Chapter 21 chapter 2

In the living room where the fireplace was lit, six members of the Preservation Committee and I sat on special chairs and formed a circle.The mayor first said: "I called everyone here today for no other reason. I have important things to report about the memorial hall." "Has the true face of the pioneers been revealed?" Kibe said with a smile, "You wouldn't call your ancestors pioneers, would you?" It is well known that Mayor Hino's father insisted on this. The mayor smiled wryly and did not refute. "A few days ago, an accident happened in that basement." He said seriously.

"Accident... an accident?" Doi Naomi asked.Her English pronunciation is very beautiful. "It can't be called an accident." The mayor said, turning in the direction of his daughter, "it was man-made." "What happened, don't go around in circles, tell us quickly." Jin Jin shook the pipe in his hand. The mayor nodded and told everyone about the robbery of the basement.Ms. Yuecun knew about it, but she didn't respond.The other three were emotional. "Such a big matter, why did you hide it from us until now?" Kibe's face showed anger, "The basement is the biggest discovery in history for the small town. At the beginning, we decided to investigate carefully, but..."

"Please give us a reasonable explanation." Jin Jin also said. "Yes, if there is no reasonable explanation, I will consider resigning as a member of the committee. Such a big thing happened, but we completely ignored our existence." relationship, strengthen communication groups, popular in Europe, America and Japan.) The nagging and difficult mother among the representatives. Ms. Tsukimura made a speech. "It was my suggestion to the mayor—for a while to tell everyone." "what?" The eyes of the three focused on Yuecun. "Why?" Doi Naomi asked.

"This..." Ms. Yuecun hesitated for a moment, then said seriously, "I think the looters are among us." Almost at the same time, the three members of the Preservation Committee suddenly changed color. "what?" "What are you talking about!" "why would you say so?" "Okay, okay, everyone please listen to me. I understand everyone's feelings. It is natural for you to be angry. But please listen to my explanation first, and listen to my explanation first." The mayor waved his hands to signal everyone to be quiet. "How do you explain it? You regard us as thieves." Kibe stared angrily.

"I understand everyone's feelings, but please also understand my thoughts. Please think about it, since we discovered the basement, we have never announced it to the public. This means that outsiders do not know that there is a basement, let alone that there is a person lying in the basement. Mummies. Would people who don't know the existence of the basement think of digging the basement?" The three committee members seemed speechless.They opened their mouths, wanted to say something but didn't say it, and looked at each other. "Understood. In order to keep quiet, I didn't even notify the police, so I didn't tell everyone. I only entrusted Mr. Tianxiayi to investigate the stolen items and their whereabouts."

The eyes of the three people turned to me in unison. "Did you find anything?" Jin Jin asked me. I was about to open my mouth, but the mayor said: "Mr. Tianxiayi first guessed that it was Mr. Mizushima and Mr. Huotian. But, as you all know, these two people were killed one after another. Of course, the two incidents about them have nothing to do with each other." , completely carried out by different murderers with different motives. However, through these two incidents, Mr. Tenkaichi has come to a conclusion: Mr. Mizushima and Mr. Huotian are both related to the robbery." At this time, he turned to me , asked: "Right, Mr. Tianxiayi."

The mayor announced the unformed reasoning in my mind, which made me feel a little overwhelmed.But if I'm ambiguous, I'll spoil the tension that's been building up so hard.I decided to nod. "yes." The mayor seemed relieved and turned to the other commissioners. "However, the most critical looted items were not found in Mr. Mizushima's mansion or in Mr. Huotian's Pilatus. According to Mr. Tenkaichi's reasoning," the mayor glanced at me again." It is likely that they have been transferred to someone else. And this person, who may be a member of the Preservation Committee, is a reasonable reasoning. Therefore, I have summoned everyone here today."

"I don't know about that item." As soon as the mayor finished speaking, Kibe interjected, "Why should I do that?" "I do not know either." "me too." "Really?" the mayor stared at the three people one by one, and said, "If there is any concealment, please tell it here. If it is too late, the situation may become more serious." "Really? You can really scare people. How serious will it be?" The newspaper president leaned back in his chair arrogantly. "In the words of Mr. Tianxiayi..." The mayor said my name again, "There is a curse."

"curse?" "That is to say, there is still the possibility of a murder." Kibe chuckled. "I thought you would say something, so..." "The level of speech has dropped a lot." Jin Jin made a movement that almost fell off the chair. The most dissatisfied is the technology reporter Naomi Doi. "Why do you suddenly say such words that have no scientific basis? Mr. Tianxiayi, didn't you just say that your conclusion is based on 100% logical reasoning? Now you are saying something cursed." She shook her head and said. , "I'm really disappointed in you."

"It is a fact that Mr. Mizushima and Mr. Huotian died tragically one after another. Is it too much to classify these two events as accidents?" the mayor said. "It's just a coincidence, just a coincidence." Naomi Doi categorically denied his statement, "Although it doesn't seem to be a very accidental incident. I heard that the murderers of the two incidents were people close to the victim, right? That is to say, both Mr. Mizushima and Mr. Huotian are in a state where they may be killed anytime and anywhere. If the second incident is interpreted as induced by the first incident, it is not accidental, or even An inevitability."

Indeed, this is a scientific inference.But it was necessary for me to make her understand what I meant by "curse". "If you are dissatisfied with the word curse..." I said, "you can use influence to replace it. According to my inference, the stolen items have great influence. So I think that Mr. Mizushima and Fire Mr. Tian was killed because of it." "No matter how you change the words, this statement is not realistic." Jin Zi scratched his head and said, "Mr. Detective, what is this extremely influential item?" "There are no clues yet." "What... so you don't know." The corner of Kibe's mouth revealed a hint of contempt, "It's out of the question." "But to a certain extent, I already have a clue, but there is no need to say it here. Some of you here should know." "What do you mean? I don't understand what you're talking about at all." Jin Zi tilted his head exaggeratedly, "Anyway, I have nothing to do with the robbery." "Me too." Doi Naomi said firmly. "Mayor, what do you want to do next?" Kibe said to the mayor, "You seem to be suspicious of us, but no one has surrendered himself. If this continues, there should be no progress." "Things will not make progress easily, Mr. Kibe." The mayor is very tolerant, "It seems a bit strange to say 'while' while taking advantage of this gathering, but since everyone finally got together, we might as well take this opportunity to discuss A word about the memorial - a decision needs to be made regarding ownership, when to announce the basement, the mummy, etc. Mr. Mizushima and Mr. Hida have passed away, and a suitable replacement must be chosen as soon as possible. Haven't tasted Ms. Fumi's craft for a long time Okay, let's discuss it while eating. In the meantime..." He glanced at me, and then said, "Let Mr. Tianxiayi reason for us, of course it is about who stole the items in the basement. What do you think? ?” I looked at the mayor in surprise, but he had already turned to look at the other commissioners. "Anyway, it's a war. Waiting for the one who stole something to show up as we speak." "It doesn't matter. As long as the detective doesn't make bad reasoning and blame me." Kibe said very confidently. "I don't care either. It's just..." Naomi Doi glanced at me, and said as I expected, "I hope your reasoning is scientific." "I can guarantee this." The mayor actually answered for me. Miss Fumi walked over cautiously and whispered something in the mayor's ear.The mayor nodded and said to the crowd, "Dinner won't start until six o'clock. There are still more than two hours. Let's disband first and talk in the restaurant later." Kibe, Kaneko and Doi stood up first. "I never dreamed that this meeting would be like this." Kibe grumbled. "Once in a while, forget it, don't worry about it." The speaker is Jin Jin. "It's okay, but it's really unbearable to say curses and other words that have no scientific basis." Naomi Doi was still angry. Three people climbed up the stairs located in the corner of the living room one after another.The stairs lead directly to the corridor on the second floor, the corridor has handrails, and the inside is the room.Kibe, Kaneko and Doi entered the room one after another.Perhaps, their rooms are also fixed. After the three of them closed the door, I looked at the mayor's profile and said, "I'm very embarrassed when you suddenly say that." The mayor smiled and said, "Isn't that bad?" "If you brought me here for this purpose, you should tell me in advance. Under such circumstances, it would be too nonsense for me to reason suddenly." "Really? I apologize if my actions embarrass you. But, please listen to me, even if I say it in advance, it won't change anything. You haven't met those three people before here, have you?" "At least it can make me mentally prepared." "So," the mayor said, pointing at me with his index finger, "I say this because I believe in the strength of the famous detective Tianxia." I leaned back in my chair and looked up.There is a quartz clock hanging on the wall that can tell the time. I didn't expect it to be very punctual.This kind of timekeeping quartz clock is often broken. but-- Why do these things happen to me?An unknown force is manipulating me, making me do unknown things in this small town.What the hell is that? "You already have a clue about the loot, is it true?" Ms. Tsukimura asked. "Not confirmed yet." "You mean you can't tell us?" "I'm sorry, I don't want to say it when everything is still unclear. However, I can tell you one thing, the looted objects are exactly what the small town lacks." "missing?" "Yes. It's something the town once had. No, exactly, it exists because of the town. Without it, the town wouldn't exist—that's why it's so important." "I really want to know. According to common sense, people who hear this will want to know what it is." Dr. Tsukimura folded his arms, stared at me, and said. "Forget it." The mayor turned to Dr. Tsukimura with a wry smile and said, "Mr. Tianxiayi will tell us, just wait patiently." "Then...that's fine." Dr. Tsukimura said, exhaling.Just at this moment, a white light flashed outside the window, and thunder rumbled. "Oh, Chunlei." The mayor said, looking out the window. Xiaolu stood by the window and looked out for a while, then turned around. "The rain is getting heavier and the wind is getting stronger." Indeed, raindrops were pattering against the windows.The wind was loud, like a beast roaring in the distance. "Mr. Tianxiayi, there is still some time before dinner. Why don't you take a rest in the first room." The mayor said to me, "The first and second rooms on the right are vacant. You can use whichever you want." "Then I'll go to the first one." I stood up. "Little green, you lead the way." Xiaolu responded and walked up the stairs first. There are seven rooms on the second floor.Open the door of the innermost room, and the first thing you see are two beds.In the dark, the white sheets stood out.Little Green turned on the light. "Sorry. The room is small." "Ah, no, enough." There is a small table in the room and a wardrobe for changing clothes.There is no need to make more extravagant demands.Also, I didn't change my clothes.I just bought a pair of underwear yesterday at the grocery store near the hotel, and thought of changing for the first time since I got here. "There is no decent lock in the room, only a buckle. When you go out, please don't leave valuables in the room." Xiaolu whispered. "I will." I didn't think those guys would steal, but decided to follow Green's advice anyway. The so-called hanging buckle is a metal rod that hangs on the wall next to the door and can be rotated.Such small props often appear in mystery novels about secret rooms in ancient and modern times.Of course, the world I used to live in. "See you at dinner." Xiaolu said and walked out. I closed the door, and suddenly found a small wooden board hanging on the inside of the door, with "WED" engraved on it—the same as the chair.However, on top of "WED", there is another "×". Like Yuichiro Mizushima's room, I thought.There will be other rooms too.Just, what does "×" refer to? I quietly walked out of the room and gently pushed the door next to me.As Xiaolu said, the door is not locked.On the inside of the door hangs a wooden board engraved with "TUE" and an "X" above it. Back in the room, I lay down on one of the beds.In the distance, thunder bursts, and the rain is getting heavier. I have a foreboding feeling that some kind of trick is waiting in the wings.