Chapter 14 fourth quarter

After Kitahara left the hospital, he took a taxi to Otemachi. Although he was going to work at the "Penmax" company in Gasan, his mind was full of other things. Recalling the conversation between himself and Kusanagi, Kitahara began to hate himself—he regretted that he had said a lot of unnecessary annoying words, and he couldn't forgive himself for always having feelings for the people in the superior unit of the Metropolitan Police Department. Although he and Kusanagi have never worked in the same place, both of them aim to be promoted to the Metropolitan Police Department's First Investigation Section, so they become competitors.When he heard that Kusanagi was promoted to the Metropolitan Police Department, Kitahara was so shocked that he was dizzy, and he always thought that he was in the leading position...

Kusanagi borrowed the light from his grandfather - some of his classmates said so, it should be for this reason, Beiyuan can only think so, he will not please his boss, other than that, he believes that he is no worse than him. However, no matter what the reason is, the distance between the two has been widened. In the police station of the jurisdiction, no matter how hard you try, it is difficult to achieve dazzling results. For example, if a homicide occurs in the jurisdiction, the main responsibility is to search People who don't give important jobs to the local police. "How ironic!" Beiyuan thought, hearing that there was a stabbing case in the hospital, he rushed over, the perpetrator had already been caught, and the victim was his former competitor, and he was the one who caught the perpetrator.It seems that lucky people can also encounter opportunities when they are not on duty, and the job left to Beiyuan is to confirm whether the mental state of the suspect is normal, and it may be difficult to achieve any results.

"I can do it too!" Bei Yuan couldn't help muttering. "What did you say?" asked the taxi driver. "Nothing." Beiyuan replied foolishly. After a while, they arrived at "Penmax". Kitahara first asked Mr. Muraki, Kazan's direct supervisor, a man over forty years old with a soft complexion. "Oh, I have caused you so much trouble. I never dreamed that such a thing would happen, and we were shocked!" As soon as we met in the reception room, Muraki bowed his head deeply and apologized. "Please sit down!" Kitahara said, "Yesterday was still a working day, so your company is also open. Has the suspect Kashan submitted a leave application?"

Regarding the first question, Muraki nodded heavily, "He handed it to me the day before yesterday, saying that he was not in good health recently and wanted to go to a big hospital." "Did you specifically say what's wrong with your health?" "He didn't say it, but I know it. I told him before that it's better to find a place to have a look." Kitahara looked at Muraki with deep surprise, "Did something happen?" "Well, yes, it should be said that something happened, not once or twice, and it's not just me saying that." "What's going on? What happened?"

"This, for example, before..." What Muraki said dates back to a week ago. A certain meeting that day was for Gasan to report on a new project. He was the person in charge of the project. Employees, ministers and others all participated. It was a large meeting. It had been going well at first, but Gasan explained the progress of the project in an easy-to-understand manner with the help of the large screen in front of the conference room with a brisk, clear and confident tone. However, just after the meeting was halfway through, something happened suddenly. He was suddenly speechless and remained silent for a long time.Seeing that the situation was not good, Muraki asked him and he didn't answer, as if he couldn't hear others.His eyes were bloodshot and his forehead was covered with sweat.

"What's wrong?" Muraki tried to ask him again. "It's annoying! It's annoying! It's annoying! It's annoying! Get out! Get out of my head!" Gasan waved his hands and shouted as if trying to drive away something invisible. "We didn't understand what happened at all, because there were many employees, and I thought we had to control the situation, so I arranged for other people to explain in the second half of the meeting. After a while, the tiger calmed down, although he didn't make trouble in the following meetings , but until the end of the meeting, I didn’t have much energy and didn’t say anything.”

"What did he say himself?" "It's said that he was too nervous and crazy, but I think it's strange that he was able to complete the bigger meeting and more stressful briefing before, and that's why he performed the best among his peers." "It turned out to be such a person." "Before this incident happened, Jiashan Jun had always been outstanding, and his business performance was among the best in the entire department. But because of this incident, the leaders' impression of him has deteriorated." Kitahara also asked other people about the situation, and almost everyone told him the same thing as Muraki - when Kayama was working on his seat, he suddenly started talking to himself, and he didn't respond at all when others talked to him, etc. , all prove that Gasan has been acting abnormally recently.

"I think he has vanity," said Xiaozhong, who joined the company at the same time as Gasan. A company celebrity who is twice as tall as others, but he can’t pretend all the time... There are also hidden troubles! Even though I was appointed as the project leader, it has actually become a pressure!" Kitahara agrees—it happens a lot in the police station, it's the same thing everywhere in the world. Back at the police station, Kitahara questioned Gasan again.Hearing Kitahara talk about what he heard in the company, Gasan lowered his head deeply in frustration, "Sure enough, not only the section chief, but also the people around me have noticed that I have become so strange..."

"Is this all because of auditory hallucinations?" Hearing Kitahara's question, Kashan nodded feebly. "As soon as I'm doing important work, I can hear weird noises - 'Go to hell! Kill you!' or something. It's louder than usual during project meetings, and I hear it in succession, so I don't know Whatever I wanted to say, I ended up going crazy." Beiyuan felt that if he heard such a voice, people would naturally go crazy. "Have you ever told anyone about your hallucinations?" Gasan shook his head slowly, "I didn't say that, if I said I had auditory hallucinations, I probably wouldn't be assigned an important job."

After all, he is still a person with strong vanity. Beiyuan remembered what his colleague Xiaozhong said, "So you feel unbearable and want to go to the hospital. I didn't expect to hear it in the hospital, so I went crazy. Is it like this? ?” "Before, I could only hear it in the company, but I didn't expect it to be outside..." Gasan held his head, "I did such a crazy thing." Looking at the depressed suspect, Bei Yuan thought the case would be closed.Ordinary company employees suddenly go berserk due to mental reasons - that's fine, no one is expected to raise any objections, and then just submit a report.Although a psychiatric appraisal is required, whether to prosecute is a matter for the prosecution, and it has nothing to do with me.

This is nothing more than an ordinary case that the jurisdiction is responsible for. But the next morning, this idea was completely overturned.Bei Yuan, who was called by the head of the criminal section, was introduced to a young woman.She has a beautiful appearance and a graceful figure. Although she is not wearing a uniform, she can be seen as a policeman at a glance. The head of the criminal section introduced her like this--Investigator Utsumi Kaoru from the First Investigation Section of the Metropolitan Police Department, working with Kusanagi. "The case that Nei Hai is in charge of wants to ask you for help, and now I want to talk to you. The situation is a bit complicated, so I will leave it to you!" said the criminal section chief. "Ah?" Beiyuan looked at the policewoman, "What do you want to hear?" The two arrived at the simple reception area in the corner of the office. Beiyuan carefully looked at the beautiful face of the female policeman, but he was dissatisfied because such a little girl was also a member of the investigation class. She was probably promoted in the "Women's Project" a few years ago. Bar.The Metropolitan Police Department suddenly issued an order that "because women's perspectives are very important in future criminal investigations, all agencies of the police headquarters must actively accept young female police officers." The little girl who didn't know the hardships of the promotion process of civil servants suddenly jumped into the dragon's gate, "It's too much for a person like me to do odd jobs all the time!" Thinking about it, I'm not happy. "Tell me! What do you want me to do?" Bei Yuan crossed his legs. "Simply speaking, it is an exchange of information. I heard that you are in charge of the case of Yukihiro Kayama, right? There may be some connection between this case and the case we are in charge of." "Ah?" Bei Yuan opened his mouth wide in surprise, "What's the connection? Gasan went crazy due to mental reasons, so it shouldn't have anything to do with other cases!" "It's not a simple mental problem, but auditory hallucinations!" Kaoru Utsumi said articulately. Kitahara fiddled with his tie and nodded, "You... heard about it from Kusanagi?" "I heard that you have gone to the place where Gasan works to investigate?" "Yes, the criminal police in my dignified jurisdiction have to do this kind of work." "About auditory hallucinations, have you investigated clearly?" Beiyuan took a deep breath, put down his crossed legs, and leaned forward slightly, "Speaking of why, this is a salaryman whose brain is crazy due to pressure or something, and wanted to go to the hospital for treatment, but ended up going crazy impulsively." case. Why is the First Investigation Division interested in such a case? Please don’t play tricks! Is it to show us your ability?” Hearing Kitahara's harsh words, Kaoru Utsumi showed no reaction on his face, but took out a notepad from the bag beside him. "I don't mean to be mysterious, so let me talk about our case. This case happened two months ago. The sales director of the office equipment manufacturer 'Penmax' saw Tatsuro jumping from his balcony to die early. It may have been a suicide, but bloodstains of Mr. Hayami were found on the wall of the living room at home, so there was suspicion of homicide, and we took charge of the investigation.” "Speaking of which, Kusanagi mentioned this matter," Kitahara recalled the conversation between the two in the ward, "But isn't this case a suicide? Kusanagi said so." "It is indeed determined as suicide as you said, but the conclusion is not unchangeable." "Then I don't understand." Bei Yuan said. "Although that one is a suicide, this one is just a salaryman going crazy, but I don't know what the relationship between the two cases is, not just working in the same place? It's too coincidental in terms of chance." Kaoru Utsumi immediately flipped through the notepad, "Kusanagi also asked the Forensic Section to analyze the laptop used by Tatsuro Hayami, and found that Hayami had frequently searched for two keywords." "Two keywords?" Utsumi Kaoru opened the notepad and showed it to Bei Yuan. There were two characters written on it, "One is 'spirit' and the other is 'sound'." Bei Yuan pouted, "What is this?" "Kusanagi didn't understand what it meant, but he had a flash of inspiration when he heard you talking about this case." "What did he think of?" "Many people have confirmed that Zaojian Dalang became very strange more than a month before his death. He felt as if he was afraid of something, and he was worried all day long. We conducted an investigation according to the anticipation of homicide and found that he himself always felt that someone was going to kill him. He, after ruling out the possibility of homicide, only left the mystery of what Zao Jian was afraid of." "Has the mystery been solved?" "Still speculating," Utsumi Kaoru said, "Kusanagi thinks that Hayami Tatsuro also has auditory hallucinations like the suspect Kayama, especially the voice, which feels like it comes from another world, so he wants to learn from 'spirit' and ' Sound' point of view to investigate." "another world?" "I don't think you know that three months before Zaojian's death, a female employee in another department committed suicide. Zaojian had an extramarital relationship with her, and her suicide is also inseparable." "So you said that the minister heard the voice of the dead woman?" "This is all Kusanagi's reasoning." "That's it!" Kitahara found it interesting, "Kusanagi would have such a strange idea! But it's also possible that the woman he abandoned commits suicide. No matter who he is, he can't sleep well, right? If he thinks he will be unlucky, It's not surprising to hear something, but so what?" "You said that Gasan also had auditory hallucinations and that it became his motive for the crime." Beiyuan stared at the policewoman and leaned back, "So what if this is the case? What do you want to say?" "People who work in the same place all suffer from auditory hallucinations—is that just a coincidence?" Bei Yuan couldn't help laughing out loud, "Are you saying this is accidental? Or what else do you think? Although it's all auditory hallucinations, it's not like the flu can't be contagious, right?" "Maybe it is," Utsumi Kaoru replied expressionlessly, "or there are other reasons." "It's ridiculous!" Kitahara said unhappily, "What the hell is Kusanagi doing? If he has the time to fabricate such things, it would be more useful for you to tell him to prepare for his promotion exam." "You think this is fiction?" "Yeah! And I wasn't interested in mental illness at first. It's true that Gasan heard strange noises, but it was because of stress or something. If it wasn't an accident, it was also an environmental problem. I guess it's because the place where those people work makes people feel pressured." Big." "During Kusanagi's investigation two months ago," Kaoru Utsumi looked at the notepad, "Based on what I saw earlier, he didn't have any troubles at work, and his job as sales manager went smoothly." "How can outsiders see? No one knows what he thinks! And if both of them have auditory hallucinations, even if the reason is the same, it has nothing to do with us, right? Your case is a suicide, and mine is a wounding case. , the nature of the case will not change, right? Right?" "You don't think it's caused by auditory hallucinations?" "What did you say? What do you mean?" But Utsumi Kaoru didn't answer, but looked at the watch on his left hand. "Mr. Kitahara, can you go somewhere with me?" "Where?" Kaoru Utsumi stared at him with slender and delicate eyes, "It may be a place where the mystery of auditory hallucinations can be solved." When entering the gate of Imperial Capital University, Beiyuan thought to himself that he hadn't been to this kind of place for many years.Almost none of the cases that I was in charge of before had to come to the university to collect evidence. If I barely counted, at most I went to the forensic classroom of forensic anatomy, but that kind of place is more like a hospital.Moreover, Beiyuan never thought of asking for advice from a physicist whose field was completely different from criminal investigation. I heard that Kusanagi used that scholar named Yu Chuan to help solve several suspicious cases, but to Kitahara, this kind of approach is crooked, no matter how difficult the problem is, asking non-police people for help would be too embarrassing for the police. Therefore, when Utsumi Kaoru told him where he was going, he originally wanted to refuse, because he felt that Gasan's case was closed. However, he felt that Kusanagi's way of handling the case was not bad, so he changed his mind.Judging from the way Utsumi Kaoru spoke on the phone, she was also quite familiar with Yukawa.Although Tang Chuan has no other urgent work, his attitude of agreeing to their visit is quite cold. Kaoru Utsumi walked through the school familiarly. In the teaching building they entered, there was a smell of medicine or oil everywhere. If he hadn't been brought here this time, Bei Yuan probably would never have come to such a place in his life. In the blink of an eye, I arrived at the thirteenth research room of physics. As soon as Kaoru Utsumi knocked on the door, someone said "Come in".Following her, Bei Yuan also walked into the laboratory. There was a large operating table in the center of the room, and there were complex instruments on and around the table that seemed untouchable. On the seat inside was a man in white, sitting with his back facing them, and a strange figure was displayed on the computer monitor in front of him. The man stood up and looked back. It was Yu Chuan whom he had seen in Kusanagi's ward yesterday, wearing the rimless glasses that he hadn't worn that day. "Wait a minute!" Yukawa said to Utsumi Kaoru. "Long time no see, I really bother you today!" "Kusanagi called just now. You can come here if you really want to. I have already said that you need to make an appointment two weeks in advance for interviews with science magazines." Yu Chuan nodded and greeted Bei Yuan while talking, "We met yesterday." "I was rude yesterday." Bei Yuan bowed his head in greeting. "There's no need to apologize. It's normal for the police to ask outsiders to avoid them when they collect testimony, but..." Tang Chuan looked at Kaoru Utsumi, "I really didn't expect that this case would have anything to do with me." "But I can't say that yet," Kitahara said, "I'm also thinking maybe I don't need my husband's help." Yu Chuan raised his glasses with his fingers, looked at Kaoru Utsumi, "Is that so?" "I don't know yet, so we want to hear your opinion." "Well," Tang Chuan nodded with an unacceptable expression, "Do you drink coffee? It's just instant." He asked Bei Yuan. "No, let's hurry up!" "Okay," Tang Chuan sat on the chair next to the workbench, "Then you guys talk about it! I heard from Kusanagi that it has something to do with auditory hallucinations." "Yes, the key word this time is auditory hallucinations." Kaoru Utsumi began to say. The suicide case two months ago, as well as this case, are very likely to be related to auditory hallucinations, and she also explained the reason why it is not an accidental event, concise and clear, and explained the necessary details as much as possible.Bei Yuan listened to it and couldn't help admiring in his heart. Sure enough, those who can work in the investigation department are very smart, although they are not smart enough to be a policeman. "Indeed, it is worth considering," Tang Chuan said after listening, "but auditory hallucinations are originally a mental behavior, and I don't think it is necessary to use physics knowledge." Kitahara nodded in agreement, and Kaoru Utsumi immediately continued: "If there is only one person, I agree with you. However, there are two people in the same office suffering from auditory hallucinations at the same time. I would like to ask you for reasons other than spiritual aspects. Besides, is it possible that physical methods were used?" "For example? What kind of trick is this?" "Mr. Kusanagi said," Kaoru Utsumi licked his pink lips, "He heard about super-directional loudspeakers from you before, and there is a way to only allow people in a small range to hear the sound." Yukawa smiled and narrowed his eyes behind the glasses, "Did he say 'Hypersonic sound system' (HSS for short)? Hehe, this scientific idiot actually remembers this, it really surprises me." "What exactly is this talking about?" Bei Yuan asked, "What is this and what is it? I don't understand it at all." "Ordinary sound propagates in a fan shape from the point of occurrence, while the propagation range of ultrasonic waves is very small, almost straight-line propagation, which is called high directivity, and the device made by using this feature is called 'hypersonic audio system'. " "So that's how it is." Bei Yuan nodded indiscriminately, as if he didn't fully understand. "In short—" Yu Chuan added, "As you said, the sound from this loudspeaker can only be heard in a small range. If many people gather together, only a few of them can hear it. " "Can it be done?" "If the conditions are met," Yukawa turned his gaze back to Kaoru Utsumi, "Kusanagi thinks that someone deliberately caused Kayama and the others to have auditory hallucinations?" "It's not impossible, is it?" "Ah! That's ridiculous!" Bei Yuan said unhappily, "Impossible! What is that guy thinking?" "Why assert that it's impossible?" Tang Chuan asked. Kitahara met the physicist's gaze, "It's meaningless to do this! What good is it for me to let others have auditory hallucinations? Besides Kazan, the minister who committed suicide two months ago also had auditory hallucinations. This is just Kusanagi's imagination. ?” "According to what Utsumi-kun said, I think this kind of imagination is very reasonable." Beiyuan waved his hands vigorously, "Thinking too much! Teacher, investigation is not like this. The winner can be decided just by imagination. How can there be such a good thing!" "No one wants to give an answer based on imagination alone. Analyzing a certain phenomenon needs to consider all possibilities. Therefore, when someone proposes an idea, first of all, he should respect this idea, and use his own idea without verification. Not listening to other people's opinions is the practice of lazy people without self-motivation." "Lazy?" Beiyuan glared at the physicist. "Yes, lazy people. Listening to other people's opinions, often correcting your own approach and whether your ideas are correct, it is not easy physically and mentally. In contrast, not listening to other people's opinions, but only stubbornly sticking to your own ideas, is not easy. Instead, it's easy. Anyone who seeks easy is a lazy person—isn't that right?" Kitahara bit his lip and clenched his fist with his right hand, wanting to punch Yu Chuan's serious face. "Teacher Yukawa," Kaoru Utsumi said at this time, "Is there a way to test whether Mr. Kusanagi's deduction is correct?" Tang Chuan nodded, "Let's first listen to what the person involved has to say, but one of them is dead, so we can only listen to the other." Bei Yuan took a deep breath, his nostrils bulging with anger, "You said you wanted to see Gasan?" "yes." "Inappropriate!" Bei Yuan said decisively, "You are a civilian who has nothing to do with the case, but a scholar. Is there any reason for you to meet the suspect?" "But in order to solve the mystery of auditory hallucinations..." "It's not necessary!" Kitahara stood up with a loud noise on purpose, "I don't know how much you and Kusanagi have achieved so far, but don't get involved in my case! The Gasan case has been closed! Please don't worry too much. Mind your own business!" Then he looked at Kaoru Utsumi and said, "Go tell Kusanagi! I won't fall for his tricks!" "Mr. Kusanagi never intended that..." "That's enough! Leave me alone!" Bei Yuan strode across the research room, grabbing the doorknob. "You can go as you please, but listen to me first," Yu Chuan's voice came from behind Kitahara, "I was entrusted by Kusanagi to assist in the investigation of this case. Originally, I didn't want to have anything to do with this matter. If you want to say that you have closed the case, I can let it go. I am definitely not as obsessed with whether the truth is revealed as you are. I think it is better for you to understand this before making a decision. You are always obsessed with your own method, Or listen to other people's opinions and challenge new things?" Beiyuan pulled the doorknob and looked back at him, with hatred in his eyes. But the physicist didn't take him seriously at all, and raised his glasses, "Kusanagi respects the opinions of me, a non-professional, and is willing to listen to the thoughts of women and juniors. Can't you do the same as him?" Bei Yuan gritted his teeth with hatred, and the hand holding the doorknob began to shake due to anger.