Strange House, Visiting Detective, "Chat"

After clearing the snow from the doorway, Lin Yu pushed open the heavy, wooden-covered Metal Door and entered the small house.

The furnishings inside the room were clearly different from all the previous "outposts".

A workbench-style table and chairs, a spacious single bed covered with a quilt, a single wardrobe, a wall-mounted bookcase...

There was even a dedicated wine cabinet and a stove with pots and pans, and many iron cans on the stove.

Although most of the furniture was covered in dust, it was clear that...

This place was actually inhabited.

Unlike those "temporary outposts," which aren't even meant for people to live in!

In a nice house, someone would put a stove in the room.

Through observing the room, Lin Yu was able to draw a rough conclusion.

"The person living here is probably a rather serious and self-disciplined intellectual."

He muttered to himself.

After all, the bed was made so neatly, and the tables and chairs were arranged so orderly, it was almost like someone with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Even the books on the bookshelves and the wine in the wine cabinet are arranged in order of height.

At the same time, although neither of them had been used for a long time, the metal handles on the wine cabinet doors were relatively new, while the Metal Door on the bookcase doors had been worn smooth and shiny.

It's easy to conclude that drinking was something he did occasionally, but reading was something he did every night.

And...

As you approach the bookshelves, you'll find that the spines of these books bear English titles.

Ultimately, the "Death game" is inextricably linked to reality...

At least, the language is the same.

However, some of the English book titles were difficult to understand.

The literal translation is roughly...

<The Principles of Happy Mechanics>, <The Very Good Angry Gear>, <The Crazy Wrench>, <The Stupid Tire>...

But when you open the bookshelf, take out the books, and flip through them, you see large patches of black ink.

Any places that seemed to originally have some kind of "illustration" have been completely blacked out.

Lin Yu could only roughly deduce from the remaining fragments and the book's layout...

These all appear to be some kind of academic work.

All of these books pointed to a "discipline" that Lin Yu could not yet understand.

This made Lin Yu think again.

"So, the owner of this room reads these things every night?"

"Furthermore... these black lines are so neat and straight, it's very likely that the owner of these books deliberately blacked them out."

"Then why did he do that...? Is this a disguised way of destroying these books?"

Lin Yu let out a sigh of relief.

But there are better ways to destroy a book—like setting it on fire.

Lin Yu stroked the neatly trimmed pages of the books, lost in thought.

These books must have been read frequently, yet there are still no missing pages or curled edges.

This illustrates...

The owner of this book not only loved cleanliness, but was also very likely a book lover by nature.

An increasingly clear image of a young male Scholar living alone amidst ice and snow began to take shape in Lin Yu's mind.

As for why it's a young man...

The clothes displayed in the wardrobe in this room are all men's coats, with relatively plain colors—but all slim-fitting styles, and the trousers are also relatively stiff-cut, which are more suitable for young people.

Afterwards, Lin Yu stuffed all the books back into the cabinet.

Then, he looked at the workbench.

On the wooden workbench, there was a lot of residual pencil dust around the edges.

Although the owner had wiped it carefully, the pencil dust stuck in the cracks of the table and seeped into the fine textures was not so easy to clean.

Lin Yu was able to deduce this by observing that there was only pencil ash around the edges.

"This table was probably used for drafting, right?"

If it's just for writing, pencils aren't used very often... and they're unlikely to be found around the edges of the desk.

Lin Yu gently tapped the tabletop, trying to see if there were any hidden compartments beneath the obviously heavy table.

And just then...

"Thump!"

The door was pushed open.

At the entrance, a handsome young man with striking features, wearing a red knitted hat, appeared.

He looked at Lin Yu in the room, somewhat taken aback, before realizing what was happening.

"Oh--you're the 'Doctor' I met before, May!"

The visitor was none other than "Detective" Sherlock.

He looked at Lin Yu, rubbed his hands together, and looked very excited.

"I never expected to run into you here... It seems you're quite perceptive, May!"

Sherlock remarked, "You came here because you discovered something strange about this place, didn't you...?"

Lin Yu looked at Sherlock and quickly switched to the persona he had used when facing the "Detective" last night.

A conscientious and responsible night shift Doctor.

He coughed twice and said, "Most of my luck comes from coincidence..."

Lin Yu continued to ask.

"By the way, how did you discover that there was a problem here?"

"Of course it's because I also wandered around like you today, and then... I found that these outposts are too 'regular'," Sherlock said, waving his hand. "Although they seem to be distributed haphazardly, they are actually distributed in a very regular way—at least in the three places I went to, there were about seven outposts next to each abandoned outpost!"

"If you look down from above, you'll see... all the outposts are distributed within a perfect circle!"

"And based on my deduction... this current stronghold is the center!"

Lin Yu looked at Sherlock with some surprise.

He was somewhat amazed by Sherlock's ability to "think spatially".

Lin Yu took out Map.

"You do have some skills, Detective."

"I got the Map from an NPC, which is why I was able to spot the clues and make that judgment."

As Lin Yu spoke, he took out the Map and showed it to Sherlock.

The Detective glanced at it, calmly waved his hand, and spoke.

"Just a piece of cake, that's basic stuff -- but for a 'Doctor' like you, it's not bad that you figured things out from the Map!"

Lin Yu nodded. "However, with the help of the Map, I can discover more than you—have you noticed that all the strongholds on this Map not only fall exactly within a complete circle, but this complete circle can also be divided into twelve equal sectors of thirty degrees each?"

Lin Yu spoke sincerely, Sherlock glanced at him before nodding in surprise.

"That's really true! That's an interesting discovery!"

Lin Yu let out a breath, then said, "Although I'm a 'Doctor,'... I'm no less capable than you, a 'Detective.'"

"Rather than saying, 'Doctor' and 'Detective' are the perfect pair, aren't they?"

Hearing this, Sherlock laughed, "What you're saying is ridiculous. A 'Doctor' can heal others, so he should be the 'best partner' with anyone."

Lin Yu smiled upon hearing his reply.

"I see..."

Lin Yu suddenly pulled out a [One-sentence Lie Detector] and said, "I have an Item here that functions as Lie Detector."

After saying that, Lin Yu threw the Lie Detector at Sherlock.

"Snap!"

The Lie Detector hit Sherlock and then fell to the ground.

Sherlock instinctively flinched, then looked up at the Lie Detector on the ground, somewhat surprised.

"Huh? What are you doing?"

"Let's see if you have Entities."

As Lin Yu spoke, he had already grasped another Item in his hand.

The instant Sherlock lowered his head, Lin Yu had already taken the [Infallible Revolver] in his hand, pointing the muzzle at "Sherlock".

"How could someone named 'Sherlock' not understand the Doctor - Detective trope...?"

"But I'm still glad you have Entities, Impostor."

Or rather...

"Chate".