Chapter 10: The Smell of Nightmares
"What are you kidding?" Xu Tian said.
"I don't know exactly what happened, before we went back to the village, one night I got up to look for water to drink, and I heard Sister Sitong and Aunt Hong talking in the room, and they said a word." Xiao Ai said.
"What did you say?" Xu Tian asked.
"I heard Sister Sitong say that the murder plan was Xu Tian, and Aunt Hong said that she would use Xu Tian's plan to go back for revenge." Xiao Ai said.
"You must be hearing homophony, right? Or maybe you're mistaken, I should have been a freshman at that time, and the first time I helped the police solve a case was when I was a sophomore, and I hadn't shown my reasoning skills to anyone in my freshman year, and it was impossible for Hongmei and Sitong to know about me at that time. Xu Tian said.
"I don't know about this, but I can't be wrong with what I heard, because I am very familiar with the name Xu Tian, I have been with Aunt Xu for a long time, and in the family tree collected by Aunt Xu, the name Xu Tian is also among them, so I am very impressed." Xiao Ai said.
"Genealogy? Do you see my name? Xu Tian asked in surprise.
"Yes, it's your name, I was surprised when I heard your name Xu Tian in the village, but at that time, I was afraid that if I said too much, it would be exposed, so I didn't mention it to you." Xiao Ai said.
"Impossible! The genealogy was ruined by the radicals during the extraordinary period of the seventies, that's what my grandmother told me. Xu Tian said.
"Isn't this kind of thing very easy to explain! There is only one manuscript for a family tree, and even if there was no manuscript when it was destroyed, do you think the village chief, the leader of the Xu family, would not be able to remember the name on the family tree? Xiao Ai said.
"Xiao Ai shouldn't know much about the things of that era, people's minds were not so open-minded at that time, I think no one should do this kind of thing, I heard my grandmother tell me about the things of that era, so my statement should not be wrong." Xu Tian said.
"Alright! I won't argue with you about this matter, as for what the matter is, you can ask Sister Sitong or Aunt Hong. Xiao Ai said.
"The problem is that I can't contact them now, if I want to contact Hongmei, I have to go to the prison in my hometown to visit them, and I don't have the time at all." Xu Tian said.
"Then I can only put this matter on hold for the time being, this time I came to you to have another thing I want to tell you, about the two fires, I believe you should have your own judgment, right?" Xiao Ai said.
"The fact that the arsonist was supposed to be the same person on both fires, and that the arsonist didn't hurt anyone with an arrow in both fires, made me feel very scary." Xu Tian said.
"Sure enough! Everyone should be very scared now, this invisible danger is the most terrifying, but that's not the point, I came to you because I found a very important person. Xiao Ai said.
"Who is it?" Xu Tian asked.
"Because I'm an outsider, this time I followed Aunt Xu here to secretly investigate, in fact, when I was in the small hotel, I found someone sneaking around outside your room." Xiao Ai took a bite of noodles and said.
"Do you see that man's face clearly?" Xu Tian asked.
"It's one of the people traveling with you, I don't know who it is, because the situation was very urgent, and I had to go headlong into the room." Xiao Ai said.
"Someone with me? Man or woman? Xu Tian asked.
"I didn't see it, I was able to tell it by smell." Xiao Ai said.
"Smell?" Xu Tian felt a little puzzled.
"Yes, you have a smell of ashes, it must be the smoke from the person you burned to death in the restaurant yesterday at noon, my sense of smell is very sensitive, even if you have taken a shower, as long as you have not changed your clothes, I can smell it." Xiao Ai said.
"We're not here, nor are we watching mystery anime, this kind of skill is not something that ordinary people can have." Xu Tian felt a little unbelievable.
"You don't have to be so mean, as long as the reader thinks it's reasonable, it's enough for the author to make us logical, if you are so serious about everything, then all the characters in our book will be found faulty, don't you know the saying that art is higher than life?" Xiao Ai stared at the reader bitterly, as if conveying a lot of dissatisfaction.
"Good, good! I believe what you say, so do you smell anything else from that person? Xu Tian asked.
"No, because I'm still far away from that person, I just asked about the smell in the hallway that you used to smell during the day, because the smell in the hallway was gone when I left the room, and it was there when I came back from my errands, so I can be sure that the person who was wandering by the door of your room was one of the three people you were traveling with." Xiao Ai spoke eloquently.
"It's also possible that my companion walked out of the room, and I can't assume that the person walking around my door is my companion!" Xu Tian explained.
"No way, because there is no other smell in the hallway, you are a detective, you should understand that whether the smell is in an enclosed space or a ventilated space, it will always be diluted after a while, and there is no other smell in the hallway at that time, so I can be sure that the person who walked by your door is the one next to you." Xiao Ai said.
"That's what you're telling me?" Xu Tian asked.
"Of course not, I'm just reminding you by the way, of course, I can't assume that person is a bad person, at least I didn't see what that person did to you, and you are eating noodles here now!" Xiao Ai said.
"Then get down to business! I have to rush back to the hospital! Xu Tian said.
"I'll show you two pictures!" Xiao Ai took out his mobile phone and handed it to Xu Tian.
Xu Tian flipped through Xiao Ai's photo album, there was a set of photos taken by Xiao Ai in the room of the small hotel, the image was outside, Xiao Ai took it very clearly, there was a person who had been sneaking around outside the small hotel, judging from the appearance of that person, Xu Tian judged that the person should be a man.
However, another set of photos was taken in the hospital, and it was the image of everyone running out to evacuate just now, and there was a person in the crowd who was the same person as the person who was taken by Xiao Ai in the small hotel.
"You doubt this man?" Xu Tian asked.
"No, this man is just sneaky! Actually, I suspect this person. Xiao Ai viewed the album, opened the cloud disk and turned out the photos.
Xu Tian took the phone and looked at it, it was a person holding a doll, and this person turned out to be ......