Chapter 4474

"This is a reasonable inference, but it still makes me feel a bit dazed. Just like at dawn, when the sky is just breaking, there are always people who can't adapt to the light, but feel that the deep night is more reassuring. Rodriguez doesn't seem to think so, he adapted quickly, but perhaps, in the dark era, he invested more deeply than me. Those thrilling past events that are enough to write a memoir have vanished, and I talked to him about it as a joke, only to see a trace or two from the words. Is this the reason why he treats the case so calmly and coldly? No one knows. Even if our relationship can be called good friends, I cannot accurately explain it. This lonely gentleman is like the morning fog of Cat Getan, obscure and unpredictable."

"I will have someone interrogate Milos and Perlota." Gordon said, "With Brainiac here, they can't run. However, don't hold any hope for their testimony. Brainiac strictly forbids torture, and soft torture is not allowed either. We don't have much room for operation, it's best to have some solid evidence to pry their mouths open."

"What a trouble," Jonathan said, "Dismantle the surveillance cameras in the maintenance room of the Cat Getan Police Department's new air system, and we'll have the answer tonight."

"Then don't even think about leaving your nature reserve again," Schiller said coldly, "Brainiac."

Brainiac made two "beep" sounds, considering it as agreeing with his words. Jonathan rolled his eyes, looked Schiller up and down, and then said: "Alright, great detective Rodriguez, I want to see what you can reason out."

"I'm sorry, but you are not my assistant, Mr. Fries. We're going back to the office, I need to think carefully."

After speaking, he turned and left. Victor hurried to follow. Soon they returned to Schiller's office. Victor looked around, Schiller looked at him and asked: "What are you looking for?"

"I think there's a felt board missing here." Victor pointed to the wall next to the desk and said, "Detectives all have a board like this, pinning various photos on it, and drawing lines in the middle."

"What photos?"

"Uh, of various clues and evidence."

"Do you think I need these?" Schiller raised his eyes to look at him while taking off his coat.

"I couldn't help but pat my forehead. I think a night of running around and being busy made me a bit dizzy. I know this is incredible, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, no one would believe it. But our Mr. Rodriguez possesses a rather peculiar reasoning ability. He calls it 'psychoanalysis', and according to him, this is a method he summarized himself and is the only one who can use it freely. After truly witnessing the power of this method, I have to admit that this cold gentleman is not the eccentric genius in the public's cognition."

Victor read this paragraph he wrote. Schiller sighed and said: "You don't have to contrast it with 'deduction' like this, right? Who told you that psychoanalysis was summarized by me and only I can use it?"

"I'm referring to your psychoanalysis," Victor said, "Seriously, I've seen so many students in the Psychology Department, including the genius Miss Jenna you always talk about, but really no one can compare to your psychic ability."

"I'll take it as you complimenting me." Schiller sat at the desk and stared at the white wall without a felt board for a while.

He turned his eyes and met Victor's enthusiastic gaze. Schiller cleared his throat, and just when Victor thought he was about to start reasoning... psychic, Schiller said: "Mr. Fries, what do you think of this case?"

Victor was stunned and said: "I reason?"

"How long has it been since you really used your brain?" Schiller asked.

"I use my brain every day, okay? It's not like only being involved in a murder case, becoming a detective or a suspect, is mental labor. This is completely a stereotype of Gothamites!"

"Gentle village, hero's tomb..."

"Alright, alright, can I reason? Don't let Nora hear this." Victor sat opposite Schiller. He thought for a moment and then said, "I don't know any psychoanalysis, I can only start from existing clues and evidence. I think the key problem lies in the time you mentioned before."

"It was probably around two in the morning when Gordon called and told me Chick was dead. I arrived at ten past two, and after I arrived, I froze the body. Although I don't have much experience in this area, I can see that Chick hadn't been dead for long, maybe he died past one in the morning."

"Cat Getan University is not far from that villa in the South District, and there's no traffic jam at night, so the round trip should be very fast, time is ignored for now. That is to say, the murderer should have killed Chick around one o'clock."

"But this creates a problem: Milos, who is most suspicious, was staying in the school dormitory around one o'clock, and Brainiac didn't capture him going out. This is the most critical evidence in his favor—evidence provided by Brainiac that is close to an alibi."

"Assuming Milos is really the murderer, then Chick shouldn't have died around one o'clock. Later, of course, it's impossible, because we had already arrived by then, and I confirmed he was already dead when I froze him. Then it should be earlier, his death time should be earlier than one o'clock."

"Because the Christmas dance is approaching, students practice dancing very late. The activity classroom closes at midnight, and many people will practice until before closing, and then return to the dormitory. At that time, the most people leave the classroom and return to the dormitory. Milos should be among them. Only then is it convenient for him to go out and take action without being captured by Brainiac for abnormal behavior trajectories."

"Then how did he manage to go out and take action before midnight, but let people die after one o'clock? The key should be what you said, Chick's peculiar way of dying."

"I suspect he should have used a rope to make something like a mechanism to hang Chick, but it wouldn't let him die immediately, but would slowly descend. Before midnight, people were already hanging outside, and it wasn't until past one o'clock that he was strangled to death. Only in this way can the time of death be faked."

"As for how he rushed to Chick's home and successfully rushed back to school without being discovered by Brainiac, either he hitched a ride or used a snowplow. I don't have the route map of the snowplow, but I have observed the snowplow at Cat Getan University, which is automatically operated by Brainiac, and works 24 hours a day, and there are no surveillance cameras on the car. Brainiac doesn't need such a simple way as visual images to judge obstacles. So if he hides on the snowplow, it might have a dark-under-the-lamp effect."

"However, the speed of the snowplow is very slow, in that case, the round-trip time cannot be ignored, and it might not match the time mentioned before." Victor sighed and said, "I can't figure this out either. Anyway, I'm still not good at murder cases. After all, I don't need such troublesome means to kill, and I wouldn't think about these at all."

"Yeah, you just need good marksmanship," Schiller said, "Oh, no, you don't need good marksmanship either. You also have large-scale cryogenic devices."

"That still requires good marksmanship, I'll go practice tomorrow," Victor said, "After all, a detective must have a powerful assistant by his side. Your marksmanship is not good, so I have to do it."

Looking at Schiller's helpless expression, Victor laughed. He said: "Maybe I can really make a small fortune relying on your detective story collection."

"Alright, let's talk seriously," Schiller said, "The reasoning about time is quite reasonable. But the biggest problem is that it cannot solve how to escape Brainiac's sight."

"Moreover, the shared villa is crowded with people. Although it's late at night, from the fact that they discovered the body so quickly, rather than waiting until tomorrow morning, we can see that some of their schedules are reversed. But this is not strange, some manual laborers have to work the night shift. In this case, it is very difficult to sneak in here to kill."

"Also, the small area Chick's family fenced off was divided into two rooms. He lived on the window side, and his mother lived on the other side. It's said to be two rooms, but it's not soundproof. If someone really broke in to kill, Chick's mother should have been able to hear it."

"When I went, Chick's mother had already been taken back to the police station. Because her emotions were too out of control, and she even wanted to attack the police. Gordon could only take her back first. This proves that there should have been no signs before, and she didn't hear anything."

Schiller nodded and then said: "Therefore, avoiding Brainiac's sight and rushing directly into Chick's home to hang him is impossible for ordinary people. But Milos shouldn't be a superhuman; his behavior pattern doesn't look like it."

"How so?"

"He dumped Chick, but pushed the responsibility onto you. This is not right. Usually, a person with enough confidence wouldn't need an excuse to dump someone. Moreover, he didn't push the responsibility onto Chick, but onto you, which looks like you are easier to bully than Chick."

"The fact is also true," Schiller interrupted Victor's rebuttal and said directly, "He pushed the responsibility onto you, and you couldn't do anything to him. But if he dared to push the responsibility onto Chick, then Chick would have made a scene at him. He obviously fears Chick's crying, making a scene, and threatening suicide. This doesn't look like the performance of a superhuman."

Victor nodded, saying this also made some sense. The main reason is that Brainiac now attaches great importance to superhumans. Victor himself is an ordinary person, just having achievements in low-temperature physics, and has received unimaginable care and preferential treatment. Basically, if he encounters any trouble in life, Brainiac will find a way to solve it. Chick made too much trouble, and Brainiac would definitely stop him. It was only because this time there was a homicide case, and Brainiac valued this very much, that Victor couldn't easily get out of it. But if it was still a fake suicide, the one who suffered would be Chick himself.

If Milos was really a superhuman, he had a certain capital to do whatever he wanted. Although hurting others' feelings is not right, if Chick entangled too much, Brainiac would also find a way to help him settle it. Milos had no need to shirk responsibility. His behavior of covering up was in itself a manifestation of lack of confidence.

"Then how did he do it?" Victor asked.

"He didn't need to do it himself." Schiller seemed ready to announce the answer and said, "Although Chick didn't have suicidal tendencies in front of us, it might not be the case when facing his ex-boyfriend he once liked. As long as he is slightly induced by words, plus suicide technique guidance, he might really commit suicide."

"Are you saying that Milos induced Chick to commit suicide?"

Schiller nodded and said: "Because he deceived Brainiac, it couldn't be network communication. The problem must be in the time between Chick leaving us and him going home. As long as it can be proven that they met during this time, the probability of induced suicide is very high."

Victor was immediately excited and said: "Yes, as long as it can be proven that they met during this time, Milos is the number one suspect. We can take this to test him..."

Victor and Schiller stood up, took their coats, and planned to go to the Cat Getan Police Station. Just as they were going out, Schiller looked down at his watch, and then looked at the sky outside, frowning slightly.

?? Someone asked why it's a detective start as soon as it's DC, because DC is Detective Comics!