Chapter 38 Section 38

The investigators got up one by one to report, and the atmosphere in the meeting room gradually became dignified.In the report, there is almost nothing to say about the results.Hozumi, the Chief of the First Investigation Section of the County Police Headquarters, looked at the documents at hand expressionlessly.In fact, there is not much information on those materials.Despite a large-scale inquiry and search, so far, no useful information has been obtained.In the data, it is such specific and objective content that is recorded.It also includes the seaweed udon noodle restaurant that Nishiguchi and the others found in East Glass yesterday.But unfortunately, Nishiguchi and the others didn't get any information that would help solve the case.

Sitting in the back seat, Nishiguchi listened to the reports of other investigators at the meeting, while reflecting on what Yu Chuan said before.What was he doing there?The sea seen from East Glass is the most beautiful scenery in Glass Pond—Yukawa said it, and Chengshi’s website said so.Last night, Nishiguchi went to the website to investigate.Cheng Shi did open a website called "My Crystal Sea".But Xikou searched the entire site, but did not find what Yu Chuan said.Forget about that sentence, the three words "Dong Glass" are not even mentioned on the website. Is Yukawa lying?Then why would he lie?

The meeting is still going on.Reports on the method of killing and the circumstances of the scene began. The location where the victim died of carbon monoxide poisoning is still unclear.The reason is that there is too little witness information.At that time, the murderer lured the victim into the car, let the victim take sleeping pills, and then ignited briquettes and other objects, causing the victim to be poisoned to death.Afterwards, the murderer dumped the body in a rocky field and fled in a car.If the murderer killed the victim in this way, almost no one would have witnessed the murder.After all, this is a small seaside country town where almost no one goes out at night.

Because there is also the possibility that the murderer was not in the car, but poisoned the victim in an unused warehouse, hut or empty house, so the police also investigated such places around the scene.However, no place has been found to be connected to the case so far.Although traces of burning were found in a room in the ruins of a hotel that closed a few years ago, judging from the thickness of the dust accumulated on the floor of the ruins, no one should have been here in the past month.As for the trace of burning, it was probably made by someone who came to this abandoned hotel to play adventure games before.

"What about the interpersonal relationship? Did you find anything?" After listening to the fruitless report for a long time, Hozumi finally lost his patience. "Then, let me report the news from the Tokyo team." Isobe stood up holding the document.The so-called Tokyo group is a group of investigators sent to investigate Tsukahara Shoji's situation. Isobe gave a dry cough and began to report. "The victim, Mr. Tsukahara Shoji, retired from the Metropolitan Police Department last year. Before retiring, he belonged to the Regional Guidance Section. Therefore, we sent someone to find three of his colleagues at the time to inquire about the situation. The first colleague of the victim -"

The sonorous and forceful tone of Isobe's speech did not seem to make Hozumi happy.During his lifetime, Tsukahara Shoji was enthusiastic about his work, and he was twice as serious about preventing crimes as anyone else.No matter how trivial and complicated the work was, Tsukahara never neglected it.Although he is not very good at getting along with others, once he opens his heart to the other party, he will do his best in everything - that is to say, a person like him will not attract resentment. In terms of work, Tsukahara has never gotten into any major troubles, and the work handover before retirement was smooth.Tsukahara's former colleagues felt that there were almost no twists and turns in his career as a criminal police officer.

After hearing Isobe's report, Hozumi frowned and stretched, clasping his hands behind his head. "It seems that there is almost nothing to be found in Tokyo. How about the other clue? Is that person called Xianbo? Have you found any eyewitness testimony?" "Not yet. We are now considering whether to expand the scope of the search and inquiry a little bit today, and then send people to the east of Dongli to inquire about it..." Isobe was evasive.Perhaps, he was actually hinting at Suoji, telling him not to hold out too much hope. "Now we don't even know whether this Xianbo is alive or dead."

"Yes." Isobe replied nonchalantly, "The Metropolitan Police Department is tracking this person's whereabouts. If there is any news, they should inform us." The Metropolitan Police Department has not contacted the search headquarters, which means that no clues should have been found so far. "So, what about the connection between the victim and Glassura? Apart from Xianba, is there no connection between him and Glassura?" Hozumi's tone revealed his inner anxiety. "The news sent back from Tokyo, judging from what we have heard before, did not find any connection between the victim and Glass Pool. At present, we can only assume that the purpose of his going to Glass Pool is to participate in the submarine resources. The development briefing is over. Regarding this, there are some things we want to report at the meeting——Hi, Nonogaki." Isobe called his subordinates by name.

A police officer sitting in the front row stood up.It was the searcher of the county police who went to inquire about the situation with Xikou yesterday afternoon.At that time, he said that he would go back to search the headquarters, but in fact, it is estimated that the higher-ups assigned him some other tasks. "About that explanatory meeting, if you don't have an admission ticket, you can't enter the venue. The official name of the admission ticket is 'Admission Ticket for Explanation Seminar on Seabed Hot Water Deposit Development Plan'. The victim's The admission ticket is not forged. If you want to get the admission ticket for this conference, you must mail the application form to the Seabed Metal Mineral Resources Agency. Then, you have to send the other party’s reply envelope together with the application form. But the problem is, Even if you send out the application form, you may not be able to get the admission ticket. If there are too many people who want to participate, the other party will conduct a lottery in the application form. The number of applications received this time is also close to twice the capacity of the venue. We asked the Seabed Metal Mineral Resources Agency, and the other party replied that the victim’s name was indeed among those drawn.”

"And then?" A gleam of light flashed in Suizuki's eyes.Half of what he said was to intimidate the investigators.The implication is that if Nonogaki just confirmed it, then get ready to be scolded. "Explain that the holding of the seminar was decided in June, and the official work of recruiting participants began in July. The three major newspapers, Yomiuri, Asahi, and Mainichi, and the official website of the Seabed Metal Mineral Resources Agency The recruitment was published. The victim applied on July 15th. Since the application envelopes of the selected ones are still kept in the institution's office, we found this out from the postmark. The crux of the problem is, But it depends on the place where the victim sent the application form. Judging from the postmark, the victim sent the letter within the jurisdiction of the post office in front of Chofu Station.”

"Chofu?" Hozumi frowned in surprise, "Uh, Chofu is in Tokyo, right? The specific location is..." "Come on, find a map of Tokyo." Isobe roared. A young detective immediately stood up and spread out a detailed map in front of Hoiji.Nishiguchi took the opportunity to check the location of Chofu Station with his mobile phone.Chofu Station is located less than fifteen kilometers west of Shinjuku. "The victim lives in Hatoya, Saitama Prefecture." Nonogaki continued, "The address there is also written on the back of the envelope, and the relevant records compiled by the organization also state that. However, the victim was mailed at Chofu Station. The application was issued. As for the reason, it has not yet been ascertained. My report ends here." Hoji stared at the map for a while, then tilted his head with a gloomy face. "Perhaps there is no special reason. It is estimated that the victim went to Chofu to do business, and then sent the application. Could it be like this?" "Although there is such a possibility," Isobe tried to refute the opinion of the section chief.Such a thing is really rare. "But we called the victim's wife to inquire about the situation, and the other party said that she could not guess what the victim was doing there. There were neither relatives nor friends in Chofu. In addition, from There is a long distance between Hatoya, Saitama Prefecture and Chofu City. Since the victim’s family did not have a car, he must have taken the tram. During this period, he should have had many opportunities to send letters. But the last postmark of that letter was in front of Chofu Station...Of course, the possibility that the victim did not see the postbox along the way cannot be ruled out." Suzuki remained silent.To some extent, Isobe's opinion is indeed more secure.After a while, Suiji looked at everyone at the meeting and said, "What do you think about this matter?" After a few seconds of silence, Yuan Shan whispered "I have" and raised his hand timidly.Hozumi agreed with Wonsan's statement. "Although the reason why the victim went to Chofu City cannot be ascertained yet, could it be that when he went to Chofu City, he learned about the DESMEC briefing session? Maybe, maybe Someone else told him. After hearing the news, the victim decided to participate, so he wrote the application form on the spot before he forgot about it. Afterwards, the victim returned from Chofu Station by train On the way, I mailed the application form at the post office in front of the station. I think there is such a possibility.” After hearing Wonsan's opinion, Xikou also nodded in agreement.There is indeed such a possibility. Hozumi nodded in sympathy. "Indeed, this is also a possibility. In this way, the reason why the victim went to Chofu at that time becomes very important." "Do you want to contact Tokyo?" Isobe leaned forward and said. "Well. Where did the victim learn about the briefing session, and why did he want to participate in the briefing session? These questions may actually be the key to solving the whole case. You tell them and let them go to find out Mrs. Tsukahara is going to ask the other party directly about the relevant situation." "Understood." Perhaps feeling that the boss's mood had improved significantly, Isobe's voice also became excited.