Chapter 818

All eyes were on Uesugi Muneyuki.

"I noticed that the expressions of these two victims share a certain strong commonality," Uesugi Muneyuki wrote on the whiteboard.

"First, both of these people are full-time housewives, and they both set up INS accounts as what foodie family bloggers, and they have a high-intensity social networking 'work' interest, sharing large amounts of their private lives, which ultimately led to the non-existent killer completely grasping all the details of their lives—this point should not need further explanation, right?"

Uesugi Muneyuki first arrived at a most superficial conclusion, which he had already mentioned.

Everyone nodded in agreement; this is nonsense, no need for you to say it.

"Then this is my opinion and thought: I found that these two women, Matsumoto Yumi and Takahashi Mi, undoubtedly live happily, they each have more than one child, they love life, love sharing, and at the same time share a commonality: their husbands are undoubtedly middle-class, with considerable income, and they all work hard, love family, and have a good marital relationship." Uesugi Muneyuki said solemnly to those present: "So I thought of a question: how did they meet their husbands?"

Sitting below, Date Nagamune's expression was somewhat unpleasant, while Okada Masayoshi and Kai Toru were deeply in agreement.

The husbands of Matsumoto Yumi and Takahashi Mi are mid-level company employees, with annual salaries ranging from 7.5 to 9 million yen; in Japan, reaching this level means the husband's salary can easily support an entire family and afford a decent life.

This standard, even for unmarried women in Tokyo, meets their "general male" standard; such a type entering the matchmaking market can easily snag a Sakura Girl as a wife.

Only Ikeda Erena pouted her lips.

Money, this kind of thing, is fundamentally unimportant!

Her ideal general male must have a normal personality, be humorous and witty, talented, pleasing to the eye, constantly fresh, enduring and powerful in that aspect, moreover have opinions, be able to shoulder responsibilities and handle affairs, and still be able to help her make decisions—only then is he called a general male!

As for money…… Erena currently has a take-home annual income of over 5 million yen, and she is an iron-rice-bowl civil servant; is money important to her? Not important!

"So this has triggered my thinking; everyone should understand how these two housewives met their husbands?" Uesugi Muneyuki waved the document in his hand: "First, thank the Gunma Prefecture Headquarters; this is Takahashi Mi's resume—she graduated from university and worked five years in planning at an advertising company, was promoted to supervisor, performed excellently, then married, resigned, and became a full-time housewife."

"Takahashi Mi and her husband met during company networking events, not through matchmaking; after all, everyone should understand that such high-quality men are actually hard to find in the matchmaking market." Uesugi Muneyuki said to the crowd with a hint of teasing: "For example, me—I was still muddled and just beginning to enter the autopsy market and studying when I was inexplicably engaged; my grandfather had already discussed it with the supervisor, and I am temporarily in Mongolia."

"Hahahahaha ahahahahahahaha~" laughter came from below; only Okada Masayoshi had a displeased expression, Date Nagamune lowered his head in dejection, while Maeda Toshihide raised his head proudly.

Erena pouted, clicked her tongue, and thought: Obviously I came first…… but she herself indeed does not wish to return to the family or give up her career, so her current state is quite satisfactory.

Only Kai Toru thought of the old man at home and got a headache; he naturally wants to marry his girlfriend, but the old man at home is obviously not satisfied, though the situation has now reversed—he can marry as long as he invites Uesugi, Minami, Okada and these people; the old man disagrees? Hold it in!

"Alright, a joke, back to the topic." Uesugi Muneyuki's joke came and went immediately: "So, I immediately investigated the materials about Matsumoto Yumi."

"Matsumoto Yumi, maiden name Nakamura, graduated from Meiji University School of Commerce, worked four years as an assistant in the overseas sales department of a foreign trading company, fluent in English, once evaluated as the department's 'outstanding employee.' Married at twenty-eight, resigned, and never worked again afterward."

Uesugi Muneyuki paused, then said: "Therefore, these two women have both proven themselves in the workplace, and after marriage chose to return to the family." "Their social media accounts are filled with exquisite images of happy families—carefully prepared bentos, daughters' smiles, weekend Disney trips, Christmas roast chicken. Every photo has been carefully composed and color-adjusted, every caption accompanied by appropriate emojis and exclamation marks. What they display online is a perfect, enviable middle-class family life."

"Everyone, what have you thought of?" Uesugi Muneyuki threw this question to the crowd: "I have a question: why do these two ladies exert themselves so much to display their happiness and current life?"

Below, many police officers discussed noisily.

Soon, a police officer from the Local Police Headquarters wanted to speak, but before they could raise their hand, other officers stopped them.

Uesugi Chief Medical Examiner is not talking to you at all—what's the point of joining the fun?

He is clearly asking the colleagues of the Special Mission Division, and that's where his people are, his stage!

We just watch his performance and that's it!

The Local Police Headquarters remains silent, and Okada Masayoshi's gaze becomes profound.

What else could it be? Showing off wealth, right! Sharing a good life, right! Gaining a sense of superiority, right!

Just like my ex-wife Miki!

However, when Okada Masayoshi thought of this, he felt it didn't quite fit—after Miki married him, in fact she kept her past life deeply secret, completely cut off from her old circle, and almost never spoke on social media, which is completely opposite to these two ladies.

Doesn't match, doesn't match.

There is a theory called the "Principle of Yielding by the Happy," meaning that if a person has a happy family life, a satisfying living environment, and good mental state, then such a person mostly won't like to speak often on the internet or in unfamiliar environments; and if they do speak and encounter views opposing theirs or conflicts, they mostly choose to yield, because they don't care, because they have a place to retreat, because they have a home to return to. Okada Masayoshi said nothing, while Date Nagamune and Maeda Toshihide were completely unable to empathize.

Erena wanted to speak, but she is tongue-tied; after organizing her thoughts several times in her mind, she only blurted out: "Right, why then?" Finally, Kai Toru, this guy who has a legitimate flight attendant girlfriend and whose relationship is very good, spoke: "I think, I believe they probably want to prove they are right."

"In our country, traditional culture holds that men should go out to work and earn money, women should stay home to tend husband and teach children, and whether life is happy often depends on the husband's social status, how many children were born, and the children's social status." Kai Toru said: "But now it's a new era; since the postwar period, under MacArthur's leadership, the constitution was reformed, and the first female Diet member appeared; the old evaluation system was changed, but societal inertia remains strong, and the comparison and so-called female competition among women have not disappeared, but changed form." Kai Toru's words are what he personally witnessed: the female competition and comparison among flight attendants have reached a frenzied level—from childhood idol-chasing fashion topics, to middle-level food, travel, jewelry, cosmetics, to major aspects like boyfriend/husband family background and even how much property is divided in divorce; the competition among flight attendants is eternal and always white-hot. Moreover, this industry also tends to give people illusions—flight attendant uniform, makeup, high heels, black stockings—when combined, as long as not too ugly, they can greatly enhance appearance, and they indeed come into contact with some high-net-worth men in daily life, naturally raising the threshold. It's like a lock opened by a golden key—after that, one no longer looks down on silver keys, iron keys, copper keys.

But the golden key might just casually turn inside the lock for a quick thrill, with no intention of pairing with this lock, yet this does not prevent the lock from feeling it has paired with the golden key.

There's still gold powder left in my lock core! So my next key, no matter what, will definitely be a golden key!

"Correct." Uesugi Muneyuki nodded: "In today's Japan, on social media, there exists a hidden, never-explicitly-stated chain of occupational contempt—working women look down on housewives as 'having no self-worth,' while housewives compare whose husband is better, whose child is smarter, whose housework is more exquisite."

"Those housewives who spend three or four hours daily taking photos, editing, writing copy, and posting—on the surface sharing happiness, actually struggling in a great anxiety—they need others' likes and envy to confirm their choices are correct, that giving up career to return to family is worthwhile.

"Matsumoto Yumi and Takahashi Mi are exactly such people."

"And the killer—that woman as the 'key'—seems to have precisely targeted this type of person."

"And this is the deep commonality I discovered—have you noticed, Matsumoto Yumi and Takahashi Mi, before marriage were both outstanding women with careers, but both chose to resign and return to family, and both constantly, every day, high-intensity 'work' on social media to tell the outside world their lives are affluent, happy, fulfilling, with multiple children."

Okada Masayoshi raised his head, blinked, then lowered his head to flip through the document in his hand.

After a few seconds, he raised his head again, his gaze changed.

"You mean…… the killer specifically targets this type of person?"

"I am thinking." Uesugi Muneyuki said, his voice very soft, as if talking to himself: "What kind of person would harbor such enormous hatred toward 'housewives who gave up career to return to family'—so great as to want to kill them, sexually assault their daughters, ransack their homes, and take all their money?"

Okada Masayoshi remained silent for a long time, then closed the document, slowly saying: "A woman. A woman who hates this type of woman." Matched! All matched!

And as Uesugi Muneyuki judged, a woman deceitfully opened the door, then the team entered and committed murder—all matched!

Uesugi Muneyuki this guy, truly divine!

The conference room was so quiet one could hear the phone ringing from a distant office.

Uesugi Muneyuki did not respond to that remark. He turned around, faced the window again, and looked at the night scenery of Kawaguchi City.

The general image of the person has been formed.

Then what?

Then how? Catch a virtual account? One without a real name, without an address, without a photo—a ghost? Even if that account is locked down, how to turn it into a person who can be handcuffed?

Uesugi Muneyuki has no answer.

This is the first time in his professional career that he faces a killer whose outline has already surfaced, yet when he reaches out he grasps nothing. That killer—or rather, that group of killers—exists, yet does not exist. Is an acquaintance, yet not an acquaintance. Left traces, yet as if no traces were left. They are strangers who like on social media, are virtual avatars in mom groups commenting "How envious you are," are those you will never meet in reality yet feel familiar.

Uesugi Muneyuki stood by the window, gazing at his own reflection, sunk into deep thought.

The other party comes killing while touching the network cable—what about him? Could he possibly also kill back by touching the network cable?

Now, this is getting tricky!