Although the investigation into the case had only just begun, Feng Bujue had already deduced the general plot of the "John Herbert Murder Incident" from his perspective.

The deceased was most likely a hitman hired by Sam; the two had arranged a time and coordinated to carry out the assassination.

Last night (since it was past midnight, the case should be considered yesterday) at exactly eleven o'clock, Sam called the landline at the scene of the crime as planned. His purpose was to lure John to a specific location at a specific time, so that the hitman could ambush him.

However, to Sam's surprise… John, suddenly attacked from behind, actually managed to kill the hitman in the struggle, thus… the identities of "victim" and "murderer" were reversed.

Now that things had come to this, Sam could only play along, using the excuse that he "heard something was wrong on the phone" to rush to the scene.

After all… to play an innocent person, one had to react like an innocent person; if he didn't come, it would seem strange.

Furthermore, based solely on the sounds from the phone, Sam couldn't determine what exactly had happened on the other end. In the end… he only heard the low moans of two men struggling with each other, panting heavily. Who knew what was happening behind those noises…

Therefore, Sam had to come; he had to at least see what was going on to make an appropriate response.

And when Sam saw the hitman's body, he breathed a sigh of relief.

If this man had been captured alive, or had even a breath left, Sam's crime of "hiring a murderer" would definitely be exposed.

Fortunately… now there was no proof to the contrary.

…………

By half-past two in the morning, the on-site investigation was still proceeding in an orderly manner, and the crowd of onlookers outside the manor had begun to gradually disperse.

Most people who came to watch a scene were like this… although they didn't need to buy tickets, standing for too long became uninteresting. Everyone gathered to gossip for a while, and then went back to doing what they were supposed to do.

However, at this point in time, another unusual thing happened…

"Sheriff, I have someone here who wants to see you." These words were conveyed by a police officer guarding the gate of the manor through the walkie-talkie.

"Who is it?" Doughty, who was busy directing things at the scene, immediately picked up the walkie-talkie and responded with an impatient tone.

"He says his name is Zuo Yan, and he also said that he has important information about the case and must speak to you in person," the police officer replied.

"Huh?" Doughty pondered for a few seconds, "Alright… have someone bring him in, and have him wait for me in the second-floor parlor."

The above conversation did not happen in front of Feng Bujue, so he was powerless to interfere.

Thus, ten minutes later, in the parlor on the second floor, Jue-Ge and Zuo Yan… "coincidentally" met again.

This room, not too far from the scene of the crime, had been temporarily used by the police as a place to collect testimonies. More than ten people, including John, Sam, and Feng Bujue (mostly staff), were being questioned by the police officers here, and their first-hand testimonies would be recorded here.

"Oh? What a coincidence." Seeing Zuo Yan, Jue-Ge was quite surprised in his heart, but he didn't show this surprise at all. On the contrary… only half a second later, he nonchalantly made this kind of reaction.

"Uh…" Zuo Yan hesitated for a moment upon hearing this, and then replied, "Jue-Ge?" It was as if he had just remembered the other party's name, "What are you doing here too?"

In fact, Zuo Yan was not spending time thinking about questions like "What's the name of the person in front of me, and how should I address him?" but rather thinking about "Which response plan is more appropriate for me to use, given the way he greeted me?"

Feng Bujue saw through this instantly, and from this he launched a series of deductions—

"Zuo Yan's reaction is not slow, and his acting is also passable. His performance at this moment is enough to deceive the eyes of ordinary people.

"But this… is definitely not the level that he could show by 'deciding on the spot and implementing it immediately.' Clearly… this reaction is one of his established plans.

"His 'thinking time' also corroborates this point. With his abilities, the 'hesitation' of one second is not enough for him to complete a 'from zero to one,' 'creating something out of nothing' process, but it is enough for him to make a 'choice'; he… or rather… he and Weidok, undoubtedly already knew about 'my presence here,' and had anticipated several scenarios for meeting me, and had formulated corresponding 'reactions' for each possible 'greeting method' that I might make, and what I am seeing now… is one of them.

"Then… if there are no surprises…"

Thinking of this, Feng Bujue began to search the corners and shadows of the room with his peripheral vision without making a sound.

"That Weidok… is one hundred percent already infiltrating this building, maybe he's been in and out several times already…

"This time, I no longer have the kind of advantage I had in the bar, because he has become wary of me… The fact that I haven't noticed his presence at all until now is good proof of that.

"Furthermore, now that Zuo Yan has appeared in the 'open,' that means Weidok's work in the 'dark' is basically complete. He must have seen the scene of the crime and made deductions similar to mine, or even further…

"And the rest… is Zuo Yan's job, talking to the people involved, collecting testimonies and evidence, in order to confirm Weidok's reasoning, and then bring the murderer to justice.

"These things… won't take too long at all…

"Chapter thirty-three is only halfway done, I can't let you solve the case so quickly…"

He thought a lot in his mind, but the time in reality was only an instant.

The next second, Feng Bujue continued from Zuo Yan's question and said: "Ah… it's a long story…"

Afterwards, he explained the reason for his appearance here in very concise language, of course… according to the beginning and logic of "meeting Sam in the bar by chance"; from the perspective of Zuo Yan and Weidok, there was indeed no flaw to be found in this statement.

After the two chatted for a few minutes, Doughty arrived.

When the sheriff walked to Zuo Yan's side, he first sized the latter up from head to toe, and then, because of the fact that "this kid seems to know that Feng," he naturally developed a bit of dislike.

"Hey, young man, I heard you have 'important information about the case'?" Doughty's tone was very rude as soon as he opened his mouth, "And it must be 'told to the sheriff in person'?"

"Um… you are?" Zuo Yan actually already knew from Weidok that this person was the sheriff, but he still had to pretend not to know.

"I am the sheriff." Doughty said coldly, "Speak, what do you want to tell me?" He paused and added, "I can state in advance… if this is a prank, or 'just saying something casually in order to see the crime scene,' the police have the right to pursue your legal responsibilities…"

He didn't finish his sentence, because while he was saying this, Zuo Yan was completely ignoring him, took out a cell phone from his pocket, and dialed a number.