Chapter 516: Chapter 492 Basic Deductive Reasoning (Part 2)_1
If the reader happens to be from Earth, they would certainly recognize the beginning of this chapter as a nod to “Sherlock Holmes”.
It’s a bit like the British drama “Sherlock”.
That’s right.
Lin Yuan has taken inspiration from several TV series about Sherlock Holmes.
Original works are not perfect, and Lin Yuan would definitely not use them in completion. For instance, Holmes made an incorrect deduction in the Speckled Band case.
This deduction was based on the assumption that snakes have good hearing and drink milk, but in reality, snakes have poor hearing and can’t digest milk well, rendering the murderer’s method unreliable. also, snakes do not drink milk.
But we can’t blame the author for that.
People from that era simply didn’t know.
A similar situation also occurred in “Poirot’s Casebook”.
As a modern day person, Lin Yuan would never adopt the basis of the original novels that are unscientific due to the author’s time limitations.
And now…
Cao Dezhi is too intrigued to look away—
He is extremely curious about how Holmes knows this information!
Source: NovelFull.com, updated on ṅονǤο.сο
There’s simply no way fortune-telling is involved.
If that were the case, then the genre of this novel must have been misclassified by Chu Kuang.
Right next door and to the left, there’s a department exclusively for fantasy novels.
Given that this is a detective novel, it’s evident that Holmes must have arrived at his conclusions through deduction!
What’s the basis of his deduction?
With this curiosity in mind, Cao Dezhi read carefully.
By now, he had refrained from impulsively comparing Holmes and Poirot.
Judging from the performances in the early stages, Holmes and Poirot, touted as great detectives by Chu Kuang, were distinctly different in ways such as character and style of speech—
Sherlock Holmes is too arrogant!
Poirot is also very arrogant, but how should we describe Holmes’s arrogance?
This man boldly proclaims:
While others witness various details but are still unable to solve certain problems, he, Holmes, can explain complex mysteries even without stepping foot outside the house—
Can you believe it?
Is he even human?
Even Poirot doesn’t show off like this!
What’s even more outrageous is, Holmes dismisses all other detectives in London as worthless. He doesn’t even consider himself a detective, but refers to himself as a “consulting detective”!
Oh, my.
Consulting detective is a new profession invented by Holmes himself. He believes he is the only one doing this job on Blue Star: [Whenever the police cannot solve a problem, they seek me out, as do the rest of the detectives in London.]
What he essentially means is, everyone else is a detective, while he himself is a ‘god detective’?
The only man in the entire Blue Star who can make Holmes understand the concept of “humility” happened to be the deceased Poirot.
Indeed.
Holmes only acknowledged the capabilities of Poirot.
When Cao Dezhi read this part, he could hardly maintain his composure.
Chu Kuang, must we really play this game?
If you want to write about Holmes, just write about Holmes. Why do you have to mention Poirot? Are you worried readers won’t realize it was you who killed off Poirot in your story?
Bringing up Poirot is one thing.
But why do you compare Holmes to Poirot?
From the looks of it, Holmes appeared to think that only Poirot could be his equal in this world.
This is too outrageous!
Although in the narrative, Holmes does not seem the least bit smug and instead speaks in a calm, somber tone, as if he were stating a fact, it is definitely unforgivable to fans of Poirot!
In the hearts of Poirot’s fans, no one could be named in the same breath as him!
“You started off with such an over-the-top depiction of Holmes, aren’t you afraid you can’t wrap it up convincingly?”
This Holmes dude is absolutely unbearable!
Same here.
Even Watson in the book thinks Holmes is acting too superior.
This puts Watson and the reader, Cao Dezhi, on the same side.
But Watson is soon defeated by a piece of Holmes’s reasoning:
“‘When we first met yesterday, I mentioned the Maiwand battlefield, and you seemed quite surprised.’
‘How do you know?’
Watson raised his voice: ‘Someone must have told you!’
‘I did not know, I observed.’
As always, Holmes’s tone was equal parts dismissive and aloof: ‘Your face is quite sunburned, but your wrists are not. As such, you must have been to the tropics, but not for a sunbath. Your hairstyle and demeanor are military-like. Every movement and posture of yours is full of a soldier’s rigor. The conversation you had with Mike when you entered implies that, like him, you studied at Han Continent Medical College. Hence, it’s quite clear that you were a military doctor. You limp heavily when you walk but would rather stand than sit down, completely ignoring your disability. Therefore, at least part of the obstacle is psychological. Also, you were injured on a battlefield, which elaborates on where a military doctor can be exposed to sun and injuries? Oh yes, the Maiwand battlefield.’
Watson was dumbfounded by this reasoning!
Similarly, Cao Dezhi who considered himself on Watson’s side was also shocked. He never expected Holmes to have seen through everything based on the first meeting with Watson!
Holy shit!
What an amazing power of observation!
Poirot also had similar moments of intellectual whirlwinds, equally impressive, but his approach to deduction was decidedly different from Holmes’s.
Poirot seemed to be more inclined towards human psychology.
But Holmes derived his conclusions from countless observations and gathered information!
The former leaned towards intuition, while Holmes privileged rationality above all else!
This was the first time Cao Dezhi realized that, while Holmes undoubtedly has the potential to be unbearable, the speed at which his brain works is admittedly astonishing, and, more frustratingly, he can’t find a valid point to refute his deduction…
Was this a coincidence?
Did Holmes just happen to find the clue?
Of course not!
As Cao Dezhi continued to read the book, watching Holmes officialy kick off his first deduction show, his eyes widened in awe.
Hair…
Luggage…
Fingernails…
At a murder scene, he can deduce countless pieces of information from the dead man’s sleeve to his boots, his pants, his knees, the calluses between his thumb and forefinger, his last facial expression, including cufflinks, etc!
Detail-oriented!
Rational!
Such intricate information can all be pooled in his mind, enabling him to grasp key clues. He can even judge how many people were in the carriage nearby from the depth of the carriage track marks!
Deduction of logic?
Not exactly!
The deduction of logic is to infer the process based on the result, which is Poirot’s field of expertise. Most detectives deduct the process based on results, where the logic occupies a large proportion, but Holmes seems to be more adept at inferring the result through the process. And these processes are derived from the mentioned details, which bear resemblances yet show fundamental differences!
One can imagine.
When these deductions appeared before Cao Dezhi’s eyes, he was almost dumbfounded. An image of a hawk-nosed man wearing a round hat and holding a pipe appeared before his eyes. The man’s gaze must be filled with rational wisdom derived from observation, and all these deductions were based on Holmes’s theory:
Basic deductive reasoning!
The case can probably be divided into two parts: the first part is Holmes using his method of deduction to identify the serial killer; the second part is the murderer’s motive and the tragic experiences he has suffered. It’s a tale of a sympathetic murderer taking revenge in his own way.
The story is over.
But Cao Dezhi was stunned.
As a Blue Starian, this was Cao Dezhi’s first confrontation with the shock delivered by Holmes and the basic deductive reasoning, while a similar shock also arose from the editors’ hearts in the neighboring conference room–
Horrible Holmes!
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PS: I do not dare to write in too much detail in fear of being criticized for being too wordy. I will continue to update. The following is the part where the Alliance Hierarch adds more.