Chapter Three: A Good Memory

“In theory, that’s highly unlikely,” Dr. Zhang shook his head. “Generally speaking, people who can be scared to death already have underlying cardiovascular or cerebrovascular conditions. Healthy individuals—especially the young—aren’t so fragile. So first, we need to rule out congenital health issues, then proceed with toxicology reports, just to be thorough.”

Ning Shuyi nodded. “We’ll contact the deceased’s family right away and clarify her medical history as soon as possible.”

She carefully picked up the phone from the floor with her gloved hand and flipped through the call history, hoping to find a way to reach the family. Unfortunately, the recent calls were almost entirely labeled as “delivery,” “courier,” or “suspected scam,” with hardly any useful numbers to be found.

That was hardly surprising. These days, smartphones are so powerful that their original purpose—making calls—has been all but forgotten.

People message, take photos, record audio, and watch videos with their phones, but rarely use them for actual phone calls.

Thankfully, while the call log had nothing promising, the contacts list still held some possibilities. Yet, after searching for a long time, Ning Shuyi couldn’t find entries like “Dad” or “Mom.” The girl’s contacts were all saved under peculiar names, making it hard to distinguish who was who. In the end, Ning Shuyi decided to call the number labeled “Aunt.”

She jotted down the numbers of “Aunt” and a few other likely family contacts in her own phone, planning to notify them before retrieving surveillance footage to see exactly what had happened in the screening room.

The “Aunt” line was busy, but Ning Shuyi didn’t intend to waste time. There was still work to do on the scene and with transporting the body. She went to speak to the manager about accessing the screening room’s surveillance footage.

“Shuyi, take Huoyan with you to check it out,” Zhao Dabao suggested warmly from the side.

Ning Shuyi couldn’t help but smile. She figured Zhao Dabao found Huoyan’s perpetually tense demeanor a bit overwhelming, so she nodded, signaling for Huoyan to come with her.

Huoyan had no objections, maintaining his usual strict, disciplined air, and followed Ning Shuyi without a word.

Though this private theater was a popular spot online and fairly sizable for its kind, it still had to make the most of its resources—saving every bit of unnecessary space. The monitoring room and manager’s office had been combined into one, tucked away at the end of a narrow, winding corridor, right next to the supply closet. Quiet, yes—but also extremely hard to find.

If the manager hadn’t led the way, Ning Shuyi doubted she could have found it herself.

The office was cramped; the desk and monitor wall took up most of the space. With three people inside—especially Huoyan, who was tall and broad—the room felt even smaller. The manager, still flustered, tried in vain to offer them seats, but quickly realized it was impossible.

The surveillance footage from the screening room was quickly pulled up. Ning Shuyi and Huoyan fixed their eyes on the small screen, easily pinpointing the seat where the deceased had been, allowing them to quickly identify their target.

From the footage, it was clear that the deceased had entered the theater with a female friend, slightly shorter than her. The camera was positioned far away and at a poor angle, so only their clothing was discernible, not their faces.

Moreover, the two had entered just before the movie started. The theater was dark and the so-called night vision the manager had promised was mediocre at best—the picture was a hazy blue-gray, far from clear. They could only infer actions based on movement and posture.

Upon entering, the deceased appeared perfectly normal. Once the movie began, she fiddled with her phone several times, occasionally leaning toward her companion, presumably to whisper.

About halfway through the film, her friend said something and then left in a bit of a hurry. Roughly twenty minutes later, the deceased, who had stayed behind, seemed to drop something. She bent down in a fluster, then began to show signs of distress.

She shifted restlessly in her seat, curling up and twisting to the side, clearly struggling in pain. Soon after, she stopped moving altogether, her body frozen in that twisted posture—much like how they’d found her—her face tilted slightly upward toward the wall, utterly still.

Ning Shuyi watched intently, asking the manager to copy that segment of the footage for her while noting two specific times in her notebook.

The manager, watching from the side, couldn’t help but ask curiously, “What are you recording?”

“Just the time when the deceased first showed signs of distress and the moment she stopped moving,” Ning Shuyi replied, slipping the notebook into her jacket pocket. “Could you also pull up the front entrance surveillance video for a period just before this screening started?”

“No problem! Of course!” the manager replied eagerly, busying himself with the controls. He couldn’t help but marvel, “You’ve got an amazing memory! You watched that footage so intently and still managed to jot down the times, right to the second!”

Ning Shuyi smiled but didn’t respond. When the footage of the theater’s main entrance appeared, she focused her attention on the video.

Earlier, when they’d arrived, they’d come through a quiet, secluded back door.

The main entrance was a different story. This shopping mall was large, and this floor was home not only to the private theater but also to many other stores and venues. The crowd was thick, but not all were there for the cinema.

The theater faced the escalator—a prime location—but with so many people passing by, stopping and starting, the area was a noisy blur. Ning Shuyi had to widen her eyes and focus on the escalator, trying to spot the deceased as she came up. But after a long while, she still hadn’t seen her.

“Here,” Huoyan suddenly spoke, pointing to a figure in the corner of the screen.

Ning Shuyi followed his finger and saw the deceased and her friend, just entering the camera’s field of view. Huoyan had noticed them the moment they appeared.

The two girls were chatting and laughing, carrying several small shopping bags. It seemed they’d come up from another direction, browsed the shops, and only then headed to the cinema.

Shopping and chatting before the movie—full of energy—further confirmed that the girl was in good spirits and showed no signs of illness before the screening began.