Chapter 199: CPU Operating Speed

Chapter 199: CPU Processing Speed

The difficulty of this "Court Trial" segment lay not in gathering clues, nor in investigating the case; the clues and evidence had been presented long ago.

The true difficulty lay in discerning the truth of the case in the shortest time possible.

The instance allowed both sides only ten minutes for defense; those with poor deductive reasoning, lacking insight, or inflexible minds could never untangle the entire thread of the case within ten minutes.

If one couldn't think it through, how could one defend oneself?

So when Yuanshi Tianzun lightly overturned the evidence presented by Zhao Chenghuang, a heaviness settled in the hearts of the several contestants.

This guy was trouble.

And when Yuanshi Tianzun found the approach to overturn the second piece of evidence in less than a minute, the mood of the seven contestants could only be described as grave.

From escaping the locked room to arriving at the crime scene, only a minute or two had passed; in such a short time, he had grasped the full picture of the case?

Was the speculation that the killer had been hiding in the room at the time of the crime a stroke of inspiration, or a judgment made with absolute certainty?

…

The Colosseum, the Elders' Stand.

Elder Hongying smiled and said:

"The purpose of the Alliance Lords designing this stage was to test the contestants' intellect and adaptability, was it not? Within an instance, a flexible mind and decent adaptability are the two metrics second only to martial prowess."

She turned her head to Elder Sun beside her and said:

"Has that boy truly seen through the entire case? He is no Scout."

Elder Sun snorted, "He most likely hasn't thought it through; it's just a bluff. Even a Scout needs time to think; how could it be this fast?"

…

Zhang Yuanqing was indeed bluffing; the time was too short. From arriving at the crime scene to the detective squad's arrival, only a minute or so had passed; he simply had no time to sort out the entire thread of the case.

Spotting the bloodstains on the clothes and the issue with the glasses were relatively simple matters, achievable with a bit of association.

But proving the killer was at the scene required a complete understanding of the case's ins and outs; his speculation that the killer was present stemmed from the premise of his own innocence.

It wasn't that he had truly seen through the whole case.

He had indeed failed to penetrate the mystery; although he had grasped the approach to overturn the evidence, he could not provide a reasonable logic or narrative... Seeing Yuanshi Tianzun remain silent for a long while, the contestants turned from worry to joy.

Zhao Chenghuang also silently breathed a sigh of relief.

So it was a bluff.

As long as he proved the killer was at the crime scene, he could overturn the evidence, but how to prove it? The scene only held the fingerprints of three people; the killer left no obvious traces... But the killer definitely existed. The one who knocked me out was likely the killer. After knocking me out, the killer fought Professor Li, killed him, fled the scene, and framed me.

However, the phone video showed no third person from beginning to end, and Old Wang next door similarly saw no second visitor that afternoon...

Unless the killer had infiltrated the room much earlier, waited for my arrival, struck immediately, knocked me out first, then killed and framed me, and finally slipped away quietly, leaving me to take the fall...

But to prove the killer was in the room at the time, evidence must be produced, his modus operandi analyzed. Four minutes have passed, six remain. Don't panic, don't panic; the more critical the moment, the calmer one must be...

At this moment, Zhang Yuanqing heard Tianxia Guihuo narrow his eyes and smile:

“Desperate times call for desperate measures? How could there possibly be a killer in the room? If it were the killer, why would they leave no fingerprints? Your logic is flawed, Yuanshi Tianzun. Time is running out. Rack your brains for another breakthrough.”

“Actually, you might suspect Professor Li’s wife. Perhaps she is the killer. Of course, if that’s the case, you’d have to figure out why, when she entered, you were already unconscious and Professor Li was already dead.”

“I’ll give you a lead. During her class, she sneaked back home to commit the murder, then left calmly. By the time her course ended and she returned, she just happened to ‘stumble upon’ the scene.”

Foolish. The wife and Old Wang next door are the same—obvious background props. There’s been no excessive detail about them, and this instance’s mechanism is a contest of wits and deduction; it doesn’t require an investigation phase… Zhang Yuanqing instinctively rebutted in his mind.

Immediately after, he realized he had fallen for a trap.

Tianxia Guihuo was talking trash, deliberately interrupting his train of thought, disrupting his emotions.

Zhao Chenghuang instantly grasped Tianxia Guihuo’s intent, his tone flat:

“The illustrious Yuanshi Tianzun, losing in the first round—isn’t that a bit too embarrassing?”

The purpose of his words was to heighten the other’s anxiety; this was returning the favor for Yuanshi Tianzun’s goading tactic just now.

…

Outside the arena, in the spectator stands.

Elder Hongying gazed at the projection, smiling. “Old Sun, you were right. He really is all bluster.”

Elder Sun whispered, “The Alliance Leaders are truly vicious. Knowing full well there are no Scouts in the top eight, they deliberately designed this content. Most likely it was the Female Marshal’s idea. With not a single Scout in the top eight, she must be quite displeased.”

Elder Hongying said, “Wouldn’t that mean even the last member of the White Tiger Soldiers has been eliminated?”

Elder Sun nodded lightly. “The Female Marshal has lifted a rock only to drop it on her own foot this time.”

How am I supposed to respond to that… Elder Hongying smiled and shook his head, continuing to “watch the battle.”

At this moment, the most muttered phrases in the stands were “Four minutes have passed,” “Which Scout will come explain this,” and “Yuanshi Tianzun’s mind right now is definitely ‘This problem is too hard, I can’t solve it.’”

Watching up to this point, everyone understood.

This murder case stage didn’t test the ability to investigate and solve crimes. It tested whether a suspect could, in the shortest time possible, reconstruct the truth based on existing information and find the path to survival.

Stripping away the outer layer of the case, the essence was testing whether a Spirit Realm Walker, facing a life-or-death crisis in an instance, could decipher the deadlock in time and find a way to live.

Even a figure like Yuanshi Tianzun, who had cleared S-rank instances, seemed powerless.

…

Inside Room 404, Tianxia Guihuo’s trash talk continued unabated.

Zhang Yuanqing ignored the incessant chatter. Under the Insight Glasses’ deduction buff, his thoughts raced. He ran through every detail again, and suddenly spotted an irrational point.

The killer couldn’t possibly have known about his advance visit.

He was Professor Li’s ghostwriter. Professor Li taught on the side and was a fairly famous writer. Hiring a ghostwriter wasn’t honorable; Professor Li would never have leaked this meeting.

Once he figured this out, Zhang Yuanqing felt a sudden clarity.

So that’s how it is. I fell into a cognitive rut. The killer wasn’t trying to frame me, nor were they hiding in the room… A smile curved Zhang Yuanqing’s lips.

“Foolish detectives, allow me to tell you exactly where the killer is hiding.”

Tianxia Guihuo raised an eyebrow:

“Where is the killer hiding?”

Zhang Yuanqing took two steps back, pointing toward the single bed in the corner of the study, and said:

“Look here!”

At his words, everyone leaned in to examine it. They saw that the dust in the central area beneath the bed had been wiped clean, while the dust around the edges remained undisturbed.

It seemed that not long ago, someone had crawled under the bed, their body brushing away the dust.

Yuan Ting gasped: “You mean the killer was hiding under the bed at the time?”

Before Zhang Yuanqing could speak, Sun Miaomiao overturned his deduction:

“Impossible. If the killer was under the bed, how could Professor Li, in the same room, not know? If Professor Li knew, then what was their relationship, that he would tolerate a man who wanted to kill him hiding under the bed?”

Zhang Yuanqing couldn’t help but glance at the cute-faced girl. This lass is sharp, he thought. If I followed her line of reasoning to verify it, I’d have to prove the relationship between the killer and Professor Li—but that’s impossible. It would trap the deduction in a dead end, for lack of clues.

Zhang Yuanqing had his own train of thought. Unmoved, he smiled:

“I never said the one hiding under the bed was the killer. The one hiding under the bed was Professor Li. Oh, he didn’t crawl in there himself—the killer stuffed him in.”

Stuffed him in? The contestants were stunned. Zhao Chenghuang said coolly:

“Then who did the suspect see in the room?”

“Naturally, the killer!” Zhang Yuanqing lifted the phone in his hand, lighting the screen: “Please watch this video.”

He opened the video, turning the screen toward the crowd.

To save time, the video was paused right at “I’ve lost interest in your manuscript.”

Zhang Yuanqing looked at the pensive detectives and said:

“The Professor Li the suspect saw was the killer. That’s why he drew the curtains in broad daylight and put on a mask. And because my glasses were broken and my vision blurred, I couldn’t tell the Professor Li was a fake, allowing him to deceive me completely.”

Sun Miaomiao frowned:

“That’s wrong. The killer couldn’t have known in advance that your glasses were broken and your vision blurred. How could he be certain you wouldn’t see through him?

“Wearing a mask could just be a cold; drawing the curtains could be personal preference. Your high myopia preventing you from seeing clearly doesn’t prove the Professor Li at that time was the killer. The wiped dust under the bed could have other causes.

“Your hypothesis is bold, but it’s all conjecture, without evidence.”

She disdained using Tianxia Guihuo’s trash-talk tactics, but she could find holes in Yuanshi Tianzun’s deduction.

Scanning the detectives, Zhang Yuanqing spoke calmly and confidently:

“Everyone has overlooked a detail. I, this suspect, am Professor Li’s ghostwriter—a disgraceful fact. So for this meeting, Professor Li wouldn’t have told a soul. In other words, my arrival was a complete accident, not in the killer’s expectations.

“In that case, him hiding Professor Li under the bed and inviting me in was forced by necessity, outside the plan. Not because he calculated I wouldn’t see through it. At that moment, he most likely already wanted me dead. Drawing the curtains, putting on the mask—it wasn’t to disguise himself as Professor Li, merely to keep me from seeing his true face when he struck.

“But then he discovered I hadn’t seen through his disguise at all. So the killer had a flash of inspiration, thought of framing me, and that gave us the scene in the video where he offers me a drink.”

The detectives’ expressions shifted variously, falling into silent contemplation.

Beneath the augmentation of the Insight Spectacles, Zhang Yuanqing spoke with increasing fluency:

"He deliberately invited me to drink, knocked me unconscious while I was off guard, then, according to plan, dragged Professor Li from the room, pierced his heart with a fruit knife, placed the knife in my hand, and smeared my fingerprints upon it.

"I was struck on the back of the head; the force originated from behind. Thus, when I lost consciousness, I would have fallen either forward or to the side. This explains why blood spattered onto my back and the rear of my trouser legs—because I was lying prone at the time."

The Earth God pondered a moment, then said: "I admit your reasoning is sound, but, young man, you must produce evidence. You have little time left."

Roughly two minutes remained. That would be enough... Zhang Yuanqing chuckled softly:

"Next, I ask everyone to watch the latter half of the video."

He tapped the screen, resuming the paused footage.

The image began with Professor Li rising, and ended with him returning carrying a kettle-shaped bottle of foreign liquor.

Zhang Yuanqing asked: "Young and foolish detectives, having watched the video, look now at the study—do you notice what is missing?"

Qingsongzi replied with displeasure:

"Discussion is discussion; do not smuggle in private grievances to exact revenge. Hmm, the study's arrangement has been utterly disrupted. If one must name what is absent... it is the keyboard. The keyboard is gone."

Qingsongzi immediately glanced toward the wine cabinet by the window and added: "That bottle of wine is missing as well."

Zhang Yuanqing snapped his fingers and said:

"He had to take the keyboard and the wine bottle, for these were objects he touched while posing as Professor Li—he left his fingerprints on them. The chaotic signs of struggle in the room were merely a smokescreen; the true purpose was to conceal the disappearance of the keyboard and the wine bottle."

"According to the on-site investigation photos, the wine bottle and keyboard had already vanished when the peacekeepers arrived. Yet in the video recorded by the suspect, they were present. In other words, the murderer took them when he knocked me out, killed the victim, and left the scene."

"Therefore, the missing wine bottle and keyboard are the very proof that the murderer was in the room at the time."

A lengthy discourse, delivered in a single breath.

【Ding! Detectives must prove the murderer is the suspect within ten minutes. Countdown begins...】

The faces of the seven players changed drastically. The instance had acknowledged Yuanshi Tianzun's deduction; now it was the detectives' turn to present evidence and accuse.

But the evidence was exhausted.

From witness testimony to fingerprints and autopsy reports, every usable piece of evidence had been spent—and still it was not enough to eliminate Yuanshi Tianzun.

At this juncture, the situation reversed.

Ready-made ironclad proof is the detectives' advantage; they need not rack their brains, merely list the evidence to condemn the suspect.

Yet they possess a fatal weakness: once the suspect overturns the evidence, the detectives become utterly passive.

There is no time to find new evidence. What we must do is dismantle Yuanshi Tianzun's argument—that is the correct response when evidence runs dry... Sun Miaomiao's eyes rolled cunningly as she spoke:

"There is a flaw in your reasoning. If the keyboard and wine bottle bore fingerprints, they could simply have been wiped clean—no need to take them away. Thus, your deduction fails!"

Having spoken, she listened in anticipation.

Zhang Yuanqing sneered: "You are correct—wiping fingerprints is a method, but it does not contradict my reasoning. I base my deduction on the phenomenon of the keyboard and wine bottle's disappearance. You argue for argument's sake, without a shred of supporting grounds."

Sure enough, the instance's prompt tone did not sound; Sun Miaomiao's rebuttal was invalid.

Zhang Yuanqing smiled: "In truth, one need only ask Old Wang next door who else visited Professor Li at noon or in the morning that day to identify the murderer—only that lies outside the scope of our confrontation."

This round doesn't require finding the killer; Old Wang next door is merely a backdrop, and may not even exist within the instance.

"Furthermore, I suspect that bottle of wine is problematic too. Professor Li died from a single stab wound to the chest, with no other injuries. If the killer knocked him out, there would surely be traces. So how did he fall unconscious?

"Most likely drugged via the wine. Hence taking the bottle away—serving the dual purpose of removing the murder weapon."

Tianxia Guihuo, Zhao Chenghuang, Yin Chi, and the others furrowed their brows, racking their brains, attempting to find evidence to overturn Yuanshi Tianzun's deduction.

Time ticked by, second by second. For a moment, the detectives were all scratching their heads in frustration, unconvinced yet powerless.

Zhang Yuanqing said:

"Come on, really? Seven brains can't beat one? You're all prominent figures in the Transcendent stage. If you lose even this, where will you put your faces in the future? With so many spectators watching from the sidelines.

"I should give this match a name, for colleagues to reference later. How about 'Yuanshi Tianzun and the Seven Dwarfs'?"

The tables have turned; now it's his turn to manufacture anxiety, to shatter their composure.

Yuanshi Tianzun and the Seven Dwarfs?

Even the Land God's face twitched at that, gritting his teeth: "Brat, your face is just asking for a beating right now."

The other six contestants looked utterly miserable. They had experienced the power of trash talk firsthand—akin to goading, they knew the opponent was deliberately distracting them, provoking them.

But they couldn't help the rising emotions, the anger, the influence.

Yuanshi Tianzun droned on: "Yuanshi Tianzun and the Seven Dwarfs, Yuanshi Tianzun and the Seven Dwarfs..."

Blue veins popped up on the foreheads of the seven contestants, one after another.

Finally, amid an awkward, stiff atmosphere, amid surging undercurrents, the instance prompt chimed:

【Ding! Time's up. The Detective Team waives the right to present evidence. The Suspect is Not Guilty!】

【Ding! All members of the Detective Team are deducted ten points. The Suspect gains thirty points. Match over. Switching arenas in three minutes!】

...

At this moment, the Colosseum erupted in thunderous cheers, applauding this literary battle where the tables were turned in adversity.

"Brilliant. No fighting at all, but so satisfying. Love watching this kind of comeback victory. Thrilling. Yuanshi Tianzun really took on seven by himself. He's too strong."

"Saw that? That's the genius of instance strategy. That's the brain configuration of someone who cleared two S-rank instances."

"Only Yuanshi Tianzun could survive as the Suspect. Any other contestant would've been eliminated long ago. But even Yuanshi Tianzun nearly capsized just now."

"Tianzun yyds [Tianzun is the eternal god]."

The scene was like a concert reaching its climax.

"Clap clap clap!" Xie's mother clapped her small hands excitedly:

"Wonderful, truly wonderful. Far more interesting than idol dramas. Baby, your taste is better than your mother's. The man you picked is way stronger than your dad. Let's recruit Yuanshi Tianzun as a live-in son-in-law."

The young mother's face was flushed with joy, her eyes brimming with excitement, shining bright and crystalline like stars.

Xie Lingxi was about to speak when a sudden chill gripped her heart. Years of "combat experience" made her scent danger.

"Stronger than Dad by a long shot?" If I agreed, the black-hearted witch's next line would be: "Oh? So you think Yuan Shi Tian Zun is way stronger than your dad too? I'm telling him!"

Xie Lingxi smiled. "I think Brother Yuan Shi and Dad are the same. Both amazing."

Mother Xie glanced at her, nodding with a beaming smile.

Fu Qingyang averted his gaze, looking at his cousin beside him. "I've said it before. He's the type who only unlocks his potential in adversity. The more unfavorable the situation, the more he explodes with power..."

Watching his cousin's face alight with joy, her beautiful eyes gazing with pure delight, Fu Qingyang's expression suddenly froze.

This brat, Yuan Shi Tian Zun... he should just fire him. Cut off Guan Ya's contact with him entirely.

On the other side, Zhu Rong narrowed her eyes, long lashes veiling the light in her pupils.

To control Yuan Shi Tian Zun, it had to be done during the Transcendent stage. Once he ascended to the Saint stage, he could no longer be suppressed.

Regardless of combat talent, judging by intellect alone, Yuan Shi Tian Zun reminded her of the Demon Lord.

That man was crooked to the core, yet possessed supreme intelligence. Even in the Transcendent stage, he had pierced through part of the Spirit Realm's secrets.

The Demon Lord... the moment the name surfaced in her mind, Zhu Rong's legs went weak, a physiological reaction flaring up like a conditioned reflex.

This only deepened her obsession with enslaving Yuan Shi Tian Zun.

At the Elders' seats, Elder Hong Ying clapped her hands. "Impressive, impressive."

A bout of this caliber couldn't possibly stir the interest of Elder-level figures on a whim, but that didn't stop her from watching with relish.

Separated by a table, the Dog Elder raised his head, casting a sidelong glance at Elder Sun beside him, and said coolly, "Not bad. Didn't get eliminated in the first wave."

"You speak your piece, why look at me?" Elder Sun was touchy, feeling the other's face was written all over with the words "You're truly muddleheaded."

The Dog Elder ignored him. "The next round should be the martial duel. Wonder what the rules are, how many contestants they'll cull."

...

The feedback from the scene, the contestants inside the instance could neither hear nor see.

Three minutes passed in a flash. A system chime rang in their ears:

[Opening Stage Two. This stage is named — The Era of Mass Reporting!]