8.The identification of criminals

[You have been selected as the clean-up crew for this L1 contaminated area. Please identify the murderer of Basil Burton and Basil Chad before midnight.]

[Failure to do so will make you the next target of the murderer.]

The mission introduction clearly states that after midnight, the murderer will repeat the tragedy of the Basil brothers on them.

So, this means that although everything is arranged by mysterious forces, there must be a motive or reason behind the murderer's actions.This logic and reasoning, without a doubt, aligns with the motive behind the murderer's actions towards the Basil brothers.

The next focus should be identifying the commonalities among him, Arthur, and the Basil brothers, and then narrowing down the suspect pool based on these commonalities.

First, we can rule out murder out of revenge.

These three groups either have no intersection or saw each other for the last time years ago, making it impossible for them to simultaneously harbor deep grudges against the same person.

Currently, the only commonalities that Lynn can think of are that they are all male and that they all appeared in the same place at the same time.

These commonalities are shared by many people in the tavern and thus hold little value.

Immediately after, Lynn extracted another crucial clue from the task description.

The murderer would strike after midnight.

Again, this is a result orchestrated by mysterious forces, and it must also be rational, encompassing the murderer's own intentions.

Why did the murderer insist on striking after midnight?

"What are you thinking about?" Seeing Lynn lost in thought, the clueless Arthur wanted to join in the discussion.

"It's a bit complicated, and this isn't the best place to talk about it," Lynn said.

"Everyone back up and lean against the wall," Arthur immediately ordered the patrons on the second floor to retreat to the corners, creating a certain distance between them and the two of them.

Lynn whispered her analysis to Arthur.

"You think there's a reason behind the timing of the murderer's choice to attack us, and that the task description is actually an important clue? I hadn't considered that aspect," Arthur admitted.

"I tend to think so. Of course, it might not be as complicated as that. The mysterious force might simply arrange for the murderer to carry out the failure punishment on us, like a random killing," Lynn said, acknowledging that each of her analyses lacked solid evidence.

Support, "But if it's the latter, it seems too abnormal."

"Do we have anything in common? Could the Bazel brothers also be..." Arthur speculated.

Lynn dashed Arthur's hopes: "The Bazel brothers are just ordinary people."

"Then... According to your analysis, should we try to deliberately delay until midnight to provoke him to attack us?"

"The task didn't say that the murderer will eliminate us immediately after midnight, which means we need to be vigilant every moment from now on. Can you do that?" Lynn reached out to pinch her nose bridge, "We only have three hours left."

"The mission shouldn't have set us up for a dead end. We must have missed something." Arthur began to recall the details from the last ten minutes before the Bazel brothers' death.

"Let's start with the basics. When the murderer committed the crime at the second-floor staircase, to ensure they wouldn't be discovered, they were definitely alone. We should ask carefully who was the last person to enter the second floor from the staircase before we arrived. Additionally, if you didn't find any sharp objects that could be used as weapons during your search, it means the murder weapon is on them. Search their bodies, and we might find something surprising." As Lynn spoke about the murder weapon, she suddenly remembered that when Arthur was checking the other rooms, he had pulled out a knife from his waist. However, she remembered clearly that Arthur had just been with...The suspicion he had just raised towards his own people faded away as he recalled rushing to the staircase with Arthur and hearing the sound of the Bazel brothers falling down.

Arthur nodded in agreement, "There are plenty of knives in the kitchen, but it's difficult to confirm if the murderer used one from there and whether they put it back in the chaos afterward. Since there's no one left in the other rooms, you can go and search for clues there carefully. I'll start by searching their bodies and asking questions."

"... Alright." Lynn didn't refuse this time, turning the wheels of her wheelchair and heading into the kitchen on the second floor alone.

Indeed, there were many knives in the kitchen, some of them still stained with blood.In the face of such a situation, most people would probably be at a loss, unable to distinguish whether the blood-stained knives were thrown by the murderer after killing the Bazel brothers or left uncleaned by the chef after handling food.

But Lynn was different.

As a mystery novelist, he possessed a wealth of knowledge.

Even though this world had yet to develop sophisticated equipment for blood analysis, he recalled the distinct differences in the scent between human blood and animal blood.

Sheep's blood was pungent, pig's blood had an unpleasant odor, chicken's blood was acrid, while human blood... it had a salty, fishy scent.

The differences didn't stop at taste. Animal blood was also thicker and more prone to coagulation than human blood, and the color... was also darker.

Pushing his wheelchair forward, he approached the table where the knives were placed and carefully removed the ones stained with blood.

Returning outside, he placed each of the three knives in separate locations to allow the scents to dissipate, avoiding any potential confusion from the mixing of odors if they had been left together.

As Arthur neared the end of his questioning of the patrons, Lynn once again picked up each knife individually to observe and smell them.

"What are you doing?" Arthur asked, approaching after finishing his interrogation.

"Trying to determine which knife's blood is human," Lynn replied."Blood," Lynn replied.

"How can you tell?"

"The smell, color, consistency, and coagulation speed can all be used as bases for judgment."

"Is it accurate?"

As Lynn put down one of the knives, he abruptly spoke two words: "Earth?"

"Earth? What do you mean?" Arthur was confused.

"Nothing, I just meant that the accuracy is hard to say for sure. We can only try and see if we can break the deadlock." Lynn took the opportunity to test the waters, confirming that Arthur was not from a different time and that the matter of time travel was likely exclusive to him."If only it had happened to someone else, he would have replied to Arthur, 'If only we had an anti-human hemoglobin colloidal gold test strip.'"

"So, have you reached a conclusion?"

"It should be this one." Lynn picked up a fruit knife.

"That's impressive!" Arthur was a bit impressed by Lynn.

Lynn chuckled dryly: "It has nothing to do with smell, color, consistency, or coagulation speed. It's simple, a fruit knife is meant for cutting fruit. Do you think it's normal for it to have so much blood on it?"

"Yeah...I see what you mean," Arthur coughed awkwardly, feeling a little embarrassed."And fruit knives are lighter and easier to hide and carry than other bladed instruments - you didn't find any knives or sharp objects on them, did you?"

"No."

"Then this should be it." Lynn felt more confident in her conclusion.

Arthur took the fruit knife from Lynn and examined it closely. "The problem is, even if we've determined this is the murder weapon, how do we use it to find the murderer?"

"It may not necessarily lead us directly to the murderer, but it does narrow down the possibilities. The Bazels were killed during dinner time, and the kitchen was constantly manned by chefs. If a guest went in, took a fruit knife, and put it back, they...""If no guests entered the kitchen - "

"Then the murderer must be one of the chefs!" Arthur interrupted Lynn, speaking first.

"Exactly." Lynn nodded.

Feeling more certain, Arthur quickly summoned the three chefs again and inquired if any guests had entered the kitchen.

To Lynn and Arthur's immense joy and surprise,

One of the men who was initially considered a prime suspect, the drunken Alfred Banks with a depravity level of [120], was actually one of the three chefs!However, just when Lynn and Arthur were almost certain of the murderer's identity, he unexpectedly pointed to Calvin Dean, who was also listed as one of the prime suspects with a depravity level of [130], and declared with certainty that Calvin had entered the kitchen twice!