Chapter 137: Murder by Botox (2/2)

I gave it to her and she scrutinized it under the light for a few minutes.

“Song Yang-gege! There’s some black residue in here!”

I froze. An idea popped up in my mind. I pulled out the victim’s student ID and showed it to Bingxin.

“Do you think this girl is pretty?” I asked her.

“Yeah… I guess so,” she answered. “Why?”

“Well, I’ve identified the poison that caused the victim’s death. I’ll give you a hint—it starts with the letter B.”

“Ooh, is this a test?” Bingxin chirped. “Hmm… let me think. It starts with the letter B… Benadryl? Benzocaine? Buprenorphine? No, those poisons won’t dissolve the muscles or the brain…”

I was indeed trying to test Bingxin to see how knowledgeable she was. She was quite impressive, because she went on to name a dozen poisons in a short period of time, some of which I’d never even heard of. It looked like she had a strong grasp in toxicology.

As Bingxin was still deep in thought, Dali finally found an opportunity to interrupt us.

“Maybe she committed suicide with a snake venom like Cleopatra did!” he proposed.

“Did you see a snake anywhere in the room?” I snapped.

“Ah, that’s right!” cried Bingxin. “Silly me! You even hinted at it when you asked me if the girl was pretty!”

She picked up the student ID again and examined the victim’s picture for a while.

“Yes, I can see it now!” she exclaimed. “It’s Botulinum toxin!”

“Bingo!” I laughed.

“What the hell is that?” Dali asked.

“Botox!” explained Bingxin. “Girls like the victim would be familiar with it. It’s used to reduce wrinkles in the face!”

Botox was a neurotoxin that could dissolve proteins. It was precisely because of this feature that it was widely used in the cosmetics industry. But what most people might not know was that it was also the most acutely lethal toxin known to modern science! It was once used as a biochemical weapon by the military until its use was explicitly prohibited in the Geneva Conventions.

One milligram of Botox could kill 200 million mice, but the amount of Botox used in plastic surgery clinics was extremely small that it was absolutely impossible to reach the lethal dose. Nevertheless, it was not uncommon to hear of movie stars suffering from facial nerve paralysis and nerve cramps due to Botox injections.

Botox was a toxin produced by a species of anaerobic bacteria called Clostridium botulinum. The bacteria would not survive once exposed to oxygen-rich air. That was why when Bingxin pointed out that there was black residue in the vial, my suspicions were aroused.

The victim probably tried to inject the Botox into her leg to make them thinner and firmer, but she then noticed that her muscles were rapidly dissolving, so she hastily undressed to check what was going on. Botulinum toxin invaded the brain immediately after entering the bloodstream, making the victim unconscious. This meant that she didn’t have time to reach the door to call out for help before she collapsed to the floor and never got up again.

The bacteria continued to multiply in her body even after her death, and in only half a day all her muscles and her brain had turned into mush!

“The victim probably couldn’t afford to get Botox injections by a licensed medical professional,” Bingxin commented. “She must’ve bought cheap Botox online, which led to her tragic death. Song Yang-gege, this was just a case of accidental death, wasn’t it?”

“No,” I answered. “It’s a carefully planned murder!”

“What?” Bingxin was startled.

I raised the vial and said, “You can even notice the black residue with the naked eye, which meant that there was so much Botox in it that it far exceeded the lethal dose. No merchant would be so unscrupulous and so stupid to let that happen unless they were a terrorist organization! I think the vial must’ve been tampered with, which means that someone wanted the victim dead!”

“That makes sense,” Bingxin nodded. “What should we do next?”

“Protect the crime scene and wait for the police!” I then turned to the still unconscious cook and told Dali, “Can you help me wake him up? I have some questions to ask him.”

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