Yan Zhanpeng quickly called out, "What's wrong?"
Da Luo had no time to answer. His body trembled a few times and then he stopped responding.
Liu Yuning and I approached and knelt beside him. Upon touching his neck, we discovered he no longer had a pulse.
"He's dead! Everyone, don't move. Stay where you are! We'll call for backup immediately!" Liu Yuning said, picking up his phone.
Yan Zhanpeng, however, said, "No, if we notify the police, this matter will be exposed."
"We actually went to the studio yesterday. This is a murder case, Director Yan. If something happens, can you bear the responsibility?" I said.
"But this will affect the TV series, and we'll lose a lot of money. Not to mention any comments, even a second or a minute costs millions. Unlike you police officers who only earn a few thousand a month!"
"Director Yan, please understand your current situation. There's a dead body at your filming location. No matter how much money you make, whether it's ten thousand or a million per minute, you must abide by the law. You have no right to be above the law!" I stared at him and yelled.
"You!" Yan Zhanpeng was momentarily speechless. He could only stand there. Soon, our police team arrived. Gao Mingqiang and Xiao Yuande led the forensic team to Da Luo's side. Many people took photos of his body. Xie Chuchu and Xiao Dong took out their kits and began the autopsy. I squatted nearby.
The deceased had clear signs of poisoning all over his body. Looking at his blackened skin, I could tell even without looking at his fingernails. Xie Chuchu lifted his eyelids and quickly analyzed, "The victim's pupils are constricted, with dispersed lenses, no rigor mortis, blackened skin, and purplish-black fingernails. These are all clear signs of poisoning. However, I'll need to do lab tests to determine the exact poison."
"No need, I have a method!" My sudden statement made Xie Chuchu look at me in surprise. "Senior, what do you mean?"
"It seems it's time to show you another tool of the He family coroner!" I took out a long tube made of bamboo from my kit. Xie Chuchu and Liu Yuning looked at it and simultaneously said, "Is that the Shadowless Reflector Tube?"
I shook my head and said, "This is a bamboo leaf extractor. It can quickly check the blood components of the deceased on-site, allowing me to see exactly what poison he died from!"
I immediately drew some blood from the body. Soon, a blue reaction appeared in a groove in the middle of the bamboo leaf extractor. Seeing this, Xie Chuchu asked, "Why did the groove change color?"
"The 'True Record of Cases Solved' records that the bamboo leaf extractor has the ability to identify blood and detoxify. Detoxify isn't meant in that sense, but rather to analyze the type of poison. Red indicates poisoning from liquid chemical substances, green indicates poisoning caused by animals, and blue indicates poisoning from mist. If there's no reaction, it proves the deceased was not poisoned. Many years ago, my ancestor, He Shenlong, already used this secret technique passed down from Master Song Ci to quickly verify the type of poison that caused the death."
"Blue is mist poisoning? Who did this?" At this moment, Yan Zhanpeng looked sternly at the film crew members nearby. He seemed furious at the killer behind this, who had disrupted his production.
"Have all the crew members come over, including the villagers from this mountain village!" I instructed.
"No, there are no people in this village. We came directly here and didn't pay any fees to lease it."
If Yan Zhanpeng hadn't said that, I wouldn't have known. They had chosen a deserted village. No wonder I hadn't seen any villagers earlier. I thought the director had arranged for them to be elsewhere.
"Then just call all the crew members. I'll interrogate them one by one!" Liu Yuning added.
Yan Zhanpeng sent an assistant to fetch them. Soon, the remaining dozen or so people arrived. When they learned that Da Luo had been murdered, they were all shocked.
I asked Xie Chuchu to continue the autopsy, and I stood up, shifting my attention to Xiao Rui, as the fruit was brought by her. "Miss Gan, didn't you know there was something wrong with the fruit? You still gave it to others to eat!?"
Sensing my probing tone, Gan Xiaorui acted as if she had been wronged and retorted, "Don't talk nonsense. I definitely didn't poison it. As a big star, how could I harm a third-tier star? That would ruin my future!"
"That's not what I meant. After all, you were holding the bamboo basket. Don't just say the police, anyone here would think that!" I explained.
Yan Zhanpeng nodded in agreement. "Yes, Gan Xiaorui, it's not that we're suspicious, but please tell us the source of the fruit."
"Okay! I'll tell you. I didn't touch the bamboo basket before. My assistant, Xiao Fang, brought it. I didn't tamper with the fruit in any way!" Gan Xiaorui's answer was natural, without any flaws.
My eyes were fixed on her micro-expressions. The assistant named Xiao Fang was quickly summoned. Facing me, Xiao Fang did not panic, only looking anxious. "Don't look at me like that. I picked the fruit from the mountain, but Doctor Huang already checked it, and there were no problems!"
"Really? Who is Doctor Huang?" I turned to look at the crowd and suddenly noticed a person in a white coat among them.
He was a middle-aged man wearing sunglasses, carrying a medical bag, with a scholarly demeanor. He was likely Doctor Huang.
Doctor Huang walked over and said, "That's right, I checked the fruit at the time, and it was not poisonous!"
Xiao Dong collected all the fruit. It had to be sent for testing. I suddenly thought of something and said, "No, it wasn't poisoning from the fruit. The bamboo leaf extractor clearly showed a blue sign earlier!"
"Exactly, Senior. If this is true, then where did the deceased inhale the toxic mist?"
There couldn't be any surveillance here, meaning Da Luo's movements were untraceable. I had to say to the group, "Who was the last person to contact Da Luo?"
Everyone shook their heads. In such situations, some people, wanting to distance themselves from the murder, would lie even if they were with Da Luo. But I immediately noticed a girl in the crowd reacting extremely nervously.
Her left leg trembled before her right, her hands shook uncontrollably, her face was pale, and her forehead was covered in sweat. I quickly ran over and grabbed her. "Was it you?"