An infinite journey starting from paradise

Sherlock Holmes once said that when the law fails to bring justice to the parties involved, private revenge becomes justifiable and even noble from that moment on. Whether this statement is right or wrong is difficult to judge based on advanced social values.

But if someone has suffered a grave injustice, and the law and justice are unable to help them, and they resort to personal means to seek revenge, and then voluntarily surrender themselves to face legal sanctions, I find it difficult to morally condemn such behavior."

At this point, Hayashi Naoto swept his sharp gaze across the crowd. The others were simply amazed by Hayashi's overly explicit remarks. But Nikaidou Masatsugu lowered his head in guilt, and Ichieda Takashi broke out in a cold sweat.

"Could this policeman have figured out what I was going to do? Impossible... Absolutely impossible... But, what he said... were these really just coincidences?"

"But, Mr. Lin...this is definitely wrong, right?" Xiaolan asked.

Lin Shangren rubbed the back of his neck and replied, "Some things can't be explained by simple right or wrong... Ah, I think I've strayed from the topic. Let's not talk about such a heavy topic. How about just telling a few ghost stories?"

"Eh? A ghost story?"

"I'm still more interested in specific cases," said Masaru Rokuda.

At this time, Aunt Mi walked into the hall carrying a tray.

"Everyone, I made some black tea for you."

"Where is Miss Sijing?" Lin Shangren asked deliberately.

"The young lady should be almost done with her shower. You may have to wait a while." Answering Lin Shangren's question, Aunt Mi poured tea for everyone present in turn. She also brought a can of juice for Conan.

"Now is the time."

Yizhi Long looked around at everyone present.

"but……"

He looked at Lin Shangren with fear, but found that Lin Shangren was also looking at him with a smile. He Yizhilong quickly avoided Lin Shangren's sight, but was afraid that his strange reaction would arouse the other party's suspicion, so Yizhilong had to turn his head back and pretend to twist his neck.

Just when Yizhilong was at a loss, Lin Shangren suddenly stood up and said, "Excuse me, everyone. I need to go to the bathroom."

At this moment, the lights in the hall suddenly went out.

Chapter 157 Cause of Death: Immediately Going Crazy

Three days later, Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Forensic Department Forensic Investigation Division.

The forensic officer handed a document to Inspector Megure in the office.

"Officer Megure, the investigation report on the drowning case at the Yotsu family's mountain villa has been released."

"Yeah." Inspector Megure nodded.

Although Inspector Lin Shangren, who happened to be staying at the mountain villa three days ago and witnessed the entire murder with his own eyes, had already made a conclusion about the case, he still had to submit the body for examination according to the rules to obtain more evidence to support Lin Shangren's reasoning.

"Although Inspector Lin deduced this was an accident, if someone uninformed saw the photos of the scene, they would definitely think it was a murder, right?"

Inspector Megure picked up the scene photos taken by the Forensic Department.

The crime scene was the bathroom of the victim, Reika Shioi, in her private room on the second floor of the Shioi family's mountain villa. Photos show her body, naked from the waist down, with her wrap dress pulled up to her waist. She was lying prone in the bathtub, her upper body pressed into the tub—and another person, the second victim in the case, Nikaido Masatsugu, was pinned down.

According to Odagiri Toshiya and Ichieda Takashi, the men who first discovered the bodies, the two were still "connected" in the doggy-style sexual position when they found them. They initially thought they had caught them engaged and attempted to leave. However, they found the two men motionless, their upper bodies still tucked into the bathtub. It was then that they realized that both Yotsugi Reika and Nikaido Masatsugu had likely drowned during their training.

"This scene is just like a heavy-mouthed pornographic film."

Inspector Megure pondered the situation as he read the medical examiner's presumed cause of death for the two men: "Changes in skin and muscle contraction; systemic blood stasis; visceral congestion; petechial hemorrhages in the conjunctiva, mucous membranes, and serosa; pulmonary edema; and elevated blood mineral salt levels. The cause of death is essentially drowning. A large amount of bath salts was also detected in the bathtub, which suggests many of the characteristics of a sea drowning."

There were strangulation marks on the back of Shii Reika's neck, inflicted by Nikaido Masatsugu... There were no drug residues in the deceased's system... There were no obvious external injuries... This is exactly what Inspector Lin said back then."

Inspector Megure recalled Hayashi Naoto's reasoning, which he had overheard at the crime scene three days earlier. "Although there were marks on the back of the victim's neck, they were far from bruises. Furthermore, her wrap dress had no other damage except for the front being stretched open. This suggests that there was no physical violence or coercion involved when Nikaidou and Shii had sex.

The scene at that time should be that Yotsuba Rika was lying next to the bathtub with her skirt rolled up and her butt sticking out, waiting to be fucked. Nikaidou penetrated her from behind and reached out to rub Yotsuba Rika's breasts.

As the two of them were getting into a frenzy, Nikaidou Masatsugu attempted to push Yotsuba's head into the water for further stimulation. Judging from Yotsuba's lack of resistance, this might be a little flirtation between them. However, something unexpected happened.

When a person is suffocating, the brain, due to oxygen deprivation and alkalosis, secretes large amounts of dopamine, serotonin, and adrenaline. These hormones are natural euphoria hormones, and they can be produced in enormous quantities. The more severe the suffocation and the closer the person is to death, the more these hormones the body secretes. This is the reason why the saying "a dead person is hanging upside down" is used.

I suspect the two deceased must have played similar games frequently to increase the excitement.

Shioi Reika must have been forced headfirst into the bathtub just as she was reaching orgasm. Her body, already paralyzed by the hormones and stimulation of orgasm, was then subjected to the intense intensity of sexual asphyxiation. The excessive stimulation exceeded Shioi Reika's brain's processing threshold. She was unable to react in time to the large amount of salt water that entered her respiratory tract, ultimately suffocating to death.

"To be honest, although Inspector Lin is making serious inferences, isn't his description a bit too explicit?" Inspector Megure complained.

"The airway is constricted; the toes are flexed and rigid; the muscles contract abnormally; the body secretes abnormal lactic acid... These are indeed the characteristics of sexual asphyxiation."

After reading the autopsy results of Yotsuga Reika, Inspector Megure turned his attention to the autopsy report of Nikaido Masatsugu. At the same time, he also recalled the scene of that day.

After Lin Shangren made this deduction, the witness Gojo Osamu immediately questioned: "This doesn't make sense. Even if Miss Reika really did drown due to exhaustion from the orgasm and couldn't lift her head out of the water, didn't Nikaidou, who was having sex with her, notice this? Why did he also drown in the bathtub? Could he have also died of sexual asphyxiation? It's fine if he pushed Miss Reika's head into the water during sex, but why did he also put his own head in the bathtub?!"

Hayashi Naoren smiled slightly and replied, "Ms. Shii died of sexual asphyxiation and then drowned, but Nikaidou Masashi didn't die. He died of a stroke."

"How could it be such a coincidence?" Gojo Osamu obviously could not accept this "hasty" reasoning.

Inspector Megure also whispered, "Inspector Lin, isn't this reasoning a bit far-fetched?"

"That's the truth. If you don't believe me, just wait for the police autopsy report," Lin Shangren responded. "Besides, this isn't really a coincidence. Remember that power outage?"

"power failure?"

Lin Shangren explained, "Around half past ten, the villa suddenly lost power. Mr. Mifune, Aunt Mi, and I went to the main switch in the basement to check. We spent a long time tinkering with it but couldn't find the cause. Ultimately, it was Mr. Yizhi who accidentally turned off the microwave oven, and the villa's power was restored. Do you remember?"

"But what does the power outage have to do with their deaths?"

Lin Shangren laughed and said, "Then let me ask you, if you were secretly making love with a woman in a completely dark room, constantly on guard to prevent anyone from discovering your affair, and then someone suddenly turned on the lights, would you be scared?"

"This……"

"That's right, Mr. Nikaidou was startled by the sudden flash of light, and his body tensed up. He might have also noticed Ms. Shioi drowning, but his own body was twitching and unable to move. In his nervousness, he threw himself on Ms. Shioi again, his head plunging into the bathtub. Then, as if he had a spasm in a swimming pool... he watched in despair as he and his beloved slowly drowned...

But this is not Mr. Yizhi's fault. After all, he just had good intentions but did something bad... No, it's not even good intentions but did something bad. Who would have thought that such a coincidental murder would happen here?"

……

"As Inspector Lin said, Nikaidou Masaji showed signs of cardiac arrest. It's very likely a sudden death caused by shock due to multiple shocks... Orgasm, cramps, cardiac arrest, and asphyxiation from water in the respiratory tract. With so many factors combined, I wonder if this could be considered a 'good death.'"

After thinking about it, Inspector Megure made a judgment.

"Neither victim had any obvious injuries. There were no other suspicious circumstances at the crime scene. Everyone at the scene...except for Mao Li, who was sleeping in the guest room, all others had alibis. This is consistent with Inspector Lin's theory. This is an accident, and the case can be closed."

Accident?

Is this really the case?

Let's go back to the night three days ago when the power went out in the mountain villa.

The moment the lights in the hall went out, Yizhilong was in a trance for a moment.

Could he have made a mistake in his haste? He remembered that he had set the power outage time to 12:30 midnight. Why was the power outage happening now?

"What's going on?" Nikaidou Masaji complained.

"When it rains, it pours." Yizhilong sighed sincerely.

"Oh, come on, it really looks like it's going to rain outside." Gojo Osamu said, "What should I do? Does Aunt Mi have any candles?"

Rokuda Masaji suggested, "I think we should all go back to our rooms and rest."

"Maybe there's something wrong with the transformer box. Where's the main switch here? I'll go take a look. I know a little bit about electrical work." Lin Shangren said as he took out a high-intensity flashlight from his pocket. "Aunt Mi, please take me there."

"Let me come too. After all, I majored in mechanical and electrical engineering." Takuya Mifune also said.

"There should be maintenance tools in the power switch room in the basement. I'll take you two gentlemen there." Aunt Mi said as she led Lin Shangren and Mifune Takuya out of the hall.

"What a great opportunity! The most troublesome police officer has gone to the basement. I can use this opportunity to go to the second floor."

Thinking of this, Yizhilong reached into his pocket and grabbed the plastic bag containing the ether handkerchief.

"Phew... My stomach hurts a little, I need to go to the bathroom first."

Looking at Ichieda Takashi going to the restroom alone and Gojo Osamu who remained indifferent, Nikaidou Masaji sneered inwardly: "Idiots, shouldn't the most important thing to do at this time be to check if Reika is frightened? You two fools don't seize such a good opportunity."

"Then I'll go to the guest room on the second floor to rest. I'm a little sleepy anyway." said Nikaido Masaji.

Masaji Rokuta was still immersed in the story that Naoto Hayashi had just told him and did not realize what Masaji Nikaido meant.

But Conan had already noticed something was wrong: "Strange. Isn't tonight's birthday party too full of twists and turns? I always feel like something is going to happen.

Eh? How come he stood up too?

Conan turned his head and saw Odagiri Toshi also following Nikaido Masaji out of the hall.

"I should take this opportunity to ask Yotsuba Rika for the master tape back. It's better not to have any contact with this bad woman in the future." Odagiri Toshi also thought.

The so-called master tape was a new album recorded by Odagiri Toshiya, which has not yet been released. In principle, such things are not allowed to be leaked. However, in the invitation letter to him, Yotsugu Reika said that she was an avid fan of his and was very eager to hear his unreleased new songs.

Although Odagiri Toshiya had been in a band for a while, his popularity had been lukewarm before he joined Seven Stars Entertainment… no, he was completely out of fashion. He was so down and out that he couldn't even find a job as a bar singer, let alone any fans. While he's "reborn," he hasn't had many female fans, let alone a wealthy daughter like Yotsuba.

"It's just a preview of the new song for the enthusiastic fans. Anyway, with Yotsuba Reika's identity, she wouldn't leak it or do anything else, so it'll be fine."

With this idea in mind, Odagiri Toshi secretly brought a copy of the recorded album master tape to Yotsuba Reika's birthday party without Hayashi Naoto's knowledge.

It's just that Yotsuba didn't interact much with him at the birthday party, and Yotsuba herself didn't act like a huge fan. This was understandable, after all, Yotsuba invited Odagiri Toshi because she wanted to tease the rebellious son of the Metropolitan Police Department's Criminal Investigation Bureau chief. Playing around with those young business talent and licking their boots wasn't enough to satisfy her. She wanted to raise some higher-quality caged birds, and Odagiri Toshiya was just the right size and length.

In addition, she also wanted to use Odagiri Toshiya's status as a second-generation top police officer to do something. We will not discuss this here for the time being.

"A son of a police officer who severed ties with his father to pursue music. All it takes is praising his 'talent,' expressing sympathy for his plight, and giving him a little help...it's easy to win him over."

According to Yoshii Rika's original plan, she wanted to "first suppress and then praise", and be a little cold to Odagiri Toshi at the birthday party, and then after the birthday party was over and the guests left, she would use the excuse of listening to the master tape together to be alone with him, and then she would really launch the offensive.

Unfortunately, the four sycophants' cars all had flat tires. If they were staying at the mountain villa, then Yotsugu Rika couldn't openly invite Odagiri Toshi to spend time alone with them—even though she thought she'd already disciplined Ichieda Takashi and the other four. But openly spending time alone with other men might still cause them to lose their minds, which wouldn't be fun. She enjoyed seeing men vying for her, but she didn't want to see anyone abandon her. So, Yotsugu Rika changed her strategy and stayed alone on the second floor. Odagiri Toshi would definitely come to her to get the master tapes back. Then she could continue with her plan.

So, since she wanted to hook up with Odagiri Toshiya, why did she reveal her true nature in front of him?

This was simple. On the one hand, she was genuinely enraged by Mifune Takuya's "disobedience" to her. How could a mere lapdog dare to bark at her master? On the other hand, if she didn't treat the other lapdogs a little rudely, how could she convince the new lapdogs, who had tasted a little sweetness, to be special? As for the other lapdogs' feelings, well, in Yotsuba's opinion, they should have been content with her insults.

A willful, ill-tempered rich girl acts quite friendly in front of you, and even subtly expresses her admiration for you. Faced with such a deliberately created contrast, will you fall for it?

At this time, Shijing Lihua had finished her bath and changed into a loose goose yellow open-collar wrap dress. She was naked inside and had bare feet. She sat leisurely on the sofa, waiting for her prey to come to her.

While Shii Reika waited for her prey, Ichieda Takashi, ready to hunt her, was completely bewildered. No, why were they all coming out one after another? Luckily, he didn't rush into action, but instead hid in the stairwell to observe the situation. Otherwise, he would have been caught red-handed.

Yizhi Long held his breath, hid deeper in the stairwell, and listened carefully to what was happening outside.

"Mr. Nikaido." Odagiri Toshi also called out to Masaji Nikaido, who was walking in front of him, "Which room is Ms. Shii's?"

Nikaidou Masaji was stunned for a moment, then asked, "Hmm? What do you want to do with Miss Reika?"

"I have something with Miss Shii and I want to ask her to return it." Odagiri Toshi also replied.

"He's in the way... This is a great opportunity to be alone with Lihua. It's been a long time since that time. I have to get rid of him."

So Nikaidou Masaji said in a firm tone: "What is it? Is it important? Can't we wait until tomorrow? Miss Reika doesn't like to be disturbed."

"I'm really anxious. If Boss Lin knew that I secretly brought out the master tape for my fans to listen to, I'm afraid he would really hang me on the Tokyo Tower and fly me like a kite." Odagiri Toshi also thought to himself.

Anyway, as long as Hayashi Naoto didn't know about this, it wouldn't be a problem for Nikaidou Masaji to go along. After all, this guy is the head of the advertising sales department of the Shijing Group, so he wouldn't gossip about his wife everywhere.

So, Odagiri Toshi also said: "I won't do anything to Miss Shii. If Mr. Nikaidou is worried, you can come with me."

Nikaidou thought helplessly: "Was it because I was worried about what you might do to Miss Reika? Now it's what I want to do to Miss Reika!"

"That won't do either. You've seen how angry Miss Lihua is. I don't want her to take her anger out on you and lower my image in her heart!"

This was said very bluntly, but Odagiri Toshi still did not intend to give up.

The situation at this time is that Ichieda Takashi wants to kill someone, so he must not be witnessed by others; Nikaido Masashi wants to fuck someone, and bringing Odagiri Toshi along will ruin his plan; Odagiri Toshi also just wants to get the master tape back, and as long as Hayashi Naoto doesn't know, it doesn't matter who is around.

The three people, each with their own thoughts, were stuck in this awkward situation.

"Forget it, I'll wait until Nikaidou goes into his room, then I'll try each room one by one."

Thinking of this, Odagiri Toshi said to Nikaidou Masaji, "Well, Mr. Nikaidou, I won't bother you anymore. I'll ask Miss Shii for it tomorrow."

"Hmph, I advise you not to have any bad thoughts about Miss Rika. Miss Rika's marriage partner was decided two years ago!" Nikaidou Masaji snorted coldly and walked upstairs.

Toshio Odagiri didn't react much to what Masaji Nikaido said. In his opinion, this guy was just a wild dog holding a rotten bone and baring its teeth at passers-by. It didn't have many pieces of rotten meat, but he thought everyone wanted it.

But Ichieda Takashi, who was hiding behind the stairs, was furious. How dare that beast Nikaidou Masaji bring up something that happened two years ago?!

"You decided on this two years ago? Ha, because you're accomplices in Yaeko's murder, right? Well, today I'll make you two a pair of mandarin ducks, sharing the same fate!"

His original plan was to knock out the lone Yotsuba Reika and hide her in a timed bathtub he had prepared. Once everyone noticed Yotsuba's disappearance, he would lead them to the forest outside the villa to search for her. Yotsuba's followers would surely not form a group, so he could use this opportunity to approach Nikaidou Masashi, knock him unconscious, and then drown him in the villa's courtyard fountain.

After everyone returned to the villa and found the body, he blended in with the crowd and used the previous power outage to create the illusion that there were other people in the villa. Finally, he used the delayed killing method to create an alibi to escape the crime.

The power outage had already occurred two hours earlier, and there was no telling when it would be repaired. Therefore, Yizhi Long's plan to use the power outage to create the impression that the murderer was no longer among the people in the villa had essentially failed. Therefore, he decided to temporarily modify his plan.

"Then let's kill Nikaidou first. Just drown him in the toilet in his room. He claimed to be going back to his room to sleep anyway, so no one will bother him for a while. As for my alibi, as long as I was with everyone when Yotsuki Reika died, that's enough. The police's estimate of the time of death will be off by at least an hour anyway. So why don't I just set the time on Nikaidou's watch back a certain amount of time, then smash it so it stops at the wrong time and mislead the police?"

He thought of a countermeasure in an instant, and Ichieda Takashi prepared to wait for Odagiri Toshi to leave, then sneak into Nikaido Masaji's room and kill him.

But Nikaido Masaji didn't plan to go to his own room. His target was Yotsuga Reika's room.

It's important to note that the Yacht Club members often gathered at this mountain villa for overnight stays, so each of them had a designated guest room. Everyone at the Yacht Club knew this, but Odagiri Toshiya, an outsider, didn't. That's why he asked Nikaidou Masaji which room Shioi Reika was in. That's why he planned to wait for Nikaidou Masaji to enter what he thought was his room, and then go through each room to find which one was Shioi Reika's.

Therefore, although Odagiri Toshi promised Nikaido Masaji not to disturb Miss Yoi Rika, he did not leave the second floor directly, but stood there waiting for Nikaido Masaji to enter the room.