Chapter 1 The Herbert Estate

Just like when they had passed by during the day, the gates of the Herbert Estate were tightly shut. The cold iron bars and well-trained security guards made this place, which occupied about 2% of the entire Coquetiers Island, seem untouchable.

This was the only place on the island that was more luxurious than the Alfred Hotel; even in Western Europe, the reputation of "Herbert Manor" was second to none.

Of course, the common people on the island usually didn't have the opportunity to be guests here; at most, they came to work...

"Hello, can I help you?"

When Sam and Feng Bujue arrived at the gate of the estate, the guard in the booth immediately asked in a standardized tone.

Although the guard tried to appear calm, Feng Bujue noticed something unusual in the man's expression at a glance.

Everyone lies, but not everyone knows how to lie. Most people can control their tone and wording when lying, but some subtle expressions and small movements are difficult for people to control... and excellent detectives can often use these details as a breakthrough.

"You don't recognize me?" Sam didn't answer the other party's question, but raised the brim of his hat and stepped forward a few steps, bringing his face into the light.

"You are..." The change in the guard's expression showed that he had recognized Sam.

"I need to see John, please inform him." Sam said directly, not waiting for him to finish speaking.

"This..." The guard hesitated for two seconds before saying, "Okay... please wait a moment."

With that, he picked up the internal phone on the desk, pressed a speed dial button, and turned the swivel chair he was sitting on halfway, preparing to talk to someone.

"The police are already here." Almost at the same time as the guard turned around, Feng Bujue lowered his voice and said softly to Sam.

"What?" Hearing this, Sam still seemed quite surprised. He immediately looked through the gate into the estate, but in the darkness of the night, he couldn't see any police car lights.

"Don't bother looking, he didn't call the police," Feng Bujue replied, knowing what Sam was looking for.

"But you said the police are already here?" Sam asked doubtfully.

"If you were John, after encountering some kind of emergency..." Brother Jue slowly continued, "Would you directly call the police and have a team of police cars with sirens blaring drive into your house... or would you call the police chief's desk and have him bring some people over discreetly to take a look?"

His words enlightened Sam.

Even Sam himself laughed in his heart, "Heh... what am I thinking? The person in trouble is John Herbert after all..."

No matter how advanced the development of human social systems is, the phenomenon of "a small number of people with more resources having privileges" cannot be eliminated.

As the "island lord" of Coquetiers Island, John Herbert naturally didn't need to go through any conventional procedures. As long as he hadn't reached the end of the road, he would never let a team of law enforcement vehicles with sirens and lights blaring drive into his house in a line.

At least on this island, John wouldn't leave behind such a fact that would allow people to "point fingers" at him behind his back.

"Uh..." After a short while, the guard finished his call. He turned around and paused for a second before speaking, as if thinking about how he should address the Sam in front of him, "Mr. Herbert, you..." He glanced at Brother Jue beside Sam, "...and your friend can go in. The chief of police is waiting for you..."

With that, he pressed the button on the console beside him, opening the gate of the estate.

Sam didn't stand on ceremony with the other party and walked away without even saying thank you. Feng Bujue, on the other hand, tilted his head and gave the guard a mysterious smile as he passed him, as if to say "sorry" for his companion's rudeness.

And so, the two quickly passed through the gate and walked along a stone path (the stone path was for pedestrians, the driveway next to it was asphalt), heading towards the mansion inside the estate.

The path was neither long nor short, and there were streetlights along the way, but they still couldn't illuminate the open space completely.

"By the way, Feng," Sam thought of something after taking a few steps. "You still haven't told me... how did you know the police were already here?"

"Of course, through observation of that guard," Feng Bujue replied.

"Oh?" Sam glanced at Brother Jue. "What did you observe?"

"First of all, judging from his complexion and age, this is obviously a security guard who has been working the night shift for a long time," Feng Bujue didn't mind explaining his reasoning process.

"I understand the complexion... but is there a direct correlation between age and night shifts?" Sam's thinking wasn't slow either, and he immediately raised a question.

"Of course there is..." Feng Bujue replied in a very casual tone, "Everyone is willing to put young and good-looking security guards on day shifts, because there are more people coming and going during the day, and putting a more energetic security guard can give a good impression. Also, there are more things to do during the day, and if you encounter some troublesome things that young people can't handle, everyone is awake anyway, and young people can always call their superiors for instructions.

"But at night, for this kind of 'single post', you must have an older, more experienced staff member guarding it. People of this age are more stable, and if something goes wrong, they also have a certain ability to handle it independently. Furthermore... there is less work at night, and it is even possible that nothing will happen all night, so it is just right to have someone nearing retirement do it."

"Oh..." Sam nodded. "You seem to know a lot about this industry."

"I know a lot about many industries," Feng Bujue said, "From bottom-level service industries to mid-level administrative industries, and then to high-end creative industries... my profession requires me to understand 'people' and everything closely related to 'people'... and obviously, 'occupation' is a very important part of that."

"Eh?" Sam couldn't help but ask when he heard this, "Speaking of which, I haven't asked yet... what do you do?"

"Detective," Feng Bujue replied very simply with these two words, and added a second later, "Maybe it's not appropriate for me to say this myself, but I must add... a very excellent detective."

As the words fell, Sam's reaction... was as wonderful as Brother Jue expected.

This brother almost couldn't hide his gasp, and his face suddenly turned pale. Even his footsteps became chaotic.

At this moment, Sam had already begun to regret... He regretted finding such an "alibi," and he regretted bringing this "friend" to the scene of the crime even more.