After reading all the information, the room instantly fell silent.
Ryan Miller offered a faint smile.
"No matter what your future position is, attention to detail is everything. This case holds many clues. Now, I want to hear your opinions."
Having finished speaking, Ryan looked quite satisfied. He gazed at the entire line of recruits, then glanced at Ethan and said with a slight smile,
"Who wants to try? Explain your reasoning. The colleague up front here will write down the line of deduction."
The aspiring police officers, who had previously seemed enthusiastic, suddenly fell silent.
The theoretical knowledge they had learned at the academy felt largely unhelpful, while the provided clues were too limited for instant conclusions.
Ryan Miller tapped the whiteboard a few times and gave instructions,
"The victim, the suspect, the location, the motive, the time of death—start there. You will all face things like this in the future."
Seeing the atmosphere grow quieter, George Lawson chimed in,
"I know this isn't easy. But trust me, every prospective officer assigned to Rosewood Station always faces a test like this."
"The Chief is right," Ryan Miller said, standing tall. He looked at the confused recruits and continued,
"Every year, none of you arrive with experience handling real cases. Very few are able to answer correctly on the first attempt."
He paused briefly before saying,
"Now, allow me to provide some data for reference."
Ryan Miller picked up a sheet of statistical data and said,
"These are the test results from the last ten years. The success rate for answering correctly on the first attempt doesn't even reach five percent."
The prospective officers were instantly startled, their faces filled with shock.
George Lawson cleared his throat twice, seemingly accidentally, then said with a meaningful tone,
"Ryan, that's the legendary five percent."
As those words were spoken, the aspiring police officers' admiration for Ryan Miller drastically surged, like an unstoppable flood.
"It's too difficult… a five percent chance is nearly impossible," several people muttered resignedly.
While Ethan Cole was still contemplating how to solve the problem, a line of text suddenly appeared clearly in his mind.
[Beginner Mission: Take a Shot]
[Mission Objective: Cooperate with Ryan Miller to complete the deduction task and earn his recognition.]
[Mission Reward: 1 Beginner Treasure Chest.]
[Time Limit: 10 minutes.]
…
"Ten minutes…?"
Ethan almost thought it was a joke.
If this case could truly be solved in such a short time, the success rate wouldn't be as low as five percent, would it?
But since the mission requirements had appeared, would there be consequences if he ignored it?
Thinking about that, Ethan couldn't help feeling a little uneasy.
Logically, how could such a complex case be unraveled in ten minutes? Even analyzing the framework of the incident felt insufficient.
The human brain is indeed remarkable—but sometimes, even it has limits.
However, when Ethan looked back at the problem board, something strange happened.
His mind suddenly became incredibly clear.
Various pieces of information spun rapidly in his head, yet they were no longer chaotic. The problems that had seemed complicated now appeared more structured, and his focus felt much sharper than before.
Every clue connected seamlessly, like a calm, directed river flow.
Ethan had often practiced logical reasoning before, but it always required significant time and energy. Now, it all seemed to happen in an instant.
"Is this the effect of master-level Advanced Logical Reasoning…?" he murmured to himself.
The victim, the suspect, the motive, the location, the time of death, and even the minor details from the crime scene photos—everything spun and instantly arranged itself into a clear analytical framework.
Without hesitation, Ethan picked up a pen and began writing quickly. His hand moved non-stop, as if his thoughts were flowing directly onto the paper.
Meanwhile, Ryan Miller was still encouraging the other recruits to speculate and offer their opinions.
Before long, the rhythmic tapping of a pen drew Ryan's attention.
He turned to the side and said with a curious tone,
"Hold on, young man. Don't rush. Slow down your reasoning and check every detail. Don't miss anything."
The line of prospective police officers immediately craned their necks, their eyes shining with eagerness to see Ethan's notes.
Lucy Bennett unconsciously clenched her fists and leaned her head slightly toward Ethan's shoulder. In her heart, she could only think one thing—her junior looked incredibly handsome when he was serious.
"Alright, go ahead and try if you want," Ryan said, nodding, not minding at all.
"If you turn out to be wrong, that's normal. I'll use your answer as a negative example to explain things to everyone later. Listen closely."
But before Ryan could finish speaking, Ethan had already set his pen aside.
"Officer Ryan, I'm finished."
Ryan Miller glanced at the problem board, then looked at Ethan. Instantly, his eyes widened, his mind churning like a powerful current hitting a dam.
"What… what is your name?" he asked instinctively.
"Ethan Cole."
Ryan stared intently at him.
"Have you ever completed an internship during winter or summer break?"
"Yes, I have."
"In a criminal investigation unit?" Ryan's voice sounded almost disbelieving.
Ethan paused for a moment, then asked hesitantly, "If Happy Garden Supermarket… does that count as an internship?"
Loud laughter echoed through the conference hall, causing several passing police officers to pause briefly and glance curiously toward the source of the sound before finally resuming their respective duties.
Criminal reasoning is fundamentally a skill highly dependent on expertise and experience. It demands mastery of various fields of knowledge; even seasoned criminal investigators must constantly continue their education.
Ryan Miller glanced briefly at Ethan Cole, then refocused his attention on the problem board in front of them.
There is an old saying: the layman watches the show, while the expert observes the details. In the world of investigation, an experienced detective can often gauge an opponent's capabilities with just a single look.
In the process of solving a case, the time the crime occurred is almost always the main focus. Nevertheless, the motive for the murder is an equally important factor.
According to Ethan's analysis, both suspects had an equal probability of being the perpetrator. Therefore, finding the exact time of death was key to determining who had the opportunity to commit the crime.
Ethan's approach to structuring this investigative logic was very neat and structured.
What impressed Ryan Miller the most was Ethan's precision in analyzing the time the crime occurred.
"Ethan," Ryan suddenly asked, "explain this to me. Why did you conclude that the time of death occurred at night?"
"Because of this photo," Ethan replied calmly. He detached a photograph from the problem board and held it up so everyone could see it more clearly.
Everyone knew the perpetrator had deliberately submerged the body in hot water to obscure the actual time of death. Yet, Ethan's use of the photo only strengthened his argument—and that was what confused many people.
"Ethan," asked a police trainee from the rows, "what exactly is strange about that photo? Isn't it just a few feathers caught in a spiderweb outside the second-floor window?"