The deceased was a male, Caucasian, appearing to be around forty years old. He wore a black shirt under a dark brown jacket and jeans. He had thick gloves on his hands, which were wrapped around a fishing line.

Less than a meter away from the deceased was a desk. One corner of the desk was stained with a large amount of fresh blood. Centered on this "corner," blood splatters radiated outwards, covering almost everything nearby... including, but not limited to, the walls, floor, curtains, desktop, side of the desk, and flowerpots.

When Feng Bujue saw the deceased, a large portion of the expensive wool carpet beneath the body had already been soaked crimson with blood, and a pungent odor assaulted his nostrils.

"Hey! Feng," the sheriff called out, seeing that Brother Jue was about to touch the body. "You wouldn't be thinking of touching the body, would you?"

Even though the sheriff had accepted many favors from John over the years and treated him differently due to his status on the island, the sheriff still had his limits. That's why he spoke up to remind him, to prevent Brother Jue from leaving fingerprints at the scene.

Feng Bujue, of course, knew that he was not a police officer, nor the first person to discover the body. It was absolutely inappropriate for him to touch the body in this way.

"Ah... don't worry, I'm just taking a look." Feng Bujue said, squatting down.

Without touching the body, he observed the deceased's condition as carefully as possible, then stood up and turned his gaze to the desk next to the deceased.

The objects on the desk were in disarray, many scattered on the floor. Among the items still on the desk, the first thing that caught Brother Jue's attention was—a telephone.

It was an "old-fashioned" telephone, a very "old" one, looking like a product from the 1970s... its piggy-bank shape and rotary dial were probably something many modern people had never seen before.

Of course, Feng Bujue certainly recognized it and knew how to use it.

"Mr. Herbert," after looking at it for a few seconds, Feng Bujue asked without turning his head, "Did you use this telephone after the incident?"

The "Mr. Herbert" he was referring to was undoubtedly John.

After a moment's consideration, John replied, "Yes, I contacted the sheriff with this phone." He paused for half a second, then immediately asked, "How did you know?"

If Feng Bujue's deduction had been, "You were on the phone when the incident happened, weren't you?" then John would have certainly only answered "Yes" and wouldn't have asked anything more. Because the person John was talking to at the time of the incident was Sam, and the latter had probably already told Feng Bujue what he had heard during the call.

But now, Feng Bujue's deduction was about "using the phone after the incident," which made John a little puzzled.

"Heh..." Brother Jue heard this, smiled, and turned back. "Because there's a little bit of blood on your right earlobe."

Before he finished speaking, Sam and the sheriff simultaneously turned their attention to John's face.

Even John himself was surprised and subconsciously raised his hand to touch that spot, and... sure enough, there was blood.

"Since there wasn't much blood there, it was hard to see without getting close. I only noticed it when I passed by you..." Feng Bujue continued to observe the scene while speaking slowly, "At first, I thought it had splattered there during the incident, but the problem is... all the other blood on your body is concentrated on the left side and back, and only your ear has that little bit of blood on the entire right half of your body... That's a little strange." At this point, he pointed to the telephone on the desk. "Until I saw this telephone, and that smear of blood between the receiver and the cradle, I knew the answer."

While listening to Brother Jue's explanation, a sense of foreboding had already arisen in John's heart...

There was no doubt that John was not a law-abiding citizen. The illegal activities he had committed were far more than just forging a will and murdering his biological father... But he was still at large.

A man like him naturally had an instinct for detecting danger.

And at this moment, Feng Bujue... was undoubtedly a danger.

"It seems your friend is quite the detective." A second later, John looked at Sam and said in a meaningful tone.

"What?" Sam wasn't one to be outdone. "Is he making you nervous?"

"Why should I be nervous?" John replied very calmly. "It's you... aren't you afraid of playing with fire..."

"Mr. Herbert!" Feng Bujue didn't let John finish his sentence. He interrupted loudly, "Is your neck injury... anything serious?"

The injury he was referring to was the several red welts on John's neck, which were clearly new wounds and very obvious. Sam and the sheriff had both noticed these marks as soon as they saw John.

"Ah... I'm fine," John replied indifferently.

"Allow me to boldly speculate on what happened here..." As Feng Bujue said this, he moved away from the body and turned back towards the hallway. "Overall... this should be a case of self-defense, right?"

"That's for sure!" Before John could speak, the sheriff excitedly blurted out, "That deceased was a typical illegal trespasser, and he had a weapon in his hand. If Mr. Herbert hadn't been lucky, he might be the one who died tonight..."

"Thank you, Doister, I think I can answer the question myself." Unexpectedly, John wasn't very appreciative. He interrupted the sheriff (now we know his name is Doister, and the reason why it wasn't mentioned in the previous chapters is probably because I procrastinated and haven't given him a name yet), and said to Brother Jue himself, "Mr. Feng... as for the nature of what happened tonight, I think... it's too early to draw a conclusion." As he spoke, he glanced at his brother. "Because you're Sam's friend and a detective, and Sam is somewhat involved in this matter... that's why I let you see the scene..."

"What do you mean?" Hearing this, Sam couldn't help but interrupt excitedly, "What do you mean I'm somewhat involved in this matter?"

"Hmph..." John sneered, looking at Sam. "What do you think?"

"You're an important witness, Sam," Feng Bujue quickly interjected, seeing that Sam might be about to slip up, "The incident happened while you were on the phone with John, didn't it? Your testimony will definitely play a decisive role in还原真相 [huányuán zhēnxiàng, revealing the truth]."

"Um... right." After being reminded by Brother Jue, Sam also realized that he had almost fallen into a trap. "I... can testify."

Relieved, he muttered a nonsense phrase, as if to give himself some time to calm down.