An infinite journey starting from paradise

Of course, even with her impeccable technique, Hannyaka Kaede still encountered various mishaps. After all, this was Beika Town, a place of talented people and simple customs. While the police couldn't catch the Phantom Thief alone, the shops were extremely vigilant against theft. Some shop assistants had sharp, constantly flickering glances, intimidating most people and making them hesitate. Department stores also employed men and women to help guard the shops. These men and women appeared at different times, browsing leisurely from store to store like ordinary customers, often pretending to make purchases to disguise their tactics.

When facing them, Banruo Feng must show realistic acting skills and absolute confidence from the heart.

Especially confidence.

Self-confidence is especially important for a thief like her:

If she lacked confidence, it would give her away. Even though she was skilled, there was always a moment of breathlessness, a hesitation, a sudden sidelong glance, a moment of anxiety, a moment of nervousness. In short, there were a hundred subtle ways for her to give away her lack of confidence.

On the other hand, if she were confident, she would exude an air of respect. It would place her in the good category—the calm, honest shopper—and not associate her with shoplifters. And what she did have was confidence, not only in her own abilities but also in her ability to avoid getting caught. One day, as she was leaving the mall, full of confidence, she felt an authoritative tap on her right shoulder. She would turn and ask, "What's up?" in a voice that was perfectly calm, without a trace of worry.

If the other party revealed his identity and asked to check her backpack, Banruo Feng could just pretend to be angry and say "How dare you!", the kind of anger that comes from the heart of a beautiful and honest lady when she is unreasonably suspected.

At this point, most security guards would retreat because of her aura. But if the person was stubborn and insisted on checking her backpack, Han Ruofeng had a solution—she had an accomplice. When she was in trouble, her accomplice would suddenly rush out and snatch the bag hanging from her left arm and the stolen goods inside.

At this time, Prajna Feng only needed to yell and scream like any other Ha Jimei, angrily accusing the security guard of causing her things to be stolen, and even yelling everywhere until the store manager gave her some compensation to calm the situation down, and then she could walk away with a swagger.

This trick can only be used once in a place, but it works every time.

And today, Prajna Feng has set his sights on two big fat sheep: a mixed-race beauty in a beautiful long dress and a capable white-haired woman in a high-end suit.

Originally, Han Ruo Feng only stole valuables and rarely stole wallets. But these two were clearly wealthy individuals, and the white-haired woman's wallet was so conspicuously placed that even a novice thief could easily steal it.

"Just think of it as me doing a good deed for you, helping the poor."

It doesn't require much skill, just a walk and a pass, and Hannya Feng can put Aoki Fuyushi's wallet into her pocket.

This is what Hanruo Feng thought and did. She really got Aoki Fuyushi's wallet, and her hand speed was really fast enough to put the wallet into the small leather bag hanging on her left hand in an instant.

But she couldn't leave.

"what are you doing?!"

Feeling her wrist suddenly being firmly clamped, Han Ruo Feng decisively started to complain. She stared at Dong Shi, her face furious, her voice full of energy: "Let me go, what are you doing?!"

"Give me back my wallet." Dong Shi said coldly.

He Huan, on the other hand, looked at the female thief caught by Dong Shi with great interest. "She has a good foundation." Not in the traditional sense of "Jimei, you have a good foundation," as Bo Gang said. She truly has a good foundation. If she only had to dress up a little more, this female thief could debut as an idol.

"She has a good figure, with a good waist-to-hip ratio, which is suitable for having children."

Since Hehuan is in charge of an entertainment company, and she and Dongzi have agreed to give Lin Shangren many "concubines to choose from", Hehuan is now even more sensitive to beauties than Lin Shangren.

Banruo Feng was struggling, actually signaling her accomplices at the door of the store to come over and help her.

At this time, Dong Shi said calmly: "Your hands are indeed very quick. I was careless and didn't stop you. But I am sure that my wallet is in your bag. You must have encountered great difficulties to have fallen into doing this. Tell me about it. Maybe I can help you."

"What nonsense are you talking about! If you don't let me go, I'm going to call the police. Where are the clerks in this store? Is anyone in charge?" Prajna Feng shouted, and her accomplices also rushed over.

Just when the other party was about to "snatch" the bag from Hanruo Feng's hand, Dong Shi suddenly waved his hand, and an Alder Seal shockwave knocked Hanruo Feng's accomplice unconscious on the spot.

These little tricks of Banruo Feng were left over from when Aoki Fuyushi was in the underworld, so naturally they could not be hidden from her eyes.

"What! This guy is a master!"

Seeing an enemy who could unleash shockwaves for the first time, Hannya Feng suddenly became excited. Originally, she just wanted to steal some money as a thief, but now she had to rob as a ninja... uh... escape.

After two years of being beaten by society, Hanruo Feng already knew her level. Even if she knew ninjutsu, she couldn't fight against a true master. She had to escape first. If she died here, she would probably be on the government payroll for at least three to ten years.

"Look at me!"

Prajna Feng suddenly shouted, then flung out from her sleeves the only two mini pepper smoke bombs she had brought from home. She had already held her breath and closed her eyes, waiting for the other party to be hit and let go so that she could escape.

However, the smoke bomb barely escaped his hand when Dongshi casually tucked it into the shadowy space of his right prosthetic arm. Hanruofeng, completely unaware of what was happening, instinctively lunged for Dongshi's throat, but he caught her elbow first and then pulled her back. The pain caused Hanruofeng to drop her left handbag, spilling Dongshi's wallet and other stolen goods.

Hehuan squatted down and picked up the briefcase, while Dongshi stared at Banruofeng, wondering how she could resist.

"hateful…"

In despair, Hanruo Feng recalled the family's secret ninjutsu, the substitution technique. Although she had never mastered it, what if a miracle happened and she could unleash her potential in despair and break through in battle?

"Ninjutsu! Substitution Technique!"

Unfortunately, the miracle did not happen. She was still firmly held by Dongshi.

But Dong Shi, who was capturing her, suddenly exclaimed "Huh".

"What's wrong?" Hehuan asked.

"My badge just vibrated." Dong Shi said, "She seems to have some magical power."

"Really? Um... magic? Shangren might be interested." Hehuan looked at the captured female ninja thoughtfully.

The unusual movement eventually caught the attention of the mall security, who came over to inquire about the situation. He Huan then told the security what had happened and handed over the stolen goods to the mall clerk.

At this moment, Dong Shi's keen witcher hearing vaguely heard the sound of sirens, and a police car stopped at the door of the mall.

"The police shouldn't be that efficient, right?"

As Dong Shi was thinking, he saw a group of formally dressed people rushing into the mall and heading straight to the fishing tackle store next to the swimwear store.

He Huan immediately recognized the team leader, Takagi Wataru. She and Dong Shi forced Han Ruo Feng and her accomplice out of the swimwear store. He Huan called out to the anxious Takagi Wataru, "Officer Takagi, what happened? Why are you in such a hurry?"

"Ah! Miss Hehuan, and this..."

"This is Aoki Fuyushi, one of my brother's personal assistants," He Huan introduced. "So, what happened?"

"Well, there was a murder at the Haido Municipal Hotel. A bride was stabbed in the abdomen by a harpoon and fell from the fifth floor. We were there for the wedding of Commander Matsumoto's daughter. As you know, Boss Lin was there too. When something like this happens, we went straight to the scene."

It has been determined that the murder weapon, the harpoon, came from this store. Asaya and I are here to bring the store owner over to assist in the investigation."

As she was speaking, the beautiful policewoman Mitsuko Asaya, who was severely myopic, had already brought out the owner of the store.

"Is that so? Then it would be inconvenient for Officer Takagi to take me, Sister Dongshi, and these two guys with him." Hehuan asked.

"Who are these two people?"

"We caught the thief red-handed. And this woman seems to be related to a case that the monk was investigating. So..."

"of course can!"

Takagi Shigeru agreed immediately.

It just so happened that they used the eight-seater wedding car as a temporary police car, which was just enough to accommodate so many people.

"Let's go there without delay. Don't delay Shangren's reasoning."

In fact, Hehuan and his group didn't have to worry at all, because when Takagi Shigeru and Asaya Mitsuko came to find the owner of the fishing tackle shop to cooperate with the investigation, Lin Shangren had already solved the murder case which happened to coincide with the police team building.

The author says:

Author's Note: OK, double update, a total of more than 8,000 words. Calling it a day~

I encountered something, so I will be absent today.

As the title says, I encountered something that is not easy to deal with, so I will postpone it for a day. The following is a period to make up the words. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Chapter 278 I’ll teach you later

The swimming pool outside the Beihu Municipal Hotel, once reflecting the azure sky, was now stained crimson with blood. In the center of the pool, a deceased woman, dressed in a wedding dress, floated supinely. A terrifying, nearly meter-long harpoon lodged in her chest. Her pristine white dress was stained crimson by the gushing blood. Judging by the amount of bleeding, the harpoon had likely shattered her heart.

"The deceased was a female, approximately 25 to 30 years old. The cause of death was a harpoon piercing her heart. Aside from the harpoon wound, there were no obvious external injuries on her body."

Lin Shangren looked up at the building where the deceased fell. Only the floor-to-ceiling windows on the balcony of the room on the fifth floor facing the swimming pool were open. The windows on other floors were closed, reflecting the dazzling midday sunlight.

"It fell from that room."

"Inspector Lin."

Lin Shangren turned his head and found that the policewoman named Mitsuko Asaya had actually arrived beside him, and Saeko Nogami and Juzo Megure were also rushing over here.

"This girl's speed is pretty good," Lin Shangren thought to himself. He then instructed Asaya Mitsuko, "Organize the police to recover the body and seal off the building. I'm going to the crime scene first."

"Yes."

Mitsuko Asaya subconsciously wanted to salute, but saw Lin Shangren leap onto the balcony on the third floor, then use the force to step into the room on the fifth floor.

"This is indeed the crime scene."

As soon as he landed, Lin Shangren noticed blood splatter on the floor and balcony walls. The bloodstains confirmed that the victim had been standing on the balcony with his back to the sun, likely speaking to the killer. Suddenly, the killer attacked, striking the victim with a spear gun. The victim's heart ruptured, killing him instantly. The spear gun's powerful potential energy propelled him off the balcony and into the pool.

"This is the murder weapon."

Lin Shangren walked to the door, wrapped his hands in black shadows and picked up the spear gun thrown on the ground.

"Wow, this thing can be used to hunt whales, right?"

Lin Shangren examined the blue-painted whaler rifle and activated the fingerprint recognition module of the Eye of Innocence—a device he had recently extracted. True to the world of detectives, the system rewards were closely tied to criminal investigation. With this fingerprint recognition module, he could confirm the presence of fingerprints on items without the need for fumigation or powdering. This device was likely only effective in this situation.

"The murderer's anti-detection awareness was quite good. There were no fingerprints left on the murder weapon."

While thinking, Lin Shangren used shadow touch to confirm the furnishings of the room. It was a standard luxury suite, very clean, and there was nothing suspicious.

He looked at the door again. It was locked, and there was no magnetic card to open it. Then Lin Shangren teleported outside through the shadows.

The corridor was poorly lit and extremely dark, and now empty. Lin Shangren spread his shadow tentacles to cover the entire fifth floor. There were no cameras, so he checked the other rooms on the fifth floor. He was sure that there were residents in the other rooms, and they probably hadn't noticed the murder yet.

Lin Shangren turned around and found a sign on the door saying that the room was being cleaned.

"There was a sign saying 'Cleaning in Progress'. Did the cleaning staff forget to take it down, or did they have some other ulterior motive? On the wedding day, the bride went to the only empty room on the fifth floor alone and confronted someone. It just didn't seem right no matter how I looked at it."

Thinking of this, Lin Shangren teleported back to the room and jumped out from the balcony again.

The officers of the Investigation Division were already accustomed to Inspector Lin's darting movements. It was fair to say that these crime scene experts had a decent grasp of basic skills. It didn't take long for several officers to pull the bride ashore and set up a cordon.

Saeko Nogami led the team to seal off the entire building. Takagi, Mitsuko Asaya and others had also entered the building to prepare to confirm the identity of the deceased.

Soon, Mitsuko Asaya found the family of the deceased and confirmed the basic information of the deceased.

The deceased was Yue Shanyue, 27 years old, and today was her wedding day. The tragedy of her wedding turning into a funeral had Yue Shanyue's parents and sister in tears. Her husband, overcome with emotion, wanted to see his new wife's body, but was stopped by two police officers.

Just as Asaya Mitsuko was about to report the situation to Hayashi Naoto, Nogami Saeko walked up to Hayashi Naoto first and said, "Brother Naoto, the basic situation of this building has been confirmed. Apart from the crime scene, the rest of the rooms on the fifth floor have been booked by the deceased's family and friends. The deceased and her husband's wedding room is to the left of the crime scene, and to the right of the crime scene is the deceased's parents' room. The rooms on both sides belong to the deceased's sister and the best man at the wedding.

The suspects can basically be identified as these five people."

"Oh? Why do you say that?" Lin Shangren asked.

Nogami Saeko explained: "Unless the murderer is as skilled as you, Shangren, who can easily go up and down the balcony from the fifth floor, he can only use the elevator and stairs.

The fifth floor of this building, along with the three floors above it, is occupied by VIP suites. Normally, access is limited to the elevator, while the stairwell serves as an emergency exit. While the emergency exit is unlocked, an alarm sounds when the door to the emergency stairwell is opened or closed. We have confirmed that the alarm has not been triggered today.

There is a surveillance camera in the elevator, and it can be confirmed through the surveillance video that only two groups of people went to the fifth floor during the time of the incident. One group was the floor manager who was responsible for serving the VIPs on the fifth floor and a cleaning staff. They had no previous contact with the deceased.

The other group consisted of the deceased and her five relatives and friends: the deceased, Tsukiyama Tsuki, her father, Tsukiyama Horihei, her stepmother, Tsukiyama Shizuka, her sister, Tsukiyama Yu, the groom, Sakakibara Takeshi, and the best man, Mochizuki Yuya. Apart from them, no one else had ever entered or left the fifth floor.

"Is that so? By the way, what about the best man Mochizuki Yuya? Why can't I see him?" Lin Shangren asked.

After standing by for a while, Asaya Mitsuko finally got a chance to interject, "He was taken there for questioning because of his suspicious behavior. According to the deceased's sister, he was a good friend of the deceased, a so-called male bestie."

"A male best friend..." Lin Shangren rubbed the back of his neck and continued, "Confirm the alibis of the five residents on the fifth floor. Also... Asaya, you saw that spear gun, the murder weapon? Have someone verify its origin. Selling this kind of fishing gear requires a license, and the code on it hasn't been erased, so it shouldn't be difficult to check."

"Yes, I understand."

After receiving the order, Asaya Mitsuko immediately took action, while Hayashi Naoto and Nogami Saeko also began questioning the suspects.

The five people who lived on the fifth floor all said they were in their rooms at the time of the incident and did not leave until they heard a commotion outside. However, only two of the five people had a solid alibi: the deceased's parents, Tsukiyama Horihei and Tsukiyama Shizuka.

"I can testify that at the time of the incident, I was making cocktails for Mr. and Mrs. Tsukiyama in the small kitchen opposite their room. I can confirm that they did not leave the room at the time of the incident," said Saburo Ozawa, the floor manager of the fifth floor.

"Also, Mr. Officer, there's something strange." Ozawa Saburo continued to say to Hayashi Naoro, "The room where Ms. Tsukiyama fell should normally be locked and empty. Only the cleaning staff and I have the access card to the room. How did Ms. Tsukiyama get in?"

"that……"

The cleaning lady, wearing a clean white work jacket, said timidly, "It was me. I opened the door to room 503."

"Why?" Lin Shangren asked.

Looking at Lin Shangren's sharp gaze, Dou Lizi didn't dare to say anything nonsense. She confessed frankly: "It was Miss Yueshan... Before the incident, she asked me for help and wanted an empty room. I guessed that she might want to meet someone secretly, so I helped her open room 503. This kind of thing... is quite common at weddings, and she gave me a tip, so......"

"Did you also put up the 'Cleaning' sign on the door handle?" Lin Shangren asked.

"Yes... I was worried that Ms. Tsukiyama might be caught by Manager Ozawa or other staff members while she was meeting with someone alone, so I put up that sign for her."

"That's right." Lin Shangren looked at Dou Lizi again, "This isn't the first time you've done something like this, is it? I mean, you used the cleaning sign to hide it from others."

"I…"

"As a hotel employee, it shouldn't be a big deal to rest or meet someone in an empty luxury suite, right?" Lin Shangren looked at Kabuto Reiko with a smile, while also glancing at Ozawa Saburo with his eyes.

At this moment, the chubby Chiba Kazunobu hurried over. "Boss, I just checked the hotel's internal phone records and found that the phone number in room 503 had a call with room 505 before the incident. The occupant of room 505 is the best man, Mochizuki Yuya."

"Oh?"

Nogami Saeko's eyes lit up. A bride secretly meeting her best man on her wedding day—even if it wasn't an accident, there had to be a story behind it. Perhaps it was some errant wedding dress scene or something. Best man Mochizuki Yuuya's suspicions skyrocketed.

"It seems we can identify the murderer." said Saeko Nogami.

"We can definitely identify the murderer now."