7.Important things

"Are you really a sheriff?" Lynn was a little surprised. He thought the man in the trench coat was deliberately using the name of the sheriff to make things easier.

"Just a few days ago, I'm still in the internship." The man in the trench coat glared at the people coming from the third floor stairwell and the second floor restaurant. "Why did you ask me to look at the nail crevices of the Basil brothers?"

Lynn explained, "If they fought back against the murderer before they died, they might have scratched them. You found skin tissue in their nail crevices.

"Then it's easy. We just need to check who has fresh scratches on their body to identify the murderer."

"Unfortunately, there's none." The man in the trench coat put down his badge, but the revolver was still held up menacingly. "What's your name?"

"Lynn. This is my brother, Matt."

"Arthur," the man in the trench coat, Arthur, said. "What do you think we should do next?"

Lynn glanced at the people trying to come down from the third floor. "Has anyone gone up there after we came down?"

A man standing at the front of the stairs, holding a gun nervously, replied, "I-I don't know. It was chaos when we were trying to get out."

The guard turned pale with fear and stammered, "No, no one."

"The murderer is on the second floor. My brother will guard the stairway. Let's gather everyone on the second floor first and then try to investigate," Lynn suggested.

"Alright." Arthur aimed his gun at the people in the dining room. "Everyone on the second floor! Gather in the dining room immediately! Anyone who fails to do so and is found by me will be shot on sight! You have ten seconds! Ten! Nine!"

"Matt, keep an eye on the stairway and don't let anyone go up or down," Lynn instructed Matt.

Matt felt that Lynn had suddenly become very serious and resolute.Stranger: "Bro..."

"Just do as I said." Time was too tight for Lynn to even offer comfort, so he pushed the wheels of his wheelchair alone to assist Arthur in gathering the crowd.

Of course, he didn't get too close to those people.

Although it was stated in the mission that he would become the next target if the murderer was not found before midnight, no one could be sure if the murderer would strike early if the situation arose.

Under Arthur's intimidation, the dining room on the second floor quickly filled with a chaotic gathering of two or three dozen people.

"Can you move?" Asked Arthur after the crowd had gathered.

"Not a big problem." Lynn replied.

"Then go check the other rooms to make sure everyone on the second floor is here." Arthur commanded.

Lynn firmly refused: "I'm afraid I can't."

With his current physical condition, he was practically defenseless. If the murderer was hiding somewhere and he discovered it, he feared that he would be killed immediately.

"What's the matter?"

"It's too dangerous for me," Lynn said bluntly.

"... Can you use a gun?" Arthur asked after a few moments of silence.

"Just pull the trigger, right?" Lynn looked at the revolver in Arthur's hand, which was arguably the easiest gun to operate.

"Yes, take this and keep an eye on them. I'll go check if there are any missing people." Arthur handed the gun to Lynn and pulled out a short knife from his waist, moving towards the other rooms on the second floor.

The handgun felt heavy in Lynn's hand. Holding it firmly, he first used his ability to scan the gathered people.

Among the twenty or thirty people in front of him, their depravity values varied greatly, with the lowest being [-1]

Still following the logic that the higher the depravity value, the more likely the person is to kill, Lynn prioritized eliminating most of them, focusing his gaze on the only two men with depravity values over 100.

The man with a [Depravity Value of 120] had disheveled hair, a scraggly beard, and a bleary-eyed expression, as if he were drunk.

The man with a [Depravity Value of 130], on the other hand, appeared sober and composed, patiently waiting for them to handle the situation.

"What exactly happened? Can you tell us?"

"Yeah, why did you suddenly pull out a gun?"

"Pointing a gun at us? We just came here to eat!"

"Shouldn't the sheriff have the decency to explain the situation to us?"

Most of the guests, unaware of the truth, grew agitated and uneasy.

Lynn ignored their questions, holding his gun steadily as he scrutinized the two most suspicious individuals.

"I... I'm sorry, I didn't hear you! I wasn't intentionally hiding, please let me go..."

Just then, Arthur returned, dragging a frail, trembling man by the arm who kept pleading for mercy and explaining himself.

"Found one hiding, highly suspicious." Arthur dragged the man to the middle of the restaurant and promptly retrieved the pistol from Lynn's hand.

"He's not it. He probably doesn't know anything, just thought there was danger and didn't come out." Lynn glanced at the frail man.

The other's corruption level was only [30], not much different from his own, and with his slender build, it was highly unlikely he committed the crime.

"Why?" Arthur was puzzled, thinking he had caught the culprit.

"I cannot explain in detail, but I am undoubtedly on the same side as you.

"There's no need to lie to you about this." Lynn was already certain that Arthur couldn't see corruption levels, which were a special ability exclusive to him.

This crucial trump card was best kept hidden until he had a better understanding of Arthur's true intentions and the world they were in.

"So, who do you think is the most suspicious?"

"Let me ask you a question first," Lynn said, not rushing to answer. "Before the incident, you spent three to four minutes alone with Basil Brother in the private room. What did you do during that time?"

"I identified myself as a sheriff and asked him if he had any enemies. He mentioned a few to me," Arthur replied.

After receiving the task, he adopted a completely different approach from Lynn's.

Lynn had a hunch and pointed to the two individuals with the highest corruption levels in the crowd. "You, and you, come out."

The man who appeared sober stepped forward first, while the drunken one seemed not to hear Lynn's voice, only moving forward a few staggering steps after Lynn called out twice more.

"What are your names?" Lynn asked.

Both men remained silent.

"I asked for your names!" Arthur repeated Lynn's words loudly, aiming his gun at them.

"Alfred Bank."

"Calvin Dean."

Under the threat of the gun, both men reluctantly gave their names.

"Are any of them related to the Bazel brothers or anyone you mentioned?" Lynn felt that things wouldn't be as simple as that, but still held onto a glimmer of hope.

"No," Arthur shook his head.

"We can't be sure if they're giving us their real names or not. Do you have any countermeasures?" Lynn suspected that one of them might have lied about their name.

"Unless we bring them all to the police station for verification, but that would take too much time."

Arthur didn't think this was a viable solution. "Are you certain the killer is among these two?"

Lynn scanned the crowd again. Apart from these two, the highest depravity level among the others was only 70. This number didn't rule out the possibility of murder, but it was still highly unlikely.

"I can't be one hundred percent sure, but I have a strong suspicion." Lynn ultimately refrained from making a definitive conclusion, given the gravity of the situation.

"That complicates things," Arthur sighed deeply and whispered, "Maybe we should just take them all out."

The guests whose movements were restricted began to stir up trouble again.

Without hesitation, Arthur fired another shot into an empty space, immediately silencing everyone: "Anyone who disrupts the investigation will have the next bullet embedded in their forehead!"

With that, the problem was immediately resolved.

"It's nine o'clock, we have three hours left." Arthur grabbed a chair from the side and sat down beside Lynn, like a god of war, suppressing the dozens of bar patrons each harboring their own thoughts. "If we can't find the person in three hours, we'll have to do as I said. It's better than being killed by the enemy."

"Being killed by the enemy."

This phrase caught Lynn's attention, and he vaguely realized something.

There was a crucial piece of information that both of them had consistently overlooked since the mission was assigned!