A supporting character in a romance anime? I became a god using a rat talisman.

He turned around and looked into the alley, where Asagiri Aya was still huddled in the same position.

The gust of wind still pressed firmly against her eyes, leaving her completely unaware of what had just happened.

All she heard were strange screams, people in the darkness saying incomprehensible things, and finally, a sound like meat being chopped.

Kazama Chiba looked at her without speaking or dispelling the spell.

He simply withdrew his gaze, turned and walked towards the alley entrance, his footsteps gradually fading into the distance until his figure completely disappeared into the street.

The wind that had been pressing down on Asagiri Ayaka's eyes finally showed signs of dissipating.

"Ha ha……"

Asagiri Aya was panting heavily, her whole body drenched in cold sweat. She tentatively opened her eyes, the world before her still somewhat blurry.

"Um...you guys..."

She thought it was a prank by the three thugs, and that even more cruel torture awaited her.

But when the focus finally comes back on.

She saw the scene before her clearly.

There were no thugs.

There was only red everywhere.

And those things scattered on the red carpet, no longer recognizable as human figures.

The deathly silence lasted for three seconds.

then.

"Aa ...

A heart-wrenching scream pierced through the throat and echoed through the dark alley.

Chapter 14 Police Intervention

Two hours after the incident, the police quickly cordoned off the alley, which was not exactly remote.

The cordon attracted passersby to stop and look, craning their necks to see what was going on.

Yamoto Taro stood inside the police line, a cigarette dangling from his lips, his sharp eyes scanning the crowd.

It is said that many serial killers like to blend into the crowd after committing a crime and enjoy watching the police in a state of panic, thus gaining a second sense of pleasure.

Unfortunately, he didn't notice anything unusual until the cigarette burned down to the filter.

There was only a group of ordinary citizens excited out of curiosity, and a few internet celebrities holding up their phones, wanting to shoot short videos and ride the wave of popularity.

"Any discoveries, Yamoto-senpai?"

The police tape was lifted, and a younger figure slipped inside.

Kosaka Itsuki took off the disposable medical gloves from her hand and casually threw them into the evidence bag next to her.

Yamoto Taro spat out the cigarette butt from his mouth and crushed it out with the sole of his shoe.

"There's only a bunch of idle people waiting to watch the show."

"What's it like inside? What did the forensic doctor say?"

Kosaka Itsuki looked back and said.

"The forensic doctors are still working hard."

"I'm not exaggerating, senior, but the wounds on the deceased's body were unusually clean, with smooth and even cuts. It didn't seem like the work of a human being at all; it was more like he had been thrown into a laser cutting machine on a large factory assembly line."

Yamoto Taro frowned, took out another cigarette from his pocket, but didn't light it, just twirled it between his fingers.

"No tool marks? Where's the murder weapon? Since it was shattered like that, there should be some traces, right? A chainsaw? A wood chipper?"

"This is the most bizarre place." Kosaka Itsuki lowered his voice, as if afraid of disturbing something.

"There were no serrated marks, no lacerations. All the cuts... were as if they had been instantly severed by some kind of ultra-high-power industrial laser. They were flat, smooth, and there wasn't even any bone fragments on the broken surface. The forensic doctor said that even with the most sophisticated laser scalpel in the operating room, it would be impossible to complete this amount of work in just a few seconds."

Yamoto Taro fell silent.

He stared at the unlit cigarette in his hand, trying to recreate the scene of the crime in his mind, but his imagination seemed rather barren in the face of this bizarre reality.

"Laser cutting? In this alley where even half the streetlights are broken?"

He let out a sneer, "This joke has gone a bit too far."

“I also think it’s nonsense.” Kosaka Itsuki closed his notebook. “But the fact is that those three people were turned into hundreds of pieces. To cut three living people like that, even with a chainsaw, it would take at least half an hour, right? But no one around here heard the sound of a chainsaw, and no one saw any large equipment going in or out.”

"Did you find anything here, senior?"

Yamoto Taro sighed and put the cigarette back in the cigarette case.

He turned and walked to the utility pole by the roadside, pointing to the surveillance camera that was still flashing red.

I just checked the security footage.

“At 5:33 p.m., the four victims went inside.”

"Then until 5:56, which is when I received that emergency call."

“In those 23 minutes, a total of 9 people passed by on this street. Four of them looked inside, but for some reason they quickened their pace and left.”

"No one went in?" Kosaka Itsuki asked.

"No."

Taro Hachimoto shook his head. "Not a single one. This alley is a dead end, with five-meter-high firewalls on both sides. Unless the murderer fell from the sky."

Kosaka Itsuki's eyes widened. "How is this possible? This is a dead end. I checked the walls on both sides; they're over three meters high, and there's nowhere to step. Unless the murderer can fly."

This unscientific.

If we disregard those supernatural urban legends, there are only two possibilities before them.

Or perhaps the murderer was already lying in ambush inside before those four people went in.

The alley was full of clutter, so hiding a person might not be difficult, but hiding heavy equipment that could cut a living person to pieces was simply a pipe dream.

"Who was the last person to pass by?"

Kosaka Itsuki suddenly asked.

Yamoto Taro didn't say anything, took out his phone, turned on the screen, and pulled up a video that he had already edited.

"This is a video recording of the last person to pass by during the time of the incident. The time is 5:54."

The video has started playing.

The image was somewhat blurry, but a black-haired boy in a school uniform carrying a backpack could be clearly seen walking towards the alley. He stopped at the alley entrance and glanced inside. The action was natural, like the curiosity that anyone passing by would have.

"Kazama Chiba".

Yamoto Taro announced the name, "A second-year student at Sakigawa High School. According to the records, he is a typical invisible person with no bad records, above-average grades, and both parents are deceased."

He clicked play.

A black-haired boy walked across the alleyway.

sizzle-

Suddenly, a burst of static appeared on the police terminal screen. The high-frequency flickering lasted for a full four seconds, and even the audio turned into a piercing electrical sound.

"This……"

Kosaka Itsuki frowned. "What's going on with these snowflakes? Is there a malfunction?"

"The technical department said it was affected by some kind of instantaneous high-intensity electromagnetic interference."

Taro Yamoto shrugged. "But at that time and place, a strong magnetic interference suddenly appeared? That's too much of a coincidence."

The snowflakes lasted for a full five seconds before disappearing.

When the image becomes clear again

The boy's posture remained almost unchanged, as if nothing had happened, and he walked out of the frame with steady steps.

"You just left like that?"

“He just left like that.” Yamoto Taro put away his terminal. “I checked all the surveillance footage from that time. Less than five minutes after he left, the police called.”

"So, senior suspects this kid?"

Yamoto Taro laughed.

“Theoretically speaking, he is the most suspicious. The surveillance camera went out only when he passed by. In that 23-minute window of opportunity, he was the last person who could have come into contact with the scene.”

Kosaka pointed to the screen.

"But that doesn't make sense. Even if he managed to rush in during those five seconds, then what? Five seconds to cut three thugs to pieces and walk out without a drop of blood on him? Even a professional killer couldn't do that, let alone a high school student."

"Yes, it doesn't make logical sense."

Yamoto Taro sighed.

"This is also what's giving me the biggest headache. My intuition tells me that something's wrong with this kid, but my reason tells me that it's just a coincidence. I also checked his information. He's an orphan, and his reputation is, how should I put it, a bit withdrawn, and he's often bullied. This kind of person doesn't seem like the kind of person who could commit such a shocking crime."

“That’s just a passerby,” Kosaka Itsuki concluded. “They were probably just unlucky and happened to run into the interference wave.”

The two looked at each other and saw helplessness in each other's eyes.

With the sole suspect ruled out, the case truly became a locked-room mystery.

"Then we can only ask the only survivor."

Yamoto Taro turned around, his gaze passing over the police line and looking at the police car.

The car's back door was open, and a girl wrapped in a blanket was sitting inside, holding a steaming cup of coffee in her hands, her body trembling uncontrollably.

"I don't know... I didn't see anything... I really don't know..."

"She's so stubborn." Kosaka Itsuki scratched his head in annoyance. "She's scared this much, and she's still trying to fool us. I don't believe she really stayed in that alley for twenty minutes with her eyes closed the whole time."

“People in extreme fear will selectively forget, or… deliberately conceal.” Yamoto Taro walked over and leaned against the car door. “This girl is clearly protecting someone. Or rather, she’s more afraid of the murderer than of us.”

"What about the family? Have they been notified?" Kosaka Itsuki asked.

“I made a call.” Yamoto Taro glanced at his watch. “He said he’s my brother and is on his way. The information says he’s a model student, and we hope he can cooperate and help us get the girl to talk.”