Concerned about his own career, reporter Ryusei had no choice but to casually straighten his hem and sit gracefully on the sofa. "I'd better go first—speaking of which, I saw you at the scene on the night of that fire. You must have seen me too."
He raised a hand and gestured. "When the fire broke out, I was taking pictures on the overpass across from the house. When would I have had time to run into his home and set it on fire?"
Jiang Xia waved a hand. A nearby staff member froze, then quickly understood and jogged over with an enlarged photo that the Great Detective had asked them to prepare earlier.
Jiang Xia placed the photo where the camera could capture it and thoughtfully explained it to the audience, including the police officers. "That overpass looks very far from the scene, but there's actually an express bus entrance nearby. I tried it yesterday—it takes less than three minutes to get from the crime scene to the overpass."
"On the night of the fire, you went to Mr. Nakai's house and knocked him unconscious with a sneak attack from behind. Then you set up an automatic arson device and hurried to the overpass across the street.
"Once the device activated and the flames rose, you pretended to be passing by and began preparing to photograph those 'dangerous moments you happened to encounter.'"
Ryusei Ryuichi's palms broke into a cold sweat. He could only fold his arms to hide his emotions. Like a genuine passerby uninvolved in the matter, he calmly continued hosting. "An automatic arson device? I didn't even know something like that existed. Could you show everyone what it looks like?"
Jiang Xia shook his head. "Unfortunately, the police were unable to find any remains of that