Chapter 4 Section 4

Even during the day, there was very little traffic at the T-junction at the accident site, which was fortunate.So on this not spacious road, Kusanagi can park his Nissan Sunshine sports car without any scruples. The lower half of the beverage vending machine at the scene of the accident was also burnt black, and it was put there untouched as if it had been exhibited, with a note of "Failure" posted on it. "Is there such a thing as 'faulty'?" Tang Chuan looked at the note and asked in a low voice. "Just saying 'fault', doesn't the meaning have been expressed clearly?" Tang Chuan said again.

"According to the testimonies of those young people," Kusanagi explained without paying attention to Yukawa's words, "It seems that the deceased Ryosuke Yamashita was standing here." Then he stood about two meters away from the vending machine. "Which direction is the deceased standing facing?" Tang Chuan asked. "It should be facing the direction of the vending machine. Because several other young people surrounded him. It is said that two people are sitting on chairs, and the other two are standing next to the motorcycle." "Where's the plastic drum with gasoline?"

"It was placed next to the vending machine, and four boxes of beer were piled up under it. According to Kazuhiko Mukai's testimony, it seemed that they were wrapped in newspapers at the time." "Beer boxes." Tang Chuan looked around and asked, "How could there be such a thing?" "This is one of the suspicious points." Kusanagi pointed in the direction of Ludong, "Look! You can see the signboard of the tavern, I guess it was taken from there." "What do the people in the tavern say?" "No clue at all." "That's right!" Tang Chuan walked to the side of the vending machine and put his right hand horizontally on his chest, "Four beer crates stacked together, it's about this high!"

"almost." "So that's where the plastic bucket sits?" "Ok." "So," Tang Chuan walked forward for about two meters, "is the young man who was burned to death standing in this position, facing the direction of the vending machine?" "Just like you said." "I see!" Yukawa was pacing around the vending machine with his arms folded. Kusanagi was worried that talking at this time would disturb him, so he just looked at him silently. After a while, the young associate professor in the Physics Research Office finally stopped and raised his head.

"This has nothing to do with plasma." "Oh? How did you see that?" "Kusanagi! What do you think about this case? Did someone do it on purpose, or was it just an ordinary accident? Which do you think it is?" "It's because I didn't know that I came to discuss with you!" Kusanagi wrinkled his head, scratched his head, and his expression became serious again, "I think it was intentional." "On what basis?" Of course it's the plastic bucket filled with gasoline. It's hard to imagine that it was just random. I always feel that someone put it there on purpose for such an accident. "

"I feel the same way, so the next step we have to consider is, how did the murderer cause this accident? I dare say that there are no other traces left, because the plasma phenomenon that can cause plastic barrels to burn can occur under any conditions , which is simply not possible.” "But, didn't you just demonstrate plasma to me?" "Of course, it would be a different matter if the entire accident scene could be put into the microwave!" Yukawa said to Kusanagi with a half-smile. "If it's not plasma, then what is it?" "It is still impossible to say what it is." Tang Chuan pressed his temple with the index finger of his right hand. "The young man's head caught fire is the key to the problem. The head will ignite before the plastic bucket!"

"This should be believable!" "It's true." "Oh? I want to hear what you base your statement on?" "If the plastic bucket caught fire first, and the flames then jumped to the young man's head, shouldn't the face be burned first before the head? Because the deceased was standing facing the vending machine, right? Because the burning location is the back of the head, it can be concluded that the fire started from the hair, but why is the burning location the back of the head opposite to the eyelids?" Kusanagi couldn't help but yelled "Ah", and wanted to hear what he said, it was really so!

"I thought that the young man's head caught fire first, and then the plastic barrel caught fire. Since it can catch fire, it must be heated. What kind of heat is transmitted to the young man's head and the plastic barrel in turn? Such a large amount of heat, Other youths should be able to feel it too. But according to what you said, the other youths didn't feel particularly hot before the gasoline in the plastic barrel caught fire." "indeed so." "Why is this kind of local heating possible?" Tang Chuan put his left hand on his waist, and his right hand rested on his chin, lost in thought.

"Is the young vice-professor of Imperial University also helpless?" "First of all, there is something that must be considered." After Tang Chuan said this, he looked towards the road extending south from the accident scene, but immediately shook his head and said, "It's hard to say..." "What? Did you think of something?" "No, even if I tell you now, it won't help. Why don't we go to a coffee shop and have a drink, so that I can sort out my thoughts slowly." "Okay, okay, just follow your orders." Kusanagi walked towards the sports car while taking out the keys in his pocket.

After getting into the car, Yu Chuan said, "Before going to the coffee shop, can you drive around here slowly? I want to see what the street looks like." "Huh? Is there any reference value for the appearance of the street?" "It's possible!" "Really." Kusanagi nodded ambiguously, started the car, and drove slowly as Yukawa said.There are only some private houses and small shops here, and it is a completely featureless road. "If someone did this case on purpose," said Yu Chuan, who was sitting in the passenger seat, "then what was his purpose? Murder?"

"There's no need to think about it now, and anyway, one person has actually died." "Is it the murder against Ryosuke Yamashita?" "I don't know if it was aimed at him, or maybe it was aimed at all of them, but only Yamashita died." "Are those guys always assembled there?" "There are still a few witnesses to this point. It is said that these guys will definitely gather there every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night." After saying this, Kusanagi felt that it might be possible to call these witnesses "victims" More appropriate. According to Kusanagi's inquiries to the nearby residents, I learned that they have a very bad opinion of these guys.There is very little traffic here, and it was originally quiet, but since some young people found this place, the peace has disappeared.Even in the middle of the night, they still rode around on motorcycles in their own way, making loud noises.The most exaggerated thing is that sometimes they just throw rubbish all over the floor and walk away. This kind of act of disturbing the people like no one else is naturally disgusting. If someone wants to punish them and cause such an accident, it is also possible from a reasonable point of view. If the case that happened this time is indeed a crime, what is the truth about it?Kusanagi still couldn't find a clue. While thinking about it, he turned the steering wheel and drove into a narrow street after about one district.Moving on, he turned a small corner.The scenery on both sides of the road has not changed much, there are still some small bungalows and apartments standing on both sides of the road.After a while, a larger building finally appeared, which looked like a street factory.There are several factories near it that contract or sub-contract the works of large enterprises. After a while, Kusanagi drove the car back to the place where it started. "Isn't it Friday when the accident happened?" Yukawa asked. "Hmm. Do you want to see other places?" He asked Yuchuan. "No, let's go drink coffee!" "Leadership." Just as they were driving straight south from the accident scene, a little girl suddenly appeared in sight.She was the little girl who fell on the side of the road on the night of the accident and was picked up by Kusanagi. She was still wearing the red sweatshirt that day, and she was still staring up at it just like that day. "You child...if you continue like this, be careful you will fall!" Kusanagi shouted as he passed by her. "Do you know this child?" Tang Chuan asked bluntly.Kusanagi remembered that Yukawa used to hate children very much. "It's not acquaintance, it's just that on the night of the accident, she fell and I picked her up." "Oh! That's what happened." "You still hate children as always." Kusanagi glanced at him and said. "Children are too illogical," Yukawa said. "It will be mentally exhausting to change lanes with illogical people." "How can you date a woman if you say that?" "A lot of women are logical. There are at least as many illogical men." Kusanagi smiled wryly, his stubborn personality is still the same as when he was a student. "That kid seemed to be looking for something just now," Tang Chuan asked, "Is it a balloon?" "That child looked up like that last time, and then fell down." "oops!" "Probably..." Kusanagi recalled the situation that night and said, "She said there was some red line." "what?" "She said she could see the red line for a while, and said she couldn't see anything. I didn't understand what was going on at the time." at this time.Tang Chuan pulled the brake handle, and the car body shook violently from side to side due to the sudden drop in speed. Kusanagi hurriedly stepped on the brakes, stopped and asked in surprise, "What are you doing?" "Go back quickly." "what?" "Go back the same way, hurry up! Go back to the child just now!" "Where is the child? Why?" Tang Chuan shook his head vigorously: "I don't have time to explain to you now, even if I explain to you, you still can't understand, anyway, go back first!" Yu Chuan's tone did not leave any room for Kusanagi to consider.Kusanagi turned the steering wheel while releasing the brake pedal.When we returned to the original spot, fortunately the little girl was still there, and she was still searching upwards for something as before. "Ask that kid." Tang Chuan said. "what?" "Of course it's about the red line!" Kusanagi looked back at his face, in fact, he had no intention of saying these bizarre things to Yukawa before. Stopping the car, Kusanagi walked towards the girl, Yukawa followed behind. "Good afternoon." Kusanagi greeted the girl, "Is the knee injury healed?" At first the girl's expression was full of vigilance, but it seemed that she hadn't forgotten Kusanagi's appearance, and her expression gradually softened, and she nodded slightly. "What are you looking at? The same way you looked at the sky last time." Kusanagi looked up at the sky while talking. "That's not it! It's right there." Although the girl pointed at it, Kusanagi still didn't know where the girl was talking about. "What can you see?" Kusanagi asked the girl again. "Oh, I can see a red thread." "Red thread? "It seems that I heard it right. Kusanagi carefully stared at the direction the girl was pointing at, but saw nothing. "can not see it!" "Well, I can't see it anymore." The girl said regretfully, "It was visible before." "Before?" "Well, the day the fire broke out." "On the day of the fire!" Kusanagi glanced at Yukawa, who was frowning at the girl.Kusanagi really wanted to tell him that staring at a child with that expression would scare the child. At this time, the door of the house directly opposite opened suddenly, and the person who came out happened to be the mother of the girl he met last time.She was surprised to see strangers chatting with her daughter. "Hello!" Kusanagi greeted, "It seems that your daughter's knee is fine." These words seemed to awaken the memory of the girl's mother, and a kind smile appeared on her face in an instant. "Ah, I really want to thank you last time!" Then she bowed her head politely, "Then, this child was just now..." "I just wanted to ask her something interesting. Last time she said that she saw the red line." "Ah?!" Mother said with an embarrassed expression, "She always said some inexplicable things, how could she see such things?" "what happend?" "What a boring thing. Last week... oh, what time of the week was that?" "It's Friday!" Kusanagi said. "According to your daughter, it was the night of the fire. The fire was Friday." "Ah, that's it. Well, yes, it was indeed that day. At about 11 o'clock in the evening, the child suddenly ran out in a hurry, saying that he saw some red line." "Yes, I saw it when I looked out the window on the second floor." The girl said beside me, "Then I ran out to see, it really was there." "Which way do you see that line?" "Well, it's probably where that uncle's head is." The girl pointed at Tang Chuan's head and said. Yu Chuan frowned slightly in displeasure. "What does that red line look like?" Cao Mi asked, "It stretches all the way, straight and straight." "Straight?" "She meant to extend straight along the direction of the road." The mother explained for her daughter. "Then you saw it too?" Mother shook her head. "After hearing what my daughter said, I went out to look, but I didn't see anything." "No, there is!" The girl's voice became excited, "When mom came, I was able to see it!" "But Mom really didn't see it." "I told you it was there, but you kept saying you couldn't see it, and then you really couldn't see it." Yu Chuan came behind Kusanagi at this time and whispered in his ear, "Is that really a line?" It was obvious that he still hated asking children questions himself. "Is that really a line?" Kusanagi asked the girl. "I don't know, but it's very thin, straight and straight." Tang Chuan whispered again: "Did you touch it?" "Did you touch it?" "No, I can't reach it!" Kusanagi looked back at Yukawa, as if asking him if he had any other questions. "Did anyone else see it around here?" Tang Chuan whispered. Kusanagi turned around and asked the mother and daughter this question. "I didn't confirm it with my neighbors, I didn't even see it, so I think it may be a child's illusion!" "No, no!" the girl shouted as if she was about to cry. Yu Chuan didn't want to hear the cries of children here, so he tugged at the corner of Kusanagi's clothes.Kusanagi said goodbye to the mother and daughter and left the scene.I really don't know which point in the topic caught Tang Chuan's attention.What exactly is that red line?Kusanagi has no idea at all, in short, all he has to do now is not to disturb Yukawa. Kusanagi's car is still parked in its original location, and has not been given a ticket for disorderly parking.He took out the key and opened the door next to the driver's cab, but Tang Chuan didn't intend to get into the car. "I'm sorry, but go back by yourself," he said. "I want to go for a walk." "Then let me go with you, how about walking together?" "Well, no, I want to walk alone." Tang Chuan said bluntly.Kusanagi knew more than ten years ago that as long as this guy said that, what others said would be futile. "Then I'll wait for your news." "Ok." Kusanagi got into the car, looked through the rear mirror after starting the car, and found that Yukawa had returned to the original road. "Red line, what red line?" He muttered to himself, but no inspiration appeared at all.