Alchemists do not need self-cultivation

"I originally thought it would be that freshman who would come."

Victorique took a puff from the pipe in her hand, which was empty of tobacco.

"It's one of those boring ghost stories associated with this musty and superstitious academy. Travelers who arrive in spring will bring death to the academy. For some reason, the students here are particularly fond of ghost stories. That freshman is the perfect material for a ghost story. Just because of his inner fear."

"Originally, it was Ah Sheng who was supposed to come and deliver the lecture notes to you."

If it weren't for Asen's impressive stamina, Isaac wouldn't be here now.

"And what do you mean by saying I'm 'a way to relieve your boredom'? And how did you know I would help a little brat like you?"

"This is what the 'Fountain of Wisdom' told me."

"And what's that?"

Isaac glanced at the little girl in front of him with a hint of speechlessness; his first impression of her was that of a charlatan.

“You’re not wearing a school uniform, and you don’t seem to be old enough to be in middle school. The clothes you’re wearing don’t fit the design of the Kingdom of Suvar. They’re probably from abroad, like England or France.”

Victorique laughed.

"The one who brought you here from abroad must be that student known as the 'Black Reaper Who Arrives with Spring,' right? After all, we're both from the East, and he's his friend, isn't he?"

"I guess so, Ah Sheng has indeed encountered some trouble."

What exactly happened?

"He was wrongly accused of murder. While walking past the De Vineyard next to the school, a man on a motorcycle suddenly had his head ripped off, and he was arrested as the perpetrator..."

"The prisoner used a steel wire."

"Ok?"

"Moreover, the perpetrator was a frail little girl with scars on her hands. She was very familiar with the victim, who was probably a blonde girl, and it was likely at a hospital in the city," Victorica said.

"...How do you know so much? Did you investigate that place?"

"No, it was the 'Fountain of Wisdom' that told me that the 'fragments of chaos' are enough to find the answer."

"So you're saying you came to this conclusion without ever being there?"

It seems this little girl is not only a charlatan, but also a charlatan with some real skills.

"what……"

Victorique yawned and lay lazily on the ground.

"It's a really simple puzzle; you can figure out the answer with just a little thought."

Isaac: "..."

"Have you solved that case yet?"

"Yes, by observing some scenes at the scene, I can roughly form a picture in my mind. The next step is to collect clues and come up with a result."

Isaac and Victorique have very different reasoning styles.

Isaac arrives at his conclusion by combining and rearranging all the information he has gathered, while Victorique arrives at his conclusion by collecting only a few clues and then using the remaining clues to prove his inference.

"So you do have some skill after all."

"Kid, do you really think you're the only smart person in the world?"

Isaac said this with a smile on his face, but Ange, who was standing next to him, quickly noticed that his eyebrows were slightly furrowed.

"Lieutenant General, have you developed any competitive intentions towards Victoria?"

"Huh? Why should I bother arguing with a brat who hasn't grown up yet?"

That being said, Victorica's reasoning speed was indeed faster than his, and she deduced more information than Isaac based solely on a few words spoken by Isaac without even being there.

The culprit hasn't been caught yet.

Ding Dong!

With a crisp sound, an elevator slowly rose up.

The library has an elevator, which the group hadn't noticed before; it must be hidden outside the library.

The elevator's iron gates opened, and out stepped Officer Goodwin, whom Isaac had met before.

"Huh? Golden Drill, you're here too?"

“Don’t call me by that name, Mr. Isaac,” Greaves said, somewhat annoyed. “Why are you here?”

“Oh, I’m here to deliver some handouts to this kid on behalf of my friend.” Isaac gestured to Victorique in front of him. “Does Officer Drill know this kid?”

"You... never mind."

Gurevan didn't bother to care what Isaac called him.

"The culprit has been caught."

"Oh? That's pretty efficient."

"It was a 15-year-old blonde girl. We arrested her at a hospital in the city after our investigation, where she was receiving treatment for her injured hand."

"I see..."

Isaac glanced back at the languid Victorica; she had guessed most of the killer's characteristics correctly.

"In conclusion, I am grateful for Mr. Isaac's help."

"You're too kind."

"Actually... just now I encountered another case, and I would like to ask you to answer my questions."

"It's possible, but..."

Isaac glanced at Victorique, who had started reading a book behind him.

"Aren't you going to go and question her? Since you found the Great Library, it proves you must know her."

"..."

"What's wrong? You look so pale all of a sudden."

"Ahem, a fortune teller named Roxanu was murdered last night. After dinner, everyone in the house went about their own business. The fortune teller stayed in his room, which was on the first floor. The servant, according to him, was catching wild rabbits that were roaming in the yard and bringing them back to the rabbit hutch."

Gurevan's behavior seemed strange to Isaac, as if he hadn't noticed Victorique at all in the first place.

"Hare?"

"Yes."

Gurevan nodded.

"This fortune teller keeps many wild rabbits and a hunting dog. I heard that she often lets the rabbits out to be killed by the dog. Although I don't know why, it is said that the rabbits that are killed and the rabbits that are allowed to live out their natural lifespan are fed separately. As for what criteria are used to separate them, no one knows. I can only say that she is a strange old woman."

"I won't say more. You want me to help you find the murderer who killed the fortune teller, right?"

"That's right, as expected of Mr. Isaac. I wonder..."

"What exactly did your father tell you about me?"

"...I told you to be treated well when you are in the Kingdom of Suvar."

"So your so-called hospitality is just to have me solve the case for you?" Isaac looked at the embarrassed Greaves with dead fish eyes. "I'll solve the case, and you can take all the credit?"

"This……"

"never mind."

Isaac smiled and turned to look at Victorique.

"Kid, since you think you're so smart, how about we settle this with a duel?"

Upon hearing this, Victorique closed her book, a slight smile appearing on her lips.

"You really are the important piece of my puzzle to relieve my boredom."

Chapter 1067: Victory or Defeat

"The maid was cleaning in the next room. The granddaughter was upstairs dancing loudly on a tape recorder. Suddenly, a gunshot rang out. Everyone was startled and gathered in the hallway. The maid, worried about the fortune teller, knocked on the door and shouted, but there was no answer. The door was locked. The servant panicked and grabbed an axe, suggesting they smash the door down."

Gurevan began to recount the events of the case.

"Because the door was made of a thin material that even an old woman in a wheelchair could easily open and close, he thought it should be easy to smash open with an axe. But at this moment, the granddaughter screamed and strongly objected. She said that the house belonged to her after the old woman died, so she could not allow this kind of retribution to be destroyed."

"Ah."

Isaac nodded.

From Gurevan's account, it can be inferred that the granddaughter's relationship with her grandmother's divination practice was not good, and it may have involved disputes over inheritance.

Gureven continued, "The male servant stopped, but because the maid was a foreigner and didn't understand what the granddaughter was saying, she grabbed a pistol from the next room for self-defense. Before anyone could stop her, she broke the lock. Enraged, the granddaughter hit the maid, and the two wrestled. During this time, the Indian male servant entered the room alone. According to the male servant..."

He paused, then continued, "It is said that the fortune teller was lying in his wheelchair, about to slip off. His left eye was pierced by a bullet, and he died on the spot. The window was locked from the inside, and the murder weapon was not found at the scene."

"Are you done talking?"

"That's all."

“I understand the general situation,” Isaac said. “Are there any bullets in the room? Or any marks indicating that it was shot?”

“No, the diviner was shot dead one by one,” Grevin said. “So my initial guess was that the man under the window was very suspicious…”

"The murderer is the maid." x3

"what?"

Besides Isaac, Angela and Victorique also answered Gurevan's question almost simultaneously.

"Um...why?"

“Isn’t this obvious?” Isaac said calmly. “The maid shot the lock, and the bullet went straight through the door. You say there was no bullet in the room. There’s only one possibility.”

"The bullet was the one aimed at divination."

Victorique yawned and mumbled something indistinctly.

"Although I don't know whether she called her granddaughter or one of the male servants a villain, she was basically saying in a foreign language, 'You want to kill your master? Did you hear the gunshot just now? Don't go near the window, come to the door, I'll get you out now.'"

"This……"

"Only the fortune teller could understand the maid's words. Neither the male servant nor his granddaughter could understand. So when the fortune teller wheeled his wheelchair to the door, the maid fired a shot in full view of everyone, which went right through the fortune teller's eye."

Isaac then said, "The reason the eyes were pierced is because the diviner wanted to see the outside through the keyhole, but the last thing he saw before he died was the muzzle of a gun."