Isn't it very scientific to use the Death Note to kill people?

Hayashi Yoshiki took a few steps closer. "After all, Beika Town has been quite unsettled lately. I heard that even the FBI has lost a lot of manpower. As a concerned citizen, I can't help but pay attention."

James picked up the bottle, casually poured himself another small glass, and handed it to Lin Jiashu: "It's truly heartbreaking. Want a drink? To warm you up. We've done our best in some matters, hoping to bring those lawbreakers to justice as soon as possible."

Lin Jiashu accepted the wine glass.

However, he didn't put it directly in his mouth, but looked at James and said, "Conan mentioned to me that Miss Judy has been out of contact for several days."

It was indeed because of Judy!

The other party's inexplicable appearance at such a crucial moment is eerie... Having worked in the FBI for many years, even though he had long since retired from the front lines, James Black was not so insensitive as to believe that the other party had simply encountered him by chance.

He felt a growing sense of unease, but his face showed a heavy and worried expression: "Yes, Judy is an excellent agent... Her disappearance is a loss for all of us, and we are now doing everything we can to find her." He sighed, "Hopefully she has only lost contact temporarily."

James Black pondered as he looked at Lin Jiashu's expressionless face.

—Judy is dead.

Rum had confirmed the outcome of Curaçao's case; there was no doubt about that. However, Judy's dying words, "Don't think you've won," pierced his heart like a poisonous thorn, leaving him uneasy. Could it be... that Judy really left some backup plan? And was this detective one of those plans?

Thinking of this, James Black began to feel murderous intent.

He wasn't sure how much Lin Jiashu knew, but the fact that the other party was in this time and place was itself the biggest anomaly.

So, should we settle this here or not?

The hills are secluded and easy to deal with...

Lin Jiashu seemed completely unaware of James's murderous intent, or rather, he simply didn't care.

He toyed with the wine glass in his hand, then suddenly asked a seemingly unrelated question: "Mr. James, do you believe in fate? Or rather, do you believe that all coincidences are just coincidences?"

“Fate? Coincidence?” James frowned, pondering the deeper meaning of the question. “I believe more in evidence and logic.”

His answer was a little tight.

"A very good habit." Lin Jiashu chuckled softly, the laughter sounding somewhat ethereal in the night breeze. "Then let me ask you a different question: Do you believe in gravity?"

"Gravity?" James frowned even more deeply, completely unable to keep up with the other person's train of thought.

“Yes, gravity.” Lin Jiashu looked at James, his smile deepening, yet it was devoid of any warmth. “You can’t see it, you can’t touch it, but it does exist. It governs the movement of stars, makes apples fall to the ground, makes tides rise and fall… and it also attracts people who were originally unrelated to each other to specific places at specific times, so that they meet and collide.”

"Like tonight, you're here 'enjoying the night view,' and I just happen to be strolling here. Do you think this is a coincidence, or is it some kind of... deeper 'attraction'?"

As James listened to these nonsensical words, a chill ran down his spine.

Although he didn't understand the other person's meaning, his unease grew stronger. He suppressed the urge to draw his gun and said in a deep voice, "Mr. Lin, I don't quite understand what you mean. If you're worried about Judy, the FBI will handle it. If you have other motives..."

"Purpose?"

Lin Jiashu interrupted him, finally bringing the wine glass to her lips and taking a small sip with elegant composure. "I have no ulterior motives. Just like now, standing in front of you, I won't do anything."

"..."

James Black felt that his facial expression must be very stiff.

He watched as Lin Jiashu drank the remaining wine in his glass in one gulp, then gently placed the empty glass back on the small table with a crisp sound.

"The wine is good, thank you for your hospitality."

"..."

James did not respond.

Lin Jiashu fell silent. He simply glanced down at the wristwatch on his left wrist, smiled, and remained quiet.

The mountain breeze remains unchanged.

But now it brought no coolness whatsoever, only a bone-chilling cold.

Chapter 116: Guess if there will be a third one?

Their bodies rubbed against the rough inner walls of the pipes as they fell. After a brief feeling of weightlessness, they crashed heavily onto the soft, damp, and musty pile of material.

The fact that the ground below wasn't solid saved their lives.

"Cough cough..."

Vodka was the first to struggle to his feet.

He pulled a lighter from his pocket, and with a "ding," a faint flame flickered in the darkness. It was barely visible that this was a narrower maintenance passage filled with rusted pipes and abandoned cables, so low that one could only stoop to walk through it, and the air was incredibly polluted.

"How is everything?"

Gin's cold voice rang out, and he quickly checked his condition. Apart from the scrapes from the fall and the original exhaustion, he was fine.

“I’m fine, brother!” Vodka replied.

"I won't die." Tequila spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva. His left arm wound reopened during the fall, and blood flowed freely.

Chianti helped Cohen up; both of them had fallen quite hard, and Cohen was pale and could barely stand.

Rena Mizunashi groaned as her injured leg took a hit when she landed, the intense pain almost making her faint, but she forced herself to endure it.

After a brief period of chaos came a deathly silence and a pervasive sense of anxiety.

They jumped down as instructed by that damned recording, but below lay another despairing, dark maze.

Where is the way out?

Will turning left in ten minutes really get them away?

No one spoke, but an uneasy feeling silently festered in the darkness.

Agave roughly tightened the strips of cloth around his wound, the pain making him even more irritable; Chianti casually wiped the blood from his forehead, while Cohen coughed slightly, barely managing to muster a bit of energy; Rena Mizunashi leaned against the cold tube wall, conserving every bit of her strength.

It was during this oppressive waiting—

boom!!!!!!!!!

The first unimaginable roar was like millions of giant drums striking simultaneously overhead, followed by a violent impact as if the earth were collapsing!

"Varied--!?"

Before anyone could scream, the entire underground passage suddenly began to shake and tremble violently, the metal pipes overhead emitted a teeth-grinding groan, and large amounts of rust, dust, and debris fell like a torrential rain!

"Get down!"

Gin only had time to let out that low growl before he was violently thrown against the pipe wall!

Everyone was thrown to the ground by the sudden, cataclysmic impact, clinging desperately to anything they could hold onto. Vodka's lighter flew from his hand, rolling to the ground, the flame extinguishing itself in the dust in less than a moment.

Chianti held on to Cohen with all her might, while Tequila roared like a wild beast, fighting against the force that seemed to tear them and the earth apart.

(Is it a bomb?! No... this power... far exceeds that of a regular bomb! Is it an air raid?!)

Despite the violent tremors, Gin remained remarkably clear-headed and instantly determined that this was not the effect of the bomb explosion above.

But what happened on the ground outside the pipeline, at the factory?!

Before they could recover from the shock—

boom!!!!!!!!!

A second wave of explosions and shocks, no less massive than the previous ones, descended once again!

This time, a piercing sound of metal tearing came from the top of the passage. A rusty ventilation duct, unable to bear the weight, snapped and crashed down, landing just a few meters from Mizunashi Rena, splashing mud and water onto her pale face.

The entire space was filled with the aura of death, as if it would collapse completely at any moment, burying them all alive in this endless darkness underground!

"Damn it!!" Tequila roared in frustration.

"It's...it's going to collapse!" Vodka's voice was filled with resentment.

Even Gin closed his eyes tightly, gripped his gun, and prepared to face final destruction.

However, miraculously, after a breathtaking few dozen seconds, the earth-shattering tremors and impacts subsided as abruptly as they had come.

Only sporadic, faint sounds of collapse and the rustling of falling dust remained.

The passageway miraculously held on!

The survivors collapsed in the mud, panting heavily, each of them covered in dust and looking utterly disheveled.

The relief of surviving the ordeal was intertwined with immense confusion.

(What...what was that just now?)

No one can provide the answer.

After a moment of silence, Gin was the first to struggle to his feet, pulling a lighter from his pocket.

"Walk."

His voice was hoarse, yet carried an undeniable firmness.

No matter what happens outside, staying here will only lead to death.

Supporting each other, the group struggled forward along the maintenance passage to the left, following the instructions from the recording, their steps heavy with tension and apprehension. Every step felt like walking on the edge of death, filled with fear of the next impact or the unknown traps that lay ahead.

The passage was long and winding, seemingly without end.

The concept of time becomes blurred here. How much time passed—perhaps ten minutes, perhaps longer—finally, a faint glimmer of light appeared ahead, along with… the smell of fresh air!

Driven by hope, their already exhausted bodies quickened their pace and they finally arrived at an exit half-hidden by weeds and a broken fence.

Outside the exit, there appeared to be a wild, overgrown hillside far from the factory area.

Gin was the first to push aside the weeds and cautiously peer out.

The next moment, Gin's usually cold and expressionless face froze for a rare instant, and his dark green pupils suddenly contracted to their maximum size!

Vodka, Tequila, Chianti who was supporting Cohen, and Rena Mizunashi, who followed closely behind, froze on the spot the moment they saw the outside world clearly, as if they had been frozen in place, their faces filled with incomprehensible astonishment and confusion.

"Where...where did this thing come from?"

Everyone fell silent for a moment.

Looking at the raging fire and wreckage in the distance, they, who had just escaped, seemed to lose their sense of tension for a moment.

However, one thing is certain: if the enemy is indeed still gathered in that factory, then they certainly don't have the resources to cause them any trouble right now.

"Let's go! Get out of here right now."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

The air on the hill seemed to freeze.

Lin Jiashu and James remained silent, with only the sporadic explosions and howling wind from the distant factory filling the silence.

James's gaze was fixed on Lin Jiashu, especially on the wristwatch on his left wrist that reflected the cold light under the moonlight—the frequency with which the other man checked his watch, the intervals that were accurate to the second, made James's unease grow wildly like vines.

He finally couldn't hold back any longer and broke the suffocating silence:

"Mr. Lin, you seem... very concerned about time?"

Upon hearing this, Lin Jiashu looked up, a cheerful and untroubled smile spreading across his face: "Ah, you found out? Because... it's almost time for the fireworks to go off."

"fireworks?"

James frowned, alarm bells ringing in his mind.

Although he didn't know what the fireworks the other person was referring to, James, sensing intuitively that it was definitely not good news for him, could no longer maintain his composure. He absolutely could not allow anyone to ruin his and Rum's plans!

A fierce glint flashed in his eyes, and his hand, hidden under the blanket, quietly gripped the gun. Without warning, he pulled it out and pointed the muzzle at Lin Jiashu's chest!

Lin Jiashu, however, did not pay attention to his actions.

"Speaking of which, although you and Mr. Rum have a close relationship," he said with a smile, as if just remembering something, his gaze passing over the dark muzzle of the gun and landing on James's tense and somewhat distorted face, "he seems to have never told you about my other identity."

He really does know everything!

A hint of malice flashed in James' eyes.

But Lin Jiashu's words did make him feel concerned... Could it be related to Rum?

"Stop playing games!" James shouted, his finger tightly gripping the trigger. "Who exactly are you?!"

Lin Jiashu seemed not to hear his question. Instead, he glanced down at his watch again, then looked up, his smile growing even deeper: "It's time."

He ignored the gun barrel and took a half step back, causing James to instinctively lower the gun barrel slightly.

The other person opened their arms wide, as if to embrace the entire night sky, and their voice became clear and magnetic in the wind:

"Mr. James, do you remember gravity?"