Luo Fei nodded confidently.
"Master, why would I joke about something like this?"
Zhang Haiyang glanced at him, then looked toward the group gathered on the balcony.
"Come with me."
Without another word, he headed straight over.
At that moment, the cool and composed female detective with the ponytail was reporting her findings to Zhao Donglai.
"Captain Zhao, we've conducted a thorough search of the entire apartment and haven't found anything useful. Aside from traces belonging to the victim, there is currently no evidence indicating the presence of a second person."
A faint crease appeared between her brows.
After surveying the room, Zhao Donglai said firmly,
"If this was truly a homicide, then the killer must have left something behind. No matter how perfect a crime appears, it always leaves traces. Keep searching."
Just then, Zhang Haiyang's voice suddenly interrupted the discussion.
"Chief Zhou, Captain Zhao—Luo Fei has discovered something."
The announcement immediately drew everyone's attention.
All eyes turned toward Zhang Haiyang and Luo Fei.
"What did you find?" Zhou Weimin asked eagerly.
Perhaps it was the confidence brought by the system, but despite becoming the center of attention, Luo Fei felt surprisingly calm.
"Chief Zhou, Captain Zhao, I can smell a faint scent of cigarette smoke in this apartment. The victim herself didn't smell like a smoker, so I don't believe she smoked. I suspect the scent was left behind by the killer."
As soon as he finished speaking, several members of the Criminal Investigation Unit began whispering among themselves.
"I didn't smell anything. Did you?"
"No."
"Me neither."
The short-haired female detective with glasses turned toward the ponytailed detective.
"Sister Yang Mei, did you smell it?"
Yang Mei frowned and shook her head.
Everyone looked at Luo Fei with varying degrees of skepticism.
After all, none of them had noticed any cigarette smell.
Only he had.
"You're certain?" Zhao Donglai asked.
Unlike the others, he wasn't particularly suspicious. Luo Fei had no reason to lie. What surprised him was that Luo Fei's sense of smell seemed far sharper than everyone else's.
Zhang Haiyang quickly spoke up.
"Captain Zhao, Luo Fei's nose is exceptionally sensitive. You remember the Gu Youguo case. He was the one who detected the smell of decomposition that led us to uncover the murder."
Luo Fei nodded firmly.
"I'm absolutely certain there's cigarette smoke in this apartment."
The flat-headed detective frowned.
"Even if there is cigarette smoke, it could have come from the victim herself. Just because she wasn't known to smoke doesn't mean she couldn't have had a cigarette when she was feeling down."
Before Luo Fei could reply, Yang Mei immediately disagreed.
"If the victim had smoked, we should have found a lighter, a cigarette pack, or at least a cigarette butt somewhere in the apartment."
Zhao Donglai gave Luo Fei a thoughtful look.
"If there really is cigarette smoke here, then there's a strong possibility it was left by the killer."
He paused before continuing.
"Let's organize what we know so far."
"First, based on the body's landing position and Luo Fei's observation about the cigarette smell, we can preliminarily classify this case as homicide rather than suicide."
"Second, the victim was either unconscious or already dead when she was thrown from the balcony. Considering the balcony height, the victim's weight, the presence of cigarette smoke, and the distance between the body and the building, we can conclude that the killer was likely a physically strong male, at least 1.75 meters tall."
"Third, the estimated time of death is around six o'clock this morning. That means the killer left the scene sometime after six. We still need to determine when he entered the apartment, how he got inside, how he left, and what his relationship with the victim was. We also can't rule out whether he's a resident of this community or an outsider."
"Those are all key questions we need to answer."
He then added:
"And finally—the most important question of all."
"Why did the killer do it?"
The room fell silent as Zhao Donglai looked around.
The flat-headed detective was the first to respond.
"The apartment hasn't been ransacked. The victim's wallet, cash, and jewelry are all still here. We can rule out robbery as a motive."
The short-haired detective with glasses followed up.
"I don't think it's a crime of passion, either. The apartment is spotless, and there aren't any signs that a man lived here. The victim appears to have been living alone, so a romantic dispute seems unlikely."
"Probably not revenge, either."
One by one, the investigators offered their theories.
Whenever opposing viewpoints emerged, debates quickly followed.
Meanwhile, Luo Fei was also considering the killer's motive.
As a mystery novelist, logical deduction was one of his strengths.
However, with so little information available, even he couldn't arrive at a convincing answer.
Just as the discussion was winding down, Zhao Donglai suddenly turned toward him.
"Luo Fei, what about you? What do you think the killer's motive was?"
The question caught him off guard.
Ever since the Gu Youguo case—and now this discovery involving the cigarette smell—Zhao Donglai had begun paying close attention to the young officer.
He wanted to know whether Luo Fei possessed more than just a remarkable nose.
After a moment of thought, Luo Fei answered honestly.
"I don't know the killer's motive."
"But I do think the killer and the victim knew each other."
"Oh?"
Zhao Donglai's interest was immediately piqued.
"Explain."
Luo Fei nodded.
"I took a look around. The only way to enter this apartment is through the front door."
"And I noticed something important."
"The door uses an internal security bolt. Once it's fastened from the inside, nobody can open it from outside. The person inside has to remove it first."
"The victim died around six in the morning. At that hour, the door should have been locked."
"If the killer entered at six o'clock and murdered her then, he couldn't have been a stranger. A stranger would never have been allowed inside in the first place."
"On the other hand, if the killer entered much earlier and had been waiting inside all night, that would imply a carefully planned murder."
"But if it were premeditated, why wait until six in the morning to kill her?"
"By that time, the sky was already bright. People were waking up for work, and elderly residents were out exercising. It would have been one of the riskiest times possible to commit murder."
"No killer planning things in advance would choose such an exposed time."
The room fell silent.
Then Zhou Weimin nodded.
"That makes sense. The likelihood of the killer being a stranger is extremely low. It was probably someone the victim knew."
Zhao Donglai agreed.
"Luo Fei is right."
"If the killer were a stranger, too many things stop making sense."
He paused before adding another observation.
"I'd also like to add something."
"I don't believe this was a premeditated murder."
"As Luo Fei pointed out, six in the morning is a terrible time to commit a planned homicide. Daylight had already arrived. Office workers were beginning their commute, and many elderly residents were already outside."
"Choosing that moment would dramatically increase the risk of being discovered."
"Which leads me to believe this was likely a crime of impulse—a spontaneous act triggered by circumstances rather than careful planning."
The others nodded thoughtfully.
For the first time, a clearer picture of the case was beginning to emerge.
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