"Speak up, have you found anything?" 

Lin Yu sat on the chair gripping his gun, watching as Furbollo circled the room three times before asking.

The so-called 'Detective' turned to face Lin Yu with a solemn expression. 

"Indeed, I have made a discovery."

"This room... is warmer than I expected!"

Lin Yu sighed at Furbollo's words. 

"Respected 'Detective Furbollo,' my time is precious, and so are my bullets."

"Either activate your Detective abilities immediately, or I'll take matters into my own hands."

Hearing this, Furbollo stopped dawdling and spoke quickly. 

"Alright, I've actually already found the most suspicious thing in this room!" 

He pointed at the workbench. 

"That table contains a hidden mechanism."

Lin Yu frowned slightly. "A mechanism? I didn't notice anything."

It was worth noting that Lin Yu had thoroughly inspected that very table. 

He had tapped every part of it but found nothing unusual. 

After all, it was while examining this table that Lin Yu had encountered Chate - giving him reason to suspect Chate didn't want him investigating further. 

Yet repeated inspections afterward still revealed nothing amiss, making Lin Yu think it might just be coincidence.

But Furbollo shook his head. 

"It's normal you didn't find it - the mechanism is extremely well hidden..." 

Then he looked at Lin Yu. 

"What do you think is most important for being a Detective?"

Lin Yu thought for a moment before answering: 

"Is it reasoning ability and observational skills? Being able to find clues and deduce their hidden meanings?"

"Wrong," Furbollo shook his head. 

"The most important thing for a detective... is knowledge." 

He pointed to his head: 

"You don't need deep expertise in any one area, but you need to know a little about everything."

"Nighttime constellations, herbal scents, rock hardness, martial arts styles... Any great detective must be a jack-of-all-trades."

"That way, when seeking 'truth,' environments that seem like meaningless fog to others become talkative friends."

"Therefore, I don't even need to activate my Detective ability yet." 

Furbollo approached the table and gave it a slight push: 

"This workbench's material is wrong - straight grain, brittle texture, easily stained. It's balsa wood." 

"Normally used for small boxes or panels, rarely for tables." 

"And even if used for a table, it shouldn't be this heavy - the weight when pushed felt like the elm tables from my hometown." 

"So it's not solid wood throughout." 

"I suspect it's like this cabin - wood covering metal construction." 

Furbollo looked confidently at Lin Yu while scratching his butt. 

"My suggestion? If you're looking for what's 'off' in this house, either chop it open... or burn it."

Hearing Furbollo's confident words, Lin Yu exhaled. 

He picked up a black torch and without another word, lit it. 

Pale flames scorched the wood, creating a black mark before quickly igniting the entire board.

Furbollo, watching Lin Yu's decisiveness, seemed surprised. 

"You trust me that much?" 

He said in astonishment as flames soon engulfed the entire table in quiet combustion.

"Your reasoning made sense. Why wouldn't I believe you?" 

Lin Yu calmly observed the burning table.

Furbollo shook his head: 

"Normally when I don't announce using my ability, convincing people is difficult." 

He sighed: 

"Whether in the Death Game or real life, people are stubborn, impossible to persuade..."

Lin Yu looked at Furbollo and couldn't help but comment: 

"I think you should reflect on your own shortcomings." 

While Furbollo's analysis was logical, everything from his attire to accent to demeanor made him inherently unconvincing! 

He looked completely unreliable. 

What kind of detective spoke with a Henan accent while wearing earflap hats? 

If not for Lin Yu's fascination with human observation that minimized appearance's influence on judgment, even he would doubt Furbollo.

Soon, the entire table burned away. 

As flames threatened to spread, Lin Yu grabbed a bucket found under the stove and doused it with snowmelt. 

"Sizzle!" 

The fire extinguished amidst billowing steam and smoke.

Behind the dying embers, a metal box was revealed where wood had burned away, bringing a pleased smile to Furbollo's face. 

"Ha—I knew there was something inside!" 

He stepped forward to brush off ash and charred remnants from the box's surface. 

But upon touching it, Furbollo shrieked in pain. 

"Damn, that's hot!" 

He rushed outside screaming, plunging his hand into snow to cool it.

Lin Yu sighed and walked over. 

"Oh wise polymath, great detective who knows astronomy and geography, didn't you know embers stay hot after fires?" 

Tears of pain in his eyes, Furbollo looked up: 

"I got too excited..." 

Lin Yu shook his head again: 

"Honestly don't know how you survived sixteen dungeons..." 

He fetched another bucket of snow, pouring most over the metal box. 

After this snow melted, the box's surface had cooled enough. 

Lin Yu calmly brushed off residue with a book, then wiped his hands with snow.

The metal box stood about as tall as a six-year-old child, perfectly rectangular with a locked door on top secured by an old-fashioned rotary combination lock requiring a four-digit code.

Lin Yu crouched before it, pondering. 

"The password then..." 

Furbollo shuffled over, his right hand swollen red with whitened burns on palm and fingers that would soon blister. 

"Brother May, could you heal me with your Doctor ability?" 

"It hurts so damn bad!"

Lin Yu chuckled. 

"Absolutely not. I don't compensate for stupidity." 

"Besides, it's not life-threatening." 

Furbollo eyed the lockbox. 

"How about this - I'll solve the code, you heal my hand?" 

Lin Yu gave him a strange look. 

"When did you get the illusion you could bargain with me?" 

"You solve the code, and I promise not to chop off that hand - that's more like it."