Chapter 270: The Enthusiastic Citizen

"Akiwara-sensei, this is Utsumi Takuto. There is a very serious matter I need to tell you about!"

After picking up the phone, Akiwara Yuto heard the anxious voice on the other end.

"What is it?" Akiwara Yuto was somewhat puzzled.

Could it be that the filming budget for *Memories of Murder* was insufficient and he needed to provide additional investment?

Or had a problem with an actor affected the filming?

He thought for a moment and said, "Go ahead."

Utsumi Takuto took a deep breath.

"It's like this: today I received a call from the First Investigation Division of the Metropolitan Police Department. The police station in Kanagawa reported that another murder occurred yesterday! The circumstances of the victim's death are very similar to the serial murders from two years ago!"

Hearing this news, Akiwara Yuto froze.

When he originally chose this case as source material, he had confirmed it was a cold case before adapting it.

But he hadn't expected the killer to pop up again at this time. Was this a provocation toward the police?

No, could someone be committing copycat crimes!?

Just as he was deep in thought, Utsumi Takuto's voice lowered. "Akiwara-sensei, the film's shooting progress is currently fine, but you see..."

Hearing the hesitation in the other's voice, Akiwara Yuto immediately understood what he meant.

It was the worry that there might be other variables on his end.

Akiwara Yuto frowned, pondering it repeatedly in his heart.

Come to think of it, was it really appropriate to continue filming now?

If the Kanagawa serial murder case was a cold case, filming the relevant events and releasing them as a movie might even be seen by a group of public intellectuals as an attempt to draw social attention, earning him praise from many.

But if he invested in and brought this movie to the screen while the case was still occurring, he might instead be met with public condemnation very quickly.

Even telling the outside world that the movie was filmed before the killer struck again would be useless; it might even be seen as making excuses!

He might even be labeled as someone "profiting from human blood," with some people thinking he was stepping on the victims' corpses to gain benefits for himself.

At this point, the failure of movie ticket sales would only be a minor issue; what was more serious was that it would affect his career as a writer!

"Akiwara-sensei, the actors are all a bit worried..."

There was a hint of pleading in Utsumi Takuto's voice.

As the producer and director, the importance of this film to him was beyond doubt, and the current filming was going smoothly. As long as he had three more months, he was confident he could finish the film and release it.

If he were to have his funding pulled for some inexplicable reason, he absolutely could not accept it!

However, he also dared not hide this matter from Akiwara Yuto.

Because Akiwara was the main investor in the film, and there was also a financial officer sent by him on the crew. If he hid it, the consequences could be even more severe.

Akiwara Yuto heard the pleading, hesitated for a moment, and sighed: "Continue filming for now, we'll discuss the rest later."

Immediately after, he casually comforted the other party with a few words and hung up the phone.

An investment of 100 million yen was nothing to him, but if this film caused a massive negative social backlash, all his current ventures would suffer a major setback.

So, should he withdraw his investment?

Akiwara Yuto thought about it, but felt a bit unwilling, so he decided to find an acquaintance to ask.

He took out a business card, picked up the receiver, and dialed a high-ranking police officer he had met previously due to an assassination case.

"Assistant Inspector Soma, are you free this afternoon?"

4: 0 PM, Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, First Investigation Division reception room.

Akiwara Yuto sat on the sofa and handed a gift to Assistant Inspector Soma, who was sitting opposite him.

When the other party pushed his hand out to decline, Akiwara Yuto smiled and said: "This is a small token of my appreciation for the colleagues in the First Investigation Division regarding the Onuki Masakazu case."

Hearing this, Assistant Inspector Soma found it hard to refuse.

After all, the gift wasn't said to be for him, but for all his colleagues.

He thought for a moment and said bluntly: "Akiwara-sensei, you came to see me this time because of that incident in Kanagawa, right?"

Before the film started shooting, Akiwara Yuto had asked him to pull strings and take the initiative to find the local police station to investigate the situation.

So, after relevant cases appeared again, he contacted Akiwara Yuto immediately.

Akiwara Yuto nodded and then asked seriously: "Assistant Inspector Soma, could you tell me about the situation? Is this case really committed by the same killer?"

Assistant Inspector Soma hesitated for a moment before telling the truth: "Judging from the scene, it is highly likely to be the same person."

"The victim was a woman in her 50s. The death scene was under a bridge near her home. Her lower body was naked, the cause of death was strangulation, and there were signs of mutilation on the body."

"In the serial murder case from two years ago, there were very similar circumstances."

After hearing this, Akiwara Yuto subconsciously recalled the details he had learned before and found that many points matched up.

He frowned and asked another question: "What countermeasures does the police have?"

Assistant Inspector Soma replied: "We have already dispatched several specialists to Kanagawa to form a special task force with the local police station, preparing to start a large-scale search."

"Can the killer be caught as soon as possible?"

Akiwara Yuto asked subconsciously, but after seeing the other's troubled expression, he immediately knew he had said the wrong thing.

This serial murder case had consumed a massive amount of police manpower and resources back then and still hadn't been solved.

Now, even if the same manpower were mobilized again, it might not be solved in a short time, and it could even be the same as before.

Just like the Hwaseong case in Korea and the Baiyin case in China from his past life, the killers were random murderers with no fixed time or range for their crimes, making them extremely difficult to solve.

Thinking of this, Akiwara Yuto suddenly asked again: "Has the police collected DNA information from local residents to further match against the samples collected at the scene?"

In his past life, whether it was the Hwaseong case or the Baiyin case, they were eventually solved through DNA.

And because Akiwara Yuto had researched a lot of materials for his writing, he knew that the development of DNA technology in this world was similar to his past life, having been invented in the 80s and used in practical cases by European and American countries.

And Japan's introduction of this technology was relatively early in the East Asian region.

Assistant Inspector Soma told the truth: "We have already investigated many local residents based on the suspect's profile and collected 300, 00 samples. Unfortunately, none of them match."

Hearing this, Akiwara Yuto suddenly remembered an interview he had seen in his past life and abruptly made a request.

"Can you let me see the psychological profile of the suspect?"

If his memory was correct, he might be able to help the Metropolitan Police Department eliminate a major blind spot! Thereby helping them catch the killer as soon as possible!