The police found that two kinds of oil paints had been mixed together when they tested the paint. Although they were the same color, the compositions of the two kinds of oil paints were different because they came from different brands.
After some analysis, they inferred that someone poured one kind of oil paint first, then someone else poured another kind of oil paint afterward.
"According to the evidence we've gathered up until now, it's likely that some students wanted to play a prank, which was taken advantage of by the culprit." The police held a meeting in their temporary meeting room.
"Well, it's possible that some students poured the paint first and the suspect came later. Now we need to find out which student poured the oil paint."
"That Lu Meng is the biggest suspect."
"I don't agree with that. She came to the police station last night," someone disagreed. "The headmaster came to pick her up and he said that he sent her home personally. And we know she stayed at home after she came back because of the housemaid's statement. The housemaid went to the washroom several times during the night and said that she saw Lu Meng asleep on the sofa in the living room."
"She went to the police station?"
"En… because of fighting." That policeman nodded. "She looked very thin and seemed to be weak, but she is really very fierce."
The policemen stared each other in the eyes.
"Lu Meng needs to be investigated further. After all, she was mostly suspected because the headmaster said she entered the auditorium as he was leaving."
"En… But she didn't carry anything at that time and came out quickly. According to the time when the doorkeeper saw her leave, we could speculate that she stayed in the auditorium only for several minutes. She didn't have enough time to do anything. Then she went to the police station because of some altercation and was sent home by the headmaster."
"Investigate more carefully," the policeman who seemed to be the leader concluded in the end.
When police investigated who poured the oil paint first, a student confessed saying she did it. She wasn't allowed to join the class performance, leading her to pour the paint during the night because of her grudge.
But she didn't expect that things would turn out like this. She didn't know why there was blood beneath the oil paint. She was afraid. After struggling for a long time, she decided to confess what she had done.
When the student came to confess, Ming Shu was brought in for questioning. After hearing the student's story, Ming Shu lifted her eyebrows and asked her in front of the police, "You did it? How did you enter the auditorium? I remember that I locked the door when I left."
The lock on the auditorium's door was an instant lock. The door was opened when Ming Shu came in because the headmaster was inside.
But once the door was locked, it could only be opened with a key. And Ming Shu locked the door when she left.
"I…" The girl's face became pale. "I have the key."
"I also remember that the teacher gave the key to the president and vice-president of the Student Council yesterday. Where did you get the key?" Ming Shu held her chin in her hands, smiling. "Or did you steal it?"
"No, no, I didn't steal the key," the student denied unconsciously.
When someone was blamed for stealing, they would reply instinctively if they didn't do it. The same went for this student. But she regretted it as soon as she retorted. "Yes, I stole it."
Ming Shu looked at the policeman beside them. "She lied."
"I didn't lie, I really did it." The student worried that the policeman wouldn't believe her and insisted, "I really poured the paint."
The policeman had seen many different kinds of people; he could easily tell whether someone was lying. "You question her inside. Lu Meng, you're the suspect now. Don't talk randomly."
"Alas, I said I didn't do it." Ming Shu shook her head. "Why don't you believe me?"
"Before we catch the murderer, everyone is suspect." The policeman was serious. "You're still a suspect now. Blah blah blah, blah blah blah…"
"Okay, okay. But, can I eat that bread? Don't you provide meals when you question me?"
"…" Was she even listening to me? the policeman thought.
...
The police couldn't be fooled so easily. Because Ming Shu said only the Student Council had the key, they soon found out Jin Yuqi.
Jin Yuqi wasn't a member of the Student Council, but she had borrowed a key from the president and hadn't given it back.
Jin Yuqi was afraid of being investigated by the police. Although she had nothing to do with the blood, she had ruined those costumes, which would damage her image if it was exposed.
In order not to be discovered, she bribed another student to confess for her.
Originally Jin Yuqi would have succeeded. But Ming Shu, who was sure that the oil paint was poured by Jin Yuqi to begin with and would win Hatred Points along the way, was in the police station too when the student was confessing.
But even if Ming Shu weren't in the police station at that time, the police would have discovered the information about the key sooner or later.
Before she came into this world through a book, Jin Yuqi was just a student. Those people who incarnated into novels always said they were older and more mature, adding their age in their original world with their age in the novel's world. But experience and IQ couldn't be counted as age.
The background of this world that Jin Yuqi incarnated into was of a school campus. Maybe when faced with her peers, Jin Yuqi had a sense of superiority. She could easily succeed and win several lovers because she only needed to compete with naive students. But when she faced the police, she was not smart enough.
Jin Yuqi only poured some paint, which wasn't a criminal offense. But when she came to school, she found that her classmates looked at her with a strange gaze, the same gaze they looked at Lu Meng with before.
Jin Yuqi gritted her teeth and thought, Lu Meng, it's because of you again.
She had expected that Lu Meng would become everyone's enemy this time because of her frame job. However, what she had done brought serious consequences to herself in the end.
"What are you looking at!" Jin Yuqi fiercely stared at the students beside her.
The students who were staring shrank back in fear and ran away with their friends.
Jin Yuqi had looked frightening just now and wasn't elegant or easygoing at all.
Jin Yuqi ignored those students who kept whispering behind her back and went to see Shangguan Feng, resentful.
She had to make sure Lu Meng was completely discredited.
...
The police had found out that Jin Yuqi poured the oil paint initially, but not who poured the oil paint that was mixed with the blood. And no corpse was found at the school either. Ming Shu, who was suspected at first, was proven innocent in the end because she didn't have the motivation and time to do anything.
So the investigation had to be delayed.
The school was afraid that worse things would happen among students. So without evidence, it was announced that the oil paint mixed with the human blood was a mere prank and the human blood was taken from a hospital and had not come from anyone specific.
Because no corpse had been found, most students believed it and were pacified by the announcement. The police also didn't deny the announcement and investigated in secret.
As the mid-term exams approached, the attention of the students was diverted and less people discussed this matter.
The mid-terms were strict. Ming Shu lay prone and looked at the test paper, unwilling to answer any questions at all.
When the exam period was about over, she quickly began to answer and turned her test in as the bell rang.
When all the subjects were finished, Ming Shu became energetic once again. She went to buy snacks with Ye Miaomiao. I can eat happily at last, Ming Shu thought.
As soon as they arrived at the school's shop, they saw Cheng Yan come out with many snacks. Ye Miaomiao poked Ming Shu secretly and thought that many people said that Cheng Yan was pursuing Mengmeng.
"Finished your test? It's for you." Cheng Yan gave the snacks to Ming Shu, a roguish smile on his face that elicited excited shouts from the girl students hanging around.
"…" I would ever choose a guy doesn't show up when he should, Ming Shu thought.