Benjamin stood silently in the center of the reception room. He thought for a long time before finally speaking: "I don't know if you know about the accident in the mayoral election two years ago..."
"The mayor of a metropolitan area is a very important position. The state assembly is often very cautious when selecting candidates. Generally speaking, there will be no more than four candidates. Like all mayoral races, one or two of them will be
Only those who come to make up the numbers will be competitive.”
"But the election for mayor of the metropolitan area at that time was very fierce. There were 12 candidates in total, all representing different parties and forces."
Schiller frowned and looked at Benjamin and asked: "Why are there so many people? How did the state assembly pass it?"
Benjamin also looked at Schiller. He stared into Schiller's eyes and said: "The reason why this election is being held is because the mayor White's predecessor was assassinated. This is an urgent election."
"The State Legislature was worried that there were not enough candidates and the election might be manipulated by people with ulterior motives, so it relaxed the review standards,"
"The state assembly thought that at least 10 of these 12 candidates were just trying to add a little luster to their resumes and did not really want to compete for this position. But who knew that they were all struggling to compete for this position."
Benjamin's tone became deeper and deeper, and he said: "Perhaps there have been signs from this time on."
"In the beginning, it was just normal election competition, including speeches, fighting for votes, and criticizing opponents..."
"However, the situation became worse and worse after that, with vote-buying, rumor-mongering, harassment, and revelations. Two candidates even got into car accidents for no apparent reason and had to be admitted to the hospital."
"Seeing that the situation is out of control, the governor wants everyone to sit down and talk and not make this matter too ugly."
"The method is the same as the tradition for many years, hold a banquet, let the middleman find the right person to talk to at the right time, and eliminate the storm."
Benjamin turned his head back, looked at the reception room up and down, and then said: "In order to calm down this group of people, and to convince the public, the State Assembly also invited many famous people, including the Metropolitan, the famous
Entrepreneurs, well-known scholars and professors, artists and media people.”
"The venue they chose for the banquet is here - the Metropolitan Mayor's Mansion."
"What happens next?" Schiller asked.
"After that, everything got out of hand."
Benjamin turned to look out the window at the increasingly heavy snow. Snowflakes were flying in the storm, like white birds flying upstream in a tornado, and turned into rising and rolling white mist at the end of the skyline.
As Benjamin told the story, Schiller also turned to look out the window. His sight passed through the vast snow, as if he saw another identical mayor's mansion that appeared two years ago today.
The weak warm lights swayed in the snowstorm, and the mayor's manor was filled with people.
The dance steps moved lightly, the glasses clinked, the light of candles swayed on the silver candlesticks, the tassels of the gorgeous tablecloth fell, and people in formal attire held wine glasses and talked, with elegant and appropriate smiles on their faces.
The host of the banquet smiled and nodded at the small group of people who were chatting. They moved aside and the host stood in the center of the banquet hall. The host gently cleared his throat and everyone stopped.
action, turning to look at him...
"Ladies and gentlemen! Thank you for gathering together on such a night! Although the snow outside the window is very strong, it is connected with our hearts!"
"First of all, I would like to invite the organizer of this banquet, Deputy Speaker of the Delaware Assembly, famous social activist, philanthropist, and author Nelson Perez!"
There was a loud "bang" and a corpse fell from the sky.
Accurate, humorous and full of drama.
Time passed between the flying snowflakes, passed through the hazy white fog, and stopped in the warm light from a window. Looking through the glass condensed with ice flowers, I met Schiller's eyes.
Schiller paused and turned his head back. He heard Benjamin say: "...like a humorous joke, when the host read out the name of the deputy speaker, his body fell from the sky."
At this moment, Bruce turned to look at Schiller. Schiller moved his eyes slightly. The moment his eyes came into contact with Bruce, he lowered his head and studied the pattern on the handle of his umbrella.
"But this is just the beginning..." Benjamin's tone became as cold as the weather outside.
"After the deputy speaker died, the police arrived. They sealed off the scene. In order to prevent the murderer from running away, everyone was rushed into the guest room. Soon, the second victim, the third victim..."
"One after another, each died in a different way..."
"In the end, only 4 of the 12 candidates were left, and 8 of them were brutally murdered."
"This incident alarmed the entire East Coast. The FBI sent agents to investigate, but the final conclusion was that the people who came to the banquet were mixed with spies from various countries. In order to shake up the political situation on the East Coast, they took action.
kill."
Benjamin raised his head, but lowered his eyes. He turned his eyes downward and looked at Onnell's body. He said: "It involves spies. I was transferred to the Metropolitan City to investigate the matter. When this job fell to me,
I just discovered that things are not that simple.”
"The murderer who killed the eight candidates is not the same person. Their goals are different, but there is no doubt that they are all top killers and the most troublesome high-IQ criminals..."
Benjamin's tone was trembling at the end. Obviously, he was not in a calm mood. Even after two years, recalling the situation at that time still made him feel stressed.
"During subsequent investigations, I discovered that the then-mayor's estate seemed to have become a hunting ground for those perverted serial murderers."
"My Healing Game"
"They used their best techniques to create a series of murders, and when intertwined, they formed a mystery that cannot be solved by any investigation..."
Schiller's fingertips holding the umbrella handle paused for a moment. He looked at Benjamin and asked, "So, have you found anything?"
Benjamin was silent for a while, then he shook his head and said: "We can only speculate that there are four murderers in total, and each of them killed two targets."
"Have you found out who it is?"
Benjamin shook his head, lowered his head, looked at Onnell's body and said, "Luthor was also at the scene at that time. I think he killed Mayor White and Old Parker just to imitate the murderer who killed the Deputy Speaker. .”…
"His imitation was terrible," Schiller said.
"Indeed." Benjamin confirmed this. He said, "Even if he didn't admit it in the bathroom, I would have locked him in. The method he used is actually very simple."
As he spoke, Benjamin raised his head and looked at the ceiling of the reception room. He said, "The roof of this ancient manor is very high. There is a space above and below the ceiling."
"He bought the building next to the mayor's residence, sneaked in in advance, set up a trap in the attic, knocked the target unconscious in advance, and brought him up."
"The sound of people and music in the banquet hall covered up the sound of the silenced pistol firing, and the mechanism had a delay. Therefore, when shooting to kill, Lai Onel could appear anywhere where there were bystanders, and defend himself. Make an alibi."
"I would like to call this technique a classic, but in fact it should be said to be old-fashioned." Schiller concluded. He looked at Benjamin and asked: "The agents should have found his in the space above the ceiling." The murder weapon?"
"Actually, sooner than you think."
At this point, Benjamin didn't intend to pretend anymore. He said directly: "We are not a bunch of idiots from the FBI. We won't wait until everything is over before we make a long speech."
"Then why didn't you arrest him immediately?" Selina asked with a frown. In her opinion, if Benjamin had taken action earlier, maybe they wouldn't be trapped in this manor.
Benjamin snorted coldly and said, "I'm telling you all this just to explain this matter."
"I didn't arrest Onel immediately just to see what he was going to do."
"I was not a witness to that incident two years ago, but during the subsequent investigation, I found that the four murderers who committed the murder seemed to be looking for something."
"Luthor participated in the banquet two years ago. He seemed to have gotten some clues from it. I don't know if he mentioned to any of you that he was looking for a treasure..."
"This is exactly the clue he got at the banquet and in the gap between the murders."
"Treasure? What is that?" Schiller asked very bluntly.
Benjamin looked at him meaningfully and said bluntly: "There is no definite answer, but I suspect it is Philby's list."
"You want to let Luther go find the so-called treasure, and then arrest him after he finds it, so that you can kill two birds with one stone." Schiller said, and then his eyes turned to Lionel, and then
explain:
"But it looks like your plan failed."
Benjamin also set his sights on Lionel and said, "That's because he is really a fool."
"I saw him in the reception room. He was cursing everything crazily, as if he had lost his mind. Then he wanted to attack me, so I knocked him unconscious."
"But..." Benjamin changed the topic, turned to stare at Schiller, and then said: "During the conversation with Lionel, he told me a truth. Do you know what it is?"
"What?" Schiller also looked at him and asked...
"You are the murderer who killed the deputy speaker. Moreover, you killed two people and cut one of them into pieces. He saw it with his own eyes."
In an instant, the atmosphere in the reception room condensed, everyone had different expressions, a storm spread between the sights of Schiller and Benjamin, and the auras of the two began to conflict.
Suddenly, amid the howling of the wind, flakes of cold snow were as sharp as knives.
Time goes back again, to the time when Selena knocked Lionel to the ground.
After Selina did all this, she left without looking back. Then, after returning to her room, she pretended to be intimate with Bruce and kicked Benjamin out.
No matter how Bruce and Selina executed the surveillance plan, Benjamin immediately wanted to find Onel when he left the room.
He stopped the agent who was setting up security in the corridor. The agent told him that Lionel had gone to the reception room and had not come out until now. So Benjamin went to the reception room and wanted to talk to Lionel.
When Benjamin arrived at the reception room, Lionel had barely gotten up from the ground.
Selena swung the vase and hit him in the face. Although it looked like a big move, it was actually not very lethal. Except for the fragments of the bottle that scratched the skin on his face, and the heavy blow that injured his nasal cartilage.
In addition, the skull and brain were not injured. Lai Onel lay on the ground to relax for a while, then got up and started looking for something to stop the bleeding.
When Benjamin walked in, he was stunned for a moment when he saw this scene, and then he walked up and asked Onel: "What's going on? Someone attacked you?"
Lionel, who was wiping the blood with a tissue, turned his head and glanced at Benjamin. Benjamin saw endless anger and malice in his eyes.
"Go away, you annoying fly!" Lionel had completely lost his pretense of being honest and kind, and the irritability and greed in his nature were clearly revealed.
Before Benjamin could say anything else, Lai Onel yelled: "You agents and police are all the same! I pay so much tax every year, but I only support you trash, and you can't provide me with anything."
A little help, just buzzing like flies!"
"And that shit and White! He forgot who paid a fortune to put him in office after the candidate's assassination scandal!"
"I just asked him to cooperate with me in killing a few people, but he actually dared to ask me to help him enter the state assembly?!"
"Does he think he is a precious resource?! As long as I have money, I can promote anyone to the top! And for him, not only his career, but his life has come to an end!"
"Oh...Old Parker, that damn dealer! He lowers prices every year! He's targeting several of my farms in Kansas! I know he takes money from my competitors, but it doesn't matter, I can kill him!"
Lionel gritted his teeth viciously, and various curse words spilled out of his mouth. Blood stains and fragments of the vase that had not been wiped off were stuck to his face, making him look like a dog that had been cornered.