Chapter 1 To Court

The difficulty of going to court isn't about collecting clues or investigating the case. The clues and evidence have already been provided. The real difficulty lies in discerning the truth of the case in the shortest amount of time.

The instance only gives both sides ten minutes for defense. Those who lack reasoning ability, insight, or mental agility simply cannot untangle the entire case within ten minutes.

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

So when Yuanshi Tianzun casually overturned the evidence presented by Zhao Chenghuang, the other contestants felt a little heavy-hearted.

This guy is not easy to deal with.

And when Yuanshi Tianzun found a way to overturn the second piece of evidence in less than a minute, the seven contestants' mood could only be described as grave.

From escaping the secret room to arriving at the scene of the crime, there were only one or two minutes. In such a short time, he grasped the whole picture of the case? Is the speculation that the murderer was hiding in the house when the incident occurred a lucky coincidence or a well-thought-out judgment?

In the arena, on the Elders' seats, Elder Hongying smiled, "The purpose of the alliance leaders in designing this level is to test the contestants' intelligence and adaptability. In instances, a flexible mind and good adaptability are second only to martial prowess." She turned to Elder Sun beside her and said,

*The All-Powerful Soldier King of the Female CEO*

"Has that child really seen through the whole case? He's not a scout." Elder Sun snorted, "He's probably bluffing. Even a scout needs time to think, how could he be so fast?"

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

Seeing the bloodstains on the clothes and the problem with the glasses was relatively simple, something that could be done with some association.

But to prove that the murderer was at the scene, he needed to fully understand the ins and outs of the case. And the reason he speculated that the murderer was at the scene was based on the premise of his own innocence. It wasn't that he really saw through the whole case.

He really didn't understand the case. Although he grasped the idea of overturning the evidence, he couldn't give a reasonable logic and context… Seeing Yuanshi Tianzun remain silent for a long time, the contestants turned from worry to joy.

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

As long as he could prove that the murderer was at the scene, he could overturn the evidence, but how to prove it? There were only three people's fingerprints at the scene, and the murderer didn't leave any obvious traces… But the murderer definitely existed. The person who knocked me out was probably the murderer. After knocking me out, the murderer fought with Professor Li, killed him, and then fled the scene, framing me.

However, the cell phone video showed no third person appearing from beginning to end. 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 attacked, first knocking me out, then killing and framing me, and finally leaving quietly, 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 have passed, there are still six minutes left, don't rush, don't rush, the more this is the time to be calm…

At this moment, Zhang Yuanqing heard Tianxia Guihuo squint and smile:

"Desperate measures, how could there be a murderer in the room? If there was a murderer, why didn't they leave fingerprints? Your thinking is wrong, Yuanshi Tianzun, time is running out, think about other ways to break the situation."

"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 secretly sneaked home from class to kill, and then calmly left. When she finished class and returned home, she happened to stumble upon the scene."

Stupid, the wife and Lao Wang next door are obviously just background characters. There isn't much information about them. And the mechanism of this instance is to compete in thinking and reasoning ability, without the step of investigation and evidence collection… Zhang Yuanqing subconsciously retorted in his mind. Immediately, he realized that he had fallen for it.

Tianxia Guihuo was talking trash, deliberately interrupting his train of thought and messing up his emotions. Zhao Chenghuang immediately understood Tianxia Guihuo's idea and said calmly: "Yuanshi Tianzun, losing in the first round, isn't that too embarrassing?" He said this to increase the other party's anxiety, which was to repay Yuanshi Tianzun's earlier goading.

Outside the arena, in the audience seats.

Elder Hongying looked at the image and smiled;

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

Elder Sun whispered: "The alliance leaders are really cunning, knowing that there are no scouts in the top eight, they still have to design this kind of content. It's probably the idea of the female marshal. There isn't a single scout in the top eight, she should be very dissatisfied."

Elder Hongying said:

"Doesn't that mean that even the last member of the White Tiger soldiers has been eliminated?" Elder Sun nodded slightly: "The female marshal has shot herself in the foot this time."

"How do I respond to that…" Elder Hongying shook her head with a smile and continued to "watch the battle."

At this time, what the audience seats were chanting the most was "four minutes", "which scout can explain it", "what Yuanshi Tianzun is thinking now must be that this question is too difficult, I can't do it."

Seeing the competition here, everyone also understood.

This murder case level is not a test of the ability to investigate and solve cases, but a test of whether the suspect can quickly restore the truth and find a way to survive based on the existing information in the shortest amount of time.

Putting aside the outer shell of the case, the essence is to test whether the Lingjing Xingzhe can promptly solve the dilemma and find a way out when encountering a life-and-death crisis in the instance.

It seemed that Yuanshi Tianzun, a character who had cleared an S-class instance, was also powerless.

Inside room 404, Tianxia Guihuo's trash talk continued.

Zhang Yuanqing ignored the other party's incessant chatter. With the reasoning bonus of the Clairvoyant Glasses, his thoughts turned quickly. He went over all the details again and suddenly thought of an unreasonable place.

It was impossible for the murderer to know that he would visit in advance.

He was Professor Li's ghostwriter. Professor Li was a writer of some fame who did writing as a side job while teaching. It wasn't honorable to find a ghostwriter, and Professor Li couldn't possibly spread the word about this meeting. After thinking this through, Zhang Yuanqing felt clear-headed.

So that's how it is. I was caught in a mental inertia. The murderer wasn't 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."

Tianxia Guihuo raised an eyebrow: "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!"

Hearing this, everyone leaned over to observe and saw that the central area under the bed had traces of being wiped away, 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, would Professor Li, who was in the same room, be unaware? If Professor Li knew, then what was his relationship with the murderer? Would he tolerate someone who wanted to kill him hiding under the bed?"

Zhang Yuanqing couldn't help but glance at the cute-faced girl. This girl was very smart. If he followed her line of thought to verify, then he would still need to prove the relationship between the murderer and Professor Li, but that was impossible, which would lead the reasoning into a dead end because of the lack of clues.

Zhang Yuanqing had his own ideas and was unmoved, smiling:

"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 there 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 reached "I'm no longer interested in your manuscript".

Zhang Yuanqing looked at the detectives who were deep in thought and said:

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

Sun Miaomiao frowned:

"That's not right, it's impossible for the murderer to know 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 it? Wearing a mask could indeed be a cold, and drawing the curtains could also be related to preference. You are nearsighted and can't see clearly, but that doesn't mean that the Professor Li at the time was the murderer. The dust under the bed could also have been wiped away for other reasons."

"Your assumptions are bold, but they are all conjectures without evidence."

She disdained using Tianxia Guihuo's trash-talking tactics, but she could find loopholes in Yuanshi Tianzun'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 within the murderer's expectations."

In this way, he had to hide Professor Li under the bed and invite me in. It was out of compulsion and unplanned, rather than expecting that I wouldn't be able to see through it. At that time, he was probably already planning to kill me. Drawing the curtains and putting on a mask were not to disguise himself as Professor Li, but merely to prevent me from seeing his true face when he committed the crime.

"But he later discovered that I didn't see through his disguise at all, so the murderer had a flash of inspiration and thought of framing me. That's why there was the scene in the video where he asked me to drink."

The detectives' expressions changed, and they were lost in thought.

With the addition of the Clairvoyant Glasses, Zhang Yuanqing spoke more and more smoothly:

"He deliberately asked me to drink, knocked me unconscious while I was unprepared, and then according to the plan, dragged Professor Li out of the room, stabbed him in the heart with a fruit knife, and then put the fruit knife in my hand, staining it with my fingerprints."

"I was injured in the back of the head, and the force of the blow came from behind, so when a person is unconscious, they either fall forward or sideways. This can explain why blood splattered on my back and the back of my trouser legs, because I fell face down."

The Earth God thought for a while and said, "I admit that what you said makes sense, but young man, you have to produce evidence. The time left for you is not much."

"There are still about two minutes left, which is enough…" Zhang Yuanqing chuckled, "Next, I would like to ask everyone to watch the second half of the video."

He clicked on the screen to play the paused video content.

The picture starts from Professor Li getting up and ends with him returning with a water bottle-shaped foreign wine.

Zhang Yuanqing asked: "Young and foolish detectives, after watching the video and looking at the study, have you noticed anything missing?"

Qingsongzi said unhappily:

"Discussion is discussion, don't bring personal grudges and take the opportunity to retaliate. Well, the layout of the study has been completely disrupted. If you have to say what's missing… it's the keyboard. The keyboard is gone."

Qingsongzi then looked at the wine 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 the wine bottle because these are the things he touched as Professor Li, and he left fingerprints on them. The messy fighting marks in the room are all to cover up the real purpose, which is to hide the missing 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, which means that this was when the murderer knocked me unconscious, killed the person, and took them away when leaving 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, completed in one go.

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[Ding! The detective needs to prove that the murderer is the suspect within ten minutes. Countdown begins…]

The faces of the seven contestants changed drastically. The instance recognized Yuanshi Tianzun's reasoning, and now it was the detective camp's turn to list evidence to accuse him. However, the evidence had already been used up.

From witness testimony to fingerprints and autopsy reports, all the evidence that could be used had been used up. And even so, they still couldn't eliminate Yuanshi Tianzun. At this point, the situation reversed.

Ready-made ironclad evidence is the advantage of detectives. They don't need to rack their brains to think. As long as they list the evidence, they can put the suspect to death. But they have a fatal weakness. Once the suspect overturns the evidence, the detectives will become very passive.

There is no time to find new evidence. What we have to do is to overturn Yuanshi Tianzun's defense. This is the correct way to respond after the evidence is used up… Sun Miaomiao's eyes rolled and said: "There is a loophole in your reasoning. If there are fingerprints on the keyboard and wine bottle, they can be wiped off. There is no need to take them away, so your reasoning is not valid."

After speaking, she listened expectantly.

Zhang Yuanqing smiled sarcastically: "You're right, wiping off the 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 corroboration."

Sure enough, the instance prompt did not sound, and Sun Miaomiao's rebuttal was invalid.

Zhang Yuanqing smiled: "Actually, if you ask Lao Wang next door whether anyone visited Professor Li that day at noon or in the morning, you can lock the murderer, but this is not within the scope of our confrontation."

This level doesn't require finding the murderer. Lao Wang next door is just a background character and may not even exist in the instance.

"In addition, I suspect that there is also a problem with the wine. Professor Li died from a knife in the chest, and there were no other wounds. If the murderer knocked him unconscious, there would definitely be traces, so how did he become unconscious?"

"Most likely, he was drugged in the wine. Therefore, another purpose of taking away the wine bottle was to take away the tools of the crime."

Tianxia Guihuo, Zhao Chenghuang, Tone Deaf, and others frowned, racking their brains, and trying to find evidence to overturn Yuanshi Tianzun's reasoning.

Time passed by second by second. For a time, the detectives were scratching their heads, both unconvinced and powerless.

Zhang Yuanqing said: "No way, no way, are seven brains no match for one brain? Several of you are all famous figures in the extraordinary stage. If you lose this, how will you save face in the future? There are so many viewers watching outside."

"I want to give this competition a name, so that colleagues can talk about it in the future. How about calling it Yuanshi Tianzun and the Seven Dwarfs?"

The tables have turned, and now it was his turn to create anxiety and break the other party's mentality.

Seven dwarfs and Yuanshi Tianzun! Even the Earth God's face twitched at this, and he gritted his teeth and said: "Boy, you look really irritating right now."

The faces of the other six contestants couldn't be more ugly. They also experienced the power of trash talk, which worked in the same way as the aggressive method, knowing that the other party was deliberately interfering with them and irritating them.

But they still couldn't help but have emotions, get angry, and be affected.

Yuanshi Tianzun muttered: "Yuanshi Tianzun and the Seven Dwarfs, Yuanshi Tianzun and the Seven Dwarfs…"

Veins successively burst on the foreheads of the seven contestants.

Finally, in a slightly awkward and stiff atmosphere, in the turbulent undercurrent, the instance prompt sounded: [Ding! Time is up, the detective team gives up presenting evidence, the suspect is innocent!]

[Ding! The entire detective team is deducted ten points, the suspect gains thirty points, the competition is over, the arena will switch in three minutes!]

At this moment, the arena rang out with warm cheers, celebrating this literary contest that turned the tables in adversity.

"Wonderful, there was no fighting, but it was so enjoyable. I like to watch this kind of battle where you turn defeat into victory. It's very exciting. Yuanshi Tianzun really took on seven people alone. He is too strong. Did you see that? This is the genius who clears instances, this is the brain configuration for clearing two S-level instances. It's only because Yuanshi Tianzun is the suspect. If it were other contestants, they would have been eliminated long ago. But even Yuanshi Tianzun almost failed just now. Tianzun yyds."

The scene was like a concert entering a climax.

"Clap clap clap!" Xie's mother clapped her little 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 dad. Let's recruit Yuanshi Tianzun to be our live-in son-in-law."

The young mother's face was flushed with joy, her eyes were full of excitement, and they were bright and crystalline, as bright as stars.

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

Much stronger than Dad? If I agreed, the black-hearted witch's next sentence would be: Oh? You also think Yuanshi Tianzun is much stronger than your dad? I'm going to tell your dad!

Xie Lingxi said with a smile: "I think Yuanshi Gege and Dad are the same, they are both amazing."

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 with potential…"

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

Yuanshi Tianzun, this kid, I should still fire him and cut off Guan Ya's contact with him.

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

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

Regardless of his combat talent, just talking about his intelligence, Yuanshi Tianzun reminded her of the Demon Lord. That person was evil-minded, but extremely intelligent. In the extraordinary stage, he saw through some secrets of the Lingjing.

Demon Lord! The name made Zhu Rong's legs weak and a conditioned physiological reaction appeared.

This also made her obsession with enslaving Yuanshi Tianzun even deeper.

In the Elders' seats, Elder Hongying applauded: "Amazing, amazing."

This level of competition was impossible to make the Elders level excited, but it didn't prevent her from watching with great interest.

The Dog Elder across a table raised his dog head and glanced at Elder Sun beside him, saying indifferently: "Not bad, he wasn't eliminated in the first wave."

"If you want to say it, just say it. Why are you looking at me?" Elder Sun was very sensitive and felt that the other person's face was written with the words "You are so confused".

The Dog Elder ignored him and said: "The next level should be martial arts. 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 in their ears: [Opening the second level, this level is called - The Great Reporting Era!]

ps: Correcting typos after updating.