Chapter 231: Suspects From Back Then
For some unknown reason, Mano Daichi used the magic array of the Ritual of Wishing, but he himself probably did not anticipate the real consequences of completing the ritual. By the time he realized something was wrong, it was already too late to erase the magic array pattern.
A “ghostly shadow” suspected to be Mano Daichi appeared in the principal’s office in the Inner World. He Jia’an can now confirm that it should be Mano Daichi himself.
“Foul smell…” While rummaging through Mano Daichi’s desk drawer, He Jia’an suddenly caught a pungent burnt smell and an inexplicable irritating acidic odor. Following the source of the smell, he eventually found a neatly arranged pile of reagents and chemistry experiment equipment in Mano Daichi’s movable storage cabinet.
“Something’s off.” He Jia’an twitched his nose. Not everyone gets a chance to search as meticulously as he does, so after carefully sniffing around, he finally detected the clue to the smell. “The odor should be coming from a bit lower down.”
Pushing aside the storage cabinet and pulling back the carpet laid under the desk, He Jia’an immediately frowned. There was actually a secret compartment here.
He lightly tapped the floor over the secret compartment and tried shifting it. The floor tile could move within the gaps, but the gaps weren’t wide enough to fit a finger in to pry out this segmented piece of floor.
He Jia’an suddenly remembered finding two somewhat special iron rods in the storage cabinet earlier. One side of the bottom end of each iron rod was flat and curved up. As long as he inserted the narrow curved end of the iron rod into the gap first, then twisted it, the curve could smoothly hook under the back inner side of the floor. With the curves of the two iron rods finding the right fulcrum, lifting the vertical iron rods would hook up that specially cut floor tile.
After successfully shifting the floor tile aside, the things hidden in the secret compartment could no longer hide. A strong irritating smell and terrifying foul odor erupted the instant a gap opened in the floor, making one’s head spin and eyes blur, nearly causing fainting.
Covering his mouth and nose and holding his breath, He Jia’an peered in closely, his brows furrowing even deeper.
Inside the space of the secret compartment were various bottles and jars, all containing rotten plants and animal corpse remains soaked in different bottles. The corpses showed varying degrees of chemical damage; most of the animal corpses were corroded and burned by corrosive chemical agents, while the plants had become deformed and withered under the soaking of chemical agents.
Some animals were no longer recognizable, while others could barely be identified: cats, dogs, brightly colored reptiles, and even some evidently exotic bird species.
“Targeting only the good-looking creatures, huh?” After some observation, He Jia’an still noticed the characteristics of these plants and animals—they were almost all stunning in appearance and quite beloved. He narrowed his eyes. “I see, antisocial personality, likes to destroy beautiful things?”
Although He Jia’an had no evidence, he now had a bold idea: the true culprit behind the most beautiful female high school student disfigurement case in the Heisei era should be Mano Daichi himself.
Mano Daichi had a strong tendency for intentional harm and even ample opportunity to commit the crime. This person was in the same experiment group as Miyako, that is, Kawakami Rumi.
Moreover, when Misaki Naomi pressed him about the truth of the incident back then, Mano Daichi deliberately downplayed the role he himself played in the event, portraying himself as an innocent bystander and deliberately concealing his true level of expertise in chemistry at the time.
However, things had come to this point, and there was nothing more to say.
The victim was dead, the suspect was dead—what a perfect no witnesses to prove guilt.
He Jia’an conducted a thorough search of Mano Daichi’s office. Apart from the secret compartment under the floor, he found no other clues, indicating that Mano Daichi had been cautious in his actions during life, leaving very few handles or traces.
“Speaking of which, I’ve seen Miyako’s Curse with my own eyes, but I haven’t personally seen Hanako’s Curse.” He Jia’an gave up searching the office and began wandering the school corridors instead, his target being every toilet in the entire school.
According to the legend, Hanako would randomly appear in every toilet at Kisaragi High School, then randomly take away an unlucky one.
The entire school was now empty and deserted, allowing He Jia’an to roam freely. He had plenty of time to explore every toilet in the school, which meant he had a good chance of encountering Hanako.
He wasn’t doing this out of bold confidence from superior skill, but because He Jia’an was confident that the New Year’s red envelope protected him from any evil spirits approaching.
Thus, in the next footage from Kisaragi High School’s surveillance cameras, a “mental illness” figure appeared, bursting into every school toilet in various eerie poses, sometimes letting out perverted weird laughs, sometimes spouting meaningless movie lines.
“Here’s Johnny!”
“Hey! I’m coming in! Hey! I’m going out again! Hit me, idiot!”
“…”
In the off-campus surveillance room, a group of people wearing uniforms with Chosen Alliance badges exchanged glances, then shook their heads speechlessly. One turned helplessly to Matsumoto Gin and said, “Senior Matsumoto, why did this guy suddenly start playing around?”
“…Probably relaxing.” Matsumoto Gin’s foxy smile stiffened on his face as he said uncertainly.
No one expected that a former S-level investigator from the Mysterious Group would turn out to play so wildly in private. Rumor has it he even went to a bar to play host and hooked up with a rich widow, and he was also entangled with that JK from the hospital. This person’s true nature was quite… exposed.
Personally speaking, Matsumoto Gin didn’t care about He Jia’an’s individual character. He was more focused on He Jia’an’s performance as an investigator in every step he took now, as well as the clues he currently held and analyzed.
And clearly, even after years away from the field, He Jia’an’s abilities as an S-level investigator hadn’t diminished at all.
“Can you find the source of the ‘Blessing’ at Kisaragi High School?” Matsumoto Gin asked telepathically, questioning and expecting in his heart.
Sakura Island had recently seen a large number of urban legends becoming reality. The Chosen Alliance had noticed the anomalies here and had indeed found some clues. Someone was using the power of Blessing to turn curses that should have existed only in stories into reality. Although the situation wasn’t serious yet, if left to develop, the power of Blessing would eventually devour the entire Sakura Island.
As one of the main investigators sent by the Chosen Alliance to handle Sakura Island’s urban legends, Matsumoto Gin had already conducted all investigations using his own abilities, ultimately finding that the clues all converged here in Taomuki City. And Kisaragi High School in Taomuki City was the focal point among focal points, as it contained numerous space channels to the Inner World, with vast amounts of Blessing power permeating the campus in both reality and the Inner World.
