Chapter 1018

"Inspector Nagase, good evening. I am Toyoda Akio."

The call was transferred from Nagoya Police Headquarters, and Inspector Nagase Ren stood at attention!

Toyoda Akio. Chairman of Toyota Motor Corporation.

Nagoya's largest employer, largest taxpayer, and largest economic pillar. Toyota Headquarters is located in Toyota City, less than an hour's drive from downtown Nagoya, and the entire manufacturing chain of Aichi Prefecture is almost wrapped around this giant tree that is Toyota.

Nagoya = Toyota City.

This equation is common knowledge worldwide.

"Mr. Toyoda, hello." Inspector Nagase Ren tried to keep his voice steady.

Toyoda Akio's tone was polite, but that politeness carried an undeniable weight: "Inspector Nagase, I am calling not to interfere with the police investigation. I know you are doing your best. But I must inform the police of one thing: this case has already begun to affect Toyota's normal operations." He paused, as if choosing his words: "Some of our suppliers and partners in overseas business have received inquiries from clients. They ask: Are Toyota's dispatched workers related to that idol's death? We cannot answer this question, nor should we be the ones to answer it. But it is indeed happening."

"So, I hope to learn some things from the police."

Inspector Nagase Ren closed his eyes for a moment.

He understood Toyoda Akio's meaning: Nagoya's manufacturing labor market heavily relies on foreign dispatched workers, and Toyota's supply chain is filled with such dispatched workers.

If the police launch a large-scale investigation into dispatched workers and the outside world interprets it as the perpetrator possibly being someone from a Toyota-affiliated enterprise, then Toyota's reputation will suffer collateral damage.

However, after three days of investigation... or rather five days, Inspector Nagase Ren has not obtained any accurate leads!

"Mr. Toyoda, I understand your concern. But the police currently have not locked onto any specific group. We are merely screening all possible leads." He said with difficulty.

Silence on the phone.

Clearly, Toyoda Akio is very disappointed with Nagoya Police's investigative capability.

"I think if this case were handed over to Uesugi Chief of Tokyo University, it wouldn't be so troublesome." Toyoda Akio kindly reminded.

"Regarding the current case situation, the Police Headquarters believes..." Inspector Nagase Ren thought Uesugi Muneyuki had arrived and still got nowhere: "Moreover, Uesugi Chief is currently performing other duties in Okinawa."

"I know. So I did something else." Toyoda Akio said: "I announced a piece of news—Toyota Group will offer a reward of 500 million yen to collect effective leads that can help the police pinpoint the perpetrator. This reward is open to society, anyone can report. I have already instructed the Public Relations Department to release this announcement tonight."

Hiss!

You're not adding chaos, are you?!

Inspector Nagase Ren got a headache.

500 million yen! Reward!

This was originally a good thing; if more social forces participated in lead collection, theoretically it could speed up solving the case.

But Toyoda Akio's move simultaneously brought another consequence: it turned the entire case from "police are investigating" into "society-wide reward for capturing the perpetrator"!

This will greatly alter the direction of public opinion.

Originally, media that were still observing will become even more frenzied, and the increased information will inevitably be mixed with large amounts of invalid information, malicious reports, and even fabricated testimony for the reward money.

The Special Investigation Headquarters originally had insufficient manpower, and now it still has to divert energy to screen those leads attracted by the 500 million yen reward, which are hard to distinguish as true or false! "Mr. Toyoda," Inspector Nagase Ren's voice carried a kind of extreme effort to suppress fatigue: "The reward is support for our work, I am very grateful. But the figure of 500 million yen will attract a large amount of false information. Our pressure in processing leads will increase."

"I understand. So I will have Toyota's Legal Department and Technical Department provide you with screening support." Toyoda Akio's tone remained unchanged: "But Inspector Nagase, I also have my pressure. If this case continues to drag on, overseas market trust in Toyota will further decline. I cannot wait too long, Toyota also, we also cannot do nothing, Toyota also."

The call ended in a polite yet tense atmosphere.

After hanging up, Inspector Nagase Ren sat at his workstation for a long time.

And the next day, which was the fourth morning of the five-day deadline at seven o'clock, Inspector Nagase Ren had just arrived at the office, hadn't even had time to take the first sip of water, when he discovered the atmosphere in the hallway was off.

Several officers were standing in the corner talking in low voices; when they saw him approach, one person's gaze met his for a moment, then quickly shifted away.

Inspector Nagase Ren felt a strong sense of unease; he quickly walked into the Special Investigation Headquarters office area, seeing the Chief of the Criminal Division standing in front of the whiteboard, expression gloomy as if about to rain.

The Chief turned around, gripping a mobile phone screen screenshot in his hand, and handed it to him.

The screen showed a tweet that had already been retweeted over ten thousand times, containing only one sentence: "Hirate Sarina was strangled to death after being gang-raped by foreign dispatched workers of Nagoya's manufacturing industry; Nagoya Police have already obtained preliminary evidence, but have not released it due to 'social stability' and 'international impact'!"

"Damn?!"

Inspector Nagase Ren finally lost his composure!

Toyota's reward of 500 million yen not only failed to bring beneficial leads to the Special Investigation Headquarters, but also leaked the secret the Special Investigation Headquarters had been guarding—that Hirate was gang-raped and then murdered!

The information leaked!

And the leaked part happened to be the most sensitive, most explosive part—sexual violence, gang rape, police investigation of foreign dispatched workers! Fortunately, the LSD part has not yet appeared in this tweet!

He quickly browsed more related retweets and comments.

"I already guessed it was foreigners doing it, expel them! Expel all Erdia people!".

"The dispatched worker problem in Nagoya has finally surfaced, indeed it's foreigners!"

"Police have been covering up, fearing impact on Toyota's overseas image? Or fearing surprise from friendly nations?! Are you Japanese police or foreign police?"

Someone posted the schedule of Akai Saka 46 members in Nagoya, as well as surveillance screenshots of Hirate last appearing backstage at the concert venue. Information volume is large, true and false mixed, but the core "gang rape then strangled" plot is repeatedly cited.

"When did it start?" Inspector Nagase Ren asked.

"Around 3 a. m." the Chief of the Criminal Division said: "It first appeared on an anonymous forum, then was forwarded by several entertainment news accounts. By 5 a. m., early shift editors of mainstream media were already calling to confirm."

"Nagase, we don't have much time left!"

Sure enough, after dawn, the message surged out like a tide across Japan.

Associated Press headline: "Japanese Idol's Death: Police Investigation Points to Foreign Dispatched Workers"!

The report quoted an anonymous Japanese police source, saying: "The deceased had suffered sexual violence from multiple foreign dispatched workers before death, cause of death is strangulation."

"In recent years, Japan has heavily introduced foreign labor to make up for labor shortages in manufacturing and logistics, a considerable portion of which comes from India, Southeast Asia, and Nepal. These workers often reside on society's margins, and criminal cases involving foreigners in Japan have shown an upward trend in recent years." The American actually dare not touch this sensitive slippery slope, because President Darlan himself has a pile of problems to solve, Vice President Zhamuq He D Huo'er Chi externally also stated that at least Japanese people need not worry about encountering guns when walking at night.

Reuters also released a report about twenty minutes after Associated Press: "Police Investigation of Idol Death Case, Foreign Worker Group Enters Key Screening Scope!"

Reuters' wording is more cautious than Associated Press, explicitly citing the official statement from Aichi Prefecture Police Headquarters: "Currently no specific group is locked onto, investigation is ongoing."

But the article's end also mentioned a key point: "Nagoya is the core of Japan's manufacturing industry, Toyota Headquarters is located there, the area has a large number of foreign dispatched laborers. Japanese society's reliance on foreign labor and unease about foreign crime exist in long-term tension."

Agence France-Presse's report followed, titled: "Nagoya Idol's Death: Japan's Ethnic Undercurrent".

The article started from the case itself, expanded to Japanese society's xenophobia, the living conditions of foreigners in Japan, and that "blurred and sensitive boundary" between "Japanese" and "foreigners", and extended to burakumin issues, Ainu issues, and Ryukyu issues. Agence France-Presse condemned Japan's ethnic policy, believing that narrow ethnic nationalism is destined to have no future; only building a diversified ethnic identity and constructing a concept similar to "Greater France" can truly solve this problem.

Mbappé, Pogba, Dembélé, Chouaméni are all pure-blooded French!

Agence France-Presse also quoted a comment from a Tokyo University Sociology Professor, roughly meaning: "If this case is transformed at the societal level into collective blame against foreign groups, it will harm Japan's societal efforts toward diversification."

The commentary from Agence France-Presse resonated widely in Europe and America, but angry Japanese people retaliated: "Have you ever been to Japan? Have you seen Japan with your own eyes? You jump to conclusions because you don't understand Japan—our international image and ethnic policies are for us Japanese to decide!" TASS's report was relatively brief, with the headline: "Japanese Idol Death Case Sparks Social Concern, Police Investigate Foreign Workers"

The tone of the report leaned more toward objective factual statement, without excessive social analysis.

However, TASS added a background note at the end: "The Japanese government has in recent years implemented a policy to introduce foreign labor, and the number of foreign workers in Japan currently exceeds two million."

As for Old Chinese Media, the content was simple: "Japanese National Idol Dies Mysteriously on Nagoya Streets, Suspect Still at Large." Old Chinese Media focused on criticizing Japan's so-called national security myth collapsing, pointing out that even a major city like Nagoya would experience such a serious public security incident, and their criticism of the dispatch worker system was especially fierce: "Dispatch workers were a temporary policy adopted by Japanese society in the late 1990s to reduce unemployment and stabilize existing corporate positions; many dispatched workers earn only 180,000 to 220,000 yen per month, and even those working over 40 hours a week earn only 280,000 to 320,000 yen—this is extremely meager! Consider that the initial Japanese release price of the iPhone 11 was 74,800 yen, meaning a worker's monthly salary can buy only 3-5 iPhones!"

"Japan's abuse of the dispatch worker system will one day backfire!"

What truly amplified public opinion pressure manifold was the reaction from Korean media.

South Korea's three major newspapers—Chosun Ilbo, JoongAng Ilbo, and Dong-A Ilbo—featured this news as front-page headlines in their morning editions that day.

Among them, Chosun Ilbo was the most vicious.

"Japanese Idol Killed by Foreign Workers in Gang Rape?! Xenophobia? Self-Reflection? Doomed Japanese Society Heading Toward Destruction!"

This article was extremely sharp, fierce, and violent; due to involving indescribable and censorship reasons, it was revised several times but still not released. On NAVER's comment section, Korean netizens' comment density and sharpness far surpassed Japan's domestic public discourse.

"Don't Koreans often criticize Japan? Look at yourselves!"

"Japan's manufacturing industry grew rich by exploiting foreign labor!"

"From Park Yoo-chun to Hirate, Japan's entertainment industry and police system are utterly corrupt!"

Korean netizens' comments surged like a flood, with nearly every related news article receiving tens of thousands of replies.

External pressure exploded!

That morning, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had to issue a statement saying they were "confirming the relevant situation" and refused to comment on case details.

But this restrained statement failed to quell anything.

At this point, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights finally spoke up, saying they were closely monitoring human rights issues in Japan, emphasizing that individual cases should not lead to racial discrimination, and stressing that the rights of immigrants and minority groups must be protected.

During the morning press conference that day, Chief Cabinet Secretary Onoda Kimiaki was questioned about this matter, his face darker than the previous day. He repeatedly said, "The investigation is ongoing" and "Police will exert full effort," but reporters were unsatisfied.

A reporter from Asahi Shimbun directly asked: "Chief Secretary, has this case already gotten out of control?"

Onoda Kimiaki did not answer; he calmly said: "Please wait for the police investigation results."

But when he returned to his office, Onoda Kimiaki immediately barked at his subordinate Deputy Secretary-General: "Call Eiji! Have him come now!"

"What is the National Police Agency even doing?! Why didn't you dispatch Uesugi? Why haven't you resolved this case immediately?! What are Nagoya Police even doing? Why did you leak the information to the outside?!"

"Again and again, isn't the international laughter at Japan enough?!"