Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes

However, it's also possible that he/she is focusing on his/her studies and preparing wholeheartedly for university.

There are quite a few people like this. Some simply cancel all club activities and go straight to tutoring classes after school, which means they have made life plans in advance.

Since others stepped forward to take responsibility, he didn't insist on anything. He even skipped the secret ballot and vote counting, opting instead for the quickest, but not entirely fair, method of raising hands.

“Ikeda is a decisive person who is willing to sacrifice some ‘unnecessary’ processes for the sake of efficiency and results.”

After the election, Chiba Shion summarized her thoughts.

“I agree.” Dongshan had no objection. “I think this kind of homeroom teacher is a good thing.”

Chiba Shion nodded slightly: "It seems correct at the moment."

Ultimately, a boy named Oda Kuranosuke was elected as the class representative, a girl was elected as the academic representative, and there was little competition for other positions such as health care, cleaning, and audiovisual education, so the elections were held quickly.

At this moment, the four people returned.

Their faces showed some unease, and Nobita kept his head down, his knuckles clenched so tightly they turned white.

He seemed to be afraid of something.

Chapter 21: Kurosaki Chimei

【23:18】

[Guai Dao has accepted your friend request]

[Strange Path: The Key]

[Tatsumi Hiramori: I'm a colleague of Professor Otani. I've heard that you, Mr. Kurosaki, are quite knowledgeable about the ghost stories of Komagome Academy. I have some questions I'd like to ask you. Are you free tomorrow morning?]

[Strange Path: The Key]

[Ping Sheng Long: What key?]

[Strange Path: The Key to Proving You Are Human]

[Pyeongsung Dragon: ?]

【23:33】

[Pyeongsang Dragons: Images]

[Tatsumi Hiramori: I am Tatsumi Hiramori, the head of the First Investigation Division. This is my identification; you can also verify it with Professor Otani.]

[Strange Path: The Key]

【23:48】

[Ping Sheng Long: There is a consultation fee.]

[Strange Path: Tomorrow morning at 10 AM, Shinjuku 3-6-116, Verification Code: Nine Syllable Mantra]

[Pyeongsung Dragon: ?]

【09:15】

[Ping Shenglong: I'm coming over now.]

After putting down his phone and temporarily entrusting the situation to his assistant, Heisei Ryu drove away from the academy to the address given by Kurosaki Chimei.

The autopsy results from Pathologist Otani have been released, and all three victims were found to have committed suicide.

Inoue strangled himself to death with his right hand.

Sato twisted his head back with both hands, his face contorted in a horrific manner, and died from a broken neck.

Koizumi tied a knot in his clothes at the classroom corridor window, which was only about half a meter high, and then pulled himself backward, suffocating to death.

These are all fancy ways of dying that normal people can't do. He didn't believe that this academy was full of hidden talents, and that everyone was a master of fancy suicide.

The most terrifying thing is that if there is a murderer, then to make three energetic young people die so strangely, there must have been a struggle, and there must have been traces left behind.

But apart from the consistent black handprints on the shoulders and the unreliable testimonies of the survivors, there were no other clues.

So even if he didn't want to believe it, he had to admit that this case was full of strangeness and unknowns.

Perhaps the urban legends of the past can give him a spark of inspiration.

Although this guy named Kurosaki Chimi is very strange.

Rather than calling him an investigator of ghost stories, it would be more accurate to say that he himself is a ghost story.

Following the address given by Kurosaki, Heisei Ryu quickly arrived at his destination using the navigation.

Shinjuku is right next to Bunkyo Ward, and the smooth traffic only took him about twenty minutes.

"."

After parking his car by the roadside, Ping Shenglong got out with some hesitation and looked up at the detached house that looked like it had been uninhabited for a long time.

The second-floor balcony was scattered with fallen leaves and debris blown in, and there was a layer of murky white dust on the glass. The yard was overgrown with weeds of varying heights, and tender green shoots emerged from the carpet of decaying vegetation.

That guy, did he just give him some random address to fool him?

Just as he lit a cigarette and was about to use the system to check the other party's registered residential address, a housewife came out of the next room. She looked curiously at the badge on the lapel of Ping Shenglong's suit, and suddenly realized that she remembered many TV dramas she had watched. She excitedly came over and took the initiative to greet him.

"Officer, are you a detective from the Metropolitan Police Department?"

Ping Shenglong nodded slightly upon hearing this, stubbed out the cigarette he had just lit, and pointed to the house in front of him: "Yes, ma'am, may I ask if anyone lives in this house?"

He took out his criminal investigation manual and showed it to the other person.

"Oh dear, you've come to the right place!" The housewife, as if she had finally found someone to confide in, poured out her grievances. "I called the police before, but after they came, they just walked around for a bit and said there was nothing wrong and left. They were so irresponsible! Detective, let me tell you, this house is really strange!"

Ping Shenglong wasn't so impatient. He glanced at the time; there were still twenty minutes until the agreed-upon ten o'clock. He decided to listen to what this housewife had to say first.

"At first, I also thought it was an uninhabited house. But every now and then, I would see a person dressed very conservatively going in and out of the house. So I figured it must be a place where people store their things. But that's their business, and it has nothing to do with us."

"But one night, I went to the bathroom at three in the morning and saw that the room was emitting a terrifying red light. I could also see shadowy figures walking back and forth in the second-floor window, moving strangely. It was so scary! I screamed in fright and my heart almost jumped out of my chest!"

"Then my husband came to see me, but by then the red light from the house had disappeared! That person must have heard my voice and hid! They must be doing something shady!"

"And look, there's not even a house number or mailbox at the door. This doesn't look like a normal family home at all!"

As a criminal investigator, Ping Shenglong naturally wouldn't just believe one side of the testimony. After all, some people are particularly good at acting and playing the victim, then shifting all the pressure onto the police.

However, this did not prevent him from extracting useful information from it.

People do occasionally come back to this house, but they generally don't stay overnight.

One night, some strange things happened.

The police came but didn't find anything wrong.

Click.

Amid the housewife's complaints, the door suddenly opened a crack, revealing half of a face devoid of joy or sorrow, eyes fixed on the two of them, silently interrupting the housewife's rambling.

"Hehe, the weather is really nice today. Oh dear, I'm almost late for our mahjong game. Officer, I won't disturb you any longer."

In Japan, what could be more embarrassing than being overheard by the person you're talking about behind their back?

The housewife couldn't hold back any longer and quickly made an excuse to leave, looking back every few steps.

Ping Shenglong took out his detective's handbook and showed it to the person behind the door: "Kurosaki. Chimei?"

".Verification code".

This person is indeed very strange.

Ping Shenglong frowned and said, "Lin, Bing, Dou, Zhe, Jie, Zhen, Lie, Zai, Qian."

The man shook his head: "It's not the Nine-Character Cut, it's the Taoist Nine-Character Mantra."

Ping Shenglong was silent for a few seconds: "Lin, Bing, Dou, Zhe, Jie, Zhen, Lie, Qian, Xing".

The man finally let out a long sigh of relief, and a look of relief appeared on his face, as if he had finally confirmed that the person in front of him was a trustworthy fellow human being.

"Quick, come in."

He opened the door halfway and beckoned Ping Shenglong inside.

"I am the Kurosaki Chimei you are looking for, you can also call me 'Kaido'. But don't you police officers usually come in pairs when you come to the door?"

Only now did Heisei Ryu see Kurosaki Chimei's face clearly.

Oily, limp hair covering her ears, unkempt and slovenly appearance, strangely mismatched clothes, and a body shape that is neither tall nor fat nor short nor thin.

"The questions I want to know next are not convenient to ask in my capacity as a police officer. You can consider me a friend of Professor Otani."

Ping Shenglong looked around the dimly lit house, which had no homey feel at all. A large area was used to store miscellaneous items, and he could smell the musty smell unique to old things.

It's a mess, filled with all sorts of things: faded sculptures, old newspapers and magazines, broken dolls. At first glance, it looks like a junkyard.

Kurosaki nodded in realization, instinctively taking a bottle of beer from the refrigerator, but then put it back instead, replacing it with a can of oolong tea, which he tossed to Heisei Ryu: "Oh, I get it, I get it. A friend's friend is a friend too. You cops like this, having suspicions but deceiving yourselves."

Ping Shenglong glanced at the expiration date of the oolong tea but did not open it.

"Have other police officers contacted you?"

"Huh? Heh, I was just saying, don't mind it." Kurosaki's eyes darted around, he opened a can of beer, took a sip, and gave a dismissive reply.

Ping Shenglong didn't press the matter; that wasn't his main purpose for coming today.

Kurosaki Chimei led him to the center of the living room, where there was still some space. He sat down on one side of the coffee table, his expression becoming serious, and pulled out an old leather notebook.

"Tell me, Officer Ping, what kind of ghost story do you want to know from me?"

Ping Shenglong put down the unopened oolong tea and glanced at the notebook in Kurosaki's hand, whose corners were already yellowed.

“You were a student at Komagome Academy, so you should have heard the rumors about Professor Kokamo.”

Chapter 22: Bargaining

"Teacher Jiao Tan? Hmm."

Upon hearing Heisei Ryu's question, Kurosaki Chimei frowned and looked at him strangely.

"Has the information been lost?" Ping Shenglong's gaze narrowed slightly.

“Ah, no, rather,” Kurosaki opened the leather notebook, flipping through pages pasted with yellowed photos, old newspapers, and worm-like handwriting, before stopping at a certain spot, “this is the most detailed ghost story I’ve ever heard of, bar none.”

Ping Shenglong carefully examined his notes. He said that this was the one he understood the most deeply, but there were very few words written on it, and it was not covered with clippings and photos like the other pages.

Just as he was about to lean closer for a better look, Kurosaki slammed his notebook shut, interrupting Heisei Ryu's observation.

Kurosaki pressed his notebook, his eyes sparkling with excitement: "Before that, let's talk about the reward, Officer Taira."

"Fifty thousand. You just need to tell me what you know, it's very easy."

It wasn't a lot of money, but it was paid by Ping Shenglong personally, so it couldn't be reimbursed.

“No, money is a good thing, but I have another request.” Kurosaki licked his lips. “I need to know what happened, not some perfunctory, formulaic answer, but the details, the details!”

“You’re not part of the system, don’t go looking for trouble.” Ping Shenglong shook his head directly.

"Heh heh, I know your rules, but you're from the First Investigation Division, right? The rule of the First Investigation Division is that any means that are beneficial to solving a case can be used." Kurosaki grinned, revealing white teeth that didn't match his appearance.

Ping Shenglong stared at him in surprise. He seemed to have heard these words before, and even agreed with them.

"Eighty thousand." Ping Shenglong raised the price.

"Twenty thousand!" Kurosaki's smile vanished, replaced by gritted teeth.

"100,000".

"Ten thousand!"

"One hundred and fifty thousand."

"Free! How about free? Just tell me what case happened and the details, and I'll act as your consultant for free. I can assure you that no one knows more about the origins, prototypes, and development of the ghost stories about Mr. Jiao Tan than I do. I even visited many predecessors from the Showa era for this, and now, most of them are either suffering from dementia or have already turned to ashes. No matter how powerful your Tianjin AI is, you can't just ask dead people, can you?"

Kurosaki slammed his hand on the table and stood up, his tone full of confidence.

It would be even better if you could ignore his pained expression.

My money! My money!

"Do you know about the Tianjin System?" Ping Shenglong suddenly asked about a seemingly unrelated topic.

Kurosaki paused for a moment: "I know, it's not a secret. Your Metropolitan Police Department mentioned it many years ago. The increase in the crime-solving rate and the solving of old cases in recent years are mostly thanks to that AI."

"What I enjoy most is gathering information. I know far more than you can imagine. For example, you are the head of the First Investigation Division, Tatsumi Heimori, from the once-famous Heimori family—"