The fairy maid cheers for her deceased master today.

Irene doesn't seem like a real detective, and neither does X.

Players, for them, prefer brute-force attacks. Ultimately, it's about proposing hypotheses, testing them, and if one doesn't work, switching to another. Sooner or later, they'll guess right.

For example, if he encounters a combination lock in a puzzle game and is only missing the last digit, X will absolutely not use his brain and will try each digit one by one.

In short, the three of them returned to Miss Elena's Detective Agency that night.

There's a small laboratory table for Elena right here. If you get close, you can even smell a faint chemical odor.

Elena stood in front of the lab table, arms crossed. Angel looked around curiously, her blue eyes sparkling.

Ex had already brought the boxes.

This chest was specially purchased by Ax and Elena at the store. It was the standard chest they used to transport the silverware.

Elena was the one who personally escorted them, so there was no way she could have made a mistake.

"This kind of box," Ex said, pointing to the wooden box on the table, "doesn't look very high-end."

Elena shook her head: "There's no need to use something too good. If it really looks like a treasure chest, then the number of people eyeing it will increase."

Unfortunately, the box had been coveted for a long time, so it could not escape being stolen.

Ax opened the box; it was empty. The box walls were reinforced with oak strips.

From the outside, the box fits perfectly.

However, to prove Ax's guess, he picked up the kettle and poured water directly into the box.

"Let's check if it leaks first."

Water gushed into the box. A few seconds later, water seeped out from the bottom of the box, forming a puddle on the lab table.

"As expected." Ax shook his head. "The box can let water in and out. It's not airtight. Angel?"

"arrive!"

"Have you bought the salt blocks yet?"

"Here it is!"

Angel jogged over and placed the salt blocks she had just bought from the corner store on the table.

It's coarse salt, the most common kind.

Then X pulled out a pressing mold. Don't ask, it was just bought from the street.

In short, X's smile was confident. He first compressed the salt into a hard block. Then he wrapped half of it in cloth, mimicking how it looked in the box.

Then, X placed the salt block in the center of the lab table and said, "Like a magician's trick, the simplest is often the most deadly."

Angel stood on tiptoe and peered inside, blinking her blue eyes twice. "Master, will this really work?"

"You'll know once you try," X asked again. "Elena, you really know barrier magic, don't you?"

Ever since X discovered that Elena wouldn't bless him, he'd been on guard.

Elena flashed her fangs: "I told you, I'm a former Holy Path Fairy—"

Before she finished speaking, she formed a hand seal. Silver light flowed from her fingertips, weaving into a net on the table. The net of light contracted, transforming into a translucent barrier that enveloped the salt block.

"A silver barrier," Elena sighed. "The same one used during transport."

Ex leaned closer to examine it. However, the salt blocks within the barrier remained grayish-white, unchanged.

Angel's ears drooped in disappointment.

"It really didn't work out—"

Ax's smile froze. Wait, isn't this a slap in the face?

"Wait!" Elena suddenly looked up, as if remembering something. "The barrier can be strengthened and adjusted by injecting energy. But that's an advanced technique... I'll give it a try."

After speaking, she formed another hand seal. The next moment, a flash of silver light disappeared.

Looking at the barrier alone, it seems that there is no change.

But when you look inside through the barrier, the surface of the salt block suddenly gleams with a metallic sheen!

Wow! It can even locally change the transparency and reflectivity... until the gloss is uniform. This magic is amazing!

"It's done!" Angel was stunned for two seconds, then jumped up and cheered.

The salt block did indeed have a metallic silver luster, and it was exactly the same as the real thing.

Elena stared at the salt block in disbelief. She even instinctively reached out to touch it, but then withdrew because the barrier was too hot to handle.

And X realized that he had only guessed half right.

The core of this trick doesn't lie in the salt at all, but simply in the barrier!

If the barrier can slightly adjust the luster... then as long as a non-reflective dark mat is placed in the box, and other white things are put inside, it can probably also look like silverware.

Just to be on the safe side, Ax tested some other things as well.

The results showed that other objects in the room remained largely unchanged within the silver barrier, with only the salt block resembling silverware. However, other objects occasionally exhibited a luster similar to that of silverware.

"Alright, verification complete." AX sneered. "So the 'silverware' in the box is actually just salt blocks... or something else entirely."

"Other things?" Angel asked curiously. "Master, didn't you say it was salt blocks?"

"Salt and sugar are the most obvious things," Ax shrugged.

"In short, it's something that can exhibit a silvery luster within a silvery barrier and can react with water. It could be salt, or something else... but it's definitely not silver."

Irene frowned: "So it was switched...and the switch was done before it even started shipping?"

"And the method is ridiculously simple." AX clapped his hands, brushing the salt off them. "Just put 'something' into the box and seal it with a barrier—"

"Everyone will 'see' the silverware!" Angel chimed in tacitly.

Elena's pupils contracted: "Now all the clues..."

"Yes, all of these lead to the same conclusion. The silverware theft didn't necessarily happen during transport. It's possible it was switched long ago."

Therefore, this matter is not necessarily the responsibility of Elena's team.

Irene jumped to her feet, the chair crashing to the ground with a loud thud. Her long emerald hair arced through the air, and her pointed ears stood taut.

"I need to report this immediately—"

Before she could finish speaking, her hand froze in mid-air.

"Sister Elena?"

"I..." Elena suddenly smiled bitterly, "I'm no longer a fairy of the Holy Way."

Her gaze swept over the Holy Order fairy emblem on the wall—which was now covered with a black cloth.

"I don't have a sufficient position to report the truth. I'm now considered an unwelcome fairy in the Holy Church."

She is a fairy who could lose control at any moment.

Ex stood up and said, "If you need, I'll go with you."

"What?"

"Now that we know the truth, we can't pretend we don't." Ax straightened his collar. "Besides..."

And this matter is still unresolved.

"Moreover, we are still a long way from finding the real culprit."

Irene realized what was happening.

She regained her composure and began to think: "If it wasn't a problem with the Holy Order's transport team... then it must be something further back in time. The team escorting the silverware on the ship..."

"It's also possible that it was switched at the port," Ex added casually. "Who escorted the ceremonial silver artifacts during the earlier stages of transport?"

"The Royal Guard. They escorted the ceremonial silverware back after it was made overseas."

"abroad?"

"Yes, but the specific personnel arrangements are confidential, so I don't know."

"I understand. Then I only have one question left."

"you say."

"You want to solve the silver theft case and find the culprit... but are you really just trying to make up for your job mistake?"

Ex's words were like a sharp blade, piercing through Irena's disguise.

"To solve this theft case, you even infiltrated the 'Rain World,' attempting to uncover the culprit's true identity directly from the subconscious world. This wouldn't normally be unusual, given it's a method employed by the Holy Path Society, but—"

Ex paused.

"But when you faced a powerful alien species, you didn't choose to run away. Instead, you chose to risk fighting to the very end, and even managed to snatch a special energy detector from your target. This resulted in you being injured and contaminated, and you were expelled from the Holy Path Society."

"Having gone to such lengths, what exactly... have you been hiding?"

The fairy Elena fell silent.

After a long silence, she spoke softly, "Sir, I..."

"Ah, it's okay if you don't want to talk about it. I just wanted to confirm my thoughts."

X suddenly smiled.

"It's not my intention to pry into the secrets of a beautiful lady. I've simply noticed something suspicious and want to confirm it. Haha, it seems I'm more like a detective than you are."

After all, I've played too many puzzle games.

Even if they can't solve cases through deduction, they'll still habitually look for anomalies and suspicious points.

Irene said softly, "...I'm sorry, because this is actually a private matter."

This statement confirmed Ax's suspicions.

"Then, whatever you want to do, I can help you until we actually find the culprit."

This was something X had already decided long ago.

Perhaps it was initially to appease Elena.

But after learning the origins of the "Rain World" and the "Special Detector," he changed his mind.

After all, that high-ranking nobleman actually possessed an item capable of detecting "living and dead energy." Could it be that he also possesses a rare sacred relic?

Ex squinted.

He hoped the nobleman knew something. But he also hoped the nobleman wouldn't know too much.

Thinking this, X glanced at his own stats.

Name: X

Race: Human

[Status: The deceased has been revived. Time remaining: 83 hours and 43 minutes.]