Turtle Soup 3

After hearing the deduction from U Amakusa, Shiina completely let her guard down; she didn't even notice how happy her expression had become.

"Perhaps we can learn about these things from the younger son? You're right, there are too many inconsistencies. If we temporarily rule out a third party harming the two children, then how did the daughter disappear? Is the younger son lying? Or is it possible that the younger son did all of this? If that's the case, then the white wall is fake—it never existed in the first place?"

Shiina posed her first question.

"Is the younger son lying?"

"No."

Having received the answer, Shiina crossed out a section of her deductions on the paper, and U Amakusa continued, "It seems that line of reasoning is incorrect."

"Let's take it a step further. I still don't believe a third party exists. If the younger son isn't lying, then his existence proves that point, and it also proves that the white wall did indeed exist at some point."

Shiina disagreed with U Amakusa, saying, "No, not necessarily. If we look at it from another angle, is it possible the daughter ran off because she was playing around? And could the white wall have been something the daughter fabricated to fool her younger brother?"

"Oh? That's not impossible." U Amakusa thought for a moment and asked his first question.

"Did the daughter disappear because she was playing around?"

"No."

U Amakusa continued to ask, "Did the younger son see the white wall with his own eyes?"

"Yes."

Overturned, then overturned again; U Amakusa felt that the two of them were still a long way from the truth.

Shiina rubbed her temples and said, "Is it possible that we were wrong from the very beginning?"

Returning to the starting point to find the keywords, Shiina felt that the direction of their questioning had been wrong from the start; they should have been asking about the maintenance point.

So, what should they be asking?

U Amakusa quickly grasped what Shiina was implying: if they were wrong from the start, then they needed to change their way of thinking.

"What if this was an accident? The white wall was seen with one's own eyes, so could the white wall actually have been a shoddy construction project?"

Shiina pondered for a moment, then shook her head. "No, is it possible that the white wall was just a hallucination?"

Shiina asked, "Was the white wall a hallucination of the younger son?"

"No."

Shiina fell into silence again, beginning to scribble and erase on her paper, while U Amakusa remained unconvinced; he felt that what Shiina had said made sense.

A hallucination?

Is it possible that this white wall is not that white wall? That it did exist, but it wasn't a white wall—a white wall that could disappear on its own?

U Amakusa asked his third question; he felt as if he had vaguely found the right direction.

"Is the maintenance point a dangerous place?"

"Yes."

Once this answer was given, Shiina stopped what she was doing; it seemed her initial judgment hadn't been wrong—the maintenance point was indeed a keyword.

"Shiina, I think there's no doubt this was an accident."

"Agreed."

"And I believe that what this accident is and how it happened are closely related to the white wall."

Thinking this, U Amakusa felt the whole situation becoming clear; perhaps they were only a few questions away from the answer.

As for Bu Xiang Quming, who had heard all of their discussions from the side, he felt a nine-out-of-ten urge to vent his frustrations at this very moment.

Is this how smart people play Turtle Soup? Unlike me, who only knows how to keep asking questions and then end up with a nonsensical answer.

At this moment, Shiina posed her third question.

"Did the daughter have an accident?"

"Yes."

"It seems that is indeed the case."

Shiina twirled the pen in her hand and continued, "What is this accident? Perhaps we can find the answer soon; I think there are only a few possibilities."

U Amakusa began to play the fool, acting nonchalant. "What kind of accident? Getting hit by a car?"

Shiina was amused and covered her mouth with a light laugh. "Alright, stop clowning around. Getting hit by a car is the least likely scenario."

Shiina asked her fourth question.

"Is the maintenance point by the river?"

"No."

Following that, U Amakusa also asked his fourth question.

"Is the maintenance point on a mountain?"

"Yes."

With this, U Amakusa became even more certain of what he was thinking regarding the accident that had befallen the daughter.

Shiina, standing to the side, refused to be outdone and continued her questioning.

"Did the daughter fall off a cliff?"

"Yes."

Part of the soup's answer had already surfaced, and now it was just a matter of the two of them uncovering the rest of the truth.

"Is this cliff located behind a tree?"

"Yes."

"Shiina-san, what do you think the soup is like? It seems the question about the white wall hasn't been resolved yet, has it?"

U Amakusa looked at Shiina with a playful, smug expression, looking every bit the villain who had gotten his way.

U Amakusa fantasized about a bento made by Shiina, though he recalled the original work never actually described her cooking skills.

He wondered how Shiina's cooking was. It shouldn't be bad; after all, she was Shiina.

"So, it seems Amakusa-san already knows what the situation is with the white wall," Shiina asked with curiosity.

"Of course. All that's needed now is verification."

If his deduction was correct, the answer was already on the tip of his tongue. He wanted to give Shiina a hint to see if she could figure it out.

U Amakusa began to ask his questions.

"Does the white wall contain water?"

"Yes."

This question and answer hit Shiina like a bolt of lightning, as if a beam of light had pierced through her from behind, instantly connecting the entire process in her mind.

"You're truly impressive, Amakusa-san. I admit defeat."

U Amakusa hurriedly waved his hands. "No, no, I was only able to think of this thanks to you, Shiina-san."

Shiina asked in surprise, "Thanks to... me?"

"Of course. Didn't you say it yourself? Is it possible that the white wall is just an illusion? That sentence reminded me: if the white wall isn't an illusion, could it be a natural trick of the eye? Since this maintenance site is on a mountain, and the high altitude and heavy fog naturally form a wall of white, I just gave a small hint, and you understood it immediately. You are quite impressive yourself, Shiina-san."

Shiina chuckled softly. "Amakusa-san, there's no need to be modest. I am a person who keeps her word when she loses a bet."

U Amakusa rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed. "Not at all. Just be sure to tell me how much the ingredients cost, Shiina-san. I don't want you to have to spend your own money."

Bu Xiang Quming, who had been watching the two of them engage in this mutual flattery, was utterly speechless. You two can flatter each other all you want, but could you please let me go first?

If you know the answer, just say it! Ask about the soup!

For the sake of 2,000 personal points, for the sake of 2,000 personal points, I must endure. Besides, it seems I can't afford to provoke them.

At this very moment, he thought of his younger brother.

Bu Xiang Wanla.

Dear readers, did you guess the soup?

The soup is as follows:

The white wall was fog. A-Qiang was performing maintenance on a mountain. When the eldest daughter was playing, she encountered thick fog and thought there was ground behind the tree, but she ended up falling off the cliff where there was no railing. By the time A-Qiang arrived, the fog had dissipated, so he did not see the white wall.