The Daily Life Of A Cyberpunk Magician

Chapter 54 - 55 You Can Do Without It, But You Can’t Be Without It
Chapter 54: Chapter 55 You Can Do Without It, But You Can’t Be Without It”Kirie-chan actually...” a police officer cried out with a wail, burying his head in the chest of a fellow officer, ”She accepted my Christmas chocolates just last year.”

”Kid, she accepted everyone’s,” the police officer beside him patted his head.

All in all, in that instant, the collective dream of the young officers at Seventh Police Station shattered.

As for Kirie, the female protagonist, she hurried to the exit with her head down.

She was acutely aware that she had utterly embarrassed herself and now just wanted to flee this terrible place at lightning speed.

Then, she ran straight into a glass door, and as if she couldn’t feel the pain, she turned and hit another glass door with a ”bang”.

It wasn’t until the third try that she managed to cover the large bump on her head and ran off.

Great, I’m socially dead and now even being whipped post-mortem.

”Eh, why is she running?” Jiang Shu was incredulous and, having come to his senses, of course knew he had just said something easily misconstrued, ”If she runs away, she can’t clarify things, can she?”

Was she deliberately trying to ruin my reputation?

Bing: Well, turning the tables.

”What’s there to explain?” Wolf raised an eyebrow at him, ”Is explanation even needed? Isn’t it written all over your face?”

”Stop it, she and I definitely have nothing more than a friendship!” Jiang Shu insisted decisively, not wanting to tarnish the girl’s purity, ”She only came to help me install a showerhead that day.”

”Install a showerhead until one o’clock?” Wolf looked puzzled.

Jiang Shu helplessly said, ”There was a little problem, but really, nothing happened.”

Their conversation was not quiet, and the police officers present all overheard to a great extent, leading them to curse in their minds: ”You lucky dog, playing coy after reaping the benefits!”

”Mr. Jiang, I take back what I said just now; I apologize.” At that moment, Joyce suddenly looked at Jiang Shu with a serious face, bowed slightly, but when he lifted his head again, he changed his words, ”Actually, I take back only half; Wolf indeed is someone who relies on speculation to solve cases.”

Ding: He took it back, but didn’t fully retract it.

Jiang Shu had yet to react, and the watching police officers began to show their surprise.

In their minds, Joyce, with his cold impartiality, bloodless ruthlessness, and supreme pride, was not one to easily apologize. Nevertheless, it was such a newcomer who had made Joyce apologize, and even more so, had Kirie-chan installing a showerhead until midnight.

”Stop staring,” an older police officer nearing thirty patted a younger colleague beside him, speaking with heartfelt advice, ”Based on that file alone he could detect the modus operandi, Mr. Jiang is very capable. Plus, you’re an adult, you should know that dreams can contain anything.”

The young officer: ”...”

”A small matter, a small matter,” Jiang Shu was indifferent; he didn’t have much aversion to Joyce’s earlier comments.

It was clear that Joyce and Wolf were cut from the same cloth, perhaps Joyce was more arrogant, perhaps Wolf was more arbitrary, but in any case, they both had principles, very different from the local police officers in Zone F that Jiang Shu had encountered in that dream.

”Police Chief!” an officer quickly found a detail. They had just been focused on investigating the details near the musical box glass cabinet and had not paid much attention to the other side. Now, knowing the process, they naturally became more attentive.

”Here, there’s a scratch,” the officer pointed it out to Joyce.

Joyce stared intently. A few meters in front of window B, on the black floor, if one looked carefully, they could discern a shallow scratch.

”Scratches?” Joyce pondered for a while with no result, but he quickly found a breakthrough.

Above the ceiling, next to that old-fashioned surveillance camera, there was a ventilation duct opening.

The camera was fixed to the ceiling with two sections of brackets, and its lens was not the spherical type commonly used now but tubular.

The difference between the two was obvious; a spherical lens could capture wide angles, with nearly no blind spots, while the ordinary tubular lens had a shooting range of only about thirty degrees in the shape of a sector in front of the lens.

Therefore, the ventilation duct was one of the blind spots for this camera.

”Mr. Curator.”

”Mr. Curator.”

Wolf and Joyce almost spoke at the same time and, upon exchanging glances, they asked even more quickly and in unison—

”Are there any other entrances to the ventilation duct?”

Both had the same breakthrough in mind. Indeed, once the cryptic layer of the Deception case was peeled away and the general method of the crime was clarified, the police’s ability to solve cases proved to be reliable.

”Go, bring the interior structure plan of New Moon Hall to Joyce and Police Chief Wolf,” the curator instructed his butler, who turned and left.

”You!” Wolf, realizing he and Joyce had come to the same conclusion, was somewhat annoyed, ”I said it first.”

Joyce said sarcastically, ”Then you investigate this clue since you were the one who had the hard time coming up with it.”

”No need to, I’ll leave it to you.” Wolf darkened his expression, fortunately, Jiang Shu reminded him at that moment.

Jiang Shu suddenly said, ”Ask about the model of the camera; it’s quite uncommon.”

”Right, Curator, what model is your surveillance camera? Where did you buy it?” Wolf’s eyes lit up as he asked loudly.

After a moment of thought, the curator turned to Wolf and said, ”This camera is already outdated. Now, if you want to buy one... I’m afraid you’d only find it in a place like Nostalgic Hall.”

”Understood,” Wolf nodded.

Immediately after, the curator came down. Instead of going straight to the two police chiefs present, he looked at Jiang Shu, patted his shoulder, and for the first time, a smile appeared on his face, ”You’re pretty good.”

”Thank you,” Jiang Shu nodded, then subconsciously said, ”You’re pretty good, too.”

Curator: ”???”

”I mean, you’ve done an impressive job making New Moon Hall so... majestic. You’re quite remarkable, sir,” Jiang Shu quickly corrected himself.

”Oh? Are you also interested in this place?” The curator smiled as he stroked his beard, pulling out a business card from his pocket, ”This is my card, which serves as a sort of membership card here. If you don’t mind, please take it.”

”Thank you,” Jiang Shu accepted the card with a smile. The business card was made of hard plastic, semi-transparent and black, simply bearing the inscription ”New Moon Hall - Lu Yi.” On the back of the card, there was a finely patterned music box.

Regarding such external acquisitions, Jiang Shu always adhered to the principle of accepting whatever he could, like the ’Steam’ platform’s feature for collecting free games.

I may not use it, but I can’t be without it.

”Police Chief Wolf, Police Chief Joyce, now that we have a direction, my music box...” The curator paused, ”it would be best if it could be found before tonight, as there is an important exhibition concert in the evening.”

”No problem.”

”We’ll do our utmost.”

Wolf and Joyce almost answered at the same time.

”The rest is up to the two police chiefs and the officers,” the curator looked around then slowly left, finally feeling relieved now that the police had made a significant breakthrough in the case.