[Vote] Lights Out, Laptop Gone - Detective Game

💻 Wooo seems like your laptop got some magic in it yeah? 💻

📕Story Background

One day, Lisa and Joan invited three of their male classmates: John, Joe, and Michael, to go on a mountain trip. Unfortunately, a light drizzle ruined their plan of camping in a tent. Instead, they had dinner outdoors and checked into a small hotel at 8:30 PM. Their two rooms were directly across from each other, one for the boys, one for the girls.

At check-in, the hotel clerk reminded them of the strict rule: all lights must be turned off by 9:00 PM. They had to settle in quickly.

After freshening up, Lisa took out one of her favorite books and her laptop to read for a while. When the lights went out, she placed the book on top of her laptop and went to sleep.

The next morning, Lisa woke up to a shock—her laptop was gone! Panicked, she rushed to Joan's bedside and shook her awake. As she did, she noticed something alarming—Joan’s hand had blood on it.

Joan groggily explained, “Oh, that’s from last night. John accidentally cut me with a box cutter.”

Just then, a knock sounded at the door. The three boys walked in, and Lisa immediately told them about her missing laptop.

Instead of responding to Lisa’s complaint, Joe suddenly changed the subject. “Have either of you read the latest novel, The Detective’s Cat? Michael was just telling me about it.”

Michael nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah, it’s a great book. I read the whole thing in one night last night.”

Lisa’s eyes widened in realization. “Aha! I know who took my laptop! Give it back now!”

Who stole Lisa’s laptop? Pay close attention to the clues and solve the mystery!

(This story is absolutely fictional. Any inconsistencies with common sense work for the plot)

🔍Known Clues

1. The suspect is locked in among 4 people, Joan, John, Joe and Michael.
2. Lights must be out in all rooms after 9pm.
3. Lisa is the only one that has online access to the novel, aside from physical copy.

🕵️‍Questions and Discussions for YOU

1. WHO stole the laptop? HOW can you tell?
2. Do you have a favorite mystery/thriller writer? Share with us your favorite works! (Open-ended)

🎉Participation Rewards

The FIRST user to successfully deduce the identity of the "culprit" and their motive in the comment, will receive a reward of 2,000 GT points! Other participants will earn 200-500 GT points based on the completeness of their submissions. 💰

📅Submission Deadline

February 14, 2025

Reminder: This is the submission deadline if you want to claim the reward with your vote, but after this date the vote will still remain open for a period of time, so please feel free to participate at any time if you want to test your skills, detectives!

----- Previous answer (Boastful Words, Stolen Goods) -------

The culprit is C Richard.

From the fact that the thief went through the first 6 rows of seats and stole only those two items, it is clear that the thief knew those three items beforehand and aimed at them. But Mary was not stolen, which shows that the thief did not know which seats they were sitting in. Therefore, the teacher Catherine can be excluded, and what she said is certainly true. The only people left, then, who knew about their three items and had no alibi or knowledge of their seats were Old Grandpa Tom, his granddaughter Julie, and fellow student Richard, who was preparing to go to the Registrar's Office for the transfer process. But with Grandpa on crutches and Julie not yet in elementary school and not tall enough, neither of them could have jumped the fence. So the thief was Richard.

As for why Richard didn't go to gym class with his classmates, it's already been mentioned - he had to go to the Registrar's Office to get a transfer.

Link to the post: [Vote] Boastful Words, Stolen Goods - Detective Game (2-week edition) – Gtarcade Discussion Forum Official Forum

We will be rewarding 200 GT points to all players who voted correctly, and additional points to some outstanding responses.

Congratulations and enjoy your juicy GT points reward!!!

🎁 Additional Reward Rule

We greatly appreciate everyone's willingness and time to participate in our new community discussion event, the Detective Game.

While there is only one "correct" answer we've prepared, we will reward anyone who comes up with a genuine deduction process and actively engages in this event with a random amount of EXTRA GT Points based on the quality of their answer.

We will carefully review and select the best comments, so don't worry detectives, join in and earn your points!

Note: We have now reclassified the Detective Game back under the Votes category to enhance event navigation and streamline the reward claim process using the VOTE function. (Please note that this change is not permanent and may be subject to future adjustments)