Ke Xue: I picked up a bottle of sherry at the beginning.

About thirty minutes later, while Shiraizumi was listening to Kurokoshi recount the strange stories he had recently collected, Morihata Kimiko popped her head out from the corridor. She was Kurokoshi's hired nanny, who lived nearby and had taken care of Kurokoshi's daily life while he lived in Suijingzhuang.

"Teacher, is there any other garbage?"

"Ah," Hei Yue looked up and said, "Did you throw away the trash in my room too?"

"Yes, just now. Oh, right," Morihata's smile deepened, "Hey, I've read a little bit of the teacher's new book."

"Oh, yes, that's right. I almost forgot."

Hei Yue seemed to remember something and stood up. He walked out of the living room and came back less than a minute later with a courier package in his hand.

"The sample copies of the new book just arrived. If you don't mind, come and get them. Ms. Morihata, you come too."

Come to think of it, it seems a deliveryman did come by while we were having a barbecue earlier. Shiraizumi Mashi remembered Kato Megumi's surprise, saying, "A black cat would come to a place like this"—and because it was said so cutely, it left a lasting impression on him. Hei Yue took new books out of the package and distributed them to everyone. The cover of the book looked eerie; it was a paperback edition, and it read: "The Black Book House Murder Case."

"Could it be that this is the stage of the story?"

Bai Quanyi asked. Hei Yue's mouth curled up slightly.

At this moment, the group who had been playing billiards returned to the living room, and Hei Yue distributed the paperback copies to them. No more, no less, one copy per person. Everyone was surprised by the title: not everyone gets the chance to experience "their own place being written into a mystery novel."

The writers started talking at once.

"Oh, there's a floor plan included. Looks like it's a classic mystery! Is it the same layout as here?"

"of course."

"That's incredible. Is it going to be published directly in the paperback edition?"

"Yeah, hardcovers are not doing well lately. They're not selling at all."

Everyone discussed the "Black Book House Murder Case" for a while, and after a short break, the three young writers, Akasaki, Shintori, and Haizawa, said goodbye, and the living room began to have the atmosphere of the end. Shintori didn't drink, so he would drive Akasaki and Haizawa home, saying that he could also take the babysitter Morihata home. Kurokoshi also said that he had some manuscripts to write and went straight into the studio. When he left the living room, he said to Shiraizumi Masushi, "Please do as you please," probably meaning that they could stay up all night waiting for supernatural phenomena. The remaining three, You Ben, Bessho, and Shintani, had planned to stay overnight, so they all returned to their own rooms. Bessho was still reluctant to leave Kato Megumi for a moment, but others could see that he was drunk. Finally, he said angrily, "I'm going to rest for a while," and left the living room.

Finally, only Shiraizumi Masu and Kato Megumi remained in the living room.

412. Kato Megumi will also be noticed

"Kato, you look happy?" The two sat on a double sofa, and Shiraizumi Mashi looked at Kato Megumi who was sitting next to him.

"Well... I was a girl with no sense of existence. I'm very happy that so many people noticed me." Kato Megumi originally thought that only An Lunyi could notice her, but since she met Baiquan Yi, she found that this was not the case.

It was a frustrating feeling to be the only one otaku paying attention to her. Now, other people noticed her.

"Kato is such a beautiful girl, but no boys pay attention to her. I can only say that they are blind."

A girl as cute as Kato Megumi would be popular with boys no matter which country she is in. It is almost impossible for her to have no sense of existence.

"No way! I'm just an ordinary girl..." Kato Megumi once had the experience of being dumped after dating for just one second. In fact, she was very insecure.

Bai Quanyi asked, "Why don't we wait here and see if anything strange happens? Is it a strange noise, or a ghost appearing in that big mirror..."

"I was invited here to find out why..." Kato Megumi rubbed her eyes, sleepy and blurry. She picked up the water cup, touched her lips to it, and whispered, "In a crowded place, you feel a lot more than necessary..."

Having said that, Kato Megumi leaned against Shiraizumi Masu and fell asleep unknowingly.

Pressed down by Kato Megumi's weight, Shiraizumi felt his body grow stiffer. He tried to change his position, and with a slight movement, his wavy black hair cascaded down onto Shiraizumi's arms. Her pink, lustrous lips parted, revealing white teeth that shone with an alluring luster.

A kiss away.

Bai Quanyi gently stroked her hair.

His fingertips felt the soft touch while he tried hard to turn his face away.

At this moment, he was shrouded in a terror that made his hair stand on end.

The large mirror in the living room was right in the corner of his sight, and he felt as if something was reflected there.

He slowly turned his head.

Cold sweat rolled down his spine.

In the big mirror.

There was a white woman with blue eyes.

An expression of indifference and detachment.

He was staring intently at Baiquanyi——

Bai Quanyi shook his head and looked again, but the woman in the mirror had disappeared.

"Is this an illusion?" Bai Quanyi was confused. "Forget it, let's send Kato Hui back to her room to sleep. She'll catch a cold if she sleeps here."

Shiraizumi Mashi carried Kato Megumi back to the room to sleep. In order to prevent Kato Megumi from being attacked by ghosts, Shiraizumi Mashi sat on a chair in the guest room and slept all night.

The next morning, something big happened.

Hei Yuedu's body was found at nine o'clock in the morning.

The first person to discover the situation was the nanny, Morihata. She arrived at Suijingsou that morning, intending to make breakfast for the guests staying overnight. Using a spare key, she entered, finished preparing breakfast, and then went to Kurokoshi's bedroom to wake him up. However, Kurokoshi wasn't in his room. She then went to the studio to look for him, only to find him lying on the floor, bleeding from his head and screaming. Shiraizumi Masu woke up immediately upon hearing this and rushed to the scene.

"The victim's estimated time of death is between midnight and two o'clock, is that correct?"

Bai Quanyi stared at the traces left at the scene - the body had been taken away - and asked.

Inspector Yamamura nodded, his brow furrowed. Nearby, the Identification Department staff were snapping photos, their flashbulbs flashing non-stop.

"Yes, that's all we know at this stage. This room can only be locked from the inside, so if the door was locked, the victim must have invited the murderer in himself. He was beaten to death from behind, and it must have been someone he knew. Speaking of which, great writer, what were you trying to tell me just now?"

Bai Quanyi opened the paperback novel in his hand and opened the map on the first page.

"This is the floor plan of Shuijing Manor. Before you came, Mr. Yamamura, I took a close look to see if it matched the actual structure."

"I see," Shancun looked at the floor plan and quickly understood Baiquanyi's meaning. "Well, the living room of this Shuijingzhuang just happens to divide the house into two parts, east and west. So without going through the living room, the east and west sides cannot communicate with each other--"

Indeed. Strictly speaking, the house itself is not divided into "East Wing" and "West Wing", but for the sake of convenience, let's call it that. On the east side of the living room are the guest rooms of Baiquan Yi and others, as well as Hei Yue's bedroom; and on the west side are Hei Yue's studio, billiard room, bathroom, washroom, and toilet. To be precise, there is also a washroom and toilet on the east side, but Hei Yue had already told everyone that the toilet here cannot be used because of some problems with the pipes, so people living on the east side have to go through the living room and go to the west side if they want to use the toilet——

"I only noticed later that it started raining outside around 10 o'clock last night and seemed to have stopped before midnight. But this made the outside of the house very muddy and it was difficult to walk around without leaving footprints."

"Yes, there are no suspicious footprints outside."

"This leads to the conclusion that this was an inside job. There are only five suspects, including me, who live under the same roof. Among these people, Ms. Kato and I stayed in the same room, so we can serve as each other's alibis."

Shancun's face was gloomy: "Well, what are you and the little beauty doing alone in the middle of the night..."

"Uh—guess...

"Tsk... I'm so envious!"

"Inspector Yamamura, can you show me the footage from the surveillance camera?"

"Ah."

Shancun Cao took out his cell phone and played the footage captured by the surveillance camera in the living room to Baiquan Yi.

There happened to be a camera installed in the living room, but the murderer was unaware of it, which provided great assistance to the police investigation.

The first person to pass through the living room was the publishing house editor Arimoto Michiyuki at 12:30 a.m. He returned about 15 minutes later, hurried back to the east building.

The second person to pass through the living room was Bessho Yukisuke. It was around one in the morning when he went to the bathroom and spent about fifteen minutes there.

The third person was Yukino Shintani. She passed through the living room at a quarter to one—this was recorded. At that time, Yukino had changed into her pajamas, a white, light dress. She went to the bathroom and returned fifteen minutes later.

If Hei Yue's estimated time of death was between midnight and two, then the paranormal mystery writer would have already died by the time they returned to their room. "Well, let me summarize your explanation, great writer. That is, one of those three people must be the true murderer, but there's no way to pinpoint that person."

"Yes."

Bai Quanyi looked at the marks on the floor, where the murder weapon fell.

"The murder weapon was the trophy from the mystery novel competition," Yamamura So said. "The forensics department took it back for investigation. The entire trophy appears to have been wiped, so fingerprints are unlikely to be detected. It's quite heavy, but a woman could have lifted it, so Yukino Shintani is also a suspect. The killer swung from the victim's right side, like this, hitting the back of the head. The attack must have occurred with the victim's back to the killer. The victim fell to his knees after the blow, and the killer struck him again—hence the blood splatter. Judging from the wounds, the attack was probably committed with his right hand. What is the dominant hand of the three suspects?"

"Unfortunately, all three are right-handed."

"I see. Then what remains seems to be a clue—"

Shancun and Baiquanyi's eyes were focused on one place at the same time.

On the corner of the desk, there was a mark drawn in blood.

It was obvious that this was left by the murderer. It seemed to have been drawn with a tissue from the scene dipped in the victim's blood.

"It looks a bit like a swastika."

"There's no doubt this is a mark left by the murderer trying to erase the evidence against him. Most likely, the murderer lost their balance and accidentally placed their hand on the table. If it were just a fingerprint, it would be as easy as wiping the murder weapon. But if it was a bloody hand, it would leave a palm print—"

The bloodstains on the trophy, the murder weapon, appeared quite extensive, likely from the killer's careless brushing while trying to wipe away fingerprints. This, in turn, stained the murderer's hands, and their frantic wiping left even more blood on the weapon. Fingerprints can be wiped clean, but blood on hands is not so easily removed. Then, the killer accidentally touched the corner of the table, leaving a bloody handprint there.

Of course, if there wasn't much blood on the hand, it wouldn't be possible to leave a complete fingerprint. It might just be a finger or part of the palm. But even an incomplete fingerprint can be evidence of the murder. The murderer wanted to wipe it off with a tissue from the scene, but didn't want anyone to see the blood on his hand, so he drew a mark on the bloody fingerprint.

If this hypothesis is true, then the murderer must have washed his hands in the washroom - last night, after committing the crime, the murderer had to pass by Baiquan Yi and others, but the hands of the three of them were not stained with blood.

Therefore, the murderer may have left other evidence in the washroom.

Coincidentally, Kurokoshi's body was discovered in the morning, and Shiraizumi Masu quickly conveyed the message, prohibiting everyone from using the bathroom in the west wing. According to Morihata, she did not set foot in the bathroom after arriving that morning, so the scene should have been kept very intact.

"The Identification Department is investigating the washroom right now. They've taken fingerprints from several suspects, and are planning to have three people undergo luminol testing, just in case."

"The luminol test probably doesn't mean much. The three of them helped out at the barbecue yesterday."

After hearing Bai Quanyi's words, Shancun smacked his lips, very disappointed.

Luminol testing can detect reactions in hemoglobin and myoglobin. Both are components of edible meat, so it's not surprising that the reaction would be detected if the three people had some on their hands while grilling. Furthermore, even if they didn't touch raw meat during cooking, a fabricated excuse like "I had a nosebleed" could be enough to get away with it. This wouldn't constitute solid evidence, but at most a factor in screening suspects. However, Shiraizumi Mashi had already known the murderer through Kato Megumi's clairvoyance.

The key is, how can we prove this?

This is the biggest problem.

How can Kato Megumi's clairvoyance aid scientific investigation?

As of now, they do not have any evidence to prove that someone else committed the crime.

How can we prove it?

"Anyway, one of these three people must be the real murderer. There might be crucial evidence left in the washroom."

Maybe it’s just like what Shancun said.

Maybe this case could be successfully concluded without my turn to appear, Bai Quanyi thought.

413. Hold Her in Your Arms

When I returned to the living room, I saw Kato Megumi standing in front of a large mirror.

She looked bored, her eyes fixed on the old mirror.

Today, she wore a slightly reflective, off-the-shoulder top. Her fair shoulders were relaxed, and her makeup was neatly applied; she had probably gotten up before the body was discovered. Her makeup today seemed even more mysterious than the day before, fitting perfectly with the quaint atmosphere of this villa. If Hei Yue were still alive, she would have probably offered him advice and recounted some of the strange phenomena at the villa. Kato Megumi herself lacked the ability to exorcise spirits, but she said that if the cause of the strange phenomena were discovered, it should be possible to resolve them in some way.

A uniformed female officer stood by the wall in the living room. The forensic department had likely been in this room before, and their work seemed to be complete. To be on the safe side, they had checked the restroom, bathroom, and billiard room, in addition to the washroom. The three suspects were being questioned in another room.

"Are you okay?"

Shiraizumi Masu greeted Kato Megumi who was facing the large mirror.

"Ah."

Kato Megumi looked confused and nodded.

Bai Quanyi suddenly remembered what Hei Yue said and said, "This seems to be something from the late Victorian era."

"It's an ancient artifact with spiritual power."

"Go to your room first."

Shiraizumi returned to the guest room with Kato Megumi. He asked Kato Megumi to sit by the bed, and he sat in a chair next to her. He hesitated for a moment, but finally asked about the case.

"Ms. Kato Megumi, you just said that through psychic vision, you can confirm that Bessho Kosuke is the murderer, right? What kind of psychic vision is that? It's not through a spirit séance, right?"

"Well, I had a dream."

"A dream?"

"Well, I don't know if this is related to the case. But the dream was quite clear and a little strange."

"What kind of dream was it?"

"There are three parts in total. I don't know if these three parts should be considered as one dream, or as three separate dreams... Because they are dreams, I don't have much confidence in this."

Bai Quanyi realized that his mind was confused.

Perhaps because she saw her own confused expression, Kato Megumi also realized the problem and quickly added:

"Listen to me first. In the first dream, Mr. Arimoto appeared. All three dreams have one thing in common: I felt like I wasn't myself... As for whether there was even an 'I' in the dream... I'm a little confused. Anyway, I couldn't move, not even turn my face. I don't know if I even had a body, but I couldn't make any sound."

Seeing Kato Megumi's expression as she tried desperately to explain, Shiraizumi couldn't help but concentrate, trying to understand the meaning carefully. He nodded, motioning for Kato Megumi to continue.