Chapter 7 Chapter two

"Niu Nan appeared for the first time on Saturday, March 6 this year. Uh... the 38-year-old housewife Luzi Chichang was stabbed to death, the body was thrown into the creek, and the body was splashed with paint. The body was found The location is Sannomiya, here it is." Shiomi spread out a large map called "County and City Map (28 Hyogo Prefecture)" on the desktop, and pointed to the vicinity of Kobe Station. "Then about a month later, on Wednesday, April 7, Chiharu Kawa, a 17-year-old high school student in the neighboring city of Ashiya, was also stabbed to death: the place of killing was in the woods, and the body was splashed with paint. Then, On Wednesday, July 14th, this time it happened near Mt. Jia, a little further north. Atsuko Ueno, a 22-year-old office worker, was stabbed to death. His body was placed in a car parked on the side of the road—the car was white. CELICA——but the inside and outside are painted red. That’s when the rumors of the bull man started to appear, and our second group also came up with this game at this time. I thought the bull man would continue to move to the upper right, but I didn’t expect it But it suddenly moved to the left. On Saturday, July 31, Shota Morimoto was found stabbed to death in a ranch in Liujia, aged eight; of course, the surrounding area was also stained red by paint. Then eight On Wednesday, April 4th, Niu Nan moved further to the left. This time the scene is Green Hill. Green Hill is in... Found it, right here. The one who was killed was Horiguchi Nobuhiro, nine years old. Repeated so many times It's already a bit annoying, but I was still stabbed to death with random knives and splashed with paint. Then last week, on Sunday, August 22, Matsumoto Natsuko, a 75-year-old living alone, was killed in the entrance of her house. The small town of Green Hill is several stops away from Green Hill: Of course, he was also stabbed to death with random knives and splashed with paint. This is the moving route of Niu Nan."

"So, this bull man game is to guess where and who the bull man will kill next?" I confirmed. "That's right." Machii nodded. "How? Interesting, isn't it?" A game of guessing where the crazy killer is going?To be honest, it's really low-level.But...it feels really, really interesting. "Just guessing the location is too monotonous and too difficult, so we have set four events, and there are close prizes. The detailed rules are written here." Yokoyama spread out his notebook. Above is a score sheet. Where is the crime in "Score List"?Thirty points (fifteen points if the error is within a radius of two kilometers).

The date of the crime, 20 points (10 points if the error is within two days). Victim's age, ten points (five points if the error is within seven years of age). The gender of the victim?five points. "List of Points Obtained" Yukiko Machii, 90 points. Ichigo Yokoyama?thirty marks. Mayumi Eight Tails?fifty points. Kazuhiko Shibata?Thirty-five points. See Zhuo in salt?twenty-five cents. "The score difference between the first place and the last place" is sixty-five points. "Qin, Hengshan, what is the purpose of this "Score Difference between the First and Last Place"?"

"If the outcome is uncertain, wouldn't the game be endless? So when the bull man is arrested, or when the score difference between the first and last place is more than 150 points, the game will end and the last place will be punished .” "I'm miserable, only twenty-five points." Yan Jian held his head. "If this continues, I will have to accept punishment... I should say that Machii is too good, ninety points! Isn't the hit rate too high? Put yourself in my place and think for me!" "Sorry, sorry, I don't know why it's so accurate." Machii also seemed surprised by himself, and lowered his eyebrows.

Indeed, the number ninety is incredible. "Machii guessed the scene twice, Sakura Hill and Rokko Mountain. It's really amazing!" "I don't know why, but I'm particularly sharp when I play the bull man game." Machii turned to me. "Normally, it doesn't work at all. As long as it is related to victory or defeat, you lose everything. This is the name of the factory." "Machii!" Shiomi called out suddenly. "Fight with me!" "what?" "Scissors, rock, paper!" Shio saw the scissors, and Machii saw the cloth.

"Like this, this guy doesn't even have shit luck." "It's 100% impossible to win the lottery at the temple fair." "You are right, but I have a feeling of being criticized..." What Shiomi and Yokoyama said seemed to hurt Machii. "It's Machii who is amazing, but the others are pretty much the same." Shiomi looked at me. "How is it? Do you want to participate in the Bull Man game?" "But it's not good to join now...the score difference with Machii is too much." "Don't worry about this, we will add up the scores other than Machii's and average them to you."

Yokoyama said. "Huh? Why am I the only one excluded?" "Because your score is too high. So, at the beginning, I will give you thirty-five points. If you get thirty-five points, you have the same score as Shibata, and you are the third place; I think this ranking should not be too bad." "Wait! Hengshan, this is a higher score than me!" "Who told you to have such meaty feet?" "You and I are only five points apart!" Shiomi criticized. "Forget it, thirty-five points is enough! Do you want to join?" "Can I really join?"

"Huh? What are you talking about without thinking? I'm asking if you want to join!" "Then... I want to participate." This is the first time I have had a meeting to work with everyone, and I originally planned to participate even if the conditions were unfavorable. "Okay! Then let's start the fourth Bull Boy game! This time there are novices, so I will explain the process briefly while proceeding." Shiomi shifted his gaze to the map. "Si, basically, how you want to guess is everyone's freedom. You can reason or rely on intuition. Qin, how do you want to guess?"

"Hmm... I'd rather reason than rely on intuition. But, are there any clues for reasoning?" "There are many, everyone present knows, and I will tell you everything. For example, the location of the crime, the first time is Sannomiya, the second time is Ashiya, the third time is Mt. Ka, and the fourth time is Mt. Rokko. The fifth time was Green Hill, and the sixth time was Sakura-no-jin. You can tell from the map that it just surrounds Kobe. There are also place names. The first and second times are not clear, but the names after that are partly in common If these are meaningful—that is to say, if the bull man hides the information in it, it means that there are rules to follow, and you can reason about the bull man’s message in this direction. Then the date of the crime can also be Find the rules; can you see them?"

"What day of the week do you mean?" "Why, you're quite perceptive!" Shiomi raised her head in surprise. "That's right, it's the day of the week. Niu men's crimes are quite concentrated, three times on Wednesday, twice on Saturday, and once on Sunday, so it is generally appropriate to choose Wednesday or Saturday. The sex of the victims is more female, just Judging from the current situation, the female selection should not be unreasonable; but the age rule is still unclear. Well, that's about it." "This...is difficult!" It is said that there are rules, but in fact it is just an assumption that "there are". In fact, it is not known how: even if there are rules, except for the date of crime, it is too unclear, and I don't know where to start, so it is impossible to reason.

"That's right, it's very difficult. Generally, you can't guess right at all, or it's only a ghost if you guess right; so everyone's scores are very low, except for Machii." "Is Machii deduction? Or intuition?" I asked curiously. "Intuition!" Machii replied immediately. "Because I can't think of a reason. Besides, if there are no rules at all, it's useless to think about it! So I just rely on my intuition." "Machii is an exception." Yokoyama said: "I also tried to guess by intuition, but it didn't work at all, and I couldn't guess right at all." "Machii is favored by Niu Nan." Eight tails said while stroking the strands of hair. "I hate it...it's scary to say that!" Machii replied, as if disgusted from the bottom of his heart. "I just guessed right out of nowhere." "This is evidence of being favored." "Haha! It's miserable to be favored by that perverted bull boy! Like me, I was not favored at all, so I couldn't guess it at all, and went straight to the road of punishment." Yan Jian laughed. "Okay, Machii's bullying will stop here, we should make a bet! Have you all decided?" Everyone except me nodded. "Huh? Ah, wait a minute! I haven't..." "Anyway, if you can't guess right, choose whatever you want! Write it here." Shiomi handed me paper and pencil with lines drawn to separate each item. I look at the map.The map of Hyogo Prefecture is covered with unfamiliar terrain; I have never stepped outside of Kyushu Island before, and I can't feel close to it. It feels like looking at a map of the United States.Armed with the anxiety of alienation, I began to write almost purely on intuition.Everyone watched me carefully, which made me feel a sense of fear stronger than shyness, and I became nervous for no reason. After I finished writing, Shiomi gave a signal, and everyone released the paper at the same time. The content is of course varied. Regarding the location of the next crime, Shiomi wrote Zaiyama, Yokoyama wrote Maya Mountain, I randomly wrote Doko Park, Machii wrote Sakura Hill, Shibata wrote Oishi, and Yao wrote Nada; As for the gender of the victim, all of them except Shibata are female; everyone's age is different, but the date of crime is quite concentrated.Yokoyama and I are on September 8th, Machii and Yao are on September 12th, Shibata is on September 25th, and Shiomi is on September 29th. "Only I am different from others!" Shiomi made a desperate sound. "The dates that everyone chose to commit crimes are almost the same. After all, judging from the current situation, only Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday are available!" Hengshan said. "Machii" Yao pointed to the paper. "The place you chose to commit the crime is Sakura Hill?" "think!" "But, Niu Nan won't commit crimes at the same place!" "It's true at the moment, but it may not be absolutely true in the future! We're not sure if there are any rules." "You are too risky!" "can you?" "I advise you to change to Zaishan!" "Foul!" Yokoyama shouted. "It was decided to write it on paper to prevent people from imitating or referring to other people's opinions! Have you forgotten?" "Don't forget, don't squeak. Why do you have such a sense of humor..." "Machii chose Sakura Hill" Yao ignored the conversation between the two. "She guessed the location of the crime for the first time and the third time correctly, so the location of the next crime is likely to be Sakura Hill; and the date of the crime, I guessed it for the second time, and the third time... It was a little short, and this time I chose September 12th like Machii." "What do you want to say?" Shiomi looked at Hachio suspiciously. "Niu Nan is likely to go to Sakura Hill to commit crimes on September 12th." "So what exactly are you trying to say?" "Let's go see it together!" Yao made an unprecedented proposal. "You, what nonsense are you talking about! Don't make such strange jokes!" "I was serious." "What if I bump into a bull man?" "That's the purpose!" "what?" "I want to see the bull man." "It's very interesting, let's go! I also want to see Niu Nan." "Hmm, um, I want to see it too!" Yokoi and Machii also agreed. "Even you all... Ah, by the way, you are not allowed to contact the bull man. If you do this, the bull man's offense will change, that's not allowed, it's called a foul." "Just don't get caught!" "That's what I said, but..." "It's very simple, we just watch secretly. Or are you afraid?" Hengshan stared at Shiomi's face. "Are you afraid of the bull man?" "Idiot! No! Absolutely not!" "Shouting like this is even more suspicious!" Machii pointed happily. "Why do you want to see Niu Nan so much?" "Then let me ask you the other way around, why don't you want to watch it? This is a great opportunity to meet the legendary bull man!" I understand what Shiomi and Yokoyama are thinking.For Shiomi, Niu Nan is just a chess piece used in the game, neither needing nor wanting to feel his reality, just like watching a football game on TV; but for Yokoyama, Niu Nan is a living person, She wished fervently to see him a little closer, to feel him, as if she were at a ball game at the stadium.Of course, this is not a ball game, but a murder case; whether it is a child's play or a close-up view of the murderer, it is a very low-level idea. However, none of this matters. At least this opinion should be unanimous among the members of the second group. Besides... Drawing and reasoning the places where the unsolved corpses were found, predicting the movements of the murderers who have not yet shown up, and interviewing them on the spot-these scenes will appear as soon as the TV is turned on, and we, as viewers, will never tire of it. gloat.A desire to reach out to less fortunate others. "Okay..." Yanjian snorted angrily. "Since you want to see it so much, I'll go too. What about you? Do you want to see Niu Nan?" As he spoke, he turned his gaze to Shibata and me.Of course we nodded. Because of schadenfreude.Because of the desire to be in touch with less fortunate others. "Really, everyone has problems with their heads! On Sunday, September 12th, we will hold a trip to visit Niumen at Sakura Hill. I will not be responsible for the consequences!" "However, it shouldn't matter! I don't know if I will guess correctly..." "You will guess right." Eight tails said immediately. "No need to guess right," Shiomi folded the map. "I don't want to see Niu Nan..." "Hey, it's past the end of school time!" The door of the classroom opened suddenly, and Teacher Cangyou walked in. "What are you doing? Still cleaning?" "We're going home, aren't we?" Yokoyama stood up hastily, and turned his gaze to Machii. "Ah, yes, yes, we have to go home to the factory, go home immediately, go home quickly, go home immediately!" "Machii is the team leader, so you have to take care of everyone! How can we play together?" "Um... sorry!" "Get started cleaning." "It's finished!" Machii pouted angrily. "Then go home soon. Didn't it be written in the contact book? The law and order is not good recently, so we should go home before the color gets dark." Teacher Cangyou pressed the eyeband, glanced at me, and smiled. "Are you still used to school?" "Ah, yes, everyone is very kind to me..." "Is this the line you prepared in advance?" The friend in my mind pointed out. That's right.Even if everyone treats me badly, I will answer like this.