Weird Rules Rumor: At The Beginning, He Insisted That He Was Not Dead
Chapter 177: Detective Agency No. 5

"Only with alcohol? And you didn't even mention the second part of your entertainment, did you?"

Bai Liang's mouth twitched slightly, and he said:

"Mr. Toni, I think you should be more concerned about your smoking habit."

"Why?" Toni looked at him in surprise.

"Because smoking leads to weakened kidneys, and their dysfunction leads to impaired memory." Bai Liang answered with utmost seriousness.

Toni pondered, then nodded:

"You're right. It seems I really should quit smoking. Although I don't have memory problems yet, it's better to prevent it in advance."

When it came to weakened kidneys, men desperately tried not to admit the problem. One could admit to being unattractive, but never to suffering from kidney failure.

"Alright, that's not important. We need to focus on the investigation, Bai Liang."

Finally, Toni returned to the matter at hand and began to reveal the key details of the case.

"The deceased is a librarian from Landen Library, his name was Will, 26 years old."

"He had no family, grew up in an orphanage, graduated from some obscure university, and after graduation, he got a job at the library."

"Several hours ago, the police received a call: someone reported a corpse. When officers arrived, it turned out to be a crime scene."

Toni ran a hand over his mustache and frowned:

"He was shot from behind, a bullet to the back of the head. Suicide can practically be ruled outno one would amuse themselves by aiming at their own occiput."

"That's not all, is it?" Bai Liang asked. If the case were limited to just this, it wouldn't have been called "extremely complex" during the phone conversation.

Moreover, as they climbed the stairs, Toni had reiterated that the situation was simply absurd.

And now, before them was an ordinary murder scene, not entirely commonplace, perhaps, but nothing supernatural had been observed yet.

"Hmm..." Toni covered his face with his hand, leaving only his eyes visible, and spoke in a muffled voice:

"This guy was officially registered as deceased three days ago. Back then, his colleagues from the library found him dead in his rented apartment. The cause of death was severed veins, suicide."

"What?!"

Bai Liang stared at him, his gaze sharply changing.

"You mean he was already dead three days ago? And now he's died again?"

"Exactly!" Toni sighed deeply and added in a restrained voice:

"When I heard this from Briney, it took me three cigarettes to compose myself. This goes beyond all logic!"

"You wouldn't believe it, it was even scarier than when, twenty years ago, I saw my long-dead great-grandmother crawling out of her coffin!"

"Honestly, I think your case is scarier..." Bai Liang cast a strange glance at Toni, but then looked back at the corpse, lost in thought.

"Are you absolutely sure it's the same person?"

"Of course! If I wasn't sure, would I have called this case 'absurd'?"

Toni pointed at the body and smirked:

"At first, I also thought it was just two similar people, or that someone had decided to wear a mask and impersonate Will."

"But Briney conducted a DNA analysis. Both results perfectly matched. It's the same person."

His words, combined with the bloodless body lying in a pool of blood,

instantly shrouded everything in a grey haze, making the events even more murky and incomprehensible.

"Did he have a phone or a computer?" Bai Liang continued to ask.

Where a person walked, traces always remained.

In our age, a person leaves most traces not in the real world, but online.

If his phone or computer could be found,

a wealth of useful information could be obtained.

However, upon hearing this, Toni fell silent for a moment.

Then, unable to hold back, he said:

"Briney found his phone and computer in the rented apartment,

but all content had been completely deleted."

"According to surveillance camera footage,"

he himself deleted everything before his death."

"This means that even after being wounded in the head,"

he didn't die immediately,

but found the strength to complete the process of formatting his phones and computer!"

As he spoke, Toni couldn't contain his emotions.

He ran a hand over his face and, exhaling, said:

"I'm just dying of curiosity!"

"What exactly was in his browser if he decided to delete everything before dying?!"

Bai Liang patted him on the shoulder.

"Mr. Toni, there's a saying in the ancient Eastern kingdom."

Toni turned around and looked at Bai Liang questioningly:

"Which one?"

"Even if the body is torn to shreds, it's important to leave a clean name in this world."

This phrase perfectly described Will.

But for Bai Liang himself and his team, this complicated the investigation even further.

The trail went cold.

And for an investigation, this was the worst-case scenario.

Many cases remained unsolved precisely because they lacked key evidence.

Over time, they were forgotten and settled in archives, turning into cold cases and unsolved mysteries.

And this investigation was clearly heading down the same path.

But...

This was Bai Liang's first quest.

He wanted to achieve the highest completion rank.

Therefore, the case had to be solved.

"Toni, do you have the file on the rented apartment? I need its exact location." Bai Liang suddenly asked.

Toni looked at him in surprise. It wasn't Bai Liang asking for the file that confused him, but why he needed to know the apartment's location.

"Why do you need the address of the rented apartment? That case was closed the day before yesterday. The crime scene has long been cleared; you won't find any evidence there."

Saying this, he beckoned to one of the young police officers nearby:

"Hey, buddy, bring me the file on the suicide case in the rented apartment that happened three days ago."

The young police officer, seemingly aware of who Toni was, nodded, took a folder of documents from his hands, and handed it over.

Toni took the folder and handed it to Bai Liang:

"If you're looking for evidence, just read the file. All the details are recorded here; going to the apartment isn't necessary at all."

Bai Liang took the folder and began to flip through it.

"Toni, not all clues are on the surface. I think I really should visit that apartment; it will help me draw more accurate and logical conclusions."

"Alright, alright, you're right." Toni shook his head helplessly. "If you want to go there, head downstairs, turn left, go to the intersection, then right for about a hundred meters. House 55, apartment 303."

Hearing this, Bai Liang nodded. At that moment, he slipped his hand into his pocket, and a quiet "click" sounded.

A moment later, he pulled his hand out again, and a strange glint flashed in his eyes.

Bai Liang turned to Toni and said:

"Mr. Toni, it seems I've discovered something. From the very beginning, our thinking was guided by the clues we had, but the direction of our reasoning itself turned out to be completely wrong."

Toni was bewildered by his sudden words and frowned:

"What did you discover?"

"I found the killer!"

Toni's eyes widened abruptly.

"W-what?!"