The Daily Life of a Salted Fish Assassin in Anime Crossovers

Besides Shinichi Takeda, the third son of the Takeda family, Yuzo Takeda, is also a possibility.

According to the information, he returned not long after Misa Takeda committed suicide three years ago. The reason for his return was simple: he had tried to start a business outside but failed, and now he could only come back to live off his parents and work as an assistant to his older brother.

In the past three years, he has not learned much useful knowledge from his older brother, and even now, he is still unable to independently create a qualified puppet.

All of this was due to the obstruction of the deceased Negishi, therefore, Takeda Yuzo also had the possibility of killing Negishi.

As the audience members gave their answers, it was finally Jiang Hang's turn to explain his reasoning.

"Actually, I'm not entirely sure about this question, because if I put myself in the killer's shoes, I probably wouldn't directly attack Mr. Negishi. At least, Mr. Negishi wouldn't be the killer's first target."

"Therefore, in my view, Mr. Negishi's death is more like a crime of passion committed by the murderer out of anger after hearing the drug-addicted Negishi's incoherent ramblings."

Chapter 441: Chapter 437: The Secrets of the Takeda Clan and the Real Murderer

After Jiang Hang finished speaking, a noisy debate naturally arose from the audience, who seemed to think that Jiang Hang's reasoning was too bold.

After all, it's very difficult to determine whether a murder was committed in the heat of passion or a premeditated crime based solely on some information.

Basically, such a judgment can only be made when there is a complete understanding of the situation at the scene and the perpetrator's motive.

If such reasoning is correct, it will naturally prove that Jiang Hang's reasoning skills are superb.

But if his reasoning is wrong, he just said on the show that he would think carefully about the consequences of his actions before doing them. If he is proven wrong in less than ten minutes, then the show's entertainment value will be off the charts.

However, as the arguments in the audience gradually subsided, Jiang Hang on the stage still showed no hesitation, and Mizunashi Rena continued hosting the program.

"Since Mr. Jiang Hang still seems so confident, it seems he's quite certain about the killer's identity. So let's get straight to the most crucial question on today's program—who killed Gen'an?"

As Rena Mizunashi finished speaking, the audience began to move.

Some people started writing their answers directly on the answer sheet, while others who were not very confident whispered their thoughts to those around them.

With three minutes allotted, the audience, after Jiang Hang finished answering, turned their attention back to the stage, eager to know what answer he would give.

Rena Mizunashi naturally knew how to raise the audience's expectations. Before asking Jiang Hang, she even took the microphone and went to the audience to ask a few guests for their thoughts.

For the sake of the show's effect, these people would naturally include some who were hired by the production team themselves.

They can come up with all sorts of different answers.

Some people still believe that Shinichi Takeda and Negishi had a disagreement over business matters, and that Shinichi Takeda accidentally killed Negishi and then faked it as a suicide.

There are quite a few who suspect that Takeda Yuzo killed Negishi out of jealousy.

Ryuji Takeda, who had cuckolded his elder brother, was naturally also a suspect. In fact, more people suspected him than Shinichi Takeda.

Those who doubted the mother of the three Takeda brothers were rather strange.

Perhaps they had just seen the news about Kenzo Masuyama, who was over 70 years old, shooting and killing Representative Shigehiko Tonoguchi in the dark, and thought that since this matter was so popular recently, the program team might choose a similar case to attract public attention.

In addition, there was even suspicion about the Takeda family maid, Ai-da Miyuki, who thought that Negishi had taken drugs and wanted to assault her, but instead, Ai-da Miyuki killed her.

Even Kogoro Mouri would have to admit he's an expert if he saw this kind of imaginative idea.

After asking around, Rena Mizunashi returned to the stage. After a brief summary, she turned her gaze back to Jiang Hang.

"So, Mr. Jiang Hang, what is your answer?"

Jiang Hang pondered for a moment, then held up a photograph of a person, pointed it at the audience, and gave his answer.

"In my deduction, the real culprit in this case is Robert, the foreign traveler who was saved by Misa Takeda three years ago."

Upon receiving Jiang Hang's answer, the gasps from the audience below the stage were even louder than before.

Although Robert is indeed a person involved in this case, to be honest, he might indeed harbor a desire for revenge against the Takeda family because of Misa Takeda's death.

The problem is that there isn't much information about Robert; it's only mentioned that he visited Japan three years ago.

In other words, according to the information provided by the program team, the other party is a photographer who travels all over the world taking pictures. It is unknown where he is in the world right now. How could he suddenly return to Japan and then kill someone who has nothing to do with him?

Some people with darker minds are even wondering if there might be behind-the-scenes manipulation in the show.

Even Rena Mizunashi, who already knew the answer, couldn't help but ask Jiang Hang how he had come to this conclusion.

A "hidden character" who only appeared three years ago, with very little screen time and information, and who might not even appear in the public eye if not carefully questioned, is the real culprit in this case. When Rena Mizunashi received information about this case from Vermouth, she felt that this case was not something an ordinary person could solve.

Unexpectedly, Jiang Hang, the famous detective who was considered a thorn in the side by the organization, was indeed no ordinary person. He grasped the real key point of the case with seemingly no effort.

But she still doesn't understand how Jiang Hang deduced Robert's identity.

Sensing the puzzled looks on everyone's faces, Jiang Hang naturally understood their confusion, so he began to explain to them how he had discovered the problem.

"Indeed, the information provided by the program team did not directly state Rob's current location, but there is one thing that made me realize something is wrong."

Jiang Hang looked at the information about Robert provided by the program team.

The information provided above is actually quite limited, consisting of just a few simple sentences, along with a few photographs and selfies taken by the other party.

This included a selfie taken by the other person at Tokyo Skytree.

In the photo, Rob has a head of shining blond hair, and there doesn't seem to be anything strange about him.

“This photo looks normal, but let’s look at another photo of Rob.”

Jiang Hang was referring to the photo with "shine" written on the back.

The photo shows Rob and Misa Takeda taking a picture together before Rob left the Takeda family.

In the photo, Rob is still bandaged and has many scars on his face.

"Judging from the photos provided by the production team, Rob looks a bit more mature in this photo than in the group photo, and his skin tone is also darker than in the group photo."

"It is obvious that this photo was taken after the other party left Japan."

"If the other party was just an insignificant passerby in this case, I think the production team wouldn't have gone to so much trouble to find a recent photo of the other party. They could have simply used this photo of the other party from three years ago."

"The most crucial point that made me realize something was wrong was that the Tokyo Skytree, where the photo was taken, is a tourist attraction that has only been officially opened to tourists in recent years. If the other person had only been to Japan three years ago, they would not have had the opportunity to go to the Skytree to take this photo."

"In other words, the other party must have visited Japan again during these three years."

After Jiang Hang said those words, the program's director cleverly enlarged the photo and displayed it on the screen, allowing all viewers to clearly see the entire content of the photo.

At this point, Shizuka Sakaki was able to stand up and express her opinion: "Judging from the background and clothing in the photos, the photos were probably taken in the autumn."

"Ah, the girl next to me in the photo is wearing a new style of clothing that just came out this fall. I can't mistake her for anyone else."

Listening to Shizuka Sakaki's explanation, Jiang Hang nodded slightly in agreement: "So we can tell from this photo that Robert returned to Japan this year, or even in the last month."

"Since the production team can obtain the other party's latest photos, why not just write in the information that the other party is currently traveling and filming in Japan again?"

"I think it's because the other party already had a motive. If we directly reveal the time of the crime, many people would probably think he is the murderer in this case."

"So, in order to make this case more difficult, you deliberately hid these clues, and only a truly observant person can realize the truth."

In fact, if Jiang Hang didn't have eagle eyes, he probably wouldn't have noticed the hidden secret in this photo.

"So how did you determine that he was the murderer?" Rena Mizunashi continued to press.

"The police investigation results are a significant factor."

Jiang Hang produced the case files from the Tottori Prefectural Police Station.

Although the Takeda family had already experienced two suicides three years prior, the Japanese police still managed to record the details of the deceased and the actions of the Takeda family members during the time of the incident in the case file within a few days after this case.

Ultimately, because they found no suspicious individuals among the Takeda family members and no other clues were left on the deceased Negishi's body, they concluded that Negishi's death was a suicide.

Although it's often said that the Japanese police are incompetent, this incompetence actually refers only to their lack of on-site reasoning ability. Even if they encounter clues, they may not be able to connect them to the murderer in a short period of time, which could lead to the murderer escaping punishment.

However, most police officers' work attitude and the content of the case files are not problematic. Basically, you can treat the police case files as if they were crime scenes.

During the time following Negishi's death, Shinichi Takeda made three phone calls to Negishi regarding business matters, but Negishi did not answer.

Yuzo Takeda was out delivering goods and had no time to commit the crime.

Although Ryuji Takeda lived in his hometown, he always stayed with his wife and daughter.

Miyuki Aida, a maid in the Takeda family, takes care of the elderly members of the Takeda family.

Each member of the Takeda family has their own alibi.

Of course, these alibis are not foolproof, but no matter how well these people manage their time, it is obviously not an easy task to perfectly cover up the crime scene in one night and evade the police search.

"So it was at this moment that Rob, who had a criminal motive and plenty of time to commit the crime, appeared in front of me."

"He was just a dispensable passerby to the Takeda family, and the Takeda family's warehouse was an area rarely visited, which was perfect for Rob to secretly carry out these tasks in the dark. When the police launched their investigation, they could hardly have imagined that a man who had appeared three years ago would suddenly reappear here and silently kill Mr. Negishi."

Jiang Hang's explanation didn't involve much reasoning; at most, he mentioned the alibis of each member of the Takeda family and that they had no motive to kill Negishi.

However, after he ruled out the motives and timing of the other individuals one by one, the only ones left with a real motive for murder were Shinichi Takeda and Robert, who was not present at the scene.

"So you also had doubts about Shinichi Takeda, but why did you ultimately choose Robert?"

"The reason for suspecting Shinichi Takeda is simple: he and Negishi had been engaged in illegal transactions for many years, during which they probably often got into disputes over the division of the spoils. If Shinichi Takeda had dealt with Negishi himself, then he could have kept everything for himself."

Jiang Hang casually brought up a rather shocking topic.

"You mean, the Takeda family is also involved in the drug business?" Rena Mizunashi asked, feigning ignorance. Most of the people present knew about Negishi's connection to drugs, but they probably couldn't guess that even Shinichi Takeda was involved.

“That’s a given,” Jiang Hang answered matter-of-factly. “Otherwise, for a family like the Takeda that makes traditional puppets, it would be quite an achievement to maintain their business in this era. Why would so many buyers be willing to spend millions to buy these puppets that don’t move and don’t perform very well?”

"I've read the information. The rise of the Takeda family began when the eldest son took over the family affairs and cooperated with Negishi."

"Among the Takeda family's customers, there were also quite a few very strange customers. Traditional dolls worth one million yen that would break after one or two months of use and would require hundreds of thousands of yen to be sent back for repairs were not only not disliked by those who bought them, but also quite regularly came to give Shinichi Takeda money every now and then."

"At the same time, these same clients, knowing that Negishi, with whom they had frequent dealings, had died, were almost all unwilling to mention anything about him to the television station, which was clearly a kind of glory."

"I suspect that Shinichi Takeda was using hollow puppet dolls to conduct drug transactions in secret."

"However, it was precisely because they were engaged in this kind of dangerous business that I ultimately ruled out Shinichi Takeda. People who deal in drugs are most afraid of being noticed by the police. If Shinichi Takeda killed Negishi, then in order to avoid being discovered by the police, he would never have placed the crime scene in his own warehouse."

"So, after eliminating the last suspect, I finally narrowed it down to Rob."

Chapter 442: Chapter 438: A Girl Named Koshimizu Nanatsuki

In fact, if someone were to analyze it carefully, they would find that Jiang Hang's reasoning is not entirely flawless.

Just like the case of Shinichi Takeda, it's not that simply not having the time to commit the crime or not choosing a place like his own warehouse, which is easily suspected, as the crime scene can directly clear him of suspicion.

The possibility that Shinichi Takeda killed Negishi because of the division of drug trafficking proceeds still exists.

The main reason Jiang Hang was able to confirm that Takeda Shinichi was not the murderer was the invitation letter that the other party sent him, as well as another unsigned invitation letter that Hattori Heiji received.

Jiang Hang and Hattori Heiji had already deduced that these two invitations were not from the same person.