The deceased was a male, Caucasian, appearing to be around forty years old. He wore a black shirt under a dark brown jacket and jeans. He had thick gloves on his hands, clutching a fishing line.

Less than a meter from the body was a desk. One corner of the desk was soaked in blood. From this point, blood splattered outward, covering almost everything nearby, including the walls, floor, curtains, desk surface, sides, and even a flowerpot.

When Feng Bujue saw the corpse, the expensive wool carpet beneath it was largely stained crimson with blood. The acrid stench was overwhelming.

"Hey! Feng," the sheriff called out as he saw Jue Ge preparing to touch the body. "You're not thinking of touching the body, are you?"

Even though the sheriff had accepted a fair share of favors from John over the years and treated him differently due to his status on the island, he still had a bottom line. He felt compelled to warn Jue Ge not to leave any fingerprints at the scene.

Feng Bujue, of course, knew that he wasn't a law enforcement officer, nor was he the first to discover the body. Touching the corpse like that was highly inappropriate.

"Ah... don't worry, I'm just taking a look." Feng Bujue said as he crouched down.

Without touching the body, he observed the deceased's condition as closely as possible, then stood up and turned his attention to the desk next to the body.

The items on the desk were in disarray, many scattered on the floor. Among the items remaining on the desk, the first to catch Jue Ge's attention was—a telephone.

It was an "old-fashioned" phone, very "old." It looked like a product from the 1970s... its piggy-bank shape and rotary dial were probably unseen by many modern people.

Of course, Feng Bujue certainly recognized it and knew how to use it.

"Mr. Herbert," after a few seconds, Feng Bujue asked without turning his head, "Did you use this phone after the incident?"

The "Mr. Herbert" he referred to was undoubtedly John.

After a moment of consideration, John replied, "Yes, I used this phone to contact the sheriff." He paused briefly, then immediately retorted, "How did you know?"

If Feng Bujue's deduction had been, "You were on the phone when the incident occurred," John would have simply answered "Yes" without asking anything further. That was because the person John was talking to at the time of the incident was Sam, who had probably already told Feng Bujue about the sounds he had heard during the call.

But now, Feng Bujue had deduced that he had "used the phone after the incident," which made John a little puzzled.

"Heh..." Jue Ge smiled and turned back, "Because there's a little blood on your right ear."

As soon as he said that, Sam and the sheriff both turned to look at John's face.

Even John himself was surprised and subconsciously raised his hand to touch the spot, and... sure enough, there was blood.

"Since there wasn't much blood there, it was hard to see unless you got close. I only noticed it when I passed by you..." Feng Bujue continued to observe the scene as he spoke, "At first, I thought it had splashed on you during the incident, but the problem is... all the other blood on you is concentrated on the left side and back of your body. Only your ear has a tiny bit of blood on it... That's a little strange." At this point, he pointed to the phone on the desk, "Until I saw this phone and the smear of blood between the receiver and the cradle, I knew the answer."

As he listened to Jue Ge's explanation, John felt a growing sense of foreboding...

There was no doubt that John was no law-abiding citizen. The illegal activities he had committed were far more than just forging a will and murdering his biological father... Yet, he was still at large.

A man like him naturally had an instinct for danger.

And at this moment, Feng Bujue... was undoubtedly a danger.

"Looks like your friend is quite a good detective," John said a second later, looking at Sam with a meaningful tone.

"What?" Sam retorted, not to be outdone. "Is he making you nervous?"

"Why would I be nervous?" John replied calmly, "You're the one... aren't you afraid of stirring up..."

"Mr. Herbert!" Feng Bujue didn't let John finish his sentence, interrupting him loudly, "Is that injury on your neck... serious?"

The injury he was referring to was the several red marks on John's neck. They were obviously fresh wounds and very noticeable. Sam and the sheriff had both noticed them as soon as they saw John.

"Ah... I'm alright." John replied coolly.

"Allow me to boldly speculate about what happened here..." As Feng Bujue said this, he moved away from the vicinity of the body and headed back towards the corridor. "Overall... this should be a case of self-defense, right?"

"That's for sure!" Before John could speak, the sheriff excitedly interjected, "That deceased was a typical illegal intruder, and he had a weapon in his hand. If Mr. Herbert hadn't been lucky, he might be the one dead tonight..."

"Thank you, Doister, I think I can answer that question myself." Unexpectedly, John didn't appreciate the sentiment, interrupting the sheriff (now we know his name is Doister, as to why this wasn't mentioned in the previous chapters, it must be because I was procrastinating and hadn't given him a name yet) and said to Jue Ge, "Mr. Feng... as for the nature of tonight's events, I think... it's too early to draw conclusions." As he said this, he glanced at his brother. "Because you're Sam's friend and a detective, and Sam is somehow connected to this incident... that's why I let you see the scene..."

"What do you mean?" Hearing this, Sam couldn't help but interrupt excitedly, "What do you mean I'm somehow connected to this incident?"

"Hmph..." John sneered, looking at Sam. "What do you think?"

"You're an important witness, Sam," Feng Bujue saw that Sam was about to slip up and quickly spoke up, "The incident happened while you were talking to John, didn't it? Your testimony will definitely play a decisive role in revealing the truth."

"Oh... right." Reminded by Jue Ge, Sam also realized that he had almost fallen into a trap. "I... can testify."

In addition to his relief, he muttered a line of nonsense, giving himself some time to calm down.