Standard Locked-Room Murder

"This place is even more real than I imagined."

Walking through the corridors of the Truth Company Headquarters campus, Baron Coleman watched the researchers passing by, chatting with various expressions, and sighed once again.

"As expected, Professor Dort wasn't being modest... His development and utilization of the [Ancient Notebook] is truly less than five percent."

Lin Yu was also secretly surprised.

This place is so real, so real, that it doesn't feel like stepping into Baron Coleman's Memory; it feels like traveling back eight years!

Some of the researchers who brushed past him and the Baron were talking, and the snippets of conversation that Lin Yu overheard covered a wide range of topics, including gossip and research topics, and they felt incredibly real.

However, while these things moved Lin Yu, they did not change his goal.

Soon...

Led by Coleman, he arrived at the staff accommodation area in the southeast corner of the park.

This place is home to a large number of employees of the Truth Company —generally, only leaders and retired Scholar can live here.

On the edge of the accommodation area, there was a place that resembled Cargo Hold.

The Warehouse contains a large number of discarded metal parts.

Coleman led him through a maze of turns until they finally arrived at a corner of the Warehouse.

"This place is quite remote."

"Of course, after all, it's a 'hidden' laboratory; it can't just be openly displayed there."

Coleman sighed, then pulled on the tall shelf in the corner.

"Buzz--"

The metal scraped against the ground, making a piercing, teeth-grinding sound, revealing a security door behind it.

The security door was not completely hidden in the wall without leaving any trace.

Instead, it simply put a "Door abandoned" sign on the door.

Even just now, I could vaguely see a door through the gaps in the shelves.

But Lin Yu had to say...

This method of camouflage is far superior to completely hiding the door within the wall.

"What a brilliant Conception!"

If he saw this, he would never guess that this door was the entrance to some Secret Laboratory.

This kind of disguise takes advantage of human habitual thinking—the principle is similar to how someone wearing a repairman's uniform can freely enter and exit any place.

"I located the Warehouse before coming here, and I almost overlooked this door."

Baron Coleman sighed, then opened the door.

Looking at the dilapidated, abandoned, and uncleaned passageway revealed behind the door, Lin Yu spoke after some thought.

"Don't we need to meet up with Pankto and that Detective?"

They didn't encounter those two people along their journey.

After all, this place is very big.

"To be honest... I don't know how to find them, so I might as well come here and take a look first."

"That's what Baron Coleman replied."

"And, if that Detective is truly intelligent enough..."

Baron Coleman didn't say it explicitly, but Lin Yu already understood his meaning.

The two walked into the staircase behind the abandoned gate, and after turning two corners, they came to a bright and clean corridor.

In the corridor, there is a gate that stands tall.

But before that curfew...

Fu Luo was squatting there with Pankto.

"You two are taking forever," Fu Luo said listlessly. "What's wrong? Did you have a fight outside?"

Just as Baron Coleman had expected...

Fu Luo had already arrived here Xingyi.

Without telling Fu Luo the exact location, Fu Luo accurately located the specific crime scene from that year within the entire vast park.

Even though he had expected it, Baron Coleman couldn't help but ask when he saw that Fu Luo had actually done it.

How did you find this place?

"Although this park is large, there aren't many suitable locations to fit a hidden ghost laboratory."

"With just a little investigation of the Map, you can find where a piece is 'missing' or where the cartography is deliberately non-standard."

"And... you mentioned that the researcher was found in his own 'home'."

Fu Luo calmly knocked on the metal door's access control and asked, "So, how do I open this door?"

Although they are now "consciousness" and "soul," the [Ancient Notebook] faithfully reproduces everyone's state before they went in— Lin Yu checked and found that all his various Item were still usable.

This, of course, includes Will Valetti's Identity card.

"Try swiping your card."

As he spoke, he pulled the Permission card from his pocket.

Baron Coleman nodded. "I entered smoothly using A-Class clearance back then—that was one of the main pieces of evidence used to convict me."

"I don't know if B-Class access is feasible."

The answer to Baron Coleman was a crisp "beep--".

The Metal Door opened automatically, and Lin Yu shrugged.

"It seems feasible."

The four entered the mysterious "ghost laboratory" area and soon arrived at a door under the guidance of Baron Coleman.

He pushed open the door, revealing a long passageway.

Pankto asked with some confusion, "Where does this lead?"

"To Reed Christopher's house."

Baron Coleman said in a low voice.

At this point, apart from Pankto, Lin Yu and Fu Luo had already vaguely realized the whole picture of the case.

At the end of the corridor, Coleman opened the door again...

What they saw was a laboratory roughly the size of a classroom.

They emerged from a hidden back door in the laboratory, disguised as a freezer.

The laboratory was filled with various instruments, and on the experimental table in the very center, Reed Christopher lay in a pool of blood, a sharp blade stuck in his back.

This is...

The murder scene from eight years ago!

Fu Luo quickly looked around and noticed that, apart from this hidden door, the entire laboratory only had one other door, which was tightly closed and locked from the inside.

There are no windows; the Ventilation Duct grilles are welded shut and equipped with alarms.

And the Hidden Door behind them...

"If I'm not mistaken, the access control at the door showed that only you passed through, right?"

"Fu Luo asked coldly," Coleman nodded helplessly.

"Yes, that's one of the main reasons I'm suspected of being the murderer..."

"Whether it was that passage or Reed's house, during the period of Reed's death, only I was ever seen—in fact, according to the Forensic Doctor reconstruction, Reed's time of death was even after I entered the passage."

"Because I didn't arrive at Reed's house immediately... I lingered in that passageway for about fifteen minutes."

"Furthermore, I lost that knife a few days ago—so although the company hasn't convicted me yet, I've completely offended Reed's faction. They firmly believe... no, even my friends think I killed Reed!"

Fu Luo nodded.

"I see. If we firmly believe you're not the murderer, then the current situation..."

"It's a classic locked-room murder case."