My transformation into a beautiful girl started with a hemorrhage.

Inside, a large group of criminal investigation technicians, criminal police officers, forensic doctors, and others were busy at work.

In the luxurious, enormous room where Shibamiya Yoshimi died.

Yoshida Shoichi was observing the area with a serious expression.

Yoshida Shoichi had no powerful connections and couldn't get promoted, so he handled mostly difficult cases.

He had no complaints, after all, his purpose in becoming a criminal police officer was for the sake of justice, and he had little interest in things like promotion.

However, these mysterious, difficult, and complicated cases also honed his detective skills.

Having been trained by these difficult cases for nearly thirty years, he is now a recognized expert in solving cases by the Aomori City Police Department.

Even his superiors, though they thought he was out of touch with reality, did not stop them from relying on him in handling cases.

In the last case of Jeff Yamamura's disappearance, the department had no leads, so they sent him to investigate.

The subsequent "Shibata-cho residential building burglary murder case" had such a terrible impact that it forced the police to set up a special task force, and he was one of the consultants.

The current "Nanabashi Nister Hotel Murder Case in Aomori" was also solved because the previous detective was at a loss after inspecting the scene, which is why he was called in.

Yoshida Shoichi had already reviewed the technicians' preliminary investigation results on his way here.

At this moment, he stood silently at the doorway of the room.

The scene here has been preserved very well at the request of the technicians, so what he sees now is no different from the first crime scene.

Yoshida Shoichi stared at the spiderweb-like cracked floor at the entrance to the room, then moved his gaze forward to the corpses of five bodyguards holding pistols nine meters ahead.

Based on the investigation results of the pseudo-technicians, he mentally reconstructed the scene of the crime.

After entering the building, he began to reconstruct the scene step by step, following the footprints of the murderer, based on the investigation and analysis results of the technicians.

The assailant violently kicked the door open twice, and then was shot by the five bodyguards inside.

Then... the bullet bounced off...

Yoshida Shoichi was no longer surprised by this anti-scientific conclusion.

After carefully examining the scene, the technicians came to an absurd conclusion with great uncertainty: there was only one murderer, the murder weapon was his fist, and he single-handedly killed sixteen armed bodyguards outside, then entered the house and killed five more bodyguards and one victim...

Clearly, these technicians also do not believe their own conclusions, even if they are based on objective facts and combined with professional scientific methods.

However, given his previous experience with the "Shibata-cho residential building burglary murder case," Yoshida Shoichi has begun to doubt the world.

He recently read a lot of books on theology, philosophy, and unsolved mysteries.

After reading it, he realized that there are so many things in this world that cannot be explained by science!

Leaving aside sixth sense, déjà vu, the consolation prize effect, and experiences that "transcend life and death"... just take the recent experiences of everyone in the world, the three seconds that everyone in the world lost a month ago!

He had previously believed that this was the effect of some random astronomical phenomenon, such as neutron stars, that was mentioned on television.

But now, looking back, he realizes that the whole thing was strange.

He couldn't help but ask himself: Is this world... really scientific?

Unlike the others in the Metropolitan Police Department who deceived themselves and turned a deaf ear to the bizarre handling of the "Shibata-cho residential building burglary murder case," treating the special investigation team's conclusions as the antidote to their beliefs and refusing to explore the possibilities behind the case.

Yoshida Masashi began to change his previous mindset as an ordinary person.

Based on the technicians' speculations, he imagined the murderer as something with superhuman strength, speed, and defense.

Then, the scene was reconstructed.

And sure enough, everything went exceptionally smoothly.

'These, these... these are bullet holes caused by bullets bouncing off course.'

'Then……'

Yoshida Shoichi looked at the spiderweb-like cracks and craters under his feet, as if they had been caused by some enormous force.

'The killer's leg was incredibly powerful; it propelled him nine meters towards the five bodyguards, the force of which created a dent in the ground.'

Therefore, there are no footprints of the killer between here and the five bodyguards.

'Then...it's obvious that these bodyguards were also terrified, so their faces retained expressions of fear and surprise even after they died.'

And then…

Yoshida Shoichi arrived at Shibamiya Yosei's body.

At this moment, several forensic doctors were taking samples from Chai Gongyang's body.

'...The murderer killed Shibamiya Yosei.'

Yoshida Shoichi stared at Shibamiya Yosei's corpse, remaining silent for a long time.

Chapter 301 Morning

Yoshida Shoichi already knew Shibamiya Yosei's identity and that he was the young master of the Matsuba-kai.

The Matsuba Clan is a powerful force in Aomori City, and even Yoshida Shoichi has heard of them.

He knew that cases involving powerful figures were extremely difficult to handle.

Unlike ordinary people, they will cooperate very well if you scare them.

The powerful and influential hold power, money, media, connections... their influence is felt in every aspect of Aomori City. They know how society works and can control it.

They preferred to find the killer themselves rather than seek help from the police.

In addition, these powerful figures care about their reputation and influence, making it difficult for the police to obtain useful information from them. During the investigation, it is extremely difficult to obtain testimony from key figures in the case.

For example, why is Shiba Miyako here with a group of bodyguards? What is he here for? Is he here for a picnic?

The Shibamiya family would only selectively disclose some of this important information related to the case to the police after careful consideration.

Yoshida Masakazu had also heard rumors that the Matsuba-kai was a cancer in Aomori City, involved in all sorts of shady businesses, but... he didn't believe these rumors.

Yoshida Shoichi believes that if the Matsuba-kai were truly heinous, victims would have already reported it to the police. However, no one has reported it, and no media outlets have reported any negative news about the Matsuba-kai. What does this indicate?

Naturally, this proves that the pine needles are innocent!

Its reputation was simply maliciously smeared by a competitor with ill intentions.

"Ugh, more trouble!" Yoshida Shoichi sighed softly.

"Huh? This is—"

Yoshida Shoichi noticed dried water stains on the floor next to the five-meter-wide bed in the room.

Because the carpet is dark, the water stains are not very noticeable and may go unnoticed if viewed from the wrong angle.

Then, as if remembering something, he searched around the bed and the bedside and found the same water stains.

'Here, here, here too—'

'If I'm not mistaken, besides these twenty-one dead, there's one more person here—a woman, no, perhaps two or more.'

Yoshida Shoichi suddenly remembered that second-generation rich kids like Shibamiya Yosei liked to play N-flying games.

'Their bodies weren't found here, which means they might still be alive. This means there were eyewitnesses to this murder?!'

'If we can find this witness, we can catch the murderer and bring justice to the victim!'

Thinking of this, Yoshida Shoichi casually called over a forensic doctor who was taking samples and asked them to take samples and analyze the liquids.

Next, he continued to simulate and recreate the scene...

They tracked the trail all the way to the rooftop of the Nister Hotel. Yoshida Shoichi shone a flashlight at the spiderweb-like cracks and dents on the reinforced concrete ground, just like the crime scene. He looked in the direction of the dents towards the rooftop of another building thirty meters away, remaining silent for a long time.

In the past, if he had found the murderer's escape route, he would have been very happy, feeling that he was one step closer to bringing the murderer to justice.

But now, seeing modern science, which humanity has spent hundreds of years developing since the last century, being overturned, he can't feel happy at all.

'However, if we follow this path, we should find something!'

As Yoshida Shoichi was pondering this, a police officer approached and informed him that the Shibamiya family had arrived, preventing them from examining Shibamiya Yosei's body...

"Oh no, trouble is brewing!"

Yoshida Shoichi sighed, turned around, and went downstairs to deal with the matter.

……

The next morning, the sun shone brightly.

In an inconspicuous corner of Aomori City, in an ordinary rented room, a ray of sunlight shines through the glass window, like a shimmering golden thread, illuminating the face of a figure on the tatami mat.

"So bright!" Kouta murmured, startled awake by the blinding sunlight.

Opening his eyes and staring at the unfamiliar ceiling, Kouta was initially taken aback. 'Where am I?'

Then, he felt the chill all over his body, and something soft was lying on top of him. A series of memories flooded his mind, startling Kouta so much that he sat up abruptly from the tatami mat.

"I, I'm doing this—!"

Kouta stared blankly at the scene before him. He was naked, his clothes scattered around the room, and in front of him, Maeda Chie had slipped onto the tatami mat because of his sudden standing up.

However, the marks on her body seemed to be silently accusing Kouta of his brutality and madness last night!

"Yeah~, Kouta!"

Chie Maeda, who had slipped off Kouta's chest, was startled awake and murmured Kouta's name.

Her gentle eyes, when she opened them, were filled with adoration as she looked at Kouta.

However, at this moment, Kouta had no interest in enjoying the affections of a beautiful woman.

All he knew was that he had made a terrible mistake!

He couldn't remember what exactly happened last night. He only knew that his last memory showed that he had overused his ability and was hallucinating, mistaking Maeda-senpai for Kei... He had no recollection of what happened after that.

But looking at the marks on Maeda Chie's body, Kouta knew that he had done the worst thing last night.

“Senior, now that you are safe and sound, let’s take our leave.” Kouta stood up, picked up his clothes and began to put them on, then continued, “Senior! Let’s not see each other again! Let’s not contact each other anymore! What happened last night was an accident, let’s just forget about it!”

Kouta spoke heartless words, turning his head away and not daring to look at Maeda Chie.

He considered himself to have made a mistake, but even if he had, he was not prepared to compound the error. Instead, he intended to cut ties completely and end the matter once and for all, and not continue down the wrong path.

Kouta is now filled with lingering fear; he can't even imagine the consequences if Hui finds out about this.

"No, I don't want to! Why? Why is this happening? Kouta, how can you be so heartless!?"