Chapter 165

Even a seasoned detective might not be able to make a suspect so uneasy with just a glance.

But he wasn't surprised at all that Hanchuan Shenliu could reach this level so easily.

The detective in charge of the case thought to himself, "Let alone the suspect, even I, an innocent person, would be afraid if Han Chuan Shenliu were staring at me like that..."

The accomplices were also apprehensive. Although they didn't directly face the pressure of Han Chuan Shenliu, they were already very uneasy just being swept by the tail end of the storm. Some even started to wonder which lawyer they should hire if Nobuchika couldn't handle it and betrayed everyone.

"Now, can we collect the body now?"

Xin Jin stammered for a moment, trying to make himself speak more fluently, and attempted to change the subject: "We still have to hold a funeral!"

Bo Yezaki felt his phone vibrate, took it out to check his email, and nodded casually, "Hmm, it's time to collect the corpse."

Kenji Hagiwara immediately laughed: "Has the case been solved?"

"Yes, Shiratori actually saw it too, he just didn't want to believe it." Usakabe glanced at the others who were trying to remain calm, and sighed that their acting skills were even worse than his own!

You can't even have facial paralysis!

System: 【…All you can do is have a poker face, and you're quite proud of it.】

【What do you know? There's a technique to being expressionless. It's not just about having no expression at all; that's just the basics. Do you know the evolved version called 'smiling expressionless'?】

The system scoffed, unimpressed: [So you're just in that state you're in? Always grinning like a lunatic, is that acting?]

Usoya Saiki ignored the system and looked at Shiratori Renzaburo: "Should you say it, or should I?"

After all, he was Shiratori Ninzaburo's friend; perhaps he wanted to end things on his own.

Shiratori Renzaburo looked at his former college friends with complicated emotions, then turned his head away in anguish: "Come on, Hankawa-kun... I'll listen."

“Alright.” Bo Yezaki didn’t stand on ceremony. “First of all, this is not the murder scene, but the body was moved here after death. The time on that alarm clock is not valid. Based on the purpose of influencing the police’s judgment of the time of death, the deceased’s time of death should be 10:42, which is before the email was sent.”

Otherwise, if the person was still alive when the email was sent, the impact on the case wouldn't be so significant. This whole thing was done to create the illusion that the person was still alive when the email was sent.

Someone immediately retorted, "But we didn't leave the hotel until after 2 a.m..."

If he were suspected of being the criminal, he should have acted out the anger of being wronged and misunderstood, but when he met those dark red eyes, his confidence instantly weakened, and the tone of his voice after he spoke was surprisingly guilty.

“Yes, you left the hotel around 2 a.m.,” Bo Yezai said, then continued, “but so did the deceased. If I’m not mistaken, the two people who saw the deceased off and said they were putting him in a taxi probably knocked him unconscious and hid him.”

Shiratori Ninzaburo, who had just said he was just listening, finally couldn't help but chime in: "Around 10:30, you guys thought Ebina should be home by then, so you made an excuse to go out for a smoke or something, but actually you went to the underground parking garage and killed the unconscious Ebina! I didn't suspect a thing!"

Kenji Hagiwara quickly reassured him, "Most people wouldn't think of that!"

With so many people conspiring to commit a crime, the probability of something going wrong is too high. Most people would avoid it if they could. Who would have thought that someone would stage such a scene in front of the police!

The detective in charge was, after all, an elite officer who could get into the Metropolitan Police Department's First Investigation Division. Having said all that, he was more than capable of filling in the rest of the story himself: "I see. These people used Shiratori-kun as a witness, and then after he left, they brought the body back here, fabricated the scene, and created their own alibis..."

These people were also elites from top universities, and they knew that admitting it at this point would be truly foolish, so they stubbornly refused to admit it.

"These are all your guesses. You have no evidence, so don't slander people!"

That's true. If things go wrong, they might even get a complaint. Although they think these murderers probably don't have the guts... but Hanchuan Shenliu was so confident just now, so there must be evidence, right?

The detective in charge coughed: "Han Chuan-kun..."

It's your turn!

Bo Yezaki lived up to expectations and said, "Xinqin, you forged that email, didn't you?"

Xin Jin was almost desperately certain that the poster had probably revealed something, which was why the other party was so sure that he was the one who sent the email. But he still forced himself to ask, "...If it wasn't me, why do you think that?"

"Because the writing style in the email is different from that of the deceased, but consistent with the poster you wrote."

"...How can you be so sure that I'm the only one who fits that habit?"

“It could not be you.” Bo Yezaki put his hands in the pockets of his trench coat. Although he was about the same height as the other person, he inexplicably had a condescending feeling. “But I had someone check the location where that email was sent. At 10:42, the phone was still at the place where you were having dinner. If you say it wasn’t you, then it was someone else. In any case, it must be one of you.”

Many people's expressions changed.

Elites may be elites, but there are many things that even elites don't necessarily know. For example, none of them knew that they could trace the location of emails; otherwise, they wouldn't have unanimously approved the murder plan!

Usoya Saiki even smiled, though to others, that smile would likely be viewed through a sinister lens, making him appear like some kind of tormenting psychopath—

System: [You just love to torture people. Don't blame it all on the "behind-the-scenes manipulation"!]

"—Your murder plan is indeed quite good."

Bo Yezaki continued to ignore the system and said with a smile, "Besides this loophole, there's also the incongruity of the scene, which is almost flawless... So, as long as you can hand over someone who matches the time when you left Shiratori's sight in his memory, and also matches the time of the deceased's death, and then say that everything was planned by this person, and that he also sent the email, which is why the sending address was in the hotel... it's perfectly plausible."

These words sounded like well-intentioned advice, but all the prisoners only felt more and more desperate.

How can hand over one qualified person and then exonerate everyone else?

They definitely want to incite infighting first, so that their own people will start exposing each other's dirty laundry, putting on an ugly show. Once a scapegoat is chosen and the others think they're safe, they'll pretend to produce other evidence to show that they've been working on nothing all along! They'll send them plummeting from heaven to hell!

That's how it's always portrayed in novels! Villains who enjoy manipulating people love to see scenes that expose the darker side of human nature!

I have a feeling this guy named Han Chuan is absolutely capable of doing it!!!

How can people like this become police officers these days?!

Kenji Hagiwara wanted to give the guy who was toying with the prisoners in front of others a good whack, but seeing that the prisoners seemed quite shaken and that the psychological warfare was working well, he reluctantly held back.

Among them, Nobukichi's wavering was the strongest.

Because Bo Yezaki was watching him closely, he was under the most pressure. He felt that Bo Yezaki was not going to let him go. He couldn't believe anything that Bo Yezaki said he would find someone else to replace him.

They definitely already have other evidence and are just playing with him. Struggling won't help!

Shiratori Ninzaburo seized the opportunity to add fuel to the fire: "If you admit it now, it can be considered a surrender."

So Nobuchika gritted his teeth and decided that if they were going to die, they should all die together. Why should he be the only one to pay the price for something that everyone did together?

"...It was us. We were all involved except for you."

"The letter is close!!!"

Although others had anticipated that Shinjin might not be able to hold on, they did not want to see that happen, so some people couldn't help but voice their dissatisfaction.

But it's no longer useful.

Xin Jin even glared resentfully at the person who had called him, and shouted, "If you hadn't insisted that this plan was perfect and dragged all of us into it, none of this would have happened!"

"What did you say!" the other man retorted. "If Hai Laoming doesn't die, our fate won't be any better than it is now!"

Sensing something amiss in the tone, Shiratori Ninzaburo quickly interrupted, "So why did you kill Ebina? Tell the truth, and perhaps you'll get a lighter sentence."

Several people didn't want to talk.

Usoba Saiki spoke up at the right moment: "Shiratori, don't try to persuade me anymore. I still prefer the way prisoners are stubborn."

The effect was immediate; the next second, these people were all vying to speak.

"I'll talk, I'll talk!"

"A few years ago, a few of us went to a training camp and got into an argument with an old man!"

"Yes, and then during the scuffle, someone was accidentally... killed..."

"Then we threw the body into the river, and the next day we read in the local newspaper that a body had been found downstream..."

"Ebina said he wanted to tell his fiancée about this before the wedding, otherwise he wouldn't be able to get married in peace. We tried to stop him, but he was determined to do it... We had no choice..."

Shiratori Ninzaburo, unable to bear it any longer, shouted: "What do you mean by 'no choice'! You're killing people and then trying to shirk responsibility!"

Kenji Hagiwara couldn't help but ask, "Didn't Shiratori-kun go to that training camp?"

"No, I had a lot of my own plans..." Shiratori Ninzaburo sighed, "I really didn't expect that they would do this more than once... and then blame it on Ebina..."

If we can't blame Ebina, the deceased, then we can only blame others.

So everyone started attacking the person who started it.

"It's all your fault! What perfect crime plan? You didn't even know that cell phone signals could be used to trace locations!"

"That guy clearly said he just wanted to avoid his nemesis... but who knows who his nemesis is!"

This person was also indignant, but after saying this, his expression suddenly went blank for a moment, and he looked at Bo Yezhai with a strange gaze.

"So, you wouldn't happen to be the Sherlock Holmes he was talking about?"

Usoya Saiki: "...?"

What the heck? There have been plenty of villainous nicknames given to him, but this is the first time someone has thought he looks like Sherlock Holmes.

Trying to make his defeat seem less foolish, the man asked eagerly, "Are you his nemesis?"

Kenji Hagiwara's lips twitched: "I don't think anyone is qualified to be his nemesis... Who are you guys talking about?"

—What perfect crime plan? Why does that sound familiar?

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Extra chapters will be added if the time limit is exceeded.

I told myself I'd go to bed early, but I ended up having insomnia... Adjusting my sleep schedule definitely takes time... But I'm going to bed earlier than before. I'll keep trying, little by little. Goodnight everyone.

.

Han Chuan: This is the first time someone has called me Sherlock Holmes. Are my eyes really blind?

.

Shiratori advised him to turn himself in.

The others remained unmoved

Han Chuan: I still prefer the way prisoners talk back.

Prisoner: I'll turn myself in first!