Red wine poisoning case 2.1

The moment the blue medicine was injected into her vein, Fan Jinci's eyelashes trembled.

The fever subsided, and his forehead, soaked with cold sweat, clung to his pale skin. He opened his eyes, his gray-blue pupils not yet fully focused, but his fingers instinctively reached for the scalpel under his pillow.

Yu Yan grabbed his wrist: "Don't move, your fever just broke."

Fan Jinci's gaze swept across the room—Jiang Zhaoyan leaned against the window, twirling an empty medicine tube between his fingers; Li Weimian was examining Yan Kang's mechanical structure; Situ Jin was recording data; and Wen Lin…

Wen Lin was crouching in the corner, using a Swiss Army knife to pry open a hidden compartment under the floor.

"Assemble." Fan Jinci's voice was hoarse, but it left no room for argument.

The five people sat around in the center of the bedroom, spreading out the clues they had each found:

1. Yu Yan's Blood Chess Game Chip → M-0's Memory Key

2. Jiang Zhaoyan's serotonin antagonist → Suppresses the pain caused by lies.

3. Li Weimian's molecular formula capsule → GABA receptor activator

4. Situ Jin's Mechanical Code → M-0's Birthday

5. Wen Lin's decryption note → LH-γ-7

“There’s one last step.” Li Weimian wrote the molecular formula on her palm. “The γ-aminobutyric acid activator needs a ‘memory key’ to trigger it, and the serotonin antagonist must work with LH-γ-7 to neutralize the toxin.”

Wen Lin suddenly held up a metal box he had dug out from under the floor: "What a coincidence, I just found this."

Inside the box was a sealed bottle of dark red liquid; the label had faded, but was still faintly visible.

"LH-γ-7 | Ryan Howard's Ultimate Sample"

When the five items were placed on the bedside table at the same time, Yan Kang's mechanical eyes suddenly lit up with a blinding red light.

"Congratulations on clearing the level." The boy's electronic voice became low and distorted.

"But do you really think the antidote is the key to saving him?"

The oil painting on the wall automatically flipped, revealing a hidden display screen. The screen showed the unconscious Fan Jinci, fixed to a structure resembling an operating table, with a huge neural synchronization device suspended above his head.

The ultimate question: Who will truly 'survive'?

Yu Yan's gun was already loaded: "Location?"

“Third underground.” Situ Jin quickly tapped the tablet. “Thermal scan shows two vital signs.”

Jiang Zhaoyan suddenly stood up: "My sister is there."

Li Weimian pressed him down: "It could also be a trap."

In the dead silence, Fan Jinci propped himself up on the edge of the bed, his fingertips brushing against the "memory key": "He knew I would go."

Wen Lin suddenly laughed: "So?"

“So—” Fan Jinci raised his eyes, his gray-blue pupils like ice, “we’ll play along with him to the very end.”

All doors and windows of the manor were locked at the same time.

Ryan's laughter came from all directions:

"Welcome to the final experiment—"

Code name: M-0

"Guess how I died, forensic pathologist."

As morning light streamed into the autopsy room, Ryan Howard's body was already placed on a steel table.

He was dressed in an elegant black tuxedo, his hands clasped in front of his chest, his face serene to the point of being eerie, as if he were merely asleep. Only a faint, almost imperceptible, taste of bitter almond emanated from his slightly parted lips.

Fan Jinci put on gloves, his fingertips lightly touching the corpse's jaw, and slowly pried it open—

1. Oral examination

The mucosa showed no signs of corrosion or bleeding.

The tongue coating is normal, with no abnormal discoloration.

Key finding: A microcapsule shell, made of a soluble polymer, was embedded inside the molar.

2. Esophagus and stomach

The esophageal wall was smooth, with no burn marks.

Stomach: Extensive chemical burns with radial erosions, but no damage to the cardia.

Stomach contents: residual red wine and partially digested capsule residue.

3. Initial toxicological screening

Cyanide derivatives (identical toxins found in red wine) were detected.

However, the burns were not caused by poisoning—poisoning should be accompanied by bright red lividity, while Ryan's skin was abnormally grayish-white.

Fan Jinci put down the scalpel and pressed his fingertips against his temple.

The lingering effects of the toxin were still tearing at his nerves; every thought felt like walking on ice, and a single misstep would plunge him into a bone-chilling chaos.

“□□ couldn’t possibly cause stomach burns.” His voice was low and hoarse. “Unless…”

“Unless the poison didn’t even reach his mouth,” Li Weimian suddenly said.

She picked up the tweezers, took the capsule shell fragment, and examined it carefully under the operating light: "This is an enteric-coated capsule—it should dissolve in the intestines, but it ruptured prematurely in the stomach."

Li Weimian was turning the capsule shell fragment under the observation microscope when she suddenly stopped:

“Look here.” She pointed to a nearly invisible engraving. “The capsule was punctured with micropores by a laser to accelerate dissolution.”

Mianmian's chain of reasoning:

1. Lane took an enteric-coated capsule (containing a corrosive poison) beforehand.

2. Drinking red wine (containing cyanide derivatives) at a banquet.

3. A certain component in the red wine penetrates the micropores of the capsule, causing it to dissolve prematurely.

4. The poison erupted in the stomach, and the [illegible] was merely a cover.

“He orchestrated his own death,” she whispered, “like orchestrating a play.”

After centrifuging the stomach contents, Situ Jin's expression suddenly changed: "Thiocyanate was detected—this stuff reacts with stomach acid to produce sulfuric acid!"

"So the burns are from sulfuric acid corrosion." Wen Lin asked, puzzled. "But where does thiocyanate come from in red wine?"

Jiang Zhaoyan suddenly held up the logbook he had stolen from the pharmacy: "Lane has been taking sodium nitroprusside for a long time—a drug for treating high blood pressure, which will produce thiocyanate after being metabolized."

(The □□ in red wine + the thiocyanate in Lane's body → gastric acid catalyzes the formation of sulfuric acid)

but.

Is that really the truth?

By this point in his reasoning, Fan Jinci's vision had begun to blur. He instinctively gripped the edge of the dissection table, his knuckles turning white from the force.

Yu Yan put his arm around his waist and said, "That's enough, you need to rest."

"Just one last step..." Fan Jinci struggled to reach the microscope, but Yu Yan simply picked him up and carried him horizontally.

"Don't talk," Yu Yan growled, biting his earlobe. "If you move again, I'll kiss you."

Li Weimian silently handed him a sedative: "Let him sleep, leave the rest to me."

That night, Yu Yan held Fan Jinci tightly in his arms, gently soothing his tense back with his body heat.

As Li Weimian sat before the dissection table, her fingertips tracing the burn marks on Ryan's stomach, she suddenly felt a tiny bump in the most severely eroded area—

She used tweezers to pick out a metal plate with the following engraving:

"The gift is in the heart of M-0"