- Goal
- Prove who you are, then prove that the “Supreme Copper” before you is an impostor.
- You are
- A singing sofa. Long ago, you had a name.
- Clue
- Detective Paulson Wall’s first case, A Slow Scream. You appeared in it, if only for one line.
I
I am a sofa: the ordinary kind people rest on while I sing beneath them.
Today I sing Black Cat Appears in the Daytime , ending with an invitation to drink Ice Cola.
“Cough, cough.” I am old; half a song exhausts me.
〖That was good! Keep going!〗
A lively woman’s voice. I have never met anyone who talks to a sofa.
【Calm down. We synthesized Ice Cola from C-0321’s blood, then projected the concept of “Ice Cola” into your time. You sang it, so we found you.】
“Who are you?”
〖People looking for someone!〗
【We need your cooperation. First, remember who you are.】
I remember years of business, human warmth and cruelty, and money earned without honor. Later I removed my own eyes, changed my name, and made myself into a sofa.
Earlier still, I delivered a parcel to a famous detective.
【Good. Your name is ***Shenxiu***.】
【We restored the symbol you lost. In return, find Catherine Wall, Paulson Wall’s daughter.】
II
Before departure, someone came to see me.
“Do not be afraid,” he said. He called himself The Supreme Copper , the one whose blood became Ice Cola.
“How did Paulson Wall die?”
“He died. Heroes die too. You must say goodbye to him for a long time. And you killed him yourself.”
Impossible. I was only a courier.
He claimed to remember every detail of Paulson’s first case, but misstated the meaning of WHO in the victim’s letter. The real Supreme Copper would know: Paulson explained it at the end of the case.
He smiles coldly. “I am not him. I am—”
I do not hear the name. The next moment, I am pushed over a waterfall.
As I fall, I see his eyes: sage green, as if someone is looking through them at me. I smile, close my eyes, and hum:
There is no escape in four dimensions; the guards seize the spirits.
Where shall spring wait? Poems pile up into paradise.
I know the story has only just begun.
Letter · The voice heard during the fall
K-1357 High Templar
Must consume, or oblivion will take us.
III
I do not break. Sofas are difficult to break.
“What do you want me to do?” I ask the two voices. “My hotel closed long ago.”
〖It is still open—in another time.〗
【The year is 2X25, four hundred years after your era. Go there and become the hotel owner again. Catherine Wall will eventually walk in.】
“What is the hotel called?”
〖You have to ask? The same as before!〗
Fine. Deal.
Case file 07 “Ice Cola” complete. Return to case files →