In the silence, Miss Nancy cast a contemptuous glance at Brother Jue, then stood up and prepared to leave.

Whether out of politeness or out of sympathy for the detective's poor performance... before leaving, she turned her head and said to Detective Schofield beside her, "I hope you two will think it through next time before making deductions." With that, she slammed the door shut.

"Phew..." As soon as the door closed, Feng Bujue sighed and continued, "Very good, another suspect has been eliminated."

"Uh... I don't understand. Why didn't you just ask her directly about her alibi using normal questioning methods?" Schofield asked.

"Don't you think my method is more effective?" Feng Bujue said, "Using clumsy reasoning to probe the reactions of those involved may yield unexpected gains. At the same time... it can also lower their guard against me."

"Is... is that so..." Schofield took out a handkerchief he carried with him and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

"How could that be..." Feng Bujue thought to himself, "Can you even believe the lines that Inspector Megure uses to cover for the Sleeping Kogoro Mouri?... There are plenty of ways to probe a suspect's reaction... As long as you're thick-skinned enough, you can stick to the suspect like Furuhata (also a fictional detective), pestering and teasing them in all sorts of annoying ways, and after a while, they're bound to reveal a flaw.

"However one looks at it, my behavior should be an effort for the sake of the task, Nightmare difficulty is truly worthy of the name... Averaging less than two thousand five hundred words per chapter, I've only managed to get through two-thirds of the chapters so far...

"This really isn't good... Although I've basically determined that the murderer is Barton, there are still ten whole chapters left... Exposing him now is a bit too early.

"Novels aren't like anime. You can't just use a single freeze-frame with background music, then get three voice actors to come over with a script and chat for twenty minutes, making self-deprecating remarks to get by.

"Novels have to be thought out word by word. The author can't just get carried away and copy and paste a passage of the Great Compassion Mantra or something and randomly insert it...

"And purely from a reasoning perspective, there are still many doubts in this case... such as Barton's motive and why he arranged the room to be a locked room... It's still unclear. These two mysteries probably won't be solved until the last few chapters, and in the seven or eight chapters before that, I, as the protagonist, must make the story substantial...

"Although I've also thought about killing someone myself, the awkward length of thirty-three chapters means that I've already missed the best time to strike...

"Maybe I should just pick up the ashtray on the table and knock Schofield to death...

"But when I think about it carefully, in this strictly limited nightmare script, the NPCs should have the ability to instantly kill me...

"Hmm..."

Brother Jue dismissed a long string of nonsense in his mind, then made up his mind and walked to the door. He opened the door and said to Dempti, who was waiting in the corridor, "Officer Dempti."

"What are your instructions, sir?" Dempti replied.

"Please bring Henderson, Powell, and Barton here together," Feng Bujue said.

"All three of them together?" Dempti confirmed.

"Yes, bring them all," Feng Bujue nodded.

"Okay, please wait a moment." Dempti straightened his collar and turned to leave.

After Feng Bujue gave his instructions, he stepped back into the room and closed the study door again.

"What are you going to do?" Schofield asked in confusion.

"What? Did you think I would continue to call them in one by one for questioning?" Feng Bujue asked, thinking to himself, "How could you guess the next development? If titles like 'So-and-so's Testimony' continue to be used, this author won't be satisfied."

"Well, yes," the detective replied.

"Hehe..." Feng Bujue said, "Don't worry, just watch for a while."

"Uh... to be honest, it's not that I mind, it's just that Miss Nancy seemed to have put you in a bit of an embarrassing situation just now," Schofield couldn't help but say. He was still kind-hearted and wanted to stop Feng Bujue's self-humiliating reasoning.

"Ha!" Feng Bujue said, "How could I be embarrassed?" He turned his head to face Schofield directly, suddenly changed his expression, and in a second, put on the same extremely awkward face as before, "That's right, my voice is trembling, my forehead is sweating, my pupils are dilated, and if you look closely, you'll notice that my left hand is trembling slightly." As he spoke, he instantly returned to normal, "But that doesn't mean I really feel embarrassed."

Schofield's mouth twitched, "This..." He didn't know how to describe his feelings at the moment. He suddenly felt that this guy in front of him was very likely a professional con artist, but in every sense, this guy was very impressive...

"Usually, I won't make unintentional physical reactions due to emotions, unless... I deliberately pretend to be in a certain state," Feng Bujue said, "Expressions and small movements can expose a person's weaknesses. And conversely, using these to confuse the opponent is a rather advanced gambling skill."

"I won't be fooled anymore... Every time you say all kinds of theories handsomely, you'll lose all your integrity in the next chapter... If I complain, I'll lose," Schofield thought to himself, but on the surface, he was still polite, "I see... I see..."

"Detectives not only need intelligence, but also a high level of emotional intelligence," Feng Bujue began to ramble again, "I personally believe that so-called emotional intelligence is a combination of empathy, intuition, and acting skills. Those who are smooth and considerate in their actions are all well-versed in this. They can make you act according to their will, yet still feel comfortable." He paused for a moment, "Among these three people who are about to enter the room, one of them has a very high emotional intelligence, of course... his intelligence isn't low either, but..."

Knock, knock, knock—

The knock on the door interrupted Feng Bujue's words. Dempti called out loudly outside the door, "The three gentlemen have arrived, Mr. Feng."

"Please come in," Feng Bujue turned around and leaned against the desk, facing the direction of the door, looking eager to try.

A few seconds later, the three entered.

The first to enter was Dr. Powell. He was in his fifties, tall and thin, wearing glasses, a white shirt, and a black waistcoat.

Henderson the butler was helped in by Barton. Actually, he could walk on his own, but Barton was still considerate in supporting the old man who had almost had a myocardial infarction not long ago.

After Dempti brought the people in, he closed the door from the outside as usual.

Before the three of them could even greet him after entering the room, Feng Bujue, facing them, suddenly said, "Let me get straight to the point..." His gaze swept across the faces of the three like a gust of wind, "The murderer is among the three of you."