Dare You To Death: Solve the Mystery, See the Death.

Investigation Part 3

 

Jay woke with a start. He had to shake his head slightly to shake off the dizziness. Looking at his friends lying on the floor with the bottles of liquor and beer lying around, it was like a memory of how drunk they had been. The tall man got up and went to the bathroom to chase away the dizziness.

 

He had completely forgotten the events that had happened before he fell asleep. No matter how hard he tried to think, he couldn't. He washed his face with cold water to regain his senses from his drunkenness before walking out to greet his friends one by one.

 

"Time, wake up!" After waking Time up, who was sleeping with his legs slung over Bell's back, Jay picked up his own phone to check the time. He remembered that his phone's battery was almost dead, and he didn't know if it would still work. And it was just as he thought. After checking, he found that the screen was completely black. So he walked over to wake Bell up and picked up his phone with a pink case to check the time. It was already four o'clock. He didn't know if anyone would be able to go home now.

 

"Fucking drunk." Time stood up at the same time as Bell, who immediately started yelling and stretching.

 

“My back hurts so much. What’s wrong?”

“Are you about to become a ghost or something? Your back hurts.”

 

"Hey, the person in the copper pan has no right to scold me," Bell said, unable to bear it anymore, before turning to wake up Cherene, who was sleeping beside her.

 

"Time, go help wake the others up."

 

"Okay, okay." Time got up, shook his fiery red hair, and woke up his friends one by one until he reached Puifai, who was sleeping next to the ice bucket. But when he put his hand on his friend's skin, he had to pull it away immediately because the temperature was unusually low. This coldness was colder than that of the average person sleeping in an air-conditioned room. "Fai, why are you so cold? What's wrong with you?"

 

Others gradually woke up and stretched to relieve the fatigue from lying on the tiled floor, ignoring Time's constant commotion.

 

"Fai, can you hear me?"

"What are you complaining about, Time?"

 

"You guys, Fai isn't waking up. She's cold." Time turned to look at Fai again before reaching out to put his hand under her nose. He immediately jumped out and slid backwards. "Y-you guys! Fai... Fai isn't breathing!!!"

 

“What the hell are you doing, Time? It’s nonsense. Hurry up and wake her up so we can go home.”

 

"If you don't believe me, come and see!!!"

 

Bell sighed in frustration before walking over to Pui Fai, who was lying pale on the floor. She paused when she saw the abnormality in her friend, who had been beautiful and bright, but was now pale... and lifeless.

 

Bell slowly reached out and placed her hand under her friend's nose, just like Time had done. When she couldn't feel the breath she should have, she let out a scream before pulling back in a panic.

 

"It...it...it's dead. Fai is dead!!!"

 

"It's not funny anymore." Cherene's expression instantly turned serious when she saw the expressions of her two friends.

 

"I'm not funny! W-what are you going to do? What the hell is going on, DJ?!" Bell started to lose her mind, yelling and walking like a trapped rat. When the situation became tense, everyone immediately turned their attention to the body lying completely still.

 

"Call an ambulance," Jay said before looking at Pui Fai's body. "Kla, call an ambulance!!!"

 

The still-shocked Tonkla quickly grabbed his phone, but was stopped by Cherene.

 

"I will call myself to go see Champ." She quickly dialled the number and pointed at Champ, who was already sitting, shocked. His handsome face was pale, and his eyes were filled with tears of confusion.

 

"Champ, calm down."

 

"What should we do? Then... will we end up in jail?" Tar said as he stood up.

 

“What are we in jail for? We’re just here to drink.”

 

"Is it because of you, Tar? Is it because you made the liquor too strong?!"

 

"You're a jerk. Are you going to die from alcohol or something?"

 

“Who knows! It wasn’t that strong to begin with!” Now, the room was filled with shouts and arguments. The longer this went on, the more the insults would increase.

 

"Time, give me your phone. I'm going to call P'Jade ."

"Wait a minute, are you going to call the police?" Tar shouted immediately.

 

"I'll call my brother so he can come and see the situation with the ambulance."

 

"Are you crazy! What if your brother blames us? Do I have to go to jail?" Bell shouted before grabbing her bag and getting ready to leave the room, but Jay grabbed her arm first.

 

“Are you going to leave Fon like this?” The whole room fell silent before Cherene could hear a loud cry.

 

"Ai Fai, you... Wake up already. Wake up already. Sob! Don't tease us like this." At this moment, the faint hope that the whole thing was just a prank was fading away. Everyone was lost in their own thoughts. They were confused, afraid, uncomfortable, stressed, worried, and distrustful.

 

The sound of an ambulance from in front of the building made everyone look at each other immediately. Jay ran out to open the door to call an ambulance and said, "Yes, you can send a police forensic doctor to confirm, or I can take her to the hospital's autopsy department."

 

(Not yet. I have to check the scene first. I'll be there in fifteen minutes.)

 

"Yes." After the conversation ended, the young doctor handed the phone back to Jay.

 

After hanging up the phone, the atmosphere immediately grew awkward. Everyone was shocked and confused by what had happened, and they began thinking about what to do first.

 

"Where are you going, Tar?"

 

"I'm going home."

 

"How can you go back? The police haven't arrived yet."

 

"You stay here. I'll go first." Jay pulled his friend's arm back and threw him back against the wall in frustration.

 

"What the hell is wrong with you, Tar? Fai's a friend of ours. She was drinking with us last night. Shouldn't she stay until the police arrive? What are you so afraid of?"

 

At this point, everyone fell silent. It wasn't like they hadn't gotten drunk together before, but every time, nothing serious had ever happened.

 

"Doctor, do you know the cause of my friend's death?"

 

"We can't yet determine the cause of death, as we haven't investigated anything yet. However, given the current situation, it could have been caused by several factors, including hypothermia or acute heart failure. Did the deceased have any pre-existing medical conditions?" Everyone standing there turned to face Champ, who was holding Pui Fai's hand without saying a word.

 

"I....don't know."

 

"How would you not know, Champ? You're the closest to Fai."

 

"I told you I don't know!"

 

"F... Fai used to have anaemia, and then... I don't know."

 

"It's because you guys invited her to drink with you," Bell, who had been getting agitated for a while, shouted out to the group of friends. "You too, Cherene. You know what's wrong with her, but you still let her drink."

 

"You can't say that, Bell. Since no one stopped her, everyone just went along with it. How can you blame Cherene alone?" Tonkla stood up and walked in front of Bell when she saw that she was about to cause trouble for Cherene.

 

"Whether this death was due to a pre-existing medical condition or whatever, at least we shouldn't have suffered any harm, right? Because we weren't involved. At most, we might have been negligently killed by someone else. I think it might be just that."

 

The arguments were endless among a group of friends many people envied; now they were cursing each other, denying the truth. The sound of cars outside quieted the people shouting at each other, and they began to gather nervously.

 

The first person to open the door was Jade, followed by the new inspector and two other police officers, a forensic scientist and two evidence collectors, who entered the area before starting their work.

 

"Brother Jade," Jay walked up to his brother and glanced at the person standing next to him. He recognised this person. This was the person he met at the pub yesterday.

 

"I can't take charge of this case because you're my younger brother. Inspector Khamin will take charge of the case instead."

 

“Inspector?”

 

"Hello, my name is Khamin. We want to ask everyone to stay in the area until we've collected all the evidence. We may also need to invite everyone to give their statements at the station until we have the autopsy results to determine the cause of death."

 

"B-but we have class tomorrow. And...and what about my parents?"

 

“I’ll handle that. Now, everyone, please calm down. Captain, I’ll leave the forensic matter with you.”

 

"Yes." Jade looked at his younger brother again before walking towards the forensic officer of the police department, who was checking to make sure that the body was dead.

 

"The deceased's name is Pawarisa. She's twenty-two years old. She's dead. It's likely due to acute heart failure." Jade nodded before ordering the hospital's doctors to take Pui Fai's lifeless body to the autopsy room to determine the cause of death. He would then follow up.

 

“All seven people must go to the police station to give their statements. Once we receive the autopsy results and determine that the death was natural, we will release everyone.”

 

"What?" Cherene, who had just stopped crying, paused.

 

"Why do we have to be detained? It was an emergency. We didn't do anything to Fai," Tar said with an attitude.

 

“It’s a basic procedure. We need your cooperation.”

 

"What if I don't give it to you?" Khamin looked at the child in front of him before raising his eyebrows.

 

“What made you look so flustered? If you said you didn’t do anything, what’s there to be afraid of, right?” When Khamin asked the right question, the boy in front of him immediately froze.

 

"Tar, that's enough. Why are you looking for trouble with him?" Jay intervened before turning to look at Khamin. "I apologise on behalf of my friend. He's grieving over losing his friend."

 

"No problem. You guys follow the sergeant to the car." Khamin ordered the two officers who had come with him to take the seven children into two cars and head straight to the station first; he would follow.

 

Judging from the location, there was only one entrance and exit; the air conditioning was set to eighteen degrees, and there was some welding equipment around. In the middle were bottles of liquor and soda, beer cans, snack wrappers, and plastic food cups scattered about. It seemed like a normal gathering. 

 

"I would like to take on this case as well."

 

“Your younger brother is still considered a suspect, so that’s not possible.”

 

"I have the right to handle this case. You'll have to rely on me." Khamin glanced at Jade standing next to him. He was looking at him with a more serious gaze than usual, and he was crossing his arms.

 

“Please tell me the reason why I have to rely on you.”

 

“One, I'm the captain of the police station here. Two, I'm good.” Khamin rolled his eyes in annoyance, not wanting to hide it. 

 

“Lastly, Jay called to tell me that he and his friends got drunk and fell asleep. But before that, he called me saying he wasn't going home, but before he could finish, he fell asleep. Before the call ended, I heard the sound of shoes and the kicking of beer cans.”

 

“You mean, there are actually people who didn’t fall asleep?”

 

“Yes, someone woke up after everyone else had gone to sleep.”

 

"Things might happen then."

 

“Now, can I help you?” Jade leaned down to Khamin, who was looking back at the scene.

 

“Okay, but if I see you crossing the line in this case for your brother or anyone else, I will immediately dismiss you from the case.”

 

"Understand"

 

“There are two things we need to do after this. One is to separate the seven children and interrogate them one by one. …”

 

"Two, we need to get the autopsy results from the forensic team to determine the cause of death of the child named Pui Fai. Is that correct?"

 

"Um"

 

“I know you so well. I think we can work together very smoothly.”

 

"You know me so well, you'll probably be quite annoying soon." Khamin's insincere smile appeared before it slid away, and he walked away to give his team orders and collect evidence as usual, completely ignoring the people behind him.

 

As for Jade, he stopped his playful smile and looked at the glasses scattered across the floor. They were all unusually empty. Eight glasses, but none of them had any alcohol left. Not a single drop.