Chapter 745: Chapter 15 The Theater Troupe Mystery (Part 2)_2

“The capital’s Barrier does not allow the use of supernatural powers by unregistered individuals!”

Kerky smirked, “There are exceptions for a small portion of newly awakened superpower users, whose conditions are unstable. A typical case is the records from the year 2000… Budman Avis caused widespread destruction when he awakened. I guess you’ve heard of him?”

The plunderer, Wing of Death’s deputy. He indeed was from the capital… Gongsun Ce, irritated and upset, waved dismissively, “Your statement has no evidence—”

“I don’t have the authority to access the records of Mnemosyne; those are confidential and can only be accessed through submitting a report and following the procedures. Don’t believe me? Ask the officer.”

“Exactly!” McDonald nodded repeatedly, “It requires numerous approvals, complicated procedures… At least the Assistant District Chief’s approval is necessary to directly access them. You wouldn’t want to make this a big fuss—”

(This is the truth, not everyone has my authority.)

(Tsk…! What’s the point if a low-level officer can’t access the records!)

“How do you explain the location of the crime? The victim fell facing his desk—”

“The fight happened near the desk; the old man got up, backed away to dodge, Philis picked up a hammer, and knocked him to the ground with one blow. Boom!” Kerky made a gesture of smashing a whack-a-mole and winked with one eye closed, “Then he placed the hammer on the ground, not forgetting to put the tea back on the desk. His nerve is commendable, even a non-superpower user could have done this.”

For a moment, Gongsun Ce couldn’t find a rebuttal, so he shifted focus: “Viscount Buck is a more likely suspect.”

“When would he have the time to commit the crime?”

“At 11:19, Viscount Buck killed Douglas and hurried away, then…”

Realizing something was off, Gongsun Ce suddenly quieted, Buck pointed at the tent and cursed, “That punk just said he met him at 11:20. According to your statement, isn’t he also lying?

Could it be that both of us collaborated to kill this old swindler, even going so far as to align our stories to clear our names? Ridiculous! Are you going to say next that we both used a hammer to kill him?”

Gongsun Ce couldn’t help but glance back at Philis, the boy looked at him helplessly and whispered, “Sir, I really… I’m not lying…”

This time he believed the boy was telling the truth. No reason, he, Gongsun Ce, had been in the Skies capital for six years; couldn’t he tell who was a superpower user? Philis had no supernatural powers, his character determined he wouldn’t commit a crime in this way, and he even didn’t try to flee when he heard the police were coming. This child, even if he did steal, why would he resort to murder?

However, reality didn’t grant him much time, Kerky leaned against the tent, smiled and said, “Looks like this matter is settled huh? Just arrest them both and it’s done~ Let’s get the officer to act quickly, I’m still waiting to have lunch.”

“Follow proper procedure!” Gongsun Ce shouted.

“This is a supernatural case, following proper procedure means we all hold hands and go to jail together.” Kerky stuck out her tongue, “All four of us suspects squatting side by side in detention, waiting for the day the big bosses up there have time to investigate, flipping through files. Oh look! A murder case in the east district, let’s check it out! Then randomly pin someone for the crime, it might be years later~~”

At a loss for words, Gongsun Ce knew she wasn’t lying. He looked around at the four people and suddenly didn’t know whom to trust.

Death time contradicted the evidence, further contradicting the statements. He couldn’t think of a logical explanation, nor could he argue against the other’s deductions. Was Buck lying to clear suspicion? Was Philis lying to protect himself? Was the officer’s Heart Phase Weapon malfunctioning? Or had Kerky used some more secretive method to commit murder…

He was out of ideas, and out of evidence. So… to just watch as an innocent child was detained wrongfully? To see him wrongfully labeled as a superpower user?

(Tsk… think of a solution, Knight Alandia!)

Dawn Knight spoke in a calm and resolute voice.

(Mr. Gongsun, before you suspect others, you must learn to trust.)

“Trust what? There must be some falsehood in these contradictory pieces of evidence!”

“Then consider all of them as true for now,” Dawn Knight proposed, “Assuming all the statements are true, at what time might the fight that killed Mr. Douglas have taken place?”

Gongsun Ce restrained his emotions and tried to keep up with the thought: (11:00-11:19. During this period, he used the Impermanence Skill for the first time. The effect of this power was…)

(No one noticed the fight inside the tent, no one heard the heavy hit or the scream. The answer is obvious, it was silence.)

“But that makes no sense. He’s the victim yet he initiated the silence? Did he strike first and get killed in retaliation?”

(Let’s keep that explanation for now. Continue thinking.)

Gongsun Ce extremely, very, very much disliked the condescending tone, but he knew now wasn’t the time to get angry. He calmed himself and said, (At 19 minutes Douglas died. By 20 minutes, the already dead Douglas resurrected and met with Philis. By 21 minutes, this dead man used his power again… Listen to how absurd that sounds! This dead man is like a time jumper, jumping around within these 3 minutes. Can his Impermanence Skill achieve that?!)

(This undoubtedly goes beyond the usual range of Divine Communication’s abilities.) Alandia said, (Therefore, the usage of the power at 11:21 is central to this case. Regarding this, I have a bold guess.)

Gongsun Ce grew increasingly anxious: (You think he—or someone else—fixed all this with just one wish? How is that possible… Damn it! Stop being cryptic and spit it out!!)