white night syndrome

Chapter 222 190. Sorrow and Smile (please order in full)

The sudden death of a well-known ghost talk radio announcer...

Li Ming didn't know what the meaning of this discussion was. No matter how well-known people were, they were still just human beings. Instead of discussing why the announcer died suddenly, it would be better to learn more about other people who died suddenly due to the same reason.

As for the dead...

Because their current identity is a police officer at the police station, they can get relevant information from the database without too much trouble.

"No. 1 deceased, Riho Ikeda, female, 30 years old, a doctor by profession. Ikeda was cold to others but very friendly to his juniors."

"The second deceased, Saito Yoto, female, 22 years old, was the sister of police officer Saito Sosuke. She was a college student and a lively top student. According to the testimony, she was also a lover of horror novels. .”

Saito Sosuke's younger sister.

Li Ming raised his eyebrows. To make a digression, he really couldn't imagine how the sister of the strict police officer got along with her brother in normal life.

"The third deceased, Yuma Anzai, male, 40 years old, was a private detective. According to nearby residents, he was very rigorous and would not let go of any doubts. He was widely praised among his clients."

"The fourth deceased, Yumi Sanada, female, 35 years old, was a writer of horror novels by profession. He made many friends because of his love of ghost stories and his love of going out to collect materials. His friends told him that he had an innate sense of justice in his heart."

"The fifth deceased, Shinya Iijima, female, 31 years old, was a reporter. According to the testimony provided by his boss, although he said he would always take a vacation, he would act immediately as soon as he was given a task. He was a responsible person. reporter."

"The last person to die in this incident, the sixth person, Hisashi Ube, male, 23 years old, was an announcer..."

Li Ming flicked the white paper in his hand with his fingers and paused.

"This needs no introduction. After all, anyone with internet skills knows what kind of person this is. The cause of the six deceased people was sudden death due to cardiac paralysis. Of course, this was an order approved by the top police officials."

"Understood." Kurosawa Mika nodded. Although she was wearing a police uniform outside, she was still wearing her unchanging black and gold cheongsam underneath, as if the cheongsam was her symbol. "I suddenly thought of something..."

"Tell me about it." Li Ming walked forward and put on Kurosawa's clothes.

"The six deceased all died suddenly in their sleep. Do you feel a little familiar? I remember what the hospital staff told us at the beginning is that when we patients with White Night Syndrome die in our daydreams, our behavior in reality is similar to Sudden brain death." Kurosawa paused.

"So what you mean is... these people are actually patients with White Night Syndrome...?" Hoshino Kei immediately felt something was wrong after saying this. He covered his mouth with a surprised expression, "What's going on? Possibly, we are now in a white dream, and the core of the white dream cannot be manifested by patients with White Night Syndrome. Is this common sense?"

"Although it is common sense, it is not impossible."

Yuan Qingyu sat back on the sofa, crossing her legs and leaning against her back.

"Jiang Wenkan said that the white dream we are experiencing now is the random generation of constructed tickets. It is common sense that we cannot reflect the ontology when we construct the white dream, but now it is random. Who knows what will happen? It won’t be stuck with some hospital bugs…”

"So, Kurosawa's conjecture is possible, right?" Li Ming thought thoughtfully, "But it has nothing to do with us. In fact, our main purpose now is to escape from this white dream and return to reality. That’s it.”

"You're right, it's just a guess." Yuan Qingyu put these thoughts that almost surrounded him behind his mind. He stood up suddenly, patted the non-existent dust on his body, and then stretched. , "Then let's quickly recharge our batteries and prepare to meet at the coffee shop tomorrow."

Everyone nodded in agreement, leaving aside the search for a hotel or accommodation because it was not an important matter.

The next day was a working day. In the cafe called Lunar eclipse near Kamoi University in Ikebukuro District, everyone came here because they received a letter. Although this shop is near the university town, according to previous investigations, Not many people come here even during the day on weekends.

Everyone rushed to this cafe with few customers early in the morning.

After waiting for a long time, with the sound of wind chimes, Zecheng opened the door and entered the store. She was wearing a blue striped shirt on the upper body and a long skirt on the lower body. Her long hair was spread over her shoulders.

"Does the guest need anything?" The waiter in maid uniform immediately came up to greet him with a sweet smile.

"I have a date with someone."

Zecheng responded coldly, then looked around the cafe, walked straight to the table next to the guardrail, pulled out a chair and sat down.

Li Ming found that Zecheng's eyes were a little dull, and her expression was very haggard, as if she had stayed up late for a long time.

"Sorry, I'm late. I won't talk nonsense and get straight to the point. I hope you can help me investigate the cause of death of my cousin, Ibi Yuzu. As for the remuneration..." Zecheng took out a check from his bag. , it says 50 yen, "This 50 yen is a deposit. If there are results, there will be a balance of 150 million yen."

Zecheng took out a file bag from the bag he carried with him and handed it to everyone in front of him.

"I have sorted out the details and they are all here."

After the file bag was opened, the first thing that came into view was a piece of white paper filled with dense black writing.

"Ibi Yuzu, female, 17 years old, student of Tateno Middle School, born on February [-]th.

Father Ibi Nishikaga, mother Ibi Emi, their address is No. 32, Nishikawa-cho, Kodaira City, Tokyo.

Yuzi’s mother died when she was very young, and her father raised Yuzi single-handedly. However, around [-] a.m. on February [-] this year, Yuzi jumped off the rooftop of the sixth floor of the school. The police After investigation, the cause of death was determined to be suicide.

Kuroishi, a fellow school witness, saw Yuzi walking to the top floor alone, seemingly in a hurry, and saying hello as she passed by.

With her father's consent, Yuzi's body was cremated and buried in a nearby cemetery. "

There is a photo attached to the file, which shows a girl with short hair wearing a white dress and a bright smile.

"You basically understand the situation, so can you tell me why you want to investigate the cause of your cousin's death?"

Li Ming returned to the way he treated his client in the office before. He looked serious, spoke softly, crossed his hands and leaned to his mouth, and asked.

"Do you not believe that Yuzu committed suicide?"

"Because...because of me...because I saw Yuzu, not long after she was buried." Zecheng tightened his grip on the satchel in his hand, his tone trembling, "You may not believe it, but I did see Yuzu."

Zecheng picked up the coffee in front of him and took a shaky sip, as if to calm the fear in his heart.

"That day was the weekend. I went out to a nearby supermarket to buy daily necessities. On the way back, I was accidentally bumped into by a person. When I was picking up the things I bought..." "I saw Yuzi's face turned pale. I was walking on the opposite street, and then I called her name loudly, but she ignored me completely... I also asked the person who bumped into me if he had seen the girl on the opposite street, but he only regarded me as a girl. Psycho then left.”

"Yuzi's expression is very strange. She...the upper half of her face has a resentful expression, but her...the lower half of her face is smiling...and it's a wide-open grin...she must have experienced it. What would make it like that?"

"So I want to ask you to help me investigate what led to Yuzi's death." Zecheng covered his face, his body trembling slightly, "I also asked the police, but "it looks like it is a suicide, and there is no investigation at all. Necessary,” they replied to me. "

Speaking of this, Zecheng's expression was very gloomy and depressed.

"Then can you tell me the frequency and location of Yuzu's appearance? Just relax, since we have accepted your commission, we will definitely do our best."

Li Ming pushed the coffee cup in Zecheng's hand in front of her, showing a gentle look.

"Not just once, but several times... Each time Yuzu appeared on the street opposite me, and then walked forward. The place where she appeared was some distance away from here, but it was not particularly round. I don't remember it very clearly."

"I don't know when she will appear. Every time I see it, I think it's just an illusion after a period of time, but then...she will appear again..."

After accepting the commission, Zecheng took out several power of attorney letters from his bag.

"In order to avoid unnecessary trouble, I also ask you to sign a power of attorney."

Li Dang carefully checked the power of attorney sent from Zecheng and found that the paper was very good and smooth to the touch. However, he stopped when he was writing his name. He raised his head and glanced at the people around him. The word "dawn" was written on the paper.

Then several people who signed the name also saw this name, and they quickly understood Li Ming's purpose of doing this, and signed their pseudonyms on it.

After everyone signed the power of attorney, Zecheng left on the grounds of going to work and left her contact information.

The wind chimes at the door swayed as the door opened. Everyone looked at each other in confusion. They didn't know what they were thinking. They left the coffee shop and came to the university town outside.

At this moment, the sharp-eyed Hoshino Katsura saw a figure in the crowd in the distance, walking straight forward along the opposite road.

After a while, the figure got closer and closer to everyone, and soon others could see the unusual figure more clearly——

It was a girl wearing a high school uniform. Her appearance should have been beautiful, but the strange expression that appeared on her face now ruined it all. The upper half of her face was full of resentment, but the lower half of her face was exposed. He had an extremely bright smile, as if he was smiling about something happy.

She kept her expression on her face as she walked through the crowd, but no one noticed her.

Li Dang knew that face, and so did everyone else, because he had seen her in the photo a few minutes ago.

That's Ibi Yuzu.

As expected, no matter how many attempts were made to interrupt or intercept her, she would disappear instantly and then appear some distance in front of them.

After everyone thought and acted, she had reached the crossroads where people flowed.

People were coming and going at the intersection, and she stopped, but no one paid attention to the girl standing at the intersection.

At this time, her head suddenly turned back, and bright red blood overflowed from her body. Her body began to twist, and purple-black asphalt emerged from her body. The girl opened her mouth, and her eyes showed more resentment. With a terrifying smile, the crowd around him seemed to be swarming with laughter.

"This time... is it you?"

Accompanied by strange and terrifying words, her figure disappeared at the crossroads.

After actually seeing what Zecheng said, everyone gained some credibility in her words, and at the same time they were confused by what Yuzi said.

But no matter what, they need to take action to investigate Yuzu's death.

After discussion, they set the first target of investigation as Ibi Yuzu's home. According to the address in the file, they saw the building described in this description.

Yuzi's home is in an ordinary residential area. The gray walls and tall telephone poles next to it make this residential building look a bit depressing.

Li Ming cleared his throat and knocked on the door. After a long time, there was a sound of footsteps, and a messy head came out from behind the door.

"Who?"

At the same time, a strong smell of alcohol came from the door.

The man in front of everyone had a red nose, and there was a strong smell of alcohol coming from his body.

If I guessed correctly, this man is Ibi Nishikaga.

Li Dang squinted his eyes and found that the man's eyes were covered with red bloodshot eyes, his hair was sparse, and he was fat and greasy. It was obvious that he drank too much and hadn't slept well for a long time.

"That's right, we received a commission from Miss Zecheng to investigate the Ibi Yuzu incident."

The man raised his tired eyes and looked at everyone present. After looking around, he opened the door without any thought and let everyone in.

After entering the living room, Yuan Qingyu, who was walking at the front, stepped on a wine bottle on the ground and stabilized himself after staggering several times.

At the same time, due to the crisp sound, everyone discovered the wine bottles everywhere in the house and the messy living room. There was a photo frame on the table in the living room. The photo in the photo frame was of a woman who looked somewhat similar to Ibi Yuzu.

——It should be Yuzu’s mother, Ibi Emi.

"Can you tell me about your daughter Yuzu?"

"Don't talk to me about that prodigal girl. She committed suicide... and put the whole family's mess on me."

Upon hearing his daughter's name, Nishikiga showed a dissatisfied expression and insulted Yuzu with very bad words.

(End of this chapter)