Chapter 184: My Childhood Friend Couldn't Possibly Be an Idiot! (20)

Qi Xingyun walked slowly. Seeing a crowd gathered ahead, she stretched her neck to look and asked, "What is happening?"

Ruan Fannan was equally eager to watch the spectacle.

However, Butler He happened to block their path just in time. Ruan Fannan managed to catch a glimpse of a corpse and blood, his expression shifting instantly, whereas Qi Xingyun, who was not as tall as the man, saw nothing at all.

Qi Da shouted, "Call the police! He Ming, hurry up and call the police for me! I demand that the murderer pay for my son's life!"

Butler He took out his phone. After attempting to dial several times, he said with a grave expression, "There is no signal."

Amidst this increasingly eerie atmosphere, the laughter of the young couple still drifted in from outside the window as usual.

Bai Yao cajoled Qi Ye, "I can do magic tricks and make it snow even heavier than this for you. Do you believe me?"

Qi Ye nodded quickly.

Bai Yao pulled Qi Ye to stand under a tree and instructed, "Just stand right here and don't move."

Qi Ye's eyes darted around briskly.

Bai Yao adjusted her hat, kicked the tree trunk hard, and then sprinted away.

The accumulated snow on the tree crashed down in a cascade, burying the foolish man standing underneath and knocking him to the ground.

After a long while, Qi Ye crawled halfway out of the snowdrift. He shook his head like a puppy, sending the snow flying off his head as if a light flurry of snow was falling all over again.

Sitting in the pile of snow, Qi Ye looked dazed, retaining a touch of naive and innocent simplicity.

Bai Yao clutched her stomach, laughing so hard she couldn't straighten up. "Hahaha! Qi Puppy! Why are you so foolish? Do you believe whatever I say?"

Realizing he had been teased, Qi Ye scrambled up swiftly from the ground, pulled Bai Yao down into the snowbank with him, and before she could slip away, he hugged the tree and shook it frantically.

All the snow came tumbling down upon them. Bai Yao struggled hard to stand up, only to be buried right back down again by the falling snow. She wriggled in distress and panted, "Alright, alright, I was wrong! Stop it right now!"

Qi Ye let go of the tree and lunged at her again, pressing down on her like a massive mountain while letting out crisp, bright laughter from beside her ear.

On the second floor, someone violently threw open a window. Qi Xingyun yelled down at the clueless, foolish couple, "Have you two played enough? If you're done playing, get up here! Someone is dead!"

The words "dead" made Bai Yao lift her face, looking utterly bewildered. "Huh?"

Qi Ye imitated her gesture, lifting his head to look up at the people on the second floor, almost echoing her with an "Huh?". His imitation was truly identical in every single detail.

Qi Xingyun repeated, "Someone has been murdered! Stop fooling around and get up here immediately!"

With another sharp *swish*, the window was slammed shut.

Bai Yao and Qi Ye exchanged blank looks. She said, "Qi Puppy, someone's been murdered, and the killer is definitely someone inside this mansion!"

Qi Ye tilted his head, wearing a look of pure confusion.

Bai Yao cupped his face and kissed him. "Come on, let's go watch the show!"

Qi Ye pulled Bai Yao to her feet. The two of them brushed the snow off each other as they walked, returning to the warm grand hall where everyone wore terribly grim expressions.

Jia Ren was still unconscious and had been sent back to her room to rest.

Xiao Baobao was taking care of the two children, while Qi Yuan sat in the living room as the family representative.

The one bearing the most agonizing grief was, of course, Qi Da. Seeing that everyone had arrived, he could no longer contain himself and shouted, "The person who murdered my son must still be right here!"

Because of his words, quite a few people felt a chill run down their spines.

They could not go down the mountain right now, and nobody from below could come up. If there truly was a murderer among them, wouldn't they all be in grave danger?

Bai Yao pulled Qi Ye along, purposely choosing to sit right next to Qi Yuan.

Qi Yuan lowered his voice and said, "Stay away from me."

Bai Yao put on a sincere expression. "Daddy, we are a family, so of course we have to sit together. Look at our Qi Ye, the way he's looking at you is just brimming with emotion!"

Qi Ye stared straight at Qi Yuan, his dark, glossy eyes blinking rapidly.

Qi Yuan endured it for a long time before he finally blurted out to Bai Yao, "Sending him to you eighteen years ago is truly the most catastrophic mistake I have ever made."

Bai Yao took Qi Ye's hand and said with deep affection, "Yes, if Daddy had sent him to me the moment Qi Ye was born, we definitely would have had so many more wonderful memories."

Qi Yuan nearly choked on his own breath.

Butler He stood before the crowd and said in a calm tone, "I have tried numerous times, but everyone's phones show no signal. I am unable to contact the outside world."

Everyone present had also checked their own phones, confirming there was indeed no signal.

Qi Da stood up in agitation. "First the ropes snapped, and now our phones have no signal, and my son has been murdered. What does this mean? This is undoubtedly a premeditated crime! The killer is definitely among your group! You all know I can no longer have children; as long as Qi Fei is dead, the old master will certainly never choose me as his successor!"

Driven mad by the grief of losing his son, Qi Da spoke with a logic that was not entirely baseless. His angry gaze swept across everyone present one by one. "If we don't find the murderer, do you really think you'll be safe? Don't forget, you are all competitors against one another!"

No one in the room spoke for a moment.

After a short while, Butler He spoke in a strictly professional manner, "Young Master Qi Fei's remains have been collected and placed in a shroud, but his head is missing. Based on the circumstances, we can deduce that the incident likely occurred during the night."

Qi Fei had the habit of sleeping in, which was why neither of his parents had gone to wake him up this morning. How could they have ever imagined that Qi Fei would be murdered right inside his own bedroom?

Qi潇 (Qi Xiao) spoke up, "I remember my eldest nephew's room is right next to the second nephew and his wife's, isn't it? The murderer's methods were so cruel—didn't you two hear a single sound?"

All eyes turned toward Qi Ye and Bai Yao. Qi Da's gaze, in particular, was fiercely venomous.

Bai Yao replied, "We did hear some noise in the middle of the night, but we both assumed it was just the sound of the ropes snapping. As for Qi Fei's accident, we truly did not notice anything amiss."

Qi Xingyun asked, "Second Brother, what about you? Living right across from him, what do you have to say?"

Qi Yuan answered, "Baobao and I were up all night taking care of the children. We only heard the commotion caused by the rope snapping, but heard no other noises."

"Well, this is getting interesting," Qi Xiao remarked. "Not a single person heard any commotion when Qi Fei was murdered. To dismember a person silently—probably only a ghost could pull that off in this world."

Yin Mo was timid by nature. Sitting beside Qi Xiao, she suddenly felt a chill creep over her.

Qi Da let out a cold sneer. "According to what you're saying, is the legend of the canine demon's curse in this mansion killing people actually true after all?!"

Bai Yao looked at Qi Ye. "The canine demon's curse—what is that?"

Qi Ye blinked, displaying an innocent expression that seemed to say: *I don't know anything about it.*