บท 3967: Chapter 3080: Mercury Chronicles (30)
Shiller had gathered a rough understanding of the basic situation and naturally began his investigation following traditional procedures.
First, he looked into the cause of death of the body, which didn't require Shiller to personally examine; the artificial intelligence butler at this base could scan directly, and all of the body's physical signs would appear on the holographic screen.
The cause of death was heart rupture. Although the victim was from the Sea Clan, a ruptured heart was nonetheless fatal, and because the murderer's action was very decisive, even miraculously forceful, the victim did not suffer much pain nor struggle, passing away immediately.
The small classroom where the incident occurred was the primary crime scene. On one hand, it was almost impossible to move the body given the adverse circumstances, and on the other, the blood investigation showed no traces of dragging or moving.
No murder weapon was found. The artificial intelligence had become powerful enough to completely clear up all the items in the base. It confirmed that none of the items or their parts could cause such a wound, and even a direct scan of the students revealed nothing on them that could inflict such injury.
Shiller found the case peculiar since it was very likely that both the victim and the murderer were superpower users, meaning some conditions that could constrain ordinary people wouldn't apply to them.
But the detective side didn't show any weakness either. The artificial intelligence butler's control over the base had reached an obsessive level, worthy of being called a super detective, taking its investigation seriously.
Such a formidable contest could be deemed extremely thrilling; it would have been even better if one were sitting in the audience.
Regrettably, no matter how powerful artificial intelligence was, it wasn't specialized in detective work. To ensure that there would be no AI crisis at Mercury Base, Stark didn't install an emotional module in this artificial intelligence, nor did he purposely mimic human thought processes, so it could only be considered as a computing machine – it wasn't reliable for deductive reasoning.
Bruce was reviewing video surveillance, mainly to analyze whether there were any abnormalities in the behaviors of the students who had come to this floor.
At that moment, Shiller mentally went over the timeline of these students.
At 12:05, Bono left the elevator and was the first to head to the small classroom, where the surveillance camera was already broken.
At 12:07, Claude and Gonzalez took the second elevator to the small classroom together; at this time, Bono had not left the small classroom. The three of them stayed together inside.
At 12:10, the sisters and Blue Beetle Ted arrived via elevator. After stepping out, they had a disagreement; Ted seemed to want to check the small classroom first, but the sisters felt they should go to the large classroom instead. They discussed it at the elevator door before heading straight to the large classroom.
At 12:11, Bono, Claude, and Gonzalez left the small classroom and went to the large classroom.
At 12:12, Jenna's brother Zan arrived and didn't pay any attention to the small classroom, heading directly to the large classroom.
By 12:12, everyone had gathered in the large classroom, and the surveillance camera showed that they were rummaging through the classroom, occasionally asking each other what they were looking for and what they had found; the conversations were normal.
After about three minutes of searching, both Blue Beetle and the sisters found what they wanted.
At 12:15, Blue Beetle Ted and the sisters left the large classroom and departed the floor via the staircase.
The remaining four people were dissatisfied with what they had found and searched for an additional two minutes.
At 12:17, Bono suddenly suggested that he hadn't searched the small classroom properly, and that perhaps there might still be something of interest there; proposing to go back for another look, he departed the large classroom and headed to the small one.
The remaining three boys exchanged a few words, but there was a disagreement. Claude and Gonzalez agreed with Bono, thinking since they were already there and had found nothing satisfactory in the large classroom, they might as well search the small one.
However, Zan appeared to feel that searching further here was a waste of time; he stated he was preparing to go back first.
At 12:18, Claude and Gonzalez left the large classroom and headed toward the small one; Bono was still inside.
Zan seemed relentless and searched the large classroom again, rummaging through boxes and overturning cabinets, making a mess of the room.
At 12:20, Zan left the large classroom and ascended the stairs.
By 12:23, Claude and Gonzalez seemed to have also failed to find anything to their liking in the small classroom, and seeing that the agreed time was fast approaching, they left the small classroom in a rush and took the elevator.
Bono never came out.
Because the students had disbanded quite scattered, and Victor didn't check the headcount upon their return, he simply began the class.
After class, when collecting deformed experimental subjects due to pressure, Victor found that Bono hadn't submitted his homework. Wanting to ask what happened, he realized the person was missing.
Routine headcounts weren't necessary because everyone was already of college age, and under the strict control of strong artificial intelligence, no one could enter any dangerous areas; Victor didn't need to worry about much. Little did he know, someone would actually go missing.
He asked all the students, and upon cross-checking with each other, they found that Claude and Gonzalez were the last to have seen Bono, in the small classroom on this floor. As a result, a crowd hurriedly came to the small classroom area.
Victor, a Gothamite with extensive experience, knew well that in Gotham, a person missing for this long was most likely dead. Worrying that the students might rush in and disrupt the crime scene, he took everyone to the large classroom instead, and sure enough, they saw Bono's body through the glass.
In light of this, Claude and Gonzalez seemed to be the prime suspects as the last to have seen Bono, given that there were only two of them and their mutual alibi wasn't very credible.
But these two also had strong evidence to prove their innocence; the reason was simple – neither of them could overpower Bono.
Claude was somewhat better off, being a Magician, but he had only started school last year and had barely reached the stage of mastering magic. His limited offensive techniques could perhaps kill a chicken but would struggle to kill a well-trained ordinary human.
As for Gonzalez, there was even less to mention. He definitely had war experience, otherwise, he wouldn't have been selected for this program, but forget firearms; he didn't even have a small knife for self-defense, purely unarmed.
And Bono herself was a product of a powerful union within the Sea Clan and had received militaristic training from her father since childhood. Even in hand-to-hand combat with Mera wielding a Trident, she could hold her own for several exchanges. Even without relying on Water Control Magic, she could exchange blows with Wonder Woman in combat class, which showed how strong she was.
Admittedly, if one were to exhaust all their strength, it wasn't that she couldn't be killed, but it was impossible for her to have no ability to resist and be killed with one strike.
There were no signs of struggle in the room, and Bono's footprints were very clear. She didn't even have a chance to assume a defensive stance before she was killed.
Moreover, the wound was a through-and-through from front to back, meaning she was killed from the front, not sneak attacked from behind. The difficulty of that was a bit too high.
Diana confirmed this point; she completely denied the possibility that Claude and Gonzalez could have teamed up to kill Bono. The two were simply not in the same league. Bono could toy with the both of them like they were nothing.
At this moment, it was time for Shiller to make an entrance.
Although it didn't seem likely that these two could do anything to Bono, who knew if they were hiding their true strength? Maybe someone else was lending them power? Perhaps their memories had been modified or deleted?
The nature of superpowers was just so unpredictable.
By this time, the students had nearly finished exchanging information, and Shiller's lecture content was also passed on by word of mouth. They were somewhat curious to know how this master of psychology worked.
Considering that it was a bit noisy with a large group of people crammed in the lecture hall, Clark waved his hand and took everyone out, leaving only Shiller and a few suspects.
Arthur used water to form a Water Prison to prevent the murderer from suddenly lashing out and injuring someone. Each person had their own cell, not disturbing each other. Whoever dared to act out would face the Justice League's team battle first kill.
Meanwhile, in the small classroom, Bono's body was moved to the storage room across the hall, which was transformed into a temporary autopsy room. Although the wound was simple, the necessary procedures still had to be followed. Bruce took on the role of a forensic pathologist, with Oliver assisting by his side.
The small classroom was turned into an observation room for the students. Although it was smaller compared to the lecture hall, it could still fit over 100 people with a bit of squeezing.
There were six suspects in total, six cages lined up in a row. On the left were Claude, Gonzalez, and Blue Beetle Ted; on the right were Zan and the Atlantis sisters.
For fear of forgetting, let's repeat the superpowers of these individuals once more.
Claude was a Novice Magician who hardly knew any magic. He had mastered minor spells like small fireballs and short-distance Flash.
Gonzalez was a human. Skilled with firearms and jungle warfare.
Blue Beetle Ted had inherited an extraterrestrial weapon, the Blue Beetle, from his master, but since he was far inferior to his teacher, the Blue Beetle didn't listen to him.
Zan shared a psychic connection with his twin sister Jenna. Jenna could transform into animals, and he could turn into water.
The Atlantis sisters. Humanoid as well, they knew simple Water Control Magic and weren't bad at body technique, although they weren't on par with Bono.
Shiller began pacing in front of the six cages.
The process of psychological analysis hadn't begun yet because for this case, the motive and the outcome weren't important—the method was key.
Psychological analysis could indeed lead to the answer, but clarifying the method still required careful thought.
Shiller then questioned each of the six about their timelines and ranges of activity. It could be confirmed that no one was lying.
He then specifically asked Claude and Gonzalez again. In truth, he didn't want to waste this time, but since it was a mission given to him by the Justice League, there was no harm in asking.
And as it turned out, the two of them also didn't lie. They weren't hiding any strength, their memories weren't tampered with, and no one had lent them power to compel them to act.
The situation had become more confusing.
But at that moment, Shiller wasn't looking at the six cages anymore. He walked past them and stood in front of the glass in the large classroom, scrutinizing the glass, especially the cardboard box that had fallen over and was blocking a corner of the glass.
He didn't concern himself with the suspects in the room, instead directly heading out to the corridor and opened the door to the storage room.
Bruce, who was conducting the autopsy, gave him a blank look, but Shiller paid him no attention. He turned to look at the wall between the storage room and the electrical room—it also had a window.
That is to say, the layout of this corridor was actually symmetrical, with two large and two small rooms on each side, and the wall separating the large from the small rooms had a pane of glass.
Only after inquiring with the artificial intelligence did he learn that originally both sides were laboratories. After some modifications, one side was converted into the electrical and storage rooms and the other into the large and small classrooms.
However, the difference was that the electrical room had a window.
Though it faced the vacuum of space, such an environment was nothing to this league of superhumans.
After observing all of this, Shiller already knew the method of the crime.
He returned to the large classroom, continuing his leisurely pacing until he stopped in front of one cage, raised his head, and said, "Hello, murderer."
And to everyone's surprise, the person inside the cage was none other than Blue Beetle Ted.
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