Chapter 11 After the Phantom Thief BeArs_eye Incident

"After the Phantom Thief BeArs_eye incident..." Feng Bujue continued, "it was basically confirmed, right?"

"Very perceptive, this player controlling Neko Saburo," Penguin Assistant replied. "Just in terms of the speed of deduction, he seems to be even better than me."

"Hey... what's going on here?" Xiao Tan was having trouble following their train of thought, so he quickly interjected.

"Yes, what's going on?" Feng Bujue put his hands in his pockets and looked at Penguin Assistant. "Please explain it to us, Penguin Assistant. I'd like to hear the details too."

"Hmph... what reason do I have to tell you all this?" Penguin Assistant asked.

"Why not?" Feng Bujue pointed at Hirata. "As long as Hirata-kun is here, everything is under your control, isn't it?" He spread his hands and tilted his head, saying, "If you don't share your elaborate plan with us... wouldn't it be like casting pearls before swine?"

Penguin Assistant was silent for a few seconds after hearing this. He didn't immediately respond to Jue-Ge's request, but instead walked to Hirata's side and asked, "Are you alright? Hirata-kun."

"I... I'm fine..." Hirata's breathing had just calmed down. "Don't worry."

As he spoke, he sat up. The color of his body gradually returned, restoring him to his original appearance.

"Hmm..." Penguin Assistant seemed relieved, then turned his head to look at the two players again. "Alright... might as well tell you."

"Let's start from the day they transferred into our class." At that moment, another voice came from behind Jue-Ge and Xiao Tan...

"Is that necessary..." Xiao Tan turned his head and complained, "Everyone always suddenly pops out from behind us when they make their entrance..."

But Feng Bujue didn't need to turn around to know that the person who came this time... was Usagi-mi.

"As expected, you're involved too..." Feng Bujue muttered.

"Of course," Usagi-mi walked over and coldly replied, "Penguin Assistant is in the shadows, I'm in the light."

"The famous detective, lives up to her name..." Feng Bujue said, "Always dealing with the cases committed by Kumakichi, you're really being wasted..."

"It doesn't matter," Usagi-mi replied, "Anyway, I like calling the police."

"Then I have to ask," Feng Bujue glanced at Usagi-mi and then looked at Penguin Assistant, "Who saw through us first and came up with this 'probing plan'... Usagi-mi-chan, or Penguin Assistant-kun?"

"It's hard to say who saw through you first..." Penguin Assistant replied. "By the time Usagi-mi-chan came to me to discuss this issue, we had both sensed your abnormality."

"As for the plan... we discussed and formulated it together," Usagi-mi replied.

"I see..." Feng Bujue nodded. "Please continue..." He held out a hand and made a "please" gesture, indicating that they should continue.

"Then I'll start from the beginning..." After a few seconds, Penguin Assistant, Usagi-mi, and Hirata exchanged glances, and then Penguin Assistant began to speak, "On the day you transferred to our school, Kumakichi committed a crime as usual. Although it seemed normal to us, but..." his gaze swept across the faces of Jue-Ge and Xiao Tan, "...objectively speaking, a crime is a crime. As newcomers, your reaction to Kumakichi's arrest was too calm. Seeing a classmate being taken away by the police for perverted behavior, you didn't even bother to ask anyone about it... Isn't that a little strange?"

Penguin Assistant paused for half a second, then continued, "Of course, I also considered... since you confidently declared yourselves to be 'famous detectives' in your self-introductions, it's possible... you're 'already used to crime,' which is why you showed such an unfazed attitude."

"That's what I thought at the time too," Usagi-mi added from the side. "So... I didn't take further action."

"However... about an hour later, you both made a very different reaction than before," Penguin Assistant continued. "You two seemed to have suddenly come to your senses and started asking about the case. This sudden change in behavior undoubtedly made me feel a trace of strangeness."

As Wang Tanzhi listened to Penguin Assistant's narration, he couldn't help but feel a chill down his spine. He thought to himself, "This is clearly a gag manga world... there are clearly characters full of tsukkomi elements doing things full of tsukkomi elements everywhere... you yourselves have clearly been doing similar things... but why do you seem more serious and shrewd than me now..."

"Then came the next day." At this time, Usagi-mi took over Penguin Assistant's words and said, "You two appeared near Zou-bi's house again, or rather... the scene of Kumakichi's voyeurism. She looked at Xiao Tan, "It's not strange that you would appear near the scene of the crime. After all, our town is small, and our classmates' houses are all in this area. I also happened to be passing by and heard the screams." She looked at Jue-Ge again, "But... you suddenly attacked Kumakichi, stopping his self-confessed actions. This... is just too abnormal."

"It can be said that our attitude towards you changed from 'puzzled' to 'suspicious'... all because of that scene," Penguin Assistant added.

Hearing this, Feng Bujue didn't show any emotion on the surface, but in his heart, he admitted, "Indeed... it was my mistake... Because it was a normal difficulty script, and it was a setting I was familiar with... no... I should say, a universe I 'thought I was familiar with', so I didn't think things through when doing some things."

"I don't think all the perverted cases happening before my eyes are done by Kumakichi, I never thought that way..." Usagi-mi's narration continued, "But... when Kumakichi is present, his suspicion is definitely greater than others, and that's an undeniable fact." She crossed her arms in front of her chest and continued, "You two have known Kumakichi for less than two days, and... the morning before, he was taken away by the police after only meeting you once. It's obviously unrealistic to say that you have any friendship." Her gaze fell on Jue-Ge's face again, "But you... Neko Saburo, you seemed to know him very well, and when he was about to expose his criminal facts, you stopped him in a very simple and crude way, and took the blame for the crimes Kumakichi committed..."

Penguin Assistant continued, "If we didn't have the idea of 'investigating to the end' in the face of this situation, then we wouldn't be worthy of being called famous detectives."

"That's right," Usagi-mi said, "So, later that day, I went to Penguin Assistant and discussed you two."

"So, the next day... the test for you began," Penguin Assistant continued.

"Heh... that harassing letter..." Feng Bujue raised his eyes and looked at Penguin Assistant, "You wrote it, right?"

"Yes," Penguin Assistant admitted. "I also specifically imitated Kumakichi's tone and handwriting..." He shook his head. "But... from the actual situation, it seems unnecessary."

"Because Kumakichi has done too many perverted things, even he himself can't remember them all, so it's very easy to frame him," Usagi-mi continued. "You guys who have helped him get away with his crimes so many times... should have noticed this, right?"

"[Beep——]! So that's how it is!" Xiao Tan exclaimed. "No wonder this guy always shows a completely ignorant expression every time he encounters an incident, and then calmly does a self-exposure behavior... I thought this guy was simply using that kind of behavior to create tsukkomi elements!"

"This is indeed related to his own setting," Hirata-kun, who hadn't spoken for a while, opened his mouth again, "In our world, the vast majority of characters... or rather, creatures, have character attributes similar to Kumakichi. For example, Matsuo Basho, Prince Shotoku, Werewolf Fujita-kun, the Chokushi father and son, the manager of the product development department and his subordinates, etc... They are the main creators of tsukkomi elements, this group of people... some are chuunibyou, some are cute and foolish, some are pretentious, and some are truly idiotic..." His description coincided with Feng Bujue's partial understanding of this universe. "These guys won't think about the things I told you earlier..." He said, his expression changing slightly, "But... there are also some people, such as me, Usagi-mi, and Penguin Assistant... In addition to playing along with 'those guys', we also have some other thoughts..."