Ke Xue: Xiaolan delivers goods to your door at the beginning

"Really? Really?!" Akako stared at the shard of glass, her eyes wide with surprise.

"Huh?! So it really isn't because of me?"

"Yes, don't worry." Lin Xiaofeng looked at Yuan Tai and nodded vigorously.

"That's great..." Upon hearing this, Genta finally relaxed completely.

"Then, where did that piece of glass come from?" Xiaolan asked Lin Xiaofeng again.

"Could it be... Kazuo..." Yoshino Ao looked at Fujimaru with a blank expression and said.

"No, don't joke around!" Fujimaru hurriedly denied.

"How is it, Lin Xiaofeng?" Hongzi asked Lin Xiaofeng.

“That is…” Just as Lin Xiaofeng was about to begin explaining, Heiji spoke up this time.

"The shards of glass that pierced Hideko's neck were probably from that picture frame," Heiji said, pointing to the wall directly above Hideko, who was sitting dead on the sofa. High up, very close to the ceiling, hung a portrait of Chopin, its frame shattered like stained glass.

"The glass of the painting frame broke (Mano Zhao), fell down, and pierced the woman's neck."

"Huh, the glass of that painting cabinet?" Yoshino looked up in surprise at the paintings.

"It's true, the glass in the picture frame is broken." Kazuha, who was also looking up, widened her eyes in surprise.

“That’s right. That painting is hanging at a height of over 10 meters, a distance high enough for falling shards of glass to accelerate to the point where they could pierce a neck,” Lin Xiaofeng added, looking up at the painting.

"Yeah, that's how it is. But, Xiaofeng-ge, I would have said it even if you didn't explain it." Heiji said with a smirk.

"Wow, as expected of Hattori Heiji, the high school detective from Naniwa..." Lin Xiaofeng said with exaggerated laughter.

Just then, the sirens of several police cars approaching could be heard in the distance.

579. Why isn't the neighbor's dog barking anymore?

A group of forensic personnel disembarked from the police cars that arrived at the Fuji-Kyu residence. Then, from the police cars that arrived next, stepped out one of the most hardworking officers in the Metropolitan Police Department: Inspector Megure of the First Investigation Division of the Criminal Investigation Department, Assistant Inspector Sato Miwako, and Detective Takagi Wataru.

Inspector Megure walked into the Fujimaru mansion with a serious expression, but heard a voice greeting him in the entrance hall.

"Memu Police Department."

"W-What do you want?" The man dressed as a vampire suddenly walked over and called his name, making Inspector Megure nervous.

"It's me, Lin Xiaofeng, Inspector."

"What? It's Brother Lin Xiaofeng." Inspector Megure's eyes, which had been wide open, widened even more.

“Yeah.” Lin Xiaofeng shrugged.

"Why are you here?"

"This is because..." Lin Xiaofeng leaned close to Megure's ear and whispered a brief account of what had happened.

In short, she, who was in charge of taking care of the children on Halloween, accidentally got caught up in the incident, as always... However, this time, Hattori Heiji, who came from Kansai, was also caught up in the incident.

"Can't you detectives just stay home quietly?" Inspector Megure rolled his eyes. "The city would be much safer that way!"

"Haha..." Lin Xiaofeng chuckled dryly.

Before Inspector Megure entered the spacious living room, which resembled a meeting hall, Detective Takagi looked up at the high ceiling and gasped in astonishment.

"What a big house..."

"Really, it's practically a studio." Officer Sato also showed the same surprised expression as Takagi.

It's no wonder the two were so surprised; the living room was not only spacious, but also equipped with professional sound mixing equipment, microphones, high-end CD players, heavy-duty amplifiers, and huge speakers.

"No wonder this is the workplace of the famous composer Fujimaru." Inspector Megure couldn't help but raise his voice as he entered the living room, but when he saw Hideko Nakajima lying dead on the sofa in a terrible state, he frowned.

"This, this is really tragic... I just heard a rough outline of what happened from Brother Lin Xiaofeng. Hattori, you guys brought the kids to wander around Beika Town because it's Halloween, right?" Inspector Megure asked Heiji, who was dressed as a werewolf.

"Well, because they shouted 'Jack-o'-lantern is here! Give us candy or we'll play a trick on you' many times in front of this house, but no one paid any attention, so they smashed the stained glass window with a rock."

Heiji explained while looking at Genta and the other two, who were covered by a bed sheet.

"When we went inside, we saw that the woman had been cut by broken glass and was already dead."

"Yes, that's right." This time, it was Lin Xiaofeng, dressed as a vampire, who nodded in response.

"The children broke stained glass, but the glass shards stuck in the woman's neck are transparent; they are clearly different types of glass..." Inspector Megure said, comparing the stained glass shards Genta broke with the transparent glass shards stuck in Hideko's neck.

"Then where did the glass that became the murder weapon come from?" Detective Takagi asked, tilting his head in surprise.

“It’s there.” Heiji pointed to the framed painting directly above Hideko.

"Ah, so that's where it is. The frame of that painting must have broken."

Seeing that the glass of the picture frame hanging high on the wall, near the ceiling, was shattered into pieces, Takagi's expression showed understanding.

“That’s a painting by Chopin,” Officer Sato said, looking at the painting.

"chopin?"

"The composer Chopin is known as the poet of the piano. He was frail and sickly from a young age... I remember he was only 39 years old when he passed away, very young."

"Ah—" Takagi nodded with a sigh after Sato's explanation.

"But why did the frame of that painting break?" Officer Sato asked again, frowning.

"So, it's possible that a stone hit the picture frame."

"Huh? No way!" Takagi's words made Genta's face turn pale again.

"That's impossible." Lin Xiaofeng immediately refuted Gao Mu's words.

"Eh?"

"Look closely," Lin Xiaofeng said, pointing to the window that Yuan Tai had smashed.

“Genta threw the pebble at the window from outside, but the stained glass window and the painting were not in a straight line. The pebble wasn’t a bullet; it was so small that it couldn’t have had the power to bounce several times on the living room wall and finally shatter the frame.”

As Lin Xiaofeng said, the stained glass window and picture frame that Yuan Tai smashed were not in a straight line, and they were quite far apart.

"Yes, that's right..."

After hearing Lin Xiaoyang's simple explanation, Gao Qimu reluctantly accepted this statement.

"Detective Takagi, you still need to keep working hard..." Heiji said with a smile from the side.

"Haha..." Takagi chuckled dryly.

"Speaking of which, how exactly did that picture frame break...?" Officer Sato asked again.

“That’s the problem.” Heiji crossed his arms.

"Mr. Fujimaru, is it just you and Ms. Nakajima Hideko in this room?" Lin Xiaofeng asked.

"Yes, it's just Ms. Nakajima and me in this house," Fujimaru replied, puzzled.

“I see. From what Brother Lin Xiaofeng said, the door was locked before Ms. Saeki Yoshino opened it with the key, which means that the house is actually a secret room in some way… Hmm, so…”

As Inspector Megure spoke, he crossed his arms and looked at Fujimaru with a serious expression.

Upon hearing this, everyone's attention immediately turned to Fujimaru.

"No, it wasn't me! I was so engrossed in composing that I didn't look up until I heard Ms. Nakajima, who was supposed to be listening to my CD, scream. That's when I saw a piece of broken glass stuck in her neck!" Fujimaru vehemently denied.

"You said you were composing music, but the glass in the picture frame doesn't just suddenly shatter for no reason, does it?" Takagi stared at Fujimaru, who looked surprised.

"Even if you tell me all this..." Fujimaru couldn't speak.

"That's really strange..." Heiji muttered to himself.

"Hattori, have you found something again?" Inspector Megure asked.

"I've been wondering what broke the glass frame of that Chopin portrait. I just looked all over the floor, but I couldn't find anything that looked like it broke the glass," Heiji said, scanning the surrounding floor with his eyes.

"Huh? Really?" Takagi looked surprised and began to investigate the floor as well.

"Mr. Liu, is there anything on the floor that looks like it broke the glass of the picture frame?" Inspector Megure asked the bespectacled middle-aged forensic officer who was collecting evidence at the scene.

"Nothing was found, just this small pebble on the floor." The forensic officer showed the pebble, which was in an evidence bag, to Megure.

"Yes, those are the pebbles I threw!" Genta said immediately upon seeing the pebbles.

"I see. Anyway, we still need to search more carefully. The colored glass and the glass of the picture frame are clearly not broken from the same thing. There should be another hard object here."

"clear."

After listening to Inspector Megure's words, the forensic team nodded and resumed their investigation in the vicinity.

(A hard object... there really should be something else that can break glass...)

Inspector Megure's words caught Lin Xiaofeng's attention.

"That's strange. The glass was clearly broken, but we can't find what broke it."

“Yes,” Akako nodded in agreement with Kazuha.

"At first, the little devils opened the gate and came in, then rang the doorbell. But no one answered, so they started throwing stones at the windows. Then came the sound of stained glass windows being smashed, and after a while, came the screams of a woman."

Heiji went over the whole incident again.

“No, that’s not right,” Lin Xiaofeng immediately denied.

"What? Something's not right?" Heiji looked puzzled, as his own memory, not his deduction, was being refuted.

"After the children opened the door and came in, there was a lot of loud barking from the dogs nearby."

"A dog? Ah, yes, yes. But what does the sound of a dog barking mean?" Hearing Lin Xiaofeng's words, Heiji immediately recalled and frowned.

"It's not clear yet, but it's strange. I looked at the front door before I went inside, and there was no indication that the house had dogs."

"Hmm, there are no dogs here. It must be the neighbor's dog barking. They have a large guard dog next door," Yoshino replied after hearing Lin Xiaofeng's words.

“The place next door… that’s really strange.” Yoshino’s words also caught Heiji’s attention.

"The barking of the neighbor's dog shouldn't be a problem, right, Heiji?" Kazuha said to Heiji.

"No, dogs have a sense of territory, and they will bark fiercely if their territory is invaded. Keeping dogs to guard the house is precisely how humans utilize this characteristic of dogs."

"Oh, is that so?"

"Hmm. The neighbor's watchdog's territory should only be the neighbor's house, but the kids didn't invade its territory, yet it barked so fiercely. This usually doesn't happen."

"Then why is it...?" Kazuha asked again.

"There must be another reason why the dog is barking, right?" Hongzi asked Lin Xiaofeng.

"Yeah, that's right."

"Huh, why is that?" Hongzi pressed.

"It's still unclear; it might be something only a dog could detect," Lin Xiaofeng said, resting his chin on his hand.

"Something only a dog could detect... Could it be a strange smell? After all, a dog's nose is tens of thousands of times more sensitive than a human's..."

"Yes, that's certainly possible..."

Just as Lin Xiaofeng was saying this, Heiji interrupted.

"The neighbor's dog suddenly stopped barking after we went into the house."

"Yes, that's true." Lin Xiaofeng nodded.

"Why did they shout, and why did they stop? They were shouting so intensely before... If there was any change after we went inside... it was just that the piano music stopped..." Heiji said, crossing his arms as he pondered.

580. Natural frequency

This time, Inspector Megure asked Fujimaru, "Mr. Fujimaru, I'd like to know more about you. You received help from Ms. Saeki Yoshino before you became famous, didn't you?"

“Yes, that’s right. The same goes for this house. I told her I wanted to compose music here, and she gave it to me.” Fujimaru said, glancing at Yoshino.

"I'm willing to give up anything for art," Yoshino replied crisply, taking a cigarette from the pocket of her women's suit jacket, lighting it with a lighter.

"That's truly a noble sentiment." Yoshino's words moved Inspector Megure to tears.

"Actually, since I was a student, Yoshino has taken care of me like family. I owe my current achievements to Ms. Yoshino." Fuji Maru also expressed his heartfelt gratitude.

At this moment, Lin Xiaofeng, who had just seen the photo on the heater, asked, "It is indeed a very touching relationship. Speaking of which, when was that photo taken?"

In the photo, a teenage Fujimaru is playing the piano, while sitting next to him is Yoshino, who is younger than she is now, listening to the piano music with a smile.

"That was ten years ago, when Kazuo was admitted to the Tokyo Imperial University of Music." Yoshino smiled nostalgically.

"Huh, you've been helping him since then?"

“Well, I happened to hear a piece he composed during his high school years in his hometown, and I immediately felt that he would definitely become a great composer in the future. So I offered him my help and encouraged him to take the entrance exam for the Tokyo Imperial University of Music.”