Chapter 155: The Impasse

"So, what on earth is going on here..." Looking at the corpses scattered across the floor and a crime scene completely devoid of blood, Nero Claudius and Cole could not help but feel a wave of shock. Ten minutes earlier, Cole had agreed to Nero's request to repair the Habsburg communication signal. However, upon arriving at the control room responsible for the signal, Cole and Nero Claudius were met with the ghastly scene now before their eyes.

Not only that, but they also had someone right beside them who could vouch for their innocence—Roland. "It seems someone really has infiltrated our Habsburg Castle!" As things stood, no one could entirely escape suspicion. Yet, because the banquet was not yet over, most of the people currently in the banquet hall possessed solid alibis. Even though each of them had Europa personnel accompanying them, trust had become a luxury in times like this. From the initial attack by Europa on the United Kingdom delegation, it was clear that a special faction targeting the United Kingdom had emerged within the Europa system. Thus, many internal Europa agents likely belonged to this very organization.

"Cole, can you spot any clues?" At this moment, Nero turned first to the person she trusted—Cole. And she received the following reply: "Based on a preliminary examination of the scene, the weapon used by the perpetrator was a Mauser G7, a model already retired from active military service in Europa. Such a weapon can be obtained at ordinary Europa weapon specialty stores, but it requires a Europa firearms license or a Europa officer's certificate."

Before even truly stepping into the crime scene proper, Cole had already arrived at this conclusion. He then continued, "This pistol still uses gunpowder propulsion. Judging by the residual smokeless powder in the air and the minimal amount of ammunition expended, the time of the crime must have been about thirty minutes ago—right around when your Europa host was still giving his speech..."

"Hey! How do you know all that so clearly? Who on earth are you?" Hearing Cole rattle off such detailed deductions in one breath, Roland found it hard to believe. After all, he still had no idea what Cole's background was. "Me? Former chief scientist of the United Kingdom Royal Academy of Sciences, just not working there anymore. If not for that, I'd still be the chief. As for the inferences I just made, I simply studied some forensic knowledge out of sheer boredom and memorized it directly with my brain." Hearing Roland inquire about his identity, Cole answered quite casually. However, Nero added a supplementary remark from the side: "He is actually my younger brother. Although he holds United Kingdom citizenship, he is completely trustworthy."

"Oh? Then I suppose I'll trust you for now. So, do you have any clues regarding the killer?" Despite claiming trust, Roland still harbored doubts about someone hailing from the United Kingdom. "You could say yes, and you could say no," Cole replied rather vaguely. "The weapon isn't here, and it wasn't a caseless bullet. Judging by the traces at the scene, the killer even cleaned up the residual cartridge casings from the floor. Although there are only two victims, this time of death corresponds to the shift change between two details. Could you let me know the DNA samples of the personnel on duty? I need to verify the victims." "No need. Those two are Cipnis and Winlem, I can still remember those two," Roland interjected from the side. "According to the duty roster, they were murdered at the exact moment their shift was supposed to begin."

"Oh? Is that so? That makes things easier," Cole said, tinkering with his tablet right in front of Nero and Roland. "Cipnis... Winlem... OK! Their DNA data has been retrieved. Now, let me examine the blood samples and the residual stray DNA left behind here!" With that, Cole pulled a pair of glasses from his pocket. Although the bloodstains at the scene were quite obvious, upon putting on the glasses, Cole quickly made a discovery.

"Found you!" In criminal investigations, when dealing with bloody crime scenes, forensic examiners generally use a "biuret reagent" to check for blood residue; if the biuret reagent comes into contact with unknown proteins, it turns purple. Yet, at this scene, Cole used a different kind of experimental reagent. This reagent did not test proteins directly; instead, it tested chromosomes. "Under normal circumstances, police officers and the like use various methods to detect hemoglobin in blood, but I am different. When the human body is breached, interstitial fluid also seeps out in small amounts, and when cells rupture, nuclear damage occurs as well. Therefore, even though the killer attempted to destroy the blood evidence, what I am looking for are the cell nuclei within their interstitial fluid sample." As he spoke, Cole had already begun testing the sample left behind in the corner.

"Judging by the freshness, it happened thirty minutes ago. DNA comparison result: Europa's... Rademude...?" "Wait a minute, you didn't just hack into our Europa household registration system, did you?" Seeing Cole locate so many clues with such smooth fluency, Roland could not help but ask. "What else? How else do you think I managed to find their information so quickly? And anyway, who on earth is this Rademude?" Refusing to waste words with Roland, Cole directly began inquiring about the person's identity.

"Rademude... could it be Rademude von Pericles? That's someone from the Pericles family of Athens, but logically speaking, it's impossible for this person to be here... No, although that guy isn't here, his identical twin brother is..." "Proxy murder—two similar-looking people exchanging identities to create alibis, and switching back when necessary to mask the killer. A very clever method. By this time, that Rademude has probably flown far away, huh? Heh. Sabotaging external communications so we can't reach the outside world. This is a mountain, very far from the downtown area, and we currently have no means of transportation immediately available. For the time being, since delegations from all nations have gathered here, helicopters won't be coming to extract us either. It's a textbook locked room."

Facing the current situation, both Roland and Cole understood the reality clearly. Habsburg Castle was now isolated and helpless; even if communications were cut, the situation might be covered up by "those people," and anyone sent away from this place could easily be disposed of in these deep mountain forests. Right now, there was only one way to resolve this matter, and that method...