Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes

He expertly put on the disposable on-site protective gear, which included a head covering, gloves, and shoe covers.

Ping Shenglong glanced at his somewhat practiced movements, his gaze slightly narrowed, but he didn't say anything more.

"The footprints on site require specialized analysis. If you haven't studied this, you'll need to use this." Ping Shenglong took out a tablet, opened the footprint tracking code sent to him by his assistant, and the system automatically turned on the camera. Suddenly, rows of different colored footprints appeared on the ground in the camera's view, with each color also labeled with a name.

Kurosaki clicked his tongue in admiration: "This is really convenient."

"Based on your analysis at the hospital, the biggest point of suspicion now is the footprints in the library. Because Hosokawa was unable to communicate before, we could only guess that Koizumi was triggered by fear and suddenly rushed out to fight the murderer. But now it seems that he was frightened by something and ran away in a panic."

As they talked, they arrived at the library on the first floor.

A chilling aura, whether psychological or lingering from the residual power of the formation, seemed to linger, sending shivers down one's spine.

Kurosaki stared intently at the footprints of Koizumi displayed on the tablet, following them all the way past the marked "fright boxes" and slowly stopping in a dark corner.

Ping Shenglong turned on his flashlight from behind and shone it clearly into the corner.

The two stared at the ground for a while, then looked at each other and nodded.

"There was clearly room, but it stopped here. And this spot is just big enough for one person to stand comfortably, but there are no footprints."

Kurosaki didn't continue speaking because a gust of cold wind seemed to suddenly blow in through the doorway, causing him to shiver involuntarily.

Ping Shenglong recalled the skeleton and books that disappeared from the secret room, which also left no footprints.

Perhaps, Kurosaki Chimei really is his Conan.

"Nobi Tomoaki!" Kurosaki roared suddenly, almost causing Taira no Ryu to instinctively draw his gun and perform an iaido.

"I know you're here! And I know you warned those poor students!"

"Now, can you come out and we can talk this out? What exactly happened? Is Teacher Jiao Tan still here?"

Kurosaki's echoing voice slowly faded away, leaving only his heavy breathing.

"If Mr. Jiao Tan were still here, we probably wouldn't be a match for him, so he must be gone now, right? If I'm right, then please blow a gust of wind for me."

Inside the library, everything was calm.

Although he received no response, Kurosaki's face was still full of affirmation.

Ping Shenglong took a deep breath, looked around, and surprisingly spoke up: "The skeletons in the secret chamber... should they be returned to your family?"

Kurosaki suddenly widened his eyes and turned to Heisei Ryu: "What secret room? What skeletons? You actually have clues you haven't told me?!"

Shinichi Higashiyama silently observed them from Ueda's perspective.

It's not surprising that they were able to find out about his paper doll, after all, he clearly took something from the secret room, but... Nobi Tomoaki?

Is this the most suitable body that Tetsuro Muto found, or another skeleton in the secret room?

This name sounds so similar to Tomoyoshi Nobi's; he definitely won't believe it if I say there's no connection.

Shin Higashiyama has no immediate plans to contact the authorities; he might fabricate a faction to disrupt their investigation.

but not now.

Chapter 38: Clearing the Fog

Just as he did not issue a gag order to the players, he gave them full autonomy.

Don't forget that the game might reward you with cultivation techniques and extraordinary abilities.

Once players learn cultivation techniques in real life, many of them will probably no longer be content with mediocrity.

However, he had always had a question: since these cultivation techniques were all derived from the past of this parallel world, meaning that there were cultivators in this world before, why did they not seem to have any extraordinary traces now?

Was it hidden too deeply, or did it disappear because of some other reason?

Higashiyama Shin utterly detests those melodramatic storylines where, as one's strength increases, a whole bunch of mysterious hidden families inexplicably appear in what was originally a peaceful world.

I hope he doesn't live in such a world.

"Brother Higashiyama, should we just ignore them?" Ueda Yoshi asked timidly.

“Don’t worry about it.” Higashiyama Shin communicated with him telepathically. “I know you feel sorry for that student, but since they all know his name, it won’t be difficult to find his family and bury him properly. They will do it, and they have to do it.”

Ueda Hiroshi obediently remained huddled to one side, relaying the two's reactions to Higashiyama Shin.

The silence between the two lasted for a while. Seeing that there was still no movement, Kurosaki could only sigh: "It seems that he does not want to see us. Perhaps some balance here has been broken. He disappeared with Mr. Charcoal."

Ping Shenglong was not disappointed; instead, he silently breathed a sigh of relief.

He wasn't ready to see a ghost.

The ability to employ metaphysical methods does not mean that he truly believes in the existence of demons and monsters; otherwise, it would have a significant impact on existing crime-solving approaches.

Shouldn't we at least create a Tianjin AI metaphysics version?

"A locked room!" Kurosaki glared at Taira no Ryu. "What's this locked room? Where is it? You must have found something important in there! You should have told me from the beginning, maybe the puzzle would have been complete!"

Ping Shenglong walked out of the library: "It's not too late now."

Kurosaki put away his tablet and quickly followed.

Stepping out of the library, it was still a bit chilly, but the gloomy feeling was gone.

"Don't you know Taoist magic? Don't you have any techniques like opening the third eye or summoning wandering spirits?" Ping Shenglong asked.

"That's easy for you to say. I didn't receive any inheritance. I just collected some. And," Kurosaki shook his head and sighed, "whether it's Taoism or cultivation, Yin and Yang or ninjutsu, I've never seen any of them truly exist."

"Then why are you still so convinced?"

"This is irrelevant to the case, isn't it?"

"It has nothing to do with it."

"Then I have the right to remain silent."

"."

In silence, the two entered the secret room.

The original stone slab door here has been removed. Although it is called a stone slab, the material is not particularly heavy. It was just made to fit perfectly and hide it. If it weren't for a hidden groove and the mud and grass that had been cleared away, they would not have been able to find this secret room.

A canopy was erected above the secret room to keep out the rain, and transparent plastic curtains that automatically close to block out debris hung down around the perimeter.

The two put on their new stage outfits, turned on the set-up lights, and went down the ladder that had been placed there.

"This locked room was discovered along with the murder case."

“There were signs that it had been opened before. When we opened it, we found that a skeleton was missing inside, and a book was missing from the table.”

"What's left are two skeletons, one large and one small, a knife, some magatama, and a pile of wax on the ground."

"The adult's skeleton sat on that iron seat, while the small skeleton huddled in that corner."

"There were no existing footprints left on the ground, just like in the corner we just found in the library."

"According to the latest identification results, the two skeletons should have died around Showa 30. The timeline also matches the two people who went missing in the fire that occurred in the wooden school building at that time."

"The only problem is that the large skeleton was over ninety years old when it died, extremely old, but when Muto Tetsuro disappeared, he was only in his forties, so the ages don't match."

Upon entering the secret room, Kurosaki looked around and observed, while Heisei Ryu filled in the missing information for him.

The remains and most of the items at the scene have already been taken to the forensic department, leaving the locked room feeling empty.

“We were all wrong.” Kurosaki suddenly stood up.

Heisei Ryu had become immune to Kurosaki's overreactions: "Where did I go wrong?"

“We should have called out the name of Tetsuro Muto’s adopted son in the library just now,” Kurosaki said, his face tense and full of regret.

Do you know his name?

“Oh right, I didn’t know.” Kurosaki realized.

Ping Shenglong followed his train of thought: "Your idea is that the skeleton that was taken away was Mutou's adopted son, and the reason why his skeleton was specifically taken away is either because it is related to him, or it is directly the person himself, or it is because he asked you to do it."

"That's why you think the boy whose voice reminded Hosokawa and the others to leave is Muto's adopted son."

“Yes, we should have come to the secret room first. It’s no use going back now. We didn’t call him correctly the first time, so he won’t pay attention to us anymore.” Kurosaki wanted to scratch his head, but after looking at the scene and touching his hood, he held back.

Ping Shenglong didn't know what this theory was, but he didn't refute it.

Kurosaki picked up a broken magatama and examined it, then returned to his original spot. He looked at the location marked on the ground where the dagger was, then shifted his gaze to the stone platform in the middle, carefully comparing its size. Looking up, he saw a rusty iron chair in front of him.

He walked over and pushed the chair, which made a creaking sound and caused pieces of iron filings to fall off, but it was still relatively stable.

Upon seeing the locking devices on his hands and feet, he immediately understood, but his brows furrowed even more. He subconsciously reached into his pocket, wanting to find something to bite on, but the item was left in his bag, which he had just placed on top of it.

Ping Shenglong took the pen out of his pocket and handed it to him: "If you don't mind, use this."

Kurosaki didn't mind at all. He took the pen, bit off the cap, and found it tasted pretty good.

“I’ve seen media reviews of you, saying you’re very good at reconstructing events from the smallest clues. Want to have a competition with me? I can give you a hint; it’s related to the ritual.” Kurosaki raised an eyebrow at Heisei Ryu provocatively.

Ping Shenglong's lips curved into a rare smile, slowly forming a smile.

He smiled.

"it is good."

"Then let us..."

"Back to Showa 30".

The two closed their eyes at the same time. When they opened them again, everything around them seemed to have changed. The LED lights disappeared, and the stone door of the secret room had closed at some point.

In the dim candlelight, a hunched figure busied himself at the table, which was not yet showing signs of decay, making rustling sounds.

"Now, I am Tetsuro Muto, and among the students, I am known as the eccentric teacher. The reason for this is that I like to be alone and I like to wear gloves even in the summer. But it's not that I like it; it's just that I have to, because..."

In their eyes, Tetsuro Muto turned around, holding a candle, revealing his wrinkled hands.

“My actual age is not as young as I look; in fact, I’m nearing the end of my life.”

“If I take off my gloves, they will notice something is wrong; if I get too close, they might smell the rotten odor on me.”

“My time is running out. In order to survive, I must use the rituals I have learned.”

Ping Shenglong looked at the table, and the books that had disappeared slowly reappeared, but the contents and names were indistinguishable. He then looked back at the stone platform, where a young boy was lying quietly.

"Exchange for a young body."

Chapter 39: Strange Reasoning

"Body swapping is a very dangerous spell. I must make careful arrangements. If anything goes wrong, I will die."

"To ensure I have options if the ceremony fails, I need a child as a backup."

"That is the adopted son I took in for this purpose."

Ping Shenglong stroked the rusty chair: "After the body swap, I was afraid that Nobi would use this adult body to take revenge on me, so I needed to lock myself to the chair beforehand. But in the end I didn't do that because I was afraid the ritual would fail and then I wouldn't be able to switch bodies."

Tetsuro Muto, who was standing in front of him, was squatting down, lighting candles on the ground and placing magatama.

Finally, he silently recited something, sat in the corner, and the ritual began.

With a sudden, erratic flicker of the candlelight, Nobita snapped back to reality, fiercely resisting Muto's spirit.

"The ritual failed, so I had no choice but to kill Nobi and throw him in a corner. I placed my adopted son on the stone platform as a backup plan. This was my last chance; I had no room to back down, so I locked myself to the iron seat."

Ping Shenglong could see that the middle-aged man, whose aura was waning, had locked himself to the iron seat, staring at his adopted son on the stone platform with a glimmer of hope amidst despair.

"But my adopted son woke up, resisted me, picked up a knife, and killed me. He won't be able to escape now. No one knows where the exit is except for me."

Clang.

The adopted son killed Muto, the knife fell to the ground, and he retreated hastily, guarding the two corpses, shrinking into a corner, until the last candle went out.

The candle went out, plunging the secret room into complete darkness.

Ping Shenglong let out a long breath and reopened his eyes. The cold light of the LEDs filled the sealed room again, and the memory of what had just happened dissipated like particles.

clap clap.

Kurosaki nodded and clapped: "As expected of the head of the First Investigation Division, you really have some skills. Even without scientific methods, you can get into the zone so quickly."

Ping Shenglong looked at him and said, "I used scientific methods."

"A dagger was found lying next to the iron seat, indicating that Muto was murdered."

"Given the confined space at the time, there were only two people who could have killed him: Nobita or his adopted son."