Kudo Ran's words were like a stone thrown into a calm lake, instantly stirring up waves of shock and leaving the scene in stunned silence.
All eyes turned to the young high school detective, and the atmosphere grew tense in an instant.
The two men in black coats furrowed their brows.
A high school detective... Kudo Ran?
They exchanged a glance.
Damn it, why did it have to be him?
And that idiot, how could he suddenly drop dead during the deal?
The commander of the law enforcement team frowned slightly, clearly skeptical of Kudo Ran's judgment.
"Brother Kudo, what do you mean by that? We've just confirmed through surveillance and the coroner's report that this was an accident. The victim died of cardiac arrest."
"Cardiac arrest?"
Kudo Ran sneered, his sharp gaze sweeping over everyone present. "Have you ever considered why he suddenly collapsed in front of so many people? And why his health deteriorated so abruptly?"
"What are you talking about?"
The lawyer couldn't help but retort, his voice filled with anger and unease. "Are you suggesting that we caused his condition to worsen?"
"Are you kidding me?"
"We're all innocent! There's no reason for us to harm him!"
Hearing this, Kudo Ran raised his voice, as if trying to break through their doubts. "Innocent?!"
"Each of you played a role in this incident! Whether you were witnesses, customers, or tourists, you might not realize it, but this was all premeditated."
He continued his analysis, his eyes shining with rationality. He walked over to the victim, lifted the white sheet in front of everyone, and explained, "Even if it was cardiac arrest, it could have been triggered by some kind of stimulus. The terror in his pupils shows that he experienced extreme fear before his death!"
"In other words, the real culprit might be among you!"
"How can you say that?"
The JK Girl was visibly angry. "I don't even know this person. Why would I want to scare him?"
"Whether you scared him or not isn't for you to decide."
Kudo Ran cut her off and began his investigation in front of everyone. "Now, we need to retrace the sequence of events."
"Please recall if anyone was acting suspiciously or was near the victim before he collapsed."
Was anyone nearby?
The commander stepped forward. "Brother Kudo, we've already reviewed the surveillance footage. When the victim died, he was alone in the photo booth."
"So there's no way someone else could have killed him."
"No, no, no."
Kudo Ran shook his head, a cold smile on his lips. "That's exactly what the culprit wants you to think."
"Inducing cardiac arrest is actually quite simple."
"For example, through external stimuli, drugs, or other means to burden the heart, or even using small tools to achieve the goal."
Kudo Ran's voice was calm and firm, his sharp eyes scanning everyone present, searching for clues.
"But we can't ignore one fact: the victim must have experienced panic, anxiety, or shock before collapsing."
"So what? I still don't understand what you're trying to say!"
The JK Girl firmly rebutted, clearly unimpressed by Kudo Ran's reasoning.
At that moment.
The coroner walked over and whispered something to the commander.
The commander nodded, then approached Kudo Ran with a transparent bag and a phone. "Brother Kudo, take a look at this."
Kudo Ran picked up the transparent bag, which contained a small amount of golden powder.
He then opened the phone.
His gaze sharpened, and he walked over to the photo booth.
After a moment, he emerged, his expression gradually becoming one of realization.
The two men in black grew visibly nervous.
Hiss... why does this suddenly feel like a movie scene?
Su Muwan swallowed hard, a hint of excitement in her eyes.
She looked around. The real culprit... is among them!
Who could it be?!
Qin Luo glanced at the excited Su Muwan.
Based on how things usually go, could it be...
The next second.
"I know who the culprit is."
Kudo Ran slipped his hands into his pockets, his expression growing confident.
!!
Everyone was shocked.
He already... figured it out?
Kudo Ran leisurely walked into the crowd and said calmly, "I'd like to ask everyone here."
"Has anyone here come into contact with a golden powder?"
The crowd fell into silence, everyone exchanging puzzled looks, clearly confused by the sudden question.
Only a masked man raised his hand, swallowing hard, and said, "That's Nightmare Powder, right?"
Nightmare Powder?
Everyone was stunned, their expressions turning to shock.
"Exactly, Nightmare Powder."
Kudo Ran continued, "This was originally a legal drug in Cherry Blossom City. Users could fall into pleasant dreams, and it was intended to treat psychological trauma."
"But... if taken in excess, the pleasant dreams turn into nightmares, and the user can suffer cardiac arrest and die within a short time."
"Due to the high number of deaths, private purchases were banned, and it could only be taken in small doses under medical supervision."
"And we just happened to find an excessive amount of Nightmare Powder in the photo booth."
"We checked the surveillance footage. This machine was purchased yesterday for the Corgi Parade performance and was only opened to the public today."
"Once inhaled, this excessive powder is fatal. So..."
Kudo Ran's voice carried a hint of coldness. "Everyone here should know who had the opportunity to plant the excessive powder before the victim entered."
At this point.
Kudo Ran took a deep breath, his eyes narrowing. "There's no such thing as a perfect crime!"
"If someone commits a crime, they'll leave behind traces!"
"So!!!"
"With all the evidence pointing in one direction!"
As he spoke, Kudo Ran raised his finger, his gaze serious as he pointed in a specific direction.
In the crowd.
The two men in black grew increasingly nervous.
One of them whispered to the other, "Boss, what do we do? If they find out we planted the stuff..."
The other clenched his fist. "Don't worry. If it comes to that, we'll fight our way out."
As they spoke, their hands moved toward their waists.
The next second.
"The culprit!"
Kudo Ran shouted, "It's you!!!"
Boom!!!
Everyone was shocked!!!
They all turned to look in the direction Kudo Ran was pointing.
Su Muwan did the same, her head swiveling left and right.
The culprit? The culprit? Where is it?
But...
When she realized everyone was looking at her.
Su Muwan froze.
She shifted slightly, and everyone's gaze followed her movement.
One second, two seconds, three seconds.
Boom!!!
A thunderclap struck Su Muwan's heart.
She pointed at herself, her expression one of utter shock as she looked around at the crowd, screaming internally.
Wait?!
The culprit... is me??!
Qin Luo shrugged. Well, of course it turned out this way.
The two men in black were stunned: ?
【Prologue: The Beginning of It All – Use holy water to heal the saintess tainted by demonic energy, then converse with her.】 Shen Nian stared at his older sister sipping yogurt, lost in thought. So you’re telling me my sister is the saintess, and yogurt is the holy water? 【Main Quest 1: Brave Youth, Become an Adventurer! Reward: Rookie Adventurer Title.】 【Side Quest 1: Find the Adorable Kitty! Reward: 1000 Gold Coins.】 Shen Nian: "Wait, I’m a high school senior here—did some guy who got isekai’d accidentally bind his system to me?" Hold on, completing quests gives gold rewards? Titles even boost stats? Is this for real? (A lighthearted, absurd campus comedy—not a revenge power fantasy.)
. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
