CH-044

Shu Li was standing very close to Deacon Gideon.

So close that if he wanted to, he could subdue the other man in the next second.

But he didn't move.

Even as Deacon Gideon began to lose his mind, he remained standing firmly in place.

But it wasn't his place to subdue him now anyway, since the cavalry were still present, ready to rush forward and restrain the frenzied Deacon Gideon at any moment.

And for Shu Li personally, he didn't want to reveal all his trump cards for others to see.

Being considered a frail, thin priest had a hundred benefits and no disadvantages for him.

At that moment, Deacon Gideon had long since released the card bearing the number twelve, frantically looking around, his eyes panicked and flustered, his voice desperately raised high, saying, "I really! I really can swear to the Lord too! I did not kill Bishop Leopold and District Minister Damian. See? I really can do it."

When spoken by Shu Li, this sentence was like morning bells and evening drums, righteous and clear.

But when spoken by Deacon Gideon, it was like a broken gong clanging in panic, every word a shattered lie, unstable and unreliable. Even as he moved to kneel on the ground, he received not empathy, but cutting doubts from all sides.

Deacon Gideon was stung by their gazes. His just-bent knees snapped straight again. He suddenly erupted, nearly lunging at Shu Li, who was closest. But before he could even grab Shu Li's collar, his hand was pinned mid-air, unable to move an inch.

And the one who stopped him was none other than the Black Cavalry squad leader.

He moved like lightning, seizing Deacon Gideon in an instant.

At the same time, the Black Cavalry captain questioned coldly, "If you are innocent, why didn't you dare to turn over the card yourself and had to have someone else do it? Isn't that a guilty conscience?"

The words hit home, utterly merciless.

Deacon Gideon choked, but quickly retorted loudly, "I didn't refuse to turn it! Father Aris took the initiative!"

Saying this, he began to lash out wildly, "Yes, actually, Father Aris hates me, he wants to trap me in injustice. Why would I kill Bishop Leopold and District Minister Damian? Doesn't Father Aris's knight have more motive? Why me!"

His voice grew shriller, his shouts more chaotic, like a runaway horse crashing blindly.

Yet, Shu Li across from him never moved, his expression unchanged, just quietly watching him.

The people around were awed by Shu Li's calm.

In their eyes, Father Aris did not speak, nor did he step away. Clearly the target of the accusations, he seemed the sole presence undisturbed by the chaos. His gaze rested on Deacon Gideon, neither angry nor pitying, more like observing futile, pointless struggles. He stood upright, his back straight, his expression so serene it was almost transcendent.

Amidst the normal turmoil, he became another kind of immovable order, admirable and captivating.

The truth of this case had emerged from this confrontation.

Even without a confession or direct accusation, everyone already knew the truth behind the two deaths.

And under that cold gaze, Deacon Gideon's hysteria was like dry grass burning in the snow—fierce, but brief, "..."

The cavalry squad leader said, "Confess."

Deacon Gideon just lowered his head, continuing to mutter, "Not me, why would I kill the Bishop and the District Minister..."

Everyone was indignant at Deacon Gideon's obstinacy, "Even the Lord says you committed the crime, what reason do you have to say you're innocent?"

Deacon Gideon just kept chanting that he was innocent, he was innocent, he was innocent...

Just as some people began to doubt him because of his attitude, Deacon Gideon had a sudden flash of insight. He shouted loudly, "Have you all forgotten?! Bishop Leopold committed suicide by jumping into the well."

"You all heard the sound of something falling into the well from the water. If I killed Bishop Leopold, how could Bishop Leopold jump into the well again? I had witnesses at the time, people accompanying me. How could I kill from a distance? I don't have any special abilities."

These unexpected words stirred reactions from everyone.

But the Lord had already issued a divine revelation.

Due to their firm faith, everyone instinctively looked to Shu Li for help—since Father Aris could convey the Lord's will and thoughts, he surely must know the ins and outs of this case too.

Shu Li looked towards Father Simeon. To handle this situation, he had made multiple preparations.

Regarding the deduction of this case, he certainly wouldn't rely solely on last night's words "let the sinner confess" to cause a fleeting expression among those present, as the basis for his judgment.

The breakthrough in this case still lay with the "corpses" themselves.

Yesterday, the two corpses showed one dead by drowning, one dead by fire.

The former was clearly not a simple drowning, which necessitated understanding the true circumstances of the District Minister being burned to death.

Thus, after determining whether it was divine will or simply human action, Shu Li requested to examine the bodies, which is the current situation.

Generally speaking, making such a request would easily allow one to observe the wounds on the bodies and determine the case details.

However, in this world, Shu Li found that people around him didn't readily think that way. More clergy members speculated that Shu Li intended to converse with the dead spirits.

At first, Shu Li thought this was a society overly superstitious and ignorant of the Lord, but later he learned it was due to a blind spot in common sense created by the social environment—

Because the system of this world was largely based on the medieval church system.

Clergy, as a sacred group healing people's spirits, were strictly prohibited from engaging in any form of surgical practice.

That is, clergy were not allowed to see blood or cause bleeding during the process of healing the people, otherwise it would be considered blasphemy.

And historically, this forensic enterprise naturally fell to barbers, who had lower social status.

Things like tooth extraction, bloodletting, wound suturing, and other surgical tasks were the business of medieval barbers.

In real life, traces of this history can also be seen.

If you've ever paid special attention to old-fashioned barbershops, whether in real life or in movies and TV shows, you might have seen the red, white, and blue rotating pole outside the barbershop. This symbol originated from medieval barber-surgeons: the red, white, and blue respectively represented arteries, veins, and bandages. This shows that the connection between barbers and surgery is deeper than one might imagine.

Thus, during Shu Li's examination of the bodies, no one around him had basic forensic knowledge, nor did they notice the wound on the back of the corpses' heads. This greatly facilitated Shu Li's speed in solving the case—clergy lacking forensic knowledge would hardly think about counter-investigation.

The killer didn't even conceal the indentation with right-angled edges on the back of Bishop Leopold and District Minister Damian's heads.

It was clearly a blunt force injury.

Even if hard to see with the naked eye, touching it revealed the obvious problem.

Of course, without more evidence, it was impossible to directly prove this was a fatal wound.

However, earlier when observing from a distance, Shu Li noticed there were no additional signs of struggle on the bodies, and the corpses were not wearing shoes, allowing him to see their bare feet, indicating the well was not the primary crime scene.

Similarly, District Minister Damian's corpse had dry, cracked skin, lacking the inflammatory response of burns on a living body.

This proved that both men had died before drowning and burning.

And what caused their death was that specific blunt force injury.

Thus, for Shu Li, he needed to face two problems: one, the murder weapon; two, the killer.

The person holding the weapon is often the killer itself—that was the basic inference.

And also the basis for investigation.

During case deduction, police always prioritize finding the murder weapon.

However, in this matter, Shu Li felt it was easier to identify the killer first and then deduce the weapon. Because this could be a duke's conspiracy, an activity of heretics, or an ordinary person killing with various personal motives or revenge ideas.

In such perplexing circumstances, searching for the weapon first would undoubtedly increase Shu Li's workload.

And identifying the killer was actually the easiest part.

Because detective stories contain a very common rule: the person who first discovers the body is often the most suspicious.

Following this line of thought to gradually eliminate suspects, one finds that "Deacon Gideon" became increasingly difficult to clear of suspicion the more he was investigated.

First, both Bishop Leopold's and District Minister Damian's deaths were first announced by Deacon Gideon's screams.

Second, the fatal injuries on both victims appeared on the back of the head, meaning the victims were facing away from the killer. Bishop Leopold's bare feet suggested the primary scene of his case was likely the Bishop's private quarters. District Minister Damian's death occurred in the District Minister's office, also considered a private space. Being able to let the victim lower their guard in a private space meant the victim greatly trusted the killer.

And interestingly, District Minister Damian was Bishop Leopold's confidant, and Deacon Gideon had long been District Minister Damian's confidant. This was well known throughout the diocese.

Coincidentally, Deacon Gideon also fit the killer's profile.

Third, regarding the arrangement of the death scenes, not to mention the District Minister's office, just using that well demonstrated an intimate familiarity with the diocesan environment. This was not something an outsider could improvise.

Because hiding a body in the well was not easy. The killer would have needed prior knowledge of a groove five meters down the well, specifically used for fixing buckets and hoisting items. The killer would hide the body there, then avoid detection while making others use the well less frequently.

That morning, to confirm this, Shu Li had specifically asked others about the layout of the diocese's wells.

Because if the killer wanted to establish an alibi, they needed to ensure that at least that morning, almost no one would draw water to drink, otherwise the body hidden at the bottom of the well would be discovered.

This person would need to know of alternative water sources, or have helped solve the water issue before the well incident occurred.

The latter was hard to achieve because a pastoral priest suddenly pouring water for all other pastoral priests would be far too conspicuous.

Of course, regarding the latter, during casual conversations, Shu Li also learned that Father Cony did not know of other water sources and needed to ask diocesan clergy. That morning, he had ruled out Father Cony's suspicion. That was also why, when Father Cony suspected Shu Li, Shu Li didn't focus his attention on him.

Thus, this conclusion could be drawn—

In a situation where everyone lacked basic forensic knowledge, the only ones who would know the well had problems that morning were the killer and Shu Li himself.

Therefore, before entering the meeting hall, Shu Li had asked Father Simeon to bring the water from his water flask from yesterday.

If Father Simeon had already poured the water out, Shu Li could use other water to set his trap.

Now, inside the meeting hall, everyone watched as Shu Li had Father Simeon bring a water flask and personally pour a cup of water for Deacon Gideon.

"This is water brought from Father Simeon's room."

Shu Li paused, then explained, "Before we arrived, we were already informed that if we needed water, we had to draw it ourselves. On the morning Bishop Leopold died, before the meeting started, after drawing water to drink himself, he felt the water tasted strange and had a severe gastrointestinal reaction. I believe many clergy members remember this incident."

At the time, Father Simeon had needed to take medicine, alarming some people, and the diocesan medical room had relevant medication records.

"Later, I asked other pastoral priests if they had noticed any problem with the water they drank."

Shu Li spoke slowly and methodically, drawing in those around him, "They said no. Neither did I."

"Why is that?"

Shu Li stared at Deacon Gideon, enunciating clearly, "Because when we woke up on the morning of the 5th, our water flasks were all full. Father Simeon's flask was only empty because he accidentally knocked it over that morning and had to go draw water himself."

"How miraculous. Why were everyone's flasks full? Everyone arrived at the diocese at different times, had different drinking habits, yet everyone's flask was full? Nobody needed to go to the well for extra water? Isn't that miraculous?"

"And which kind person did these things for the pastoral priests?"

"If someone had specially given water to each pastoral priest, it would have been an attention-grabbing event. But if it was Deacon Gideon, who is always managing our lives as pastoral priests, always coming and going arranging various affairs, then it wouldn't draw any extra attention at all."

Deacon Gideon unconsciously held his breath because of Shu Li's words.

His throat went dry, completely at a loss for words.

On this point, he truly couldn't explain himself. When he had changed the water for the various pastoral priests' flasks, people had indeed seen him, but they hadn't connected this to Bishop Leopold's death.

Now, exposed by Shu Li, the people around looked at Deacon Gideon with expressions of a cornered beast with no escape.

"If you truly believe Bishop Leopold committed suicide after 8:30, can you drink this water?"

Deacon Gideon stared at the cup Shu Li offered, as if wanting to speak, but fell into a long silence. His hand didn't move, fixated on the water as if staring into a bottomless well.

The silence itself was more like an admission.

"If you're unwilling to drink, does that mean you know the water from the morning of the 5th is no longer drinkable?" Shu Li reminded him. "The Bishop was already dead before 8:30."

He wasn't actually afraid that Deacon Gideon would gamble everything and force down a sip. If he had that kind of reckless courage, when he said he could swear to the Lord earlier, he would have already knelt on the ground. But he had only bent his knees slightly.

He was unwilling.

He was unwilling to put himself at a disadvantage.

"If you have nothing to say, you can be taken away and handed over to the Duke for processing."

Shu Li placed the cup back in its original position, glimpsing Father Simeon, who looked dazed and nearly nauseous.

Just as the Black Cavalry captain was about to drag Deacon Gideon away, he was still feigning composure. But the word "Duke" struck his mind like a thunderbolt. His body shuddered violently, and then he collapsed to his knees, his expression terrified, his voice hysterical: "I... I want to confess! Father Aris, I beg you... I cannot meet the Lord with this sin!"

He looked imploringly at Shu Li, saying, "Last night, you were still willing to give me a chance."

Last night, Shu Li had said such things because he knew everyone was paying close attention to this matter, carefully observing the movements of those around them. This prevented the real killer from acting rashly, whether to run away or hide his weapon.

"...Too late."

Shu Li gazed steadily at Deacon Gideon, saying, "I believe the Lord has given you chance after chance."

"Your murder weapon was the Bible, wasn't it? The Lord has already told me."

After identifying the killer, determining the weapon was even simpler. Even locating the weapon's whereabouts became effortless.

Because the fatal wound on the corpse looked very much like the mark left by the corner of a book.

But even a heavy, hardcover Bible wouldn't be that heavy. If it contained heavy metals like gold inside, that would be another matter.

However, considering that even District Minister Damian might have known that Bishop Carson died before 8:30 on the 5th, this was likely related to money and power interests.

The weapon was inseparable from money, probably hidden in the deacon's room.

This part didn't need Shu Li to point out specifically.

Upon hearing this, the surrounding believers turned pale instantly, glaring furiously at Deacon Gideon, "Are you insane?! This is a sacred object! Your sin is unforgivable!!"

Faced with so much condemnation, Deacon Gideon grew angry instead, "So I'm the only one wrong?! The Bishop and the District Minister weren't good people. They only gave us the dirtiest work while pocketing the most money. Aren't you glad they're dead?"

"So you killed them because of an unfair split of money?" Father Cony questioned.

Shu Li instinctively looked at Father Cony, noticing this man was very good at maligning others. Deacon Gideon had spoken in the tone of a righteous hero.

Deacon Gideon argued vehemently, "I was just taking back what was mine! District Minister Damian saw it and snatched the gold. I was merely retrieving what belonged to me."

The cavalry captain gave him a cold look, "Then since the weapon was gold, it's probably hidden in your room too."

He spoke and moved to order a search. Deacon Gideon, as if stung, broke free from restraint and lunged uncontrollably at the cavalryman about to leave, shouting, "Don't search! That's my place! You can't go in!"

He charged over as if mad.

In the midst of this chaos, the meeting hall doors suddenly opened.

Revealing Duke Claude's face, cold and grim as a god of death.

His appearance filled the air with leaden pressure, the atmosphere oppressive and heavy.

The Duke looked down with utterly cold eyes, staring at Deacon Gideon as if looking at a dead man.

"So you're the one causing trouble in the diocese?"

As his words fell, the Black Cavalry on both sides, without any hesitation, hoisted Deacon Gideon away like trash. No judgment was needed; Deacon Gideon's fate was already written on everyone's faces.

But even after the man was dragged off, the air did not lighten in the slightest.

Because Duke Claude strode quickly to Shu Li, his gaze as sharp as a blade wanting to slice open his chest, "Since you have this ability, I'll give you one more task."

His tone was as calm as if arranging breakfast for the next day, "The Carson Diocese is hiding a heretic."

His gaze fell flatly on Shu Li, like looking at a tool that could be replaced at any time.

"Find them by tomorrow."

He paused, his tone utterly flat yet suffocating, as if he hadn't wanted the Bishop and District Minister's case resolved so easily at all.

His voice remained cold and stern, saying, "Fail to find them—and you can disappear along with that deacon."

As his words landed, the air seemed to compress instantly. The sound of curtains rustling on the second floor was unusually distinct. Meanwhile, Father Cony's eyes flickered darkly, his fingertips tightening slightly.

Shu Li gently pressed his lips together, his expression unmoved, his eyes calm and still.

Quickly, he looked up at the young Duke and said without backing down, "Please allow me to refuse."

No sooner had the words landed than, before the Duke could show his anger, over twenty clergy members rushed forward, physically separating him from Shu Li.

"Duke! Our Father Aris has boundless divine power, he means no offense! Please do not trouble him."

"Duke, please reconsider!"

"Yes, his refusal surely has his reasons!! Please don't mind him."

They shouted while using hands and feet to push Shu Li backward.

This action made Shu Li feel like a chick being shielded by a flock of mother hens, pushed out of reach of the hunter's outstretched hands.

Shu Li was jostled back three steps. He stood still and looked at them silently, "...?"