The difficulty of the court trial lay not in gathering clues or investigating the case, as the clues and evidence had already been provided. The real challenge was to discern the truth of the case in the shortest possible time.

The instance only gave both sides ten minutes for their defense. Those lacking reasoning ability, insight, or mental agility simply couldn't untangle the entire case's threads within those ten minutes.

If you couldn't figure it out, how could you defend yourself?

So, when Yuan Shitianzun casually overturned the evidence presented by Zhao Chenghuang, several contestants felt a sense of gravity.

This guy was not easy to deal with.

And when Yuan Shitianzun found the means to overturn the second piece of evidence in less than a minute, the seven contestants' mood could only be described as solemn.

From escaping the locked room to arriving at the crime scene, there were only one or two minutes. Did he discern the entire case so quickly? Was the deduction that the murderer was hiding in the room a stroke of luck, or a judgment with full confidence?

In the Colosseum, at the elders' seats, Elder Hongying smiled and said, "The purpose of this level designed by the alliance leaders is to test the contestants' intelligence and adaptability, right? In instances, a flexible mind and good adaptability are second only to martial prowess." She turned to Elder Sun beside her and said:

《The Almighty Soldier King of the Female CEO》

"Has that kid really seen through the whole case? He's not a scout." Elder Sun snorted, "He's mostly bluffing, just putting on a show. Even scouts need time to think, how could he be so fast?"

Zhang Yuanqing was indeed bluffing. Time was too short. From arriving at the crime scene to the detective team arriving, there was only a little over a minute. He didn't have time to sort out the entire case's threads.

Seeing through the bloodstains on the clothes and the problem with the glasses were relatively simple matters that could be achieved with appropriate association.

But to prove that the murderer was at the scene required a complete understanding of the case's ins and outs. His reason for suspecting the murderer was at the scene was based on his own innocence. It wasn't that he had truly seen through the whole case.

He hadn't really understood the case, although he had grasped the idea of overturning the evidence, he couldn't give a reasonable logic and explanation… Seeing Yuan Shitianzun silent for a long time, the contestants' worry turned to joy.

Zhao Chenghuang also silently breathed a sigh of relief. So it was a bluff.

As long as he could prove that the murderer was at the crime scene, he could overturn the evidence. But how to prove it? There were only three people's fingerprints at the scene, and the murderer hadn't left any obvious traces… But the murderer definitely existed. It was likely the murderer who knocked me out. After knocking me out, the murderer fought with Professor Li, killed him, and then fled the scene, framing me. But the cell phone video, from beginning to end, didn't show a third person appearing. Lao Wang next door also didn't see a second person visiting in the afternoon… Unless the murderer sneaked into the room very early, waited for me to arrive, and immediately took action, first knocking me out, then killing the person and framing me, and finally quietly leaving, letting me take the blame… But to prove that the murderer was in the room at the time, he had to produce evidence and analyze his modus operandi. Four minutes had passed, there were six minutes left, don't rush, don't rush, the more it was like this, the more he had to stay calm… At this moment, Zhang Yuanqing heard Tianxiaguihuo squint his eyes and smile:

"Desperate measures, how could there be a murderer in the room? If it was the murderer, why didn't he leave fingerprints? Your thinking is wrong, Yuan Shitianzun, time is running out, think about other breakthroughs.

"Actually, you can suspect Professor Li's wife. Maybe she is the murderer. Of course, if that's the case, you have to think clearly about why you were already unconscious and Professor Li was already dead when she came in.

"I'll give you an idea. She sneaked home from class to kill the person, and then calmly left. When she finished class and came home, she happened to stumble upon the scene."

Foolish. The wife, like Lao Wang next door, was obviously a background character. There was no excessive mention of their information, and the mechanism of this instance was to compete in thinking and reasoning ability, without the need for investigation and evidence collection… Zhang Yuanqing subconsciously retorted in his heart. Immediately, he realized that he had fallen into a trap.

Tianxiaguihuo was talking trash, deliberately interrupting his thoughts and disrupting his emotions. Zhao Chenghuang immediately understood Tianxiaguihuo's idea and said in a calm tone, "For a dignified Yuan Shitianzun to lose in the first game, wouldn't that be too embarrassing?" The purpose of his words was to increase the other party's anxiety, which was repaying Yuan Shitianzun's aggressive tactics just now.

Outside the arena, in the audience seats.

Elder Hongying looked at the image and smiled;

"Old Sun, you're right, he really is bluffing."

Elder Sun whispered, "The alliance leaders are really malicious. They know that there are no scouts among the top eight, but they still want to design this kind of content. It's mostly the female marshal's idea. There isn't a single scout among the top eight, she should be very dissatisfied." Elder Hongying said:

"Wouldn't that mean that even the last member of the White Tiger Soldier is eliminated?" Elder Sun nodded slightly, "The female marshal is lifting a rock to drop it on her own foot this time."

How am I supposed to answer that… Elder Hongying smiled and shook her head, continuing to "watch the battle." At this time, the most frequently repeated words in the audience were "four minutes", "which scout is going to explain it", "Yuan Shitianzun must be thinking in his heart that this question is too difficult, I can't do it." Watching the competition here, everyone understood.

The murder case was not testing the ability to investigate and solve cases, but the ability of the suspect to quickly restore the truth and find a way to survive based on the existing information in the shortest possible time.

Putting aside the outer shell of the case, the essence was to test whether the The Way of the Extraordinary could promptly break the predicament and find a way out when encountering a life-or-death crisis in the instance.

Yuan Shitianzun, who had completed S-class instances, seemed to be powerless. Inside room 404, Tianxiaguihuo's trash talk continued.

Ignoring the other party's constant chatter, Zhang Yuanqing's thoughts turned quickly under the reasoning assistance of the Observer's Glasses. He went through all the details again and suddenly thought of an unreasonable point.

It was impossible for the murderer to know about his advance visit.

He was Professor Li's ghostwriter. Professor Li wrote as a side job in addition to teaching and was a well-known writer. Finding a ghostwriter was not honorable, and Professor Li would not spread the word about this meeting. After thinking about this clearly, Zhang Yuanqing was enlightened.

So that's how it was. I fell into the trap of habitual thinking. The murderer was not trying to frame me, nor was he hiding in the room… A smile appeared on Zhang Yuanqing's face: "Stupid detectives, let me tell you where the murderer was hiding." Tianxiaguihuo raised his eyebrows: "Where was the murderer hiding?" Zhang Yuanqing took two steps back and pointed to the single bed in the corner of the study, saying: "Look here!" Everyone heard the words and leaned over to observe, seeing traces of wiping in the central area under the bed, while the surrounding dust was intact.

It seemed that someone had crawled under the bed not long ago, and their body had wiped away the dust. Yuan Ting was shocked, "Are you saying that the murderer was hiding under the bed at the time?"

Before Zhang Yuanqing could speak, Sun Miaomiao overturned his reasoning:

"Impossible. If the murderer was hiding under the bed, wouldn't Professor Li, who was in the same room, know? If Professor Li knew, then what was his relationship with the murderer, tolerating someone who wanted to kill him hiding under the bed." Zhang Yuanqing couldn't help but take a look at the cute-faced girl. This girl was very smart. If he followed her thinking to verify, then he would need to prove the relationship between the murderer and Professor Li, but that was impossible, and would lead the reasoning into a dead end, because there was a lack of clues.

Zhang Yuanqing had his own ideas, and was unmoved. He smiled and said:

"I didn't say that the murderer was hiding under the bed. The one hiding under the bed was Professor Li. Oh, he didn't hide in there himself, but was stuffed in there by the murderer."

"Stuffed in by the murderer?" The contestants were stunned. Zhao Chenghuang said calmly: "Then who did the suspect see in the room? Of course, it was the murderer!" Zhang Yuanqing raised the cell phone in his hand and lit up the screen: "Please watch this video." He opened the video and pointed the cell phone screen at everyone.

To save time, the video was paused when it got to "I am no longer interested in your manuscript."

Zhang Yuanqing looked at the thoughtful detectives and said:

"The Professor Li that the suspect saw was the murderer, so he had to draw the curtains in broad daylight and wear a mask. And because my glasses were damaged and my vision was blurry, I couldn't discover that Professor Li was fake, so he was able to deceive everyone." Sun Miaomiao frowned:

"That's not right. The murderer couldn't have known in advance that your glasses were damaged and your vision was blurry. How could he be sure that you wouldn't be able to see through him?" Wearing a mask could indeed be a cold, and drawing the curtains could also be related to preferences. You are nearsighted and can't see clearly, that doesn't mean that the Professor Li at that time was the murderer. The dust under the bed could also have been wiped away for other reasons.

"Your hypothesis is bold, but it's all speculation, without evidence."

She disdained using Tianxiaguihuo's trash talk tactics, but she could find loopholes in Yuan Shitianzun's reasoning. Looking around at the detectives, Zhang Yuanqing spoke eloquently: "Everyone has overlooked a detail. I, this suspect, am Professor Li's ghostwriter. This matter is not honorable, so Professor Li will not spread the word about this meeting. In other words, my arrival was completely accidental and not expected by the murderer."

In that case, he had to hide Professor Li under the bed and invite me in, it was out of desperation, it was outside the plan. Rather than assuming that I wouldn't be able to see through him. At that time, he had probably already wanted to kill me, drawing the curtains and wearing a mask, not to disguise himself as Professor Li, but only to prevent me from seeing his true face when he committed the crime.

"But he later discovered that I hadn't seen through his disguise at all, so the murderer had a flash of inspiration and thought of framing me, and that's where the part in the video of him asking me to drink came from." The detectives' expressions changed, thoughtful and silent.

With the assistance of the Observer's Glasses, Zhang Yuanqing spoke more and more smoothly:

"He deliberately asked me to drink, knocked me unconscious while I wasn't paying attention, and then, according to the plan, dragged Professor Li out of the room, pierced his heart with a fruit knife, and then placed the fruit knife in my hand, staining it with my fingerprints.

"I was injured in the back of the head. The force of the blow came from behind, so when a person is unconscious, they either fall forward or to the side. This can explain why blood splattered on my back, as well as the back of my trouser legs, because I fell on my stomach."

Tudigong thought for a while and said: "I admit that what you said makes a lot of sense, but, young man, you have to produce evidence. You don't have much time left."

"There are only about two minutes left, that's enough…" Zhang Yuanqing chuckled: "Next, I'm going to ask you to watch the second half of the video." He clicked the screen to play the paused video content.

The picture started from Professor Li getting up and ended when he returned with a bottle of water-bottle-shaped foreign wine. Zhang Yuanqing asked: "Young and foolish detectives, after watching the video, look at the study again, have you noticed anything missing?"

Qingsongzi said displeased:

"Discussion is discussion, don't bring personal vendettas, take the opportunity to retaliate. Hmm, the layout of the study has been completely disrupted. If I had to say what's missing… it's the keyboard, the keyboard is gone." Qingsongzi then looked at the liquor cabinet by the window and said: "That bottle of wine is also gone."

Zhang Yuanqing snapped his fingers and said; "He must take away the keyboard and wine bottle, because these are the things he touched as Professor Li, he left fingerprints on them. The messy fighting marks in the room are all to cover people's eyes, the real purpose is to cover up the disappearance of the keyboard and wine bottle. According to the photos of the scene investigation, it can be seen that the wine bottle and keyboard had already disappeared when the security guards arrived. And in the video recorded by the suspect, they existed, that is to say, this was taken away when the murderer knocked me unconscious, killed the person, and left the scene. Therefore, the missing wine bottle and keyboard are the evidence to prove that the murderer was in the room at the time."

A long speech, in one go.

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!

【Ding! Detectives need to prove that the murderer is the suspect within ten minutes. Countdown begins…】

The faces of the seven contestants changed drastically. The instance recognized Yuan Shitianzun's reasoning, and now it was the detective camp's turn to list evidence to point the finger. However, the evidence had already been used up.

From witness testimonies, to fingerprints, to autopsy reports, the evidence that should have been used had already been used up, and even then, they were still unable to eliminate Yuan Shitianzun. At this point, the situation reversed.

Ready-made ironclad evidence was the detective's advantage. They didn't need to rack their brains to think, as long as they listed the evidence, they could put the suspect to death. But they had a fatal weakness, once the suspect overturned the evidence, the detectives would become very passive.

There was no time to find new evidence, what we had to do was to overturn Yuan Shitianzun's defense, this was the correct way to respond after the evidence was used up… Sun Miaomiao's eyes rolled around, saying, "There are loopholes in your reasoning, if there are fingerprints on the keyboard and wine bottle, you can just wipe them off, there is no need to take them away, therefore, your reasoning is unqualified.”

After speaking, she listened expectantly.

Zhang Yuanqing scoffed and said, "You're right, wiping off fingerprints is also a method, but this doesn't conflict with my reasoning. I am using the phenomenon of the disappearance of the keyboard and wine bottle as the basis for reasoning. You are refuting for the sake of refuting, without a basis for your argument."

Sure enough, the instance prompt didn't ring, Sun Miaomiao's refutation was invalid. Zhang Yuanqing smiled and said, "Actually, asking Lao Wang next door, whether someone had visited Professor Li that day at noon, or in the morning, would lock onto the murderer, but this is not within the scope of our confrontation."

This level did not require finding the murderer, Lao Wang next door was just a background character, and may not even exist in the instance.

"In addition, I suspect that there is also a problem with that bottle of alcohol. Professor Li died from a knife in the chest, without any other injuries. If the murderer knocked him unconscious, he would definitely leave traces. So how did he faint? "He must have put drugs in the alcohol, therefore, taking away the bottle of alcohol also has another purpose, which is to take away the tool of the crime."

Tianxiaguihuo, Zhao Chenghuang, Yinchi and others frowned, pondered hard, and tried to find evidence to overturn Yuan Shitianzun's reasoning.

Time passed by minute by minute. For a time, the detectives were scratching their heads, both unconvinced and powerless. Zhang Yuanqing said, "No way, no way, seven brains can't beat one brain? You are all prominent figures in the extraordinary stage. If you lose, how will you save face in the future? So many audiences are watching outside."

"I want to give this competition a name, so that colleagues can talk about it in the future, let's call it Yuan Shitianzun and the Seven Dwarfs, how about that?" The tables had turned, now it was his turn to create anxiety and break the other party's mentality.

"Seven Dwarfs and Yuan Shitianzun…" Even Tudigong's face was twitching, gritting his teeth and saying, "Kid, you really deserve a beating now." The faces of the other six contestants were extremely ugly. They also experienced the power of trash talk, which worked the same way as aggressive tactics, knowing that the other party was deliberately interfering with them and angering them. But they still couldn't help but have emotions, get angry, and be affected. Yuan Shitianzun muttered, "Yuan Shitianzun and the Seven Dwarfs, Yuan Shitianzun and the Seven Dwarfs…"

Veins burst out on the foreheads of the seven contestants one after another.

Finally, in a slightly awkward and stiff atmosphere, in a surge of undercurrents, the instance prompt rang: 【Ding! Time's up, the detective team gives up presenting evidence, the suspect is innocent!】【Ding! The entire detective team is deducted ten points, the suspect receives thirty points, the competition is over, switch venues in three minutes!】

At this moment, the Colosseum rang with enthusiastic cheers, cheering for this battle of wits that turned the tables in adversity.

"Wonderful, there was no fighting at all, but it was so exciting. I love watching this kind of battle where you turn defeat into victory, it's very exciting. Yuan Shitianzun really fought one against seven, he is too strong. Do you see that, this is the genius who completes instances, this is the brain configuration for completing two S-class instances. Only Yuan Shitianzun is the suspect, if it were any other contestant, they would have been eliminated long ago. But even Yuan Shitianzun almost lost just now. Tianzun yyds." The scene was like a concert entering its climax.

"Clap clap clap!" Xie's mother clapped her small hands excitedly;

"Good-looking, really good-looking, more interesting than idol dramas. Baby, your vision is better than your mother's, the man you chose is much stronger than your father, let's recruit Yuan Shitianzun to be our live-in son-in-law." The young mother's face was flushed with excitement, her eyes were full of excitement, and they were bright and crystal-clear, as dazzling as stars.

Just as Xie Lingxi was about to speak, she suddenly felt a chill in her heart. Years of "combat experience" made her smell the crisis.

Much stronger than Dad? If I agree, the black-hearted witch's next sentence will be: Oh? You also think that Yuan Shitianzun is much stronger than your dad? I'm going to tell your dad!

Xie Lingxi smiled and said, "I think Yuan Shitianzun and Dad are the same, both are awesome." Xie's mother glanced at her and nodded with a smile.

Fu Qingyang withdrew his gaze and looked at his cousin next to him: "I said, he is the type who can stimulate his potential in adversity. The more unfavorable the situation, the more he can explode his potential…"

Seeing his cousin's happy face, with her beautiful eyes gazing with joy, Fu Qingyang's expression suddenly froze.

This kid Yuan Shitianzun, I should still dismiss him, and cut off Guan Ya's contact with him.

On the other side, Zhu Rong narrowed her eyes, her long eyelashes covering her eyes.

To control Yuan Shitianzun, it must be completed in the extraordinary stage. Once he is promoted to Saint, he will not be able to be suppressed.

Regardless of his fighting talent, just in terms of intelligence, Yuan Shitianzun made her think of the Demon Lord. That person was evil-minded, but extremely intelligent, and had glimpsed some of the secrets of the spirit world when he was in the extraordinary stage.

Demon Lord. The thought of that name made Zhu Rong's legs weak, and a physiological reaction occurred as a conditioned reflex. This also made her obsession with enslaving Yuan Shitianzun even deeper.

At the elders' seat, Elder Hongying clapped her hands: "Amazing, amazing." This level of competition was not enough to make an elder-level person emotional, but it didn't prevent her from watching with relish.

Across a table, Gou Changlao raised his dog head and glanced at Elder Sun beside him, saying calmly, "Not bad, he wasn't eliminated in the first wave. Say what you want to say, why are you looking at me?"

Elder Sun was very sensitive and felt that the other party's face was full of the four words "You are so confused."

Gou Changlao ignored him and said, "The next level should be a martial fight, I wonder what the rules will be, and how many contestants will be eliminated."

The feedback from the scene could not be heard or seen by the contestants in the instance. Three minutes passed quickly, and they heard the instance prompt: 【Opening the second level, this level is called - The Age of Mass Reporting!】

ps: Fix typos later.