Two Possibilities

In Officer Shiraishi's deduction theater, Tsubokura acted harmless, looking like he wanted to talk with Station Manager Hayashida...

"Get out, get out now! You're fired, don't show your face to me again!" Hayashida waved his hand impatiently.

"Station Manager, don't say that... let me in first..."

"Wait! What are you doing?"

"I'll cook for you..."

"Stop right there!"

"Lie down, you!"

"Ouch..."

Tsubokura then squeezed in with great effort, and then... putting on gloves, he rushed towards the kitchen, wanting to find a kitchen knife!

However, he was kicked over by Hayashida from behind. Tsubokura then tried to crawl towards the kitchen, with Hayashida dragging his leg from behind...

Immediately, the two of them, maintaining this bizarre posture, turned their heads to look at Shiraishi with speechless eyes.

"Officer Shiraishi, I prepared so thoroughly, and I still have to come to the scene to find a weapon, right?"

"Do you think I would let this kid get his hands on a kitchen knife?"

Hearing this, Shiraishi waved his hand again, and time in the room flowed backward...

The clock had just struck two.

Ding dong--

Shiraishi watched coldly as Tsubokura, after lowering his stance, forced his way in, and then...

"Kid, do you know how much trouble you've caused since you started working here? No need to say more, quickly... You, what are you doing?"

As Hayashida turned around, Tsubokura put on his gloves and, amidst Hayashida's questioning, pulled out a sharp, short dagger from his chest!

Seeing Tsubokura lunge, Hayashida quickly dodged. The movements slowed down, and a scratch identical to the one in the "crime scene photos" was left on the wall.

Immediately, Hayashida took three quick steps and fled into the kitchen, with Tsubokura chasing after him...

Clang--

Hayashida grabbed a sushi knife from the cleaned kitchen knife set and swung it at Tsubokura. Tsubokura blocked it with his dagger, emitting a crisp sound!

Unfortunately, the sushi knife Hayashida grabbed in his haste was the weakest one...

The movements slowed again, and a chip could be seen on the blade of the sushi knife. Tsubokura's dagger, on the other hand, flew out of his hand and back to the entrance hall, leaving a mark on the floor, identical to the "crime scene photos"...

After all, Hayashida's physique was sturdier than Tsubokura's, who was just a young man!

"You brat... die!"

Hayashida's eyes seemed to have turned red as he lunged at Tsubokura again. Tsubokura took two steps back, then gripped Hayashida's hands and wrestled with him.

The next moment, the two of them fell to the ground and rolled around...

The movements slowed down, creating numerous marks corresponding to the "crime scene photos," and at this point, one of Tsubokura's gloves came off.

Immediately, in the entrance hall leading to the kitchen doorway...

Squelch!

In the end, "youth prevails over experience," Tsubokura disarmed him and stabbed him through the chest!

And just then, footsteps could be heard from the corridor...

Immediately, all movement and sound stopped. Only Tsubokura's inner monologue could be heard: "Someone's coming, I need to run... Oh right, I need to take the things I brought. As for this murder weapon... it doesn't matter, it's normal for my fingerprints to be on it anyway. If I pull it out, I'll be covered in blood and seen by people outside!"

Then time flowed again. Tsubokura hastily picked up his small knife and glove and fled out the door.

Although he passed a passerby in the corridor, the passerby didn't suspect anything.

Then Shiraishi walked to the balcony and watched Tsubokura leave the alley from outside. Ms. Rin-da also happened to walk there. Seeing someone, she didn't go through the alley...

When Ms. Rin-da returned to the victim's door, she found it unlocked. Upon opening it, she saw the victim's corpse. Shocked, Ms. Rin-da quickly grabbed her mobile phone, but...

Seemingly thinking of something, Ms. Rin-da did not make an emergency call. Instead, she went into the bedroom to look for something, but... when the bedroom door opened, it was a black void inside. Since there were no crime-related traces, there were no crime scene photos!

Then Ms. Rin-da came out of the "black hole" again, erased the traces of her presence, and even took the ingredients with her.

Clang...

With the sound of the door closing, she left the room without looking back.

Shiraishi was now sitting on the sofa, seemingly lost in thought.

Ding dong--

The doorbell rang, and then the door opened by itself. Tsubokura poked his head in and said to Shiraishi, "Officer Shiraishi, are you targeting me a little? Does it have to be me?"

"I also think, maybe you could think about it again," said Hayashida, who was lying on the ground, lifting his neck.

Shiraishi slowly raised his hand and waved again...

Time in the room rewound!

Time, two o'clock.

Ding dong--

Lin Tian opened the door and said with a smirk, "Honey, you're back?"

Standing at the door... was indeed Ms. Rin-da!

Ms. Rin-da had just taken a taxi back from the supermarket. She saw Tsubokura walking into the alley and entered through the front door, returning ahead of him.

"Don't forget what you promised me!" Ms. Rin-da said with a stern face, walking straight in and heading towards the kitchen.

Lin Tian was about to follow her, but at that moment...

Ding dong--

The doorbell rang again...

"Who is it? I already said it's fine..." Lin Tian thought it was a neighbor again.

"Station Manager Hayashida, it's me," Tsubokura's voice came through.

Ms. Rin-da seemed to want nothing to do with him and whispered, "You're meeting someone else?"

"This lunatic... Why would I meet him? Don't worry about it!" Lin Tian said irritably.

"I..." Ms. Rin-da hesitated, then hid in the bedroom, seemingly not wanting to be seen.

Then, outside...

"Do you know how much trouble you've caused since you started working here? No need to say more, quickly... What are you doing?"

The same gloved hands, the same drawing of a knife, the same chase, leaving traces...

Lin Tian "again" reached for the kitchen knife, but... at this moment, he could see that only the sushi knife was on the rack. The others were on the cutting board a couple of steps further away. Lin Tian had no choice but to pick up the thinnest kitchen knife.

Seeing Lin Tian wielding the sushi knife and swinging it at Tsubokura, Tsubokura... as expected of a young man, took two steps back, nimbly dodged the attack, and then swung his knife towards Lin Tian. Lin Tian, startled, dropped the kitchen knife!

Clang--

The kitchen knife flew out, leaving an imprint on the floor identical to the "crime scene photos" Shiraishi had seen.

Then, Lin Tian wanted to turn back and retrieve the knife from the kitchen, but it was too late!

Squelch--

After Tsubokura stabbed him, he hurriedly left... taking his own knife with him, of course.

If he had had more medical knowledge, he could have judged from the amount of blood that this stab... was not deep enough to be fatal!

After Tsubokura left, Ms. Rin-da, who was already terrified, came out of the bedroom where she had been hiding. She checked on the victim, but...

Ugh...

The victim was still breathing. He grabbed Ms. Rin-da's wrist, seemingly asking for help, but...

Thinking about how she had been threatened before, and how this guy still refused to divorce her, Ms. Rin-da's expression gradually turned ferocious. She casually picked up the kitchen knife that had fallen nearby, wrapped the handle with a scarf, and, amidst the victim's terrified but immobilized reaction, pressed the kitchen knife into the existing small wound with all her might, using her body weight to assist!

Crack...

A "penetrating" view appeared. As the blade was pressed in, it struck the ribs, creating a small notch.

Then, Ms. Rin-da cleaned up any traces of her presence and took away the half-finished ingredients. As for the murder weapon...

Considering there were no traces of her on it, she left it there.

After Ms. Rin-da left, Lin Tian's corpse sat up and said to Shiraishi, "Officer Shiraishi, a person can only die once, so... which one do you think it was?"

Indeed, both possibilities would lead to the situation that had now been established!

However...

It wasn't actually difficult to distinguish, as long as some information that differed in these two scenarios could be found through further inspection!

But that wasn't something that could be done "here," just by thinking out of thin air...

In the observation room of the interrogation room, Shiraishi opened his eyes...

To everyone else, less than a minute had passed.

At this point, Shiraishi could be said to have seen through the truth, but... it still needed to be verified!