The Daily Life Of A Cyberpunk Magician

Chapter 53 - 54 Shifting Shadow Technique
Chapter 53: Chapter 54 Shifting Shadow TechniqueUnlike the Thirteen District Police Station, the Seventh District Police Station was not a unified block, also featuring various internal factions. The Chief Police Inspector was getting older and his health was not as good as before, which put his position at risk for promotion or retirement, which many coveted.

Among these factions, Wolf was the most unique, holding the position of Police Chief. He was supposed to manage detectives and officers but, like a few other Police Chiefs, he had relinquished the power to sit in the office and focused solely on criminal investigation.

At that moment, the curator, who had been standing quietly on the second floor, slightly tilted his head and asked his butler, ”Who is he?”

”Sir, his name is Jiang Shu, he’s from the Entertainment Series, and also a special consultant hired by the police station,” the butler replied with a smile.

”Hmm,” the curator continued to frown, but said nothing more.

On the other side, Jiang Shu also received a response from Xiao Jia.

Xiao Jia: Facing west.

”And how about that one?” Jiang Shu pointed to window B, which was at a ninety-degree angle to window A.

Xiao Jia: Facing north.

He continued to inquire, ”What was the moon phase that day?”

Xiao Jia checked the records from the astronomy bureau and displayed on the screen: last quarter moon.

”What are you doing?” Joyce frowned, ”Is this case even related to astronomy?”

”It’s somewhat related,” Jiang Shu smiled and then continued to instruct Xiao Jia, ”Turn on the projection, play that video segment.”

Xiao Jia complied, emitting a huge simulated light screen in front of him.

”Look at this segment, from 1:30 AM to 1:40 AM on July 31st in the surveillance footage,” Jiang Shu pointed to window A on the screen, ”Here, the window behind the exhibition stand showed moonlight.”

”Oh,” from the crowd, Kirie Tsukimiya whispered softly, as if she understood something.

Such a detail-oriented wizard, even I hadn’t noticed such a detail.

Kirie’s eyes shimmered with admiration as she looked at Jiang Shu, appearing as if conceiving such magic was no coincidence.

However, this soft ”oh” in the quiet moment was particularly noticeable, and everyone looked towards Kirie until her cheeks flushed, and she hurriedly hid behind a pillar, acting like a little ostrich.

Big sister, just by understanding it, you make us look foolish, you know?

”Good on you, Kirie,” Jiang Shu exclaimed with delight, as he was worried about his own ability to explain clearly. ”Since you understood, why don’t you explain it to them?”

”Eh?” Kirie’s head peeked from behind the pillar. She instinctively wanted to refuse, as she really hated explaining to these rough folks, but seeing that the command came from Jiang Shu, she reluctantly stood up and nodded, ”Okay.”

The young policemen nearby were all stunned; every eligible male officer in the Seventh Police Station had a crush on her.

In their eyes, Kirie was extremely aloof, and it was totally unlikely for her to explain case details to ordinary officers.

And now, this ”outsider” who just received a second-class merit a few days ago had managed to persuade Kirie so easily?

Kirie slowly walked towards the screen, always lazy in front of these police station folks, and pointed at window A in the footage, ”That window, facing west.”

”That day was the last quarter moon, which only appears in the latter half of the night during the second half of the lunar month and should be in the northeastern sky,” she continued, and concluded, ”Thus, the moonlight would have come from the northeast, it’s impossible for a west-facing window to have moonlight.”

”But in the video...” Joyce countered, ”Are our eyes deceiving us?”

”Whatever you think,” Kirie shrugged her shoulders dismissively.

”The video’s window was actually this one,” Jiang Shu said with a smile.

I never realized Kirie had such an off-limits side to her.

Pointing at window B, Jiang Shu continued, ”Yes, your eyes were indeed deceived.”

”What do you mean?” Although Joyce still didn’t understand what he was talking about, with Kirie, the technician, nodding along beside him, he began to feel that Jiang Shu made a lot of sense and started to eagerly learn.

Jiang Shu pointed at window B. ”If a glass display case were made at a 1:1 scale in front of this window...”

”Put two mirrors in front of that old camera, under the light refraction, it could only capture this fake display case. Then, the thief would steal the music box, replace it with a fake one, remove the fake display case, take down the mirrors, blackout the remaining surveillance, and clear the footage,” he explained. ”Perfect, it would not be captured by the old surveillance, and the real music box could be taken.”

”This...” Sweat rolled down Joyce’s forehead. Such a bizarre method of committing the crime was unheard of. New Moon Hall had so many security measures in place in the exhibition hall, yet someone had cracked it with such a technique.

”The Shifting Shadow Technique,” Jiang Shu explained. ”A classic magic trick, and that’s why I suspect the Deception Group is behind this. Besides me, only they know magic, though they call it ’deception.’”

”But all this is just your speculation. How do you know that’s what they did?” Joyce was still uncomfortable with this method of solving cases purely based on guesses.

”No, it’s not speculation,” Jiang Shu shook his head, then instructed the Tablet Spirits, ”Open those two frames.”

A timeline appeared on the Simulated Light Screen, clearly showing two blurred frames.

”Look at these two frames,” Jiang Shu pointed at the blurry images. ”This is the evidence, the moment they installed the mirrors.”

Joyce nodded. Although the evidence wasn’t strong, in this case, it was enough to initiate an investigation since there were no other leads.

”But why couldn’t it be you?” Joyce furrowed his brow, suddenly looking at him suspiciously. ”You said it yourself, besides them, only you know this technique. And to directly suspect them is really strange.”

”Me?” Jiang Shu thought about his schedule that day, which was the night before the magic performance, which means...

”Right, the Deception Group’s time of committing the crime was between one and two o’clock, and at that time, Kirie was by my side,” he affirmed.

Then, Jiang Shu double-checked the time, affirming doubly, ”Correct.”

Hearing this, there was a moment when everyone present seemed to freeze.

The police officers: ”Huh?”

”Huh?” Kirie was stunned, turning to look at Jiang Shu with wide eyes.

”Isn’t it?” Jiang Shu asked perplexed, ”Weren’t you there at the time? I remember you left at two.”

The police officers: ”Oh—”

”But... but!” Kirie’s face turned bright red. She realized she was now the center of attention and felt extremely embarrassed.

This guy!

Why did he have to say such misleading things here!

Was he...

Claiming his territory?!

What should I do now? Can I explain? Should I explain?

Kirie’s thoughts were a mess, her mind swirling in circles, as the blush spread down her neck and crept up to her ears.