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Chapter 6: record

Based on the four transcripts, Weilan roughly reconstructed the entire process of Rowan's body being discovered.

At 6:15 PM, all members of the Ireland national team gathered in the lounge, where the coach emphasized the game strategy for the last time.

At 7:00 PM, the athletes tidied their gear, preparing to leave the lounge and head to the stadium entrance for warm-up exercises.

Just after 7:00 PM, as Rowan was about to begin his warm-up, he suddenly realized he had forgotten his joint stiffener, a Potion that protects the knee joints during a match, so he returned to the lounge to retrieve it.

Around 7:10 PM, the coach noticed Rowan was missing. But Connolly explained the situation to him, and the coach, slightly displeased with Rowan, dispatched Moran to the lounge to hurry Rowan along.

At 7:15 PM, Moran found Rowan in the lounge. He was restlessly pacing in circles, appearing extremely agitated.

Moran tried to persuade him to go warm up quickly, but Rowan refused.

Rowan, looking dazed, muttered to himself that he had finally paid off his loan and found a girlfriend.

His girlfriend wanted to see him one last time before the match. Rowan insisted on waiting for his girlfriend in the lounge before going to warm up.

Rowan's enraptured expression made Moran suspect he had been given a love Potion.

Moran suggested having the team doctor examine Rowan, but the latter sternly refused. He was even roughly driven out of the lounge by Rowan.

Moran, hearing Rowan's pacing from outside the door, left confused and bewildered.

Just after 7:15 PM, a dishevelled Moran truthfully relayed the situation to the coach.

The coach was furious, believing it absolutely could not be the effect of a love Potion.

Not to mention that the players' pre-game meals were strictly supervised by professional team doctors, but also, all players had undergone a unified physical examination arranged by the Department of Magical Sports at noon today.

Although that examination was to prevent anyone from using Potions similar to muscle enhancers, if Rowan had consumed any abnormal Potion, it should have been detected.

So this was definitely Rowan's own infatuation acting up.

He had another substitute, El, take Rowan's place.

Not long after Moran left, the cleaner Lauren passed by the lounge while cleaning.

The lounge is a private area and is cleaned only after the match ends and all athletes and coaches have left (otherwise, lost items would be difficult to account for).

Lauren was only responsible for maintaining the cleanliness of the hallway in front of the lounge; after completing his task, he left.

During this time, Lauren did not hear any movement inside the lounge.

After Lauren left, the time came to approximately 7:25 PM. El Owen, responsible for substituting Rowan, arrived at the lounge. He was to change clothes here and complete some pre-game preparations.

He pushed the door open and saw only a mess and Rowan's deceased body.

...

The above is a general description of the case as described in the transcripts; the four transcripts largely corroborated each other.

Weilan's gaze quickly scanned the report.

First, the most peculiar thing must be this "girlfriend." According to his teammates, Rowan had been single for a long time due to being burdened by debt.

This "girlfriend" seemed to appear out of nowhere, driving Rowan into a frenzy, willing to abandon his pre-game preparations just to meet her.

Weilan believed the Aurors were currently investigating the origin of this "girlfriend," and he, with just a few transcripts, could not possibly guess her identity.

So Weilan chose to skip this point and instead ponder other parts of the transcripts.

Leaving aside this potentially existing "girlfriend," he still felt something strange, as if there was a mistake hidden in one of the statements, subtly concealed.

Closing his eyes in thought for a moment, Weilan opened his eyes, his gaze sharply directed towards the lounge.

He pulled Carson along, walking quickly towards the lounge:

"Quick, Mr. Carson! I need to confirm something in front of the lounge!"

Carson's pupils constricted, and he swiftly followed Weilan's steps, asking:

"What did you see? Is there anything wrong with the transcripts?"

Weilan explained to him:

"There's nothing wrong with the transcripts."

"The footprints in front of the lounge are wrong! I just saw child's footprints leaving the lounge."

"But according to the cleaner Lauren's statement in the transcript, he cleaned the area in front of the lounge again between 7:15 and 7:25."

"These child's footprints could only have been left after that, before the Aurors sealed it off."

"And during that time, a small child coming out of the lounge, no matter how you think about it, isn't normal, is it?"

Carson finally realized the seriousness of the problem, rushed to the lounge, and explained the situation to the guarding Auror.

The cordon was set four feet in front of the lounge, and anyone entering or exiting needed to wear shoe covers and gloves to prevent leaving traces and damaging the scene.

The guarding colleague, after listening to Carson's account, laughed heartily, pointing at the clear footprints behind the cordon and mocking him:

"Ruben, what's wrong with you? As Aurors, how could we not conduct an entry and exit footprint investigation?"

"Look closely, the person who discovered the body, the people from the Department of Sports, the first Auror to arrive... these footprints all have origins."

Under Carson's questioning gaze, Weilan, based on the vision provided by his Minute Observation, focused his eyes on the corner of the wall.

"Then what about here?"

Weilan pointed to the shallow marks in the corner of the wall.

Carson leaned closer, squinting to examine them carefully, then uncomfortably pressed his lips together.

There was indeed a series of tiny child's footprints here, clinging to the wall and extending along the hallway, the traces very faint.

Only a preliminary investigation had been conducted at the scene, and coupled with the extremely tricky position of these footprints, they were actually overlooked during the preliminary investigation!

"This is a major discovery!" Carson straightened up, turned, and walked away, "It must be reported immediately!"

After confirming the situation was true, the other Auror quickly dropped his mocking expression and organized the other Aurors to restart the footprint extraction work at the door.

Looking at the busy Aurors, Weilan rested his chin in his hand, lost in thought, countless hypotheses bursting forth in his mind.

Was Rowan a pedophile? Was his girlfriend still a child?

Did the killer deliberately take some Potion similar to body-shrinking magic to interfere with the Aurors' judgment?

Or, did these footprints come from magical non-human species?

The Aurors used some unknown magic, and the blurry, faint footprints became vivid red and fresh, firmly embedded in the floor.

As Weilan's gaze was locked on the footprints, someone suddenly pushed him from the side.

He looked up, meeting James's meaningful dark eyes:

"I heard Jack say that a very capable kid broke in, and with just a pair of eyes and a few transcripts, he brought a major breakthrough to the case."

"Hehe, I should have known it was you, you stinker."

Weilan smiled, selectively ignoring the fact that he had snuck out, and tentatively moved his steps forward:

"Mr. Potter, I believe my abilities will bring you no small amount of help."

"Could you share a little... your progress on the footprint investigation?"

James's forced smile finally collapsed, his gaze fixed on the half-open door of the lounge, full of suspicion and uncertainty.

"These footprints are very strange because they... appeared out of thin air at the lounge door!"

He thought for a moment, then added:

"Hmm, the footprints inside the lounge haven't been cleaned, and we extracted a large number of Rowan's movement traces inside."

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