"I don't think there's a need for further investigation."
Fangzheng pondered for a moment before looking at the clean and tidy study room. Then, he turned to Genji.
"It's obvious that no one has lived here for a long time … So then, Mr. Genji, please tell me the truth. Is Miyako Kinzo dead?"
"That's not the case, Mr. Fangzheng."
Facing Fangzheng's question, Genji remained calm.
"In fact, Miyako isn't dead. He was just taken away by Beate."
"That Golden Witch? You mean to say that Mr. Miyagi Kinzō is currently with Beatrice? Then I'd like to ask, where does she live? Why haven't I seen her before? "
"…"
Facing Fangzheng's question, Genji pondered for a moment.
"Even if you want to see her, it's impossible because Beate doesn't have a physical body."
"… Hmm?"
What the hell are you talking about?
"Lady Beatriche is a witch. Rumor has it that her human form is just like the one depicted in that oil painting. Sometimes, she would only appear in the form of a golden butterfly. In reality, this is all Lady Beatriche's will."
"You make it sound as if it's real."
Fangzheng strolled to the bookshelf and took out a Western black magic book.
"The master is so chuunibyou. Even the servants are like that? No wonder you're so trusted by Miyako Kinzo. It turns out that you're birds of a feather. "
After flipping through the black magic book in his hand, Fangzheng chuckled and looked at Genji again.
"Don't tell me you think you can get away with this nonsense? A witch? How can such a thing exist in this world? "
"Lady Beatrice is real."
Facing Fangzheng's question, Genji once again gave a calm answer as if an elder telling a child that 'Santa Claus is just a story.'
"Then I'd like to meet her."
"That's impossible, Mr. Fangzheng. There's no way you can meet Madam Beatriche."
"In that case, she doesn't exist to me."
Fangzheng turned around and narrowed his eyes at Genji.
"Humans need to recognize the existence of things through observation, observation, and inference. If something can't be observed, observed, and inferred, then it doesn't exist. You see, it's that simple."
"…"
In an instant, both of them were speechless. But after a few moments, hurried footsteps broke the silence.
"Mr. Genji, something's wrong!"
Jia Yin ran up while panting. Hearing her voice, Genji turned around.
"What's wrong? What happened? "
"I went to knock on the door just now, wanting to call Madam Hui Yu and the rest for dinner, but they didn't respond, and the door was locked!"
"What?!"
Hearing this, Genji and Fangzheng were shocked. They immediately left the study room and rushed to the guest house.
"''s... Mr.'t To answer if you hear me! "
When he arrived at the door of Rei's room, Genji knocked on the door, but there was no response. Then, Genji retrieved the keys from his pocket, opened the door, and pushed the door open …
Kacha.
However, to everyone's surprise, the door didn't open. Instead, the door chain stopped it from opening further. Seeing this, Genji gritted his teeth and turned to Jia Yin.
"Find something to cut the door chain!"
"Yes!"
Jia Jiayin nodded and was about to leave when Fangzheng stepped forward.
"There's no need for that. Stand back."
"…"
Even though Jia Jiayin and Genji didn't know what Fangzheng was going to do, they retreated hurriedly. Then, Fangzheng walked to the door and kicked it open.
"BOOM!!"
With a dull thud, the door opened. Following that, Fangzheng walked into the room and was immediately alarmed.
On the bed in the room, Miyazaki Huiyu's eyes were wide open. There was a nail-like object that pierced her forehead into her brain.
"T-This is …!?"
Seeing this, Genji and Jia Yin were shocked. They instinctively wanted to come in to check, but they were stopped by Fangzheng's outstretched hand.
"No one is allowed to enter the room without permission!"
As he said that, Fangzheng walked to the bathroom's door and pushed open the door. He saw the naked Hideyoshi in the bathtub. Similarly, a black nail had pierced through his head. There were no signs of life.
Shortly after, everyone rushed to the crime scene. Even Conan knitted his brows and turned ashen.
"Are you sure this room is locked?"
"That's right. There's even a door chain installed. It's a perfect secret room."
Upon hearing Conan's question, Fangzheng nodded and asked softly.
"Did anyone leave before this?"
"No. I've been with Zhan Ren, Zhu Zhixiang, and Rangzhi. No one left during this period … What about you? "
"I've been in the study room with Mr. Genji. He didn't leave either."
"Come to think of it, why kill them in such a way?"
Gazing at the corpses before him, Fangzheng couldn't figure it out.
"Besides, judging from their appearances, it seems like they were killed in a single blow while they were conscious. It would be fine if it were a crossbow or something like that. But this thing …"
Fangzheng gestured with his hand.
"Isn't it too crazy to use this as a murder weapon? Wouldn't it be more convenient to use a fruit knife?"
With that said, Fangzheng turned to look at Xia Fei, Yuanji, and company.
"Have any of you seen something like this before?"
"…"
Facing Fangzheng's question, everyone exchanged looks and shook their heads.
"All in all, we need to protect the scene first. Then … what's this smell?"
At this moment, a pungent stench permeated their nostrils. Fangzheng knitted his brows, while the others also revealed astonished expressions. Shortly after, Jia Yin walked out.
"Perhaps there's a problem with the boiler. The boiler here is very old. I'll go take a look."
"I'll go with you."
Granny Xiong Ze left with Jia Yin, while Fangzheng and Conan once again began their inspection of the entire scene. In fact, there weren't any traces left behind in the entire scene. There was only a letter stuck in the crack of the door, which contained a sentence of 'praise my name'. That was why no matter if it was Fangzheng or Conan, they didn't put the letter in their eyes.
"Something's wrong. There's something very wrong with this murder case."
At this moment, Conan also frowned at the corpses on the bed and muttered to himself.
"What's wrong?"
Upon hearing Conan's words, Fangzheng swept a glance at him.
"Don't tell me you also think that this is the manifestation of the Golden Witch?"
"If there's really someone else on this island, then it's not impossible. But what I don't understand is the criminal's method of committing the crime …"
"That's right. It's indeed very strange."
Fangzheng once again looked at the nail that was inserted into Miya Huiyu's forehead.
"A fatal blow. There were no signs of struggle or resistance. It was as though she was lying on the bed, and then this nail suddenly appeared out of nowhere and pierced her head."
"Mr. Hideyoshi too. He didn't even have time to climb out of the bathtub."
"So here's the question. Why did the murderer use two different methods to kill? You have to know that Ms. Huiyu and the others only rested for a short two to three hours before the corpses were discovered. In comparison, there was a full six to seven hours last night to set up the murder scene. Since the criminal was bored enough to draw a magic circle on the door, he could also use these nails to pierce the victims' heads. "
"Maybe it's because there weren't enough nails?"
Conan sized up the long nails on the victims' heads dubiously.
"These nails look complicated like some kind of art piece. I don't think there should be a lot of them. Perhaps to the murderer, if he used them on the victims yesterday, it wouldn't be enough."
"So here's the question. What exactly are these nails …"
Knock knock knock knock!
At that moment, hurried footsteps sounded again. Then, Fangzheng and Conan saw Zaren running toward them hurriedly.
"Bad news. Something happened to Jiayin too. We found a corpse!"
"…"
Upon hearing Zaren's words, Fangzheng couldn't even let out a sigh.
"All in all, let's check it out first."
Shortly after, in the underground boiler room, Fangzheng saw Jiayin being rescued by Dr. Nanjo, as well as a charred corpse on the ground. According to Genji's identification, the charred corpse belonged to Miya Kinzo, who was missing. On the other hand, Jiayin was also in the same situation as Hideyoshi and Hideyoshi. Her chest was pierced by a long nail and she couldn't breathe in anymore.
In this oppressive atmosphere, everyone was terrified. In the end, under Genji's suggestion, they headed to Miya Kinzo's study room and decided to hide there for the night. As for Jiayin, Dr. Nanjo brought her to the room for treatment, but it was a pity that she couldn't be saved in the end …
Under everyone's pressure, Genji finally couldn't take the pressure and admitted that there was indeed a person named Beadelicse. However, according to Genji, this woman should have passed away a long time ago. As for whether she and Kinzo had an illegitimate child, Genji wasn't sure either. He only said that Kinzo was heartbroken after losing Beadelicse, which was why he was obsessed with black magic in an attempt to revive Beadelicse …
"By the way, a living sacrifice! A living sacrifice! "
Upon hearing Genji's words, Zaren seemed to have thought of something. He yelled and pounced on Beadelicse's portrait in the study room.
"That must be it. Grandpa wants to revive Beadelicse, which is why he called us here. On the surface, it's to distribute the inheritance, but in fact, he wants to use us as living sacrifices! Look at the inscription on this tablet. On the first night, the six people chosen by the key would be sacrificed as living sacrifices. On the second night, the two people closest to each other would be torn apart … It all matches! "
"What do you think?"
Upon hearing Genji's words, Fangzheng turned to Conan.
"Indeed, according to the inscription on the tablet, it matches perfectly. But I still feel like something isn't quite right. It's just my intuition, but I feel like it's too deliberate."
Conan also expressed his opinion at this time.
"Deliberate?"
"That's right. Generally speaking, a secret room is used to mislead others into thinking that the victim committed suicide, thereby clearing the suspicion. But now, due to the deaths of the six people, we have confirmed that there is a murderer. Besides, this secret room isn't set up to look like a suicide, so what exactly is the purpose of this secret room? Why must the culprit set up a secret room to kill someone? Could it be that the culprit wants everyone to admit that there is indeed such a mysterious witch? To push all the murders to the witch's head? "
Conan couldn't understand, and Fangzheng also couldn't understand.
And at this time …
"Everyone, back off!"
Xia Fei's scream interrupted Fangzheng and Conan's thoughts. The two of them looked up and couldn't help but be surprised. In front of the oil painting, Xia Fei was holding a gun and aiming at Genji, Granny Xiong Ze, and the doctor.
"What's going on?"
Fangzheng stared at Xia Fei vigilantly and asked, while Rangzhi hurriedly explained.
"We were just looking at the inscription here, and then Zhenya said that Beatley sent a letter. When we looked at the table, we found that there was really a letter there!"
"Oh?"
Fangzheng and Conan also hurriedly looked at the table. Sure enough, there was a letter on the table that was basically the same as the previous one.
"The letter isn't there, right?"
"That's right!"
Xia Fei raised her gun and carefully walked to the table. She stared fiercely at the three servants in front of her and roared loudly.
"So, this letter must have been placed here by one of you!"
"We didn't do such a thing!"
"Zhanren, read the letter!"
"Ah, yes."
Hearing Xia Fei's order, Zhanren hurriedly ran to the table, picked up the letter, and read it.
"… There are only two results in this game. Either I win, or you win. Once the time limit is up, I win. I hope you don't misunderstand …"
"The one who put this letter here is one of you!"
Xia Fei raised her gun and pointed at Genji, Granny Xiong Ze, Doctor Nanjo, and Zhenya one by one.
"When I put the can on the table, there was no letter. After that, Rangzhi, Zhu Zhixiang, and Zhanren went to the oil painting. Fangzheng and Conan were discussing the case at the coffee table, but the moment we looked away, this letter appeared on the table. So, I can be sure that this letter must be placed by one of you!"
"This …"
"Only the four of you were at the table. You must have seen who put the letter. If you can't say it, then it means that the four of you are accomplices!"
At this moment, Xia Fei was obviously hysterical. She held the gun tightly and stared at the four people. Conan wanted to go forward and say something, but he was stopped by Fangzheng.
Then, the four people left the study under Xia Fei's threat. After the four people left, Xia Fei signaled Zhanren to go up and lock the door. Only then did she breathe a sigh of relief.
But good times don't last long. After only a few minutes, suddenly, the phone rang. Xia Fei walked over and picked up the phone, but on the other side of the phone, they could only hear Zhenya's singing voice …
"What the hell is going on?!"
When everyone rushed out of the study and came to the dining room, they saw the bodies of Genji, Granny Xiong Ze, and Doctor Nanjo. Their heads were all smashed, and there was a long nail on their calves, abdomen, and feet.
"So that's how it is, I understand!"
Seeing this scene, Conan suddenly understood.
"The culprit acted according to the inscription! The parts of the body that these nails pierced correspond to the description on the inscription! "
"But who did it? How did they do it? This dining room was also locked just now. "
Fangzheng checked the bodies again and also had no clue. At this moment, Zhu Zhixiang also asked Zhanren and Zhanren to surround Zhenya and ask her who the culprit was. But no matter how they asked, Zhenya only said that the culprit was Beadelicse …
Frankly speaking, looking at Zhenya's annoying face, Fangzheng also wanted to beat her up.
But wait a minute …
"Where's Madam Xia Fei?"
Fangzheng subconsciously looked around and found that Madam Xia Fei had disappeared without him knowing. Hearing Fangzheng's question, the others turned around in surprise. At the same time, Zhenya spoke.
"It's Madam Xia Fei. She went out while reading the letter."
"What?!"
Hearing this, Zhu Zhixiang rushed to the dining room door and tried to open it, but for some reason, the door was locked from the outside and couldn't be opened.
"Mom, Mom, what are you doing! Open the door! "
"I'll do it!"
At that moment, Fangzheng hurriedly walked to the restaurant's door and kicked it open with all his might. At the same time …
Bang!!
A gunshot sounded.
When everyone rushed out of the dining room, all they saw was the dead Madam Xia Fei lying on the ground of the entrance with a bullet in her forehead.
"What the hell is going on?!"
Fangzheng and the others hurried to the front of Madam Xia Fei's body and looked around, but they couldn't see anyone. Not only that, but they also couldn't find any letters beside Madam Xia Fei.
And at this moment …
Clang … Clang … Clang …
The clock struck twelve at midnight.
At the next moment, Fangzheng and Conan's vision suddenly turned pitch-black.
The entire room disappeared.
The world seemed to be swallowed by darkness. Then, a small figure appeared in front of them.
"The ninth night, no one survived."
Zhenya lifted his head and looked at Fangzheng and Conan with a disgusting smile.
"How is it? Isn't Beatrice powerful? She's a witch, after all. "
"So, what you're saying is that all of this is a crime committed by a witch, Beatrice?"
Conan stared at Zhenya with a solemn expression. The latter nodded 'innocently'.
"That's right. Beatrice is a witch, so she can freely enter locked rooms and kill people as she pleases. This is all because of her magic. How is it? Are you still not willing to believe it? "
"You …"
Hearing Zhenya's question, Conan clenched his fists. Of course, he wasn't willing to believe Zhenya's nonsense, but he couldn't find any reason to refute it. After all, he had carefully investigated the crime scene and didn't find any clues …
"Hahahahaha, so that's the case."
However, just as Conan was racking his brains, Fangzheng smiled as though he had been enlightened.
"I understand now, Conan."
"Mr. Fangzheng?"
Hearing Fangzheng's words, Conan looked at him curiously. Fangzheng smiled and patted his head.
"You see, we initially thought that the purpose of this game was for us to solve the mystery and find the truth behind the murders on Liuxuan Island."
"Isn't that the case?"
Hearing Fangzheng's words, Conan felt a little depressed. On the other hand, Fangzheng nodded.
"Strictly speaking, that is indeed the case. But the setting of this game is a little different. Not only do we have to find the truth, but we also have to see through the lies!"
"Lies?"
"That's right."
Fangzheng said and looked at Zhenya.
"You see, the information we received only stated that there was an explosion on Liuxuan Island. Except for Youdai Miya Huiyu, everyone else died. But as for how they died, the police weren't able to fully verify it.
Therefore, the entire Liuxuan Island is actually a mystery, an unknown X. The facts we know are who's dead and who's still alive. The unknown truth is that we don't know how they died, where they died, when they died, and the cause of death. So … "
With that said, Fangzheng suddenly extended his hand and pointed at Zhenya.
"Even if someone fabricated the scene and cause of death, we still can't verify if it's true! In other words, what we thought happened on Liuxuan Island might be a fabricated lie! In order to make us believe that it was done by the witch, they made these boring inscriptions, puzzles, and secret rooms. It's just like in an RPG game where I can't just kick open a door and have to decrypt it. This is just a fabricated lie that fits the setting of 'witch's murder'! In other words … "
Fangzheng stared at Zhen Ya as the corners of his mouth curled up slightly, revealing a sinister smile.
"In fact, everything that we've seen has never happened in reality!"
As Fangzheng finished his words, the world shattered.
(End of Chapter)
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