According to a certain Western novelist, one out of every five hundred people around us is an undiscovered murderer.In other words, according to him, there is one murderer for every five hundred people around us, pacing up and down as if nothing had happened.If this is the case, then what a horrible society we live in. Everyone, do you have any problems with your neighbors?Mr. K, the seemingly honest company employee on the right, lost his wife last year, but he seems to have married a young and beautiful woman recently.Maybe that Mr. K poisoned his wife bit by bit and killed her without anyone noticing.

What about Mr. M on the left?It is said that the gentleman is on a business trip recently, but is he really on a business trip?Don't you think it's a bit too long compared to usual?Perhaps his wife had conspired with another young man to kill him and bury him in the backyard. And what about Ms. H on the opposite side?Although Ms. H's husband is a famous scholar, once he has a whim, even in the middle of the night, he will still run out of the house and wander around outside.Maybe he's the one that's been hyped up in the newspapers recently, that murderer who plays with women...

No, no, even famous scholars, we must not take it lightly.There are too many examples of scholars killing people.Take a look at Ms. H's low-key attitude and chattering voice, maybe there is a ghost in it. That night, on a slightly chilly night in early April, the moment I saw that man, I shivered as if I had been poured a basin of cold water. Perhaps I read it by accident on the tram. Reports in foreign magazines may have given me such an idea.On the other hand, probably the woman's terrified and pale face made me suddenly feel something unusual. The man was wearing a black hat, black glasses, and a black coat, and was leaning on a thick cane, although he didn't know what kind of wood it was made of.One of his legs seemed to be a prosthetic leg, and when he walked, he made a terrible rattling sound.The man passed us who were standing in front of the tram stop, chatting.Just as he passed by us, his eyes were still staring at us viciously from behind the sunglasses.

I felt like a gust of cold wind was blowing, and my whole body was shaken.At this moment, the woman standing next to me undoubtedly reacted in the same way.After watching the strange man with the prosthetic leg dragging his right prosthetic leg while being sucked into the darkness opposite, I let out a long sigh of relief.Looking back at the woman, I saw her body curled up like a frog being targeted by a snake, her shoulders trembling slightly, her fair neck was dripping with sweat, and she had four or five short hairs, sticky like sugar. on top. But to be honest, I don't know this woman at all.I was on my way back from a meeting of detective novelists that night in Ginza.At that time, I got off the tram at Kichijoji, walked across the overpass, and just walked out of the ticket gate when I was suddenly stopped by this woman from behind.

"Forgive me for asking, where are you going?" The woman was wearing a rather luxurious leather coat, and a small hat decorated with fake flowers, covering her forehead, with light blue tulle on the hat, towering like bubbles.She is twenty-seven or eight years old, and her face shape is basically long, which is the most common face shape for Japanese people. However, probably because of her makeup skills, she doesn't feel old-fashioned at all, but rather elegant. A lady-like temperament. Being picked up by such a beautiful woman so suddenly, I couldn't help feeling a little flustered, and it took me a long time to explain clearly that I wanted to go back to Y alley.

In the end, the woman breathed a sigh of relief, and said to me: "The Y alley is near Chengcheng. Uh, I'm very sorry, I'm going in that direction too, can I go with you on the way?" How about a companion?" The woman looked up at me with pleading eyes, and for a moment, I felt a violent shudder.Of course, this woman's request to walk with me didn't mean much.Recently, it is quite dangerous for a woman to walk at night even in the bustling part of the city, let alone in this sparsely populated suburb, it is no wonder that this woman feels scared. However, if you think about it the other way around, it means that she looks at me more pleasingly.In other words, there must be something in my appearance that can win the trust of women.Thinking of this, I was very satisfied, and agreed to her request without saying a word.

And that strange man with artificial legs suddenly appeared while we were standing and talking.I discovered then that women were undoubtedly aware of the existence of men with prosthetic legs long before I did.No, it was probably because of that man that she asked to come with me. Not to mention, after the man with the artificial leg disappeared, we left the station and walked slowly.I wanted to ask her if I knew the man just now, but seeing her overly frightened look, I couldn't speak.The woman also showed an air of reluctance to be asked, and before I could speak, she said something intermittently.

She said that she was invited to a friend's dance tonight, and originally wanted to go home earlier, but because someone said that if it was too late, she would see her off, so she wasted a lot of time.However, at the critical moment, the person who kept declaring that he was going to send her home got drunk, and in the end, he had to trouble others to send him back... As she spoke, she laughed with a "puchi". Because of her smile, I finally regained my freedom.Although she is trying her best to use Mandarin, she still has a slight Kansai accent, which makes me, who was also born in Kansai, feel a kind of kindness.As a result, our conversation gradually became lighter and more intimate.Later, I didn’t know what topic it was, but I brought up the report in a foreign magazine that I read just now on the tram.

"So, we all have to be careful. After all, there is one murderer out of every five hundred people! There may be bad guys hiding somewhere. Don't look honest on the surface, but no one knows him What kind of secret is hidden in my heart... There is one such person in five hundred people, this is by no means a joke. There are such people around us. It’s a terrible secret. Haha, just kidding. However, if one out of five hundred people is a murderer, that means, one out of every five hundred people will be a victim. That, I remember that the death rate in Japan seems to be about 16/1000, that is to say, there are eight people out of five hundred. One out of every eight people, that is to say, one eighth of the death rate in Japan, Not from natural causes, disease, negligence, or accidents, but by people."

"Ah!..." The woman gasped, but soon laughed out from the back of her throat. "I finally understand that what you said is wrong. On average, one out of eight people is killed by someone. How is this possible..." "You don't believe it?...Why?..." I looked at her curiously, "Then, like a god, can you know the cause of death of all the dead in Japan? Impossible. So, among every eight people, is there one No one dares to say that a person died of homicide. Even those cases of natural death, disease death, negligent death, or accidental death may not be without human-made black hands behind them. For example, there are frequent railway accidents recently. Didn’t the newspapers report almost every day that someone died because of a train derailment and overturned, or fell from a full-occupied tram? Was it really an accident? Maybe It was a guy with a grudge who pushed it down in the chaos... Even if the train rolls over, in order to kill someone sitting on the train, it may not be impossible to tamper with the rails."

"Quick...don't say it. It's too scary to say such a scary thing in the middle of the night." That woman gradually became terrified of me, but I found it amusing instead, so I continued talking regardless of the other person's feelings. "Another point is that some people will suddenly disappear. Those whose whereabouts are unknown, that is, the missing, will not be registered as dead before a certain period. However, many of them must be Killed. After being killed, he was buried without anyone noticing... Madame, is your neighbor okay? If you dig your neighbor's backyard, maybe you will dig There are a lot of dead bodies coming out." "Stop, stop, stop...how dare you say such scary things. You are too much. I have no grudges or enmities with you..." Women's fear seems to be accompanied by great physical pain.Although the night was dark, I couldn't see the other person's face clearly, but she must have been pale, and even her lips were twisted in pain.But the more frightened a woman is, the more interesting this conversation is.So I worked harder. "It's okay, it's okay, how about listening to it? There is one murderer in five hundred people... The most typical example is the 'murderer' who has been hotly discussed recently. It's just what has been identified so far. That guy killed six women. Even so, not only has he not been caught yet, but even his origin and resume have not been clarified. You say it’s scary or not. That guy doesn’t look different from ordinary people ...No, it is because he is no different from us that he has not been caught. In other words, the murderer may be anywhere, maybe it is my neighbor. Maybe it is your neighbor .No, no, Bao Buqi is here, talking nonsense myself. From the perspective of others, this possibility is also possible.” "No! No! . . . Please don't say it so frighteningly! . . . " cried the woman in dismay. "Don't scare me. . . . Oh, you must be drunk. Yes, a little drunk." Yes, I was a little drunk.The alcohol that finally came up aroused my sadistic interest even more. "Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! That murderer could be anyone. Because, except for the lucky girl who escaped from danger, no one has seen that guy. However, according to the girl, the guy Wearing a black hat and sunglasses, he is a man with a low voice and a gentle voice, and he drags his legs a little when he walks..." Having said that, I suddenly shut my mouth.A thought suddenly popped into my brain.I turned my head towards the woman and hurriedly asked: "Madam, Madam...ah, sorry, are you a lady, or..." "I'm married." The woman replied in a low voice. "Then, madam, let me ask you, who was that man with the artificial leg just now? Did he follow madam?... Madam looked scared, so she asked to go with me? Maybe that person is the one who recently The famous murderer..." The woman stopped suddenly.Although she couldn't see her face, the flashlight in her hand (I forgot to mention, she was holding a card-style flashlight) was shaking violently. "Sir, I beg you, don't talk about it... Is he a murderer? Absurd, absurd..." "His kind? That is to say, the madam knows him?" The woman didn't say yes or no to this, she looked around uneasily, and then she suddenly came back and said, "Ah, this is already Y alley, where is your home?" I noticed it without a woman reminding me.We were standing right in front of my house — no, a friend’s house that I lived with.I immediately returned to reality. "Oh, sorry. This is my home." "Oh..." The woman held up the flashlight and read the house number, "Are you... the only Mr. Togawa?" "No, it's a friend's number. I live with him, so there's a very small card on it. Look! . . . " The woman raised the flashlight again, looked at the door plate for a moment, and read: "Yatsushiro Ryunosuke, are you Mr. Yatsushiro Ryunosuke?" She looked back and said, "I'm sorry. You can just send it here...Thank you very much." Then, she nodded slightly and was about to leave. I hurriedly chased after her: "Ma'am, how can this work? I have sent you here, but I didn't send you home. Isn't it a waste of time?" "But I'll be there soon..." "It's because I'll be here soon that I'm sending you off. Anyway, it won't take much effort. Hahahaha, it's okay, I promise I won't say that kind of thing again." The woman's home is still two or three hundred meters away.On the edge of a vacant lot in Chengqi, there is a lonely Japanese-Western house built, and that is her home.After seeing her home, the woman immediately regained her spirits. "That's my house. It's a single family, so there's no neighbor on either side who can dig up dead bodies." She even had the spirit to joke around.On closer inspection, a man was standing in front of the house.When the woman saw it, she hurriedly said, "Ah, my husband came out to pick me up." As she said that, she trotted over and threw herself into the other party's arms. "My dear, I'm sorry I'm so late." "Have a companion?..." Her husband looked here hypocritically. "It turns out that Jing is this man!..." I understood instantly. The man I saw earlier, I often meet at the tram station, looks familiar.This is a dark complexion, more precisely, a leaden complexion, gloomy man with an unhealthy appearance, aged forty-five or six years old.If he is the woman's husband, then the age gap between the couple is really huge. "No, this is Mr. Yatsushiro who lives in Y alley. Because I took the same tram, I had the cheek to beg him to take me back. I'm afraid on the road." The woman said coquettishly. I had no reason to stay any longer, so I casually perfunctory her husband's greeting and said, "Then, goodbye." As I said that, I turned around, and the footsteps sounded at this moment.Knock, click... The creepy footsteps of the prosthetic leg, like knocking on a wooden fish, came step by step from the darkness.Soon, the man wearing sunglasses and leaning on a thick walking stick emerged from the light of the door lamp.He was neither in a hurry nor in a hurry, and walked towards the three of us slowly. "Good evening..." He murmured in a low voice, and was sucked into the darkness opposite again, accompanied by the creepy sound of his fake leg thumping, thumping...