I followed her cautiously, maybe it was an illusion, but from the side, her face seemed to be a little bulging.
"You want to follow me again?"
After a period of parallelism, I heard Xue’s second sentence.
"No...it's just that I happened to be on the way."
"In other words, going to drink again?"
"How do you know?"
"This road will only lead to the hotel and tavern where I stay."
"That's it, haha..."
What a useless conversation...
"It's clear that the work hasn't been finished yet, but I'm so worried."
Taught a lesson...
She should be referring to the murder case.
"Haha, okay."
"In other words, are you the type of person who advocates giving up your mind?"
"How could there be someone who would make that kind of claim...Although I do spend most of my time doing nothing, I still think about it often."
"In other words, can I understand that this is quibbling?"
"Eh~~"
Being wronged, I made a sound of dissatisfaction.
“For example, I often think about questions such as ‘Why does this world have paper airplanes when there are no airplanes?’ and ‘Why can paper airplanes be stuck in the hair without falling off?’”
Counterattack is necessary.
"..."
Xue didn't answer. I looked at her and found that her face was even bigger.
"Instead of thinking about these messy things, how about thinking more about how to deal with the lord's punishment?"
After a long time, Xue fought back.
"Have you already assumed that I will fail? It's only been a day, not to mention that I can't have a clue so quickly."
"In other words, there is nothing to do on the first day."
"...I said, how about you give me some advice?"
"In other words, is this a disguised interrogation of me?"
Snow glanced at me with her slender eyes, and I instantly felt a chill sharper than the north wind.
What a keen response.
"...if you can."
Now that everything has been seen through, I don’t want to get nothing, so in order to increase the possibility of agreement, I added:
"In return, you can also ask me a corresponding number of questions."
"...I'm not interested in you, but this arrangement is fair."
"Is this considered an agreement?"
"No matter what, I want to get rid of suspicion as soon as possible."
Snow's answer was as straightforward as if she had prepared it in advance.
"..."
"..."
After a brief silence, I smiled bitterly and scratched my head.
"To be honest, I haven't thought about what to ask yet, haha..."
"...In other words, you are so simple-minded that you can't find any direction at all?"
Wow, this person's "other words" are so annoying!
"...How about you tell me what your mate-making ability is first?"
"...It's [Shadow Doppelgänger], which can change the physical appearance. The premise is that the body shape of the person being changed is similar to mine, and the gender must be the same."
Wow, that means...
My eyes unknowingly moved down more than ten centimeters from Xue's face.
Can you adjust the size at will...
"I know what you are thinking. In other words, if you don't stop your vulgar thoughts, I will call the police."
“Hey~~I don’t even have the right to freedom of thought~~”
"...By the way, I would like to remind you that the Lord Lord and the Wanderer Alliance have information about the ability to find a partner. It will be much easier to find them than to ask them one by one."
"That's it, thank you very much."
Snow gave me an extra piece of information.
"..."
"..."
"Are you done asking?"
"Hmm...let me think..."
I threw the slightly deformed paper airplane in my hand.
"..."
"Has the child been found?"
I am asking knowingly.
"...I sent her to the right place."
"Well, then the last question - how did you know my name last time?"
"...A well-intentioned person once warned me, 'Beware of a stalking pervert named Gu Lao'."
"Well... the truth feels so boring."
"It's boring just because it's the truth. Is that what you want to ask?"
"After all, I really can't think of any other questions."
After hearing my speech, Xue sighed lightly, not hiding her disappointment.
She seemed to think my question was of little value.
"I think you should be ready to accept the punishment from the lord."
"I hope the lord can be lenient...Okay, it's your turn to ask me."
Xue stopped and I saw the hotel on the right.
She lives here...
This place is not far from the North City Gate.
"Do you have a mate?"
"It's just a waste couple that increases body functions."
"I'm very disappointed!"
While answering Xue, Gale's growl came.
"The strength of the ability to fix a mate is not fixed, but depends on whether the host can properly use the principle of the ability to fix a mate."
"...Are you saying in disguise that I am a waste?"
"Well! I admire this little girl very much."
A stinky couple who eats everything inside and out.
"Also, what is this?"
Snow's eyes stopped on a small ball hanging on my chest.
"This..."
I picked up the little ball with two fingers - it's called "flamingo".
"A thing to store memories, a friend gave it to me."
"Do you still have friends?"
"Can't you think of it?"
"...I'm leaving."
Xue seemed to have lost interest in me and turned around to leave.
"Sister!"
At this time, a childish voice came from the door of the hotel - a little girl was waving to us... no, just waving to Xue.
It was a lost child at that time - I thought of it as a matter of course.
Xue walked over and gently touched the little girl's head, and I followed behind.
This kid actually lives in the same hotel as Xue. What an incredible coincidence.
"Sister, who is this aunt with the beard?"
The little girl looked at me.
......?
I smiled and said to the little girl:
"It's the uncle with long hair."
The little girl quickly put on a "very suspicious" expression, frowned and hid behind Xue.
"I remember telling you about the beard."
"I will deal with it when I have time..."
Xue held the little girl's hand and left a message before leaving:
"You still owe me an unanswered question, don't forget it."
I still remember...
I'm back on the street.
It’s still very deserted outside today.
I raised my head and saw that the sky was gray and there was nothing.
It’s been a year...
Go back.
——I changed direction.
......
The next day, I went to see Manda.
This time Manda booked a private room in a teahouse, and the atmosphere was much more relaxed than at the police station.
And she is also wearing casual clothes, not wearing a uniform.
"The lord went to the attic on the night of the crime. Why didn't you tell me about it?"
I'm going to get straight to the point.
"Isn't this right?"
"Huh?"
Manda opened her notebook and pointed to a name - Whitman Bradley Colby.
"...Yeah~~Sorry, I thought these were the names of three people."
"Incomprehensible."
It’s hard to understand someone with such a weird and long name, right?
"Ahem... Then the second question - it is said that there were more than a dozen people in the loft at around nine o'clock that night..."
The slap in the face just now made me less confident in my next speech. Fortunately, Manda quickly affirmed me this time:
"Well, indeed, I went to look at the attic last night. Due to the murder, all the residents except the owner of the attic seemed to have moved out, and the owner's mood was not stable, so I didn't ask any more questions.
Ask him for the guest list."
"Didn't the owner of the loft take the initiative to say anything to you?"
"No...but I found the back door in the back of the attic."
"Backdoor?"
"Well, according to the owner's statement, at ten o'clock in the evening, after confirming that all residents have returned, the front door will be locked, and non-residents will leave through the back door."
"No wonder some people only have eyewitness evidence of entering the attic... Where does the back door lead to?"
"There is a small path connected to the back door. There is no lighting equipment, and the place leading to it is a small square."
In other words, it is unlikely that there will be witnesses to the backdoor.
"Then the owner of the attic still remembers who went out through the back door?"
"He said he couldn't remember it for the moment."
"Okay..."
Seeing that I was helpless, Manda smiled proudly:
"Actually, it's not impossible to find out who went out through the back door that night."
"Oh?"
"Don't forget, it's winter now."
"Winter..."
I murmured and looked out the window - several snow sweeping brooms were working.
I understand.
It’s snow.
"Snow."
"That's right! As far as I know, the snow on that trail has never been cleared, and it hasn't snowed since the incident, so the people who came out of the back door must have left their shoe prints on it." Indeed, it had snowed just a few hours before the incident, so the shoe prints left on the snow must belong to the person that night.
As expected of a police officer, he is just different from a low-level detective like me.
"I also drew all types of shoe prints on the snow!"
Manda said and took out a stack of drawing paper as if to show off.
"Wow, haven't you been painting on that trail for a long time..."
"Of course!"
Manda's tone was full of hints of "praise me quickly".
"According to me, if you remember to bring magic tools that can quickly create paintings, you won't have to go to such trouble~~"
"S-stop blabbering! It's not that I forgot, I just... I just trust my hands more!"
"Besides, if you had seen the map of the attic area in advance, you would have been able to discover that trail without a field trip, right?"
"Well... then why don't you go and see it?!"
"I have other things to do, so that's why I emphasized, 'It's all up to you,' right?"
"You, you, you...! You actually dumped the responsibility on me! I, I'm just an intern, even my seniors don't have so many demands!"
"...? Hey, what do you mean by 'internship'? Could it be that you just took up the position not long ago?"
"Yes, so what!"
"You, you, you...! Why didn't you tell such an important thing earlier! If I had known earlier, I would have gone to protest with the lord... No wonder you are the only one in the entire police station who has nothing to do!" p>
"You, you, you...! What do you mean by 'having nothing to do'! I am also very busy, okay?! Besides, am I not enough? Are you so greedy?!"
"Hey! Don't say things loudly that are unreasonable and easily misunderstood! Even if this is a package, the sound insulation effect is still very poor!"
"Well..."
"Huh..."
"Humph!"
Manda turned her face aside.
Well... let’s end the game of choking this guy.
"Okay~~ It's my fault, right?"
"It was your fault in the first place. It was definitely you! How about a sudden apology!"
Of course it’s because it’s fun.
"Then I take back my apology."
"No! Now that you've said it, you can't take it back! You can't take it back! Do you understand?"
Girls are the best, aren't they?
"Hey, hey! Did you hear I told you not to take it back? You're not allowed to take it back!"
...But being as serious as a child is another matter.