After Clearing the Infinite Flow, I Tamed the Mad Dog Boss - Chapter 40

“She hasn’t been dead long. Rigor mortis is still setting in.”

Xun Guangfan gently lowered the girl’s body. Her limbs were so stiff that even on the floor, she remained curled in an unnatural posture.

She had a delicate face, now swollen from drowning.

Yu Jie sighed behind him. These children might be rebellious, but they were at an age when they should have been living most freely. Instead, they had encountered an anomaly invasion and become some of its earliest victims.

“I’ll call Xun Guangfan up. He studied forensic medicine for a while.”

Xun Guangfan came upstairs as soon as he received the message. He frowned.

“The cause of death is clearly drowning. The question is whether it was accidental, suicide, or murder.”

He carefully examined the girl’s head and limbs.

“There’s no injury to the head, but several bruises on her arms suggest a physical struggle. It’s unlikely she accidentally fell into the tub, lost consciousness, and drowned. Murder is the most probable explanation.”

“What do we do now?” Yu Jie asked. “Should we find out who entered her room? That would tell us who the killer is. But these kids won’t cooperate with us at all. We can’t even get them to gather in one place…”

Qin Xian suddenly asked, “You spoke with the students earlier. Didn’t they make a WeChat group?”

Xun Guangfan’s eyes lit up. “They did! I joined it. Should I send an announcement and tell them to assemble?”

“They’ll never assemble. That’s far too obedient.”

Xun Guangfan: “…”

Back when he was in school, the disobedient students really had avoided flag-raising ceremonies and group exercises…

“We can’t just message them that someone died, can we?”

“Why not? They’ve already seen a classmate die. A little panic will help us control the situation faster.”

Xun Guangfan looked at Qin Xian.

Although he currently wore the body of a teenager, his expression was mature and cold, as if he did not care in the least about the students’ mental health.

And…

Why did he smell faintly of blood?

Seeing Xun Guangfan stare, Qin Xian showed none of the self-consciousness one might expect from a murderer. He turned calmly.

“Why do you keep looking at me? If you don’t send the message, they’ll still discover the body sooner or later.”

A chill ran through Xun Guangfan. He instinctively took out his phone and began typing.

Only seconds later, messages flooded the students’ private group chat. Doors opened on either side of the corridor, and curious heads poked out.

No matter their age, humans possessed an overwhelming curiosity toward sudden incidents—especially something as explosive as a death.

“Hey… Someone else died? Who was it? How?”

“Wasn’t this the girl from Class 4? She went straight to her room when she arrived, and I never saw her come out…”

“Move, move! I want to see!”

“I don’t dare look… What do we do? Two people are dead now. Who’s killing them? Am I next?”

“She probably died because she hid in her room and tried to read or study. As long as we keep playing and having fun, we’ll be fine!”

Several students gradually crowded around, craning their necks to see the body.

Xun Guangfan and the others had already covered it with a bedsheet. They guarded the entrance and kept everyone from approaching too closely.

Listening to their conversation, Qin Xian asked, “Why are you so certain that reading and studying caused the deaths?”

A boy turned toward him. “Because when we first arrived outside the villa, the rules were written on the door.”

“There was writing on the door? Why didn’t any of you mention it before?”

“You never asked.”

Qin Xian fell silent.

He wanted to teach the irritating brat a lesson, but ultimately restrained himself.

Xun Guangfan frowned. “You said the rules were written there. Why didn’t we see them when we entered?”

“The words vanished as soon as the door opened. Anyway, as long as we play whatever we want and don’t think about studying or rules, we’ll be fine. We hated studying, school, and our families to begin with…”

His voice dropped lower and lower. He turned to leave.

Xun Guangfan immediately called after him. “Everyone needs to stay together so we can keep you safe!”

The boy shot back, “Obediently gathering together means following rules, doesn’t it? This place is creepy enough already. What if it wipes us all out at once?”

He turned and ran.

Xun Guangfan sighed. After a moment’s thought, he decided to chase the boy and try persuading him.

Qin Xian did not possess quite such an overwhelming sense of responsibility. He looked at the remaining students.

“Did anyone see somebody enter Room 408?”

They all shook their heads.

Only one person raised a hand and spoke quietly. “Um, I know the girl who lived here. She was Guo Miaomiao from Class 4… She had a conflict with Tao Xiuping from Class 5. Tao Xiuping lives next door, and he still hasn’t really come out…”

The other students immediately began discussing it.

“Tao Xiuping again! He killed both of them!”

“I heard he’d already been taken to the police station a few times. Something about stealing at school and fighting.”

“Don’t spread rumors,” Yu Jie immediately objected. “If he’d been taken to the police station, then we would definitely—”

“Definitely what?” a student asked.

Yu Jie stalled.

He suddenly remembered that he now looked the same age as they did. Revealing that he was a police officer might make some students even more resistant.

“Nothing. Don’t say things like that when you have no evidence.”

“Hmph. You don’t know what Tao Xiuping was like at school. If you ask who’s the most suspicious, it’s him, one hundred percent. He hasn’t come downstairs at all or spoken to anyone. Most of us stayed with our friends, so we have alibis!”

The fact that they were already using a term like *alibi* suggested they consumed plenty of crime-related media.

Qin Xian asked directly, “If you suspect Tao Xiuping so much, did anyone actually see him enter Guo Miaomiao’s room?”

The students remained silent for a long time.

At last, one unconvinced boy walked over and pounded on the neighboring door.

“Why not confront him directly? Hey! Tao Xiuping! Open up!”

He hammered and kicked at the door, but there was no movement inside.

Xun Guangfan’s heart sank. He shoved the student aside and launched a flying kick at the door.

Even after several charges left his leg and arm numb, the door did not budge.

“Let me.”

Qin Xian stepped forward and placed one hand over the lock.

Where the others could not see, a blossom of Blue Flame ignited inside and consumed the latch completely.

Qin Xian gave the door a light pull. The door that had been sealed moments ago opened at once.

A student exclaimed beside him, “Holy shit! Magic? How did you do that?”

Qin Xian ignored him and searched the apartment. It was empty. Everyone poured inside and looked everywhere without finding anyone.

“Are you sure he never left?” Qin Xian asked.

“After he went to his room on the first day, we saw him come out twice. Both times, he carried a huge amount of food inside. It looked like he never planned to leave again…”

“Let’s search the rest of the villa. It’s not that big. We’ll find him soon.”

Qin Xian said nothing.

He stood at the window and opened it.

Beyond the building lay a void. An eerie blue sky and clouds stretched to the edge of sight, with no ground below.

Qin Xian looked down.

“No need. He’s already dead.”

“What?!”

Everyone in the room cried out and rushed to the window.

A boy lay below the villa, sprawled across invisible ground. A vast pool of blood spread beneath him, suspended in empty space.

His body lay facedown, but his head had twisted impossibly upward. Empty eyes met the gazes of everyone peering down.

“AAAAAH!”

The more timid students screamed. Several officers immediately pulled them away from the window and tried to calm them.

Qin Xian quietly observed the corpse.

“It appears he didn’t kill the girl next door. He died much earlier.”

“Then did he… kill himself?” a student asked.

“No. The window was closed when we entered.”

Unease began to spread.

One student was on the verge of breaking down and screaming when Qin Xian cut in first.

“Gather everyone. This isn’t voluntary. Drag them out. If they refuse, beat them.”

He looked at the students inside the room.

“That includes you. Go downstairs and wait in the lobby.”

Someone immediately argued, “Why should I listen to you?”

Qin Xian punched through the side of a nearby cabinet. Lowering his eyes, he asked, “Any other questions?”

The students’ jaws nearly hit the floor.

How had this delicate, long-haired boy driven his seemingly frail fist straight through a wooden panel?

If that fist hit one of their faces, wouldn’t it leave them permanently paralyzed?

Xun Guangfan and the others resumed their roles. They cracked their knuckles and stood behind Qin Xian with menacing expressions.

The students: “…Fine. We’ll go downstairs.”