Super God: If I punch you, you will die

074 Farce [Please Subscribe]

"Was that letter really given to Maria by that witch named Beatrice?"

"How could that be? It's probably all a farce orchestrated by Dad. He probably just had Shana wear the dress from that portrait to fool Maria. I actually think this kind of elaborate prank is very much in line with Dad's style."

“Last night, Sister Wujiang and I discussed whether Beatrice really exists. She also said that Beatrice is among the eighteen of us.”

"Of course! There's no one else on this island besides us, so it must be one of us impersonating Beatrice."

"There's no one else on this island besides us, right?"

"Is that even a question? Otherwise, are you asking who else is on this island? There are only the eighteen of us on this island, so the one impersonating Beatrice must be one of these eighteen people."

Kirie used the "flipping the chessboard" technique to conclude that the existence of the nineteenth person could be denied.

It seems that Eyu didn't use such a clear theory to analyze it, but the opinions were the same.

However, if they are right, things become very uncomfortable.

If it were just a letter from Beatrice, it could be dismissed as a prank. But if the existence of the nineteenth person is denied, things become more complicated. In other words...

"Since there is no nineteenth person, doesn't that mean the murderer who killed Dad and the others is one of us eighteen? In other words, it was one of the people currently in this house who did the killing."

"..."

Huiyu revealed a meaningful smile.

It seems that for Louzuo, this is the most obvious and immediately thought-provoking conclusion.

"The murderer moved the bodies of all six men into the warehouse. But moving so many bodies into a warehouse is no small matter. The rolling shutter door there is usually closed and locked. In other words, to move the bodies into the warehouse, you have to unlock the rolling shutter door, do you understand what I mean?"

"Is it possible that the warehouse's rolling shutter door just happened to be open that day?"

"The servants all said they would keep it closed. That means the storeroom can't be opened unless the key is taken from the servants' office."

"Is the only key the one in the servants' room?"

“That’s what Uncle Yuan said. In other words, the murderer knew where the only key to the warehouse was and took it out. I just saw Jiayin go back to the servants’ room to put the key away. There were so many keys hanging on that wall that outsiders couldn’t tell which lock each key opened. But the murderer accurately picked out the warehouse key from so many keys. And this person knew that the unmarked key was the key to the Rose Garden warehouse. To add to that, the murderer even knew where the warehouse was. Let me be even clearer: the murderer was very clear about the situation inside the servants’ room.”

Her reasoning was very simple and straightforward.

If the body had simply been thrown into a clump of grass in the rose garden, it wouldn't be so hard to understand. However, the only key to the warehouse was kept in the servants' room, mixed in with a bunch of other keys, making it impossible for an outsider to tell which one it was.

If that's the case, it means the murderer regularly frequented the servants' quarters and knew how to place the keys. Even the blood relatives of the Ushiromiya family wouldn't normally step into the servants' quarters.

This means, "In other words, the murderer was one of the servants."

"I'm sorry, that's all I can say, but there's something I can tell you."

"What is it?"

"This is the murderer. No, I should say there are likely more than one murderer, and they are heavily armed. Think about it, the murderer attacked the four of them—my brother and his two companions—at the same time, moved the bodies of six people all the way to the warehouse in the Rose Garden, and added those tasteless makeup and graffiti. How could one person have done so much?"

That makes sense. Given enough time, it's probably not impossible for one person to do it, but it would be too time-consuming. The more appropriate view is that a significant number of people should participate.

"So Aunt Huiyu thinks that most of the servants are in cahoots?"

"Don't make a fuss. It would be disrespectful to them to say such things based on mere speculation. And what if it's true? What are you going to do? They probably won't let us go back alive. Besides, they were able to kill my brother and the other three of them so easily. Of the people left here, the only ones who can fight are the three of us in my family. Add Lin Yan and you, and there are only four of us. The situation is no different from last night. In other words, it would be a piece of cake for the murderer to kill the rest of us."

He was determined to find the murderer who killed his father and the others before the police did, which is why he played this kind of reasoning game with Eiha.

Once he successfully deduces the murderer, he plans to confront the murderer with the evidence.

Lin Yan mistakenly believed that this would cause the murderer to give up resistance and surrender, just like in common detective movies.

But the murderer surrendered on the condition that resistance was futile.

The murderer who committed the crime on this island is not only not powerless to resist, but also has the means to kill everyone on the island.

Moreover, this island has become a huge, sealed chamber isolated by the typhoon, giving them a whole day before the ship arrives tomorrow to kill, destroy evidence, or create a disguise.

In other words, there is nowhere they can stay out of the situation and play this kind of reasoning game. Moreover, at this stage, they also have to worry that if they displease the murderer, the murderer might go on a killing spree again.

"Of course, this is just a possibility, but I still can't trust the servant. And it's not just that I suspect the servant, but I think there might be another mastermind behind it all."

"The mastermind behind it all? Why?"

"It's intuition. Think about it, servants are just people who serve others."

Those killed today are all blood relatives of the Ushiromiya family, so those with vested interests in them are naturally implicated.

This explanation is quite straightforward: the Ushiromiya family is currently embroiled in a heated debate over how to distribute Ushiromiya Kinzo's estate after his death. If this were a classic mystery novel using an old trope, it would undoubtedly be a case committed by a member of the Ushiromiya family over the inheritance; he figured Roza had probably read some novels on this topic.

While Ushiromiya Eiha's reasoning has a few preconceived notions, the content is very sound and everyone who hears it will agree with it.

Even if the reasoning processes differ, almost everyone would ultimately suspect the servants. The involvement of the iron gate key certainly makes it easy to suspect that one of the servants is connected to the murder.

075 The "Introduction" in the Structure of Introduction, Development, Transition, and Conclusion [Please Subscribe]

"That's why I feel uncomfortable."

"Displeased? What are you talking about?"

"No, no, I was just talking to myself."

He tried to get away with it by acting silly, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong because the reasoning was too simplistic.

Everyone could deduce this step. This made it impossible for him to accept it entirely. According to his "flipped chessboard" thinking method learned from Kirie, he felt that precisely because of this, the servant was even less likely to be the murderer.

If the murderers were indeed the servants, they would never have hidden the body in a place only connected to them, let alone in the Rose Garden warehouse, which they controlled.

When the police arrive on the island, the first thing they'll likely check is how the keys are managed. This investigation might uncover some clues. The more we assume they're the murderers, the less reason they seem to have a reason to move the body to the warehouse. Is it possible they intentionally moved it there on purpose, doing the opposite of what was expected?

No, that's absolutely impossible.

Once the police arrive at the scene to collect evidence, they will find numerous clues. No matter how careful these murderers are when committing the crime, they will always leave some traces.

In other words, moving the corpses into the warehouse would do them no good whatsoever.

From the killer's perspective, it's hard to see any point in their emphasis on the existence of the remains.

Once the body is discovered, someone will call the police, and the rest of the people will begin to take precautions and search for the murderer. In short, it brings no benefit to the murderer whatsoever.

In a novel I recently read called *When the Cicadas Cry*, the protagonist's mother also said that the key to achieving the so-called perfect crime is to avoid the "introduction" in the "introduction, development, climax, and conclusion." Now, Ushiromiya Kinzo is missing. We don't know if he's become a victim or if he's actually one of the murderers. But for the murderer, not knowing where he is is probably the most advantageous situation.

Emphasizing the presence of the bodies and publicizing the murder on the island would do the killer no good. No, this is precisely where the game should be turned upside down. In other words, this deliberate emphasis is the killer's true purpose. Perhaps, for the killer, preparing six corpses there was more meaningful than the murder itself.

"So the murderer wanted to boast about the killings? Boast to whom? This is a message to us. The murderer has something to say to us. I don't know what they want to say. At this stage, from this tasteless mass murder case, at most we can only feel the malice towards each and every one of us, the malice towards each and every one of us? There is a certain connection between the six people who were murdered and those who are still alive. The death of Uncle Ushiro Miyazou made the Akari family sad; the death of my father and Sister Kirie made me sad; the death of Aunt Roza made Maria sad. The death of Goda probably also shocked the servants; the death of Sane made her fiancé, Joji, sad, and also made Kane, who regarded her as an older sister, sad. Now everyone on this island is equally sad."

Ushiromiya Eiha said that the servants must be a group, but how could she explain the bodies of Mr. Gota and Sanon?

According to this argument, the deaths of these six people brought sorrow to everyone, except for Ushiromiya Eba and Hideyoshi.

Ushiromiya Eiha pointed the finger at the servants, thinking herself to be uninvolved, but she herself was not entirely without room for suspicion.

Moreover, he was so focused on the iron gate key that he shifted to the argument that the servant was suspicious. But if we're talking about who benefited from this murder, that is, deducing from the motive of the crime, then Ushiromiya Eiyu becomes the most suspicious person.

"Lin Yan, your aunt knows exactly what you're thinking."

"My mind is full of dirty thoughts right now, so please keep it a secret, Auntie."

"I'm the one who benefits the most from this murder. Since someone will suspect me sooner or later anyway, I might as well tell them myself."

He had originally planned to make a joke and brush it off, but Ushiromiya Eyu wasn't buying it.

“The inheritance will be distributed according to the number of siblings, but now I am the only one left out of the four, so all the property of the Ushiromiya family will be put into my name.”

"If Uncle Hideyoshi heard this, he would probably say, 'Ewa, stop joking, this is no joke,' right?"

"I'm sorry, but no matter what I say, everyone will still have the same suspicions, so I just made a joke about it. So from my point of view, I think the purpose of this murder case is simply to make everyone suspect me, and what's troubling is that I don't have an alibi from last night."

"May I ask about what happened last night?"

"As you all know, Lin Yan, we discussed how to divide the inheritance until late at night. But I don't know exactly what time they finished, because my husband is always an early riser. We were so tired that we left around midnight and went back to the guesthouse to rest."

"Besides Uncle Hideyoshi, can anyone prove this? No, no, no, I'm not doubting Aunt Ewa, hee hee."

"I'm afraid not. I don't know if this can be used as evidence, but when I returned to the guesthouse, Genji came out to greet us and asked if we needed towels. So I think he can prove that we returned to the guesthouse a little after midnight. However, if my previous assumption was correct and the servants were all in cahoots, then Genji's words cannot serve as an alibi."

"That's right. So, does that mean I'm playing a deduction game with the murderer right now? Heh."

"However, for the sake of my reputation, there is something I need to clarify. If I were after the inheritance, I wouldn't have committed such a bizarre murder. Because if the goal is simply to deprive someone of their inheritance rights, how they died doesn't matter; faking it as an accident would be wiser, wouldn't it? If the servants all listen to me and there is a well-thought-out plan, then this is even more appropriate."

"Indeed, if someone is killed for profit, it should never be made to look like a murder case."

"That's how it is. So Auntie will definitely be very depressed in the future. She will probably be investigated endlessly by the police as the mastermind behind it all. I hate the thought of it."

Ushiromiya Eiwa shrugged and gave a wry smile. Suspecting the servant was easy, and suspecting Ushiromiya Eiwa was equally easy. So, looking at it from the "flipping the chessboard" perspective, the real culprit couldn't possibly be the easily suspected Ushiromiya Eiwa.

However, if this argument holds true, then the motivational theory is completely useless.

No, that shouldn't be the case. Understanding the motive should be a powerful clue to finding the culprit.

That's why murderers throughout history have cleverly disguised their crimes as complex, to avoid revealing their true motives. Lin Yan couldn't understand it. Every time he flipped the chessboard, the two sides would recur repeatedly. Was Lin Yan's thinking really close to the truth?

076 Magic Circle [Please Subscribe]

Ushiromiya Eiha didn't want to talk anymore, so Lin Yan crossed his arms and walked to the window to calm his mind.

Looking into the living room, I saw that Rang Zhi and the others were gathered together talking again.

It seems they're discussing the magic circle painted on that iron gate.

As Hideyoshi recalled the pattern of the magic circle, he drew it in the blank space of Maria's notebook. "I see," he thought. "Besides Ushiromiya Kinzo, Maria is the most knowledgeable about the occult. Maybe she knows what this magic circle means."

"Yes, I think that's about it. There's a cross-shaped symbol inside. It's also covered with dense writing around the outer circle, and there's something written on the top, bottom, left, right, and the four corners of the cross. It's not English letters, it should be some kind of ancient script."

"I remember there was a small mark above the two circles, like five small circles arranged in a cross shape, and then each connected by a straight line."

"There is indeed such a graphic. Yes, the graphic is correct, it's exactly like this. I'm not quite sure about the details of the text, but the arrangement is almost exactly like this."

Everyone crowded around to look at the drawing, and Lin Yan ran over to see it too. According to them, it was a drawing on the iron roller door of that warehouse, made with a sticky liquid that looked like blood. Upon closer inspection, it did indeed seem quite unsettling.

"Only Grandpa would draw something so bizarre. I can't stand it. Where did he go? I really want to drag him out and ask him what this means."

Zhu Zhixiang's tone was filled with irritable anger. Although she didn't say that her grandfather was the murderer, she seemed to believe that he knew the murderer's identity.

Indeed, once you link the Ushiromiya family with occultism, I believe ten out of ten people would name Ushiromiya Kinzo.

This means that the image might be a message intended for Ushiromiya Kinzo.

That's right, the reason for exaggerating the details of the crime was so that Hideyoshi could show it to the survivors. Where did Ushiromiya Kinzo, who was supposed to see this message, go?

"Do you know what this kind of graphic is for?"

"..."

When asked by Joji, Maria stared intently at the diagram. She must be eager to perform well in her area of ​​expertise.

But she seemed somewhat indifferent; the drawing was on the iron roller shutter door sealing her mother's body, yet her expression revealed nothing of this.

"My first impression was that it looked very similar to the German cross."

"The cross is indeed designed this way. So, does that mean it's related to Germany?"

"I heard that the German cross was originally an emblem worn by friars who protected pilgrims to holy sites."

"In other words, this magic circle has religious significance. The more I listen, the more confused I get."

Lin Yan was about to join the discussion when he glanced around and his eyes widened in surprise.

Because Maria was laughing incessantly with an indescribable, eerie expression. It was as if she was mocking the ignorance of everyone participating in the discussion. Lin Yan never dreamed that Maria would show such an expression.

Then there was the laughter, a kind of laughter that sounded like it was being forced into a shrill voice. Even though Lin Yan was right in front of her laughing, he still couldn't admit that it was her laughter.

"You're completely wrong. You can't even understand such a simple magic circle?"

Everyone was stunned in surprise, while Maria burst into laughter by herself, laughing heartily.

But the expression on her face was completely different from that of Maria.

"This is the seventh magic circle of the sun, and it's written in Hebrew. Give it to me."

Maria snatched the paper and pen from Hideyoshi, who was still in a daze, and quickly drew another magic circle next to the one Hideyoshi had drawn.

"I think it should be a shape like this, right?"

"That is indeed the shape."

"Maria, you're amazing! How do you know so much?"

Zhu Zhixiang feigned praise, perhaps trying to test whether she was still the Maria everyone knew. But Maria didn't reply. She quickly filled in many unfamiliar characters between the lines of the drawing. Seeing how smoothly she wrote, both Uncle Hideyoshi and Doctor Nanjo widened their eyes.

"The names of the angels who govern wind, fire, water, and earth are written on the top, bottom, left, and right sides: Chasan, Arel, Phorilakh, and Talia-had. Then, the names of the four great kings are written on the diagonal sides: Ar-iel, Seraph, Tharsis, and Cherub. Is that correct?"