Chapter 71 Section sixty-ninth

The long night has begun. The doors of the press conference are always closed.All the blackout curtains were drawn to prevent the light from leaking out.A total of 269 people, this is the total number of media members whose identities have been checked one by one by the police department. Mikami and Ochiai stood on the podium together. Test... Test... Test... Although the voice of the wireless microphone was a little divergent, I stood in front of the door and raised my hand.No problem, even the last row is audible. "I'm Mikami, the broadcasting officer of the D County Police."

As soon as he opened his mouth, his eyes were blinded by the light.A large group of photographers occupying the front row seemed to be testing the camera as well, pressing the shutter with the flash on with aspirations. Mikami took a deep breath. "December 11th at eleven o'clock in the evening. Based on the reporting agreement, a press conference on the kidnapping and ransom case in Xuanwu City will be held. The police will be responsible for holding the press conference. Please cooperate so that the press conference in the agreement can be carried out smoothly and successfully."

"Hi!" said the row of people sitting directly behind the photographer. "Why the second class leader? Ask the minister or the first class leader to come out!" It was a man with a mustache around his mouth, about forty-five years old.It looked like an unfamiliar reporter, but Akikawa was sitting next to him.The oil-headed reporter who talked to Teshima just now is also there, so there must be people from Toyo in that area! "Ignore him, let's start!" Mikami whispered in Ochiai's ear.The twenty-seven-year-old policeman from the special examination team nodded and sat down in the middle of the long table.With a seven-to-three haircut, broad forehead and intellectual eyes, he seems to be an honest person.This can be said to be the only material that can win favor, and it is also his lifeline.But Mikami also noticed that Ochiai was trembling all over his body. To paraphrase Second Division Chair Itokawa, this person is a guy who has absolutely no resistance to stress and panics at every turn...

"I'm Ochiai, please give me your advice." The sound floated up a bit.The sound of "clap clap!" resounded in the venue.Even the sound of flipping a notepad has extraordinary power when a large group of people take the same action at the same time. Ochiai focused his gaze on the document at hand. "For the outline of the case, please refer to the statement of the case that has been distributed to you. At present, there is no further development in the case and investigation. The number of initial investigators is about 600, and five to seven investigators have entered the victim's home. An investigation is underway.”

Ochiai stared straight ahead, showing the expression that the conversation had come to an end. The venue was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop on the ground. "Shouldn't there be only these?" Everyone's eyes raised this question.Mikami, who was originally standing at one end of the podium, hastily walked around behind Ochiai, wanting to remind him to "tell some details about the summary of the case first", but unfortunately he was a step too late. "The report is over." Ochiai stood up. "The next press conference will be at one o'clock in the morning."

"Are you kidding me!" The whole venue was like a pressure cooker that exploded. They thought it was an earthquake. The only thing that could be heard clearly was this sentence.The loud, intense and sharp noise blasted towards the podium so loudly that even the skin felt painful.After waiting and waiting, the volume never showed signs of lowering. Ochiai sat on the chair, his legs seemed to be weak from fright.His face was pale, and his mind must also be blank. "Describe the outline of the case in more detail!" Mikami tried to give him an idea, but seeing that he didn't respond for a long time, he could only yell into his ear.Ochiai flipped through the document explaining the case with his trembling fingers, and Mikami followed his fingertips to look over, and couldn't help but be surprised.There are no notes on it, just like what Suwa just wrote, and the column for explaining the facts of the case is completely blank.Arakita actually did that.Without giving any specific information, he completely manipulated Ochiai as a puppet.

Mikami held the wireless microphone, but didn't know what to say.Anything that is said is to scare the snake, and anything that is said is to add fuel to the flames.The only thing he can do now is to expose his body to the scolding sound like a storm. At this time, a hand came into view.That was Akikawa's hand reaching out from the territory of Toyo.In Sanshang's eyes, it was not the hand of impeachment but the hand of rescue.Give me the microphone— Mikami seems to have heard him say that. Mikami obeyed his intuition and jumped off the podium, walked past the photographers, and handed the microphone to Akikawa like a baton in a relay race.The eyes of the two met.There was a strange light in Akikawa's eyes, he firmly grasped the microphone handed by Mikami, turned his back to Mikami, and faced the other reporters.

"I'm the newspaper secretary of the D County Police Press Club, Akikawa from Toyo Shimbun!" Akikawa repeated the same words three times in total, and only then did the pressure cooker quiet down a little. "It's only natural for everyone to be angry! The attitude of D county police has been a big problem in the past, and we need our reporter club to improve every time!" A cold sweat ran down his back.Is Akikawa planning to continue fanning the flames?Doesn't he have a modicum of empathy for rescue? "Even this press conference is just sending the second section chief to make up the number. It's too condescending. This club will immediately protest and ask the criminal minister, or the first section chief to hold a press conference. !"

Qiu Chuan spoke more and more vigorously, and felt that his strong self-consciousness, which he usually hid fairly well, burst out. "But! It would be too impulsive to let the first press conference end so hastily, and it would be a waste of everyone's precious time! Therefore, as the secretary of the newspaper, I would like to make a suggestion here. Everyone calm down first and change it to It will be conducted in a question-and-answer format so as to obtain more basic information about the case. I don’t know if you agree with me?” His voice bounced off the walls.After a pause of a second, the bearded man and the greasy-headed man sitting on both sides of Akikawa began to clap their hands with an expression of "for the sake of the younger generation's hard work".As if driven, sparse applause resounded in the venue.

"Then!" Akikawa turned his face forward, staring straight at Ochiai on the podium from the audience.It was a ghostly face that seemed to be in a state of hypoxia.Neither self-awareness nor the empathy to provide rescue, but the persistence of the local press club.But this is even worse. No matter what Qiuchuan thinks in his heart, if it is really changed to a question and answer method... "Second Section Chief! First of all, as the director of the newspaper, I have a few questions I want to ask you. Then I will pass the microphone to other media friends in the venue. Is this okay?"

Mikami couldn't move.There was no way to interrupt him, and no reason to stop him. Qiu Chuan's dantian continued to vibrate. "First of all, I would like to ask the police what they think about this incident. Does the Special Search Headquarters think that this incident has anything to do with the murder of Xiangzi's little sister fourteen years ago?" "What? Is it related?" Ochiai's reaction was too slow. "Isn't the content of the threatening calls exactly the same? Regardless of the possibility of self-directed and self-acted, do the police think these two things are related? Or are they irrelevant?" "Well...it's impossible to determine at this stage." "That is to say, there is no basis for the relationship between the two, right?" "I don't think so. Anyway, it's not clear yet." "Then I'd like to ask you a few more specific things..." Qiu Chuan raised the statement of the case high above his head. "This statement is too general and confusing. Please tell us in detail the property status of the victim's family, the occupation of the parents, and the content of the interrogation of the parents." Ochiai opened the blank statement of the case without further ado. "Uh... Regarding these, no reports have been received yet." There was commotion in the venue again, and even the bearded man and the greasy-headed man frowned. A look of anxiety appeared on Qiu Chuan's face, his eyes seemed to say, "Please answer carefully." "After that, no more threatening phone calls or actions taken by these kinds of kidnappers?" "No." "Where did the first and second threatening calls come from?" Ochiai glanced at the blank statement of the case again, only the word "in the prefecture" was written on it.Mikami broke out in a cold sweat.If he dared to answer directly like this, the pressure cooker would definitely explode again.It can only be fooled by "no report has been received yet".Ochiai flipped through the case statement pointlessly.Mikami made a cross gesture in front of his chest, look at me!look over here... Akikawa's heavy breathing came from the microphone. "There's only the word 'in the county' written on it. Where is it in the county? DOCOMO should have confirmed it!" This problem is not only a secret aid, but also a way to drive the dog into a poor alley. Ochiai raised his head, with a look of anxious jumping over the wall. "I am not sure." "Then call someone who understands it!" Unknown who was yelling, made everyone in the venue show hideous expressions.The merciless roar turned into gusts of foehn and blew onto the podium.Ochiai freaks out, so what if he looks honest?It's of no use at this moment. "Enough! You get out of the way too!" Even Qiu Chuan became the target of public criticism.The bearded man next to him said with a look of astonishment, "Hey! Qiu Chuan, how do you usually educate these cops?" "Another point!" Qiu Chuan held the microphone tightly, his neck and ears were flushed, and his whole body was shrouded in a sense of tragedy. "Second Section Chief! Is this a kidnapping case that I directed and acted on my own?" Akikawa repeated the same words three times, but this time no one wanted to listen to him. "Stop wasting time!" "You are not qualified to be an officer!" "Go and call the Minister of Criminal Affairs!" "Mr. Ochiai! This is a very important point! Please answer. Does the Tokusou Headquarters really think this is a kidnapping case directed and staged by itself? Yes? Or not?" "This, this, I also..." "Don't say you don't know! You come here to represent the Tokusou headquarters! Answer me! Is this directed and acted by Utasumi Mezaki?" Akikawa's cry has surpassed human audio, the volume in the venue has been lowered, and everyone's ears are waiting for Ochiai's answer. Ochiai's eyes drifted in the air, and all the murmurs in his mouth came out through the microphone. "Mezaki, Utasumi...?" Qiu Chuan even forgot to blink, his eyes widened bigger than a cowbell. Mikami just looked up to the sky and sighed. --how so?Ochiai didn't even know his name, the only one he knew was "Sister C". "The agreement is invalid!" The volume in the venue suddenly turned to the maximum, and all the reporters stood up. There was only one person, except Qiu Chuan.The hand holding the microphone hangs down weakly, shoulders shrunk, as if being slapped mercilessly by the downpour.