Chapter 5 Chapter Five: The Detective's Sonata

After all of us met, except for the deceased under the tea, we came to the waiting area in the hall.Except for me, Mifune, Kirikiri, and Nanamura, everyone held the mountaineering bag containing the huge sum of money tightly in their arms.Everyone sat down on the sofa with tired expressions after experiencing fear. My reunion with Wuqie was understated: "Are you all right?" "Huh?" Just two words. Because I saw the corpse just now, my heart is very heavy now, and the expression of Wuqie facing the incident is also very serious. It is no wonder that our dialogue cannot continue.

Qicun seems to have told them about Chaxia's murder. Qicun didn't want to explain any more, so I told him what happened. "The person disappeared into the empty room?" Minase had an unbelievable expression. "I also saw someone enter the empty room, it's true," Meizhou said. "The murderer has something to go into the empty room." "I don't know." I shook my head. "Look, it's true!" Minase raised her voice a little excitedly. "It's really useless to be a detective. If you don't get the 'detective right', your personal safety will not be guaranteed. The murderer has proved this point."

"How can you say that..." I thought about how to refute him.But I couldn't say anything. "I did fail this time." Nanamura sat on the sofa with her legs crossed. Although he admitted his failure very straightforwardly, his attitude was arrogant. Could it be said that he was also the fastest to recover? "Miss Meizhou, I have a question to ask, I don't know if it's okay." Kirikiri said suddenly. "what? What?" "While you were in the corridor, did anyone enter or leave the room?" "Well... I'll start thinking about it from the beginning, wait a minute... First, Ms. Detective and Ms. Wu Yueyu entered the empty room, right? After that, about twenty minutes must have passed... Mister Detective A man came out of an empty room, so I yelled 'Mr Detective' because he told me to yell if anyone came out."

"and then?" "Mr. Detective seems to have entered the next room, the room where the man in the baseball cap lived. But he came out after about two minutes and went back to the empty room. Miss May Rain came out of the empty room, and the two of them All of them went into the room where the guy in the baseball cap lived." "What else? Have the other doors been opened?" "Uh-hmm... Well, the only ones that opened the door were Mr. Detective and the others, and no one else entered or left the room." At that time, the only people released by Qicun with the master key were Meizhou and me, and Meizhou was sitting at the corner of the corridor as a guard.

If Meizhou's testimony is accurate, it can be assumed that, except for us, everyone else is still locked in their rooms. However—the choke mark on Chaxia's neck indicated that he was strangled to death by someone directly.If no one entered or left the room, then naturally no one could strangle him. "In other words, things should be like this," Xinxian said with fingers crossed on his knees. "The murderer killed Mr. Chashita when ten o'clock in the evening came. Just as he was about to go back, he happened to bump into Mr. Nanamimura and the others, so he fled into the empty room in a hurry. After Mr. Nanamura and the others chased after him, he killed The demon has disappeared from the empty room—”

"That should be it." Toriyao agreed. "Hi, old man," Ye He said in a cloyingly sweet voice. "Speaking of disappearing from the secret room, isn't that what escape magicians are good at? Don't you know what kind of technique this is using, old man?" "Who is the old man? I haven't reached the age to be called that by others," Toriyao said while scratching his head. "You're right... My nickname is the 'David Copperfield of Japan'. There is no secret room that I cannot escape!" "Are you admitting that you are a prisoner?" Ye He grinned.

"You, you, what are you talking about! I have been locked in the room, why am I a murderer?" "Hehehe, you're so flustered. I'm joking, old man. Don't you think so?" Yehe said to the mountaineering bag in his arms. Toriyao frowned and sat down on the sofa. Was the culprit really among these people?It should be impossible for the people locked in the guest room to kill Chaxia. It is not difficult for the prisoner to go to the room of the target person before the detective and kill him, because the murderer, that is, the prisoner, has no access control rules.However, in this case, the prisoner should not be able to return to the room after committing a crime, because the guard Mei Zhou is in the corridor.If her testimony is correct, then the prisoner should not have returned to the room after he disappeared from the empty room.

However, Qicun released everyone from the room, which means that everyone was in the guest room, which contradicted the fact that the prisoner could not return to the room. That means—the prisoner is not among these people, does he? The prisoner of this "Black Challenge" is indeed hiding somewhere in this hotel, watching and controlling us from afar. "Hello, sister Wuqiri." I said to her who was sitting on the sofa next to me. "You mean to say 'the prisoner is not among these people', right, my sis." Wuqie whispered in my ear as if he didn't want the people around him to hear.

"Hmm... how do you know?" "Just look at your eyes, sister Jie, and you'll know. And I'm beginning to think that maybe that's the truth." "Hey, then it really is..." "It's hard to say now. There are still many mysteries that must be solved, such as how the prisoner disappeared, and the mystery of the secret room." For some reason, Kirikiri's eyes seemed to be shining brightly. She has received the pure training of a detective since she was a child, and it is no wonder that she appears so energetic at the scene of the incident, after all, this is her battlefield.Before that, maybe she even suppressed this feeling in her heart.And now, she's completely free from the shackles.

It was like a shot in the arm for me. "I have one thing to confirm." Xinxian sat on the sofa and leaned forward, raising his right hand to speak. "What do you want to say, uncle, I allow you to speak." Minase pointed at him and said. "Mr. Qicun and Miss Wuyueyu, you two stayed in the empty room for a full 20 minutes, right? What are you doing there?" "Huh?" Did he suspect me? "This... We were surprised when we found out that the prisoner had disappeared. We investigated the situation in the room and it was absolutely true. Am I right, Mr. Nanamura?"

When I asked Nanamura, he raised his right hand slightly in response. "Twenty minutes? You just leave Miss Meizhou in the corridor there?" "I, I am also very worried about Miss Meizhou's safety! But even if someone approaches her, she can be seen right away..." "No, I don't want to blame you for this matter. The bigger problem is Miss Meizhou's side." "what?" "Me, me? What's wrong with me?" "Miss Meizhou was alone for twenty minutes, right?" "Yes... that's true..." I don't understand the intention of Xinxian's question, and I feel very puzzled. "Then does my speculation make sense? Miss Wu Yueyu, the figure you witnessed in the corridor is not a murderer, but an accomplice hiding somewhere in this hotel. The real murderer is Miss Meizhou." "Huh? I—? What's going on?" "The accomplice deliberately appeared in front of the two detectives, lured them out, and after escaping into an empty room, the accomplice somehow disappeared. The detectives were surprised by this, and they would most likely begin to examine the interior. In fact, They stayed in the room for a full 20 minutes, and these 20 minutes were the problem. During this time, a person released by the detective was in a free state, and this person was in the corridor - that is Meizhou Miss." "But if Sister Pumpkin is a murderer and she has the master key, why wait for the detective to release her, don't you think?" Ye He said to the mountaineering bag. "No, waiting for the detectives to come and let her out, volunteering to be a guard, and staying in the corridor, she just wanted to create this series of impressions. However, when the two detectives investigated the empty room, she Not actually in the corridor." "Then where is she?" Minase said fiercely. "Room '311', which is the room of the murdered Mr. Chashita." "You mean to say that Ms. Meizhou killed Mr. Chashita while we were investigating the vacant room?" I said in amazement. It's true—not impossible. If she is the prisoner, then she can break into the room under the tea.After killing Chaxia within 20 minutes, all she had to do was return to the corner of the corridor as if nothing had happened... "I, I'm not a prisoner anymore! Woohoo!" Meizhou began to tremble.Seeing her demeanor like a frightened little animal, it was hard to imagine her committing such a daring crime. "However, theoretically, I think the only possibility is you." Xinxian is still pressing hard. "Please wait a moment. According to what you said, Miss Meizhou must be released very early, right," I tried to refute him. "But we use playing cards to determine the order of room allocation. She may not be able to live in her ideal room—that is, the room closer to the detective..." "In that case, the day's crime would just be skipped. There are four more auctions, and she'll always get a room closer to the detectives once." I was immediately dismissed.Sure enough, the prisoner...is Meizhou? "Wait a minute, how could the pumpkin head be the criminal!" Minase interrupted. "What's going on?" Xinxian asked back with a calm attitude. "Mr. Xinxian, to put it simply, you just think that this pumpkin head is 'pretending to be on guard, but he is not actually in the corridor', right? Unfortunately, this is impossible." "why?" "Because at that time, she was talking to me through the door in the corridor." "Ah——, yes, yes, that's true!" Mei Zhou seemed to suddenly remember, and said. "At that time, it was very noisy outside, and the detective didn't come for a long time. I knocked on the door and shouted, 'Get me out of here quickly', and then there was the sound of Pumpkin Head outside. I told her Talked a lot." Mifune's place is indeed very close to Minase's room, and it is possible to talk through the door. "You guys have been talking for twenty minutes?" Xinxian asked. "No...about ten minutes?" Meizhou nodded repeatedly. "Then perhaps she committed the crime during the remaining ten minutes." "That's impossible," Ye He retorted immediately. "Before Sister Pumpkin called 'Mr. Detective'...about five minutes, I also talked to her for a while. I heard a voice outside the room, so I called through the door, and she answered me. You said yes no--?" Ye He's room is also at the corner of the corridor, which should be enough for them to talk. "Could it be a radio or something? Miss Meizhou just needs to put this on the floor, and she can talk to you even if she's not there." Xinxian is very calm, he can immediately think of how to refute, it seems that this person should not be underestimated. "Then I don't know, but through the door, I can hear the voice of Sister Pumpkin approaching and going away. I think she should be there." Ye He said with a charming smile. "I think so too." Minase nodded. "Is that so—" Xinxian said after thinking for a while. "I understand. I can only say that it is basically impossible for Miss Meizhou to commit crimes. I take back the statement that Miss Meizhou is a murderer. It seems that I made a mistake. I am very sorry." Xinxian stood up and bowed. Mei Zhou pouted and glared at Xin Xian, but she didn't seem to want to condemn him anymore. It can be said that Minase and Yazuru have confirmed Mifune's alibi. Mei Zhou was indeed standing guard in the corner of the corridor, and the inference that she secretly killed Chaxia was untenable. At the same time, her testimony—"during the time she was on guard, no one entered or left the room", we must also take this as fact. "However, it's hard to figure out who the murderer is," Toriyao said with a tired look, his shoulders slumped. "According to my thinking, the man who manipulated Norman is probably hiding somewhere in this hotel. He must have taken a secret passage known only to him to kill Chaxia." "We have investigated the room very carefully and found no secret passages," I said. "That's because you didn't investigate carefully. Listen carefully, the escape methods are all mysterious, the magician's chains can be untied at once, and where there is nothing at first glance, there are actually secret passages or secret rooms. " "If you want to put it that way, Mr. Toriyao should go and investigate the room by himself," I said angrily. "Maybe we'll discover something that only experts know about." "Well... wait for me to rest first." Toriyao yawned and said.This person is really not in a hurry, it seems that he thinks that at least until tomorrow's auction, there will be no danger. Or is it possible that he used escape magic to kill Chaxia? Chaxia is adjacent to the room at the end of the Toriya, if there is any "through-the-wall magic" that we don't know - Toriyao rushes into the empty room, passes through the wall marked with an × to the room of the Chaxia, Kill the tea who was caught off guard.Next, he passed through another wall and returned to the room "310" at the end of the bird house. ——I don’t know if it’s possible for this to happen. The man who killed many people in this hotel said this: "Someone is spying on me inside the wall!" There is also the X mark on the wall, is there some secret hidden in the wall... Anyway, it is necessary to investigate the scene carefully. "I said, sister Wuqie, let's investigate the third floor." "Yeah, I'm also going to investigate, but it's better to wait until the morning." "why?" "If we don't bring Mr. Nanamimura with us, we won't be able to unlock the door. It would be too troublesome to find him for everything. We can move around freely after seven o'clock in the morning. Let's wait until then." "But the prisoner may take advantage of this time to destroy some important evidence..." "It seems necessary to monitor whether anyone enters or exits this hall." Wuqie stood up from the sofa, and suddenly walked towards the corner of the hall. "Wait, where are you going?" I hurried to catch up. "There's no need to be with them." Wukiri folded her skirt, and sat on the ground with her knees hugged in a corner of the hall.Immediately next to it is the door out of the hall, and it is the best place to monitor the people who come in and out. "You really don't have the spirit of cooperation." "How could that be?" Wukiri retorted with an unhappy look. "I see people." "Hey, if the prisoner is really among those people, then there is really no way to cooperate." I looked at those people sitting on the sofa. "Sister Wuqie, do you already have a clue about the identity of the prisoner?" "We haven't even investigated the corpse yet, so how could we know who the prisoner is? I really want to go and see the corpse quickly." Wuqie said something that didn't seem like a middle school student would say, and shrugged his shoulders. "I said, Mrs. Jie, I have a question for you." "Ok?" "About the figure you saw in the corridor... the appearance and figure of that person, have you seen anything clearly?" "Uh-hmm... because at night, the lights in the corridor become quite dim, so I can hardly see anything, and my eyesight is not very good. However, there are people in the corridor, there is no doubt about it , Ms. Meizhou saw it too." "You don't even know if it's a man or a woman?" "Yeah... that person disappeared around the corner in an instant." "What about the clothes? I don't know if it's a skirt or pants?" "At least I didn't see the hem of the skirt... Ah, but when the man ran into the empty room of '312', I remember the hem of his clothes seemed to float." "Could it be a coat or a coat hem?" "...If you say that, then maybe it is, it doesn't feel very clear." "You just don't know anything. What were you looking at at that time, sister Jie?" "What can I do, that's the case." "If my sis could see the prisoner clearly, maybe the incident would have been resolved by now." "That's what it says..." I am speechless. It can be said that the "Black Challenge" has been carried out according to the prisoner's plan so far.Although very unwilling, we have to admit that we are completely passive. We must find the culprit quickly and end the "Black Challenge". "Speaking of..." I remembered something. "When we entered the room at ten o'clock, Mr. Cha Xia stopped me and said some strange things to me. At that time, I thought he was talking nonsense again, but now that I think about it, he might want to tell me something. ..." "What did he say?" I told Wuqie exactly what Chaxia told me. "Mr. Xinxian is the god of death?" "I think he should be talking nonsense." "But this is not contradictory to what Mr. Xinxian said when he introduced himself," said Wuqie, staring intently at the floor. "He's always been drawn to places associated with death, whether it's his own will or not, maybe that's the way it is. I can understand that feeling." "I don't understand at all," I shook my head feebly. "But he's the only one who didn't receive an invitation to the 'Black Challenge', which is interesting. I don't know if he's an uninvited visitor, or if he's just..." prisoner? If this is the case, then things are too simple.Although according to common sense, the most suspicious person cannot be a prisoner, but... "He may be an important person who influences our destiny in the future." "It's rare to hear you say an abstract word like 'fate'." "Really. You may not be able to imagine, Mrs. Jie, I actually like this kind of word very much." "Oh——, I thought you would dismiss words like fate and hope as 'illogical'." "I'm just interested in things that can't be explained purely with logic." Kirigori said without emotion, turning his face away.I looked at the time, it was almost midnight. The people sitting on the sofa inevitably looked tense, with their heads hanging down and not saying a word.Among them, only Nanamura, who has the "detective right", is still the same as usual, sitting there with his legs crossed.He has already suffered a defeat at the hands of the prisoner, and he doesn't know how he can be so calm. All in all, we can only wait until morning. I wanted to chat with Wuqie, but when I looked back, I found that she was resting her chin on her knee, breathing steadily in her sleep. She must be very tired. I stared at her sleeping profile.I noticed that her eyelashes are very long, no matter how you look at it, this is the sleeping face of a thirteen-year-old girl.Her fair cheeks looked soft, and her slightly parted lips added a less striking red to her pale, seemingly temperatureless skin. It turned out that when she let go of her defenses, her expression was so innocent and lovely... Her usual mature expression must be full of her determination to bravely face bloody things like detectives and cases.It hurts my heart to think that she has been bound by fate all this time.Before that, she inadvertently showed confusion about her detective identity, which I think is understandable. Will she continue to live as a detective in the future? Or, one day she will give up. Anyway... I hope her sleeping face will always be this cute. While being careful not to wake her up, I took out the library book from my backpack and started reading. It is necessary to monitor whether anyone enters or exits the lobby.I am very good at staying up late. When I was in junior high school, I wrote poetry several times until the morning.Of course, the notebooks where the poems were written had already been burned. By the way, for future convenience, we left the door open and locked it with a door switch (a ballpoint pen from Nanamura), so we can enter and exit freely even without a key. I was reading while battling drowsiness when I suddenly felt a little heavy on my right shoulder.It turned out that Wuqie fell asleep next to me. I couldn't help but want to touch her head, but in the end I gave up.I felt her weight and continued to read... When I awoke, I was face down on the floor.The glasses also fell off and landed in front of me.Shocked, I quickly stood up and put on my glasses. "You don't have to panic, my lord." Wuqie was next to me. "Huh... Huh? I..." It would be great if all the things that happened before were just dreams... I thought about it while looking around.Of course, the reality in front of me is still the ruins of the hotel, and those familiar faces are resting on the sofa. "Sister Jie's sleeping appearance is so bad." Wuqie said with a giggle, holding my library in one hand. "I am asleep?" "Ok." "Scared me... I thought I passed out after being attacked..." I looked at my phone.It was nearly seven o'clock in the morning. "Night time is coming to an end." "I slept for a long time..." I said while rubbing my eyes. "Sister Wuqie, I'm sorry." "No, it's okay, and the book is more interesting than I thought." Wuqie closed the library and placed it next to me. The title of this book is "The Long House Murder Case".No matter what the situation is, you have to read mystery novels. Is this the fate of detectives? "Then I'll lend you the sequel next time," I said, standing up and doing some stretching exercises. "After staying here for a while, it seems that the vitality is being diminished little by little." "I really hope that the incident can be resolved as soon as possible." Wuqie also stood up, imitating me and doing stretching exercises. I looked over to the waiting area and saw them all asleep on the couch.Mifu rolled off the sofa and collapsed on the floor.I don't think they were killed...but they have been here for two days, so they must be more tired than us. "At least during the period we were monitoring, no one entered or exited the lobby." Fogcut quickly left the hall.I quickly followed behind her. We went up the stairs and into the guest room area on the third floor.The lights are still dimmed, retaining the eerie atmosphere of the night.I thought of the black shadow of the prisoner I saw at the corner of the corridor, and my body trembled. Wuqie walked straight to the depths of the corridor.As we turned the corner, the lights suddenly turned on. I looked at the time, it was already seven o'clock in the morning.It seems that when the set time comes, the lights will switch automatically. "First go check on Mr. Chaxia's body." Fogcut opened the door of the second room from the inside out in the corridor, which is room "311".The door can be opened without a key card. "Has the situation in the room changed?" Hearing Wuqie's question, I checked the room. The body under the tea was placed there as it was when I first saw it, sitting on the right side of the bed.The astonished expression on his face has not changed, the only thing that has changed is probably that his face has become paler. Looks like nothing has changed. "Exactly the same as when the body was found." "Yes, that's good." Foggie took out black gloves from his uniform pocket and put them on both hands, probably to prevent fingerprints. "Black gloves are rare. Police and forensic doctors all use white gloves..." "Because I'm a detective." Wuqie said, walking to the side of the corpse. While she examined the body, I casually surveyed the interior, but found nothing new.Even if it's a button that fell on the ground... Although I thought so, it was not so coincidental, and there was nothing suspicious on the ground. The gym bag in front of the bed is filled with a change of clothes, all of which are baseball uniforms. "It seems that he was indeed strangled. The immediate cause of his death was being strangled with his hands." Wuche stared at the corpse carefully.It's a good thing she can be so calm... She deserves to be the detective number "9". I hid far away and responded to her. "It's just that there are a few places that are more interesting." "Where?" "In addition to pinch marks, there are marks near the jaw that seem to have been strangled by a rope." "In other words, the victim's neck was strangled twice?" "I don't know if it was separated twice or at the same time," Kirigiri said, flicking the three-strand braid that fell on his shoulders. "There are also pinch marks... this is very unusual." "abnormal……?" "Under normal circumstances, if the person was strangled to death directly by someone, then at least the victim's neck will have left the criminal's finger prints." "Ok." "For example, when I want to strangle my sister-in-law to death—" Fog cuts closer to me, turning his nails slightly sideways and reaching for my neck with both hands.Her gloved fingertips touched my neck, itching.I tried my best not to make strange noises. "Either pinch from the front like this, or pinch secretly from behind..." "You can't commit a crime without being close to the victim." "That's right, but that's not the problem," Wuqiri said, pointing to the pinch marks on the corpse. "If you pinch someone's neck like I did just now, the thumb will definitely be on the top. But from the traces on Mr. Chaxia's body, the thumb is on the bottom." "This, what's going on here?" Could it be someone with fingers upside down?Yes, are they aliens? "That's it." Mist cut around to the opposite side of the bed, then knelt on the bed, close to the corpse.Chaxia's head was resting on the bed, the back of his head was resting on the edge of the bed, looking up at the ceiling, and Wuqie came to a position where he could look down at the head of the corpse. Then, she reached for the body with both hands. "Squeeze his neck from the head like this." Wuqie made a feint of choking his neck, and got off the bed. Indeed, for a person who is facing upwards, as long as you approach him from the direction of his head and pinch his neck, the pinch marks will be upside down. "So... when Mr. Chaxia was resting with his head resting on the bed, the prisoner sneaked up on him from the opposite side of the bed and strangled him to death, is that true?" "Just based on the current situation, it should be like this." "That's weird," I said, looking around the room again. "If it is said that Mr. Chaxia was resting beside the bed...then it is impossible for him to be unaware when the prisoner came in through the door. Could it be that he was asleep so he didn't notice? If this is the case, then the prisoner deliberately Going around to the left side of the bed and strangling his neck is too unnatural. If Mr. Chaxia didn't find the prisoner, then the prisoner just needs to strangle his neck from the front, why bother." "That's right. Speaking of which, under the circumstances at that time, Mr. Chaxia should not be able to sleep peacefully. After all, he doesn't know when the prisoner will attack." I suddenly thought of one thing. If the prisoner came in through the gate, Mr. Chashita would have noticed anyway.Having said that, according to Meizhou's testimony, we can already confirm that no one has entered or exited the room. In this case, assuming that the prisoner came through the wall on the left... wouldn't the prisoner be able to sneak up behind the tea table and strangle him to death? The wall on the left - the next door is the secret room "312" where the prisoner disappeared. "Sister Wuqie... Do you think people can walk through walls..." "What's the matter, sister Jie, are you confused? Don't talk about people, even capybaras can't go through walls." "But only through the wall can this murder be established!" I started to check the wall. Of course, I have checked carefully before, but I may have missed it... "Would it be like a ninja mechanism house, the entire wall can be turned over?" "It doesn't look like there is such a mechanism." "There's got to be a secret somewhere. After all, this room is kind of weird," I said, scanning the walls. "Obviously the Crime Victims Relief Committee has found someone to modify it. How could there be such a cell-like room in the hotel." "Yeah...they remodeled the building for this game, there's no doubt about it," Foggie agreed. "However, since inspection of the walls turned up nothing, the answer must lie elsewhere." "Elsewhere...is it?" Indeed, even if there is a secret door in the wall, the switch is not necessarily nearby.It might be in the bathroom, or it might be somewhere in the ceiling. Although no matter how hard I searched, I didn't find anything similar... Wuqiri began to check the luggage under the tea.She found a cell phone, but she didn't seem interested in it, so she put it back.Then she found a notebook, and Wuqie and I checked the contents of the notebook. It seems to be the subject of the interview... It contains things that I find inexplicable, such as the discovery of UFOs in a certain country, the fall of meteorites, the confirmation of a new military weapon, and so on. "According to the notes written by this person, human beings have faced the crisis of extinction several times." Wuqie said impatiently. "What conspiracy theory did he say again?" "Yeah, it seems he's quite keen on collecting material on 'Demise of Humanity'." Fog cut put the notebook back.The extinction of human beings - I don't know if this kind of thing will happen in the future. Speaking of which, Nanamura said last time that when a 30th-level detective becomes a criminal, he must formulate a response plan at the national level... If this is the case, if the chairman of the Crime Victims Relief Committee is 30th-level, then it is Meaning, are the current developments devastating. Wuqie suddenly picked up a note placed on the bed. "By the way, this note was on the bed from the very beginning?"——The note said: "The first goal—revenge succeeded!" "No, this note was actually crumpled up and stuffed in the corpse's mouth. It's really weird." "In the mouth?" "Yes, this is what I found." "That's it... I feel more and more that this matter is really puzzling," said Wuqie, crossing his arms. "I want to confirm something. When you stepped into this room, Mrs. Yu, was Mr. Chashita really dead?" "Well, and Mr. Nanamura also said that he is dead." "It doesn't matter what he said. Sister Jie, from your point of view, was Mr. Chaxia dead at that time?" "I don't know. Let me be clear in advance. I'm not as used to corpses as you are. I don't know if he is dead or pretending to be dead... But if I have to say it, I think he should be dead, because His pupils are unresponsive." "That's enough, my lord, even if you change your number to '9', you are definitely capable." "I've had enough of the murders," I said with a wry smile. "When the body was first found, Chashita-san was actually alive - there should be no possibility. He faked his own death for some reason, and then was killed by the prisoner after the others left. It seems unlikely. possible." Wuqie listed the possible situations by himself, and then denied them by himself, talking non-stop to himself. "My lord, is there really no change in the situation in this room?" "Well, I can assure you." "Is that so..." Wuche folded his arms and looked around the room. Together with her, I looked at the situation in the room and recalled the course of the case. "Well, sister Kirikiri, Mr. Nanamura shouldn't be a prisoner, right?" I myself think this statement is quite absurd. But considering the situation at the time—Nanumura was the first person to step into the murder scene, so it has to be said that he is very likely to be the criminal. He used the master key obtained by the "detective authority" to enter the room where Chaxia was and killed him, and then pretended to be the first witness and told me that Chaxia was dead—I don't know what motive he had for doing so, but, He may have taken advantage of the development process of "Black Challenge" to kill people.The figure we saw in the corridor was actually the prisoner. Nanamura cleverly used this situation to kill Chaxia and put the blame on the prisoner. "It's impossible." My thought was shot down by Wuqie. "But there is no other possibility. Leaving aside the motive, the only person who can kill someone is Nanamura--" "No, it's impossible for Mr. Nanamimura to carry out the murder because he didn't have enough time. Mr. Nanimura only stayed at the scene for two or three minutes, right? In such a short period of time, he couldn't possibly strangle a person to death." "Ah, so that's how it is..." "To strangle an adult man, it takes at least ten minutes of suffocation. Mr. Nanamura probably doesn't have this time." "--indeed so." I was ashamed of myself that I should have doubted the detective. That being the case—who is the culprit?Is he really among us? After the night time period started, Qicun and I basically acted together. It can be said that it is impossible for him to commit crimes.Of course, I'm not a prisoner either. Mifune stayed alone in the corridor for about twenty minutes, but Minase and Yazuru in the nearby room can testify for her, and she has an alibi.并且，美舟的证言也可以反过来证明水无濑跟夜鹤两个人是待在房间里的，这么说应该没错吧。 问题在于鸟屋尾、新仙和雾切三个人。 案件发生后，七村把他们从自己的房间里放出来。但是在他们被放出来之前的这段时间里，无法证明他们是一直待在房间里的。 “结姐姐大人，你表情怎么那么严肃？”雾切靠到我旁边，仔细盯着我的脸看。“该不会，你又在想我会不会是犯人？” “那怎么可能啊！”我对她绝没有一丝怀疑，我非常信任她。 “如果真是这样，身为一个侦探你就太不称职了。姐姐大人，侦探就算是自己的亲属也要一视同仁地怀疑，只要从逻辑上不能否定这种可能性，那就一定要追究到底。” “这也是雾切家的教条？” “是啊。”雾切昂首挺胸很自豪地说。 “那就是说你也觉得我是犯人啰。” “不是的，”雾切有点慌张地说。“因为我已经从逻辑上否定了结姐姐大人是犯人的可能性，所以我不会这么想。” "real?" “真的，你相信我吧。”雾切带着困扰的表情说。 反正我死揪着这一点不放也没用，所以就没有再追问了。 侦探就算是自己的亲属也要一视同仁地怀疑——她做得到吗。 不，正因为做得到，她才是雾切响子。 假如我就是犯人呢？她一定会准确无误地把怀疑的矛头指向我的。 “到头来，事情就跟'黑之挑战'的预告上面说的一样，'消失'和'密室'都已经实现了，这个房间真的完全是一个密室。” 我想转换一下话题，把脸别开不看雾切。 “真的完全是一个密室吗。” “还有比这更完美的密室吗？门上了锁，外面还有人看守，也没有任何暗道；窗口很小，要想穿过是很困难的，更何况上面还镶着铁栅栏。这不是百分之百的纯密室吗。” “我觉得顶多只有百分之九十左右，”雾切指着窗口说。“至少这间密室是有空隙的。” 铁栅窗—— 可能是因为天已经亮了，窗外看起来有些发白，但是完全不见放晴的迹象，只能看见一片阴沉沉的灰色天空。 “这铁栅栏才真是水豚也没办法穿过去啊。” 不过小水豚应该还是可以的。 “但是那里是唯一的空隙了。” “我来看看吧。”我走到里边那面墙旁边，仰望着窗口。 踩在床上应该就能看到外面，但是床脚是固定在地板上的，所以也没办法把它拖到墙旁边来。 于是我用上了自己引以为豪的弹跳力，跳起来抓住了铁栅栏，利用引体向上的技巧把身体向上拉起向外看。 昨晚外面是一片漆黑，什么都看不见，不过现在可以看到在晨雾笼罩中的群山了。附近岂止是人家，一样人工制造的东西都没有。 我把脸凑近铁栅栏往下看，不过完全看不到地面。 “什么都没有啊。” “铁栅栏很坚固？取不下来？” “不行啊……嗯——”我筋疲力尽了，双脚落了地。 “周围有没有什么建筑物或是房间？” “要是有的话哪还用得着爬上去看啊，除了大自然什么都看不到。” 此外，后来我们还检查了“301”号室那边的窗口，附近的确没有什么建筑物。窗口都只是水泥墙壁上打出来的一个小洞，从窗口望出去，只有一片绵延的群山，想必好几百年间它们都一直是这个样子。 接下来，我们来到最里面的房间“312”号室。 雾切花了一个小时检查室内的情况，然而她没有找到任何暗道或是奇怪的开关之类的东西。犯人就像一道烟一样消失在了这个房间里，然而我们越调查就越觉得这简直是不可能的。 我心中疑虑重重，注视着墙上的记号。 “我投降了，”我举起双手。“这个×到底是什么意思啊。” “如你所见，这个记号应该就是表示死者吧。” “'第一个目标——复仇成功'是吗……” 我一屁股坐在床上，无力地摇了摇头。 这次“黑之挑战”的目标到底还有几个人呢。 我扳着指头数了数，突然发现了一件事。 目前还存活的是八个人。其中侦探七村是应挑战书的召唤而来，应该可以把他从目标当中排除。跟着他来的我跟雾切也不可能是目标。 剩下还有五个人。假如犯人就在他们中间，那么把犯人除开，剩下还有四个。 在剩下的四次拍卖会中杀害四个人……拿这次的犯人来说，大概也不是不可能。然而考虑到目标有可能会拍到'侦探权'，或是有可能受到侦探的保护，犯人应该顾不上去杀其他无关的人。 是不是可以说，我跟雾切是在安全范围内的呢……不，这个很难说。 目标可能只有一个人了。在这种情况下，犯人也有可能会设法除掉我们这些碍事的人。性命攸关的挑战还没有结束。 我跟雾切一起从房间里出来。 夜间时段已经过去，所以从规则上来说，我们的人身安全是有保障的。至少在拍卖会开始的下午六点之前，可以说这段时间都是可以自由行动的。 “雾切妹妹，要不要趁现在去冲个澡？晚上太危险了，不是洗澡的时候，所以只能趁现在……” “一个星期不冲澡也没关系的——” “不行！女孩子不能接受这种训练啊！” 结果我们决定在“302”号室的浴室冲澡。我向雾切提议“要不要我帮你洗”，她显然很反感的样子，于是我们还是轮流洗的。 由于房间里没有插头可以让我们用电吹风，我用毛巾把雾切的头发擦干了。雾切的头发又柔软又光滑，就好像世上最精巧的丝线，绝非出自凡人之手。 “我给你编成辫子吧，一直很想试一试呢。” “我自己会弄。” “好啦好啦，就让我来吧。” 我们并排坐在床上，我给雾切编着头发，她乖乖地任由我摆弄。 “下次拍卖会要怎么办？” “出价必须谨慎一些呢。拥有'侦探权'的人可以救没有'侦探权'的人，这个设想是不成立的，事实已经证明了这一点……所以大家肯定都会为了保护自己而竞拍'侦探权'的。” “这次我们一定要拍到'侦探权'当侦探。” “是啊……就算发生了杀人案，只要有'侦探权'，就能第一个踏进现场……” 原来如此，还有这个任务啊。 倾听死者的声音也是侦探的工作。但是，如果有可能的话，没有死者自然是最好不过的。 这大概就是编号“9”和编号“8”的差别吧。“9”的专业领域是杀人案，而“8”却离杀人还差一步，是把失去人身自由的人救出来的侦探。 “说起来，不知道七村先生打算怎么办呢，他在昨天的拍卖会上把一亿全部花光了啊。” “关于这件事，”因为我正在摆弄雾切的头发，她只把视线投了过来。“原本按照'黑之挑战'的规则，受召唤而来的侦探是游戏的棋子，是不能缺少的，没错吧？那么这次的游戏又如何呢。虽然按照规则，侦探的角色会由于'侦探权'拍卖会发生变动，但原本那条'受召唤而来的侦探不可缺少'的规则，我认为也是仍然有效的。” “也就是说……就算没有得到'侦探权'，七村先生也是绝不会有危险的？” “我是这样想的。假如就因为这次比较特殊，所以杀掉侦探也没关系，要是这种规则可以生效的话，那么'黑之挑战'的根基就会动摇。” “唔——嗯，的确，组织里的那些人在这方面好像很严格呢。” “七村先生应该也是理解这一点的，所以他才会在拍卖会上那样乱来吧。” “原来如此啊，看来他投进去那么一大笔钱也不是因为一时头脑发热。” ……但是之后呢？ 作为游戏的一个棋子，他的人身安全是有保障的，话虽如此，假如没有得到“侦探权”，那么他在夜间时段的行动就会受到限制。可以说，这样一来，他的侦探功能就被完全剥夺了。 不知道七村到底是怎么想的。如果赢得“侦探权”的速度是最快的，那么退出拍卖会的速度也会是最快的，真是搞不懂他。 这种有大侦探之称的人真是麻烦。 “要想在下次拍卖会上取胜，我们该怎么办才好？像上次那样合作吗？” “要想让那个办法成立，就必须满足一个条件，那就是要保护所有人的生命安全，而现在这一点已经被打破了，就算一开始可以靠雄厚资金取胜，之后也不可能一直保持下去。并且，到了后半阶段，说不定资金已经用完，到时就会陷入一筹莫展的状态。” “这样啊……那到底该怎么办才好呢……” 我在昨天的拍卖会上浪费了500万，而其他的人手上都还有整整一亿。 拍卖会还有四次，2500万大概就是最大限度了吧。如果用高于2500万的价格拍下了“侦探权”，那之后在拍卖会上落败的可能性也会随之增加。所以，要想连续取胜，就必须尽量压低中标的价格，要让这个价格低于2500万。 话说回来，这种计算方法好像也不适用于我目前的情况。 “有没有办法能保证在这种拍卖会上取胜呢。” “很难说……”雾切陷入了沉思。 “啊——，这下事情可麻烦啦。” 我一下子躺倒，仰面朝天躺在床上。水泥天花板上只有一盏灯，其他什么都没有——这次“黑之挑战”应对侦探的方法考虑得非常全面。将侦探囚禁在封闭的环境中，以缓慢的进度每天举行一次拍卖会，既能够剥夺“侦探权”，同时又能拖到时间结束，想必这就是对方的目的。 在“黑之挑战”中，犯人要想取胜，只能逃避侦探的指认。但是，这并不是说犯人要真的逃走，而是在规定的168个小时内，让侦探一直被困在思维迷宫之中，这就是取胜的方法。 在这个基础上制造出来的成品，就是这次的“黑之挑战”吗。 “我说，结姐姐大人，还有另一边呢。” 雾切俯视着躺在床上的我，对着我甩了一下头发。 看样子她是想让我把两边的头发都编成辫子。 “啊，抱歉抱歉。”我支起身体，继续给她编头发。 “比起想办法在拍卖会上取胜，我们大概更适合去解决案件吧。” 雾切这样说，不过对于案件我简直是一头雾水。 我果然不适合当侦探吧。 我和雾切回到大厅的时候，等待区已经有好几个人不见了。睡在沙发上的只有美舟和夜鹤两名女性，男同胞们一个都不在。 七村、水无濑、鸟屋尾、新仙四个人在食堂里围成一圈坐着进餐，感觉有点像是在野餐，很温馨的样子。如果不是目前这种情况，进餐时间本应该是很快乐的。 然而他们每个人都是同样一脸憔悴的样子。 “啊，你们刚才到哪儿去了？”水无濑注意到了我们，说道。 “在楼上的房间里休息了一下。” “你们也应该趁现在先把饭吃了再说。” 鸟屋尾一边大嚼包装米饭一边说。 夜间时段结束之后，他们果然也松了口气。 虽然很想跟七村商量一下今后该怎么办，但一直没有找到跟他独处的机会，我跟雾切只好作罢，回到了大厅里。 我跟雾切各自拿着干粮和水回到了“302”号室，还是在这里感觉最安心。我们在静得没有一点声音的密室里，两个人一起吃了一顿索然无味的饭。 我们并肩坐在床上，度过了一段无所事事的时光。 我们就像是很多年前就认识的朋友一样，能够共享沉默。 大概是因为我们曾经一同经历过时刻面临生命危险的状况，我产生了一种感觉，就好像跟雾切在一起是一件很理所当然的事情。事实上，这一个月以来她跟我之间的关系，可以说很奇妙，也很深厚。 正因为如此——我认为，也许现在有必要去了解她最不愿向人提及的事情了。 “雾切妹妹。” “什么事，结姐姐大人。” “关于你的父亲……” 她的眼神些微多了几分严肃。然而不愧是雾切响子，她仍然保持着面无表情，没有表现出丝毫动摇。 “跟结姐姐大人你想象的差不多，他身上也流着雾切家的血，是个侦探——本该是这样的，但他现在已经不在了。” “那他果然是受到事件的波及……” 这是雾切家的谜团之一。雾切这个姓氏直接由祖父传给了孙女，中间跳过了一代——其中的理由。 “他殉职了。” "It turned out to be like this..." “其实是假的，”雾切面无表情地继续说。“如果真是这样，也许还更好些，我就会尊敬他，不会瞧不起他了，然而现实是他还活着。” “什、什么啊，他原来还活着，吓了我一跳，”我装出冷静的样子，让自己不要慌张。“话说回来，你怎么会瞧不起他……” “抛弃了雾切这个姓氏，抛弃了家庭，抛弃了我，这样一个人，让我不要瞧不起他，那才是不可能的。” “你的父亲离家出走了？” “没错，他逃走了。尽管生在雾切家，他却一直不愿成为侦探，最后抛下一切走掉了。” “这样啊……于是你就成了侦探，继承了雾切家的家业对吧。” "yes." “你的父亲现在在什么地方，又在做什么？” “他在希望之峰学园当老师。” “咦？是那个希望之峰学园吗？” 就是那所政府公认拥有特权的学园，从全国各地物色搜罗拥有超高校级才能的高中生，培育国家未来的人才——虽说是个抛家弃女的人，不过他也真是找到了一个不得了的地方落脚。 背叛了雾切家才能的人，却在培育才能的机构里工作，真是讽刺。不过，是不是正因为他深知才能的分量，所以才有能力去教育别人呢。 “但是你父亲也不是嫌弃你对吧？” “谁知道呢。只不过，他经常因为我跟爷爷争执，两个人总是为了我的教育问题争论不休。” 一般来说，没有人会愿意看到大人们因为自己而起争执。她之所以会表现出这种早熟的态度，可能也是因为那样的环境迫使她“成熟起来”。 毫无疑问，她拥有侦探的优秀才能，然而这种才能同时束缚了她，这也是事实。 她之所以会对侦探这个概念如此依赖和顺从，大概是因为在情况复杂的雾切家，她一直都在选择“顺应环境”。 她的确是个天生的侦探。 然而与此同时，她也是个除了当侦探之外别无选择的女孩。 “只不过……母亲在世的时候，爷爷和那个人还不会相互争执，大概是母亲的存在缓和了他们之间的矛盾吧。”雾切垂下眼睛，叹了口气。“现在回想起来，母亲的去世，可能正是那个人不得不离家出走的原因，因为雾切家不需要一个不是侦探的人。” “你母亲是怎么去世的？” “是生病。她一直体弱多病，是在我七岁的时候去世的。在我记忆中母亲的形象，就是在医院的病床上脸色苍白地微笑着的样子——”雾切注视着墙壁，似乎在回忆过去。“结果我没能见到母亲最后一面。那个时候我正好跟爷爷一起在国外，不过祖父要优先完成侦探的工作，所以没有回国。而我也……学了他。” “——你学了他？”她点了点头。 “先去完成侦探工作，再送家人最后一程”——在七岁的时候，她就直面了雾切家的教条。 “那个人当然否定了爷爷的做法，然后开始彻底否定雾切家。也许他真正想要否定的，是自己身体里雾切家的血吧。” 她像往常那样，用不带感情的口吻说。 “你的父亲完全没有从事过侦探工作？” “他好像被爷爷带着参与过工作，不过自己从来没有想当侦探的意愿。” “那他也没有在侦探图书馆登记过？” “不可能登记过。对他来说，侦探图书馆大概是这个世上最可怕的地方吧。”雾切这样说着，向我投来试探的眼光。“虽然我觉得不大可能，莫非你认为那个记录被消除了的第四个三零级侦探是他？” “不是……嗯，哎，我只是听你说的时候突然有了这种想法……” “那是不可能的，”她毫不犹豫地回答。“就算那个人当了侦探，他也顶多只能升到等级'5'或是'6'，不会再高了。” 说得真是毫不留情。 “既然有雾切家的血统，说不定他身上也隐藏着才能啊。” “那个人对侦探厌恶到了极点，所以他在侦探图书馆登记这件事是不可能发生的，这个前提就不成立。” 虽说有雾切家的血统，不过她的父亲看来不可能是那个记录被消除了的三零级侦探。 那个消失了的前侦探到底是什么人呢。 “说起来，关于那个前侦探，你有没有向你的爷爷打听过？” “——我问过了。” “答复呢？” “他没有告诉我，叫我自己去查。” “——这也是侦探训练的一部分吗。” “是啊。不过他告诉了我一件事——就是那个前侦探的外号。” “外号？” “嗯，那个前侦探最擅长的就是易容化装，他神出鬼没，没有人见过他的真面目。听说侦探们把这个真实身份不明的人称为——'变奏侦探（variationist）'。” “又是个起得很夸张的名字啊。” “侦探所具备的能力被用于犯罪的时候，这种情况是最麻烦的呢。假如那个前侦探真心想玩'鬼抓人'或是'捉迷藏'之类的游戏，那么不可能会有人是他的对手。” “但是我们不是都了解到这么多情报了吗？”虽然主要是靠她才知道的。“只要加把劲，我们也能成功的！” “你真是乐观啊，结姐姐大人。” “因为我没什么才能啊，至少要保持乐观吧。” “总而言之——如果不先解决这次的'黑之挑战'，说什么也没用。” You are right.今天拍卖会开始的时间越来越近了，我们必须同时应对事件跟拍卖会。 唉，我脑子里面简直一团糟……拍卖会的时间到来之前，我跟雾切两个人一直关在房间里研究对策。 从结论上说，我们没有想到什么像样的对策。 在拍卖会实时进行的过程中，现场的气氛会在很大程度上影响拍卖的结果，昨天的拍卖会就是个很好的例子。 结果还是只能等到那个时候再说。如果没有那种下意识的推理能力，那么也就无法在拍卖会上取胜了。 下午六点终于来了。 87：58：30 时间已经到了，所以我们来到了充当拍卖会会场的食堂，从阳台上传来吵嚷的声音。 抬头一看，参加者都聚集在一片漆黑的肖像画周围。 “各位都怎么了？”我从下面喊了一声，新仙做出了反应。 “这里摆着一个奇怪的人偶，白天好像还没有的……” 我跟雾切一起上了阳台。 人偶就摆在肖像画的正下方。这是个法国洋娃娃，身高差不多有五十厘米，带着水蓝色褶边的衣服看起来很可爱。 然而——不知道为什么，这人偶的脸却是老婆婆的模样。 一般来说，这种人偶的脸都是可爱的小孩子模样，然而这个人偶的脸怎么看都是个老婆婆。 人偶靠着墙壁坐着。 “各位晚上好，六点钟已经过了，我想可以开始今天的拍卖会了。” 跟上次一样，一个电子合成音从不知安装在哪里的扬声器里传了出来。 “喂，你这混蛋，到底在哪里啊！快给我滚出来！” 水无濑对着天花板大