All-rounder Artist

Chapter 515: Chapter 491 Basic Deductive Reasoning (Part 1)_1

“One each for you.”

Chu Kuang’s new work finally arrived.

Cao Dezhi had wanted to go back to his office alone to read it –

But under the gaze of his sub-editors, he had no choice but to let his assistant print a copy for everyone.

Everyone read it together.

He himself went back to his office.

It was also a print version of the script.

Kneading the freshly brewed tea from his assistant, Cao Dezhi turned to Chu Kuang’s new book.

Despite all kinds of worries in his heart, the more specific situation still had to be addressed in the main text.

Could Sherlock Holmes be Hercule Poirot under a different name?

Maybe the first case could give us some clues.

[The 78-year-long power struggle began, I earned a PhD in Medicine from the University of Han Continent and undertook a compulsory course in military medicine. Upon graduation, I was assigned to serve as an assistant military doctor in the Blue Star 5th Army 3rd Unit stationed at the Maiwand battlefield in Qi Continent…]

The story began in the first person.

The Hercule Poirot series by Chu Kuang also had many cases presented from a first-person perspective.

For instance, the acclaimed “The Murder of Roger Ackroyd” used a first-person perspective and the murderer also pioneered the literary device of narrative trickery.

Most of the cases in the Poirot series narrated from a first-person perspective were from the perspective of Poirot’s assistant Hastings, including Poirot’s death at the end.

Chu Kuang’s earlier creations using the first person could be traced back to “Ghost Blows the Lamp”.

Chu Kuang seems to have a fondness for storytelling in the first person and is quite adept at it, and this is a common literary technique in detective novels.

In the current story…

The character presenting the story in first person is called “Watson”.

This person is definitely not the protagonist, as Chu Kuang has personally explained in his book title and elsewhere.

The protagonist is called “Sherlock Holmes”.

Let’s talk about Watson first.

Watson is an experienced individual.

He has lived through the shift of power in Blue Star, was injured in the battlefield of Maiwand in Qi Continent, and retired to London due to the physical incapability to meet the demands of the battlefield –

Cao Dezhi knew about London.

London is one of the largest cities in Han Continent.

Chu Kuang’s novel settings were never limited to a specific continent. He had sound geographical knowledge and seemed to have some understanding of each continent.

Moreover, the character background settings were very realistic, as if those people really existed in that era.

These are similar to the Hercule Poirot series.

Let’s continue reading.

After retiring, Watson was looking for work in London, assuming that he could afford a place to stay and preferably a room partner. Accidentally, he ran into an old medical friend on the street.

The friend told Watson that a man named Sherlock Holmes was also looking for a roommate recently.

So, Watson and this old medical friend went together to a medical lab in London –

The place where Sherlock Holmes was currently working.

This inevitably reminded Cao Dezhi of when Hastings first met Poirot.

Maybe Watson served as an assistant to Sherlock Holmes in the same way Hastings served Poirot?

There were indeed similarities.

A sense of unease appeared in Cao Dezhi’s mind. He believed that the readers would probably notice this as well. This point seemed to indirectly show that Sherlock Holmes and Hercules Poirot were similar.

However, when Watson arrived at the lab and met Sherlock Holmes for the first time, Cao Dezhi suddenly got a sense of the difference between Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot.

Sherlock Holmes was certainly not Poirot!

“Thud, thud, thud!”

Under the stunned gaze of Watson, Sherlock Holmes was fervently whipping a corpse. Anyone who saw this scene would think Sherlock Holmes was out of his mind –

like a pervert!

Hercule Poirot would never act so rudely. That germaphobe old man always remembered to maintain his elegance.

What’s going on?

Cao Dezhi felt that Chu Kuang seemed to be trying a bit too hard to highlight the difference between Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot.

[“Does he often do this?” Watson asked.

The friend awkwardly responded, “Maybe he’s not in a good mood today.”.

Just then, Holmes turned to the arriving doctors, “You arrived exactly on time. I need to know his bruise condition in twenty minutes. This is related to one person’s alibi…”]

Cao Dezhi took a deep breath.

Oh, so it’s for the purpose of solving a case.

This approach can easily lead to misunderstandings though.

But in that era, it was absolutely a scientific manner of investigation.

[Holmes suddenly looked at Watson: “Maiwand?”.

“Sorry, how did you know?” Watson was slightly confused.]

It must have been mentioned by the doctor in advance, right?

Almost subconsciously, this was what Cao Dezhi thought.

[Holmes continued: “What do you think about the violin?”

Watson: “Uh…”

Without lifting his head, Holmes continued: “I play the violin when I think. Sometimes I won’t speak for days. Do you mind? It’s better to let the roommate know about one’s shortcomings in advance.”

“Did you tell him about me?”

Watson looked at the doctor who shook his head hastily: “I didn’t mention a word.”]

Huh?

Cao Dezhi was stunned.

It wasn’t the doctor?

Then how did Holmes know?

Watson asked the question that was on Cao Dezhi’s mind:

[“Who told you all this?”

“I did it myself.”

As Holmes sketched circles on his notebook, it seemed like he was talking to himself: “It’s difficult for someone like me to find a roommate. I talked to Mike about this matter this morning and he brought you here this afternoon. He introduces an old friend, obviously just being commissioned from a certain unit on the Maiwand battlefield. This isn’t hard to guess.”]

Cao Dezhi was dumfounded.

Brother, this was not hard to guess?

Watson asked the second question on behalf of the reader, Cao Dezhi:

[“How did you know about the Maiwand battlefield?”

Holmes didn’t answer, but got up and said, “Baker Street 221, that will be our place.”

“Just like that?”

With so many questions in his mind, Watson asked, “We just met and we’re going to find a house together. We don’t know anything about each other, I don’t even know your name…”

Holmes stopped in his tracks.

He turned back and said, “I know you’re a military doctor who has just been sent back from the Maiwand battlefield. I also know you might be suffering from Psychogenic Mobility Disorder. Maybe I can drop the ‘might’. As a roommate, isn’t this enough?”

Holmes got up and left, quickly introducing himself a few seconds later, “Sherlock Holmes.” As he said this, Holmes put on his bowler hat, bidding goodbye with a good afternoon.

Watson looked at his friend beside him.

The friend shrugged helplessly, “Yes, he’s always like this.”]

In the story, Watson was stunned!

Outside of the story, Cao Dezhi was stunned too!

Cao Dezhi was reading the story through Watson’s first-person perspective. Of course, he knew Watson had been to the Maiwand battlefield, knew about Watson’s injuries, and knew that Watson was a retiring military doctor. But how did Sherlock Holmes know?

Are you a detective?

You are a fortune teller, aren’t you!

Even though they just met, he figured out everything about the person. How on earth did Sherlock Holmes do that!?

Cao Dezhi had a million questions!

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ps: thanks to a token from the alliance hierarch, Diou, little girl, you are electricity and light~