white night syndrome

Chapter 233 201. The disgusting smell of meat (please order the full version)
Everyone hurriedly extinguished the fire in the fireplace and moved the body out.

"...It's Eri-chan."

Terada said in a lifeless voice.

The brightly colored clothes and the nails painted with light pink nail polish undoubtedly belong to Eri-chan. The girl who was chirping next to her last night can never speak.

"Who on earth did such a thing..." Yamada bit his lower lip tightly, his voice full of bitterness, "By the way, it couldn't be you..." Yamada turned his attention to Kurosawa and Li Ming.

"Calm down, Yamada! It's hard to say anything right now...we lack the conditions for reasoning." President Terada said, suppressing the grief in his heart.

"Senior! Now is not the time to talk about mystery novels——"

"I know, but the situation is the same. It doesn't mean that it's just because of the events that happened in reality, so it can't be decided easily in a hot head. ...You two think so too, right?"

Although his tone sounded protective, his eyes were full of wariness, and it was clear that Terada was also suspicious of the two of them.

"Please wait a moment. I won't mention it for now. Miss Kurosawa has just recovered from a serious illness. Isn't it too reluctant to say so?" Li Ming took a step forward, protected Kurosawa behind him, and said in a deep voice.

Yamada strode in front of him with a straight face, glaring at Li Ming with a superior attitude: "Serious illness? Don't be ridiculous, I can't see what the illness is!"

"This--!"

Seeing that the two were about to become tense, Kurosawa stood there and loudly stopped the two from giving in.

"Stop! Isn't the most important thing now to dispose of Eri-chan's body? Isn't it the most important thing for us to find some detailed clues from it to point to the real culprit?
Why are you still making trouble here?
Is it just because we are foreign guests that we are the real culprits who are most likely to kill your companions...?
What kind of bullshit conclusion is this? You are reading mystery novels. How can you convince everyone with such an absurd and unfounded conclusion?
Why don't you think about yourselves? Why don't you think about whether any of the five of you has a conflict with Eri-chan... Eri-chan's poisonous tongue can be used as a key clue. These can be used as a basis for sorting out the case. Now I only rely on your Prejudice, isn’t it a little ridiculous? "

Kurosawa was a little out of breath after saying these words in one breath. She breathed heavily and her cheeks turned red.

"One or two people still say they want to become famous detectives. In my opinion, it is a very ridiculous ideal. On a subjective level, to designate the murderer without analysis, is this behavior the attitude you want to achieve when you want to achieve your ideal?"

Kurosawa's words suddenly impacted the hearts of the two of them. Yamada gradually put down his hand, took a few steps back and stood by the stove.

"You're right. We were too impulsive. I'm really sorry, but we have another request. Regarding the investigation of Eri-chan's body, I hope we can do it ourselves. After all, objectively speaking, you are indeed He is the most likely murderer of Eri-chan." Terada squatted down without any explanation and started his first investigation.

"During the investigation, I would like to ask you a routine question. Is there any problem?" Kurosawa had already taken out a small notebook from Li Dang's coat pocket and recorded something in it. "After all, the person next to me is a real A private detective, if you stay for a long time, you will eventually learn something."

"No problem, just say it." Terada responded absently.

"Who was the first person to discover Eri-chan's body? Can you tell me the specific details? The more details, the better. This plays a very important role in judgment and reasoning."

"It's me." Yamada replied coldly, as if he was still angry about the dispute just now, "I saw something was wrong with the fireplace at the stairs, so I went to call the seniors. Mr. Li Ming also happened to come out of the room. Let's go together. Went downstairs and identified the body.”

"What's the condition of Eri-chan's body?" Kurosawa asked softly.

"The head was completely burned, and there were no other external injuries. It's a pity that I don't have Yanshi's skills, so I can't accurately determine the cause of death... I thought reasoning was the world in books after all. How ironic." Terada muttered something to himself. , "There is no blood nearby. Could it be that poisoning or something like that was used, or is the crime scene somewhere else...?"

This looks like there is no clue at all.

"Then have you seen the other two people?" Kurosawa suddenly remembered that there were five people in the mansion and continued to ask.

"So, I haven't seen them yet... It's time to get up at this hour. Besides, there is such a big movement in the living room... I'm a bit worried."

Li Ming stood speechless and looked at everyone from a distance: "I'm talking about you? Why are you doing this kind of detective-like thing again? Don't force yourself, come and sit here and keep looking at the corpse. I won’t be able to sleep at night.”

"Then did you hear any noise last night?" Kurosawa ignored Li Ming's dissuasion.

"No……"

Terada stood up with some distress: "Is this all I can do... It's still too much for a layman to pretend to be a famous detective. If I had known better, I should have learned more criminal investigation knowledge."

"Rather than this, I have a suggestion." Kurosawa said, "As I just said, although it is very sad, wouldn't it be better for us to deal with Eri-chan's body first? Let her lie here all the time. It’s so pitiful.”

"Hmm... I really want to say that the scene should be preserved, but as a classmate, I really can't stand it." Terada pondered for a moment and nodded, "What should I do? Should I move it to her room...?"

"Then let's move into the room. In a sense, this can be considered her home. It would be good to give his body a real home." Kurosawa sighed.

Yamada wrapped Eri-chan's body in a blanket and picked her up.

Eri-chan's room was not locked.

Several people walked into the room, and Yamada gently placed her on the bed.

The size of the room was exactly the same as Kurosawa's own, the layout was similar, and the furniture was exactly the same. Luggage was placed in a mess, and clothes and jewelry were thrown carelessly on the floor.

Although it was a bit messy, there were no signs of disputes, and there was no sign of picking the door lock. Everything seemed extremely normal, and there was no suspicious person hiding.

"Can the heating in the room be turned off?" Li Ming asked.

Terada shook his head calmly: "The villa has central heating, so there is no way to adjust it individually."

"Really... Then we can only hope that the wind and snow will stop soon. I hope that when the police come, it won't... become too bad."

He wanted to avoid saying the word rot, and Li Ming's expression was very complicated.

When leaving Mochizuki Eri's room, Kurosawa felt a strange sense of dissonance, but he didn't know where it came from. "What should we do next...senpai?" Yamada asked.

"Yeah... I'm really worried about them both. Since it's obviously a homicide, it's very likely that they were also in danger, so hurry up and find them talking about the prisoner." Terada nodded and said.

Kurosawa also agreed with this proposal. They came to Jisaki's room together, which was also unlocked. Opening the door gave them the same feeling as Eri-chan's room just now. The same was true for Uesugi-kun on the other side, and I felt uncomfortable when I left.

"Come and take a look, there's something strange here."

Hearing Li Ming's voice, everyone rushed to the scene in a hurry.

The young man was standing near the storage room on the first floor. The storage room seemed to be old. There were some old farm tools in it, as well as several sacks, which seemed to contain sand. One of the sacks was broken and contained Some white powder, and there is some white powder on the ground.

The burlap bag should belong to the homeowner…

It's just that this white powder always makes people feel something is wrong.

Everyone walked through the dressing room and came to the hot spring. A burst of hot air hit their faces. Terada frowned and wiped the mist from the glasses in front of his eyes.

Under the leadership of Yamada, they came to the hot spring. In the bubbling pool, a strange smell floated, and a twisted shadow floated on the water.

are people.

Floating on the turbid water, his skin had become torn apart due to soaking and overheating, but his dazzling hair still strongly explained his identity.

It's game maniac, Uesugi-kun.

Yamada yelled and was about to jump into the pool, but Terada held him back: "Don't mess around! Even if you fish it out like this, there's probably nothing you can do."

"But that's Uesugi-senpai..." Yamada hesitated.

"Go to the bathroom to get a clothes drying rack, move the body to the shore, and then you should be able to fish it out." Kurosawa suggested calmly from the side, "There must be some unknown substances in the bath. If you want to fish out the body, As much as possible, rely on long objects for movement.”

Yamada did not hesitate to find a clothes drying rod from the bathroom. As the clothes drying rod stirred the bottom, some white turbid sediment floated up. Terada, who had already dried his glasses, squatted down and observed the pool water, silently. language.

If you look closely at the body, you can tell that it looks very miserable without looking closely. The skin and flesh have become rotten due to being soaked in water for a long time. The temperature of the hot spring has become extremely high, and the air is filled with a disgusting smell of meat.

No matter how hot the hot spring is, it can't cook people, right?
Kurosawa carefully observed the surroundings. Just like when he took a bath before, there was still no sign of sincerity, and no one could be seen hiding anywhere. The water in the hot spring was also very turbid, and there seemed to be a lot of white sediment underneath.

"Mr. Ji Qi has not been found yet." Li Ming's voice sounded a little anxious, "Anyway, let's find him first. Maybe he is still safe."

"...It's also possible that he is the prisoner." Terada said solemnly.

"Senior! How can you say that...! Jisaki has always been good at enlivening the atmosphere, and getting along with us is very happy and harmonious. How could he do such a thing? This is impossible!" Yamada shook his head.

"Holmes once said: The so-called reasoning is just to magnify all the details and eliminate all impossibilities. The last one is a fact no matter how incredible it is." Terada said with a cold expression, "It's just a possibility... Let's continue to look for it. Find it."

The group continued to search the mansion until they were sure that there was no one else in the house. They stood there a little at a loss.

"Where did he go? Just in case, let me ask, there shouldn't be any hidden rooms in this villa...?" Li Ming asked.

"Yes, after all, the secret passage is a plot in mystery novels. In a sense, it is also a rhetoric used by detectives who are not good at reasoning, or it is an excuse for mystery writers to find excuses for their irreparable writing techniques. Although the secret passage can also be regarded as One of the secret room handouts... We explored everything inside and out on the day we arrived, but unfortunately we found nothing."

"Then it can only be outside the house..." Kurosawa muttered to himself.

Yamada cast his gaze out the window: "But it's a snowstorm outside. There's no place to hide, right?"

"Dead or escaped after murder... no matter which is indeed the worst outcome, but it is still necessary to go out and take a look. What do you think, Miss Kurosawa?" Terada pushed up his glasses.

"Indeed, if Mr. Jisaki really escaped and was still in this mountain villa with no secret passage... he could only choose to leave this villa." Kurosawa paused, "But if he... is already dead, then The murderer is most likely to dump him outside the villa, because he was betting... betting that we would not want to leave, and betting on whether the blizzard could bury it."

Yamada nodded thoughtfully: "Then let me go, the seniors can just wait here." He said he was about to leave.

"Wait, it's too dangerous to be alone. What if the criminal is ambushing outside? At least two people should act together." Terada crossed his hands. Although he said so, he had no intention of leaving the villa.

Li Ming quickly saw what he was thinking, and then volunteered: "Then let me go together. Kurosawa, you have just recovered from your cold, but don't catch another cold."

The two put on their coats, said goodbye to everyone, and stepped into the knee-high white snow.

They stayed in the house and covered the fireplace with a white cloth at Terada's suggestion. Terada sat down on the lounge chair in his usual place, pointed to the sofa next to him, and motioned for Kurosawa to sit down and take a breath.

"Then before the two of them come back, in order to pass this boring time, why not let me imitate the famous detective in the novel and try my hand at reasoning."

"Miss Kurosawa, would you like to help me sort out my thoughts? Although you claimed that you are not interested in this novel, judging from your performance just now, you must be curious about the truth of the incident, right?"

Kurosawa nodded silently.

"Then let's sort out the current situation first. The two deceased found were Uesugi and Eri. The first one to be found was Eri-chan. Regarding the time when she might have been murdered...what do you think?"

Terada pushed up his glasses, with a serious expression, and crossed his hands to his mouth.

(End of this chapter)