The detective is dead, I did it.

Chapter 1: The Detective Dies at the Start?

"What else do you have to say?"

"I can explain."

Li Ang felt that his current situation was very delicate.

The subtle point is that, in my memory, I was scrolling through my phone in my room, but when I opened my eyes again, I was standing in a room decorated in a British style.

Opposite him stood a noblewoman who questioned him in a British accent, and on the bed beside her lay a beautiful young girl, or rather, the corpse of a beautiful young girl.

I think I've traveled through time.

Judging from the room's condition, it was definitely not in China; at least, he didn't think any hotel in China could create such an authentic Victorian style.

Moreover, the sky outside was also hazy, as if a large amount of exhaust gas had been discharged into the sky, causing the entire city to become like a smog.

Upon closer inspection, it was indeed true. In the distance, there were towering chimneys that seemed to reach almost to the sky, from which thick black smoke billowed continuously.

Could I have traveled back in time to Victorian Britain?

I have some scattered memories in my mind, but they are not clear and are difficult to identify at the moment.

"Mr. Li Ang, if you can't give me a reasonable explanation, I might have to call for help."

The elegant lady in the dark blue velvet dress asked again in her fluent London-accented English.

Li Ang could understand her, and even felt that he could answer her in English at any time, but he did not answer immediately. Instead, he turned his head and looked at the bed next to him.

A beautiful young girl was lying there.

Her long white hair was spread out on the pillow, and her blue eyes were wide open, but without any light, giving the impression that she had died with her eyes open in disbelief.

She wore a plaid shirt on top and a knee-length skirt on the bottom, revealing white stockings covering her calves, but the stockings were soaked in blood, turning a strange dark red.

There was a wound on his chest, still oozing blood, indicating that he had just died.

Li Ang leaned closer and suddenly noticed that a line of semi-transparent text appeared above the girl's body.

It looks like subtitles, or maybe a tooltip in a game:

This is a corpse.

"..."

Could this be my cheat code for time travel? But it seems a bit dim-witted.

Anyone with eyes could see that the girl in front of them was definitely dead.

"Mr. Li Ang," the lady's voice rose a octave, tinged with obvious impatience, "I'm talking to you."

"I know you're in a hurry," Li Ang finally spoke, instinctively using Chinese. Realizing the other person wouldn't understand, he switched back to English and repeated, "But don't rush."

The lady's expression was as if she had been slapped hard across the face of elegance.

Li Ang had no time to deal with her; he vaguely guessed his current predicament: a room, a corpse, a witness, and himself.

No matter how you look at it, it's a crime scene straight out of a classic detective novel, and I'm the prime suspect.

But in his previous life, he was a law-abiding citizen who hesitated for a long time even when killing a fish. How could he possibly be a criminal?

Sure enough, I was framed.

"Let me look for any clues first," Li Ang said, walking straight to the bedside.

The noblewoman did not stop Li Ang's actions, but her eyes followed his movements closely, a hint of excitement could be seen deep in her eyes, and even the corners of her mouth unconsciously turned up slightly.

Li Ang keenly noticed this, so he temporarily stored this observation in his mind and then focused all his attention on the corpse.

Upon closer inspection, the girl's features are exquisite, and her skin is fair and delicate; she is undoubtedly a beautiful young woman.

But the unseeing blue eyes and the wound on the chest ruined the beauty of the scene.

He reached out and touched the girl's neck with his fingertips. It was soft and still warm, meaning she had been dead for less than ten minutes.

From this perspective, I am now more suspicious.

Just seconds after his fingertips touched the skin, the message above the corpse changed.

The original text disappeared, replaced by a new line of smaller text:

The Corpse of Miss Charlotte the Detective

Find more clues to unlock more hints.

"Charlotte," Li Ang murmured the name, feeling a strange sense of familiarity for some reason.

At the same time, a picture flashed into my mind: the image of the girl being stabbed.

There was a figure standing in front of the other person. His face was not clear, but it could be vaguely seen that he was a man.

It turned out to be the case.

Li Ang vaguely understood the working mechanism of his cheat system.

It seems that the more clues he finds on the other person, the more specific the hints become, and he can even unlock the replay of the other person's death, just like solving a puzzle in a game.

Then let's keep looking.

Li Ang's gaze fell on the girl's hands. Her right hand seemed to be clutching a letter; when opened, it read:

To the Criminal Investigation Department of the Metropolitan Police:

Early this morning, Edmund Norwin, the owner of the Aldergate Theatre in Bloomsbury, was found dead in his room at the Elton Hotel.

The cause of death was eighteen stab wounds on the body. I arrived at the scene immediately and conducted an investigation, which has confirmed it as a homicide.

Furthermore, the presence of residual energy fluctuations at the scene suggests that the perpetrator was not an ordinary human. The possibility of a criminal with special abilities committing the crime cannot be ruled out, and they may even possess some combat capabilities.

Therefore, in the name of the famous detective Sherlock Holmes, I formally request that your bureau dispatch a detective with an Armament Rank 7 or higher to provide support...

The letter abruptly ended there; clearly, the girl seemed to have thought of something and thus did not continue writing.

Lyon was completely confused by this part of the content.

Ability user? Armed force? What on earth is all this?!

So he handed the letter to the lady and said, "Take a look at this."

The lady took the note, glanced at it, and her expression became somewhat agitated: "I knew it! I knew this matter involved superpowered individuals!"

Well! It seems this really is an abnormal world.

However, at this moment, the noblewoman's gaze towards Li Ang suddenly became wary. "No wonder you killed Miss Charlotte; it turns out you didn't want her to send this letter. Now everything makes sense." After saying this, she even took two steps back.

"How could that be? Let me clarify! I did not kill Miss Charlotte! Besides, I was her beloved friend and family member, how could I possibly do such a thing?"

Li Ang was getting a little flustered by the lady's suspicions, and a lie just came out of his mouth. Anyway, the detective herself had no objections; if she had any, he could let her say it to him directly.

"Really? But I heard the detective has no family!" The lady looked at her with suspicion. "But I also heard she's been thinking of hiring an assistant lately."

"Yes!" Li Ang quickly seized the opportunity, "I'm her new assistant! So now you should be able to believe me, right?"

"No wonder you were here, you're just... never mind. What's your name?"

"Leon." Leon uttered his name from his previous life, but for some reason, his full name, "Leon Moriarty," appeared in his mind.

It seems that my memories are gradually returning.

"Is that so, Mr. Moriarty? But the suspicion against you hasn't disappeared yet!"

Although the lady believed that Li Ang was the detective's new assistant, she was still convinced that he was the murderer who killed the detective.

This bizarre train of thought almost made Li Ang laugh in exasperation.

So he didn't bother to explain further and continued searching the girl's body.

In the right pocket of the girl's skirt, he found a small note, but it was completely soaked in blood. The paper was stuck together, and the writing on it was a mess, making it impossible to read.

Li Ang frowned and put away the bloodstained note, thinking that there might be a way to recover its contents.

However, a doubt soon arose in his mind.

When did Sherlock Holmes become a beautiful girl? Could he be an imposter?

At this moment, the notification text on the other party updated:

Miss Charlotte, who died five minutes ago, was fatally wounded by a penetrating wound to her left chest, which led to excessive blood loss.

Just as he had initially guessed, but where was the murder weapon? He didn't see it.

Li Ang's gaze moved down from the girl's chest, past the hem of her plaid dress, and landed on her thighs.

The white stockings were stained with blood, the bloodstains running from the inner thigh down to the calf.

Could the weapon be under the skirt?

He didn't hesitate for long and quickly made a decision.

Li Ang bent down, reached out and took off the girl's little leather shoes, revealing her small feet encased in white stockings. The stockings were not stained with blood, and through the thin white silk, one could see the girl's delicate pink toes.

A sharp voice came from behind: "What are you doing?"

"Let me see if I can find more clues," Li Ang said without turning his head.

"Even if you are Miss Charlotte's assistant, you cannot desecrate her like this!"

"Why are you in such a hurry?" Li Ang said casually, continuing to hold the detective's little feet, his fingers tracing the instep, "acting like you're the murderer."

After a brief silence came an even more intense voice, "I, I, how could I possibly be the murderer?"

Remember, she stuttered.

Li Ang narrowed his eyes slightly. It seemed that the beautiful lady in front of him was highly suspicious!

It's possible that this woman killed Miss Charlotte, then tricked him into coming here, making him the prime suspect at the crime scene, while she herself transformed into a witness to clear herself of suspicion.

This was highly likely, and coupled with the excitement in the other person's tone, Li Ang felt that he had found the answer.

Of course, the most important thing is to find the murder weapon.

As long as the murder weapon has the other party's fingerprints, all suspicions against him will vanish. Even if it doesn't, his "golden finger" can still tell him the truth.

So he didn't dwell on the topic any further, but instead continued to examine the girl's small feet and calves.

It was very clean; apart from a few dark red bloodstains, nothing else was found.

Li Ang sighed, straightened up, and slowly moved his gaze upwards along the legs encased in white stockings.

So, what if there's something under the skirt? So he reached out his hand.

The lady let out a short gasp, instinctively turning her head to the side, her cheeks visibly flushing red.

But Li Ang's hand didn't reach for anything indescribable, because he felt a small piece of paper embedded in the elastic band of the stocking at the hem of his skirt.

After pulling it out, there was only one line of text on it:

"Pervert! Stop this!"

Li Ang held up the note, even more puzzled.

Did Miss Charlotte already know she was going to die? And knowing she was going to die, would she tamper with her own corpse?

Thinking hard.

If Li Ang hadn't been certain that Miss Charlotte was completely dead, he would have thought this was some kind of prank.

Li Ang took a deep breath, temporarily suppressing these questions, and looked back at the girl's body, his gaze finally settling on her lower thighs.

While searching for the note, he touched something cold and metallic under the girl's skirt.

Using the fabric as a lining, they pulled the object out; it was a scalpel stained with blood.

Although the fingerprints are impossible to see with the naked eye, the murder weapon has already been found, and presumably his own "golden finger" will soon tell him the truth.

Give up the struggle, beautiful lady of unknown name.

Li Ang looked confidently at the noblewoman who had turned to look at him out of curiosity, but he did not see a trace of panic in her eyes.

Did the perpetrator wipe the fingerprints off the weapon beforehand? Or was it not actually a murder weapon?

Just then, a line of text appeared on the scalpel:

The murder weapon that killed Miss Charlotte is currently in the killer's hand.

Sure enough! This is the murder weapon!

Wait! Something's not right!

What does it mean to be held in the hands of a murderer?

Immediately afterward, the inscription on Miss Charlotte's body changed:

Miss Charlotte, murdered by Leon Moriarty, died from excessive blood loss eight minutes prior.

Li Ang stared at that line of text for a good while, and after confirming that he hadn't misread it, he finally couldn't hold back anymore.

No, buddy! Turns out, I really am the killer?

At the same time, the face of the figure in his mind became clearer; it was himself.

So this wasn't the detective's death replay, but his own memories!