Chapter 697: , The Middle-Aged Man Who Was Beheaded

PS: Today is everyone's favorite super double chapter of 5100 characters!!

10:30 PM, Yamagata Prefecture Police Headquarters, Special Interrogation Room.

Under the strong lights, the arrested vagrant registered one by one as Jiang Tougang, 52 years old, was fixed onto a special interrogation chair. His washed face was still rough and aged, but his eyes no longer held only madness; they held a few parts of turbid clarity and bottomless resentment.

Uesugi Muneyuki, Inspector Yamanaka, Forensic Pathologist Mikawa, and a psychological analyst observed from behind the one-way glass.

Shirakawa Mai was specially permitted to listen synchronously in the next room; she paid particular attention to that "amulet."

The entire Yamagata Prefecture Police Headquarters mobilized, especially Headquarters Chief Tong Tian, who personally kept close watch on this matter. Speaking of it, the character "Tong" is quite funny; it looks very much like "Gui" (turtle), but in reality this character represents "Long" (dragon).

After all, the dragon is the sign of an emperor!

But in Japan, "Tong" and "Long" are actually used interchangeably; Japanese people themselves seem to realize the character "Tong" is easily misunderstood and doesn't feel imposing enough, so in actual usage, small dragons often use "Tong" and big dragons use "Long"; the two characters clearly mean the same thing and are often mixed, yet have a subtle distinction.

As for the surname Turtle Field Surname, it certainly exists in Japan, but its origin is actually quite noble: either from the former Shinto noble clan Watarai changing their name to Turtle Field Surname, or from the Minamoto Clan Ogasawara Flow, or descendants of the Kanto Taira Clan gathered there; in the Edo period it was granted to the Satake Clan and called Turtle Field Surname Domain, and later those who took this place as their surname called themselves the Turtle Field Surname Clan.

Cultures differ, no need to force a match; Japan has long had the blessing of "turtle and crane longevity"; the turtle is considered a symbol of longevity, endurance, and health. Just like when Uesugi Muneyuki went on a study visit in his previous life, Northern Europeans didn't understand why he wore a green hat at the inspection site and was repeatedly stared at and mocked by Germans; isn't green a symbol of improvement, safety, rising, and health?

Uesugi Muneyuki originally wanted to interrogate personally, but was refused by Police Headquarters; the interrogation was conducted by an experienced Shinjin-choukan, tone steady yet pressuring.

At first, Jiang Tougang only lowered his head in silence, or let out meaningless mutters.

But when the Shinjin-choukan presented the amulet found in the iron box in his hut — roughly carved from wood, painted with dark red pigment, twisted and bizarre in shape — his body visibly stiffened.

"Is this yours?" the Shinjin-choukan asked.

Jiang Tougang stared at the amulet; his gaze began to wander, his breathing grew heavy.

"Picked it up, found it in the nearby ruins, thought it looked nice, so I wore it." Jiang Tougang said, his voice hoarse and a bit dazed: "After wearing it, I felt much better."

"Any strange feelings? Or did you..." Uesugi Muneyuki signaled the Shinjin-choukan to ask: "Join some cult organization?" "No, I didn't join any cult organization, I just thought this talisman was interesting, the symbols were very... anyway, wearing it on my body was very comfortable, so I wore it." Jiang Tougang shook his head, he looked coldly at the Shinjin-choukan: "Wearing it let me sleep much better, besides that there was nothing else; I never thought of harming anyone."

Jiang Tougang's words instantly ignited the anger of the police on scene.

Didn't want to harm anyone? What the fuck are you joking about???

You first raped then killed a 17-year-old youthful beautiful idol girl, and you say you didn't want to harm anyone?

I fucking believe your spear!

"Well, doesn't matter if you believe it or not." Jiang Tougang looked coldly at this group of police, sneered: "Anyway that's how it is, the person was killed by me, the deed was done by me, you want to know why?"

"It's all this damn society, this damn system! It's this system that killed that little idol!"

"It's all this rotten country's fault aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!"

Finished speaking, Jiang Tougang poured out everything like beans from a bamboo tube.

Jiang Tougang, 52 years old this year, was formerly a sheet metal worker at a medium-sized shipyard in Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture.

Over twenty years of service, solid skills, taciturn, a typical "corporate warrior."

His life trajectory overlapped with countless middle-aged men in Japan's Tohoku region: hard work, supporting family, believing the myth of "lifetime employment." The turning point occurred seven or eight years ago.

Japan's manufacturing companies gradually laid off staff due to industrial transfer and shrinking orders; 45-year-old Jiang Tougang was conspicuously on the list.

The company's stated reason for layoffs was righteous: "Structural adjustment requires a younger, more energetic team."

He received a meager retirement allowance, tried to find new work, but age and singular skill became an insurmountable wall; his wife began to complain, his high-school son also felt he couldn't hold his head up.

For this, Jiang Tougang, obsessed with face, could only lie that he had found a new job; he still rose early every day, put on work clothes, carried a lunch box and went out, pretending to go to work.

Actually he killed time in parks, libraries, or cheap cafes all day, returning home in the evening with a fatigued expression. He used his retirement money and odd-job income to barely maintain the facade of dignity, his heart increasingly desiccated.

But traditionally a housewife is theoretically non-productive, and Japanese society's welfare for housewives requires annual income under 1 million for the government to pay their pension and health insurance and provide childcare subsidies; therefore the husband's income is the family's primary income source. Odd jobs earned maybe 3 million a year at most, a huge gap from before; soon the retirement money ran out, odd jobs were unstable, family conflicts erupted, after a fierce quarrel his wife took their son back to her parents' home, eventually divorcing.

Thoroughly alone, Jiang Tougang finally decided to apply for Seikatsu Hogo (welfare).

However, he encountered one of the most despairing links in Japan's social welfare system: "Waterfront Operations" (Mizugiwa Sakusen).

Mentioned earlier, this is a special measure local prefectures adopt to save expenditures; after all Japan has no household registration system, no temporary residence permit system, and theoretically "equal rights for renters and buyers," so there is no problem of young people maliciously entering cities to work or maliciously returning home, but young people indeed all run to the Tokyo Metropolitan Area, Nagoya, and Keihanshin to work, paying taxes there; these local prefectures receive less and less tax, while the burden of elderly and childcare expenses grows.

Japan is ultimately locally autonomous with elected governors and lawmakers, not a centralized system, so "Waterfront Operations" emerged. This is not formal policy, but an informal means commonly used by grassroots welfare offices to reduce applicant numbers: staff interrogate applicants' asset details, family relations, job-seeking efforts with extremely harsh, near-humiliating attitudes, demand various hard-to-complete documents, and imply "still has working ability," "should rely on family," "applying for welfare is shameful." Jiang Tougang's requests were rejected again and again, supplementary materials again and again, facing staff's cold suspicious gazes and implied accusations again and again — "You're a grown man, have hands and feet, how can you not survive?"

In the repeated back-and-forth, his dignity was thoroughly crushed, relatives estranged, friends disappeared, social connections severed.

Five years ago, he burned all his ID documents, bought a tent and sleeping bag with his last savings, and began true wandering, the so-called "rough sleeping" homeless.

Japan has many homeless, but these so-called homeless generally refer to those living in internet cafes or park huts, cardboard boxes, doing odd jobs, collecting 130,000 yen welfare monthly, going to relief stations and many public welfare institutions daily for food.

Jiang Tougang's wandering was from Sendai to Yamagata, moving along abandoned factories and railway lines, like wreckage washed ashore by the tide of industrialization.

"We are remnants of the old era; the new era has no ship to carry us."

Jiang Tougang didn't care whether he gained understanding or forgiveness; he just very, very, very, very much wanted to share his experience, he longed for others to know what he had gone through, he didn't want to enter prison carrying these humiliations and pains. The police on scene all fell silent after listening, especially Inspector Yamabe Risuke, 58, not far from retirement.

He was also a Showa old fogey; even his income was not as high as Jiang Tougang's back when he was a senior worker.

But now he and his wife are harmonious, son and daughter both married; days though not very pleasant barely pass; he returns in midnight dreams again and again, always feeling his life just ends like this? Once dreamed of playing in Koshien, entering the US Major League, becoming the next Suzuki Ichiro; result was just an ordinary retired Inspector.

Were his original wishes fulfilled? At this point can only offer sacrifices?

But looking at Jiang Tougang, Inspector Yamabe Risuke suddenly felt he himself counted as a middling ending.

Uesugi Muneyuki's face was solemn.

Japanese social culture is originally male status high, female status low; however with the post-war influx of European/American feminist trends, political correctness, and the prevalence of people like Ueno Chizuko, young men and middle-aged men actually accept huge transfer payments while also enduring heavy invisible oppression.

So this is why in Japanese society post-millennium, once men don't enter social work according to the "standard process," the rest immediately tend to lie flat and rot; because marriage means responsibility and obligations super-doubled, but actually no benefits gained, even "sexual guarantee" exploited almost completely dry; when a contract theoretically bears infinite responsibility yet gets no guarantee, the best answer is to not "Ask him about the crime process!" Uesugi Muneyuki was silent a moment, then said sternly.

"That day, I was searching inside the abandoned paper factory, suddenly in a more remote garbage heap, I found a discarded heavy industrial paper cutter with chipped blade but intact body." Jiang Tougang was silent a moment, then suddenly said: "I suddenly faintly felt, probably something needed to be completed."

Everyone silent.

On the night of the incident, Jiang Tougang habitually came near Yamagata North Rest Area wanting to use public facilities to wash up, but he still cared about face, didn't want to be discovered, so he deliberately went behind the billboard to observe for a while, to see if anyone was there; if no one, he would go in. Then, he saw Nishino Miki.

"She alone... walked from that side of the road... swaying... like drunk but not... very pretty, dressed clean... too clean..." Jiang Tougang spoke, his breathing growing rapid: "So pretty, so clean, so captivating; here there are only old people or kids, haven't seen such a pretty woman in a long time; I wanted to see clearly, wanted to get closer to observe... if she was also that clean... I followed her, she didn't seem to notice... walked to the woods, she stopped, looked like she was spacing out..."

"I... I didn't want to kill her!" Jiang Tougang suddenly raised his volume, body leaning forward, handcuffs clattering: "I just... just couldn't hold back! She was so white, so tender... how many years since I touched a woman! Seven or eight years? I'm not a bad person! I just... just... I just thought the flowers on her head were pretty! Her clothes were pretty! She had a scent! A woman's scent! So fragrant... really so fragrant! It smoked me... I couldn't think of anything!"

Hearing this, everyone on scene closed their eyes.

Jiang Tougang admitted, from behind he used his arm to choke her neck; she struggled a few times then went limp.

Afterwards, in the toilet's shadows, he committed the violation.

During the process, he was in a state of "head feverish, couldn't think straight."

"After that... she stopped moving... and I... it felt like I suddenly lost all strength." Jiang Tou's eyes were hollow, his face full of remorse: "Then, that piece of wood in my pocket... seemed to get even hotter."

"I looked at her neck, so thin, and I just happened to be carrying that knife, and I thought: 'Used-up things... should just be thrown away.' Where to throw her? Right, the toilet, that's the filthiest place, that's best, hide her there, just like the rest of the filth!" "Hardly anyone comes here, no one would find her!"

He described how he chopped down with the knife "like cutting wood," how he dragged the corpse to the toilet, how he laboriously stuffed her inside. "I even drew on the wall, just drew some random stuff imitating an amulet... but it seems there were already symbols there before I came, but which ones did I draw? I can't remember anymore." Regarding the blood symbols, he only had this fragmentary memory.

After doing all this, he returned to the paper mill shack, fell down and slept, until he was arrested.

"It felt like a dream;... but I remember it so clearly." Jiang Tougang smiled: "Well, I dream often, dream I'm still in the factory, wearing blue work clothes, I dream my home is still there, my wife cooking, my son studying hard, I often think if only I could really live in the dream, that would be nice."

"The machines, the boilers, the cafeteria, the dormitory, and my wrench, if those were always there... that would be nice... if the world wouldn't change, that would be nice..."

After the confession roughly concluded, Jiang Tougang fell into a brief silence.

The interrogation room lighting was ghastly pale, shining on his hunched figure from which the disposition of a worker of yesteryear could still faintly be seen.

Then, he slowly raised his head, not looking at the interrogator, but as if piercing through the one-way glass, looking at those faces behind it representing "society" and "order."

In his muddy, fierce eyes, a nearly tangible resentment and despair ignited.

"Now, you've finally come..." his voice hoarse, yet unusually clear, each word seeming to be vomited from his lungs: "Wearing this dog skin, holding those things, sitting here, trying me... judging me... fine, judge away! I killed someone, I admit it!"

"You're too impulsive! Jiang Tou!" Inspector Yamanaka couldn't help but say.

"I really was impulsive! Because everything that could keep me from being impulsive has already disappeared!!!"

He suddenly struggled up, and despite being restrained, erupted with astonishing strength, veins bulging on his neck, roaring at the unseen audience: "You blame me for being too impulsive, when my wife ran off, where were you? When my son disowned me, where were you?! When the factory kicked me out like trash, where were you?! When I was like a dog at the welfare office entrance, being interrogated back and forth, mocked, given the runaround by those 'lord officials'—you running dogs of the system, where were you?!"

"I need help! I just want a little money to survive, a place to lie down and not freeze to death! I fucking worked for twenty-two years! Paid twenty-two years of taxes to feed you public servants! But what did you give back to me?! Just because I'm old? Useless? I'm supposed to be thrown into the wild to fend for myself?!"

"Now something's happened, someone's dead, a bright and pretty young girl, someone the big shots care about, and you all come crawling out! So fast! So efficient! Hahahaha..." he laughed maniacally, the laughter uglier than crying, mixed with tears sliding down his filthy face: "Come on! Catch me! Shoot me! Anyway I died long ago! From the day I was driven out the factory main gate, I was dead!"

"I have needs too! I want a woman too, it's carved into us men's DNA! What's wrong with that?!"

The roar reverberated in the interrogation room, gradually turning into powerless sobs and coughing.

He slumped back onto the chair, his gaze thoroughly dimming, as if the last thing supporting him—whether resentment or madness—had burned out. Behind the one-way glass, dead silence.

Inspector Yamanaka's face was dark. The prefectural police needed a splendid murder case solved, but not a rape-murder of such heinous nature! The prefectural police needed to catch a culprit bad enough, anti-social enough, to make society cheer, but not to catch a soul with such an experience fully displaying the pain of those unable to adapt in the transition from the old industrial era to the new era, and fully reflecting a tragic case caused by local bureaucratic delaying tactics!

Sigh, it's not the system that ruined you, it's this depressed era and waterfront strategy that ruined you!

But Uesugi Muneyuki noticed a detail in Jiang Tou's words.

Amulet? Symbols? Good dream? Letting him sleep peacefully on a cool winter night?

Suddenly found heavy knife?

Nishino Miki has been in a state of mental daze?

Strange symbols inside the toilet? Some seem to have existed before he entered?

Uesugi Muneyuki thought for a moment, and instantly, the gaze of Tokyo's legendary forensic doctor turned sharp.

Oh no!!!