Chapter 684: Snow Country Toilet's Decapitated Female Corpse!

In the toilet of the Snow Country, darkness was spreading.

Driver Sato couldn't help but look a few more times; he was certain.

It was indeed a human body — female, petite, in a head-down posture, forcibly stuffed into a ceramic drainage pipe with a diameter of only about 18 centimeters. Only the shoulders and above were exposed outside, or rather, were being "displayed" outside.

The cross-section of the neck was extremely neat, obviously severed in one stroke by some kind of extremely sharp blade or cutting tool; the cross-section of the cervical vertebrae gleamed white under the mobile phone light, forming a horrifying contrast with the surrounding dark red muscle tissue and clots.

The face was swollen and purple from being inverted and congested, but the facial features could still be discerned — a round face shape; even under the distortion of death and swelling, the sweet contours from when she was alive could still be seen.

The deceased wore thin clothing — a set of light pink thermal underwear, over which was a base layer shirt worn during program recording, already soaked through with blood. Her hands were bound behind her back, the rope cutting deeply into the skin of her wrists.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!"

Driver Sato scrambled out of the toilet in a panic; he was so scared his head spun and his vision went black, he desperately clutched his coat tighter, but a moment later felt too hot and violently tore the coat off again, crying and laughing for a good while, clutching the Huawei 5 Plus Cold Front Blue mobile phone in his hand, and selected the Yamato System's emergency police alarm function!

4:52 AM, Yamagata Prefecture Police Headquarters, Communication Command Center.

The emergency call connected quickly; Japanese police, after all, are not South Korean police — their status and salary treatment aren't as low as South Korean police, and although they can't be called outstanding either, on the whole their basic functions still pass muster.

"Moshi moshi, this is the emergency center desu, what can I help you with..." The female operator's voice carried a hint of fatigue. "De-dead... toilet... hair... fr-from... from the hole growing out! Blood! Lots of blood!" Sato Hiroshi's voice trembled wildly, broken and intermittent, mixed with heavy panting and the sound of chattering teeth, the background filled with howling wind.

"Sir, please calm down; that won't help. Please take a deep breath, then tell us what you saw." The female operator at the Communication Command Center strove to maintain professionalism.

"Yamagata North... Rest Area! The toilet at the back! Someone... someone was stuffed into the urinal! Head chopped off! Really! You guys hurry up! DD Decapitation! Just like that Female Murderer in Tokyo Chiba Prefecture before, decapitation! DD Decapitation! I'm a solo stan! Yohime Hitsuji, Mika Hinata, Rin Tateshi..."

"?" New Year holidays were just around the corner; it was 5 AM now, the time when people are most drowsy. The people at the command center were already dozing off; Yamagata Prefecture isn't a high-crime area — often not a single murder case in a year — especially such a bizarre-sounding murder... and it sounds like a dismemberment case too?

TMD, this isn't Tokyo! Average one assault case every two days!

Could it be some drunkard or prankster's joke?

The on-duty shift leader frowned tightly, listening to the incoherent description on the phone.

Hair growing out of the urinal? Head chopped off and stuffed inside?

TMD, is Yonezawa City Kayako's lair? Or did watching too many girl bands cause hysteria?

However, considering the other party had given an accurate location, regardless, Japanese police would go take a look.

"Understood, sir. Please stay in a safe place, do not disturb the scene; we will dispatch personnel immediately." The policewoman replied according to procedure, but after hanging up, she exchanged a skeptical glance with the shift leader.

"Yamagata North Rest Area... dispatch a jurisdictional patrol car to take a look." The on-duty shift leader yawned and did not activate the major case response protocol; it was just routine notification to the Yonezawa West Police Station responsible for that area, asking them to send on-duty patrol officers to "check the situation on the way." Around 5:10 AM, a patrol car from the nearby Yonezawa West Station arrived.

Two young patrol officers, Maeda and Oshima, carrying a hint of dissatisfaction and drowsiness from being called out of their warm patrol car, walked skeptically toward the old toilet behind the rest area, illuminating the nearby darkness with flashlights.

"Another prank, right? In a place like this..." Maeda muttered.

"Believe in the Holy Light! Ding ding~ ding dang~ ding ding~" Oshima shouted a rather chuunibyou line: "I am, the Train King." "Did you fail to upload to Legend again this month? Oshima?" Maeda pinched his nose.

"Hmm, I feel, awful!" Oshima also pinched his nose, feeling more and more like this was a nasty prank.

However, when the flashlight beam shone into the men's toilet entrance, faintly revealing that irregular patch of blackish-red coagulated matter under the innermost urinal, and that strange scent in the air — a sweet, cloying mix of iron rust and excrement that even the cold couldn't fully conceal — both men's drowsiness instantly vanished into the clouds. "Na-na-na-na... nani kure?" Maeda's voice was a bit tight.

The flashlight was shaking.

"Get it out fast, get it out fast!" Oshima was even more panicked.

They approached carefully.

When the flashlight beam finally fixed on that innermost urinal, clearly illuminating that cluster of wet black long hair, pale nape skin, and that neat severance that made one's blood freeze —

"Uueh—!"

Maeda violently covered his mouth, turned and dry-heaved; Oshima froze in place, face ashen, the flashlight beam trembling uncontrollably, swaying across that horrifying head remnant and the urinal wall.

"Red bean? Red red red, red bean paste? Red bean da! It's re-re-really... it's real!" Maeda almost screamed into the radio: "Report! Report!! Yamagata North Rest Area public toilet! Confirmed discovery of corpse! Female! Condition... condition abnormal! Repeat, abnormal! Requesting emergency support! Forensic Identification Division! Ambulance... no, send a Forensic Pathologist directly! Hurry!"

His voice changed pitch from shock and fear, echoing in the empty, cold rest area.

5:30 AM.

The emergency report from Yonezawa West Station hit like a ladle of cold water into a boiling oil pot.

Hearing the news from the front, the on-duty executives instantly lost all sleepiness; reports went up level by level.

Within just ten minutes, the news spread throughout the prefectural headquarters' upper echelons.

Yamagata Prefecture had not encountered such a horrifying, cruel, and strongly exhibitionistic corpse in many years! Yamagata Prefectural Police instantly fell into brief chaos and shock.

This really TMD isn't a joke or a horror movie shoot, is it?

Yamagata Prefecture's Headquarters Chief Tong Tian was awakened by an emergency call from home; after hearing the briefing, he only said "I'm on my way," and hurriedly got up. He realized this was not just a vicious murder case, but likely a "bizarre case" that would shock the nation and trigger a media frenzy; the slightest mishandling would deal a devastating blow to the prefectural police's reputation.

And, it's similar, so similar!

The Chiba Prefecture Tokyo serial murder case from a few years ago — wasn't it also decapitation like this?

Could there be some connection?

But... the mastermind was already brought to justice, wasn't he?

At the emergency meeting, Headquarters Chief Tong Tian, sporting dark circles, quickly assigned personnel: "Send Criminal Investigation Division Inspector Yamabe to the scene! He has the most experience, has seen plenty of weird cases; have him stabilize the situation first!"

Yamabe Risuke, 58 years old, senior inspector of Yamagata Prefecture Criminal Investigation Division, known for being calm, meticulous, even somewhat stubborn.

He had experienced violent group shootouts during the bubble economy era, handled several difficult missing person murder cases, but a scene that made one's spine chill just from the description — this was a first for him too.

When he received the order, he was still sleeping; after listening, he said nothing more, changed into a heavy winter coat in a very Showa-era style, told his wife "There's a case, might be late," and left.

His face wore the usual sternness that revealed no emotion.

By 6:10 AM, Inspector Yamabe finally arrived at the scene.

By then the entire Yamagata North Rest Area scene had been cordoned off layer by layer with yellow police tape.

The Forensic Identification Division's lights lit the small toilet bright as day, yet also made every detail inescapable, doubling the visual impact. The prefectural headquarters' Forensic Pathologist, Mikawa Isei, in her early 40s, stood outside the toilet door with an ugly expression, breathing the cold but relatively fresh air, trying to calm her mind.

She had seen many corpses, various causes of death, but this one... challenged her professional understanding and psychological endurance.

"Inspector Yamabe." Mikawa's voice was a bit hoarse.

"Situation." Yamabe was concise, his gaze cast toward that half-open door.

......, "The other party didn't speak for a moment.

"Doctor Mikawa?" Yamabe Risuke sensed an ominous air; at 58 his face was stern, eyes like a tempered blade, steady yet with a barely perceptible gravity. He looked at that doorway filled with light, and repeated: "Tell me."

Mikawa Tou took a deep breath, forced herself back into the absolutely professional channel: "A female, very young, initially estimated age between 16 and 18, highly likely a minor."

She deliberately emphasized "very young," and Yamabe Risuke's brow immediately furrowed.

"The corpse was forcibly inserted head-down into the innermost urinal's drainage pipe. The pipe diameter is about 18 centimeters, and the insertion necessarily involved violence, which may have caused additional bone and soft tissue damage, requiring autopsy for confirmation." Her speech was steady, but each word carried weight: "The preliminary cause of death is acute hemorrhage and traumatic shock from decapitation. The neck cross-section is between the third and fourth cervical vertebrae, the cut surface is unusually smooth, with almost no signs of repeated hacking, indicating the weapon was extremely sharp and the killer applied force with great concentration and ferocity." The surrounding police all swallowed hard.

She paused, her voice sinking further: "Moreover...... not only that, surface examination revealed severe and violent sexual trauma. The inner thighs show serious lacerations and bruising, consistent with violent sexual assault. Wrists and ankles have deep binding marks, indicating the victim was bound before death. Clothing...... although heavily soaked in blood, tearing marks are visible, consistent with sexual violence!"

Rape and murder?!

Yamabe Risuke's face turned completely grim.

Rape and murder! Combined with such a bizarre method of dumping the body, the case's severity has risen sharply.

Mikawa pointed to the dark red, semi-solid area on the ground and beside it: "Here, there are traces...... written with what appears to be the victim's blood or other bodily fluids. Not text, more like...... some kind of symbol or graffiti. Meaning unknown."

Inspector Yamabe crouched down, trembling as he took out his reading glasses from his pocket and put them on. His eyes sharply examined those twisted, trailing marks—they indeed do not belong to any writing system he recognizes, exuding a deliberate sense of distortion and...... an indescribable feeling of profanity. He fell silent for a few seconds, then asked: "Time of death?"

"Based on rectal temperature and corpse stiffness, combined with last night's cold environment, the preliminary estimate of time of death is between 10 p. m. last night and 2 a. m. today. Specifics require further testing." Mikawa the forensic pathologist replied: "Additionally, the exposed skin of the corpse shows mild frostbite signs, indicating the body was exposed to low temperatures after death for a period. However, the trunk inside the pipe may decay at a different rate."

"Any identity clues?"

"No wallet, mobile phone, or ID found on the person." Mikawa gestured to the nearby forensic officer: "The clothing material and style lean toward youthful fashion brands; specific brand pending investigation. We found this near the starting point of drag marks leading from the toilet outside to the rear small woods." The forensic officer handed over a transparent evidence bag. Inside is a small hair clip with a heart-shaped rhinestone decoration, reflecting cheap but sparkling light under the lamp, with some dirt and nearly invisible dark spots on it.

"It feels like a typical girlish accessory." Mikawa the forensic pathologist added: "It may match the victim's age and...... clothing style." Yamabe Risuke took the evidence bag and examined it closely under the light. The hair clip's style, the victim's extremely young age, the sexual violence suffered, Tokyo-fashion clothing, Shibuya-kei? Harajuku-kei? Akihabara-kei? He, an old-school Showa-era detective, actually doesn't understand much, but this deliberately shocking dumping scene...... these fragments are beginning to form a deeply unsettling picture.

At that moment, a young detective came running, his face flushed from running and tension: "Inspector Yamabe! We questioned the rest area staff and the discoverer, who said that yesterday daytime, near Uesugi Shrine, there were many young girls and TV station vehicles gathered, as if some idol group from Tokyo was filming a New Year program! Quite a crowd! Heard it's from Fuji TV!"

Fuji TV?

Again Fuji TV?

Again, double doubt, is it Fuji TV?

Yamabe Risuke and Mikawa Tou quickly exchanged a glance.

Both knew this information could instantly reveal the victim's identity and push the case's nature into another dimension—possibly involving public figures, media focus, and immeasurable social impact.

"Immediately, right now, contact the hotel in Yonezawa City where the program team is staying!" Yamabe Risuke's voice was firm and urgent, leaving no room for doubt: "Contact their person in charge, verify all members' status! The key is whether any young female members matching the description are missing from last night to now!"

Inspector Yamabe again turned his gaze toward the toilet bathed in light.

The dawn's faint light was struggling on the horizon; police cars already filled the vicinity, bright as daylight. If it's truly confirmed the victim is an underage super-popular idol from Tokyo...... Yamabe seemed to already hear the nationwide media swarming in with clamor, and the case-solving pressure from above pressing down like a mountain. Inspector Yamabe's teeth chattered, half from the extreme cruelty of the case, half from the immense pressure to solve it. He...... will he be able to retire smoothly?