God created man, and Fingertips made them equal.

–A Proverb of the E-Mei Sisters Order

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“Hmm? Wait. The murders all happened nearby, didn’t they? We could just walk instead of taking a carriage.”

When I said this, Watson raised a question.

“What are you talking about, Watson?”

“No, didn’t you say earlier that our destination was Bexley, which is why we came here?”

“You seem to be mistaken, Watson. Only the first murder occurred nearby.”

“Didn’t you say there were four murders in one night?”

I understood Watson’s confusion.

She hadn’t read the case records yet.

“All four murders occurred in different places.”

“Right. Didn’t they all happen nearby?”

Gregson, who knew where the crime scenes were, started sighing deeply as soon as he heard my explanation.

A sure sign of a headache.

It was finally time to share this astounding revelation with Watson as well.

“Listen carefully. The first victim died here, in Bexley, at the eastern end of London.”

“I know.”

“And the second victim was at the northern end in Enfield. The third victim was at the western end in Hillingdon. The last victim was murdered with the exact same method in Croydon, at the southern end.”

“…What?”

I decided to correct one more thing.

“And be aware that the information about four murders happening in one night is incorrect.”

“Hmm? Was something wrong with that?”

“The phrase ‘one night’ is overly comprehensive. According to testimonies from the exchange staff and citizens near the scene, all four murders occurred within 15 minutes.”

“What…does that mean…”

“Listen carefully. Based on verified circumstances, this is the suspect’s behavior as deduced.”

It seemed that Watson was not grasping the matter entirely, so I resolved to explain it in greater detail.

“The suspect traversed a 100-mile distance connecting Bexley, Enfield, Hillingdon, and Croydon within Fifteen Minutes, killing four victims who were receiving calls in locked rooms while running. Without leaving any traces.”

In summary, assuming all this was the act of a single perpetrator.

“It means the suspect moved at half the speed of sound.”

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There was no intricate reasoning behind my immediate acceptance of Ulrich Zuckerberg’s request.

What he wanted was not to conceal the truth, but to reveal it and catch the criminal.

That is precisely what I intended to do, and the possibility of not finding the true culprit did not exist in my mind.

I simply saw no reason to refuse, as I could earn additional compensation by completing what I intended to do.

In any case, the night is short and the scene is far.

We hurriedly boarded a carriage to complete the circuit of London’s four corners where the murders took place.

Waiting in the carriage, I summarized the case records for Watson for two and a half hours.

Passing through Greenwich and Tottenham, we arrived at the second crime scene, located in the northernmost administrative district of London, Enfield.

“It’s been a while since I’ve come here.”

“Did you also learn martial arts at the Enfield Academy after enlisting?”

Watson momentarily relaxed her tense face, nodding as if recalling old memories.

It seemed that the psychological fatigue from witnessing the recent crime scene was more significant than expected, as her face-changing technique was temporarily deactivated inside the carriage.

“That’s right. Enfield Academy can be considered the homeland of the heart.”

Even inside the swaying carriage, Watson accurately identified the direction of the academy and performed a respectful salute.

“The days of learning under the old master were painful, but without the martial arts I learned then, I wouldn’t have survived the battlefield.”

“To have the finest master of Fingertips, the foremost expert in the British Empire, teaching there—indeed, their Fair Reputation precedes them.”

The Royal Fingertips Academy, colloquially known as the Enfield Academy is overseen by a master from the Enfield family, a revered member of the E-Mei Sisters Order. To those who train in the art of Fingertips, it is regarded as something of a sacred ground.

Though it was called an academy, Enfield Academy was distinct from other unrecognized academies, maintaining a higher status.

Enfield was the only academy

to possess a Royal Warrant,

allowing it to instruct royal family members in martial arts.

Moreover, considering that the Army’s Fingertips manual was written here, one could understand its tremendous influence.

There was no need to look far to confirm Enfield Academy’s influence.

The very techniques I taught Watson, such as the Bullet Finger, Martini-Henry, were developed here.

“I fear the master might lose sleep if he hears of the strange incidents nearby. If the criminal used martial arts…”

A voice filled with deep concern. It was clear what Watson was worried about.

“Don’t worry. There’s no such possibility.”

“Really?”

“I assure you.”

“If you say so, then I can be at ease.”

After getting off the carriage, we walked towards the crime scene.

A small building located up a gentle hill north of the cricket club was being used as a lawyer’s office.

“I was waiting as per the Chief’s instructions. Are you the renowned Sherlock Holmes?”

“Indeed.”

An inspector was stationed here as well, controlling the scene.

Following the officer’s guidance, we entered inside, and once again, a scene almost identical to what we saw earlier at Bexley unfolded before us.

“How dreadful…”

Watson muttered with a grimace after witnessing the body.

A telephone was installed in the medium-sized law office.

Beside it, a headless corpse was seated in a chair.

The victim was murdered in the same manner as the first crime scene.

The head was shattered and scattered in the direction opposite to where the strike landed.

From afar, it looked like an avant-garde painting depicting the scene of Italian cuisine spilled against the walls and floor.

To my eyes, the receiver, dangling precariously by its cord, appeared as though it were tethering an ominous energy in the air, as though it were holding back an impending explosion.

“…Hmm.”

As I surveyed the surroundings, I noticed brain matter splattered by the window.

It indicated that the second victim, unlike the first, was attacked from the opposite side of the window and died.

This completely ruled out the possibility that the victim was shot from outside the window by the perpetrator.

The strike that took the victim’s life was executed from inside the room.

“This office also used Zuckerberg & Co.’s locks, Holmes.”

“I already confirmed that upon entering.”

And just like the first murder scene, this law office was also secured with a lock that wards off Poltergeist to prevent the intrusion of thieves.

“Again, the victim was killed indoors and then vanished like smoke, is it?”

As with the first deceased, I checked the pulse of the corpse to assess the level of internal energy they had in life.

“Hmm.”

The second victim was someone who had sufficiently honed their martial arts.

The meridians and veins I examined by sending internal energy through them indicated that he was at least a martial artist of the first-class level.

It’s a puzzling situation.

No matter how distracted he was by the call, for a first-class martial artist to be unable to resist and fall victim to a predator that approached so closely seems unthinkable.

It would make more sense to consider it a suicide.

However, someone intending to take their own life wouldn’t polish their shoes to a shine the day before.

If he intended to meet his end like a gentleman wearing his favorite shoes, he wouldn’t have smashed his own head like that.

In London Murim, a death where a pristine suit is drenched in brain matter and blood isn’t considered elegant.

“There aren’t many ways such a murder could be possible…”

Among the assassination insects raised by the Modern Clan monks using elixirs, there is a type known as Explosive Killing Worm, which reacts to specific sounds and causes explosions.

If one of these was placed in the victim’s ear and then triggered with a detonation sound during a call, such a bizarre locked-room murder could indeed be orchestrated.

However, in the case of the Explosive Killing Worm, they leave a peculiar stench that lingers for a week at the site of the explosion, and this scent was not detected at the scene.

“A thorough investigation is necessary.”

If an Explosive Killing Worm wasn’t used, then there are only a couple of other possibilities.

With the pipe in my mouth, I lit it, and methods to test my hypothesis began to form in my mind.

“Holmes, I suspect there might be multiple perpetrators in this case.”

Amidst this, Watson was once again spouting her peculiar theories.

“Why do you think so?”

“Well, it would be impossible for one person to carry out such an absurd act alone.”

“You’ve explained your point concisely.”

“Right? It seems like there must be accomplices to manipulate locks and handle various behind-the-scenes work.”

Watson continued her deduction with a face full of courage.

“After all, unless the culprit were some mythical figure, like the swift-footed Mercury, it seems impossible for anyone to have crossed all four corners of London in such a short time. It seems far more reasonable to believe that four separate criminals, each responsible for one victim’s death, are involved.”

Nodding while holding back laughter, Watson’s expression became even more triumphant.

“It seems I’ve improved my deduction skills by following you around.”

“Unfortunately, I can’t agree with that.”

“What? Why…”

Watson’s cheeks, which had been rising, quickly fell.

“Just by observing the first two corpses, one can easily tell. Look closely at the shattered and scattered head.”

Watson examined the victims’ shattered skull and brain as I instructed, but she couldn’t reach a conclusion.

In truth, I couldn’t blame Watson’s eyes for this part.

It’s challenging to deduce the extent of internal energy used based on traces left by martial arts unless one frequents the morgue enough to wear their soles out.

“The two corpses we found died from the exact same technique. By ‘same’, I mean that it wasn’t different gentlemen using the same technique, but rather one person who executed it.”

“How can you be sure of that?”

“Even considering the different skull thickness and bone density of each person, by comparing the distance, range, and angle of the scattered bone fragments and brain matter, we can see that the force applied to both victims’ heads was identical.”

It’s not just similar; it’s exactly the same.

Even if it is the same technique, the power varies depending on the user and their habits are reflected in their execution, but the traces left at both scenes matched perfectly.

There might not be a single clue like hair, cigarette ash, or even footprints, but the silhouette of the culprit is flickering before my eyes.

“For now, we must begin by uncovering the precise technique with which the villain brought about the victim’s demise.”

Now, it is time to verify whether the hypothesis that has formed in my mind holds any truth.