white night syndrome

Chapter 234 202. Smooth reasoning (please order in full)
"Eri-chan's death should have been late last night." Kurosawa pondered.

"I think so too." Terada nodded, "After all, she stayed with us in the living room last night until the disbandment...and after getting up this morning, we found her body...The next part is about the cause of her death. , This is difficult to judge at this stage, but there are no other external injuries on the body, and there are no blood stains around it, so at least it is not caused by blood loss, right?"

"Is it possible that the crime was committed somewhere else, and then the body was dragged into the fireplace to make it look like it was burned to death by the flames of the fireplace." Haize paused.

"This possibility cannot be completely eliminated. Hot springs or bathrooms can indeed easily deal with blood stains... But compared to this, what puzzles me the most is the state of her death."

Terada pushed up his glasses, and the lenses turned white after reflection.

"Do you remember the circumstances of Eri-chan's death?"

"If I remember correctly, the head should have been burned..." Kurosawa hesitated before speaking. She remembered what Terada had said just now that there was no external injury, and she swallowed the reply that was about to come out.

"Yes, why the prisoner stuffed his head into the heater is really puzzling..."

Terada crossed his hands and leaned forward slightly so that his lips were close to the intersection, making him look like he was thinking about himself.

"Generally speaking, there are only two reasons why prisoners destroy corpses, forging the identity of the corpse and forging the time of death... Of course, this is just a situation in mystery novels. In reality, there are no prisoners who are pure perverts and simply enjoy the excitement. It’s possible, but choosing this answer means giving up thinking, so I’ll leave it at that.”

"First of all, let's look at the first possibility, forging an identity - that means disguising someone else's body as your own to create your own fake death. If the prisoner is Eri, there are indeed conditions for doing this, right? ?”

"That's true, and from a distance, the body shapes of Chizaki-kun and Eri-chan are very similar. Although they have different genders, their body shapes are still body shapes. At most, there are some skeletal problems." Kurosawa nodded thoughtfully.

"Yes, Tsuzaki-kun and Eri-chan who participated in this event happen to have similar body shapes. As long as Tsuzaki puts on her own clothes and applies nail polish, she can create Eri-chan's corpse... But the problem arises, What's her motive? Or why she did it."

Terada took a deep breath, leaning his back against the recliner from time to time, and rocked it, maintaining balance and pushing time forward.

"Although Eri-chan has a vicious tongue...but this is just her attribute. It does not mean that she is a vicious bad person..."

"Leaving aside Eri-chan's death, Uesugi-kun's condition becomes difficult to explain. Let's sort out the story of Uesugi-kun's murder. First of all, he disappeared because of..."

"It started yesterday morning." Kurosawa answered.

"Yeah, if you think about it carefully, he was missing for a whole day. We really took it lightly... Now that I think about it, he was probably killed late at night when you arrived."

"The prisoner who killed him naturally had the key to his room. He could lock the room from the outside. The snacks placed in his room were well packaged. It also means that he had not eaten all day. In fact, I once heard about this There is some interesting information, I wonder if Ms. Kurosawa knows about it?"

intelligence.

Could it be what Eri-chan told her?

"Are you talking about the sound Eri-chan heard that night?" Kurosawa probed thoughtfully.

"Sure enough, did she also tell you...?" Terada pondered, not knowing what he was thinking, and continued after a long time, "Yes, the crash that Eri heard that night was probably the dispute between the prisoner and Uesugi-kun. Sound, maybe she was silenced because she had this information?"

"Didn't you just say that the deceased was actually Ji Qi?"

"Ah...that's true." Terada scratched his hair in embarrassment, "Well, in the final analysis, this is just a guess about the motive. Let's go back to Uesugi-kun first."

"The cause of his death is also impossible to determine. It is conceivable that he died from drowning, blunt force blow, or blood loss. In short, his body was damaged beyond recognition. What method do you think was used?"

"Cooked in the hot spring." When Kurosawa said this, he laughed to himself. She also felt it was a bit ridiculous.

"Hey..." Terada also smiled bitterly, "No matter how hot the hot spring is, it can't cook people, right? What's more, this is a natural hot spring and does not have the function of adjusting the temperature independently, but I can think of a way …For example, with the help of props, I’m afraid I found them in the storage room, right?”

Kurosawa held his chin and seemed to be already involved in this reasoning. It was said to be reasoning, but in fact it was more like brainstorming: "The chemical reaction between quicklime and water generates heat."

"Ah, as expected of Ms. Kurosawa, yes, there is a lot of white precipitate in the lower part of the pool water. It reminds me of the experiment in the chemistry class in middle school... Didn't we just find white powder in the locker? Is it? I’m afraid that’s quicklime. Although I don’t know what the homeowner used to hoard so much quicklime, but the prisoner probably made use of it.”

"Stop for a moment... I'm thinking of one thing. Is it possible that the prisoner was hiding in the villa... or that there is a secret passage..." Kurosawa hesitated, although she knew this was impossible - —Because all signs have proven that this idea is wrong, but this strong premonition still drove her to speak out these speculations.

"Miss Kurosawa is such a noble person who forgets things. Didn't you just say something about these topics? We have turned over everything in this villa and still haven't found the secret passage, let alone the murderer who was originally here. ." Terada paused, "Or is it that Miss Kurosawa is actually doubting the five of us...?"

Kurosawa looked sideways slightly, with an expression of disbelief on his face. He didn't know how the boy in front of him connected these possibilities. Maybe people who like reading mystery novels are born with abnormal brain circuits.

"Haha... Sorry, I just read too many mystery novels and I think I should say some very appropriate lines in that kind of atmosphere." Terada rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment, "Back to the topic, pour a lot of it into the hot spring. If you add quicklime, you can release a large amount of high temperature in a short time to destroy the corpse."

"The method of destroying the corpse has been solved, but the mystery has only been solved half way. Why did you do this... This is something I can't understand. At this stage, all the men except Uesugi-kun are alive, even if his corpse is The destruction is beyond recognition, and no one can benefit from it..."

"Is it to fake the time of death?"

Kurosawa thought of the second possibility just discussed, and then applied it to the current discussion.

"That's right, the only two possibilities that can be considered are the second reason mentioned before, but..." Terada raised his head and looked at the girl in front of him, "Let's put it this way, Miss Kurosawa, do you think you can "false the time of death" "What is the premise of "? "

"There is someone who can correctly judge the time of death..." Kurosawa realized something and his voice hesitated.

"Absolutely correct." Terada snapped his fingers, "However, in fact, none of us have the skills to do an autopsy... It's embarrassing to say that all of us in the research club are not members of the medical department, and we have no knowledge of each other's medical knowledge. I know it well, so is it because of your accidental visit?" "Is the prisoner worried about which of the two of you can do the autopsy? Even so, there is still a huge contradiction, so Ms. Kurosawa, do you think "forging the time of death" "What is the fundamental purpose?" "

"It's to create an alibi!" Kurosawa responded, her voice obviously a little loud.

"Yes, if you can't commit a crime within a certain period of time, no matter how you manipulate the time of death, it will be meaningless. But in reality? We were acting together during the day yesterday, and the crime occurred when everyone was resting. Late at night, everyone has no alibi—"

"This is really unreasonable. At least the prisoner himself should prepare his own alibi..."

When the reasoning came to an end, Terada let out a long breath, put his hands behind his head, and leaned back on the rocking chair.

"In this case, perhaps we have to temporarily give up the idea of ​​​​mysterious novels... The prisoners destroyed the corpses because they had strong resentment towards them, or they wanted to inflict power on anyone who was alive... Is this the only explanation?"

Terada's expression looked very disappointed.

Kurosawa squinted his eyes. Although Terada looked serious when he was reasoning just now, his face could not hide his excitement. Compared with the pain and sadness of losing his companion, he seemed to be more immersed in the mystery novel-like murder incident. Feel the pleasure.

It's time to ask some other questions.

If you keep sitting and waiting like this, the chance to escape will never be presented to you.

"Then I want to ask you some questions, and you have to answer them truthfully and well." Kurosawa paused, "Is the victim resented by anyone?"

"Both of them have quite weird personalities. They have no other friends outside of the Promotion Club, but everyone in the Promotion Club has a good relationship. At least I haven't heard of any disputes." Terada pursed his lips and nodded.

"Then what do you know about the homeowner..."

"The house was ordered online by Jisaki, and I had no idea about it." Terada seemed to have entered the stage of quick questions and answers. Within seconds after Kurosawa asked the question, he quickly answered it.

However, such behavior has to make people doubt whether his actions are true and accurate, and whether he may have prepared answers in advance and then used them to confuse the public.

"And regarding the possibility of outside prisoners..."

"Although this is not a mystery novel, so I don't want to accept this view, but it is really not easy to deny it at this stage, so prepare some weapons to protect yourself tonight." Terada sighed.

"Then do you doubt us?"

Kurosawa was referring to himself and Li Ming. After all, since they first came here... many of the five people had expressed doubts about this, and were even aggressive. However, the president in front of him did not. Such emotions emerged, so Kurosawa wanted to ask his opinion even more.

"It's completely false to say that I don't doubt it. After all, everyone may be a prisoner in the current situation, but without certain evidence, I don't want to cause unnecessary disputes." Terada chuckled.

"Then aren't you afraid of getting along with me? Since you have doubts...if I am really the murderer..."

"Just because we are getting along with each other, it will be obvious at a glance if the prisoner is killed. Even if the prisoner really takes the risk, I will have to die in Jideshao. It is better than those two who died in the dark..." Terada smiled bitterly. stand up.

At this moment, there was a sound outside the door.

It was Li Ming and Yamada who both came back. Both of them were covered in snowflakes, but luckily they were all safe.

"Kurosawa! Are you okay?" Li Ming, who was free from the straight man's judgment, looked anxious as soon as he entered the villa.

"It's okay. Have you found Izaki-kun?" There were too many questions to ask. Kurosawa calmed down for a while, "Have you found any suspicious people nearby?"

"The snow is really too heavy... We walked around the mansion and found nothing." Li Ming sighed, and Yamada beside him also echoed, "We didn't find any suspicious people, and In such a heavy snowstorm, you will stay outside unless you are desperate, right?"

"I remember you drove an SUV when you came here, so how is the condition of the car? If there is nothing wrong with the car, we should be able to leave here in the SUV, but the risks we need to bear are relatively high." Kurosawa Wakayo Said thoughtfully.

"The car was almost buried in the snow... Of course, just in case, we dug it out and looked inside, but as expected, there was no one there. The car itself was not damaged. It should be able to be driven after the wind and snow stopped." Li After a pause, he said, "It's completely white outside now. If you leave with a narrow bottom, you will get lost soon."

"It's really strange. If you look carefully during the day, there isn't a single tree within your field of vision. What is going on in this place?"

Li Ming looked like he was trying to suppress his panic.

Are you lying?

After the two of them changed their clothes, everyone seemed very tired and ready to end the conversation.

Finally, Terada and Yamada suggested that everyone get together tonight, not only to be wary of outside prisoners, but also to monitor each other...

However, Li Ming firmly opposed it.

"What's the matter...Mr. Li Ming?" Terada was surprised by his attitude. "You know, they are still separated under such circumstances. In mystery novels, it is a standard death flag... "I don't want to be with a murderer. 90.00% of the people who say things like "Together" are the next victims, and [-]% are the criminals themselves. "

(End of this chapter)