"And the result?" Zuo Yan asked, following up.

"The result shows..." Widok replied, "that the authenticity of that will has two very significant points of doubt.

"First, the paper used for the will was made with a papermaking technology that was quite advanced at the time. The time this paper appeared on the market was no more than a year before the day Old Herbert died; but... the date on the will was six years prior.

"Second, that signature... although it does look very similar, if the handwriting is magnified to a certain proportion, some differences that are indistinguishable to the naked eye can be found through the analysis of the ink layer fracture..."

"Is all this possible?" Zuo Yan questioned.

"Of course." Widok replied, "The current forensic technology has almost reached a point of omnipotence, but not all cases can be handled with the most advanced technology, after all... 'resources' are limited.

"For example, suppose you get your wallet stolen on the street by a pickpocket. There's two hundred yuan in cash inside, and then you go to the police station to report the crime. In this case, the police will at most make a record for you, and then check the surveillance video of the theft location for joint record filing; when that pickpocket who stole from you is caught red-handed and arrested for some other case one day, maybe he will confess to the previous theft of your wallet while confessing his crimes. At this time, your record will be used, and you 'may' recover your stolen goods."

"According to you, that's basically impossible..." Zuo Yan curled his lips and complained.

"Well, you can understand it that way." Widok continued indifferently, "But... think about it, if the police must arrest that pickpocket, is there really no way?" He paused, "There are obviously ways... They can find a team of people to thoroughly investigate all the surveillance videos near the scene of the crime, find out the pickpocket's whereabouts before and after he met you, and then follow the trail to find the approximate area where he lives, and then send people with his image to visit the neighborhood until they find the person's residence. If that's not enough... use the legendary 'facial recognition technology' to match similar faces to the suspect in your case in the footage taken by all the cameras across the country, and check and identify them one by one..."

"Uh..." Zuo Yan already understood the point of the other party's words, he interrupted, "It's a bit outrageous to do this for something worth a few hundred yuan..."

"Yes, that's the point." Widok said, "In a country with more than nine million square kilometers, thousands of such petty cases happen every day; leaving aside those that are not reported, if every case were investigated using the method I just mentioned... how much manpower and material resources would be needed? Therefore, forensic resources are usually used in major cases that are more harmful to society or involve more money, such as... the Herbert family's inheritance dispute case."

"So..." Zuo Yan saw Widok bring the topic back, and then continued, "After confirming that the will was forged, Sam had nothing to say, right?"

"No, Sam was very shocked and angry about the result. He immediately asked the court to re-evaluate the will and claimed that the result of the first evaluation was 'wrong and absurd'." Widok said.

"In other words... he was ashamed and angry and insisted on fighting to the end?" Zuo Yan said.

"It seems so." Widok said.

"Hmm?" Zuo Yan heard something from the other party's tone and repeated, "'It seems'?"

"Yes, it just 'seems like this'." Widok continued in a mysterious tone, "I'll explain this later, let's talk about the next development..." He paused for two seconds, then continued, "For most people, including you, the jury, and the judge, the result of the appraisal is enough to determine the direction of the case. Sam's reaction does seem like he's 'fighting to the end'. Even Sam's lawyer advised him to settle the matter, but Sam firmly denied that he had forged the will and decided to fight to the end.

"So, he lost the case, appealed, and lost again; in the end, Sam Herbert not only did not inherit a penny of the family property, but was also forced to move out of Old Herbert's house, becoming homeless.

"Fortunately, his brother John said that he would not further pursue Sam's responsibility for 'forging the will', and was willing to give Sam one hundred thousand pounds of property out of brotherly love, as a way to help him settle down.

"Unexpectedly, Sam refused John's 'kindness', claiming that the inheritance was originally his, and he refused to let others give him charity with his own money.

"After that, the two brothers broke off contact. John inherited all the family property, including most of the shares of the Herbert Company, while Sam disappeared from the public's sight... For a playboy like him, once he loses his money, he will soon become like an invisible man. This development is also expected."

"In your opinion..." Zuo Yan knew Widok very well, and he knew that the latter still had something to say, "Is there anything else going on in this matter...?"

"This is the part I want to 'explain'..." Widok lazily turned over in bed, "Oh...wait..." He seemed to have suddenly thought of something, and changed the subject, "Hehe... Second-rate (Widok likes to call Zuo Yan second-rate, because the former defined the latter as a 'second-rate detective' shortly after they met), why don't I test you..."

"Here we go again?" It wasn't the first time Zuo Yan had been "tested" by Widok. Although he could keep up with Widok's train of thought in most cases, the gap between him and Widok seemed to have not narrowed at all... it was still the gap between a "second-rate detective" and the "king of detectives."

"This time, I'll tell you the answer directly, and you tell me the reason for this." Widok didn't care whether Zuo Yan was willing or not, and after saying this, he immediately revealed the truth, "The person who forged the will... was actually John."

"Huh?" After hearing this, Zuo Yan was stunned for a full twenty seconds, and then his brows gradually unfolded and he suddenly realized, "Oh... so there was such a trick..."

"Heh..." Widok collapsed on the bed and smiled, "Not bad, you understood it in half a minute."

"After hearing the answer and then thinking back... Sam's reaction seems very reasonable." Zuo Yan read, "Because he had a clear conscience about the will, he agreed to the appraisal; and after the appraisal results came out, Sam would naturally be very surprised and think that the people at the court had made a mistake; but others don't see it that way. They thought Sam was ashamed and angry after being exposed and prepared to hold on to the end.

"However... all of this was within John's calculations from the very beginning."