At the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, all the officers stared at Liu A'dou with obvious discontent. In their minds, this young guy had no real skills, yet they were forced by orders to listen to his so-called analysis. They were annoyed.
Liu A'dou didn't care what they thought. It wasn't his fault they were incompetent. He felt no pressure. Why was he even here? Because the police couldn't crack the case, and the Minister of Justice had personally invited him.
"I'm sure you all know more about the case than I do. Ever since the random street deaths started happening, you've been in charge of the investigation. I know you're not thrilled to hear me analyze the situation. But since I'm here on the Minister's invitation, I have no choice but to step in."
On a small whiteboard were the names of all the victims—men and women, young and old. The police had failed to find a common thread.
"These are the names of the deceased."
Obviously. Everyone knew that. The officers didn't say anything, but they were thinking it. The disdain in their eyes wasn't hard to spot, but Liu A'dou ignored it.
"There are 16 male victims and 24 female victims, ranging in age from 15 to 68 years old. That basically covers the entire human demographic. No one knows why they all suddenly dropped dead on the street. Your investigation has completely stalled—stuck in a swamp."
Yep, more useless nonsense. Their contempt deepened. Clearly, this young guy had nothing insightful to offer. This must've been a desperate move from higher-ups. They understood the pressure from above—40 people were already dead, and public outrage was suffocating. The commissioner might have to resign to take the blame. And worse, if this case wasn't solved soon, more people would die.
Liu A'dou went on, "You've worked hard—days and nights collecting over 100 witness statements. Actually, the clues are all in there already. You just haven't noticed. What you're missing is the eye to see the truth."
He was being obnoxious, but he wasn't wrong. No one had caught it.
The officers were angry, but Liu A'dou said the clues were in the statements, and they couldn't deny they'd missed something. Maybe the kid was just bluffing, but they stayed quiet, waiting for him to explain.
"Now, open the materials I gave you. I've highlighted the key points."
The inspectors and assistant inspectors opened the file. Most of it was text, but a few words stood out—too much, in fact. The more they read, the angrier they got.
"Shameless!" One young officer finally slammed the table and stood up, glaring at Liu A'dou like he'd committed some heinous crime.
Liu A'dou was confused. What did he say that caused such outrage? There wasn't anything offensive in the report, was there?
"You've got no shame!" The officer snapped. "Just because you're good-looking doesn't mean you need to highlight every word like 'handsome' and 'hot guy' in the report! You're unbelievable—so full of yourself!" His face was bright red as he pointed at Liu A'dou.
Most of the male officers nodded in agreement. But the female officers didn't seem bothered. To them, Liu A'dou was handsome—he fit the East Asian beauty standard. They actually found him honest. A few even looked annoyed at the guy standing up—clearly jealous of Liu A'dou's looks.
Uh… Liu A'dou was speechless. Total misunderstanding. "Those words I highlighted are the clues. I'm not trying to show off. I am handsome—so naturally handsome, I don't need to prove anything."
"…" Unbelievable. The cops were floored.
But how could descriptions like 'hot guy' possibly be clues? They didn't get it.
Liu A'dou knew they wouldn't, so he moved to the second part. "Now we'll do a little test using a few photos. Just write down the gender of each person on your own notepad. Turn off the lights—I'll use a projector."
About a dozen photos appeared on the screen. No one knew what it meant, but they followed instructions. It took about ten minutes to finish reviewing the images. The lights came back on.
Then everyone saw the same photos now displayed on the whiteboard. "Alright, let's go over them again. One by one. For this person—do you think it's male or female?"
"Male." They all answered in unison.
At first, everyone agreed on the gender in each photo. But when it came to the last one, opinions suddenly split. "Both male and female."
People glanced around, and an argument broke out. "Clearly male. How could you say that's a woman?"
"Look at that face. No Adam's apple. How is that not a woman?"
"No way a woman would have features and eyes like that. You've got no eye for detail."
They kept going back and forth. Liu A'dou simply watched. Now the clue was clear as day. These Tokyo cops still didn't get it. Honestly, maybe Japan needed a detective savior—and if he, Liu A'dou, landed here, wouldn't he be that hero?
"Alright, enough arguing. Do you get it now?"
Uh… "No. Please explain."
Liu A'dou shook his head. "The testimony I gave you earlier came from friends of the victims. These photos are all taken from street surveillance. Still don't see it? It's simple. When I read those statements, I noticed something weird. All of them—every single friend—said they saw a handsome guy."
You might think that's not unusual. But how could so many people, men and women alike, unanimously describe someone as handsome? Were their tastes really that aligned? No way. That's not a coincidence. So I formed a theory: this so-called 'handsome guy' left a deep impression on them. Then I pulled the surveillance footage and ran this photo test to prove it."
"?" They still didn't quite follow.
"Let's assume the victim and their friend saw the suspect together. Why did one die and the other survive? There has to be a reason. I don't believe the killer chose randomly. When two people appear together, and only one ends up dead, there must be a basis for the decision. Judging from your reactions just now, I've got my answer. Congrats..."
Congrats for what? Damn, do all detectives love to dangle the answer like this? The officers were getting annoyed.
"Congrats to those of you who identified the suspect as female—because you're dead." Liu A'dou smirked. He'd already deduced both the motive and the suspect. The testimonies gave him the identity; the test revealed the motive.
"No way..." Even the sharpest officers hadn't made that mental leap. Now they realized the last photo was the suspect. And the motive? The victim thought the suspect was a beautiful woman and died because of it. That's why the surviving witnesses all said they saw a handsome guy. But could a motive really be that bizarre?
"Just go back and check with the friends of the victims. Ask if they had a disagreement about the person's gender—if they argued or debated, and then suddenly something happened. That'll confirm it. This isn't coincidence. And once you eliminate the impossible, no matter how strange the answer seems, it's still the truth."
They sprang into action. And in the end, Liu A'dou's deduction proved completely accurate. This wasn't just a detective hobby—his brain really was trained for this.
The officers no longer dared look down on Liu A'dou. He had reasoned through something so absurd, it felt like Sherlock Holmes had been reborn. Now their eyes were full of admiration. With a suspect in hand, they launched a full-city manhunt. They had to catch the killer.