Nineteenth Century Medical Guide

[I also struggled with whether I need to be so persistent.I also want time to dilute everything and forget this past event for the rest of my life.

However, a coincidence that is extremely interesting at any time helped me get rid of the confusion: fate made me meet the person who pulled me into the bottomless abyss again.His despicableness and cowardice desecrated my noble passion for chasing food, so that at this time my disgust for him reached the extreme.

let's end this asap
—An Ordinary French Chef, Alphonse]
"What a respectable chef, I really want to try his craft." Helmut looked at the note in his hand, and had a different feeling for the signatory Alphonse, "But I don't like it very much. A single-minded person, especially a single-minded man."

"Detective, the body is over there."

"Oh, is that the person?"

"Yes, I will not mistake that face, it is him."

It was Mason who had gone home to rest with Helmut to the woods. He was brought to the scene by the inspector after only lying in bed for a day.After all, he was the only person who had witnessed the cripple's appearance, and he was inseparable from solving the case. Apart from the fire, there was nothing Mason cared about more than his promotion.

"The cripple, dressed simply, with a beard, and 1.7 meters tall." Helmut once again confirmed the identity of the man from Masson's nod. "It's the same as the old bustard described. It seems to be him."

"It was he who set the fire." Mason was very concerned about this.

There are two possibilities of arson and accident, and these two possibilities will also make a huge gap in the importance of his role in this fire.

"Maybe"

Helmut could see his careful thinking from the eyes of the young patrolman, so he prevaricated, and then turned around to avoid this sensitive topic: "After confirming the identity, it is also necessary to see whether this duel is really enough fair."

Masson hadn't experienced the era of the most duels, and of course Helmut hadn't either.

As early as five or sixty years ago, French duels were not very popular. The reason was not that the French took pity on their bodies, but because of the introduction of relevant laws prohibiting duels.But Helmut had the good fortune to be involved in several dueling-related cases, many of which were horribly detailed.

"Fairness in duels? Don't there be assistants in duels? The rules are also decided after discussion between the two parties. Are there still unfair duels?"

Helmut took out his beloved pipe, lit the match, and ignited the remaining tobacco inside: "It seems that you have never seen a person who made money and died by dueling, pistol parts, lottery notes, shooting distance , and even the material of the clothing is a point of cheating.”

Whether the duel is fair or not depends on whether the assistants on both sides have violated the rules.

But now it is noon on the 4th, more than three hours after the duel, the police have already intervened.One of the two dueling parties was killed and the other was injured, while the assistants of both sides were taken to the police station for investigation.If nothing else, they will be prosecuted for murder.

"You can see a lot without an assistant."

Helmut checked the soil around the duel venue: "The footprints are very new, they should have been left in the morning. The cook probably has a height of over 1.8 meters 250 and is quite heavy, probably weighing [-] pounds. The two sides were separated at first. Emmm about forty steps, which is the opening distance of a classic French pistol duel."

While talking, he took steps on the mud grass to measure the distance, and basically understood the general process of the duel.

In a traditional French pistol duel, it is necessary to determine the maximum number of steps forward by both sides by drawing poker cards, generally between 3-13 steps, and the total distance is 6-26 steps.

After clarifying the number of steps forward, the two picked up the pistols that had undergone repeated inspections, and moved closer to the middle from their respective starting positions until one of them decided to shoot.The closer the distance, the more accurate the pistol is, but the person who announces the shot first will get the initiative to fire first.

Anyway, duels only follow one principle, and that is to kill the opponent as soon as possible.

"Judging from the chef's last position, the maximum number of steps forward should be fifteen steps." Helmut found the place where Alphonse was shot and fell at the end. "You can see a lot of messy traces. And... bloodstains , the color on these grasses speaks volumes."

Mason also quickly found the bloodstain on the other side: "It's the same here, the bloodstain and corpse appeared at step No. 15."

Helmut walked over and checked Li Ben's footprints again: "Look at the tenth step, the footprints here are very messy. The chef's tenth step footprints overlap slightly, but the situation is much better than the other. "

"The tenth step? Did something happen when the two sides reached their tenth step?"

"Someone decided to shoot first." Helmut explained, "Maybe it was to preemptively strike, or maybe he didn't know the accuracy of the pistol. Anyway, Mr. Li Ben's name is that?"

"Yes, that cripple is called Li Ben."

"In short, Mr. Li Ben fired first, at a distance of 20 steps, or 9 meters. The reason is that there were many footprints in other directions when he was in the shooting position with the gun. The chef on the other side just re-established his position when responding to the shooting. , did not dodge."

"The shot missed?"

"Probably not, even if it hits, it's only a slight injury, because there is no splash of blood here."

Helmut said: "Because the first shot failed, both sides need to continue to move forward until the chef named Alphonse said to shoot. From this point of view, this duel is undoubtedly fair. After all The person who shoots first has the upper hand, and will naturally receive the next 'punishment' if the shot misses."

"Did you miss the 9 meters?"

Helmut looked at the younger generation and said with a smile, "You probably haven't used a dueling pistol before."

"No."

"That kind of old-fashioned percussion gun needs to be reloaded every time a shot is fired. Let alone 9 meters, even if there are only 2 meters left in the face, someone can shoot it sideways."

Helmut emphasized: "The shooting I'm talking about is not shooting in the air. It's two different things. For example, if you shoot a bone, the pistol bullet is weak in destructive power and is likely to be bounced by hard bones; It gave the opponent plenty of opportunities to counterattack; as long as the shot to the torso does not seriously hurt the position, it is not impossible to fight for both sides.”

"I heard that Li Ben was shot in the shoulder."

Helmut nodded: "It seems that the chef's marksmanship is also very poor."

"But the duel didn't stop." Mason didn't understand. "According to the rules, if one party is shot and injured, the duel should be stopped immediately. Why can the fight continue?"

"It's really weird." Helmut also felt strange. "The whole duel, from the early preparations to the inspection of weapons by the assistants and the delineation of the rules, seemed very fair. Alphonse chose Li Ben for the lame Li Ben from the very beginning. A pistol shows that this person is upright enough."

"Did something happen on the way?"

Mason's thoughts were entangled in the decisive duel, and he even forgot the real purpose of coming here with Helmut.Now that his thoughts were stuck, he suddenly reacted: "Inspector, it seems that we are not here for a duel."

"Huh?" Helmut took a deep breath and nodded, "Indeed, the duel is a matter of the North District Police Department, and has nothing to do with us."

"So did Li Ben set the fire?"

".Hard to say."

"But the upper limit is 3 days for you to solve the case, and now there is only the last day left."

"I know."

Helmut took off the pipe in his mouth, and observed around the scene of the duel again: "I have limited clues, so it's normal if I can't solve the case. After all, the fire started in Miss Ashley's VIP box on the third floor. The witnesses are all dead, and this is an unsolved case."

Mason finally brought the topic to the fire: "There are only two suspects of arson. One is the former Paris Review reporter Safit who died at the scene of the fire, and the other is Li Ben."

"As I said before, a crime needs a purpose," Helmut said. "Under the circumstances, arson, which was tantamount to suicide, was meaningless."

"Miss Ashley has thoroughly exposed their crimes of deception and tore their self-esteem in front of more than 1000 spectators." Mason thought about it at home for a day, and his thoughts were still clear. "Can this be classified as revenge?"

"The lad is not bad."

Helmut affirmed his guess, and at the same time smiled and turned the topic back to the duel: "In the absence of witnesses, the best way to judge the logic of a dead person's behavior in life is to learn from another thing. Let’s start analyzing the logic of his behavior.”

Masson: .
"That's why we're here to analyze the duel."

"I think he's just a street rat who pretends to be passionate." Ma Sen wanted to end his baseless speculation as soon as possible, so he boldly gave his own conclusion, "Buying sex on credit, being rejected by prostitutes, trying to get something for nothing with cheap tricks, but Without that ability, in the end, he died aggrieved at the hands of the enemies caused by his unrestrained speech in the past."

Helmut knew that the previous two days were the facts he learned after his inspections and visits, and Masson summed it up fairly well.

It's just the last sentence, he can't agree with it: "Are you aggrieved?"

"Two bullets, one hit the left shoulder, and the other directly shattered the heart." Mason said, "Death in a duel not only means that he is dead, but also his dignity and reputation. In fact, I would rather say that he may not have such a thing as dignity at all."

"I don't think so."

Helmut said: "There was an accident in the second half of the duel, otherwise there should not be a third round of shooting."

"The hit on the left shoulder made him depressed, and then he heard Alphonse say that the matter is over, and he wanted to let him go." Mason continued to explain, but the more he explained, the more strange he became, "Li Ben was angry and decided to continue the duel. Immortal."

"You think a self-indulgent street rat would do such a thing?"

"This"

Mason didn't expect the detective to be waiting for him here: "When a person is about to die, he is not only good in his words, but his behavior logic may also change."

"Do you think a street mouse that everyone shouted for beating suddenly played a dog fight at the end?" Helmut shook his head, "No, it can't be called a dog, because the duel had already started when the bullet hit his shoulder. it's over."

"Is it possible that Alphonse violated the rules of dueling?"

"Don't be kidding, Alphonse has the upper hand regardless of size, strength, and physical health. If you really want to murder him, why choose a duel?"

Ma Sen had a headache thinking about it, and finally chose to lie flat: "Forget it, I'm not suitable for investigating cases."

Helmut looked at him with a smile, and said: "I agree with your evaluation of him, he is a street mouse. But street mice also have things that street mice care about. Women don't want him, and money scams are seen through. Seeing that he is about to be arrested and sent to prison, it is okay to fight at the last moment and create chaos to help him escape from the scene."

"You think he set the fire?"

"No, it was Safit who set the fire."

"But what you said just now"

"There are six policemen in the box. If Li Ben set the fire, he would not be able to limp away from the scene under the watchful eyes of the six policemen." Helmut said, "Although the Paris police are too friendly to criminals, but It’s impossible for them to let the arsonist go when it’s life and death.”

"Then the fire has nothing to do with Li Ben."

"Why are you so stupid that you can't turn a corner?" Helmut took another two puffs of cigarettes and said, "He didn't cause the fire, so couldn't it be that he abetted the crime? Or coerced the crime? It's like this duel has too much If there are many possibilities, he naturally needs to increase variables.”

"Variable? What variable?"

"It's better to change from one gun per person to two guns per person!"

"Four gun duel!?"

The process of the duel was actually very simple, not much different from Mason's guess.At the last moment, Li Ben thought of his own sad life, and his life was really unsatisfactory, so he might as well vent all the unhappiness in his heart before he died.

He endured severe pain and asked to continue the duel, and raised the two-gun duel to four guns.

The sudden escalation was not good for Alphonse, and it completely violated the rules of dueling. The fair duel in front of him finally turned into a vicious fight with extreme personal emotions.

As long as Alphonse is more rational, it is impossible to agree to this request. The duel is over, and the assistants on both sides believe that Alphonse has won.But when he thought of ignoring life because of his obsession, and the fire mercilessly devouring his left hand, a feeling of self-destruction emerged from the bottom of his heart.

He agreed, agreed to this special duel method in which the two sides shoot each other with one order.

Two bullets were fired, one missed and the other entered Li Ben's chest.However, Li Ben's two shots were not crooked, and they all hit Alphonse's body.

It's a pity that unlike the heart, the place he shot did not kill Alphonse immediately.The fat chef was carried into a carriage by his assistants and taken all the way from the suburbs of Paris to the main palace hospital.