novelsite Chapter 1: Checking the Water Clock
Chapter 1: Checking the Water Clock
Boom, boom, boom.
"Open the door, Criminal Investigation Team is conducting an investigation!"
"Who is it, so early in the morning..."
Jiang Chen had stayed up all night working on the outline for his new book, and had only managed to doze off for less than half an hour when he was woken up by a knock on the door. He was furious and got up to open the door, grumbling all the while.
The door had barely been opened a crack when the people outside rushed in.
Several fully armed criminal police officers pinned him to the ground without saying a word.
"Hey! What are you doing! What right do you have to arrest me!"
Jiang Chen was completely dumbfounded.
What's going on? Are you dreaming?
He struggled desperately, but his hands were already cuffed behind his back, and he couldn't move at all.
The lead female detective looked cold, and her eyes were cold too. She pulled out an arrest warrant stamped with a red seal, handed it to Jiang Chen, and her tone left no room for negotiation.
"Jiang Chen, you are suspected of committing serial copycat murders and are under criminal detention."
"Murder? What murder? You've got it wrong! I'm just a novelist, why would I kill anyone!" Jiang Chen's voice was hoarse from shouting.
The female detective sneered: "A novelist? In all my years of criminal investigation, this is the first time I've seen a murderer like you who writes the details of his crimes into a serialized novel. Take him away."
Jiang Chen was completely dumbfounded.
He's never even been in a fight, so how did he become a serial killer?
He did indeed transmigrate. The original owner was a struggling online novelist, so poor he was barely able to afford food. He had no choice but to rely on his memories to copy down crime and suspense stories he'd read in his previous life to make a living.
Unfortunately, the crime genre was completely untapped in this world, and his novel became an instant hit as soon as it was released, dominating the charts across the entire internet and making him a legendary suspense author.
Writing novels and committing murder? What's the connection? Does writing crime novels make you a murderer? Does that mean writing cultivation novels requires ascending to immortality?
Jiang Chen was extremely dissatisfied, but he couldn't stop several criminal police officers from dragging and pulling him out.
The area downstairs was packed with reporters, their flashes blinding him.
"Author Jiang, it's said online that your suspense novels are based on your personal crime experiences. Is that true?"
"By serializing the murders in a novel, are you showing off your criminal methods?"
"Is the series of murders at the factory in the western suburbs really exactly the same as the plot of your novel?"
Jiang Chen's mind was buzzing.
He did write a story about the factory in the western suburbs, but it was all made up.
Could it be... that someone in real life actually killed someone exactly as he wrote?
Jiang Chen felt a chill run down his spine.
Soon, the news of his arrest exploded across the internet.
#Suspense novel author Jiang Chen arrested; novel content suspected to be based on real-life crime#
#The scene of the serial murders in the western suburbs is 100% similar to the description in Jiang Chen's novel#
#The Most Arrogant Killer on the Internet: After Writing a Murder Scenario, He Reenacted the Crime in Real Life the Next Day#
Within minutes, everyone was talking about it.
"I knew his novel was too realistic; he really did it himself."
"My God, he's killing people while updating, this author is too twisted."
"No wonder a murder occurs with every new chapter; it turns out the author is the killer."
"Oh no, the masterpiece I've been following turns out to be written by a serial killer."
……
Interrogation room of the Municipal Public Security Bureau.
Jiang Chen sat there dejectedly, facing Su Wan, the female criminal police captain who had arrested him, and next to him sat a young police officer named Xiao Zhang.
Su Wan slammed her hand on the table, her voice sharp and piercing.
"Jiang Chen, stop pretending. Did you commit the three serial murders in the western suburbs? Did you have any accomplices? Where is the murder weapon hidden? Where did the belongings go? Confess honestly, and we might be able to get leniency."
Jiang Chen felt incredibly wronged: "Officer Su, I really didn't kill anyone. I just wrote a suspense novel. Writing novels isn't illegal, is it?"
Su Wan sneered: "A novel? Ha, he won't admit it until he sees the coffin. Xiao Zhang, show him the evidence."
Xiao Zhang threw a stack of photos from the scene in front of Jiang Chen.
Jiang Chen picked it up and looked at it, his heart growing colder with each glance.
The layout of the abandoned factory's secret rooms, the distribution of bloodstains, the killer's binding methods, the symbols on the walls, the escape routes through the secret passages...
Every detail is exactly the same as what he wrote in his novel.
"Holy crap... how could they run into that?"
Jiang Chen was completely dumbfounded.
He just wanted to live a peaceful life copying books after he transmigrated, but who knew that the fictional plot he made up would come true in reality.
Now look what's happened; he can't explain himself no matter how hard he tries.
Su Wan looked at Jiang Chen, whose face had turned pale, and felt a little sorry for him.
She's a big fan of Jiang Chen's books, and she even stays up late every night to catch up on his updates. She genuinely admires his writing style and logic, and appreciates this young author from the bottom of her heart.
But admiration aside, a case is a case. She's the head of the criminal investigation team; the evidence is right in front of her, and she has to handle the case.
"Jiang Chen, the evidence at the scene is irrefutable. What else do you have to deny?" Su Wan's tone softened a little. "Confess to the crime as soon as possible. Do you have any accomplices? I can apply to my superiors to get you the lightest possible sentence."
Jiang Chen had no way to express his suffering.
What is there to confess? He has never killed anyone; he's just an honest writer.
If I had known that writing crime novels would cause this kind of trouble, I should have just copied fantasy cultivation novels. Do you think the police can say that I can fly on a sword in real life?
"Officer Su, I know you all believe I did it, but I'm truly innocent." Jiang Chen said sincerely, "It's all just a coincidence. I've never been to the crime scene, let alone killed anyone. The novel is purely made up based on data and logic."
"A coincidence?" Su Wan's face darkened. "I've been in criminal investigation for so many years, I've seen all kinds of stubborn criminals, but I've never seen anyone like you. Even now, you still dare to try and fool me with coincidences?"
She slammed her hand on the table.
"Fine, you call it a coincidence? Then explain it to me clearly. That hidden secret passage in the suburban chemical plant was unknown to anyone for years, even the locals knew very little about it. You described it perfectly in your novel, how did you know that?"
Su Wan stared at him coldly.
Jiang Chen took a deep breath and calmed down.
"What's so difficult about that? I can't just make things up when I write a crime novel. To make the plot more realistic, I specifically interviewed long-time residents near the chemical plant. Those secret passages and rooms were emergency exits left over from the factory's construction decades ago. Only older workers and elderly people in the neighborhood know about them. I found out about them and used them as material."
"If you don't believe me, you can check my chat history and call records anytime."
Jiang Chen secretly rejoiced, thankful that he had actually gone to find people to do fieldwork in order to make his work realistic.
Who would have thought that the material he used to write his novel would become irrefutable evidence used by the police to identify him as the murderer?
Su Wan frowned and quietly instructed Xiao Zhang to retrieve the records.
Not long after, Xiao Zhang returned with the printed records.
"Captain, he wasn't lying. The records have all been verified. Jiang Chen did indeed ask the local elders about the old days of the chemical plant a long time ago."
Su Wan's expression changed slightly.
Could it be... just a coincidence?
Jiang Chen shrugged helplessly.
Su Wan picked up the record and quickly flipped through it. In just a few seconds, she found a breakthrough and immediately let out a cold laugh.
"Heh, you pass on the secret passage thing." She braced herself on the table, leaned forward, and stared intently at Jiang Chen.
"But explain to me that the chat logs don't mention any counter-surveillance binding techniques used at the crime scene. This method is extremely obscure; only seasoned criminals use it. Ordinary people have never even heard of it. If you didn't personally go to the scene, how could you write it exactly the same? Is this a coincidence? Or is it from an interview?"