Poison

Lu Yao hurriedly stood up, but realizing that the performance was still ongoing, she bent down to look toward the source of the sound.

It was currently the curtain call, and it would soon come to an end.

However, the height of the auditorium seats was basically level, making the line of sight very poor. Furthermore, in the darkness, even though Lu Yao considered herself highly capable, she had no way of discovering exactly where the problem had occurred.

The noise only caused a small disturbance in a narrow area. Because the sound of the song on stage almost covered the entire space, most of the audience at a distance did not notice anything unusual, and even those nearby only discussed in hushed tones what had happened.

But this was only temporary.

Lu Yao made a quick decision, squeezing out from the side. When passing by Yu Xuanyi, she paused for half a second, turned her head, and lowered her voice.

"Sorry, I'm going out for a moment."

Then her figure swiftly slipped out.

Wu Guixi, sitting on the side, didn't have any particularly special reaction, simply a bit surprised that a spectator sitting next to her suddenly left during the second half of the show.

But when she heard this strange stranger suddenly speak, the feeling became a bit different.

"Do you two know each other? Why did she talk to you and ignore me?" Wu Guixi tilted her head, shaking her best friend's shoulder. "Don't tell me she wanted you to make way; you're thinner than me, and you're not even carrying a bag."

Yu Xuanyi, still holding her phone with the screen on, remained silent for a moment.

But by this time, Lu Yao had already disappeared from sight, and she couldn't press further.

She had drawn near the source of the sound. In an adjacent row of seats, a person was slumped over in their chair. From the angle Lu Yao approached, she could only see the back of his head, but she could indeed judge that this person's condition was not good.

But before Lu Yao could get close to this person, others had already arrived beside him.

It was likely a young couple. The girl tugged at the boy's sleeve, while the boy tried to lean closer to inspect the person's condition.

Lu Yao had noticed earlier that the staff in this area were very sparse because it was quite remote. Most people who wanted to fully enjoy the performance wouldn't choose this spot, and even if someone chose the wrong seat due to unfamiliarity with the layout, they would mostly move to the empty seats in front on their own.

And this young couple probably wanted to be in the corner so they could check things out without affecting their own intimate moments. Lu Yao only needed to look at their body language to know that these two were absolutely in the passionate phase of a relationship, glued to each other. They had probably come from two distant seats to place their bags, and perhaps noticed the disturbance nearby and came to investigate. However, in the dark environment, the girl was somewhat timid, letting her boyfriend take the lead.

And just before Lu Yao approached, the volunteering young man carefully shook the arm of the motionless person.

"... Friend, is there something wrong with you?"

It sounded like he was scolding someone.

Lu Yao had approached, trying to get close to these people without drawing attention. Assuming it wasn't a big deal, she still didn't want her actions to cause too much panic.

"Friend?"

The young man was still considering whether this brother had fallen asleep out of tiredness, even wanting to lean in closer to observe carefully. But the girl behind him, who was clearly more observant, took a step ahead to discover the abnormality, pulling her boyfriend back half a step and even causing him to stumble.

"Is he... is he..." The girl's jaw trembled, wanting to look but not daring to, desperately clutching her boyfriend's arm, refusing to let go and preventing him from inspecting.

Lu Yao also came close at this time, seeing with her own eyes the person slumped in the chair with both arms hanging down, seemingly without any movement.

Dead?

She leaned closer, not minding the couple who were pulling and tugging at each other.

After observing for a moment, she looked up at the girl who was terrified like a cicada in winter, and the boy who was tightly squeezed by his girlfriend, momentarily dazed, the two of them glued together like that.

"Please do not make a sound. Go nearby and call an ambulance. Do not hesitate, report the address accurately. Later, when they ask about the patient's symptoms, hand the phone to me so I can describe them in detail."

Calling an ambulance meant the person wasn't dead.

The girl, who had been frightened by the hanging arms, finally breathed a sigh of relief, still clutching her boyfriend's arm as she took out her mobile phone. The young man was squeezed too tightly by his girlfriend, who didn't know her own strength, but he also felt that the matter could be resolved. Just as he was about to go to a quiet place to make the call after asking what the situation was, he was dragged away by his girlfriend, who had already dialed the number in a hurry.

They probably assumed that this person had suddenly fallen ill, which caused the strange noise, and then lost consciousness.

Leaving Lu Yao alone on the spot, she frowned, her gaze shifting from the person to the ground.

This was not a sudden illness, but another incident.

Lu Yao stared at the chest of the person sitting motionless; it was not rising and falling normally, but twitching slightly. Furthermore, she had just smelled the scent of bitter almonds, an abnormal phenomenon that even someone who didn't understand criminal investigation techniques very well could notice.

This was the result of poisoning.

On the ground beside the seat where the incident occurred lay a water bottle, its lower half transparent, just sitting on the ground. Even the white cap was not completely tightened, the mouth of the bottle half-open, containing an orange beverage of unknown name inside.

Normally, Lu Yao should have performed first aid first, such as finding milk or egg whites that could absorb the unabsorbed poison. But Lu Yao knew clearly that this was futile. The theater did not allow bringing outside drinks, only water cups or purchased mineral water, so there was a hot water dispenser outside the restroom that was always running.

It wasn't as if someone had brought a baby in to breastfeed. If she really had to waste time finding milk in this kind of place, the ambulance would probably have already arrived.

She also couldn't cause too much of a stir. At least, a commotion was definitely not the outcome she wanted to achieve, as it might lead to more chaos.

Lu Yao quickly made a temporary decision. She took out her badge, explained the situation to a nearby security guard, and asked them to temporarily control the situation, not letting others notice what had happened here too quickly. At the same time, she sent a message to her colleague, then stayed near the scene.

After finishing these tasks and giving instructions on the corresponding symptoms, Lu Yao let her gaze rest again on the victim, who was being temporarily watched.

Indeed, he had not died. Not yet.

But this made Lu Yao even more puzzled. Theoretically, potassium cyanide has an extremely low lethal dose; just inhaling a bit of it would cause instant death. Although there was the corresponding smell, this brother did not lose his life immediately, which meant the dose was insufficient...?

Before her thoughts could finish, the play suddenly and unexpectedly came to an end at this moment.

The entire theater instantly became brightly lit, and the chatter of the audience in the auditorium also appeared immediately. However, the increased number of people in this area was very hard to miss.

The noise of the crowd quickly shifted from discussing the plot of the play to exchanging confusion with friends about the security guards gathering here. Calculating the time, the ambulance was also about to arrive. Lu Yao was somewhat helpless; she truly couldn't completely prevent this commotion under the bright lights.

"Did something happen over there? Why are there so many security guards?"

"... No way?"

"I think I heard some strange sounds over there just now."

"Has something happened?"

Perhaps she should have asked the security to prevent turning on the lights after the performance, and have staff guide the audience to leave from other exits without drawing attention. She silently reminded herself, but then realized that such a short time was probably insufficient to give such complete instructions and explanations; calling people to isolate the crowd was already the most stable choice.

But she had also just instructed others not to let the audience leave... So it seemed that the commotion and wild speculation were unavoidable.

After all, this was likely a murder case.