Chapter 272: The Gratitude of the Metropolitan Police Department

Just as Akiwara Yuto had anticipated, once the serial murders resurfaced, public opinion began to boil over.

From Shennaichuan County to Bingku County, and from Dongjingwan to Daban Prefecture, the news was reported extensively.

Within two hours of the incident, it had reached a point where there wasn't a single citizen who didn't know about it!

Under the intense scrutiny of the public, the pressure facing the Metropolitan Police Department was exceptionally high.

Some critics accused them of failing to solve the case sooner, and even some assembly members claimed they would cut their funding.

Later on, the internet and newspapers were flooded with accusations of the police being "incompetent."

Facing these criticisms, the spokespeople for the Metropolitan Police Department could only bow repeatedly, insisting that the task force was working at full capacity to solve the case.

However, when reporters asked when the case would be solved, the spokespeople would only stammer and prevaricate.

This behavior, in turn, triggered even greater resentment and criticism from the public and the media.

On the third day, Assistant Police Inspector Soma from the First Investigation Division finally called Akiwara Yuto.

He said in a pleading tone, "Teacher Akiwara, you understand our work; could I ask you to say a few words on our behalf?"

Akiwara Yuto did not answer the question immediately, but instead asked a question in return.

"Assistant Inspector Soma, what is the task force's stance regarding my proposal?"

Assistant Inspector Soma spoke the truth: "I have already relayed your opinion to the task force."

"As you wished, after referencing cases related to dual personality in Europe and America, the task force has included non-single men in the scope of DNA testing."

To be honest, he himself was a bit surprised that the task force had adopted this suggestion.

However, after understanding the specific situation, he realized that the task force doing so was also due to pressure from superiors to solve the case as quickly as possible.

After all, no matter how they investigated, they couldn't find any leads, so they might as well treat a dead horse as if it were a living one.

Moreover, this suggestion from Akiwara Yuto had cases from Europe and America to back it up, so it sounded somewhat reliable.

"I understand. I will come out and speak for the Metropolitan Police Department in the next two days."

Akiwara Yuto rubbed his furrowed brow with his hand and gave him a promise.

The sooner the case was solved, the more beneficial it would be for him as well.

Just yesterday, he had specifically gone to the set of *Memories of Murder* and treated all the actors and staff to a meal of kaiseki cuisine to appease them.

Despite this, some of them still appeared somewhat uneasy.

In addition, the director, Utsumi Takuto, had reported to him that some other investors were planning to withdraw their capital.

This made Akiwara Yuto think for a long time, and only after he promised to increase his investment did Utsumi Takuto feel at ease enough to continue filming.

However, Akiwara Yuto felt a bit uneasy in his heart.

To what degree of quality could a film shot with this kind of mindset reach?

Things had reached this point; he could only take it one step at a time.

After agreeing to Assistant Inspector Soma, Akiwara Yuto wrote a long article.

In this long article, he did not directly back the Metropolitan Police Department.

Instead, he used a subtle, indirect style to mention many situations he "understood."

"After the first case occurred two years ago, the local police station and the commissioners of the Metropolitan Police Department began running around desperately to catch the killer; many even forgot their wives' and children's birthdays."

"A patrol officer named Namiki Kazuki collapsed outside Yokohama City after working for 72 consecutive hours. When he was sent to the hospital, the attending physician even said he had nearly died of sudden cardiac death."

"Besides him, other police officers have also encountered physical and family problems to varying degrees. There was even one officer who didn't even know his mother had passed away..."

After dealing with public opinion so many times, Akiwara Yuto knew clearly.

The most effective way to resolve the Metropolitan Police Department's public opinion dilemma was to evoke empathy from the public.

Therefore, in this article, he specifically emphasized the side of the police that was close to "ordinary people" and clearly described the price they paid.

However, these facts were not fabricated; they were things he had truly learned while writing the script and researching materials earlier.

After carefully reviewing and revising it, he published this long article in his column in the *Chiji Shimbun*.

Amidst the chorus of abuse from the outside world, the sudden appearance of an article supporting the Metropolitan Police Department undoubtedly attracted the attention of many citizens.

However, after reading the full text, many citizens also fell silent.

After all, according to this article by Akiwara Yuto, the Metropolitan Police Department and the local police station in Shennaichuan were already working themselves to the bone with overtime to catch the culprit; to go and criticize them further seemed a bit heartless.

Thus, public opinion took a subtle turn.

Although the mainstream still saw many people criticizing the Metropolitan Police Department for incompetence, a small portion of the public believed that they had done their best and should be understood.

Some even folded a thousand paper cranes and sent them to the Metropolitan Police Department, leaving the police side both crying and laughing.

"Teacher Akiwara, thank you so much this time!"

On the second day after the article was published, a man claiming to be a Superintendent General called.

Upon hearing the other party's title, Akiwara Yuto was subconsciously stunned for a moment.

There were only 20 people in all of Japan with the rank of Superintendent General; one could say he was five levels higher than Assistant Inspector Soma, and he was definitely a big shot in the political world.

However, Akiwara Yuto did not act overly polite.

As a well-known writer, even if he were to scold the Prime Minister to his face, it was estimated that no one would say anything.

So he just said, "I hope the police can catch the killer as soon as possible."

After all, the longer this case dragged on, the more uneasy the local citizens of Shennaichuan would be, and there would even be an impact on Dongjingwan.

Now was an era of economic crisis, and public security was already quite poor; it would be bad if copycat murders occurred.

Sensing Akiwara Yuto's meaning, this Superintendent General subconsciously felt admiration and promised solemnly.

"Rest assured, we will catch the killer as soon as possible."

Akiwara Yuto gave him face by not asking for a deadline, and simply offered some encouragement.

Immediately after, the two exchanged "hypocritical" pleasantries for a while, and then hung up the phone.

Akiwara Yuto sighed and put the matter to the back of his mind.

Worrying was of no use; he might as well return to his main line—literature—as soon as possible.

He walked to the study, took a pile of academic journals from the drawer, and began to read.

During this period, the sales of the book *Snow Country* had become increasingly stable.

However, in the academic world, a batch of related papers had emerged.

For example, "On the 'Nihilism' in Akiwara Yuto's *Snow Country*," "The Tragic Beauty Style of *Snow Country*," and "Looking at Shimamura in *Snow Country* from Akiwara Yuto's Background."

Some of the papers inside were quite reasonable, similar to some papers Akiwara Yuto had read in his previous life, providing an in-depth analysis of the work *Snow Country*.

But there were also some papers that were complete nonsense.

They even linked the tragic colors in the work to his own background as an orphan, and even believed he had tendencies toward suicide and world-weariness.

Upon seeing these remarks, Akiwara Yuto couldn't help but twitch his eyelids.

Just then, the phone rang again; Akiwara Yuto picked up the phone and, before he could speak, heard a familiar name.

"Hello, Teacher Akiwara, I am Yoshikawa Yuichiro..."