“Me… premeditated murder?” John stared at Brother Jue in disbelief, repeating, “Me? Premeditated? Murder?” He raised his tone with each word.

“Yes,” Feng Bujue’s finger remained pointed at John. “You!”

“Ha…” John laughed out of extreme anger, a dry laugh almost squeezed from the back of his throat, sounding like someone had stepped on his kidneys. “Fine… alright… then you explain to me… why this ‘victim,’ Miller…” As he spoke, he raised his hands and made air quotes, “sneaked into my house in the middle of the night, carrying a weapon, and attacked me from behind?”

“Good question.” The fact that Feng Bujue could say those three words indicated that he had already thought of the answer. “Actually, it's easy to explain… First, he didn't sneak into your house; you let him in. Second, he didn't bring a weapon; you placed that fishing line at the scene. Third, he didn't attack you from behind; you attacked him head-on.”

This time, even Zuo Yan didn't understand. John, Sam, and Doster were even more bewildered.

“Uh… Brother Jue…” Zuo Yan's brain was, after all, faster than the other three. After a few seconds, he was the first to ask, “Then wouldn't the part of my reasoning about Miller trying to murder Sam… be completely negated by you?”

“'In the end… the two different versions of reasoning we just heard were merely speculations made in the early stages of the case, when the investigation and evidence collection work had not yet been fully展开 [zhǎn kāi - carried out].’” Feng Bujue repeated word for word what John had said just a few minutes earlier, then cast a contemptuous glance at John. “You said that… right?”

“Hah…” John needed to exhale a long breath to answer the question. “Yes…”

He didn't want to say another word, so he gave a concise answer.

“We might as well reanalyze the 'partial content' of my reasoning now.” Feng Bujue glanced at everyone and continued, “Was Miller's motive for murdering John… really that sufficient?”

Hearing this, Zuo Yan was shocked by Brother Jue. He thought to himself, “My god… to reverse things to the point of overturning one's own reasoning… this is the first time I've ever seen it…”

“Think carefully, is the recording he had in his possession really enough to be used as leverage to threaten Sam?” Feng Bujue continued, “What can such a sentence prove?” He spread his hands and shrugged. “Anyone can use a phone or some other device to record a sentence, saying they are going to meet someone later… For example, I can record a sentence now, saying I'm going to meet the Queen of England later. After recording, after a while, I go and randomly kill someone on the street, then take out the recording. Can I prove that the Queen ordered me to do it?”

“Uh…” Doster thought for a moment. “Now that you mention it… that makes sense.”

“So, the truth is that Miller didn't have enough motive to kill John.” Feng Bujue seized the opportunity and gave a conclusion.

“Tch… isn't 'hiring a murderer' a motive?” Vidocq in the shadows would not be led by Brother Jue. His thinking was clear from beginning to end. At this moment, he immediately complained in his heart, “First use a reasoning to overturn the part of my reasoning that you don't want to admit, keep the part you want to use, and then use another reasoning to overturn the things in your own reasoning that you don't intend to keep; in essence… this guy is just using logical means to repeatedly prove on the basis of 'speculation', giving people the illusion that there is reason and evidence, and finally stripping out a 'truth' that he had thought of from the beginning…” Thinking of this, Vidocq couldn't help but smile. “Heh… Feng Bujue… you are definitely the most rogue detective I have ever seen, but you are also likely the most capable I have ever seen.”

Vidocq did not tell Zuo Yan this monologue through mental dialogue; he didn't want to reveal this kind of "I've met my match" feeling in front of Zuo Yan.

Therefore, no one could hear the analysis that the cat detective made of Brother Jue.

“Then… how should we explain this series of events that happened yesterday?” On the other hand, Doster asked a question that was still somewhat constructive.

“Very easy to explain.” Feng Bujue said, “If we speak from the perspectives of the three people involved, the matter is very clear; first, let's look at Sam—he was being blackmailed by Miller and came to the island to pay the money. But after arriving on the island, Sam temporarily decided to make peace with John, so he visited John during the day yesterday, gave Miller the money in the evening, and drank in the bar at night, where he met me.

“Let's talk about Miller—he was blackmailing both Sam and John. Why did he let Sam come to the island to give him money this time? Because he happened to have something to do on the island these days. What was it? Naturally, it was to negotiate with John, wanting to blackmail even more.

“In the evening, after Miller took Sam's money, he waited at his residence. He didn't go to Herbert Manor until late at night.

“From here on, let's speak from John's perspective—John had been blackmailed by Miller for a long time, and Miller had asked him to add money more than once in the past year; John felt that this matter was not a solution to drag on, his life secret was in the hands of people like Miller, and the blackmail would be endless… In order to 'solve the problem' once and for all, John agreed with Miller to negotiate on this matter one more time.

“Like this… at ten o'clock last night, Miller came to this mansion as agreed; of course, John couldn't let Miller enter through the front door, so he left him a route to enter—this was easy for the owner of the house.

“During the conversation between the two, John, who had been prepared for a long time, suddenly burst into action and pounced on Miller. At that time, he probably prepared other murder weapons, but what he didn't expect was… this collision directly killed Miller on the corner of the table.

“Just at this time, Sam's phone came; because he was worried that the phone ringing would attract the staff in the house, John had to answer the phone immediately. After hearing Sam's voice, John had an idea and thought of a plan to frame him…

“So, John began to imitate the sound of two people fighting alone; anyway, it was just panting and not talking, even if the recording was retrieved afterwards, no flaws could be found.

“After finishing this scene, John hung up the phone, disposed of the murder weapon he originally wanted to use, and got a fishing line from the house, leaving strangulation marks on his neck to create a false impression of self-defense.

“After getting everything done, he picked up the same phone and dialed Chief Doster's private number, and tried to use his relationship with the chief… to lead the case in the direction he expected from the beginning; in this way, a lot of evidence that was unfavorable to him would not be preserved, or would eventually be湮没 [yān mò - submerged/lost] for various reasons.

“Just like… the inheritance case that year.”