Fairy Tail: I Am the God

After all, this wasn't his own body. In truth, Shinichi Kudo didn't care too much, but a good body was still necessary for solving the case.

"kindness."

The old butler answered and then stood aside.

"I'm sorry, I guess no one will be able to sleep tonight."

"We have limited time. As the old butler just said, the voting deadline is this time tomorrow. Therefore, all of us—except for the murderer, of course—must hurry up and conduct the investigation, following the same arrangement as last time..."

"Wait……"

Shinichi Kudo interrupted Diana, and everyone turned their surprised gazes toward him.

Shinichi Kudo turned to the old butler and asked, "Old butler, I have a question. If someone commits suicide, and we, the survivors, find someone else to take the blame, does that person who committed suicide win the game after leaving this mission world?"

The old butler's eyes suddenly narrowed, as if he was considering whether his answer would affect the fairness of the game.

His existence serves two purposes: to maintain the game and to facilitate the explanation of the game's rules. Therefore, he must explain and answer Shinichi Kudo's question.

"Calculate."

"You suspect that Zhao Rui committed suicide?" Diana asked Shinichi Kudo.

Shinichi Kudo gestured for Diana to answer later, then, with a sense of taking a chance, asked the old butler:

"Old butler, has anyone else asked you this question?"

The old butler smiled without saying a word, his meaning clear: it was impossible for you, Shinichi Kudo, to answer this question.

Fortunately, Shinichi Kudo hadn't had much hope of getting an answer to this question anyway. He sat down on the sofa, handed the medicine bottle that the old butler had just given him to Diana, and asked Diana to apply the medicine for him.

Diana didn't hold back and poured out the ointment to apply to Shinichi Kudo's wounds, saying, "You mean, today's investigation will be based on whether Zhao Rui committed suicide?"

Shinichi Kudo understood Diana's concerns. If this was used as the basis for the investigation, it would be very difficult to find the real culprit if there was someone else.

This can easily lead everyone astray and cause serious harm!

"The explosion happened near the kitchen, right?" Shinichi Kudo looked at the marks on the ground and then at the blackened walls of the kitchen.

"The gas cylinder exploded in the kitchen."

Diana nodded.

"At the same moment of the explosion, a zombie broke through the window and entered my room to attack me. That zombie was Simon."

"In my opinion, the explosion in the kitchen was probably a cover for the attack on my bedroom. Of course, if we're talking about Zhao Rui's suicide, it might be that she was giving herself a double insurance."

"Double insurance?"

Chen Ming said, "So, according to your logic, if you were killed by a zombie, and Zhao Rui was burned, as two people attacked at the same time, she would definitely be ruled out as a suspect."

"And if the zombies can't kill you, then Zhao Rui can commit suicide, killing herself in a way we can't imagine, and she is still very likely to become the biggest beneficiary."

"This is taking advantage of our blind spots in thinking, isn't it?"

Shinichi Kudo's gaze swept across the faces of the remaining people, and he said with certainty, "Let's investigate and collect evidence based on the fact that Zhao Rui committed suicide. Don't let anything that can be investigated slip by."

"I suspect that Zhao Rui may be a kind of enhanced version of a Chinese Taoist. You should analyze the habits and behaviors of Taoists yourselves. We must find absolutely reliable evidence as soon as possible."

"If we really can't find any evidence, we'll have to turn back halfway and place our suspicions among the few of us who are still alive."

Chapter 859 Conclusive Evidence

First, Shinichi Kudo finds evidence in the first round that Kid is the murderer.

Secondly, everyone has already guessed that Kid must have told Shinichi Kudo something before he "died".

Thirdly, when Zhao Rui died, Shinichi Kudo was being attacked by zombies, so most people did not believe that Shinichi Kudo was the murderer of Zhao Rui.

Especially after Shinichi Kudo revealed the main clues of the investigation, no one present objected; everyone agreed with his point of view.

Lucy and Xu Gang went upstairs to the second floor to check Zhao Rui's room, while Chen Ming and Diana went to the swimming pool. Zhao Rui had gone swimming there several times during this period, and they might have found something there.

Montari and Shinichi Kudo first went to check the place where Simon's body had been placed. On the way, they asked the old butler where Simon had been disposed of. After not receiving an answer from the old butler, Shinichi Kudo and Montari went outside.

at this time.

The downpour had just subsided slightly, but it seemed to be brewing for another torrential downpour, leaving the outside a muddy mess.

The chain bridge is still broken, and the resort has become an isolated island, except for the villas and a grove of trees behind them.

The forest area was small, and it was surrounded by cliffs.

"They really are peach trees." Shinichi Kudo looked at the trees with some surprise. Planting peach trees in this place must have come at a great cost.

Of course, this is a mission world designed by a false god; if it wanted to, it could make ham grow on trees.

"What are we doing here?" Montari asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Look around and see if there are any newly felled trees or trees with wounds. There aren't many things that can be used by Taoists in this place, but peach wood can be considered one."

"If Zhao Rui is indeed a Taoist type of enhancement, she should be here to collect some raw materials."

"Could peach wood be related to zombies?"

Montari still couldn't quite understand; he was a Westerner, and the cultural differences between the two were too great.

"Peach wood holds an extremely important place in Chinese folk culture and beliefs. It is also known as 'dragon-taming wood' or 'ghost-fearing wood,' and is the most widely used material for exorcising evil spirits."

Legend has it that when Kuafu was chasing the sun, he threw out a divine tree before he died, which transformed into a peach forest.

The earliest Spring Festival couplets in China were made of peach wood boards, also known as peach charms. For thousands of years, peach wood has been believed to ward off disasters and evil spirits, and has been called a sacred wood.

"Forget it, no matter how much I explain, it won't make sense," Shinichi Kudo said, slapping his forehead.

Trying to explain Chinese culture to a Westerner is just plain stupid.

It's like casting pearls before swine!

Hearing Shinichi Kudo say this, Montari felt a little relieved, even though Shinichi Kudo didn't say it for sure.

This seems to mean that the other party doesn't intend to kill them. In fact, the survival rate for this mission is quite high, and in the end, three people should survive.

In a three-person environment, if another person dies, excluding the possibility of suicide, then even if one of them is the killer, mutual voting will not have any effect.

So.

According to Montari's speculation.

The old butler will probably end the game when there are only 3 people left.

It might even be earlier.

Now, with the death of Zhao Rui, three people have died, leaving six survivors. The fewer survivors there are, the narrower the pool of potential killers becomes, and the worse the storytelling experience becomes.

Montari felt that if at most one or two more people died, the game would be pretty much over.

The two searched in the woods for a while.

Not long after, Montari shouted, "Here it is! Here it is!"

Shinichi Kudo walked over.

Sure enough, several marks of being cut off were found on the two peach trees discovered by Montari.

There are indeed Taoist priests here.

Shinichi Kudo reached out and touched the marks, discovering that several days had passed. Clearly, the Taoist priest had indeed been preparing for this for only a few days after entering the mission world.

"Let's go, go back."

Shinichi Kudo and Montari returned to the villa, while the other two groups also returned after completing their investigations, but they found nothing.

Clearly, learning from Pique's experience, this time the killer should have been more discreet, and at least... the cleanup was done very well.

Six people sat on the sofa, exchanging their opinions.

Shinichi Kudo frowned at this moment and said, "It's impossible that there isn't a single clue. Absolutely impossible. To put it bluntly, we're on guard against each other."

"Regardless of whether Zhao Rui committed suicide or not, it's impossible for the six of us to have discovered nothing."

"There's definitely... there's something we've overlooked!"

"Everyone, let's recall again," Chen Ming said once more. "Let's see if there are any details we've overlooked."

“If she wants to arrange a corpse, she needs to do some magic and rituals to turn a corpse into a zombie. I think she should be in a very spacious place.”

As Diana spoke, she suddenly looked up and said, "It seems we've never been on the roof before."

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately got up and went up to the second floor.

In the innermost part of the second floor, there is a ladder and an open opening that leads directly to the roof.

Previously, everyone had only focused on places where normal people could stay, such as rooms and swimming pools, but they hadn't really thought about the rooftop.

Shinichi Kudo was the first to go up, followed by Montari, Lucy, and others.

When the group arrived on the roof, they found talismans and several peach wood swords in front of them, along with a rope hanging down from the eaves.

"...It's a string." Shinichi Kudo reached down along the string, half of himself leaning over the eaves to look down, and the others followed suit.

"The place where the strings connect is Zhao Rui's room!" Lucy exclaimed. "I live next door to her, there's no mistake."

"Montari, could you please go down and check?" Shinichi Kudo said to Montari.

Montari immediately went downstairs, and a moment later, he opened the window in Zhao Rui's room, reached up and pulled, easily grasping the strings.