Stone looked at the down-and-out charlatan in front of him and was also thinking about a question.
That's why the internal organs of Gaud's corpse found in [Summer Record] point to Byron.
Obviously, after Lu Jian's inspection, Byron did not have any fragments of Gothe's body in his body, and he should not have been the one who ate Gothe's internal organs.
So what exactly is the problem?
Stone didn't know the status of Lu Tan and Shia's investigation. He took a sip of wine and watched the storm outside the window getting stronger and stronger. Due to long-term erosion and soil erosion, some trees were directly washed away by their roots and swayed here and there.
Those trees piled up and blocked the road, making the way up the mountain even more difficult.
Seeing this scene, Stone suddenly had a little inspiration in his mind.
Obviously, Byron was not the one who killed Gothe, at least not the one who devoured Gothe's internal organs. If he believed that there would be no problem with Stone's own [Summer Record], there was only one explanation.
Gothe's internal organs are the same as Byron's.
When Stone thought about this possibility, he thought he might be crazy.
Under normal circumstances, it would be impossible for Stone to think of such an unfolding, but now, after experiencing this, his ideas have grown stronger and have even become mainstream.
Stone glanced at Byron. The man was staring at the clock in boredom, unaware of Stone's gaze.
Once the spark of Stone's thinking emerges, it is difficult to contain it.
He quickly thought of his answer.
The reason why Gothe's internal organs point to Byron is because Byron is Gothe's internal organs.
Or if you think about it from another angle, Gothe is Byron.
This sounds a bit outrageous and incredible, but in a foreign context, it seems very reasonable.
Whether Gauthe or Byron, both are one.
Gauthe is Byron, and Byron is Gauthe.
They are all part of the sludge monster.
Since the sludge monster can mimic a human being, he can mimic two people.
Gothe and Byron are humans who mimicked the sludge monster.
This is why Stone's "Summer Returns" discovered Byron's hiding place while tracking Gothe.
The two of them were originally one.
Thinking of this, Stone suddenly felt a chill running down his spine.
He is now in the same room with this sludge monster.
Stone is very clear about the power of sludge monsters, and it can even be said that no one understands what these monsters can do better than him.
Ten years ago, he witnessed these monsters burrowing into human bodies, causing their internal organs to bloom like a flower of glass, and all this required was just the monster's gaze.
Although Stone knows how to get along with these monsters and avoid their harm, this does not reduce their danger in any way.
"What's wrong?"
Byron asked suddenly. He moved his eyes away from the swinging pendulum and turned to Stone.
"I thought of something."
Stone calmly turned back and looked at Byron.
"Do you know how detectives work on cases?"
"How could I possibly know, sir, I'm just a wanderer."
Byron frowned slightly, indicating that he was not sure.
"To do something, a detective must first believe."
Stone said seriously.
"Believe? Don't you doubt?"
Byron felt strange and asked curiously.
"If you choose to doubt, then all people and things will be questionable, all evidence and testimony can be overturned, things in the world will no longer be true, and the investigation will never be able to start normally."
Stone said, putting both hands on the table to give Byron a sense of security.
"So, the first step in the investigation is to believe in the testimony of every witness, identify with every piece of evidence, and use these evidence and testimony to reconstruct the case."
"But won't there be a contradiction?"
Byron asked.
"That's the point."
Stone replied.
"When all the testimonies and evidence are combined and conflicting, we can find targets that are worthy of suspicion. By investigating these contradictions, we can know who is lying."
"What a good idea."
Byron couldn't help but say.
"Yeah, so, I asked Mr. Butler before, and he said that no vehicles had arrived at Rainstorm Villa during this period. We assume that what he said is true. Then during this period, except for us,
, no one else comes here by car.”
Stone said slowly.
"But according to your statement, Mr. Byron, you fell asleep on the way here and found yourself in a wine barrel when you woke up. Moreover, Mr. Gothe arrived before you, so there must be a car carrying you."
You entered this Rainstorm Villa and contradicted Mr. Butler's testimony."
"You, are you saying that I lied to you?"
Byron was suddenly a little nervous. He retracted his hands and looked very embarrassed.
"But according to my investigation, you didn't lie. There was indeed a car that brought you in, and you were indeed put into a wine barrel. You were not released until we found out."
Stone looked at Byron.
"That's the contradiction."
"Mr. Detective, I didn't lie. Really, I don't know anything."
Byron leaned back, which was a subconscious action to avoid danger.
"I think that neither you nor Mr. Butler lied."
Stone pondered.
"It's just that there are some deviations in this."
Byron looked confused.
"To put it simply, you did go here at the invitation of Gothe, and you did come here in a car and lost consciousness in the middle, but that was not the past few days."
Stone explained.
"You have been favored by Gaode a long time ago. As the material for this ceremony, I don't know why he favored you. Maybe it's because you have come into contact with Taoist Heming's treatises, or maybe for other reasons. He gave you
You made up a reason to come here to conduct a spiritual summoning ceremony, and then on the way, you lost consciousness, were locked in a wine barrel, and stored in an underground wine cellar, where you have been until now."
"How long it took, I'm not sure. Based on the arrangement of all this, it's even possible that when the mansion was sold to Browning, you were already locked in the underground wine cellar."
Hearing Stone's words, Byron was even more confused. If Stone's statement was true, he would have starved to death long ago!
"That's right."
Stone saw Byron's doubts and quickly explained.
"Because you are no longer human."
He connected everything.
When Byron lost consciousness, he had been swallowed by the sludge monster and had his soul and memory sucked away. The culprit of all this was Gothe himself.
When "Gothe" suffered a fatal injury, in order to hide himself, the mud monster activated Byron's consciousness in the wine barrel, pretending not to know anything, and hid it in Gothe's subconscious.
Obviously, because "Gaode" needs to hide something.
What is he hiding from?
When Stone was thinking about this, a thunder struck, and he saw that the expression on Byron's face was constantly changing. After being frightened and confused, it finally turned into numbness and indifference.
His eyes were glazed over, like a doll that had been played with.
"Ah...wu...ah...ga..."
A sound like the bursting of bubbles echoed from Byron's throat.