Chapter 31: The Victim's Plan (with a diagram of the Snow Chamber Trick)
"So the murderer is Han Chi? And not Li Huaide?"
Yin Chuan said slowly, "Captain Shen, you asked where the barracks used to create this illusion are? I'm telling you, there are actually two barracks used to create this illusion. One is Han Chi's, and the other is Li Huaide's." He walked through Chen Hui's barracks and came to the wall next to the tent at the far end. "This is Captain Li's barracks, right?"
"That's not right. The person living in this room should be Captain Wu Ziqing!" Situ Xin denied.
"Commander Situ, you don't know that before the incident, Wu Ziqing and Li Huaide exchanged barracks. Captain Wu, is that true?" Yin Chuan asked Wu Ziqing.
"Yes...that's right." Wu Ziqing replied.
"The mechanism was laid out like this: that night, due to the bandit attack, the barracks had limited lighting, with only the barracks of a few regimental and battalion-level officers still having lights on. The killer arranged for a mannequin to be set up in Staff Officer Han's barracks. He turned on a motorcycle light and projected an image onto Captain Li's barracks. He then folded the two walls of Captain Li's barracks inwards to connect them diagonally. This way, the image from Staff Officer Han's barracks was reflected onto the walls of Captain Shen's tent. The purpose of the shot fired out of thin air was to draw the attention of everyone outside the tent at the time. As for why the regimental commander's barracks wasn't a double-story structure, I'm afraid the killer ordered the logistics platoon to design it that way."
"According to what you said, the only one who has the power to do these things is Chief of Staff Han Chi." Situ Xin said thoughtfully.
"That's not right," Yin Chuan shook his head. "Commander Situ, it seems that it's not just Chief of Staff Han who has this authority, right?"
Situ Xin was stunned. Shen Xi beside him suddenly realized, "Okay, as expected, Situ Xin, you can't escape suspicion!"
"Captain Shen, please calm down for now. Although Commander Situ does have the authority, I never said he was the murderer."
"Who is the murderer? Han Chi? Li Huaide? Or someone else? Just tell me the truth! It's really frustrating!" Shen Xi was a little hysterical.
Yin Chuan sighed, "You're all suspicious of this and that, but you've forgotten that the person with the most power to cause these things is none other than your leader, Chen Hui himself."
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone present was stunned and speechless.
"What you mean is... that he was the one who planned everything in the military camp and even killed my brother? Nonsense! Why would my brother commit suicide?" Shen Xi found it hard to accept this conclusion. He was so angry that his veins were bulging. He immediately planned to pull out his pistol and attack.
Before he could make a move, General Wan glanced to both sides. His soldiers immediately rushed forward, restraining Shen Xi and his men. Even Situ Xin hadn't expected them to act so quickly.
"Tell me, how did you come up with this inference?" General Wan asked.
Yin Chuan smiled and replied, "Ever since we entered the barracks and witnessed the murder of the regiment commander, and within three days after the incident, we encountered many things that made us feel very strange. First of all, when the bandits attacked the camp for the first time, everyone was in chaos, but Commander Shen was the only one who remained indifferent. Although we didn't have much contact with him, we could see that this commander had outstanding military qualities and it was impossible for him to have no reaction in a crisis. This puzzled us. Secondly, the logistics platoon's arrangement of all the barracks was not random, and they must have obeyed the orders of their superiors. The barracks of all the commanders were thickened with a layer of wood to keep out the cold, so why was it that only the regiment commander's barracks was not thickened with wood? There's no room, so doesn't he feel cold? Thirdly, the two battalion commanders' temporary room swapping wasn't something they'd agreed on; it must have been an order from a higher-up commander. Who could that be? And then there's the matter of the haunted armory. Such a strange thing happened in a confidential military location, yet the regimental commander seemed to turn a blind eye. Why? There are many other suspicious points, like the discovery of a traitor by the logistics department, the death of the regimental commander's guard Duan Biao, the escape of Huang Tan from the reconnaissance squad, and so on, which make us even more puzzled. Although these things seem to be isolated and unrelated, there is a subtle thread that connects them all. What could it be?
"You mean, all this was done by my brother?" Shen Xi, who was being held down, asked unwillingly.
"Except for Captain Shen, no one else—whether it's Deputy Captain Situ Xin or Staff Officer Han Chi—can arrange all these things perfectly."
"But why did he do this? What made him decide to end his life, and why did he spend so much effort setting up such a big plan? What was his purpose?" Situ Xin asked.
"I suspect it's because this unit—the Independent Regiment...or even the entire pigtail army under Marshal Zhang's command—is so utterly alien to him, and for various reasons he can't let go of his feelings for this unit that he came up with this idea out of sheer desperation. As for the whole story behind this situation, let me explain it one by one—
"The first step in his plan was to, under the pretext of not harassing the civilians, order the Independent Regiment not to enter Chenjia Village but to station outside. This was the prerequisite for his subsequent plans. He had long been aware that Chenjia Village was home to numerous bandits known as the Liuzi. Not only did they refrain from invading nearby towns and villages, they also maintained frequent interactions with the villagers. This allowed him to fully exploit these bandit forces and implement his plan step by step. The second step was to proactively approach the largest local Liuzi stronghold, the Black Cloud Stronghold, and secretly collude with them by exposing their supply routes and camp locations. This was to create the perfect environment for the final deployment. Therefore, the so-called mole in the barracks—medic Zhang Sixiang and deserter Huang Tan from the reconnaissance squad—were actually operating under the orders of Regimental Commander Shen. The third step was to secretly rehearse a fake beheading in the armory, which is why some soldiers saw a headless ghost haunting the armory at night. Once the rehearsal was foolproof, he planned the night raid three days prior to coincide with the fake murder plot.
"However, at this point, there was a variable he needed to resolve in advance: his personal guard Duan Biao. Old Du heard Doctor Zhang tell him some stories about Captain Shen Hui's early life at the Huang Family Compound. He had once saved your Marshal Zhang Xun on the battlefield, which was why he was exceptionally appointed as the commander of an independent regiment of the pigtail army. He also arranged for Duan Biao to be Shen Hui's personal guard. I suspect that because Shen Hui disagreed with Zhang Xun's military management philosophy, Zhang Xun became suspicious of him over time. However, due to personal considerations, he couldn't remove his military power, so he sent Duan Biao to keep a close eye on his every move. Shen Hui was naturally no fool; he must have seen through Zhang Xun's little tricks, but he had been holding it in. Now that the plan was set, getting rid of Duan Biao was a natural move."
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