lure Wen Guodong out by exploiting the fact that he was gay.

Under normal circumstances, trying to lure a stranger out in the afternoon...

Actually didn't sound that difficult.

After all, it was the afternoon, and the person being asked out was a man.

But in actual practice, it was still a bit troublesome.

The first obstacle encountered would be...

What reason should be used to lure the person out?

And how to ensure the other party would cooperate fully without making a scene!

The killer likely had considered this problem long ago.

And the simplest answer was to use the other party's sexual orientation to achieve the goal.

Any reason would do.

For example, discovering Wen Guodong's sexual orientation and then saying they knew a friend who shared the same orientation.

In short, as long as it aligned with the other party's interests, there would be many ways.

To give the simplest example: you love playing games, and one day in a park, someone comes up to you and asks you to go somewhere with them.

At this time, you would likely ask why and where.

If the other party replied with something like inviting you to dinner...

If you weren't hungry, and considering the other person was a stranger, you naturally wouldn't go.

You might even think, 'Who the hell are you?'

Conversely, if the other person said they had the same hobby as you, also liked playing games, and had a very high rank and wanted to duo queue...

Then your vigilance would actually decrease significantly.

Firstly, because of the shared hobby, there's something to talk about.

Secondly, you'd be clear about the other person's purpose.

Vigilance fades, replaced by the excitement of finding a place to play games together.

The logic is simple: grasp the point of interest to achieve the goal.

"Yes, I do believe the killer lured Wen Guodong out by exploiting his sexual orientation."

"This also explains why Wen Guodong's luggage and other items are still in the room; he had no intention of checking out and leaving."

Xu Qingqing voiced her thoughts.

Hearing this, everyone nodded slightly in agreement.

Given the current situation, this was the most likely possibility.

Other reasons for luring him out weren't impossible.

But combined with the current circumstances, this reason was the most realistic.

It was also the easiest to execute.

Inviting someone to dinner wasn't entirely impossible to pull off.

It was just more troublesome.

For a murderer, the thing they worry about most is trouble.

Trouble means it's easy to make mistakes.

"If that's the case, the killer and this Wen Guodong must know each other."

"Otherwise, how would he know Wen Guodong is gay?"

Someone in the crowd made this remark.

It also sent everyone into deep thought.

Chen Mo didn't answer immediately.

Homosexuality can actually be spotted under specific circumstances.

In his past life, while scrolling through short videos, he would occasionally see videos of couples shopping in 'Taikoo Li'.

From the way they walked to their subtle gestures, the difference between a '0' and a straight man could be seen.

In short, one could tell based on intuition!

It wasn't a hundred percent necessary for them to know each other.

"Not necessarily. A '1' might not be obvious, but a '0' can be spotted through intuition."

"You might not know much about this area, but I've seen it before."

Seeing that everyone was already preparing to investigate Wen Guodong's social network...

Chen Mo immediately spoke up about another possibility.

"I indeed haven't seen it, and I won't deny that what you say makes sense."

"But right now, aside from checking if the two knew each other, our leads have run dry."

That was true.

It was no longer a question of whether they wanted to investigate.

If they didn't follow this trail, there would be no leads left to investigate.

Although there seemed to be many leads now, none of them were crucial.

They were all peripheral.

Even Wen Guodong, whom they had previously considered the killer...

Now seemed to have been deliberately framed by the killer to slow down the police investigation.

"No!"

"There's still one lead we haven't checked!"

"What exactly was Wen Guodong doing at the hotel?"

"He stayed for three consecutive days, renewing his stay just before it ended each time. Was he unsure how long he would stay?"

Chen Mo spoke.

The reason he said this was because he didn't want to fall into the killer's trap.

As stated before, Wen Guodong was pushed forward by the killer to slow down their investigation progress.

If they really went to investigate his social network now...

They would be doing exactly what the killer wanted.

The focus now should be on Wen Guodong as a person.

Was it a coincidence that he was chosen by the killer to be framed?

This was a very crucial question.

"This..."

As soon as Chen Mo's questions were out, everyone fell into contemplation.

Investigating the social network was to find the killer.

And investigating Wen Guodong's purpose for coming to the hotel was also to find traces the killer might have left behind while framing him.

Xu Qingqing spoke up then.

She also immediately grasped the subtle distinction in Chen Mo's question.

"Are you saying that Wen Guodong's stay at the hotel wasn't a spur-of-the-moment thing?"

"But rather that he was waiting for someone? And the person he was waiting for is likely the killer?"

Chen Mo nodded directly without denying it.

If that were the case, all the current leads would be straightened out.

The reason the killer knew Wen Guodong was gay was not just because he could tell, but more likely because he was the one who had invited him in advance.

Afterward, he exploited the other party's sexual orientation.

And framed him.

As long as the other party vanished from this world forever...

Then this case would become one that could never be solved.

This was the reason for Wen Guodong's disappearance at this moment.

"If we follow that logic, Wen Guodong is probably already in grave danger."

Everyone's faces clouded with worry for a moment.

Currently, their only lead was to find traces left by the killer through the point where Wen Guodong was framed.

But if the person was already dead and hidden away...

Then it would be troublesome.

"Don't worry too much. At least we bypassed the trap and found the answer directly."

A relaxed smile appeared on Chen Mo's face.

It seemed like nothing had been investigated yet.

But!

They had learned the killer's modus operandi, hadn't they?

—Step, step, step.

Hurried footsteps approached from a distance.

Hearing the sound, everyone turned their heads in unison.

They saw Ji Feng, the Xining Criminal Police Captain, walking quickly toward them with a cigarette in his mouth. Every step he took seemed powerful and imposing due to his burly and stalwart build.

The first impression he gave was that of a man with a great sense of power.

If a criminal saw him, there would be no need for any measures; his mere presence would cause psychological pressure.

"Good news."

Ji Feng spat out the smoke and then gestured with the documents in his hand.

He said in a gentle tone, "We've already found the victim's information."

"It's all here. Do you want to read it yourselves, or should I introduce it to you?"

His tone was questioning.

But his behavior was declarative.

"I'll just say it."

Clearly, his previous words were just a polite gesture.

"To be honest, finding the victim's identity was quite difficult. The face was distorted, and all items on the body that could prove identity were taken by the killer."

"Fortunately, the dress on the victim was somewhat special, so we managed to find the shop that sold that dress with great effort."

With that, he began to introduce the girl who fell from Room 705.

"Yan Lili, 21 years old, a Xining native. Her parents work in the south all year round, and she was raised by her grandmother. She is currently a student at Xining University of Finance and Economics."

"We investigated Yan Lili's daily life. According to her roommates, the victim seemed to be doing some kind of very profitable part-time job."

Ji Feng paused here.

Giving everyone a moment to react.

"A part-time job related to hotels?"

Chen Mo showed a look of realization and asked casually.

"Exactly. According to her roommates, Yan Lili was always buying expensive luxury goods, designer bags, designer clothes, and the like."

"And according to our investigation, the victim's parents' income in the south isn't high; they both have ordinary labor-intensive jobs."

"And the money for luxury designer clothes couldn't possibly have been given by the victim's grandmother."

"Later, our people looked at Yan Lili's social media accounts and saw solicitation posts she had previously published on Tieba."

In this era, Tieba's control over posts wasn't that strict yet.

It wasn't just Tieba; in fact, the management of many websites wasn't considered strict.

Opening any webpage, one could see various pornographic and violent images.

The purpose was actually simple: to attract users to their websites.

Although such things didn't sound good...

They were a very effective way to attract users.

Chen Mo didn't respond immediately but flipped through the file and found the post Yan Lili had published.

The content was roughly like this: [A quiet night, lonely and unbearable, looking for someone to talk to. I have a cheerful personality, private messages are welcome.]

To an ordinary person, this might be a post from a beautiful girl who was lonely late at night and wanted to find someone to chat with.

But to an experienced person, this was solicitation.

The sexual innuendo was very obvious.

He then continued to flip through.

And saw the chat records.

It was the conversation between the victim and a customer.

The general meaning was that she arrived at the hotel at twelve o'clock last night.

She shouldn't let anyone find out she had been there, and so on.

Yan Lili herself was engaged in illegal work.

The client had made this request, and she didn't feel anything was amiss.

After all, soliciting prostitution didn't just involve catching one person.

Both the man and the woman would be caught.

"So who was the person who invited her?"

"And why was she killed in the end?"