Inquiry in the dining car.
Under Swift’s ticulous control, it proceeded orderly.
The renowned detective indeed lived up to his reputation.
Even with the distraction of Ronald and another guest clandestinely entering by the train roof last night, he managed to gather more useful information through sharp perception of various details and clear logical analysis.
First, the victim had secretly boarded the Dongfeng train under military protection from midnight to early morning today and was in one of the five luxury compartnts along with Ariadne, known to very few people.
Then, early this morning,
the Dongfeng train departed from the first stop on its route.
At the sa ti Ronald and Nassos split up, with the forr shifting from "rchant" to "actor", the assassin acted with incredible speed, brutally slaughtering everyone in the victim’s compartnt.
The objective was clear, the thods harsh, and the execution precise.
The whole process was eerily quiet; no one noticed the murder taking place.
It wasn’t until the evening when a train attendant slled the unavoidable stench of blood in the compartnt that the incident was discovered.
Without a doubt, this was a preditated assassination!
And the only witness currently on the train was one person.
That was Ariadne, who happened to see the silhouette of the murderer as he vanished.
According to the actress’s full recollection.
The man was about 1.7 to 1.8 ters tall, left the compartnt door without any extra traces on him, and departed honestly.
Finally, and most puzzlingly,
aside from Ariadne witnessing the disappearing figure, other compartnt attendants did not see any trace of the man. Early in the morning, since few people moved out of their compartnts, the guards were very sure of that.
The only record for that ti period
was Ronald and Nassos washing up.
Also, according to the train staff’s count, the number of passengers on the Dongfeng train hadn’t decreased; no suspicious individuals were spotted at the station at that ti.
This implied that the person hadn’t escaped by jumping off the train or sneaked in to commit the cri.
He was on the train at that mont, disguised as an innocent passenger!
Klang klang klang—
Ahead, the shadow of Greenwich could be seen in the night.
At this mont, Swift’s gaze was fixed on the more muscular of the two company employees.
"..."
"Sir, I suggest you co clean,"
Swift took a hit from his pipe, his gaze sharp and tone very affirmative,
"At this mont, all the clues point to you as the criminal."
"The truth is clear; you have nowhere to run."
At this, the muscular employee had not spoken yet when his younger companion, panicked, responded to Swift first:
"Mr. Swift, Lama and I are law-abiding imperial citizens!"
"Even if we wanted to, neither of us has the capability to slaughter an entire compartnt of passengers."
"Furthermore, we’ve been in these clothes the whole ti."
"We don’t carry the dark coat Miss Ariadne ntioned. How could you wrongly accuse... wrongly accuse us ordinary folk like that?"
While desperately defending himself, the man’s face almost burst into tears.
Anyone who saw his current appearance would likely believe his emotions stemd from deep within.
In silence, Swift took a harsh draw from his pipe, the taste of the burning tobacco passing through his lungs before slowly dispersing from his mouth.
Then, he seed to confirm sothing.
And he took a couple of steps back:
"Sir..."
"You might truly be incapable, but your friend here might not be."
"The Dongfeng’s carriage was poorly soundproofed due to its earlier construction; even those three guys who stayed up at the station and played cards in the middle of the night could hear what was happening on the roof of the train."
The employee looked puzzled:
"But what does this have to do with us?"
"This happened at night and has nothing to do with this case!"
"..."
After a few seconds of silence, Swift began to explain,
"This morning, when Mr. Ronald was doing his morning routine, he didn’t notice any noise at all!"
Instantly, the dining car fell into silence.
Anyone with a bit of logical sense understood the aning behind Swift’s words.
Here—
It’s necessary to ntion the structural design of the Dongfeng train’s carriages.
The highest-class carriage, in which Alida and the victim were traveling, was customized by the railway departnt specifically for serving distinguished guests.
It was situated towards the front, fully equipped with all facilities, and there was no need to worry about disturbances like the noise from the engine.
It was an additional, brand-new carriage.
Following that, ca the carriages with significantly decreased sound insulation.
Most of these train’s compartnts were just ordinary seperations, set up and then put into use by selling tickets, offering passengers ample space to move around but also so inconveniences.
The two staff mbers were traveling in these few carriages.
Moving further back, the situation changed again.
Because it was farther from the engine noise and closer to the dining car, which made dining convenient, this section of carriages was accordingly decorated and the ticket prices were raised, belonging to the category of luxury carriages.
The compartnt Ronald was traveling in belonged to this section.
So the problem beca quite clear.
This morning, the criminal, after committing the murder, left the scene through the top of the carriage compartnt to avoid being detected by the guard.
If he had moved towards the rear and eventually returned to his own compartnt,
Ronald, who was at the connection of the carriages that morning, should have heard sothing.
— But he heard nothing.
So the facts beca pretty obvious.
Unless the criminal had crawled along the side of the train like Spiderman, it indicated that his sitting place was located before the carriage Ronald was in!
Among those matching the location, height, and physique,
It was only the silent and stout staff mber, Lama!
"..."
The skinny staff mber, who had just been defending himself, instantly fell silent.
He too realized the implications of Swift’s words.
With a stiff expression, he turned his head to look at his silent, burly companion.
"Uh..."
"Ah! No, it has nothing to do with !"
He fell backward from his chair and scrambled to flee.
"I, I’m just on a business trip for the company."
Subsequently, as if acknowledging the truth,
A nearby soldier raised his firearm, encircling the burly staff mber in a semicircle.
"Get down on your knees imdiately!"
"Do not think about resisting!"
Huh—
Just then, Ronald suddenly felt a chill breeze brush past his wrist.
At that mont, when battle was about to erupt in the dining car, on the small-statured staffer who was now lying on the ground in a panic,
A new ’sin’ appeared—
— ’Anger’!
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