Chapter 10 Section five

I felt the loneliness deeply. Walking out of the Art-ery Square, I sat down alone on a wooden bench near the gate of the building, feeling lost.It is exactly seven o'clock in the evening, the sun has already set, and the wind blowing is taking away the temperature of my body bit by bit. The food fair ended its first day an hour earlier, and under the light of high lights, it looked like the cars of relevant people left the parking lot one by one.Guards stand next to the entrance that connects the road outside to the parking lot, waving traffic batons with deft movements. A row of bushes is planted in front of the entrance separating the parking lot from the building.Judging from the direction, the window on the other side of the bush must be the one in the spare room.When I think of this, I recall the farce-like scene that took place in that window about an hour ago.

"...No, no! I didn't add stomach medicine!" Being wronged by Ms. Meixing, I shook my head in panic and denied it.However, Ishii asked me excitedly with such an aura that his voice was overshadowed. "Did you add stomach medicine to my small bottle just to make Miss Chirma win the competition?!" "So, he saw Ishii's performance during the rehearsal yesterday, and he seemed to be very impressed. I also told him about Ishii's advantage in the bartender and coffee project at that time." Kanda, who had been opposing Misei-san's opinions so far, also accepted it straightforwardly.

All in all, the odds were against me.According to Ms. Meixing's explanation, if the second incident of adding foreign objects is to happen, the two problems of guards and key cards must be solved, and I am the only one who can overcome these problems. This explanation is flawless.I have no way to prove my innocence, and the other party is Miss Meixing, no matter how much I try to argue, it is impossible to win against her. "Damn it, this guy really shouldn't be in charge of guarding it! And I've been opposed to having an irrelevant waiting room or preparation room from the very beginning."

Ishii roared loudly, and I said in a panic, "Why do you say that, I didn't agree to help guard it because I liked it... Besides, it is impossible for me to have the opportunity to commit the first incident of adding foreign objects." "Shut up! You are the only one who can commit the second incident, and the motive is very good. There is no one else but you? If you understand, get out of here!" It's just too much.I was forced to take over the guard work that I didn't want to do, and I guarded it very seriously, but a second incident of adding foreign objects occurred, which ruined my efforts. In the end, I was even accused of unnecessary crimes and told to get out.Although Ishii said that my motives are very good, but if I want Miss Meixing to win, I should not choose Ishii who has already abstained from the first event and is impossible to win the championship. Instead, I should choose Dai or Yamamura who are difficult to deal with. ...I really want to refute that.

Having said that, I was originally an outsider, and if they asked me to go out, I would have no position to resist.I looked around to ask for help, but Miss Mihoi and Kanda were indifferent, Kamioka and Yamamura didn't say a word although there were expressions of sympathy on their faces, Marubota unknowingly put on the earphones, and Dai was the only one. The only one who looked like she wanted to speak, but she didn't say it in the end. "I see." I sighed and agreed to Ishii's request. "I don't admit that I added foreign objects, but I will return to the big exhibition hall now and promise not to step into the door behind the preparation area again."

"It's almost six o'clock. If the food exhibition is over, all the visitors will leave. At seven o'clock, the exhibition hall will be closed, and the anti-theft system will be activated at the same time. We must leave here then." I was asked out by Kamioka’s words that were hardly consoling, and I finally walked up to this bench.And I have been here for more than an hour waiting for Miss Meixing who even thinks she is hateful now. Feeling my brow furrow, I manipulated the smartphone.In the eyes of others, it must be thought that this is a typical modern person playing with mobile phones to pass the time, but it is not the case.I didn't go to the nearby convenience store to get warm because I wanted to investigate things, but chose to bear the cold evening wind here.

In order to wash away the groundless suspicions I have been carrying, the only thing I can do now is try to find the real culprit.However, there are too few clues to find the prisoner.Judging from the reactions of relevant people I have observed, something that happened during the 4th KBC must have had a considerable impact on the incident of adding foreign objects this time.That being the case, I must know what happened here two years ago. First of all, Dai expressed her concern yesterday about the locking of the preparation room.Next, at noon today, Shanggang exempted Miss Meixing from being suspected of participating in the competition for the first time.Finally, Ishii, who was suspected of directing and acting himself, said "I'm not that person"... Based on the above points, even if I assume that a similar incident of adding foreign objects happened in the last competition, it is not surprising at all.With this in mind, I tried to search for keywords such as "the 4th KBC adds foreign objects", but I couldn't find any information that caught my attention.Compared with the previous ones, there were very few articles reporting on the fourth competition. At most, there were only a few reports that said that the champion was Dai Xizi in a few lines.It can be said that almost no details are mentioned at all.

gag order.The word came to my mind.Is it possible to issue a gag order like last time for the series of incidents of adding foreign objects in this competition?It's just speculation, but I don't think it's possible.Competitions have been held. If there is no media coverage, it will not be able to promote the vigorous development of the industry, and the significance of the competitions will become dispensable.If you are only worried about the game, you should be able to cover up only the things that hinder the game, and there is no need to completely ban the report.If the situation at that time was too serious to be resolved in this way...

Assuming this is the case: the foreign matter added this time is either a defective bean or a stomach medicine, which can achieve the effect of hindering the game, but eating it into the human body will not cause major problems.However, if the addition is toxic, it is a crime.If something like that happened at a game, there would be a lot of bad reviews, so it's not surprising that the organizers went to great lengths to hide the truth.If the conclusion of the incident is still "self-directed and self-acted", that is, if the prisoner added foreign objects to what he drank, it would be very reasonable to forcefully demand that the outside world seal it up for reasons such as protecting the parties.

Having said that, it has caused such a commotion that it is impossible to completely prevent the news from leaking out.So I removed "the 4th KBC" from the keywords and searched with "add foreign matter" and "November" which was the AD year two years ago and when the contest was held.As a result, I found an article that was suspected to have been published in November two years ago. The 3rd Anniversary of the "Poisoned Black Tea" Incident...Following Reports of Persons Related to the Incident It was written by a certain Yuan reporter and published in the full text of the weekly magazine.

It can be seen from the title that this incident happened three years before the fourth KBC, and it feels like two unrelated events.However, because I remembered that I had read reports related to the "poisoned black tea" incident at the time of the incident, I couldn't help being curious about the content, and ended up reading the entire article without knowing it. The outline of the incident is as follows: In the laboratory of a certain university, black tea was poisoned. The male student who drank the black tea fell into a coma and his life was in danger.Many poisons used in experiments are kept in the laboratory, and the more toxic poisons are used to commit crimes.The root of the whole incident was that both the victimized student and the male student who later confessed to committing the crime were pursuing the same woman, which is the so-called love rival relationship. The two had a dispute on the same day, and the assailant killed the victim. meaning.As for the quarrel that aroused the murderous intent in the prisoner, if we want to explain it simply, the victim, who was one step ahead of the assailant in both research and love, seemed to say something to fool the assailant. The police quickly locked down the suspect based on various circumstances, and the perpetrator also admitted his crime, and it didn't take long for the case to be solved.The perpetrator, who was an adult at the time of the crime, was charged with attempted homicide and was serving time as this article was written.The victimized student soon regained consciousness, but still left with slight sequelae. Therefore, he filed a civil lawsuit against the victimized student, demanding compensation. Later, the victimized student was judged to pay 4 million won in condolence money.The story ends with the woman who derailed the lives of the two men, broke up with the victims immediately after the incident, and declined to be interviewed for this time. According to the commentary on the website that reproduced the article, this incident has attracted the attention of the general public. Even this report, which was published three years later, was introduced in detail by several media, which somewhat aroused some repercussions. Looking back now, there have been incidents of foreign objects being added to bottled drinks in the past, causing panic.As long as there is a way to get the key poison, it is very simple to add poison to drinks. If it is added to black tea or coffee, which tastes bitter, it is also feasible to make the other party drink the poisoned drink without knowing it. .Water is the most indispensable thing for human beings to maintain life. When ingesting water, people must forget the fear of being poisoned, so people will definitely suffer soon.Judging from the fact that there are no inedible things added, are the prisoners who appeared in this competition considered conscientious... "Hey." I suddenly heard someone calling me, and I lifted my face from staring at the smartphone screen. "Um... oh, so it's you." In order to recognize a person standing with his back to the lamp, I had to stare at him. Dai Xizi was crossing her waist with one hand, looking down at me. "You are finally disbanded." "Well, it was disbanded just now. We locked the windows and doors of the preparation room firmly, and everyone confirmed with their own eyes that Ms. Kamioka returned the key card to the management room. The same incident should not happen again. At least in the It will never happen if you are a prisoner." "Does Miss Dai also think I'm suspicious?" After I gave her a wry smile, she responded with a similar expression. "It's because I don't think so that I came to you, didn't I?... Let me ask you, why didn't you say my name when you heard that you were under suspicion? It was me who entered the preparation room during the lunch break. He's the first person everyone should suspect." The van that had been warming up in the parking lot just now sped forward as if suddenly remembering something, passed by us, and gradually drifted away along the road leading outside. She was right.Dai Xizi asked me, who was guarding the preparation room, to let her enter the preparation room alone.I agreed to her request and opened the door of the preparation room.Of course, during this time, I not only strictly monitored her every move, but also paid attention to whether there was any movement in the aisle. "I didn't do this to protect you." I put my smartphone in my pocket and said to her, "It's true that if I had said this, people would have turned to suspect you. But it also means that I didn't take good care of the preparation room." ,Right?" Dai looked at me as if she was appraising the authenticity of an antique. "I can assure you that I am keeping watch very carefully. You did not do anything suspicious when you entered the preparation room, and you did not touch Mr. Ishii's vial. I am sure that the person who committed the second incident was not you. So I just don't feel the need to speak out about it." "Even if doing so will cause yourself to be suspected?" "No matter how much you doubt me, if you didn't do something, you didn't do it. My suspicion should be cleared in the end. And it seems that I am not the only one who believes that I am innocent." Hearing my words, Dai stretched out her index finger and scratched her cheek. "Because when I entered the preparation room, your eyes watching me were so serious that it was even annoying. I thought it was impossible for the same incident to happen again, so I was really dumbfounded thinking that you were so rigid. However, if you are a prisoner, there is no need to guard so carefully." "That's why you think I can't be the criminal." "Otherwise, you did it so perfectly that you couldn't find any flaws." "Huh? So you're half-believing?" "Just kidding, how perfect is it? It was obviously suspected..." "Ah, Mr. Aoyama!" I heard a call coming from the direction of the gate of the exhibition hall, and then I saw Miss Meixing running to my side.Dai turned her head and left as if nothing had happened.Grandpa Sagawa, who has been fooling around so far, followed behind Miss Meixing, selling himself while passing by Dai, but she still ignored him pretending nothing happened. "I've been looking for you, and I'm still wondering where you went." "Hmph, I was thinking just now, just leave and leave you alone." I answered her with an indifferent attitude, and she stuck out her tongue and apologized to me. "I'm sorry, but that was the only way back then." "That's the only way? It bothers me that I was wronged." "Don't be angry." Miss Meixing put her hand on my puffed cheek. "Listen to me, under the circumstances at the time, even if I didn't say that, someone would definitely start to suspect you. It's just a matter of time. If I speak for you casually, I may also be regarded as an accomplice. The last two people They are all kicked out of the backstage, so things are bad. Because it is tantamount to letting the real criminals continue to do whatever they want." "That's why you act first and tell everyone that I'm suspicious?" "No one would think that I was your accomplice who was the first to express doubts?" Seeing her mischievous smile, I didn't have the energy to care about it anymore.While pulling her fingers away from my cheeks, I said, "Miss Meixing, you actually don't doubt me?" "Of course, I know very well that Mr. Qingshan, you are not the kind of person who would do such a thing." "In this case, you should have given me some hints back then. The smile on your face at that time was like a demon who took pleasure in torturing humans..." As I was talking, I couldn't help standing up, and behind Ms. Mihoi, I saw Yoshito Marubo who was about to walk away from the venue.The light of the electric light reflected the profile of his pursed lips, the expression on his face was very ugly, and the pair of earphones that were already his registered trademark were gone. "A demon...it's too much...even a demon wouldn't do that..." "Miss Meixing, look. What happened to him?" As soon as I stretched out my finger to the bottom of the pill, Ms. Meixing suddenly realized the low voice of "Oh...". "Actually, after you left, there was a little dispute in the preparation room." "Small dispute?" "Mr. Marubo was wearing earphones while we were discussing, right? His attitude seems to have angered the victim, Mr. Ishii... When Ms. Ueoka was explaining to us about tomorrow's game, Mr. Ishii suddenly approached Marubo Take his headphones off, sir, and yell at him like, 'You're a contestant too? Why are you the only one who can act like the whole thing has nothing to do with you!' or something." Miss Beauty Star did not imitate it at all, which made me laugh out loud, but that's not the point.I feel as if I can understand Ishii's mood.Because even when I was interrogated by them as a group of prisoners, Marusubo didn't act like he was listening to us, which made me uncomfortable, so I was a little concerned.As a victim, Ishii should be even more unhappy. Moreover, Marubota's commentary during the game was not very smooth, and his performance was very unskilled, but he ignored the people around him and kept listening to music.When I think of his calm attitude and don't know where it came from, I feel quite weird.That calm attitude made it hard to imagine that he was participating in the final for the first time. For Ishii, who participated in the finals, this kind of attitude from Marubota probably made him feel very uncomfortable.Even so, though, he seems to have gone a little too far. "I think Mr. Ishii probably just took off his earphones so that Mr. Marubo could hear us. However, he may have pulled too hard and accidentally tore the cord of the earphones." "What?" I was speechless for a moment.I heard that there are good and bad earphones, and the price of the one with better sound quality can even be as high as tens of thousands of yuan.Since Marubota is a person who carries headphones with him like a registered trademark, the possibility of paying attention to sound quality is not low.No, even if it's not an expensive earphone, it's normal to show the expression I just saw if something that I use so often is damaged. "Mr. Marubota, who was furious because the earphones were broken, and Mr. Ishii, who couldn't find the stairs, had a big quarrel. The scene was out of control. Finally, I managed to appease the two, left the preparation room, and temporarily returned to the waiting room. Marubo-san threw the earphones in the trash can in the waiting room right then." How rude to throw it straight in the trash.It seems that Maru bottom was also furious at the time.I imagined the contrast between his usual attitude that made it difficult to get angry with him and that time, and I couldn't help feeling a little sympathetic to him. "What did Miss Ueoka say about tomorrow's game?" "Tomorrow the staff will enter the venue after the exhibition hall opens at 8 o'clock and stand in front of the door behind the preparation area to guard. Because it is different from this morning, the staff will not have much to do, so I decided to allocate a staff member Take charge of this matter. Also, the anti-theft system is activated before eight o'clock, and no one can approach the preparation room." I was reminded of the experiments I performed while guarding.As long as the sensor is activated, the prisoner will not be able to approach the preparation room at night. Since this should be no problem.But my words sound inexplicably contrived. "By the way, Mr. Aoyama, what are you doing here? You seemed to be talking to Miss Saeko just now." Miss Meixing asked.I hesitated for a while, but in the end I didn't tell her the truth.Although I was helpless, I still wanted to take this opportunity to vent my grievances about being treated as a prisoner. More importantly, Dai had nothing to do with the second incident, so I didn't feel compelled to speak out about it. "She happened to pass by, so I just said hello to her. Before I met her, I was using my mobile phone to search for things about the game two years ago." "The 4th KBC?" "I don't think that the fact that everyone who participated in the last game kept silent has nothing to do with this series of events. I want to investigate what happened here two years ago." "So that's the case. Have you found any useful information?" "No, unfortunately, I didn't find out." I shook my head feebly. "I only found articles like this." The webpage I opened just now was not closed, so I took out my phone again and handed it to Miss Meixing.She didn't seem very interested, and read the article quickly.When she returned the phone to me, she also took out her own. "In order to prove Mr. Aoyama's innocence, that is, to find the real culprit, we must know what happened in the game two years ago. I also feel the same about this. So, I want to call now to find out. " I froze for a moment. "Do you know anyone to ask?" "Yes, that person must have been very aware of what happened in the last tournament." She was operating the phone with a rather serious expression. The bell from her ear rang more than ten times.Just when I began to think that the other party would not answer the phone, the ringtone suddenly stopped, and I heard the other party's voice. Mr. Mogawa, who had been wandering around aimlessly because Dai ignored him, came over to us while saying, "Should we go back?"The moment my attention was drawn to him, Miss Meixing called out to the person she was talking on the phone with a clear voice. "Hello...is this Mr. Qian Jialiang?"