“Ah--”

Another scream interrupted their conversation.

But this time… something was different, because… it was a man's voice that cried out.

“Huh? What’s going on?” Feng Bujue's expression immediately changed. “All of Xiong Ji's cases have been against women, or some kind of perverted behavior like exhibitionism. Why… is a man screaming?”

“Could it be…” Wang Tanzhi's expression also changed drastically, and he turned to look at Brother Jue. “Has he… finally started targeting men…”

“We have to go take a look…” Brother Jue continued.

“Mm…” Xiao Tan nodded in agreement.

In less than a minute, they had jogged all the way to where the scream had originated.

It was a small alley between the sports equipment warehouse and the school's outer wall. It looked like the kind of place… where delinquent teenagers gathered to smoke.

At this moment, both ends of the alley were surrounded by many teachers and students. It looked like… something had really happened.

Brother Jue and Xiao Tan squeezed their way to the front of the crowd and saw…

“Holy crap?” Feng Bujue looked at the headless corpse on the ground and instinctively cursed. And this time, the system didn't block his words.

“That is…” Xiao Tan also stared at the corpse, muttering, “Penguin Assistant?”

Although the head of the corpse was missing, his identity could be recognized at a glance from his body alone.

“That’s right, it is Penguin Assistant.” Suddenly, Tu Mei’s voice came from the side. She followed Wang Tanzhi’s words directly, saying, “The victim’s build, clothing, are all consistent with Penguin Assistant, and… we only have this one penguin in Animal Elementary School.”

“You got here fast…” Feng Bujue glared at Tu Mei, as if he didn't welcome her at all.

“As a detective, I naturally have to rush to the scene of the crime to investigate.” Tu Mei replied, “Didn't you and Hayabusa Taro also arrive quickly?”

“Oh oh~ This tense atmosphere!” Two seconds later, Xiong Ji's voice rang out. No one knew where the guy had come from, but he was looking at Brother Jue and the others with excitement, reciting, “This case is just right! I can see Tu Mei-chan and the Cat-Falcon duo’s reasoning showdown!”

Before he finished speaking, the gazes of Feng Bujue, Wang Tanzhi, and Tu Mei all landed on Xiong Ji.

“This guy…” At that moment, Brother Jue looked at Xiong Ji, his balls aching, and he complained in his heart, “Still covered in blood… he just appears at the scene of the crime…”

Xiao Tan was muttering in his heart: “This is bad… the way he is… even if I'm willing to help him confess, it might not work…”

Even though the two players were in a state of anxiety, Xiong Ji himself still looked like he was uninvolved, as if he really didn't do it.

“Ah! Tu Mei-chan’s eyes have become sharp!” When he was stared at by Tu Mei, he still explained in his usual tone, “That look… represents Tu Mei-chan concentrating on the case, with inspiration working at high speed. Because of this characteristic… she has also been given the nickname ‘Big Eyes’. As expected of Tu Mei-chan, is she already close to the truth of the case…”

After reciting this long passage, Xiong Ji looked at Feng Bujue and Wang Tanzhi again, with a nervous expression and a forced smile, continuing, “Hehe… it looks like this victory is already in Tu Mei-chan’s bag… Cat Saburo, Hayabusa Taro.”

“Xiao Tan.” Feng Bujue said coldly with dead fish eyes.

“What?” Wang Tanzhi replied in a lifeless tone.

“What we agreed on earlier…” Brother Jue continued, “You take care of this case…”

“Can I beat him up first?” Xiao Tan asked.

“No.” Feng Bujue replied firmly, “Do you want to be taken away by the police for intentional injury and then leave this mess to me? Don’t even think about it…”

While they were talking in low voices, Tu Mei had already taken out her phone to call the police.

“Hello? Police station? A murder has occurred at Animal Elementary School.” Tu Mei said to the other end of the phone, “Yes, the murderer has already been found, his name is Xiong Ji. Okay, please come as soon as possible.” After saying that, she hung up the phone.

Not long after, the police car arrived… The police officer handling the case was still Inu no Suke.

“It’s you again?” After looking at the body, Inu no Suke came to Xiong Ji and said as such.

“Uh… I…” Xiong Ji was about to speak…

“Hold on!” But a voice interrupted him.

In an instant, all the onlookers at the scene turned their heads and looked at the speaker.

“Who the real murderer is… is not yet certain!” Wang Tanzhi forcibly put on a profound expression and shouted loudly.

“Oh… not bad…” Feng Bujue, who was watching the show on the sidelines, showed a gloating smile, thinking, “Scaring others with momentum first is indeed a good strategy.”

“What are you talking about? Hayabusa Taro.” Tu Mei walked to Xiao Tan's side and pointed at Xiong Ji, “Look, his hands are still covered in blood, and there are bloody footprints where his boots have walked.”

“So what?” Xiao Tan replied quickly, but he hadn't thought about what to say next at all, so he could only think as he spoke, “Maybe… he just arrived at the scene of the crime earlier than others, and accidentally got it on himself when he discovered the body!”

“You’re pretty good too…” Feng Bujue narrowed his eyes, thinking, “You can make up something that sounds plausible on the spot…”

“Uh… the first witness to arrive at the scene should be me…” Unexpectedly, another guy with a monkey face came out at this time, “When the scream sounded, I was nearby, and I ran over in less than ten seconds.”

“Oh, it’s Saru Kichi-kun.” Tu Mei looked at the monkey and said, “In that case, did you see anything at the time?”

“At that time…” Saru Kichi said while recalling, “I was washing my hands at the sink on the back of the sports equipment warehouse. When I heard the scream, I ran over quickly. When I ran to the alley entrance opposite… I happened to see a black shadow, holding a knife in his left hand and carrying a dark thing in his right hand, running out of this end of the alley. So I immediately chased after him, but when I came out of this end of the alley, the shadow was gone.” He paused for a moment, “A dozen seconds later, everyone was attracted by the scream.”

“That’s right.” Tu Mei continued, “What you saw at the time was Xiong Ji, who had just finished committing the crime.” She pointed to the bloody footprints on the ground, “Judging from the footprints, after killing Penguin Assistant, he immediately ran out of this end of the alley and turned into the sports equipment warehouse.” She looked up at the main entrance of the warehouse again, “After discarding Penguin Assistant’s head and the murder weapon inside, he came out again and blended into the crowd.”

“Damn!”

The next second, Xiao Tan shouted “Damn” loudly.

After he “damned,” he fell into silence again…

“Completely didn't think of a line… so he just said ‘damn’ first…” Feng Bujue, as Xiao Tan's best friend, saw through the latter's behavior at this time at a glance.

“What’s wrong?” Inu no Suke and Tu Mei asked Xiao Tan almost in unison.

“You say what you want?” After using his quick wit for the past few seconds, Xiao Tan had already thought of the next step to take, “No pictures… oh no… no physical evidence, what the [beep] are you talking about!”

“That’s right.” Officer Inu no Suke actually agreed after hearing this, but he immediately changed the subject, “It’s better to search the warehouse first.” As he spoke, he was already “leading” Xiong Ji (to be on the safe side, Inu no Suke had already tied Xiong Ji up) towards the sports equipment warehouse.

“Eh?” Xiao Tan immediately panicked, this was going to be a situation where the person and the loot were both caught, “Wait for me…” He quickly chased after them.

A minute later, police officer Inu no Suke, suspect Xiong Ji, witness Saru Kichi, and the three “famous detectives” Tu Mei, Cat Saburo, and Hayabusa Taro, arrived at the sports equipment warehouse together.

“Oh… it’s just thrown here.” Inu no Suke didn’t bother to search much, and found a bloody head and a blood-stained knife under the wall facing the warehouse door.

“See, it was really done by Xiong Ji-kun.” Tu Mei continued, “From here to the floor by the opposite wall, you can clearly see a round-trip bloody footprint, this is obviously…”

“I know!” Suddenly, Wang Tanzhi howled and interrupted Tu Mei, “The real murderer in this case is…” He waved his wing and pointed to one of the six people present.