In the restaurant, Jian Jing sat alone by the window, recording today's investigation results in a small notebook.

At present, there are three motives for killing Zishu:

1. To disrupt the transaction (the buyer failed in the bidding? Didn't want the auction to succeed? To prevent the bronze head from leaking out?)

2. To believe that Zishu was the seller (to seize the bronze head? Out of historical hatred?)

3. To take revenge on Zishu for his fake behavior

Zishu's death time was between 20:30 and 22:30. By screening each person's timeline, we can get the following suspects.

Ox: 19:52-20:30, bought No. 2

Monkey: 19:50-20:35, bought No. 2

Horse: 20:15-21:00, claimed to be a proxy auctioneer, refused to reveal the client and the auction items

Tiger: 20:40-21:20, bought No. 2

Snake: 21:30-21:55, bought No. 1

Dragon: 21:50-22:00, refused to disclose

- auction ended -

Dog: 22:05-22:15, bought No. 3

Tiger: 22:10-22:20, left for the third time

Pig: 22:15-22:25, bought

No. The people who can be excluded through the timeline are the Sheep and the Rooster, but we cannot conclude that they are not suspects. For example, the Rooster old lady, is it possible that she conspired with the Monkey?

But there is another key question here.

After 22:00, everyone may not have gone to the auction room, but before 22:00, everyone went to the auction room. If the Rat died early, how could the people behind not find out? Or to be more precise, would they cover up for others?

Maybe, but the bodyguard said that after 21:00, they saw with their own eyes that the Rat ordered them to get the fruit.

So the scope can be further narrowed down.

Tiger: 20:40-21:20Snake

: 21:30-21:

55Dragon: 21:50-22:00

——Auction ends——

Dog: 22:05-22:15Tiger

: 22:10-22:20Pig

: 22:15-22:25The

murderer is among these five people.

Then, don't forget the missing auction list. It may have been taken by the murderer or by someone later. There is no more information for the time being.

Jian Jing bit the pen and tried to reason about the feasibility:

1. Tiger knew that the auction failed, so he killed Rat on impulse and left in panic. Although Snake and Dragon found the problem, they chose to remain silent for various reasons (such as the auction list). Afterwards, Tiger was afraid that the matter would be exposed, so he returned to the auction room and pretended to have a secret room.

It makes sense, but it is very far-fetched. Could it be that Snake and Dragon both have a grudge against the deceased? Tiger should also be very clear that the people who came after him would immediately find the problem.

Moreover, it is too difficult for both of them to remain silent.

2. Snake was the murderer, and Dragon was silent for some reason. Then, it is highly likely that the latter took the auction sheet and created a secret room. If he could not enter and did not know what happened to the deceased, it would be unreasonable for him to remain silent.

3. The murderer was the last one to go.

But don't forget that the dog, tiger and pig went out again at 22:00. It can't be such a coincidence that all three of them really went to the toilet, right? If only one of them had been to the auction room, why didn't they mention the secret room?

Yes, secret room.

She circled the word.

There are many possibilities for creating a secret room, and it has been mentioned more than once in detective novels.

For example:

1. Make the death of the deceased look like suicide or accident;

2. Put the blame on someone who has the key or is in the same room;

3. Delay the discovery of the deceased;

4. Use a closed room to interfere with the investigation and make people ignore some important evidence;

5. Be a criminal artist and provoke the detective or the police in a closed room.

But you can't solve the case by following the clues. Based on the known clues, Jian Jing can make up seven or eight versions of the case that meet the requirements.

To be honest, although Ji Feng has laughed at her novel-style reasoning countless times, the reason why Jian Jing succeeds every time is very simple - the truth is unique.

Only the version of the truth can perfectly fit every clue and there is no second possibility.

What else is missing? She held her chin in thought and didn't even notice the waiter bringing the dish.

At this time, other guests also came to eat.

Wu Ma sat together with Wei Yang, You Rooster and Shen Monkey. After a few words, he mentioned that his safe was broken into and reminded Wei Yang: "You have a lot of things in there, you'd better be careful and don't let the thief think about it."

Wei Yang was really shocked: "Is there a thief on the boat? Have you found it?"

"I asked the people on the boat, and they said that the door card was not lost." Wu Ma said, "But you also know that electronic equipment is unreliable. People who know can easily copy one. Be careful."

Wei Yang frowned.

The old lady Rooster suggested to her: "Why not ask the secretary to borrow a safe? Their safe is definitely safer than the cabin."

"I'll go ask." Wei Yang brought some small things, each of which was not worth much, about a few hundred thousand, but they were all small and exquisite. If someone took them away, it would be difficult to find them.

She left in a hurry, and in less than half an hour, she came back with a relaxed face: "There is indeed a safe on the ship, and I have transferred the things there."

"Is it reliable?" Wu Ma asked.

Wei Yang smiled and said, "It's okay. The door is professionally anti-theft and much stronger than the room."

"That's good." Shen Hou nodded briefly and thought, "But there's no reason for me to steal from you."

Wu Ma said, "I'm surprised too. I don't look like a rich man, do I? If we were really on the boat, would we not know who is richer?" As he spoke, he winked in the direction of Hai Zhu.

Pig is wearing all branded clothes, including a Patek Philippe watch, Hermes belt, Gu Chi clothes, and a string of beautiful bracelets. He said loudly, "What the hell is this? It's so disgusting. Give me some shark fin."

The chef who was called out to be scolded said, "..."

Monkey said with a smile on his face, his eyes shining brightly, "Maybe he is not going to steal something valuable."

Sheep put down his knife and fork and took a sip of champagne, "What is that?"

Monkey sneered and did not answer.

Jian Jing at the next table listened to the whole process and helped him to complete the answer in his mind: power of attorney.

The power of attorney of the seller who entrusted Rat to auction.

Rat is dead, and Mr. Gu doesn't know who the seller is. Whoever gets the power of attorney can take away the collection.

This thief is really good, he is really smart.

However, only eleven guests and Tina knew about this. If the secretary's identity was not a problem, was the thief also among the ten people?

There were so many things to think about, but nothing was clear.

Jian Jing closed her notebook, picked up her knife and fork, and prepared to finish the slightly cold pasta.

During this time, Chou Niu and Xu Gou also came to have dinner. The former ordered steak with papaya stewed with snow clam, while the latter ordered French onion soup and stewed potatoes.

They were all delicious.

Jian Jing: "...Please give me another serving of shrimp dumplings."

After eating and drinking, she returned to the scene.

This time, she carefully inspected it again and had more doubts: Did Zi Rat go to get the wine to celebrate something? The knife was made from local materials, which means it was not prepared in advance. Did the murderer decide to kill someone on a whim?

Several people have said that the Rat is very good at keeping secrets and would not reveal the result before the auction is over. Why would the murderer kill someone if he didn't know the result?

In this case, the person who left after 22:00 is more suspicious.

In addition, can this rule out revenge? Revenge must be prepared and carefully planned. In this special terrain environment, entry and exit are restricted, so it is not a good time to take action.

Is he dissatisfied with the auction results? Or did he accidentally learn that the Rat was the seller during the conversation?

Dog: 22:05-22:15; Tiger: 22:10-22:20; Pig: 22:15-22:25.

The Dog (if he is not lying) wants to buy No. 3. He has no competitors at all, so his motive is invalid. The Tiger and Pig are one introverted and one extroverted, but they are determined to get No. 2, so they are more suspicious.

Moreover, from the murder method, it is difficult for the Dog to kill a man in his 50s quickly, fiercely and accurately.

Could it be that the murderer is the Tiger or the Pig?

The Tiger went back and forth three times, and his intention was strong. The Pig has a rough personality and deliberately rushed to the secret room first, which seems to be in line with the motive of the creator of the secret room - but what is the purpose of this secret room?

No, it's not right.

It's absolutely not right!

Jian Jing suddenly became irritated. She always felt that this case was not at all like the current analysis. It seemed to make sense and reasonable. There was no other explanation, but it just made people feel uncomfortable.

This was not the feeling of having felt the pulse.

Her intuition told her that it was not, but under the limited card of "intuition", her intuition was usually correct.

The deduction just now was definitely not the truth.

She knocked her forehead hard and threw away all her previous thoughts.

Forget the auction, forget the collection, forget the motive.

Start to sort out the clues again.

The reliable clues currently known are: 1. The timeline she witnessed herself; 2. The testimony of the two bodyguards; 3. The secret room environment in terms of terrain, including the auction room and the large secret room from the hall to the auction room; 4. The disappeared auction list.

Anything else?

Is there any clue that has been overlooked?

Jian Jing pondered and pondered, but still had no answer.

The clock ticked to eleven o'clock. She glanced at the wall clock in the auction room, moved a chair, climbed up and took a look. Very good, the dust was evenly accumulated and the thickness was moderate. No one had tampered with the time.

Then why build a secret room?

A super simple secret room that anyone who has read a detective novel can tell the method. What is the need for it?

It can't be that the murderer had an idea and did it easily because of his second-year syndrome?

Any author who dares to write this should prepare to have a 1.0 rating on Bookworm.com.

After all her troubles, it was twelve o'clock and there was no clue, so she had to go back to bed.

The quality of sleep was terrible.

It seemed that she dozed off for a while, and then she heard a strange noise outside. She got up with a start and rushed out the door, looking around the corridor alertly: "What's wrong?"

A staff member rushed down the stairs and said breathlessly: "Oh no, something happened in the safe."

Jian Jing: "Huh?"

She hurried upstairs and saw the overflowing white pungent smoke when she reached the lobby. The character panel prompted "trace amount of drugs".

"You wait here, I'll go and take a look." She stopped the staff and went in alone.

Entering the corridor, the white mist was thicker. She held her breath and wanted to use her immunity to rush in. However, this time she overestimated the increase by 1 point.

As soon as she rushed to the vicinity of the safe room, she felt dizzy and her vision was blurred. She could only vaguely see that the four bodyguards guarding the door of the safe room had all fainted on the ground and were unconscious.

She wanted to take a closer look, but it was difficult to stay in such a closed passage for even a second, so she had to retreat quickly, return to the lobby, open the door, and ask the staff to adjust the ventilation equipment to quickly disperse the smoke.

After about ten minutes, the white smoke finally dissipated, and she rushed in.

The doors of the three safe rooms were all open. The safes 1 and 3 were intact, but the door of the safe No. 2, which contained the copper head, was violently cut off, and there was nothing inside.

Jian Jing couldn't help but swear.

The accompanying staff were all dumbfounded: "What should we do?"

"Wake up Tina, contact Mr. Gu, and then call all the guests to the restaurant." Jian Jing said.

The staff hurriedly did it.

When Tina came, she was still wearing a silk nightgown. She asked in a shocked and confused tone: "The collection... was stolen? Who stole it?"

Jian Jing was also devastated. She wanted to know, too. But she couldn't panic. She said calmly: "We are just about to investigate this matter. Ask all the staff on the ship who was not sleeping or left their posts just now."

Tina had one advantage. Although she couldn't make up her mind, she could do it with an order: "Oh, okay."

Jian Jing called the four fainted bodyguards over. They were still a little dazed and didn't understand the situation.

"Tell me what happened just now. You go first." She pointed to someone at random.