An old villa on a secluded street in the city, outwardly ordinary but connected to a murder case, caught the attention of the police. Inside, hundreds of ancient clocks filled the rooms, each one quietly standing as if silently telling the secrets of time. At the center of this clock kingdom, a bizarre murder had occurred.
The victim was a well-known historian in his fifties, living a low-profile life and highly respected in academic circles. Unfortunately, this historian was found dead in the room where he kept his clock collection. His body was discovered on an old sofa, with clocks hanging on every wall, each showing a different time. Even more puzzling, there were no obvious signs of physical injury on the victim, and the only oddity was his tightly closed face and still body.
When Su Wanqing and Lu Chenzhou arrived at the scene, they were greeted by a room full of old clocks. Time seemed to have frozen here, the ticking of the clocks unsettling yet seemingly reminding them of the case's key mystery.
"Strange, why have all these clocks stopped?" Su Wanqing observed closely, noticing a common feature among the clocks in the room—they all stopped at the same moment, yet the victim didn't die at that time. This detail immediately raised her suspicions.
She looked down at the victim's body, her expression growing serious as she began a detailed examination. There were no obvious wounds or signs of struggle. She knew that such a death often meant a highly calculated murder.
"To estimate the time of death, we must start with the corpse's lividity," Su Wanqing muttered as she noticed a tiny clue. Based on the changes in the lividity, she deduced that the victim's death did not occur at the time shown on the clocks but was instead linked to a specific moment. By calculating the lividity, rigor mortis, and temperature of the body, she concluded that the victim had died shortly after midnight.
"He died at 12:15 AM, yet the clocks deliberately stopped at other times," Su Wanqing murmured, slowly piecing together the case.
"Are you saying this was done to confuse us?" Lu Chenzhou frowned, now sensing the oddities in the case.
"Yes," Su Wanqing nodded. "The murderer deliberately misled us about the time. He didn't want us to easily find the victim's actual time of death."
Lu Chenzhou took a deep breath, starting to question the motive behind the crime. Su Wanqing's analysis made him realize that this wasn't a simple murder but was closely related to a complex psychological motive. The murderer seemed to be obsessed with time, and this obsession might be connected to the victim and some larger powers.
"This murderer is obsessed with time," Lu Chenzhou whispered. "It seems like he follows his own rules when committing the crime."
As the investigation deepened, Lu Chenzhou discovered that the victim had been connected to several suspects, particularly a mysterious group with a focus on time. This group, known as the "Wheel of Time," was a secret organization that aimed to manipulate time and historical events to serve personal interests. More shockingly, it appeared that behind the "Wheel of Time," there was a mysterious international force, which was connected to the criminal organization they had been tracking.
Su Wanqing continued to delve into the victim's personal history, discovering that the victim had been involved in a historical research project a few years ago, which dealt with ancient concepts of time and astronomical calendars. He had also mentioned a "Timeless Plan" in a public lecture, a plan that claimed it could change the course of the world by manipulating specific moments in history. This plan was clearly not meant for public knowledge, and as a result, the victim's reputation in the academic world had started to decline, though some mysterious figures had shown interest in him behind the scenes.
"What exactly is this 'Timeless Plan'?" Lu Chenzhou asked. "Did this make him a target?"
Su Wanqing thought for a moment before answering, "Based on the victim's research, the 'Timeless Plan' might be an ancient secret program that involves using specific moments in time to alter history. This plan seems to intersect with the criminal organization we've been tracking. They're not only committing crimes in the present but are also trying to manipulate history to achieve their goals."
As they delved deeper into the case, Lu Chenzhou and Su Wanqing realized that the victim's murder was no accident. Someone had deliberately manipulated the entire timeline, attempting to use the information the victim held to fulfill an unknown conspiracy. The murderer's obsession with time seemed to represent a deep desire to control "time," but it was precisely this obsession that left a distorted trace on the human trajectory.
As their investigation progressed, the two began to realize that the "Wheel of Time" was not just a small group of individuals; its members spanned the globe, leaving a significant impact in various fields. They were involved in politics, finance, and even tried to alter the course of history through manipulation. The connection between the criminal organization and the "Wheel of Time" deepened their fear of the conspiracy behind it.
Eventually, after a series of tense investigations, Lu Chenzhou and Su Wanqing discovered the true identity of the murderer—he was a member of the "Wheel of Time," a time researcher deeply influenced by the victim. By assassinating the victim, he aimed to seize the research findings of the "Timeless Plan" in order to control greater forces.
However, just as they were about to bring the murderer to justice, they realized that a much larger conspiracy was quietly unfolding behind the scenes. This enigma surrounding time—would it truly be controllable, or was everything simply a matter of fate?
The answer, perhaps, was still ahead, waiting for them to uncover.