SFTD -Chapter 295 Bride Who Fell from a Building (Part 4)

Zhou Hai stared at Zhang Wenqi without blinking for a long moment before speaking.

“Alright. Xiao Liang will take over Zhang Wenqi’s work and sort out all the physical evidence. You’ll take Zhang Wenqi back to the center first.”

“As for resignation, reassignment, or writing a self-criticism—deal with that later after you get back!”

Fengzi gave Xiao Liang a glance and followed Zhou Hai toward the area where the staff were standing.

The male manager in a suit with an ID badge quickly cleared his throat. The man in a white forensic inspection suit and glasses gave off a strong sense of pressure, but out of professional habit, he quickly composed himself, put on a business smile, and walked over to Zhou Hai and Fengzi.

Zhou Hai looked at him and asked, “Are you the floor manager or the guest room manager?”

The man slightly nodded.

“I’m Lu Xianguang, the duty manager of the housekeeping department and the night shift supervisor yesterday. I didn’t leave because a homicide occurred here. Let’s go to that room to talk.”

Zhou Hai didn’t refuse and followed him into a room on the right.

He got straight to the point.

“Have you prepared all the information about the deceased and their relatives?”

The man handed over a printed A4 sheet.

“This contains all guest registration information, check-in time, room numbers, and identity details. As for the night-shift housekeeping staff on this floor, I’ve also asked her to stay. You can question her if needed.”

Zhou Hai’s expression eased slightly at such cooperation.

“Good. The housekeeping staff can be found by the criminal police. Do you know anything about the guests’ arrangements? For example, did they reserve any restaurant or banquet event at your hotel?”

The man thought for a moment, then shook his head.

“No, there wasn’t any. I specifically checked the catering department records when I was pulling their information. I thought there might be a wedding banquet since she was wearing a wedding dress. According to local customs in Southeast City, the groom’s side usually makes reservations in advance. To avoid missing anything from the bride’s side, I checked all bookings from the past two weeks, and there was no record of a guest named Zhang Huihui.”

Fengzi looked puzzled. “How would you know that?”

The man smiled.

“We provide a three-tier wedding cake for newlyweds. However, we require the names of both the bride and groom to be written in chocolate on the cake as name plaques. So far, no guest has ever refused this complimentary service.”

Zhou Hai nodded slightly, then shifted his attention to the outdoor balcony.

“I have another question. Does your outdoor balcony design include any supplementary safety measures, such as external surveillance cameras?”

The man froze for a moment, his smile stiffening.

“I really don’t have the authority to answer that. The building was designed by a Singaporean architect; it’s one of his well-known works. However, there were complaints from guests before.

At one point, a guest staying in a room felt someone knocking on the window. When she pulled back the curtain, she saw a shadow moving outside. She reacted quickly and locked the balcony door.

She then called the front desk to complain and even managed to take a photo through the glass—only showing a pair of feet in slippers near the balcony railing.

Our duty manager at the time waived her bill and compensated her to settle the matter. After that, we installed two cameras outside each floor’s fire exit corridor, facing left and right.

After the incident this morning, I immediately had the five cameras on the fifth floor checked. Unfortunately, due to the typhoon a couple of days ago, the camera angles were misaligned, so the footage wasn’t ideal…”

He then handed over a tablet.

The screen showed several surveillance snapshots—one was dark with static noise, two were pointed toward the ground, and one was angled toward the sky. Indeed, there had been a typhoon passing through Southeast City last Friday.

“Then what about the fifth-floor corridor cameras? Were those also affected by the typhoon?”

The man smiled apologetically.

“Those are fine. I’ve already copied the footage onto this USB drive. However, there’s still no camera directly facing Room 527. It only captures a corner from the upper left side. The camera on the other side can capture the entrance of Room 528, though people coming and going can still be seen clearly.”

Zhou Hai said nothing more, took the USB drive and the A4 document, and stood up.

“Thank you for your cooperation. Leave your contact number with Dr. Luo. We may contact you again if needed.”

The man quickly stood up, adjusted his suit, and shook hands politely with Fengzi.

“Of course, of course. We will fully cooperate. However, right now we are hosting an international anime convention, so we hope you understand our difficulties. We’d like to keep this matter under control and minimize its impact, after all it could affect our business.”

Zhou Hai nodded. Fengzi laughed heartily beside him.

“Your speaking skills are pretty good. You’ve got a bright future ahead. Give me your number.”

“Sure, my number is 137xxxxxxxx.”

Zhou Hai left the room. Xiao Liang and the others had already finished collecting evidence.

“Xiao Liang stays. When they clean up the scene, go through it again—don’t miss any detail. We’re going back for the autopsy.”

…

Half an hour later, in the No. 1 autopsy room.

The body had been placed on the dissection table. Fengzi stood opposite Zhou Hai. Zhang Wenqi stood awkwardly nearby with a camera, unsure whether to step forward or not.

Luo Yunfeng glanced at Zhou Hai and gestured to Zhang Wenqi.

“Wenqi, follow along and take photos during the autopsy.”

Then he looked at Zhou Hai.

“Chief, shall we begin?”

Zhou Hai nodded.

The body lay flat on the table, still wearing the wedding dress. From this position, it was clear that the left side of the deceased’s face had completely collapsed. The hotel’s fifth floor was significantly higher than a typical residential building—over 25 meters in height. Falling from that height onto a marble floor left virtually no chance of survival.

Fengzi helped Zhou Hai remove the wedding dress and placed it on the adjacent table. Without being told, Zhang Wenqi began photographing both the body and the dress.

Fengzi started the recording equipment and began the pre-autopsy introduction.

Zhou Hai circled the body once more, carefully examining the skull, neck, limbs, and torso. If one were to describe it, apart from the right arm and right leg, almost every bone in the body was broken, collapsed, or showed signs of bruising.

When he examined the hands, Zhou Hai paused.

The deceased’s hands were clenched into fists. At first, it hadn’t drawn attention, but now it was clear—the left hand was loosely clenched, while the right hand was tightly shut.

He put down his magnifying glass and forcefully tried to pry open Zhang Huihui’s fingers, but they didn’t move at all. Although rigor mortis had begun to set in—given it had been nearly three hours since death—it seemed unusually strong.

It gave Zhou Hai a sudden thought.

Had she been holding something?