CARNAGE Investigation

Investigation is the short window after someone reports a body and before the Trial gun comes out. It is not a separate mode you queue into. It is the reason Trials have evidence at all. If you skip it to emote, you will vote on vibes and the Blackened will walk.

Press M for the Xebepad. That tablet is the entire file cabinet. There is no folder on your PC, no export, no persistent case between matches. When the round ends the notes die. Play like a detective for two minutes, not like an archivist.

How long you actually get

Early ALPHA gave about 90 seconds. Later patches stretched investigation to two minutes. That is still not enough to walk the whole map. Pick a job: scene, loggers, or food. The person who tries to do all three returns to Trial with nothing.

Skip leftover dialogue with E, Space, Enter, or a click before you touch a prompt. Stuck consent UI is an old bug; rejoin if the overlay will not die. Binds sit on controls.

What the Xebepad actually holds

• Map tab — which Area you are in. Use it with map and areas so your alibi is a room name.
• Truth Bullet tab — everything you inspected this chapter: weapons, bodies, the Xebeth File, Photographer snapshots. You load these in Trial with hold R.
• Notes — write one sentence. “Gloves, no blood, art room after blackout” beats a paragraph you will not read under a timer.
• Report card — Ultimate text, emotes, and the code field. Not evidence.
• Rules / shop / settings — between chapters, not over a corpse.

Truth Bullets are not magic. They are the inspect results. If you never walked the scene, your gun is empty.

Corpse exam and the Xebeth File

Everyone gets a Xebeth File: general time, location, cause. Treat it as a starting claim. Nurse inspects for exact time and the exact weapon. Programmer can change the apparent cause and time. If both are alive, you need a third source: a photo, a logger, or a second inspect. That fight is why Nurse is not gospel. Details live on abilities.

Blood versus no blood still matters more than the file. Gloves and C9 print nothing. Knife, Bat, Gun, Hammer print. Mops and Maid erase. If the floor is clean, ask who cleaned, not “so nobody died.” Items covers mop lock and Blood Pack frames. Weapons covers which tools drop.

Entry loggers

Later patches added investigatable entry loggers for nighttime murders and dorm room entry loggers. They exist because blackout kills and dorm kills were becoming unanswerable. If the body dropped at night or in a dorm, spend your two minutes on the logger before you wander the kitchen. A logger that puts two people in a hallway is better than a speech about “I was walking.”

Loggers are not cameras. Area 4 still holds the actual camera room after cameras moved off Area 3. A white highlight on the person using cameras is a tell, not a verdict. Pair logger text with map tasks so you know which door the log even covers.

What to inspect, in order

1. Blood, dropped weapon, unique audio you already heard (Gun shots, Hammer squeak, Bat splatter, Gloves crack).
2. Logger if night or dorm.
3. Food tables if Chemist is in the lobby — C9 is silent.
4. One photo if you are Photographer, timestamp and all.
5. Walk back. Do not start a second tour.

Then sit in Trial and fire what you collected. How to play is the loop this page sits inside. Blackened is what the other side did during the same two minutes.

Related investigation pages

• Trials — bullets, votes, wrong-vote tax
• Trial cheatsheet — pocket version for a second monitor
• Motives — why someone killed before you found the body
• Updates — when investigation time or loggers last moved

Investigation is homework. Trial is the exam. Skip the homework and the Blackened grades you.