There's definitely something wrong with this murder mystery game

The troops from District Thirteen arrived quickly and soon guarded the entire hotel front and back.

The guests who had been staying in the lobby hadn't reacted before the doors were abruptly broken open. A tall and imposing Capital Commandant clad in military uniform walked in, his sharp eagle eyes swiftly scanning all those present. Some guests dared not meet his gaze.

Behind him, three rows of soldiers ran into the hotel, two teams to the floors above, and one team occupying the four corners of the lobby.

A cold and stern atmosphere filled the entire lobby.

"What's happened?"

"Why has the military come to the hotel, is it because of what just happened?"

"The hotel hasn't even come to give us an explanation yet."

"…"

The person in charge of the hotel had actually been hiding in the back kitchen all along, and although he said he would give the guests an explanation, he still did not intend to stand out and be the scapegoat.

Seeing that the Major Commandant really had come with the army to lockdown the hotel, no matter how much he wanted to cry without tears, he had to hurry out to meet them.

The Capital Commandant gave him an emotionless glance before his gaze swept over everyone in the hotel once more.

After a long moment, his deep and resonant voice slowly said, "Last night, we discovered illegal espionage activities occurring in District Thirteen and received information that the party involved had checked into this hotel. Therefore, starting now, the Five-star Hotel will be under military lockdown. No one is to leave this place until we find that person!" Find adventures at empire

No sooner had these words been spoken than the lobby fell silent for half a second before accusations burst forth violently!

The people who frequented this place were all rich or noble, and they simply could not accept being searched and detained just because of one-sided words from the military!

A merchant immediately stood up and shouted, "This is unfair! We are innocent to begin with, why should we be trapped here by you? I have a big business deal to discuss, can you afford its delay?"

Following his lead, others also began to make a commotion.

"Yeah! Why detain us!"

"If you're going to arrest someone, then arrest them, what's the point of detaining us, I am a friend of Councillor Zhou's daughter!"

"I have a banquet tonight, I can't afford to be delayed here!"

"Send your Grand General here; I'll speak to him myself!"

"You, Capital Commandant, what right do you have to restrict my freedom!"

In an instant, the whole lobby became a hive of noise and uproar, with the angry guests even crowding around the Capital Commandant, pointing directly at his nose and cursing out loud.

Merchants could still be subdued by the military's force, but these powerful elites were much harder to deal with.

Even though the General Military Mansion practically had complete authority over District Thirteen by now, Parliament could still exert some restraining influence on the political scene.

The adjutant standing beside, impatiently, dug at his ear, then leaned close to the Capital Commandant and said, "You deal with them for now, I'll go up with the hotel's person in charge to inspect the crime scene."

After speaking, he didn't wait for a response and beckoned to the hotel manager who was cowering on the side, heading upstairs.

The people in the lobby were just clinging to the Capital Commandant who was leading the team. Seeing an adjutant leaving, they didn't take much notice.

The Capital Commandant indifferently watched his retreating figure.

The chatter around him seemed not to affect him at all. The Capital Commandant remained expressionless, his eyes slightly downcast as he reached out and took the gun belted at his waist.

Then, right in front of everyone, he unremarkably disengaged the safety catch.

"What… what are you going to do?"

The people crowded in front of him, upon seeing the dark gun, suddenly felt uneasy and quickly retreated in fear.

The Capital Commandant leisurely raised the gun, aiming it at the man standing before him, his calm eyes observing the individual now breaking into a cold sweat.

"Just now," he said in a low, slow voice, "who said they wanted to see the Great General, and how did you intend to do that?"

A suffocating, oppressive atmosphere spread, and no one dared to speak.

The man being pointed at with the gun trembled, just staring at him in horror, his eyes fixed on the dark barrel of the gun.

After a long wait, still no sound came forth, the Capital Commandant blandly put the gun away.

The man collapsed to the ground immediately, then scrambled and rolled to hide at the back of the crowd.

After that, a whisper, barely audible, passed through, "What's so great about that, military people always act so arbitrarily, sooner or later…"

The Capital Commandant's gaze lightly flicked over there, his fingers caressing the gun.

That voice also disappeared in an instant.

The hotel lobby returned to quiet again, those wealthy patrons who had been eager to protest now shut their mouths, only able to glare at him with anger, too afraid to speak out.

The Capital Commandant surveyed the crowd and slowly said, "Now, everyone go back to your rooms. Those without a room, stay in the lobby and wait."

Upon hearing this, the lobby was slightly agitated again, discontent with the tone of his command.

And there were those who had booked rooms in the hotel, but just snorted heavily, remaining seated in their private booths, unmoved.

The Capital Commandant's expression did not change, his voice low and magnetic, he continued unhurriedly, "Because we will be conducting a thorough search of every room."

Whoosh!

As the words fell, someone angrily swept the items on the table to the floor, a high-fashion socialite.

She glared fiercely at the Capital Commandant, then stood up and quickly walked towards the stairs, clearly preparing to go back to her own room.

Then others followed suit, grudgingly returning to their rooms.

After all, it was better to be present and possibly intervene in their rooms rather than letting the other party search and disrupt at will.

Two teams of soldiers had already gone up, and who knows if they were already searching.

Their steps suddenly quickened.

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The remaining guests were either gathered here for a meal or had not managed to check in yet, so they were forced to sit in the booth uncomfortably waiting.

Watching as he had finally taken complete control of the entire Five-star Hotel, the Capital Commandant nodded in satisfaction and holstered his pistol at his waist.

"You stay here and watch, I'm going upstairs," the Capital Commandant told the secretary beside him, and then he started climbing the stairs.

"Yes."

The secretary complied, dutifully standing at the entrance and surveying the people in the lobby.

...

The second floor of the hotel.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Twenty soldiers stood straight in the corridor, while the two attendants who were originally guarding the bathroom now cowered nervously aside.

The adjutant walked up, glanced at the deceased lying on the floor, and then pulled out a pair of white gloves from his pocket and put them on.

Carefully avoiding the bloodstains on the floor, the adjutant squatted beside the deceased, his back to the doorway.

He lifted the deceased's cheeks with his hand to examine them, then his gaze lingered on the strangulation marks on the victim's neck for a moment before looking up at the half-open bathroom window.

The two soldiers dutifully guarded the door, not interrupting his examination.

The adjutant withdrew his gaze and slightly lifted the left side of the deceased's jacket, which was pinned to his chest with a dagger. While pretending to examine, a small badge slid out from his sleeve cuff.

Then he poked it with his finger, pushing the badge completely into the hidden pocket of the jacket lining.

After completing these actions, the adjutant tidied up the deceased's jacket and began to seriously examine the fatal wound.

"Discovered anything?"

Suddenly, a low voice rang out from the doorway.

The person approached silently; the adjutant turned abruptly to see the expressionless Capital Commandant entering.

He raised his eyebrows slightly, his tone quite flippant, "Why didn't you start by searching the hotel guests? What if the spy found a chance to grab the map and run away?"

The Capital Commandant remained calm, "The hotel's front hall and backyard are already being tightly guarded by the military. Even a bird can't escape."

"That's not necessarily so," the adjutant shook his head.

"What's the identity of the deceased?" The Capital Commandant didn't say anything more and stepped forward, looking at the deceased with his eyes wide open in death.

"The person in charge has already gone to fetch the documents."

The adjutant spoke and pointed at the deceased, "The cause of death for him is the dagger in the chest, but there is also evidence of injury on the neck. I suspect the murderer originally intended to quietly strangle the victim but might have encountered some complications. In the end, they chose to stab the victim to death and then panickedly leaped out of the window to escape."

The Capital Commandant looked at the windowsill, "I can't see that he was in a panic."

The adjutant simply shrugged, not contesting the point.

At this moment, the hotel manager responsible for fetching documents rushed back, wiping cold sweat and said, "Major Commandant, the deceased was indeed a guest of our hotel. He checked in yesterday morning and booked a room for three days."

The adjutant stood up and took over the documents, which contained the deceased's identity information and check-in time.

Room 211, located just across the corridor from the public bathroom.

Check-in time was 9 a.m. He had paid for three days of accommodation in one go, and he checked in alone.

The adjutant called a soldier guarding the door, handed him the documents, and then gave further instructions.

The soldier nodded and hurried off.

The hotel manager, watching the two military officers, nervously said, "Additionally, the eyewitnesses at the time were a female attendant and a guest. The female attendant is now in our custody, and the guest is in room 203, being Manager Zhang's companion this time."

"Manager Zhang?" the adjutant turned his head to ask.

"He is the general manager of Tengxing Trading Company, engaged in foreign trade. He often travels between District Thirteen and Yamato Country for business," the hotel manager explained.

He was quite familiar with this person's information since, whenever the person visited District Thirteen, they would certainly stay in the Five-star Hotel.

The adjutant nodded thoughtfully.

With a neutral expression, the Capital Commandant said, "Bring those two over to me."

After speaking, the Capital Commandant started examining the deceased as if no one else was around.

The hotel manager didn't have time to react; the adjutant noticed this and helpfully added, "Bring those two eyewitnesses over, we have some questions for them."

After all, they were the first eyewitnesses and could not be uninvolved.

The hotel manager complied and hurried off to find them.

The adjutant looked down at the Capital Commandant, who was now examining the deceased, then crouched down and said with a smile, "If you won't search the guests, I'll go ahead."

"Don't rush," the Capital Commandant said unhurriedly. "I've told you, they can't escape."

"But if you keep the hotel locked down like this, it won't be long before we receive a complaint from the Parliament, you know. The identities of those coming and going here are not simple," the adjutant complained.

"No problem, the Great General will handle it from above," the Capital Commandant replied, lifting the deceased's jacket.

The blood had already soaked through the inside of the gray undershirt, showing a dark color, and the wound had stopped bleeding by now.

So, the Capital Commandant simply pulled out the dagger.

Blood began to flow out anew momentarily.

This was an ordinary dagger, the kind one could see at any street-side stall.

But as he was pulling out the dagger, he seemed to touch something that made a faint "ding."

...

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