Chapter 612: Leave of Absence, End-of-Volume Summary

Leave of absence, end-of-volume summary.

Inside the arcade.

As a bystander, Konan watched Shimizu Takayasu defending himself, not wavering in the slightest; instead, he became even more convinced of his own theory, revealing a gaze that had already seen through everything.

This man is the murderer.

Actually, before the police arrived, Konan had investigated Shimizu Takayasu's corpse.

The deceased appeared to have died of suffocation, but there were no rope marks on the neck, so it was highly likely death by poisoning.

But this time, there was no bitter almond scent in the deceased's mouth, indicating the murderer did not use the cyanide that all Beika residents love to use.

A new poison...

This was a challenge for Konan.

However, it was almost certain that the murderer was this "Lucas of Beika," because the only man who had approached the deceased before was him, and Qin Zhibo, who possessed super-strong observational skills, had also been watching him the whole time.

Qin Zhibo must have seen something...

Konan glanced at Qin Zhibo, who was chatting away with Inspector Megure nearby.

"I think it might be poisoning; I suggest sending it for a forensic autopsy to determine the cause of death first."

Megure, accustomed to being told what to do by others, nodded in agreement, "Alright, let's have the body taken away then."

Although Qin Zhibo's investigation of the body had already confirmed it was poisoning, the specific poison was unclear.

As for other investigation points, Qin Zhibo had also finished investigating them all before the police arrived.

The blond man had only one investigation point on his entire body, which was a needle prick on the inside of his right arm.

That was likely the mark of someone injecting poison; since he was wearing a sleeveless vest, this was quite easy to spot.

As for the murderer, it was obviously "Lucas of Beika"—Shimizu Takayasu.

Before the blond man died, only he had approached the blond man from the right side, having the opportunity to inject the poison.

At that time, Shimizu Takayasu had kept his back to his side the whole time; although he couldn't see what small movements he was making, his other hand was indeed fumbling for something in his pocket.

And coincidentally, this arcade had a security camera, a rare find in a thousand years.

"Inspector Megure, look!"

Qin Zhibo pointed at the camera in the corner of the ceiling, and Megure looked up, an expression of joy immediately appearing on his face.

"It's a security camera! How rare!"

Takagi Wataru also asked the clerk if the footage captured by the camera had been recorded.

After receiving a nod from the clerk, everyone went to the surveillance room to check the footage.

Soon, the scene of Shimizu Takayasu approaching the blond man appeared on the surveillance screen.

With the video footage as evidence, Shimizu Takayasu could not deny it.

"Hey, hey..."

"I did approach him, but I just wanted to swap seats with him, but he didn't answer me, so I walked away..."

"Why did you want to swap seats with him?" Inspector Megure asked.

Shimizu Takayasu shook his arm, "It's nothing else; this guy had already beaten me several times in a row at that seat, so of course I wanted to sit in his seat and see if there was anything different."

Suzuki Sonoko, standing nearby, also nodded in agreement: "Yeah, yeah, before when Mouri Ran sat in that seat, she was even chased away by him, saying it was his throne; I was so angry at the time..."

Although Suzuki Sonoko said this, she was still glad in her heart that the blond man had taken over Mouri Ran's seat, and a thought solidified in her mind.

From now on, she would absolutely never play arcade games in public; it was simply too dangerous!

At this moment, the shop clerk stepped forward and hurriedly explained: "I can guarantee that the machine is absolutely fine!"

"Hmm." Although Inspector Megure nodded, seemingly agreeing with the clerk's statement, he turned his head and said to his subordinate Takagi Wataru: "Call the game machine manufacturer and have them send staff to confirm it."

Seeing Megure's investigation direction going further and further off track, Qin Zhibo couldn't watch anymore and hurriedly corrected him.

"Inspector Megure, shouldn't we first investigate whether this person is carrying any poison?"

"After all, he was the last person the deceased came into contact with before he died."

Having been told this by Qin Zhibo, Inspector Megure suddenly realized and hurriedly turned his gun to aim at Shimizu Takayasu.

"Sir, if you don't mind, could you let us search you?"

Although Inspector Megure's words were relatively polite, his eyes were stern, leaving no room for refusal.

Shimizu Takayasu froze for a moment, then helplessly spread his palms, "Fine, go ahead and search me."

While Shimizu Takayasu was being taken away to be searched, Qin Zhibo watched the surveillance footage carefully once more.

After he whispered to the blond man and left, Qin Zhibo's attention had been on the blond man, so he hadn't seen his subsequent actions.

However, the surveillance footage had already revealed everything about him clearly.

On the screen, Shimizu Takayasu was seen walking a few steps toward another game machine and suddenly squatting down.

From the surveillance, his gesture was picking something up, but it was also possible he was putting something down.

Because the surveillance cameras of this era didn't have high pixel counts, it was impossible to see clearly what was in his hand.

Since he had let the police search him so readily, he must have already disposed of the poison.

And the only opportunity to dispose of the poison should have been this one, because after that, he had already discovered the blond man's death and had been staring at his movements.

Thinking of this, Qin Zhibo left the arcade office and returned to the arcade.

Konan saw Qin Zhibo take action; although he desperately wanted to stop himself from doing the same thing as Qin Zhibo, otherwise he would always be led by the nose.

But alas, a creature called "the scheming frog" was stroking his stomach, and Konan couldn't suppress his restless heart, so he followed him out anyway.

Because a murder had occurred and Qin Zhibo had reported it and sealed the scene immediately, there were currently over 30 customers stranded inside the arcade.

They had come happily to play games, but a murder suddenly occurred, and they were even being detained as suspects because of it; anyone would feel dissatisfied.

"How unlucky, to actually encounter something like this; I'm never coming to this shop again."

"Yeah, yeah..."

Konan's passive skill activated: any business establishment he visits will see its revenue plummet rapidly, and in serious cases, it might even go bankrupt.

However, this will eventually hit rock bottom and rebound, because one day, when Konan's footprints have covered every street and alley in Tokyo, people will realize there is no longer any "pure land" where a murder case hasn't occurred.

"You guys aren't the unlucky ones; I'm the most unlucky one."

"I don't know which jerk wrapped a cigarette butt in chewed gum and threw it on the ground, and I just happened to step on it; it's impossible to clean off..."

"My brand new shoes!"

Hearing this, Qin Zhibo took a look, and the light of an investigation point flashed by in an instant.

This means...

Qin Zhibo hurried over and asked, "Excuse me, was the spot where you stepped on the gum and cigarette butt the location in front of the big screen?"

Qin Zhibo pointed to the spot where Shimizu Takayasu had been crouching earlier.

The passerby customer nodded, "Yeah, how did you know?"

Upon hearing this, Qin Zhibo immediately understood there was a lead and continued to ask, "What about the gum and cigarette butt? Where did you throw them?"

"That trash can over there, I threw them in there..."

Hearing this, Qin Zhibo and the eavesdropping Konan immediately ran toward the trash can.

Opening the lid, a bright investigation point lay at the pitch-black bottom of the bin.

Meanwhile, in the distance, Jodie was leaning against a corner, watching Qin Zhibo's—investigation partner, Konan—with great interest.

This kid is a bit cool...

Cool kid...