Gensokyo Detective, but surrounded by Shura Field

And now is the time to use these recordings.

"As expected of you... you're really cautious."

"Hehe, you flatter me."

After learning the whole story, Reimu also curiously joined in, ready to watch the drone's recordings together.

She was also quite interested in the haunted house's supernatural events.

So, as the memory card was read, the recording was successfully uploaded to Chu Bai's laptop.

Chu Bai moved the mouse and clicked on the recording from earlier.

"We encountered a total of four supernatural phenomena just now."

"They are 'bleeding pipes,' 'terrifying notes,' 'the thirteenth step,' and 'the tingling, eerie feeling of being watched.'"

Organizing the clues, Chu Bai fast-forwarded to the scene of the bleeding pipes first.

From the recording, it was clear that when Chu Bai turned on the faucet, the pipe was silent for a moment.

Then, accompanied by strange noises, a large amount of blood suddenly spurted out.

But it quickly returned to normal, and when the switch was turned on again, only clear water came out.

"No matter how many times I watch it, it's still quite scary."

Youmu sat next to him, shivering while hugging her mochi half-ghost.

Alice said:

"After sensing the scene, there are only three of us in the entire house."

"Moreover, after this blood spurted out, there was indeed a strong 'pungent bloody smell,' indicating that these liquids must be blood."

Chu Bai frowned slightly, repeatedly watching the scene on the screen.

He didn't have time to check carefully in the previous situation, but now, after re-examining it, there seemed to be something wrong.

Reimu also stroked her chin, looking at the blood gushing out on the screen.

Because she was not affected by the atmosphere of the scene, Reimu's mind was always in the most calm state:

"I feel like... the blood flowing from the pipe seems a little strange?"

"Compared to normal blood, it seems to have been diluted?"

A word awakened the dreamer.

Focusing his attention on the blood itself, Chu Bai immediately reacted.

Having slaughtered black magic cultists before, he was no stranger to blood.

Compared to normal, more viscous blood, the liquid gushing from the pipe did seem to have been diluted.

"But what's the point of diluting this blood?"

Reimu pondered, but Chu Bai seemed to have already come to an answer.

His expression changed for a while, and then he adjusted the picture back and forth, and then fell into thought on the spot.

Until the end, he suddenly grinned and let out an extremely bizarre laugh:

"Hehehe, hahaha... so that's how it is..."

"I probably already know what's going on with this haunted house!"

Chapter 120: Incident Resolved! The Truth of the Haunted House is Actually...?

"Eh? You already know?"

Reimu immediately raised her head in surprise:

"And you mean you know not only about the 'bleeding pipe' incident, but 'all the incidents' in the entire haunted house?"

"That's right."

Chu Bai nodded with a smile, his eyes flashing with confident light.

Even Little Ai was taken aback.

Just by calmly watching the recording once, Xiao Bai actually saw through the truth?

It seems he really is suitable for the detective profession!

"Then, now is the decryption time."

Chu Bai raised the corner of his mouth:

"Reimu, I remember there's a rarely used water pipe in your shrine's backyard?"

"Yes."

"Then come with me."

Chu Bai strode towards the backyard, arriving at the old water pipe.

Although it was raining outside, Alice had skillfully put up an umbrella for him, looking very much like an assistant.

Youmu asked in confusion:

"What's the connection between the haunted house's water pipe and the Hakurei Shrine's old water pipe?"

"Hey, you'll know when you see it."

Without saying a word, Chu Bai directly turned on the water pipe's switch.

To Youmu's surprise, the long-unused water pipe didn't react at first, and then suddenly made a strange noise.

Then, reddish-brown blood suddenly spurted out of the water pipe, and the air vaguely carried a pungent smell of blood.

--Exactly the same as the water pipe in the haunted house!

"Eh eh eh?"

Youmu was startled, but suddenly realized:

"I understand, so Reimu is the mastermind behind the haunted house!"

"The evidence is this completely identical bleeding water pipe, it's all the Hakurei Maiden's fault!"

"...You understand my derriere."

Reimu squeezed her fist and said fiercely:

"Dare to slander the Hakurei Maiden? Be careful, I'll beat you up, okay?"

Chu Bai also said with a wry smile:

"How could Reimu have done it? She doesn't have that kind of free time."

"What I mean is..."

"The so-called bleeding water pipe, what's flowing out is 'not blood at all,' but 'rust water that has been blocked for a long time'!"

What?

It's just rust water?

This answer immediately stunned the three girls.

Just... that simple?

"Just now, I observed in the video that the water pipes in the house are old-fashioned iron water pipes."

"This kind of water pipe is prone to rust due to humidity, and rust appears in the pipes."

"Over time, rust and other impurities will block the pipes, preventing water from flowing out."

Chu Bai fully explained, like a teacher lecturing students:

"Once the faucet is turned on, the pressure inside the pipe increases sharply, and the blocked rust will temporarily stop the water from flowing out."

"But in the face of gradually increasing water pressure, rust cannot completely block it. Therefore, there will be strange noises in the water pipe, and the scene of gushing out at the end."

"By the way, the color of rust water is exactly the same as 'dark red,' which is similar to blood."

"And because hemoglobin in blood contains a large amount of iron ions, and rust water is also rich in iron ions, the smells of the two are 'extremely similar.'"

"In addition, the terrifying atmosphere and eerie atmosphere in the haunted house interfered with our judgment. So we came to the wrong conclusion and mistakenly thought it was blood."

Chu Bai waved his finger:

"So the truth about the bleeding water pipe is - what's flowing out is not blood at all, but ordinary rust water!"

...

...

Analysis complete.

The girls were stunned.

The seemingly terrifying supernatural phenomenon is actually just such a simple daily problem?

"Of course, there were also my mistakes in this."

"Because my perception was focused on detecting the supernatural phenomena in the house, and what kind of terrifying existence was hidden... but I ignored these daily phenomena."

Chu Bai frankly admitted his mistake.

Youmu immediately asked:

"Wait, what about the next supernatural event?"

"In addition to the bleeding water pipe, there are various other strange phenomena..."

"Those are all oolong incidents, purely ourselves scaring ourselves."

Chu Bai said with a wry smile:

"Let's talk about the 'thirteenth step' incident first."

"Because of preconceived notions, our subconscious mind believes that there are supernatural phenomena here, so we become highly nervous every time we mention the stairs."

"However, a closer look reveals that the stair steps have complex patterns and the room is dimly lit."

"In addition to your subconscious self-suggestion and overly nervous emotions, it caused you to 'miscount the number of steps.'"

"If you don't believe me, there's a video replay here, and you can see that the number of steps has never changed from beginning to end."

"...Eh eh eh?"

Youmu immediately blushed.

It turned out there was no so-called thirteenth step at all, it was entirely herself scaring herself, 'miscounting the number of steps'!

The girl lowered her head quite shamefully:

"I'm sorry, I was making a fuss, I really caused you trouble."

"It's okay, it's okay, I said I was also wrong, after all, it's that kind of atmosphere."

Chu Bai waved his hand, this time looking at Alice:

"As for the 'tingling, eerie feeling' that Little Ai experienced, and the goosebumps that inexplicably appeared on my body..."

After a pause, he also said speechlessly:

"Actually, this should be due to 'electricity leakage from the floor' in the room."

"The so-called tingling sensation, goosebumps, and bristling hairs are all normal reactions when a weak current passes through the human body and triggers static electricity."

"...Huh?"

Little Ai was also stunned this time.

It turned out that the tingling, eerie feeling was not being watched by some terrifying existence, but just because the floor was leaking electricity?

"But... how could the floor leak electricity if it's in good condition?"

Alice asked in confusion:

"Under normal circumstances, the floor's conductivity should be weak, and it shouldn't leak electricity, right?"

Chu Bai led them back to the room.