Start with a core cabin

Chapter 1403 Mysterious Death (The cat who sleeps until nine o'clock every day with his tail in his arms)

There are so many coincidences in this world.

Standing in the stinking room, Duanmu Huai seemed speechless. In fact, he was speechless when he learned about the incident, and he was even more speechless after coming here.

"Hello, Mr. Duanmu."

The detective in charge of the on-site investigation was a police officer named Jiumu, who had met Duanmu Huai several times. Well, this was normal. Given Duanmu Huai's appearance, the people who would be most likely to react to him would be the police.

"I didn't expect you to take on this case."

"I don't want to either. Frankly speaking, I'd rather go home and sleep right now."

Duanmu Huai yawned, looking bored and depressed.

The reason why he came here was simple: the principal called him and asked him to come.

As for why the principal invited Duanmu Huai to come here……

"Tell me about the situation."

"Ok."

Detective Kuki nodded, then took out his cell phone and glanced at it.

"The deceased is Matsushita Shizuko, 32 years old, a former national gymnast, currently a physical education teacher at Qianyuan Academy..."

Duanmuhuai sighed silently.

That's why he's here.

Duanmu Huai still remembered that when the principal invited him to Qianyuan Academy, he said that the physical education teacher had taken sick leave, so he could substitute for the class as a physical education teacher and conduct investigations at the same time. Duanmu Huai just listened to it at the time, but he did not expect that he would meet this physical education teacher under such circumstances.

According to Detective Hisaki, the circumstances of finding Shizuko Matsushita's body were actually very simple. Because of the foul smell coming from the apartment where Shizuko Matsushita lived, which disturbed other people, she went to the administrator to protest. The latter took the key to open the door of Shizuko Matsushita's apartment, and then found Shizuko Matsushita's body lying in the living room.

Then she called the police immediately, and the police came to investigate. After learning her identity, they called the principal of Qianyuan Academy, and after the principal received the call, he called Duanmu Huai. Therefore, Duanmu Huai had to get up and rush to this smelly apartment in the middle of the night.

It seems I have to take a shower and change clothes when I get back.

"What was the cause of death?"

"It's still unknown, but according to our investigation, Matsushita Shizuko died about five days ago. There were no signs of a fight in the room, nor were there any signs of anyone other than Matsushita Shizuko. So our initial judgment is that the other person died of a sudden illness, and the body was found by others after it rotted and gave off a strange smell... This is not a rare thing."

“Are there any photos of the body?”

"of course."

Detective Jiu Mu took out a photo and handed it over. Duanmu Huai took the photo, glanced at it, and then the corner of his mouth twitched slightly.

"What kind of disease and death is this?"

It was no wonder that Duanmu Huai complained, because the body in the photo was swollen all over - well, that was understandable. But what was incomprehensible was that the body was completely torn from the head to the abdomen, with corpse water and rotten internal organs pouring out, as if the whole person had been cut open.

Of course, not only that, for the battle-hardened Duanmu Huai, he could tell at a glance that this was not the body being cut open from the outside, but more like something tore Matsushita Shizuko's body apart from the inside and drilled out, leaving behind this empty shell.

"According to the forensic doctor, a decaying corpse will swell and explode with a certain probability, resulting in this strange phenomenon."

"Ok."

Duanmu Huai nodded and returned the photo to Detective Jiumu.

"Mind if I look into it?"

"No problem, our investigation is complete."

After the initial on-site investigation, the police seemed to think that this was just a simple accidental death. Although the exploded body was a little difficult to explain, it was not impossible to explain. At least for now, there was no obvious trace of homicide or drugs or alcohol on the body. And there was no sign of outsiders entering the room. So far, it was just an accidental death, so the police also planned to call it a day.

After the police left, Duanmu Huai began to observe the room in front of him. Although there was still a nauseating stench, the whole room was decorated in a very feminine style. For example, there were pink curtains and plush carpets, and trophies on the bookshelf. However, Duanmu Huai was not interested in this. He looked around and found the chandelier on the ceiling, then reached out and put his hand on it.

Soon, in front of Duanmu Huai, time began to go back.

“Buzz……………………”

The sound of the air conditioner echoed in the living room, and a woman in sportswear curled up on the sofa. It was not a hot summer day, but the woman was wearing very cool clothes, only shorts and a short-sleeved jacket similar to what a basketball team would wear. Not only that, she even turned on the air conditioner.

It would be wrong to say that the woman felt hot, because she was huddled up and shivering, and her skin was pale, looking like she was very cold. But even so, she had no intention of turning off the air conditioner, and even on the table, there were ice cream and popsicles that looked very cold.

To be honest, even if you are not sick, you will get sick from this.

The TV was playing an ad, and the woman was huddled on the sofa, shivering, but she had no intention of watching the ad. Instead, she was holding her phone tightly in both hands, as if she was looking at something. It was just that her long hair was blocking her sight, so it was hard to see the woman's expression.

"——————!"

At this moment, the whole room suddenly went dark, the TV turned off, the sound of the air conditioner disappeared, and everything seemed to have fallen into silence.

Well, to put it simply, there is no power.

“——————!!!”

However, at this moment, the woman suddenly stood up in panic. She was about to rush to the door as if she was escaping for her life. However, at this moment, the woman suddenly let out an indistinct howl, and then collapsed to the ground as if she had lost her strength.

Later, Duanmu Huai saw it.

The woman's face split in the middle, extending from her forehead all the way down to her lower abdomen. Her body was like a balloon, being squeezed from the inside, expanding, cracking, and then exploding!

"boom!"

It was a sound no louder than a balloon bursting, and it marked the woman's complete death. She collapsed to the ground and there was no more movement. Then, Duanmu Huai saw countless black, rat-like things swarming out of the woman's body, and then disappeared like scattered cockroaches.

Seeing this, Duanmu Huai raised his eyebrows, then rewound again—paused, and zoomed in.

His sight followed the light on the ceiling and he stared at the phone in the woman's hand. On the phone was a selfie of the woman. Of course, if it was just this photo, it wouldn't be surprising. But what caught Duanmu Huai's attention was not the woman herself, but the book she was holding in her arms in the selfie!

  A black, thick leather-bound book that looks like a magic book!

Duanmu Huai had seen this book before! The literary girl had brought it with her before!

At that time, Duanmu Huai used his mobile phone to trace back the past of the literary girl, but he didn't know how she got the book. Because in the past traced back by the mobile phone, the literary girl put down her mobile phone and went out, and when she came back, she was holding the book in her arms!

It was only after that that the literary girl excitedly stated that with this book, she could increase the probability of summoning spirits, and then she went to die happily.

And now, this book is also included in the photos on this teacher’s mobile phone!

Duanmu Huai didn’t believe that two people bought one book each. After all, these two people were from Qianyuan Academy, one was a teacher and the other was a student. Moreover, when the literature girl took the book, the physical education teacher hadn’t fallen ill yet... Huh?

Wait, could it be that the literary girl died because she took the teacher’s book?

  So how did this book come about... That's a bit of a problem!

……………Forget it, I’ll continue collecting clues and then go home and let my brain think about it.

Duanmu Huai decisively gave up thinking. His brain was itching and he couldn't take the exam anymore.

The teacher's mobile phone was kept as evidence. Since it was not a murder case, Duanmu Huai was not qualified to retrieve it. However, he did not care about this little trouble. Duanmu Huai first found the apartment manager to inquire about the situation. When facing Duanmu Huai, the apartment manager naturally told him everything he knew.

"What about the electricity usage in Room 308? Now that you mention it, it seems like there is indeed a problem."

"How to say it specifically?"

"Although I don't remember it clearly, it is true that the power consumption of Room 308 has been increasing since a while ago. I was also worried that the other party might be doing something illegal in the room, so I went to ask about it, and the result was..."

"result?"

"She just left the air conditioner on."

"that's it?"

"That's what she told me. She said she was afraid of the heat..."

"But it's not summer yet."

Summer vacation hasn’t even started yet.

"That's what I thought, but since the other party is willing to turn on the air conditioner all day and is willing to pay the electricity bill, I have nothing to say. In fact, this time it was because the electricity ran out that we were discovered. If it wasn't because the electricity ran out, I'm afraid we wouldn't have discovered that she had... Oh..."

“Is her air conditioning on very low?”

"It's probably around ten degrees... To be honest, I can't stand it."

"Do you know when this started? Or has it always been like this since she moved in?"

“You say that…”

The administrator scratched his head.

"It seems like she wasn't like this before. She was just ordinary at the beginning... Oh, yes, if I remember correctly, it should be a year ago when she went back to her hometown. After she came back, she became like this!"

"a year ago?"

"Yes, I remember that she seemed to have gone back to her hometown for the New Year. After she came back, she specially brought me some local specialties, so I remember it very clearly. It was after that...she seemed to have kept the air conditioner on, and the temperature was always very low. To be honest, her room felt like a cold storage. Sometimes I felt a little chilly when I walked past the door..."

"Did you know she had a book?"

Duanmu Huai gestured to the administrator.

"A black one with a large cover?"

When the administrator heard Duanmu Huai's question, he was stunned for a moment, and then suddenly clapped his hands.

"Yes, there is such a thing! About half a month ago, she came to me and asked me if I had seen such a book. She also retrieved the surveillance video from that time. I watched it with her, but we didn't find it. At least it wasn't left in the apartment."

Oh?

Hearing this, Duanmu Huai narrowed his eyes.

"So how did she look at that time? Was she anxious?"

"Now that you mention it, she did seem very anxious at the time. Maybe the book had some special meaning to her..."

"OK, thanks."

After getting the information he wanted, Duanmu Huai left the apartment directly. He first sent an email to the principal to explain the situation, and then immediately called Shionji Youzi to inform her of the matter.

“……………So, the other party didn’t die accidentally?”

"I suspect this case may be related to the previous one. By the way, can you investigate where the teacher's hometown is? She went back to her hometown a year ago, so there should be records."

"Let me check... um..."

Soon, the sound of typing was heard on the phone, and then it stopped after a moment.

"Hmm? You will definitely be interested in this news."

"let me guess."

Duanmu Huai's face darkened.

“It can’t be related to the light of the universe.”

"You guessed it right. Her hometown is in Yangchen Town, Aomori, which is one of the addresses on the list... Is this a coincidence?"

"It could be a coincidence, or it could be the result of spillover."

Duanmuhuai snorted coldly.

"Continue investigating. I'll deal with the rest when I get back."