When the plot-skips players into the game world

Chapter 62: Chapter 39: The Detective with the Body of a Child but the Mind of an Adult

"That's not necessarily true, Detective Young Master."

Aiwass's lips curled slightly upward as he responded in a low voice, "Is it really alright for you not to be peddling newspapers to us?"

The boy with auburn curls and a face full of fine freckles, slender and small, looking only seven or eight years old... must be Sherlock.

Aiwass had easily recognized Sherlock's identity as soon as he got out of the car.

Because Sherlock hadn't hidden himself at all.

He hadn't even tried to properly play his role.

As a newsboy, he wasn't bustling about selling his newspapers. Instead, he stood poised and silent in the shade, surveying every passerby with his sharp and somber gaze.

His look was like a cold, sharp blade, making passersby noticeably uncomfortable. Several cast surprised and wary glances his way, only letting down their guard slightly when they saw it was just a dark-looking child.

"Fox, you are clever... but you must be new, right?"

The boy let out a cold, disdainful laugh, "Let me teach you something. In most cases, choosing not to play your role doesn't matter."

"Although 'playing a role' is a necessary task, the standard for failure is not whether you fail at playing the role but whether you are questioned and exposed."

"I am just a newsboy, even if it is strange for me to stand here motionless, but who is going to come out and question me 'you don't seem like a real newsboy'? No one will pay attention to me... because I am insignificant."

"Although I have no objection to the Transcendents of the Path of Beauty—I must say, if you were to appear alone without 'Fox' by your side, you definitely wouldn't have thought to come to the entrance of the Pelican Bar for the rendezvous."

"...Ooh."

Lulu let out a small wail.

The voluptuous and beautiful woman showed a lost expression for a moment, like that of a young girl.

Because she knew, Mr. Sherlock was right.

"There's more to it than that," Aiwass suddenly said, "It's not just because he knows he won't meet any teammates if he comes here."

Sherlock looked over with some surprise.

The boy's voice was young, but his tone mature and cold, encouraging in a genuinely interested way, "Do tell?"

"You have been quite concerned about 'Bone Sculptor's' cane. Honorable Apostle has said that the only items allowed in the ritual are 'handmade' Extraordinary Items of one's own making—meaning his cane is not just an ordinary staff but a creation of the Path of Dusk. But this is his first advanced ritual, which means he would have just stepped onto the Path of Dusk. I suspect his cane is an Extraordinary Item made from human bone."

"To be precise, it's made from a completely detached spine. Female, between eighteen and twenty-six or twenty-seven years old. No signs of heavy physical labor, no significant evidence of exercise. But she must have often worked or studied at a desk. Also a slight hunchback."

"She could be a student, painter, or writer. Her background wouldn't be too poor or too rich, likely a local from Glass Island. It's probable that a student who just graduated was lured in. Having just ventured into the Path of Dusk, and already able to create an Extraordinary Item... it suggests he had practiced bone carving or sculpting techniques often before entering the Path of Dusk, already having a good grasp of crafting Extraordinary Items."

"That is to say, his other identity is most likely among the Path of Balance, Path of Beauty, or Transcendence Path, skilled in crafting Extraordinary Items."