Chapter 766: The Third Killing and the Snow Maiden Legend!

The female head of the Kii Tokugawa clan, Tokugawa Noriko, has also died.

According to Uesugi Muneyuki's preliminary judgment, it should also be death by poisoning.

The panic in the grand banquet hall has completely spiraled out of control.

"Another one dead?! The Tokugawa family's old lady is dead too?!"

Tsutsumi Kikue's voice was sharp enough to pierce the roof; her well-maintained face was now pale as paper, the jade Buddhist beads in her hand clenched so tight her knuckles turned white.

"Th-this... how is this possible..." Obayashi Shigeru plopped back down onto the zabuton, cold sweat covering his forehead, wiping incessantly with a handkerchief, "The killer is still killing! Still killing! We're all going to die! We'll all die here!"

Fukuda Ayano burst into tears, her exquisite makeup ruined by tears: "I don't want to stay here! I want to go home! Let me go home!" "Bishamonten Descend! Evil spirits retreat! Bishamonten Descend! Evil spirits retreat! All things shall eventually prostrate before Tosho Daigongen! This is Heaven's Mandate!" Tokugawa Kazuya and Tokugawa Ayako, the couple, could not believe their mother had died; they sat on the ground weeping bitterly at first, then began chanting sutras.

Several usually courteous guests now completely disregarded their image; some curled up trembling, some clung to those beside them, some even began chanting sutras in low voices.

And those dignitaries who had just been loudly berating the inn staff and threatening complaints had their arrogant bluster completely vanish. The young couple who had just been roaring for compensation for their plane tickets were now thoroughly panicked; they even clung to the inn manager's sleeve, voices choked with tears: "Y-you have to take responsibility! Protect us! If something happens to us, can you afford the compensation!" The manager was scared enough himself, only able to nod mechanically: "Y-yes... we'll think of something..."

But everyone knew he fundamentally had no way.

In the Divine Hand Film Crew team, Kinoshita Hiroko trembled all over with excitement, lowering her voice to the cameraman: "Film it! Film all of it! These reactions, these expressions, they're all material! They're real fear! Truer than any acting!"

The cameraman's hands were also shaking, but a different kind of shake—professional excitement and instinctive fear intertwined, making his grip on the camera unsteady.

This is first-hand news! This is live location shooting!

This is the most real Blizzard Mountain Villa!

Who will die next? We're so looking forward to it!

Miyawaki Sakura shrank beside Shirakawa Mai, whispering: "Mai-sama... I'm so scared..."

Tei Reiji also leaned over; though she tried to maintain composure, our Anchor Tei's face was visibly pale, her gaze fixed dead on Uesugi Muneyuki, wanting to go over but unable to.

Shirakawa Mai lightly patted Miyawaki Sakura's hand, but her gaze remained on Uesugi Muneyuki in the distance speaking with the general manager. The general manager dialed the satellite phone again.

"Inspector Yamamura! A-another one dead! The Tokugawa family's old lady, Kii Tokugawa clan head Tokugawa Noriko-san is dead too!" Yamamura So on the other end fell silent for a few seconds, voice carrying fatigue and helplessness: "...... I know now. What's the specific situation? Also, you're really not filming a drama? Isn't this a bit too, dramatic?"

"When found she was lying in the bedding, looked asleep, but was already breathless! Chief Uesugi examined her, said it's... said it might also be poisoning!"

"Also poisoning..." Yamamura So seemed to sigh: "Same as the first victim Tokugawa Ryuichi?"

"Should be! That's what Chief Uesugi said!"

Another stretch of silence.

"That..." Yamamura So's voice hesitated: "The old lady was quite old, right? Is it possible it was... suicide? Like her son died, she was overly grief-stricken, or felt she owed her son, so..."

The general manager froze.

Suicide?

"Of course, this is just preliminary speculation." Yamamura So hurriedly added: "Specifics await our arrival to judge. But you have no analysis conditions there, no more evidence, can't rule out this possibility. You stabilize the scene first, have Chief Uesugi continue investigating, we'll head over as soon as the road clears."

"Also, my lottery slip remember to give it to me!"

The phone hung up.

The general manager stood in place, the hand holding the microphone still trembling.

Suicide?

We of course hope it's suicide, but... he looked at the panicked faces around, then recalled Tokugawa Noriko's peaceful face, heart a mess.

What if someone else "commits suicide"? What if all our Sekizenkan guests "commit suicide" one by one...

The more everyone thought, the more afraid they became.

Just then, someone in the crowd muttered: "Heard... yesterday someone in the heavy snow saw... saw the Snow Maiden..." "Snow Maiden?!" The scene erupted in uproar.

"Right... just outside the inn, standing in the snow... wearing a white komon kimono, long black hair... face white as snow... holding an oil-paper umbrella." A middle-aged man said in a low voice: "I thought she was some guest! Or maybe Fuji TV's Divine Hand program filming, but thinking back now."

"Y-you're talking nonsense! How could that kind of thing exist!" Immediately another middle-aged man shrilly rebuked.

"I'm not talking nonsense! Not just me, the delivery waitress saw it too! She was scared she nearly dropped the bowls!" The first middle-aged man said, voice trembling: "Quite a few people saw it!"

"Y-yeah... I saw it too! Indeed, under the pines and cypresses by the annex, right? I definitely saw a classical beauty wearing komon standing there!"

"Nagabashi area! I encountered her too!"

"I encountered her near Kujira-ya, I even tried talking to her, but she ignored me, thinking back now, definitely the Snow Maiden, it's the Snow Maiden!!!"

Another commotion rose in the crowd.

"I saw it too..." Another voice joined in: "Very beautiful, but that kind of beauty... doesn't seem human..."

"Right, that girl said, that person looks like Yukishiro Tomoe, the one from Rurouni Kenshin!"

"Nonsense! Rurouni Kenshin is Bakumatsu era! It's already 6202 now! This is already the fourth millennium since Emperor Hikawa's enthronement! How could that kind of thing still exist?!"

"Right right right! That's the feeling! Cold, beautiful beyond reality..."

"Stop it!" Tsutsumi Kikue screamed: "You're trying to scare us to death!"

But the more afraid, the more people couldn't help thinking.

Snow Maiden.

Legendary monster appearing on snowy nights, beautiful and cold, leads lost people to death.

And right now, outside is heavy snow filling the sky, isolated from the world.

Panic ferments in silence.

And at this time, another guest who looked like a scholar said in a low voice: "Right, you say is it possible, it's actually Marshal Zhang the Warlord's vengeful ghost acting up?"

"Marshal Zhang the Warlord? What relation does he have?" Someone immediately replied: "Also, who is Marshal Zhang the Warlord?"

"It's Zhang Zuolin, Zhang Zuolin! Wasn't he blown up by you Japanese? I just heard it! When I got off the Shinkansen, the broadcast there was reporting, saying to be careful of the Toyota clique between trains and ground!"

"Stop arguing! Spread more rumors and I'll call the police to arrest you!"

"No way! Where police here! Police catch me or catch you?!" A clearly non-Japanese person burst out in hometown dialect, but he spoke another country's language, everyone clearly couldn't understand.

On the other side of the banquet hall, Uesugi Muneyuki and Shirakawa Mai stood by the window, away from the crowd.

"What do you think?" Shirakawa Mai asked in a low voice.

Uesugi Muneyuki did not answer immediately, gaze falling on the swirling snowflakes outside the window.

After a few seconds, he finally spoke: "Strange, Tokugawa Noriko's dead soul refused my summoning."

"Huh? Refused your summoning? That means she committed suicide?" Mai Xuejie became interested: "Only those with no regrets and natural death, or dead souls bearing deep resentment toward you, would refuse your call, right?"

"Yes." Uesugi Muneyuki frowned tightly.

"What do you think?"

"I don't believe it."

Mai Xuejie raised her slender, beautiful eyebrows: "Why? I think there's a possibility—that Tokugawa Ryuichi is just too much of a bastard, and Tokugawa Noriko couldn't take it anymore, so she decided to kill her son first, then commit suicide. That's the most reasonable, most heroic, and also most fitting for your old nobility's spirit—death is like a cool summer night, allowing one to sleep without worry~"

"I know, I initially thought the same." Uesugi Muneyuki nodded: "The old lady couldn't bear it anymore, poisoned her son, then killed herself."

Since Tokugawa Noriko refused to be awakened by the dead soul contract, it indeed can be explained as her poisoning her son and then committing suicide.

But this explanation has two unreasonable aspects.

"First, although both died, I can clearly see that Tokugawa Noriko and Tokugawa Ryuichi's poisoning deaths were different—two different poisons, two different methods of poisoning. If it was the same person, why use two methods?"

"Second, and most crucially, the timing. Tokugawa Ryuichi's time of death was between 9 and 11 PM last night, while Tokugawa Noriko's was between 1 and 3 AM. If Tokugawa Noriko killed her son, why did she wait several hours before killing herself? What did she do in those hours? Who did she see? What did she think? If it was suicide to avoid guilt, she could have acted immediately after killing her son, not waited several hours."

"And my death flashback tells me that Tokugawa Noriko's actions were very calm—before sleep, she showed no sign of wanting to die, just tidied up things peacefully and went to bed." Uesugi Muneyuki frowned: "This does not conform to the tradition of a warrior's daughter."

"Women, especially adult Japanese women, if they commit suicide, do so with great ritual, and for a warrior's daughter even more so—death should be like scattered cherry blossoms, vibrant and not so plain and dull."

"Speaking of a funny point, that for any Japanese person, wanting to survive in Japanese society isn't hard—buy a ticket for a night bus to Nagoya, go into Nagoya's manufacturing industry, and it's very easy to find a job paying 180,000 yen take-home pay daily, working eight or nine hours, five days off a month, with food and lodging included."

"However, if a Japanese person really thought this way, it would mean they're not far from death."

"For Japanese people, true death comes from inner exhaustion—Japanese people at their core don't prefer a disgraceful life over a dignified death, and if their inner world begins to exhaust, many Japanese will choose to leave with dignity."

"Choosing to become a wandering homeless person is one form of dignity; choosing death is also a form of dignity."

"Uesugi Muneyuki saw none of this dignity in Tokugawa Noriko—she seemed more like an accidental death. Otherwise, ending her life this way without voluntarily confessing to the police and then committing suicide would impose a huge moral burden and negative impact on the adopted son-in-law and daughter inheriting the family business, and the Kii Tokugawa family name would suffer shame. If she did this, she would necessarily leave behind a confession or at least a suicide note, explaining everything clearly, before killing herself."

"If you haven't yet apologized to the shogun and left a will, following the early Edo 'arbitrary politics' style, lightly you'd lose territory, more severely the Tokugawa family might completely reform or even exile you to Hachijo Island."

"If it was murder, who is the killer? The one who killed mother and son—is it the same person? What is the motive? Related to the Tokugawa family's grudges, or something else?"

"Too many questions, too many possibilities, no evidence—everything is speculation."

"And what Uesugi Muneyuki currently lacks most is evidence."

"Have Tokugawa Mr. and Tokugawa Mrs. come over again." Uesugi Muneyuki said to Sakura: "I still have a few things to ask." "Hai ei!" Sakura ran over.

When the couple arrived, Uesugi Muneyuki took out several bottles of prescription medicine from the evidence bag: "Although it's presumptuous, I hope you answer me truthfully."

"Tokugawa old lady, is her health not good?"

"Yes, mother's health is not good." 33-year-old Tokugawa Ayako said somewhat embarrassedly: "She usually doesn't want to talk about it, but we can feel……she sometimes sits on the toilet for half an hour unable to get up, often has stomachaches, and the doctor once warned her it's best not to eat anything after 6 PM……"

"See……" Uesugi Muneyuki fell into deep thought.

Time passed slowly in panic and silence.

Outside the window, the snow kept falling, showing no sign of stopping—someone started checking their watch, someone muttered lunchtime quietly, but no one dared to mention wanting to eat something—who still had the mind to eat at a time like this?

But the inn couldn't avoid considering it.

The general manager looked at the time—it was almost twelve.

These guests have eaten nothing from morning until now; if this continues, even if not killed by the murderer, they'll starve into trouble.

He called over a few bold servants and whispered: "Go to the kitchen, have the chefs make something simple, then bring it over." The servants' faces turned pale, but they had no choice but to nod.

At that moment, a young server whispered: "General manager……should we call all guests? Should we……roll call? See if anyone's still here……"

As soon as those words were spoken, several people nearby shivered simultaneously.

Roll call.

That word, at this moment, felt especially chilling.

The general manager swallowed saliva, nodded: "Yes……yes, roll call. Have everyone report in, see if anyone's still here……not come." A female proprietor took out the guest list and began calling names.

"Mrs. Tsutsumi Kikue?"

"Here!" Tsutsumi Kikue's voice was sharp and fast, afraid that if she was even a second late, she'd be taken as a suspicious person.

"Mr. Ōbayashi Shigeru?"

"Here!"

"Mrs. Fukuda Ayano?"

"Here!"

One by one, names were called out, one by one, voices responded. Each "here" let those present breathe a little easier.

"Mr. Tasō Shigefu?"

"Here." The voice of a middle-aged man, Tasō Shigefu, president of the homohomo danmaku website, his face pale but he held on. "Mrs. Tasō Hisako?"

"Mrs. Tasō Hisako?"

No one answered.

The female proprietor froze for a moment, raised her voice and called again:

"Mrs. Tasō Hisako?"

Still no one answered.

The banquet hall fell silent instantly, quiet enough to hear the snow falling outside.

The 61-year-old Tasō Shigefu had a pale face, his lips trembling: "She… she said this morning she wasn't feeling well, wanted to rest in the room… I, I thought she was just tired…"

61-year-old Tasō Shigefu's face was deathly pale, his lips trembling: "She……she said this morning she wasn't feeling well, wanted to rest in the room……I, I thought she was just tired……"

No one spoke.

Uesugi Muneyuki stood up, looked toward the general manager.

The general manager's face had lost all color.

That name, in the silent grand banquet hall, sounded especially piercing.

In the grand banquet hall, deathly silence lasted exactly ten seconds.

【121】 The general manager opened his mouth, wanted to say something, but couldn't make a sound—he turned his head toward the female server who had just been called, a twenty-something young girl, whose face was now as white as the outside snow.

"You... go take a look." His voice was so hoarse it was almost inaudible.

The waitress shook her head desperately, tears streaming down: "I won't go! I... I don't dare..."

"You have to go even if you don't want to!" The general manager lowered his voice and roared, but then immediately softened himself, correcting himself: "Find a man to accompany you, go quick and come back quick, just take a look... just one look is enough..."

In the end, the two waitresses supported each other, trembling as they walked out of the grand banquet hall.

Everyone was waiting.

No one spoke.

Even Tsutsumi Kikue, who had been making the most noise earlier, was now shrunk in the corner, clutching her Buddhist beads tightly, her lips moving nonstop, unknown if she was chanting sutras or muttering something.

Five minutes.

Ten minutes.

Footsteps finally came from outside the door — not normal walking, but staggering, stumbling, almost running footsteps. "Thud-thud-thump~ thud-thud-thump~ to-dong~"

The door was slammed open violently.

Those two waitresses rushed in, faces pale as paper, trembling all over; one's legs gave way and she collapsed right at the doorway, the other leaned on the doorframe, using all her strength to shout:

"De-dead! Madam Tadasho is dead too!"

The grand banquet hall instantly exploded into chaos.

Screams, wails, curses all mixed together.

Those powerful elites who had been untouchable just now were no different from ordinary people at this moment — even more wretched than ordinary people, because they feared death more; but the general manager, after hearing this, instead had his complexion calm considerably, only to see him fiercely close his own eyelids, then tilt his head back and fall backward.

He fainted.

"General Manager! General Manager!" Several staff nearby hurriedly caught him.

In the Divine Hand Film Crew's corner, Kinoshita Hiroko trembled all over with excitement, lowered her voice to the cinematographer: "Film it! Film it all! Three! Three! Three times! This is a serial murder case! This is a real serial murder case!"

The cinematographer's hands shook so badly he could barely hold the camera steady, but professional instinct made him persist in filming: "Awesome! When we get back, make the president raise our wages! Must raise!!! Otherwise this violates the Labor Law! Who can tell me why filming a TV drama also runs into this kind of thing?" "Because Uesugi-san is that kind of guy! Doctor of Death graduate!" Another photographer said with a pale face: "Good news, we'll definitely get a special bonus! Bad news, how many times will we get this bonus?"

Miyawaki Sakura was already too scared to speak, tightly hugging Shirakawa Mai's arm.

Tei Reiji wasn't much better, face pallid, but still forcing herself to stand there.

Uesugi Muneyuki had already stood up, striding out: "Follow me!"

Shirakawa Mai lightly patted Miyawaki Sakura's hand, quick steps following after.

Another death! This is already the third life today!

Could it be, there really is a Snow Maiden?!?!?!

Uesugi-san, save us ahhh!!!