Note: The parts in [ ] brackets in this chapter are Detective Schofield's inner monologues.

…

Not many minutes passed before another knock sounded at the door. It was Dumpty's voice again, "Sir, Mr. Coulston is here."

"Send him in," Schofield replied.

The door opened, and Odette helped Mr. Coulston into the room.

Once inside, Coulston sat down without ceremony. After all, this was his home, and Feng Bujue and the police had already taken over.

"I'm sorry, we'd like to speak with Mr. Lovecraft alone," Feng Bujue said to the hostess. "Could you please leave us?"

"This…" Odette looked at Coulston with a questioning gaze, and he nodded to her.

After a moment's hesitation, Odette turned and walked towards the door. Before leaving, she seemed to remember something and turned back to say, "Uh… officers, Henderson the butler has woken up. The doctor says he's fine. It's getting late, and if it's alright with you, I'd like to ask Oliver to prepare dinner."

"I have no objections," Schofield said.

Feng Bujue looked at Coulston, who also seemed to have no objections, so he replied, "Then we'll leave it to you, Madam."

After Odette left, Dumpty closed the door again, leaving the three men inside.

Schofield remained seated where he was, while Feng Bujue began to slowly circle Mr. Coulston.

"I'm sorry to bother you repeatedly at a time like this," Feng Bujue began.

[Hmm… the opening line is exactly the same as before.]

"It's alright, you're just doing your duty," Coulston replied in a manner that was neither arrogant nor humble.

[Whoa… it'd be too weird if even the answer was the same. Only the tone is different, but the content is exactly the same! But… the next sentence should be different, because Coulston is already sitting down, so Mr. Feng can't say "Please sit down."]

"I'll get straight to the point," Feng Bujue continued. "The murderer is someone in this villa, right here among us."

[Whoa—! After skipping that sentence, he used the exact same line again!]

Coulston's expression didn't change much; he simply replied calmly, "Who do you suspect?"

"I do have some hypotheses in mind," Feng Bujue said, putting on a troubled look. "But before I'm completely certain, I'd like to hear your opinion first."

[He's memorized the script perfectly! I could ask the questions like this too!]

Coulston raised his head, met Feng Bujue's gaze, and said coldly, "Are you trying to get me to accuse one of my own family members?"

"Not entirely family members," Feng Bujue said. "Henderson, Oliver, Barton, Powell—none of them are named Lovecraft."

"In my eyes, they are family," Coulston replied. "I don't want to believe that any of them are murderers."

[Oh… the old man has a bit of humanity after all.]

"Is there really no one who might have a motive to kill Dennis?" Feng Bujue pressed.

"There is," Coulston replied. "You."

[He's actually taking the initiative now.]

"Me?" Feng Bujue said. "Oh? Heh heh…" He laughed coldly, wearing a provoking expression. "What's your basis?"

"There's no particular basis," Coulston replied. "It's just that you're a person of unknown origin. According to Carole, you suddenly appeared on the mountainside road and stopped her car. Isn't that suspicious? Maybe you're just a fake detective, actually a killer or something. After killing my son, you used your detective identity as a cover to point the finger at others, which would conveniently clear your own name."

As he spoke, Feng Bujue had slowly walked to the desk and picked up the small notebook, flipping through it silently. He didn't respond at all while Coulston was speaking, just continued to turn the pages with his back to him.

"Are you listening?" After nearly ten seconds of silence, Coulston asked again.

"Huh? What? Are you done talking?" Feng Bujue turned around, widening his eyes with a cheap expression.

[Hey… he obviously heard it, is he deliberately pretending not to listen… hmm… but this should also be a way to provoke the other party.]

"Sorry, I started ignoring you when you said 'no particular basis'," Feng Bujue continued. "With that sentence as the foundation, the rest is basically nonsense."

"Hmph… young man," Coulston sneered. "Trying to provoke me with such childish tricks as 'pretending to ignore' is a bit ridiculous, isn't it?"

"After engaging in some anal-expulsive reasoning, you're actually unhappy because you don't have an audience…" Feng Bujue returned with a similar sneer. "It seems I overestimated you before…"

[He's just outright cursing now! And using foul language! Who was it that gave a cool speech five minutes ago and emphasized that I should "maintain my composure" until the end!]

"Let this daddy tell you what real reasoning is!" Feng Bujue's eyes narrowed, staring at Coulston. "I swear in the name of my grandfather! The mystery has been completely solved!"

[I say… I feel like some weird lines have been mixed in… By the way, who exactly is your grandfather… and… didn't you already rule out Coulston's suspicion directly on the grounds of "difficulty walking"… Next, you're undoubtedly going to make up something to slander him… Is it really okay for your grandfather to lose his good reputation?]

"What exactly do you want to say?" Coulston glared at Feng Bujue and asked.

"The murderer is you!" Feng Bujue pointed at Coulston with an imposing manner.

"Are you crazy? Do you know what you're saying?" Coulston was not a weak woman like Carole; he was very composed. He even turned to look at Schofield beside him. "Detective, is this person really a detective? What is your police's attitude?"

Feng Bujue didn't care what he said and continued to do his own thing. "I've already solved the mystery of the locked room… With the door locked, the murderer used a weapon like steel wire to kill Dennis, then climbed out the window, and then used the weapon to lock the window from outside." He held up the notebook in his hand. "You told Officer Mark that Dr. Powell took your blood pressure an hour before the incident, and then you were alone in your room resting. In other words, you had plenty of time to slip down to the guest room on the first floor, kill someone, leave the house, discard the murder weapon, and then return to your room."

Hearing this, Coulston thought for a few seconds. "That's your reasoning?" He snorted and tapped the floor with his cane. "Then tell me, how can a person who can barely walk without a cane use steel wire to kill someone? And how can he climb out of a window?"