dmims Chapter 461 The Cane at the Hub Under the Blade
Chapter 461 The Cane at the Hub Under the Blade
Chapter 463 The Cane at the Hub Under the Blade
To be fair, it's necessary to clarify something for that mysterious bearded suspect—
He did not carelessly discard his tools of crime.
In the stinking garbage dump, the scepter and the small toys were disposed of separately. Judging from the mud on Lian Wu's body when he found the scepter, the prop had even been carefully buried.
However, the cats living in the junkyard have always had a penchant for collecting shiny objects.
These "treasures," along with the toys, naturally ended up deep within their secret lair as part of their daily activities. Even so, if Lian Wu hadn't used the thief's unique [Treasure Search] skill at the location where the toys were found out out of his cautious gaming habits, he probably would have missed this crucial piece of evidence.
The entire chain of events is clearly traceable and logically consistent.
This is definitely not a perfunctory clue hastily thrown out by the game host to deal with a player's impromptu skill check!
"Are you sure—this is the scepter Hugo was fiddling with in the palace?"
At this moment, facing the important item that Lian Wu had pulled out from the bottom of the package, the martial monk Cattleya marveled at it with the eyes of someone looking at a rare artifact—given Hugo XVI's status and manner of death, this item would indeed deserve such treatment in later generations.
"Based on my [Appraisal] level, I'm almost certain they're the same item. You can check it yourself if you don't believe me."
Lian Wu gripped the scepter through the fabric to avoid leaving fingerprints, his tone unusually serious.
"Besides, who else but a criminal would discard such a valuable item in a junkyard? This isn't some children's toy; even Meow Meow knows to dig it out. I don't think finding such a valuable item at a time like this is Wanlong's reward treasure."
"With my [Appraisal] level, I'd better pass. It's just that the timing of this item's appearance seems a bit coincidental—like someone's urging us to move the plot forward faster."
Cattleya shook her head meaningfully—
"Speaking of this scepter, judging from the damage on the top, it seems that Hugo may have fought with someone."
"No." Lian Wu shook his head seriously, stating the conclusion he had reached through the [analysis]—
"The scepter has only one point of damage, clearly caused by a single blunt force strike. Although the head of the scepter had been wiped with fabric, blood is still visible deep within the carved patterns—I can conclude that this weapon delivered a precise and devastating blow to someone. A person suffering such a blow would not possibly be in good spirits dragging a cart around the capital. Therefore, rather than suggesting it was a weapon used by the king for self-defense, it is more likely a murder weapon in the hands of a criminal."
"So, the real direct cause of Hugo's death might not have been beheading?" The monk blinked.
"Yes, the human cervical spine is not something that can be easily broken."
Lian Wu gestured horizontally as if severing a head. "Judging from the marks on this piece of evidence, I think the murderer first seized this scepter, then knocked out or killed Hugo XVI, and finally used an axe or similar sharp blade to dismember the body."
"That makes sense. The force required to knock someone unconscious is completely different from the force required to break a limb."
The female monk, who was also skilled in combat in the story, nodded knowingly, then frowned—
"But if that's the case, there should be another weapon used for beheading. Lian Wu, have you checked other parts of the junkyard?"
"I used up all my remaining action points for this today," Lian Wu nodded matter-of-factly. "But unfortunately, although I found the place where the cats 'dug' and discovered the scepter, there were no other clues there."
"That's very strange." The monk rested his index finger on his chin. "Both are murder weapons, so why did the other party specifically bury this scepter when discarding their belongings?"
"Perhaps it's because the weapon still has some use."
The thief thought for a moment and then offered his opinion—
"While the scepter is priceless, its conspicuous and heavy nature, characteristic of a royal treasure, makes it difficult to sell, hence the effort to discard it. But a tool that has been used to cut someone—let's consider it an axe for now—once the blood is washed away, it's no different from a normal wood-chopping tool, so there's no need to discard it."
"I think it would be much stranger for someone disguised as a toy merchant to carry an axe around."
Cattleya did not agree with this seemingly reasonable statement.
"Besides, he just dismembered the body. If he wanted to reappear in front of the children, he would at least need to change into clean clothes, right? You tracked down that murder suspect all day long. Besides the junkyard, did you find any other place where clothes and the murder weapon might be hidden?"
The thief frowned, racking his brains for a long time, before finally shaking his head helplessly: "No—I've asked everyone I've been through, and none of them have heard of any suspicious individuals covered in blood on the streets."
"Then, the other party may have used some bloodless method to dismember the body—" the monk analyzed. "After all, it's impossible that we are the only ones in the world who possess superpowers or magic; Pokémon may have been involved as well."
"But if that's the case, why didn't the killer use that mysterious power from the beginning?"
Lian Wu pointed to the damage on the head of the scepter, his tone serious. "If one can dismember a corpse without shedding blood, why would that person go to such lengths to come before the king, snatch the scepter from Hugo, and then knock him unconscious? This makes no sense from a murder standpoint. Was this merely a random, impulsive crime?"
"If this was an isolated crime, then the locked room in the garden must have been a coincidence. Otherwise, how could the perpetrator have so conveniently concealed himself in such a hurry? The crime happened by chance, the perpetrator escaped by chance, the head disappeared by chance, and the locked room was formed by chance—I don't think Wanlong would have devised such a clumsy puzzle."
"That's true. If this case was coincidental, there's no physical explanation for the bearded man's actions of spreading rumors before and after the incident."
echoing Cattleya's increasingly enthusiastic reasoning, even Wu pointed to the pile of broken toys on the ground—
"Preparing these things, whether by making them yourself or buying them from others, will take at least several days. If the other party is just trying to stir up trouble on a whim, there simply won't be enough time to gather the necessary supplies."
"Maybe—that bearded man was originally a grocer who owned a large number of toys?" Cattleya became cautious at this point.
"That's even more impossible," Lian Wu immediately denied. "To spread the nursery rhymes, almost every idle child in the city has had close contact with that bearded man. If they were acquaintances, it would be too easy to be discovered."
"So, we're back to where we started." The female monk shrugged.
"The perpetrator meticulously planned the events leading up to and following the crime, yet made a crucial oversight in the key step of the killing. This meant that although the crime didn't appear to be an impulsive act, the perpetrator managed to seize the victim's weapon and subdue them in close combat."
"—!"
Lian Wu suddenly furrowed his thick eyebrows.
"What's wrong?" the monk asked, noticing his travel companion's unusual expression.
"Could it be a counterattack?"
The thief, who had risen through the ranks from the bottom of society, clenched his fists and hammered, speculating with a hint of excitement—
"The real killer might actually be King Hugo! After stunning his victim with his scepter, he chose to conceal his identity for some reason. He then swapped clothes with the victim in the palace, beheaded him, and made the original attacker the king in his place." This headless corpse—that explains the contradictions in the killer's actions!
"If the criminals are targeting the real Hugo, then this situation might not be impossible—" Faced with Lian Wu's speculation, Cattleya wavered for a moment.
But the next second—
No, that's absolutely impossible.
At that moment, the voice of the third traveler, the magician Yueju, who was not present, suddenly shot into their minds like a cold arrow.
His figure then slowly emerged from the end of the long street, followed closely by a man who looked like a guard.
He approached his two companions and spoke using his actual vocal cords—
"I examined the fingerprints of the headless corpse in the palace and confirmed that it was indeed the deceased king—in addition..."
I think I heard that someone here needs a professional magician to cast the [Lost Item Tracking] spell?
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