Chapter 6 Chapter 6 The Tides of Death

He took out the business card Qing Yuan left behind and called his unit.Ask the switchboard to transfer Qingyuan, and the switchboard will transfer him to the Ministry of Culture.But the person who answered the phone said "on a business trip". When I asked when I would come back, the other party said that it would probably be tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, but it may be extended. "I have something urgent to find him, can I contact the place where he is on a business trip?" "I heard that it is in the area from Aichi to Shizuoka. I didn't ask about the specific location. The other party calls me every day." The attitude of the person who answered the phone was a little cold.

"My name is Shicun. If Qingyuan calls, please tell him to call my home." After asking, put down the phone.But after waiting for a whole day, Qingyuan did not call.Based on the enthusiasm he had shown at his home, Shicun thought that he would contact him soon, but he was a little disappointed because he didn't see any news for a long time. Or he said it nicely, but he was actually here for the interview.Or you've lost interest and moved on to other things.But since he is a reporter from the Ministry of Culture, if he came to visit Shicun's house out of personal affairs and interests, he should still call.

On the third day, Shicun couldn't wait any longer, and called Qingyuan's newspaper again.The man who answered the phone was the man from the day before yesterday.He said: "Since that day, there has been no news of Mr. Qingyuan." "No news? Can't you have returned to your home?" "No. We also have something to look for him here, so we called his home this morning, but he hasn't come home yet." "That means contact has been lost for two days?" "Although it's not common, sometimes there are cases where you can't contact because there is no phone in the area or there is a breakdown."

"Can you tell me Qingyuan's home address?" "Without my consent, I cannot tell anyone other than the newspaper my address." The other party's attitude was very cold.But knowing that Kiyohara didn't stop calling because he lost interest, Shicun felt a little better, but then he felt another uneasiness. What does it mean when a journalist loses contact with a newspaper for more than two days?At that time, was it said that there was no telephone connection in the area from Aichi to Shizuoka?The Koshin area in the north of Shizuoka has the Southern Alps. If you are in the hinterland of the mountains, there may indeed be cases where you cannot find a phone and cannot contact you.

But if you are going to the hinterland of the Southern Alps where there are no telephones, you should be prepared for mountaineering.It is by no means the feeling of "in the area of ​​Shizuoka, Aichi". I didn't hear any news that there might be disasters such as telephone failures.Did Qingyuan get involved in some accident and fell into a situation where he couldn't get in touch even though he wanted to?Even so, there must be something on him that can prove his identity, and someone else will contact him. Semura's uneasiness gradually swelled.Although worrying is useless, the ominous premonition is getting stronger and stronger.

The next day, three days after the first call, Secun called the newspaper for the third time.This time it was another person who came out to pick him up, telling Shicun that there was still no news from Qingyuan. "According to the schedule, he should have come back yesterday, but we lost contact three days ago, and there is no contact to apply for an extension. We are also very anxious, and we have contacted the place where he might go, saying that it has been since three days ago In the morning, after I left the hotel in Shizuoka, I never came back.” He just said that his name is Shicun, and he seemed to know Fang Yi very well, and explained the situation to him in great detail.

"Is there a lot of time to extend the business trip plan without contact?" "According to the interview situation, sometimes the business trip is extended, but there has been no news for more than three days, and there has never been a case where the time was extended without asking for instructions. By the way, your name is Secun, right?" "yes." "May I ask, are you Mr. Shinsuke Semura?" "yes." "I'm Minister Zongshan. I heard that I visited you before Qingyuan's business trip." The minister called Zongshan seemed to be very kind.

"Then you also know why he came to me?" "I have generally heard of it. Are you looking for something urgent?" "I have something to tell him." "I think I'll get in touch with him soon. If there's anything, maybe I can pass it on for you." Congshan said in a very friendly tone.Semura almost wanted to hand him the photo, but dismissed it wearily at the thought of "explaining" his relationship with Masako one more time. "Forget it, let's talk about it after Mr. Qingyuan comes back. Because it involves some privacy."

"Since this is the case, it's better to tell me directly. After Qingyuan comes back, I will definitely let him contact you immediately." Congshan did not insist. "Swim two kilometers, run ninety kilometers on a bicycle, and then run a twenty-kilometer marathon. Do you really want to participate in such a hard project?" My friends were very surprised. "This is only half of the event. The full event is 3.9 kilometers of swimming, 179.2 kilometers of cycling, and then a 42.195 kilometers of marathon. The three-day schedule was arranged to be completed in one day because the organizer made a mistake, so Known as the most brutal race in the world."

"It's beyond human limits." "That's why it's called Iron Man Race." "Are you really going to play?" "Of course. And since he participated in the competition, he must win." Arita Yaichi said with a smile when he saw the surprised looks of his friends.Even if you can't win the championship, with the body you exercise in your daily life, you are still sure to get the top few good results. What he hopes to participate in is a triathlon that combines long-distance swimming, cycling, and a marathon.A type of training that began with members of the U.S. Navy in Hawaii and has suddenly become popular in Japan in recent years.

The race is held at Cape Irako on the Atsumi Peninsula in early June.In mid-May, Arita came here to survey the site in advance.A triathlon is a brutal event, not just of physical strength, but of the mind as well.If the distribution of physical strength is wrong, not only will it be impossible to win, but it will also be impossible to persist. It is very important to have a "ground sense" during the game.The venue of the competition is on the coast of the Atsumi Peninsula facing the Pacific Ocean. This is a straight coastline, known as the "Long Beach of the Pacific Ocean".Facing the raging waves of the Pacific Ocean, there is a cliff with a drop of up to 78 meters. From Cape Irako protruding from the peninsula to the south coast of the peninsula is a beach romantically called "the beach of love". This is the seashore mentioned in Shimazaki Fujimura's famous poem "The Reality of Coconuts".The low raised part of the rocky tip of the headland lies in the blue sea, like a huge sea beast taking a nap. Under the clear sky of May, the sea is calm and the distant horizon is misty. Take the Shinkansen until Toyohashi, where you can borrow a bicycle.It's perfect weather for biking, scouting the terrain and practicing your legs. Take National Highway No. 259 until Tawaramachi, and from there go south along the prefectural road to Omoyohama.Arrived at the "Sea of ​​Love" shortly after noon.As expected of the place selected for the triathlon competition, the sea and the land are very intimately blended.The whole peninsula seems to be gently embraced by the sea. Of course, this is because of the good weather. If the weather is bad, it may be another scene.Triathletes are mostly ambitious people.Perhaps it is their strong physical strength and self-confidence that gave birth to their ambitions, which is unknown. Arita couldn't see the poetic and picturesque scenery of Lake Irago, or he turned a blind eye to it.What catches his vision is always only the land and sea as the iron man competition.The ambition of the Ironman competitor makes him indifferent to the beautiful scenery. Bike all the way along the long Pacific Ocean to the Shore of Love.According to the brochure of the event, after arriving here by bicycle, run a marathon on the shore of love, and then swim around Cape Irako in the inland sea along the sand dunes on the north side. Arita got off her bicycle in front of the shore of love, and pushed the bicycle along the shore.Because it is an ordinary day, no tourists and locals can be seen.Although it faces the Pacific Ocean, it can be said that there is no wind and no waves today.If the weather is like this on the day of the race, maybe it will be a good result. Pushing the bicycle along the shore, Arita's unconscious gaze towards the sea was suddenly fixed by something.Among the seemingly absent waves, there is a black object like wood floating, sinking and floating about 20 meters from the shore.See if you are about to float to the shore, but you are swept away by the returning waves. "The Reality of Coconut" probably floated here on the Kuroshio Current from the South Island.But the appearance of this thing is really strange.Arita, who was staring at it, suddenly changed color, thinking "No way".For the moment it was swept up by the waves, the object looked very human-like. The next slightly larger wave pushed the object to the shore.Now that Arita saw clearly, he couldn't help but screamed loudly. After receiving a report from a triathlete from Tokyo about the discovery of a floating corpse at the shore of Love in Cape Irako, the Aichi Prefectural Police Tahara Department immediately dispatched a patrol car to the scene. As soon as the police arrived here, news of the discovery of the dead body spread nearby, and many spectators gathered. The corpse of a man who was dragged to the shore was about thirty years old.It seems that the time elapsed after falling into the water is not very long, and the changes after death and the influence of aquatic organisms are not significant. Simply circle a spot on the shore and start checking.Because the corpses in the water will decompose quickly once they are pulled to the shore and exposed to the air. The deceased was wearing trousers and a shirt, with a shoehorn and a small wallet containing about 8,500 yen in the trouser pocket.Wearing an electronic watch on his right wrist, it is still showing the time correctly.It seems that the "water resistance" boasted by the manufacturer is true.However, at such times, it would be better to stop to judge the elapsed time after death. Coat and shoes seemed to have been washed away by the waves.There was a three-centimeter-long contusion on the left side of the head of the corpse. In addition, there were blow wounds with lacerations on the right back of the head, and abrasions on the forehead and under the right eye. Whether it was caused by a blunt force blow or by hitting a rock while jumping off a cliff or rolling down, it is too early to tell. The joints of the whole body showed obvious postmortem stiffness, which has not yet begun to relieve.There are bleached skins on the hands and feet (the skin turns white and swollen due to long-term soaking in water). Judging from the above situation, the time of death of the deceased was one to two days, and the time in the water was half a day to one day.Whether it was killed and thrown into the water during this time period, or fell into the water due to an accident or suicide, it is still difficult to judge.And the location of the water entry is also unclear. After the inspection work at the scene was completed, the corpse was moved back for autopsy. The identity of the deceased was quickly ascertained unexpectedly.Soon after the news of the floating body found at Cape Irago was reported, the Main News Agency in Tokyo sent a note stating that the body matched the age and physical characteristics of Kazuyuki Kiyohara, a reporter from the agency’s Culture Department.Then Qingyuan's wife, sister and boss came from Tokyo to identify the body.Kiyohara Kazuyuki, who had no news, became a dead body floating in the sea of ​​Cape Irago.It is impossible to verify where he drifted from.According to those around him, he has no signs of suicide. An autopsy showed that the direct cause of death was brain contusion caused by a blow to the head.There is no seawater in the stomach and lungs, which means they were thrown into the sea after death. It took about one to two days to die, and there was no sign of poisoning.If it is a suicide or an accident, as long as you don't jump off a cliff or hit a tree root or a rock on the way and die suddenly, it is impossible not to have a little seawater in your stomach and lungs. It was said that it was a sudden death, but the skull of the deceased was not crushed. Judging from the condition of the corpse, he should have been breathing slightly when he entered the water.However, there was no sign of drowning in the corpse at all, and it can only be explained that it was thrown into the sea in a state of complete death. In addition, judging from the state of trauma, it does not seem to be caused by hitting a rock while rolling down, but more like being hit by a blunt object such as a stick to death.From the analysis of these circumstances, the possibility of being victimized is very high. Seeing Qingyuan's news from the newspaper, Shicun knew that his ominous premonition had finally come true.This ominous premonition had frequently haunted him. There was no confirmation in the newspaper, but he understood that Qing Yuan was killed.And the prisoner is the one who killed Kosaka Masako.Qing Yuan pressed the prisoner too tightly.The deaths of these two people are likely to be related to Masako's husband's suicide. Shicun's spine felt chills.I am related to Changzi, and as long as the prisoner feels that he is a threat to him, he may also attack him. Pillow talk between men and women is both casual and irresponsible, and it is also a good channel for revealing secrets.Even state secrets are often leaked from the pillow. It must be realized that there is a high possibility that the prisoner will regard Secun as a "secret insider".What's more, Changzi asked Chen to also send some meaningful photos.There must be clues about the prisoner in this photo, or even directly show who the prisoner is. If the prisoner knew that Shicun had such important information in his hands, he might have taken immediate action. Qingyuan is dead, so he can't handle this photo anymore.Should it be handed over to the police? The police probably haven't realized that Kiyohara's death is related to the killing of Masako Takasaka.If they realize it, they will definitely come to find themselves.Kiyohara once said that "journalists have a different perspective from the police."They probably didn't know that Qingyuan was investigating the matter alone. It's not too late to wait for the police to connect the two incidents.Before that, Shicun wanted to go to the place where Qingyuan's body was found. This time, you may be involved more deeply.But since he has this kind of relationship with Changzi, he cannot get rid of his involvement in this matter.Now it doesn't mean that "it doesn't matter" can be irrelevant. The relationship with Masako was originally intended to be limited to the scope of the game, but after losing her, Secun also lost everything.If there is anything to lose, it is this life.It would be a good idea to use this life to find her murderer. Didn't Changzi want him to do this, so he also sent the photo to Chen? Kiyohara said that "a mysterious person is manipulating behind the scenes", and the murder of Kiyohara proved this point more clearly.